The heart-to-heart family discussion lasted only as long as a pot of tea.
Once the tea was gone and with matters still to attend to, the others gradually departed.
The courtyard was left with only Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu.
Chu Xingchen looked at Xie Lingyu and suddenly spoke softly:
"It's still early today. Let's make a trip to Tianyan Peak. Things in Western Niu Continent are still in chaos—someone needs to sort them out properly."
Xie Lingyu looked up, picking away the petal from beneath the teacup:
"You haven't even sorted yourself out, and you're already thinking about handling affairs… When did you get so dense? You can't even slack off properly."
She spoke while raising her hand to write—[Alright, I'll go with you.]
Chu Xingchen's expression remained calm, and he nodded gently.
At the same time, he was thinking that this kind of Xie Lingyu was indeed quite interesting.
But what if she found out—would she be so embarrassed she'd turn against him?
Actually, beyond inquiring about the situation in Western Niu Continent, more importantly, after killing Bai Bo, a Principle that had fallen from the Heavenly Dao had been extracted from Bai Bo's body.
Cultivators from three sects were studying it together, and the research was being conducted at Tianyan Sect.
The main reason was that Chu Xingchen was temporarily staying at Tianyan Sect, so all the other sects were still willing to show some face.
According to the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect, these fallen Principles would automatically return to their proper place after a certain period if left undisturbed.
When Principles fell, they took on all manner of forms, but as long as no cultivator discovered them, they would generally return on their own.
Naturally, some were discovered by cultivators or certain beings, who then put them to use.
For example, the Incense Divine Path—that was born from cultivators discovering Principles and studying them.
And the blood-qi experiments Donggua had conducted in Eastern Divine Continent—those were fundamentally studies of Principles as well.
The difference was making a Principle truly merge with one's body and be controlled by a being.
This in itself was something most cultivators found hard to comprehend. Principles were pure, while humans were chaotic.
Two fundamentally opposite existences—making them perfectly merge was like forcing fire and water to become one.
Forced merging, aside from tearing apart, demanded a price.
Principles were truth, and Principles possessed spiritual consciousness too.
Zhang Daotan had tried to force a fusion, but could only be controlled by the Principle instead. And when the Principle was tainted, it displayed strange behavior.
The Celestial Demons had solved this problem—at least under normal circumstances.
They occupied the Principle and used the Principle.
And it seemed to have no obvious side effects.
This was an extremely peculiar thing.
And it was something worth studying.
Chu Xingchen knew about this, but he had been trapped in Xu Linglong's illusion realm—his senses were all disrupted, and even observation was a struggle, let alone anything else.
Now that the illusion was dispelled, he could take a look at what it actually was.
If Bai Bo could possess a Principle, what about Xu Linglong?
Was the illusion spell he'd fallen under actually a Principle that Xu Linglong possessed?
Once one problem was solved, more problems inevitably followed.
The combat power the Celestial Demons had shown when they truly held nothing back had also exceeded everyone's expectations.
Chu Xingchen sat in quiet contemplation, his gaze resting on the blooming spring flowers.
Xie Lingyu put the teapot on the table into her spatial ring, then gently waved her hand before Chu Xingchen, signaling they could depart.
Chu Xingchen nodded gently and stood.
Xie Lingyu reached out and took Chu Xingchen's hand. Spiritual energy enveloped his entire body, and she carried him toward Tianyan Peak.
Chu Xingchen said nothing, and likewise tightened his grip on Xie Lingyu's hand.
Before, when trapped in the illusion, he couldn't sense anything—only things within the illusion existed.
When Xie Lingyu had held his hand in the past, Chu Xingchen could only know it happened but feel nothing.
Today, he could actually feel it.
Hmm…
Chu Xingchen thought about it and could only summarize—very warm, like her personality.
A rainbow streak flew swiftly. In just a moment, the two landed on Tianyan Peak.
The guard situation on Tianyan Peak was nothing like before—there had been almost no one. Now, quite a few cultivators stood watch on either side, and even a Mahayana elder was personally stationed nearby.
Chu Xingchen's face was enough to get past anyone in Tianyan Sect by now, let alone Xie Lingyu—the sole direct disciple of Bai Xuanling—standing beside him.
They passed through without issue and entered the great hall directly.
The scene was the same as before—urgent jade talismans circulated throughout the hall.
Tianyan Sect already had various elders handling things. The seat of honor wasn't occupied by Lu Xuan, but by Yan Yun.
Right now, Yan Yun was like her former master—urgent jade talismans circled her, her eyes were closed, and her brow was furrowed.
"If he's here, he'd better not be here to see how busy I am and then mock me about it."
Yan Yun sensed their arrival and opened her eyes, sweeping her gaze over Chu Xingchen with a tone of mild exasperation.
"Xingchen says he's here to check on the situation in Western Niu Continent." Xie Lingyu stood before Chu Xingchen and said calmly, "He wasn't slacking off in ordinary times. He fell under the illusion spell for the sake of the greater good—it's rather unfair to speak of him this way."
Yan Yun looked at Xie Lingyu's earnest expression and didn't argue. Instead, her tone softened slightly:
"I'm sorry. There's been a lot of administrative work lately—it's left me a bit frazzled. I shouldn't have said that about him."
She had indeed been working too hard just now. When Chu Xingchen could hear, he would naturally have responded smoothly to such a remark—it was meant as light teasing anyway.
If the remark had been about Xie Lingyu, Xie Lingyu probably wouldn't have minded either.
But the mistake had been made—she shouldn't have teased Chu Xingchen in front of Xie Lingyu when he couldn't hear.
The apology was entirely warranted.
Yan Yun calmly pointed toward the urgent jade talismans on the left side:
"The messages from Western Niu Continent are all over there. You can read them yourself and then write them down for Chu Xingchen to see. Oh, and the ones from Daoist Yuyang can be directly ignored—aside from complaining and cursing Chu Xingchen, there's nothing useful in them."
"You don't need to read them aloud to Chu Xingchen either. Maintaining peace of mind is important when under an illusion spell."
"But don't worry—I've already sent a letter to Daoist Yuyang. If he sends any more of these useless things, his urgent jade talismans will be tossed straight into the bin from now on."
Xie Lingyu nodded gently. "Thank you for your trouble."
After speaking, she reached out and wrote before Chu Xingchen—[The messages from Western Niu Continent are over there. Let's go take a look.]
Chu Xingchen nodded gently, gestured for Xie Lingyu to wait, then turned his gaze to Yan Yun:
"Is Sect Master Lu Xuan here?"
Yan Yun raised her hand and wrote—[In the sealed chamber on Tianyan Peak. Is it urgent?]
Chu Xingchen replied aloud: "Yes. I need to see him."
Yan Yun said nothing more. She casually retrieved a jade talisman from her left side and activated it.
Xie Lingyu saw this and didn't comment, simply standing quietly at Chu Xingchen's side to wait.
A moment later.
Lu Xuan entered from behind the hall, looking somewhat weary. His gaze swept across the hall and naturally settled on Chu Xingchen.
Before Lu Xuan could ask—
Chu Xingchen spoke:
"How is the research on the Principle that fell from Bai Bo going? Can I see it now?"
Lu Xuan was taken aback, then nodded:
"Certainly… but has your illusion been broken?"
Xie Lingyu's eyes widened in surprise, her gaze shifting to Chu Xingchen.
Chu Xingchen's expression didn't change, as though he hadn't heard a word Lu Xuan said.
Lu Xuan raised an eyebrow, seeming to understand something:
"If it's not better, you're just here for the spectacle. But if you want to take a look, that's fine."
Lu Xuan spoke while turning his gaze to Xie Lingyu:
"Junior Niece Lingyu, your cultivation is rather low, and that Principle is too fierce—you'd inevitably be affected. Why don't you rest here for a moment?"
"Rest assured, your master is also there."
Chu Xingchen's expression remained calm, and he said nothing.
As though he couldn't hear a thing.
[
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