Li Qing hadn’t even realized his seniority had suddenly become so high.

It was only after Hong Fang Zhenren said so that he caught on.

Xuan Chen Zhenren was the previous leader of Nine Truth Palace, an old immortal who had truly lived for over three hundred years.

And Li Qing was his closed-door disciple.

Naturally, his seniority was equivalent to that of the current leader of Nine Truth Palace, Long Eyebrow Zhenren.

Zi Ling was also somewhat startled by Li Qing’s seniority; she glanced at him with dissatisfaction and murmured, "Giving such high status to this lecher is a disaster waiting to happen."

"What are you muttering about? Apologize at once!" Hong Fang Zhenren said sternly.

"Oh," sighed Zi Ling unwillingly, then said to Li Qing, "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called you a lecher."

Li Qing looked askance, genuinely puzzled as to why this woman harbored such a strong prejudice against him.

Her reaction was as if Li Qing had wronged her in some way.

But regarding such matters, Li Qing was quite clear; he hadn’t even touched the girl’s hand.

"Let’s not waste time, Xiao Li. Where is the Underground Palace? Take me to see it," said Dian Chunqiu.

"It’s behind the school’s sports field," Li Qing explained. "The students are currently in evening self-study, so the school might be difficult to enter. We should climb over from the back."

"No need for such trouble," Hong Fang Zhenren said with a faint smile. Suddenly, he muttered under his breath and flicked a yellow talisman from his sleeve.

The talisman ignited without flame and turned into specks of flying ash that settled on the ground.

"That will do. Let’s go inside," stated Hong Fang Zhenren.

Li Qing was greatly amazed by such a method.

The group strolled into the school with a swagger, but the guard at the window, busy on a phone call, seemed completely oblivious to them.

Li Qing surmised this must be some kind of invisibility spell.

To think that such a small piece of talisman paper could produce such an effect, Li Qing was honestly quite envious.

His Heavenly Thunder could strike people and souls with ferocity, but he lacked such convenient and practical minor spells.

The group proceeded to swagger into the sports field behind the Third Middle School.

The deep pit that Li Qing had accidentally fallen into before was still there, but many protective measures had been added around it.

It seemed the school had installed them out of concern for accidents.

"The pit is very deep, about a hundred or two hundred meters," Li Qing stated.

"No matter," said Dian Chunqiu with a light smile. "Hong Fang and I will go down for a look; the rest of you stay up here and watch."

"Should any accident occur, do not act recklessly. Report immediately to the bureau."

"Li Qing, if any Yin Souls become hostile, do not hesitate, immediately throw thunder into the pit."

"By the way, your Heavenly Thunder shouldn’t have any limits, right?"

"It does!" Li Qing gave a very definite answer, then added, "But tossing out eight or nine of them should be no problem."

"Then it’s settled. Keep a close watch," Dian Chunqiu nodded and said.

Following that, Dian Chunqiu and Hong Fang Zhenren didn’t use any other methods; they simply floated down from the pit’s edge without effort.

As time ticked by, the area below the pit’s entrance remained silent and undisturbed; there was no sign of trouble nor any appearance from Dian Chunqiu and Hong Fang Zhenren.

"Miss Zi Ling, there’s something I’ve been quite puzzled about," Li Qing couldn’t help but ask. "Do we have some sort of feud?"

"No!" Zi Ling glanced at Li Qing and said coldly.

"Then why do you keep calling me a lecher?" Li Qing inquired.

He certainly didn’t believe this damned girl would have an issue with him for no reason.

"Aren’t you just a lecher?" Zi Ling retorted, "Sleeping with someone else’s wife, involved with so many women."

"If you’re not a lecher, what are you?"

Li Qing finally realized where the problem lay.

His complexion instantly took on an unsightly hue, and he asked coldly, "You... have you been stalking me?"

Sitting on the side, Shisan, who had been so bored he was chewing on grass roots, suddenly tensed up.

He hurriedly stood up to smooth things over, "Senior Li, there’s a misunderstanding here, we didn’t mean to track you on purpose."

"Besides, we stumbled upon these things by accident, my junior sister is a bit obstinate, please don’t take offense!"

"These are personal matters, truly insignificant. We definitely won’t speak of it to others."

Li Qing’s gaze was frosty, "Yet, I see Miss Zi Ling seems to keep going on about it."

"Senior Li, my junior sister has this kind of personality where she likes to nitpick. But rest assured, she won’t reveal the specifics, and I’ll talk to her seriously," Shisan hurriedly added.

"The bureau tracks and investigates every newbie for a period of time, we’ve all been through it."

"Senior brother, what are you afraid of him for? What he’s doing is wrong to begin with, sleeping with someone else’s wife is a moral issue," Zi Ling said with a frown and annoyance.

Li Qing’s expression darkened slightly, "Miss Zi Ling, you just accused me of moral wrongdoing. Do you believe I would actually strip you naked and throw you onto the main road for passersby to see, or even... get handsy?"

"You wouldn’t dare!" Zi Ling’s face reddened, she shouted fiercely.

"Someone with moral issues doing something like that, I find that not the least bit surprising," Li Qing said with a sinister smile.

"Senior Li, please calm down, my junior sister really did act out of line," Shisan said nervously, "No one has the right to interfere in another person’s private life. I will educate her properly, please don’t do anything rash."

"Senior brother!" Zi Ling yelled angrily.

"You better shut up, do you really want to end up sleeping on the main road? Even our master can’t beat Senior Li," Shisan whispered to her.

Zi Ling’s mouth instantly pouted as if it were wedged, her eyes brimming with a wronged expression.

"I don’t need your assurances, but if even a little of this gets out, I’ll throw you onto the main road," Li Qing said in a heavy tone.

The Ninth Bureau wanting to investigate him, he couldn’t stop them.

It was their procedure.

Plus, he couldn’t twist an arm bigger than his thigh, and couldn’t change anything.

But this incident still gave him a bit of a scare.

Based on the timing, Zi Ling must have found out about him and Lu Furong.

He himself didn’t mind, at worst he’d been found out.

But Lu Furong would surely be seriously affected, and it might even trigger more severe consequences.

"Are you threatening me?" Zi Ling looked at Li Qing in shock, her eyes even beginning to mist.

"You aren’t misunderstanding, I am indeed threatening you. I don’t care what you say about me. But if you affect someone else’s life, or even lead to more serious consequences, you’d better believe that I would do just that," Li Qing stated.

Shisan tugged Zi Ling’s arm, and with a stern face, he assured Li Qing, "I can guarantee to Senior Li, it absolutely won’t happen!"

"Not only are you a lecher, you are also a scoundrel!" Zi Ling stamped her foot fiercely, suddenly running off into the distance.

She... actually cried.

Li Qing couldn’t stand to see a woman like this, but he wasn’t willing to take back his words. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

This girl seemed to have a bit of a loose tongue.