"Forget it. This is none of my business. I owe you one for tonight. We have to report back, so we’re leaving."

With that, he took the heavily injured Zhou Zhicheng, deactivated the Array, and departed.

Qu Qingxian watched the two leave and did nothing more.

Since it was Zhou Zhicheng and his companion who had come tonight—not the City Lord or the Zhou Family’s patriarch—he knew it was more of a probe than an outright attack.

The Tier Two, Mastery Level Spirit Nurturing Bead from earlier that day had made the two families realize not only the potential benefits but also the inherent dangers.

If they hadn’t already invested so many days and been unwilling to see their efforts go to waste, the two families wouldn’t have bothered with a probe at all—they would have gone straight to the Sect.

They could afford to privately befriend an ordinary Spirit Nurturing Master who was just starting out.

However, a Spirit Nurturing Master capable of creating a Tier Two, Mastery Spirit Nurturing Bead was on a completely different level, far beyond what a few families in Celestial Spirit City could hope to associate with.

······

After the two had left, Qu Qingxian made a light leap onto the roof.

He looked at Qu Qizhong and asked, "How did you get Elder Huang to come here just now?"

Qu Qizhong seemed to finally snap back to his senses. His legs instantly went weak, and he sat down hard on the roof.

Seeing Qu Qizhong’s terrified expression, Qu Qingxian said, "Scared now, are we? Why didn’t you think about the consequences when you were acting so recklessly before?"

Qu Qizhong looked at Qu Qingxian and said, "I just saw you were in danger, Ancestor. I wasn’t thinking about anything else.

"I thought I was just notifying Steward Zhang to pass on a message for him to come help. Who knew..."

"By the way, Ancestor, are you also part of the Alliance?"

Qu Qingxian rolled his eyes at him. "Only thinking to ask that now? If I weren’t, you would have violated the Alliance’s rules by revealing its existence to an outsider."

Qu Qizhong managed a strained smile and said, "Well, earlier today, Ancestor, you did give me a bit of a hint, didn’t you?"

Qu Qingxian shook his head. "Let’s go. We’ll head down, and you can tell me about the Alliance..."

The two of them jumped down from the roof, returned to the third floor, and started to chat.

······

After withdrawing his Heart Spirit, Zhang Deming observed the situation for a moment through the point of light representing Qu Qizhong.

When everything was settled, he promptly withdrew from the Spirit Nurturing Space.

He had long anticipated a situation like tonight’s.

Now, it all depended on the reaction from the higher-ups in Celestial Spirit City.

For him, there were only two possible outcomes. Either the Blue Sky Branch would be completely stable, and the Blue Sky Alliance would begin its steady development.

Or Zhang Deming would have to abandon the Qu Family entirely, lie low, and make new long-term plans.

Which of these two outcomes came to pass depended entirely on the reaction of Celestial Spirit City or, more accurately, the Celestial Spirit Sect.

The reason he had handled things this way tonight was to try and achieve the first outcome.

As he was now, he had neither enough resources nor enough strength. What he did tonight was the best he could manage.

After pondering for a long time, Zhang Deming finally closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

······

After the incident that night, the furious storm he had anticipated never arrived.

Nor did the investigation he had been expecting.

It baffled Zhang Deming. It was as if the Blue Sky Branch simply didn’t exist.

Of course, it was possible that any investigation was being done so covertly that Zhang Deming, at least, hadn’t noticed.

As a result, Zhang Deming became even more cautious. He changed the deliveries to once a month, handing over only about one hundred Tier One Spirit Nurturing Pearls each time.

Moreover, he no longer stayed behind to perform reconnaissance after each delivery as he had in the past.

He would place the items in a secret location and only notify Qu Qizhong to retrieve them the following day.

In this way, more than half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

Each month, Zhang Deming would rent a Cave Mansion for one or two weeks for closed-door cultivation.

He spent the rest of his time in the Sect.

Over the past six months, Zhang Deming had managed to scrape together nearly four thousand Spirit Stones, and his Experience Points had intermittently increased by sixty or seventy thousand.

Cultivation Technique: Turtle Water Array Skill (Tier Five)

Cultivation: Tai Chi Lv1 (67,428/300,000)

Skills: Spirit Nurturing Summoning Skill Lv3 (0/50), Thorny Vine Growth Skill Lv2 (0/10)

Spiritual Power Recovery: 100 Spiritual Power/3 minutes

Experience Growth: 10 Experience/3 minutes

Aside from his cultivation, he had intermittently sold six to seven hundred Spirit Nurturing Beads over the last half-year, allowing more than a hundred people to achieve Enlightenment Dao. His greatest rewards from this were Qi Fortune and Merit.

He now had dozens of light orbs in his inventory.

Merit: 10.2, Qi Fortune: 28.2.

He hadn’t used a single one, and now he had almost enough.

All told, it had been nearly a year since his promotion to the Outer Sect.

Zhang Deming had thoroughly holed himself up at Qingyou Pool on Little Hui Peak.

Zhang Deming would occasionally drop in on a class to show his face, but he spent most of his time lying low at Qingyou Pool.

Since Feng Mingyou had entered the Inner Sect, they had much less contact, and Steward Luh seemed to have vanished entirely in the last six months.

In any case, Zhang Deming’s days grew increasingly peaceful.

······

One day, while Zhang Deming was meditating, his expression flickered. The Identity Card at his waist had begun to vibrate.

Zhang Deming took it out and tapped it, opening a Light Screen. The message was very brief—a request to meet from Li Shifan.

Zhang Deming glanced at it, noted the location, and was surprised to see it was in Celestial Spirit City, not the Sect.

’Good. Saves me the trouble of running back.’

Zhang Deming got up, left his Cave Mansion, and a short while later, arrived at a Spirit Tea House in the East City.

Li Shifan was already waiting for him. He sat alone in a private room on the second floor, gazing out the window, lost in thought.

They had rarely met over the past six months, but they kept in touch occasionally, so each knew of the other’s recent circumstances.

In that time, Li Shifan’s disposition had grown colder, but his sharp aura had started to become more restrained. He had changed considerably.

The moment Zhang Deming entered, Li Shifan turned his head and said, "Senior Brother Zhang, you got here fast."

Zhang Deming smiled faintly, closing the door behind him. "I happened to be in Celestial Spirit City already, so it didn’t take long.

"But what about you? Why did you want to meet here?"

Li Shifan smiled. "I went to Qingyou Pool first, but you weren’t there. Factoring in what you told me about your situation lately, I figured you were probably in Celestial Spirit City.

"Besides, I also have some business to take care of in the city, so I came here."

Hearing this, Zhang Deming paused. He looked Li Shifan up and down before speaking calmly,

"If I’m not mistaken, you’re preparing to break through to Tai Chi, aren’t you, Junior Brother?"

Li Shifan looked stunned for a moment. He clearly hadn’t expected Zhang Deming to be so direct.

Their relationship had always been good, but even when they were both aware of something, they had a tacit agreement to feign ignorance. They had never been this blunt with each other.

After a moment of shock, Li Shifan gave a wry smile. "Compared to you, Senior Brother Zhang, this little bit of cultivation is nothing.

"You reached Tai Chi more than half a year ago, didn’t you, Senior Brother? In the time since, your cultivation has only grown more profound, making you even more inscrutable."

’He’s not denying it. Looks like he really is preparing to break through to Tai Chi.’ 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Zhang Deming smiled. "I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m not trying to probe you or anything.

"It’s true that I’ve reached Tai Chi; I don’t intend to hide that from you."

"I just wanted to ask, have you reached the Entry Level with your Sword Control Skill?"

Li Shifan paused, then said, "Since you’re being so direct, Senior Brother, I won’t hide it or make excuses.

"I came looking for you this time precisely because of my breakthrough.

"I’ve struggled a bit with the technique, but I’m getting the hang of it now. With a few more days of quiet cultivation, I should be able to master it completely.

"I’ve also managed to scrape together all the necessary materials. The only thing I’m missing is a Spirit Vein Cave Mansion.

"I heard you mention that you rent a Cave Mansion in Celestial Spirit City for your cultivation.

"I went and inquired earlier and discovered that a Two-Star Cave Mansion costs more than a hundred Spirit Stones a week, and they don’t rent them by the day.

"And I don’t have that many Spirit Stones to spare.

"So, I contacted you, Senior Brother, hoping to discuss if I could rent your Cave Mansion for a few days.

"Rest assured, I’ll pay you the market rate in Spirit Stones. I absolutely won’t let you take a loss."

Zhang Deming smiled. "We’re senior and junior brothers who have been through life and death together. Is there any need to be so formal?"

"Senior Brother, does that mean you agree?" Li Shifan asked, his face lighting up.