The facts proved that the jealousy in Mu Qiu Ying’s heart had not completely disappeared just because she learned that he had once accompanied her.
Returning once more to Juenian Mountain, Chen Juenian caught the little girl running towards him.
“Immortal… I had a dream…”
“Oh? What kind of dream?”
“In that dream, the Immortal finally took my sister away, and left Qiu Ying there—”
Little Mu Qiu Ying had tears spilling from the corners of her eyes, and Chen Juenian reached out to gently wipe them away.
“The Immortal won’t abandon Qiu Ying, right?”
“No.”
Really, no?
After Mu Qiu Ying broke through to the Refining Void Stage, Chen Juenian never again placed his gaze upon her.
It wasn’t because he stopped paying attention to her, but because Chen Juenian’s own dream had ended.
—
In the morning, Mu Qiu Ying was still lying in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
She had another wretched dream.
But this time, after waking, she felt not a shred of regret. Instead…
“…”
“About to break through?”
“Yes, Senior. This junior will be able to break through to Foundation Establishment the day after tomorrow.”
On the open ground in front of the Main Hall, Mu Qiu Ying found Chen Juenian practicing archery.
“That’s good news.”
Walking past him, Mu Qiu Ying still couldn’t bring herself to ruthlessly expose Chen Juenian’s true identity.
But now he was about to break through to Foundation Establishment.
After breaking through to Foundation Establishment… it wouldn’t be long before he would leave with Xuanyuan Jiong.
Again, just like this.
He helps me silently in the shadows, then silently disappears from my world.
Before, I didn’t know.
Now I know, yet I have no way to stop it.
Thinking of this, she thought of her trusted aide who loved reading.
“Elder Li.”
“Hmm? Sect Leader, did you come specifically to find me for something?”
Elder Li, who had been reading a novel, hurriedly closed the book in her hands, then calmly stood up to greet Mu Qiu Ying who had suddenly arrived.
Oh no, caught slacking off by the boss.
“Mmm… Do you know of any method to allow one’s Spiritual Consciousness to leave the body?”
“?”
What method?
To have your Spiritual Consciousness leave the body, you obviously need to… have your Spiritual Consciousness leave the body!
“What I mean is, how to allow a cultivator who cannot manipulate Spiritual Energy to have their Spiritual Consciousness leave the body.”
“Oh—has that child’s Spiritual Consciousness encountered a problem? I remember reading about it in a book before.”
Elder Li loved reading.
She quickly took a tome related to arrays from a nearby bookshelf.
“The Spirit Gathering Array. Using Spirit Stones as a foundation, it can rapidly restore the Spiritual Energy of cultivators within the array, and can also temporarily grant the ability to regulate Spiritual Energy to cultivators or mortals who cannot manipulate it. Does the Sect Leader need the method to set up this array?”
“No need. Also, you’ve been handling the patrols of the surrounding area these past few days. Thank you for your hard work.”
Mu Qiu Ying took out two pills, and Elder Li accepted them without ceremony.
Patrols were not an easy job.
She not only had to fly a circuit around the sect’s perimeter, but also constantly channel Spiritual Energy to probe for any abnormalities in the surroundings.
Every time she finished flying, she felt completely drained.
So this was what she deserved.
—
At night, Chen Juenian once again took out a Spirit Stone and placed it at the array’s focal point.
This was probably the last time he would use the Spirit Gathering Array for this kind of thing, because soon he would be able to break through to Foundation Establishment…
After learning why Mu Qiu Ying still harbored jealousy, Chen Juenian had barely managed to find a method to completely resolve this issue.
Of course, it was to find her memories from after he had woken from his dream, and then accompany her through the path she originally walked without him.
Mu Qiu Ying would no longer harm herself over the conflict between her own righteousness and wickedness, and he himself would successfully break through to Foundation Establishment.
In not too many days, he would be able to wait for Xuanyuan Jiong to come and get him.
He just needed to keep up the act, and all of this could become reality.
After preparing the Spirit Gathering Array, Chen Juenian drew in Spiritual Energy, channeling it into his meridians, and finally used this energy to release his Spiritual Consciousness.
Slipping with practiced ease into the Spiritual Consciousness of the already sleeping Mu Qiu Ying, Chen Juenian rode the void of her just-fallen sleep to draw out Mu Qiu Ying’s memory.
The scene before him began to gradually shift, finally solidifying completely.
“I… broke through.”
‘Not bad.’
“Immortal, did you see? I broke through to the Refining Void Stage!”
Mu Qiu Ying was very happy, because this experience was completely different from what she remembered.
In her memory, after she was surprised at successfully overcoming her Inner Demon and breaking through, Chen Juenian never appeared again.
But just now, he had responded to her.
‘I saw.’
“I saw it too—”
‘?’
Chen Juenian and Mu Qiu Ying made eye contact.
How can she see me?
This is bad!
Chen Juenian hurriedly fled from Mu Qiu Ying’s Spiritual Consciousness.
Just as he had returned to his body and was about to tidy up the array under his bed, he saw with his own eyes a few cracks appear in the wall in front of him.
The sound of falling stones reached his ears.
Chen Juenian, who had just reached for the Spirit Stone at the array’s focal point, looked up and met the gaze of Mu Qiu Ying, who had broken through the wall to enter.
Their rooms were, after all, only separated by a single wall.
Right! Mu Qiu Ying is a cultivator who uses weapons, not one who studies Extraordinary Arts.
I can just say this is a small array to assist cultivation, can’t I?
“Senior, what is this?”
Then she’ll definitely ask, what array is this?
As long as I insist this is an Energy Channeling Array to assist cultivation, everything will be resolved.
“The Spirit Gathering Array.”
“Uh…”
“You really are Chen Juenian.”
Seeing that things were completely exposed, Chen Juenian could only say:
“Qiu Ying, you won’t tell anyone about this, right?”
He didn’t get a verbal response, but he did get her embrace instead.
By the candlelight, Chen Juenian saw the tears on Mu Qiu Ying’s face.
“Someone so grown up… why are you still crying?”
After dropping the Spirit Stone in his hand, Chen Juenian patted her back gently, like comforting a child.
“If I had known from the start that the Immortal was always helping me in secret… how could I possibly have been jealous of my sister…”
“…”
“This time, the Immortal didn’t tell me either.”
Mu Qiu Ying’s hands, gripping Chen Juenian’s clothes, tightened even more.
She expressed the dissatisfaction in her heart in this way.
“Before, it was my lack of consideration. This time… I just didn’t want you and her to…”
“I’m jealous of my sister, all because of you, Immortal.”
Since Chen Juenian knew everything, Mu Qiu Ying naturally had no reason to hide it anymore.
“Since I’m jealous of my sister, how could I possibly expose the Immortal’s whereabouts to her?”
“That’s true too. Then, it’s all my fault.”
Chen Juenian comforted Mu Qiu Ying while thinking about how to resolve all of this safely.
It seems like it can end peacefully now.
Feeling relieved, Chen Juenian began trying to get Mu Qiu Ying to let go of him.
“Qiu Ying, can you let go of me now? I can tell you anything you want to know, but first you have to let go.”
“Qiu Ying doesn’t want to know anything.”
Within Mu Qiu Ying’s Spiritual Consciousness at this moment, everything related to Chen Juenian was replaying incessantly.
He had always been watching her, delivering various opportunities like pills and Martial Techniques to her in all sorts of ways.
In moments of extreme peril, he would personally intervene.
Finally, her memory settled on that small courtyard.
Opening her eyes again, Mu Qiu Ying met Chen Juenian’s gaze.
She didn’t want to know anything, because the answer was right before her eyes.
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