After Crossdressing and Provoking Long AoTian

The moment Yu Qingtang opened his eyes, he met Ji Ruxue’s gaze and heard her declare with absolute conviction, “As expected of the Born Supreme.”

He very nearly closed his eyes again.

With the weariness of a man who had seen too much, he pointed at himself, then at Ye Chenyan.

“This Born Supreme has only just reached late Nascent Soul. Are you really not going to take a look at Comrade Ye over there, who’s already at mid Out-of-Body?”

Ji Ruxue glanced at Ye Chenyan and nodded lightly. “Young Master Ye is naturally an outstanding young hero as well, but—”

“Good. Stop right there.” Yu Qingtang cut her off. He glanced at Ye Chenyan, who was still in the middle of his breakthrough, then lowered his voice. “Shh. If you keep going, our young hero is going to get angry in a minute.”

Ji Ruxue only half understood, but obediently stopped talking.

Ye Chenyan’s breakthrough lasted much longer than Yu Qingtang’s. After all, they were separated by an entire major realm, and the amount of spiritual power needed for their breakthroughs differed enormously.

Yu Qingtang crouched in front of him and suddenly asked, “Come to think of it, can you hear what people are saying outside when you’re breaking through?”

He usually couldn’t.

Except when his Nascent Soul went wandering. Then, by borrowing its senses, he could pick up a little of what was happening outside.

He had no idea whether everyone else was the same.

“Of course not.” Tu Jiaojiao looked at him as if the answer were obvious. “Didn’t your master tell you when he taught you cultivation that you have to concentrate your mind and guard your heart without the slightest lapse?”

Yu Qingtang rubbed his nose. “He says that all the time, but...”

He had always assumed it was like a teacher telling students to “pay attention in class.”

Everyone said it. Everyone knew they were supposed to do it.

But who could actually stay focused the entire time?

Yu Qingtang guiltily looked away.

So everyone in the cultivation world really could.

My mistake.

Girl in the Bamboo remained calm. “Naturally, the more focused you are during a breakthrough, the better.”

“As for you...”

Yu Qingtang was also looking at her.

Girl in the Bamboo had said before that her cultivation method was different from theirs. Sure enough, when he broke through just now, he hadn’t seen any Nascent Soul from her.

“Someone like you, who can divide his attention between two things at once, could also be considered unusually gifted.”

Yu Qingtang gave her a polite yet painfully awkward smile.

“Ha. Ha.”

Sure. He’d take that as a compliment.

“No, wait, that wasn’t what I was trying to say.” He snapped back to the point and turned toward Ye Chenyan, a wicked grin spreading across his face. “Hehehe. Since he can’t hear us right now, why don’t we take the opportunity to talk trash about him?”

“Huh?” Chi Yantian looked genuinely confused. “Why not say it to his face?”

Yu Qingtang stared at him in silence.

Ji Ruxue hesitated. “Speaking ill of someone behind their back seems...”

Yu Qingtang: “...”

“Don’t mind those two.” Tu Jiaojiao threw an arm around his shoulders and leaned in eagerly. “Listen, I’ve disliked that brat for ages. What have you got? Share.”

Yu Qingtang glanced at Ye Chenyan, leaned close to Tu Jiaojiao’s ear, and lowered his voice.

“He...”

At that exact moment, Ye Chenyan opened his eyes.

Yu Qingtang’s glance met a pair of clear black-and-white eyes staring straight at him.

No telling how much he had heard.

The words in Yu Qingtang’s mouth swerved sharply.

“He—he woke up.”

Tu Jiaojiao turned her head in speechless disappointment and clicked her tongue.

“You really don’t know how to cooperate. You could’ve pretended for a bit longer. Maybe we’d have gotten to hear what you were going to say.”

“What?” Ye Chenyan behaved as though he hadn’t heard any of their earlier conversation.

The aura around him had yet to settle completely. His gaze swept over the group, and then he suddenly smiled.

“You’re all done? Then let’s get out of here.”

Without another word, he grabbed Yu Qingtang and shot into the sky.

The vortex of spiritual energy around him moved with them toward the exit, its momentum faintly astonishing.

Tu Jiaojiao stared after him in surprise. “Did he not finish the breakthrough?”

“It doesn’t look like something went wrong.” Ji Ruxue frowned in confusion. “More like he deliberately suppressed it...”

Girl in the Bamboo looked up at the sky, her expression turning strange.

“At Out-of-Body, he can already draw upon the spiritual power of heaven and earth. He couldn’t possibly be planning to use the momentum of his breakthrough to do something, could he?”

“Hm?” Chi Yantian immediately perked up. “Let’s follow him! What kind of bad idea is he up to this time?”

Yu Qingtang was hauled onto the spirit boat by Ye Chenyan.

Feeling inexplicably guilty, he kept sneaking looks at him.

“You—you really didn’t hear what we were talking about?”

“No.” Ye Chenyan stood at the bow of the boat with his spear in his arms.

Yu Qingtang clung to the side of the spirit boat and peeked at him. “Then why are you flying so fast? You’re not angry, are you?”

“Of course not.” Ye Chenyan turned his head, eyes curving with his smile. “If I were angry, I wouldn’t sulk quietly. I’d cry and make a scene until you knew about it...”

Yu Qingtang looked at him expectantly. “Then cry.”

Ye Chenyan: “...”

“Ahem.” Yu Qingtang guiltily looked away. “I was kidding. If you’re not angry, why are we flying this fast?”

“If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss our chance.”

Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow at him, smiling slyly.

“Just watch.”

By the time he finished speaking, they had already reached the entrance to the immortal abode.

Ye Chenyan piloted the spirit boat with the long tail of a spiritual-energy vortex still dragging behind them.

Only then did Yu Qingtang belatedly realize that the suppressed vortex from Ye Chenyan’s breakthrough had never dissipated.

It had followed them all the way here.

He looked back in confusion. “Why hasn’t it dispersed?”

Ye Chenyan chuckled.

Then he drove the spirit boat straight through the gates of the immortal abode.

Outside, the Esoteric Sect old man stood with his hands clasped behind his back, cold-faced as he waited for Ji Ruxue to emerge.

Instead, what came flying out was Ye Chenyan—with an enormous spiritual-energy vortex trailing behind him.

Their eyes met.

The Esoteric Sect old man instinctively narrowed his eyes.

The last time he had seen Ye Chenyan, the young man had only just broken through to Nascent Soul. Against him, Ye Chenyan had been capable of little more than fleeing in miserable disarray.

Barely any time had passed.

And now he was already at mid Out-of-Body.

Even the Esoteric Sect, accustomed as it was to seeing prodigies, could not dismiss such a terrifying cultivation speed.

Unfortunately, they had already made an enemy of him.

Ye Chenyan gave him a brilliant smile.

Alarm bells exploded in the old man’s mind.

He immediately retreated.

A step too late.

Borrowing the force of heaven and earth stirred by his breakthrough, Ye Chenyan raised his spear and launched a ferocious attack straight at the Esoteric Sect old man.

The vortex of spiritual power crashed into a peak Integration cultivator.

The impact shook heaven and earth.

Sand and dust erupted everywhere.

When it finally dispersed, Ye Chenyan stood at the front of the spirit boat, smiling as he shook out the cloth he had thrown over Yu Qingtang’s head to shield him from the sand.

Then he patted the fine grit off Yu Qingtang’s hair.

Across from them, the Esoteric Sect old man stared in disbelief at one bare arm.

One of his sleeves had actually been shredded.

“Sorry about that.” Ye Chenyan looked up and gave him a bright, apologetic smile. “I just broke through, so I couldn’t control my aura properly. It was only an accident. A magnanimous senior like you surely wouldn’t hold it against me, right?”

Yu Qingtang sucked in a sharp breath.

Ye Chenyan really knew how to cause trouble.

That said, since the target was this particular old man, Yu Qingtang didn’t especially object.

He quietly poked his head out and helped explain.

“It was an accident! He definitely didn’t do it on purpose!”

Behind them, Ji Ruxue, who had witnessed the entire thing, stared with wide eyes. Her gaze flickered uncertainly, as though she had no idea whether she ought to say anything.

Chi Yantian and Tu Jiaojiao had no such concerns.

One slapped his thigh. The other clutched her stomach.

Both doubled over laughing without the slightest attempt at restraint.

The Esoteric Sect old man’s face darkened.

“Good. Very good, brat!”

Ji Ruxue’s expression shifted.

She quietly tried to stop him. “Seventh Uncle, forget it.”

“Hmph!”

The old man ignored her and looked coldly at Ji Ruxue.

“Did you find it?”

Ji Ruxue nodded gently.

“Then come here.”

He stood opposite them, as though an invisible line had been drawn cleanly between the two sides.

Ji Ruxue hesitated.

She looked back at everyone once before ultimately returning to the Esoteric Sect old man’s side.

“Where did your hat go?” He frowned and took another veiled hat from his storage ring, identical to the previous one, then handed it to her. “I’ve told you before. Your status is different. You should not become too entangled with outsiders.”

“Besides, your appearance is exceptional. If others see your face, it will only invite unnecessary trouble.”

Tu Jiaojiao raised an eyebrow when she heard that.

Then she deliberately called out, “Xue’er! Next time you come to Rongzhou, don’t bring that annoying old man. I’ll show you how to have some real fun!”

“Ah?”

Ji Ruxue had been about to put on the hat.

At those words, she looked up in startled confusion. Her eyes flickered, and a blush rushed across her face.

“W-were you calling me? I...”

Before she could finish, the Esoteric Sect old man interrupted with a stern expression.

“Nonsense! The holy maiden of my Esoteric Sect takes mending the Heavenly Dao as her sacred duty. How could she possibly mix with an ill-mannered rabble like you?”

His face grew darker.

“The so-called righteous sects of this age truly cannot compare to the past. These...”

“What?” Chi Yantian immediately folded his arms, drawing Flamelet over to his side as he glared at him. “Your Esoteric Sect is the one that can’t compare to the past!”

“Ahem.” Amusement flashed through Hongni’s eyes.

“Calm down, old man. Don’t get yourself so angry you catch fire.”

“Oh?”

She looked eagerly at him.

“You raised your hand. What’s that supposed to mean? Want to fight?”

The atmosphere instantly turned explosive.

A battle seemed ready to erupt at any moment.

Then laughter suddenly drifted down from the horizon.

“Better to arrive at the right time than arrive early.”

Tianji Zi lounged shamelessly atop a cloud, grinning down at them.

“Looks like I made it just in time for the most entertaining part.”

“You again!”

The Esoteric Sect old man practically ground the words through his teeth.

Clearly, Tianji Zi had left him with lingering trauma.

“Tianji Zi?” Hongni looked at him in surprise. “What are you doing here? Come looking for me to drink?”

“Well, that’s—” Tianji Zi stroked his beard. “Sure, I wouldn’t mind having a few drinks while I’m here.”

“I was actually chasing after a few troublemakers all the way to this place. And would you look at that—what do I find?”

“A whole crowd of troublemakers.”

He clicked his tongue and shook his head at Ye Chenyan.

His expression was perfectly pleasant.

His voice was anything but.

“I always said you were destined to accomplish great things. And the trouble you’ve caused all the way here—whew. If I’d arrived any later, you might’ve punched a hole straight through the sky.”

Ye Chenyan turned his head aside and pretended he hadn’t heard a thing.

“Heh.” The Esoteric Sect old man sneered. “So even you know how to discipline him. I thought you never bothered teaching your disciples at all, considering you managed to raise such an arrogant, insolent—”

“Now, now. You really shouldn’t put it that way.” Tianji Zi smiled so broadly his eyes nearly disappeared. “If you follow that insult all the way around, you’ll realize you’re ultimately insulting your own Esoteric Sect.”

The old man glared at him.

“What does this have to do with the Esoteric Sect?”

“You don’t know what my relationship with the Esoteric Sect is?” Tianji Zi shrugged. “I’m the final disciple personally accepted by your Esoteric Sect ancestor, Bu Yetian.”

“You say my disciple is arrogant and rude, but I’m not much better than he is. Which means, by saying that, aren’t you indirectly insulting your own—”

The Esoteric Sect old man’s pupils contracted.

“Shut up!”

“You are nothing more than an abandoned disciple of the Esoteric Sect! How dare you speak so recklessly!”

“Ohhh—”

Tianji Zi smugly leaned back and waggled his eyebrows at the juniors.

“See that? He couldn’t argue with me, so now he’s mad.”

Yu Qingtang: “...”

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