Chapter 66
Chapter 66: Dedication
Yu Liu Ya greeted Hu Qing with an uncontained grin—and then his eyes landed on her neck. The smile froze.
“What happened?” he blurted. “Your throat—”
Hu Qing waved him off. “Have any Ancestors been watching me in secret?”
Yu Liu Ya’s expression sharpened. “Someone came to you again?”
He didn’t even have time to move. Two Ancestors were already there—Integration Stage great experts, faces grim as stone.
They stared at Hu Qing’s neck, then spoke in turn, recounting everything they had seen: Hu Qing leaving Zhaohua Sect, returning to the Hu family, Xun Ru Tang smashing into a door, the trip to the Xun family, and back again. Everything had been normal.
“After you returned, you exchanged a few words with Shui Xin,” one said.
“Then you went straight into seclusion in the artifact workshop,” the other added.
“And after that, the Sect Master sent word for you to come to the inner sect.”
Hu Qing’s lips tightened. “These immortals…”
“An illusion?” Yu Liu Ya guessed.
Hu Qing’s face darkened. She didn’t hide it. “A demon immortal came for Hu Hua Hua. She didn’t kill me right away—she must have had reasons. But it looks like an immortal can cast an illusion directly on your spiritual sense. Or… some kind of hypnosis.”
The two Integration Stage Ancestors checked themselves immediately. Nothing. No trace.
The failure made them both visibly sullen.
Hu Qing hurried to soften the blow. “It might be an innate talent—some natural power to bewitch people. Not necessarily something you can detect.”
One Ancestor exhaled hard. “Then our cultivation is still too shallow. Once the Mahayana Stage Ancestors break through, we should enter seclusion as well.”
Only once they ascended could they truly protect the sect.
Yu Liu Ya thrust an ointment at Hu Qing. “Use this.”
She refused, chin lifting stubbornly. “No. I need to feel ashamed and work harder.”
Yu Liu Ya rolled his eyes and yanked her forward. “Fine, fine. Come. I’ll show you something better.”
Because the items had all come from Hu Qing’s efforts, the Zhaohua Sect Ancestors didn’t hide anything from her. Everything Zhe Liu left behind had been sorted—yet not a single piece had been claimed. It all sat in the grand hall, spread out by category.
People were copying. Studying. Arguing. Recording.
Time wasn’t just money. It was survival. No one wasted a breath.
“Formation plates, formation flags—finished goods,” Yu Liu Ya said, practically vibrating. “You toss them out and they activate. I don’t know how much they’ll matter in the Immortal Realm, but in the Little Li Realm? They can definitely kill an immortal suppressed by the Heavenly Dao. And these immortal talismans—look at them!”
His eyes shone like a kid in a candy store.
Hu Qing couldn’t help smiling too. “Senior Brother, they’re only Spirit Immortals.”
Yu Liu Ya nodded rapidly. “Yes, yes. Still. We’ll use them to protect the sect.”
“That’s fine,” Hu Qing said, then sobered. “Just don’t get too comfortable. It won’t stay ‘only Spirit Immortals’ forever.”
Yu Liu Ya’s grin faltered. “…Why do you always do that?”
She pretended not to hear and let him drag her onward.
He led her to four tables. On each, an Ancestor sat behind a small stack of jade slips, pressing blank ones to their forehead and recording at speed. Baskets beside them were already filling with copies.
“Pills, talismans, artifacts, formations,” Yu Liu Ya said quietly now. “Nothing too high-level. But enough for our four peaks to learn.”
Hu Qing leaned in, scanning the titles. “Zhe Liu was only a Spirit Immortal. His collection isn’t exceptional. But for us, right now, it’s plenty worth learning.”
Yu Liu Ya snorted. “Stop looking down on Spirit Immortals. You and I are only at the Nascent Soul Stage. We’re still far from even a low-grade Spirit Immortal.”
Then he narrowed his eyes at her. “By the way—your cultivation. I can’t read it anymore. Did you get some kind of boost?”
“I’ve been running around constantly,” Hu Qing said. “No time for proper closed-door cultivation.”
“Then go into seclusion,” Yu Liu Ya said without hesitation. “Your peak, Martial Uncle’s peak, Cai Xiu Peak, Shuang Hua’s place—it doesn’t matter. You’ve got Hu Nuan’s cave dwelling in half the sect anyway.”
Heat crept up Hu Qing’s face.
Yu Liu Ya waved it off, too blunt to notice. “Or I’ll lend you my own cultivation spot. I’m not stingy.”
He was right, in a way. With Hu Nuan and Chan Ming tied to her, Hu Qing was more bound to Zhaohua Sect than most official disciples. As long as Zhaohua Sect didn’t fall, she wouldn’t be leaving.
So everyone needed to get stronger. Now.
“Wait.” Yu Liu Ya tugged her toward another area before she could argue.
This table was packed with jade slips and books—cultivation methods, heart arts, manuals, and techniques for blades, swords, movement, whips, and more. This was what the sect needed most.
“We checked them. They’re safe,” Yu Liu Ya said. “Pick one you like.”
There were over a hundred. Some were surely common goods. But common goods from the Immortal Realm were still treasures in the lower realm.
Zhaohua Sect wasn’t hoarding anything. They were copying everything in bulk and preparing to open it to the disciples.
“Best one here is Earth-grade,” Yu Liu Ya said. “But it’s incomplete. The good news is, you’re not limited to cultivating only one. Choose something Profound-grade.”
Hu Qing didn’t reach for any of them. “I’ll go into seclusion first. If I read Immortal Realm methods now, I’ll get impatient and rush.”
Yu Liu Ya grunted, accepting the point. “Fine. Then look at the artifacts. You know more than I do.”
Hu Qing didn’t hesitate. She moved straight to the weapons.
Zhe Liu had a collector’s obsession. Blades, swords, and all kinds of weapons lined multiple racks—every one of them Immortal-grade. Not a single mortal-grade piece among them. Even the odd, uncommon weapons were plentiful enough to stock a small exhibition.
Hu Qing whistled softly. “He really sacrificed one man to make the entire sect happy.”
Yu Liu Ya’s hand came down on her shoulder. “Lower your voice. Even if everyone knows, we still keep it low-key.”
Hu Qing’s lips curved. “Fine. Then we’ll call it dedication.”
Yu Liu Ya nodded, satisfied. “Exactly. Dedication.”
In the end, Hu Qing chose an exquisite lamp about the size of a small watermelon. The outer layer was carved with swirling auspicious clouds and coiling vines, dragons and phoenixes and auspicious beasts. Inside, layers nested within layers, the structure so intricate she couldn’t make sense of it at a glance.
Through the tiny gaps, she could see the innermost core: a small lampstand with no wick, no oil.
It made her itch with curiosity.
And Juan Bu had casually declared that, among all these immortal artifacts, this was one of the few that was “barely worth looking at.”
That settled it.
Yu Liu Ya leaned close. “A lamp? What does it do?”
Hu Qing shook her head. “No idea.”
Yu Liu Ya rubbed the surface hard, trying to scrape off the mottled stains. They didn’t budge. “It’s old.”
He glanced at her. “You’re not going to look at the artifact-forging texts?”
“Not yet,” Hu Qing said. “Let the sect handle the first pass.”
With all this, Zhaohua Sect would be busy for a long, long time.
Yu Liu Ya’s gaze flicked toward another rack. “Pick something for your kid.”
Hu Qing’s face immediately fell. “With that tiny Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation?”
Yu Liu Ya stared at her. “…Are you criticizing me, or the sect?”
Then he sighed. “But you’re not wrong. They should have advanced by now. Back when you came out of the ancient graveyard, they should have formed cores.”
Zhaohua Sect valued foundations. From the Qi Refining Stage onward, each child’s master had suppressed their cultivation again and again, building their base until it was solid enough to stand on. Their spiritual roots were good. Even under suppression, their growth stayed at a normal genius pace.
And yet, when it came time to form a Golden Core, they kept stalling. Again and again.
Hu Qing didn’t sugarcoat it. “They just don’t have any ambition.”
Yu Liu Ya went quiet.
In the end, he could only accept it. If the elders carried everything, how could the children learn to carry themselves?