Longzang

Chapter 819 Working Behind Closed Doors
Entering the study, Xiaoyu saw a tall stack of letters on the desk, the bottom envelopes already slightly yellowed, and her eyes suddenly felt a little sore.

He picked up a letter, glanced at the cover, and saw it was from Wei Yuan. He picked up another letter, also from Wei Yuan.

Thus, during the years that Xiaoyu remained in seclusion, Wei Yuan wrote letter after letter, not caring that he never received a reply.

Xiaoyu gently stroked the letters with her crystal-clear, jade-like fingers, a smile playing on her lips, and murmured to herself, "...I wonder how my Yong'an City has developed now."

The maid who was in charge of cleaning the study chuckled, "Young master, this person has been writing to you all these years while you were in seclusion! If I didn't know he was a man, I would have thought you had bewitched some young lady again!"

"Don't talk nonsense, this person is my fellow disciple."

The maid scoffed, "Tch, when have I ever seen fellow disciples write so many letters? You guys are abnormal!"

Just as Xiaoyu was about to offer a few words of explanation, a refined voice rang out from outside the study: "My nephew's achievement of becoming the Lesser Yang Star Lord is truly a cause for celebration!"

A man in a blue robe with a short beard entered the study. Xiaoyu stood up to greet him and said, "Third Uncle."

The man smiled and said, "It seems that in less than ten years, I will be surpassed by you. Haha, your third uncle was once known as the number one genius of his generation, but I still can't compare to you, the number one genius of the entire Xiao family. The great task of revitalizing the Xiao family in the future will depend on you."

"Uncle, you flatter me. I have always remembered your guidance." Xiaoyu remained humble and polite.

The man said, "The Immortal Ancestor has decided to hold a grand ceremony for you, inviting nearby families and sects, especially Shangguan Qianmo from the Sword Palace, to celebrate the appearance of the Lesser Yang Star Lord. Your grandfather is still in seclusion, so I will preside over the ceremony. The date is set for noon seven days from now. What do you think?"

"I will follow my family's arrangements."

The man nodded in satisfaction, then glanced at the letter on the desk and said, "Wei Yuan really cares about you."

Xiao Yu smiled and said, "After all, he is my junior brother. We have been through life and death together for several years. Our relationship is different."

After her third uncle left, Xiaoyu sat upright at the back of her desk, ordered her maid to light a pot of incense specially made for the imperial family, brought out a ten-thousand-year-old Arctic mammoth ivory cutting knife, and then took out a paperweight carved by a master craftsman over ten years from a base of blood fetus mutton fat white jade. She placed them neatly on her desk.

With everything prepared, Xiaoyu picked up the first letter, opened it solemnly, sat up straight, and read it carefully in the afternoon sunlight.

After reading just a few sentences, Xiaoyu's smile vanished.

After reading several letters, Xiaoyu's face turned ashen. She bit her lower lip so hard that the ivory letter cutter in her hand shattered into several pieces with a snap!
"Are you even human? Are you even human?!" Xiaoyu's beautiful lips squeezed out a string of profanities.

He couldn't understand how Wei Yuan managed to keep writing to him, yet there wasn't a single word of longing for Xiao Yu in those letters; it was all just boasting about himself.

It's one thing to boast about oneself, but in the end, one always manages to add a few sarcastic remarks about Xiaoyu, skillfully employing the tactic of putting others down.

Xiaoyu picked up the most recent letter and tore it open, but he used too much force and accidentally ripped the letter in two. He pieced the two halves together, and the first sentence of the letter read: "My dear brother Xiaoyu..."

Xiao Yu took the first few letters. Sure enough, the first few started with "Brother Xiao Yu," but now they've become "Brother"? Who gave him the courage? Even if Xiao Yu agreed, Shao Yang Xing Jun would never agree!

Xiaoyu barely suppressed her boiling anger and continued reading.

"...The immortal played chess, and I, your foolish brother, was a chess piece. I won by a small margin, but failed to completely defeat my opponent, which was quite regrettable. Later, one day while cultivating, I intended to advance my cultivation level further, but unexpectedly, an immortal from another realm launched a sneak attack!"

My foolish brother fought to the death and, by sheer luck, won by half a move; the immortal was wounded and fled…

Xiaoyu covered her face with her hands. What a load of rubbish! He really knows how to brag!

Someone has been bragging about this for years and still enjoys it. Does he think Xiaoyu is stupid, or is he particularly easy to bully?

After becoming the Lesser Yang Star Lord, Xiao Yu's temper became much more irritable. The Lesser Yang Star Lord's so-called gentle temperament was only in comparison to the Sun and Bright Sun.

Without saying a word, Xiao Yu opened the sword armory, took out the magic weapon longsword that his family had specially made for him during his Dharma Aspect stage, and then, without taking anything with him, took off into the air in the courtyard.

The maidservant below sensed something was wrong and flew up as well, revealing that she also possessed the cultivation of a Dharma Aspect. She hurriedly called out, "Young Master, where are you going?"

Xiaoyu said, "I'm going on a long trip."

"What about the Grand Ceremony of the Immortals?"

"...It's canceled!!"

The words echoed in the air, and a line of fire high above had already disappeared at an astonishing speed. Although the maid was also a Dharma Aspect, she was far slower than Xiaoyu, and in the blink of an eye, Xiaoyu's figure had vanished from sight.

Many high-ranking cultivators in the ancestral land were alarmed. Their divine senses swept over the scorching remnants left in the air, but none of them understood what had happened. However, judging from the trajectory, it was heading west.

……

Wei Yuan spread out a large sheet of paper, calmed his mind, dipped his brush in ink, and then wrote four large characters on the paper:
Working in isolation.

These four characters possess a sharp edge, yet remain subtly assertive; their vigor is tempered with restraint, revealing a touch of unpretentious simplicity. They represent Wei Yuan's pinnacle achievement. As Wei Yuan gazed at these four large characters, secretly pleased with himself, he suddenly felt the study had become much hotter, as if scorched by the midsummer sun.

Then a pleasant voice, tinged with grinding teeth, rang in my ears: "Are you saying I'm working in isolation?!"

Wei Yuan looked up, both surprised and delighted: "Junior Brother Xiaoyu?! It really is you, you're finally back! That's wonderful, I was so worried about you during this time without any news."

Xiao Yu's eyebrows shot up, her eyes blazing with anger. This guy was calling her "Junior Brother" so casually and naturally now? He squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth: "I just came out of seclusion and was thinking of quickly coming over to ask Senior Brother for some pointers!"

Xiaoyu emphasized the words "senior brother" very heavily.

Wei Yuan looked Xiao Yu up and down and said, "You've also become a Dharma Aspect? Hmm, you're not slow among our generation. I wouldn't call it giving you pointers, but I can share some insights with you."

Xiao Yu could no longer bear it. She was the one who had the potential to inherit the mantle of the Immortal Ancestor, and Shao Yang Xingjun was also proud and arrogant. How could he tolerate Wei Yuan's repeated yin-yang behavior?!

At that moment, the Lesser Yang Star Lord manifested, waving his sleeves, and a large swath of sunlight swept up Wei Yuan, and the two appeared above the Immortal City. Xiao Yu drew her sword and shouted, "I have just achieved the Dharma Form, and my cultivation is still shallow. I humbly request your guidance, Senior Brother!"

It was as if a blazing sun had appeared above the immortal city; such a commotion naturally alarmed everyone. Immediately, more than ten divine senses probed the area, and someone exclaimed, "What kind of Dharma form is that? It looks incredibly powerful!"

Another person said, "Ordinary sword-wielding immortals are common, but once they have a name and a title, they become extremely terrifying! This sword-wielding immortal is clearly extraordinary, but we don't know what his title is."

Xiao Yu took in everyone's discussions, and her mood finally improved. She thought to herself that there were indeed discerning people. It wasn't surprising that they didn't recognize Shaoyang Xingjun, after all, the Xingjun's position was too high, and he rarely manifested in the mortal world. Even the Xiao family only had him recorded in ancient texts, and no one had ever truly cultivated him.

These dozen or so divine senses were all unfamiliar; Xiao Yu didn't recognize a single one of them. He hadn't expected that in just a few short years, so many unfamiliar dharma forms would appear in the Azure Netherworld.

Wei Yuan looked at Xiao Yu with disbelief and said, "You really want to spar with me?"

"What kind of look is that... what else?" Xiaoyu was so angry that she accidentally blurted out her true feelings. Then, not intending to argue with Wei Yuan any further, she drew her sword. She felt that if she said a few more words, she would lose her Dao heart.

Wei Yuan feigned surprise, then adopted a painstaking tone, saying, "Isn't that unnecessary? You've just broken through, your Dao heart isn't stable yet. What if you leave behind some hidden dangers..."

Xiaoyu was furious, enraged, and furious: "...I don't need your concern!"

At this moment, powerful or strange auras appeared in various places in the Azure Sky. The cultivators of the Primordial Palace, who were originally in seclusion in their respective places, were all startled by Xiao Yu's aura, which was as bright as the sun in the sky, and came out of seclusion to see her.

Xu Yi, Cui Yu, and the other two Dharma Aspects from the Sixteenth Young Master and Miss were not in seclusion and arrived the fastest. Cui Yu's aura was obviously special, and Xiao Yu couldn't help but take a few more glances and greet him.

Cui Yu was initially overjoyed to see Xiao Yu, but upon seeing the scene before him, he exclaimed in surprise, "Junior Brother, what are you doing? You don't mean to spar with Wei Yuan?!"

Xiao Yu said coldly, "Why not?"

Cui Yu kindly advised, "It's been so long since we last met, we should catch up properly first, why be so upset?"

If it weren't for their past relationship, Xiaoyu would have almost blurted out "Shut up!"

At this moment, Xu Henshui, Sun Yu, Yu Zhizhuo, Chuhe Zhenren, and others also arrived. They were all figures of the older generation and had been in Qingming for a long time, so they knew what had happened as soon as they saw the scene.

These people remained calm and collected, none of them speaking, just watching quietly with shining eyes.

A moment later, Bao Yun, Ji Liuli, Feng Tingyu, and others arrived, their eyes fixed intently on Shaoyang Xingjun in the sky.

Shaoyang Xingjun clearly sensed the deep and surging malice, his expression hardened, and he became wary, no longer as relaxed as before.

Deep within the herb garden, even the chickens awoke.

Finally, Zhang Sheng appeared quietly and stood on the outer edge. At this moment, her aura was faint, and she was almost invisible. If Wei Yuan hadn't bowed, many people wouldn't have noticed her arrival at all.

Xiao Yu also respected Zhang Sheng, and bowed in return. Zhang Sheng nodded, accepted the bow without hesitation, and then looked towards Shaoyang Xingjun.

Shaoyang Xingjun immediately felt as if he were facing a formidable enemy.

Xiao Yu didn't understand why Shao Yang Xingjun was like this, but even though he was irritable, he could sense that something was wrong with the atmosphere. Why did everyone seem to be watching a show?

Moreover, he was shocked to discover that, apart from Zhang Sheng, who was still unable to see through him, all the familiar faces around him had actually reached the Dharma Aspect stage, and even Xu Yi and his former playboy friends had become three Dharma Aspects each. Compared to them, his own progress was truly slow!

However, whether one progresses quickly or slowly is irrelevant; with Lord Shaoyang by their side, even a hundred years of seclusion would be worthwhile. The only problem is that Zhang Sheng couldn't reach the bottom; whenever Xiao Yu's divine sense approached, it was blocked by her own generated sword energy.

At this moment, Zhang Sheng glared at Wei Yuan and said, "That's enough. Don't go too far."

Wei Yuan said respectfully, "Teacher, rest assured, I will definitely not hurt my junior brother."

Even with her good temper, Xiaoyu couldn't hold back any longer and said coldly, "Can we start fighting now?"

"Wait a minute!" Wei Yuan pointed at Shaoyang Xingjun and said, "When we spar, can we also use such self-generated spiritual objects? Can we summon and use anything that exists in a Dharma form?"

"Of course!"

Wei Yuan grinned: "Then don't blame your brother for being unfair and bullying the weak."

With a wave of his hand, three Mirage Demons appeared and surrounded Xiaoyu.

Xiao Yu was stunned!

Shaoyang Xingjun, on the other hand, showed a resolute expression, preparing for a desperate battle to save face.

(End of this chapter)