Who let him join the Sword Sect!

Chapter 397 The Qiao Family's Dramatic 8 PM Drama

"So, what do you want with the old man?" Qiao Lezhi asked, seeing Chen Qin's surprised and uncertain expression.

"It's hard to say for sure right now, let's go outside and talk about it." Now that the family members have been found, the roster is no longer meaningful, and Chen Qin is eager to leave this place.

I don't know why, but besides feeling soaked to the bone, I also kept feeling like someone was watching me.

"Let's go," Qiao Lezhi said indifferently.

After the three left the old library on this floor, an ancient book placed on the top shelf opened its eyes and turned into a sticky blue substance.

A BL (Boys' Love) character disguised as a book.

Fuhime stared in the direction the three had left for a while, yawned, twisted her body, and finally closed her eyes again, her body turning back to the color of a book.

A small note was tucked inside her book.

The writing on the note was blurred by the dampness, but it was still faintly legible.

[Our Fujoshi's Mission Log]

【Task 1: Help Senior Brother Zhang Ze find someone (1/1)】

【Task 2: Hide here and give someone a fright (0/1)】

—The Rotten Princess is on a mission—

The Sword Sect's headquarters.

When discussing matters, one should naturally seek a bright and refreshing place. Such places are few and far between in the Sword Sect's main hall. Apart from the mountaintop, the best place is the Cloud Viewing Platform, which is specifically used for drying quilts.

However, the Guanyuntai (Cloud Viewing Platform) is not quite suitable today.

It wasn't because it was a cloudy day, but because there was a bald head in the sky above the Cloud Viewing Platform.

A bald Buddhist monk sat upright in mid-air, his appearance solemn and dignified, his whole body radiating golden light, like a small sun radiating heat, while also gilding the sheets and blankets hanging on the viewing platform with a layer of gold.

"Where did that monk come from?" Chen Qin asked.

"I don't know." Qiao Lezhi shook her head.

She has been staying at the old library for the past few days and is not very aware of what is happening outside.

"Let me see..." Mei'er took out the small walnuts, flipped them over, and quickly found the answer.

"Oh, it's a task posted by a senior brother in the Buddhist sect."

Chen Qin, "What mission?"

Mei looked at the task and read it aloud, word by word.

"Urgent! It's cloudy at the Sword Sect headquarters today, and it's going to rain tomorrow and the day after. For the health of our fellow disciples, the future of the six sects, the peace of the East Sea, and the peace of the four continents, we need to take action."

"We urgently need a Buddhist brother who practices the Great Sun Golden Light Mantra to help us air out our quilts."

Chen Qin, “…”

Is this how sect missions are used after the six sects have been integrated?

Chen Qin was unsure.

But since they were already there, there was no reason to turn them away. Just as the three were about to move to another spot, they saw the bald man fall down from the sky on his own.

The golden light faded, and he nodded and smiled at Chen Qin and the others before stepping aside and walking down the mountain.

Chen Qin watched the bald man's retreating figure. "Master, where are you going? Aren't you going to finish the mission?"

The bald man turned around, smiled slightly at Chen Qin, and took out the small walnut he used for timing.

"It's time for this monk to finish his work. If you want to continue sunbathing, you'll have to pay extra."

"Would the benefactor like to extend the time?" the master asked solemnly and earnestly.

Chen Qin: "Oh, no, thank you, Master."

After the bald man left, Mei'er and Chen Qin sat in a row across the table by the white sheets that smelled of Buddha's light, waiting for Qiao Le to tell them the thrilling past of the Qiao family.

Chen Qin remembered that Zhang Ze had told her a story called "Qiao Family Compound" one night.

In the story, the Joe family used Stand users to fight for control of the Grand Line's maritime trade routes, ultimately winning and reaching the end of the world. They climbed the Sky Tower, built the Joe Family Compound, and ruled the world. Because each of them had a star birthmark on their neck, they gradually became known as the Five Elders.

Chen Qin felt that Qiao Lezhi's family situation was probably similar.

However, the story was not as exciting as I had imagined.

Qiao Lezhi said, "I never met the old man. He passed away before I was born. If you want to know about him, you'll have to ask my father."

"And then?" Before Chen Qin could even put the sunflower seeds in her mouth, the story was already over.

"That's it. I've never even met my grandfather, what can I say?"

"Impossible. This is definitely not that simple. Think again, what other secrets does your family have?"

In order to remind Qiao Lezhi of the so-called secret of the Qiao family, Chen Qin hurriedly told Qiao Lezhi about the things she had heard from Zhang Ze about her grandfather, Qiao Tianqiao.

Qiao Lezhi listened with great interest, cracking sunflower seeds.

"Amazing, I didn't know my grandfather had done this kind of thing..." Qiao Lezhi muttered to himself.

"You really don't know?" Chen Qin asked again.

Qiao Lezhi shook her head, indicating that she really didn't know.

"Then, what are you doing at the Sword Sect? Is there some arrangement from your grandfather or your father?" Chen Qin was still not giving up.

"There's no arrangement. I came to the Sword Sect simply because it's close to home. My hometown is sixty miles west of the Sword Sect," Qiao Lezhi said.

Chen Qin, "Ah? Then your father..."

"They're at Qianji Pavilion right now, selling bracelets on the pedestrian street."

"..."

In Qiao Lezhi's memory, the story of his father, Er Qiao, was more interesting than that of his grandfather, whom he had never met.

But it's only a little bit.

Qiao Lezhi's father, Qiao Erli, was not highly skilled; he was only at the Foundation Establishment stage.

As a failed independent cultivator, he had not traveled to many places.

What he could tell Qiao Lezhi were nothing more than half-true stories he had heard in taverns and teahouses, about hunting beasts in the deep mountains and exploring rivers and seas.

After Qiao Lezhi entered the Sword Sect to cultivate and saw real cultivators, she realized that what her father had said was all false.

He hasn't been anywhere...

Of course, even though it was all fake, she still really liked those things.

After the establishment of Qianji Pavilion, she found a way to bring her parents over and bought them a property in Qianji Town. Even if they did nothing, they would have no worries about food and clothing in the future.

"That's how it is, that's my family situation, that's all I know... If you ask any more questions, I can only tell you those ridiculous little stories my dad made up to lull me to sleep when I was little."

"Oh, I see..." Chen Qin sighed, feeling somewhat bored.

“However, I do know about that Primordial Body you mentioned,” Qiao Lezhi said, panting heavily.

"How so?" Chen Qin perked up again.

“My soul and body are fused together and cannot be separated. If this is the Primordial Body, then I am it.” Qiao Lezhi pointed to himself.

Chen Qin, "Huh?"

Qiao Le knew that the secret to his unparalleled brute strength and leveling up while sleeping lay in this.

It's normal that this matter went unnoticed.

Previously, Qiao Lezhi, due to her exceptional talent, disliked cultivation. She skipped both morning and evening classes. Not to mention the method of separating the soul from the body, she neither learned, listened to, nor practiced the family's sword sect spells.

She wouldn't be normal; it would be strange if she were.

Therefore, neither outsiders nor even she herself gave this matter much thought.

If she hadn't recently started studying hard and taking extra classes, she wouldn't even have known about it.

"By the way, there's one more thing."

Qiao Lezhi rubbed her hair, as if this matter was somewhat confidential, but after thinking for a while, she still told the truth.

"Although I don't know why Junior Brother Zhang Ze is investigating the Primordial Body, there is something I need to tell you."

Chen Qin, "What is it?"

"I don't know about others, but I don't have a golden elixir."

Chen Qin, “!”

This time, not only Chen Qin, but even Mei'er, who had been sitting on the side playing with small walnuts, looked up and stared at Qiao Lezhi in shock.

Mei asked in shock, "How...how did you manage to keep such a big thing a secret?"

“Because nobody asks,” Qiao Lezhi shrugged. “Apart from Junior Brother Zhang Ze, no normal person would take out their golden core to play with for no reason, or say, ‘Come home with me and I’ll show you my golden core.’”

"So as long as I don't say anything, no one will know about it."

Mei'er thought about it and agreed. The Golden Elixir was such a precious thing that no one but Zhang Ze would take it out to play with every day.

He led me astray.

“But…that’s not right.” Chen Qin snapped out of her shock and realized the blind spot.

"But if a Primordial Body doesn't have a Golden Core, then what about Senior Brother? He has several."

Qiao Lezhi shrugged, leaned back in his chair, and looked up at the clouds in the sky.

"I do not know then."

...Qianji Pavilion.

Lily followed behind Zhang Ze, chattering incessantly.

"Tsk, I told you long ago, your golden cores are just gallstones, while Qiao Lezhi is the normal one. Here's what you're doing: keep one as a souvenir, and leave the rest to me. I'll break them up for you."

"Shut up, if you talk nonsense again, I'll send you to fight the Fukihime in the octagon."

"Cut~"

After suppressing Lily, Zhang Ze's expression was complicated as he thought about the message his junior sister had sent back.

The old saying is true: there is always an antidote within seven steps.

But he didn't expect it to be this close.

Looking at the Erliqiao bracelet shop with the sign that read "Closed Today," Zhang Ze stepped inside.

The boss, who was tidying up in the back room, came out to greet them when he heard the wind chimes.

"Excuse me for today... Ah, it's young master! Please come in quickly."

Qiao Lezhi's father was tall and thin, with the appearance of a farmer. Although he ran a shop, he was not mercenary. Instead, he exuded honesty and simplicity from the inside out.

Zhang Ze was not familiar with him; he had only met him once when this man moved in, because of Qiao Lezhi.

"I came here today..." Zhang Ze thought for a moment and decided to get straight to the point.

After confirming that the two members of the Qiao family from the Beast Taming Sect and Longhu Mountain were actually the same person, he sought out several seniors who had a good relationship with Qiao Tianqiao in the past and asked them some questions. After that, Qiao Tianqiao's image became much more complex.

Therefore, Zhang Ze's story is easier to tell and more convincing.

"After leaving Longhu Mountain, he joined the Beast Taming Sect and changed his name to Qiao Tianjiao..."

While Zhang Ze was telling his story, Lily, who was bored because she was banned from speaking, started wandering around the store. Although the store was on the pedestrian street, it was in a remote location, and she had never been there much before.

After circling around, Lily turned to look at Mr. Qiao Erli, who was listening to the story, and thought to herself that appearances can be deceiving.

Some people may seem unassuming, but they can be incredibly shrewd when it comes to business.

Qianji Town is a place where extraordinary people emerge, it's incredibly chaotic.

It can be said to be the collection of the commercial essence of the entire Eastern Continent. Recently, due to frequent exchanges with the Northern Territory, a large amount of the essence of the North has also flowed here, showing a trend of filling this place up.

Besides the legitimate business of sitting in a shop, there are occasionally some mysterious independent cultivators who set up stalls while outsmarting the city management officers.

They have quite a few good things in their possession.

Compared to them, Qiao Erli's weapon-forging skills were utterly uncompetitive. So, in order to find something to do and not rely entirely on his daughter for support, he took a different path and went further and further down a certain track.

That's the Fukihime figure.

From bracelets to ornaments, abstract and concrete, there is everything. Although they are all carved from the most common jade, the craftsmanship is superb, and they can be described as lifelike.

Especially the few little rouge-themed figures in the very center of the wooden cabinet, each holding a musical instrument, look just like the real thing.

I glanced at the price tags on these rouge figurines, and then at the quality of these items.

Lily can only say that Fukihime is truly amazing.

'How about I make some too, add the likeness of Fuhita to the Thousand Machines magical artifacts, and then sell them for double the price?'

Lily's cunning nature awakened, and Zhang Ze finished telling the story of Qiao Tianqiao.

Zhang Ze said, "The Sixth Master has no intention of holding anyone accountable, Uncle Qiao, you can rest assured about that. It's just that I personally want to know what he did back then for some reasons."

Qiao Erli picked up his teacup and took a sip; his expression was one of mixed feelings.

He couldn't imagine that the person Zhang Ze was talking about, who shone like a star in the two sects, was his own father.

In his memory, his father was always the same mild-mannered man, and the thing he did most often was to sit with his mother for a whole day.

As for cultivation level, he certainly possessed it, but he never demonstrated any extraordinary abilities.

Just an ordinary person, like him.

He has never made a move, never been in a fight.

After a long while, Qiao Erli finally spoke, "To be honest, young master, this is the first time I've heard of these things. My father never told me any of these things when he was alive."

Qiao Erli looked at the two photos. The two people in the photos were completely unrelated to his father in his memory.

"But if we must say something strange, there is something. It is that my father and mother seemed to know their own destiny. After they had made proper arrangements for their funerals, they passed away together in the same heaven."

"That happened many years ago."

"Hmm... Young master, please have a seat. I'll go fetch something."

After saying that, Qiao Erli went into the back room and came out a moment later carrying a round ball.

“This is something my father left behind before he passed away. He said that if anyone came and asked him about what happened back then, he should give him this.”

It was about the size of a round washbasin, bluish-black in color, and warm to the touch. I didn't know what it was made of. Although it looked heavy, it felt as light as a feather when I picked it up.

"If my father has any secrets, I think they are hidden here."

Zhang Ze examined the large black egg from all angles, but couldn't figure out what it was.

'It can't be that this thing is really a medicinal pill, and I'm supposed to take it orally, can it?'

Dispelling this absurd idea, Zhang Ze channeled his spiritual energy to try and probe the interior of the object.

Qiao Erli sat to the side watching. After listening to Zhang Ze's story, he was also very curious about what was hidden inside this relic.

However, after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, nothing happened.

This was probably the first time Zhang Ze had failed to crack a walnut; his consciousness seemed to have vanished without a trace.

But just as Zhang Ze was about to take the item away to study it slowly, the black egg in his hand suddenly moved.

After a buzzing sound, the black egg instantly became ethereal, breaking free from Zhang Ze's control and flying towards the back of Lily's head...

Meanwhile, Lily, who was planning to release a collaboration between Fuhime and Thousand Machines Thunder, also shuddered. Her glowing syndrome, which had been cured by Meimei, relapsed, and this time it shone even brighter.

Like the sun, it illuminated the entire room.

But soon, the light went out, and the black egg the size of a washbasin disappeared along with it.

Zhang Ze: "Lily, you?"

Lily, "I'm fine, boss, don't say anything yet, wait a minute..."

Lily waved her hand, looking like she had dementia, signaling Zhang Ze to be quiet.
After a long silence, Lily frowned, her expression as if she had watched three hundred episodes of the melodramatic series "The Temptation of Returning to the Clan".

She looked at Qiao Erli with a complicated expression, "Your father is truly a remarkable person."

Qiao Erli was also a little scared by Lily's actions. "What do you mean... What did my father do? Where did that black ball go?"

"That black ball is actually a 'letter' that says... Let me think about how to tell you... Um, please forgive me if I say something wrong later."

Lily was very self-aware, but in her next sentence, she uttered something utterly insensitive.

"Your mother is not human."

Qiao Erli, "?"

"Pah, pah, what I meant was that your mother is not an ordinary person, not a human." Lily slapped her own mouth and quickly corrected herself.

Qiao Erli, who was originally prepared to fight Lily to the death, was pulled back to his chair by Zhang Ze.

Qiao Erli: "What do you mean?"

Zhang Ze glared at Lily, signaling her to think it over before speaking.

Lily reorganized her thoughts, "Well, how should I put it, your mother's true identity is actually that of a double egg, because she and your father... well, he's a very nice person, and after spending a lot of time together, they fell in love with each other."

"However, your father suffers from a congenital illness and cannot live a long life. Although there is a way to cure him, this method requires sacrificing one's life for another. Only one of the two can survive."

"In search of other solutions, they left Longhu Mountain and went to the Beast Taming Sect, and then traveled around the Eastern Continent for a period of time."

"But they never found a solution. They stayed in Qingjing, and your mother chose to take human form to live and die with your father and spend the rest of their lives together."

"Yes, it is like that."

Just then, the old man rushed into the shop through the window in a great hurry.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Why did I just receive an emergency signal from the Star God? What happened? What happened?"

It happened to be wandering around nearby when it noticed the unusual activity and flew over immediately.

When Lily saw the old man arrive, she pointed at Qiao Erli and said, "Look, this is what your mother always looked like..."

Qiao Erli looked at Lily, then at the glowing double-yolk egg. Overwhelmed by the amount of information, he didn't know what to say. Finally, overcome by anger, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed with a thud.

Zhang Ze, "!"

While frantically trying to save Qiao Erli, he frowned at Lili and said, "No, how can you make such a tragic love story sound so disgusting?"

Lily looked like she had done something wrong, "I... I said the wrong thing again."

Zhang Ze: "Otherwise, did Uncle Qiao faint from anger because of me?"

Before Lily could refute Zhang Ze's words, the crystal cover on the wooden cabinet behind Lily was suddenly lifted.

The group of little rotten girls carrying musical instruments jumped out and surrounded Lily.

"Lily, you've said something wrong again, haven't you! Octagon! Begin!"

In an instant, the store was in chaos, and more and more people gathered outside to watch.

Only the old man, this double-yolk egg, stood alone, disheveled in the wind.

(End of this chapter)