Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 251 corresponds to an important person.

Regardless of what Si Han thought, Lu Xingzhou's proposal was bound to be passed on the spot.

In fact, Ye Tinglan felt that Si Han could announce on the spot that Tianyao Holy Land would be listed as a Holy Land of Tianshuang Kingdom, which should not have caused any obstacles, but Lu Xingzhou never mentioned it. Since she had handed the conversation over to Lu Xingzhou, she did not interrupt.

In the Frost Kingdom, darkness falls quickly. The two had already spent a long time on the road during the day, and after all that trouble, it was almost dusk.

Si Han naturally invited the two to stay overnight, and Lu Xingzhou did not refuse, but requested to stay in Shadow Moon City instead of the sect, and also not to participate in the banquet.

The two strolled side by side along the central avenue of Shadowmoon City, which was brightly lit. Lu Xingzhou observed the city with great interest, and even stopped flirting with his husband.

Ye Tinglan should have felt more at peace, but for some reason she felt inexplicably uncomfortable.

After walking quite a distance, I couldn't help but ask, "Why aren't you saying anything? Are you thinking about something?"

"Oh," Lu Xingzhou said casually, "I'm observing what kind of template this kind of royal city would be."

"So what did you observe?"

“The proportion of ordinary people is even smaller. The city has the feel of a cultivator's market that I imagined, but it's not quite there yet.” Lu Xingzhou’s gaze fell on a brothel on the side of the street. Ye Tinglan followed his gaze and her face turned ashen.

"Young master~ would you like to have some fun?" A madam was soliciting customers at the door. Seeing Lu Xingzhou looking around as if he didn't want to leave, she came out with a smile and pulled him along: "Oh, madam, what's with that expression? Jealousy is one of the seven grounds for divorce..."

Ye Tinglan stared blankly at Lu Xingzhou, who was sweating profusely. "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding! I wasn't looking at you!"

"I'm not trying to be mean, young master, your wife is pretty, but look at that stern face of hers. Does she have the manners of our girls?" The madam had already come up to her.

Lu Xingzhou immediately broke free, sweating profusely: "This is the first time I've ever seen someone solicit customers in front of another man's wife. I didn't see your business was this bad; you seem to have quite a few customers."

The madam chuckled, "It's rare to see such a handsome guest as you, young master. If you'd like to come, I'll personally receive you, free of charge..."

"You wish!" Lu Xingzhou grabbed Ye Tinglan and fled in panic.

Ye Tinglan glanced at the hand he was holding, suspecting he was doing it on purpose, but she didn't try to pull away for the moment. She asked coldly, "Why are you running away? Aren't you staring at me so intently?"

Lu Xingzhou stamped his foot: "I'm not looking at that, I'm looking at cultivation!"

"Ok?"

"Even prostitutes are cultivators, some even at the seventh rank! Damn it, I was at the same level as a prostitute just six months ago?"

Ye Tinglan almost laughed: "So what? Right now, the Hehuan Sect of the Great Qian is being severely cracked down on. In the early years when the demonic path was rampant, you could also see these female cultivators in brothels in the Great Qian. Those with high cultivation were quite expensive, I heard it was eight hundred spirit stones a night."

"Diamond-encrusted? What a bunch of bastards here."

Ye Tinglan: "?"

"Ahem." Lu Xingzhou quickly changed the subject, "Even back then, the Joyful Union Sect wasn't this obvious, was it? They would have hidden it at least a bit. It wouldn't have been obvious on the surface."

"That's true, so what are you trying to say?"

“I’m thinking that if this situation, where even prostitutes are cultivators, gets even more serious and reaches the point where there are no ordinary people at all, then we might not need to worry about things like sweet potatoes or grain production like in the Great Qian Dynasty.”

Ye Tinglan shook her head: "It's unlikely that there will be no ordinary people at all. Everyone starts their cultivation journey from being an ordinary person. Unless ordinary people live separately from cultivators, there might be no mortals in the cultivators' cities. That's how it is in the cities outside our Tianyao Holy Land now. They are formed only by the coming and going of cultivators. The so-called cultivator market you mentioned earlier is there. Why do you need to come to Tianshuang Kingdom to see it?"

Lu Xingzhou looked up and thought for a moment: "Is this the origin of the original separation between immortals and mortals? It's just that the separation has continued until now, and as mortals cultivate to a higher level, the cycle continues."

Ye Tinglan frowned slightly, her expression becoming serious.

Lu Xingzhou laughed: "Just explain your thoughts, don't overthink it. After all, even if that were true, it wouldn't mean anything to us."

“The meaning lies in discovering the truth.” Ye Tinglan said earnestly, “In a sense, cultivation is about seeking truth and knowledge, and exploring the origin.”

"Aren't you going to say it's for power and immortality?"

“Most people are like this… I just wanted to see what you thought.” Ye Tinglan paused. “When you go to a place, you make such observations and reflections… which is in line with the essence of cultivation.”

Why are you interested in my ideas?

"You..." Ye Tinglan knew he was flirting again, and secretly regretted that she had asked him to say something. If she wanted to observe the city, so be it! In the end, she not only got involved with a prostitute, but he also kept her by his side until now.

"Oh right, why haven't you released it yet?" Ye Tinglan instantly withdrew her hand.

But having come this far, he couldn't leave without responding, so he could only put on a stern face and say, "I am your mentor. Do I need any reason to understand my disciple's thoughts?"

"I just learned that you are so responsible, Master," Lu Xingzhou said with a smile. "Then shouldn't you be responsible for my meals? I'm hungry."

Ye Tinglan then remembered that this guy hadn't eaten for at least three days and three nights. He hadn't even started fasting, so it was normal for him to be hungry. She couldn't help but ask, "Then why did you decline the dinner invitation from Si Han? Were you afraid of being ambushed?"

"No, with the gentleman by my side, it's perfectly safe."

"Then why did you run out?"

“Because those banquets are bound to be hypocritical and boring, full of flattery. How can they compare to the comfort of us teachers and students eating out together?” Lu Xingzhou grabbed Ye Tinglan and led her to a nearby restaurant. “I know that the teacher probably doesn’t like those kinds of social gatherings either. We’re not on the same wavelength.”

Ye Tinglan thought to herself, "That's true," but it wasn't until she was pulled into the restaurant that she realized she'd been dragged along again...

By the time they tried to pull back, they were already inside a private room. Lu Xingzhou naturally let go, and the two sat facing each other. The waiter followed them in, smiling as he handed over the menu: "What would you like to eat, sir?"

Lu Xingzhou glanced around and was pleasantly surprised: "There's so much exotic beast meat!" The waiter was taken aback: "Are you from the Great Qian Dynasty, sir?"

"Yes, how do you know?"

"The mountains and fields of Tianshuang Kingdom are remote and wild, and there are many strange beasts. Only the people of Daqian would be so surprised."

Lu Xingzhou casually ordered some dishes and asked with a smile, "Do people from the Great Qian Dynasty often come here?"

"That's not many... but a white-haired girl came by a few days ago, and I remember her well."

The waiter didn't know what he had said wrong, and why the couple had fallen silent after that sentence.

Lu Xingzhou coughed twice: "How is the girl?"

"I just had a meal here and left, does anyone know what happened?"

Lu Xingzhou nodded and handed the selected menu to the waiter: "That's all, please serve it first... and please close the door behind you."

Compared to some predecessors who initially fell in love with their disciples but later, for various reasons, ended up with their masters, Lu Xingzhou's relationship with Dugu Qingli was far from that of a romantic one. The two hadn't actually been lovers, so when he was with Ye Tinglan, he didn't think much about Dugu Qingli. However, they had an accidental intimate encounter, and bringing it up inevitably caused awkwardness.

It's also because we discovered Mr. Ye's true identity a little too late; if we had known earlier, we probably wouldn't have had any ulterior motives.

Similarly, Ye Tinglan had never separated her disciple from a man before, so there was nothing embarrassing about it. However, because Qingli was friends with this man, it was also unavoidable that she, as an elder, would be holding hands with her disciple's friend, which was quite disrespectful.

Ultimately, it's this man's problem. Aren't we all of the same generation? What the hell are you pursuing? Why don't you go after Qingli? If you went after Qingli, I could at least break up the couple and have some fun. Why are you pursuing me?
The atmosphere remained tense for a long while before Lu Xingzhou finally broke the silence: "Um... Qingli said she was going on a mission to a very far place. Could it be that she came to Tianshuang Kingdom?"

Ye Tinglan hummed in agreement.

"Does your sect have a secret method for communication? Should we contact them and see if we can meet in the Frost Kingdom?"

Ye Tinglan rolled her eyes at him, annoyed.

What's the point of this gathering? Isn't it awkward?
She actually took out a communication jade talisman: "Now that you mention it, I remembered that I should notify Elder Su Yuan and ask him to come and take full charge of the affairs of Tian Shuang Kingdom."

Just as I finished explaining the situation to Su Yuan, another signal came from the jade talisman.

When Ye Tinglan saw the newcomer, she stared wide-eyed in disbelief, then secretly glanced at Lu Xingzhou.

Just then, the waiter brought out the dishes. Lu Xingzhou assumed that Ye Tinglan was still communicating with Su Yuan through telepathy, so he didn't disturb her and started eating on his own.

Ye Tinglan, acting like a thief, connected his divine sense to the jade talisman. Soon, the talisman revealed his younger sister's voice, which he hadn't heard in ten years: "Ye Tinglan! Are you with Lu Xingzhou?!"

Even if you beat Ye Tinglan to death, she would never have imagined that the first time she heard her sister's voice in so many years, it would be with such a sentence.

Yuan Muyu had just received Ji Wenchuan's report.

Previously, Su Yuan had relayed Lu Xingzhou's words to Ji Wenchuan and A Nuo, so the two of them stopped waiting idly on the glacier. Ji Wenchuan drove the bone dragon to take A Nuo back to Xiazhou.

On the way, Ji Wenchuan pondered that he still needed to organize the news from Dongyue Hanchuan and report it to Yan Jun. After careful consideration, he adopted A Nuo's suggestion and only mentioned the events without mentioning any gossip. However, he dared not deceive Yan Jun about the events, especially since it involved Lu Xingzhou's whereabouts. Ji Wenchuan cautiously mentioned that Lu Xingzhou was suspected of following the Holy Lord of Tianyao south to Tianshuang Kingdom, with unknown purpose.

Previously, Yuan Muyu had ignored all talk about Liu Yan'er, Shen Tang, Sheng Yuanyao, and Pei Chuyun, but at this moment she almost crushed the communication jade talisman to pieces.

No one else poses a threat...

It's hard to say with my older sister who looks a lot like me!

Of course, logically speaking, a rigid old maid like Ye Tinglan would never have any emotional connection with Xingzhou; this "following him south" was most likely for another important matter. But the interaction between the two still made Yuan Muyu extremely uneasy and unable to remain calm.

Ye Tinglan replied leisurely on the other end: "Yes, Lu Xingzhou is the top scholar of this year's imperial examination at the Great Qian Dan Academy. As the Grand Preceptor of Great Qian, I have high hopes for this young man and will give him some work. Do you have any complaints?"

"you……"

"If you're not satisfied, go back to the Tianyao Holy Land. We can send you on these kinds of missions in the future, how about that?"

Yuan Muyu gritted her teeth: "Why would the Holy Lord of Tianyao need to personally contact a young man! Aren't you approaching him to deal with me?"

"so what?"

"I'm warning you, if you dare to harm a single hair on his head, don't blame me for disregarding our sisterly bond!"

"I was only trying to teach my sister a lesson, why would I hurt anyone... Besides, someone as smart as him, surely you understand him better? What are you so afraid of?"

Yuan Muyu remained silent for a long time.

Ye Tinglan recalled that this seemed to be the first time her rebellious younger sister had been humiliated in front of her. For some reason, she retorted, "Oh dear, could it be that you're afraid he'll betray your former boss, Lord Yan, if he stays with me for too long?"

Yuan Muyu immediately said, "You're overthinking it... He just sees that you look somewhat like me and uses you as a substitute... just to reminisce about old friends. Tsk tsk, the dignified Holy Lord of Tianyao, doesn't he feel ashamed?"

"Look at you, acting like a shrew... Luckily, it's only somewhat similar. If it were completely similar, it would really ruin my image." Ye Tinglan casually cut off the communication.

Outside Miaoyin Mountain, many pedestrians suddenly felt as if an earthquake was occurring.

There seemed to be loud smashing sounds coming from inside the mountain, and the mountain itself was shaking.

(End of this chapter)