Whether we’ll ever be together in the future, at least for today, it’s impossible.

In front of her disciple, Ye Tinglan couldn’t openly show affection with the man. She could only seriously ask, “What did Gu Zhanting summon you for earlier?”

Lu Xingzhou carefully observed Du Gupingli’s expression and replied, “To mediate the Huo family’s affairs, and also… he covets you.”

Ye Tinglan: “…”

Du Gupingli: “?”

Du Gupingli naturally didn’t know about this, but Ye Tinglan couldn’t have been oblivious for so many years; she had long had an inkling. Being exposed by the young man, however, filled her with shame, and she couldn’t help but sneer, “He’s dreaming. Did he actually say such a thing directly to you? How did he put it?”

Lu Xingzhou roughly recounted the conversation, then added, “On the surface, he didn’t say it so directly, but men’s affairs… those who understand, understand.”

How could “those who understand, understand”? Du Gupingli felt he now understood men’s affairs perfectly, having a face like that, a smell like that… but he couldn’t hear any hint of covetousness in that conversation.

Yet, he couldn’t help but say, “Yes, you two understand each other perfectly, after all, you both like renunciant Taoist nuns, and older ones at that.”

Lu Xingzhou averted his gaze, a憋着 face.

Ye Tinglan’s phoenix eyes narrowed with a cold glint. “Du Gupingli!”

Du Gupingli also looked away.

Ye Tinglan glared at her disciple for a long time, her tone finally softening. “Qingli, I…”

Du Gupingli cut her off. “You don’t need to explain to me; I’m not the master.”

Ye Tinglan: “…”

She was speechless for a long time, then sighed and continued the conversation. “Looking at it this way, he actually hates you.”

“Yes,” Lu Xingzhou replied. “The position of minister is his last offer to me. If I’m sensible, I might still be able to use it, but if not, then he’ll start looking for trouble with me.”

Ye Tinglan said with some apology, “I’ve gotten you involved with such a troublesome enemy… I…”

“What are you saying?” Lu Xingzhou stepped forward, wanting to embrace her. “To be able to win you over in front of an enemy of this caliber, I…”

Du Gupingli stepped forward, and Lu Xingzhou almost embraced her sword.

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

Ye Tinglan was also very embarrassed. Some words were sweet when spoken privately between the two of them, but once a white-haired figure stood by, everything felt out of place.

So why exactly was she keeping this annoying disciple in the capital?

She could only desperately keep the conversation going. “It’s quite strange that he’s still willing to give you a chance and offer you high office and generous pay.”

“He feels a certain amount of guilt towards Tangtang, which affects some of his decisions, but not much. At most, it slightly suppresses his murderous intent, which will surface sooner or later. In fact, he told me to go back for the New Year after the Dan Academy’s graduation exam and complete the wedding with Tangtang… I’ve thought carefully about this, and I even suspect there’s a possibility he might kill me on the way.”

Ye Tinglan was startled. “Highly likely.”

“It’s fine,” Lu Xingzhou said with a relaxed tone. “If I really have to leave the capital, I’ll disguise myself and leave quietly. It won’t be easy to intercept and kill me on the road.”

“What if he doesn’t stop there and tries to wipe out the Tianxing Jianzong again?” Ye Tinglan worried. “I’ll accompany you back to Xiazhou then.”

Lu Xingzhou paused, then frowned in contemplation.

Ye Tinglan asked curiously, “What’s wrong?”

“Could it be that he wants to use this to lure you out of the capital?”

Ye Tinglan was startled and also fell into contemplation.

Gu Zhanting loved to plot behind people’s backs, and everyone had fallen victim to it many times before, making them a bit sensitive. Any move he made could make people suspect foul play.

But simply luring Ye Tinglan away from the capital, what would be the purpose? After much thought, it seemed to have no meaning.

Lu Xingzhou pondered for a while without coming up with anything concrete, then said, “When the time comes, I’ll invite another guest to the ceremony.”

Ye Tinglan asked, “Are you not trying to invite Long Qinghuang to keep order?”

Lu Xingzhou shook his head. “Jiang Duxu.”

Ye Tinglan’s eyes widened. This time, the expressions of both master and disciple were, for once, in sync.

If Gu Zhanting really tried to send people to deal with Lu Xingzhou or the Tianxing Jianzong, and then found that the one keeping order was a suppressed-level Qianyuan, that would be an even bigger spectacle than the Grand Preceptor keeping order.

But had Jiang Duxu’s cooperation reached this level?

Lu Xingzhou handed over the jade slip Jiang Duxu had given him earlier, which contained the plan to refuse ascension. “Jiang Duxu was afraid that if he gave you the plan directly, you wouldn’t be able to resist the urge for cultivators to break through, so he gave it to me to control. Actually, I have nothing to control; naturally, I’ll discuss it directly with you.”

Ye Tinglan felt a sense of comfort and took the jade slip, scanning it. As expected, she didn’t feel an immediate urge. “So, what’s your opinion?”

In reality, if Jiang Duxu had given it to her directly on the spot, and Lu Xingzhou hadn’t been by her side, it would be hard to say what she would have thought at that moment. Now, after a few days, and with Lu Xingzhou passing it to her, Ye Tinglan’s reaction naturally became to first listen to the young man’s opinion.

Jiang Duxu’s move was indeed very prudent; the old man had also seen through those subtle feelings between men and women.

Lu Xingzhou said, “You should first judge whether it’s feasible. If it is, then we’ll plan how to improve the success rate, for example, if there’s a better solution for this colorless realm artifact.”

Ye Tinglan replied with certainty, “If it can truly achieve the concealing effect he described, then it is indeed possible to deceive heaven and cross the sea. It’s just that this Buddhist approach…”

Lu Xingzhou pondered for a moment, then whispered, “We need to find an opportunity for you to personally visit the Demon Clan’s Sacred Mountain.”

Ye Tinglan looked him up and down. “Is the Demon Clan’s Sacred Mountain yours?”

Lu Xingzhou coughed dryly and remained silent.

Earlier, in front of his teacher, he had only said that Long Qinghuang was a discerning patron.

“Is this your discerning patron?” Ye Tinglan grabbed his collar. “Honestly, what’s really going on?”

Du Gupingli’s voice came from the side, “It’s probably just like what others see as your so-called teacher-disciple relationship with him.”

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

Ye Tinglan’s face turned green then red, choked with anger, unable to speak. After a long while, she angrily let go of Lu Xingzhou’s collar. “I’ll figure this out myself. My Tianyao Sacred Land needs those scaled and horned demons? What a joke.”

With that, she pulled Du Gupingli and walked away. “Let’s go back first. Don’t think too much about the ice demons anymore.”

This disciple kept interjecting, making it impossible to continue the conversation.

Du Gupingli was pulled away by his master, his blue eyes coldly fixed on Lu Xingzhou’s face as he left, with “you wait for me” written all over it. Lu Xingzhou shivered and covered his forehead.

What a mess…

But thankfully, because of this, the little white-haired one probably wouldn’t have any room for the ice demons in her heart for a while…

After seeing off the white-haired master and disciple, Lu Xingzhou still couldn’t gather his thoughts even after sitting back in his chair, so he simply went home.

Another important matter was coming to an end in these two days: the Dan Academy graduation exam, which he had discussed with Gu Zhanting.

When he arrived home, Anu had already curled up by the alchemical furnace, earnestly practicing alchemy—a rare sight for this child.

It was clear that even Anu took this matter quite seriously.

Lu Xingzhou once greatly needed this identity to qualify him to propose to Shen Tang. Now, it wasn’t as important; he had titles and official positions, so this was no longer significant. Instead, Anu cared more about it now.

Being a proper student of the empire’s highest alchemy academy and graduating honorably… for the “ghost child” who used to hide and dare not show his face, it was a kind of rebirth of identity.

The chubby child usually didn’t say it aloud, but he cared deeply in his heart, just as he cared that his classmates didn’t recognize him, his little face filled with a hint of melancholy…

Just like children who attended private schools, he could have classmates to whine with.

Lu Xingzhou paced over to Anu, who was focusing intently, peeking through the small window of the alchemical furnace, so engrossed that she didn’t even bother to acknowledge her master.

Lu Xingzhou didn’t disturb her, observing for a while.

Anu was now practicing with first-grade elixirs, with a success rate that wasn’t very high, but occasionally she did succeed. This level was already quite respectable throughout the Great Qian, capable of outperforming half of the teachers at the Dan Academy.

From this stage onwards, there was no longer any talk of refining multiple pills in one furnace; no one had that kind of certainty.

As for quality, it was good enough if she could even refine it…

And according to Ye Tinglan’s previous teachings, elixirs at this stage required a great deal of time coordination, and some special types of elixirs even needed specific fire seeds. Flame was no longer merely for providing high temperature for smelting and fusion; the flame’s own attributes began to significantly impact the elixir’s effects.

Just like the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir in the Maha Notes, which required Samadhi fire.

Of course, these weren’t needed for the exam, but if one considered super-grade elixirs in the future, new fire seeds would have to be found. Anu needed them, and Lu Xingzhou himself did too.

If he were to leave the capital and return to Xiazhou to get married, he might consider not rushing back to the capital and instead prioritize his personal cultivation.

Having too many worldly affairs hindering his personal cultivation progress was one of Lu Xingzhou’s current pain points. Second-grade cultivation seemed fast, but his methods were scarce, he had no magical artifacts, and his ultimate trump cards were pitifully few. His current ability to challenge higher levels relied on the numerical superiority of super-grade cultivation techniques and battle skills. If he encountered an opponent who also possessed super-grade techniques, he might well be challenged by them.

The little white-haired one also wanted to find a place to cultivate; perhaps they could go together?

As he pondered, a subtle dan fragrance wafted out, signifying Anu’s successful practice.

The furnace lid slowly rose, and a shimmering, first-grade elixir gently ascended from the furnace opening. Lu Xingzhou squinted, examining the dan纹, his heart giving a slight leap. “Excellent grade.”

Anu was also very happy. Her success rate when practicing first-grade elixirs was terribly low, let alone producing an excellent grade. In all her days of refining elixirs at home, it had only happened two or three times.

Just as she was about to reach for it, Lu Xingzhou suddenly stopped her, cautiously looking up at the sky.

No movement.

Anu scratched her head. “What’s wrong, Master?”

“According to records, when elixirs reach this level and are of excellent grade, there’s a saying, ‘seizing the creation of heaven and earth,’ which usually leads to a tribulation.” Lu Xingzhou looked at the sky with some surprise. “Why isn’t there one? Is it because your talent for communicating with plants is considered cheating, so there’s no tribulation?”

Anu said, “The first time an excellent grade appeared, there actually was a very funny tribulation. A small demonic creature jumped out of the void to snatch the elixir and was killed by me.”

Lu Xingzhou nodded. This kind of greed-demon tribulation was born from the elixir itself, which is why many alchemists needed protectors when refining elixirs. Alchemists themselves had low combat power and were even weaker after refining elixirs. At such times, if a demonic creature appeared, it could easily kill the alchemist, hence the need for protection.

Of course, this was meaningless for the muscular Anu; any small demonic creature that jumped out would only be flattened.

“But why isn’t there one this time?”

Anu scratched her head. “Later, there was another excellent grade, and there wasn’t one either. Is it because that demonic creature was killed and never appeared again?”

Lu Xingzhou shook his head. “That’s impossible. These times, with or without tribulation, were there any other differences during the refining process?”

Anu scratched her head. “The first time, Yuyu wasn’t around; she was sleeping in the house. These last two times, Yuyu was nearby. Does that count?”

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