A long while passed.
He turned his head slightly toward the empty side of the hall and called out in a flat tone:
"Luo Yu."
Hum.
As the words fell, a patch of shadow at the side of the hall rippled faintly.
A spirited youth with a long sword strapped to his back stepped out and knelt respectfully on one knee.
"Sect Master."
Luo Yu was now half a step from Golden Core.
Qing Feng had temporarily seconded him from Elder Liu Yun's side—nominally to remain on hand for assignments, though in practice there was no small measure of intent to guide him.
Luo Yu was naturally more than happy with the arrangement.
Though Qing Feng was not a pure sword cultivator, with his cultivation and foundation, a few offhand pointers might be worth months of bitter training to Luo Yu. Over these past days, his grasp on breaking through to Golden Core had indeed firmed up considerably.
Qing Feng was still gazing out at the sea of clouds beyond the hall as he asked mildly:
"Has anyone on the Main Peak been covertly investigating Hundred Forging Peak lately?"
A flicker of bewilderment crossed Luo Yu's face.
Hundred Forging Peak?
That place had long since been marginalized by the sect. How had it suddenly drawn the Sect Master's attention?
Before he could think it through, Qing Feng added another line.
"Specifically... Lu Xiaoqi."
"Lu Xiaoqi?"
Luo Yu raised his head, surprise plain in his eyes.
Of course he remembered that name.
That youth A-Song valued so highly had left a fairly deep impression on him.
Not to mention, the man was the older brother A-Song valued so highly.
Though puzzled, Luo Yu asked nothing further and merely cupped his hands and bowed his head.
"This disciple understands."
Several hours later.
Luo Yu returned to the Evergreen Hall.
"Reporting to the Sect Master."
"This disciple has investigated covertly. The Enforcement Hall has made no moves, and no one on the Main Peak, high or low, has openly made contact with Hundred Forging Peak."
Qing Feng nodded slightly and didn't press further.
If Mingxuan had merely probed verbally and no actual action had followed below, that meant the matter remained at the level of mere rumor for now.
No need to churn up the entire sect over something built on wind and shadow.
"Noted."
"Withdraw."
Meanwhile.
After returning to his own hall, Mingxuan likewise issued no order to touch Lu Xiaoqi.
Qing Feng's reaction just now had been enough to show that he was far from ignorant of Lu Xiaoqi's recent changes.
In that case, moving against the man rashly before the situation was clear offered no benefit whatsoever.
Still, that message of unknown origin had left Mingxuan with a lingering caution.
"Leave Lu Xiaoqi alone for now."
Mingxuan instructed the elder below him flatly:
"Go find out where that message came from."
And so.
Though the name "Lu Xiaoqi" had created the faintest, most intangible connection among the Azure Cloud Sect's upper echelons, both sides maintained ample restraint.
The surface of the water remained calm.
The one who truly couldn't sit still was Lord Li.
Main Peak. Inside a hidden study.
Lord Li paced back and forth before his desk, hands clasped behind his back.
He'd never actually expected that releasing the news would get Mingxuan's crowd to recover the Nether River Bone Lotus on his behalf.
All he wanted was to muddy the water.
So long as both the Sect Master's side and the Vice Sect Master's side diverted a little of their attention toward Lu Xiaoqi, he could stay hidden in the dark and keep pursuing what actually mattered.
So after sending the message out, Lord Li hadn't been idle himself.
He'd put several of his covert channels to use and begun genuinely investigating Lu Xiaoqi.
And that investigation very quickly turned up the first thing that made him frown.
"Cangqing City?"
Lord Li halted mid-stride, staring hard at the record in his hand, his expression gradually turning strange.
Some days ago, Lu Xiaoqi had actually left the sect alone.
His destination wasn't a nearby market, nor some ordinary training ground.
It was the capital of Cangqing Province, thousands of miles away—Cangqing City.
A body cultivator disciple of Hundred Forging Peak. Out of nowhere, why would he suddenly travel that far?
The reason recorded in the register was exceedingly simple.
Hit a bottleneck in body refining; traveling to purchase high-grade spirit materials.
But it was precisely those few words that deepened the doubt in Lord Li's heart.
Because the timing of Lu Xiaoqi's trip to Cangqing City was simply too delicate.
It fell right after the Nether River Bone Lotus went missing.
If it were only a single trip to Cangqing City, perhaps coincidence could still explain it.
But Lord Li had always been cautious.
He followed the thread further, and before long, word came back from Qingmu Market as well.
This disciple had, in the past, actually made inquiries and attempted to purchase certain rather rare spirit materials in the market.
Exactly what he'd been looking for, no one could say clearly anymore—too much time had passed, and far too many cultivators passed through the market every day.
But at least one thing was certain.
Lu Xiaoqi had, from quite early on, already begun actively seeking out things that ordinary disciples rarely had anything to do with.
Reading that far—
The expression on Lord Li's face finally darkened completely.
A body cultivator with no background.
Who had once actively sought to purchase rare spirit materials.
Who afterward frequented an abandoned mine pit.
And who, shortly after the Nether River Bone Lotus vanished, suddenly made the long journey to Cangqing City, gone for several days.
To say all of this was entirely unconnected...
Would be a bit too convenient.
For the first time, Lord Li began seriously considering a question.
Could it be that this time, that useless Xiao Hai hadn't picked the wrong man after all?
That Nether River Bone Lotus...
Was it really connected to Lu Xiaoqi?
But the instant that thought surfaced, another, far thornier problem blocked his path.
Lu Xiaoqi—with what?
An orphan who'd clawed his way up out of the servant village. No illustrious clan, no outstanding spirit root, and certainly no real background worth mentioning.
What kind of place was Cangqing City?
High-grade cultivators gathered there in droves, and any decent high-grade spirit material was not something an ordinary Foundation Establishment disciple could easily afford.
Yet Lu Xiaoqi had not only gone.
He'd gone specifically to "purchase high-grade spirit materials."
Where had he gotten the spirit stones?
Add to that his recent, plainly unreasonable surge in strength...
Lord Li slowly sank back into his chair, staring at the few reports scattered across the desk, saying nothing for a long time.
If Lu Xiaoqi had merely stumbled upon the Nether River Bone Lotus by chance, the matter would actually be simple.
Find the man, take the thing back, and then make sure he stayed silent forever.
What genuinely made this thorny was—
Everything Lu Xiaoqi was now displaying didn't look remotely like something a man with no background could accomplish alone.
Strength.
Resources.
Spirit materials.
Even the sheer nerve to travel all the way to Cangqing City.
These things wove together in Lord Li's mind and ultimately condensed into a speculation that sent a faint chill through him.
Behind this Lu Xiaoqi...
Is there someone else?
The Sect Master?
Lin Dong?
Or someone on the Main Peak who had been hiding in the shadows all along?
Or else...
A power from outside the Azure Cloud Sect?
Lord Li couldn't be certain.
And the less certain he was, the less he dared to act rashly.
Originally, he'd only meant to push some unremarkable Hundred Forging Peak disciple out as bait, borrowing someone else's hand to scout the road ahead for him.
But having investigated this far—
Behind that originally unremarkable name, a fog he couldn't see through seemed to be slowly gathering instead.
The study fell into a dead silence.
Lord Li drew a deep breath and finally set the reports down slowly.
His gaze came to rest on the three characters at the very top.
Lu Xiaoqi.
His fingers tapped twice, slowly, against the desktop, and the wariness in his eyes grew thicker and thicker.
"Behind you..."
"Just who is it?"