Ling Luoyi visited Mei Ran's room again. Mei Ran was her bodyguard, so she had her own room.
Although Mei Ran was a bodyguard, the Ling family had a barrier, and Ling Luoyi's cultivation was high, so she didn't need protection. Therefore, Mei Ran and Tu Bai's daily tasks were to watch over the alchemy pavilion. However, Ling Luoyi's reputation preceded her, and no one dared to cause trouble, so they had quite leisurely days. When Ling Luoyi arrived, Mei Ran was still embroidering.
It had been four months since they started serving as Ling Luoyi's bodyguards. Ling Luoyi had given each of them four pills, and they had now recovered fifty percent of their vitality. Their appearance and bodies had returned to how they looked at sixty years old. Although still old, they were much better than before.
Seeing Ling Luoyi arrive, Mei Ran rose to salute.
"I'm here to give you something," Ling Luoyi said, taking out two medicine bottles, one blue and one green. "Each bottle contains two pills. One for you and one for Tu Bai. As before, you can only take one! Take the green bottle first, then the blue bottle. You must wait a month between taking the pills from the two bottles. Do you remember?"
"Yes, subordinate remembers," Mei Ran said, feeling flustered and hesitant about whether to ask.
Ling Luoyi could tell and spoke before she could ask, "I will be going into seclusion starting tomorrow, and I don't know when I will emerge. There are only two months left until our half-year agreement. I'm afraid I won't make it in time, so I'm giving them to you now. When the time comes, you should leave directly. These two pills are enough to restore your remaining vitality, but you must wait a month between taking them, or I won't be responsible for any accidents!"
"Yes, subordinate remembers everything and will do as you say."
"Alright, I'm leaving. No one dares to cause trouble in the Ling family now, so you can explore Cloud Abyss City. But don't forget that you are still my bodyguards for the next two months and need to protect the Ling family. If I find you abandoning your post, believe me, no matter where you are, I will find you and turn you back into your previous state! Don't doubt my words."
Hearing this, Mei Ran shivered and said, "Subordinate will protect everyone in the Ling family!"
Watching Ling Luoyi's receding back, Mei Ran finally relaxed. She naturally didn't doubt Ling Luoyi's words, especially since Ling Luoyi could restore their lost vitality, which was enough to prove many things. Not to mention Ling Luoyi was a ninth-grade top-tier alchemist and possessed unfathomable cultivation. A first-tier Spirit Master? She didn't believe it.
Ling Luoyi returned to her room and entered the Phoenix Cry Realm to begin her seclusion.
The next day, as Ling Luoyi had mentioned her seclusion the previous night, everyone knew she was in seclusion when she wasn't seen.
After breakfast, Wen Zonglin left Cloud Abyss City, intending to establish a teleportation network starting from the Dragon Clear Kingdom.
The Ancient Spirit Academy had its own communication channels, so the deans of the various outer academies received Wen Zonglin's orders. Although they didn't know what they were supposed to do, they dared not disobey Wen Zonglin's command. While Wen Zonglin usually didn't handle administrative matters, he held absolute leadership within the Ancient Spirit Academy.
The Ancient Spirit Academy lived up to its reputation as the number one force on the Ancient Spirit Continent. After receiving Wen Zonglin's orders, everything was completed within five days, awaiting Wen Zonglin's next command.
Of course, this was only within the outer regions. Lower-tier kingdoms on the periphery of the Ancient Spirit Continent did not have the Ancient Spirit Academy, so except for the Heavenly Martial Kingdom, there was no movement elsewhere.
On the second day of Ling Luoyi's seclusion, in the small world, the advancement light pillar suddenly dispersed into specks of light, which then surged towards a single location and disappeared completely. The entire process was very peaceful, so much so that not even the surrounding spiritual energy was disturbed.
After the last speck of light vanished, inside the cultivation tower beneath the original advancement light pillar, in a room that hadn't been opened for days, Ling Luochen exhaled a breath of turbid air and opened his eyes, starlight flashing through them.
Ling Luochen felt his current cultivation level and found it was a third-tier Spirit Master! This was a leap of an entire realm! What was going on?
Ling Luochen was bewildered, not knowing what had happened. But he remembered that everyone had shown signs of advancing together, and then they had all returned to the small world to go into seclusion. A whole family entering seclusion together could not be due to their own reasons, so it could only be her. He just didn't know what Luo'er had done to cause them all to advance simultaneously.
Thinking of Qiu Yuanxi saying that Ling Luoyi had left because she was going to advance, Ling Luochen found his answer. He just didn't know what realm Luo'er was in, to have her advancement cause the clan members to advance together.
Ling Luochen moved his stiff body, unsure how long he had been in seclusion. Had the Wei family's matters been resolved? How was the Ling family doing now?
As Ling Luochen emerged from seclusion after noon, the clan members in the small world were all cultivating. Therefore, the first to notice the disappearance of the advancement light pillar were the servants in the small world. However, they didn't know the reason, so they naturally didn't connect its disappearance with Ling Luochen.
Ling Luochen used the teleportation array to return to the Ling mansion and saw Ling San and a few others sparring. Upon seeing him, they all saluted.
Ling Luochen merely nodded at them and then headed towards Ling Luoyi's Qingyin Pavilion, wanting to clarify some matters.
Ling San quickly stopped Ling Luochen and said, "Young Master, are you going to see the Eldest Miss? That's quite a coincidence. The Eldest Miss went into seclusion yesterday and didn't say when she would emerge. You probably won't see the Eldest Miss for a while."
After hearing Ling San's words, Ling Luochen frowned. Seclusion? Thinking that another person might know something, Ling Luochen asked, "What about Miss Qiu?"
"Miss Qiu has been living in the Eldest Miss's Qingyin Pavilion and only comes out during meals. She should be in Qingyin Pavilion at this time."
Hearing this, Ling Luochen subtly relaxed and said, "You all continue cultivating. I have some matters to ask Miss Qiu about."
"Yes."
Ling Luochen arrived at Qingyin Pavilion. The maids were all busy with their tasks. Since Ling Luoyi was not present, the four first-class maids were relatively idle.
With Ling Luoyi absent, the list that Ling Luoyi would have reviewed now needed Qiu Yuanxi to look at it. Zhu Shuang was organizing it, and Zhu Xue was helping her. Both were in the room and didn't notice Ling Luochen's arrival, so Lan Yue greeted him.
"Greetings, Young Master," Lan Yue saluted and said, "Young Master, are you here to see the Miss?"
"I'm not here to see your Miss. Is Miss Qiu here? I have some matters to ask her."
Lan Yue was startled and said, "Miss Qiu is in the Miss's room. Do you need me to announce you?"
"Please announce her. I'll wait downstairs."
"Yes."
When Lan Yue knocked, Qiu Yuanxi was refining medicine. The recent stock had been depleted, and more would be needed in the future, so she was rushing to prepare more. To reduce mental energy consumption, she hadn't released her divine sense to scan the courtyard. Anyway, with Little Luo'er's barrier, no one could break in, so she hadn't discovered Ling Luochen's arrival.
"Miss Qiu, the Young Master is here. He says he has some matters to ask you and is waiting downstairs."
Qiu Yuanxi heard Lan Yue's footsteps, so she wasn't startled by her voice. But why would Little Luo'er's elder brother be looking for her? Although she played well with the younger generation of the Ling family, it was limited to those teenagers. She hadn't spoken a few words with Little Luo'er's elder brother.
Lost in thought, she replied, "Please tell him to wait a moment longer. I'll be down soon."
"Yes."