Compared to the vast majority of people present, Sun Wuwei, while not the highest in cultivation, was the eldest.
If one were to truly speak of seniority, due to the matrimonial ties between their families, the War family head would have to call him cousin-uncle. Therefore, Sun Wuwei was very confident that the War family head would give him an explanation.
However, before the War family head could speak, Zhan Jiuzhou, yawning and mumbling, said, "It's no use calling me Third Uncle, either. My Third Uncle can't control me."
After speaking, Zhan Jiuzhou opened his eyes. His previously listless eyes were now bright and filled with a cold glint.
"Venerable Sun, I advise you to stop trying to sow discord and scheme here. You'd be better off carefully considering Senior Sister Qianying's problem and giving her an answer sooner."
Otherwise, if Qianying were angered, she might just take down the entire Sun family!
After all, Qianying was not a person of gentle temper.
By then, the Sun family would have nowhere to cry.
Zhan Jiuzhou was sincerely warning him, but his words fell on Sun Wuwei's ears as mockery.
How dare a junior speak to him in such a tone? Did he think that Sun Wuwei was too old to deal with him?
Sun Wuwei looked at the young man lounging before him, his mind involuntarily overlaying this face with a face from his memories.
That young man was just as arrogant and disrespectful, lacking in propriety and reverence, only charging forward recklessly, making him detestable.
It was a memory from a long time ago. Sun Wuwei was momentarily dazed, then realized, and with a somber face, began to walk out.
"I'd like to see what happens if I don't give her an answer."
"Swish!"
Two long swords, gleaming with coldness, blocked Sun Wuwei's path.
Zhan Jiuzhou said weakly, "Until you have an answer, please rest in this room. It's safer here."
He grinned, his chiseled face showing a touch of dashing, uninhibited handsomeness.
"Otherwise, don't blame us for being impolite."
The people from the academy were all at the late Golden Core stage, and two of them had such powerful auras that Sun Wuwei couldn't even gauge their cultivation. Although Sun Wuwei had spoken boldly, he dared not fight against the Shenqi Academy.
"You! You're simply lawless! Presumptuous!" Sun Wuwei, enraged, pointed at Zhan Jiuzhou.
Zhan Jiuzhou chuckled, completely unconcerned. "Thank you for the compliment, Venerable Sun."
Unlike Sun Wuwei, who was panting with anger, the other family heads had understood the Shenqi Academy's intentions. One by one, they stopped their impetuous actions and lowered their heads in thought.
Upon receiving the communication talisman, Qianying rushed back to Talisman Peak.
"You say the Dean is back? Where is he?" Qianying grabbed Pu Weiming by the collar, her beautiful eyes glaring at him impatiently.
Pu Weiming flinched and quickly replied, "He went into the True Eye Talisman. Martial Uncle, calm down, calm down. You're pinching my flesh."
Cultivators' bodies were resilient, but they couldn't withstand such rough handling.
Pu Weiming's nose and eyes crinkled in pain, but he dared not show any displeasure on his face.
Qianying released him, her red lips parting. "Why did he go into the True Eye Talisman? Is the Shenqi Grand Gathering competition over? Where is my junior sister? Did she return with him?"
"That... Martial Uncle Qianying, why don't you just ask the Dean directly?" Pu Weiming was practically burying his head in the ground.
He was just an ordinary peak master, how would he know so much?
"Useless." Qianying frowned. "Never mind, you go about your business. I'll wait for him here."
Pu Weiming felt as if he had been granted a great amnesty and hastily slipped away.
Not long after he left, Qin Si emerged from the True Eye Talisman, radiating killing intent.
"What's going on?" Qianying looked at Qin Si in surprise. Apart from the time Bai Shengyi went missing, this was only the second time she had seen Qin Si so emotionally agitated.
Qin Si's face was cold, and he said in a deep voice, "Ayi entered the True Eye Talisman, and I couldn't find her."
"How is that possible?" Qianying was even more astonished. "Although the killing formations within the True Eye Talisman are constantly changing, and you and my junior sister might enter at different times and not encounter them, a talisman is ultimately a fixed object. Its changes are limited. With your cultivation and your understanding of spatial rules, it shouldn't be impossible to find my junior sister!"
As Qianying spoke, she even forgot her original reason for coming to find Qin Si. She waved her hand at him, "Let's go, let's look again!"
Qin Si thought the same and walked back in.
Meanwhile, Bai Shengyi, who was being searched for repeatedly by Qianying and Qin Si, was dazedly watching the scene before her.
"You?" Bai Shengyi pointed at the other person, then at herself. "Call me 'Mom'?"
The young girl opposite her said dejectedly, "Aren't you my mom?"
Of course not!
How could this young lady be a mother at such a young age!
"I..."
Bai Shengyi, seeing the girl's teary eyes, swallowed back the outburst of anger that was about to escape her lips.
"Mom, I'm hungry. When are we eating?" The little girl blinked her eyes and tugged pitifully at Bai Shengyi's sleeve.
"Grumble..."
She quickly crossed her hands to cover her stomach and smiled sheepishly at Bai Shengyi.
"I'm really hungry."
Her smile could melt hearts.
But Bai Shengyi remained vigilant towards her.
She looked around at the dilapidated thatched hut, the rickety wooden stool with a broken leg serving as a chair, the empty room with nothing in it, and finally her gaze fell upon the girl's phoenix eyes.
The girl bore at least a seven-tenths resemblance to Qin Si. The moment she saw those eyes, Bai Shengyi instinctively became a little more lenient towards her.
This was an illusion completely different from the cultivation world, with people she didn't recognize. If her dantian and spiritual energy weren't still present, Bai Shengyi would have thought she had transmigrated again.
She didn't know how she had arrived here. Could it be another illusion?
Qing Meng Vine was absent, and the Samsara Brush was asleep, so Bai Shengyi had nowhere to turn for answers.
She rubbed her forehead, and Bai Shengyi asked, "Do you eat fruit?"
She found a few fruits with gentle spiritual energy from her storage bag and handed them to the little girl.
The little girl took them, but first offered one to Bai Shengyi, "Mom, you eat first."
"I'm not hungry."
Bai Shengyi said this, got up from the bed where she was lying, and walked outside the thatched hut.
Outside, the sky was misty. Not far away, continuous mountain ranges stretched out, like a giant dragon, overlooking the small thatched hut where they were.
"Mom, are you going to the Heavenly Veins again?"
The little girl suddenly rushed out and hugged Bai Shengyi's leg. Her strength was so great that Bai Shengyi couldn't move at all.
"Heavenly Veins?"
"Yes, they say there are immortal legacies within the Heavenly Veins. But, Mom, you've gone so many times and found nothing. Instead, you always come back injured. I won't let you go anymore," the little girl sobbed. "Can't we just live a good life?"
Her phoenix eyes were filled with tears, and her pretty face was full of wronged expressions, making one's heart ache.
Bai Shengyi could not imagine what Qin Si would look like making such an expression.
She took a cloud silk from her storage bag, wiped the girl's tears, and smiled faintly, uttering a single sentence.
"But I think you actually really want me to go to the Heavenly Veins?"