After the ghost tribe left, as there was still a long time before nightfall, the training grounds were divided into two sections.
One section was set up as a camp, housing only the ghost tribe.
The other section was for the disciples of the Beiyuan Sect, awaiting the full moon.
Rong Yan stood at the back of the Beiyuan Sect group, his heart filled with anxiety. Seizing an opportunity to feign a need to relieve himself, he secretly slipped away to the ghost tribe's area. Upon seeing the Grand Priest of the ghost tribe, he couldn't help but curse,
"What are you planning, Grand Priest? We agreed that you would help me expel Qi Yu from the Beiyuan Sect, and I would cultivate evil arts and become your strategist. Yet, you intend to expose those who cultivate evil arts on the night of the full moon!? What are you thinking? This is a case of crossing the river and demolishing the bridge!"
"Those words weren't spoken by me, but by the Vice Priest," the Grand Priest replied, looking at Rong Yan. "Besides, can't you find a way to endure the torment of the Heart Demon Curse?"
Rong Yan trembled with rage.
"Also, I don't think this is a big deal. At most, your Master will expel you from the sect. You're going to rely on us, the ghost tribe, anyway," the Grand Priest said with a nonchalant expression. "What's the difference between leaving the Beiyuan Sect now and leaving it later?"
"This, I..." Rong Yan clenched his fists tightly. "No, I absolutely cannot leave the Beiyuan Sect now. I have other matters to attend to. You ghost tribe must find a solution for me today."
"What solution can I possibly have? Ultimately, this has nothing to do with me," the Grand Priest stated, completely unwilling to get involved. With a casual wave of his hand, he turned to leave.
Rong Yan gritted his teeth, and as he turned back,
He saw, not far away, Yue Zhiyin, Qi Nian, Sui You, Ming Lou, and Qi Yu all staring at him and the Grand Priest of the ghost tribe with expressionless faces.
In fact, when Rong Yan had slipped away earlier, Yue Zhiyin and Qi Yu had already noticed his pale complexion and flustered demeanor.
After receiving permission from Li Yu, the group had secretly followed him, only to witness this scene.
Ming Lou's anger flared, and without thinking, he rushed forward and yelled,
"Rong Yan, what the hell are you doing with this guy? Well done, you're really turning your back on your own kind."
"I thought you were just speaking out of dislike for Qi Yu in that situation."
"I never imagined you harbored such intentions."
Rong Yan stood frozen, his limbs cold, nearly petrified with fear. He stammered for a long time, unable to find any explanation.
Li Yu and Yu Zhen slowly emerged from the shadows.
The Grand Priest of the ghost tribe met Li Yu's gaze, cursed Rong Yan as an idiot who was good for nothing, and with a puff of smoke, fled before Li Yu could make a move.
Seeing the Grand Priest of the ghost tribe abandon him and flee, Rong Yan, unable to keep up, broke out in a cold sweat.
"Rong Yan, is what the Grand Priest of the ghost tribe said true?" Li Yu asked him calmly. "Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"I, he, I..." Rong Yan stammered, not knowing what to say. Finally, he fell to his knees with a thud and cried out in a tearful voice,
"Master, Master, I was wrong... Please don't expel me from the sect."
"Admitting fault? You know to admit fault now?" Sui You stepped forward, his hand channeling flames that rapidly swirled and leaped to the ground, engulfing Rong Yan.
Rong Yan immediately let out a scream of pain, struggling to extinguish the flames on his body, pleading as he did so, "Third Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother, spare me, spare me!"
The flames clung to him, and for some reason, he couldn't put them out.
Qi Yu frowned and took a step back.
It seemed her suspicions were correct. Sui You's fire-elemental Heavenly Spiritual Root was indeed different from others, possessing a power even more formidable than the Samadhi True Fire.
Unless Sui You willed it, these flames would continue to burn.
This was truly terrifying.
Ming Lou pulled Qi Yu aside and whispered, "Aren't you curious why Master isn't stopping Third Senior Brother?"
"Because Rong Yan cultivated evil arts and betrayed the sect?" Qi Yu's thoughts were straightforward.
"Not at all. According to the established rules, such matters are handled by the Sect Leader Master himself. No matter how severe the offense, it's not for fellow disciples to intervene," Ming Lou pursed his lips and swallowed. "The reason Master isn't stopping Third Senior Brother is because Third Senior Brother is the Disciplinary Envoy of the Beiyuan Sect, authorized to punish guilty disciples on behalf of the Master."
"Disciplinary Envoy?" Qi Yu looked towards Sui You in disbelief. "Wow, does he have that much authority?"
"Immense!" Ming Lou patted Qi Yu's shoulder. "So, if anyone bullies you, and none of us are around, remember the first thing to do is find him. If you run towards him, no one will dare to chase you."
Qi Yu nodded.
Another useful trick acquired.
Up ahead, while Ming Lou and Qi Yu were whispering, Li Yu had been silently observing Rong Yan's pathetic pleas and cries within the circle of fire, not uttering a word.
Only after Sui You extinguished the flames did he look at the now blackened and trembling Rong Yan, and say,
"Rong Yan, rest assured, I will not expel you from the sect."
Rong Yan looked up in disbelief, only to hear Li Yu continue,
"You conspired with the ghost tribe. Expelling you from the sect after crippling your cultivation would still worry me that the ghost tribe might rescue you, effectively letting a tiger return to the mountains. Therefore, it's better to let you stay, albeit as a servant."
As he finished speaking, Rong Yan's Beiyuan Sect disciple robe instantly dimmed, its patterns becoming indistinct.
Rong Yan crawled to grasp Li Yu's sleeve, but his burned mouth could no longer form words, only emitting hoarse sounds.
Li Yu flicked his hand. "Guards, take Rong Yan out and imprison him at the sect's gate for three days as a public display, then send him to the servant quarters with shackles. Remember to preserve his life and cultivation, so that everyone can see the consequences of betraying the sect and cultivating evil arts!"
Upon hearing this, Rong Yan's previously inaudible voice immediately let out a hoarse plea,
"Master, Master, I was wrong, Master, Master, please spare me! I, I was just out of jealousy..."
But Li Yu had no intention of listening and waved his hand, signaling for him to be taken away.
After dealing with Rong Yan, they returned to the training grounds, where the ghost tribe had vanished.
The remaining disciples of the Beiyuan Sect were unaware of why the ghost tribe had suddenly left, but none of them asked. They were all busy cleaning the training grounds.
Occasionally, a few whispered amongst themselves, their discussions revolving around Rong Yan, who was being held in a cage nearby as a public spectacle.
Qi Yu stood aside with her hands tucked into her sleeves, lost in thought.
Seeing that the matter with the ghost tribe was resolved, Yue Zhiyin then patted Qi Yu's shoulder and said in a low voice,
"Qi Yu, come here. I need to talk to you about something privately."
"Senior Brother, what's so mysterious?" Qi Yu followed him, somewhat puzzled.
Yue Zhiyin led her to a secluded spot, cleared his throat, and lowered his voice, "The Dragon Prince of the North Sea sent a message back to me, and I've discovered something that seems a bit off."
"The Dragon Prince said that the person who went to the North Sea to find him was a beautiful female cultivator. This seems to contradict what you told me. Didn't you say you went to the North Sea? Why would the Dragon Prince say he was approached by a female cultivator?"
Yue Zhiyin's words were so direct that he almost asked Qi Yu outright if she was male or female.
Qi Yu remained silent for a moment, then uttered the most shameless words of her life: "Could it be that I'm so beautiful that I'm androgynous, and they mistook me for a woman?"
Yue Zhiyin fell silent.
The surroundings were deathly quiet.
Qi Yu looked at Yue Zhiyin with a sincere gaze. "Senior Brother, I am a spiritual artifact. When I underwent my tribulation, I chose a male form. Besides, why would I need to disguise myself as a man? Isn't being a junior brother or a junior sister much the same?"
Yue Zhiyin felt that what she said made some sense.
Qi Yu, seizing the moment while his mind was still processing, quickly changed the subject. "By the way, Senior Brother, I've been here for some time, but Master has only been teaching me the basics. It seems he hasn't considered teaching me more. When can I learn more advanced techniques like you all?"
Although this was said to change the subject, a significant part of it was genuinely what Qi Yu wanted to ask.
She had noticed that Li Yu's teaching methods differed from those of the Sculpting Dao Venerable of the Xuanyue Sect.
The Sculpting Dao Venerable of the Xuanyue Sect would impart all high and low-level techniques to his direct disciples at once, then leave them to integrate them on their own. He was eager for a direct disciple to learn everything within three months.
But Li Yu was different. He was always busy with various tasks, either sending his disciples to secret realms to gather immortal herbs or assigning them all sorts of missions, never rushing to teach them.
"Don't worry, he'll teach you when the time is right," Yue Zhiyin said, looking at Qi Yu's curious expression, without revealing the truth. He patted her shoulder meaningfully.
Li Yu indeed appeared rather indifferent to outsiders.
However, Yue Zhiyin could see clearly that Li Yu was teaching according to aptitude. Qi Yu had a solid foundation, with 200 years of cultivation depth, already at the Golden Core stage. Her strengths lay in flexible application, but her weakness was poor cooperation; she excelled at doing things alone and was not good at teamwork.
Although cultivation was a solitary pursuit and one shouldn't rely too much on others, Qi Yu's lack of understanding of the darker aspects of human psychology and her tendency to be a loner would only lead to disadvantages in the cultivation world, which was filled with sects and families.
Understanding human hearts and learning social etiquette were not things that could be acquired with a simple increase in cultivation.
Therefore, from the moment she entered the Beiyuan Sect, Li Yu's guidance for Qi Yu had been in the form of direction, constantly reminding her that she had fellow disciples, gradually helping her adapt to her current life, and understand the intricacies of interacting with friends and fellow sect members.
In essence, he was helping Qi Yu, who was accustomed to being alone, to avoid isolation and to embrace human connection.
Yue Zhiyin understood this clearly, and Ming Lou and the others also understood. They were all willing to pull Qi Yu along.
Qi Yu nodded. Given her long lifespan, she wasn't overly anxious.
She followed Yue Zhiyin back to the training grounds.
Other disciples were pairing up, sparring with each other as if on a stage.
Yue Zhiyin bowed to Li Yu and went to join Qi Nian, who was not far away.
Li Yu turned to look at Qi Yu and beckoned her over.
"Come here, be my partner. Use all your abilities and killing moves. Let me see what you're capable of."