Chapter 51: The Ultimate Dark History

Qiuxi removed the protective barrier outside the room, and within a short while, saw Qi Hong walking in. "Something the matter?"

Qi Hong was momentarily startled by the enormous egg in the room, but quickly regained his composure, cupping his fists with a smile. "I heard that Senior is helping Fellow Daoist Boyi reshape his physical form, so we urgently gathered some soul-nurturing items. I wonder if they might be of any use to Fellow Daoist Boyi."

Back at the battle of the Immortal Alliance, Boyi had protected them, which was why his residual soul had become unstable. Qi Hong had naturally kept this matter close to heart and had previously searched everywhere through ancient texts for a solution, though unfortunately without finding any effective method.

Now, learning that Qiuxi had found a way, they were naturally overjoyed. The elders of the sect had practically emptied their private collections and even scavenged the treasury of the Immortal Alliance to find artifacts and spiritual plants beneficial for nurturing souls.

Seeing him pull out a massive pile of items with a clatter, Qiuxi took a closer look and found that a few of them could indeed help stabilize Boyi's soul. Though their individual effects were not significant, their sheer quantity made them quite suitable for setting up an array.

Without standing on ceremony, she immediately picked out several pieces. "These few can be used. I'll set up an array with them; the rest you can take back."

"Understood!" Qi Hong nodded. "As long as it helps Fellow Daoist Boyi." With that, he cast a worried glance at the egg in the center.

"Rest assured, it will be fine," Qiuxi reassured him. "It's just that its residual soul has fallen into a deep slumber. I will send it back to the Beast City, and it will likely take a few decades to wake up."

"As long as it's fine, as long as it's fine!" Qi Hong let out a heavy sigh of relief, though he showed no intention of leaving his spot.

"Anything else?" Qiuxi continued to ask.

Qi Hong looked up at her, inexplicably showing a hint of sheepishness, especially upon noticing that she was still wearing the attire of a handyman disciple. The guilt in his heart swelled to the point of overflowing. As for the true identity of Senior Chu, they had already guessed roughly what it was ever since returning from the Immortal Alliance.

She was not merely a reclusive master, but perhaps an existence beyond anything they dared to imagine. Since the Senior chose not to spell it out, they simply pretended not to know.

Previously, they had assumed the Senior had merely come to the 玄天宗 (Xuantian Sect) on a whim, casually guiding a few disciples while lacking nothing herself.

However, after the battle of the Immortal Alliance and communicating with the various divine beasts like Boyi, they had changed their minds.

Could it be that the Senior, much like the divine beasts, occasionally fell into long slumbers, and this time she had just awakened after sleeping for several years? That would explain why she had appeared in such a remote border town, joined the Xuantian Sect by a twist of fate, and helped them weather multiple crises.

Yet how had they treated the Senior? Forget about heavenly treasures, magical artifacts, or cultivation resources—they hadn't even provided her with a decent set of clothes. If they hadn't accidentally seen her sewing her own garments last time, they would never have known that the benefactor of their Xuantian Sect was living in such straitened circumstances.

They... deserved to die!

"Senior Chu has always been in quiet seclusion here in the back mountain, and we dared not disturb her. It was also my negligence as sect master for failing in my duty. Please forgive me, Senior." Qi Hong bowed deeply, cupping his fists.

"Huh?" Qiuxi was left completely baffled by this inexplicable apology. What was going on?

"Senior is magnanimous, but we should not have been so lacking in etiquette. Fortunately, it is not too late to make amends now." With an air of frank contrition, Qi Hong said earnestly, "The grace Senior has shown us cannot be repaid even if the entire sect were offered in return. Therefore, we have prepared some dharma robes and accessories in advance. I wonder if Senior likes them."

As he spoke, Qi Hong cast cautious glances at her, beating around the bush considerably. After all, exalted masters were invariably mindful of their pride; he couldn't bluntly say that he had noticed the Senior's financial hardship and was here to deliver daily necessities, for fear of angering her over their previous neglect.

"Dharma robes?" Qiuxi completely missed his beating around the bush and only gathered that he was here to give her clothes. Lowering her gaze to inspect her patched, drab garments, she realized it really was time for a change, so she nodded. "Very well, then."

Qi Hong was instantly overjoyed. The Senior was pardoning their past negligence! He hurriedly beckoned to a disciple waiting outside, "Mu'er, bring them in quickly."

"Yes, Master!" A somewhat familiar voice responded from outside.

The next moment, a figure walked in holding four or five dharma robes. What caught the eye first, however, was not the clothes in the person's hands, but what he was wearing himself—a strikingly familiar colorful long robe whose hem trailed all the way to the ground, with an odd, bulging layer around his waist as if he were concealing something.

The disciple holding the robes first bowed to her, then straightened up to reveal a thoroughly familiar face. "Greetings, Se—"

Before he could finish his sentence, his eyes suddenly widened, his voice instantly shooting up several octaves as he cried out in shock, "You lying swindler! So it was you, you clothes-stripper—MMMM-MMM!"

A chill ran down Qiuxi's heart. Her hands moved faster than her brain as she lunged forward and clamped her hand firmly over his mouth, terrified that Ban Mu might blurt out any more scandalous remarks.

Indeed, the newcomer was none other than her greatest dark history—Ban Mu, the Ban Mu whose trousers had come off with a single tug!

In all the busyness of the past few days, she had completely forgotten about stripping him bare and leaving him stranded in the forest.

She hadn't expected him to make his way back on his own and even show up here led by Qi Hong.

"This... Senior, do you know Mu'er?" Qi Hong looked back and forth between the two, utterly bewildered.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm..." Ban Mu struggled, trying to say something.

Reflexively, Qiuxi pressed his head back down, twitched the corner of her mouth, and said, "Heh heh heh... I know him, of course I know him. He took classes with Feng Ting and Zhen Yi when he first entered the sect."

"I see!" Qi Hong's eyes lit up, assuming that Ban Mu, like Feng Ting and Zhen Yi, was a promising junior favored by the Senior.

Seeing Ban Mu struggle even more violently, Qiuxi had no choice but to usher the visitor out. "Well then, I accept the dharma robes. Boyi's array still needs some reinforcement, so Ban Mu can stay and help me. Sect Master, you may return first."

"Ah?" Before Qi Hong could react, a mere wave of her hand pushed him out, and the surrounding barrier reactivated itself.

He stood frozen in place for a moment, feeling as though something was amiss, but quickly dismissing it as his own overthinking. Given the Senior's cultivation level, she wouldn't harbor ill intentions toward a junior; she probably just wanted to offer some guidance. Without giving it further thought, he turned and left.

"What... what on earth are you trying to do?" As soon as Qi Hong had walked away, Qiuxi released her grip. Ban Mu instantly leaped several meters back, glaring at her with utmost vigilance.

"Cough... well?" Qiuxi also felt her face burning. "About last time... I apologize!"

"Isn't it a bit late to apologize now?!" Ban Mu was ready to explode, releasing the anger he had bottled up for days. "It was bad enough that you vanished, but you couldn't even leave me a pair of trousers?! Do you have any idea how long I stood out there freezing in the cold wind?"

If he hadn't unexpectedly run into a wild beast and possessed some rudimentary skinning skills, he didn't know how much longer he would have been left stark naked out there.

"Uh... I didn't really have a choice, I was busy saving someone!" Besides, that teleportation talisman had been triggered passively; she hadn't known she'd be whisked away at that exact moment.

At the mention of this, Ban Mu's expression softened slightly. He looked her up and down and asked, "Are you... truly... that Senior Chu?"

"My surname is indeed Chu, Chu Qiuxi," she nodded.

Doubt still lingered in Ban Mu's eyes as he muttered under his breath, "Hmph, I've never heard of any senior whose first instinct upon meeting someone is to strip off their—"

"Stop!" Qiuxi cut him off promptly. "Can you not bring that up? I already said I didn't do it on purpose."

"Stripping someone three times in a row wasn't on purpose?" he retorted.

"..." Fine, you have a point. I can't argue with that.

"How about this? I'll teach you a method to completely conceal your atavistic feathers? Can we consider this matter settled if I do?" Qiuxi proposed.

"Really?!" Ban Mu's eyes lit up, though his gaze still held lingering suspicion.

"Absolutely true!"

"Would you be that kind-hearted?"

"Then what do you want? Shall I let you strip me back?"

"In your dreams!"

"..."