When the afterglow of dusk dissipated, Xu Qing's magic ship returned to its berth. Almost as soon as he returned, he received a voice transmission from his captain.
"Little Qing, how was the date? Come, come, come. I'm at the immortal pool of which discount card you gave to me. Do you want to come over and tell your experience while soaking? I'll give you some pointers with my rich experience."
"Another day," Xu Qing replied. Just as he was about to end the voice transmission, the captain coughed.
"Master is also here…"
"…" Xu Qing fell silent.
A while later, in the small hidden pool that Xu Xiaohui opened that overlooked the large pool below, Xu Qing, the captain, and Old Master Seventh were soaking in it.
Xu Qing looked at the two of them with a strange expression.
Old Master Seventh coughed and glared at the captain.
"I was meditating earlier and you begged me to come over. What exactly is the matter?!"
The captain blinked.
Old Master Seventh snorted. The captain sighed and glanced at Xu Qing with an aggrieved expression.
"Little Qing, how far did you progress with Purple Mystic Fairy in this trip?"
Old Master Seventh's expression was as usual, as though he wasn't very interested.
Xu Qing silently glanced at his master. After some thought, he replied.
"Senior Zi Xuan taught me how to play the flute."
Old Master Seventh's ears twitched.
The captain hurriedly asked.
"And then?"
"After that, we went to pay our respects to an old friend of hers, the master of that old man from the Mystic Nether Sect on Grand Affairs Misfortune Passing Mountain." Xu Qing didn't hide anything and told them what had happened on the trip.
In reality, there was nothing to hide.
"That's it?" The captain looked incredulous.
"Yes. When we returned, Senior Zi Xuan gave me the flute." Xu Qing nodded.
"What flute?" The captain was curious.
"I think it's called willow flute," Xu Qing replied.
Before the captain could speak, Old Master Seventh gasped.
"Willow moon spirit flute?"
Xu Qing was unfamiliar with this name, so he simply took out the flute.
The moment he saw the flute, Old Master Seventh's expression was a little dazed. After a long time, he expressionlessly stood up and glared at the captain.
"If you disturb me again when I'm meditating, I'll break your legs!"
The captain's eyes widened, revealing intense grievance. It was as though he was saying, 'You're too unreasonable, old man. You were the one who called me over and asked me to call Xu Qing.'
Old Master Seventh coughed.
"Alright, the matter you mentioned last time is approved."
Old Master Seventh spoke to Xu Qing as he put on his clothes.
"Fourth, now that you have four fires, the time is about right. When I'm done with my work, I'll bring you out for a trip."
Old Master Seventh placed his hands behind his back and slowly left.
After Old Master Seventh left, the captain's expression instantly returned to normal. He no longer felt the slightest grievance. Instead, he smiled proudly at Xu Qing.
"Learn from me, Junior Brother. You have to be like this when dealing with the old man. The old man has a black face and is stubborn, but he is soft-hearted. Hence, when I occasionally show that I am aggrieved, he will compromise.
"However, the old man is clearly pissed this time. In my opinion, since he knows the name of this flute so well, there's a high chance that it was given by him back then."
Xu Qing blinked. He thought of how Purple Mystic Fairy had said that too many people had given her gifts back then and she had forgotten who had given her the flute. When he thought of his master's appearance earlier, he felt that… this was very likely.
Just like that, after soaking for a while, Xu Qing also stood up and prepared to leave. Before he left, the captain lazily leaned there and let out a comfortable voice.
"Little Qing, get me another jade slip later. I asked around and there's no 20% discount here. That's a rare VIP treatment. You're quite capable."
"Where's yours?" Xu Qing asked.
"I gave it to Wu Jianwu," the captain said mysteriously in a low voice.
"I have something I want to ask Wu Jianwu for help with. You'll know very soon. Once I succeed, I'll be amazing. At that time, I might have to go out and lie low. Also, I need you to put in a good word for me."
Xu Qing wasn't surprised. He had long known from his informant that the captain and Wu Jianwu had come here many times before. When he heard this, he nodded. As for the captain saying that he wanted to lie low, Xu Qing felt that it was normal. He could roughly guess what the captain's target was this time.
'It is most likely that fang.' Xu Qing glanced at the captain and left the immortal pool. When he returned to his berth, it was already late at night. He sat down and began to cultivate.
During this period of time when he was outside, with Purple Mystic Fairy around, he couldn't completely immerse his mind when cultivating. Hence, Xu Qing planned to catch up to the cultivation he had wasted in the past few days.
Three days passed.
On the late night of the third day, Xu Qing, who was meditating, suddenly opened his eyes. A hint of anticipation appeared in his eyes as he sensed the abnormal movements in his storage bag.
It came from the bottle that contained the little black bugs that had eaten the immortal jelly.
Xu Qing took out the bottle and first sensed it. After confirming that there was nothing wrong, he opened it.
There was nothing in the bottle. Xu Qing checked his surroundings but didn't sense anything.
However, he faintly felt a strong sense of danger spreading around him.
Xu Qing calmly lifted his left hand and sliced open the palm of his right hand, causing blood to flow out. The wound instantly healed but the blood that flowed out was enough.
At the next instant, the air churned. A group of invisible existences that were difficult to sense headed straight for the blood on Xu Qing's palm from all directions. Under Xu Qing's observation, the blood on his palm visibly shrank and finally disappeared.
