“… Senior Xue?”
While spacing out, Xue Qilin suddenly heard someone call her, and she looked up with a “hmm…”.
The one who called her is Revered Carefree. Xue Qilin gazed at him, blinking.
“What is it?”
“Uh…”
Apparently not expecting a question in reply, Revered Carefree smiled awkwardly.
“Senior Xue, I would like to ask of you something. Do you mind?”
Xue Qilin’s eyebrows arched.
“Let’s hear it first?”
She cannot give promises to the other party before hearing the request first.
When it comes to requests from strangers, you must leave room for rejection and reflection.
“Of course, of course.” Reverend Carefree nodded repeatedly in understanding, “Senior Xue, I would like you to sweep the surroundings with your perception.”
“Mainly focusing on martial demons, right?”
“As expected, Senior Xue, you understood my intentions from just a hint.”
Is that supposed to be flattery? Xue Qilin mused, finding it funny.
Then she turned to glance at Qi Qiqi standing beside her, and asked the other party for her opinion with her eyes. There is no reason behind this, it’s a purely subconscious action.
Consequently Qi Qiqi nodded at her in consent.
The lass looked at Reverend Carefree again.
“Okay, I’ll try.”
“I’m sorry for troubling you, Senior Xue.”
Reverend Carefree bowed and cupped his hands in an expression of gratitude.
Xue Qilin nodded.
Then under everyone’s eyes, she closed her eyes and spread her hands.
She emptied her mind.
She gradually became able to hear the sound of her heart beating, blood flowing, breathing, and even the throbbing of true qi flowing through the qi passageways.
Then all this gradually faded in the next moment, as if only she is left in the world.
Gradually a gentle sense of floating wrapped her petite body.
The lass feels that her consciousness is about to leave her body, melt into the air, and become a part of nature.
In this unfettered state, the concept of self is blurred. She stepped into the realm one with the world. The purely intuitive perception expanded greatly and enveloped the lass’s surroundings like a large net that fell from the sky.
The outlines of the surroundings gradually appeared in her blank mind. These outlines are very blurry, but they coincide with the surroundings in her memory. It’s as if there is a topographic 3D map in her mind.
As if she turned into a bird flying high in the sky, Xue Qilin got a bird’s-eye view of everything on the map.
This is her boundary, a perception boundary that only people close to the Grandmaster Realm possess.
In this boundary, no disturbance can escape her perception.
… As if in the dark, countless candles lit up one after another.
The specks of light in her perception are of different colors and are swaying.
The specks of light gathered near her represent the people from the various sects, while the brightest specks of light are right beside her.
The brightness of the specks of light is determined by the aura that leaks out of the living beings. In other words, people with higher cultivation bases will have brighter specks of light. Of course if someone purposely hides their aura, then the corresponding speck of light will be dimmer, and may not even show up in Xue Qilin’s perception boundary.
In the periphery, there are only a few dim spots of light. Their auras are pretty weak. They should be martial demons. However, even the closest speck is at least about two or three li [1] away from where Xue Qilin is located.
But the weirdest thing is that the specks of light representing the martial demons are all divided into a few groups and are sparsely scattered.
It looks like they are are monitor us from a distance in an organized manner! This thought sprouted in Xue Qilin’s mind and dispelled the perception scene. Her consciousness was rapidly pulled back into her body.
Xue Qilin opened her eyes. There are faint lights roaming in her eyes.
“Senior Xue, how is it?”
Sensing Xue Qilin’s dispersed aura suddenly become condensed, Reverend Carefree realized that she exited some kind of state and asked thusly.
“Well, it’s like this…”
Xue Qilin succinctly recounted everything she “saw” in the perception boundary.
After listening to her who is the sole Heaven Realm martial practitioner here, Reverend Carefree stroked his chin and pondered. After a while, he looked up and gazed around at the several people nearby.
“What are your thoughts, everyone?”
Reverend Carefree’s gaze first fell on Qi Qiqi, but after a few seconds of hesitation he moved his gaze away, and finally set his sights on Jiang Shan.
Although he used “everyone”. But in essence he is just asking Jiang Shan for his opinion. Detecting this, Xue Qilin scolded in her heart, “These people are really scheming!” At the same time she wrinkled her nose and looked away, dissatisfied.
Apparently having detected Xue Qilin’s mood, Jiang Shan glanced at her, but said nothing to her.
“I think that Senior Xue is reading too much into it. There is no precedent of martial demons acting ‘in an organized manner’.”
It’s not clear whether he is mocking Xue Qilin or not. But on his reply, he specifically used the words Xue Qilin used to explain the situation. In any case, this prompted Xue Qilin to raise her eyebrows unhappily.
Qi Qiqi gave Xue Qilin a comforting look, as if to say “bear with it”.
However…
“I can’t bear this anymore.”
Xia Xue whispered in Xue Qilin’s ear.
Always looking for a chance to stir up trouble! Xue Qilin turned her head angrily and gave the other party a disdainful look. But she got a coquettish look in return.
What the hell! Xue Qilin almost choked. She began to wonder whether Xia Xue is really just teasing her.
Of course she doesn’t think that Xia Xue likes her. After all, they are both girls – at least Xue Qilin is one at the moment.
Daoist Carefree finally turned his attention to Qi Qiqi whom he ignored previously.
“Temple Master Qi, what do you think?”
“Although there is no precedent, but the past cannot be used to predict the future. There is always a first time for everything. It’s prudent to be careful.”
Eyes limpid like autumn waters, Qi Qiqi answered softly. This tone paired with the polite expression on the exquisite face make it so others cannot tell when she is targeting them.
Since ancient times, even the strongest warrior can be seduced by a beautiful woman. Good looks are sometimes an extremely lethal weapon.
Of course this weapon may be a double aged sword.
“It’s true…” Reverend Carefree sighed in vexation, “Both views are reasonable.”
Then he looked around at the crowd again.
“How do you think we should face this issue? Do we cancel Martial Demon Realm Trial by Fire?”
“Before that, why don’t you express your opinion first?”
Xue Qilin suddenly butted in. She realized that Reverend Carefree has been asking others about their opinions, but he himself hasn’t really expressed any opinion on the matter. She believes that Reverend Carefree wants to leave a way out for himself. After all is said and done, he’ll have an excuse to shirk any blame, saying “they didn’t ask for my opinion”. This is a despicable practice. If you don’t have an opinion, then clearly state that you don’t have an opinion instead of avoiding it.
Honestly speaking, Xue Qilin usually isn’t idle enough to care about this kind of thing.
But this time is different since Qi Qiqi is involved. She can’t leave it alone. She won’t allow people she likes to be bullied by people other than herself.
[1] – li
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