Sect Affairs Hall.
Basically everyone who could come had arrived.
San Dong with her envious and expectant expression, and the green snake leaning against Qinghe, constantly asking curious questions.
And Xie Lingyu with her head lowered, sipping tea in relative silence.
Li Yingling leisurely sipped tea, her gaze languidly falling on her Master beside her, her expression seeming to say—cultivation? Isn't that just a casual matter?
Because the commotion from Li Yingling emerging from secluded cultivation was quite significant, both Li Xingtian and Lin Luoyu, who were still striving in their cultivation, had felt that powerful spiritual energy fluctuation. Thus they had all stopped their cultivation and gathered together early.
Li Yingling set down her teacup, her gaze shifting to Li Xingtian as she spoke with seemingly earnest concern:
"Junior Brother, cultivation requires a balance between work and rest. Blindly cultivating bitterly can easily lead to slow progress."
Li Xingtian looked at his Eldest Senior Sister. For some reason, he felt that there was no encouragement for a junior brother in Eldest Senior Sister's gaze—there was only: little brother, all your hard work isn't working out either.
"My natural talent isn't as good as Senior Sister's, so naturally I can't compare." Li Xingtian answered with a peaceful state of mind.
This wasn't entirely just humoring his senior sister.
After all, he had taken the pills his Master refined just to improve his cultivation, and even then he couldn't match Eldest Senior Sister.
Other than sighing that even among geniuses there were still greater geniuses, there was nothing to say.
Cui Hao felt his Foundation Establishment cultivation and thought for a moment before immediately speaking:
"Eldest Senior Sister is right. Cultivation is about harmonizing with the Heavenly Dao. Realization is especially important. One cannot rush cultivation."
Li Yingling looked at Cui Hao upon hearing this: "You're different. If you don't work harder, even San Dong's cultivation will surpass yours soon."
Cui Hao was startled by these words, his gaze shifting to San Dong beside him.
San Dong's gaze also met her.
Cui Hao's eyes held a hint of disbelief, while San Dong's held—the confidence that having Li Yingling's recognition meant she would definitely surpass Cui Hao.
Li Yingling looked proudly at her Master again—such a cultivation genius as her eldest disciple, surely bringing honor to you as a Master, right?
However... Li Yingling discovered that her Master's eyes seemed to be looking at her with some hesitation.
Or rather... it seemed like he was looking at her, but also not quite looking at her.
Li Yingling felt a chill run down her back and asked quietly: "Master? What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Chu Xingchen's gaze returned, then he looked at the system prompt above Li Yingling's head [Upgradeable Entry].
This was likely the reward for a disciple breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm's attribute.
And this time when the disciple broke through the realm, there was no direct cultivation boost either.
However, Chu Xingchen could understand this. After all, this was an attribute upgrade—this level of reward was somewhat overpowered.
Li Yingling's golden attribute [Cultivation Genius] already made people's jaws drop with her current cultivation progress. If this moved up another tier...
[Target: Li Yingling]
[Cultivation: Nascent Soul Early Stage]
[Golden Entry: Cultivation Genius]
[Purple Entry: Strong Luck] [Upgradeable]
[Blue Entry: Beautiful] [Upgradeable]
[Blue Entry: Sharp-witted] [Upgradeable]
[White Entry: Confident] [Upgradeable]
[Recommended Upgrade Attribute—Strong Luck]
Chu Xingchen's expectant mood instantly faded by half... this golden attribute actually wasn't within the scope of upgrades.
However, this eldest disciple had also gained two brand new attributes beyond the initial ones.
The Sharp-witted attribute went without saying—after her own careful guidance, Li Yingling as Eldest Senior Sister was bound to learn it.
As for the [Confident] attribute, what Chu Xingchen felt most was the word "relief."
Chu Xingchen still remembered the period when Li Yingling was at Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment. Because she hadn't seen much of the world or encountered many cultivators, she often held a skeptical attitude toward her own talent.
Especially during the time when Li Xingtian had absorbed blood energy and his cultivation shot up, directly surpassing Li Yingling as Eldest Senior Sister.
Not understanding blood energy, Li Yingling had also been skeptical about her own talent for a period. During that time, she truly took cultivation to heart.
Aside from sleeping and handling affairs, he also put great effort into cultivation—at least he could match Li Xingtian.
Li Xingtian was a cultivation maniac—if he wasn't on the path of tempering himself, he was in the rituals of cultivation.
That once skeptical and sensitive young girl who felt her talent was mediocre had now truly come to believe she was inferior to no one.
The birth of the [Confident] attribute meant far more to Chu Xingchen than the birth of the [Sharp-witted] attribute.
At least this was an attribute Chu Xingchen wanted Li Yingling to have.
What was strong wasn't Chu Xingchen as the Master—it was Li Yingling herself.
A genuine smile appeared on Chu Xingchen's face, but he didn't immediately click on these so-called upgradeable attributes. He said with relief:
"Then congratulations to my eldest disciple for advancing to the Nascent Soul realm, becoming the backbone of the sect."
Truly, watching that once-young girl grow step by step to her current state really made one happy from the bottom of one's heart.
A playful smile appeared on Li Yingling's face: "How am I just the backbone? I should at least be the towering tree of the sect—the protecting tree!"
"Then what am I as your Master?" Chu Xingchen's expression showed slight displeasure.
Li Yingling answered naturally, almost instinctively: "Then probably like the sun?"
The words had barely fallen before, before Chu Xingchen could react, Li Yingling herself felt embarrassed by how cheesy it sounded. She quickly stood up and announced with delight:
"To celebrate my successful advancement to the Nascent Soul realm, and to reward myself for working hard at cultivation, the ninety-seventh Sect Grand Gathering officially begins registration tonight. Those who wish to participate, contact me!"
A smile appeared on Chen Baiqing's face as she quickly raised her hand.
Following her were Cui Hao and an excited Qinghe.
Qinghe not only raised her hand but even started making suggestions: "Can we play the illusion version of Monopoly tonight? We only played once at Zhuji Peak! Qinghe hasn't played yet! Qinghe has wanted to play for so long!"
Li Yingling glanced at this gluttonous flood dragon and readily agreed with a smile:
"Of course! Tonight I'll be the referee!"
Those present now were naturally all their own people. Even Bai Xuanling would have unhesitatingly participated if she were here. Soon, almost everyone in the great hall had raised their hands.
Only Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu hadn't raised theirs.
Xie Lingyu had actually wanted to raise her hand too. Although having her cultivation realm caught up to by Chu Xingchen's disciples wasn't anything particularly glorious, this didn't mean she wasn't happy for Li Yingling.
Although Li Yingling was often complained about by Chu Xingchen for having a leaky cotton-padded jacket, hadn't she also had her heartwarming moments?
Xie Lingyu had always understood—Li Yingling had always been a very good child.
However... Chu Xingchen had raised an eyebrow at his and started chatting with his, the intention to hold his back quite obvious.
Xie Lingyu figured that Chu Xingchen probably wanted to give Li Yingling some surprise, so she didn't raise her hand either. She simply started casually chatting with Chu Xingchen.
Chu Xingchen just loved doing this—on the surface not cooperating, but actually having everything prepared long ago.
However, a certain eldest disciple had also learned the essence of someone.
Li Yingling turned around, her face full of smiles:
"Master, Martial Aunt Xie, don't think that just because you didn't raise your hands you don't have to participate."
"This is the Sect Grand Gathering. You all must come."
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