Then, polite greetings from the Sect Leader could be heard within the grand hall, thanking the various Peak Masters for coming to Xiaoliu's apprenticeship ceremony despite their busy schedules, especially for the various gifts.
The Peak Masters smiled saying, "Not at all," "We are all family," and "We've seen that child before"...
Zhou Qing felt a wave of joy, as he heard the prompt tone again.
In fact, he really wanted to hide, but "hiding" and "being ignored" were two different concepts.
After a while, Li Daoxuan, the senior brother, entered through the side door with Lu Yaoyao.
Lu Yaoyao began to greet the various Peak Masters again, while many male core disciples below stretched their necks, looking at the beautiful figure above, grinning from ear to ear.
What a beautiful little junior sister.
They still remembered many years ago when the Yunmeng Peak Master accepted a female disciple, it was just as lively as today, though there were not as many core disciples then.
Because that senior sister was of average appearance, even with a bit of a pig snout, some even whispered jokes "Your wife, your wife..."
But now, looking at this quiet yet a bit mischievous little junior sister, everyone's smiles almost reached their ears.
"Huh?"
Just as Zhou Qing had collected three "Ignore Points," he suddenly noticed that his brothers around looked around continuously, as if searching for someone.
He glanced around in confusion, noticing that Lu Yaoyao standing beside the Sect Leader on the steps was also scanning the crowd for something.
When she saw Zhou Qing in a corner, her eyes immediately lit up.
At that moment, Zhou Qing had a foreboding feeling.
My dear girl, no matter how exceptionally talented I may be, it doesn't warrant you publicly drawing hate towards me in front of so many people, right?
And with you noticing me, how am I supposed to gain Ignore Points?
How can I lower my presence?
Very soon, following Lu Yaoyao's gaze, everyone looked at Zhou Qing in unison, faces full of confusion.
Zhou Qing, noticing this, acted as if he hadn't seen anything, casually moving his body forward to stand behind a large white jade pillar in the hall.
He began to pretend to examine the jade pillar closely, as if observing something.
Unable to see Zhou Qing's figure, Lu Yaoyao tilted her body slightly to the side, barely seeing a corner of his clothes, but that corner was quickly pulled back by a hand.
She pursed her lips, having to stand straight again.
The crowd was puzzled, did this pretty little junior sister know Zhou Qing?
It shouldn't be? Unless it was Zhou Qing's shameless behavior last night that made the little junior sister curious about what this peeping tom actually looked like?
This is bad, one bad apple spoiled the whole pot, how would the little junior sister view us core disciples in the future?
Facing a crowd full of disappointed looks, Zhou Qing continued to stroke the white jade pillar with an indifferent expression.
As if he couldn't see or hear anything, with an indifferent demeanor.
As Third Brother said, beauties bring misfortune, better be wary of this girl in the future.
"Huh~~"
At this moment, Zhou Qing suddenly discovered something moving inside the white jade pillar in front of him.
Was it an optical illusion?
He rubbed his eyes and looked carefully again.
In the next moment, he saw a tiny white insect, as small as a grain of rice, flash and disappear inside.
Now, Zhou Qing saw it clearly, his heart racing wildly.
If he saw correctly, that bug should be the extremely rare Spirit Concealing Insect.
Spirit Concealing Insect, this creature has extremely harsh living conditions, only found in specific minerals.
Moreover, it absorbs the purest energy, and once refined, it almost completely feeds back to the cultivator, aiding their breakthrough in cultivation.
Zhou Qing suppressed his excitement; he didn't expect to encounter such a treasure by chance.
Indeed, this Sect Leader's reception hall had rare materials, looking around, there were as many as ten of these pillars.
He coughed lightly, and after confirming no one noticed him, he quickly searched for the wormhole.
Soon enough, he found a small inconspicuous spot in a crack.
Casually leaning on it, he pressed his middle finger on the wormhole, spiritual power surging, directly extracting it.
"There are actually six of them!"
Following the worm path, six Spirit Concealing Insects were extracted, and before they could struggle, Zhou Qing discreetly placed them into a jade bottle within his sleeve and affixed a Sealing Spirit Talisman.
"I'm rich! I'm really rich now!"
Zhou Qing's heart pounded excitedly as he stealthily moved to another pillar.
Unfortunately, after searching the next one, and the one after that... out of ten jade pillars, Zhou Qing surprisingly harvested a total of twenty-seven Spirit Concealing Insects.
At this moment, he felt a bit grateful towards Lu Yaoyao; if she hadn't pushed him, he would have missed these treasures.
Moreover, I should consider it as saving this grand hall; if these Spirit Concealing Insects were left undetected and gnawed away at the supporting pillars, wouldn't such a beautiful hall be wasted?
The banquet started shortly after, taking this opportunity, the Peak Masters gathered to catch up, while the core disciples also chatted and laughed, discussing recent events, such as last night's incident.
Some people looked at Zhou Qing, who silently ate in the far corner, with sighs and shakes of their heads.
Especially among the female disciples, as they whispered amongst themselves, some of them had already ruined their reputations.
"Ignore them, let's just eat our own food!"
Third Senior Brother Yan Xiaohu comforted.
He really wanted to stand up and explain, but once suspicion arose, the accusation was already established.
What could an explanation do? Would these people believe it?
It would only make things worse.
Especially as the two of them had prior offenses.
As for the Precepts Hall, the truth didn't matter anymore. Even if it was revealed, people would just think that the authority of the Core Disciples was overwhelming, peeping at people while they bathed, even forcing those outer disciples to change their tune.
Zhou Qing nodded, he didn't care about other people's looks anyway.
What's up with that Lu Yaoyao's eyes? She's eating but keeps sneaking glances at him, didn't she see that Li Daoxuan's face was as long as a mule's?
Wait, no, it's not that she fell for me at first sight, but damn, she's trying to frame me!
When Zhou Qing inconspicuously met her gaze, he suddenly felt something was off.
Especially the fleeting emotion hidden in her eyes.
"She's deliberately trying to flirt with me, making me the target of public criticism!"
Zhou Qing instantly lowered his head, carefully recalling if he had ever seen her and offended her?
But it seemed unlikely, he had been staying at Little Spirit Peak and rarely went out.
"Could it be Master?"
Zhou Qing glanced at Mo Xingjian, who was eating carefree, and his mind wandered.
Maybe one day, Master for some reason killed her family, thinking he had eradicated them all, but she had survived.
Afterwards, she endured the humiliation and burden, until she found out where her enemies were, changed her identity, and used some schemes to become the disciple of the current Sect Leader.
She wanted to torture her enemy bit by bit, but the other party was too powerful as a Peak Master to be dealt with as of now.
So she first targeted his disciples one by one, making him taste the feeling of losing family.
The more Zhou Qing thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Among the brothers, his cultivation was the weakest, so why not use him for practice first.
"What's wrong with you, sweating so much?" Yan Xiaohu asked in confusion.
Zhou Qing immediately said, "Third Senior Brother, something's not right here, let's leave first."
"But I haven't finished eating yet?"
"There will be plenty of chances in the future!"
Then, Zhou Qing dragged Yan Xiaohu and quietly left through the side door, his heart finally at ease.
If they stayed any longer, if she pretended to be shy and glanced a few more times, the first to trouble him would be that Chief Li Daoxuan.
Just now, the look in his eyes was clearly not right.
Of course, this was just his speculation, but it never hurt to be careful.
After returning to Little Spirit Peak, Zhou Qing quickly put the matter behind him, and then excitedly took out a jade bottle, looking at the Spirit Concealing Insect wriggling inside, he chuckled.
Carefully taking out one, he began the refinement.
In just an instant, a vast amount of spiritual power erupted in his body, and its purity shocked Zhou Qing.
Not daring to waste any, he quickly activated the Taiqing Profound Qi Skills, guiding the energy through circulation after circulation.
In the next five days, Zhou Qing stayed in his room, and as the last Spirit Concealing Insect was refined, he slowly opened his eyes, blue light flashed from his pupils.
His entire demeanor had undergone a tremendous transformation.
Then, with a thought, a panel appeared before him.
[Name: Zhou Qing]
[Age: 19]
[Cultivation: Qi Condensation Ninth Layer]
[Cultivation Technique: Taiqing Profound Qi Skills]
[Talent Skills: Lowering Presence]
[Level: LV1 (39/100)]
[Skill Fragment: 1/3 (Not Obtainable)]
In five days, he had broken through two layers, it was unbelievable.
"If I could get a few more, maybe I could enter the Foundation Establishment Realm!" Zhou Qing looked unsatisfied.
Of course, for now, it was more urgent to earn Ignore Points.
Suddenly, the token on the table glowed green, and lines of words began to appear.
"Little Junior Brother, are you home? I have great news to share with you!"
It was a message from Third Senior Brother, Zhou Qing, puzzled, immediately replied.
After hiding the breakthrough aura, Yan Xiaohu rushed over with two fishing rods.
He barged into the room energetically, his small eyes gleaming, "Little Junior Brother, want to eat fish?"