"Junior Brother Ling, are you in there?" Ling Zhao's voice echoed from outside the room.
"I am..." Before he could finish speaking, Ling Xi's mouth was covered by a palm.
"There's a problem at the grand assembly, the sect leader wants you to help maintain order."
Ling Zhao finished speaking and, seeing no movement from inside the room, cautiously pushed the door open.
"Junior Brother Ling, I'm coming in."
He stepped inside. The room was neatly arranged, with no one around. Only a lump of covers on the bed was tightly wrapped.
Strange, in broad daylight, why are you already asleep?
"If you want to live, shut up," Ye Ziling warned, pressing harder on Ling Xi's mouth.
But in the next second, she felt a tingly, sticky sensation on her palm. Looking down, she saw that the pervert was actually licking her palm!
Ye Ziling's face changed. She quickly let go of her hand and instead raised a dagger to his neck.
She clearly saw the person beneath her lick his tongue and grin at her, provocatively teasing her like bait.
Ye Ziling suddenly felt an urge to pounce on him and bite him to death.
Seeing that the lump of covers had no reaction, Ling Zhao thought Ling Xi was asleep and was about to turn away when he was called back.
"Senior Brother, hand me the ointment."
"Junior Brother Ling, are you injured?" Ling Zhao clearly remembered that it was Miss Ye who had been injured.
"Alright." Ling Zhao, still suspicious, took the ointment and prepared to step forward.
A moment later, when he was a few steps away from the bed, a voice came from under the covers again.
"Senior Brother, no need, I have some on hand."
At the critical moment, Ling Xi managed to stop himself. His sword-like eyebrows rose, and his clear, handsome eyes rippled with a mocking, teasing glint.
Ling Zhao stopped, put down the ointment bottle, and lowered his head to speak, "Junior Brother, today's Immortal Examination mobilization meeting is a bit strange. The sect leader had already reached an agreement with the Deputy Palace Lord of Jiuling Palace last time, willing to exchange a treasure for the right to set the questions for the martial examination. But at the meeting, their commander insisted they would not transfer the right to set questions. Now their Deputy Palace Lord is also present, and their attitudes are inconsistent. I don't know why."
Just as Ling Xi was about to speak, Ye Ziling stared at him intently. The dagger at his neck dug in deeper until the scent of blood filled his nostrils.
He had no choice but to look at her calmly, remaining silent.
Ye Ziling felt a sense of foreboding upon hearing this.
Xuanlang? He's here too?
She had ordered him confined for half a month. Has this old fox grown impatient so quickly?
If her guess was correct, Xuanlang's purpose in coming was to give up the right to set the questions for the Immortal Examination.
Damn it, she wondered if that brat Mu Heng could handle that thousand-year-old fox.
Ling Zhao glanced at his communication talisman and found that something had suddenly happened in the sect. He bid farewell and hurried towards the inner hall.
Ye Ziling raised an eyebrow, pulled the Hundred Beasts Pouch from Ling Xi's waist, and rolled off the bed.
"Miss Ye." The person on the bed suddenly called out to her.
She paused, then tidied her skirt.
"I will take your life later. You had better ensure the Sun Moon Divine Lamp is intact." With that, she left the room without looking back.
The person in the room sat up, looking towards the door with a deep, thoughtful gaze.
As she passed the inner hall, Ye Ziling accidentally bumped into several disciples stealthily carrying a disfigured corpse towards the back mountain.
She saw clearly that the corpse's face was rotted, and black blood was oozing from its eyes, nose, and ears, indicating death by bleeding from the seven orifices.
She then saw Ling Zhao leading several more corpses with similar gruesome conditions towards the back mountain. Ye Ziling sidled behind a rockery to hide.
"This matter must not be leaked in the slightest. Do you all understand?" Ling Zhao instructed with a heavy expression.
"Understood." With that, the disciples quickly carried the corpses away.
Ye Ziling narrowed her eyes, noticing something unusual about the corpse.
Bleeding from the seven orifices, face rotted.
The world knew that the Sun Moon Divine Lamp could not only improve cultivation but also be used to concoct elixirs for immortality. What they didn't know was that a prerequisite was overlooked: having a strong enough cultivation. Otherwise, an ordinary mortal body would find it difficult to withstand the immense power of the Sun Moon Divine Lamp.
Those with shallow cultivation would suffer qi deviation, and even if they consumed the pills produced by the Sun Moon Divine Lamp, they would die bleeding from the seven orifices. If she wasn't mistaken, the Shaoling Sect also possessed a fragment of the Sun Moon Divine Lamp.
Jiuling Palace was also Xuanlang's pride and joy. Now, he was uncharacteristically agreeing to transfer the examination question-setting rights. The likely traded item was the Sun Moon Divine Lamp.
It seemed she had to intervene personally.
Inside the grand hall.
Mu Heng, clad in a black robe with sleeves wrapped around his arms and a white jade belt cinched at his waist.
His figure was slender, and when he was serious, his brows carried a sharp aura, his gaze as piercing as an eagle's.
He strode to the center of the hall, scanned everyone with a faint glance, and slammed his hand on the table, declaring, "As decided by our Palace Lord, the right to set the questions for this Immortal Examination will not be transferred!"
"Oh? Am I hearing things correctly? Commander Mu refers to the Palace Lord repeatedly, but I didn't know the Palace Lord was attending this assembly. This decision might not have been made by Commander Mu himself, but by you, right?"
Xuanlang, dressed in a wide-sleeved robe embroidered with gold thread and a golden nanmu wood dragon pendant at his waist, fanned himself with a feather fan as he walked to the center of the hall, appearing determined to succeed.
Mu Heng really wanted to rush forward and kick Xuanlang a few times. He had been holding this assembly perfectly fine until this sissy suddenly appeared midway and announced the transfer of the question-setting rights. He truly had a death wish!
The disciples of the Baiyi faction were stirring.
"Deputy Palace Lord, the disciples personally heard the Palace Lord say that the right to set the questions for the Immortal Examination cannot be transferred. Why are you acting like this?"
"Exactly. If the Palace Lord blames us, can you bear the consequences?"
...
Mu Heng slammed his hand on the table again, crushing the teacup in his grip. A cruel glint flashed in his eyes. "Deputy Palace Lord, on what grounds do you believe you can represent the will of the Jiuling Palace disciples?"
The atmosphere in the hall became tense, and various factions sat on the sidelines, watching the unfolding drama.
"Because I am the Deputy Palace Lord of Jiuling Palace." Xuanlang glanced at Mu Heng and replied nonchalantly.
Mu Heng let out a laugh of fury, his gaze mocking as he sneered, "The Palace Lord has already affixed his seal to the right to set the questions for the Immortal Examination. This is the Palace Lord's will. What are you?"
"That's right! That's right! We only obey the Palace Lord's command!"
"Never transfer the right to set the questions for the Immortal Examination!"
...
The Jiuling Palace disciples behind him echoed in unison.
Mu Heng let out a cold snort, his gaze chilling as he looked at Xuanlang, smiling provocatively, "Deputy Palace Lord, did you hear that? You want to transfer it, but the disciples disagree."
"Although Jiuling Palace is the foremost school in the Immortal Examination, since when has the right to set the questions for the Immortal Examination been decided by the disciples?" Elder Chu of the Seven Immortal Pavilion, who enjoyed watching the show, added fuel to the fire with an ill-timed jab and a cold sneer.
Xuanlang's gaze swept over Mu Heng, a smug expression on his face. "Elder Chu speaks wisely. In my opinion, the right to set the questions for the Immortal Examination should henceforth be decided through joint consultation by the four schools."
Upon hearing this, all the schools erupted in an uproar, their members whispering amongst themselves.
"Since the Deputy Palace Lord is willing, let everyone begin voting. Whichever school has the most votes will be granted the Immortal Examination rights," Elder Chu said lightly, instantly stirring up a storm.
"Let's see who dares."
A clear, cold female voice echoed from the entrance of the grand hall. As the doors opened, four celestial phoenixes pulled a glazed sedan chair into the hall. The curtain of the sedan moved slightly, revealing two slender, snow-white arms. Her jade feet touched the ground, and the phoenix sedan behind her dissolved into streams of light and vanished within the hall.
A woman in a white gauze gown, with a veil covering her face, revealed a pair of captivating, bewitching eyes. Her entire being exuded an ethereal aura, and every movement was elegant and noble, as if she were an immortal descended from the heavens.
Even without seeing her full face, one could imagine the exquisite beauty hidden beneath the veil.
The various cultivation schools flocked towards her, momentarily stunned.
Despite all their calculations, they never expected that the Palace Lord of Jiuling Palace, the foremost school in academics, would be a woman who appeared to be no older than twenty.