My junior sister sees everyone as a heretical cultivator.

Chapter 257 Notice on the Bulletin Board (Seeking monthly votes! Seeking rewards! Seeking book recommendations!)

Seeing Su Ling'er standing there in a daze, her face pale and her pupils dizzy, Lin Qingfeng impatiently waved his hand in front of her eyes.

"No, why are you stuck again! I'm just showing you the way, what are you spacing out for? Do you think I'm going to eat your family?"

However, upon hearing this question, Su Ling'er subconsciously nodded.

"..."

"..."

The air froze instantly.

Lin Qingfeng's waving hand stopped in mid-air, his face gradually turning to shock and disbelief.

He pointed to himself, then to Su Ling'er: "No...you just...you nodded, right? You really think I'd eat your family?"

"what?!"

Su Ling'er suddenly realized what she had just done, and her face flushed bright red.

"No, no, no! That's not it! Senior Brother!" She waved her hands frantically, almost jumping up in her anxiety.

"What I mean is... is... is it because of your noble status! You are the chief disciple of a reclusive and prestigious sect, your path to immortality is brilliant and radiant!"

"My family...my family is but a speck of dust in the mortal world, our humble abode is so lowly, I fear...I fear it would offend your discerning eyes! To have such a noble person as you condescend to descend upon us...I am truly terrified and at a loss for words!"

She finished speaking in one breath, looking nervously at Lin Qingfeng, afraid that he would be angry because of her subconscious action just now.

Lin Qingfeng chuckled after hearing this: "Oh, it's no big deal! We're all family, why are you being so formal?"

"Isn't your home my home? Of course, my home is still my home. What is this called? In the cultivation of the Great Dao, at its highest level, it emphasizes 'forgetting oneself and the external world, sharing the same root as heaven and earth'."

"You're always distinguishing between 'your' and 'mine,' between 'your mortal home' and 'your sect's home.' Little do you know, to me, your home is the very place where your karma is intertwined. Since you've joined my Guixi Sect, your karma is connected to the sect and also to me. Therefore, your home is my karma, and how is it any different from mine? Do you understand?"

Su Ling'er: "..."

I think I understand a little... but I don't quite understand what they said after that... Cultivating immortality is really difficult...

Lin Qingfeng was also considering something else: what identity should he use when he went to her house?
If he appears as the "Senior Brother of Guixi Sect," will it affect the cultivation level and spirit stone commission of the new disciples he recruits in Anhe City?
But we can't hide the junior sister's identity forever. Maybe we should keep it from her family for now. If her family doesn't have any keywords worth recruiting, then we can just tell them not to reveal it to the outside world.

Having made up his mind, he said to Su Ling'er, "How about this, you can continue to be your cultivator. Your black outfit is quite nice, it's a martial arts style, not too different from cultivating immortality."

"I will continue to play the role of a wealthy businessman. Once we arrive at your home, you cannot reveal my true identity until I confirm it. You can only say that I am your... well, a friend, an employer, or anything else."

"You can only vaguely reveal this to them after I give you permission, but remember, you must not tell anyone after you find out, understand?"

Upon hearing this, Su Ling'er nodded, though she was puzzled.

She silently prayed in her heart, "Please, please don't let anything happen... Senior Brother, please don't cause any trouble!"

……

And so, the two strolled along the streets, heading towards the Su residence in the north of the city.

They walked to the bulletin board in the city center, where a crowd had gathered, pointing and discussing the newly posted documents.

Lin Qingfeng squeezed in with great interest, and Su Ling'er followed. On the notice board, there was a document stamped with the official seal. The two of them looked at the document.

[An Qinyao, heartbroken over missing her mother, hanged herself in the Fulai Inn. The doors and windows were closed, and a suicide note was found with authentic handwriting. The case is now closed.]

Su Ling'er looked at the words and sighed. Life is unpredictable. Miss An passed away at such a young age.

He could hear whispers from the surrounding crowd: "Sigh, it's such a pity that Miss Qin Yao of the An family is gone."

"What 'longing for his mother'? That's all nonsense! It's all because Master An is muddle-headed, insisting on betrothing his daughter to Mu Ling, that storyteller at the Yue Lai Inn in the south of the city!" "Shh—! Keep your voice down! That Mu Ling is no pushover!"

"A good guy? He's just a blabbermouth! If you could believe anything he said, pigs would fly! He never tells the truth!"

"Master An should never have given in the first place. How could such a well-bred young lady have taken a fancy to such a thing?"

"Although the doors and windows were tightly closed and a suicide note was left... the government's conclusion was made far too quickly."

"Yes, ever since the immortal masters of the Heavenly Furnace Sect left, the officials in this government office have all become very lax."

“I’ve seen Miss Qin Yao a few times from afar. She’s always smiling. I heard that she even embroidered her wedding dress herself for that marriage and is incredibly excited… It’s really hard to say…”

Various voices mingled together—doubt, regret, gossip—rising and falling under the small bulletin board.

As Lin Qingfeng listened to these conversations, his ears caught a key word.

Tianlu Sect?
So this city used to be the territory of the Heavenly Furnace Sect?
His gaze unconsciously drifted to Su Ling'er beside him. No, why didn't you go to the Heavenly Furnace Sect and came to our Guixi Sect instead?

Lin Qingfeng looked Su Ling'er up and down. Oh right, you have a pseudo-spiritual root. No wonder. With such talent, the Heavenly Furnace Sect probably wouldn't even give you a second glance. Only a sect like our Guixi Sect, which doesn't stick to any particular way of recruiting talent, could give her such an opportunity.

And the Fire Birch Elder who was slapped away in the canyon, could it be because... their sect's elder was beaten up, causing them to withdraw their arrangements here?
Forget it, there's no use thinking about that now. The most important thing is to get my junior sister to take me to her house so I won't have to stay at the inn anymore; I can just stay at her house.

Let's see what good locations she has. If the place isn't good, I can always renovate it myself.

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehe!

He had previously discussed matters related to building houses with the sect leader of the Civil Engineering Sect, and he would use Su Ling'er's house as a starting point when the time came.

Having made up his mind, he reached out and patted Su Ling'er, who was still staring blankly at the bulletin board: "The dead cannot be brought back to life. Please accept my condolences. Stop looking at it and let's go home quickly."

Upon hearing this, Su Ling'er turned her head and looked at Lin Qingfeng with a strange expression.

No... that's my house, not yours! How can you say that so casually, as if you were going home yourself?!
But in the end, she could only sigh and leave the crowd with Lin Qingfeng, continuing to walk towards the north of the city.

A light rain began to fall from the sky.

The continuous drizzle dampened the ground and shrouded the entire city of Anhe in a cold, damp veil. As they turned a corner, the scene ahead made Su Ling'er stop in her tracks.

A large house adorned with white banners appeared on the street corner, the white mourning clothes fluttering in the wind and rain, forming a dividing line with the surrounding gray buildings.

This is Anfu.

Su Ling'er's gaze fell on the lintel and window frames of the An residence, where some red decorations that had not yet been removed remained, faded paper-cut "double happiness" characters on the corners of the windows, and red silk soaked by the rain under the eaves, along with the dazzling white banners.

Su Ling'er stood in the rain, looking at the open gate of the mansion. She could hear cries coming from inside. Su Ling'er wanted to go in and pay her respects, but after looking at her senior brother beside her, she gave up the idea.

Going in now feels like the wrong time.

Lin Qingfeng also stopped, his gaze passing through the high wall to the main hall of the An family mansion, where the mourning hall had already been set up.

A black coffin stood in the center, with several family members dressed in mourning clothes kneeling in front of it. A man dressed in white was kneeling beside the coffin, putting on his performance.

This is what a professional mourner is.

"My lady—! How could you be so heartless as to abandon us—!" the mourner wailed, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

His voice was loud, but it didn't sound very sorrowful. It was more like he was reciting a line he knew by heart. After all, the An family didn't give him much money, and he was just forcing himself to cry out of professional ethics.

"Miss! How could you be so unlucky!"

(End of this chapter)