After disappearing for ten years, the junior sister made the entire sect kneel down to welcome her.

Su Mingyue was both angry and ashamed. Her emotions fluctuated violently, and a surge of blood rushed to her chest until everything went black and she completely lost consciousness.

She didn't know how long she had been unconscious; someone was shaking her.

"Bright moon! Bright moon!!"

"Wake up..."

Su Mingyue slowly opened her eyes and saw a group of people surrounding her. Standing in front were Gong Lian and Zhao Qing, and behind them were the elders of the Weapon Peak and the core weapon cultivators.

Gong Lian, a weapon cultivator, came to seek guidance from Senior Duan, hoping to gain some experience and receive a few pointers. Zhao Qing, on the other hand, came to visit Su Mingyue.

Unexpectedly, before they even reached Senior Duan's cave, they encountered Su Mingyue, who was unconscious under a tree.

Zhao Qing helped Su Mingyue up, her face full of concern: "Mingyue, what happened to you?"

As soon as Su Mingyue thought of the scene just now, she was overcome with grief, and tears fell down her face like beads from a broken string.

She sobbed incoherently, "Third Senior Brother. Senior Duan came to Xuantian Sect to see Luo Huanzhen! Waaah... He is... He is a good friend of Grandmaster Yun Yao... Grandmaster Yun Yao just brought Junior Uncle to see him, and Junior Uncle saw that I was close to Senior Duan and thought I was disgusting... Senior Duan hates Mingyue."

Zhao Qing's face turned grim: "How could this happen?"

Su Mingyue choked up as she said, "He even took back the lotus throne that was originally given to Mingyue... Now he's going to coax his angry grandmaster and junior grandmaster..."

"This is too humiliating!" Zhao Qing felt heartbroken, while the elders of the Weapon Peak and the disciples of Weapon Cultivation who were surrounding them felt relieved and extremely happy.

Live it!

Actually, they had no problem with Su Mingyue. When Senior Duan arrived at the sect, she stole the show, and Senior Duan gave her a valuable treasure. Everyone was just envious.

Ultimately, the benefits fall into the hands of one's own people.

She earned Duan's favor through her own abilities, no doubt about it.

But Su Mingyue actually dismissed all the personal disciples that Qifeng had arranged to serve Duan Qianchui!

Despite her frail body and unhealed injuries, having spent ten years in the Xuan Tian Sect pampered and spoiled, she was always waited on and never served anyone. Yet, in order to have the opportunity to befriend a Tribulation Transcending cultivator, she insisted on volunteering to Heng Yangzi to receive Duan Qianchui.

Hengyangzi felt it was inappropriate, but Su Mingyue said that if others did not take good care of the senior, it would be a bad thing if it made the senior unhappy.

Instead of having them serve Duan Qianchui, it would be better to have her, Duan Qianchui's disciple who is already well-liked by the elder Duan, receive him.

Hengyangzi thought it made sense.

He agreed.

The people of Qifeng were naturally unhappy, but since the sect leader had spoken, they had no choice but to accept their fate.

However, he was very angry and had a lot of opinions about Su Mingyue's move to undermine his cause.

Hearing Su Mingyue's words, everyone at Qifeng was overjoyed.

Su Mingyue shifted her position to make room!

Finally, it was their turn again.

They then began whispering amongst themselves, their faces filled with "grief"—

"Junior Sister Su and Junior Uncle are like oil and water. Since Senior Duan is a good friend of the Supreme Elder, Junior Sister Su will probably not be favored by Senior Duan in the future..."

"No need for later. Didn't you hear they took back the lotus throne... How pitiful, it's too much, tsk tsk..."

"Yes, we need to quickly replace the disciples who serve Senior Duan. Otherwise, what if he gets unhappy and leaves the Xuantian Sect?"

"What do you think, Elder?"

"I think that makes sense." Elder Qifeng slapped his thigh in feigned sadness, then cheerfully instructed Zhao Qing, "Qing, hurry up and help Mingyue back to her cave to rest. She's already weak and can't stand crying like this. By the way, Mingyue should try not to come to Qifeng in the future, so as not to anger Senior Duan."

Su Mingyue could easily see how happy they were.

She was too heartbroken to serve tea. With red eyes and a biting lip, she cursed the treacherous bastards who had kicked her while she was down, then clutched Zhao Qing's sleeve and sobbed, "Third Senior Brother, I want to go home! Mingyue wants to go home, take me home, waaaah..."

It seems she's about to faint from crying again at any moment.

Seeing that she was in such a bad state, Zhao Qing didn't care about anything else. He bent down, reached out, and picked Su Mingyue up in his arms.

...I didn't pick him up.

Zhao Qing almost strained her back. The frail medical cultivator didn't exercise much on a regular basis. Even though Su Mingyue was very light, she still weighed nearly 100 pounds.

Su Mingyue stopped crying, and everyone's eyes fell on Zhao Qing and Su Mingyue.

The situation became quite awkward.

Zhao Qing: "..."

Su Mingyue: "..."

Gong Lian asked suspiciously, "Junior Sister, have you gained weight, or is Senior Brother not up to the task? Should I take your place?"

He was a weapon refiner and often carried heavy objects; he was very strong.

Su Mingyue bit her lip, her eyes red as she retorted, "I...I haven't gained weight."

"I wasn't serious just now." Zhao Qing forced himself to save face, channeled some spiritual energy into his limbs, and then picked up Su Mingyue again.

Zhao Qing: "Look, it's still very easy. Fourth Junior Brother, let's go!"

The three siblings left quickly.

But that back view looked like someone was fleeing in panic.

Someone among the Qifeng members who were originally standing still suddenly chuckled.

Immediately afterwards, a series of "pfft" sounds rang out.

I can't hold it in.

I just can't hold it in!

After Zhao Qing and Gong Lian escorted Su Mingyue back to her cave, she lay on the bed and wept bitterly.

It took two senior brothers a long time to coax Su Mingyue to stop crying.

Zhao Qing said gently, "We have no control over Senior Duan's affairs. He is a good friend of the Supreme Elder, so it's normal that he prefers Luo Huanzhen. Mingyue doesn't need to care too much about his impression of you. Let's prepare well for the upcoming sect competition and get good results."

Su Mingyue: "..."

How could she not care? He almost became her master!

Because things were not yet settled, Su Mingyue kept her attempts to curry favor with Duan Qianchui a secret from her master Hengyangzi and several senior brothers, lest they prevent her from leaving with the Tribulation Transcending stage expert.

She had planned out her future, but now everything is ruined.

However, given the circumstances, Su Mingyue had no other choice.

She nodded, biting her lip, and said, "Yes. Senior brother, can you accompany Mingyue to the disciple hall to register?"

She looked up, a pitiful and bitter smile tugging at the corners of her lips: "I've been so busy hosting Senior Duan these past few days that I completely forgot about this."

Gong Lian frowned: "How could you forget something so important?"

He was a cultivation fanatic and always valued these kinds of competitions. He and Zhao Qing had already registered.

For Mingyue's sake, the eldest brother gave up the Nascent Soul stage competition and went to the Cliff of Contemplation to be punished in her place. How could Mingyue forget that?

Su Mingyue's eyes reddened, and she was about to cry again. She nestled in Zhao Qing's arms and said pitifully, "I, I didn't mean to."

Zhao Qing smoothed things over, saying, "It's nothing serious, I didn't mean to blame you. Registration isn't over yet. Fourth Junior Brother, you should go back first. I'll accompany Mingyue to the Disciple Hall later."

Gong Lian had no objection; he was quite busy.

Zhao Qing took Su Mingyue's pulse for a while and performed a healing technique to confirm that her condition was stable before the two of them went to the disciples' hall.

Disciples at the Nascent Soul stage or above in a sect are considered to have graduated and are not required to participate in the assessment. Therefore, the Grand Competition has a total of four competition levels: Qi Refining stage, Foundation Establishment stage, Golden Core stage, and Nascent Soul stage.

Disciples of each rank will compete in five areas: medical skills, breaking formations, weapon crafting, magical combat, and demon slaying in actual battle.

Zhao Qing and Gong Lian registered for the Nascent Soul stage competition.

Su Mingyue is at the Golden Core stage.

Four enormous stone tablets stand outside the main hall of disciples, with countless names in tiny, fly-like characters appearing and flashing on them.

This is a list of all the registered disciples.

Su Mingyue had only casually glanced at the stone tablet for the Golden Core stage, but suddenly froze.

Luo Huanzhen?!

How come her name is on a stone tablet for someone at the Golden Core stage?

Su Mingyue's pupils contracted sharply. Before she could utter a sound, Zhao Qing beside her suddenly pointed to the stone tablet on the other side and exclaimed, "How come Luo Huanzhen's name is also on the Nascent Soul stage stone tablet?!"