173: Go and return

Yun Zhi's face was tense, but her eyes were sparkling. Through the crack in the door, she quickly sent a voice transmission:

"Senior Brother Lin! It's me, Yun Zhi. Yesterday... yesterday I accidentally heard what you said while you were Cultivating. I went back and tried it, and the Bottleneck for the 'Soft Water Technique' that had held me back for half a year actually loosened! Thank you, Senior Brother!"

After saying this, without waiting for Lin Feng to respond, she turned and ran off like a startled fawn, disappearing from sight.

Lin Feng stood there, stunned and feeling somewhat amused yet helpless. The confused words he hadn't even fully figured out himself had actually, by sheer coincidence, provided guidance to someone else?

Since then, the area around Listening Bamboo Pavilion became even livelier. The young female Disciples began finding all sorts of ways to "accidentally" run into him.

Sometimes, when Lin Feng was practicing his sword, cautious discussions would drift from afar: "Senior Brother Lin's Sword Qi is cyan, and his method of circulation seems completely different from ours..."

Sometimes, when he was deep in thought in the courtyard, a Disciple would directly ask: "Senior Brother Lin, how can spiritual energy be both gentle and piercing?"

The questions, initially born of curiosity, gradually became more profound.

Lin Feng was cautious at first, but later, seeing that they were genuinely seeking instruction, he would occasionally offer a few macro-level pointers: "Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it; softness and strength are essentially one. The power of moonlight is pure, so perhaps you don't need to blindly pursue softness. You could try adding a hint of variation in the subtle aspects during circulation."

He spoke casually, but those eavesdropping female Disciples treated his words like treasures. Gradually, rumors began to spread throughout the Sect that while the path of cultivation practiced by Senior Brother Lin at Listening Bamboo Pavilion seemed overbearing, a few offhand remarks from him could often resolve the stumbling blocks they had been unable to overcome for a long time.

This news eventually reached the ears of Elder Yan Jing.

That afternoon, just after Lin Feng had finished instructing a female Disciple who had sneaked over to ask how to make her spiritual energy more explosive, a sharp pressure enveloped the small courtyard.

Elder Yan Jing, her face covered in frost, appeared at the courtyard entrance. Her gaze swept like a blade over Lin Feng and Junior Sister Liu, who was practicing nearby and whose face had instantly turned pale.

"Lin Feng!" Elder Yan Jing's voice was icy. "I have already warned you to behave yourself! You dare to ignore my warnings repeatedly, using heretical theories to bewitch the members of my Sect and ruin their Dao Heart!"

Junior Sister Liu trembled all over, but she mustered up the courage and plopped to her knees: "Elder, please calm your anger! It... it was this Disciple who took the initiative to ask Senior Brother Lin for advice! Senior Brother Lin did not bewitch anyone..."

"Silence!" Elder Yan Jing interrupted sharply, her eyes filled with even greater rage. "You still dare to defend him! It seems you are deeply poisoned!"

She turned to Lin Feng, her tone grim: "The Cultivation Technique of my Illusory Moon Sect is upright and proper; how can an outsider like you be allowed to criticize it? If you dare to spout nonsense again, don't blame this Elder for being merciless!"

The atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing. Lin Feng could sense that the Divine Sense of those spying from afar had been scared back.

Just then, Junior Sister Liu, who was kneeling on the ground, summoned courage from who knows where and began to circulate her spiritual energy. A surge of moonlight power flowed out from within her. It was not as soft as before, but instead carried a rare resilience, condensing and pulsing in her palm.

"Elder, please observe!" Junior Sister Liu's voice trembled, but she insisted, "This Disciple has practiced the Moonlight Guidance for many years, but my spiritual energy has always been difficult to condense. After listening to Senior Brother Lin... no, it was this Disciple who pondered it myself, trying to visualize the intent of dawn just before the spiritual energy is released during circulation. Now... now my spiritual energy is indeed much more solid! Please, Elder, examine it!"

Elder Yan Jing had originally been full of anger, but when her Divine Sense swept over the spiritual energy Junior Sister Liu was circulating, her stern gaze suddenly sharpened.

She stared fixedly at the ball of moonlight power in Junior Sister Liu's palm, which was clearly condensed and even faintly carried a hint of sharpness. Her face first showed disbelief, then became filled with suspicion and uncertainty, and finally turned into silence.

This spiritual energy was not only undamaged, but its Foundation was even more solid; it had even touched upon the embryonic form of the balance between hardness and softness that her lineage had pursued for many years but found difficult to attain.

Elder Yan Jing's face was livid, and her chest rose and fell slightly. After a long while, she squeezed a sentence through her teeth: "Eloquent but deceitful! This matter is not over!"

With that, she glared fiercely at Lin Feng and flicked her sleeve as she left, but she did not mention expulsion again.

A few more days passed. In the dead of night, with moonlight like water, Lin Feng was in the courtyard of Listening Bamboo Pavilion, deep in thought as he looked at the classics he had borrowed from the Scripture Pavilion spread out on the stone table.

A wisp of subtle Geng-Metal Sword Qi flickered at his fingertips, as he attempted to integrate its sharp characteristics into the enduring nature of the Kui-Water Sword Essence, but he always felt a layer of separation, making it difficult to achieve perfect harmony.

Just then, a powerful aura quietly enveloped the small courtyard. It was not an attack, but it carried an unquestionable sense of isolation, temporarily separating the courtyard from the outside world.

Lin Feng's heart tightened, and he became instantly alert. He retracted his Sword Qi and looked up.

He saw the figure of Elder Yan Jing appearing silently in the shadows of the courtyard gate.

She was still wearing her moon-white Daoist robe with black trim, and her expression was cold, but her eyes no longer held their previous piercing sharpness. Instead, they revealed a complex mix of emotions: struggle, hesitation, and even... a hint of unspeakable embarrassment.

She stood in the shadows, not entering immediately, as if that single step into the courtyard required immense courage.

Lin Feng's thoughts raced.

Elder Yan Jing had returned after leaving, and she had even set up a sound-dampening Restriction?

Was it because of Junior Sister Liu's affair that she felt she had lost face and wanted to settle the score privately?

Or was it... He recalled their previous confrontation, where he had managed to barely hold on under her Early Core Formation Stage pressure with his Late Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation, and even managed to keep her at bay for a time by relying on Five Elements changes. Could she be here to test his true strength, or... to settle scores later?

Elder Yan Jing finally moved. She stepped into the courtyard, her footsteps slightly heavy.

She avoided Lin Feng's probing gaze, her chin slightly raised as she struggled to maintain her usual dignity. But when she spoke, her voice carried a hint of unnatural dryness: "Lin Feng, come with me to the 'Cliff of Quiet Reflection' behind the mountain; this place... is inconvenient."

"Cliff of Quiet Reflection"? It sounded like a secluded, deserted place within the Sect. And she had even set up a sound-dampening Restriction.

Lin Feng's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately thought of the worst-case scenario.

Elder Yan Jing had been stuck at the Early Core Formation Stage for many years, her cultivation unable to make any progress, and with his own special Physique, the previous incident with Xiao Qinghan had given him a psychological shadow regarding "high-level female cultivators possibly coveting him."

Now that Elder Yan Jing was extending such a secretive invitation, could it be that she wanted to...

His expression changed slightly, and he subconsciously took a half-step back, his spiritual energy secretly circulating within him. He said in a deep voice: "Elder Yan, if you have any advice, you can state it clearly here. This Junior acts openly and honestly, there is no need to go to that secluded place."

His words, the wariness and resistance in his tone, as well as the pointed "secluded place" and "openly and honestly," combined with his earlier defensive, enemy-facing retreat and tense expression...

Almost at the same time, behind the bamboo forest and rockery in the distance, several obscure Divine Sense fluctuated violently.

"Look! Elder Yan has set up a barrier!"

"Oh my god, what is she going to do? Senior Brother Lin seems terrified, he backed away!"

Seeing Lin Feng's reaction, Elder Yan Jing was stunned at first. She was initially just puzzled as to why Lin Feng was so resistant to going to the Cliff of Quiet Reflection.

But when she connected Lin Feng's over-the-top defensive posture and suggestive words with his identity as a young male cultivator and her own as a female cultivator with whom he had previous grievances, and then thought of certain unspeakable possibilities...

Her stiff, serious face instantly flushed bright red, all the way to her ears.

It was from anger, but even more so from the shame and indignation of being severely insulted and desecrated.

"You! You are presumptuous!" She was both shocked and angry, her voice rising a few notches. "You scoundrel! What filthy thoughts are you having in your head! How could this Elder be... be such a shameless person!"