231: Chapter 231 Master

It had been less than half a year since Lin Qing and Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao parted ways.

During this period, the two occasionally kept in touch, with their topics revolving around the search progress for Jue Chenzi.

Over the past two months, Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao had also paid special attention to Lin Qing's safety.

Such contact usually only occurred once every ten to fifteen days, so Lin Qing truly had no idea that Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao had also come to Qianbao City.

At this moment, Lin Qing was disguised as a weathered swordsman.

The sword on his back was surprisingly one of the dozen or so Tier 8 spirit swords infused with a full-strength strike from Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao.

Just as Lin Qing was hesitating whether to reveal his identity to Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao, she had already glanced intentionally or unintentionally at the long sword on his back.

Seeing this, Lin Qing knew that Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao had already noticed something amiss, but he still did not know the identity of the old man by her side.

Therefore, as they brushed past each other, he simply used voice transmission to call out to Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao.

"Grand-Masters Aunt."

This action was supposed to be extremely covert.

Yet, just as Lin Qing sent out his voice transmission, the aged-looking man suddenly turned his head.

An expert!

Lin Qing's level of Divine Thought was already quite high by this point.

Although the old man could not directly hear what Lin Qing had said, he still keenly captured the fluctuations of Divine Thought in the air and realized that Lin Qing was communicating with Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao.

Lin Qing instantly grew nervous, quickly shifting a portion of his focus onto Xiao Dun.

At the slightest hint of trouble, he would hurl Xiao Dun out.

Just then, Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao's voice resounded in his mind.

"Don't be nervous. What are you doing here?"

Evidently, Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao had placated the old man beside her at the same time.

His gaze was no longer as sharp; instead, a trace of a smile appeared on his face as he began to look Lin Qing up and down.

"I wanted to get an admission ticket."

"Then you won't need to go in."

"Just come with us when the time comes. For now, come along with us."

Lin Qing nodded and followed the two to an inn.

Finding an inn with vacant rooms in Qianbao City right now was no easy task, which clearly showed that the two of them had arrived here long before.

"This is my Revered Master. You should address him as Grandmaster."

Upon entering the inn room, Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao began to introduce the old man's identity, and after finishing, she pointed at Lin Qing.

"Revered Master, this is Chen'er's disciple, Lin Qing."

Lin Qing immediately resumed his original appearance and respectfully bowed to the old man.

"Greetings, Grandmaster."

"Haha, good, good, good, not bad."

Now that there was nothing else to do except wait for the auction to begin, the three of them ordered some wine and food, chatting idly in the room.

Jue Chenzi had broken through to Level 11 at a very young age and was deeply valued by the Old Ancestors of the Sect.

Now that he had lost contact in the Central Continent, the Sect naturally could not just ignore it.

As Jue Chenzi's Grandmaster, this Grandmaster had personally come to the Central Continent.

However, experts were as numerous as clouds in the Central Continent, whereas the Chuyun Immortal Sect did not even possess a complete Level 11 Cultivation Technique.

Furthermore, the Grandmaster's Realm was only at the Early Stage of Level 11, so even though he had come, he could only investigate in secret.

After pondering for a moment, Lin Qing took a rubbings copy of a Level 11 Cultivation Technique from his Storage Ring and handed it to the Grandmaster.

Since Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao had dared to introduce Lin Qing to the other party, it proved that this person was trustworthy.

Moreover, the other party's willingness to travel thousands of miles to search for Jue Chenzi was also sufficient proof of the Grandmaster's character.

The Grandmaster casually accepted the Jade Slip handed over by Lin Qing, assuming it merely contained ordinary information and intending to help Lin Qing analyze it after having a look.

Yet, once he finished reading it, even this Grandmaster who had lived for thousands of years could not help but widen his eyes in utter shock.

Stunned for a moment, the Grandmaster hurriedly tossed the Jade Slip back, as if it were a red-hot potato.

"Qing'er, this is far too precious!"

As expected of a Senior who had lived for thousands of years, he casually used an affectionate address like Qing'er right off the bat.

This seemed to be the first time anyone had ever called Lin Qing that way, but as a junior, Lin Qing naturally harbored no dissatisfaction whatsoever.

Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao, standing to the side, was somewhat astonished; it was her first time seeing her Master lose his composure to this extent.

Lin Qing handed the Jade Slip to Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao, and she quickly mirrored the exact same expression.

This Level 11 Cultivation Technique had been obtained by Lin Qing inside the Scripture Pavilion of the Kunxu Immortal Sect.

The process of acquiring it could be described as extremely effortless, but being effortless did not mean it lacked preciousness.

The Old Ancestors of the Chuyun Immortal Sect had spent millennia researching for such a Cultivation Technique, and Jue Chenzi had even gone missing on account of it.

Yet now, Lin Qing had handed one over to them so casually.

Previously, the only God Realm Cultivators of the Chuyun Immortal Sect that Lin Qing was familiar with were Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao and Jue Chenzi.

Therefore, after leaving the Secret Realm, many of the items he obtained had not been handed over to Ling Shu to bring back.

Firstly, he feared Ling Shu could not protect them properly; secondly, he did not know to whom Ling Shu should deliver them.

Now that he had encountered Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao once more and gained an additional trustworthy Level 11 Grandmaster, many items could be directly handed over to them for their own discretion.

Seeing that Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao also intended to pass the Jade Slip back, Lin Qing hurriedly spoke up to stop her.

"Grand-Masters Aunt, I still have a backup of this item here. Just accept it!"

Meeting Lin Qing's unquestionable gaze, Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao ultimately passed the Jade Slip to the Grandmaster and signaled for him to accept it.

The Grandmaster, who was already pleased with Lin Qing's God Realm cultivation, felt even more gratified after accepting the Jade Slip that Lin Qing had essentially forced upon him.

Wrinkles formed on his aged face as he asked:

"Qing'er, did you come here to buy anything? Grandmaster will buy it for you!"

In truth, the Grandmaster was not wealthy.

Every day within the Sect, his sole occupation was studying Level 11 Cultivation Techniques, and much of what he had collected in his early years had been handed over to the Sect or to Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao and the others.

Nevertheless, being a Level 11 practitioner, he believed he could still afford whatever Lin Qing required—until Lin Qing rattled off the names of those Materials.

"Condensed Rock Amber, Layered Peak Jade, Frost Moss Core..."

With each name read out, the Grandmaster's expression grew a shade darker, until Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao beside him could not help but interrupt.

Only then did the Grandmaster speak:

"Qing'er, what are you collecting these Materials for? These shouldn't be things that someone at your Realm can use, right?"

Lin Qing explained the matter regarding the Level 12 Formation, though he omitted any mention of Sun Shaoping.

He was currently wanted by the entire Central Continent; for a short time, these super-faction powers might keep the Old Turtle's existence in mind and refrain from taking action against Dongxuan.

However, if Lin Qing could not be found for an extended period, they might no longer care about such constraints, as human patience had its limits.

Having been active in the Central Continent for these past few months, the two of them knew just how exaggerated the outside world's descriptions of Lin Qing were and recognized that Lin Qing's concerns were entirely reasonable.

They were even certain that such a scenario would inevitably occur.

Consequently, the Grandmaster and Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao immediately shifted the center of their efforts, intending to fully assist Lin Qing in collecting the Materials first.

Even though Lin Qing repeatedly insisted it was unnecessary, the two still produced many of their personal belongings to be sold off, hoping only to give Lin Qing a bit more confidence and backing at the auction.

A few days later, the highly anticipated auction finally began.