Chapter 65

"Sure, you know me well. I got a book a few days ago. Let me show you what it is; it might be a secret manual," Bu Zheng nodded, not feeling the least bit embarrassed, and got straight to the point, even skipping the usual pleasantries with Xiu Ying.

"What kind of secret manual? Show it to me," Xiu Ying said with a hint of annoyance. Although she had long known Bu Zheng was unfeeling, she still felt a bit irritated when faced with it.

At the same time, she didn't think Bu Zheng could have any secret manual, so she was somewhat dismissive. This dismissiveness was natural, and Bu Zheng was already used to it.

"Guiyuan Heart Method? It really does have the feel of a secret manual. Where did you get this book?" Xiu Ying took the book from Bu Zheng, glanced at it, and felt that it seemed to be the real deal.

"Heart Method? Then read it to me quickly. Oh, I found this in the ancient ruins of Nankui, inside a mechanical box. It seemed quite valuable," Bu Zheng said.

"Nankui ancient ruins? You've been there?" Xiu Ying was stunned. She hadn't expected Bu Zheng to go to the Nankui ancient ruins, a place even she, an outer sect disciple, had never visited. Not to mention her, even the new stars among her peers had never been there. Now, Bu Zheng was telling her he had been there.

This felt a bit unbelievable.

"Yes, a few senior brothers and sisters took me there. I just did the odd jobs," Bu Zheng nodded and said.

"Is that so? If you got it from the Nankui ancient ruins, it might be a treasure. Let's go to a quiet place to read it," Xiu Ying, who was more细腻 (refined), felt it was inappropriate to read the Guiyuan Heart Method here. She soon realized how correct this decision was.

"A quiet place? Why don't we go to my place? I live alone there," Bu Zheng said. Xiu Ying's place was crowded with new outer sect disciples, and there was no quiet place. Besides, reading a secret manual wouldn't be a quick task, so it would be better to go back and refine a batch of pills.

Ideally, he could refine pills while listening.

"Your place? Oh right, I haven't asked where you are now," Xiu Ying only thought of this at this moment. If she needed to find Bu Zheng in the future, it would be a headache.

"I'm on the Alchemy Peak. There are only three people there, but the other two haven't been seen for months," Bu Zheng replied.

"Alchemy Peak? Where is it?" Xiu Ying asked, but quickly regretted it.

"Am I not taking you there? Why are you asking?" Bu Zheng replied casually.

"..."

Xiu Ying felt squeezed and was quite unhappy. She didn't speak for a while as she followed Bu Zheng. She wondered if there would be any problems if she just left without saying anything.

Of course, there wouldn't be any problems. Outer sect disciples were not like miscellaneous disciples; they didn't have fixed jobs. Their primary focus was cultivation, and work was secondary, so they were quite free. Being away for three or four days wasn't an issue.

"Bu Zheng, where is your Alchemy Peak? Why haven't we arrived yet?" Xiu Ying walked for a long time and realized they were almost out of the Qingyun Sword Sect. She couldn't see any sign of Bu Zheng's Alchemy Peak.

"We're almost there, it's just ahead," Bu Zheng replied.

"You said that a moment ago," Xiu Ying said with a hint of annoyance.

"Almost there, at most one more step," Bu Zheng replied.

After one more step...

"It's been one step, where is it?"

"Look, ahead," Bu Zheng replied.

"Damn, are you playing with me? There are no mountains around here. The mountains we can see are very far away," Xiu Ying looked around and saw no mountains, only some small hills that were barely noticeable, just some large rocks.

"Mountains? What mountains?" Bu Zheng asked.

"Are you pretending to be stupid? Where is the Alchemy Peak?!" Xiu Ying tapped Bu Zheng.

"It's ahead, didn't I just say that?" Bu Zheng pointed ahead.

"..., that mountain is so far away, you said it was one step away."

"What mountain? It's the valley ahead," Bu Zheng replied, "Do you think the Alchemy Peak is on a mountain?"

"..." Xiu Ying was speechless. Isn't that how it should be? If it's called the Alchemy Peak, shouldn't it be on a mountain? Even if not on a mountain, at least a small hill, right? What does a valley mean?

"No wonder you were confused. I was the same at first, thinking it was a mountain, even if not a high one. I didn't expect it to be a valley. Now that I'm used to it, I've forgotten how it felt," Bu Zheng said, making Xiu Ying want to kick him. Are you deliberately misleading me?

However, the Alchemy Peak being a valley in such a remote corner also meant a bleak future. Fortunately, Bu Zheng treated it as a job, and being able to enter the Qingyun Sword Sect was already a great honor for the Bu family...

Wait, I seem to have forgotten something important.

"Bu Zheng, I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" Xiu Ying looked at Bu Zheng with a mysterious expression.

"The good news," Bu Zheng replied directly. His thinking was straightforward; if there were good and bad news, he would naturally want to hear the good news first.

"The good news is that this year, when I went home, I got some news. It turns out that your Bu family is actually a branch of a very powerful family. Now, someone from that family has come to find you, and your Bu family has returned to that family," Xiu Ying said.

"?? What?" Bu Zheng found it hard to accept this news. It was too sudden.

"Isn't it sudden? I knew you would react this way. I was the same when I first heard it. To think that a family from our small place has connections to a major power," Xiu Ying recalled the situation, and her expression was much richer than Bu Zheng's.

"What's going on? We've always lived in the village. How could we have connections to a major power?" Bu Zheng was puzzled. His father and grandfather had always lived in the village, hadn't they?

"You don't know. Actually, your great-grandfather wasn't from the village. I heard this from some old people this time. When your great-grandfather came to the village, he was only in his twenties, and he brought your great-grandmother with him. They said they were in trouble and wanted to find a place to settle in the village."

Xiu Ying continued, "It's said that your great-grandfather was a member of that powerful family. It seems your great-grandmother ran away with him. Now, people from that family are looking for this lineage."