"It seems this incident is really quite serious," Hu Ke'er muttered with a pout as she watched the back of the uncle leaving.
"I didn't expect it would even catch the sect master's attention!"
"Don't worry. You can rest assured. The sect master of our Longhu Mountain is quite reliable," Chen Tianyi said with a gentle smile as if nothing was amiss.
"Okay," Hu Ke'er replied, nodding her head. Then she asked curiously, "By the way, Senior Brother Chen, what kind of person is the sect master uncle?"
"Hmm, I don't know how to describe him exactly, but he's definitely a good sect master."
"Senior Brother Chen, do you often see the sect master? For outer - sect disciples like us, the chances of seeing the sect master should be quite slim, right?" Hu Ke'er asked rhetorically.
"Hehe, it might be slim for others. As for me, strange things always seem to find me, so I've seen the sect master a bit more often than ordinary people," Chen Tianyi said, scratching his head awkwardly.
"Eh, a bit more often?" Hu Ke'er teased.
"Senior Brother, you must be too naughty and always causing trouble, right?"
"Cough, cough. Do I look like that kind of person to you?"
"Uh, well..." Hu Ke'er forced a smile, not knowing how to answer.
"Kids, come with me to see the sect master," the uncle suddenly appeared in front of them. Then he reached out and grabbed their shoulders. Hu Ke'er only felt dizzy, and the scene in front of her changed rapidly. When she came to her senses, she was already in a grand hall.
"Where is this?" Hu Ke'er asked in confusion when she saw the scene in front of her.
"This is the sect's council hall," Chen Tianyi whispered beside her.
"Eh, how did we get here so fast? Weren't we just at the memorial archway?"
"I activated the sect's teleportation formation and teleported you directly here," a strange voice sounded. Hu Ke'er looked in the direction of the voice and saw a young man in a white Taoist robe sitting on a peach - wood chair, looking at them.
"Um, who are you?" Hu Ke'er asked, sizing up the young man.
"Don't you recognize me?" the young man asked with a smile upon hearing Hu Ke'er's question.
"No," Hu Ke'er shook her head and asked in a somewhat innocent way.
"Should I recognize you? Are you very famous?"
"Well... I guess I'm somewhat famous?" the young man in the white robe said with a self - deprecating smile.
"Junior Sister..." At this moment, Chen Tianyi gently tugged at Hu Ke'er's sleeve and said, "He is our Longhu Mountain's sect master, Zhang Tianyang."
"What?" Hu Ke'er was stunned for a moment upon hearing Chen Tianyi's words. Then she widened her eyes in disbelief and sized up the young man in front of her.
"You mean he's the sect master uncle we've always been talking about? Senior Brother, stop joking. He looks much younger than the uncle!" Hu Ke'er said, throwing a glance at the uncle who was busy drinking beside them.
"Cough, cough, cough." The uncle who was drinking was choked by his drink upon hearing Hu Ke'er's words. Then he wiped his mouth.
"Stinky girl, do I look that old? Don't be deceived by appearances. My senior brother is decades older than me!"
"What?" After getting the uncle's confirmation, Hu Ke'er sized up Zhang Tianyang again, then turned her head to look at the uncle beside her.
"Um, Sect Master Uncle, how do you maintain your appearance? You look at most seventeen or eighteen years old!"
"It seems you're really new to the sect and know nothing about cultivation," Zhang Tianyang said with a smile upon hearing Hu Ke'er's words.
"I'm at a relatively high level. I've already reached the Nascent Soul stage, so my appearance has reverted to a younger state."
"Reverted to a younger state!" Hu Ke'er exclaimed in surprise.
It's really possible to revert to a younger state. It seems she has one more reason to cultivate.
Even in the world Hu Ke'er originally came from, where technology was extremely advanced, it was still impossible to achieve this.
For a woman, what could be more attractive than eternal youth?
"If you work hard, you can do it too," Zhang Tianyang said with a smile.
"Okay, let's get to the point. Junior Brother Zhao said it was you two who told him there were high - purity spirit stones above the spirit - stone refining room and made him dig, which led to the collapse of the house?"
"No," Hu Ke'er shook her head.
"We just told him there were high - purity spirit stones there. Whether to dig or not was his decision. It has nothing to do with us."
"Yes, we don't have the ability to order Uncle Zhao around," Chen Tianyi echoed beside her.
"Well, I guessed as much. But there's another thing I want to ask you," Zhang Tianyang seemed to have expected this. After hearing their words, he didn't question them too much. Instead, he looked at Hu Ke'er and changed the subject.
"Junior Brother Zheng said this spirit stone was refined by you from origin stones. Is that true?" Zhang Tianyang slightly opened his palm, and floating in his palm was the red spirit stone that Hu Ke'er had shown to the uncle before.
"Yes, I refined it," Hu Ke'er nodded affirmatively before Chen Tianyi could say anything.
"The purity of this spirit stone is much higher than the ones we refine now. You haven't had much contact with cultivation before. How did you refine such a high - purity spirit stone?" Zhang Tianyang frowned and asked.
"It's actually very simple. I saw that when you refine spirit stones, you use heating to melt the origin stones, and then..."
"Sect Master Uncle, this refining method is actually a secret technique from Junior Sister's hometown, and it requires a lot of tools. It's not as simple as Junior Sister said," Chen Tianyi quickly interrupted Hu Ke'er before she could finish.
"Well, in that case, how about having you two refine the spirit stones from now on?" Zhang Tianyang looked at Hu Ke'er and Chen Tianyi and said.
"What?" Hu Ke'er and Chen Tianyi were both shocked upon hearing Zhang Tianyang's words.
"Sect Master Uncle, are you sure? You want to entrust such an important task to us, two outer - sect disciples?" Chen Tianyi exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes. Since you can refine such high - purity spirit stones, you can surely improve the overall quality of the output from the ore veins. This task is non - negotiable for you two."
"Senior Brother, isn't this decision a bit hasty? These two kids' cultivation levels are not high. How can they manage those guys in the mine? Moreover, this is Lao Zhao's business. If you hand this business over to these two kids now, Lao Zhao will surely cause trouble!" the uncle also said, looking at the sect master.
"Humph, cause trouble? I'm not even going to cause trouble for him, and he still has the nerve to cause trouble for others after collapsing the refining room!"