"Junior Brother Li, here to stroll around again today?"
Seeing Li Ye arrive at the Internal Affairs Hall once more, the steward elder took the initiative to greet him with a teasing tone.
"But really, I think you should stop wandering in here so often…"
The moment he stepped inside, he was practically being shooed away.
Li Ye, who was casually glancing around the hall, didn't get annoyed. Instead, he chuckled and asked,
"Oh? Senior Brother Luo, do you have any advice for me?"
With his increasing skill in spiritual planting techniques, Li Ye gained more precise control over the state of his spirit field.
And with that precision came ease.
No matter how dedicated he was, the time he needed to spend each day on his field gradually decreased.
This gave him significantly more free time.
Other than using that time to cultivate and strive to restore his strength as quickly as possible, Li Ye also tried to broaden his network.
He wanted to see if he could find ways to earn some spirit stones or get access to useful information.
Visiting the Internal Affairs Hall was part of that effort.
Here, there was a steady flow of people discussing things, along with a wide variety of task postings.
Even if he couldn't dig into every detail or take on missions himself, just browsing the surface-level information and doing some light sorting gave Li Ye a decent grasp of recent developments within the Purple Profound Sect.
That kind of awareness could help him make the right decisions quickly if any instability ever arose.
It was as effective as those taverns in the mortal world, where gossip flowed freely and news spread like wildfire.
And although the rumors targeting him hadn't completely died down, Li Ye kept moving around as usual, seemingly unfazed. Over time, he'd even managed to grow familiar with quite a few people.
This steward elder who he previously had little to no contact with was one of them.
Li Ye was well aware…
The reason those rumors had spread so quickly wasn't just because of the two culprits openly talking about him in public, piquing everyone's interest.
This Elder Luo had also played a major part by casually bringing it up during drinking sessions, using it as a conversation starter.
But Li Ye had always acted as if he knew nothing about it, and he never showed even the slightest change in attitude toward the old man.
After all, gossip only affects one's reputation.
And with time, new stories would pop up and old ones would fade.
Compared to personal interests, that kind of talk was hardly worth anything.
As long as this old man could offer him some help, then it wasn't a big deal.
But if the man only knew how to run his mouth and nothing more then Li Ye would make him pay the price, sooner or later.
Hearing Li Ye's lighthearted question, the old steward chuckled,
"Look at you! You're not willing to go out and take sect missions or seek out fortuitous encounters. Aside from spiritual planting, you haven't learned any other cultivation arts or techniques…"
"So what use is there in hanging around the Internal Affairs Hall?"
"Wouldn't it be better to focus on tending your spirit field, and get higher marks on your evaluations? Who knows, maybe then you could"
Seeing Li Ye's rare change of behavior, the steward took on a half-scolding, half-teaching tone, clearly feeling pleased with himself.
He intended to hint at some opportunities for the young man.
Partly to make up for the consequences of his loose tongue in recent days and partly in hopes that this junior brother would start relying on him a bit, giving him a chance to enjoy some seniority pride.
"...Did you all hear?!"
Amid the crowd in the hall, a sudden uproar broke out. Shouts and exclamations came in bursts, quickly cutting off the old man's rambling.
The steward elder looked visibly annoyed, even opening his mouth to scold them for breaking the Internal Affairs Hall's rules against causing a commotion. But as the words from the crowd gradually reached his ears, his expression changed drastically.
Disbelief filled his face.
Meanwhile, Li Ye, who had been casually chatting with him moments ago, had already blended into the crowd, quietly listening to the chaotic chatter. His expression shifted from curious to thoughtful then turned grim.
Cai Shiwei's expedition had almost ended in complete disaster!
In the end, it was Cai Shiwei who suddenly awakened his spirit body amid a desperate situation. His cultivation and combat power surged, and he barely managed to break through the enemy encirclement, escaping with Tang Xiaohan. Both of them returned with serious injuries.
The latter, Tang Xiaohan, was reportedly still unconscious even now.
"Demonic cultivators?!"
"There were demonic cultivators ambushing sect disciples within the Purple Profound Sect's territory?!"
Li Ye muttered to himself, instantly recalling the time he was ambushed by rogue cultivators.
Could the two events be connected?
And what about Cai Shiwei...
From both Li Ye's own experience and the intel he'd gathered afterward, there was something suspicious.
Both missions had been organized by Cai Shiwei.
And both times, he suffered the least damage while somehow coming out ahead.
The first time the mission failed due to an ambush, he escaped and stumbled upon an ancient cultivator's cave, where he obtained a high-grade magical artifact.
The follow-up expedition, which he invited everyone to join, was to explore that very cave…
They were ambushed again. The team was nearly wiped out, and yet Cai Shiwei awakened a spirit body and made a major leap in cultivation.
"This guy…"
Li Ye's eyes narrowed, something bothering him.
"If he was behind all this, why spare Tang Xiaohan?"
Wouldn't silencing all witnesses be the most secure option?
Unless… that woman was actually on his side. Or perhaps he already had a way to control her.
Of course, it was also possible that he was just one of those freakishly lucky protagonists cursed for teammates, blessed for personal gain. And Tang Xiaohan, being close to him, just barely managed to cling to life.
The lack of information meant Li Ye couldn't make many conclusions. Still, he found himself thinking hard.
But the more he thought about it, the more he suddenly chuckled and shook his head.
Why was he overthinking this?
Regardless of what Cai Shiwei was up to, Li Ye had already distanced himself from that group long ago.
As long as he stayed in the sect, quietly tending his spiritual fields and keeping his distance from that guy, he'd be fine.
Whether the man was scheming in the shadows or just some chaos-bringing lone star, what were the odds trouble would come knocking on his door?
He was a nobody in the cultivation world!
The Internal Affairs Hall grew louder by the minute. Most people no longer had any interest in sorting through the mission postings.
Li Ye, however, had already slipped away. He had no intention of sticking around and becoming part of the gossip again.
Only one person noticed his departure.
The steward elder stared blankly in the direction Li Ye had gone, his expression unreadable.
"These rogue cultivators have grown bolder in recent years. Sect disciples are being ambushed more and more frequently. The sect's cleanup efforts have yielded little success. It's like these people have inside help and they always seem to know our movements ahead of time…"
"And now, even demonic cultivators are showing up right under our noses bold enough to slaughter nearly ten of our disciples within sect territory!"
"This is… this is insane…"
As his thoughts raced, a chill crept into his heart.
Then he recalled how Li Ye, ever since being injured, had abandoned his former adventurous ways, choosing instead to lay low and keep to himself.
The steward elder couldn't help but feel a deep sense of admiration.
"To think I used to laugh at that boy's behavior mocking and joking about him with others… Turns out, this Junior Brother was the only one who saw things clearly from the start!"
"Who's to say misfortune isn't a blessing in disguise…"
As his thoughts turned over and over, the old man made up his mind he wouldn't step foot outside the sect if he could help it!
And as for that Junior Brother Li…
He might just be worth befriending.