Yunmeng Marsh, bright moon high overhead, star-studded skies.
Cui Hao squatted on the ground, casually holding a tree branch he had plucked from somewhere and scraping it across the ground in an irregular pattern.
Under the moonlight, Zheng Zhaoling stood with her hands behind her back, head tilted up, gazing at the flawless, luminous moon in the sky.
"You called me out here just to listen to you scratch at the ground?"
"No... I was just thinking of how to word things."
"Word things?"
"Yeah, because I figure if I just say what I'm thinking, there's a chance I'll get beaten. I need to think about how to say it so I won't get beaten."
Zheng Zhaoling let out a soft laugh at these words, though it was unclear whether she was angered or amused. She turned around and looked at Cui Hao with a calm expression:
"Things like that are exactly the kind of thing that deserves a beating."
Cui Hao let out a long, melancholic sigh.
Zheng Zhaoling's speech at the conference hall that noon had naturally been earth-shattering.
Words spoken by someone of a different status naturally brought entirely different results.
The Yunmeng Pavilion Sect Master had just finished driving a wedge between Cui Hao and Yunze God, and in the next moment, Zheng Zhaoling had turned that wedge into a question of should it be done and is it right.
The conference hall meeting ultimately ended with a rather unhappy atmosphere.
The Yunmeng Pavilion Sect Master did not refute Zheng Zhaoling's words. Instead, he meaningfully said they would need further discussion before taking the Yunmeng Pavilion elders and Supreme Elders and departing.
From Cui Hao's observations, Zheng Zhaoling received none of the treatment befitting a core disciple at Yunmeng Pavilion. Instead, many things were constrained by the very identity of being a core disciple.
Cui Hao thought for a moment and spoke:
"You knew I went to great lengths to keep you from getting involved in this. Now forget about staying out of it — you're going to get scolded the moment you return."
Zheng Zhaoling raised her hand, directly snatching the branch from Cui Hao's grip with spiritual energy, then pointed it at his head like a sword:
"I also said, as a prodigy, you must learn to do what you want to do."
"How could I let you alone enjoy all the glory? I'm not the kind to step behind others."
"As for getting scolded, you underestimate me. I can give up being a core disciple, but my sect can't bear to lose face and abolish me. When that happens, it won't be certain who's begging whom."
Cui Hao's eyes widened in shock upon hearing these words:
"For real? You're just bragging, aren't you?"
Zheng Zhaoling withdrew the branch and said calmly:
"Mm, I was just bragging."
"Huh? Really just bragging?"
Zheng Zhaoling thrust the branch forward again, pressing it directly against Cui Hao's forehead, touching it, but controlling the force perfectly:
"They're all sect elders. I'm not unaware of respecting my teachers. If they lower their heads and pass along a message, that's one thing. But to actually make them beg me?"
Cui Hao reached out and slapped away the branch pressed against his forehead. He looked up and asked with a somewhat cheeky expression:
"Really? Last time I checked, after you came back from Yunmeng Marsh, you were locked in seclusion right away. How come you're so tough this time?"
Zheng Zhaoling kicked out at these words, looking displeased:
"Are you sick? Why are you asking about this for no reason?"
Cui Hao stood up, brushed his backside, and replied naturally:
"Out of curiosity, of course. Say, who did you pick up your recent way of speaking from? Why so cheeky?"
Zheng Zhaoling let out a light huff, her tone dissatisfied:
"Someone with such a cheeky way of talking must have a problem. Naturally, I learned from a fool."
Cui Hao the fool chuckled twice at these words, then his tone turned somewhat serious:
"Go back and apologize to your Sect Master. As long as the Evil Spirit Sect is dealt with, the mission is accomplished. The Incense God matter was just a bonus anyway — whether it gets done or not doesn't really change anything. My master won't hit me either way."
Zheng Zhaoling held the branch and twirled it slowly. After a moment of silence, she spoke:
"Actually, besides wanting to do this myself, there were other reasons today. I don't know why the Sect Master was inclined to refuse, but I understand that if things ended muddily today, then in the future Yunmeng Pavilion would be far from your master, and the trust in human hearts would naturally be far away too."
"I don't understand the reasons. As the Sect Master, perhaps there are naturally considerations, or perhaps other immortal sects sent some information."
"The Great Calamity looms. The ancestors of the human race joined hands to barely withstand it back then. Now, each harboring their own thoughts, it's ultimately unsettling."
"As a core disciple, I also wanted to use this to tell the Sect Master — this is my choice for the future."
Cui Hao fell silent upon hearing these words, his gaze lifting to look at Zheng Zhaoling's calm face.
Zheng Zhaoling noticed his gaze, raised her hand, and threw the branch onto the stone slab in front of Cui Hao. Spiritual energy surged slightly, and the branch embedded itself into the stone.
"If you have nothing to say, I'll take my leave."
"Alright." Cui Hao scratched his head.
Zheng Zhaoling turned and left crisply.
She hadn't taken more than a few steps when Cui Hao's voice came from behind.
"If Fellow Daoist Zheng can't get by at Yunmeng Pavilion, I'll guarantee you a spot at my sect. The treatment will definitely be excellent. You can even be a Supreme Elder — I can definitely persuade my master."
The moonlight fell on Zheng Zhaoling's light-blue fitted garments, bringing out her crisp reply:
"Scram!"
Cui Hao watched Zheng Zhaoling's departing figure until she was completely gone, then let out another long, leisurely sigh.
No wonder his master had such deep relationships with Xu Jin and Daoist Yuyang.
At this level of core disciple, the baseline for personal charisma was at the level of a top-tier seducer.
When encountering someone so like-minded, even wanting to hate or betray them couldn't get past one's own conscience.
The matter here had ultimately been handled in rather a strange, muddled way.
The plan had been so well laid out. How could something go wrong at the crucial moment?
Also, how had Yunmeng Pavilion captured the Black Crow Patriarch — known as "Crow-Runs-Away" — so efficiently?
Cui Hao felt there was his master's hand in this. At the very least, the information had been passed to the Yunmeng Pavilion Sect Master by his master.
Furthermore, Yunmeng Pavilion had arrived extremely quickly, so fast it seemed they had been deployed in advance. The timing had been captured with excessive precision...
Truly, the ways of the world were unpredictable...
Cui Hao sighed again, turning around, and immediately gasped.
The Yunmeng Pavilion Sect Master was sitting at a nearby table, his gaze somewhat unfriendly as he sized Cui Hao up.
Cui Hao put on a standard smile and said, somewhat guiltily:
"E-Elder, you're also out enjoying the moon?"
Cui Hao was certain that his poaching remarks just now had definitely been heard by this Yunmeng Pavilion Sect Master, who had arrived at some unknown point.
If he were grabbed on some pretext and given a beating, Cui Hao wouldn't have much ground to protest.
The corner of the Yunmeng Pavilion Sect Master's mouth curved into a slight smile:
"Enjoying the moon is not as interesting as enjoying you. Southern Zhanbu Continent, the Cui family of Henhuan, Cui Hao, Cui Puyu."
Cui Hao raised an eyebrow slightly. "You've actually looked into me this much?"
The Yunmeng Pavilion Sect Master let out a cold laugh, his gaze full of oppressive force:
"After all, one must guard against being deceived right under one's nose, having my Yunmeng Pavilion's core disciple lured away to become some Supreme Elder at your sect."