Dual Cultivation

"Where should we go from here?" Qiuyue asked Su Yang after they left the Four Seasons Academy.

"Anywhere that will allow them to find us easily," Su Yang casually replied.

"If I recall correctly, Father enjoys drinking wine, right? Although it cannot compare to the wines available in the Four Divine Heavens, it should be just enough to quench your thirst."

"Hmm? You are inviting me to drink wine? If you are not careful, I might end up also consuming you! Hahaha!" Su Yang burst out laughing.

"..."

Qiuyue looked speechless, but deep inside, she was wishing for it to actually happen!

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"Matriarch! Matriarch!"

The middle-aged man that received the paper scroll from Su Yang rushed to the meeting hall, where the Matriarch and many other high profile Sect Elders are currently gathered.

"Which ill-mannered disciple is causing such a ruckus outside while knowing that there was going to be an important meeting today?" One of the individuals from inside the meeting hall said with a frown on his face.

Bang! The door to the meeting hall suddenly opened, and the middle-aged man came rushing inside.

"Who dares to barge in here without permission?! Prepare for your punishment!" Another individual shouted.

"Wait… Elder Deng? Are you out of your mind? What do you think you are doing, acting like this?"

When the people in the meeting hall finally realized who the troublemaker was, they all gasped with shock.

How could a Sect Elder act in such a misbehaving manner, much less Elder Deng, one of the Great Elders?

"I-I know! But this is urgent! Matriarch, please, look at this!"

Elder Deng ignored the other individuals in the room and directly approached the old woman sitting at the end of the room.

"I sure hope that this urgency of yours is worth interrupting our meeting…"

The Matriarch casually grabbed the scroll and opened it to read the contents.

However, two words into the scroll, the Matriarch's eyes widened with shock and even stood from her seat.

"T-This is—! Where did you get this?! Tell me!" The Matriarch stared at Elder Deng with narrowed eyes filled with killing intent, and the Profound Qi of a Sovereign Spirit Realm expert pressured the room.

When the others in the room saw this, they looked at the situation with fearful expressions. What happened? What was in the scroll that caused the usually calm Matriarch to get all rowdy?

Startled, Elder Deng spoke in a hasty manner, "T-T-There was this group of children! They approached the Sect and asked me to pass this scroll to the Matriarch!"

"A group of children? What did they want?"

"They said something about doing business!"

"Business? What else?"

"T-That was all they told me…"

The Matriarch collected her Profound Qi back into her body and sat back down with a pondering expression.

"When did this happen?" she then asked him.

"Just now." Elder Deng immediately replied, not daring to delay the answer for even a second.

"Are they still out there? Bring them to me right now!"

"..."

Elder Deng instantly turned silent and stood there like a stone statue. Bring them to her? Bring who? The people he'd already chased away before reporting to her?

"Why are you still standing there? Did you not hear my words just now?" The Matriarch asked him with a frown.

"M-Matriarch… these individuals you speak of… they have already left," said Elder Deng, his back filled with cold sweat.

"What?! You allowed them to leave even after seeing this paper?! Are you stupid?!" The settled Matriarch suddenly turned agitated once again.

"I-I thought they were only here to fool around, so I sent them away before actually reading the contents of the scroll. They were only kids, after all."

Elder Deng explained everything that had happened to everyone else in the room.

"..."

The Matriarch turned silent after listening to him, and her anger was even subdued.

"I understand," she suddenly said. "You are not to be blamed for your actions, as I'm certain that everyone in this room would've reacted the same way if they were in your shoes, and I apologize for acting up; that was not very professional of me."

"There's no need for the Matriarch to apologize to this disciple! I also should've been more patient with them before chasing them away!" Elder Deng bowed to her with respect.

"Matriarch, if you don't mind me asking, what is the content of that scroll?"

An old man with a similar age to the Matriarch suddenly asked the question that was in everybody's mind.

The Matriarch sighed and said, "The content of this scroll is nothing new to everyone here, but that's exactly why it is concerning…"

"It is nothing new to everyone here?"

The Elders were still puzzled.

"See for yourself," said the Matriarch as she tossed the scroll to the old man.

"This is! This is impossible!"

The old man's almost closed eyes widened the moment he read the scroll. He then looked around the room at every single individual there with doubt in his gaze.

"Stop right there," the Matriarch suddenly said. "I can tell what you are thinking right now, but I trust everyone in this room as the Matriarch and as fellow disciples, not to mention that the contents to the scroll already exceeds the knowledge of everyone here, so it's impossible for anyone of us to have leaked it outside."

After a moment of silence, the old man nodded and said, "I understand. I apologize for doubting you all."

The other Elders exchanged puzzled looks with each other. In the end, what is the content of the scroll?

"Here, take a look at this…"

The old man then opened the scroll in a way so everyone in the room could read it.

[Soul Divination Pill Recipe…]

"What?!"

Everyone in the room shouted simultaneously.

"How is that possible?! We have been researching the Soul Divination Pill's recipe for generations now and have never spoken to anyone about our findings!"

"Wait! How do we know it's real? It can be fake for all we know—"

"It's highly unlikely that this is fake." The Matriarch shook her head. "I also thought the same at first, but if you haven't noticed already, the recipe here has the exact same material as our research… and more…"

"You are right! Then this is really…"

"What's important right now isn't this paper but the person who wrote it. We must find these individuals immediately and find out what they want from us! Elder Deng, you will assist us in this, correct?"

"Of course!" Elder Deng quickly replied.

"Good! As for this meeting, we will continue at a later date. Does anyone here disagree?"

After a moment of silence, the Matriarch nodded. "Very well. Then this concludes the meeting!"

"Yes, Matriarch!"