To Gong Yujin and Yue'er, Lu Guijiu's victory only took a few hours.

However, these few hours felt like years to Lu Guijiu.

Lu Guijiu won the first-place prize that no one in the Lingxu Sect had claimed for a thousand years. The Lingxu Sect was in a festive mood; at least on the surface, everyone was celebrating.

Those who had previously mocked Zhang Jingmo behind his back all felt like they had been slapped hard in the face. They could only force a smile and say they were blind for not recognizing Lu Guijiu as the gem he was.

As for Elder Cen, who was previously high and mighty, he now found himself in an extremely awkward position. His cultivation had been stagnant for a long time. He had hoped his disciple Xiang Mingzi would bring him a glimmer of hope, but that hope was ruthlessly cut off by Lu Guijiu.

It was said that when Daoist Cen went to the cold abyss to collect the corpse, upon seeing his disciple's mangled body, he wailed and cried on the spot. His cries sent chills down the spines of those standing nearby.

Zhang Jingmo had always been someone who avenged every grudge. Seeing Daoist Cen in such a miserable state, he felt no sympathy at all. After all, it was Daoist Cen himself who had started the trouble. If it hadn't been Xiang Mingzi who died, perhaps it would have been Zhang Jingmo cradling his disciple's corpse and crying in pain.

Lu Guijiu winning first place was a big deal in Lingxu Sect. Coupled with Zhang Jingmo's refining of the Molten Fire Pill, this master-disciple pair was unrivaled for a time.

After leaving the Xuanwu arena, Lu Guijiu returned home to rest well for a month.

The pills he took during the competition had injured his body. Although the injuries almost completely healed after winning first place, Lu Guijiu still felt an inexplicable sense of weakness. Moreover, the sudden appearance of the fire dragon required Lu Guijiu to take some time to properly digest everything.

Zhang Jingmo did not disturb Lu Guijiu. He only told him to keep the seemingly inconspicuous first-place token safe. Zhang Jingmo told Lu Guijiu that the sword Bai Lingxiao currently used was forged from the first-place token he had won back then.

Hearing this, Lu Guijiu looked at the small star in his palm and said, "Master, can I give this to you?"

Zhang Jingmo just smiled, "Why would you give it to me?" His swordsmanship was not weak now, after all, he had refined it for so many lifetimes. However, the achievements attained through innate talent were still quite different from the achievements he reached through countless efforts. For example, Zhang Jingmo simply did not have that much time to walk the old path Lu Guijiu had taken.

Zhang Jingmo said gently, "Keep this first-place token. After some time, your master will find someone to forge a sword for you, guaranteed to be even better than your senior uncle's sword."

Hearing Zhang Jingmo's words, Lu Guijiu's ears inexplicably turned red. He pursed his lips and let out an "en" sound.

Zhang Jingmo's eyes were full of smiles. He said, "You rest well."

Lu Guijiu nodded, then took his leave.

In a good mood, Zhang Jingmo went to drink with Yu Fen again. In this lifetime, without the urgent pressure of the previous lives, he found himself spending more time drinking. During the period when Lu Guijiu entered Xuanwu, he drank until he was in a daze every day. Now that Lu Guijiu had won first place, he wanted to have a couple of drinks to celebrate.

Seeing Zhang Jingmo come again, Yu Fen did not welcome him as before, but showed a look of reluctance. He said, "Why are you here again?"

Zhang Jingmo said, "You're not welcoming me anymore?"

Yu Fen said angrily, "Welcome you? If I keep welcoming you, all the spirit wine I have stored will be drunk by you." After saying this, he felt his attitude was too harsh. He forced a smile and said, "Qingyuan, it's not that I don't want you to drink. I'm just worried about your health..."

Zhang Jingmo did not speak, his expression seemed to be smiling yet not smiling.

Seeing this, Yu Fen muttered resentfully, "You just know to come bully me. Hey, hey, hey, back then I used to look for you to drink every day and you were unwilling. Now you've actually turned into an alcoholic."

Although he said this, he still took out a wine bottle from his Sumeru Ring and placed it on the table.

Zhang Jingmo was not polite. He picked up the wine cup, poured the wine, drank a cup, and then said, "Refreshing."

Yu Fen took a sip and said, "How is it? Are you at ease now?"

"At ease?" Zhang Jingmo sneered, "How can I be at ease..."

Yu Fen said, "What are you worried about? Your disciple has such talent and your relationship is quite deep. Why do I always feel like you're worried all day long?"

Zhang Jingmo thought, how could he not be worried? He was even more attentive in raising Lu Guijiu than raising his own son. He wished he could present all the good things in the world to Lu Guijiu. If something happened to Lu Guijiu, he might as well die and start over.

Seeing Zhang Jingmo not answering, Yu Fen did not ask further. He said, "Forget it, forget it. Each family has its own matters... From the outside, it looks glorious and unlimited, but they have their own hardships."

Zhang Jingmo chatted with Yu Fen for a while and drank a lot of spirit wine. By the time he returned to his cave abode, he was quite drunk.

As soon as he entered the cave abode, he heard a crisp female voice. Zhang Jingmo looked up and saw a girl in green, chirping and saying something to Lu Guijiu.

The girl's voice was sweet and mellow. Although her back was facing Zhang Jingmo, her silhouette felt somewhat familiar to him. He thought for a while but could not recall who the girl was.

Then he heard Lu Guijiu say, "Master, you're finally back."

Zhang Jingmo let out an "en" sound. Before he could speak, he heard the girl also sweetly call out, "Master, you're back."

This "Master" sobered Zhang Jingmo up a bit. He took a closer look and was certain he had never seen this girl before. His second disciple, who was out traveling, definitely did not look like this.

The girl said, "Master, have you forgotten who I am? I'm Yu'er."

Lu Guijiu's face turned ugly. He interrupted the girl's words and said, "Master, Senior Brother came looking for you just now."

Hearing the two of them speaking one after another, Zhang Jingmo only felt his head aching and splitting. He said, "...Master? Who is your master?"

That Yu'er giggled coquettishly, "Master, have you forgotten? You even held me when I was young..."

As soon as she said this, the expressions of both Zhang Jingmo and Lu Guijiu turned gloomy at the same time.

Lu Guijiu was stunned by the words "You even held me when I was young", while Zhang Jingmo was stunned because he remembered who the girl in front of him was...

Su Yu, like Gong Yujin, was a disciple of the sect leader. She also had a younger sister named Su Yue who was four years younger than her. Back then... back then, she was extremely infatuated with Lu Guijiu.

Zhang Jingmo's face turned black, naturally not because Su Yu liked Lu Guijiu.

But because, after Lu Guijiu imprisoned him back then, Su Yu went to beg Lu Guijiu a few times. She didn't go to beg Lu Guijiu to release Zhang Jingmo, but to beg Lu Guijiu to take her in as well.

However, at that time, all of Lu Guijiu's obsession was focused on Zhang Jingmo, and he was completely indifferent to Su Yu's pursuit of love.

So Su Yu's love turned to hate, and she actually directed her hatred towards the innocent Zhang Jingmo. In order to take revenge on Zhang Jingmo, she sent Lu Guijiu some exquisite obscene devices every day. Zhang Jingmo had never experienced these things before and was simply tortured miserably with them, but Lu Guijiu happened to like it very much.

Seeing the smiling woman in front of him, Zhang Jingmo only felt a suffocating anger in his chest, and he almost wished he could directly raise his hand and strike her dead with one palm.

Back when Zhang Jingmo took revenge on Lu Guijiu, he naturally also took revenge on Su Yu along the way. After that, he had no further dealings with this woman.

Now she had suddenly appeared in front of him and even said with a smile that he had held her when she was a child. Hearing these words, Zhang Jingmo even felt like he wanted to chop off his own hands.

Both Lu Guijiu and Zhang Jingmo were speechless for a moment. Su Yu sensitively noticed that the atmosphere was off, but she couldn't figure out why... After all, when she was young, Zhang Jingmo treated her very gently, and the sect leader also had a very good relationship with Zhang Jingmo... That's why she dared to deliberately act coquettishly and call Zhang Jingmo "Master".

Zhang Jingmo held back for a long time, and his face, which had already been flushed from drinking, turned completely red. He said, "Lady Su, please leave first. I have something to say to my disciple."

Su Yu had always been good at reading faces. Seeing that Zhang Jingmo's expression was unpleasant and Lu Guijiu's expression was also not good, she thought that something had happened between this master and disciple pair. She smiled and said, "Then I will take my leave today... Master Qingyuan, I will come to seek guidance from fellow disciple Lu another day."

Zhang Jingmo didn't answer either, and just watched Su Yu leave with a smile.

After Su Yu left, he said with a gloomy expression, "Lu Guijiu, from now on, you are not allowed to associate with her."

Lu Guijiu didn't expect Zhang Jingmo to say such a thing as soon as he opened his mouth, and for a moment he was also a bit stunned. He reflexively asked, "Why?"

Hearing this "why", Zhang Jingmo's anger grew even stronger. He said, "Just don't associate with her, there's no why." If it were any other day, Zhang Jingmo probably wouldn't have said such words with a tone of anger, but he had drunk some wine today and was a bit tipsy, so he wasn't being as careful with his words and actions.

Seeing that Zhang Jingmo's expression was extremely unpleasant, Lu Guijiu could only say "yes".

Zhang Jingmo narrowed his eyes, just wanting to hurry back to his room and have a good sleep. He had only taken a few steps when he heard Lu Guijiu call out to him, "Master, Senior Brother came to look for you."

Zhang Jingmo grunted in response, but his footsteps didn't stop as he directly returned to his room and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. It was only three days later that he crawled out of bed, and only then did he realize what had happened.

Drinking leads to mistakes, drinking leads to mistakes. Zhang Jingmo crawled out of bed, his whole body feeling wooden. He pressed his temples with one hand as he walked towards the bathing area. As soon as he entered the room, he saw Lu Guijiu wearing only a pair of pants, his long hair wet as he walked over from the direction of the bathroom, clearly having just taken a bath.

At this time, Lu Guijiu was already a bit taller than Zhang Jingmo. Seeing Zhang Jingmo wearing a loosely tied long robe, his whole body just recovering from a hangover, he said, "Master."

Zhang Jingmo said, "Mm..."

Lu Guijiu said, "Master, what kind of wine did you drink? How did you get so drunk?"

Zhang Jingmo hadn't thought about this before, but now that Lu Guijiu reminded him, he realized that something was off. After thinking carefully, Zhang Jingmo quickly discovered that he had been tricked by Yu Fen. He didn't know what kind of wine he had given him to drink, but the wine that would usually make him drunk for at most a few hours had actually made him sleep for three whole days.

At this time, the long robe Zhang Jingmo was wearing was loose and the open collar could almost reveal his entire chest, but he himself didn't notice. Instead, he was somewhat distressed as he rubbed his temples. After rubbing for a moment, he said, "I'm going to take a bath... You go out first."

Lu Guijiu said okay and walked towards the door. His steps were extremely slow, and the way he looked at Zhang Jingmo was very sincere and pure, as if he was just a disciple concerned about Zhang Jingmo's health.

At this moment, Zhang Jingmo was still puzzling over Yu Fen's wine, so he didn't pay attention to what exactly Lu Guijiu was looking at.

However, even walking so slowly, he quickly traversed the dozen or so steps. Lu Guijiu's hand lightly pushed open the door, then he turned around and went out, looking at Zhang Jingmo's back.

Zhang Jingmo didn't notice Lu Guijiu's unusual behavior. He slowly walked forward and headed towards the bathing pool.

After a moment's pause, Lu Guijiu finally reluctantly closed the door. He recalled many years ago, when his master held him and bathed together. At that time, his master only regarded him as a child and had no defenses against him.

However, every child has to grow up, and this growing up can be both good and bad.

After closing the door, Lu Guijiu quickly returned to his own room. As soon as he entered the room, he sat on the edge of the bed and eagerly grasped a certain part that was already painfully hard.

The pictures that Lu Shu had shown him all resurfaced in Lu Guijiu's mind, but this time, the face of the person in the picture had turned into that of his cold-hearted master...

Lu Guijiu clenched his teeth tightly, his eyes closed, his movements not gentle, and could even be said to be rough. He knew that if his master Zhang Jingmo found out what he was doing at this moment, he would show such a disgusted expression. However, just like taking drugs, he couldn't stop no matter what.

After moving his hands for a long time, Lu Guijiu finally released. He casually wiped the cloudy liquid from his hands, sighed deeply, and collapsed on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, muttering, "Lu Shu, if Master knew, would he hate me?"

Lu Shu thought to himself, if he was Zhang Jingmo, knowing that the disciple he had taught so wholeheartedly actually harbored such thoughts, he would probably be so angry his lungs would explode. But he couldn't say this directly to Lu Guijiu, so he simply said, "What does it matter if he despises you? As long as you are strong enough, you can get anything you want, whether it's your master or the world."

Lu Guijiu coldly said, "What if I want his heart?"

Lu Shu said, "...No problem, I know of a kind of medicine..." Before he could finish, he was stopped by Lu Guijiu's shout. Lu Guijiu gritted his teeth and said, "I want Master to treat me sincerely, to only look at me, only me."

Lu Shu: "..." You can consider putting him in a bottle and keeping him like a pet.

But Lu Guijiu said, "But I don't want to see him sad either." Thinking of Zhang Jingmo showing a sad expression, Lu Guijiu's heart ached as if it was being pinched. He sighed, and sighed again, not knowing what to do.

Lu Shu simply wanted to sigh along with Lu Guijiu. He had lived for so long, but had never helped someone pursue a man before...and that man was also that person's master...

On the other side, after taking a bath, Zhang Jingmo finally recovered his state. After changing his clothes, he summoned Ji Jinglun and began discussing the matter of the Foundation Establishment with him.

The reason why Ji Jinglun had previously wandered outside was firstly to accumulate experience in preparation for foundation establishment, and secondly to collect some immortal herbs needed for the foundation establishment pill.

Actually, when establishing the foundation, it is best to first cleanse the muscles and bones in the spiritual veins, and then take the foundation establishment pill to build the spiritual platform. In this way, there is a high probability of improving the grade of the spiritual platform.

There were indeed spiritual veins within the Lingxu Sect, but the conditions for using these spiritual veins were extremely harsh. Among Zhang Jingmo's three disciples in the first life, only Ji Jinglun met the conditions, so he built an eighth-grade spiritual platform.

When Lu Guijiu established his foundation, it was done quietly. Before Zhang Jingmo could react, he had already successfully established his foundation. At that time, Zhang Jingmo saw that Lu Guijiu's spiritual platform was only of the sixth grade, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

Thinking about it now, Lu Guijiu must have concealed his cultivation at that time. With his later cultivation speed, how could it be that mediocre sixth-grade spiritual platform...

However, it was normal for Lu Guijiu to conceal his cultivation. At that time, his relationship with Zhang Jingmo was not as deep as it is now. Although Zhang Jingmo had fulfilled his obligations as a master, he didn't have much affection for Lu Guijiu as a disciple...

But now it's different. Zhang Jingmo not only wanted Lu Guijiu to build that high-grade spiritual platform but also wanted him to pursue the top-notch tenth-grade spiritual platform. Zhang Jingmo did not plan to have Lu Guijiu establish his foundation within the Lingxu Sect, but planned to take Lu Guijiu to the undiscovered spiritual veins when the time came.

However, the current priority was to help Ji Jinglun establish his foundation. Zhang Jingmo took Ji Jinglun's materials and promised to refine the foundation establishment pill within half a year. During this time, Ji Jinglun could enter the spiritual veins of the Lingxu Sect to cleanse his muscles and bones, laying a good foundation for his future foundation establishment.

Zhang Jingmo also instructed Ji Jinglun on many things to pay attention to during the foundation establishment, and Ji Jinglun listened carefully, agreeing to everything one by one. After Zhang Jingmo finished speaking, he asked, "Master, is Junior Brother already at the mid-stage of the fifth layer of Qi Refining?"

Zhang Jingmo said yes.

Upon hearing this, Ji Jinglun sighed deeply and said, "What the world lacks the least is indeed geniuses...It seems I can't slack off either."

Zhang Jingmo smiled and nodded.

After saying these words, Ji Jinglun bid farewell to Zhang Jingmo. Zhang Jingmo watched Ji Jinglun's departing figure and gently stroked the Sumeru ring on his finger.

The next time Lu Guijiu saw Zhang Jingmo, he heard Zhang Jingmo say that he was going to go into seclusion to refine pills.

Ever since Zhang Jingmo's hair turned white, Lu Guijiu frowned whenever he heard the two words "refining pills". But the things Zhang Jingmo decided on were not something he could change, so he could only watch as Zhang Jingmo stepped into the pill room and lowered that thick stone wall.

Separated by the door, Lu Guijiu stood in place and stared at the stone wall for a long time. In the end, he turned his head, holding the sword in his hand, and went to cultivate.

One day, he will make it so that his master does not have to be troubled by these trivial matters, and can get whatever he wants, living freely and at ease in this world.