Chapter 78: Teaming Up, Ranking List
It was probably because he saw that Xuan Xia hadn’t stood him up; Qu Xingxuan waved his hand with particular enthusiasm.
Xuan Xia walked toward him while pulling out her mobile phone to prepare to pay the fare, but after Qu Xingxuan got out of the car, the driver floored it and left.
“Eh…” Xuan Xia blankly watched the car’s rear end disappear into the distance, momentarily unable to react to what was happening.
Could it be that she had encountered a good Samaritan?
Qu Xingxuan laughed smugly beside her: “Stop looking; the fare’s already been paid.”
Xuan Xia turned back and glanced at him. “So you do have money?” And he’d tricked her by saying he didn’t.
If she’d known he had money, she wouldn’t have come out to pick him up at all.
Qu Xingxuan raised his head, looking even smugger, and said, “I really didn’t at first, but Daoist Master Qin sent me a red envelope.” That’s how he got the money.
Xuan Xia, however, was surprised into slightly opening her mouth and said in disbelief, “You called Daoist Master Qin just to ask him for money?”
Qu Xingxuan immediately changed his expression to defend himself: “I didn’t! I told him you would pay my fare, but he insisted on sending me a red envelope.”
“He said if I let you pay, that would be living off a woman!”
……Ha?
Although Qu Xingxuan didn’t mind living off a woman a bit, since Daoist Master Qin said no and sent him another red envelope, what else could he do?
Xuan Xia no longer knew what to think.
“What are you doing? It’s not like I’m taking his for free; sooner or later I’ll pay him back with interest.” Qu Xingxuan pouted and muttered unhappily.
He wouldn’t live off Daoist Master Qin for free either.
After muttering, Qu Xingxuan stopped looking at Xuan Xia, turned around, and carefully scanned the scenic area’s gate once over, instantly returning to his excited state from when he arrived.
He hurriedly urged her, “Can we go in now? This is my first time here.”
“Let’s go.”
Xuan Xia led him through a small door on the side into the scenic area, where Uncle Zhong was waiting by the roadside at the entrance.
Qu Xingxuan wasn’t that familiar with Uncle Zhong, but after he got on the tour car that Uncle Zhong was driving, by the time they hadn’t even reached the Changsheng Temple gate, the two had already become incredibly chummy, just short of recognizing each other as godfather and godson on the spot.
Xuan Xia had to gain an even deeper understanding of Qu Xingxuan’s knack for getting familiar with people.
Once inside the temple, as soon as Qu Xingxuan saw Daoist Master Qin, he was about to pull the same trick again, but Daoist Master Qin beat him to it.
“I just spoke on the phone with your master; he said you never mentioned to him that you were coming here?”
Qu Xingxuan immediately shrank like a quail.
Far from just not mentioning it, he had basically snuck away.
Daoist Master Qin had probably already figured it out; his expression was stern like a disciplinarian’s, and he even shook his head disapprovingly at him.
Seeing this, Xuan Xia interjected, “How about sending him back now?”
Qu Xingxuan immediately shot her a look.
This look conveyed more indignation or grievance, it was hard to say which.
Then they heard Daoist Master Qin say, “I’ve already spoken with his master; he’ll stay here for the next few days. His master has agreed.”
“Wow, Daoist Master Qin, you’re the best.” Qu Xingxuan’s eyes lit up, immediately turning from a quail into a puppy, and he fawned, “Daoist Master Qin, we’re best bros for life!”
Daoist Master Qin showed a hint of disdain.
Xuan Xia was disdainful too.
With the crisis averted, Qu Xingxuan patted his stomach and said, “I’m hungry; is there breakfast?”
Uncle Zhong happened to walk back and hurriedly said yes, leading him to the kitchen in the backyard to eat breakfast.
Qu Xingxuan happily trotted after Uncle Zhong, but soon the one with a face full of disdain switched to him.
“Is this all there is?” Qu Xingxuan looked at the plain porridge and side dishes on the table, looking at Uncle Zhong in disbelief.
This wasn’t the breakfast he wanted.
“You don’t like these?” Uncle Zhong asked him.
“You don’t like them?” Xuan Xia, following behind Uncle Zhong, also asked him, though her tone was completely different from Uncle Zhong’s.
Qu Xingxuan first looked at Uncle Zhong, then at Xuan Xia, and finally shook his head.
“No, it’s fine.” He said dryly.
“Then eat up. After you’re done, I’ll show you around.” Xuan Xia lifted her chin toward the breakfast on the table.
Perhaps the allure of the tour was greater; Qu Xingxuan obediently sat down and started scooping up the porridge with the pickled vegetables.
But as he ate, he inwardly grumbled that he’d thought coming here would mean good food, but this was even blander than what he ate at home.
……
Qu Xingxuan slowly finished breakfast; by then, it was time for the scenic area to open for business operations.
Uncle Zhong and the others all had their own tasks to attend to, leaving only Xuan Xia and Qu Xingxuan as the idlers.
Qu Xingxuan was just about to ask Xuan Xia what to tour first when she took out her mobile phone.
She pointed at the performance chart app on the screen and asked him, “How do you climb the ranking?”
Qu Xingxuan blinked, and the next second he put on airs, “Huh? Didn’t you say before you weren’t interested?”
Hearing this, Xuan Xia neither blushed nor got annoyed, and went along with it: “I’m interested now and want to team up. What about you?”
Qu Xingxuan’s eyes darted around as he gauged Xuan Xia’s reaction.
Seeing Xuan Xia completely at ease, he couldn’t keep up the act and immediately flipped his expression, grinning as he said, “Team up, team up, of course we’ll team up.”
Xuan Xia smiled too. “Come on, first share some intel with your teammate.” She tapped the performance chart app with her finger.
Qu Xingxuan said, “Didn’t I tell you before? As long as you break the illusionary scenery or help the client resolve their issue, your ranking will go up.”
Xuan Xia said, “So how do you count as having broken it?”
She also asked, “Could it be that I break the illusionary scenery, but the Cui Family doesn’t get the message and it doesn’t count as my performance? And how do they even know if I’ve broken it or not? Do I have to report it myself?”
Qu Xingxuan had a wooden expression, his look at Xuan Xia full of wordless exasperation.
Xuan Xia, however, didn’t mind at all and quietly waited for his answer after asking.
After a moment of silence, Qu Xingxuan was the one who gave in.
He frowned and scratched his head hard, just like when doing test papers and hitting a tough problem.
“How to explain this to you? The Cui Family can’t fake this.”
“Why not?”
“Because every branch and family in the Mystic Sect has a ranking record.” Qu Xingxuan said, “It’s a thing produced by the elders of the Mystic Sect and passed down.”
Then he thought that Xuan Xia probably hadn’t seen a ranking record.
He could only describe it: it was a very large, very long scroll, nearly as wide as a wall from left to right, and half a wall high.
It recorded the names of everyone currently in each sect and family of the Mystic Sect, but not arranged by family—by cultivation level.
So those at the front were the ones with high cultivation.
As for the deceased, their names would automatically fade from the record to make way for newcomers.
As for the Cui Family’s performance chart ranking, it was a simplified version from the record.
That’s why Qu Xingxuan said the Cui Family couldn’t fake it.
Because the Cui Family couldn’t alter the ranking record.
After hearing this, Xuan Xia just thought, why doesn’t the temple have such a good thing?
As for Xuan Xia’s question about how to count as breaking the illusionary scenery, Qu Xingxuan could only answer, “If you can leave the illusionary scenery alive, doesn’t that count as breaking it?”
