"Senior Sister, when we get there, do try your best to rein in your temper. Don't be like last time..."

Perfected Master Qingfeng stood upon his auspicious cloud, but did not descend directly to the Implement Sect.

He tugged at Lingxi's sleeve and pleaded with her earnestly, "His temper isn't as mild as young Jiang's. This is Master's decree — don't ruin it."

By rights, even if the most favored Senior Brother Nie was to be replaced, there was still an Eldest Senior Sister on the mountain. How could it possibly fall to an outsider?

This was even colder comfort than the last affair had been.

Plainly, when Master had taken Jiang Qiulan into the fold, Eldest Senior Sister's reaction — jealousy all but written across her face — had left Qingfeng rather worried.

"..."

Perfected Master Lingxi pressed her lips together and looked at the youthful boy beside her.

By her old temperament, a remark like Qingfeng's would have earned him a lash of spirit-pressure.

But things were different now.

All the way to Great Qian, she had not felt the slightest resentment.

With her aptitude and her disposition, she was truly ill-suited to bearing great responsibility. Everyone knew it — it was simply that no one had ever pointed it out to her face.

At the thought, Lingxi offered no explanation, and merely nodded lightly. "Mm."

Great matters were beyond her. But small matters like this, she could still handle well enough.

Master had sent her here for no other reason than to demonstrate the weight Wutong Mountain placed on that cultivator. So she need only carry her bearing properly and speak little.

"It's good that you understand."

Qingfeng let out a breath. Whatever else, since returning from the Thousand Demon Den, Senior Sister had become far gentler.

Jiang Qiulan stood quietly behind the two of them.

Her expression did not change.

But her heart was full of feeling.

She recalled that she had once warned Shen Yi to keep his distance from the immortal sects unless absolutely necessary — that with his comprehension, he needed no master's…