Chapter 856: Fear Has No Solution

Chapter 856: Chapter 856: Fear Has No Solution

Ye Antao studied the two senior sisters before her with a profoundly bewildered expression.

Wait.

Wasn’t Chen Baiqing the main target of the slander?

How were both of them now speaking up on Chu Xingchen’s behalf?

So Chen Baiqing’s dark mood from the very start had never been about being slandered herself — it was because someone had spoken ill of her Shifu?

Ye Antao watched as Chen Baiqing’s expression remained grim, listening as she began to analyze and strategize.

A large-scale, sudden public opinion offensive definitely had someone pulling the strings behind it.

There wasn’t much they could do in the early phase. First, their own sect would have to start promoting their Shifu’s name in Eastern Divine Continent. Second, they needed to trace the rumors back to their source for precision strikes.

Ye Antao listened for only a short while before doing what she always did — quietly standing up and slipping outside to slack off.

Previously she had worried that Chen Baiqing’s anger over the slander might drive her to make reckless arrangements, and she could at least counsel restraint.

But once she realized Chen Baiqing was angry because Chu Xingchen — whose reputation was already far from great — was being slandered...

Sometimes Ye Antao wanted to tell Chen Baiqing — your Shifu’s reputation out there was never that good to begin with.

Of course, she would never actually say that to Chen Baiqing’s face.

No wonder Chu Xingchen called Chen Baiqing his "little cotton-padded jacket." She really was thoughtful.

Ye Antao walked to the door and gazed into the distance.

How enviable.

Damn that Chu Xingchen.

"Oh? This idle?"

A familiar voice sounded beside her.

Ye Antao turned her head languidly. There stood Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu walking side by side, Chu Xingchen’s gaze fixed on her with amusement.

Ye Antao didn’t bother wondering how Chu Xingchen suddenly had time to come to Eastern Divine Continent. Right now, she was only curious about one thing:

"Fellow Daoist Chu, may I ask you a question?"

"You may ask. Whether I answer is another matter."

"Where did you take in Chen Baiqing?"

"Southern Zhanbu Continent. Why?"

"I’d like to take in someone like Baiqing too. Do you have anyone to recommend?"

Chu Xingchen let out a helpless laugh:

"That might be a bit difficult."

Ye Antao’s expression twisted for a moment, then she tried again:

"Someone like Lin Luoyu would do."

Chu Xingchen continued to smile as he answered:

"I don’t think you’re looking for a disciple. You’re looking for a maid to wait on you."

"How could that be." Ye Antao laughed awkwardly.

"Oh? Well, I have someone like Cui Hao — interested?"

"Then forget it. Pretend I never asked."

"Tch. You look down on someone like Cui Hao? You really don’t know a good thing when you see it."

Ye Antao waved her hand dismissively. Cui Hao had been the subject of Chen Baiqing’s complaints more than once — hearing that name immediately conjured images of a rebellious disciple who was nothing but trouble.

"The right way is to treat your disciples sincerely. Treat them well, and they’ll naturally treat you well."

Chu Xingchen thought about it and said this honestly, then walked past Ye Antao and into the great hall.

Ye Antao turned and watched Chu Xingchen enter.

Then Chen Baiqing’s and Lin Luoyu’s voices of welcome and concern sounded from within.

Ye Antao’s feet carried her back to the hall entrance, where she peeked inside.

Chen Baiqing, whose expression had been cold as ice moments ago — there was not a trace of coldness left on her face. Her gaze was gentle as could be, as though Chen Baiqing had never been angry at all.

If her face hadn’t looked exactly the same...

Ye Antao might have thought someone else had been the one angry just now.

She didn’t linger. Seeing that Chu Xingchen had arrived, Ye Antao felt much more at ease. Then she turned and left crisply to go rest.

Rest came with a stipend.

What a heavenly life.

Inside the hall.

Chu Xingchen exchanged a few pleasantries, then his gaze naturally fell on Chen Baiqing’s chaotic desk.

Chen Baiqing saw where he was looking and quickly intercepted:

"Just some scattered matters. Leave them to Baiqing."

Chu Xingchen stopped his hand halfway and turned to look at Chen Baiqing, considering for a moment:

"I know roughly what happened. The things they say about me read like flirting in my eyes — no bite whatsoever."

Chen Baiqing’s attitude was uncharacteristically firm: "At the very least, Shifu must not read these in front of Baiqing."

Hearing that, Chu Xingchen could only comply:

"Fine, fine..."

Chen Baiqing glanced toward the door, then produced a treasure that blocked sound and divine sense detection and activated it. Her tone turned serious:

"This matter shouldn’t have required Shifu to divert his attention. But some information really does need to be delivered in person."

"As soon as these reports came in, I sensed something was wrong. Someone was pulling strings. Their real target was Shifu."

"But no matter how clever their tricks, they’re nothing more than cowardly worms hiding in the dark, writhing in impotence."

"If Xiaoyun Hall truly cooperated on handling these matters, none of this would have reached Shifu’s ears — it would have been resolved long ago. How did it get this bad?"

"The Xiaoyun Hall disciples I dispatched made almost no progress. Their reports were riddled with errors — far below the standard expected of Xiaoyun Hall disciples."

"Later I secretly brought in Tianyan Sect disciples to trace the source of these rumors. That was when I understood that Xiaoyun Hall was deliberately dragging its feet."

"I tested Ye Antao today. She seems completely in the dark."

"So the problem lies with Xiaoyun Hall itself. Perhaps they don’t want to address Shifu’s reputation — or perhaps they’re content to watch this public opinion fester and fall on Shifu’s head."

"Xiaoyun Hall may have committed to the Great Calamity, but I doubt their sincerity toward Shifu runs deep."

"Shifu taught us: deal with the person, not the matter. When the person is malicious, we must be on guard. We need to see what Xiaoyun Hall is truly after."

Xie Lingyu’s brow furrowed slightly as she listened — she could tell this matter was far from ordinary.

Xiaoyun Hall had committed to the Great Calamity and invested heavily in supporting Chen Baiqing’s purge of evil cultivators in Eastern Divine Continent, paying a real price in resources and reputation. So why were they now letting things slide when it came to Chu Xingchen?

The two stances were deeply contradictory.

"Because they fear me," Chu Xingchen said with a soft laugh. "They fear I might actually unite the various sects. They fear I might ascend to the peak of the Heavenly Dao. They fear that with a single call from my lips, the Eighteen Immortal Sects — unchanged for a thousand years — could vanish overnight."

"They fear that I not only have a True Immortal backing me, but that I might answer to the Great Dao itself, making everything answer to me."

"They fear I’ll take everything they sacrificed everything to build and hand it over to the Three Sects in the blink of an eye."

"Heavenly Demons are outsiders — but I am not. They have reason to drive out the Heavenly Demons. But what reason do they have to drive me out?"

"In their eyes, I’m a tiger walking alongside them through the dark night. They fear that without me, they can’t make it through. But they also fear that once the night ends, I’ll devour them all."

Chu Xingchen’s gaze drifted beyond the hall as he sighed softly:

"Fear has no solution."