Senior sister, stop working and go home for dinner.

Chapter 443 Before the Tongtian Pavilion, Senior Sister is still Senior Sister

At noon the following day, south of Tianjing City.

The sun was blazing at that moment.

All the shops on both sides were open, the cloth shop assistants stood at the door shouting, the aroma of stir-fried dishes wafted from the restaurants, and the old man selling candied hawthorns slowly walked through the crowd carrying a straw target, the bright red candied hawthorns gleaming in the sun.

The streets were so crowded that it looked like ants carrying food.

The peddler carrying his load squeezed forward sideways, accidentally bumping into someone, and then smiled apologetically. Several young men who looked like scholars stood at the entrance of a bookstore, flipping through books and discussing something as they went. A woman led a child out of a cloth shop; the child clutched a piece of candy, his hands sticky from licking it.

In the distance, the nine-story Tongtian Pavilion stood quietly, its white jade statue on the roof dazzlingly white under the sun.

Nobody looked up.

They're used to it.

Chen Anran stood on the side of the street, watching the people coming and going.

Lu Kong stood next to him.

Three years had passed, but Lu Kong was still the same. His appearance and expression remained unchanged, with a smile still in his eyes and a calm and collected demeanor.

"Uncle-Master, how have you felt about these three years here?"

"I'm in seclusion every day; it's hard to say whether it's good or bad."

Lu Kong smiled, then turned to look at the vermilion gourd on Chen Anran's back. "This gourd is nice. Can you make one for me sometime?"

Chen Anran said, "Okay."

Lu Kong laughed heartily, "You mean it?"

Chen Anran nodded, then changed the subject, "Tell me, where is my senior sister now? And what is her identity?"

Lu Kong's laughter abruptly stopped.

He did not answer immediately, but turned around and looked at the towering Tongtian Pavilion in the distance.

The sun was blazing, and the white jade statue on the rooftop gleamed dazzlingly in the sunlight, as if it wanted to trample the entire city of Tianjing under its feet.

Lu Kong lowered his eyes and remained silent for a long time.

"Your master... she's not called Su Wan yet, she's called Su Changning. She's a true disciple of the Celestial Pivot Hall of the Immortal Alliance, with a mid-Nascent Soul cultivation level. She's currently stationed at the Tongtian Pavilion in Tianjing, in charge of the Immortal Alliance's general affairs within the Great Qian territory."

Upon hearing this, Chen Anran thought for a moment and then said, "Is she here to gain experience?"

Lu Kong was slightly taken aback, then heard Chen Anran continue, "Otherwise, he wouldn't have only stayed for a year."

Lu Kong laughed, clapped his hands, and said, "Uncle-Master is right, she's just here to gain experience."

The term "gilded" seems somewhat strange when used to describe a cultivator in the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm. However, it makes perfect sense within a behemoth like the Immortal Alliance.

A true disciple of the Heavenly Pivot Hall, in the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, responsible for general affairs within the Great Qian Dynasty.

With a resume like that, what can you get in return?

A higher position, more resources, and greater power.

Lu Kong looked at him and suddenly laughed: "Uncle-Master, are you wondering if, since she's here to gain experience, she'll actually take care of the affairs of the Great Qian Empire seriously?"

Chen Anran remained silent.

Lu Kong withdrew his gaze and looked at the Tower of Heaven, his voice so soft it was as if he were talking to himself: "She's in charge. And she's very serious about it."

"How so?"

"When she first arrived in Tianjing three years ago, weren't all the people from the Immortal Alliance stationed there waiting to see her make a fool of herself? A female cultivator, and a true disciple of the Heavenly Pivot Hall at that, coming to manage this mess. Some thought she was just trying to gain experience, some thought she was just looking for peace and quiet, and others thought she had offended someone above and was sent here."

Lu Kong paused, a complex smile appearing on his lips.

"But three months later, no one dared to think that way anymore. (Cola Novels) Latest Update: Senior Sister, stop working, come home for dinner."

Chen Anran looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"She dug out all the accounts and checked them one by one," Lu Kong said. "In three years, she replaced 30% of the Immortal Alliance's personnel stationed in the capital. Those who were drawing salaries without working, embezzling funds, or abusing their power were either fired or had their cultivation crippled and thrown out. For the first time, those pampered stewards in Tongtian Pavilion knew what 'rules' meant."

Chen Anran listened, her face remaining expressionless.

"What about those children who were forcibly conscripted?" he suddenly asked.

Lu Kong was taken aback for a moment, then understood what he meant.

"She can't control it," Lu Kong said. "The selection of disciples is an ironclad rule of the Immortal Alliance. Even if the Palace Master of the Heavenly Pivot Hall came, let alone a true disciple like her, he couldn't change it. All she can do is keep an eye on things during the selection process and prevent those people from going too far."

As he spoke, a complex light flashed in his eyes.

"Uncle-Master, do you know that during last year's selection, a mortal family's only son was found to have spiritual roots? The child's mother knelt outside the Tongtian Pavilion and cried for three days and three nights. Su Changning... Your Master had someone bring that woman in, gave her a bowl of hot porridge, and sat with her all night. The next day, the woman left on her own and stopped crying."

He paused, his voice lowering even further.

"Uncle-Master, what do you think she's doing?"

Chen Anran did not answer.

He simply gazed at the towering Tongtian Pavilion in the distance, and at the white jade statue on its roof that gleamed dazzlingly in the blazing sun.

"She's paying back." Seeing this, Lu Kong didn't press further, speaking as if to himself, "Paying back the debts owed by cultivators. It's not that having spiritual roots guarantees becoming a human immortal. Many children who enter end up as menial laborers, even after a lifetime. Some... don't even last a year or two before dying. Later, when she stopped paying and saw more of the world, she came to believe that cultivators were the biggest cancer in the world."

After hearing this, Chen Anran said, "So you overthrew the Immortal Alliance, sealed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and turned the whole world into an 'era of lawlessness'."

Lu Kong gazed at the distant Tongtian Pavilion, and at the white jade statue on its roof that gleamed dazzlingly under the blazing sun, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

"The longer she stayed in the Immortal Alliance and the more she saw, the more she felt that this place shouldn't exist. And each seal can only last for five hundred to a thousand years." At this point, Lu Kong's smile disappeared, and he said absentmindedly, "You were also present during the last seal, Uncle-Master."

Chen Anran remained silent for a while before asking, "Is she at Tongtian Pavilion now?"

Lu Kong nodded: "Yes. He enters the cabinet at dawn and leaves at dusk every day, without fail. He should still be inside handling official business today."

Chen Anran remained silent for a moment, then suddenly took a step forward.

Lu Kong followed and walked beside him.

"Uncle-Master, are you going to the Heavenly Pavilion?"

"Um."

"Just like that?"

Chen Anran continued walking: "Let's go like this."

Lu Kong smiled, very happy. He had been here for three years, guarding his master for three years, and now the time for them to meet had finally come.

"Uncle-Master, rest assured, with me, Lu Kong, here, the Immortal Alliance's capital is nothing more than a matter of turning my hand over."

Chen Anran glanced at him as she walked.

Why do you seem so excited?

Lu Kong blinked, looking completely at ease.

"Of course! We've finally gone back to the past, and to a time when our master was so weak, we have to put on a good show in front of her, right?"

Lu Kong then smiled sinisterly.

"I suffered a lot when she taught me."