Atop Sky Termination Peak.
Shui Huo Child held an ancient and mottled fragment in both hands as he walked up beside Yu Yuan.
The fragment appeared quite small, no longer than a foot and only seven inches wide, with irregular edges.
Despite its small size, when Yu Yuan took it in hand, he only felt its heavy weight. He did not know the material it was made of; it felt as smooth as jade but was extremely hard.
But now was not the time to study this treasure.
He stowed the fragment away, and with great respect, bowed in the direction of Penglai, saying aloud, "Thank you for the generous gift from my revered master ancestor!"
Seeing him receiving the reward, the expressions of the Jie Sect Immortals changed unpredictably.
Surprise, confusion, bafflement, envy, jealousy…
Some Jie Sect Immortals were utterly bewildered, still unclear about the situation.
While some who had realized what happened looked at Long-eared Ding Guang Immortal with sympathetic eyes.
The Sect Hierarch, a Saint, publicly praised Yu Yuan for his courage and wisdom and bestowed upon him the Chaos Bell Fragments. It seemed like a reward for Yu Yuan, but more so, it was to affirm Yu Yuan was right—how could a Saint possibly "covet" an old bell!
In turn, if Long-eared Ding Guang Immortal asked Yu Yuan to present the Chaos Bell to the Sect Hierarch, wasn't that using his name for deception?
Indeed, Shui Huo Child soon turned to Long-eared Ding Guang Immortal and said, "The Sect Hierarch's decree states, 'Long-eared Ding Guang Immortal speculated upon divine intentions recklessly, leading to repeated misunderstandings. Considering your motives were for the benefit of the Jie Sect and had no personal desires, you are punished to reflect behind closed doors, forbidden to enter Penglai for five hundred years!'"
Long-eared Ding Guang Immortal's eyes widened, and the red slap marks on his face were particularly evident.
He never expected matters to escalate this way.
Duobao Taoist cleared his throat lightly, looked around, and spoke, "The Chaos Bell merely needs to recognize a disciple of our Jie Sect as its master, then it can stabilize the luck of our sect. Brother Long-eared was unaware of this and presumptuously had Yu Yuan hand over the Chaos Bell..."
Hearing this explanation, the surrounding Jie Sect Immortals finally grasped the full story.
Of course, this explanation seemed slightly cursory for those with discerning minds.
They all could see this was not merely a simple misunderstanding.
However, none of these were important anymore.
The most important thing was that the Tongtian Sect Hierarch had already defined the nature of this matter.
Duobao Taoist left with the elite disciples, excluding Long-eared Ding Guang Immortal, heading towards Biyou Palace to report back, and this time, Yu Yuan simply followed without being asked.
They gave their salutations to the Sect Hierarch, recounted the events, and received a few words of encouragement before the disciples were dismissed.
Yu Yuan also returned to Tian Yuan Mountain, carefully placing the palaces back onto the flat stretch of land on the mountainside.
It was just at the moment when the setting sun cast slanting orange rays, illuminating the flowers in front of the palace gates where vibrant colors burst forth in an instant.
Faintly, one could see a group of tiny figures lying or sitting among the branches of the flowers, wearily staring at the sunset.
Yu Yuan reached into his Qiankun Ruyi Bag and took out a Jade Bottle, gently sprinkling Spiritual Spring Water, transforming it into a thin, dense, velvety mist slowly covering the front garden.
The tiny beings immediately perked up, cheerfully starting to dance, overjoyed by the "Heavenly Descending Rain."
They were all the size of a finger, wearing colorful skirts, singing and dancing joyously in celebration.
Just then, a ray of twilight descended from the sky, landing next to him.
"Disciple pays respects to the master!"
Yu Yuan bowed respectfully and pointed at the dancing tiny beings, saying, "Master, look, these plant spirits are welcoming you."
The Golden Spirit Saint Mother followed his pointing finger and indeed saw those colorful tiny figures respectfully saluting her.
Every being between Heaven and Earth possesses spirit.
And within this Penglai Holy Realm, many of the plant lives could reach an astonishing age.
Thus, almost every flower, every blade of grass, every tree was able to birth simple Spiritual Wisdom.
Had it been in the past, Golden Spirit Saint Mother would definitely not care whether some elfin plants welcomed her or not.
But at this moment, seeing those little beings' uniform actions, the faint anger on her face dissipated a lot.
She glanced at those plant elves, then raised her head to look at Yu Yuan with an unfriendly expression: "You have gone too far today, almost causing your Grandmaster to lose face!"
"What does it have to do with me?"
Yu Yuan spread his hands, looking very innocent.
"It was clearly the Long-eared Ding Guang Immortal who schemed!"
"Dare to feign ignorance in front of me!"
Golden Spirit Saint Mother glared at him, "If you wanted the Chaos Bell Fragments from your Grandmaster, you could have just told me, and I would have asked for them on your behalf. There was no need for this tactic...
You are really audacious!
Do you realize that you are scheming against a Saint?!
It's only because your Grandmaster is generous and forgiving, not only did he not hold it against you, but he also granted you the Chaos Bell Fragments as you wished!"
"I didn't!"
"I don't!"
Yu Yuan continuously waved his hands, looking at Golden Spirit Saint Mother, "Grandmaster, you know I am timid, please don't scare me! I really don't understand at all what you're talking about!"
Golden Spirit Saint Mother coldly stared at him, her lips curling into a sneer as if to say, "Don't think I can't see through your schemes."
Her blue-black hair was combed into an elaborate bun, adorned with an intricate and elegant hairpin, wearing a light golden gown, with a gold necklace around her neck, and a touch of gold on her brows, making her look majestic yet vibrant.
In this moment, her cold gaze carried an awe-inspiring heavenly authority.
Yu Yuan pleaded with a sobbing tone, "How can you malign me so groundlessly?"
"Groundless?"
Golden Spirit Saint Mother looked him up and down, then turned her head away with a cold snort, "All I see is that you are full of schemes from head to toe...
Take this treasure hunt in Eastern Emperor Heaven as an example, how many have you schemed against?
Not to mention Yun Zhongzi, there are also those Immortal Gods who were trapped by the treasure map created by you, and Jiutian Xuan Nu and Golden Crow Crown Prince have also not been spared from your schemes.
You chose to hide on a star near Taiyin Star, surely you had calculated that my fellow disciple and I would stay on the Taiyin Star to supervise, right?
So as soon as you shout for help, we would immediately rush to your aid.
Hmm, scheming against us is one thing, but you daresay you schemed against your Grandmaster himself!
That speech of yours was deliberately meant for your Grandmaster to hear, wasn't it?"
"This is all your conjecture! It has nothing to do with me!"
Yu Yuan defended vehemently, "I truly thought that Long-eared Ding Guang Immortal wanted to snatch the Chaos Bell! If even you don't trust your disciple... then what's the point in staying in Jie Sect?
You might as well expel me, and let me go to Kunlun and take refuge with my nephew Yun Zhongzi."
"Yu Yuan!!!"
Veins stood out on Golden Spirit Saint Mother's forehead, her eyes filled with fury, resembling a tranquil volcano, possibly ready to erupt at any moment.
Yet in the next instant, she blinked slightly in confusion.
"Wait... how did Yun Zhongzi become your nephew?"
With that mentioned, a smug look appeared on Yu Yuan's face.
"Because 'Qi' exists before 'Cloud', logically speaking of course I am his uncle!"
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