...

"Chen Fan..." Lu Qing pondered. Unfortunately, he had never learned the relevant Qi Observation Technique and could not peer into the Qi Fortune of others. However, this did not matter. For a Servants' Courtyard disciple to have a connection with a managing Elder, his Qi Fortune was bound to be outstanding.

"Gathering of Heroes." From these three words alone, Lu Qing already knew what kind of gathering this was.

The content inside the invitation was also extremely simple; this Gathering of Heroes was specially hosted by Elder Song Wen.

It was intended to give the disciples who had suffered a slight defeat at the conclusion of the past grand competition a chance to enter the Inner Sect Courtyard.

Without even thinking, one would know there must be an insider story behind this.

Lu Qing looked at the hexagram reading.

【Heroes gather, coming for the champion. The battle for the champion is as incompatible as fire and water.】

A single sentence had pointed out that this invitation was not kind-hearted.

【Great Ominous Divination: Attend the Gathering of Heroes, strive for victory and seek to seize the championship. However, you are overly arrogant, and experts of the Purple Mansion Realm are everywhere. After two rounds, you lose, sustain heavy injuries, your Foundation is ruined, and you die violently after the duel. Great calamity.】

【Ominous Divination: Attend the Gathering of Heroes, go on stage to fight and seize a good ranking. Because standing out attracts the wind, you are challenged in turns by others, encounter a powerful enemy, lose, sustain heavy injuries, leave behind hidden troubles, a narrow escape from death. Calamity.】

【Minor Ominous Divination: Reject the Gathering of Heroes, turn a blind eye to the visitor, and then hidden troubles appear, with lurking concerns in cultivation. Minor calamity.】

【Neutral Divination: Attend the Gathering of Heroes, mingle in the crowd, remain mediocre among people, gain nothing. Neutral.】

【Neutral Divination: Attend the Gathering of Heroes, mingle in the crowd, stroll around the Small Cloud Dao Field in the afternoon, gain small harvests. Neutral.】

"Going is calamity, not going is also calamity. What on earth is the background of this Gathering of Heroes?"

Lu Qing was also puzzled. Normally speaking, he generally wouldn't go, but who asked the owner of the invitation to be an Elder instead of a peer disciple.

Secondly, it was because the other party personally sent someone to deliver it. Not accepting it wasn't an option, and if he accepted it without figuring out the trick behind it, he was afraid he would be drawn into it.

"Fortunately, there is still a minor gain Neutral Divination."

Lu Qing hadn't held out any expectations to begin with. Upon seeing the last line of the hexagram reading, it instead gave him a little unexpected surprise.

"Heroes gather. What is the reward for this champion? The me in the hexagram reading was actually so reckless..."

Lu Qing carefully analyzed and looked through every single hexagram reading.

Upon seeing the first Great Ominous Divination, he knew that the championship definitely could not be contended for. For his current cultivation, this was a hexagram reading that was a calamity within calamities.

"Elder Song, Teacher Song, is one of those three Elders of the Outer Court. Half a year after the conclusion of the grand competition, what on earth does this Gathering of Heroes want to do?"

Lu Qing could not see clearly.

"Moreover, there is also a person suspected to be the destined protagonist there..."

Lu Qing cared little and was not close to protagonists; he only hoped that his own small plot of land would not get involved with such destined protagonists.

As for the storm surrounding the other party, he kept a respectful distance from it. Furthermore, he had already thought that with today's event, many Outer Court disciples would probably focus their attention on Chen Fan. How could a Servants' Courtyard disciple receive Teacher Song's attention?

Lu Qing shook his head slightly and stepped out. In the next second, his figure landed above a clear lake, and traces of water Qi appeared on his body. This was him beginning his daily cultivation technique practice again.

In places like bodies of water, cultivating the Profound Heaven Origin Scripture might not have an extremely obvious effect, but there was still a wisp of effect. Little makes a mickle; Lu Qing had already grown accustomed to this slow speed.

A White Crane flew high in the sky. By evening, having flown for two days and two nights, Chen Fan had finally finished delivering all the invitations.

He also did not understand why Teacher Song wanted him to go personally instead of finding some disciples to do it.

A burning sensation appeared in his chest. He returned to his room in the Servants' Courtyard and closed the door tightly. The Servants' Courtyard was on the outer periphery, and the upper, middle, and lower sections of a certain mountain peak all had the shadows of quite a few houses.

The Outer Court alone had millions of disciples, and needless to say about the Servants' Courtyard disciples—there were countless numbers of them.

After Chen Fan closed the door, a wisp of burning sensation appeared in his chest. Carefully probing his surroundings to ensure no one was paying attention, he cautiously took out a fragmented object. It looked like a corner broken off from some apparatus, rhombus-shaped, and bronze-colored.

"Spirit artifact, are you there?"

"Kid, I've told you not to speak with your mouth. I can hear you in your mind."

A voice emerged.

"Spirit artifact, how, how can I change my Aptitude?" Chen Fan clenched his fists. In his heart, he had thought about this for a very, very long time. Two years had passed, and he was still standing still. Trash Aptitude—it was truly trash.

He didn't recognize Lu Qing; he just felt he looked a bit familiar.

But the moment this thought of his appeared, he immediately snuffed it out.

How could that be? None of the people he knew were this Purple Mansion Realm Senior Brother.

After walking around these past two days, the might that those great Purple Mansion Cultivators gave him was simply too overwhelming.

"Hehe, you have nothing right now. If you want to change now, you might as well wash up and go to sleep."

"Don't disturb Old Ancestor. Wait until Old Ancestor rests for a bit before you ask this question again. Old Ancestor doesn't even have any strength himself, how can I help you?"

Finished speaking, that trace of light on the bronze piece slowly dimmed.

...

At this moment, Lu Qing could not see this scene either. However, based on his basic understanding of the destined protagonist, even if Lu Qing had seen it, he wouldn't feel any surprise at all.

The Child of Destiny? He is only temporarily down on his Qi Fortune now. When his Qi Fortune turns around, everything will be different.

Come to think of it, because of yesterday's incident.

Lu Qing was still continuing to cultivation now.

This time, it truly was sitting at home while danger came from the skies.

Regardless of everything else, Lu Qing understood that the Dao Academy was not an isolated place away from the world; wherever there are people, conflicts naturally arise.

Only cultivation is one's own Foundation.

Over at the White Crane Boy's side, he always ranked first whenever there was excitement to join in on.

Immediately, without needing Lu Qing to ask, it had already dumped all the recent gossip containing the news of the Gathering of Heroes over in one go.

It was precisely upon seeing this news that Lu Qing clearly saw the true purpose of this Gathering of Heroes.

...