As she spoke, Liu Meng couldn't help but feel a bit helpless. Before buying the book, she had only glanced at its title, thinking it was a serious read meant for her disciple.

But what she found inside was something entirely different.

Fortunately, she had opened it up to take a look before handing it over to her disciple; otherwise, she would have lost all face as a master.

Still, the illustrations were quite beautiful. Next time she passed by, she would buy a few more copies.

After realizing her pleas were in vain, the girl temporarily gave up.

In retaliation for her master’s earlier playful slap on her head, she lay down on Liu Meng's lap and pouted, “Master, do we really have to go to Tianjian Sect? I don’t want to go to a place with so many rules.”

“I’ve already promised Ning Yan, how could I go back on my word?” Liu Meng lifted the girl from her lap. “Besides, I’m a bit curious about the genius of formations she mentioned.”

“I think Aunt Ning Yan is just bragging. How could anyone reconstruct a third-grade formation in the middle stage of Foundation Building? I bet that person must have cheated.”

After all, even she, with her spiritual eyes, couldn’t manage that.

“Whether it’s true or not, we’ll find out when we get there.”

Liu Meng had her doubts, but after all, it was her good friend Chu Ning Yan who had said it, and they had even made a pact about it.

Anyway, she wouldn’t be at a loss; it would be good to go and take a look.

Plus, she heard that the food at Tianjian Sect was quite good, so she could enjoy a few meals there.

“Hmph, just wait until I expose his true colors and make this fraud feel utterly ashamed!”

The girl had already labeled her future opponent as a fraud, looking as if she couldn’t wait to rush to Tianjian Sect and give this scammer a good beating.

Liu Meng shook her head at the girl’s antics.

At this rate, she would end up suffering in the future.

Though she had her doubts too, as a well-known master of formations, she understood the difficulty of reconstructing formations, especially at a higher level.

---

**Chapter 38: Even the Five-Star Critic Yan Lin Commented**

“Lin Ge?”

Bai Feng pushed open the door and saw Lin Yan standing at his doorstep. The moment he recalled the system's notification from before, he almost shut the door again.

So it’s you who took matters into your own hands with the little brother of the Child of Destiny, huh?

Though he felt a bit displeased, Bai Feng maintained a facade of ignorance and asked, “Have you found out something, Lin Ge?”

Upon mentioning the matter, Lin Yan immediately shook his head, looking quite ashamed. “I’m really sorry. It seems the other party caught wind of my investigation into the rumors, and I couldn’t uncover anything.”

Bai Feng frowned slightly. Wasn’t it Lin Yan?

He believed that Lin Yan, as an upright Child of Destiny, wouldn’t deceive him over such trivial matters. This meant that someone else was targeting the little brother of the Child of Destiny.

Damn it! This is troublesome!

Who’s trying to frame me?

Realizing it wasn’t Lin Yan, Bai Feng became more polite. He waved his hand, “I appreciate your willingness to help, Lin Ge, but from this, it seems the person behind this is no ordinary character!”

“I think so too. The information is just too chaotic right now; I can’t guess who it is.”

“Don’t worry. They’ll eventually show their true colors.” Bai Feng shrugged it off; after all, they were just some harmless rumors.

Lin Yan nodded but still felt a sense of defeat.

He had promised results before, yet he had come up empty-handed, unable to assist Bai Ge at all.

【Ding! Detected that the host is being aggressive, causing the Child of Destiny to feel defeated. Host’s luck value +10, fire resistance +1.】

Bai Feng: “?”

What’s going on with you, system?

Can you be any more ridiculous?

And you, Child of Destiny, I didn’t even care, so why are you feeling defeated? Are the rumors targeting you or me?

Lin Yan, unaware of Bai Feng’s changing emotions, continued, “By the way, the sect competition is in a few days. Are you participating, Bai Ge?”

“My master has other plans. You’ll find out then.”

Bai Feng shook his head, still maintaining his politeness and smile.

He felt like the system was lowering the standards for giving him luck value.

“Hmm, I’ll be cheering for you, Bai Ge.”

Lin Yan smiled and gave Bai Feng a thumbs-up, clearly believing that Master Chu was going to take action. In that case, he didn’t have to worry about the rumors affecting Bai Ge.

Then he remembered something and quickly brought up the main topic, “Oh, I received news that the new issue of Spring and Autumn is about to be released. Do you want me to bring one back for you?”

“No need. Have you forgotten the relationship between Teacher Spring and the Bai family?” Bai Feng waved his hand. “By the way, it’s almost the sect competition, and you’re still going out?”

“There are still several days left. A round trip is enough!”

Lin Yan laughed nonchalantly. Missing the competition wouldn’t be a big deal; as a pill cultivator, he didn’t lack resources for cultivation. But if he missed out on Teacher Spring’s new book, he would regret it for years.

“...Fine, do as you wish.” Bai Feng shook his head helplessly. “By the way, I remember Teacher Spring has released a new product called Animation Stone. Since it’s the first sale, there aren’t many, and the price is a bit high. If you want it, make sure to grab it early.”

Lin Yan’s eyes lit up. He solemnly cupped his hands to Bai Feng, “Thank you for the heads-up, Bai Ge! I’ll go right now!”

With that, he vanished from Bai Feng’s sight in the blink of an eye.

Bai Feng: “…”

No need to rush like that.

But judging by Lin Yan’s reaction, the Animation Stone should sell well.

On the day of the sale, it turned out to be even more outrageous than Bai Feng had anticipated. In less than half an hour, the expensive Animation Stones were sold out. Everyone praised this novel item, and it was even resold at a high price in the black market that same day.

Even the five-star critic Yan Lin commented: “If a person has never seen Master Spring’s Animation Stone, then their life is incomplete.”

However, far away at Tianjian Sect, Bai Feng was unaware of all this. He stared blankly at the continuously increasing luck value, unable to comprehend what had gone wrong.

---

On the day of the sect competition.

After several days of rest (and slacking off), Bai Feng had finally tidied himself up a bit, though he still couldn’t shake off the nagging thoughts about the luck value that kept increasing.

“Brother, did you bring all the materials for setting up the formations?”

Bai Yu Mo kept reminding him. At that moment, she noticed Bai Feng’s hair was a bit messy and quickly took out her comb, standing on tiptoe to help him tidy up.

“I’ve got everything.” Bai Feng looked at his sister fussing over his hair and felt it was a bit strange. “Alright, alright, that’s enough. This is fine.”

“No way! You’re going to compete against the disciple of a formation master, representing Tianjian Sect!”

Bai Yu Mo didn’t stop her actions. After finishing his hair, she even straightened Bai Feng’s clothes.

Only then did she nod in satisfaction, “Hmm, this looks much better.”

“...Sis, don’t you think your behavior is a bit beyond the role of a sister?”

Bai Feng finally realized something was off; it felt more like a wife helping her husband tie a tie before he left.

“What are you talking about? I’m just worried you’ll embarrass yourself!” Bai Yu Mo pouted in protest. “And besides, what clear roles are there between siblings? You think this is a play?”

“Uh, true.” Bai Feng nodded, not wanting to dwell on it further. “Let’s go.”

He pushed open the door and stepped toward Chu Ning Yan’s cave.

Bai Yu Mo followed a step behind, not walking alongside him as usual but trailing behind.

If Bai Feng turned around at that moment, he would see that although her face showed no expression, her ears had turned completely red.

‘Looks like I might have gone a bit overboard.’ Bai Yu Mo lowered her head slightly, unable to suppress a hint of blush on her face.

Next time, I must hold back!

---

“Bai Feng, Yu Mo, you’ve come at just the right time.”

Chu Ning Yan paused her conversation with the woman beside her and smiled, waving at Bai Feng and Bai Yu Mo.

She first looked at the woman beside her and introduced, “This is the formation genius I mentioned, Bai Feng. And this is his sister, Bai Yu Mo.”

The woman nodded slightly, but she didn’t sense anything extraordinary about the formation genius Chu Ning Yan spoke of. Instead, she felt a sharp sword intent emanating from his sister, and she could even detect a vast power hidden within her.

“This is the formation master I told you about, Liu Meng, and beside her is her disciple, Su Lan Qian.”

Bai Feng quickly greeted, “Hello, Master Liu.”

At the same time, he opened the system to check, and once he confirmed that Liu Meng’s disciple wasn’t a Child of Destiny, he let out a sigh of relief.

Before coming, he had been a bit worried about running into a Child of Destiny.

After all, no matter how many Children of Destiny there were, it was impossible for every talented disciple to be one.