Dispute Over A Disciple

Early in the morning, Chen Shaojie flew to the Embroidery Pavilion on the crane in a leisurely manner.

Meanwhile, Tuoba Guoyun was reporting the matter regarding vestment production in the Embroidery Pavilion to the Sect Leader, Spiritual Master Qing Ming, and the other Elders in the Ancestral Hall.

"So the problem with the vestments was not an oversight after all, but a deliberate sabotage?"

Hearing Tuoba Guoyun's explanation, a short, top-heavy Elder, asked in a loud voice.

Tuoba Guoyun hastily replied, "Yes, Granduncle-Master Qing He. Although we have yet to discover who the culprit is, there's no longer any doubt that it was not an oversight."

The short Elder with the big head obviously had a short temper. He turned around and loudly questioned a female Elder next to him, "Qing Dai, all the embroideresses in the Embroidery Pavilion come from your Qing Dai Peak. The Embroidery Pavilion is also on the Qing Dai Peak. It seems your Qing Dai Peak is definitely at fault in this matter."

The female Elder frowned and said to the Elder with a big head, "Senior Brother Qing He, we have not thoroughly investigated the matter yet. It's a bit premature of you to jump to that conclusion."

After a brief pause, she added, "Even if a female disciple in the Embroidery Pavilion really is the cause of this incident, it may not necessarily be my disciples who are at fault. If I remember correctly, there are many females among your disciples and grand-disciples too, am I right, Senior Brother Qing He?"

"You..."

The Elder with the big head glared at her. He was about to retort when another Elder, one who was dressed like a Confucian scholar, interjected, "Say no more, Junior Brother Qing He and Junior Sister Qing Dai. Don't forget your manners in the Ancestral Hall."

The Elder with the big head and the female Elder seemed to respect this Confucian scholar Elder. They glared at each other but instantly stopped bickering.

The Confucian scholar Elder turned to Tuoba Guoyun and asked in a peaceful voice, "Guoyun, do you have any clues on who's the culprit?"

"We have found no clues yet, Granduncle-master Qing Lian."

Tuoba Guoyun replied with a bow, his attitude even more respectful than when he faced the Elder with a big head.

That was because this Confucian scholar Elder, Spiritual Master Qing Lian, was the one with the highest seniority among the Elders.

The Elder with the big head was Spiritual Master Qing He.

The female Elder was Elder Qing Dai.

Together with another Elder who had been sitting in the hall in silence, Grandmaster Qing Zhu aka. Spiritual Master Qing Zhu, they were the current four Elders of the Qing Yu Immortal Sect.

Their Dao names were based on the names of Qing Yu Mountains' peaks, and they were currently the people with the highest statuses in the Qing Yu Immortal Sect.

Ever since the previous generation's Spiritual Master Qing Ming had passed away, Spiritual Master Qing Lian had become the eldest Senior Brother among the Peak Elders.

He was the oldest and the one who joined the sect the earliest, plus he was a fair man, so he had always been respected by others.

Tuoba Guoyun's reply made Spiritual Master Qing Lian ponder. He then asked, "Guoyun, the Jing Yun Hall is under your charge, so I shouldn't be poking my nose in its affair, but because the Tianyuan Order has been issued to the sect, I have to ask: do you have a proper solution yet?"

"Although we are currently unable to find the culprit, Granduncle-Master Qing Lian, the Embroidery Pavilion have found a way to prevent the same thing from happening again..."

Tuoba Guoyun explained to them the plan to add a reference number to each vestment. He added, "If the culprit dares to do it again, she will be exposed. Therefore, we have managed to prevent the same problem from happening to the vestments again for the time being."

Spiritual Master Qing Lian gave it some thought and nodded. "Not bad. That was a clever idea. Now, those with malicious intentions will have no choice but to hold themselves back."

Tuoba Guoyun said, "With this method, not only do we prevent the vestments from being tampered with right now, if we continue implementing the method, the Embroidery Pavilion can avoid a similar thing from happening in the future."

Spiritual Master Qing Zhu, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly asked, "Who came up with this idea?"

Tuoba Guoyun turned to Spiritual Master Qing Zhu and said, "The one who came up with this idea is Chen Shaojie, Granduncle-Master Qing Zhu."

Spiritual Master Qing Zhu nodded and did not say anything else.

The others there had never heard of the name "Chen Shaojie". They thought he must be a disciple of the Jing Yun Hall, so they did not pay much attention to him.

Spiritual Master Qing Lian then asked Tuoba Guoyun, "What about the matter of producing 1,000 sets of vestments in a month? Can the Embroidery Pavilion do it?"

Tuoba Guoyun quickly answered, "Yes, we should be able to do it."

With the assembly line production method, the Embroidery Pavilion's production speed had increased significantly. They could even produce 1500 sets if they had to, let alone 1000 sets. That was why Tuoba Guoyun could be so calm.

As for the 10,000 sets that they had to hand-in a year afterwards, he was no longer worried. That was why he was in a good mood lately.

Spiritual Master Qing Dai interrrupted, "Before this, didn't you say that we won't have enough time? Can we actually do it? We can't afford any more mistakes!"

"Don't worry, Granduncle-Master Qing Dai, in order to make sure we can produce 1000 sets of vestments in time, we've also come up with a solution..."

Tuoba Guoyun then explained the assembly line method to them. Towards the end of his explanation, he took a glance at Spiritual Master Qing Zhu and added: "The one who came up with this idea was also Chen Shaojie."

Spiritual Master Qing Zhu's eyelids moved slightly, as if he was going to lift them up, but they soon drooped down again.

"Oh?"

It was the second time today that they had heard the name "Chen Shaojie". Spiritual Master Qing Lian looked at Spiritual Master Qing Zhu and asked Tuoba Guoyun, "Guoyun, who is this Chen Shaojie you keep mentioning?"

"Chen Shaojie is a newly initiated disciple, Granduncle-Master Qing Lian."

Tuoba Guoyun did not dare disobey Spiritual Master Qing Lian. He quickly told Spiritual Master Qing Lian about Chen Shaojie's feats, including what he had done to the Book Depository when he was still a servant disciple.

Spiritual Master Qing Lian nodded while listening to Tuoba Guoyun's introduction of Chen Shaojie. "He has low cultivation talent, but he's so good at dealing with mundane affairs. Not bad, not bad at all."

Tuoba Guoyun nodded. "You're right, Granduncle-Master. Although he's not that talented, he has a knack for handling mundane affairs. He's exactly the kind of personnel the Jing Yun Hall lacks at the moment. I'm ready to accept him into the hall after he graduates from the Hall of Learning and train him well."

While stroking his beard, Spiritual Master Qing Lian suddenly said, "Guoyun, you already have many disciples who can take care of mundane affairs. Why don't you let me have this Chen Shaojie instead?"

After a short pause, he turned to a disciple standing behind him and said, "Haven't you been telling me recently that you're lacking a disciple who can help you with mundane matters, Xuelong? What do you think of this Chen Shaojie? Why don't you take him under your wings?"

Besides Spiritual Master Qing Zhu, there was a disciple standing quietly behind each of the other three Elders, so there were two males and a female in total.

The one standing behind Spiritual Master Qing Lian was similarly dressed like a Confucian scholar. He stood with a straight posture, looking like a stone statue.

Only after he heard his master's words did he seem to come back to life from a petrified state. He bowed in response and said, "Of course that would be great, master!"

Spiritual Master Qing Lian nodded with a smile. He then turned to Tuoba Guoyun and said, "Guoyun, why don't you let your Uncle-Master Xuelong take this Chen Shaojie under his wings instead. You're not going to fight for a disciple with your Uncle-Master Xuelong, are you?"

Tuoba Guoyun did not expect such a situation to arise. He was flabbergasted.

He looked at Spiritual Master Qing Lian's smiley face, then looked at Xuelong's stony face. He could not find a single word to say. In the end, he could only turn helplessly to his own master who was sitting in the very center of the Ancestral Hall...