Cultivating Disciples To Breakthrough

by Stayrr

Within a quiet pavilion on top of a lonely mountain peak, Xuan Hao slowly opened his eyes with a bewildered look on his face, he had transmigrated into a cultivation world as an elder of the Flying Sword Sect. He was even an expert at the Nascent Soul Realm, who had the power to easily destory an entire city with a wave of his hand. Most importantly, he had a system that allowed h

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Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough #Chapter 1: Xuan Hao - Read Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough Chapter 1: Xuan Hao Online - All Page - Novel Bin

Chapter 1: Xuan Hao

"Elder Xuan the entrance examination for the new outer disciples is about to begin, would you like to come join the other elders this time around?"

Within a quiet and majestic pavilion, Xuan Hao slowly opened his eyes as he looked in the direction the voice came.

"Sure, I'll be there in a moment."

After replying, Xuan Hao watched as the person standing in front of his pavilion quickly made his way down the peak it was situated on and soon disappeared into the distance.

"Earth, Ewaria…"

Xuan Hao let out a soft sigh when he thought about earth.

He was not from this world. He was originally from another world, to be more precise, Earth.

Transmigration. Something that he had only ever read about in fantasy novels and webnovels, happened to him.

He even had his own system. The system which resided in his sea of consciousness at the moment was the 'cheat' he got upon transmigrating here.

"Elder Xuan…"

Xuan Hao's sect was called the Flying Sword Sect. The Flying Sword Sect was located in the northern region of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom. Although it was not the strongest sect in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, it still had quiet some reputation and influence in the surrounding region.

Overlord of the Northern Region. That was what people normally referred to the Flying Sword Sect.

Even though it was considered the weakest of the four regions, it was still the fourth strongest sect in the Heavenly sky Kingdom.

Xuan Hao was one of the core elders of the Flying Sword Sect.

He was known as the youngest core elder in the recent history of the Flying Sword Sect. Having reached the Nascent Soul Realm at the young age of 21.

He was currently the fifth nascent soul elder of the Flying Sword Sect.

What was the Nascent Soul Realm?

At the moment, the Flying Sword Sect only had five people at the Nascent Soul Realm. The sect master, vice sect master and two other elders excluding him.

Xuan Hao felt a little bewildered when he found out his current status and it took him a few days to gather himself and recover from the shock of suddenly becoming strong enough to level an entire city with a wave of his hand.

Although most cultivation novels had people who reincarnated or transmigrated, most of them had to start from scratch and slowly climb their way up the pinnacle. Though there was still a few who started out way too strong...

He was at the Nascent Soul Realm, an elder of a large sect, and an expert ranked among the top five in the entire sect…

This was no ordinary starting point.

Of course, Xuan Hao did not expect that to happen.

The Nascent Soul Realm was an extremely powerful realm. In the entire Heavenly Sky Kingdom, he could be considered as one the strongest people. Even the supreme expert from the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, the ancestor of the imperial family, had only reached the peak of the ninth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Xuan Hao himself was a Stage one Nascent Soul Realm expert.

This strength, however, was only considered strong within the Heavenly Sky Kingdom. Outside of it, on the Ewaria continent, a kingdom like the Heavenly Sky Kingdom was common, you could not even count the exact number of these kingdoms, there were simply way too many of them out there!

The Ewaria continent was split into four different regions. The North, South, West and East Regions. Each Region had hundreds of empires and each empire had hundreds of kingdoms like the Heavenly Sky Kingdom under it. The Heavenly Sky Kingdom was located in the southern region of the Ewaria continent.

It was easy to imagine how large the Ewaria continent was. Let alone what lay beyond it.

On the Ewaria Continent, there was cultivation, and it was divided into Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation and Nascent Soul.

There were of course realms above Nascent Soul called the King Realm and the Emperor Realm. Each Realm was divided into nine stages also called the nine small realms.

Of course, those realms were not something Xuan Hao could touch at the moment.

Not to mention the Emperor Realm experts who were said to only appear in the stronger empires, Xuan Hao had never seen a King Realm expert before.

The strongest person in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom was after all still at the ninth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. The neighbouring kingdoms surrounding the Heavenly Sky Kingdom also did not have anyone who surpassed the Nascent Soul Realm

A King Realm expert was considered strong, even on the whole of the Ewaria continent. A true expert who could start a kingdom by themselves and reign as a king.

A person at the King Realm could easily destroy the entire Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

To many people, a King Realm expert was a mythical existence. Even with the thousands of years behind the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, it still never had anyone reach the King Realm yet. At most one at half-step King Realm. Maybe someone had a breakthrough, but never revealed it and just ended up leaving the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

Breaking through from the Nascent Soul realm and into the King Realm was terribly difficult.

Of course, that was for other people. To Xuan Hao, who wanted to reach the pinnacle, the King Realm was just considered the beginning. Even the Emperor Realm was within reach.

Smiling widely to himself, Xuan Hao entered his sea of consciousness and glanced at a panel of characters that had appeared there.

Name: Xuan Hao

Talent: ???

Realm: Nascent Soul Stage 1

Sect: Flying Sword Sect

Disciples: N/A

Main Quest: Any disciple reaches the Foundation Establishment realm.

Main Quest Reward: ??? Ñøvl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Side Quest: Have a disciple with talent value of 10 or above.

Quest Reward: [Cultivation Increase of 1 small realm, [Comprehending Sword Intent]

The Rewards for the first main mission was mysterious and the second one was a side quest with generous rewards.

The cultivation increase was nice, but the great thing was the sword intent.

Sword intent was not some special move or anything like that but was rather a concept of sort.

Those who could comprehend sword intent were all geniuses who had taken the first step towards comprehending the Dao of the Sword.

Sword cultivators were extremely terrifying and could fight those several realms above themselves, that was how the Flying Sword Sect earned its place as the overlord of the northern region of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom in the first place.

Sword cultivators who comprehended sword intent were even more terrifying.

However, even though the rewards were tempting, he first had to complete the quests.

The first main quest required him to have a disciple reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, while the side quest required him to take in a disciple with talent a talent value of 10 or more.

Both quests wanted him to become a teacher and take in disciples.

"Haaah…"

Letting out a slightly exhausted sigh, Xuan Hao got up from his meditative position.

These two quests were the reason for him to join this years entrance examination for new outer disciples of the sect.

"I hope that the upcoming entrance examination has someone suitable, hopefully someone who is quiet and well mannered."

Xuan Hao honestly did not have much motivation when it came to teaching a bunch of young people. Even if he had the memory, fighting experience and feelings of the past Xuan Hao after merging together with him. Both of them, were quite lazy. One wanted to just quietly spent his days meditating and increase his cultivation, while the other spent most of his time sitting down with a good cup of tea, reading a good book.

He still wondered if he could be considered as the past Xuan Hao or a new Xuan Hao, as both of them had merged together during his transmigration.

Throwing those thoughts to the back of his mind for now, Xuan Hao made his way towards the entrance of the sect, where the examination for new outer disciple would be held.

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Chapter 2: Qing Yi

Coming to the entrance of the sect, Xuan Hao was met with the sight of a bustling city spreading far into the horizon. This was the Flying Sword city. One of the many cities under the Flying Sword Sects direct management.

"Hah…"

Sighing a bit, Xuan Hao looked away from the bustling city and instead focused on the examination ground located a little away from the entrance to the sect.

The examination ground was bustling with activity as children had come from all over the northern region of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom to try their luck at becoming an outer disciple of the Flying Sword Sect.

Xuan Hao mostly ignored the people present and instead directly made his way towards a pavilion located to overlook the entire examination ground. This was where the true experts of the sect were located.

The two core elders, vice sect master and sect master were present there. The outer and inner elders were located a little more to the side, as most of them walked around the examination grounds to prepare the first round of tests.

"Who is that?!"

"I don't know, but for him to enter the pavilion where the core elders are… Maybe he's a core disciple!?"

"A core disciple?! No way!"

All the children between the ages of twelve to eighteen were looking towards the pavilion, hoping that one of the powerful elders would notice them and take them as a personal disciple. Therefore, the sight of someone only a few years older than them entering the pavilion caused quite a stir in the young ones, as they quickly drew their own conclusion on who the mysterious youth was.

"Everyone the first round of tests will begin shortly, report to the place you were assigned upon entry into the examination grounds!"

A loud voice echoed across the entire examination ground as the people talking quickly shut up and moved towards their designated area, both with anticipation and nervousness.

Would they fail or jump over the dragon's gate and ascend to a new high? All of it depended on how the next few tests went.

…

"Elder Xuan, I didn't expect you would be joining the examination this time. Looking to take in a disciple maybe?"

The moment Xuan Hao entered the pavilion, he was blocked by a giant of man towering high above him.

"Elder Wang, it's been quite some time and yes, I've come to see if I can find someone suitable to take in."

Xuan Hao sighed internally as he answered.

This person in front of him was called Wang Hu and was one of the two core elders of the Flying Sword Sect. A Nascent Soul expert.

"Really!? You? Take in a disciple!?"

"Yes, and I will go take seat as the first round of test are already starting."

Not expecting the answer, Wang Hu blinked his eyes as he stared at Xuan Hao in surprise.

"Haha, I see, I see... Guess it really is time for you to take in some disciples…" NvεlB¡n: A Haven for Bookworms and Dreamers.

Listing to a few encouraging words, Xuan Hao quickly made his way towards the seating space of the pavilion and quickly greeted the rest of the upper echelons of the Flying Sword Sect.

Namely, The Sect Master Feng Chen, a seventh stage Nascent Soul expert.

The Vice Sect Master Zu Fei, a fifth stage Nascent Soul expert.

The other core elder, Wang Lan, who was the brother of the second core elder Wang Hu. Both were at the third stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

To be honest Xuan Hao still found it surprising how big both of the Wang brothers were and could not help but think about whether or not they had the blood of giants flowing in them.

Soon, the first round of tests began, and Xuan Hao spread out his divine sense to monitor the entire examination ground. Hoping to find a suitable disciple.

Wang Hu and the others also stopped chatting and put all their focus on the examination ground. The children and young adults outside would after all become the new generation of outer disciples of the Flying Sword Sect.

…

"Did you see that young man who entered the pavilion? I could not sense his cultivation, so he is most likely above the third stage of Core Formation! Our Fire bird city does not even have someone at the seventh stage of Core Formation, yet even the disciples of the Flying Sword Sect is at that level!"

"Hehe, if I can become a disciple of the Flying Sword Sect, then in the future, I will also have the support of a Nascent Soul expert. When I return, even the family's ancestors will have to be polite to me!"

"It's said that the Flying Sword Sects Master is not only at the peak of the seventh stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. He's only a step away from the eighth stage."

There were exclamations of awe and admiration from the listing crowds upon hearing about how strong the Flying Sword Sects Sect Master was. In this world where martial arts were respected above all, experts were naturally sought after.

"Not to mention the Sect master, there is still the Vice Sect Master and two Core Elders still at the Nascent Soul Realm."

"I even heard rumours about the Flying Sword Sect recently adding a new Core Elder!"

"How strong! If I could become a disciple of the Flying Sword Sect, then the clan's crisis would be easily resolved! Even though the Black Rose Sect is strong, the Flying Sword Sect is even stronger!"

In the crowded examination grounds, a young girl who was about fifteen or sixteen years old starred intently towards the pavilion located in the centre of the examination grounds.

The girl's name was Qing Yi. She was the daughter of the head of the Qing clan in Bright Sun City. The Qing Clan she was in was not a small clan in Bright Sun City, it was one of the two great clans in Bright Sun City.

Bright Sun City was a city located in southern part of the northern region. Although it was located in the northern region together with the Flying Sword Sect, the distance between the two was still quite far. It took Qing Yi and the other disciples of the Qing family nearly two months to reach the Flying Sword Sect from Bright Sun City.

As the daughter of the current head of the Qing family, her status was naturally very noble and exalted.

However, this honour and status was limited to Bright Sun City and the few cities and towns nearby.

Qing Yi knew very well that her identity was still important in Bright Sun City. However, once she had left the sphere of influence that the Qing family had, she would be worth nothing much. No one would give her any face. Especially in the territory of the Flying Sword Sect, who had Nascent Soul experts holding down the fort.

Thus, she had kept a low profile since the start of her journey, trying not to provoke any disasters.

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Chapter 3: Qing Family

"Qing Chenyi, it's all up to you to ensure that our Qing Family can survive the crisis we find ourselves stuck in. If you can enter the Flying Sword Sect, then Bai Li and the Black Rose Sect behind him won't dare to do anything to our Qing Family!"

Just a little behind Qing Yi stood an elderly man. Despite his looks, he was not weak. He was at the peak of the second stage Core Formation Realm, and the first elder of the Qing clan. His position in the Qing clan was only behind the current head of the Qing clan, Qing Yi's father.

This time, he was in charge of leading the group of promising children from the Qing clan to the Flying Sword Sect.

The First Elder spoke, but he did not say those words to Qing Yi, the daughter of the clan's head. Instead, he said those words to a white-robed young man standing in the forefront of the group of Qing clan children.

Although Qing Yi's status was the most noble and honourable among the disciples of the Qing Family, in terms of talent, she was far from the best of them. Even counting her among the top 10 of the children present would be a stretch.

"First Elder, don't worry. I will enter the Flying Sword Sect and get their support! With me entering the Flying Sword Sect, dealing with the Black Rose Sect will not be a problem for us at all! Instead of us worrying, it should be the Bai family worrying about themselves!"

Qing Chenyi smiled. Not only was he the number one genius of the Qing Family, but he was also considered the number one genius of Bright Sun City. In his opinion, joining the Flying Sword Sect was a matter of course. Not difficult at all.

Qing Yi pursed her lips when she heard this. The look in her eyes felt somewhat sad to onlookers.

That's right… Qing Chenyi was the one who had the most hope of entering the Flying Sword Sect. Even the two others behind Qing Chenyi had quite a good chance of entering.

'I…'

It had to be said that even though she was the sole daughter of the current clan head, Qing Chenyi's talent was way higher than hers.

As the only child of the current family head, she did not manage to inherit her father's outstanding talent and still enjoyed the family's best resources. However, among the younger generation of the Qing family, she could not even rank amongst the top ten… Talk about pathetic…

It was not that she did not work hard. She had already worked extremely hard, maybe even harder than any of the others from the younger generation of the Qing clan. From the beginning of her cultivation, she had never dared to relax in the slightest. However, the so-called talent wasn't something that could be made up for by hard work…

At her age, her father had already broken through to stage one of the foundation Establishment Realm.

"Haha, You? Entering the Flying Sword Sect? Hahaha… Qing Chenyi, are you and the Qing family even worthy of such a thing?"

Right as the members of the Qing family were about to move towards the testing area of the examination grounds, a mocking voice sounded out just behind them. The Qing family's people did not even need to turn around to know who it was.

"What!? Bai Cheng, I'm not worthy? Are you? Get lost", Qing Chenyi turned around and coldly looked at the black-robbed youth behind him.

The young man's name was Bai Cheng, from one of the two great clans of Bright Sun City. He was a member of the Bai family, and he was also one of their younger generations most brilliant talents. Definitely within the top three of the Bai family.

In the past, Bai Cheng was stronger than Qing Chenyi and had even bullied him and other members of the Qing family from time to time, but later on, Qing Chenyi rose and suppressed him in both talent and strength.

Whether it was his talent or his strength, Qing Chenyi was above him.

"Heh, Qing Chenyi, what are you so proud of? When I enter the Flying Sword Sect, I will completely surpass you easily. At the next year's Bright Sun City Grand Competition, I will let you know that being in the lead for a moment means absolutely nothing. Haha, enjoy your place as the number one in Bright Sun City while you can." Bai Cheng did not become angry upon hearing Qing Chenyi but continued to laugh.

"Oh? I don't know from which hole in the ground you popped up from. However, since you can enter, naturally I can as well." Qing Chenyi snored coldly. His talent was above Bai Cheng. If Bai Cheng could enter, so could he.

"Then We'll Wait and see. I'm looking forward to your expression when the examination ends. Hahaha…" Bai Cheng laughed and was about to walk off when he caught a glace of Qing Yi and suddenly stopped in his steps.

"Yi, how is it? As long as you agree to marry me, then both the Bai and Qing family will be one big family. When I become a disciple of the Flying Sword Sect, I'll ensure that your Qing family is safe and sound!"

The matter of Bai Cheng's love for Qing Yi was no secret in Bright Sun City. He had gone to the Qing family several times to propose already but had been rejected every time by Qing Yi's father in a domineering manner. He had even been beaten up by him a few times.

Qing Yi's mother had passed away just after she was born. Her father only had one daughter, her. He would never force her to do anything she didn't like. Let alone force her to marry someone from their rival family, the Bai family.

Qing Yi shot a cold glance at Bai Cheng. She did not say anything. Instead, she looked at the pavilion in the middle of the examination grounds where the higher-ups of the Flying Sword Sect were located.

It was because the appearance of a single person had attracted her attention.

"Who is that?"

"I saw him enter the pavilion earlier, maybe he was there to deliver a message to the higher-ups."

"Eh? Who is he then? Not anyone can enter the pavilion, maybe a core disciple?!"

This 'young man' who had appeared only a little after he entered was naturally Xuan Hao.

His appearance once again caused quite a stir in the examination grounds. Ñøvl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

However, what truly made people care about him was not that.

Instead… Xuan Hao stood beside Feng Chen!

Who was Feng Chen?

The Master of the Flying Sword Sect!

Not just anyone had the right to stand beside him.

Before Xuan Hao appeared, there were only three other people who did so and all of them were Nascent Soul Realm experts!

Some people started questioning who Xuan Hao was.

This young man… Who was he?

The son of the Flying Sword Sect's Master?

No, everyone knew that the Flying Sword Sect's Master didn't have a wife. Furthermore, the last person who mentioned anything about him marrying were called in for a meeting with the Vice Sect Master Zu Fei and mysteriously appeared beaten up somewhere in the outskirts of the city.

Quite a few people shivered upon the thought of the Vice Sect Master Zu Fei.

"Heh, You people are quite ignorant, right? This person is called Xuan Hao. Although he is young, he is a Core Elder of the Flying Sword Sect! A Nascent Soul Realm expert!"

"Nascent Soul Realm? The same level as the Sect Master? He doesn't seem that much older than me, how is it even possible to reach the Nascent Soul Realm at such a young age!?"

"There's nothing impossible. This Core Elder Xuan is indeed a Nascent Soul Realm expert. Not only is he one of the youngest core elders in the Flying Sword Sect's history, but he's also the youngest Nascent Soul Realm expert in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom." Another person reaffirmed.

"How do you even know that in the first place?" Some people still didn't believe the claim.

"I naturally know that because my sister is an inner disciple of the Flying Sword Sect!" That person said proudly.

Within the Flying Sword Sect, there were thousands upon thousands of disciples with distinct levels. The disciples were all divided into three levels, Outer disciples, Inner disciple and core disciple. For example, even if they entered the Flying Sword Sect after a series of selections, they were still only outer disciples. Apart from those lucky enough to be chosen by an elder to become personal disciples.

The position of an inner disciple in the Flying Sword Sect was already relatively high.

As expected, when this person revealed that his sister was already an inner disciple, a few gazes of envy and jealousy were immediately shot over.

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Chapter 4: Examination Starts!

" He's one of the core elders of the Flying Sword Sect, an expert at the Nascent Soul Realm."

Qing Yi's mouth opened slightly as she focused her eyes on Xuan Hao, she was shocked beyond belief upon listing to the chatter surrounding the young man walking besides the Sect Master.

Around twenty years old? Already reached the Nascent Soul Realm?!

"Everyone, since you've come all the way here to join the examination of my Flying Sword Sect, I won't waste anymore of your time. Now, I'll announce that the Flying Sword Sect's first round of examination will officially begin!" After briefly welcoming the younger generation, Feng Chen directly announced the start of the examinations first round.

The first test was divided into two steps. Firstly, to test the bone age and making sure nobody over the age limit entered and secondly, cultivation.

Those with a bone age less than eighteen and a cultivation level at the third stage of Qi Condensation directly entered the second stage of the examination.

The first part was not difficult. Most of the people who could appear here agreed with the request and was tested.

Children under the age of fourteen had a whole other set of tests they had to go through, so as to make it fair for them to be able to enter as well. After all, having a child the age of ten reach Qi Condensation stage three was a little too much to ask.

The first part was not difficult and mostly served so as to separate the children from the young adults. The second part of the examination was the difficult one.

The second part was the actual battle, where the ordinary would be removed and the extraordinary would shine brightly.

At that time, those who managed to pass the first round of test would be led an outer elder of the Flying Sword Sect to a demon beast forest not too far away from the Flying Sword Sect for the true trail.

The forest of demon beasts under the Flying Sword Sect was exceptionally large, but the demon beasts inside were not strong. Under the management of the Flying Sword Sect, the strongest was only at the 9th stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

After the participants entered the forest of demon beasts, every demon beast that they killed would be recorded by an elder. In the end, the elders of the Flying Sword Sect would rank all of them according to how many demon beasts they managed to kill.

In the end, the top 1000 people would become Outer Court Disciples of the Flying Sword Sect, the top 10 would be promoted directly to Inner Court Disciples if their performance was satisfactory.

This, however, was not what caused most of the youths present to give their all. The most attractive part was to appeal to the higher-ups of the Flying Sword Sect and be accepted as a personal disciple.

Becoming a personal disciple of any of the three core elders would be the same as ascending the heavens in a single step.

It was also worth mentioning that it wasn't just because one's cultivation realm was higher than others, the higher one's ranking would become. The second part of the examination was not about their cultivation realm, rather, it focused on evaluating the youths' combat strength and their ability to react to different and most certainly deadly encounters.

Even if they were at the 3rd stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, if you could still not kill at least a few demon beasts that were above you in cultivation realm, you would most likely not be able to enter the top 1000.

Similarly, if your cultivation base was high, but the combat strength you exerted did not match your cultivation base, then even if you were at the 6th stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, you might not end up in the top 1000.

While the thousand spots did sound like quite a lot, people from all over the northern region of the Heavenly Sky kingdom had gathered for the examination.

More than ten thousand people had gathered and were left for the second part of the examination. Meaning nine out of ten people would be eliminated.

What the Flying Sword Sect used to test the bone age of the people present was a special kind of spirit tool called a talent tester, as it could measure a person's cultivation base as well.

This kind of tool wasn't considered to be valuable, even Qing Yi's clan had a few laying around.

After Feng Chen announced the beginning of the first test, the people in the examination ground began to test in an orderly manner.

"Ying Lu, bone age 16, Qi Condensation Third Stage, Pass!"

"Tao Tao? Bone age 17, Qi Condensation Fifth Stage, Pass!"

"Yuan Meow, Bone age 19! Disqualified!"

"Fang Fan, bone age 15, Qi Condensation Second Stage, Disqualified!"

"Meng …..."

Most of the people who were able to appear here had a prior understanding of the Flying Sword Sect's standards for accepting disciples. Most of them had passed the test. Apart from a few who tried to cheat the system and squeeze in, most of them were qualified.

Xuan Hao, who was located on a platform standing above the examination ground looked down at the group of little fellows in the examination ground.

"hah…"

Xuan Hao only wanted to sit quietly inside the pavilion and scout around with his divine sense to pick up a talent and bring him or her in as a disciple. Sadly, the two Wang brothers had other ideas for him and the moment they saw him spreading out his divine sense, they came up with a devious plan.

"Ah, this child Xuan Hao is still young and is going to pick his first disciple! Feng Chen, why don't you take him with you for the start of the examination?"

"Yes, yes! This way he will be able to see the new blood of the sect personally, it will definitely be easier to pick a disciple this way!"

"Hmm… Indeed, I also chose my first disciple this way. Xuan Hao, why don't you come? If you just stay here you won't be able to see the young ones personally."

"… Fine, I will come."

Not even getting a chance to refuse, Xuan Hao was chased out of the pavilion and now stood quietly besides the Sect Master Feng Chen on the platform.

"Sigh…"

The first test had just begun, so Xuan Hao decided to throw the thoughts of the two scheming muscle heads aside and focus on trying to find a disciple.

"Natural talent 4, no…."

"Talent at 6, no."

"Ah, someone with a talent of 9, why couldn't you just have one more! Still not good enough and the fellow also looks like a troublesome type…"

"Sigh…"

Almost half of the first round of tests had passed, and Xuan Hao had still not found a person with 10 or more talent.

Not to mention more than 10, the highest was still only at 9.

"I've taken it for granted. Even within the Flying Sword Sect, Ling Song, who is know as the number one person in the younger generation only has a talent of 15" Xuan Hao shook his, and was slightly disappointed with the younger people trying to get into the Flying Sword Sect. It seemed like the side quest would probably be impossible if nobody with decent talent showed up.Ñøvl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

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Chapter 5: Finding a Future Disciple

" Eh? That is!"

Just as Xuan Hao was about to give up on the youths testing down below, he suddenly sensed something.

It was a young girl with beautiful black hair and brown eyes.

What made Xuan Hao unable to move his gaze away from the young girl was the innate talent value displayed above her head!

"Natural talent… 37!"

At first glance, Xuan Hao thought he was mistaken. Maybe he had just mixed two different people together allowing the talent values to overlap.

But no, even after he continued to stare at the number above the young girl's head, it still stayed there. Floating directly above her.

A natural talent of 37!

This aptitude for cultivating, was enormous!

Even Ling Song, who was the number one genius of the Flying Sword Sect only had a natural talent of 15.

"How strange, with a natural talent of 37, she's still only at the fourth level of Qi Condensation? Ling Song had already advanced to the Foundation Establishment Realm when he was around her age, how come?"

Xuan Hao frowned slightly. He didn't understand how this could happen. A genius with a natural talent of 37 at the age of fifteen or sixteen, how could she still be stuck at the 4th stage of the Qi Condensation?

It had to be said that even the fellow with a talent value of 9 was already at the 8th stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

"Wait a moment…"

Suddenly, Xuan Hao noticed something that he didn't see before. There was a line of words behind the young girl's natural talent value.

[Physique: (dormant) Bright Sun Divine Physique, Awakening method: Infernal Heart Grass (Spirit Grade)]

There existed all sorts of physiques in this world. Those who possessed these blessed and divine physiques were all existences favoured by the heavens themselves. Cultivating the earlier stages would be as easy as eating and sleeping.

Honestly, Xuan Hao felt a little envious when he thought about a peculiar physique, he had read about in the sect's library. NvεlB¡n: A Haven for Bookworms and Dreamers.

The physique was called the Immortal Dream Physique and the person who had it only needed to sleep to reach the peak…

The one who had it was called the Immortal Dreamer and he reached the peak of Emperor Realm at the age of 150 by sleeping… After that he disappeared from the Ewaria continent, most likely to surpass the Emperor Realm…

Back to the unique thing called physiques or divine bodies.

Some physiques were naturally activated from the moment a person was born, while others were in a dormant state. They needed some special items or method to awaken them. For example, the owner of the Bright Sun Divine Physique needed to consume the Infernal Heart Grass to activate the Bright Sun Divine Physique.

However, the Infernal Heart Grass was not easy to find. Even a Nascent Soul expert like Xuan Hao would have a hard time getting his hands-on Infernal Heart Grass.

Infernal Heart Grass was not too high-grade herb and was only considered a Spirit Grade herb. The ones to use spirit herbs were people at the Core Formation Realm. Not something a Nascent Soul expert should have a problem acquiring.

Sadly, for Xuan Hao, it was extremely rare and hard to find due to the unique environment required for it to grow.

"No mater what, I want this person!"

It was not easy to finally find someone with a natural talent above 10, so how could Xuan Hao let her go over something like finding a rare herb?

Originally, Xuan Hao wanted to directly rush down and take her in as his disciple, but after thinking about the arrogant and troublesome character with a talent of 9, Xuan Hao decided not to. He could do it after all the tests were over. He could use this period of time to properly observe her conduct and other aspects.

The last thing Xuan Hao wanted was a troublesome and arrogant disciple.

On the other hand, this young girl who had been targeted by Xuan Hao a great Core Elder of the Flying Sword Sect, was completely unaware at this moment.

At this moment, she was nervously holding her small hands together while looking at the strange, yet familiar object in front of her.

It was her turn to take the first test at last.

Although she had already been tested in the clan several times before coming and already knew that she was qualified to pass the first tests, she was still nervous when faced with the real thing.

"Yi'er, don't be so nervous. You will pass the first tests. You've already been tested before coming here." The one who spoke in calming voice as he gently patted Qing Yi's shoulder was the First Elder of the Qing Family.

It was Qing Yi's turn. Before her, the Qing family's number one genius, Qing Chenyi, had already gone up and tested. Bone age 17, 6th stage Qi Condensation.

At this moment, Qing Chenyi was no longer as confident as he was before.

With the test proceeding, he discovered that there were more than a few people who were at or above the fifth and sixth stage of Qi Condensation! He even spotted quite a few people at the seventh stage of Qi condensation!

This immediately cause him to feel quite a big of pressure for the upcoming second test.

Originally, he had been extremely confident that he would be able to enter the Flying Sword Sect and maybe even get into the top 10 and enter as an Inner Court Disciple. However, at this moment, his confidence from early had completely vanished.

He discovered that many of the people present were not inferior to him in terms of talent and strength. Quite the opposite, some were far more superior than him.

He truly felt like a frog at the bottom of a well, finally experiencing the real world.

Even though he was the number one genius in bright Sun City, so what? Only a small unknown place in the big Heavenly Sky Kingdom!

Qing Yi was completely unaware that the number one genius from her family clan had a drastic change in emotions.

At this moment, she arrived in front of the talent tester and nervously raised her hand before placing it on top of it.

While Qing Yi was testing, Xuan Hao was also observing her with his divine sense. Looking at her appearance, Xuan Hao smiled a bit.

'This girl seems to be a little nervous'

"Qing Yi, bone age 15, the fourth stage of Qi Condensation, qualified!"

Hearing this, not even the slightest bit of joy made its way unto Qing Yi's face.

Even though she had passed the first test, she discovered how strong the people around her were.

Those with a bone age of not more than eighteen and cultivation of at least forth stage of Qi Condensation were so common. No, it would be easier to say that only the ones considered among the children were below the fourth stage of Qi Condensation.

How hard would the upcoming second round of examination be?

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Chapter 6: Dwindling Hope of the Qing Family

Previously Qing Yi had thought that a genius like Qing Chenyi was already extremely rare and talented. Reaching the 6th stage of Qi Condensation at the age of 17, in the entire Bright Sun City. Only Bai Fei was able to pose a slight threat to his position as number one.

But even with that, he was still undoubtedly the number one genius in Bright Sun City.

However, when the first tests finally began, Qing Yi slowly discovered that there were quite a large number of 'geniuses' like Qing Chenyi! There was even quite a number of people far above him in terms of talent!

It was only at this moment Qing Yi realized how tiny her previous horizons had been, truly a frog at the bottom of the well…

Qing Yi started to understand why, some elders in the clan had always said that Qing Chenyi's talent was not bad in Bright Sun City, but after leaving Bright Sun City, it wasn't much. Back then, quite a few of the members of the younger generation in the Qing family thought that their elders were afraid that Qing Chenyi would grow arrogant and deliberately said this.

But now, Qing Yi, Qing Chenyi and the other younger generation members brought along for the entrance examination, realized that those words of their elders were truly not exaggerated at all. They were simply the truth!

"Wen Lu, bone age 16, Qi Condensation eighth stage!"

A commotion broke out from a nearby testing platform upon hearing what one of the elders doing the testing said.

It turned out that another strong youth with a cultivation of 8th stage Qi Condensation had appeared there, and his bone age was only sixteen!

Qing Chenyi's body shook a bit upon hearing the announcement and clenched his fists as he glared over at the person one year younger than him, worst of all, that younger person had a cultivation far above his!

Today, he was the one who had suffered the greatest blow, his confidence reached an all-time low.

Genius?

Compared to some of the people present here, was he, still considered a genius?

Back in Bright Sun City, he was the undisputed number one genius. Praised by both the younger and older generation.

However, at this moment, his talent was only a bit above average and even that would be a bit of a stretch. The huge gap made it a little difficult for him to accept the sudden change in status.

From the undisputed number one to an ordinary person.

The other disciples of the Qing family were not faring any better.

If even the Qing family's number one genius was worth nothing here, what were they…?

Seeing the depressed state of the Qing family disciples, the first elder sighed a little, but decided not to say anything.

Only after walking out of Bright Sun City would they realize how insignificant they were. Even Qing Chenyi, was nothing much…

These words were not only for Qing Chenyi, Qing Yi, and the other disciples of the Qing family. Even the first elder himself suddenly felt really small in an excessively big world full of unknowns. NvεlB¡n: A Haven for Bookworms and Dreamers.

A layer of haze slowly started to engulf the hearts of the Qing Family.

Previously, they had a blind belief in Qing Chenyi and that he would enter the Flying Sword Sect without any problems at all. Now, however, things would not be as easy.

The appearance of geniuses that were way more monstrous than Qing Chenyi didn't help the situation at all as the possibility of Qing Chenyi entering the Flying Sword Sect looked bleaker than ever.

The Qing family crisis weighing on their mind didn't help either as all the members of the Qing family worriedly looked in the direction of Qing Chenyi.

Qing Chenyi, could he enter the final top 1000? If not… Then what would happen to the Qing family?

If no one from the Qing family managed to become a disciple of the Flying Sword Sect, then the moment that the Bai family got anyone from the Black Rose Sect over to the Bright Sun City would be the end of the Qing family. Their day of destruction!

Bright Sun City had many different powers, and among them, the two great clans, Qing and Bai, were both well respected.

Among the two great clans, the Qing clan was the strongest, followed by the Bai clan.

The Qing and Bai clan were in opposition. They had accumulated grudges for a long time now, and both of them were constantly fighting each other for control over the city.

It had reached a point where they couldn't resolve it simply by negotiating any longer and a war between the two were inevitable.

The Qing family's overall strength was above that of the Bai Family, so in recent years, the Bait family resulted to a lot of underhand tactics to try and gain an advantage.

Originally, the Qing family had thought that under such circumstances, it would be difficult for the two sides to gain an advantage over the other in a short period of time. However, they didn't expect that something unexpected would happen.

Not long ago, a piece of new arrived and it blew up in the Bright Sun City. Bai Fei, the number one genius of the Bai family, had entered the Black Rose Sect. Not only that, but he was also accepted as a personal disciple of the current Sect Master of the Black Rose Sect!

An expert at the Nascent Soul Realm!

In that instant, the Qing family was put at an absolute disadvantage.

The Black Rose Sect was a large sect in the northern region of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom. Although it wasn't as powerful as the Flying Sword Sect, the overlord of the northern region, it still had a few Nascent Soul experts overseeing it.

Not to mention the other Nascent Soul experts, even Bai Fei's master alone, a Nascet Soul Realm expert was not something that the Qing family could contend against.

Qing Yang the current head of the Qing family was the strongest expert of Bright Sun City and he was only at the fifth stage of the Core Formation Realm.

To put it more bluntly, a Nascent Soul Realm expert could easily uproot the entire Qing Family.

Even worse, the Bai clan spread news that Bai Fei would return to Bright sun City to participate in the annual Bright Sun City Grand Competition. When he came back, his master would follow him as well.

This was a true disaster for the Qing Clan. All they could do, was hope that they could gain the support of the Flying Sword Sect. Only then would they be safe from the Bai family.

However, as more time passed, more and more geniuses appeared and their hope of entering the Flying Sword Sect slowly grew dimmer and dimmer.

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Chapter 7: Start of the Second Test

Time passed minute by minute, and after another 30 minutes the first test finally came to an end.

Other than Qing Yi, Xuan Hao did not mange to spot anyone else with 10 or more talent. On the other hand, there were a few others who had a talent value of 9. Xuan Hao thought to himself that maybe the talent value of 10 was a different dimension from the 9. Maybe an overall change in quality of the talent?

Xuan Hao honestly had no clue.

Originally, other than Qing Yi, Xuan Hao had wanted to take in a few other disciples as well. After all, being the only disciple of him would probably be quite boring and having a few junior or senior sisters and brothers would most likely make it more interesting.

However, after a period of observation, Xuan Hao had dispelled this thought. The people who had a decent talent value at nine were all arrogant and were somewhat displeasing.

Such people would just end up being a bad influence!

The first round of tests had ended.

Of the more than ten thousand people who showed up, only a little over seven hundred people ended up being disqualified. The remaining people were all qualified!

The most dazzling among them was none other than a young man called Wen Lu.

Bone age 16, Qi Condensation Eighth stage! Even some of the Inner Elders of the Flying Sword Sect started getting excited.

Although the second stage had not started yet, with Wen Lu's talent, entering the Flying Sword Sect was not really troublesome.

Some of the inner elders would most likely take him in as a disciple, allowing him to become a personal disciple of an inner elder. It had to be remembered, even the weakest inner court elder of the Flying Sword Sect was an eight stage Core Formation expert. Not weak in any way!

Many envious gazes also focused on Wen Lu for this reason.

The little fellow Xuan Hao set his eyes on was no exception either.

"Ah… This is the difference between normal people and geniuses. All of us will have to fight for the one thousand spots. That Wen Lu fellow on the other hand, even if he doesn't participate in the second test, he would still have a few elders willing to take him in as a personal disciple and enter the Flying Sword Sect!" A disciple of the Qing family couldn't help but lament about the unfairness of the world.

The First Elder heard this and frowned, "Talent is something you are born with, things like that can't be envied. One's path of cultivation does not mean everything. I hope you can understand. I'm sure all of you heard the tale of how the Heavenly Sky Kingdom came to be. The founder of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom had a talent inferior to yours, but what was the result? He ended up becoming an expert at half-step King Realm!"

The First Elder's words cause the originally dejected disciple of the Qing family to be motivated again. Even a few nearby youths heard the First Elders words and started to become more motivated for the second test.

That's right!

It was said that the founder of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom was the bottom of the pile, but in the end, he became a half-step King Realm expert. It also had to be known that a half-step King Realm expert was widely different from a Nascent Soul Realm expert.

A single half-step King Realm expert was only a single step away from reaching the legendary king realm! Even a single attack of theirs could easily kill most ninth stage Nascent Soul Realm experts. It was even rumoured that a half-step King Realm expert could defend against a few attacks from a true King Realm expert!

A King Realm expert! Someone who could easily wipe out the Heavenly Sky Kingdom and its neighbouring kingdoms with ease.

From that one could see how strong the founder of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom was! From that, one could see that talent didn't mean anything! Hard work would always pay off in the end!

If Xuan Hao heard what this first elder said, he would probably erupt out in laughter. No talent? Bottom of the pile? The founder of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom was none of that, he was even someone who awakened a divine physique! How could someone like that be called talentless?

Luckily for the now hopeful disciples of the Qing family and nearby youths, Xuan Hao was not listening to what the first elder was talking about.

After all, the first tests had just finished, and the second part of the examination was about to begin.

Under the leadership of the elders from the Flying Sword Sect, over ten thousand qualified people set off to the Demon Beast Forest, located close by the Flying Sword Sect.

When the people had left with the elders from the sect, Xuan Hao and the other could see the situation of all the participants in the Demon Beast Forest through a giant floating projection that had manifested in the centre of the examination ground.

The projection was manifested by the Sect Master Feng Chen and a formation set up beforehand.

Within the giant projection screen, there were more than ten thousand small screens. Each of the participants occupied a small screen. Through this projection, the higher-ups of the Flying Sword Sect could see the entire journey of the participants as they walked through the Demon Beast Forest.

Other than a few elders who remained at the Demon Beast Forest to ensure the participants safety, most of them had returned and were recording down what each of the participants did and graded them accordingly.

Xuan Hao's gaze drifted between a few participants, but mostly focused on Qing Yi, as she was the only one, he was concerned about.

Xuan Hao even spread his divine sense all the way to the Demon Beast Forest so he could observe her more easily and also make sure that no danger happened to her.

Xuan Hao hoped that nobody else would take any interest in Qing Yi, as she was the disciple that he had chosen to take in. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

But such concerns were close to negligible as most of them ignored her. After all she just had normal talent and was only at the Qi Condensation stage four. Not anything special in the Flying Sword Sect.

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Chapter 8: The Demon Beast Forest

" That Wen Lu isn't too bad, He's already at the peak of the eighth stage of Qi Condensation. Even when fighting an early ninth stage Qi Condensation demon beast alone, he can still beat them without too much difficulty. He can be considered among the best talents this year!" The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

The one who spoke was an Inner Court Elder, even though there were a few other people who had reached the eighth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, Wen Lu was by far the one who did the best so far.

"Indeed. In comparison, that Feng Li fellow is a bit inferior. Originally, I thought that even if his talent weren't at the same level as Wen Lu, it wouldn't be so far off. Now however, it seems like I had overestimated him. He's already at the peak of the eighth stage of Qi Condensation, yet he's struggling so hard against an early eighth stage Qi Condensation demon beast!"

Besides Xuan Hao, Feng Chen shook his head and looked at a green-clothed young man on one of the small floating screens with a sense of disappointment.

At this moment, the young man in question was being chased down by two early eighth stage Qi Condensation demon beasts, and to call his appearance miserable would be an understatement…

"Heh, this Feng Li most likely relied on medicinal pills to reach his current realm. At the same stage, anyone could beat him with ease…" Xuan Hao said as he also cast a disappointed look towards the green-clothed young man on the small screen.

No matter what, someone who had just relied on medicinal pills to boost his cultivation would not be able to easily enter the Flying Sword Sect. Feng Li, even though he had reached the peak of the eighth stage would most likely not be ranked within the top 1000 to enter the sect!

The first test only measured the participants cultivation bases and bone age. There was no real test to their abilities.

But the second test was different from the first.

The 'geniuses' that had used a ton of medicinal pills to boost their cultivation were revealed immediately.

Xuan Hao did not bother with these people and instead focused his attention back onto Qing Yi.

Other than Xuan Hao, no other higher-ups from the Flying Sword Sect would focus their attention on her. They merely glanced by her and did not stop to stare.

To be certain, she would most likely not be among the 1000 spots later on.

However, Xuan Hao didn't expect her to pass the second test either. Before her Bright Sun Divine Physique awakened, her talents were as average as can be among the ten thousand people present in the second test.

Back to before the start of the second test, Qing Yi was nervously looking at the giant forest looming directly in front of her.

This was the Demon Beast Forest of the Flying Sword Sect! There were demon beasts ranging between the first and ninth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm!

Just the possibility of running into a ninth stage Qi Condensation demon beast made Qing Yi feel afraid.

"All of you will enter now, you are not allowed to group and should try to hunt as many demon beasts you can before the time runs out! Demon beasts are, as all of you know, only at the Qi Condensation Realm here. Therefore, there is not much danger to any of you!"

The elder of the Flying Sword Sect who had led the Qing family disciples and some other participants told them before starting to walk back towards the Flying Sword Sect.

"Ah, remember! The further in you go, the stronger the demon beasts become! Now off you go, hurry and hunt as many demon beasts you can. The stronger, the more points you get."

Just before the elder disappeared into the distance, the group of youths heard his voice reminding them that the second test had already started.

"Ah! Got to hurry, if not, my chances of entering the Flying Sword Sect will be gone!"

"Demon Beast Forest? Here I come, hopefully there is enough demon beasts for me!

"Look, the other groups have already entered the Demon Beast Forest!? We got to hurry up as well!"

Soon, both the youths from the Qing family and the extras, disappeared into the Demon Beast Forest. Only Qing Yi was left behind starring at the Demon Beast Forest.

Unsheathing her sword, Qing Yi looked at it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before she clenched her hand around the handle.

Taking a deep breath, she finally headed into the Demon Beast Forest.

Qing Yi slowly made her way through the thick foliage of the forest and was cautiously looking to her side from time to time. Making sure no demon beast sneaked close to her without noticing.

"ROAR"

After what seemed like a few minutes, a roar resounded close by and Qing Yi quickly tensed up and the grip on her sword strengthened as she prepared for the inevitable battle.

Soon, the origin of the roar appeared in front of her.

A giant cat shaped demon beast, it gave off a savage aura filled with bloodlust and a will to fight. The sharp teeth of the demon beast were more than enough to intimidate Qing Yi. A peak second stage Qi Condensation demon beast!

The cat like demon beast also spotted Qing Yi and started cautiously approaching her.

Qing Yi gripped her sword even harder in her hands as she decided to make the first move towards the demon beast.

Swoosh

She raised her hand, and the silver-coloured sword flew out!

The silver sword wasn't fast! However, the demon beast didn't dare to underestimate it as it quickly made a move to dodge the sudden attack.

The demon beast however did not manage to completely dodge the attack, as the sword suddenly accelerated and stabbed into one of the demon beasts' four legs.

"Roar!"

Letting out an angry roar, the demon beast tried to retreat, but Qing Yi struck once again.

Directly piercing through the head of the demon beast, killing it.

"Hah… Hah…."

Laying down exhaustedly, Qing Yi did not look happy at all.

She had used a lot of her qi for those two earlier attacks and only barely managed to kill the demon beast by catching it off guard.

This was only a stage two Qi Condensation Realm demon beast!

How was she supposed to kill anything stronger than this and enter the top 1000 and become a disciple of the Flying Sword Sect?

"Sigh…"

Letting out a slightly depressed sigh, Qing Yi quickly stood up again.

She would not let this stop her! She would definitely enter the top 1000 and become a disciple of the Flying Sword Sect! That way, her father and family would be safe from the Bai clan and Black Rose Sect as well.

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Chapter 9: Rankings for the Second Test

Time was fleeting and Qing did her best to kill as many demon beasts as possible. She even went deeper into the Demon Beast Forest and managed to kill a demon beast at the peak third stage Qi Condensation Realm. This result could overall be considered average among the participants and did not even put her close to the top 1000.

One must know that Qing Yi's cultivation was at the fourth stage of Qi Condensation! At the fourth stage of Qi Condensation, she had only managed to kill a single peak third stage Qi Condensation demonic beast. This result was indeed poor as she didn't even manage to kill a demon beast at the same stage as herself.

The moment she walked out of the Demon Beast Forest; Qing Yi shakenly sat down on the ground as her little face slowly turned pale.

She did not expect that the demon beasts in the Demon Beast Forest would be so terrifying. Fighting back at the brink of death, savage and murderous. Compared to the battles she went through today, what she had done in the past seemed like a complete joke.

Although the results from the final test had not yet come out, Qing Yi was almost certain that she would not be able to enter the list of one thousand people qualified to enter the Flying Sword Sect.

Afterall, she failed at killing something at the same cultivation realm as herself, it was only barely that she managed to even kill a demon beast at the peak of the third stage.

Behind her, Qing Chenyi was also pale as he walked out of the Demon Beast Forest.

His performance in the Demon Beast Forest had been no better than Qing Yi's.

Although the number of demon beasts that he killed far surpassed Qing Yi. The level of the demon beasts was only around the fourth and fifth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. All of them were below the sixth stage of Qi Condensation!

It was not that he did not manage to find any sixth stage demon beasts, on the other hand, he encountered quite a few of them.

At first, he had tried to fight them, but he was instantly suppressed as soon as the fight began, and he was forced to run away.

It wasn't that Qing Chenyi and Qing Yi hadn't fought against demon beasts before. Within the Bright Sun City, there were several captive demon beasts whom the elders of the family had caught for training the younger generation.

Their strengths were all different, ranging from the third to the ninth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

Normally, the younger generations of the Qing family were frequently tasked with fighting the demon beasts captured by their elders, with the purpose of them training their actual combat experience.

Originally, most of the Qing family disciple had thought that the demon beast in the Demon Beast Forest were around the same level of strength as the demon beast back in the clan. However, most of them found out after the first exchange how different the demon beasts of the Demon Beast Forest were.

The demon beasts in the Demon Beast Forest were wild, savage and bloodthirsty, while the ones in the Qing family were tame house pets.

Not much of a difference in strength?

It was like the difference between day and night!

The demon beasts that the Qing family raised were also at the sixth stage of Qi Condensation. Qing Chenyi could easily defeat five or more alone!

However, any of the sixth stage Qi Condensation demon beasts that he encountered in the Demon Beast Forest could easily beat him.

At this moment, Qing Chenyi finally understood that there was a stark difference in demon beasts that were also at the sixth stage of Qi Condensation, just the demon beasts inside the forest were more than enough for him to realize how weak the demon beasts that his Qing family raised was.

"Done with your thoughts lad? The rankings will be out in a moment, follow me back to the examination grounds." Qing Chenyi turned around and looked at the elder from the Flying Sword Sect who had appeared behind him at some moment.

Nodding his head weakly, Chenyi looked at the other disciples from the Qing family and let out a sigh.

Hopefully, he would be able to get in… If not… Qing Chenyi did not dare let his thoughts wander as he quickly followed behind the elder from the Flying Sword Sect.

After the Second round of the test was completed, the huge screen that previously had the contestants on it was replaced by a giant ranking screen. On the screen, the results of all the participants in the second test were counted.

Among them was Wen Lu! The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

At the first stage, Wen Lu was ranked first with his bone age at 16 and a cultivation already at the 8th stage of Qi Condensation. During this second test, Wen Lu did not disappoint and was still first place!

Looking at the battle accomplishments displayed on the big screen, Qing Yi and the other Qing disciples were shocked. Qing Chenyi was even shocked to the point that he couldn't speak.

Wen Lu: 1st place, Achievements: 2 ninth stage Qi Condensation and 7 eighth stage Qi Condensation demon beasts!

Wen Lu's cultivation base was only at the eighth stage of Qi Condensation. However, two demon beasts who surpassed the eighth stage and had already reached the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm, the ninth stage, had died in his hands!

They were above his cultivation realm!

Qing Yi and the other Qing family disciple knew very well how terrifying those demon beasts from the Demon Beast Forest were. Not to mention crossing smaller realms to kill one, it was difficult to defeat one at the same stage, let alone kill them.

As for Wen Lu, not only had he killed seven demon beasts at the same cultivation realm as himself, but he had also managed to kill two demon beasts one minor realm above himself.

Below Wen Lu was a man named Long Li.

Although Long Li was not as impressive as Wen Lu, he had still managed to kill a demon beast with a cultivation higher than himself!

Qing Yi's gaze continuously shifted downwards. Soon she found Qing Chenyi.

Qing Chenyi: 2854 place, Achievements: 2 fifth stage and 6 fourth stage demon beasts.

On the other side, Qing Chenyi also saw his ranking.

Although Qing Chenyi had expected it, he hadn't expected that he would be ranked as low as the bottom of two thousand…

Qing Chenyi also looked at the ranking of Bai Cheng. It was over 7000, even lower than him. For some reason, after seeing Bai Cheng's ranking Qing Chenyi heaved a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, that fellow from the Bai family did not enter and was ranked below him.

Qing Yi let out a sad sigh as she finally found her own ranking at the bottom of the screen.

Qing Yi: 9796 place, Achievements: 1 third stage demon beast.

Was her Qing family destined to not enter the Flying Sword Sect…?

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Chapter 10: New Disciples of the Flying Sword Sect

" The second test of the examination has been completed. Those ranked in the top one thousand will become official outer court disciples of our Flying Sword Sect." An elder of the Flying Sword Sect who was at the peak of the Core Formation Realm took a step forward and loudly proclaimed the end of this years examination.

"I… I am a disciple of the Flying Sword Sect! I-I will have to tell my family!"

"Sigh… It is over. To enter the Flying Sword Sect, I spent countless resources of the family in the past few years. In the end… I failed to enter…"

"To think I wouldn't even be among the top ten thousand… Maybe I should just drop cultivation and start up a small farm somewhere…"

The Examination ground was suddenly extremely noisy after the rankings came out. The people on the list of the top 1000 were naturally extremely excited. With simple words like Flying Sword Sect Disciple, when they returned back home, they would receive the attention of countless people's admiration and envy.

Even some powers stronger than them would not dare to do anything to them because of the Flying Sword Sect standing behind them! Even the Heavenly Sky Kingdoms royal family treated the Flying Sword Sect respectfully, let alone the rest of the powers in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

Those who had no been selected were filled with all kinds of mixed feelings as they stared at the giant ranking screen floating up in the air. Highlighting their failure for all to see.

Among the one who failed the second test, there was no lack of geniuses that had been nurtured by their clans and families with the assistance of countless resources. When they returned back to their clan or families, one could easily imagine how disappointed the clan or family would be towards them after their return.

The resources they had used up were useless and most of the geniuses who failed, had made quite a few enemies back home to get their hands on those precious resources…

However, no matter what they did, the second round of the test had officially ended and there was nothing they could do about that other than blame themselves for their own incompetence.

"Other than those ranked among the top on thousand, there are also some other people! Although they are not in the top one thousand, each of your performances has been seen by the elders of the Flying Sword Sect. Next, I'll be calling out the names of those chosen by the elders. But before that, I want to congratulate the ones within the top one thousand on becoming disciple of our sect!"

The elder of the Flying Sword Sect, who had stepped out to announce the end of the second test spoke up again.

His words were like a thunderclap, as countless people who failed to rank among the top one thousand once again lit up with hope.

Even though the trace of hope was extremely slim, it still existed!

As all eyes focused on the elder of the Flying Sword Sect, he slowly began reciting the names of those chosen as personal disciples by an elder of the Flying Sword Sect.

"Yi Feng, Sikong Jia, Leng Yidan, Hou Tza..."

Following this, the elder from the Flying Sword Sect named more than ten people, and those who were named all had an overjoyed smile plastered on their face. They originally thought that they didn't have any hope to enter the Flying Sword Sect, but now…

Life was truly full of ups and downs, going from an all-time low to an all-time high in moments.

Qing Chenyi, who was located somewhere in the examination ground clenched his fists tightly as he looked up at the elder reciting the names of those who an elder chose to enter the sect. Maybe they could even become personal disciples of the elder!

Qing Chenyi sincerely wished that his name would appear in the elder's mouth next.

"Bai Cheng"

Just as Qing Chenyi focused his attention on the elder, filled with endless anticipation, the name that he had uttered caused Qing Chenyi to be shocked still and he quickly turned around and looked straight at Bai Cheng, who was not far away from him.

"Bai Cheng!? How is that possible! I'm far better than him!"

When Qing Chen Yi looked over at Bai Cheng, Bai Cheng's gaze also shot over a provoking look.

Bai Cheng did not seem surprised at all when his name was called, it was as if he had already expected for it to happen.

"How is it? I've already said that I would enter the Flying Sword Sect."

Bai Cheng chuckled as he looked at the still shocked Qing Chenyi.

Back in Bright Sun City, Qing Chenyi had suppressed him. When others spoke of him it was mostly to denounce him as a bully or playboy, while Qing Chenyi was the number one genius.

But at this moment, what was Qing Chenyi, the so-called genius?

In the future, he would surpass Qing Chenyi and the gap would only grow larger after he entered the Flying Sword Sect.

"Yi, what do you think? If you agree to marry me, I can help your Qing family. Even though the Black Rose Sect is strong it is nothing compared to the Flying Sword Sect. Do you know why even though I was ranked so low, yet I was still able to enter the Flying Sword Sect? This is because our Bai family and an elder of the Flying Sword Sect are old acquaintances!"

"As long as you agree, I can invite this elder to help your Qing family resolve its crisis and help meditate the matters between the Qing family and the Bai family."

"So, you entered the Flying Sword Sect through a back door?" Qing Chenyi secretly heaved a sigh of relief inside and snored coldly.

At least he entered the Flying Sword Sect through a backdoor and not because he was better than him!

"So what? Why don't you give it a try and see if you can enter the Flying Sword Sect?" Bai Cheng ignored Qing Chenyi. His attention was focused on Qing Yi, waiting for her answer.

"I…" Qing Yi didn't know what to do, she know that her decision would most likely affect the Qing family's survival. NvεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

Even though she knew that even if she refused, no one would say anything, she still hesitated.

To be honest, she did not like Bai Cheng at all. In the past, Qing Yi would not even have bothered with a random like him.

But now…

Perhaps he, no, the elder of the Flying Sword Sect and the Flying Sword Sect behind him would be the only lifesaving grace left for the Qing family.

"I..."

"Qing Yi!"

Just as Qing Yi was about to speak up, the Flying Sword Sect elder who was announcing the names on the stage called out her name.

"Eh?!"

As soon as his voice had rung out, Bai Cheng, Qing Chenyi and the other members of the Qing family's younger generation and even the First Elder were stunned.

Bai Cheng's ranking was low. He had even admitted that the reason why he could be selected was that his Bai family knew an elder of the Flying Sword Sect.

But the Qing family didn't have any acquaintances in the Flying Sword Sect…

Qing Yi opened her mouth as her little head started buzzing.

Her name… Was it called?

How could this be…

Her performance was ranked amongst the bottom, even lower than Bai Cheng…

"Sorry, I refuse."

After quickly calming herself down, Qing Yi smiled slightly as she immediately rejected Bai Cheng's proposal.

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Chapter 11: First Disciple

" Impossible! Why did she get chosen? How could she even enter in the first place?!"

Bai Cheng was rendered speechless when he heard the elder from the Flying Sword Sect call out Qing Yi's name, he knew how difficult it would be to enter the Flying Sword Sect. In reality, even though the Bai Clan and an elder of the Flying Sword Sect were old acquaintances, the only reason why he was able to enter the Flying Sword Sect was because that elder owed the clan a favor.

The Bai family had been reluctant to use this favor for so many years because they knew that once it was used, it would disappear forever.

To be honest, Bai Cheng was going overboard when he bragged about asking the elder from the Flying Sword Sect to stand up for the Qing family. Bai Cheng had managed to enter the Flying Sword Sect and the elders favor had already been returned. From then on, the elder of the Flying Sword Sect no longer had any relationship left with the Bai family.

The reason why he even dared to say he would take over the matter of the Qing family was because he felt that with the status as a disciple of the Flying Sword Sect, he alone would be more than enough to settle it.

"Is there a problem with whom I choose as a disciple?" A soft voice resounded in Bai Cheng's ears.

"Who?!" Bai Cheng was shocked and immediately turned around to see who it was.

Upon turning around, Bai Cheng was shocked as he noticed who it was, it was Xuan Hao, the person who stood besides the Sect Master earlier on during the start of the examination.

The pressure that Bai Cheng felt was unimaginable as he finally knew who had chosen Qing Yi as a disciple. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

A Nascent Soul expert!

Moreover, it was the one who had just barely reached the age of 21. Xuan Hao, 21 years old, Nascent Soul expert. Just this alone was enough to make all the geniuses present feel inferior.

Qing Yi, herself also felt a sudden rush of happiness when she realized who had taken her in as a disciple. A Nascent Soul expert! With such a strong backing, her Qing family would definitely be safe. After all, even the Black Rose sect behind the Bai family only had a single Nascent Soul expert at the first stage.

The surrounding youths also turned to look at Qing Yi with envy, if they could get a Nascent Soul expert as backing, they would reach the heaven in a single step. After all, even if they entered the Flying Sword Sect, there was still a difference between an outer court disciple and a personal disciple of a Nascent Soul expert.

One was at the top of the Flying Sword Sect while the other was at the bottom!

"Qing Yi, would you like to follow me back to the Flying Sword Sect to officially sign you in? Your family can just stay and wait here in the examination ground if they want to, it won't take more than an hour or two."

Xuan Hao completely ignored Bai Cheng an instead focused on Qing Yi as he patiently waited for her to answer.

Xuan Hao had told the Sect Master about him choosing Qing Yi as a disciple earlier, and although he had been quite surprised as to why Xuan Hao had chosen such an average person as his first disciple, he still chose to just agree with him.

After all, choosing someone average as his first disciple was also considered fine. He could learn how to teach disciples first before taking in some more talented disciples.

Thinking like this the sect master had informed the elder announcing the disciple chosen by the elders of the sect and the rest is history.

"O-of course!" Stuttering a bit due to nervousness, Qing Yi beamed in joy as she quickly made her way over and stood besides Xuan Hao. Not forgetting to cast a cheeky smile in the direction of Bai Cheng, who was still frozen in shock at the moment.

Qing Chenyi and the Qing family disciples were no better than Bai Cheng and were shocked speechless by how Qing Yi managed to enter the Flying Sword Sect, she even got a master at the Nascent Soul Realm!

"A-amazing! To think Qing Yi managed to get a core elder from the Flying Sword Sect as her master!"

"I wonder why she got taken in as a disciple in the first place. She is not more talented than us, let alone Chenyi!"

"Maybe the elder could see something we could not, he is after all a Nascent Soul expert…"

"Indeed…"

As the disciple from the Qing family slowly woke up from their shocked state, they started to discuss among themselves how Qing Yi managed to enter the Flying Sword Sect.

"How…?"

Qing Chenyi felt a mix of emotions as he looked in the direction Qing Yi had disappeared to.

He clearly felt he was superior to Qing Yi, who, even though she was the clan head's daughter, was still so weak. Be it cultivation or talent, he was superior to Qing Yi!

But now what? An elder from the Flying Sword Sect had chosen her over him! And it was even a Nascent Soul Realm core elder!

"Our Qing clan is finally safe!"

Compared to the Qing family disciples who were filled with mixed emotions. The First Elder was genuinely happy with the outcome, as the Qing family no longer had to worry about the Bai family and the Black Rose Sect behind them.

With a Nascent Soul expert backing Qing Yi, would the Black Rose Sect or Bai family dare to do anything to their Qing family?

"Everyone, let's wait here until Qing Yi comes back!"

Smiling widely, the First Elder of the Qing family told the young ones as he quickly found a nearby bench to sit down and relax on.

The disciples of the Qing family quickly found a place to sit down as they soon resumed chatting as well.

Qing Chenyi on the other hand just stared blindly into the air before turning towards Bai Cheng as a sneer appeared on his lips.

"Looks like your help is not needed any longer!"

Bai Cheng finally managed to recover from the shock that the appearance of Xuan Hao caused him. Turning, he saw the taunting look on Qing Chenyi's face.

"Well at least I managed to enter the Flying Sword Sect." With those words, Bai Cheng quickly ran towards the entrance of the Flying Sword Sect to sign up.

Qing Chenyi just stared at him coldly for a few seconds before sighing quietly. All he could do now was to wait for Qing Yi to finish registering with her new master and officially enter the Flying Sword Sect…

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Chapter 12: True Sword Intent

After Xuan Hao left together with Qing Yi, the examination of accepting disciples gradually came to an end.

Some of the higher-ups of the sect began to select disciples from the list of thousand people. Wen Lu was accepted as a personal disciple of an Inner Elder at the peak ninth stage Core Formation Realm.

As for the Sect Master and other Nascent Soul Realm experts of the Flying Sword Sect, none of them accepted any disciples in the examination. After all, it was quite rare for a Nascent Soul Realm expert to take in a disciple.

Returning back to Xuan Hao, he had just finished registering Qing Yi as his disciple at the management pavilion and now arrived at the entrance to his own pavilion together with her.

"Qing Yi. I'm sure your curious as to why I chose you as my disciple." Turning around to look at the nervous girl following closely behind him, Xuan Hao saw her flinch the moment she heard his question.

"Y-yes, I don't think I'm particularly talented or anything like that…"

Hearing her reply, Xuan Hao chuckled a bit to himself as he came to a stop.

"hmm… To not call you talented would be a quite unfair. After all, you are way more talented than any of the other people who underwent the examination today!"

"H-how?" Rendered speechless by what Xuan Hao said, Qing Yi looked questioningly at him, waiting for an answer. After all, let alone being the most talented person at the examination today, just in her Qing family, there were more than 10 people more talented than her. NvεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

Now her new master said she was the most talented person. Even that Wen Lu, who had reached the eighth stage of Qi Condensation was inferior to her?

"Indeed, though still dormant, you have a divine physique!"

Hearing that, Qing Yi' small head short circuited as she just stared blankly into the air, while trying to process what her new master just told her.

A Divine Physique! This was considered being chosen by the heavens themselves! In the entire Heavenly Sky Kingdom, there were only 5 or so people who had a divine physique and all of them were either a genius of the younger generation or a Nascent Soul powerhouse from the older generation!

Didn't that mean that she would most likely reach the Nascent Soul Realm in the future?

"The Divine Physique that you have is called the Bright Sun Divine Physique. The way to awaken your divine physique is to consume a special spirit herb called Infernal Heart Grass. The Infernal Heart Grass is a unique and rare spirit herb that only grows in special environment, so it will take your master a bit of time to acquire it."

Not minding that shocked Qing Yi, Xuan Hao continued to talk about her divine physique as both of them started walking again. Only coming to a stop when they had reached the living area of the pavilion

The living area of the pavilion was split into several levels, a room for the master of the pavilion, where Xuan Hao himself stayed. Rooms for the personal disciples of the master and rooms for servants who clean up the pavilion from time to time.

"This will be where you will stay from now on."

Stopping in front of one of the rooms, Xuan Hao pointed at the room in front of him.

"You can return to your family for now and start moving in. Tomorrow we will officially start your training! Ah, one last thing, I recommend that you do not talk about your divine physique to anyone, even your family. The benefits a divine physique brings is indeed many, but there are always people who will be jealous!"

"Y-yes master!"

Warning his new disciple, Xuan Hao smiled to himself as he looked at her small silhouette slowing making her way out the pavilion and back to her family waiting for her in the examination grounds.

"But this place really is quiet… Maybe I should get some servants before getting any new disciples…"

Scanning his pavilion, Xuan Hao discovered that the only person in it was him. No servants, no disciples, just him.

This environment was fine for him as he just spent his time cultivating silently in his room, but his new disciple would definitely need a few friends to talk to from time to time.

"Ah, but before that!"

Returning to his room, Xuan Hao quickly sat down in a meditative position as he entered his sea of consciousness to interact with the system.

[Side Quest (Complete)]

Rewards: [Cultivation increase of 1 small realm, [Comprehending Sword Intent]

[Redeem: [Y/N]

Selecting to redeem the rewards, Xuan Hao felt a sudden heat in his dantian as a large amount of qi suddenly appeared and started to course through his meridians. Flowing from the centre of his body and out to his fingertips.

This lasted for a few minutes before the qi slowly calmed down signifying his successful breakthrough to the next realm.

Nascent Soul stage 2!

Xuan Hao felt ecstatic about how easily he had broken through, but before he could celebrate a large amount of information suddenly appeared in his head.

Xuan Hao knew that it was the second part of the reward, comprehension of Sword Intent!

The enlightenment lasted for over 30 minutes this time, as Xuan Hao went from only having comprehended Nascent Sword Intent, to comprehending True Sword Intent!

True Sword Intent was widely different from the Nascent Sword Intent, as True Sword Intent allowed a sword cultivator to cut down enemies much stronger than themselves.

Only when a sword cultivator comprehended True Sword Intent, was he considered to have taken the first true step towards comprehending the Sword Dao.

"Hah…"

Xuan Hao let out a breath of air as he willed his sword intent to manifest before him.

Whoosh

A silver light flashed through the air as an almost transparent energy appeared in front of him floating quietly in the air.

Smiling at the silver light that floated in front of him, Xuan Hao willed it disappear as he felt the excitement of his increase in strength.

He had reached the True Sword Intent Realm! Next step would be to manifest a Sword Soul and combine man and sword into one, this was way more difficult and even in the empire ruling over the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, someone who reached the Sword Soul Realm was rare.

But Xuan Hao did not let this dissuade him. As long as he trained disciples, he would surely reach the Sword Soul Realm in the future and even beyond!

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Chapter 13: End of the Day

Xuan Hao spent the next 2 hours slowly adapting to his new strength. The time passed quietly, and Qing Yi had already returned and occupied the room Xuan Hao allocated to her earlier.

By now, the sun was slowly setting. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

Xuan Hao ignored this and instead entered his sea of consciousness to check out if he had gotten a new side quest from the system after completing the first one.

Name: Xuan Hao

Talent: ???

Realm: Nascent Soul Stage 2

Sect: Flying Sword Sect

Disciples: Qing Yi

Main Quest: Any disciple reaches the foundation establishment realm.

Main Quest Reward: ???

Side Quest: Have a disciple with talent value of 50 or above.

Quest Reward: [Cultivation Increase of 3 small realms]

Indeed, a new side quest had appeared and this one was even harder than the one before. Talent value of 50!

Even Qing Yi, who had a dormant divine physique only had a talent value of 37! Finding someone with a talent value at 50 or above? Wouldn't that mean that they had better talent than someone with a divine physique?

Xuan Hao already felt his head hurt slightly upon thinking about how troublesome finding such a talented disciple would be.

For now, having a single disciple should be more than enough. When she reaches the Foundation Establishment Realm, he would be able to complete the main quest. The rewards from the main quest were still hidden, but Xuan Hao had a feeling that the rewards from it would be better than that of a side quest.

Someone in the Nascent Soul Realm could live up to 1000 years of age. Xuan Hao was still only 21 years old, so for now, he decided to just take things slowly and cultivate quietly in the Flying Sword Sect.

The first thing he needed to do was find the Infernal Heart Grass for his new disciple so she could awaken her divine physique.

Qing Yi was sitting quietly in her new room as she thought about what had happened earlier when she returned to where her family was waiting for her.

The first thing that happened was the First Elder of the Qing family excitedly asking her about her new master and if she knew why he had chosen her as his disciple.

Qing Yi simply told him that she had no idea why Xuan Hao had chosen her as his disciple and quickly managed to avert the topic. She knew that her having a divine physique was an amazing feat and she was extremely excited and happy the moment that her master had told her about her divine physique.

If not for her masters warning, the first thing she would have done was tell the First Elder about it, but as her master had said. Having a divine physique was dangerous if you were not strong enough, people easily grew envious of what they could not have.

Qing Yi had taken the words of her new master to heart and decided to hide her divine physique from her family until she was strong enough to protect herself.

She still remembered a story about someone from the Seven Fates Sect having a divine physique. He was discovered to have a Celestial Fate Divine Body when he was still at the Qi Condensation Realm.

Later, the member of the Seven Fates Sect had died just after reaching the Core Formation Realm at the age of 19. Nobody knew why and the Seven Fates Sect had tried to hunt down the perpetrator, but never succeeded.

Seven Fates Sect! The overlord of the west of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom! The sect was even more powerful than the Flying Sword Sect but had still failed to protect the one with the divine physique.

Qing Yi shuddered slightly when she thought about the sad end of the one who had the Celestial Fate Divine Body.

Her master did indeed have good foresight!

"But… What should I do about the Black Rose Sect and the Bai family…?"

A troubled look appeared on her face when she thought about what the first elder had mentioned before she went back to her master's pavilion.

Half a year from now, the Bright Sun City younger generation tournament would happen once again.

Bai Fei, who had been accepted by an elder of the Black Rose Sect would return by then and his master would follow him back, at that point the Qing family would be doomed.

But with Qing Yi's new master, this should not be a problem at all, after all, Qing Yi's master was a Nascent Soul expert!

"In the end… How can I ask my master to help out…?"

If her master did not show up at the younger generation tournament, the members of the Bai family would most likely not believe that Qing Yi got taken in as a disciple of a Nascent Soul expert.

Someone who is only at the fourth stage of Qi Condensation at the age of 15 would be taken as a disciple of a Nascent Soul expert. Are you sure you are not bluffing?

Qing Yi could already imagine how the Bai family would react… Why not just let Bai Cheng inform them about it?

Qing Yi really doubted whether he would mention it or not. The most likely thing to happen was him ignoring it and not saying anything to the Bai family about Qing yi becoming the disciple of a Nascent Soul expert.

"All of that can wait for now, I still have half a year to convince master to come with me to the tournament. I should just focus on getting stronger under master! If he sees how hard I work, he will definitely not mind following me back to my family for a trip!"

With those encouraging words, Qing Yi laid down on the bed that she had prepared earlier and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Even though it was not that late yet, the entire day had been extremely exhausting for her.

From the second test where she had to fight against demon beasts for several hours with little rest to being accepted as a disciple of Xuan Hao and moving into the pavilion. The entire day had been exhausting for Qing Yi as she could finally comfortably sleep the built-up exhaustion away.

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Chapter 14: Qing Yi Finds a Friend

Xuan Hao slowly opened his eyes as he looks out the window in his room, it was already morning.

An entire night passed away just quietly meditating and improving his cultivation. After all, although the system helped him breakthrough, it did not mean he could not breakthrough by himself anymore.

Cultivating was mostly about absorbing and refining the energy between the heaven and earth, this energy was called qi. As you absorbed and continued to refine more and more qi, you would get stronger and stronger until you finally reached the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm.

To breakthrough and reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, you would have to use the qi you gathered inside your dantian to form a pillar made of condensed qi inside your dantian. From here you continued to condense pillars, until having condensed a total of 9 pillars inside your dantian, reaching the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Next was the Core Formation Realm where you form a core inside your body. To reach this realm, you had to first have a stable foundation before you could begin to form the golden core inside your body.

Nascent Soul was almost unimaginable for most people and to reach this realm, one had to develop his own Divine Sense, before breaking the golden core and giving birth to the Nascent Soul.

Xuan Hao's divine sense had just expanded yesterday, and his Nascent Soul strengthened, causing his entire body to strengthen even further as well.

Divine Sense itself was not just the ability to see and hear everything within a large radius, but instead allowed a cultivator to have an initial control over the energy between the heaven and earth.

It was rumoured that someone who reached the King Realm could fully control the power between the heaven and earth to create a domain, thereby allowing them to easily destroy a kingdom like the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

That was also why some called the King Realm the Domain Lord Realm instead of the King Realm.

As for the Emperor Realm? Xuan Hao had no clue what was required in order to breakthrough into that realm for now.

"Master, when will we begin the training today?"

Just as Xuan Hao was about to begin cultivating again like he was used to doing, a voice came from outside his room.

"We will begin after breakfast, just go to the dining hall and meet me in front of the pavilion when you are finished."

As Qing Yi had just gotten up from bed before hurrying to the front of her master's room under the excitement of getting to start training, she completely forgot how hungry she was at the moment.

"Yes master!"

Acknowledging what her master said, Qing Yi quickly made her way out of her master's pavilion and headed down the peak it was situated on and entered the main path going through the sect.

The path was fairly simple, just being made of simple stones that could be found everywhere.

Qing Yi had honestly expected the Flying Sword Sect to look way more majestic than it did. Simple stone paths, simple houses for the disciples. The only majestic thing in the sect was the pavilions for the elders and gathering halls.

A good example would be the giant dining hall that appeared in front of Qing Yi as she opened her mouth in awe over the huge building in front of her.

"First time visiting the dining hall?"

"Eek!?"

A voice suddenly came from behind Qing Yi, catching her by surprise as she let out a small yelp of surprise.

"Ah, didn't mean to surprise you. The name is Shihan, Zeng Shihan, a disciple of the Flying Sword Sect, just like you! I saw that you were spacing out in front of the dining hall, so I thought you were one of the new disciples. After all, most of them ends up spacing out when they see the dining hall for the first time. Just look over there."

Saying so, the girl pointed to the side of Qing Yi, where a group of disciples all had their mouths open. Looking in awe and respect at the giant dining hall.

"By the way, do you have anyone to eat with or would you like to eat together with me?" The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

The girl, Zeng Shihan, asked kindly as put on a smile and waited for Qing Yi to answer.

"If its fine with you… I don't really know anyone else here yet…"

Contemplating about whether to agree or not, Qing Yi decided it would be a good idea for her to make some friends.

Back home, she had always kept to herself and spent almost all of her time on cultivating. The idea of making a friend or at least an acquaintance sounded quite tempting to her, who had no friends whatsoever at the age of 15.

Zeng Shihan was also happy that she managed to find a friend so easily, she was honestly quite nervous inside as she had already tried to chat with a few other girls from the sect but had failed every single time.

Success truly came at an unexpected time, Zeng Shihan started to talk to Qing Yi about all the things happening in the sect at the moment. Not forgetting to show Qing Yi how to get food from the cranky elders manning the dining hall.

The elders who manned the dining hall was less than pleased, they could not leave the disciples outside supervision as some of them were only 12 or so years old.

The job of helping in the dining hall had slowly evolved over time, from the elders just watching over the disciples, to them being forced to help out the kitchen staff.

Zeng Shihan told about a few elders who in the past had tried to escape the duty of helping out in the kitchen, in the end, those elders kept getting the "wrong" food delivered to their pavilion. From swapping out a good steak with a few carrots on a stick to "forgetting" the order or the order being "lost" on the way to the kitchen.

Qing Yi got a good laugh about it and also learned that only the core elders, like her master, could get their own personal kitchen staff. The pavilion of Inner and Outer elders was too small to house kitchen staff, cleaning staff, disciples and so on. The elders could expand their pavilion, but that was way too expensive for most of them.

Time slowly passed and with a promise to meet up again sometime in the future, Zeng Shihan and Qing Yi passed ways in front of the dinning hall.

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Chapter 15: Autumn Wind Sword

" Master, I have finished eating now! We can begin the training when you are ready!"

Just as Xuan Hao finished a single qi circulation through his meridians, Qing Yi's voice could once again be heard just outside the door to his room. Ñøvl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

"Great, then we will begin the training now." With those short words, Xuan Hao got up from his meditative position and walked to his door.

Qing Yi, who was waiting on the other side of the door was shocked at suddenly seeing her master come out, but quickly smiled happily before following her master out of the pavilion and into a small training court located on the same mountain peak as the pavilion.

The training court itself was around a few hundred square meters in size, way bigger than Qing Yi had imagined it would be. Her family home was even a little smaller than this training court.

And this training court was only used for her master and his disciples! Back at home, she had to share a few square meters of space at the training court with other family disciples…

"Okay, we have arrived at the training court, you will be able to train here whenever you want to. For now, shall we begin with training your techniques?"

The difference was way too much from what she was used to, and Qing Yi simply stood there. Only when her master talked to her, did she manage to recover her bearing to some degree.

"Y-yes!"

"Okay then, for starters we will look at what techniques you use, and I will help you point out areas you lack in."

Saying so, Xuan Hao stood still as he waited for his disciple to display her techniques.

Qing Yi didn't say anything and instead started to move the qi in her body as she unsheathed her sword and let the qi flow through it according to the sword technique her family had taught her.

"Hah!"

Letting out a small growl, Qing Yi swung her sword in the air as light extended from the blade of the sword by a few centimetres and hit nothing but the empty air.

"Hmm, a sword technique of the Low Tier Earth Rank… What is it called?"

Xuan Hao looked at the Sword Technique Qing Yi preformed and intuitively knew what rank and tier it was as he asked Qing Yi for the name of the Sword Technique.

"It's called Autumn Wind Sword; my dad came up with it after reaching the Core Formation Realm."

"Your dad is indeed impressive to come up with something like that."

Xuan Hao told Qing Yi, he really meant it as well.

An Earth Rank Technique was used by people in the Core Formation Realm and the Nascent Soul Realm. For someone who had just reached the Core Formation Realm and create an Earth Rank Technique? It was talented and extremely rare in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, even if it was only a low-tier Earth Rank Technique.

Compared to a Mortal Rank Technique used by Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, an Earth Rank Technique was mostly only used by Nascent Soul cultivators in small kingdoms like the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

For a Core Formation Realm cultivator to use an Earth-Rank technique when the rest were still stuck using Mortal Rank Techniques…

It looked like Qing Yi had quite an impressive father.

"But there is still quite a lot of flaws when you use the Autumn Wind Sword. From what I can see, you are supposed to use the qi to manipulate the wind around the sword and increase its speed, while also strengthening the blade of the sword to deal a maximum amount of damage to the opponent!"

"Yes, my father said so as well! But I always felt like it was lacking something whenever I used it…"

"Haha, indeed, even if your father tried his best to help guide you, it is still an Earth Rank Technique. You will not be able to use its full strength before you reach the Core Formation Realm." Xuan Hao chuckled quietly as he told Qing Yi.

"For now, instead of focusing on both strengthening the blade of the sword and the speed, try to focus only on one of the two aspects. Let's start with strengthening the blade of the sword, as that should be easier to do than manipulating the wind around the sword."

Xuan Hao smiled brightly as he taught his disciple how to go about learning how to use the Autumn Wind Sword her father had given her.

The Technique itself was relatively simple for Xuan Hao, use wind to increase the speed of the sword, while simultaneously using the qi to strengthen the power of the sword.

Compared to some higher tier Earth Rank Techniques that allowed a cultivator to use his or her divine sense to control the energy between the heaven and earth to perform a devastating attack.

A good example would be a common technique used by Nascent Soul cultivators to deal with relatively weaker cultivators called Gods Palm. It was in essence just a giant gathering of energy from the heaven and earth, formed into a giant palm that could be used to simply squash cultivators below the Nascent Soul Realm.

It was also convenient as the user of Gods Palm could control what would and would not be affected by the technique. Meaning the giant palm could press down on an entire city, yet not damage it at all and only killing the intended target.

Qing Yi listened to what Xuan Hao told her and quickly started practicing the technique according to what her master told her and only focused on using her qi to strengthen the blade of the sword.

"Hah!"

Half an hour quickly passed with Qing Yi swinging at the empty air as she slowly felt her control over the qi inside the sword increase as time passed.

"Great, now try to attack this!"

Just as Qing Yi started to feel confident in her sword skills, Xuan Hao interrupted her.

Looking to where her master was pointing a training dummy had appeared.

The training dummy looked ordinary, but Qing Yi did not dare to underestimate it and attacked it with all her strength, executing the Autumn Wind Sword while only focusing on the strength aspect as her master had told her.

Swoosh

The sword flew through the air as it soon hit the training dummy.

"…"

Nothing happened, only a small scratch was left behind on the training dummy, making Qing Yi speechless.

"Good progress so far, from now on, I want you to continue training in strengthening aspect of the Autumn Wind Sword. When you can cut at least 2 centimetres into the training dummy, we will move on to training the speed aspect of the Autumn Wind Sword. Cultivation will wait for now, as it would be best to first awaken your dormant divine physique before beginning with that."

Xuan Hao said as he turned around and left the training court.

"Remember to take breaks from time to time and come to my room when you succeed or have any questions regarding how to strengthen the blade of your sword further."

Looking at her master disappearing from the training court, Qing Yi focused back onto the training dummy as she put her full attention into doing what her master said.

"Hah!"

Swinging her sword down towards the training dummy, Qing Yi began practicing the Autumn Wind Sword. Hoping that she could become as good as her father was when he used it.

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Chapter 16: Pagoda of Enlightenment

After leaving Qing Yi to train by herself at the training court, Xuan Hao made his way down the mountain peak where his pavilion was located and followed the stone paved road until he came to stand in front of a 30-meter-high pagoda.

This was one of the Flying Sword Sects technique pagodas also known as the library pagodas, they were located at several places around the Flying Sword Sect so disciples would not have to spent too much time finding one or run into a situation where the library pagoda was too crowded.

The one in front of Xuan Hao mostly had the different cultivation mantras that was used to gather the qi between heaven and earth to breakthrough and increase your cultivation base.

When Xuan Hao first crossed over into this world, he was surprised by how many cultivation mantras there was and how unique some of them were. Back then, he thought that a few dozen per sect would have been normal…

One cultivation mantra would require the cultivator to only cultivate fire qi and practice only fire qi techniques, while another allowed the cultivator to only cultivate while sleeping. Though most of these cultivation methods were not used as they mostly had too harsh requirements or were simply inefficient.

The Flying Sword Sect alone had over ten thousand different cultivation mantras stored in it, some even reaching the Heaven Rank!

The cultivation method that the Flying Sword Sect used as its core cultivation method was a peak-tier Earth Rank Cultivation Mantra called The Flying Sword Mantra.

The cultivation method allowed someone to practice all the way up to half-step King Realm and was relatively easy to get started with, which in the end caused it to be the most used cultivation mantra in the entire Flying Sword Sect.

The Heaven Rank cultivation mantras they had were simply way too difficult to cultivate and only the core elders had access to them in the first place.

The reason why Xuan Hao came to the library pagoda was that one of the cultivation mantras was fire based. The Heaven Rank cultivation mantra focused on fire qi and would definitely fit well with his disciple who had a Bright Sun Divine Physique.

"Elder Xuan! What might be the reason for you coming the Pagoda of Enlightenment?"

An elder standing in front of the Pagoda noticed Xuan Hao coming over and immediately called out to him.

"Ah, I'm just here to try and find a cultivation mantra for my new disciple. Why are you here today elder Meng? Did you perhaps take in a disciple as well?"

Xuan Hao was a little confused upon seeing the elder in front of the pagoda as he would mostly just spend his time in his pavilion cultivating. The only other reason for him to be here was if he had taken in a disciple after the recent examination finished and was here to find a cultivation mantra for him or her.

Much like what Xuan Hao himself was here for.

"Ah! No, I'm the elder in charge of helping the new outer court disciple choose a cultivation mantra, so the pagoda of enlightenment might be quite crowded on the first and second floor."

"I see… I will be going to the fifth floor, so it isn't really that bothersome. Well, I will take my leave Elder Meng. Farewell for now."

"Farewell, Elder Xuan."

Exchanging a few more pleasantries Xuan Hao parted ways with Elder Meng who was standing in front of the pagoda of enlightenment.

The Pagoda of Enlightenment had a total of five floors. The first two floors were for the outer and inner court disciples, while the third was for the core disciples and outer sect elders.

The fourth floor was only accessible to inner court elders and in some rare cases, talented core disciples. One example of such a talented core disciple would be the current leader of the Flying Sword Sects younger generation, Ling Song.

The fifth floor was only ever accessible by the Nascent Soul experts of the Flying Sword Sect. The fifth floor was after all where they stored all their Heaven Rank Cultivation Mantras.

Upon entering the pagoda of enlightenment, Xuan Hao was immediately met with the scene of new disciples energetically running around the first floor of the pagoda.

Xuan Hao mostly ignored it and made his way onto the second floor of the pagoda. Here, the amount of disciple's present was way less, as the cultivation mantras were harder to understand and most chose to just use the Flying Sword Mantra on the first floor. Ñøvl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

The Flying Sword Mantra could help them all the way up to half-step King Realm and was way easier to get started with compared to some random Earth Rank Cultivation Mantra on the second floor of the pagoda.

Even though this was the reason why so few continued on to the second floor, a few still came in the hopes of finding a cultivation mantra that fit them perfectly. Allowing them to easily progress in cultivation.

After all, even though the Flying Sword Mantra was easy to get started with, it got increasingly harder the further on went and breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm using the Flying Sword Mantra was way harder than using a normal lower quality Earth Rank Cultivation Mantra.

"Did you see who that was? Someone went to the third floor!"

"Maybe it was just an outer sect elder. Nothing to get excited about…"

"But He looked just a little older than us!"

"Really! Then it must be a rumoured core disciple!"

"Amazing, I have heard that there is quite a few peak-tier Earth Rank Cultivation Mantras at the third floor… If I could just practice one of them related to wind qi, I would have such an easy time reaching the Core Formation Realm…"

"You Dream! We are Outer Court Disciples, not even Inner Court Disciples can enter third floor, let alone us!"

Xuan Hao ignored the chatting disciple as he quietly made his way to the third floor of the Pagoda of Enlightenment.

This time around, the floor was mostly empty, only a few outer court elders were sparsely walking around the floor. Each of them remembering to respectfully bow towards Xuan Hao as he passed by them.

The Fourth floor was completely empty, not even one person was present, which was also understandable as most of the inner court elders would spend their time cultivating instead of browsing the Pagoda of Enlightenment.

Coming to a stop in front of a formation laid down in front of the stairs to the fifth floor, Xuan Hao took out his core elder medallion given to him when he became a core elder.

The medallion lit up as Xuan Hao moved it towards a spot in the formation and soon the formation formed a door big enough for Xuan Hao to pass through.

Soon after he passed through the opening in the formation, it closed behind him as he made his way onto the fifth floor of the pagoda.

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Chapter 17: Finding a Cultivation Mantra for Qing Yi

The fifth floor of the Pagoda of Enlightenment was exclusively for the Nascent Soul Realm members of the Flying Sword Sect. The formation that Xuan Hao had passed through a little earlier was set up by the sect's founder and could easily kill a mid-stage Nascent soul cultivator, even a peak mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator at the sixth stage would have little chance of surviving the formation!

Xuan Hao looked around the relatively small room as he located the few books present in the room.

The books were the Heaven Rank Mantras that the Flying Sword Sect had collected throughout its years, it was even said that over 90 percent of the Heaven Rank Mantras here were all brought in by the founder when he established the sect back in the day.

In the current day and age, getting one's hand on a Heaven Rank Mantra was more difficult than ascending heaven. After all, a Heaven Rank Mantra symbolized a path to the King Realm!

Xuan Hao had come here for specific mantra he remembered seeing up here when he first visited after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm.

"Heaven Burning Mantra!"

The cultivation mantra was at high-tier Heaven Rank! Just a normal low-tier Heaven Rank cultivation mantra would cause an outrage the moment it appeared in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, let alone a high-tier Heaven Rank cultivation mantra, that would most likely attract the attention the empire above the Heavenly Sky Kingdom!

The cultivation mantra was something that the founder had brought with him when he first established the sect and also one of the many reasons why Xuan Hao and the other Nascent Soul experts of the Flying Sword Sect thought that their founder was most likely someone important from a strong empire.

But why had he escaped all the way to the Heavenly Sky Kingdom to establish the Flying Sword Sect?

Xuan Hao shook his head slightly as he thought about it, no use thinking about it. More than 5000 years had passed since the founder passed away already.

Picking up the Heaven Burning Mantra, Xuan Hao looked over it just to see if it was truly a good fit for Qing Yi.

The Heaven Burning Mantra had harsh requirements to who could cultivate it, one of those requirements was that the one cultivating it must have a divine physique aligned with the fire element.

Just the first requirement was more than enough to disqualify almost all the people who wanted to cultivate it.

Luckily, Qing Yi had the Bright Sun Divine Physique! The divine physique of Qing Yi was also a fire element divine physique and she should not have any problem cultivating the Heaven Burning Mantra.

Smiling slightly to himself, Xuan Hao put the Heaven Burning Mantra away and made his way back down to the fourth floor before making his way out the Pagoda of Enlightenment.

The disciples on the first and second floor was still running around the place looking for cultivation mantras that fit them, though most of them had ended up sticking with the sect main cultivation mantra, the Flying Sword Mantra.

"Did you find what you were looking for Elder Xuan?"

Exiting the Pagoda of Enlightenment, Xuan Hao turned towards the sound of the voice.

"Ah, Elder Meng! I did manage to find what I was looking for, luckily it was rather easy and didn't take as long as I expected it would.

"That is great to hear, well, I won't hold you up any longer. Farewell once again Elder Xuan."

"Haha, Indeed! Farewell once again Elder Meng."

Exchanging a quick farewell with Elder Meng once again, Xuan Hao made his way towards the outskirt of the sect.

The place that he was headed to, was the location of the servant quarters of the sect.

The servant quarters of the Flying Sword Sect were by no means a small place, but due to it not really being a part of the sect itself, it was located at the outskirts of the sect.

Servants from the servant quarters were mostly trained from a young age and would later be employed by the Flying Sword Sect when there was a need for it. Only when a servant was hired by a disciple or elder would he or she officially be considered to be part of the Flying Sword Sect.

Standing in front of the main building of the servant quarters, Xuan Hao headed to the front desk located at the centre inside the building.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

Smiling brightly, a young woman asked Xuan Hao as he was the only one currently present inside the servant quarters.

Stopping in front of the desk the young woman was sitting at, Xuan Hao took out his core elder medallion and showed it to the young lady, who immediately straightened up and looked towards Xuan Hao with respect.

"E-elder Xuan… H-how can I help you…?" Stuttering slightly over her words due to nervousness, the young woman patiently waited for his answer.

"I need a servant for my new disciple, a girl around the age of 15 would be preferable." Saying so, Xuan Hao watched as the young woman nodded her head frantically before darting out of the building and into the living quarters where the servants stayed and trained.

Smiling upon seeing the young woman run away with such speed, Xuan Hao found a bench at the side of the room to sit down and wait for the woman to return.

Meanwhile, the young woman ran directly to the head of the servant quarters and told him that Elder Xuan had come to ask for a servant for his new disciple.

Following this, a storm swept the servant quarter as everyone wanted to become the servant of Xuan Hao's new disciple.

After close to half an hour passed, the young woman returned and told Xuan Hao that the servant would be send over to his pavilion in a day or two.

Xuan Hao didn't mind, as it would normally take a few days for the servant quarters to choose who would be the best fit and go.

With that in mind Xuan Hao left the servant quarters and returned to his pavilion, unaware of the storm he had caused in the servant quarters.The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

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Chapter 18: Zhi Ruo

Just after Xuan Hao left the servant quarters a huge storm swept through the place as the managers of different parts of the servant quarters quickly came together to decided on how they would choose the servant Xuan Hao had asked for.

A few minutes passed before all the higher-ups from the servant quarters had gathered in the managing building.

"I have already gone through the files of the younger servants around the age of 15 who preformed well enough to be chosen as the servant for Elder Xuan's first disciple." The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

A middle-aged man said as he looks at the other people sitting around the table.

"For now, let's decided on how we chose one of them." Saying that the middle-aged man passed a few papers around to everyone as they quickly read through each and every one of them.

"Hmm… I think we should let the young'uns compete among themselves to see who is best. This way nobody would complain about us being unfair or favourable towards someone!"

"I think that the idea Manager Hou came with is reasonable, I vote for it."

"Count me in as well."

"Me too."

"With that out of the way, let's begin right away. The faster we get it done the better!"

Having agreed on having the young girls compete with each other to find the best one, the managers quickly left and organised the tournament for the young girls, to find out who would become the servant of Elder Xuan's first disciple.

The News about the tournament and the reason for it soon spread around the servant quarters.

The servant girls who were around the age of 15 were all excited upon hearing the news about the tournament arranged by the managers, while the younger ones lamented about why they couldn't be born a few years earlier.

No matter what, a storm had swept through the servant quarters as all the girls who could compete prepared to do so.

After all, this was the first disciple of Elder Xuan, a Nascent Soul expert! Even just being the servant of his disciple would be a prestigious endeavour and would be like ascending to heaven in a single step.

Another reason was because the servant girls heard tales of some young elder who had once married his servant girl after years of service and they ended up living happily together.

No matter what reason it was for, all the servants who fit the criteria for signing up for the tournament did.

Zhi Ruo was the same as most of the other servants signing up for the tournament, only, she had a little different reason for signing up compared to the other servants.

The reason was that Zhi Ruo had once met Xuan Hao before. He had saved her back when she was only around 10 or so years old.

Back then she was an orphan, she had been attacked by a group of people when she was out begging on the street like usual and Xuan Hao had come to help her back then. Afterwards he even helped her enter the servant quarters of the Flying Sword Sect!

Zhi Ruo had worked hard ever since then in the hope of being helpful to her saviour sometime in the future. Now she finally had the opportunity to do so!

After she finished signing up for the tournament, Zhi Ruo quickly went back to her room and started practicing.

The tournament that the servant quarters held was nothing like the tournaments held by the Flying Sword Sect. The Flying Sword Sect was after all a sect for cultivators, so their tournaments involved fighting and other similar things.

The servant quarters on the other hand, focused on the tasks of a servant, so the tournament it held of course did so as well.

From cleaning, to cooking and tea brewing. All the things would be tested.

Time passed and upon waking up the next day, Zhi Ruo immediately made her way to the place the tournament would be held.

A few hundred people around the same age as Zhi Ruo had already gathered and were waiting for Manager Hou to officially begin the tournament.

"I think all of you already know what the first test will be, so I won't explain too much. You all move to the station you are assigned to and start making something to eat. The time limit will be 1 hour."

It didn't take long and soon, Manager Hou officially announced the start of the first part of the tournament.

Zhi Ruo looked around and saw a table with her name on it. The station itself was a table with cooking utensils. The first thing she did was start up the fire and taking out a relatively big wok.

The dish Zhi Ruo decided to make was a rather simple one as she did not have a lot of time. Sadly, one of the aspects she lacked in was cooking and the most she could do was stir-fry something.

The dish she decided on was stir fried chicken and rice with some vegetables. Rather simple and quick, but it was still enjoyable to eat.

Picking out the vegetables she needed, Zhi Ruo cut them before starting to cook.

...

"Time's up, we will be evaluating what you all cooked and the top 50 will move on to the next round of the tournament."

Hearing the voice of Manager Hou, Zhi Ruo smiled proudly at what she had made and waited for the judges to come and judge her dish.

"passable, you can move on."

She didn't wait for long as she was soon evaluated to have passed the first stage of the tournament.

The next part of the tournament was cleaning, one of the things Zhi Ruo excelled at, so without much trouble, she managed to easily pass through it and enter the top 10.

"The final test will be tea brewing! Only one of you can win this and it will be the best! To ensure that only fairness, all of you will be personally judged by the managers of the servant quarters and the winner will be sent to be the servant of Elder Xuan's first disciple!"

Zhi Ruo gulped slightly as she nervously looked towards the entrance of the tournament ground and saw the five remaining managers from the servant quarters enter.

The other contestants were no different as they nervously looked at the five managers. Together with Manager Hou, all the managers from the servant quarters had gathered here!

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Chapter 19: Tea Brewing Contest

Manager Hou waited for the other managers to sit down before turning his attention back onto the 10 girls, who nervously stood to the side.

"What all of you will be competing in is Tea Preparation. In this category, you will compete in the skill of preparing and serving tea. You must demonstrate the skill of tea preparation by brewing and presenting to each of the judges a total of two beverages. The first will be a normal green tea we have chosen while the other will be a beverage prepared from any tea chosen by you from the tea samples provided by us."

Finishing his speech, all 10 of the girls nervously look at the tea samples laying out on the 10 different stations prepared for them.

There were all kinds of tea samples present and it could be used to make a wide variety of different ones.

"The use of tea additives such as sugar, milk and so on is prohibited and blending samples of the tea is prohibited. Brewing is considered to have begun the moment of contact of tea with water! That is all you may begin when you see fit." A middle-aged woman, who was one of the managers who just arrived, spoke up just before the girls began their tea brewing.

Zhi Ruo listened attentively to what was told as she quickly made her way over to her station.

The Camellia leaves were in good condition and had already been prepared, so Zhi Ruo decided to just get started, as she took a kettle and filled it with water before heating it up.

When the water started boiling, she let it cool for about 2 minutes time. Before carefully lifting the kettle, she filled the teapot with hot water before setting it aside.

Picking up the Camellia leaves, Zhi Ruo measured 1 teaspoon of loose leaves into the water. Allowing the tea leaves to steep for another 3 minutes before placing a strainer over the cup and pouring the tea into it, so that there would not be any leaves in the tea.

With her green tea finished. Zhi Ruo looked around at the other girls and saw that most of them were not finished brewing yet, so Zhi Ruo relaxed slightly as she decided to take a look at the other tea samples present and decided what she could brew for her second beverage as she waited for the judges to come.

Looking at all the samples presented, Zhi Ruo decided that she would make a black tea for her second beverage. Black tea was something Zhi Ruo had made many times before and was familiar with, so she was certain that she would be able to do well.

"Ah, Zhi Ruo! Are you ready for us to try your tea?" A voice sounded besides her as she turned around and saw the managers of the servant quarters or in this case, the judges standing right in front of her station.

"Y-yes, of course." Zhi Ruo answered as she gently served a cup over to each of the judges for tasting.

"Hmm… The aroma is great."

"Good taste as well." Ñøvl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

"The aftertaste is on point as well. Overall, I think you did a great job with the green tea Zhi Ruo."

Complimenting her tea, each of the judges smiled happily at her as they started evaluating her tea.

"You are definitely great at tea brewing Zhi Ruo! We will be going to the other contestants now to try their tea, so you can begin on the second one now. I'm looking forward to it, Zhi Ruo." Manager Hou said as he smiled brightly at Zhi Ruo, apparently, he really liked the tea that she brewed.

"Y-yes, Sir!" Fumbling slightly over her words, Zhi Ruo excitedly picked out the things she needed to brew the black tea and began on that as well.

By the time that the judges reached her station once again to try her black tea, seven people had already been disqualified, leaving only Zhi Ruo and two other girls behind.

Serving the black tea for the judges, Zhi Ruo nervously looked on them as they each carefully tasted her tea and judged it.

"You have done well again Zhi Ruo, we will try the others tea as well before coming to a final verdict."

An older man among the judges said as the group moved towards the next contestant's station.

Zhi Ruo was extremely nervous as she anxiously stared at the judges and other contestant's, hoping that she had done better than they had.

Time passed and the judges had left to discuss among themselves after tasting all three of the girl's tea.

It was only one long hour after they had left to discuss between themselves that all of them returned.

"After we discussed among ourselves, we have concluded that the overall winner of the tea brewing competition will be Zhi Ruo, as she by far surpassed our expectations in regard to the green tea that she managed to brew. The black tea lacked to some extent when compared to the green tea, but overall, it was by far the best among the ones you chose to brew yourselves!"

Zhi Ruo felt a wave of happiness overcome her as she started smiling from ear to ear, while the other two contestants let out a depressed sound.

"Zhi Ruo, if you could please follow me and get you assigned as the servant of Elder Xuan's first disciple." Manager Hou looked proudly at Zhi Ruo as he said this.

He had thought that it would be one of the other girls who managed to win at the start, but Zhi Ruo showed that she was just as brilliant if not more so.

For the servant quarters, having someone who excels at their job is a thing to be proud of. The managers themselves knew that the Flying Sword Sect rewarded them every time a servant they sent did a good job.

An example would be the recent ace servant of the servant quarters who ended up becoming a servant of one of the core elders, he showed talent in cultivation and ended up becoming the personal disciple of the core elder!

The core elder in question sent a large amount of resources to the servant quarters which helped them expand even more.

To this day, the servant quarters had long since expanded beyond the northern region that the Flying Sword Sect controlled!

Zhi Ruo didn't know what Manager Hou was thinking about and just followed him to the registration building full of happiness at finally being able to return the favor of being helped by Xuan Ha back then.

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Chapter 20: The Raging Flame Sect

Back to the day before the servant quarters competition, Xuan Hao returned to his peak and checked up on Qing Yi, not forgetting to answer her questions regarding the Autumn Wind Sword.

"Master, can I go out tonight? I plan to meet up with a friend and get something to eat." Qing Yi lowered down her sword as she asked Xuan Hao, she had already planned to meet with Zeng Shihan again.

"Sure, no need to ask me about what you do in your own free time." Xuan Hao himself did not really mind it as he soon exited the training court and made it back to his room.

Inside his room, Xuan Hao quickly looked through a few books located on a shelf besides his bed.

The book he was looking for was one related to herbs, he had decided that he would set out and find the Infernal Heart Grass, so Qing Yi could awaken her divine physique.

Without it, Qing Yi would never be able to unleash her true potential. The longer he delayed finding the Infernal Heart Grass, the longer it would take for Qing Yi to breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment Realm. This would in the end delay him completing the main quest of the system even more!

Xuan Hao already knew where the Infernal Heart Grass would grow, the only bad thing was that it was located in the south region of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom. The territory of The Raging Flame Sect!

The Flying Sword Sect and the Raging Flame Sect went way back and had always been at odds with one another, but what truly caused them to become enemies was something that happened 500 years ago.

Back then, the Flying Sword Sect was weaker than it was now and only had 3 experts at the Nascent Soul Realm, while the Raging Flame Sect had a total of 7 Nascent Soul experts!

The Raging Flame Sect back then had found out that the Flying Sword Sect had unearthed a spirit stone mine at the border of their territory and brutally killed all the Flying Sword Sect disciples present before sizing the spirit stone mine.

This had caused an outrage in the entire Heavenly Sky Kingdom at the time, but in the end, the Raging Flame Sect was stronger than the Flying Sword Sect at the time and managed to hold onto the spirit stone mine to this day.

Now, the Flying Sword Sect had 5 Nascent Soul experts while the Raging Flame Sect had 8. Ñøvl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Even though the Raging Flame Sect was still stronger, the difference had narrowed down quite a bit and the Flying Sword Sect was starting to demand the spirit stone mine back, while the Raging Flame Sect kept refusing.

This in turn caused tension on their bordering territories to build up with passing time, as more and more skirmishes between the disciples of the Flying Sword Sect and Raging Flame Sect took place.

For him, a Nascent Soul Core Elder of the Flying Sword Sect to enter the territory of the Raging Flame Sect at such a time… The Raging Flame Sect would most likely see it as an outright declaration of war!

But Xuan Hao still decided to take the risk and sneak into the territory of the Raging Flame Sect!

"Hah… I hope nothing goes wrong…" Xuan Hao sighed slightly to himself as he walked to the entrance of the sect before jumping on top of his sword and flying into the distance.

Flight was normally something that only people at the King Realm was capable of.

The reason why Xuan Hao was able to use his sword for flight was due to him comprehending True Sword Intent, it allowed him to more easily control his sword and also manifest sword intent itself to strengthen it.

Another use was to use the sword intent to engulf the sword and control it to float. With this, Xuan Hao could just jump on top of his sword and make it float in the direction he wanted to go.

This was also another reason why sword cultivators who comprehended True Sword Intent were so feared, if the other party were not a King Realm cultivator, the sword cultivator could simply jump on top of his sword and fly away if he were at a disadvantage.

Xuan Hao continued flying for another 2 hours before he finally came to the border between the Raging Flame Sect and the Flying Sword Sect.

The border itself was just besides the spirit stone mine that the Raging Flame Sect had stolen from the Flying Sword Sect 500 years ago and by now the Raging Flame Sect had set up defensive structure all around it.

Xuan Hao couldn't help but feel annoyed when he looked down and saw the spirit stones slowly being transported out of the mine and onto carriages to be shipped back to the Raging Flame Sect.

"Nothing to do about it for now… In the future I will be sure to help the Flying Sword Sect deal with the Raging Flame Sect and make them pay back the spirit stones they loaned… With interest of course…"

Chuckling slightly, Xuan Hao flashed an evil smile before he disappeared deeper into the territory of the Raging Flame Sect.

Dealing with the spirit stone mine would have to wait until he was strong enough, for now he only needed to find the Infernal heart Grass for Qing Yi.

The place where it could be found was the Burning Mountain Range.

The Burning Mountain Range was famous in the Southern Region of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom. Mainly because of the strong demon beasts and also because it stretched through several kingdoms, there was even rumours that in the deepest part of the Burning Mountain Range, demon beasts in the King Realm could be found!

Luckily, the part of the Burning Mountain Range that passed through the Heavenly Sky Kingdom did not have anything at the level of a King Realm demon beast. The strongest demon beast found there was at the Nascent Soul realm, so although not as dangerous Xuan Hao still had to be careful when he entered.

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Chapter 21: Sneaking by the Raging Flame Sect Outpost

The Burning Mountain Range was not a mountain range that was burning in the literal sense of the word but was instead a long mountain range that had a lot of volcanos present in it. Due to this, it slowly became know as the burning mountain range. The burning hot environment that most of the mountain range was in didn't help in slightest.

Other than that, a lot of fire related herbs grew in it, the Infernal heart Grass was one of them.

From Mortal Rank Herbs all the way up to Mystic Rank Herbs that only King Realm cultivators used. All of them could be found inside the Burning Mountain Range, though finding something like a Mystic Rank herb was not something Xuan Hao expected to find.

After all, most herb were defended by a demon beast at around the same stage. Meaning a Mystic Rank Herb would have a King Realm demon beast defending it… Not something that Xuan Hao could deal with at the moment.

Xuan Hao came to the entrance of the Burning Mountain Range where the Raging Flame Sect had set out an outpost. From what he knew, there would always be a Nascent Soul expert present, so as to ensure that nobody entered the Burning Mountain Range without them knowing.

The problem for Xuan Hao was how to evade the divine sense of the Nascent Soul Realm expert of the Raging Flame Sect.

But why not just enter the Burning Mountain Range from another neighbouring kingdom?

That would be even more impossible, as the imperial families of a kingdom normally station Nascent Soul experts all around the borders of their kingdom, so as to make sure nobody sneaks in without them knowing.

If he were only at the Core Formation Realm maybe it would work, as the Nascent Soul experts did not pay attention to someone who was below the Nascent Soul Realm.

Afterall, to a Nascent Soul expert, how much trouble could a mere Core Formation expert bring to an entire kingdom with dozens of Nascent Soul experts?

Xuan Hao really wished that he had learnt some form of concealment technique at the moment, but there was nothing to do.

For now, he decided to just try his luck and sneak in.

Flying through the air, Xuan Hao flew at the edge of the border as he quickly made his way towards the Burning Mountain Range. Hoping that the Nascent Soul Realm Elder from the Raging Flame Sect was not paying attention.

Sadly, things never go the way you want them to, and a divine sense swept out from the outpost set up by the Raging Flame Sect. heading directly in the direction where Xuan Hao was flying along.

Xuan Hao sensed the change and looked towards the outpost as he started to swear quietly at his fantastic luck, if the elder from the Raging Flame Sect discovered him, a fight would most certainly erupt. This in turn would attract the other Nascent Soul experts from the Raging Flame Sect.

Going 8 vs 1? Not really something Xuan Hao wanted to experience at the moment…

"ARGH!"

Just as Xuan Hao prepared himself to forgo stealth and go full speed towards the Burning Mountain Range, a loud scream echoed through the surroundings as an injured man ran full speed in the direction of the border.

The divine sense from the Raging Flame Sect outpost focused directly on the man and soon an elderly man appeared in front of him.

"Hmph, think you can just run away after offending the Raging Flame Sect?" The arrogant elderly man sneered as his lips curled up in a contemptuous smile.

"P-please, I-I didn't know- "

Before the man even managed to finish his sentence, a quick flash appeared as the man's head rolled to the ground. His eyes still open, clearly not expecting to suddenly die.

"Hmph, why would I waste time speaking to trash like you?"

Picking up a purse around the now dead man's belt, the arrogant elderly man soon disappeared back towards the outpost.

It was almost like nothing had even happened. Xuan Hao bet that if it were not for the now dead body on the ground, nobody would know that somebody just died here.

"Indeed, the Raging Flame Sect, they are as ruthless as rumoured… Thankfully that elderly man did not find me…"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Xuan Hao looked cautiously in the direction that the elderly man had disappeared into.

That elderly man was dangerous and from what Xuan Hao sensed, he was at the fifth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm! Even with his True Sword Intent, Xuan Hao could at most fight equally with him.

Maybe in a longer fight he would win, but by then the other Nascent Soul experts from the Raging Flame Sect would have arrived.

"Hah, I better get going before I get found…" Casting a glance at the dead body one last time, Xuan Hao began moving towards the Burning Mountain Range with increased speed.

Xuan Hao spent the next 1 hour cautiously moving towards the Burning Mountain Range, it was only after he saw the towering mountains in front of him that he finally let out a sigh of relief.

At the foot of one mountain was a small city, the city itself was mostly used by explorers who came to enter the Burning Mountain Range and try their luck and businesses buying the materials and rare herbs brought back by the explorers. Most of which was owed directly by the Raging Flame Sect.

Even though that was the case, the strongest person was only at the Core Formation Realm and was not something Xuan Hao needed to be careful about. After all, a Core Formation realm expert would never be able to sense a Nascent Soul expert if he did not wish to show off his cultivation.

"For now, I will try and see if there is any information regarding the location of the Infernal Heart Grass." The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

Landing a little away from the city, Xuan Hao took out a small bag with clothes and quickly changed into something less conspicuous. The robe he was wearing before was the main core elder robe of the Flying Sword Sect…

Thinking back, maybe he should not walk into enemy territory with the robe of a core elder from the Flying Sword Sect on…

Facepalming himself at how stupid he was, Xuan Hao quickly put away the brilliant and extremely colourful core elder robe and walked towards the city.

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Chapter 22: Flame Mountain City

The Walls of the city soon appeared in front of Xuan Hao as he felt slightly awed at their size, reaching more than 20 meters into the air. Ñøvl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

While such walls were not able to deal with stronger Core Formation demon beasts. Dealing with a few lower ranked Core Formation demon beasts should be doable. Especially if the Core Formation experts stationed in the city helped out.

But even without them, a group of Foundation Establishment cultivators should be able to deal with a weaker Core Formation demon beast if they used the wall to their advantage!

Looking at the uselessly large gate, Xuan Hao quickly made his way over.

The Giant gate of the city had a long line in front of it, with guards checking the people coming in and out of the city. Making sure that the ones who entered paid the entrance fee.

Standing in the back of the line, Xuan Hao patiently waited until it was his turn, so as to not draw any unwanted attention. This was after all still the territory of the Raging Flame Sect and if they found him, he would have a lot more difficulties in finding the Infernal Heart Grass for Qing Yi.

"Reason for entering the Flame Mountain City?"

It was finally Xuan Hao's turn, as a guard came up to him and asked for his reason to enter the city.

"I'm here to explore the Burning Mountain Range and I'm looking for a place to rest before continuing into the mountain range." Xuan Hao lied as he smiled brightly at the guard.

"Sure, sure… Just pay the entrance fee over there. Its 5 low grade spirit stones." Waving him off with an uninterested look on his face, the guard pointed towards another guard and made his way to the person behind Xuan Hao. Most likely asking him the same question that he just asked Xuan Hao.

Spirit stones were the currency used by cultivators to trade between each other and was also the reason for the current animosity between the Flying Sword Sect and Raging Flame Sect.

The reason for this was the other use of spirit stones. Speeding up the cultivation of a cultivator, while the amount needed increased with the cultivation level of the cultivator, it was still magical to be able to increase one's cultivation speed. Some higher-grade spirit stones could even allow a cultivator to have an easier time comprehending the energy between heaven and earth!

Such spirit stones were above the normal low grade spirit stones and were instead called high grade spirit stones.

The spirit stone mine that the Raging Flame Sect had stolen from the Flying Sword Sect produced over 10 high grade spirit stones every year!

This was an unimaginable temptation to many Nascent Soul experts and was also the reason why the Raging Flame Sect still held onto the spirit stone mine even if they made enemies with the Flying Sword Sect. The worth of high-grade spirit stones were simply too much.

It was even rumoured that the Sect Master of the Raging Flame Sect managed to reach the eighth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm with the help of the high-grade spirit stones!

Being able to reach the eighth stage might not sound like much, but the difference between realms widened the further along in cultivation one went and while one might be able to fight someone at the Foundation Establishment Realm only being a Qi Condensation Realm was possible. Fighting a someone at the King Realm while only being in the Nascent Soul Realm was close to impossible and those who archived it had long since surpassed the King Realm by now…

In essence, someone at the eighth stage would be able to easily deal with a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator at the seventh stage.

The only reason that the Raging Flame Sect did not dare to attack the Flying Sword Sect was simply because they were a sword sect and sword cultivators were always famed for their strength in combat.

The current Sect Master Feng Chen was no different and while only at the seventh stage, he had fought equally against a Nascent Soul expert at the eighth stage before!

Thinking about all the rumours regarding the current Sect Master of the Raging Flame Sect, Xuan Hao chuckled a bit to himself as he paid the 5 low grade spirit stones and entered the Flame Mountain City.

The rumours about the Raging Flame Sects Sect Master were many and Xuan Hao knew quite a few of them.

Fore example, it was rumoured that the Raging Flame Sect's Sect Master had once been seen entering a famed establishment for… Ahm… Gentlemen… to deal with personal stuff and sort out their… Feelings…?

This rumour had been cracked down upon hard by the Raging Flame Sect, especially by the Sect Master himself. After all, his wife was less than pleased when she heard the rumour…

Neither was her father, the current Vice Sect Master of the Raging Flame Sect…

Looking around the bustling streets of the city, Xuan Hao saw a giant build with a sign of two pickaxes crossing each other, this was the explorer union's sign.

The Explorer Union was a giant organization that existed all over the Ewaria Continent and could be found almost everywhere.

The Explorer Union had several people at the Emperor Realm behind it and was not something even the strongest empire on the Ewaria Continent would carelessly offend.

The main goal of the Explorer Union was as the name suggested, to explore the world and all the fantastic places that existed in it. By joining the Union, one could sell all the material that one found in places like the Burning Mountain Range to them at a reasonable price and without fear.

Even a Qi Condensation cultivator could sell a Mystic Grade Herb at the Explorer Union and get a good amount of high-grade spirit stones without someone coming to kill them off in the middle of the night.

If anyone had any information about the location of the Infernal Heart Grass, it would be the Explorer Union.

With that thought in mind, Xuan Hao made his way towards the Explorer Union's building. Hoping that they either had the Infernal Heart Grass in stock or at least knew the location of some in the Burning Mountain Range.

If they truly had nothing to come up with, Xuan Hao would have to waste at least a few weeks tirelessly looking through the Burning Mountain Range to try and find it, while also making sure as to not enter the territory of some Nascent Soul demon beasts.

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Chapter 23: Explorer Union

The building housing the Explorer Union was set up with a few rows for people to sell of the materials, spirit herbs and other things that they found in the Burning Mountain Range. The rest of the building was mostly just fitted like a normal tavern where people could eat, drink and relax after a day out exploring.

Xuan Hao curiously took in the sight of the Explorer Union and all the unique individual present. The most fascinating thing about the people inside was the small badge most of them had at the side of their chest.

The badge itself was the symbol of two pickaxes crossing each other and was the Explorer Union's symbol. The badge itself represented that the people bearing it were members of the Explorer Union.

The Explorer Union itself had several forms of members and the ones with the badge on them were the simplest form of member, the explorer.

The explorer rank did not really have any strings attached to it and mostly just came with the benefit of being able to buy and sell materials from the Explorer Union.

Higher ranks in the Explorer Union came with certain benefits, but also gave the member a certain number of responsibilities that they needed to fulfil, like joining certain exploration missions or help defend some areas for the Union.

All in all, most people just got the explorer rank and didn't bother anymore with it.

Back to the badge itself, if Xuan Hao was not wrong, the badge was crafted by a blacksmith and was an artifact reaching at least the Earth Grade!

Artifacts, much like the herbs, used the same ranking system. Going from the Mortal, Earth, Spirit and Soul Rank. Each representing the Qi Condensation Realm, Foundation Establishment Realm, Core Formation Realm and finally the Nascent Soul Realm.

The sword that Xuan Hao himself used was an artifact at the Soul Rank and was around the lower end of soul rank artifacts.

Even then, an artifact at the Soul Rank was extremely rare in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom and only the four big sects and the imperial family of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom had any.

The reason for the this was simple, a blacksmith who could make such high-grade artifacts was extremely rare and for one to be able to craft a Soul Rank Artifact, the blacksmith would need to at least be an Artisan Blacksmith.

The best blacksmith in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom at the moment was an Expert Blacksmith, who was able to craft Spirit Rank Artifacts.

Other than this, most of the blacksmiths were only around the apprentice and journeyman level.

For the Explorer Union to be able to freely give out artifacts at the Earth Rank for free easily spoke of how strong they were…

Xuan Hao walked towards the information desk right besides the tavern part of the Explorer Union and waited for his turn. Luckily the line was not that long and he wouldn't have to wait for too long, so while he waited, Xuan Hao decided to listen in on the conversations in the building and see if something happened lately.

"Hey, have you heard about people disappearing around the Fire Rock Mountain recently?" A man sitting on a table suddenly asked a friend sitting beside him. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

"What? No, I haven't. Did anything perhaps happen?" The friend looked back shocked as he quickly questioned.

"Yes, yes! Lately a lot of people started disappearing around the Fire Rock Mountain, it has even caused the Explorer Union to take action and they are preparing to send over a few people to find out what is happening."

"Really!? Doesn't that mean we can earn a lot if we join the investigation team? The Explorer Union always pays handsomely…"

"Pfft, dream on. The minimum cultivation needed is the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, I even heard a few Core Formation cultivators would end up joining as well!"

"Hah… What a bummer…"

"Indeed… most of those investigation missions turn up blank anyways…"

Listing to a duo siting at a table drinking together as they talked together, Xuan Hao grew interested in the Fire Rock Mountain mentioned in their conversation.

Not because of the disappearances, as that was quite common in the Burning Mountain Range and from what Xuan Hao knew, it was most likely just a demon beast at the Core Formation Realm having moved its nest to the Fire Rock Mountain.

The reason why he grew interested in the Fire Rock Mountain was that the Infernal Heart Grass had appeared there in the past and with a supposedly Core Formation Realm demon beast suddenly moving into the Fire Rock Mountain all of a sudden, Xuan Hao guessed that it was because it had sensed the Infernal Heart Grass or another spirit herb.

"I should join the investigation team and see if I could get my hands on the Infernal Heart Grass."

With that in mind, it was finally Xuan Hao's turn at the information desk and he quickly asked about the Infernal heart Grass, to which he got the possible location of a few Infernal Heart Grass. The only bad point was that all of them were in the territory of Nascent Soul demon beasts.

Rather than potentially putting his life on the line to fight the Nascent Soul demon beasts for the Infernal heart Grass, Xuan Hao decided that it was better to go with his plan of joining the investigation team of the Explorer Union and see if there was any Infernal heart Grass at the Fire Rock Mountain first.

The process of joining the investigation team was relatively simple and all he needed to do was sign up to become a member of the Explorer Union and after getting a badge, he showed a cultivation of around the beginning stages of the Core Formation Realm and quickly managed to join the investigation team.

From what he was told by the staff, the investigation team would head out by tomorrow morning, so for now Xuan Hao decided to just find a place to stay for the night and cultivate in peace until morning.

The sun was slowly going down in the distance as Xuan Hao made his way out of the Explorer Union and soon disappeared into the crowd of people in the street of the city.

All he could do now was wait for next day. Heading out to the Fire Rock Mountain by himself? He had no clue where the so-called disappearances happened and having a guide would safe quite a good amount of time.

Compared to scanning the entire mountain with his divine sense and accidently offending some random hidden expert, who just happened to be in closed cultivation there…

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Chapter 24: Gui Hu and Chen Yang

Time flew by and the sky started to light up once again, as the sun slowly rose up in the distance.

Xuan Hao was sitting in a meditative position inside one of the inns in the Flame Mountain City, quietly cultivating.

"Hah… I hope that girl Qing Yi is fine. After all I ran away just after accepting her as a disciple…" Xuan Hao opened his eyes and stood up.

Yesterday, before he had left the Flying Sword Sect, he informed Qing Yi that he would be leaving to find the Infernal Heart Grass to help awaken her Divine Physique. Other than that, he had also left a few instructions on how to train her Autumn Wind Sword.

Thinking about it, the servant that he requested from the servant quarters should arrive today, so at least Qing Yi wouldn't be left alone for that long. Maybe they would even be able to get along well enough to be friends by the time he came back.

"Haha…" Chuckling to himself at the idea, Xuan Hao made his way downstairs and quickly checked out of the inn before making his way towards the south gate of the Flame Mountain City.

The south gate was located just next to the Burning Mountain Range and was one of the busiest spots in the entire Flame Mountain City, it was also the place that Xuan Hao would meet up with the rest of the investigation team from the Explorer Union.

"Why do we even have to join this investigation…? All that ever happens is us wandering about a bit before returning back anyways…"

"That is what happens, both of us became pathfinders for the Explorer Union. You should be happy that we only have to go investigate a few disappearances in the outskirts of the Burning Mountain Range every now and then. From what I heard, a few pathfinders like us perished in an exploration mission into the deeper parts of the Burning Mountain Range… At least the investigations are safe…"

"Hah, guess you are right…"

Hearing someone talking about the investigation, Xuan Hao looked over and spotted two men talking among each other as they both stood in front of the south gate and waited. The badge that both of them had was different from the normal explorer's badge, signifying their higher rank inside the Explorer Union.

"Hello, is this perhaps where we are gathering for the investigation team?" Walking up to them, Xuan Hao asked politely as he smiled slightly, while trying to be polite.

"Hm? Ah, yes. You are… Bright Sword? Interesting alias… With you here we can head out immediately." Glancing at him, one of the two higher ranked people from the Explorer Union nodded slightly before giving the command to head out towards the Fire Rock Mountain.

Bright Sword was the alias that Xuan Ha decided to register with at the Explorer Union and also served as a way to make sure that the Raging Flame Sect did not find out that one of the Core Elders from the Flying Sword Sect had entered their territory. After all, the Raging Flame Sect knew the name of all the Flying Sword Sects Nascent Soul experts and having someone with the same name appear suddenly would cause them to be suspicious.

That was even more so if the one in question was a cultivator.

The journey to the Fire Rock Mountain went smoothly and Xuan Hao managed to find out what the name of the two Core Formation experts were.

Apparently, they had managed to raise their rank from a normal explorer in the Explorer Union to a pathfinder. The rank above explorer. Ñøvl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Both of them had thought that they would get a lot of benefits after raising their rank, but all they ever saw was forced missions like the current investigation mission.

At most they would get paid a few spirit stones every month, but nothing much. Apparently, both of them heard that if they managed to raise their rank one more time and become elites of the Explorer Union, they would be able to get high-grade spirit stones on a monthly basis!

"But how long would it even take for us to become elites of the Explorer Union… I heard that most of the elites from the Explorer Union are at the Nascent Soul Realm… The number of elites at the Core Formation Realm is so scarce that they almost don't exist!"

"Easy, Chen Yang, we will be able to become elite members at some time in the future. Worrying about it will not help at all!"

"You are right Gui Hu if I keep worrying about it nothing will happen. For now, let's just focus on the mission and get back as quickly as possible…"

"Ah, Bright Sword was it. How come you wanted to join this investigation? Any special reason?" As both of the Core Formation experts talked with each other, one of them, suddenly turned around and asked Xuan Hao.

"Hm? Me? I heard that an herb I'm looking for might be growing around the Fire Rock Mountain, so I thought it would be convenient to just take the investigation mission from the Explorer Union and have a free guide there."

""Hah… Indeed convenient… Free guides are nice…""

Both Chen Yang and Gui Hu repeated each other as they turned and looked at each other exhaustedly.

It was not the first time that they were used as a form of free guide and it wouldn't be their last.

The only reason why Core Formation experts would ever join them on their investigation missions was so that they could get a free guide and get paid a few spirit stones on the way.

Truly a great service that the Explorer Union provided free of charge…

"Hm, well, you can just go off and search for the herb that you need and report back to us if you come across anything unusual. The search area is the north west side of the Fire Rock Mountain." Gui Hu said as they arrived at the foot of the Fire Rock Mountain.

"Well, then I will be going." Xuan Hao smiled slightly when he heard what Gui Hu said, having someone who gave him free reign to search for himself was great.

"We don't need to look after you like these Foundation Establishment cultivators and it would be more effective if you searched for yourself…" Chen Yang commented.

"…"

"Damn babysitting job…!" Gui Hu grumbled something from side as he looked menacingly at the Foundation Establishment cultivators, who in turn started shivering a little.

With a few last words of goodbye and the location of the meeting spot noted down, Xuan Hao quickly made his way towards the north west side of the Fire Rock Mountain.

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Chapter 25: Easily Getting the Infernal Heart Grass

Leaving the rest of the investigation team behind, Xuan Hao quickly made his way towards the north west side of the Fire Rock Mountain.

The trees were sparse on the mountain side and the heat around the mountain was high as smoke could be seen coming out from small cracks in the ground. Using his divine sense to peek into the cracks along the way, Xuan Hao managed to see a large amount of lava flowing beneath. Ready to surface at any time.

The Burning Mountain Range was well known for its many active volcanos and from the looks of it, the Fire Rock Mountain was one of them.

One of the requirements for the Infernal Heart Grass to grow was an extremely hot environment. An active volcano more than fit the description of that requirement… The only thing left was to find out where the Infernal Heart Grass could be found.

Even if he knew that it might be at the north west side of the Fire Rock Mountain, there is always a possibility that it was not there and instead might be on the east side of the mountain or simply not there at all…

The north west side of the Fire Rock Mountain was hot to an unbearable degree and magma was flowing out from openings in the ground. Normal people would most likely die in this kind of environment, but Xuan Hao was a cultivator, so he was fine. At most he felt a little uncomfortable.

"Hm… In this kind of environment even weaker Foundation Establishment cultivators would have a hard time. No wonder that the Explorer Union had a minimum requirement of peak Foundation Establishment Realm… At least a rare spirit herb like the Infernal Heart Grass should be able to grow here."

Looking around, Xuan Hao carefully started to carefully spread out his divine sense to search the area. Making sure to restrain his divine sense as much as possible, so as to not randomly offend random bigshot A in hiding, who happened to be secretly cultivating here.

"Ah, found something!" It did not take long before Xuan Hao found some of the people who had mysteriously disappeared.

Walking over to the place, Xuan Hao crouched down and inspected the body.

The body was burnt and had bite marks all over it, meaning that the culprit was most likely a demon beast or some demonic cultivator who had gone through a demonic transformation already.

Hopefully, it would just be a demon beast, after all, even the weakest demonic cultivator that had undergone a demonic transformation was at the Nascent Soul Realm. Further transformations would be even more terrifying.

Xuan Hao had heard about an extremely powerful demonic cultivator at the third transformation going up against a Domain Lord, also known as a King Realm cultivator, without losing!

The thought of encountering such a terrifying being was enough to make Xuan Hao want to turn around immediately.

Luckily, demonic cultivators were extremely rare in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, as the Empire it belonged to was against demonic cultivation and actively hunted them down. Ñøvl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

From what Xuan Hao heard, most people considered demonic cultivators to be a scourge and a source of evil to be exterminated.

Them going around devouring people did not really help with their reputation…

"ROAAAAR"

Just as Xuan Hao was about to be lost in his thoughts and start side tracking, a roar came from afar interrupting. From the sound and power behind it, Xuan Hao guessed that it was most likely a demon beast around the Core Formation Realm.

At least it looked like he could rule out the possibility of it being a demonic cultivator…

"If there is a Core Formation demon beast over there, the Infernal Heart Grass might be over there as well!"

Not caring about the body on the ground anymore, Xuan Hao stood up again and moved in the direction of the roar he had heard earlier.

…

"I thought you said that there would be nothing dangerous about the Fire Rock Mountain!"

A shrill voice echoed in the surroundings when Xuan Hao made it to the location of the roar that he had heard earlier.

"As I said before, most of the demon beast had left, I never said that there wouldn't be a possibility that some of them were still left!"

Looking ahead, Xuan Hao saw two young people, a man and a woman arguing with each other. In front of them, a giant tiger like demon beast was slowly approaching them.

"Ah~ Look at the situation that you landed us in~" The young woman let out a clearly fake pitiful voice as she tried to look depressed.

"Who are you fooling! Damn vixen!"

"Who's a vixen! Damnable playboy!"

"…"

Xuan Hao had no idea what to do in the current situation, were they not in trouble? Was this not the time where he came by and saved them or something? Why does he feel like not helping them at all…?

"Roar?" The tiger like demon beast also let out a confused roar, as it did not see the fearful expressions that it had expected.

"Shut it! Can't you see we are having a conversation!?" The man shouted rudely at the poor tiger demon beast before turning back and arguing with the young woman once again.

"…"

Should I just show myself? Xuan Hao thought as he looked at the couple arguing more and more intensively.

"Ah, the Infernal Heart Grass!" Looking around the area, Xuan Hao spotted the Infernal Heart Grass a few dozen meters behind the tiger demon beast.

Sneaking over, Xuan Hao quietly harvested the Infernal Heart Grass and put it in a special bag he had prepared for it beforehand.

"… Well, that was easier than I thought." Talking quietly to himself, Xuan Hao turned around and looked at the young woman and man still arguing in front of the confused tiger demon beast.

"I should just leave for now. No need to get entangled with those two troublesome kids and their cultivation should also be around the Core Formation Realm, so they should be fine without my help anyway." Taking one last look at the arguing couple before heading towards the location where the investigation team would meet up later today, Xuan Hao had a feeling he would be unfortunate enough to meet them sometime again in the future.

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Chapter 26: The Untold Swords Mantra

The meetup point for the investigation team was at the south side of the Fire Rock Mountain and was a relatively calm place without too much danger and a relatively more normal temperature compared to the rest of the Fire Rock Mountain.

When Xuan Hao arrived at the meetup location, nobody else had arrived yet and Xuan Hao decided to just sit down and wait for them to arrive, at most it would take another hour or two.

After all, with two people at the Core Formation Realm and a dozen peak Foundation Establishment cultivators. Finding out what happened at the north west side of the Fire Rock Mountain would not take a long time.

Gui Hu and Chen Yang should be able to solve the puzzle of the dead body filled with bite marks and a potential nearby Core Formation demon beast, if not, Xuan Hao would be surprised at how they even managed to reach their current cultivation realm without getting stabbed in the back by someone.

Even more so when they were obviously rogue cultivators without a sect backing them up before becoming pathfinders of the Explorer Union!

So, with nothing better to do, Xuan Hao sat down and took out the Infernal Heart Grass from the small bag he stored it in earlier.

The Infernal Heart Grass looked just like normal grass, albeit slightly longer and denser. The most obvious difference from normal grass was the bright red colour and the pure qi radiating off it.

Just holding it, Xuan Hao felt the qi between heaven and earth around him slightly increase. The benefit of consuming it would be obvious and it might even be useful to some Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. The pure Qi inside the Infernal Heart Grass was more than enough for a Core Formation cultivator to breakthrough a small realm!

This benefit, however, palled in comparison to what a cultivator who cultivated purely in fire qi would gain.

Even a Nascent Soul cultivator might be able to breakthrough a small realm if they were cultivating fire qi.

"Looks like it will be hard to hide it from the Nascent Soul cultivator from the Raging Flame Sect guarding the entrance…"

Xuan Hao was both happy and sad that he got the Infernal Heart Grass.

Happy because he now had what Qing Yi needed to awaken her divine physique, sad because he was certain that sneaking by the outpost of the Raging Flame Sect was impossible.

The Raging Flame Sect was after all, a sect that cultivated purely in the fire qi between heaven and earth. Their sensitivity in regard to fire qi was unmatched in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

Sneaking a spirit grade herb of the fire attribute past one of their Nascent Soul experts? He would have a better chance sneaking into the bedroom of the Raging Flame Sects Sect Master…

Not that he would ever try something like that…

Taking a last look at the Infernal Heart Grass, Xuan Hao put it back into the small bag and put it away.

Changing his sitting position into a meditative one, Xuan Hao started absorbing the qi between heaven and earth as he slowly circulated the qi through his entire body.

The cultivation method that he used was also found on the fifth floor of the Pagoda of Enlightenment and was a Heaven Rank Cultivation Mantra as well.

The cultivation mantra was called Untold Swords Mantra. The cultivation Mantra allowed one to build up a foundation as a sword cultivator and only truly started to show its might at the Nascent Soul Realm.

Here the Untold Swords Mantra started to allow the cultivator to start constructing his own domain. At the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, this would allow one to have a Pseudo Domain! Normally, a Pseudo Domain was only something people at the half-step Domain Lord Realm had, but the Untold Sword Mantra would allow him to acquire it before that!

This feat, however, was not without difficulties. Constructing a pseudo domain was hard and took half-step Domain Lords hundreds of years to achieve.

The reason for this, was that it required the cultivator to have an initial understanding of a Dao. Be it the Dao of Fire or the Dao of Clouds, an initial understanding of the Dao was needed to construct a Pseudo Domain. Taking it a step further and transforming the Pseudo domain into a real domain would allow a Nascent Soul cultivator to become a Domain Lord!

The Untold Sword Mantra however, solely focused on the Dao of the Sword and all one needed was to comprehend True Sword Intent before being able to cultivate it at the Nascent Soul Realm.

From this, one would be able to construct a Pseudo Sword Domain!

The next step was for the True Sword Intent to transform into a Sword Domain, allowing the sword cultivator to step into the realm of Domain Lords.

The step after the Sword Domain was mostly blurred, but the Untold Sword Mantra did mention the name of the realm.

Sword Soul!

Any way to reach it was foggy and blurred, as Xuan Hao struggled to understand the things written in the Untold Sword Mantra.

He understood that he was way too weak at the moment to understand anything about what came after the Sword Domain. At least for now, he quietly cultivated his sword intent, trying to strengthen it with the help of the qi between heaven and earth.

The moment his Sword Intent was able to engulf the area a few meters around him, he would have reached the Pseudo Sword Domain Realm. Only one step away from the Domain Lord Realm!

For now all his Sword Intent could do was engulf his sword, increasing its strength and allowing him to fly on it.

"Ah, Bright Sword, you are here already! Did you perhaps find what you were looking for?" A voice sounded a little behind him and Xuan Hao turned around and saw Qui Hu and Chen Yang, along with a few dozen peak Foundation Establishment cultivators appear.

"Yes, I was lucky enough to find it. Did you manage to find the reason for the disappearances?"

"Ah, great for you and yes we managed to find it… Was just a stray Core Formation demon beast, feller was already dead when we arrived. Probably a passing Core Formation cultivator who found it before us… Well, at least we can head back now, are you ready to go as well?" Gui Hu looked slightly bored as he explained what they found, before waiting for Xuan Hao's answer.

"Sure, I found what I was looking for already."

"Great, then let's head back immediately! I heard that the inn got some great ale recently, Chen Yang, want to join me later?"

"Sure… Just don't drink too much like last time!" The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

"Sure, sure, I promise I won't! hehe."

Hearing Xuan Hao agreeing, the group headed back towards the city as Gui Hu, and Chen Yang chatted along the way. Xuan Hao decided to just ignore the two as he quietly spread his divine sense a few hundred meters around them, so as to not be ambushed along the way.

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Chapter 27: Elder from the Raging Flame Sect

The journey back to Flame Mountain City went smoothly and Xuan Hao decided to head back to the Flying Sword Sect immediately, while trying to avoid the detection range of the Nascent Soul elder from the Raging Flame Sect along the way.

Exiting the Explorer Unions building, Xuan Hao threw the few spirit stones that he earned from assisting in the investigation mission into a bag before making his way back out of the city.

For dealing with the Nascent Soul expert at the outpost leading into the Burning Mountain Range, Xuan Hao thought about several things.

From flying high in the air to try and enter a neighbouring kingdom and slip past the outpost without alerting the expert sent to monitor the border area.

Sadly, both ideas had flaws in them. Flying too high would not help as the pressure one would experience increased the higher one went. At the same time, the density of qi between heaven and earth also increased. Making it easier to cultivate, but at the same time harder to ascend.

This was also one of the reasons why strong cultivators normally cultivated as high as possible, meaning most sects could be found on mountain tops or peaks.

While entering a neighbouring kingdom was more doable, the risk of being found lower, Xuan Hao decided against it. After all, he'd rather end up being found by the Raging Flame Sect than the border guard…

This was even more so after he removed his core elder clothes and put on some more normal clothes.

Even if the Raging Flame Sects Nascent Soul expert found him, at most it would just be a foreign Nascent Soul expert passing by. This was not too unusual, considering that he came from the Burning Mountain Range that stretched through countless kingdoms.

Things like foreign Nascent Soul experts entering the Heavenly Sky Kingdom was something for the imperial family to deal with, not the Raging Flame Sect!

Now, the only problem that remained was the fact that he had the Infernal Heart Grass. The spirit herb was constantly amplifying the fire qi surrounding the small bag Xuan Hao had put it in.

Hiding it from Core Formation experts was easy, as all Xuan Hao needed to do was cover it with his divine sense.

But something like that would not work against another Nascent Soul expert…

At this moment, Xuan Hao wished he had a storage bag or treasure to store it in, that way his problem would be solved.

Sadly, such things required a Domain Lord to use his domain to carve out a part of space and bind it together with something like a bag or a ring.

From what Xuan Hao knew, only the imperial family had something like that, and it was mostly because they had a founder who reached the half-step Domain Lord Realm in the past.

A half-step Domain Lord had a pseudo domain and also had the ability to carve out space to some degree, while clearly inferior to something made by a Domain Lord, it still had the storage ability. Though way smaller and more fragile.

Jumping atop his sword, Xuan Hao quickly flew towards the Flying Sword Sect. Hoping that the Nascent Soul expert would either miss him or ignore him.

At that moment as Xuan Hao passed by the outpost of the Raging Flame Sect a long sword made from fire slashed towards him from the outpost reaching far into the sky. It was a furious slash made from the Nascent Soul expert at the outpost.

So much for not being noticed or ignored... The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

"Arrogant fellow, you are asking for death!" A could shout spread out from inside the outpost. The sound was arrogant, filled with a strong aura which suppressed everyone in the surroundings and sent a chill down one's spine.

This was the aura of a Nascent Soul expert!

The aura from the flaming sword slash surged. It was like a giant sun rising into the sky. The burning sword soon smashed into Xuan Hao as it exploded, lighting up the surroundings.

Engulfed by the now exploding flame sword, Xuan Hao's body let out a sharp sword intent. This sword intent went against the burning sword slash and caused the few people caught up in the surroundings to look on in shock with bated breath, as they felt the strength of a Nascent Soul expert.

Xuan Hao, who was the target of the sword looked in the direction where the sword came from.

This wasn't an actual sword, but it was instead a sword slash formed by fire qi. It came from the Nascent Soul expert stationed at the outpost.

Xuan Hao did not expect that the elder from the Raging Flame Sect would attack the moment that he appeared.

The first slash of the elder from the Raging Flame Sect was not that strong and was mostly used to gauge his opponent, so before even a second passed, an even more powerful sword slash was sent in Xuan Hao's direction.

When the sword slash appeared directly in front of him, Xuan Hao unsheathed his sword and gathered his sword intent before slashing down with all his might.

The extraordinary Fire Sword quickly shattered under Xuan Hao's sword. The fire qi was extinguished as the sword continued towards the outpost.

As for Xuan Hao, he was perfectly fine as he stood on top of his sword and looked at a giant screen made of fire appear to block his sword slash from doing any damage to the outpost.

At least he didn't use his strong Soul Rank sword to fly on… If he did, he would most likely have ended up falling to the ground as he tried to block the second flaming sword earlier.

In the next second, a person appeared in front of the outpost.

The Nascent Soul elder from the Raging Flame Sect! His aura was really terrifying, and the aura surged into the sky towards Xuan Hao.

Xuan Hao just shrugged it off and looked directly down at the elder from the Raging Flame Sect standing in front of the outpost.

Xuan Hao was not nervous at all, as long as he manged to deal with the elder from the Raging Flame Sect, he would be able to run away before the reinforcements arrived.

From the attack earlier, Xuan Hao had sensed that he was stronger than he had expected and even though the other party was at the fifth stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, he had clearly taken some sort of short cut and his cultivation was far from stable at the moment.

Xuan Hao did not say anything and instead unleashed another sword slash towards the elder from the Raging Flame Sect.

The moment this sword slash was used, Xuan Hao looked like a sword god unleashing his wrath upon the mortal world as the sword descend from the sky.

Hong!

Xuan Hao's sword went all out and was even stronger than before!

The elder's expression changed as well when he sensed the strength behind the sword.

Hong long long!

In the next second, he was hit by Xuan Hao's attack. Fire qi spread out from him and formed a shield, but it was not enough to block the sword and soon his chest felt an intense pain and he screamed. He struggled and blood splashed out onto the ground beneath his feet.

A wound appeared on his chest.

"It seems I underestimated you. You are strong, but you are only one! When the rest of my Raging Flame Sect arrives, you are dead!" The elder covered his wound and turned into a bright flame as he quickly disappeared into the distance.

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Chapter 28: Leaving the Raging Flame Sects Territory

Looking at the elder from the Raging Flame Sect disappearing into the distance, Xuan Hao felt regretful that he didn't manage to kill him off.

To the Flying Sword Sect and Raging Flame Sect, a stage five Nascent Soul elder was really strong. If it were not for him being alone and isolated at the outpost, Xuan Hao would most likely not have gotten a chance to fight him one on one.

Moreover, a Nascent Soul experts' body was really strong. Xuan Hao had used his sword intent to injure him earlier.

But even with the heavy injuries he sustained from the sword attack, the Nascent Soul elder was still okay, and he should be able to fully recover with a few days of rest.

Feeling the auras of several Nascent Soul Realm cultivators coming over, Xuan Hao dared not stay any longer as he quickly jumped back on his sword and hurriedly flew away before the reinforcements managed to arrive and stop him.

The attack from earlier had already drained him quite a bit and dealing with what felt like 4 to 5 fully rested Nascent Soul experts was not really something that he wanted to experience at the moment.

As Xuan Hao left the place, a group of people appeared in front of the outpost.

"Hm… True Sword Intent… I don't know anyone in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom who managed to comprehend it, it should be someone from the outside!" An elderly man in front inspected the scars left from the battle and concluded.

"Elder Gui, are you sure that you felt a strong fire qi on him?"

"Y-yes Sect Master, it was most likely a herb that was of the fire attribute. From what I felt, it should at least be peak spirit grade…" The elder who was beaten up by Xuan Hao earlier appeared quite ragged as he answered the elderly man inspecting the scars left by the battle.

"Hah… If we had known earlier, we might have been able to set up a trap… With a peak spirit grade fire attribute herb, I might have been able to breakthrough and enter the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm…!" The Elderly man sighed regretfully as he looked into the distance where Xuan Hao disappeared.

"But now, we lost any chance of that, I would have to put my life on the line and try to enter the deeper regions of the Burning Mountain Range. Catching up to a sword cultivator who comprehended True Sword Intent before reaching the Domain Lord Realm is nothing but a pipe dream…" The other men looked helplessly at one another. Not knowing what to say.

The Sect Master had reached the eight stage of the Nascent Soul Realm and was just one step away from the ninth stage, but that tiny step had prevented most Nascent Soul Realm cultivator from ever reaching the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm.

"I will enter the Burning Mountain Range today, I can't keep delaying and my lifespan is not infinite…" Concluding this, determination flared up in the elderly man's eyes.

"B-but Sect Master, what if the Flying Sword Sect decides to attack when you are gone…?" A skinny elder asked worriedly as he looked at the determination shining from within the Sect Masters eyes.

"No need to worry about that, even if that Feng Chen does act, we still have more Nascent Soul experts. You just need to hide inside the sect's core formation, and he won't be able to do anything. Secondly, how would they even know that I'm gone?" The elderly man said with a slight smile on his lips.

"T-true, but if you are gone for too long, they will definitely start to suspect something…" The skinny elder was still not assured, he still remembered back when their Sect Master and the Sect Master of the Flying Sword Sect fought each other. Back then, both of them had equal strength even though the Sect Master was one small realm above the Sect Master of the Flying Sword Sect.

"It's fine, I will at most take a few years, just say that I went into secluded cultivation to try and breakthrough or something. People seem to easily believe that excuse…" With those last words, the elderly Sect Master started making his way towards the Burning Mountain Range.

"Sect Master! What do we say to your wife!?" The skinny elder yelled loudly towards the Sect Masters disappearing back.

"… Say I… Went into secluded cultivation…"

"But…"

Before the elders managed to question their Sect Master, he disappeared into the distance, whether they saw him again in the next few years was uncertain.

He would most likely not return immediately even if he managed to find the fire attribute herb, he needed to breakthrough…

"W-what are we supposed to say to the Sect Master's wife…?"

"…"

"Ah, Elder Gui, you seem to have gotten quite injured from your fight earlier, why don't you head back first?" A relatively young elder said as he smiled at the injured elder Gui.

"Yes, yes, I think the injured should head back first, we will stay here and keep an eye out for that sword cultivator!" another elder followed up as he pretended to keep an eye on the few trees in the distance.

"…You guys…" Elder Gui was speechless, and it was only when he was already on his way back towards the Raging Flame Sect that he realized that he had been thrown for the lions, or in this case the Sect Masters wife.

Normally he should not have been afraid of the Sect Masters wife, there was just one problem and that was the fact that she was the grand elder's daughter. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

The last time an elder had annoyed her he ended up being beaten up by the grand elder, who to most of the Raging Flame Sect Elders despair doted on his daughter.

Meanwhile, Xuan Hao had no clue about the amount of despair the elder from the Raging Flame Sect that he had beaten up would end up going through and even if he knew, he most likely would not care much and would at most laugh at the elder's situation.

At the moment, Xuan Hao had made it out of the Raging flame Sect's territory and was back in the northern part of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, where the Flying Sword Sect ruled.

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Chapter 29: Returning to the Flying Sword Sect

The rest of the journey back to the Flying Sword Sect went without any problems and soon, Xuan Hao made it all the way back to his mountain peak.

Back at the mountain peak, Qing Yi had spent most of the day before training and spent the rest of the time hanging out with Zeng Shihan, whom she had met earlier at the dining hall of the Flying Sword Sect.

She already knew that her master had gone out to get the herb needed to awaken her divine physique and was really grateful towards what he did for her. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

Wanting to repay her master, Qing Yi decided to train extra hard and not disappoint the trust that her master put in her. Qing Yi trained with her full focus on the sword in her hands. Not even noticing Xuan Hao as he appeared at the entrance of the training count.

Seeing the hard-working Qing Yi, Xuan Hao backed off and decided not to interrupt her for now. Reaching such a focused state was hard and would be beneficial for her.

From what he remembered, such a state of mind was called sudden enlightenment or something. A cultivator does indeed have an increased brain capacity compared to normal humans and the stronger they got, the harder it would become to focus on one single thing at a time.

Xuan Hao guessed the reason for the name sudden enlightenment was because the cultivators were not used to focus on solely one thing. The constant divine sense spreading out from a Nascent Soul cultivator, even when restrained, would still feed an enormous amount of information constantly to the mind of the cultivator.

Reaching a state of constant focus, or constant enlightenment would surely bring a qualitative change for any cultivator.

Xuan Hao himself had tried to focus his mind as well while cultivating, but all he could do was get a few minutes of enlightenment. Even just that was able to help him improve rapidly compared to his normal cultivation, cultivating 5 minutes under the enlightened state was comparable to over a week of normal cultivation time!

At least for now, the dream of constant enlightenment was far off…

"Oh yeah, the servant sent by the servant quarters have not arrived yet. Maybe she will arrive later today or tomorrow?"

Having spread his divine sense around his pavilion, Xuan Hao noticed that there was still only him and Qing Yi at the pavilion for now.

"Maybe I should go and take a look at the servant quarters and see how they are doing? Sitting around cultivating all day is quite boring and I just got back as well. Going for a small walk would be a nice change of pace after the fight earlier." Thinking to himself, Xuan Hao decided to go pay the servant quarters a visit and see if the servant was picked yet.

From what he knew, a competition would always happen at the servant quarters whenever one of the core elders, the Vice Sect Master or the Sect Master asked for a servant.

Apparently, it was a prestigious thing to serve as one of the Nascent Soul experts' servants. Shocker…

Xuan Hao did not wait for long and immediately took off, walking slowly towards the servant quarters. Making sure to enjoy the view of the many mountains along the way, even if most of the mountains were artificially created by Nascent Soul cultivators, it was still a beautiful sight to behold.

The thing that Xuan Hao liked the most about the Ewaria continent was the cultivator's dedication to make things breathtakingly beautiful. Even if they did not realize so themselves.

From the beautiful plum trees to the humble willow trees, everything fit perfectly together with the majestic pavilions of the elders and humble dwellings of the disciples. Everything looked straight out of a painting.

Meanwhile at the servant quarters.

Zhi Ruo had just won the competition and was being escorted by manager Hou to the registration building.

Inside the registration building Manager Hou took out a relatively small book and wrote something down before placing it back at a small shelf.

"Okay, with the registration done, all you need to do is pack the things you have left and move to the peak of Core Elder Xuan. He should know that a servant is coming, so there is no need to be nervous." Seeing Zhi Ruo getting more and more nervous as he started talking, manager Hou slowed down and assured Zhi Ruo that there was nothing to be worried about.

"Ah, by the way manager Hou, do you know anything about elder Xuan's disciple?" Zhi Ruo was rather curious about the disciple of Xuan Hao that she was going to be serving and couldn't help asking.

"Hmm… I honestly don't know much about her but from what I could gather elder Xuan picked her at the recent entrance examination." Thinking about it for a while, manager Hou answered with a slight shake of his head. Not really knowing that much about elder Xuan's new disciple.

"I see…"

"Well, no need to worry, I'm sure that elder Xuan's disciple is a splendid person individual to be chosen by him personally!"

Manager Hou chatted a bit with Zhi Ruo as both of them talked together about Xuan Hao and what she should remember to do and how to behave accordingly.

All in all, Zhi Ruo left the registration building a little later than she had expected, and the sun was already high up in the sky by the time she packed her things and exited the servant quarters. Heading towards the mountain peak that Xuan Hao's pavilion was located on.

Xuan Hao on the other hand had already arrived at the servant quarters and saw Zhi Ruo exiting the servant quarters.

Ignoring her, Xuan Hao walked into the registration building to see if the servant quarters had chosen a servant for Qing Yi yet and quickly discovered that one had apparently already been sent.

"Ah, it should be the girl from earlier…" Remembering Zhi Ruo who had exited the servant quarters a little while ago, Xuan Hao decided to make his way back to his pavilion and greet the servant sent over by the servant quarters.

"Qing Yi should have finished her training and should be resting at the pavilion at the moment, should I let the two of them meet before introducing myself?" Thinking about it, Xuan Hao decided to take a longer path back to his pavilion and instead allow for the two girls to chat with each other without him being there.

It would probably be easier for the new servant girl to talk with Qing Yi a girl around the same age compared to him, a Core Elder of the Flying Sword Sect at the Nascent Soul Realm…

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Chapter 30: Qing Yi and Zhi Ruo Meets

Qing Yi had just finished her training as she made her way out of the training court and back into the pavilion. At this moment, Xuan Hao had still not come back yet and Qing Yi did not mind it so much as she already knew the reason why her master had left yesterday.

"If I manage to awaken my divine physique like master said, will I really be able to cultivate quicker…?" No matter what Xuan Hao had told her earlier, Qing Yi still did not really dare to believe that she actually had a divine physique before actually feeling it for herself.

After all, it was a divine physique! Even outside of the Heavenly Sky kingdom, something like a divine physique was highly valued.

Qing Yi had heard that among the current younger generation of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, the only other person with a divine physique was the current crown prince of the Heavenly Sky Kingdoms imperial family!

Someone whom she could only look up to. Now that someone was apparently at the same level as her…

Knock Knock

A knocking sound could be heard from the entrance to the pavilion, immediately rousing Qing Yi from her thoughts and bringing her back to reality.

"Ah, I-I will be there in a moment!" Qing Yi quickly called out in a slightly flustered.

She had no clue who would come to her master's peak at this point in time, especially considering that he wasn't home at the moment.

Hurrying over to the large front door of the pavilion, Qing Yi slowly opened it and looked out to see who it was.

Outside the door, Zhi Ruo nervously waited as she tightly held her luggage.

"Hello, who might you be…?" Hearing the voice, Zhi Ruo snapped back and immediately introduced herself.

"I'm Zhi Ruo! The servant sent by the servant quarters to serve as the servant of elder Xuan's disciple!"

"My servant…?" Hearing the voice once again, Zhi Ruo looked at the person in question and saw a beautiful girl around the same age as her.

This should be elder Xuan's disciple! Thinking this, admiration shone out from her eyes as she looked at Qing Yi.

Qing Yi was confused as she looked at the girl who proclaimed to be her new servant, stood there and stared expectantly at her. Full of both admiration and awe.

This feeling of admiration coming from Zhi Ruo was relatively new to Qing Yi, as she had mostly felt the disappointing gazes of the other Qing family members back in the Bright Sun City.'

"Are you perhaps someone master requested for…?" Realizing that she had not gone to the servant quarters to request any servant, Qing Yi realized that it was most likely her masters doing.

"Yes! Elder Xuan went to the servant quarters yesterday to request a servant for his new disciple!" Without missing a beat, Zhi Ruo answered honestly. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

"I see… Then let's find a place for you to stay. Currently, most of the rooms are empty as only me and master stays in the pavilion at the moment." Looking back into the large, yet empty, pavilion. Qing Yi felt a little happiness upon realizing that she would not have to stay there alone anymore.

Yesterday, when her master had left her alone, Qing Yi had felt quite lonely living in the big pavilion all alone.

The arrival of Zhi Ruo would solve that issue, so even if her master ended up going out to get something again, at least she would not be left alone again.

Zhi Ruo quietly dragged her luggage along as she followed Qing Yi deeper into the pavilion and soon the two made it to an empty room.

"You can stay in this room for now, by the way what are you going to be doing here?" As Qing Yi stopped in front of the entrance to what would be Zhi Ruo's new room, she asked curiously.

"From what I know, I should be following you and help in any way I can, cleaning up the pavilion, serving tea or make snacks when needed…"

"Ah, then you can follow me to the dining hall! I was about to go there to get something to eat and meet up with friend as well. Just leave you luggage here for now, you can just unpack it when we get back later!"

"O-okay…" Zhi Ruo nervously put down her luggage in what would be her new sleeping quarters and quickly followed behind an excited Qing Yi, who had already made it down the hallway where the sleeping quarters were located.

The rest of the day, Qing Yi and Zhi Ruo spent outside together with Zeng Shihan.

In the end, the three girls ended up becoming closer after spending the day together.

Xuan Hao had watched the interaction between Qing Yi and Zhi Ruo when they first met and also watched as Qing Yi ran off towards the dining hall with Zhi Ruo following closely behind.

While the opportunity was there, Xuan Hao also used his system to check out the talent of Zhi Ruo.

"Natural talent… 3?" Indeed, nothing amazing and quite average cultivation talent, far from enough to enter the Flying Sword Sect. What was to be expected by someone who chose to become a servant.

Looking closer to see if he had missed anything, Xuan Hao saw that she had a normal physique as well. Nothing was out of the ordinary, just a normal servant.

But even then, Xuan Hao couldn't shake the feeling that something was not right.

Well, it didn't really matter at the moment, so Xuan Hao decided to throw his suspicions to the side for the moment.

For now, Xuan Hao returned back into his room in the pavilion and took out the Infernal Heart Grass.

Preparing the Infernal Heart Grass for consumption was easy as all he needed to do was mix it together with some water to dilute it.

This way, someone at the Qi Condensation Realm could consume it without dying from the large amount of fire qi inside the Infernal heart Grass.

If any alchemist saw how he ruined the medical efficiency of a peak grade spirit herb like this, they would surely want to take his life personally.

The reaction of the Raging Flame Sect would probably be even more extreme, as the Infernal Heart Grass that could help them breakthrough was wasted in such a manner.

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Chapter 31: Bright Sun Divine Physique, Small Sun

Qing Yi and Zhi Ruo both returned to the pavilion only when the sun was about to go down and just after entering the pavilion, Qing Yi discovered that someone was standing in the hallway looking at both of them.

"Master!"

"E-elder Xuan!"

Qing Yi happily called out to Xuan Hao, while Zhi Ruo was a little more nervous and shyly hid behind Qing Yi.

"Qing Yi and you should be the servant sent over by the servant quarters, Zhi Ruo?" Seeing how excited Qing Yi was upon seeing him, Xuan Hao smiled slightly as he turned to look at the hidden Zhi Ruo behind Qing Yi.

"Y-yes! Elder Xuan!" Zhi Ruo replied at the top of her voice. Maybe a little too loudly, as she soon hid away behind Qing Yi once again.

"No need to be nervous, you can just get used to living here slowly. Did Qing Yi show you where you can stay?"

"Ah, Yes! She already showed me a room earlier!"

"That's great, I will be borrowing Qing Yi for a moment then." Hearing an affirmative answer, Xuan Hao took his leave together with Qing Yi as Zhi Ruo returned to the room she was assigned to and started unpacking her luggage.

"Did you manage to find the Infernal Heart Grass master?" After they had walked out of the pavilion, Qing Yi couldn't hold herself back from asking anymore.

"Yes, I did, we are going to carry out the awakening of your divine physique at the training court as it would be easier to control in case the fire qi between heaven and earth goes out of control or some other kind of heavenly phenomenon decides to show up.

If that really happens, I should be able to control it. Better not have a heavenly phenomenon appear and broadcast that someone with a divine physique appeared… The amount of trouble and danger that would bring is enormous!" Looking at Qing Yi, Xuan Hao assured her as they made their way to the training court.

"So, what am I going to do? Just eat it?" As they made their way to the centre of the training court, Qing Yi curiously looked up at Xuan Hao and asked him.

"I diluted the Infernal Heart Grass in some water to lower the effects, so all you need to do is drink it." Saying so, Xuan Hao took out the medical concoction he had made earlier.

"Drink it and you will be able to awaken your divine physique!" Xuan Hao stated brightly as he handed the cup with the questionable medical concoction over to Qing Yi.

"…" Qing Yi looked doubtfully at the glass of water with what looked like red grass sadly floating around in it.

If any alchemist saw this medical concoction of her master, they would surely skin him alive…

"Good! Now drink it!"

Still doubtful about how much the water with red grass in it would help her, she decided to trust in her master.

Gulp

In one big gulp, Qing Yi drained the cup and almost immediately felt the change, as a fiery heat started spreading throughout her entire body.

"Sit down and relax your body, what you are feeling now is the Infernal heart Grass's effect flowing through your entire body. Soon a large heat should gather in your dantian, when that happen, try to spread the heat from the dantian into the rest of your body!"

As she felt the heat spreading through her body, Qing Yi heard her master and quickly did what he told her to and soon the fiery heat that had been spreading through her entire body gathered inside of her dantian.

The heat slowly rose, and Qing Yi started sweating as she tried her hardest to spread the heat gathering inside of her dantian out to the rest of her body.

The process took a long time, and it was only after a little over one hour had passed that Qing Yi finally managed to spread the fiery heat in her dantian to the rest of her body.

By now, she was extremely exhausted and sweating profusely. The heat alone was almost unbearable and if not for Xuan Hao assisting her from time to time, Qing Yi doubted whether she would have been able to do it.

"Hah…"

As the last wisp of heat left her dantian and spread into the rest of her body, a magical transformation took place.

The most obvious thing was her black hair becoming even darker as her brown eyes changed to red.

Other than that, her cultivation directly went from the fourth stage of Qi Condensation to the seventh stage of Qi Condensation. Putting her close to the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm.

Xuan Hao saw this and let out a satisfied smile while looking at Qing Yi with the help of the system.

Qing Yi

Talent: 38

[Physique: Bright Sun Divine Physique (Small Sun)]

It seemed that her talent had increased by 1 after the awakening. Not much, but still something.

Thinking about it, it was probably the effect of the Infernal Heart Grass and not the divine physique itself that had increased her talent.

Ignoring it, Xuan Hao instead focused on her physique, it had changed from dormant to having small sun written behind it.

Inspecting it further, Xuan Hao found out that small sun was the stage of the divine physique. Meaning that the physique could level up further in the future.

What was needed for that to happen was not written and Xuan Hao himself had no idea how to level up a divine physique as he had never heard about anything like it before.

"M-master, did it work…?" calling out to him, Qing Yi laid down exhaustedly on the ground as she asked.

"Hm? Ah, yes it worked splendidly! Congratulations Qing Yi, you have successfully awakened your divine physique!" Seeing the exhausted look on Qing Yi's face, Xuan Hao threw the idea of levelling up her divine physique to the back of his mind for now, as he focused on her instead.

"Hah… That's great…" With those last words, Qing Yi closed her eyes as she drifted off to sleep.

"…"

Looking down at his sweaty disciple living the life and sleeping under the stars, Xuan Hao bent down and picked her up before making his way back towards the pavilion.

"Well, at least I got her a servant at the right time…" mumbling so to himself, Xuan Hao ended up handing the sweaty and still asleep Qing Yi over to the confused Zhi Ruo. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

Looking at Zhi Ruo hurrying back to Qing Yi's room while carrying Qing Yi in her arms, Xuan Hao sighed at the scene.

A cultivation world was indeed awesome, even a frail servant girl had the strength to carry an adult man. Let alone a small girl like Qing Yi…

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Chapter 32: Morning~

Having left Qing Yi with Zhi Ruo, Xuan Hao retreated back into his room.

Xuan Hao wanted to teach Qing Yi the Burning Heaven Cultivation Mantra immediately, but she was currently sleeping. There was not much to do before Qing Yi woke up again, Xuan Hao decided to just spend the rest of the day cultivating in his room. At least the system did not prevent him from cultivating and he could still progress even without it's help, though quite slow compared to the instant progress the system brought about.

Siting quietly inside his room cultivating, time passed and before long the sun slowly rose in the distance.

Looking at the side of his room, Xuan Hao went to a bookshelf where he had placed the Heaven Burning cultivation mantra before he went to get the Infernal Heart Grass for Qing Yi.

Today, Xuan Hao had decided to finally help Qing Yi in cultivation. Now that she had awakened her divine physique, this was even more needed than her training her father's sword technique.

Walking out of his room, Xuan Hao immediately went to Qing Yi's room and knocked gently at her door before waiting for an answer.

"Ah, is it Zhi Ruo…? Ah! Master! Wait a moment!" Opening the door with a sleepy expression, Qing Yi woke up the moment she saw the person standing in front of her door and quickly disappeared back into her room. Most likely to make herself more presentable.

"W-what are you here for master!?" Appearing once again, still confused at the sudden appearance of Xuan Hao in front of her door so early in the morning, Qing Yi asked nervously.

"You have managed to awaken your divine physique, so it's time for you to get a fitting cultivation mantra as well! I have already chosen one that will fit well with your divine body for you, if you are ready, come to the training court and meet me there."

"Y-yes master, I will be there right away!"

"No need to hurry, you can just go to the dining hall and get something to eat first. After that, come to the training court."

"Yes, master!" Listing to what Xuan Hao said, Qing Yi did feel a slight pang of hunger hit her as she reluctantly agreed.

The thought of being able to cultivate again excited her. Earlier, when she woke up. The first thing she tried to do was cultivate and the speed at which she felt her strength increased brought along an intoxicating feeling.

Other than that, she also felt that her cultivation had increased after awakening her divine physique. Right now, it was even higher than Qing Chenyi!

Suddenly going from an ordinary talent to having a heaven defying talent was an amazing feeling and Qing Yi felt extremely happy at the moment and she felt like she had ascended in one step.

"Ah, but I heard that master reached the Nascent Soul Realm at only 21 years of age… Now that I think about it. Not many people outside the Flying Sword Sect seems to know about master… Why is that…? Even I only learned about master after entering the Flying Sword Sect…" As she walked towards the dining hall, Qing Yi suddenly thought about her master and how nobody seemed to know about him outside of the Flying Sword Sect.

The only thing that was talked about outside of the Flying Sword Sect was that he was a core elder and a Nascent Soul Realm expert, but nothing more and nothing less.

Thinking further about it, Qing Yi felt it was suspicious. Even if the Flying Sword Sect tried to hide it, there would still be spies from other powers and with how widespread her masters age was in the Flying Sword Sect, finding out would not be that hard…

Maybe the other powers simply chose not to believe in it…? A 21-year-old Nascent Soul Realm cultivator was indeed unbelievable to most and if she had not entered the Flying Sword Sect, she would just have thought that her master was some 100 year old man.

Regaining one's youth was easy at the Nascent Soul Realm and even if one looked like he was 20, he could easily be several hundreds of years old.

Indeed, having someone reach the Nascent Soul Realm at 21 years of age was indeed a great advertisement of how strong the sect was and how great their training was… It could also serve as something the younger generation could work towards…

"Qing Yi?"

"AH!" Putting her hands up in front of herself in a form of defensive pose, Qing Yi looked directly into the eyes of Zeng Shihan standing in front of her.

"Ah what? I have been calling out to you for the last five minutes with no response… By the way, where is Zhi Ruo?" Rolling her eyes, Zeng Shihan asked. Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

"Zhi Ruo? She was still sleeping when I left… And I was just thinking about something…"

"Sure~ let's get something to eat now, I'm starving!"

Chatting together a little longer, Zeng Shihan and Qing Yi went to eat breakfast before leaving to do their own thing.

Before leaving, Zeng Shihan told Qing Yi about a newcomer tournament coming up for the new disciple who just entered the sect. Apparently, the winner would be able to get an Earth Rank Artifact and a lot of spirit stones.

Even the second and third place got some decent artifacts, while the top ten would get spirit stones and some weaker artifacts.

Before awakening her divine physique, Qing Yi would not dare to participate in the newcomer tournament.

But now that she was at the seventh stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, she definitely stood a chance at the top ten! Qing Yi decided she would ask her master about participating in the newcomer tournament.

For now, she headed back towards the training court where her master was waiting for her, she would finally be able to learn a cultivation mantra from her master!

Compared to what the Qing family had, the one given to her by her master was bound to be better suited for her!

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Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough #Chapter 33: Unkown Threat and Training Qing Yi - Read Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough Chapter 33: Unkown Threat and Training Qing Yi Online - All Page - Novel Bin

Chapter 33: Unkown Threat and Training Qing Yi

At the training court, Xuan Hao was patiently waiting for Qing Yi to show up. Meditating while waiting for someone or something had slowly become a habit for Xuan Hao, as the relaxation it brought about was unmatched. Maybe the influence from the former Xuan Hao's soul that had merged into him affecting him more than he expected. Not that the relaxing feeling was unwelcome, just unexpected.

Xuan Hao still remembered just after he transmigrated over, he was overwhelmed with the unknown emotions and memories from the past Xuan Hao. Towards the end, he had forgotten his original name and decided to just go with Xuan Hao, as he had already merged together with the soul of the former Xuan Hao.

From the memories of the former Xuan Hao, he could see many weird things. From birth and all the way up till he entered the Core Formation Realm, he only saw foggy figures and outlines. Nothing could really be seen from it. Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

Only after he entered the Core Formation Realm did the memories start to become clearer as Xuan Hao could see the past Xuan Hao wandering alone through the world at a young age, passing through countless kingdoms and empires. Wandering without a goal or any location in mind, just trying to get away from something.

It was only after encountering the current Sect Master of the Flying Sword Sect Feng Chen, that the past Xuan Hao became friends with him and entered the Flying Sword Sect.

From here on out, the past Xuan Hao just spent his time quietly cultivating in his pavilion until he reached the Nascent Soul Realm. Only a few weeks after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, Xuan Hao passed over and merged together with the soul of the past Xuan Hao.

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Xuan Hao himself knew that he probably would not be able to relax and enjoy life like now forever and the missing memories warned him of something dangerous coming, something that the past Xuan Hao had fled from since even before reaching the Core Formation Realm.

From what Xuan Hao could gather after merging together with the past Xuan Hao, whatever he was fleeing from was not from the Ewaria continent.

Instead, it was something beyond it, something way more dangerous than the so-called Emperor Realm cultivators here it was…

"Master!"

"Huh…?" Opening his eyes, Xuan Hao blinked slightly in confusion. The feeling of being close to reaching something still lingered in his mind as he turned around and looked at his disciple, Qing Yi.

"Hm? Is something wrong master?" Blinking her eyes in confusion, Qing Yi tilted her head slightly to the side as she wondered why her master looked at her with such a confused expression on his face.

"It's nothing… Let's start the training now that you are here already!" Shaking his head slightly, Xuan Hao chose to just forget his earlier things and focused on training Qing Yi for now. The rest could wait for later when he was alone and had time to slowly meditate on it.

"For starters, what cultivation mantra are you using? I don't ask you to divulge the cultivation mantra as it is most likely a family heirloom or something along those lines. What I want to know is simply what it is aligned with, be it cloud qi, water qi, forest qi or so on." Explaining patiently, Xuan Hao waited for a response.

"Ah… I-I'm using an earth qi cultivation mantra, it was the only one I could use back when I tried in the past…" Fidgeting in embarrassment, Qing Yi explain softly. Xuan Hao doubted whether he would be able to hear anything she said if he was not a Nascent Soul cultivator.

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"Hmm, I see. No need to feel nervous or embarrassed about it. The reason why you could not cultivate anything before, was probably because your divine physique had not awakened yet. This will no longer be a problem for you.

Now, you cultivated earth qi before and will be switching to fire qi now. This is not really a problem and will at most take you a few hours. We will mostly spend the next few hours on this, as I will guide you in changing the remaining earth qi in your body out with fire qi. Sit down for now." Walking up to Qing Yi, Xuan Hao motioned for her to sit down, as he put his hand of her back.

"I will now channel fire qi from the surroundings and let it enter your body, meanwhile, you will try to expel all of the earth qi remaining in your body."

Qing Yi nodded to his instructions and Xuan Hao began slowly drawing in fire qi from the surroundings, as Qing Yi expelled the earth qi inside of her body out into the environment.

Slowly one hour passed and the last bit of earth qi left Qing Yi's body and now it was instead filled up with a rampant fire qi, it was only with Xuan Hao's help that it did not go out of control.

"Good, the first step is completed. Now I will inject some of my qi into your body in the pattern of your new cultivation mantra. Try to follow it and familiarise yourself with it." Smiling at the progress they had made so far, Xuan Hao quickly instructed Qing Yi in the next step.

Qing Yi did not say a word and only nodded slowly upon hearing Xuan Hao's words.

At the moment she was fully focused and did not dare to spare an ounce of attention on anything else.

Feeling her master's qi gently flowing into her dantian from her back, Qing Yi focused on the qi's movement pattern and tried her best to imitate it.

Ever so slowly, Qing Yi started to get a hang on it and the formerly rampant fire qi started to calm down and the environment of her dantian relaxed as well.

"Congratulations Qing Yi, you successfully managed to swap out the earth qi in your body with fire qi. Now you can truly start cultivating. Here, this is the Heaven Burning Mantra, it focuses on fire qi and should be suited for your divine physique as well." Looking up at her master with an exhausted look, Qing Yi happily took the book that her master handed over to her.

"Just go back and relax for now, you can try and read the Heaven Burning Mantra while recovering. The more you understand, the faster your cultivation and your strength should also increase along with it."

Smiling happily, Qing Yi hugged the book as she ran off towards her room. Full of fighting spirit. Excited about the things she would learn from the cultivation mantra that her master handed her.

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Chapter 34: Azure Sky Kingdom

Looking at the disappearing figure of Qing Yi, Xuan Hao wondered about the upcoming newcomer tournament in a weeks' time.

Considering the current strength of Qing Yi, she would definitely be able to participate in it and get a good ranking. Not to mention a good ranking, if she managed to learn the Heaven Burning mantra at least to an initial level, she would be able to easily take the first place!

But learning a Heaven Rank cultivation mantra was easier said than done and even gaining an initial understanding would take weeks if not months for Qing Yi. This was only because she had the Bright Sun Divine Physique, without it, learning the Heaven Burning Mantra would most likely be close to impossible.

In the end, whether or not she wanted to participate was up to her. The newcomer tournament mostly existed so as to allow the newly recruited disciples to get to know each other and mix together.

After all, most of the time they would meet each other would be when the elders help lectures for them regarding cultivation.

Qing Yi did not participate in the lectures held by the inner or outer elders, as she had already taken a master and was just following what little instructions Xuan Hao had left for her. Spending most of her time training and cultivating.

The upcoming newcomer tournament would definitely be a good opportunity for Qing Yi to mingle together with the other new disciples.

At least that was what Xuan Hao thought to himself as he made his way back towards his room in the pavilion.

As Qing Yi made her way back into her room, she immediately started reading the Heaven Burning Mantra and tried to learn as much as she could. Even though it was hard to comprehend, Qing Yi felt herself finding it easier and easier to read. By the time she fully recovered from exchanging her earth qi with fire qi, she immediately tried cultivating according to the way her master taught her.

The result was nothing short of surprising as Qing Yi could feel her strength slowly increasing, she even felt that she was close to breaking through to the next small realm already!

This was nothing short of amazing, soon, Qing Yi would be at the same cultivation realm as Wen Lu, who ended up becoming the first-place holder in the entrance examination of the Flying Sword Sect.

Thinking about this, Qing Yi felt grateful towards her master helping her.

As Qing Yi was training and trying her best to comprehend the Heaven Burning Mantra, Xuan Hao quietly cultivated in his room.

Like this, one week flew by and the newcomer tournament would soon begin.

Qing Yi had already prepared for it and with the help of her friend Zeng Shihan, she managed to sign up for the tournament.

Xuan Hao also learned that Qing Yi was going to participate in the newcomer tournament and decided to go there to watch as well.

The newcomer tournament was not only great for getting to know others, but was also a great learning opportunity for the new disciples of the Flying Sword Sect.

The fighting experience that they gained at the newcomer tournament would always be useful, even if they lost and there was not any danger of losing their life as it was just a friendly competition. The elders from the Flying Sword Sect ensured that nobody would end up getting hurt too badly or get fatally injured.

"Elder Xuan, are you going to watch the newcomer tournament as well?" As Xuan Hao made it to the tournament ground, a masculine voice called out to him from behind.

"Wang Hu… Yes, I'm going to watch the newcomer tournament. My disciple will be participating as well. What about you? I have not seen your brother Wang Lan around lately?"

"I see, I'm here to see if any of the new blood can catch my interest. Maybe some of them toughened up after the first week! Haha, you never know! My brother on the other hand went out to check out something around the border of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

Apparently, the Heavenly Sky Imperial family requested for us and the other three to send over a Nascent Soul expert to assist with something there." Smiling widely, Wang Hu explained his reason for watching the newcomer tournament, as his face slowly became a little more serious upon mentioning where his brother was.

"I see… Is it the border with the Azure Sky Kingdom?" Thinking about it for a while, Xuan Hao remembered that the Heavenly Sky Kingdom was on not so friendly terms with the Azure Sky Kingdom.

"Yes, it is our borders with the Azure Sky Kingdom…"

Skirmishes had erupted from time to time at their borders, but the participants in those had never exceeded the Core Formation Realm.

For the Heavenly Sky Kingdom to request Nascent Soul experts from the four big sects could only mean that the skirmishes had evolved beyond the stage of only being fighting between Core Formation Realm experts.

"Hah…"

Letting out an exhausted sigh, Xuan Hao thought about the implications of it.

A full-blown war was not impossible, even if both the Heavenly Sky Kingdom and Azure Sky Kingdom belonged to the same Empire, The Great Sky Empire.

The Great Sky Empire did not care what happened between its kingdoms and one kingdom destroying another was ignored. No matter what, the territory still belonged to the Great Sky Empire and it was only the person who controlled it that had changed.

The only time where the Great Sky Empire would try to prevent a war between kingdoms was if the kingdom had a Domain Lord present in it.

Nascent Soul experts did not mean a lot in a giant empire like the Great Sky Empire, but Domain Lords were worth a lot and even the weakest Domain Lord was precious to the Great Sky Empire.

Thinking about it, Xuan Hao felt like his strength was still too low in the world. Maybe he was strong in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, but what about outside of it? At most he could be considered decent, as for being able to freely travel through the Ewaria continent, he would first have to reach the Domain Lord Realm.

Sitting down together with Wang Hu, Xuan Hao looked at the stage where the newcomer tournament would take place.L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

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Chapter 35: Newcomer Tournament

The newcomer tournament was a big thing for many disciples in the Flying Sword Sect and attracted some of the older disciples as well. Many of them came because they wanted to see how the new disciples were doing.

Most didn't have time to come watch the entrance examination after all, so the newcomer tournament helped in that regard and allowed them to see how the new disciples were doing.

Some came to watch the entire tournament, while some would just stop by and watch a few matches before moving on.

Qing Yi stood in the participants waiting area and looked around nervously at the other participants. The other participants were the same people who had competed in the entrance examination together with her.

Luckily, the number of participants were only around one hundred, nowhere near the amount at the entrance examination. Qing Yi even managed to spot Wen Lu, the one who managed to rank number one in the entrance examination.

Currently he was surrounded by people on all sides as he smiled cheekily at the other contestants. Clearly not putting them in his eyes.

Qing Yi decided that ignoring such an individual would be the best option and so she did just that. Making sure to take a distance between herself and the so-called number one among the new disciples.

Time slowly passed and soon the place was packed with people, a few elders were sent out in the venue to maintain order and make sure the disciples didn't enter the place where the contestants would be competing.

Xuan Hao himself was surprised at the amount of people that showed up just to watch the newcomer tournament and turned to look at Wang Hu questioningly.

"Hm? Ah, this is normal… Most of the disciples have nothing much going on at the moment, as most of their lectures are cancelled for the newcomer tournament, so they tend to come over here to take a look.

Though it is mostly because most of the elders tend to wait until the newcomer tournament until they choose a new disciple, so as to allow the disciples to familiarise themselves with the sect and see how much they can learn and improve within one weeks' time. The same reason why I'm here, Haha!" Smiling broadly, Wang Hu explained the reason why the number of people was so high at the newcomer tournament.

"I bet most of those brats down there is on the lookout for who they will be competing over resources of the sect with." Added Wang Hu as he narrowed his eyes and looked at the excited crowd surrounding the tournament venue.

As the people slowly settled down, the contestants slowly made their way into the venue. Xuan Hao managed to spot Qing Yi towards the end, as she was one of the last people to enter the venue.

The focus of most of the disciples from the sect were on Wen Lu, as he was the one with the highest talent among the new disciples and he even managed to get accepted as a disciple of a quite famous inner elder before even entering the Flying Sword Sect.

This had caused the other inner sect disciples of the Flying Sword Sect to feel cautious towards their new junior, as he would most likely take some of the resources of the sect that would have been used by them beforehand.

"I will be announcing the rules of the tournament, so everybody quiet down!" A loud voice echoed through the entire venue as all the disciples quickly shut up and looked towards the centre of the venue where an elderly man was now standing.

"Good! The rules will be simple! Each contestant will come up on the stage and draw a number from 1 to 100. Number 1 will fight number 100 and number 2 will fight number 99 and so on. Fighting will be conducted within the designated zones on the avenue and stepping out of bounds disqualifies you.

The objective is to either knock your opponent out of bounds, have them surrender or knock them out. No lethal method is allowed and will result in instant disqualification! That is all, will the first contestant step up?" Relaying the rules for all to hear, the old man motioned towards the contestants, as they quickly moved into a fine line and made their way up to the old man and drew out a number.

"Ah, I got number 87, what about you?"

"Mine is 46, looks like we are not going to fight each other!"

"Yeah, looks like luck is on our side in that regard at least, haha!"

Qing Yi made her way up to the elder and looked at the contestant, some were happy as they looked at their number, while others were dispirited.

"Damn, I got number 99… Looks like I'm going up against that Wen Lu… Wish me luck friends!"

"We feel for you! At least go down like a man and fight it out, No surrendering!"

"Haha, you got it! At least I will get to see why that Wen Lu was ranked number one in the entrance examination!"

The most curious one was the one that got to go up against Wen Lu, the boy looked a bit dispirited at first but later got his fighting spirit back upon hearing the encouragement from the other contestants.

Qing Yi had no idea what to make of this and just decided to give a silent prayer for the boy like most of the other contestants had done.

"Qing Yi? Draw a number and recite it."

Coming to a stop in front of the elder, Qing Yi slowly lifted her hand and entered the pouch that the elder was holding in his hand.

"Number 26!"

Reciting the number written on it, Qing Yi looked up at the elder and waited for him.

"Hmm… Number 26, you will be going against number 75. Go back and wait until your number is called."

Signalling for Qing Yi to return to where the rest of the contestants were waiting, the elder quickly announced her number before moving on to the next contestant.

"Number 100 and 1, go towards stage 1. Number 99 and 2 go towards stage 2-…."

Soon, all the contestants got a number and the elder started calling for the different contestants to move towards their stage.

With this, the newcomer tournament officially started.

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Chapter 36: The Start of the Tournament! Wen Lu vs ???

Of all the stages, Qing Yi focused on the one with Wen Lu on it. Personally, she never really saw him fighting before and was quite curious about how strong he truly was.

Many other disciples were of the same mind as Qing Yi and most of them focused on stage number 2 where Wen Lu and the boy from earlier would be competing.

As the two moved up on the stage, the boy who was number 99 was filled with fighting spirit as he clenched his hands together and looked straight at Wen Lu with no fear present in his eyes.

"Just surrender, you have no chance of beating me…" Glancing at the boy standing in front of him, Wen Lu didn't even bother with him and just waved his hand dismissingly at him.

"Like hell I'm going to surrender without a fight!" The boy stomped the ground as his eyes lit up with even more fighting spirit than before. The qi inside of him started to churn as the boy got ready to put his all into fighting Wen Lu.

"If you say so… Let's end this quickly!" Saying that, Wen Lu turned back and looked slightly annoyed at the boy insisting on challenging him.

"Stage 2, you may begin fighting when ready!" The elder in charge of the stage 2 said as he looked at the boy challenging Wen Lu with admiration. Having the courage to stand against someone clearly superior to himself and still fight back was an admirable feat and most of the elder's present nodded approvingly at the scene. Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

Wen Lu did not wait any further and suddenly he moved! His body was like a flash of light, sending a palm strike toward the boy's chest!

Whew!

A clear sound was emitted from Wen Lu's body as he moved. This was the sound produced from the movement technique he used and sounded extremely terrifying to the listeners.

The boy's pupils constricted suddenly. Wen Lu was too fast, and he had covered the distance of dozen meters between them in a blink of an eye to be in front of the boy.

His palm's five finger were like five sharp swords directly piercing towards the boy.

The boy looked like he had no way of escaping, but the extremely calm look on hisuface told otherwise, as it was like the surrounding suddenly slowed down.

In a split moment, the boy barely managed to dodge to the side and during the moment of confusion he gently pushed Wen Lu. Sending him out of the second stage.

"Haha, looks like I won." The boy smiled brightly as he looked at the speechless Wen Lu.

Wen Lu didn't know what happened, he planned to just finish the boy quickly and get it over with. Never in his wildest dream did he imagine that he would get disqualified! And in such a humiliating way as well!

"You! You cheated!" Not accepting his defeat, Wen Lu screamed briefly as he looked at the elder. Hoping he would side with him.

"Number 99 wins, number 2 disqualified." The elder did not care about Wen Lu's feelings and instead looked at the boy left of the stage approvingly.

Wen Lu had clearly been too confident and forgot about the size of the stage and ended up being disqualified because of it. Hopefully, he would learn to not underestimate his opponent again.

The rest of the crowd was just as surprised at the outcome as Wen Lu. The only exception would be Wang Hu and Xuan Hao, who had long since seen through the boy on the stage.

"Hah, didn't expect such a fellow to hide among the contestants… He is at the eighth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, yet still chose to hide his cultivation…" Xuan Hao looked at the young boy at stage smiling innocently at the surrounding disciples and elders.

"Haha, indeed! I remember seeing him at the entrance examination, back then he was only at the sixth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm! For him to have reached the eighth stage so quickly and still have stable foundation… Looks like he had a lucky encounter of some sort over the week!" Wang Hu smiled brightly as he looked at the boy who suddenly became the centre of attention.

"Hm? Wang Hu, want to take him in as a disciple?"

"It's too early to tell, I will see how he preforms over the rest of the tournament before deciding on it." Shaking his head, Wang Hu disagreed and decided to take a wait and see approach.

"Natural talent 23…"

Looking at him with the help of the system, Xuan Hao discovered that the boy's talent was way above the current number one genius of the Flying Sword Sect, Ling Song. Still, it was below Qing Yi's and nowhere near the 50 needed to complete the next side quest of the system.

"You! Just you wait, I will have my revenge!" Stomping off while grinding his teeth, Wen Lu threateningly called in the direction of the boy before disappearing from the tournament venue.

"Number two, would you please go over to the rest of the contestants and wait for the first elimination round to finish?" The elder said smilingly as he looked at the boy who just won against the disciple determined to most likely win the newcomer tournament.

"Of course!" Smiling in return to the elder, the boy slowly made his way over to the rest of the contestants, where he was soon surrounded by a group of curious contestants wondering how he managed to beat Wen Lu.

Qing Yi looked at this from a distance and warned herself not to be overconfident. The Flying Sword Sect was filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. One misstep in the newcomer tournament could cost her dearly, as she did not know if anyone else decided to hide their true skills.

"Number 26 and 75 go towards stage 5 and get ready to fight!"

Listing to the elder announcing the next round of fights, Qing Yi heard her own number being called out and quickly made her way over to stage 5.

The stage itself was located somewhat away from the centre of the venue and Qing Yi made her way onto the stage as she looked at the other side of the stage and saw her opponent.

A boy around the same age as her, looking relatively confident in himself as he looked at Qing Yi with fighting spirit.

Qing Yi did not say anything as well and instead just got into a fighting position, getting ready to fight at a moment's notice.

The fights at the tournament did not allow any form of weapon be used as even the weakest weapon would be able to easily kill off your opponent when strengthened with qi.

The Flying Sword Sect only allowed disciples who reached the Foundation Establishment Realm to use swords and other weapons when fighting, as they had learned a certain amount of control at that stage and their bodies would be able to take more damage than when they were still at the Qi Condensation Realm.

"Stage 5, you may begin fighting when ready!" With the elders announcement, Qing Yi's first fight in the newcomer tournament officially started.

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Chapter 37: Hit Him Where it Hurts!

Hearing the elder announcing the beginning of her duel, Qing Yi did not move immediately and instead started to observe her opponent.

She learned from Wen Lu's example earlier and did not charge at the opponent the moment that the elder announced the start of the duel.

The boy in front of Qing Yi, also cautiously observed her without attacking immediately. From the looks of things, Wen Lu helped everyone learn not to be overconfident in oneself… Even the confident looking boy in front of Qing Yi started acting more cautiously. L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

Time slowly passed and after one minute passed, the boy finally grew impatient and attacked.

The attack was a simple palm strike with his qi infused into it, as the boy ran full speed towards Qing Yi.

Qing Yi almost felt that he looked comical, as he did not use any movement technique and all he did was infuse his palm with some qi as he ran straight at her. The amount of confidence he showed when he first entered the stage was baffling and Qing Yi had no idea where the boy got it from in the first place.

Stepping slightly to the side to dodge the attack of the boy, Qing Yi gathered the qi inside the centre of her palm as she hit the side of the boy.

"ARGH!"

Letting out a dramatic sound effect, the boy tumbled to the ground with a pale face.

Not giving the boy a chance to recover, Qing Yi ruthlessly sent him flying of the stage with another attack as he tried to stand up again.

"Number 26 wins, number 75 disqualified!" The elder announced the results as he told Qing Yi to return to the rest of the contestants and wait for the first elimination round to finish, while the boy who lost was sent out of the venue like Wen Lu.

The first round was relatively easy for Qing Yi and she passed it without any problems.

The competition continued and Qing Yi watched as several people revealed themselves to be stronger than others expected in a surprising manner.

There was even a girl who was only at the fifth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, but she still managed to beat someone at the seventh stage of the Qi Condensation Realm!"

Outside of all this, Qing Yi still thought that the boy who managed to win against Wen Lu was the biggest threat. After all, the only reason why the girl managed to win against someone 2 stages above her were because she tricked him with… less favourable tactics…

At least the boy who won over Wen Lu looked like he hid his cultivation or something along the line, while the girl just used her assets to sway the mind of the innocent young boy…

Not thinking about it anymore, Qing Yi instead focused on the other duels taking place around the venue.

Xuan Hao was also looking around the venue, just to make sure he hadn't missed any talents or hidden geniuses.

From what Xuan Hao read back on earth, he remembered that the main characters tended to show up in these kinds of situations. Sadly, the only one who had that kind of aura at the moment was the boy who beat Wen Lu.

All he needed was a random grandpa inside of a magical ring teaching him everything he knew about cultivation and alchemy…

"Number 26 and 73 go towards stage 3 and get ready to fight!"

As Xuan Hao was thinking about the boy who beat Wen Lu, Qing Yi's number was called out and caused him to focus back on the venue once again. Looking towards the direction of stage 3.

Qing Yi walked up onto the stage and faced off against her second opponent with a cautious look on her face. The person in front of her was not like the one before, no, the one standing in front of her was at the same cultivation realm as her. The seventh stage of the Qi Condensation Realm!

Compared to anything she faced before, this would be the hardest fight she ever had, outside of the demon beast and maybe a few fights back in the Qing family… On another note, maybe the fight would not really be that hard after all…

"Stage 3, you may begin fighting at will!" With the announcement of the elder, the boy in front of Qing Yi directly launched an attack without waiting.

"Whew!"

A clear sound was emitted from the boy's fist as it flew towards Qing Yi at a speed faster than a normal person could see.

Focusing on the incoming fist, Qing Yi's pupil constricted as her palm's five fingers suddenly engulfed the fist attack by the boy and stopped it right before it hit her.

"Hm?"

Letting out a surprised sound, the boy quickly tried to pull back his fist, but the five white and slender fingers of Qing Yi held it in place with a steel like grip. Not letting go, no matter how much the boy tried to pull his hand back.

The boy decided to just give up and was about to throw another attack towards Qing Yi, but up close, Qing Yi was able to use her one free hand to punch the boy where it hurt the most before he managed to attack.

"AAARGH!"

A pitiful scream full of despair echoed through the venue as all the contestant turned towards the stage where Qing Yi was standing. A perfect counterattack.

Below her, the boy was rolling around holding the place where Qing Yi had ruthlessly hit him. The one weakness that she knew that she could take advantage of.

Looking at this scene, she remembered what her master had told her before she had made her way to the contest venue.

"Master, is there any good way for me to win…? No matter how hard I think about it, I will definitely not stand a chance against those with more fighting experience than me…" Qing Yi looked downtrodden and looked at her master with upturned eyes at her master. Hoping he would grace her with a secret fighting method or something to help her in the upcoming newcomer tournament.

"Hah… Sure, listen here! When you fight the male contestants, all you have to do is hit the-"

Remembering her master's wise words, Qing Yi looked smilingly at the boy rolling around on the ground beneath her.

Her master was indeed wise, after just casually throwing a punch there, the boy was already down on the ground unable to fight anymore.

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Chapter 38: The Shameless One, Future Troubles of Wang Hu

As Qing Yi was overlooking the boy rolling around screaming in agony on the ground, the surrounding contestants, elders and disciples who came to watch looked at her with a scared expression plastered on their face. L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

This was especially so for the male contestants, who prayed to the heavens above that they would not end up going against her in the next round.

"N-number 26 wins…" Recovering, the elder in charge of Qing Yi's stage quickly announced her victory as he watched Qing Yi walk towards the rest of the contestants. Waiting quietly for the next round of elimination to begin.

"… Your disciple sure is something, Elder Xuan…" Wang Hu shivered slightly as he looked at Qing Yi before turning towards Xuan Hao, looking at him with wry smile.

"Indeed, she is quite talented!" Xuan Hao did not sense anything wrong with the way Wang Hu talked and answered him in a slightly proud tone.

"Number 99 and number 34, go towards stage 1 and get ready to fight!" An elder announced as the boy who beat Wen Lu made his way towards stage number 1.

In front of him was a girl around the age of 17, clearly older than the boy.

The girl had managed to get the third place back at the entrance examination and still did not have a master. This had in turn allowed her to enjoy quite a bit of attention from the older disciples of the sect, as well as some of the elders hoping to take her in as their disciple, she was after all the most talented female disciple among the younger generation.

"Hmph, boy, I'm not like that Wen Lu and won't underestimate you like he did. You won't be able to sneak attack me like you did him! Surrender and I will spare you the humiliation!" The girl arrogantly swayed her hips as she looked disdainfully at the boy standing in front of her.

"Good! I'm lacking in talent and need to obtain advice from sister fairy, I hope sister fairy will go easy on me." The boy bowed slightly as he got ready to fight.

The spectators looked on weirdly as they wondered how the boy came up with such a cheesy line.

"… You can take him as a disciple, I won't fight you…" Xuan Hao looked at the boy and then back up at Wang Hu as he stated his willingness to give up on the boy. Xuan Hao had enough to deal with at the moment, having a cheesy main character won't help in any way…

"…" A few black lines appeared on the side of Wang Hu's head as he looked at Xuan Hao and then the boy down at the stage, then he sighed and shook his head a bit before deciding not to argue with Xuan Hao.

"Since you want to fight, then alright… Don't say I didn't warn you!" The girl stepped forward as her clothes fluttered in the wind. Her feet landed softly on the ground, like an otherworldly fairy had descended. The girl was beautiful beyond belief and not as much as a speck of dust managed to come in contact with her as she moved directly in front of the boy.

"My name is Yi Xuan." Yi Xuan came to a stop in front of the boy as she introduced herself.

"Lu Wen!" The boy said his name as he looked at Yi Xuan with a smile on his lips.

"Stage 1, you may begin fighting when ready." The elder in charge of stage 1 said in a slightly annoyed tone as he looked at the two, who looked like they were about to flirt with one another at any moment.

Yi Xuan's eyes shone slightly upon hearing the elder and quickly took a bit more distance from Lu Wen as the sun shone down on her beautiful jade white skin. She almost looked like an immortal goddess in human form as she smiled slightly upon seeing the crowd of people staring at her with eyes full of adoration and awe.

Lu Wen gulped slightly as he looked at her. His opponent was an otherworldly maiden. Although she looked weak and frail, Lu Wen knew that she was strong and not to be underestimated.

But Lu Wen had no plans on showing mercy. He knew that he did not have the qualifications to show mercy, as the girl in front of him was most likely at the same cultivation realm as himself!

Yi Xuan held her hands behind her back and stood still, as she waited for Lu Wen to make his move.

She had clearly learned from Wen Lu and did not attack immediately.

"Ahm… Ladies first… It's better you be first!" Clearly not intending to go first, Lu Wen shamelessly told Yi Xuan as he smiled cheekily.

"Quite a disciple you have chosen Wang Hu…" At this moment even Xuan Hao felt like hitting him.

"…" Wang Hu had nothing to say, he had indeed decided to take in Lu Wen as his disciple. After all, who would say no to such a talented disciple?

But the more he looked at it, the more he felt like this Lu Wen was more trouble than it was worth. Looking over at Xuan Hao, he could not help but admire his foresight in giving up on taking in Wen Lu.

No matter what, someone would have to train such a talented disciple and from the looks of it, he had become the scapegoat…

"Hah… Why couldn't we get a normal talent, like Ling Song…?" Wang Hu had no idea what kind of disciple he had decided to take in, but at least he knew that he was talented. All that needed to be fixed was his behaviour…

"Ah, lady fairy, remember to be gentle, I'm not as strong as you are!" As Wang Hu made up his mind to correct this unfilial disciple, he heard that person's shameless voice and almost felt like spitting out blood.

I'm not even your master yet, at least leave some face for when I take you in!

Wang Hu seemed to see all the difficulties in front of him in the future and seemed to grow 10 years older in an instant.

"Then I'll make my move, watch out!" Not affected by Lu Wen's shamelessness, Yi Xuan seemed to have seen an opening and immediately took the chance to launch an attack.

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Chapter 39: Breaking Through in the Middle of Fighting!

Yi Xuan did not bother waiting any longer and suddenly moved! Her body was like a flash of white light as qi started gathering around the centre of her palm as she launched an attack directly towards Lu Wen's chest.

Whew!

The palm of Yi Xuan flew through the air and barely managed to miss Lu Wen as he dodged to the side.

Not stopping, Yi Xuan quickly turned around and launched another palm attack in the direction of Lu Wen.

Swoosh!

Not minding the attacks Yi Xuan sent at him in a constant barrage, Lu Wen dodged one attack after another. Not trying to attack at all as he only spent his energy on dodging the endless barrage of attacks launched by Yi Xuan.

"… Is he looking to exhaust all of her energy…?" Xuan Hao felt slightly speechless as he looks at this scene.

Exhausting a cultivator was indeed a possibility, but it would take a long time, especially when Yi Xuan didn't expend any qi and only gathered it at her palm ready for an attack.

"…" Wang Hu decided to not comment at the current state of the fight and just looked off into another direction.

As the audience prepared themselves for a prolonged fight, Yi Xuan suddenly moved at a speed beyond what most of the new disciples could see and instantly appeared in front of Lu Wen.

Having no way of escaping such speed, Lu Wen reacted quickly and switched from dodging to attacking in an instant.

Lu Wen launched his own attack and met Yi Xuan's attack head on.

Ka-cha!

The stone stage Lu Wen was standing on had been shattered as a spider web like crack appeared, spreading out with Lu Wen as the centre.

The attack from Yi Xuan had been able to shatter the stone stage beneath Lu Wen!

Both Yi Xuan and Lu Wen quickly jumped away from each other after the clash.

Wow!

Lu Wen's pupils contracted as he looked up at his hands as he felt a throbbing sensation of pain spread through them. The attack from earlier had almost managed to break both his arms!

Turning to look at her hand's Lu Wen was surprised. Her hands were weak-looking and had the soft textures of a young girl who had never worked in her life, yet those weak-looking hands almost managed to break both his hands!

Lu Wen felt a slight shiver go through him as he saw Yi Xuan getting ready to attack once again, he did not dare underestimate her again and decided to go all out. Showing her the respect that she deserved.

"Hah!" Letting out a low voice, Lu Wen felt himself suddenly powerup, he had managed to breakthrough in his body cultivation method just after Yi Xuan hit him and managed to reach the next realm.

Xuan Hao had a speechless look as he wondered whether he could powerup while fighting as well. Maybe he would also be able to do something like that in the future?

Or was powering up a privilege for some destined main characters? Xuan Hao honestly had no clue, even with all the memories of the past Xuan Hao that he merged with, there was nothing about people powering up after being beaten up.

Wang Hu was no better as he looked on speechless as Lu Wen broke through from the eighth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm to the ninth stage.

"What the hell…" Yi Xuan was just as speechless as she looked at Lu Wen. Sitting down not knowing what to do, she decided to wait for him to finish his breakthrough.

After being surprised by Lu Wen's sudden breakthrough, everyone turned their attention onto the other stages. After all, a breakthrough took time… In some cases, a breakthrough could even take hours, as the cultivator would need to stabilise his realm after the breakthrough.

Soon the second round of the competition finished as the third one soon began, Lu Wen had still not finished as he was automatically disqualified, causing Yi Xuan to move on to the third round of the competition.

Xuan Hao looked weirdly at the still cultivating Lu Wen, he probably thought people would wait for him to finish his breakthrough or something.

Xuan Hao even started feeling a little pity for him as some of the elders carried him out of the stage and sat him down on the ground, so other contestants could use the space.

Following Lu Wen's sad ending in the competition, both Qing Yi and Yi Xuan managed to win all their coming fights and ended up facing each other in the final.

"Hm? Where am I? Didn't I breakthrough on the stage earlier?"

It was only when the elder announced for Qing Yi and Yi Xuan to make their way to the first stage and fight it out that Lu Wen woke up from his breakthrough. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

"Ah, what is Yi Xuan doing on stage 1? Weren't we just fighting?" Clearly not knowing what was happening, Lu Wen looked confusedly at Yi Xuan and Qing Yi making their way onto stage 1.

"Ah, as you were not able to fight back in the second round, you were disqualified from the tournament!" A kind elder walked up to Lu Wen and explained his situation to him.

"Hah? Disqualified? Why was I disqualified? Couldn't you just wait for me to finish breaking through?!" Feeling aggrieved upon hearing he was disqualified, Lu Wen looked annoyed and frustrated.

"Why would we do that? We also have things to do other than watching a tournament… You took over two hours to breakthrough, who would want to wait that long doing nothing…?" Raising an eyebrow, the elder looked annoyed as he explained to Lu Wen before making his way back towards the other elders watching the tournament.

Xuan Hao and Wang Hu both caught wind of this conversation and looked at each other.

"Hehe, good luck with your new disciple Wang Hu… hehe!"

"This damnable brat… How can someone suddenly turn arrogant like that…? Oh no! Maybe he has a personality disorder as well!?" Lamenting at the various problems that his new disciple had, Wang Hu wondered whether it was really worth it for the Flying Sword Sect… Even if he was talented.

Xuan Hao decided not to frustrate Wang Hu anymore, as he looked like he was about to go down and beat up Lu Wen at any moment…

What would happen to Lu Wen when Wang Hu took him in as a disciple, if he already wanted to beat him up before taking him in…?

Xuan Hao wondered how Lu Wen would survive as he turned and look towards stage 1 where Qing Yi was preparing for the final fight.

In this tournament she had done well and shown that she knew how to fight, even impressing her fellow disciples.

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Chapter 40: The Finals

Stepping up and entering stage 1, Qing Yi looked at the girl in front of her cautiously. The girl, was called Yi Xuan and she managed to place third in the entrance examination, compared to her who entered only due to her master's help.

Yi Xuan was even one small cultivation realm above her and was most definitely stronger than she was, but Qing Yi did not let this dissuade her from fighting. No matter what, she had decided to give the fight her all.

"Hello, I'm Qing Yi." Walking up to Yi Xuan, Qing Yi bowed slightly as she introduced herself.

"Yi Xuan. Hope we can have a good fight!" Yi Xuan smiled slightly upon seeing Qing Yi's introduction.

The difference between the final fight in the newcomer tournament compared to the rest of the fights was obvious as everyone had their eyes focused on stage 1, waiting for the battle to begin.

"Yi Xuan, Qing Yi, both of you may begin fighting when you are ready!" The elder in charge of stage 1 announced the beginning of the final match and the crowd eagerly watched as the final match began.

Qing Yi and Yi Xuan quickly took a few meters distance from each other before starting to measure one another up. Trying to grasp an opening in the other party's defence.

In an instant Yi Xuan suddenly shot forward as she suddenly launched an attack towards Qing Yi.

When the surrounding people saw this scene, they all felt that the outcome of the match had already been determined. As for Qing Yi, her heart became nervous as she looked at the incoming attack from Yi Xuan. How could she block off this attack?

At the moment when Yi Xuan appeared directly in front of Qing Yi, she barely managed to raise both her hands in a defensive posture before she suddenly felt like both her arms were about to break at any moment under the pressure of Yi Xuan's attack.

The qi inside her dantian frantically flowed towards the point of impact trying to repair the damage and fend off the foreign qi that was slowly invading Qing Yi's body through her arms.

It was the moment that the foreign qi of Yi Xuan reached her dantian that Qing Yi suddenly felt her qi flare up as it aggressively pushed the foreign qi out of her body and expelling it directly at Yi Xuan, causing her to retreat in pain at the sudden burst of qi hitting her.

Feeling the power of her qi having recovered completely along with an illusion of endless power suddenly flowing through her, Qing Yi attacked Yi Xuan before she managed to recover from the earlier burst of qi hitting her.

The attack came too fast for Yi Xuan to react and she was hit directly in the chest as she tried to make more distance between the two of them, she breathed in and out with a bit of difficulty before refocusing herself and countering Qing Yi's follow up attack.

The attack from Qing Yi was simple and lacked any sort of technique, clearly, she had not trained in any sort of martial technique for close quarters combat and was only using her fists infused with qi to attack Yi Xuan.

Yi Xuan on the other hand was a little different and at least trained in some martial art techniques for close quarter combat. The attack earlier which resulted in her qi infiltrating Qing Yi's body was an example of such a technique.

Yi Xuan would understandably not choose to use the same martial technique again, as she got hit by a backlash last time.

Blocking Qing Yi's attack, Yi Xuan thought about how she should deal with her.

Swoosh!

Dodging an incoming attack by Qing Yi, Yi Xuan managed to draw a distance between the two of them.

Qing Yi knew this was bad as she had lost the upper hand and the chances of Yi Xuan being caught off guard once again was close to none.

Yi Xuan knew this as she took her time to contemplate over how she would go about her next and possibly final attack.

"Your new disciple is quite strong Xuan Hao, but she seems to not have trained any sort of martial technique for close combat… This match is already over…" Looking at Qing Yi with a slight shake of his head Wang Hu determined the outcome of the match.

"Indeed… Looks like I will have to find a martial technique for her, so she won't be so hopeless without a weapon…" Looking down at Qing Yi, Xuan Hao sighed slightly as he saw Yi Xuan take advantage of her lack of a good martial technique and knock Qing Yi out of the stage in one simple yet complicated move. The initial posting of this chapter occurred via noovelllbbin

Qing Yi, who was hit by the attack looked slightly bewildered and sad at the outcome of the fight.

While she already knew that she was not at the same cultivation realm as her opponent, she did not believe the reason that she would lose would be her lack of any sort of martial technique.

Let alone a good palm technique for fighting close quarters, she had never trained even the weakest martial technique. All she had ever trained before was sword techniques that her father had taught to her since she was small…

"Hah…" Sighing at the outcome, Qing Yi turned to look at the place where her master was sitting.

"Xuan Hao, your disciple is looking over here! Remember to give her a bright smile and don't show any sort of disappointment, that will only make the little one more sad than she already is! Losing is not a fun thing, but we all need to go through it in the process of learning…" Wan Hu nudged Xuan Hao's shoulder as he told him.

Xuan Hao heard him clear as day and turned to look over in Qing Yi's direction.

At the moment, Qing Yi looked beaten up with a slightly swollen eye from a fist attack that had managed to hit her in the face. This made her look quite pitiful, and Xuan Hao could not help but feel bad for her.

"It's fine to lose Qing Yi, it's a part of the learning process, just show her how much you can improve in the next tournament that the sect holds!" Sending over his divine sense, Xuan Hao transferred a message to her.

Qing Yi heard her master's words and instantly lit up with determination shining in her eyes as she turned to look towards Yi Xuan.

"The winner of this year's newcomer tournament is Yi Xuan!" As the elder announced the result of the final match, Qing Yi made her way out of the venue to meet up with her friend Zhi Ruo and Zeng Shihan.

"You don't have to worry so much about it, Qing Yi, you managed to get second place! That in itself is already awesome!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you will be able to win against that Yi Xuan in the future!"

"Indeed, there is always a next time!" Hearing both her friends, Qing Yi smiled brightly as the three of them made their way out of the tournament ground.

Meanwhile, Xuan Hao watched Qing Yi taking off with a wry smile on his lips.

"What about the reward for second place…? Why do you just leave…? Don't you want the reward, or did you just forget?"

"Second place you may come up on the stage for the reward ceremony! Second place? Qing Yi! Is she still there?" As Xuan Hao saw the elder looking around confused on the stage wondering where Qing Yi went, Xuan Hao sighed to himself.

Hah… Having a disciple was indeed troublesome…

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Chapter 41: Trouble Brewing

After the newcomer tournament had finished, Xuan Hao and Qing Yi both did not have much to do in the coming days and most of the time was spent with Xuan Hao training Qing Yi in anything from her cultivation mantra and martial techniques that she clearly lacked in. L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

But one of the things that Qing Yi managed to make the most progress in was the Autumn Wind Sword that her father had taught her.

"Hah!"

Swish!

A sword attack flew through the air and soon made contact to a training dummy.

Ka-cha!

The training dummy let out a metal clanging as the sword managed to penetrate deep into its body, leaving behind another scar on its already scar filled body.

The strength behind the sword strike was clear as day and Qing Yi could feel that her strength had increased a lot over the past few months and at the moment, she was only a single step away from breaking through and reaching the foundation establishment realm!

"Good! Your strength with the sword has already reached the foundation establishment realm. Now all you need is an opportunity to breakthrough!"

Xuan Hao looked happily at Qing Yi, soon he would be able to complete the main quest of the system.

While he still had no clue what the reward for completing the main quest was, at least he hoped that it would be something good. After all, a main quest normally had better rewards than a side quest…

Other than training hard under Xuan Hao's guidance over the last few months, Qing Yi also managed to get along with Zhi Ruo and the two of them ended up spending a lot of time together whenever she was not training.

Zeng Shihan also joined the two of them whenever she had the time for it, but that in itself was not often as she recently managed to get a job within the sect. This had allowed her more resources, but also gave her less free time than before.

Over the past few months, Qing Yi had spent her time well and managed to make friends with a number of disciples from the Flying Sword Sect.

But she knew that this would not last forever. The Bright Sun City's annual youth competition was about to start in little under a months' time and she had still not asked her master about it yet!

"Well, let's end it here for today!"

"Ah, m-master I have something to ask you!" As Xuan Hao was making his way back to the pavilion and looked at the fidgeting Qing Yi. Clearly nervous about something.

"Hm? What is it Qing Yi? You can just ask me, there is no need to be so nervous about it."

"Ah! I-it's just that… My family will be participating in the youth competition back in my city and I was wondering if I could participate in it together with master…?"

"Sure, we can go if you want to, I see no problem with this." Understanding why she was nervous, Xuan Hao smiled slightly.

As a core elder of the Flying Sword Sect, he really did not have much to do recently other than cultivating. The only thing that the Flying Sword Sect really wanted from him was to help out in case something happened to the sect itself.

As for the rest of the time? He was free to do whatever he wanted, be it touring the Heavenly Sky Kingdom or quietly cultivating in his pavilion, the Flying Sword Sect did not care as long as he helped in case of an emergency.

Upholding the territories and borders of the Flying Sword Sect was mostly done by Core Formation cultivators. Nascent Soul cultivators would only be located at important places of interest for the sect.

"Hah… Thank you master! The competition will be held in 25 days' time."

Qing Yi was relieved upon hearing her master's approval and let out a sigh of relief, as she gave him the date of the youth competition of Bright Sun City.

"No worries, I will tell the Sect Master that I will be leaving the sect for some time to go to Bright Sun City."

As Qing Yi and Xuan Hao each made their way back to their quarters, Xuan Hao quickly took out a talisman used for communication from his bag and contacted the sect master Feng Chen to discuss his leave from the sect.

"Hm? Xuan Hao, why are you contacting me?"

The talisman slowly started lighting up and soon the voice from Feng Chen spread out from the talisman.

"I want to join my disciple in a youth competition back in her hometown of Bright Sun City and was wondering if there was anything I should be worried about when I go out. After all, even I can feel the tension at the moment…" Explaining his situation to Feng Chen, Xuan Hao waited patiently for a response.

"Hm… I see, but I would be careful around that area. The Black Rose Sect is located close by and have begun acting increasingly suspiciously lately, even if we are the rulers of the northern region, the Black Rose Sect does not seem to be happy about it and might want to take the position from us…

The situation with the Azure Kingdom is not looking so great either and Wang Lan recently reported that they sent several Nascent Soul experts over, they might be up to something soon." Feng Chen said in a worried tone through the talisman as Xuan Hao looked a little lost in thought.

It had soon been five months since Wang Lan left for the border of the Azure Kingdom and he had still not returned yet. The only reason for this was that the conflict with the Azure Kingdom had not been resolved yet and might even have escalated even further.

"I will keep that in mind and try to be as careful as possible, but should anything happen, I will try my best to get out of whatever situation I land myself in…" Xuan Hao chuckled slightly towards the end.

"Haha, indeed, I don't doubt you will! Good luck on your journey to Bright Sun City." Feng Chen knew how much Xuan Hao hated dealing with anything troublesome and laughed loudly at Xuan Hao's proclamation of running away the moment trouble showed up.

"…"

Turning off the talisman, Xuan Hao saw the formerly brightly lit talisman slowly turn dark as he threw it back into his bag.

Who knew how it would turn out, hopefully nothing would happen…

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Chapter 42: Qing Yi Reaches the Foundation Establishment Realm

After finishing his talk with Feng Chen, Xuan Hao quietly closed his eyes and resumed cultivating. Recently his cultivation had improved quite a bit and he felt that he was about to breakthrough into the third stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. Already being at the peak of the second stage after quietly cultivating for the last 5 months' time.

After all, if Qing Yi were the only one who had improved over the last few months, Xuan Hao would have nowhere to put his face as her master… There was nothing worse than being surpassed by your own disciple in the cultivation world, as it mostly meant you had stopped improving and might even be close to the end of your lifespan.

Cultivation was about striving for constant improvement, being surpassed by your own disciple in most cases was not that great of a thing. Though there were still a few heavens blessed genius whom this did not apply to, where the disciple would help the master after growing up.

Xuan Hao considered himself quite talented and had no plans of letting his disciple or future disciples surpass him.

With newfound determination, Xuan Hao spent the night quietly cultivating and manged to break through the bottleneck between the second and third stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. Reaching the third stage of the Nascent Soul Realm by the morning.

Qing Yi did not find out that her master had managed to reach the third stage of the nascent soul realm and was only told by Xuan Hao to train by herself for the next few days. This was just so that Xuan Hao could stabilise his realm and familiarise himself with his newfound strength.

The final month before the Bright Sun City's annual youth competition quietly passed with nothing out of the ordinary happening.

The only thing worth mentioning was the Azure Sky Kingdom's increasingly large number of troops gathering at the border.

The Heavenly Sky Kingdom did not take nicely to this and also started gathering their own troops at the border. The Flying Sword Sect had also gotten increasingly tense as the tension between the Heavenly Sky Kingdom and the Azure Sky Kingdom increased more and more.

…

"To breakthrough and reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, you will have to use the qi you have gathered inside your dantian to form a pillar made of condensed qi inside your dantian. This pillar will act as a support for you dantian and will also be the first step into the Foundation Establishment Realm." Free of the tension that plagued the rest of the sect, Xuan Hao was calmly guiding Qing Yi into reaching the foundation establishment realm.

It was the last day before they were going to leave for Bright Sun City and Qing Yi had come to him early in the morning saying that she wanted to breakthrough into the foundation establishment realm before they left for Bright Sun City.

Xuan Hao saw no reason to refuse this and decided to assist her in breaking through to the foundation establishment realm.

"As you condense the pillar inside of your dantian, try to imagine the pillar as form of support for your dantian. Holding it together and allowing it to freely expand. The foundational pillar is the foundation of your future progress. The stronger the pillars are, the stronger your core will be when reaching the core formation realm!" Looking down at Qing Yi as she was sweating bullets, trying her best to condense the first foundational pillar inside of her dantian.

After gather, a sufficient amount of qi in the shape of an illusory pillar inside of her dantian, Qing Yi slowly condensed the qi in the shape of a pillar as the illusory pillar slowly became smaller and smaller, but at the same time grew more solid.

As the pillar inside of her dantian slowly went from illusory to real, Qing Yi's aura started slowly changing along with it.

The aura of a Qi Condensation Realm slowly became dimmer and dimmer as the aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator started to spread out from her body.

The stronger the pillar one created, the better effect it would bring for the cultivator when they finally managed to construct it. This process of condensing her qi into the shape of a pillar took another 4 hours before a wave of qi suddenly washed over her body.

The qi came from the pillar inside of her dantian and as it passed through her body, it cleaned it of impurities and refined it so that it becomes more suited for cultivation. This is what is called forming a foundation, as the first foundational pillar helped clean a cultivator's body from impurities, refined it and granted the cultivator greater control over their qi.

This would happen each time one constructed an additional pillar in the Foundation Establishment Realm and would help the cultivator set up a strong foundation for the future cultivation realms.

Xuan Hao looked happily down at Qing Yi as she successfully broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Putting his hand on top her head, Xuan Hao instantly sent his divine sense inside her body to see if everything went well and was not disappointed as he saw Qing Yi's first foundational pillar inside of her dantian. NvεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

The Pillar was solely made from fire qi and therefor took on a red colour scheme as qi in the form of flames slowly danced around the pillar located in the centre of her dantian.

Where there formerly was just qi spread out everywhere in her dantian, it was now centred around the pillar in the middle of it.

This is the true first step on the path of cultivation, with the Qi Condensation realm being nothing more than the preliminary step towards it.

Upon entering the Foundation Establishment Realm, a cultivator went through a qualitative change in strength.

While a normal Qi Condensation Realm cultivator had a relatively normal mortal body like someone who did not cultivate, just with qi inside of it, a Foundation Establishment cultivator's body was on a whole other level after being cleansed and strengthen by the qi of the first foundational pillar.

Qing Yi also opened her eyes and looked around the room happily as she felt her newfound strength flowing through her.

"Master, master! Look!" Saying so, Qing Yi demonstrated her newfound control over fire qi by manifesting a small fire in the centre of her palm with a wide smile on her face.

"Yes, yes… It is all fine, but can you go take a bath before showing off…?" Holding his nose with a wry smile on his lips, Xuan Hao looked at the gooey black impurities all over Qing Yi's body. Staining her clothes and bringing an unbearable smell along with it.

"Hm? AH! I will go take a bath immediately!" Seeing her own situation, Qing Yi ran off before Xuan Hao managed to remind her about stabilising her cultivation afterwards.

"Well, she should be able to do it afterwards…" Shaking his head slightly Xuan Hao opened a nearby window and called for Zhi Ruo to clean up as a large amount of the impurities had fallen off when Qing Yi ran off.

Zhi Ruo let out a sigh as she looked at the trail of impurities Qing Yi left behind when she ran through the pavilion. Looking in the direction of Xuan Hao, she discovered he had run away after calling for her.

"…"

Well, she was a servant, but next time something like a cleansing of impurities happened… Could they not just do the breakthrough close to the bath instead of having it on the other side of the pavilion…

"Sigh…" She felt like the chances of that happening was small, even if she manged to convince Qing Yi to do it… How would she convince Xuan Hao's other disciples when he took in more in the future?

The image of a few dozen people covered in impurities running around the pavilion made its way inside Zhi Ruo's head as she swore to make sure whatever disciples Xuan Hao took in would remain clean.

She could not let them dirty up the pavilion!

With a weird thought forming inside her head, Zhi Ruo began cleaning up the mess Qing Yi left behind.

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Chapter 43: Quest Rewards and Formations

Finding an isolated place to sit down after seeing Qing Yi off, Xuan Hao excitedly entered his sea of consciousness to interact with the system.

[Main Quest (Complete)]

Rewards: [Moon silver (Mystic), [Ash Sunstone (Mystic)]

[Redeem: [Y/N]

Outside of Xuan Hao's expectations, what he got from completing the system's main quest was not an increase in cultivation, nor was it a boost in comprehension or a secret technique to boost his strength.

Accepting the rewards, Xuan Hao saw the Main quest changing from the completed to a brand-new quest.

Main Quest: [Any disciple reaches the Core Formation realm.]

Main Quest Reward: [???]

Nothing out of the ordinary, the requirement just went from having a disciple in the foundation establishment realm, to having one in the core formation realm.

...

Exiting his sea of consciousness, Xuan Hao instead focused on the two objects that had appeared in front of him after he accepted the rewards from the system.

One of them was a brightly shining silver ore, most likely the Moon silver. The other object he got from the system was an ash-coloured stone, this in turn should be the so-called Ash Sunstone.

Xuan Hao had no clue what these two objects were, nor did he have any clue what they could be used for as the system did not give any description about them other than the small note besides them symbolizing that they were of the mystic grade.

Mystic grade materials were for people in the Domain Lord Realm! While Xuan Hao did not know purpose of the materials he got, at least he knew they were precious if the system gave them that kind of valuation.

"Well, nothing to worry about for now, I will just check up and see what they can be used for in the future. The Explorer Union should have some information on this if the sect doesn't…" Not bothering too much with the unknown materials he got, Xuan Hao threw it to the back of his mind and quickly hid away both the Moon Silver and the Ash Sunstone.

At this point, Xuan Hao really wished he had a storage ring of some kind to store them in. Sadly, he would have to wait until at least reaching the Half-Step Domain Lord Realm or be lucky enough to find one.

At least for now, Xuan Hao decided not to worry about it and hoped that his pavilion would be safe after his leave from the sect soon.

Nobody would go up and try to rob a core elders place while he was gone? Right…?

Xuan Hao did not know if it was because he was suddenly storing something precious at his pavilion or something else, but he decided to set up several formations to guard the room where he stored the Moon Silver and the Ash Sunstone.

Looking at the more than three dozen formations surrounding the small room, Xuan Hao nodded slightly to himself.

At least he had managed to learn some rudimentary formations in the past, even if they were not as strong as some of the more complicated formations. Stacked on top of each other, they should still be able to provide some safety.

However, if any formation master saw the complicated mess that Xuan Hao had manged to set up and called a formation, they would probably want to beat him up on the spot.

What Xuan Hao had done was nothing short of a disgrace to all formations, as he had simply drawn in some qi from the surroundings and stacked it on top of each other and called it a formation.

No complicated formation runes or complicated rune lines, just a mess of qi naturally smashed together to create a barrier of some sort.

This had repeated several times until a few dozen "formations" had formed.

"Wha… WHAT IS THIS!?" A short scream was heard from behind him, as Xuan Hao turned around and looked at the person in question.

"Hm? Qing Yi, you finished cleaning up?" The person in question was Qing Yi. Small droplets of water were still dripping down from her hair as she looked towards Xuan Hao's formations with a shocked look on her face.

"M-master, what is that… Thing…?"

"Hm? Ah, that is a formation I set up! Awesome, no?" Upon hearing her talking about his recent masterpiece, Xuan Hao flashed a bright smile and pointed at the abomination that he called a formation.

"A formation…? I thought formations were supposed to exist in harmony with nature… Not this…" Looking speechlessly at her master's proud visage as he pointed at the different formations he made, Qing Yi decided to not talk about the "formations" that he had set up.

Looks like her master wasn't as perfect as she thought, at least when it came to formations, he was worse than a beginner. All that was needed to break her masters so-called formations, was to inject a bit of qi into them and let them collapse on themselves.

Qing Yi even started to wonder how the formations still hadn't collapsed yet…

"Ah, by the way master, how are we going to get to Bright Sun City in a days' time…?" Deciding that nothing would come from starring at the formations any longer, Qing Yi instead asked about a question that had been plaguing her for the past few days.

"Hm? Ah, we will fly there. By the way remember to pack your stuff as we will be leaving tomorrow morning!" Saying so, Xuan Hao took his leave and made his way back to his room in the pavilion.

"Ah ok, we will just fly there… Fly? W-wait a minute! MASTER! What do you mean by flying there!" Seeing Xuan Hao had already disappeared, Qing Yi quickly ran off to catch up to him and find out what he meant by flying.

Crash!

As Qing Yi left the room, all the formations set up by Xuan Hao collapsed in on themselves as the qi that was holding them together dispersed into the surroundings. Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

Xuan Hao would most likely not have any future as a formation master…

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Chapter 44: The Flying Sword Sects Stable

As Qing Yi failed to catch up with her master and get any answers from him, she instead decided to pack up the things that she needed and prepare for the journey tomorrow morning. No matter what, she would find out what her master meant by them flying tomorrow.

Most of her thought were on her master using a demon beast or something along that line, to travel. After all, the Flying Sword Sect did have quite a few flying demon beasts that they could use for something like that.

Thinking more deeply about it, it was not really that surprising for someone at the Nascent Soul Realm to have a flying demon beast. From what she knew, some wealthy or strong Core Formation cultivators had flying demon beasts as well!

Wondering about it would not result in anything and Qing Yi decided to meet up with Zhi Ruo and Zeng Shihan to say her goodbyes before leaving. Maybe she could even get a laugh out of them upon mentioning her master's "expertise" in formations…

…

The sun slowly rose from the east as a new day began for the disciples of the Flying Sword Sect. Many of them were nervous and tense as the situation regarding the Azure Sky Kingdom had spread across the Heavenly Sky Kingdom in the past few months.

This nervous and tense expression that hovered over most of the Flying Sword Sect, was not present on Qing Yi. Instead, her eyes shone with excitement as she stood outside of the pavilion and waited for her master to show up.

The reason for her excitement was none other than the fact that she would finally be able to go home and visit her dad again! Qing Yi was ecstatic about her breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment Realm and could not wait to get home and show it off to her dad.

Other than that, Xuan Hao had also helped her train in the Azure Wind Sword, allowing her to improve by leaps and bounds over the past half year.

"Hm? You are already here Qing Yi? What about breakfast, did you remember to eat?" As Qing Yi was lost in her own thoughts, the voice of Xuan Hao was heard from the entrance of the pavilion. Soon, Xuan Hao could be seen coming out of the pavilion waring a casual white robe, contrary to his core elder robe.

"Yes! I woke up early to make sure I was ready for today! I already ate and said farewell to both Zhi Ruo and Zeng Shihan, so we can go when you are ready master!" Not missing a beat, Qing Yi answered Xuan Hao's questions as quickly as he asked them.

Full of excitement and energy was not enough to describe Qing Yi's current state of excitement, Xuan Hao even thought someone had replaced his formerly calm disciple with someone else…

"I see… Then let's just set off immediately." Looking at Qing Yi's bobbing her head up and down, Xuan Hao placed his hand gently on her head to try and calm her down, in turn causing Qing Yi to turn red in embarrassment and immediately stop moving around excitedly.

"Good, now that you are calm let's go to the sect's stable and get a flying demon beast." Saying this, Qing Yi nodded obediently and quietly followed behind Xuan Hao, no longer as excited as before.

The earlier attack from her master was too much for her young heart to handle and Qing Yi quietly and cautiously observed her master as both of them made their way to the sect's stable.

The Flying Sword Sects stable was an enormous building with simple yet beautiful architecture.

All of the demon beasts that the disciples caught and tamed were kept at the sects stable, as for the demon beasts caught and tamed by the elders. Most of them would keep their demon beasts at their own pavilion.

Xuan Hao sadly had not caught and tamed any demon beast, so he had decided to just borrow one from the sect. Luckily such a thing was easy to accomplish with his current status as a core elder of the sect. NvεlB¡n: Where Every Word Sparks Wonder.

Entering the stable, Xuan Hao and Qing Yi, saw a wide variety of demon beasts. Ranging from small demon beasts the size of an apple, all the way up to the giant demon beasts large enough to carry a few dozen people on their backs.

"Greetings Elder Xuan and you must be his disciple, Qing Yi, how can I help you today?" As Xuan Hao entered the stable together with Qing Yi, a short old man made his way forward and bowed, before politely asking for their purpose in coming to the stable.

"I'm in need of a flying demon beast that can at least fit two people, I was told by Feng Chen that I should just ask for it." Not really knowing anything about how the stable worked or demon beast taming, Xuan Hao decided to just say that Feng Chen was the one who told him just to ask about it. Not willing to admit how little he knew about the subject of demon beast taming in front of his disciple.

When he got any free time, Xuan Hao quietly swore to himself that he would train up some of the subjects that he had not trained before, like alchemy, blacksmithing, beast taming and maybe even try and improve his expertise in formations.

"I see… Please follow me Elder Xuan, I'm sure we have a few flying demon beasts available that will fit your need." Like a trained salesman, the short elderly man led them deeper into the stable as they passed by many fabulous demon beasts.

One demon beast had the head of a lion with the body of a horse, making it look quite comical, while another had the body of an elephant with spikes sticking out all over its body.

Both Xuan Hao and Qing Yi were amazed at all the different kinds of demon beasts as they slowly made their way deeper into the stable under the guidance of the short old man.

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Chapter 45: Beast Tamers

As Qing Yi and Xuan Hao made their way deeper into the stable under the guidance of the short old man, Xuan Hao noticed that the strength of the demon beasts that they passed by had slowly increased.

At first, most of them were only around the Qi Condensation Realm, but by now, most of the demon beasts were at the Foundation Establishment Realm, there was even a few who had reached the Core Formation Realm.

But even then, there was still not a single flying demon beast!

"Ah, here it is!" Coming to a sudden stop in front of a large gate, the short old man pulled out a small key and placed it into the keyhole and slowly turned.

Creak~

The giant gate slowly creaked opened as the short old man made his way into the open field behind it.

Yes, behind the gate was a small open field, surrounded by the walls of the stable. The stable itself was apparently a giant circular building with a hole in the middle of it.

Inside the small field at the centre of the stable, Xuan Hao and Qing Yi saw several demon beasts running around freely, both weak and strong demon beasts.

But what caught both of their attention was the flying beasts that were sitting around the field relaxing with a few disciples tending to them.

Seeing this, Xuan Hao smiled wryly.

Who tamed who…? From the looks of the disciples happily tending to the flying demon beasts every need, Xuan Hao really wondered whether there was a similar profession like the beast tamer for humans for the demon beasts.

At least the flying demon beasts were master human tamers…

"Ah, this is the stables tenders, they are normally disciples who love demon beast and are trying their best to become future beast tamers. In the past I worked hard as a stable tender as well before reaching my current position." Seeing Xuan Hao look towards the disciples tending to the flying demon beasts, the short old man misunderstood something and explained happily with a smile on his lips.

"I see… what about flying demon beasts, which one would you recommend?" Not wanting to continue the conversation any longer, Xuan Hao tried to steer the conversation back to the flying demon beasts.

"Hm… I think I would recommend the Shadow Hawk over there! It's relatively strong at the Core Formation Realm and also has more than enough space for both you and your disciple to sit." Thinking about it for a moment, the short old man turned around and pointed in the direction of a giant hawk with a wingspan of at least 10 meters.

The giant shadow hawk was currently being fed a few pieces of raw meat by the nearby serva- stable tenders and relaxingly laid on the ground while a few stable tenders were gently massaging its wings at the same time.

The shade of a nearby tree created a perfect shade for the giant shadow hawk as it had the time of its life.

"…" Xuan Hao and Qing Yi both turned to look at the relaxing shadow hawk and then turned to look at the still smiling short old man.

Looking around the field, Xuan Hao saw that all the flying demon beasts were like the shadow hawk, lazily relaxing under the shade of a tree while being catered to by the stable tenders.

"Sure, we will just use the shadow hawk if its fine with you." Not seeing any better option around, Xuan Hao agreed with the short old man and the group made their way to the shadow hawk. L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

"Ah, Lord Shadow, these two are the Core Elder Xuan and his disciple Qing Yi! Both of them will be requiring your services for the next few days if that is alright?" Doing a full ninety-degree bow, the short old man started addressing the shadow hawk in an honorific way and looked like a small servant addressing his lord.

"…" Both Qing Yi and Xuan Hao had their mouth open as they starred speechlessly at the short old man.

Beast Tamer… This short old man was supposed to be the best beast tamer that the Flying Sword Sect had… Xuan Hao and Qing Yi would most likely never look at beast tamers the same way ever again, this short old man had ruined the reputation of all beast tamers out there…

Screech!

A low screeching voice came out from the shadow hawk as it stared disdainfully at the short old man.

"Ah! Yes, yes, Lord Shadow! I got just what you want here!" Signalling for some of the stable tenders, soon they came over with a bunch of low-grade spirit stones, the short old man instructed them to place the spirit stones in front of the shadow hawk before moving back.

Screech?

Letting out as somewhat questioning screech, the old man soon came up to the pile of spirit stones and added a few extra to it.

Screech~

Happily looking at the spirit stone, the shadow hawk quickly swooped down a gulped all of them down in one go.

"Okay, Lord Shadow says he is satisfied with the offering and will accompany you over the next few days!" Seeing the satisfied shadow hawk, the old man conveyed that the shadow hawk would accompany them.

"…" Xuan Hao and Qing Yi both felt a little speechless as they watched a huge amount of spirit stone get swallowed up by the shadow hawk.

Such a large amount of spirit stones would be enough to speed up the cultivation of over 100 disciples below the Core Formation Realm over a month…

"What are you wating for, Lord Shadow is ready for you now, just jump on his back and give him a direction to go in!" Seeing that Xuan Hao and Qing Yi still hadn't moved, the short old man quickly hurried them to get onto the back of the shadow hawk.

"…" Not saying anything, both Qing Yi and Xuan Hao quietly made their way onto the back of the shadow hawk and fastened themselves on its back as it slowly flew out of the field and into the sky.

Looking down on the short old man below excitedly waving at them, Xuan Hao instructed for the shadow hawk to fly in the direction of the Bright Sun City.

Screech!

Qing Yi, who earlier was filled with excitement upon getting to fly, not long had any of that past excitement left.

The short old man had ruined any and all respect she had for beast tamers.

Now all she could think about was how many spirit stones they wasted each day on feeding demon beasts…

"Master… Are all Beast Tamers like that…?"

"Some things are better left unknown…" Not knowing how to answer the question, Xuan Hao looked off to the side as the scenery quickly passed by.

When he returned to the sect, he would have to have a chat with the Sect Master about how many spirit stones they dedicated to the Beast Tamers…

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Chapter 46: Shadow Hawks Barrel Roll Mid-Air

Time passed by quickly as the scenery quickly passed by below, Qing Yi had somewhat recovered from earlier and was now excitedly looking at the scenery below as the shadow hawk flew over it.

Looking down, the people looked like small ants and the villages and cities all looked like small ant colonies. Qing Yi was quite excited by this new view and observed everything she could.

Xuan Hao also glanced down below and looked at the small people passing by, but due to him having reached the nascent soul realm, his eyesight was relatively better than Qing Yi and he had no problem observing the people down below clearly.

The shadow hawk did not bother looking down below at the humans and instead just looked straight ahead as it flew as quickly as possible, most likely wanting to get back home to his servants as soon as possible…

Lazing around at the Flying Sword Sects expense was the best way to live, the shadow hawk had already lost his drive to improve further in cultivation and was just lazing around all day.

The only thing that the shadow hawk looked forward to at the moment was when it grew too old to fly around any longer. At that point, it would just get to laze around without doing anything like flying around the elders or disciples of the Flying Sword Sect. Truly the pinnacle of life!

The shadow hawk had always been envious when it watched the older flying demon beasts get to laze around all day while being fed by their human servants. Luckily, it would soon be old enough to join them and laugh at the young demon beasts who still had to fly around!

It still remembered its time before entering the Flying Sword Sect, when it had to hunt food itself and fight with other demon beasts, it even had live in a bad environment without an array formation to regulate to temperature! Terribly hard times, even though the Flying Sword Sect would allow the older demon beast to return to the wild as they grew weak, nobody ever did…

Honestly, the shadow hawk had no idea why the Flying Sword Sect even asked them whether they would want to return to the wild when they grew old and weak.

Wouldn't they just get killed and eaten by another demon beast at that point!?

Screech!

Letting out a screech, the shadow hawk suddenly dived down on a passing bird a gulped it up in one mouthful.

Qing Yi and Xuan Hao who barely managed to hold on, due to the sudden dive of the shadow hawk were both surprised.

"M-master, this shadow hawk does not seem to care that we are on its back…" Qing Yi gripped tightly onto the feathers of the shadow hawk as she looked frightened at the shadow hawk below her.

"Indeed… It seems that the beast tamers are not that great at taming the demon beasts… I almost feel like the demon beasts are the ones doing the taming…" Looking at the shadow hawk, Xuan Hao released a bit of his nascent soul aura in a bit to intimidate the shadow hawk.

SCREECH!

Sadly, the shadow hawk did not care about the aura of a nascent soul cultivator. Over the years, it had transported many nascent soul cultivators, why would it be afraid of one?

So, before Xuan Hao or Qing Yi managed to react, the shadow hawk did a barrel roll mid air causing both of them to fall off its back.

"…"

"Aaaah!" Qing Yi let out a scream of fear as she was falling from what was at least a few thousand meters up in the sky, while Xuan Hao just looked annoyingly at the shadow hawk as it turned around and flew back towards the Flying Sword Sect. The speed of the shadow hawk was faster than even he could muster with his flying sword.

"Hah…" Watching the shadow hawk disappear in the distance, Xuan Hao did not delay any longer and quickly grabbed onto the still screaming Qing Yi and brought his sword out of the scabbard.

Focusing his sword qi into the sword, Xuan Hao slowly came to a stop a few hundred meters in the air.

Qing Yi was still being carried by Xuan Hao and had already stopped screaming as she curiously looked down at the sword floating beneath her master's feet.

"Just stand in front of me, there should be enough space." Listing to her master's instructions, Qing Yi quickly stood down on the sword wobbling slightly from side to side while trying to balance herself on the sword.

"Just hold onto me if you need to…" Grabbing hold of Qing Yi just as she was about to fall off the sword, Xuan Hao told her in a slightly commanding tone.

"…" Nodding her head in response, Qing Yi shyly grasped the hem of Xuan Hao's robe. Acting very much like a shy little girl. L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

"When we get back to the sect, we will have to pay that damnable bird a visit… I think grilled shadow hawk would taste great; we can even get Zhi Ruo to prepare it for us!" Not minding Qing Yi's behaviour, Xuan Hao instead focused on the culprit of their situation, already having an idea about how to deal with the bird when they returned.

…

Over the next hour, Qing Yi slowly got used to riding the flying sword with Xuan Hao and had already returned to observing the scenery passing by below.

This time around, they only flew a few hundred meters above the ground. Allowing Qing Yi to easily see the people and animals below. Qing Yi would laugh a bit whenever she saw people looking up in the sky and point towards them with a shocked look on their face.

This was not without cause, as most people thought only people at the domain lord realm could fly without a demon beast.

The journey had mostly recovered the former calm that the shadow hawk disturbed by throwing them off earlier and the two of them had finally made it to one of the biggest landmarks in the north of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

The Red Dust Desert. Not really fitting for it to be one of landmarks for the north of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom… Sadly the Heavenly Sky Kingdom was located in the southern part of the Ewaria Continent, where snow was extremely rare even in the winter.

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Chapter 47: Red Dust Desert and Bandits

The Red Dust dessert, a dry barren area of land covered with sand. Looking as far as the eye could see, there was no water, and the little vegetation present was barely able to stay alive in the hot and waterless environment.

Flying over the desolate Red Dust Desert, Qing Yi remember how much trouble she and the rest of her family members had to go through when passing it.

Back then, they had encountered desert bandits several times and if not for the first elder's protection, they most likely would not have made it.

Qing Yi even remembered one time when a desert scorpion at the Core Formation Realm had ambushed them while hiding beneath the sand! The first elder had barely managed to kill it with a surprise attack, but this had spooked out all of the Qing Family's disciples, Qing Yi included.

The danger lurking beneath the sand kept her up many nights in the desert, but now, she looked down and saw the endless ocean of sand passing by beneath her feet. The danger that she had felt from earlier was gone and she could just observe the quiet desolate beauty of the Red Dust Desert.

"Master, why is this desert called the Red Dust desert in the first place?" Looking down on the desert below, Qing Yi curiously asked.

She had wondered since she first travelled through the desert why it was called the Red Dust Desert, as she never saw any rest dust or anything like it.

"The Red Dust Desert? Hm… If I'm not wrong, the desert was created because two powerful domain lords once fought here in the past. This resulted in the creation of the Red Dust Desert, as for the name. The one who fell in the fight was called Daoist Red Dust…" Thinking about it for a while, Xuan Hao Answered Qing Yi's question.

"Wow… Creating a desert from the aftermath of their fight, Domain lords really are strong…" Looking at the giant desert spreading endlessly into the horizon, Qing Yi recalled that her father had once said that the Red Dust Desert covered an area of several hundred kilometres! The domain lords who could devastate an area of a few hundred kilometres was definitely strong beyond belief.

No wonder people often talked about how they could easily erase an entire kingdom by themselves!

Xuan Hao did not correct her, even though he personally thought that the one who brought about the destruction of Daoist Red Dust was someone above the Domain Lord Realm. Daoist Red Dust was just lucky enough to be remembered as having fought someone here, thus resulting in the creation of the Red Dust Desert.

The most likely thing to happen was that Daoist Red Dust offended someone above the Domain Lord Realm and was killed off, the desert was most likely created from a single attack by that expert.

Other than that, the Red Dust Desert was suspiciously shaped like a giant palm print… Xuan Hao honestly had no idea why people had not questioned the suspicious shape of the Red Dust Desert, even though it looked like someone extremely powerful using the Gods Palm Technique…

"Hah… Why can't people around here see such an obvious thing…?"

"Hm? Did you say something master?" As Xuan Hao was lamenting to himself, he earned a questioning look from Qing Yi.

"Ah, its nothing."

Brushing it off as nothing, Qing Yi only looked at him suspicious for a little while before returning to observing the desert passing by below them.

…

"Hurry up! The Wild Serpent Bandits will catch up to us soon!"

Somewhere close to the exit of the Red Dust Desert a caravan was anxiously speeding through the desert as fast as the weak demon beasts could drag the carriages.

Qing Ming, who had just thought that he would catch a ride back home with the small trading caravan, was extremely anxious at the moment.

Normally, desert bandits would be quite rare to encounter and even if they encountered any most of them were at the Qi Condensation Realm, Qing Ming was a Foundation Establishment cultivator! How many desert bandits could possibly deal with someone that strong? L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

The Wild Serpent Bandits that were currently chasing after them, however, was another story all together.

Recently, they gained quite a large amount of fame after the leader of the Serpent Bandits broke through and reached the Core Formation Realm!

How could he possibly deal with someone at the Core Formation Realm!?

"Th-there is someone up ahead!"

Exiting the carriage fearfully, Qing Ming looked ahead and saw him.

Serpent Lord! The leader of the serpent bandits!

The carriages immediately came to a stop as people slowly grabbed their weapons shakingly and steeped out to face the enemy.

"Haha, look at what we have here boys! It looks like these weaklings want to fight us!" The Serpent Lord let out a vicious laugh as the other bandits slowly surrounded the trading caravan while laughing together with their boss.

"If you fellows want to keep your life, leave all the goods and pretty ladies here, hehe, this lord needs some fun tonight!" The Serpent Lord Arrogantly steeped forward and demanded, as a lustful smile slowly spread across his face while looking at the few females present in the trading caravan.

"Never! You will have to step over my dead body before I let you sully my wife and daughter!" A man heroically stepped forward as he looked threateningly at the Serpent Lord.

Qing Ming felt the same way, but did not dare step forward, he knew that if he mentioned his family background, the Serpent Lord would most likely just kill everyone present to leave no evidence behind.

"Haha, I see, boys! Kill the men and leave the women behind for us to have some fun with later! Hehe!" Not even waiting a split second, the Serpent Lord viciously laughed as he ordered his men.

Is there nobody that can safe us…? Qing Ming helplessly looked around as the bandits slowly moved closer and closer.

It was at that moment of despair, that it suddenly happened!

…

"Ah, what is that!?" As they made their way towards the end of the desert, Qing Yi spotted something beneath them, causing her to tug Xuan Hao's robe slightly and point towards something in the distance.

"Hm?" Turning to look where Qing Yi was pointing, Xuan Hao quickly spotted what she was talking about.

A few hundred meters away a group of what looked like desert bandits were surrounding a small caravan. The caravan was severely outnumbered and was shakingly holding onto their weapons as the desert bandits slowly approached them.

"Th-that is the Qing Ming, the first elder's son!" As they approached the scene, Qing Yi immediately recognized one of the people in the trading caravan and called out in a surprised tone.

Xuan Hao heard her and immediately started descending towards the caravan below, much to the surprise of the group of desert bandits and members of the caravan.

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Chapter 48: Bandits Regret

Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

As Xuan Hao was descending towards the trading caravan on his sword together with Qing Yi, he looked at the people surrounding the trading caravan with a slight surprise.

Most of them did not look like normal bandits that had turned to robbing others due to things like food or bad living conditions. Instead, they looked more like a bunch of trained soldiers, at least the way they carried themselves were similar to how soldiers would.

This however was not what surprised Xuan Hao, what ended up surprising him was the strength of the desert bandits. Most of them were at the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm, with a few reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, there was even one person at the Core Formation Realm.

The strength of the desert bandits was more than enough for them to settle down and claim an area for themselves, why would they still remain as bandits? Xuan Hao honestly had no clue, but he could always ask them to try and find out.

…

Yang Li was a normal soldier of the Heavenly Sky Kingdoms army, back then, he had reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm and had been promoted to the position of a lieutenant general.

The position was quite high in the military of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom and he was the only one who had reached the rank while only being at the Foundation Establishment Realm. The reason being that he had performed well and excelled over the other people eligible for the role, while not as strong, a general needed to be able to lead his men and Yang Li excelled at that.

He helped conquer territory for the Heavenly Sky Kingdom in the east where no kingdom was established yet and he fought in skirmishes against the Azure Sky Kingdom at the borders.'

He did well and kept his men safe during all this, but it all changed when he grew older… Some of his higher ups were no longer so pleased with him still being stuck at the Foundation Establishment Realm at his age, they mostly thought he would breakthrough in the future, but at the age of 37, he was still at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Seeing no future hope for him, Yang Li was kicked out of his position and replaced by a younger and more promising junior.

Going from an honourable lieutenant general to what was a normal captain was too much for him and Yang Li turned to drink his troubles away.

In the end, he started causing problems and was officially kicked out of the military.

Yang Li resented the Heavenly Sky Kingdom for what they did to him and on one fateful night, someone came to him, promising him what the Heavenly Sky Kingdom took from him, what was rightfully his!

All he had to do was create trouble inside the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, being a bandit robbing passing trading caravans was a starting point, when he grew his group strong enough, he would move on to sabotaging the Heavenly Sky Kingdoms army.

"Boss! A trading caravan is passing by!" Those words passed by Yang Li's ears and he thought to himself, just one more robbery and he could start getting his revenge on the Heavenly Sky Kingdom! Just one more time, he would go out and have some fun with his brothers!

"Let's go boys! We will surely be able to have some fun tonight!" Just one more time… That was what Yang Li thought as he looked at the person descending from the sky on a flying sword, Yang Li started trembled all over.

He knew they had slammed headfirst into a brick wall and there would most likely be no chance for regret.

Flying… Only a domain lord knew how to fly! What were the chances that they encountered one when they were out robbing a random trading caravan?

Yang Li felt that his chances for getting revenge on the Heavenly Sky Kingdom slowly disappeared as the person on the sword slowly landed on the ground between him and the trading caravan.

…

Looking at the scared look on the Core Formation experts face, Xuan Hao felt like laughing to himself. The poor guy probably thought he was a Domain Lord expert, after all, not many knew that a sword cultivator who comprehended True Sword Intent could use it to fly even below the Domain Lord Realm.

Though, him being a Nascent Soul expert or a Domain Lord would most likely make no difference as the guy was only at the Core Formation Realm.

"Qing Ming!" Upon reaching the ground, Qing Yi quickly jumped off the sword and ran over to Qing Ming, who stood in front of the trading caravan.

This caused the faces of the desert bandits to turn even more pale, while the members of the trading caravan look relieved.

The person with the expert knew someone from the caravan! This caused most of the people from the trading caravan to relax as they felt like they had just escaped a dangerous situation.

The Desert bandits on the other hand were shaking all over as everyone silently stared at the plain looked man standing in the middle of both groups. Even without him releasing any aura or anything, both groups silently waited for him to say anything.

"Ahm! May I-"

"Eeeeek!" Just as Xuan Hao was about to say something, one of the bandits screamed loudly and ran off into the distance. Making both Xuan Hao and the rest of the people wonder where he got the sudden burst of speed and courage from.

Swoosh!

Just as the man was about to make it over a sand dune and escape, Xuan Hao released his sword intent and killed the bandit at the spot.

Xuan Hao felt slightly disturbed upon killing another living person, but the experience of Xuan Hao traveling through the world at a young age helped him quickly regain his former calm.

In the past, Xuan Hao had killed quite a good amount of people while traveling from kingdom to kingdom before settling down in the Flying Sword Sect. The world was not really safe. There was danger everywhere and even a moment of hesitation could cost one's life.

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Chapter 49: Hidden Danger (1)

Turning towards the dead body of the desert bandit and then back to Xuan Hao again. The desert bandits felt a chill go down their spine as they saw how easily the person who descended from the sky had dealt with one of them.

"So… Might I ask you a few questions?" Hearing the voice of the person in question, the bandit leader Yang Li shakingly turned around like the rest of his gang and looked fearfully at Xuan Hao. The attack from earlier was too fast and he didn't even notice it, if such an attack was launched towards himself… He would most likely end up like Billy who tried to run away, dead on the ground!

"Wh-what do you want to ask?" Building up all of his courage, Yang Li asked in a scared voice. Whatever the man in front of him asked, he would answer it no matter what! He really had no plans of dying yet.

"Hm… I'm just wondering why someone who already reached the Core Formation Realm is running around being a bandit. Even if you just worked as a guard, you would definitely earn far more than you do by robbing people… Or maybe you have another reason?" Asking curiously, Xuan Hao looked directly at the leader of the Desert Bandits.

"I-I… I have my reasons… "Thinking about his past with the Heavenly Sky Kingdoms military, Yang Li quietly clenched his fists together, if he ended up becoming a mere guard, would he not be humiliated by others?

The reason he became a bandit in the first place was so that he could get revenge on the Heavenly Sky Kingdom for their treatment of him in the past!

"So… You don't want to say it?" Raising an eyebrow, Xuan Hao curiously sized up the struggling look that appeared on the bandit leader and tried to push him a little.

"I… I want to get revenge! Revenge for the way they treated me!" Slowly breaking down, Yang Li started talking about his past and how he was approached by someone who told him that they could help him get revenge against the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

All he had to do was create chaos inside of their borders and apparently there were others like him as well, he still remembered a meeting at the start before he was given an area to cause chaos in.

The meeting was the reason why he had hope that the mysterious power that helped him could get revenge against the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

Nascent Soul Experts! There had been Nascent Soul Experts present at the meeting and more than just one, at least 5 Nascent Soul experts were present for the meeting and this talked to how strong the mysterious power was.

"Did they have a name or something? Do you know where they are located?" Feeling a sudden looming danger appear, Xuan Hao hurriedly asked for more information.

A mysterious power had suddenly appeared with at least 5 people in the Nascent Soul Realm and wanted to cause chaos in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, while at the same time, the Azure Sky Kingdom had started to gather their forces at the border.

Xuan Hao felt that it was too much of a coincidence and wanted to get to the bottom of it immediately.

"I-if I'm not wrong, they had a base at- "Just before he managed to answer, his head suddenly expanded like a balloon and exploded into a bloody mess.

The sudden explosion of the bandit leaders head came as a surprise to everyone around, Xuan Hao included, as everyone quickly took a step back, trying to avoid whatever was left of the bandit leader's head.

"Eeeek!" Qing Yi, who was now standing beside Qing Ming, screamed upon seeing the bandit leader's head suddenly explode into a gooey mess.

Qing Yi had never seen anything like it before and even the death of the bandit who ran away before was something she could deal with, but the exploding head was a little too much for her as she quickly hid away behind Qing Ming.

"…"

Staring at the now headless body, Xuan Hao looked speechlessly down at his now completely drenched robe. Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

Earlier, he had gotten closer to the bandit leader as he was talking to hear more clearly and make sure nothing happened to him while he was talking.

This in turn resulted in Xuan Hao not reacting in time to avoid the blood from the head explosion, as he was not really expecting any danger to come from the bandit leader himself, thus changing his formerly white robe into a red one.

"A soul contract?" This was the only thing that Xuan Hao could think of when he looked at the dead body of the bandit leader.

A soul contract was something that only people at the Nascent Soul Realm and above could form, it was a contract that someone could sign, and it would bind to their soul, if the contract were violated, death would be the only outcome of the contracted person.

Though, it was flawed, as people in the Nascent Soul Realm could easily bypass the contract if the party who wrote it was weaker than them.

Thus, the soul contract was mostly used by the stronger cultivators to keep their subordinates in check.

"But who would waste a soul contract on someone who had not even reached the Core Formation Realm…?" From what he knew, the bandit leader only recently broke through to the Core Formation Realm, meaning that someone was willing to use a soul contract on a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.

Do not be fooled by the name soul contract, it is not just a paper one has to sign and bam, there you have a soul contract.

No, a soul contract required a lot of expensive spirit herbs and high-grade spirit stones to forge and would mostly only be used on strong cultivators to make sure they did not end up betraying them.

Wasting such an expensive thing as a soul contract on someone who was merely at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm?

The only reason for this would be that the people behind him really desperately wanted to keep themselves hidden and Xuan Hao felt a slight chill go down his spine.

It seemed like the Heavenly Sky Kingdom was about to be in a whole lot of trouble!

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Chapter 50: Hidden Danger (2)

"Hah…" It looked like things were about to get really troublesome and he most likely would not be able to hide away from it…

Swoosh!

A wind slowly blew across Xuan Hao's robe as the blood from the bandit leaders exploding head disappeared. Leaving behind a pristine white robe.

At least his cultivation could help him clean his robe, ahh, the stronger the cultivation, the more useful it becomes… Core Formation cultivators would definitely not be able to clean their clothes as quickly as a Nascent Soul expert!

"M-master! W-what do we do about the rest of the bandits?" Shakingly making her way from behind Qing Ming, Qing Yi walked up to Xuan Hao and asked him.

"Hm? Ah, I will just seal their cultivation and allow the people from the caravan to hand them over the authorities, why?" Turning around, Xuan Hao answered Qing Yi in a confused tone. Not expecting her question.

Hearing what Xuan Hao said, the bandits sighed in relief, at least they would not get killed off or anything and would just be handed over to the authorities.

Spending a few years or decades in prison was way better than getting killed!

"Hand them over to the authorities…? Not kill them off or something?" Blinking her eyes at the answer, Qing Yi's words caused the bandits to start sweating once again.

Girl! Nobody asked you to suddenly kill us off! Why did you not just keep quite and let the expert hand us over to authorities! Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

"Why would I do that? Bandits will normally have a bounty on them and if I send these guys to the authorities, it will help the Flying Sword Sects reputation, while also earning some spirit stones along the way. A win-win situation if I say so… No need to just randomly kill them off or anything…" Sighing to himself at his disciple's bloodthirsty way of thinking, Xuan Hao reminded himself that he was her teacher and would have to teach her how the world worked.

Just because he had killed one of the bandits who ran away as a warning, Qing Yi most likely thought he would kill all of the bandits!

Turning to look at Qing Ming, whom Qing Yi had run to earlier, Xuan Hao pointed towards that bandits as he began talking. "Qing Ming, right? Can you take care of handing in the bandits for us? Just let them send the rewards for handing in the bandits to the Flying Sword Sect!"

"Y-yes, sir!" Not really knowing how to respond, Qing Ming hesitatingly acknowledged Xuan Hao's order.

"Great! I will just seal their cultivation and let you handle it." Hearing the affirmative from Qing Ming, Xuan Hao spread his aura out and used it to seal the cultivation of the bandits all at once.

The bandits who felt the aura from Xuan Hao slowly seep into their body and seal their cultivation base, did not resist in the slightest.

They knew that if they fought back, death would be the only outcome!

The rest of the trading caravan was still just staring speechlessly at the bandits obediently had their cultivation sealed by Xuan Hao.

What happened in the last few minutes was nothing short of an emotional roller coaster, going from being in a hopeless situation surrounded by desert bandits and then suddenly seeing the same ruthless and bloodthirsty bandits obediently having their cultivation sealed up.

"Now that its done, we will take our leave. Need to be in time for the Bright Sun City annual youth competition after all. Qing Yi, come here and let's leave quickly, you can catch up with Qing Ming when he returns to the Qing family in the future." Looking at the bandits that were standing obediently in a group as the members of the caravan tied them up, Xuan Hao instructed Qing Yi to come.

Qing Yi did not say anything and only hugged Qing Ming goodbye before making her way onto her master's sword that was still laying on the ground.

"Bye uncle Qing Ming! Hurry back to the Bright Sun City when you can, I will be there for the entire youth competition, so you should be able to get back in time before I leave again!" Waving goodbye to Qing Ming, Qing Yi looked back at her master as he slowly caused the sword to ascend into the air again.

"Ha… Farewell Qing Yi, its great to see you found yourself a strong master!" waving goodbye to his niece, Qing Ming smiled awkwardly. This time, he felt like he would not be able to forget the scene of the man in the white robe descending to safe him for a long time to come.

All he knew was that his niece had found a strong master and that he was apparently from the Flying Sword Sect, it looked like their Qing family would be fine, even with the Bai family having the Black Rose Sect to support them. The Flying Sword Sect was no weaker and was even stronger than them!

It looked like a lot had happened in the time he was gone from the family! Back then, Qing Ming left his family to try and find a way for them out of their predicament, but in the end, it looked like his niece was the one who found the way out. Not him…

Looking at Qing Yi and Xuan Hao disappearing in the distance, Qing Ming sighed to himself.

The young will always surpass the old… Looks like the younger generation of the Qing family is growing well…

…

"Master, do you know what organization that bandit guy was talking about?" As they were flying out of the Red Dust desert, Qing Yi asked curiously. The bandit had talked about some organization with Nascent Soul experts causing chaos in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom before his head went pop.

"…I have clue, but it looks like things are bound to get more troublesome soon. Hopefully, it won't affect the Flying Sword Sect and us too much." Looking into the distance, Xuan Hao sighed to himself as he thought about the implications of having an organization with Nascent Soul experts trying to cause chaos inside of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

He had already sent the information about it back to the Sect Master with a communication talisman, who would hopefully know what to do about it.

At least, he would not have to deal with it anymore, at the end of the day it was the Heavenly Sky Kingdoms problem… Not his.

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Chapter 51: Father-Daughter Reunion

" There it is master!" As they were flying through the sky, Qing Yi excitedly called out as she pointed towards a city slowly appearing in the distance.

They had already left the Red Dust Desert for over 5 hours and had only stopped a few times so that Qing Yi could rest. Standing on top of a flying sword was not really that comfortable in the long run…

"I see, we will land a little away from the city and walk there, don't want people to start panicking upon seeing somebody fly towards them…" Remembering the reaction of the bandits and caravan members when he descended towards them, Xuan Hao decided that it would be less troubling if they just walked into the city.

Swoosh!

Landing in a nearby forest, Xuan Hao and Qing Yi jumped off the sword as Xuan Hao quickly put it away.

…

The journey towards the Bright Sun City was not too long and both of them soon arrived at the gates of the city.

The gates of the city were filled with all sorts of people at the moment, most of them were people from the surrounding villages, who had come together with their families to watch the upcoming annual youth competition.

And, as there was no restriction on who could join the competition. Many young people had come to join the annual youth competition, it was an opportunity to stand out and maybe even get recruited by the Qing or Bai family!

Other than that, the rewards for the rankings were not bad and caused many among the younger generation to join, after all, who would say no to some extra spirit stones?

"Please show an identification token or pay 10 gold coins." As they made their way to the entrance of the Bright Sun City, a guard came over and stopped them.

Xuan Hao smiled awkwardly when he heard the guard ask for gold coins. Gold coins was the normal currency of mortals and were way easier to get one's hand on compared to spirit stones, a single spirit stone could easily be worth 500, if not 1000 gold coins!

Xuan Hao was a respected Nascent Soul expert, why would he ever carry something like gold coins around with him…?

"Do you perhaps not want to pay…?" Narrowing his eyes, the guard slowly put his hand on his sword as he threateningly asked.

It's a misunderstanding! I swear! Screaming silently to himself, Xuan Hao turned around and looked expectantly at his disciple.

Qing Yi looked at her master's expectant eyes and sighed to herself, her master was indeed a Nascent Soul expert… Carrying something like gold coins was way too much to expect…

"Here, this is my token." Taking out her own token, Qing Yi stepped forward and handed it over to the guard, who cautiously took the token from her hands and carefully inspected it.

"Ah! M-miss Qing, excuse me from being so rude earlier! You and your uncle can enter whenever you want!"

Doing a full 180-degree personality shift, the guard fawningly looked at Qing Yi with a smile on his lips.

Xuan Hao tried his best not to hit the guard, he was 21! How could he be an uncle? Just call me her big brother or something!

Looking at the guard's fawning posture as he looked like a young girl meeting her in-laws for the first time, Xuan Hao decided to ignore it and pretend he didn't hear anything.

Qing Yi was also about to jump back as she did not expect the guard to suddenly act like that.

"I-I see, just go back to what you were doing before." Taking back her token from the guard, Qing Yi hurriedly made her way into the city together with Xuan Hao as she cautiously stared at the guard behind them.

"So where is your family located?"

"Eeep!" Jumping up from the sudden question, Qing Yi turned back to look at Xuan Hao and realized that she had not told him where her family's estate was located.

"Follow me, the Qing Family's territory is mostly in the centre part of the city. The outer parts are mostly run by the Bai family." As she was talking, Qing Yi led the way through the bustling city as both of them soon stood in front of a small gate leading into the centre of the city.

Qing Yi went up to the small gate and talked to one of the guards present in front of it.

Creak~

A creaking voice was heard as the small gate slowly opened up and a tall handsome middle-aged man came out.

"Yiyi! Your back!" The man happily called out as he ran towards Qing Yi.

"Dad!" Qing Yi called back as she ran towards her father and embraced him.

Staring at Qing Yi's father as both of them were locked in a hug, Xuan Hao saw that he was at the sixth stage of the Core Formation Realm, instead of the fifth stage that he had heard he was at.

It looked like he had broken through and reached the sixth stage of the Core Formation Realm in the within the last 6 or so months that Qing Yi was gone.

"Ahm…!" Seeing as both of them looked like they would not stop hugging anytime soon, Xuan Hao decided to interrupt the happy father-daughter reunion.

"Ah! Dad, this is my master, Xuan Hao! He is a Core Elder of the Flying Sword Sect and a Nascent Soul expert!" Realizing that her master was still there, Qing Yi felt her face turn slightly red as she pushed her dad away and began to quickly introduce Xuan Hao.

"Ahm, I see. My name is Qing Yang, I heard about you taking in my daughter as a disciple, I hope that she has not caused too much trouble for you." Turning around to face Xuan Hao, Qing Yang bowed slightly as he respectfully spoke.

"Dad! Let's return first!" Feeling her face turn red upon hearing what her dad said, Qing Yi pulled on his arm, while trying to get him to move.

"Haha, it's fine, she has been doing great and is a good learner." Smiling widely, Xuan Hao decided to play along and tease Qing Yi a little more.

"!" Feeling her face turn even more red than it already was, Qing Yi did not say anything and just ran into the house located behind the gate. L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

"Haha, should we get going as well?" Smiling upon seeing his daughter turn shy all of a sudden, Qing Yang laughed happily as he invited Xuan Hao inside.

"Sure." Not wanting to be left too far behind by Qing Yi, Xuan Hao agreed and made his way towards the house of the Qing Family together with Qing Yi's father, Qing Yang.

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Chapter 52: Bai Hua

The Qing family's estate was enormous and even Xuan Hao's pavilion was slightly smaller than it, though it was not as majestic looking as the pavilion.

Xuan Hao was not surprised by this as several hundred people lived in the Qing Family's estate, while only 3 people lived in his pavilion…

As both him and Qing Yang made their way into the Qing family's house, Xuan Hao was immediately greeted with the curious looks of several people. From young and old people, most likely wondering who he was.

"This is Qing Yi's master from the Flying Sword Sect, Elder Xuan!" Seeing the curious looks from the surrounding people, Qing Yang stepped forward and introduced Xuan Hao to them. Earning quite a few gasps of surprise and excitement.

Even though they had heard about Qing Yi getting a master from the Flying Sword Sect, they expected him to be look older and some didn't believe it fully until they could see it with their own eyes.

"Ah, I see greetings elder Xuan!"

"Greetings elder Xuan."

"It's our honour to be able to host you elder Xuan."

All sorts of greetings came the moment they found out that the young man with their family head, was the rumoured master of Qing Yi, a Nascent Soul expert!

Xuan Hao just smiled at the sudden energetic greetings from the Qing family members.

"Do you perhaps know where Qing Yi is?" Turning to look at Qing Yang, Xuan Hao asked as he tried to move a bit away from the over enthusiastic Qing family members.

"Hm… She should have run to her room if I'm not wrong." Thinking about it for a moment, Qing Yang answered.

"I see." Quickly taking his leave, Xuan Hao decided to just spread out his divine sense and lock onto the position of Qing Yi's aura. This was so much easier than actually trying to ask around for where her room was located.

"Master!" Seeing Xuan Hao suddenly appear outside of her room, Qing Yi was slightly shocked as she quickly recovered and remembered how she had just run away earlier.

"I'm here to ask for when the Annual youth competition will begin tomorrow and how long it will last." Stating his reason for coming, Xuan Hao walked into Qing Yi's room and picked a chair to sit down on.

"Normally, the annual youth competition lasts for around 1 week. The first 6 days are just to get people qualified, while the last day is considered the real finals of the competition. Master can just relax here for the next 6 days as I join the competition and reach the finals, with my current strength, it should not be a problem at all…" Thinking over it, Qing Yi answered with a smile on her lips.

Finally, she would be able to show those people who had doubted her how strong she had become under her master's teachings!

"Sure, I will just ask your father for a room to stay in to cultivate then, I won't disturb you any longer." Seeing the burning passion on Qing Yi's face, Xuan Hao decided to just quietly observe.

This was her time to shine, no need for him to get involved in it…

…

Time passed by and Xuan Hao spent the next 6 days just quietly cultivating inside the Qing family estate, while Qing Yi joined the competition and easily made her way through the qualifiers, shocking both her father and the rest of her family in the process.

The fact that she had broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm in a short half year spread through the city and shocked everyone, the Bai family included.

"How did that girl from the Qing family manage to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm in such a short time! Did she perhaps manage to enter the Flying Sword Sect?" A elderly man said as he slammed the table in front of him.

"Calm down, even if she managed to join the Flying Sword Sect, so what? Do you think the Flying Sword Sect would dare fight with the Black Rose Sect over simple outer disciple at the Foundation Establishment Realm?

Remember who Bai Fei's master is! A Nascent Soul expert and grand elder of the Black Rose Sect! No matter what, the Black Rose Sect is still only slightly behind the Flying Sword Sect in strength. The Flying Sword Sect would not want to offend them for a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator and her family!" A middle-aged man called out to the elderly man with a smile on his lips.

"Bai Fei reached the Foundation Establishment Realm as well; we can just let him deal with the girl in the finals of the youth competition. Bai Fei's master is there as well, so nothing can go wrong!" Another man spoke up from the side as well, supporting the middle-aged man.

"I still think that going against the Flying Sword Sect is a bad idea… You all should know how protective they are of their disciples…!" The elderly man tried to warn them again.

"Pft, so what, they won't dare to act against the Black Rose Sect!" A younger member of the people present stood up and arrogantly proclaimed.

"Indeed, if they dare do anything, they will have to deal with the Black Rose Sect!"

"Yeah! They won't offend the Black Rose Sect!"

"Haha, the Flying Sword Sect will surely cower! They are already dealing with the Raging Flame Sect, adding the Black Rose Sect to the mix would spell disaster for them!"

The elderly man slowly stood up and walked out of the room, he knew that he could not convince the younger ones anymore.

The elderly man was the former head of the Bai family, Bai Hua, he had personally experienced the strength of the Flying Sword Sect in the past and did not like the idea of the Bai family offending the Flying Sword Sect.

Even if Bai Fei had the protection of his master, who said the Flying Sword Sect would not just come after he left to erase the Bai family?

Other than that, Bai Hua had felt that the reason the Bai Fei's master decided to help him was not out of appreciation of Bai Fei's talent, but something else. Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

The recent chaos that had started to spread through the Heavenly Sky Kingdom did not help calm him either, with his experience he could see something brewing in the dark and the Bai family was far from safe!

Bai Hua had already observed that the Black Rose Sect was being more and more suspicious lately and people had also started disappearing all around their territories.

No matter what was coming, Bai Hua knew that he would not be able to keep his Bai family safe.

"Ha… If I knew this would happen, I would have just tried to mend our relationship with the Qing family…" Staring out at the city, Bai Hua took a deep breath and sat down on a nearby bench to observe the bustling streets.

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Chapter 53: New System Feature

The day of the finals of the annual youth competition of Bright Sun City was finally here!

Qing Yi had shocked the entire city with her Foundation Establishment cultivation, but she was not the only one who shocked the entire city.

Bai Fei shocked the city just as much, as he had managed to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm as well!

Most of the people already thought that the final winner would either be Qing Yi or Bai Fei and were looking forward to the battle.

As for the former winner of the annual youth competition Qing Chenyi? Most people had already forgotten about him at this point and only talked about Qing Yi or Bai Fei's upcoming fight, though most of them expected for Bai Fei to win. The Bai family had after all spread out the news that his master was a Nascent Soul expert!

Not only that, but the Bai family had also spread rumours that Bai Fei's master was coming together with him to watch his disciple participate in the upcoming competition!

…

Back at the Qing family's house, many of the Qing family members were excitedly looking at Qing Yi, all of them had started admiring Qing Yi ever since they learned that she had broken through and reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.

This in turn also caused them to feel an even deeper sense of respect towards Xuan Hao, as he had managed to help Qing Yi reach the Foundation Establishment Realm in such a short time frame!

Qing Yi's father, Qing Yang was even more elated when he had found out about his daughter having reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. The guy had even thrown a party as he was happily running around bragging about his daughter to anyone that had children of their own.

The first elder did not know whether to laugh or cry, as the Qing Yang kept coming running to him talking about how much more talented Qing Yi was compared to his son Qing Ming…

"Should we get going then?" looking at the respectful and awed looks from the Qing family members, Xuan Hao turned around and asked Qing Yi standing beside him.

"Yeah, the finals will begin in little over an hour. Only, I did not expect for that Bai Fei to also breakthrough and reach the Foundation Establishment Realm… The Black Rose Sect is indeed still quite powerful…" Thinking about Bai Fei, who also reached the Foundation Establishment Realm like her, Qing Yi could not help but smile awkwardly.

She had expected that she would be able to easily win the annual youth competition, as reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm was considered extremely difficult at her age.

Only places like the Flying Sword Sect and the other top powers would have geniuses who reached the Foundation Establishment Realm at her age.

For Bai Fei, who did not have something like a divine physique that she did, to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm?

Qing Yi felt some doubts about it, but who knows, he was after all taken in as a disciple of a Nascent Soul Realm expert… There must be some reason for someone like that to want to take him in. Maybe his talent was just not something that the people of the Bright Sun City could see, like her Divine Physique!

"Great! Then let's get going immediately!" As Qing Yi was wondering why Bai Fei was able to become the disciple of a Nascent Soul expert and reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, Xuan Hao pulled her hand and quickly made his way out of the Qing family house.

Staying there under the respectful and awed looks from the younger and older generation of the Qing family was a little too much for Xuan Hao, their gaze on him was too much. The worst was the hungry look which some of the girls and women looked at him with, that was a truly horrifying feeling. Like they wanted to eat him or something! L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

Luckily, Qing Yi was not like them and was obedient and followed all of his instructions without missing a beat. Having an obedient and innocent disciple was definitely the way to go!

Hopefully, nothing would change in the future and Qing Yi would always remain as obedient and innocent, as she was at the moment.

Smiling to himself as he turned to look at Qing Yi following behind him with her father following closely behind, Xuan Hao, Qing Yi, Qing Yang and the rest of the Qing family made their way to the venue where the finals of the annual youth competition would be held.

"Well, well, well…. If it isn't the Qing family!" As the Qing family had made their way into the venue a mocking voice could be heard from the side as a young man walked over.

"Bai Fei!" Qing Yi frowned as she stepped away from Xuan Hao and went to confront the arrogant young master that had randomly appeared.

[System detected low-tier young master. Host is recommended to allow his disciple to confront the young master, this will bring benefits from ancient magic treasures or a sudden increase in cultivation along to your disciple depending on the young master's tier!]

A sudden message from the system suddenly appeared in front of Xuan Hao as he stared speechlessly towards Bai Fei. What great luck Qing Yi has! She even manged to encounter someone like this! The system even showed a new feature all of a sudden, low-tier young master?

Xuan Hao looked at Bai Fei and instantly noticed who he was, he would definitely be a great opportunity for Qing Yi!

From what Xuan Hao remembered, people like Bai Fei were supposed to be steppingstones that people could use to either reach a new realm of cultivation or find some magical treasure. The so-called arrogant young master! A rumoured cultivation boost or magic treasure generator!

The system seemed to classify these young masters as great opportunities for his disciple as well, Xuan Hao was really curious about the benefit that the low-tier young master Bai Fei would bring Qing Yi!

Qing Yi seemed to have know what a great opportunity it was beforehand and had even gone up to confront Bai Fei by herself.

Ah, what a great disciple I have, not letting go of such a precious opportunity to improve!

Xuan Hao smiled to himself as he decided to observe how Qing Yi dealt with the low-tier young master Bai Fei.

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Chapter 54: Bai Fei vs Qing Chenyi

" Hmph, I heard that you managed to breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm as well… Honestly thought it was a joke something at first, after all, who here does not know how low your cultivation is!

Really makes one wonder what kind of godly herb that you swallowed to allow your cultivation to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm." Bai Fei said disdainfully as he looked down at Qing Yi, seemingly not caring much about her even though both of them had reached the same cultivation realm.

"Bai Fei! We will see who is stronger than who in the finals!" Not saying anything more, Qing Yi left towards the competition venue. Not waiting for Bai Fei to answer.

Xuan Hao stood at the side and observed the short interaction with a smile on his face, he had just entered the system and checked out what the new feature was about.

Apparently, the young masters were categorized into different tiers. The systems catagorazation and rewards was even listed as well.

[Young Master tiers:

[Low-tier young master: Strength at Foundation Establishment realm, backing of at least Nascent Soul Realm.

[Possible Reward for disciple: Sudden Breakthrough during fight with the young master, finding a random artifact/herb of Spirit Grade or below on the young master, mysterious opportunity. N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.

[Mid-tier young master: ??? (meet a mid-tier young master)

[Possible Reward for disciple: ???

Looking at the tier of young master, Xuan Hao immediately noticed that a low-tier young master was supposed to have the backing of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator and have reached the Foundation Establishment Realm at the very least.

Bai Fei seemed to fit in well with the description of the system, having a cultivation at the Foundation Establishment Realm and having a master at the Nascent Soul Realm.

Nodding his head to himself, Xuan Hao instead focused on the rewards that Qing Yi could obtain from her encounter with Bai Fei. The sudden breakthrough and ability to find precious herbs or artifacts felt a little unfair in Xuan Hao's eyes, personally, he wished that he could go and beat up Bai Fei and get the sudden breakthrough…

Looking a little closer, Xuan Hao focused on the last possible reward, mysterious opportunity.

The reward was, as the name said, mysterious and Xuan Hao had no clue what it entailed. Maybe it was a secret inheritance of some ancient cultivator, a secret path to a secret realm set up by a powerful Domain Lord?

Xuan Hao could not help but wonder as he exited his sea of consciousness and looked straight at Bai Fei with a subtle light shining in his eyes.

If Qing Yi could improve her cultivation, he would naturally be able to get stronger as well… People like Bai Fei truly were treasures sent down by the heavens themselves!

…

A little farther away, Bai Fei himself had already made his way towards the venue where the competition was being held. Confidently walking, Bai Fei suddenly felt a chill go down his spine as he anxiously looked around himself.

"Master Bai, is there anything wrong? Perhaps it's that rude girl from earlier troubling you?" Seeing his sudden movement, a servant walking close by asked in an angry tone as he thought about how rude Qing Yi had been to his master.

"Ah, it's nothing, I was just hit by the wind and found it to be colder than expected." Not considering that it was a hot cloudless day with no such thing as a cold breeze even present and the fact that he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Bai Fei shrugged it off and made his way onto the first stage.

The first one to face off against Bai Fei surrendered immediately and he easily moved on to the next stage.

Qing Yi was the same as him, as nobody really felt like fighting someone one major cultivation realm above themselves. Losing was all but guaranteed. Only those heaven-defying geniuses would dare to challenge someone a major cultivation realm above themselves and ordinary people did not dare think of doing something like that.

"Bai Fei! You lost to me last year and even if you managed to breakthrough and reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, I will be sure to beat you just like last year!" As time progressed, the semi-finals began and Qing Chenyi, the former genius of the Qing family stood in front of Bai Fei as he loudly proclaimed.

The fact that Qing Yi of all people had broken through and reached the Foundation Establishment Realm before him had hurt him quite a bit, but in the end, they were still family, so he was still fine with it.

Bai Fei on the other hand was his enemy and rival, back then he had barely managed to beat him and win the last annual competition and now that he had managed to take a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator as master, he had managed to improve faster than him!

It had to be known that over the last half year, Qing Chenyi had not dared to relax and had even managed to reach the eighth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

Sadly, this was far from enough to contend with someone at the Foundation Establishment Realm.

"Qing Chenyi? Ha, you are still in the Qi Condensation Realm, even that little girl Qing Yi has already surpassed you! Come, I will be sure to end it quickly!" Bai Fei smiled smugly as he signalled for Qing Chenyi to attack him.

"BAI FEI!" Qing Chenyi was angered by the way he was disregarded by his former rival and immediately attacked with all his might.

"Pft, how pathetic, let me show you the difference in our strength!" Seeing Qing Chenyi charging at him, Bai Fei did not bother with it and only launched a casual palm strike towards him.

"Bai Fei! You are underestimating me!" Seeing how little Bai Fei seemingly cared about his attack, Qing Chenyi felt his anger reach a new high as he finally clashed with the casual palm attack of Bai Fei.

Bang!

Qing Chenyi did not even have a chance to resist as he was sent flying out of the stage, under the astonished gazes of the crowd.

Bai Fei was so strong! Even Qing Chenyi could be dealt with so easily!

Thinking about all of this, the crowd started to look forward to the fight between Qing Yi and Bai Fei.

Qing Chenyi on the other hand was forgotten as he just laid on the ground, it was only a little later that some of the members of the Qing family finally remembered him and quickly went over to help him.

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Chapter 55: Flying Through the Sky~

The competition proceeded as most had expected and both Qing Yi and Bai Fei ended up facing each other in the finals. Not much of a surprise as they were the only ones who had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. The rest of the competitors were only at the Qi Condensation Realm…

The finals would begin soon, and it was only at this moment that Xuan Hao managed to catch a glimpse of Bai Fei's master.

The man was wearing a pitch-black robe and had an aloof look on his face as he looked uncaringly at the surrounding people.

The man had only come when the finals were about to start and was sitting at the seat of honour that the Bai family had made for him, even without feeling the other guys nascent soul aura, Xuan Hao could guess who he was.

The only thing that surprised Xuan Hao, was how the guy seemingly didn't try to hide or mask his aura and instead let it out freely.

Xuan Hao himself had masked his Nascent Soul aura, as it would be quite uncomfortable for others and it would automatically give away his strength to any lurking enemies that might be out there.

Like right now, Xuan Hao could easily feel that the nascent soul expert from the Black Rose Sect was only at stage 1 of the Nascent Soul Realm, while the man himself had no clue that there was another Nascent Soul expert observing him from the side.

Other than Xuan Hao, the rest of the people present also looked at the man in the pitch-black robe full of respect and fear.

It was a Nascent Soul cultivator! A real living one!

"Master, I will be going now!" Bai Fei looked at the black robed man as he said respectfully, different from his former arrogant tone.

"…" The man did not say anything and only nodded uncaringly as he closed his eyes, either to meditate or just relax.

Bai Fei did not mind and went onto the stage, where Qing Yi was already waiting for him.

"The finals of this year's annual youth competition will be between Qing Yi from the Qing family and Bai Fei from the Bai family! Are both of you ready?" A relatively young man stood between both Qing Yi and Bai Fei on the stage as he announced loudly.

"Yes!" Both of them replied affirmatively, as they got into a fighting stance.

"Then you can begin when you see fit!" Saying those last words, the young man quickly made his way down from the stage, so both of them could start the duel.

"Well then little girl, let's see how strong you really are!" Bai Fei did not wait at all and launched an attack the moment the young man had made his way down from the stage.

"Black Rose Palm!" Bai Fei launched his palm technique and a small rose made out of qi quickly formed at the centre of his palm as it engulfed it and expanded until it was double the size of Bai Fei's hand. Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

Manifesting qi through qi techniques was something that one could only do at the Foundation Establishment Realm and was also one of the reasons why a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator was so much stronger than a Qi Condensation Realm cultivator.

Swoosh!

The Black Rose flew towards Qing Yi as she quickly drew her sword to defend.

The Sword was an Earth Rank Artifact that she had gotten from placing second in the newcomer tournament of the Flying Sword Sect.

"Autumn Wind Sword!"

Swinging down with all of her might, Qing Yi slashed towards the incoming black rose as the Autumn Wind Sword showed its might to the world.

Bang!

A small explosion occurred as the black rose and sword slash crashed into one another, sending a blast of wind out towards the spectating crowd of people.

Things did not stop here, as Qing Yi's sword attack continued towards Bai Fei.

"Argh!" Although the attack from Qing Yi was weakened by the black rose that Bai Fei had attacked with earlier, it was still more than enough to wound him as a wound appeared on his left arm.

In the last second before the sword attack reached him, Bai Fei had put his left arm up to defend while deploying a defensive qi technique to try and mitigate as much of the damage as possible.

"You! How dare you!" Looking at the bleeding wound on his left arm, Bai Fei suddenly turned extremely aggressive as he stared at Qing Yi with a murderous look.

"I will make you pay for daring to injure my body!" Having a temper tantrum, Bai Fei started screaming angrily like a 5-year-old child throwing a tantrum.

"…"

Qing Yi looked at the almost impossible to see small wound on Bai Fei's left arm and 1 or 2 drops of blood that had leaked from the wound.

Xuan Hao also looked speechlessly towards Bai Fei as he was openly throwing a tantrum for others to see.

How come a grown-up young man is throwing a tantrum that even a 3-year-old would find hard to beat? Is the Bai family not embarrassed?

Thinking this Xuan Hao turned and looked at the Bai family in question and sure enough, all of them had already turned bright red in embarrassment at the childish behaviour of Bai Fei.

Back on the stage, Qing Yi looked as speechless as the rest of the crowd as she watched how Bai Fei kept complaining and screaming.

Is this really a cultivator…? My attack barely damaged him… Maybe he is stalling for time to recover his qi!?

Suddenly, Qing Yi felt like she had found the "answer" to her question and decisively charged towards Bai Fei as he complained.

"-And I will make sure that you will live to regret ever- "

Swoosh!

The attack came all of a sudden and Bai Fei had not expected for Qing Yi to suddenly attack as he was still talking about how he would deal with her.

Smack!

In the last second, Qing Yi realized that her opponent was not defending at all, so she turned her sword from the sharp side to the flat side as the poor Bai Fei was smacked directly in the face and sent flying for a few dozen meters out of the stage.

At least Bai Fei got to feel like a Domain Lord and fly freely in the air for a few seconds…

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Chapter 56: Troublesome Disciple

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"…" The entire crowd froze for a moment as they looked at where the passed-out Bai Fei was now laying on the ground, then they turned around and looked up at Qing Yi.

This was supposed to be an epic match between two cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Realm! The fight even started out spectacularly…

Qing Yi did not expect the match to end so easily and smiled awkwardly when she saw the confused look on the crowds faces.

"Impudent!" As Bai Fei hit the ground, the black robed man from the Black Rose sect opened his eyes and looked at Qing Yi with a frown on his face.

The aura of a Nascent Soul expert quickly spread out and engulfed Qing Yi and the crowd, freezing them in place.

"Hmph, how dare your mere Qing family beat up someone from the Black Rose sect? Looks like you really don't want to live anymore." The black robed man stood up and looked disdainfully in the direction of the Qing family as he said this.

Qing Yang and the rest of the Qing family started trembling in anger upon hearing the black robed man's words.

Beat up? This is a goddamn martial arts tournament! How can someone not get hurt? If you want an excuse to attack us, just say it!

Xuan Hao looked at the angry looks on the Qing family's faces and then turned to look at the black robed man now standing in front of the Bai family as he disdainfully smiled towards them.

"…"

Since when had Nascent Soul experts gotten so shameless? This was the thought on Xuan Hao's and the crowds mind at the moment.

But the crowd decided to stay quiet, it was after all a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator…

"Hmph, I might as well deal with this little girl first." Saying so, the Nascent Soul expert from the Black Rose sect waved his hand slightly as a bloody tendril formed in the air and the slender threadlike tendril, stretched out towards Qing Yi at a speed only Xuan Hao could see.

Before anyone could understand what was going on, the surrounding crowd saw a bloody tendril suddenly appear directly in front of Qing Yi.

Buzz!

However, just as everyone thought that Qing Yi was about to perish, another terrifying aura suddenly descended!

The terrifying blood tendril launched by the black-robed man was suddenly cut in half as a sword strike appeared just in front of Qing Yi at the last possible moment.

Qing Yi let out a sigh of relief upon seeing this, she knew that her master had defended her just now.

"Hmph, it's been a while since I have seen someone as shameless as you! Can't bear that your disciple lost to mine, so you decide to attack her?" Xuan Hao's voice came out from besides Qing Yi as he suddenly appeared directly besides her.

"This aura… What's going on? Why is there another Nascent Soul expert!?"

"Yeah, and this one seems to be slightly stronger as well, did you see how easily he dealt with that bloody tendril?!"

"If it was me, I would have probably died if even 1% of that tendrils strength hit me…"

Some of the weaker people in the crowd could not help but fearfully retreat and look towards Xuan Hao in awe.

…

This damn Bai family! Why did they not mention that the Qing family had the support of a Nascent Soul expert!

"…Might I ask where this Daoist is from?" The black-robed man from the Black Rose sect regained his bearing as he cautiously asked with narrowed eyes.

At the side, the Bai family knew that the situation was no longer under their control and most of the anxiously looked at the black-robed man. Hoping that he could deal with the unknown Nascent Soul expert that had appeared at the Qing family's side.

Bai Hua, the former head of the Bai family looked towards Xuan Hao standing besides Qing Yi and sighed to himself.

"Ha… The Bai family is done for… the only reason that the Black Rose Sect took in Bai Fei was because they had a use for him… Between offending a Nascent Soul expert and helping the Bai family…" Bai Hua felt the last bit of hope that he had for the Bai family disappear as he walked out of the venue.

Only Xuan Hao and the black robed man from the Black Rose Sect saw him leave the venue, but both ignored him. After all, neither cared about him leaving or staying.

"From today onwards, I will travel the world and finally explore it without being bound by the task of looking after the Bai family…" Giving a final sad smile in the direction of the panicking Bai family, Bai Hua told himself as he felt himself being freer and more relaxed than ever.

This was the last time that the Bai family would ever see Bai Hua.

"…"

Xuan Hao looked at the old man well into his eighties disappearing into the distance, he clearly knew that he was a member of the Bai family, but the sad feeling of the elderly man caused Xuan Hao not to do anything to him.

He instinctively felt that the old man most likely did not have anything to do with the Bai family current aggressive behaviour in trying to kill the Qing family off.

The current scuffle between the two family's had lasted for hundreds of years, but it was only recently that the Bai family truly started to try and get rid of the Qing family!

Xuan Hao did not find the scuffle and skirmishes for the past hundreds or so years weird, as it was relatively normal for something like that to happen if two families were around equal in strength in the same city…

"Ha…" Sighing to himself, Xuan Hao looked away from the elderly man's back and turned his focus back onto the black robed Nascent Soul expert.

The fight between two families for the rule of a region or city was not really fair and Xuan Hao knew this as well.

Most likely, the Bai family and the Black Rose Sect were the big bad guys, but this was only from the Qing family's perspective.

The only thing Xuan Hao could see was two family's fighting for control over a city, his disciple just happened to be from one of them, causing him to join in and help her family.

This disciple of his… Maybe she was more troublesome than he had first thought…?

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Chapter 57: Black Robed Man Runs Away!

"…"

Turning back to the black robed Nascent Soul expert from the Black Rose Sect, Xuan Hao decided to not answer his question as he instead drew his sword.

The Nascent Soul expert from the Black Rose Sect was only at the first stage of the Nascent Soul Realm and Xuan Hao himself could easily deal with someone like that!

"!" The black robed man narrowed his eyes even more when he saw Xuan Hao draw his sword, as he got prepared to fight.

"I'm an elder from the Black Rose Sect! Are you sure that you want to fight me!?" Seeing that Xuan Hao clearly did not care about him, the black robed man tried to use his background to intimidate him.

The Black Rose Sect could easily be considered the fifth strongest sect in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, not just anyone would want to offend it for no reason.

"Sure~ you attacked my disciple earlier and even tried to kill her… How am I supposed to respond? Let you walk away for free after being unsuccessful?" Xuan Hao raised an eyebrow as he looked questioningly at the black robed man.

"…" The black robed man was slightly speechless when he heard what Xuan Hao said.

Indeed, if someone had tried to kill one of his disciples, he would make sure to get revenge on them and kill them off.

Just earlier when Qing Yi had injured Bai Fei, he had already tried to just kill her off and use it as and excuse to help his disciple's family take control of the Bright Sun City…

"I see… Guess I have no choice then!" Saying so, the black robed man's eyes shone in a vicious light as bloody tendrils suddenly drilled up from the ground and pierced the remaining Bai family members, Bai Fei included.

"!" Xuan Hao opened his mouth in surprise as he watched the black robed man proceed to kill off his own teammates.

"Wha- "

"The Bai family is…"

"Hiii!"

The Qing family members and surrounding crowd were no different as all of them stared at the black robed man in horror.

The bodies of the Bai family slowly dried up as the bloody tendrils quickly absorbed all of the blood and qi inside of their bodies.

"Hah! This feels great!" A tendril connected back to the black robed man as the blood and qi they had absorbed was transferred back into his body, causing a low moan to escape to black robed man's mouth.

Swoosh!

Xuan Hao decided that watching as the black robed man's aura slowly grew stronger as he absorbed the blood and qi of the Bai family members was most likely a bad idea, as he quickly slashed down with his sword towards the black robed man.

"Haha! You think this silly little sword can do anything to me?" Smiling in contempt, the black robed man waved his hand and dozens of tendrils shot up from the ground and formed a barrier between him and the sword attack launched by Xuan Hao.

The sword slash landed on the tendrils and instantly slashed through them, like a hot knife through butter.

"Rose Guard!"

The black robed man realized that Xuan Hao was stronger than he had expected, and a few thicker tendrils erupted from the ground as black roses bloomed on top of them.

Bang!

The sword slash soon met the black roses, and a small explosion came as the sword crashed directly into the defences of the black robed elder.

Seeing the tendrils with black roses slowly getting cut through by the sword slash, the black robed man immediately knew that he was not a match for Xuan Hao and quickly employed his own movement techniques as he tried to retreat.

After all, why stay and fight a losing battle?

With this in mind, the black robed man used his strength as he quickly grabbed a few hundred people from the crowd and instantly drained their qi and blood to help himself recover the little qi he lost in the earlier clash with Xuan Hao.

"Hmph, I will make sure that my Black Rose Sect repays you for the humiliation I faced today!" Saying that, the black robed man slowly started disappearing as he mustered all of his strength to escape.

"Think I will let you escape?" Xuan Hao did not dare to wait as he quickly used his own movement technique to chase after the black robed man.

Even if he could fly on his sword, it would still be quicker to use a movement technique for a short burst in speed and try to quickly catch up to the black robed man. Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

"…" Qing Yi and the rest of the Qing family did not even have time to comprehend what had just happened as they observed the outcome of the earlier clash between Xuan Hao and the black robed man from the Black Rose Sect.

Just a few seconds had passed, but most of the Bai family had been wiped out, even Bai Fei, the black robed man's disciple, was killed by his own master.

Qing Yi honestly had no clue what had even happened, she had heard from her master in the past that the Black Rose Sect practiced some borderline demonic techniques and now she had seen it first-hand.

Absorbing the blood and qi of other cultivators! Was this not one of the main giveaways for a demonic cultivator? How was this borderline demonic…? It was clearly a demonic technique!

Thinking about this, Qing Yi felt a little nervous as she looked in the direction that her master and the black robed man had disappeared in. Hopefully, nothing would happen.

…

Meanwhile, Xuan Hao was just about to catch up with the black robed man from the Black Rose Sect, when he suddenly felt a dangerous aura lock onto him.

"!"

Retreating immediately, Xuan Hao barely managed to dodge a pitch-black sword that suddenly came from the sky and blocked his path.

"What is that…?" Stopping in his tracks, Xuan Hao looked up as he saw another person in the same clothes as the black robed man.

"How come you a running away from people the moment I find you? Did you manage to secure the Bright Sun City?" The new arrival appeared besides the black robed man running away from Xuan Hao as he asked.

"No… This guy suddenly appeared and apparently has a disciple in the city…" The black robed man who ran away from Xuan Hao earlier stopped as he complained and pointed at Xuan Hao.

"I see, let's retreat for now. Not having the Bright Sun City will not affect the grand plan!"

"Fine, but we have to teach this guy a lesson in the future! Nobody offends the Black Rose Sect and gets away with it!"

With that, Xuan Hao watched both of the black robed men quickly disappear without doing anything. The new arrival clearly gave off a dangerous aura and Xuan Hao had no plan to recklessly attack someone who was most likely stronger than him.

"…"

They do realize I can hear them talk…? I even know you guys are from the Black Rose Sect…

Gazing speechlessly in the direction the two black robed men from the Black Rose Sect left in, Xuan Hao wondered whether or not they realized that.

Maybe they just thought he could do nothing to stop their so called "grand plan"?

Not thinking anymore about it, Xuan Hao shook his head slightly as he turned around and made his way back to Bright Sun City.

Today was truly exhausting, he honestly did not want to deal with whatever plan those people from the Black Rose Sect were talking about…

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Chapter 58: Leaving Bright Sun City

"Master! Are you okay?!"

Returning to the Bright Sun City, Xuan Hao saw Qing Yi running over with an anxious look on her face as she looked up and down Xuan Hao's body. Making sure he was not injured.

"Yes, I'm fine. The guy from the Black Rose Sect ended up getting away… Apparently he had a friend close by." Sighing as he thought about the earlier chase, Xuan Hao felt quite embarrassed.

If it were not for him fearing that him using his sword to fly, causing the Raging Flame Sect to find out he was the one who injured one of their elders, Xuan Hao would have used this method to catch up to the black robed man after he failed to catch up to him at the start.

Honestly, Xuan Hao still felt surprised at the speed of the black robed man, even 2 small realms below him, he had still managed to slip away…

When he got back to the sect, Xuan Hao swore to himself that he would find a movement technique to train in.

"W-what will happen to my family now!" Realizing that the black robed man had gotten away and knew her family's location, Qing Yi shivered slightly as she looked hopingly up at her master. Hoping that he had a solution.

"…From what I heard, they seem to be busy with something else at the moment and would most likely not have the time to send people over to deal with your Qing family. After all, even if the Qing family is weak to a power like the Black Rose Sect, it still has quite a few Core Formation cultivators and is inside the Flying Sword Sects territory." Thinking about it for a moment, Xuan Hao patiently answered his disciples worry.

"I see…" Qing Yi slightly lowered her head as she looked sadly at the ground.

If only I was stronger…

This thought appeared inside of Qing Yi's mind as she thought about the danger that the Black Rose Sect presented to her and her family.

If only she was strong enough, the Black Rose Sect would not dare to attack her family, even when she was not there.

"Master let's go back to the sect! I want to grow stronger!"

Clenching her fists and looking up at her master, Qing Yi's eyes shone brightly as she innocently told her master about her desire.

"But Yiyi, you only just came back…" From the side Qing Yang, Qing Yi's father, put on a sad face as he looked at Qing Yi.

"I will never grow stronger if I just stay here and there will always exist the danger from the Black Rose Sect if I don't grow strong enough and the Black Rose Sect ends up sending someone to deal with the Qing family… I don't dare to just stay here and waste my time…" Looking at her fathers sad face, Qing Yi bit her lower lip as she told him.

"Hah… Fine… Just make sure you come back to visit from time to time!" Qing Yang knew what Qing Yi said was true, no matter what, her master could not stay here and safeguard them all the time and even if they had the support of the Flying Sword Sect, who was to say that the Black Rose Sect would not secretly wipe out their Qing family?

Even if the Black Rose Sect were dealt with in the future, who is to say some other power would not come along and wipe out the Qing family?

Only when they had someone strong to defend them would they truly be able to hold their head high and not fear being wiped out by a passing Nascent Soul expert…

"…" Xuan Hao silently watched as the father and daughter duo talked with each other without interrupting them.

Qing Yi's desire to grow stronger had grown and she had truly felt how hopeless she was in front of the expert from the Black Rose Sect, even her master did not manage to kill the black robed man in the end!

What would have happened if her master were just a little slower to act and safe her? What if her master were not there, would the black robed man have cared about her being a member of the Flying Sword Sect?

Qing Yi doubted that the Black Rose Sects people would care whether or not she was a disciple of the Flying Sword Sect. After all, it was widely known that the Flying Sword Sect and the Raging Flame Sect was currently battling it out with each other and could only spare to send out so many people, lest the Raging Flame Sect takes advantage of it and launches an attack.

"Great, then let's leave immediately!" Seeing the determination that Qing Yi was currently showing, Xuan Hao decided to leave immediately, as she might change her mind to stay a little longer if they waited until the next day.

Better strike while the iron was hard, Xuan Hao decided that he would impart Qing Yi some insights in her cultivation realm along the way. Hopefully, she would be able to absorb them better with her current state of mind.

Qing Yi did not refuse as both of them soon left the Bright Sun City under the increasingly loud crying noises of a certain father.

"Let's get going then." Xuan Hao said as they came to a forest besides the Bright Sun City. The forest was only a few kilometres away from the city, but Xuan Hao knew that the chances of them being seen taking off was small and the faster they could get going the faster they would be able to get back to the Flying Sword Sect!

Xuan Hao had still not forgotten how a certain shadow hawk had thrown them off mid-air and flown away without a care in the world.

When he got back to the Sect, Xuan Hao would make sure he got his revenge!

Swoosh!

With that, Qing Yi and Xuan Hao both jumped on top of Xuan Hao's sword as it quickly lifted into the air and flew away.

Qing Yi held onto her master as she slowly turned around and looked at the Bright Sun City disappearing in the distance.

I will definitely become stronger! Strong enough to deal with anything that threatens my family!

Thinking about this, Qing Yi listened to her master.

Not forgetting to memorise the teachings about the Foundation Establishment Realm that Xuan Hao started talking about the moment they reached a cruising altitude.Ñ00vl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

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Chapter 59: Spirit Valley

As they were flying across the sky, Xuan Hao suddenly remembered that Qing Yi had managed to defeat Bai Fei, which the system called a low-tier young master.

The system had not given him any notifications or anything after it had happened and the black robed man from the Black Rose Sect attacked as well, causing Xuan Hao to forget about the new system feature.

"Qing Yi, what happened to the Bai family's corpses after I went to hunt down the man from the Black Rose Sect?" Remembering that the corpses of the Bai family were already gone when he returned, Xuan Hao asked curiously, he really wanted to know if Qing Yi managed to "loot" the low-tier young master Bai Fei.

"After you left, we cleaned up the venue and took anything of value from the Bai family!" Directly admitting to looting the dead body of the Bai family's people, Qing Yi proudly told Xuan Hao about her deeds.

"… Did you get anything… Good?" Xuan Hao smiled awkwardly as he looked at the proud expression on his disciple's face.

Hopefully, she would not end up running around looting random corpses… If that really happened, Xuan Hao had no idea how people would view him, the teacher, if that really happened.

"Hm… We did not really find anything interesting other than a few artifacts… Ah! There was this ring that I found on Bai Fei, want to see it?!" Seemingly thinking about it for a moment, Qing Yi suddenly got excited as she took out a ring from a small pocket in her robe and gave it over to Xuan Hao.

"This is…?" Inspecting the ring, Xuan Hao tried sending a bit of his divine sense into the ring and see what kind of reward his disciple had managed to pick up.

"Hello young one, I'm a great Divine Moon Immortal, I can teach you about-"

Woosh~

"AH! Master! Why did you throw the ring away?!" Qing Yi cried out as she suddenly saw Xuan Hao use all of his strength to throw the ring that she handed him far away.

"…"

Xuan Hao did not answer and instead just stared quietly in the direction that he had thrown the ring.

How dangerous! He had encountered the rumoured "random expert stuck in a ring", if he was not careful and acted immediately his disciple might be taken away from him!

"Hah… That ring was dangerous, there was some evil demon sealed inside of it! Better get rid of it before anything bad happens!" Looking at his confused disciple, Xuan Hao shook his head as he explained to her with a serious look.

"I see…" Qing Yi had a slightly doubting expression on her face as she slightly narrowed her eyes while looking up at Xuan Hao.

…

At the same time Xuan Hao threw the ring far into the distance, Bai Hua, who had left the Bright Sun City to journey the world was walking slowly forward.

"Hah… Where will I even go from now on? I used all my time in the past looking after the Bai family… Well, I might as well start going north! Auch!" As Bai Hua was talking to himself, he was suddenly hit by something as he raised his hand to hold the place on his head where he was hit.

"What in the world was that!?" caressing the area on his head, Bai Hua lowered his head and looked at the ring that was laying on the ground in front of him.

"Hello young one…" As he touched the ring, Bai Hua heard a voice enter his head and his formerly depressed look slowly turned into one filled with joy.

Looks like luck is finally with him!

…

As they continued flying through the sky, Xuan Hao and Qing Yi saw many interesting things, though not that much different from what they had seen on the way to the Bright Sun City.

"Master what is that!?" As they quietly flew through the air, Qing Yi suddenly called out to Xuan Hao as she pointed in a direction to the side of them with her hand.

Xuan Hao was also curious as he turned around and looked at the place where Qing Yi pointed.

"Ah, a spirit valley." The place where Qing Yi had pointed was a place known as a spirit valley. Normally finding such a place could be considered hard as they were quite rare.

The spirit valley to the side of them that Qing Yi had pointed out was not that big and the spirit herbs that could be found there would most likely not be above Earth Grade and would mostly only be Mortal Grade.

"A spirit valley?" Tilting her head slightly to the side upon hearing the name, Qing Yi questioningly looked up at Xuan Hao, wondering what a spirit valley was. N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.

"Ah, a spirit valley is normally a place where the qi between heaven and earth is denser than normal. The place is filled with all kinds of herbs, trees, rivers and can be considered quite a beautiful place… Want to go down and take a look?" Trying his best to describe what it was, Xuan Hao decided that it might be better to just go down there and show her, it would be easier to understand and they would be able to get a small break as well.

"Yes!" Qing Yi answered immediately as she clearly felt her spirit of exploration beckoning for her to go down there and explore the spirit valley.

"Haha." Laughing slightly to himself upon seeing the excited look on Qing Yi's face, Xuan Hao slowly steered the sword towards the spirit valley as both of them soon landed besides a river flowing through the valley.

The river was filled to the brim with all kinds of fish. Xuan Hao did not relax for a second as he used his cultivation to quickly catch a few of them to eat, as Qing Yi curiously inspected the area they landed.

Whoosh

A fire quickly appeared in Xuan Hao's hands as some wood from a nearby tree slowly broke down and built up a small campfire in front of him.

Soon an intoxicating aroma spread out from the campfire as Xuan Hao slowly grilled the fish he had caught over the fire.

Qing Yi on the other hand did not act as laid back as her master and instead left the small area under the agreement of Xuan Hao, to further explore the spirit valley.

After all, it was just a relatively low quailty spirit valley. Nothing too precious would appear, meaning there would not be much danger present.

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Chapter 60: Herb Gathering~

Qing Yi left Xuan Hao behind at the small river stretching through the spirit valley as she ventured deeper into the forest just besides the small river.

The forest was not dense, and light easily came through openings in the trees above, allowing Qing Yi to easily see in front of her without much trouble.

Looking at the ground, Qing Yi instantly noticed a stark difference compared to a normal forest like the one that was just outside the Bright Sun City, herbs! And not normal herbs, no, they were Mortal Grade herbs!

The entire forest floor was completely covered in them, from deep root spirit shrooms, to sunlight flowers, Qing Yi could see all kinds of mortal grade herbs covering the forest floor.

This was amazing, normally something like this would be considered a precious gathering ground for powers like her Qing family, yet here it was, countless low grade herbs just growing freely without any human interference!

"Maybe I should inform dad when I return to the Qing family again in the future, it is after all not that far away from the Bright Sun City." Thinking about this, Qing Yi walked deeper into the spirit valley.

At this point, even a few Earth Grade herbs had showed up along the way.

Qing Yi had not held back in the slightest as she gathered all of them, stuffing whatever pockets she had full of herbs, making her look quite funny with herbs sticking out from several places on her robe.

Earth Grade herbs were normally useful for people in the Foundation Establishment Realm, so Qing Yi gathered all that she encountered. Not sparring even the most degraded and bad quality Earth Grade herb.

"…"

Back at the shore besides the river, Xuan Hao was quietly eating his newly grilled fish as he sent out his divine sense to check in on what Qing Yi was up to.

What met him was a big round ball with herbs sticking out from every possible place, if not for the small face sticking up from the top of the ball, Xuan Hao would never believe that the wandering ball of herbs was his disciple and even then, he still doubted whether the wandering ball of herbs was his cute little disciple…

His disciple seemed to be a little greedy… Maybe she was not as innocent as he had first thought?

"No way…" Xuan Hao shook his head slightly as he retreated his divine sense, his disciple was definitely not someone greedy! She was just… Helping the forest clean up by removing some of the older herbs, so the younger ones could get a little more sunlight and grow better…

Yes… That was the reason!

Not thinking anymore about Qing Yi, Xuan Hao returned to relaxing by the river as he peacefully ate the fishes he had caught.

"Ah, if just life could always be so relaxing!"

… Ñ00vl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

As Qing Yi slowly made her way deeper and deeper into the spirit valley, she came upon a ravine in the middle of the forest.

The ravine was not too large but was still more than 1 kilometre long and a few dozen meters wide.

This, however, was not the interesting thing about the ravine. Instead, it was the thing that Qing Yi saw at the bottom of the ravine.

A Spirit Grade Herb!

Qing Yi immediately narrowed her eyes to observe her surroundings, making sure that nobody was looking and only then did she slowly start to make her way down towards the spirit herb at the bottom of the ravine.

Xuan Hao observed from a distance with the help of his divine sense as the ball of herbs known as Qing Yi slowly struggled her way down to the bottom of the ravine.

Only after 10 minutes of struggle did she manage to pick up the spirit grade herb and return to the top of the ravine again.

Normally, someone with her cultivation would have been able to do the same thing within a minute or less, but Qing Yi simply had too much extra weight on her. Making moving around normally quite difficult.

"Hah…" Seeing that Qing Yi was finally making her way back towards him, Xuan Hao let out a sigh of relief.

If she did not stop gathering more herbs, Xuan Hao honestly had no idea how they would even be able to carry them all back to the sect, he only had so much space in the small bag he had brought with him…

Time passed by quickly and Qing Yi soon rolled her way back to Xuan Hao, as he watched with a wry smile as she unpacked all of her spoils and sorted them into various categories.

From fire related herbs she could use, to edible herbs, to sellable herbs.

"Let's stay here for the night, it's already gotten dark by now and we have still not crossed the Red Dust desert yet." Looking up at the sun disappearing in the horizon, Xuan Hao told Qing Yi as he waved his hand, causing a few nearby trees to breakdown and form into the shape of a small wooden house.

"Okay… Can I also make a house like that in the future?" Looking at the small wooden house that appeared in front of her all of a sudden, Qing Yi put down some of the herbs she was sorting into Xuan Hao's bag, as she asked with an excited look plastered on her face.

"Sure, when you become strong enough, even reshaping an entire mountain into a palace will be child's play." Smiling upon seeing her excited expression, Xuan Hao walked over and told her, causing Qing Yi to be even more excited.

"For now go to bed or meditate, you need to have some rest, you can sort out the herbs you picked up tomorrow!" Putting on a slightly stern expression, Xuan Hao told her as he walked into the house and sat down in a meditative position to cultivate until the night passed.

"Fine…" Carefully entering the small wooden house with her herbs, Qing Yi took out a small pillow she brought with her and sat on it as she began meditating just like her master.

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Chapter 61: Chu Yang

The night passed by peacefully and Qing Yi go up the moment the sun appeared and went outside the small wooden house to finish the sorting of herbs she had started yesterday.

"Hm… Seem some people are coming this way…" coming out of the small wooden house, Xuan Hao looked across the river as he looked over at Qing Yi absorbed in sorting all the herbs she gathered.

"Guess I will just go and take a look… Qing Yi, I will go out and take a look at some people who just arrived, I will be back shortly!" Saying so, Xuan Hao unsheathed his sword and flew in the direction where the people were coming from.

"…" Qing Yi only nodded slightly, completely ignoring her master leaving. The herbs she had gathered were just too important…

…

"Hah… Hah… I-I think I finally managed to lose them!

Somewhere not far away from the river where Xuan Hao and Qing Yi were currently located, a young man ran through the forest as he constantly kept looking over his shoulders. Making sure that nobody was following him.

He had been running for the last two weeks and had finally managed to gain some distance between himself and his pursuers.

"No matter what, I have to make it to the ravine! As long as I manage to get the spirit herb there, I should be able to breakthrough and recover!" Narrowing his eyes, the young man's azure eyes suddenly swept over the bushes a few meters in front of him as he suddenly stopped and brought forward a spear strapped onto his back.

The spear shone with a deadly light as the sun peeked through the leaves above, allowing the spear to look even more intimidating than it had before.

Rustle~

A rustling sound came from the bushes in front of the young man as several black clothed individuals came out with their weapons already drawn.

"Chu Yang, you can't run anymore! Hand over the Devil-Immortal jade and we can make sure that you will die without any suffering!" A tall man with slightly darker clothes and a small red star on his shoulder came forward and told the young man known as Chu Yang.

"Hmph, do you think I don't know what that jade is for!? And do you honestly think I would just hand it over without a fight?" Not saying anymore, Chu Yang rushed at one of the black clothed men that had moved in from his left and stabbed him through the chest. Killing him in an instant.

"CHU YANG!" Ñ00vl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Swoosh!

Not wanting to stay and listen to the black clothed man's tantrum, Chu Yang used the opening to hurriedly dart out of the encirclement that had been set out and dashed towards the ravine with the spirit herb.

"Catch him!"

Hearing the voice of the leader of the black clothed men, Chu Yang jumped over a nearby river and darted towards the ravine with all the speed that he could possibly muster.

Swish~

Feeling an arrow encased in a thick layer of qi passing by close to his head, Chu Yang felt a slight shiver go down his spine as he barely managed to dodge to the side.

Looks like the black clothed men would not give him a chance to talk again and would just kill him on the spot… Even if they were asked to bring him in alive, it looked like they didn't care about that anymore…

Well… Rather bring back his dead body than letting him get away.

"Almost there!"

Rushing through the forest, Chu Yang felt inwardly happy that the ravine with the spirit herb in it was located in a spirit valley. The denser than usual qi between heaven and earth, made it harder for his pursuer to lock onto his position. Truly a blessing in disguise!

"There it is! The ravine with the spirit herb, just like I remembered!" Chu Yang finally came to a stop in front of a ravine deep inside the spirit valley.

Normally, a place that deep inside of a spirit valley would be filled with all kinds of herbs, but strangely enough, there was not a single herb in sight. Not even a single Mortal Grade Herb could be seen in the area surrounding the ravine…

Chu Yang did not notice this abnormality and instead just excitedly jumped into the ravine as he rushed towards a deeper part of it.

Not even 10 seconds after Chu Yang jumped into the ravine, several black clothed men appeared where he was standing before entering the ravine.

"Hm… Why did he enter the ravine? Is he trying to corner himself or did he just make a mistake?" The black clothed man with a red star on his shoulder asked curiously as he glanced at his subordinates curiously.

"My lord, he might know about a place to hide inside the ravine or some secret pathway!" One of the black clothed men replied to the leaders curious question.

"I see… That Chu Yang is indeed quite slippery, so he would most likely have something planned! Be careful when you enter and look out for any sneak attacks or traps that he might have set up!" Nodding at what his subordinate said, the leader cautiously moved into the ravine together with the other black clothed men.

…

In the sky above, Xuan Hao curiously observed the entire chase scene as he wondered what to do and how to best impress the young man called Chu Yang.

The reason for this was simple.

"Talent of 57…"

Other than that, Xuan Hao also thought about the trouble that his "new disciple" carried with him.

But it was not really a problem and even if there was a bit of trouble, there was no way it could be any more than what Qing Yi had already brought…

From what he had heard from the people chasing, Chu Yang had stolen something from them that would apparently help summon a great demon or something… Chu Yang could be considered a good person by taking the demon summoning thing from the demon worshippers in black clothes and all…

"Ah, looks like the black robbed men cornered the little guy" Looking down and seeing the black robbed men surrounding Chu Yang, Xuan Hao smiled cheekily as he decided to take action and safe his future disciple.

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Chapter 62: Catching a New Disciple in The Wild

"The spirit herb should be just around here!" Excitedly entering a deeper region of the ravine, Chu Yang looked around trying to spot what he was searching for.

A few seconds passed by and his formerly excited look turned into one filled with despair.

"Why! Why is it not here!?" Looking at the spot where the spirt herb was supposed to be, all he saw was a small hole in the ground. Clear proof that someone had been here earlier to dig up the spirit herb.

"Who? Who was it that took my spirit herb!?" Feeling the aura of his pursuers slowly closing in on him, Chu Yang desperately looked around and found out that he was stuck. The only way out was through the black clothed people chasing after him and the chances of them giving him another chance to run away again was close to nothing.

Swish~

The black clothed men appeared instantly and surrounded Chu Yang, this time, all of them had their weapons drawn as their cautiously monitored Chu Yang's each and every move.

"well, well, well… Look what we got here. Are you perhaps stuck?" The leader of the black clothed men smiled when he saw the despairing and hopeless look on Chu Yang's face, it looked like he did not have any secret escape route or trap!

Maybe he just mistakenly entered the ravine due to the stress of being chased for such a long time?

Thinking this, the leader let out a breath of relief, at least he would not have to spend any longer chasing Chu Yang!

"Get him!" Saying this, the leader along with the black clothed men surrounding Chu Yang jumped into action as all of them attacked him at once.

"!"

Chu Yang barely managed to react as he quickly blocked the first few attacks from the black clothed with his spear before being knocked unconscious by the leader.

"…"

Meanwhile, Xuan Hao was floating only a few meters above the fight happening below as he looked for a way to make an epic entrance and awe his to be disciple.

As he did not sense any intent to kill, he had decided to wait and see how his future disciple would fare under pressure.

Sadly, from the looks of it, the black clothed men had decided to knock the little guy out as the leader quickly flung the now unconscious Chu Yang over his shoulders and began walking out of the ravine with a smug smile on his lips.

"Haha, that was easier than expected! We didn't even have to kill the little guy! Looks like he was really exhausted from all that running earlier, hehe~" Smiling triumphantly, the leader and his men started talking among each other. Not seeing the slowly darkening face of Xuan Hao floating on top his sword just a few meters above them.

"Ahem..." Coughing into his hand to get the black clothed men's attention, Xuan Hao looked down and saw that he had been completely ignored as the bunch was happily talking about the rewards they would get when they brought Chu Yang back with them.

"…"

Watching as they were about to leave the ravine, Xuan Hao did not try to gain their attention by coughing again as a small rock floated over besides him.

Swoosh!

Throwing the rock with all his might at one of the nearby black clothed men, the rock passed right through his head, killing him instantly.

"Hey old Hu, what are you going to buy with your share of spirit stones? Going to visit the sect's tavern for some fun, hehe. Last time you went there you were thrown out for harassing the inner elder's daughter. Think they will let you in now that you got some spirit stones?" Not knowing that his friend had just died, one of the black clothed men jokingly told the now dead old Hu as he nudged his shoulder.

Thump!

"O-old Hu…?" Seeing the body of his friend suddenly fall to the ground with a small hole going through his head, the black clothed man shakingly called out to his now dead friend.

"Everyone! We have company!" The leader turned around the moment he heard the body hit the ground as all of them drew their weapons and cautiously inspected their surroundings.

"Come out and face us coward! Hiding will not help you when we find you!" The leader put down Chu Yang's unconscious body as he called out bravely.

"Ahem!" Coughing even louder than before, Xuan Hao stared annoyedly down at the black clothed men as they finally looked up at him with shocked and horrified expressions plastered on their faces, at least Xuan Hao liked to believe that, sadly all of the black clothed men were masked.

"W-who are you!?" Realizing that the opponent was quietly floating above them as he sat lazily on his sword, clearly annoyed, the leader knew that the opponent was not someone that they could deal with.

Swish~

Floating down, Xuan Hao landed in front of the group as the sword he formerly sat on flew into a sheath strapped on his side the moment his feet touched the ground.

"…"

The group of black clothed men were sweating to the extreme as they all felt a chill go down their spine. The silence was killing them, as they tightly gripped their weapons, obediently waiting for Xuan Hao to talk.

Raising an eyebrow at how obedient the formerly aggressive and bloodthirsty black clothed men became, Xuan Hao thought about what to do with them.

Kill them or let them go?

Killing them would mean no trouble and he could easily make sure nobody even knew that they had died here.

On the other hand, keeping them alive would bring trouble, as whatever power behind them clearly wanted the Devil-Immortal whatever jade that his future disciple had taken from them and would send others to get it. Most likely someone stronger than the Foundation Establishment cultivators in front of him.

The only positive in leaving them alive would be that his future disciple could extract his revenge on them in the future when he grew strong enough… N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.

Swoosh!

Before the black clothed men could even react, Xuan Hao's sword intent spread out with him as the centre, instantly killing all the black clothed men, while leaving Chu Yang completely unharmed.

"Leaving them alive and let my future disciple take revenge? How long would that take and how much trouble would they be able to bring before that…?" Having thought it over, Xuan Hao shook his head slightly.

Leaving them alive would bring way too much future trouble, it could not compare to whatever benefit his future disciple Chu Yang would get from dealing with them himself…

Other than that, Xuan Hao had barely managed to sense that the leader of the black robed men had used a communication device before his death. Most likely trying to contact the people behind him.

Leaving the spirit valley as fast as possible was a top priority!

Thinking this, Xuan Hao smiled to himself as he picked up Chu Yang and flew back towards the river where Qing Yi was sorting her spoils of war.

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Chapter 63: Return to the Flying Sword Sect

"Master, who is that? Perhaps the person you sensed earlier?" Qing Yi curiously looked up from the herbs she was sorting, as she looked at the unconscious Chu Yang that Xuan Hao had brought back with him.

"Yeah, found him laying around like this so I brought him back… He seems to be quite talented, so I thought about bringing him back with us to the sect, as it seems like he was injured somehow." Nodding his head, Xuan Hao told Qing Yi about his plans to bring a random person found in the forest back with them.

"I'm already done sorting the herbs I found earlier, are we going back now?" Throwing the last few herbs into the pillowcase that she had emptied for more space to carry herbs; Qing Yi tilted her head slightly as she asked.

"Yeah… We should get back as fast as possible, don't want to end up stuck in the Red Dust desert at night. Apparently, it gets quite cold, especially towards the centre of the desert, in the past a few Foundation Establishment cultivators apparently died because of the cold there…" Nodding his head, Xuan Hao answered as he waved his hand and erased the small wooden house along with anything else that might giveaway the fact that somebody had stayed besides the river.

Whoosh~

"Do we really have to take him with us…?" The moment they got into the air; Qing Yi's voice could be heard.

"…"

Xuan Hao did not know what to say. The sword was not that big and even having two people at once was way over the limit of what could fit on his small sword.

Now, with the addition of Chu Yang, the space became quite cramped. Even if Xuan Hao carried him over the shoulder.

"Ah, I got it!" Suddenly having an idea, Xuan Hao quickly put it into action as he moved Chu Yang from his shoulder and attached him to the tip of the sword. Making sure that he would not fall with his qi and sword intent.

"I-is this really okay master?" Looking at Chu Yang dangling in the air from the tip of the sword, Qing Yi smiled awkwardly as she asked Xuan Hao.

"Sure~ He is unconscious anyway." Not seeing anything wrong with hanging Chu Yang from the tip of his sword while flying several hundred meters above the ground, Xuan Hao assured Qing Yi that it was fine, as she could only accept what Xuan Hao told her.

I'm sorry about this… At least you are not awake…

Thinking this, Qing Yi shook her head as she looked apologetically at Chu Yang's body dangling splendidly in the air. Looking like he was about to fall off at any moment.

At the way back. Not long after Xuan Hao, Qing Yi and Chu Yang passed through an area, a new legend about a certain man flying through the air with a sword in the back of his head would appear…

But that was something Chu Yang would not learn about for a long time…

…

The journey back to the Flying Sword Sect went without any distractions, as Chu Yang was unconscious the entire way and no random bandits showed up.

Landing a few hundred meters away from where the Flying Sword Sect was located, both Qing Yi and Xuan Hao jumped off the sword as Xuan Hao picked up Chu Yang and carried him. L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøvl--B1n.

"Welcome back elder Xuan! Who is it you are carrying?" The moment both of them made their way to the entrance of the city in front of the Flying Sword Sect, an inner elder in charge of guarding the entrance came out and asked as he glanced questioningly at the unconscious body Xuan Hao was carrying with him.

"Ah, found this guy injured on my way back to the sect and found out he was quite talented, so I just decided to bring him back with me…"

"… Okay…"

Sending a slightly weird look in his direction, the inner elder did not hold them up any longer as he quickly returned to his post.

Who was he to question if a core elder brought a random person back with him?

"Master is it really okay to bring this guy back with us…?" Qing Yi looked in the direction of the inner elder as she asked. The weird look that he had given her master when he said he had picked up an injured person he had never met before and brought him back… Qing Yi felt like there was something wrong with it…

"No need to worry… The guy is probably just worried about the little guy being a spy or something along those lines." Not minding Qing Yi's doubt, Xuan Hao smiled slightly as he answered and started walking towards the sect.

"…" Qing Yi did not say anything in response and thought what her master had said sounded like a good reason, but deep down she still felt that there was something wrong with the situation.

Maybe she had just thought too much about it, after all, how much trouble could a guy barely in the Foundation Establishment Realm bring to one of the top four sects of the Heavenly Sky Kingdom?

"Ah, master! Wait up!" Seeing that Xuan Hao had already walked ahead, Qing Yi threw her thoughts to the back of her mind, as she ran over to catch up with Xuan Hao.

…

Meanwhile, in the stables of the Flying Sword Sect, a certain shadow hawk had just started his retirement life.

Screech! Sceeeeech~

Come here humans! I need more meat!

"Ah, Lord Shadow! I will be there shortly with the recently grilled spirit lamb meat!" A disciple tending to the demon beasts came over and told the shadow hawk before quickly dashing towards the area for meat preparation.

Screech!

Hurry up human!

Looking at the disappearing figure of the young disciple, the shadow hawk rolled around and laid on its back as it waited for the disciple to return with its meat.

Retirement was life, it could laze around all day just like it saw the other old demon beast do. Finally, he could enjoy the good life! Nothing would ever get him to move as much as a single wing ever again!

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Chapter 64: Plotting the Downfall of the Beast Tamers

Returning to the Flying Sword Sect, Xuan Hao did not immediately go visit the Sect Master to talk about how the "Beast Tamers" were wasting their spirit stones. Instead, he returned to his pavilion on top of his mountain peak together with Qing Yi. Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

"Master, what do we do with this guy? Should I call someone from the medical department to come over?" As they entered the pavilion, Qing Yi asked as she looked at the still unconscious Chu Yang that her master had thrown at a nearby couch.

"No need, he should be able to wake up soon. For now, I will have to go talk to the Sect Master about something serious. Please do take care of him until I return, I will be back shortly. Say hey to Zhi Ruo for me!" With that, Xuan Hao left before Qing Yi even managed to say anything as she could only stare in the direction her master had disappeared in.

What am I supposed to tell this guy when he wakes up? That master "kidnapped" him when he was unconscious?

Thinking about this, Qing Yi looked back down at Chu Yang as she shook her head and left the small room that she was currently in and went to find Zhi Ruo. Maybe she would know what to do when the person that her master had "kidnapped" woke up…

"Ah!" On her way to meet Zhi Ruo, Qing Yi remembered the herbs that she had carried back with her to the sect and quickly went and got them from the small room.

Zhi Ruo would definitely be able to use some of them in their food, it wouldn't hurt to give her a few of the Mortal Grade herbs and better food would always be great!

…

As Xuan Hao made his way down his mountain peak, he wondered how he should deal with the shadow hawk that had thrown them off its back on the way to the Bright Sun City.

Should he grill it over an open fire or get the sects kitchen staff to prepare it for him so he could share it with the rest of the sect disciples and elders~?

"Hehe…" An evil laughter could be heard from Xuan Hao, scaring some of the nearby disciples along the to the sect master's pavilion, as he planned the downfall of the "Beast Tamers" of the Flying Sword Sect.

Like this, Xuan Hao soon stood in front of the entrance to the Sect Master's pavilion.

"Come in, elder Xuan…" A young man in his mid-twenties walked out from the pavilion and invited Xuan Hao inside.

This was the current number one genius of the Flying Sword Sects younger generation, Ling Song!

Looking at his cultivation, Xuan Hao discovered that he had already reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm and could even be said to already have half a step into the Core Formation Realm, only needing a slight push to breakthrough.

Reaching this cultivation realm when he was only in his mid-twenties was indeed impressive and he would most likely reach the Nascent Soul Realm in the future if nothing happened to him and become a pillar of the Flying Sword Sect.

Xuan Hao had not really interacted with this disciple, but from what he could tell, he was a decent guy.

The only thing that puzzled Xuan Hao was the fact that Ling Song's talent was only 15. Given his current accomplishments, he should most definitely have a higher talent than 15, but no matter how hard Xuan Hao looked, the number stayed the same.

Indeed, it looked like even without talent, you could still breakthrough your own limit and accomplish something above what was normally possible for you.

Looks like he had to not just evaluate the talent of his disciples in the future, but also focus on their willpower and other things that could help them progress on the road of cultivation… Well… Given that the system would stop making him take in disciples with higher and higher talent…

What would come after a talent of 50? A 100? Could he even find someone like that in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom?

"Hah…" Letting out a sigh as he thought about his future situation, Xuan Hao turned to Ling Song and motioned for him to lead the way.

Ling Song did not say anything and quietly led Xuan Hao into the pavilion.

The pavilion of the Sect Master was way bigger than the one that Xuan Hao had, and it was decorated with all kinds of random things that the Sect Master had found over the years. From a golden buddha statue that he had found in an ancient ruin, to a small toy doll he had gotten from a normal mortal child in the past.

The Sect Master did not really care much about the treasures or things he got from his many travels around the Heavenly Sky Kingdom and would mostly just hang it or display it somewhere in the pavilion before forgetting about it a few minutes later.

Xuan Hao still remembered the first time he visited the Sect Master's pavilion, back then he had thought he walked into a museum of some sort with all the extraordinary objects that were displayed everywhere.

Back then, he had also visited a rather infamous room in the pavilion.

The room was filled with all the things that was not displayed from the Sect Master's travels and anything from a strong Spirit Artifact to a random glove could be found there.

Xuan Hao had even heard a few rumours about the Sect Master allowing people to go in and try their luck at picking something from the storage room.

Some found strong artifacts, while others walked away with a burnt-out candle.

In the end, Xuan Hao heard that the disciples had started some kind tournament to choose a winner and allow them to enter the gambl- treasure room of the Sect Master and try their luck.

"Come in." Arriving in front of a room at the centre of the pavilion, Xuan Hao was drawn out from his thoughts as he looked at the door where the voice came from.

Ling Song stepped back a bit as the door opened and Xuan Hao entered, he would discuss how best to deal with the "Beast Tamers" and make sure the shadow hawk paid for what it did!

A small smile appeared on his lips as he thought about the shadow hawk, just you wait! I will make sure you taste well~!

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