That disciple named Lu Lingxiao asked, “Master, why have the Sect Master and all the elders chosen to go into seclusion at this time?”
Master Yu Yang sighed upon hearing this. “This is a major sect matter; you juniors shouldn’t ask too many questions.”
Liao Lan, however, said, “I heard that not long ago, the elders and people from the Five Great Immortal Sects jointly suppressed the Demonic Realm. Could it be that they were all injured?”
She clicked her tongue in wonder. “That Demon Lord was said to be only one step away from undergoing tribulation and ascending to immortality. From the sound of it, they were truly formidable.”
Master Yu Yang saw that she couldn’t hide it from her disciples, so she stopped being cryptic. “No matter how formidable, didn’t they still perish?” She paused, then added, “Even so, the Five Great Immortal Sects suffered heavy casualties. I fear the cultivation world is about to change.”
“The Demon Lord perished?” Mu Qiuhan was startled.
Even though she had some psychological preparation, learning about her own death from someone else’s mouth still felt strange.
“Alright,” Master Yu Yang waved her hand somewhat impatiently. “You few should stop worrying about others’ affairs. Think carefully about how you should perform after the elders come out of seclusion.”
She looked at the sky. “The time is about right. Go now, say goodbye to your fellow disciples.”
The three were surrounded by the disciples of Dongtian Peak. Rou’er looked at Mu Qiuhan with teary eyes, her expression quite sad. She was likely thinking of her own aptitude and had resigned herself to never seeing Mu Qiuhan again in her lifetime.
Mu Qiuhan stepped forward and patted her. “What’s wrong? Why the face? Your Senior Sister isn’t dead yet.” She took out the scattered items she had exchanged from the market earlier from her storage ring and stuffed them into Rou’er’s hands, keeping only the cultivation manual and the bracelet for herself.
“These pills and magic artifacts are what you picked out earlier, so you must like them.” Seeing that she seemed hesitant to accept, Mu Qiuhan said, “Take them. Senior Sister doesn’t have anything else good to give you.”
Rou’er confusedly took the items from her hand, and her tears suddenly couldn’t be held back.
Seeing this, Mu Qiuhan laughed softly instead. “Why are you actually crying? Aren’t you afraid of your fellow disciples laughing at you?”
None of the surrounding disciples laughed at Rou’er; only three or five of them complained, half-seriously, “Senior Sister is so biased.”
Mu Qiuhan recognized that those few were the ones she had seen that night, so she smiled back at them.
“Take care.”
Everyone chatted a bit more. Seeing that Perfected Yuji had already arrived to pick them up, Mu Qiuhan waved towards the girl she had only known for two days.
For a moment, she felt dazed. The Demon Lord had already perished. She wondered how many of her followers in the Demonic Realm were left.
Mu Qiuhan, along with the other two disciples from Dongtian Peak, came before Perfected Yuji. Standing beside Perfected Yuji were already four people, two wearing water-green robes and two wearing light-green robes.
Having spent the day walking around, Mu Qiuhan already knew that those wearing water-green robes should be the senior siblings from Qianchen Peak, while the two men wearing light-green robes were from Mingkong Peak.
Dongtian, Qianchen, and Mingkong Peaks mostly have disciples with wood-attribute spiritual energy, which is why they were temporarily grouped together.
Mu Qiuhan quickly figured out that the two from Qianchen Peak were named Lu Lingxiao and Bu Qinglan, while the two senior and junior brothers from Mingkong Peak were twins named Luo Yun and Luo Lin.
There were only three females in the group. That disciple named Bu Qinglan seemed particularly familiar with Mu Qiuhan and the other female disciple, probably because of this reason. In contrast, Liao Lan, despite being a disciple of Dongtian Peak, seemed somewhat distant towards Mu Qiuhan.
Mu Qiuhan remembered Rou’er telling her that before she took the Marrow Cleansing Pill, this Senior Sister Liao Lan’s spiritual energy was one level higher than hers. Now, she was much weaker than Mu Qiuhan. This was likely the reason for her hostility.
Perfected Yuji saw that the disciples had all arrived, so she activated her magic artifact, the Dragon Bone Wood. She injected spiritual energy into the artifact, and the Dragon Bone Wood grew dragon wings.
Perfected Yuji led the group and flew towards the back mountain.
“Disciples of the Five Peaks cultivate daily in their respective areas. On the first and fifteenth of every lunar month, elders will take turns giving lectures at the main peak. You can attend based on your preferences.”
“Furthermore, the sect will arrange various missions of all sizes. You must select them according to your own strength. After completing a mission, the sect will award contribution points based on your performance.”
“Contribution points are very useful; you will find out later. Blindly burying yourselves in arduous cultivation might not be as fast as exchanging contribution points for spirit stones to increase your cultivation.”
“Contribution points can be exchanged for spirit stones?!”
“Not just that, but also pills, magic artifacts, and even cultivation techniques.” Seeing the eyes of the few juniors beside her light up, Perfected Yuji smiled faintly.
“Oh right, because the disciples of my Jade Dragon Peak often need to enter the mountain to search for various spirit herbs, the allocated area is relatively close to the back mountain.”
“However, I must warn you beforehand that in the dense forest of the back mountain, besides spirit herbs, there are also quite a few spiritual beasts. The deeper you go into the forest, the higher the level of the spiritual beasts. If your cultivation is insufficient, it’s best not to go too far.”
“Alright, come down. We’ve arrived.”
The group stopped before a rainbow bridge made of white jade. Perfected Yuji retracted her Dragon Bone Wood and tucked it into her embrace.
Mu Qiuhan looked up and saw an archway above the rainbow bridge. Three large characters were written on the archway: “Yulong Abyss.” Beneath the rainbow bridge, mist was piled high; she couldn’t see anything looking down, only hear the faint sound of water. Presumably, this was the territory of Jade Dragon Peak.
The group walked onto the rainbow bridge. About halfway across, Mu Qiuhan suddenly felt a chill surge upwards from the soles of her feet. At the same time, there was a burning sensation inside her Dantian.
She couldn’t help but look down.
There was nothing there.
Perfected Yuji glanced towards Mu Qiuhan as she looked down. She had also noticed the anomaly in the cold pond. But that Ice Spirit Beast was usually sluggish year-round, barely showing any movement. Why had it suddenly become active? Could it be related to these few people on the bridge? And that child, despite only having Core Formation cultivation, was actually so sensitive? Recalling the child’s reaction when she mentioned the contribution points earlier, Perfected Yuji frowned. She seemed a bit too calm.
The rainbow bridge was short, and they reached the end in the blink of an eye. At the other end of the bridge stood a man and a woman. Seeing Perfected Yuji arrive, they bowed to her.
Perfected Yuji nodded towards the two. “These are your Senior Sister Qin Ziyan and Senior Brother Su Sheng. You will follow them from now on.”
Mu Qiuhan was stunned by this. She hadn’t expected to meet this Qin Ziyan as soon as they entered Jade Dragon Peak. She secretly glanced towards Liao Lan. Senior Sister Liao’s expression seemed a bit unnatural, likely because Master Yu Yang had given her the same instructions.
The group followed Qin Ziyan and Su Sheng for a while and quickly arrived at a massive compound. The compound was divided into left and right sides, connected by circular corridors. Along the corridors, there was a wooden door about every ten meters. The left and right corridors enclosed the large open space in the center, like a giant eight trigrams diagram.
At this point, the group split into two paths. The three female disciples followed Qin Ziyan to the right, while the male disciples went towards the left.
Qin Ziyan led the few disciples onto the corridor. She pointed towards the end of the corridor ahead. “The rooms closer to the inside are mostly occupied. Look for the ones without nameplates and pick one you like.”
Mu Qiuhan chose a room near the entrance. Pushing the door open, she saw that there was a small courtyard inside. The courtyard was square and not large, but it included a main room and two side rooms. There were also some flowers and plants in the courtyard, growing well, likely watered regularly.
Mu Qiuhan was quite satisfied with the room’s conditions. She looked around, then stepped back out to ask Qin Ziyan behind her, “Which room does Senior Sister live in? If something comes up later, can I go directly there to find you?”
Perhaps considering that Bu Qinglan was also there, Qin Ziyan only said, “Go down the corridor. It’s roughly in the middle. There’s a nameplate hanging outside the room, so it’s easy to find.”
“Alright, I’ve brought the three of you here.”
“I have a sect mission tonight and need to go back to prepare. You can settle down here. We can talk about anything else tomorrow.”
Mu Qiuhan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, Finally, I have time to practice those cultivation techniques tonight.
But then Bu Qinglan spoke up and asked, “Senior Sister, where do we receive sect missions? Can we participate too?”
Qin Ziyan glanced at her. “You can participate, but tonight’s mission is to gather Qingling Grass in the back mountain.”
“Qingling Grass usually grows in secluded places. Master must have already warned you that there are high-level spiritual beasts in the depths of the back mountain.”
Bu Qinglan smiled when she heard this, then asked, “Senior Sister, what realm are you in now?”
“Early Nascent Soul.”
Before Bu Qinglan could ask again, Qin Ziyan interrupted her. “The flowering period of Qingling Grass is short, only these one or two days around the beginning of summer. If you miss this year, you’ll have to wait another year.”
“If you truly want to go and gain some experience, go to Elder Sun at Qingxin Hall to sign up. Just remember, act within your abilities.”
“Qingxin Hall is about half a li down the road, after turning right from the entrance.”
Bu Qinglan thanked Qin Ziyan with a grin, then turned to discuss with Mu Qiuhan and Liao Lan, “How about the three of us go together?”
Liao Lan had no objections. Seeing that Mu Qiuhan seemed hesitant, Bu Qinglan thought she was worried about encountering spiritual beasts, so she encouraged her, “What are you afraid of? We just won’t go too far, that’s all. If we really can’t find anything, there’s no loss anyway.”
Mu Qiuhan originally wanted to refuse. But considering the so-called “blood worm” inside her body and the Qingling Grass’s effect of inhibiting gu worms, she thought, If I can really find a few stalks, keeping them for backup wouldn’t be bad.
The night wind carried the humid air of the mountain forest, blowing towards them. The disciples of Jade Dragon Peak, holding various light sources, entered the forest one after another.
Mu Qiuhan and the others walked at the very back of the group, led by Qin Ziyan and Su Sheng. After walking into the mountain forest for about half an hour, Qin Ziyan stopped.
She and Su Sheng began giving the final instructions to this group of new disciples. “Later, we will go further into the forest with the others. You few will stay in this area and not go deeper into the forest.”
“Qingling Grass mostly grows in places rarely visited by humans. The quantity nearby is scarce, so just try your best to search and don’t force it.”
Good chapter