Chapter 109 : Weak and Pitiful
Peak Master Qingyu was known by all as a cultivation fanatic. Unless there were major sect matters, she spent almost all her time in closed-door cultivation. Because of this, before today, no one had imagined that she would be the one leading disciples to the Mingzong Mountain Secret Realm.
Jiang Mo certainly hadn't expected it either, so when she saw Peak Master Qingyu, she was inevitably shocked and distracted. Worse, at that moment Zhong Heng started bowing without even a greeting, and she lost her balance and nearly fell. Though her cultivation level was quite high now, after being an ordinary person for decades, her instinctive reaction was to struggle with both hands and feet, completely forgetting she could use spiritual energy.
As a result, everyone's attention was naturally drawn to her. Jiang Mo, hanging from Zhong Heng's shoulder, only then realized she had done something stupid... But it wasn't so bad—at least with this kind of behavior, no one would think she was Jianbing, right?
Yes, she was just a little white cat, completely ordinary, weak and pitiful!
While feeling mortified, Jiang Mo consoled herself this way, hoping to just muddle through the situation. However, she waited and waited, only to find that everything around her was quiet, and the interrupted business didn't continue. Furthermore, with her cultivation level having increased, her senses had become more acute, making the feeling of being stared at even more obvious.
Finally, just before Jiang Mo couldn't resist turning around, she suddenly felt her neck tighten—the scruff of her neck, the controller of her fate, was once again pinched by someone. Before she could struggle, she heard Peak Master Qingyu's ice-cold voice ask: "Is this your spirit pet?"
The question was clearly directed at Zhong Heng. Upon hearing it, Jiang Mo quickly looked toward him, her golden eyes full of threats.
Under the gaze of both his master and Jianbing, Zhong Heng felt his scalp tighten. He opened his mouth, about to betray Jianbing, when he saw that the little white cat not only had a fierce gaze but also had extended the claws hidden in her paw pads—the little white cat's claws looked soft and tender, seemingly without any threat, but Zhong Heng, knowing her true form, wouldn't underestimate her. Besides, he'd heard divine beasts held grudges for a long time...
His throat bobbed slightly, and Zhong Heng swallowed the words that had been on the tip of his tongue. Instead, he vaguely said: "In response to Master, she's not a spirit pet I'm raising. Just, I met her by chance, and she insisted on following me."
These words were all true and without issue. Jiang Mo, after hearing them, glared at him slightly but then let it go.
To others, there seemed to be nothing wrong with Zhong Heng's words, but Peak Master Qingyu, as his master, had some understanding of his temperament even if she didn't pay much attention to her disciples. If nothing else, with Zhong Heng's straightforward personality, he would never speak so vaguely if there were no issues. Moreover, Zhong Heng had some sword cultivator habits—focusing on cultivation to improve himself—and had absolutely no interest in spirit pets.
It was precisely because Zhong Heng had never been interested in spirit pets before that the sudden appearance of a spirit cat on his shoulder today attracted Peak Master Qingyu's attention. As a result, she didn't notice anything unusual about the spirit cat itself, but the cat seemed to recognize her?
Peak Master Qingyu, with her keen perception, immediately became suspicious. She lifted the little white cat in front of her face and scrutinized it—the little white cat's body stiffened slightly in her hand, but it still managed to tilt its head and look at her with innocent cat eyes. Then it meowed softly, appearing weak and pitiful.
Perhaps because too much time had been spent on a spirit cat, the elders who had been silent finally couldn't help but clear their throats and say: "It's getting late, we should be on our way. Peak Master, what do you think..."
Hearing this, Peak Master Qingyu finally shifted her gaze from the little white cat. Her eyes swept over the gathered disciples, lingering especially on Li Shuang's unfamiliar face for a moment, before she simply said: "For this journey to Mingzong Mountain, I'm sure your masters have already advised you on what needs to be said, so I won't say more. Let's depart immediately."
That was, well, quite abrupt.
The disciples were momentarily stunned before bowing and responding: "Yes, Martial Aunt/Master."
The elders were accustomed to Peak Master Qingyu's style and weren't surprised at all. Elder Yi Yun stepped forward first, and with a wave of his wide sleeve, a white jade spirit boat appeared on the square. Though the spirit boat didn't look large at first glance, its interior was like another world altogether—it could accommodate not just the dozen or so people present, but even ten times that number.
The little white tiger wasn't seeing a spirit boat for the first time. When she was brought back to the sect by her Senior Sister, they had traveled by spirit boat. Now, seeing this spirit boat again made her feel two steps closer to her Senior Sister, and excitement showed in her eyes.
However, in the next moment, she felt her neck loosen and her body become airborne—Peak Master Qingyu had thrown her away.
The little white cat was genuinely bewildered this time: "Meow?"
Peak Master Qingyu's ice-cold voice followed: "This journey is on official business. It's better not to bring this spirit cat of unknown origin."
The little white cat flipped in mid-air and landed steadily. Hearing these words, she felt her vision darken—great, Peak Master Qingyu truly hadn't recognized her identity. But what good was that? If she couldn't get on the spirit boat, was she supposed to fly to Mingzong Mountain herself? She didn't even know which direction Mingzong Mountain was in, and there was the sect's protective array outside—how could she leave whenever she wanted?!
She couldn't miss this opportunity!
After landing, the little white cat turned and ran back, meowing "Mew!" "Mew!" even more pitifully.
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Mingzong Mountain was located to the west of Xuanqing Sect, a million miles away. Even for a Nascent Soul cultivator traveling by flying sword, it would take at least two or three months to reach. The sect's spirit boat was much faster, able to reach it in half a month. After arriving, they would wait for a few days outside the mountain, and by then the secret realm would be about to open.
This was the convenience of disciples departing from the sect, but there were also those who didn't travel with the sect.
Eight hundred miles north of Mingzong Mountain, in a valley rich with spiritual energy, the surrounding spiritual energy seemed to be drawn by some force, gathering toward one spot. If someone happened to pass by, they would see spiritual energy condensing into mist, forming a vortex.
At the center of the vortex was a cave. The originally dark cave now had flashes of light intermittently illuminating it, faintly revealing a slender figure. A spiritual sword as cold as ice and snow lay horizontally before her, and the cyan corners of her robes occasionally fluttered with the surge of spiritual energy, making a flapping sound... This person was none other than Yun Qingyue, who had left the sect to temper herself for a year.
A year ago, she had advanced to the Nascent Soul stage and gone out to temper herself, originally without any destination in mind, so she simply headed west. Following her master's instructions, she concealed her identity after leaving the sect, disguising herself as a rogue cultivator, and encountered many things she had never encountered before.
She had entered cities and dangerous places, witnessed people killed for treasures, and seen spiritual treasures appear in the world. She even accidentally entered an unknown small secret realm once, spending a full three months inside before emerging. Fortunately, when she came out of the small secret realm, her previously empty storage ring was half filled.
Traveling this way, stopping now and then, Yun Qingyue drew closer to Mingzong Mountain and farther from the sect. She herself hadn't expected to travel so far in a year's time. Going back to the sect now seemed rather superfluous.
But she had promised the little white tiger she would return...
Yun Qingyue's hesitation didn't last long, because an unexpected event caused her bottleneck at the early stage of Nascent Soul to waver. Although she had only advanced to Nascent Soul a year ago, and although her cultivation had increased inexplicably, such an opportunity naturally couldn't be missed. So she temporarily put aside her plans to travel back and forth, found a valley rich in spiritual energy, set up spirit-gathering formations and defensive arrays, and began closed-door cultivation seeking breakthrough.
Outside the spirit-gathering formation, the valley's spiritual energy had gathered into mist, but the spiritual energy within the formation was ten times more concentrated than outside. The dense spiritual mist had almost condensed into water, showing a milky white color, and was absorbed into Yun Qingyue's body with each breath she took.
Besides the valley's spiritual energy, a million miles away in Xuanqing Sect, under the ice peak covered by a barrier, ice spiritual energy was also being silently and rapidly extracted. Then, through the connection of formations, all this spiritual energy was absorbed into Yun Qingyue's body, gradually filling her meridians, dantian, and even her Nascent Soul. Until her meridians were nourished, her dantian was filled, and her Nascent Soul could no longer accommodate more spiritual energy.
At this moment, Yun Qingyue, observing herself internally, could see a miniature version of herself—her Nascent Soul—in her dantian, eyes tightly closed and forming hand seals. A thin layer of frost surrounded her body, making the Nascent Soul look as frosty as snow, like a delicate ice doll.
As the Nascent Soul's hand seal movements became faster and faster, the situation in the dantian also changed. More and more frost began to gather, gradually forming ice, slowly freezing the Nascent Soul... The expression on the Nascent Soul's face didn't change, but the hand seal movements began to slow down from quick to sluggish, as if also affected by the freezing, about to be sealed in ice.
Until a critical point was broken through, a "crack" sound like ice breaking, and both the closed-eyed Yun Qingyue and her Nascent Soul opened their eyes simultaneously.
A flash of light passed through her beautiful glaze-like eyes, making people unable to stare directly at them, before it was completely contained. Yun Qingyue exhaled a long breath, and even her habitually cold face couldn't help but show some joy—in just one year, she had broken through to the middle stage of Nascent Soul!
She had indeed felt the opportunity for breakthrough before, but Yun Qingyue hadn't expected her breakthrough to be so smooth. Even with her cold temperament, she felt extremely delighted at this moment. She immediately moved her mind, raising her fingers and drawing a line in front of her. The originally calm air seemed to distort for an instant. Although the change was fleeting, Yun Qingyue saw it clearly—it was the harbinger of tearing through space.
Seeing this, Yun Qingyue herself was stunned, because the ability to tear through space was far beyond what a small Nascent Soul cultivator like her could control. It was no exaggeration to say that even her master, a Fusion stage cultivator, would find it difficult to tear through space.
But she had just done it with a mere thought...
Yun Qingyue curled her fingers back into a fist, emotions surging at the bottom of her glaze eyes, unsure what to think. But she quickly composed herself, stood up with a brush of her robes, collected the formation disk on the ground with a wave of her hand, picked up her sword, and left the cave.
Moments later, a streak of light shot up into the sky, flying directly toward Mingzong Mountain eight hundred miles away.
Calculating the time, it wasn't far from the opening day of the Mingzong Mountain Secret Realm.