Chapter 449 : Long Time No See
449: Long Time No See
Those who guarded the mountain gate were often disciples from the younger generation of the sect. They received missions from the Mission Hall and stood watch at the mountain gate, greeting visitors and sending off departing guests. They didn't need particularly high cultivation levels—the sect didn't rely on them for defense, as the sect protection formation would repel outside enemies. Nor did they serve to enhance the sect's appearance, as true disciples could uphold its prestige. These people stood here simply because someone needed to stand here.
Entering and exiting through the mountain gate was merely a procedure for accessing the sect, and the gate-keeping disciples almost never stopped anyone. Yun Qingyue had passed through here countless times, but this was the first time she had been stopped by a gate-keeping disciple.
The gate-keeping disciple was quite young, with only Foundation Establishment cultivation. He scrutinized the newcomers with suspicious eyes. Perhaps it was the backing of the powerful sect behind him that gave him confidence, allowing him to remain neither servile nor arrogant when facing cultivators obviously stronger than himself. He merely cupped his hands in a slight bow: "May I ask this senior's identity and business at our Xuanqing Sect?"
Faced with this questioning, Yun Qingyue found herself momentarily speechless, suddenly remembering that her identity token had been destroyed by the lightning tribulation.
Just as Yun Qingyue was hesitating whether to directly state her identity or first send a message to her master or other old acquaintances, Jiang Mo impatiently displayed her own token: "I brought her. Can we enter now?"
Jiang Mo certainly had an identity token. Back when she was just a little tiger restarting her cultivation, the entire Xuanqing Sect had not dared to treat her lightly. Later, as her cultivation skyrocketed and she matured early, the sect's attitude toward her became even more complex—they had hoped the little White Tiger would take over Divine Lord Zhiming's position after his ascension, continuing to guard the Xuanqing Sect. But seeing how desperately the little tiger cultivated, they feared she would ascend right after Divine Lord Zhiming, yet they couldn't selfishly try to keep her.
Though their feelings were complex, the Xuanqing Sect's upper echelons quickly digested and accepted this reality. Besides, Fusion stage was not a low realm, so the Xuanqing Sect had even prepared a celebration ceremony to announce this to the world.
However, Jiang Mo hadn't waited for the celebration ceremony, seizing the opportunity to slip away, and had been gone for years.
Of course, while she had left, her legend remained. Now, seeing Jianbing's special identity token, the gate-keeping disciple's eyes suddenly widened. His eyes gleamed as he quickly glanced at Jiang Mo, then lowered his head and responded: "This disciple greets Jianbing. Since this senior is brought back by Jianbing, she may naturally enter the sect."
Jiang Mo pretended to nod slightly, then pulled Yun Qingyue and flew into the sect. Only after flying quite far did she finally burst out laughing: "This truly is a reversal of fortune! Back then, it was Senior Sister who brought me into the sect."
Yun Qingyue glared at her in exasperation, not understanding what was so funny, but this laughter did distract her from her complex thoughts.
Jiang Mo held Yun Qingyue's hand tightly, as if holding something extremely precious, afraid that letting go would lose her. She wanted to raise her other hand to point into the distance, but trying, she couldn't lift her arm, so she had to raise her chin instead: "Mount Tianyang, Lingyun Hall—shall we go directly to see the Sect Leader?"
Yun Qingyue's gaze instinctively glanced toward Mount Mingxia, then withdrew and nodded: "Yes, let's see the Sect Leader first. After delivering the letter, we can also ask the Sect Leader to examine your injury."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo instinctively shrank her shoulder, then nodded: "Let's go then."
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After many years, flying within the Xuanqing Sect again was almost a new experience for Yun Qingyue.
This wasn't an exaggeration, but a fact. The evidence for this fact could be seen beside Yun Qingyue—surrounding the two flying figures were a group of cranes that had appeared from nowhere. At first, there were only three or five, but gradually more and more gathered until they formed a dense flock. Disciples passing by almost thought all the sect's cranes had gathered here.
This was an absolutely novel scene for everyone, especially for Yun Qingyue. She remembered how the former head disciple had been disliked by animals—cranes seeing her would react as if facing a natural predator, their first response being to scatter in panic like birds and beasts.
But now, true to Jiang Mo's words about fortune's reversal, the cranes that once avoided Yun Qingyue at all costs had spontaneously gathered around this queen of birds. Occasionally, a bold one would extend a wing or even its head to nuzzle her, as if rubbing against the Swan Goose might impart some celestial aura.
Perhaps because it was her first time being so welcomed by spirit beasts, despite having important matters on her mind, Yun Qingyue couldn't help but be somewhat distracted by these cranes. However, before she could reach out to touch a nearby crane's head, someone intercepted between them.
Undoubtedly, the interceptor was Jiang Mo, who was now baring her teeth at the crane with a sour expression.
Unfortunately, these cranes were not high-grade beasts—they were merely common mount spirit beasts found throughout the Xuanqing Sect, specifically for disciples below Qi Refinement level to ride. Their intelligence wasn't high, and they couldn't understand Jiang Mo's threatening grimace. Both their past and present actions were instinctive responses. Thus, these cranes coming to rub and nudge had no intention of retreating.
The little tiger's jealousy, however, was intense. Seeing these foolish birds ignore her signals, she simply released a trace of her imposing aura. The natural dominance of a divine beast inherently suppressed other beasts, and the cranes that had been eagerly approaching Yun Qingyue were suddenly frightened.
The dozen or so closest immediately flapped their wings to flee, while those even closer simply froze and dropped down.
All at once, the previously harmonious "crane flock" seemed to explode into chaos, with wing-flapping sounds and alarmed crane calls everywhere. From an observer's perspective, the scene was so chaotic that one might suspect some mutation had occurred among the cranes. In a short time, disciples even ran to the Spirit Beast Peak to summon someone to resolve the situation.
Jiang Mo's imposing aura had been released and withdrawn quickly, but she hadn't expected to cause such a commotion. Her ear was suddenly pinched by a cool, delicate hand, and Yun Qingyue's exasperated voice sounded beside her: "You really never stop stirring up trouble."
With her ear pinched, Jiang Mo immediately displayed a placating smile: "I just wanted them to stay away from Ah Yue."
Though Yun Qingyue had pinched Jiang Mo's ear, she naturally couldn't bear to twist it hard. Her face showed more helplessness than anything, because she had already heard disciples outside saying they would fetch someone from Spirit Beast Peak.
Jiang Mo had heard it too, but didn't consider it a big deal. She blinked and suggested: "Ah Yue, why don't we just leave directly?"
The two had been flying slowly to revisit old haunts, which was why they'd been caught up by these leisurely flying cranes. At first it was fine, but now they were practically surrounded—cranes were everywhere they looked, above, below, front, and back. People outside couldn't see them, and if they wanted to shake off these cranes and leave, it wouldn't actually be difficult.
But Yun Qingyue didn't listen to her. The little tiger had returned only to cause trouble, and she was accustomed to cleaning up the messes she could. She released her aura to soothe the surrounding cranes, and the phoenix's essence effectively calmed their panic.
Before long, the previously ruffled cranes regained their composure and gathered around once more.
Due to the phoenix aura Yun Qingyue had just released, not only the cranes they had encountered, but even the spirit birds from the surrounding spiritual peaks sensed it and were attracted over. Thus, more and more birds enveloped the two as they moved forward, and the flock grew increasingly large. The overwhelming sight even startled the cultivators who witnessed the scene.
At first, passing disciples were alarmed, but as the news spread from one to ten and ten to a hundred, more and more people gathered to watch this extraordinary sight. Gradually, even sect elders came to check the situation.
Soon, these people discovered that the flock's destination was the peak of Mount Tianyang.
If at first everyone was just watching out of curiosity, by this point they had grown vigilant. Several elders even joined forces to block the path of this seemingly possessed flock, ready to intercept the entire mass of birds.
Just as the two sides were about to clash or even fight, these elders suddenly received a voice transmission. Their ears twitched slightly, and after exchanging glances, they stepped aside.
The massive flock of birds passed by, and they watched as the birds surged toward Mount Tianyang, heading for Lingyun Hall.
"Who could be behind this? Visiting the Sect Leader with such a grand display!" an elder muttered, then looked at his companions, hesitating whether to follow and watch the spectacle.
Whether these elders followed, Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue didn't know, nor did they care. They hadn't intended to create such a grand scene—Yun Qingyue, since her atavistic return, had never attempted to command hundreds of birds. Suddenly encountering this situation, she found herself uncharacteristically flustered. By the time she had sorted everything out and finally dispersed the gathered spirit birds, Lingyun Hall was already before them.
Sect Leader Qingxiao stood with his hands behind his back at the hall entrance. Seeing the two awkwardly emerge from the flock of birds, he raised an eyebrow with a teasing smile: "Niece Qingyue, it's been a long time. I never expected our next meeting would be with such fanfare."