Guo Lin used a teleportation talisman and returned directly to the Tianyan Sect’s teleportation array.
His round face was already covered in sweat, and it continued dripping down.
Only after returning to the main hall within Xingluo Sect’s triple-layer barrier did he finally let out a sigh of relief. Clutching the string of Buddhist beads tightly in his hand, he slowly sat down.
The terrifying sensation he had felt at Zixu Sword Sect—the feeling of every hair on his body standing on end—still seemed to linger throughout him.
Who exactly was that man in white?
Why did he possess such horrifying pressure?!
He was a Void Refinement cultivator!
Guo Lin took several deep breaths, his brows tightly furrowed. He could feel that the man in white hated him. The girl in the man’s arms had to be that ten-thousand-year ginseng spirit. It would likely be extremely difficult for him to take the ginseng spirit away through his own strength alone.
Moreover, he might already have been targeted.
A decision had to be made.
At present, the entire Tianyan Sect was setting up defensive barriers as though facing a great enemy, preparing against the possibility of Tan Gu, the Demon Ancestor, suddenly attacking. Patriarch Xuwang was too busy to bother with him right now. All the sect masters and elders under the Heavenly Branch followed Patriarch Xuwang’s orders and had no attention to spare for a minor Earthly Branch sect master like him.
Grinding his teeth, Guo Lin immediately stood and headed toward Dinghai Divine Mountain at the center of Tianyan Sect.
This matter could not be delayed in case unexpected complications arose.
“Guo Lin, Sect Master of Xingluo Sect under the Earthly Branch, has an urgent matter to report to Patriarch!”
Outside the main hall of Divine Mountain, Guo Lin knelt respectfully on the ground.
He knew that Patriarch Xuwang was only one step away from ascension.
And that ten-thousand-year ginseng spirit was the key to breaking through and ascending.
If the Patriarch was merciful, perhaps he would grant him a single ginseng whisker. A whisker from a ten-thousand-year ginseng spirit was naturally incomparable to ordinary treasures. It might even allow him to break through the Void Refinement Realm and reach the Great Ascension Realm.
Once he reached Great Ascension, he would stand above most cultivators. Even within Tianyan Sect, he would become one of its notable figures.
After all, countless cultivators spent their entire lives stuck in the Void Refinement Realm, unable to advance a single step further.
The disciples guarding Divine Mountain Hall were descendants of Patriarch Xuwang’s bloodline. Though they were branch descendants separated by who knew how many generations, their expressions remained just as arrogant.
One of them said, “The Patriarch is not receiving visitors.”
Guo Lin clenched his fists inside his sleeves, suppressing his anger at the discourtesy and arrogance of this Liu family disciple, whose seniority and cultivation were far beneath his own.
Yet his voice remained respectful.
“I ask that the immortal attendant report this matter to the Patriarch. It concerns the Patriarch’s ascension and is of utmost importance.”
The mountain-guarding disciple frowned upon hearing this.
Now he no longer dared ignore the request. He nodded arrogantly, and one of them vanished in a flash.
Guo Lin continued kneeling and waiting.
Although it would normally take at least three days to fly by sword from Zixu Sword Sect to Tianyan Sect, his heart was too unsettled.
His intuition told him he had to do something today.
Soon, the mountain-guarding disciple returned.
This time, his attitude was noticeably better.
“Sect Master Guo, please follow me into the hall.”
Guo Lin rose and followed behind him.
Divine Mountain Hall was located atop the mountain at the center of Tianyan Sect.
This place contained the greatest concentration of spiritual sources and spirit veins, making its spiritual energy especially dense and highly beneficial for cultivation.
Tianyan Sect was enormous.
Although it was called a sect, it was more like a vast power.
Under it were the Heavenly Branch and Earthly Branch systems, each containing numerous smaller sects.
The sects under the Heavenly Branch possessed greater talent, received more resources, and had more high-level cultivators.
The Earthly Branch was somewhat inferior.
Many sects had voluntarily become subordinate sects under Tianyan Sect’s protection. They were classified into the Heavenly or Earthly Branch according to their strength.
The reason Tianyan Sect attracted so many cultivation sects to become its affiliates was that it controlled most of the cultivation world’s spiritual sources and spirit veins.
Cultivating in this treasured land, where spiritual energy was abundant, allowed progress far faster than elsewhere.
Because of this, disciples under the Heavenly Branch of Tianyan Sect always advanced more quickly in cultivation, especially the Liu family, Patriarch Xuwang’s bloodline.
A single spiritual source, when placed within a mountain range, became a spirit vein.
Tianyan Sect possessed countless spiritual sources accumulated over many years.
No one could compare.
Guo Lin himself had only broken through from the Spirit Transformation Realm to the Void Refinement Realm after bringing Xingluo Sect into Tianyan Sect a hundred years ago.
“Sect Master Guo, we’ve arrived. The Patriarch is waiting inside.”
The mountain-guarding disciple’s voice sounded from ahead.
Guo Lin withdrew from his thoughts.
Having arrived here, his mood had finally calmed, and he no longer felt as uneasy as before.
He looked up at the ordinary bamboo hall before him.
This was Patriarch Xuwang’s true place of cultivation and seclusion, hidden deep along a quiet path behind Divine Mountain Hall.
“Guo Lin, Sect Master of Xingluo Sect under the Earthly Branch, requests an audience with Patriarch.”
He bowed outside the door.
“Come in.”
A young man’s voice came from inside. It even sounded somewhat gentle.
Keeping his head lowered, Guo Lin pushed open the door and entered.
He did not dare raise his head.
Within Tianyan Sect, the number of people who had actually seen Patriarch Xuwang’s face could be counted on one’s fingers.
Sandalwood incense burned inside the room.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a person sitting casually beside a tea table.
The man wore an elegant blue robe woven from jiao silk. It was light and flowing, while his long hair hung to the floor, black and thick.
“Speak.”
The man’s voice was pleasant to hear, yet carried immense authority.
Keeping his head lowered, Guo Lin said,
“Reporting to Patriarch, half a month ago, Elder Huang Qi and I went to Zixu Sword Sect to seek out Wuyinzi, asking him to send disciples to search for spiritual sources for the sake of the cultivation world’s survival. Wuyinzi insisted that his disciples needed to enter a secret realm for training, and we parted on poor terms. On the way to Qingyin City, we accidentally discovered one of Huang Qi’s blood descendants dead at the foot of Zixu Sword Sect’s outer mountain gate.”
The man seated ahead did not speak.
Yet Guo Lin suddenly felt the atmosphere around him grow stagnant.
His entire body tensed.
Even breathing became difficult.
He knew he had spent too much time explaining background information and had already irritated the Patriarch.
Immediately raising his voice and speaking rapidly, Guo Lin continued:
“After investigating, we discovered that he had been killed by a ten-thousand-year ginseng spirit!”
A ten-thousand-year ginseng spirit?
Guo Lin could clearly feel the oppressive atmosphere ease considerably.
He let out a breath of relief.
The Patriarch was obviously interested.
“That ginseng spirit has already gained sentience. Her spiritual power is pure and vast. If the Patriarch consumes her, it will surely allow you to break through instantly and ascend to immortality!”
“Continue.”
Patriarch Xuwang chuckled softly and poured himself a cup of tea.
The gentle sound of tea flowing into the cup was light, yet for some reason it still made Guo Lin’s scalp go numb.
He dared not lie before Patriarch Xuwang.
That was why he had only come to report the matter now, half a month after discovering the ginseng spirit.
Inevitably, this exposed his own desire to monopolize the ginseng spirit for himself.
Cold sweat dripped down his forehead.
He said,
“That ginseng spirit entered Zixu Sword Sect and became a disciple there. Later, Huang Qi and I demanded that Wuyinzi hand her over, but he refused and had already sent her into a training secret realm. So Huang Qi and I waited for half a month. Who would have thought that after half a month, the ginseng spirit would emerge from the secret realm with the others? She refused to admit killing the Huang family disciple, and Wuyinzi protected her. Huang Qi could not accept it and attacked. The man in white accompanying the ginseng spirit killed him in a single move. Afterward, he killed another elder as well. I… escaped and returned.”
“Useless trash.”
Patriarch Xuwang’s mild voice made Guo Lin lower his head even further.
“Who is this man in white?” Patriarch Xuwang asked.
Guo Lin did not dare conceal anything.
“I do not know. His cultivation is unfathomable and should be above mine. He wore white robes and possessed an exceptionally handsome appearance.”
“White robes…”
Patriarch Xuwang murmured.
Guo Lin continued,
“I once suspected he might be Tan Gu, the Demon Ancestor. But if he truly were Tan Gu, he would surely have swallowed the ginseng spirit to increase his cultivation. Yet it is obvious that his relationship with the ginseng spirit is extraordinary. They are extremely close. He should be her Dao companion, which is why he acted on her behalf.”
After speaking, he raised his hand and showed Patriarch Xuwang the image recorded in the Reflection Mirror—a glimpse of Tian Luo’s face beneath her bear-head hat.
“Leave.”
Patriarch Xuwang waved his hand.
Guo Lin did not even get a chance to say anything else before he was directly dismissed.
He froze.
Would the Patriarch protect him?
That man in white had already set his sights on him!
He still wanted to say something, but it was obvious that the bamboo hall’s doors would not open again.
Feeling uneasy, Guo Lin suddenly wondered whether revealing the secret of the ginseng spirit so readily had been too reckless.
After some thought, he took out a communication jade slip and anonymously posted news of the appearance of a ten-thousand-year ginseng spirit on the Immortal Forum.
Afterward, he browsed everyone’s discussions for a while before putting away the communication jade slip.
This way, that man in white would not have time to focus on him alone.
Guo Lin originally intended to return to Xingluo Sect, but after thinking about it, Tianyan Sect’s grand protective formation might be safe, yet it was also too obvious a target.
After some consideration, he directly fled Tianyan Sect.
After Guo Lin left, a streak of white light shot out of the bamboo hall hidden within Divine Mountain Hall.
It moved with astonishing speed.
…
“The moon is beautiful tonight. Don’t you think so?”
Tian Luo sat on the villain’s shoulder.
They had passed over mountain ranges and countless cities. She couldn’t tell whether the brightly lit places below belonged to the mortal world or were great immortal cities of the cultivation world.
By now, they were already very far from Zixu Sword Sect.
At any rate, she had deeply realized one thing—
There was absolutely no way they would make it back to Zixu Sword Sect in time for dinner tonight.
After all, those sword cultivators practically fought over their meals.
By the time they got back, even the leftovers would be cold.
“Dark clouds cover the sky. What’s beautiful about it?”
The gloomy and silent Lu Qizhi unexpectedly replied.
Tian Luo swung her legs.
Her mood was actually fairly good.
Not because she wasn’t afraid, but because aside from trying to keep herself in a good mood, there wasn’t much else she could do.
“You’re handsome. You really don’t understand romance.”
She put on a profound expression.
Lu Qizhi had no idea what nonsense she was talking about and couldn’t be bothered listening.
His eyes narrowed as he looked toward a mountain range stretching for hundreds of thousands of li in the distance, covered by a Spirit-Suppressing Grand Formation.
He reminded Tian Luo,
“We’ve arrived.”
Tian Luo, who had been lazily pondering how to persuade Lu Qizhi to take her to a lively city for food later:
“? So fast?”
She immediately sat up straight.
With a flip of her wrist, she symbolically summoned the standard sword issued to outer disciples of Zixu Sword Sect.
Lu Qizhi remained suspended in the air and did not move forward.
His face looked sinister.
Then he smiled.
Of course, the smile also looked sinister.
“Do you know why I suddenly fainted inside the Bixi Secret Realm?”
Of course Tian Luo didn’t know.
But Tian Luo was always eager to learn.
And she thoroughly understood the psychology of people who knowingly asked questions the other person obviously couldn’t answer.
So she obediently asked,
“Why?”
Lu Qizhi said, “There is a Spirit-Suppressing Grand Formation here.”
“Mhm, and?”
“The Spirit-Suppressing Grand Formation was created using something that belongs to me.”
“Wow, that’s amazing. Then what?”
“It absorbs my power.”
“Huh? Then how are we getting in?”
At that point, Tian Luo instantly became alert.
So Tianyan Sect possessed a protective formation called the Spirit-Suppressing Grand Formation.
The formation had been created using something belonging to Lu Qizhi.
It also absorbed his power.
In other words, if he approached it, he would lose strength and faint.
The people who created the formation had specifically designed it to guard against him!
Hearing her question, Lu Qizhi laughed.
He genuinely laughed.
It was the kind of joyful smile a dog owner might have after locking a mischievous husky in a cage to stop it from destroying the house, only for the husky to suddenly become smart enough to unlock the cage itself and happily run out to continue wrecking everything.
Of course, this wasn’t to say Lu Qizhi resembled a husky.
Neither his appearance nor his temperament had anything in common with one.
But Tian Luo couldn’t help laughing along with him.
The moment she laughed, Lu Qizhi stopped.
He turned his head and stared at her.
His eyes clearly said:
I have a reason for laughing. Why are you laughing?
Tian Luo answered seriously,
“I figured you must have thought of a solution, so you laughed. Then I thought about how you’d thought of a solution, and that made me happy, so I laughed too.”
It was complete nonsense logic.
But villains usually didn’t care about details like that.
And sure enough, Lu Qizhi didn’t care.
He started laughing again.
Even his gloomy, violent voice sounded pleasant now.
“I really have thought of a solution.”
After saying that, he stared directly at Tian Luo.
Tian Luo: “???”
A bad feeling suddenly arose in her heart.
Lu Qizhi said,
“You are a ten-thousand-year ginseng spirit, nurtured by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. There is nowhere you cannot go. Any barrier is meaningless to you.”
That did sound pretty impressive, but…
“You aren’t planning to send me in alone to kill Guo Lin, are you? Wouldn’t that be walking straight into a tiger’s den? They might chop me into pieces! And if that happens, you’ll never get to drink spirit wine again!”
That had been her ending in the novel.
Lu Qizhi looked at her expressionlessly, as though looking at an idiot.
“Hold my hand. Use your spiritual power to coat my entire body. Then we can enter.”
Tian Luo sighed in relief.
“Then how do I do that? How exactly do I coat you with spiritual power?”
Lu Qizhi’s brows immediately knitted together.
His expression was one of utter disbelief.
“You don’t know how?”
The look in his eyes seemed to say:
If you don’t know how to use spiritual power, how did you even cultivate a human form?
Tian Luo blinked innocently and looked down at him.
Lu Qizhi pulled her off his shoulder.
Then, rather forcefully, he wrapped an arm around her waist and held her.
Then, even more forcefully, he grabbed her hand.
They were still suspended in the air.
The only difference was that Tian Luo was no longer sitting on his shoulder. Instead, she leaned against him and held onto his waist to keep from falling.
Of course, there was absolutely nothing romantic about this process.
Right now, she was just a tool.
Tian Luo understood her role perfectly.
“Close your eyes. Feel the spiritual energy around you. Meditate. Sense the connection between the spiritual energy and your body. Follow the path the spiritual energy takes through your meridians and find where it finally gathers—in your dantian.”
Lu Qizhi’s voice carried no emotion.
Tian Luo actually didn’t understand any of it.
As someone raised with scientific values, suddenly dealing with all this mystical cultivation stuff…
Close eyes.
Feel.
Dantian.
Spiritual energy.
Spiritual energy suddenly surged upward from beneath Tian Luo’s feet.
Powerful and pure spiritual energy from heaven and earth swirled around her body.
She opened her eyes.
Seeing the faint green light surrounding her, she sighed in relief.
Fortunately, she was smart.
“Coat me with it,” Lu Qizhi instructed.
So Tian Luo guided her spiritual energy through their joined hands, spreading it across every part of Lu Qizhi’s body.
Then she saw him become entirely wrapped in green light.
Perhaps it was just her imagination, but the light above his head seemed especially green.
So green that she nearly laughed.
Still, she maintained a serious expression and asked,
“Like this?”
Lu Qizhi answered through action.
Apparently, it was exactly right.
Holding Tian Luo in his arms and gripping her hand, he stepped into the place he had left many years ago.
The moment they entered, Tian Luo immediately sensed the change in his mood.
He became so gloomy it seemed as if ink could drip from him.
A violent aura quietly surrounded him.
Without pausing even briefly, he flew directly toward the center of Tianyan Sect.
Which meant…
Did he know exactly where Guo Lin was?
If Tian Luo remembered correctly, the novel said Guo Lin was the Sect Master of Xingluo Sect under the Earthly Branch of Tianyan Sect.
Xingluo Sect should have been located near the outer regions.
Although it was night, Tian Luo could still recognize where they had arrived.
The immortal palaces built along the mountainside were the very same palaces she had seen from afar in the Bixi Secret Realm, hidden among clouds and glowing light.
Under the night sky, warm orange lights flickered everywhere.
The immortal palaces looked almost like a heavenly lunar palace.
“The old beast ran away.”
Lu Qizhi let out a cold laugh.
His voice was low and filled with gritted teeth.
“Guo Lin ran away?”
Tian Luo assumed he meant Guo Lin.
Thinking about it, that seemed possible.
The man was cunning and treacherous.
If he had guessed they would come after him, he certainly wouldn’t have stayed here waiting to die.
Guo Lin’s sense of danger was absurdly sharp.
Lu Qizhi did not answer.
He simply raised a hand.
Violent spiritual power erupted.
At that moment, Tian Luo deeply felt how dangerous the man beside her truly was.
This was the aura of a true great villain.
Usually, the cool and overpowered villains had powers related to fire.
One wave of the hand, and flames would burn across thousands of miles.
The kind even Princess Iron Fan’s banana fan couldn’t extinguish.
But Lu Qizhi didn’t use fire.
The surrounding spiritual energy gathered toward his palm.
It compressed continuously.
Merged continuously.
Until flashes of purple lightning appeared within it.
The light was especially striking against the night sky.
“That old beast sent people out to search for spiritual sources and spirit veins. But most of the little beasts he produced are still being raised here.”
Lu Qizhi said.
Only then did Tian Luo realize that the “old beast” he was referring to wasn’t Guo Lin at all.
Even though she understood absolutely nothing, Tian Luo firmly chose to stand with him.
“What a morally corrupt person! I firmly stand with you in condemning him!”
Lu Qizhi glanced at her and smiled again.
Clearly, her attitude pleased him.
Tian Luo understood this perfectly.
It was like when your girlfriend was furious and venting about something.
The correct response wasn’t to list solutions one, two, and three, then tell her to calm down.
The correct response was to complain together.
To share her outrage.
To condemn the target together.
Holding Tian Luo, Lu Qizhi suddenly rose above the immortal palaces.
The lightning sphere in his palm had grown larger and larger.
He stared downward.
With a cold laugh, winds stirred around him without warning.
Tian Luo’s hair and Lu Qizhi’s hair tangled together in the wind.
The heavens changed.
In the cloud-covered night, thunderclouds churned above the immortal palaces.
Waiting.
Gathering.
Purple flashes occasionally illuminated the darkness.
Meanwhile, they stood above the clouds, looking down upon everything below.
Lu Qizhi asked,
“Have you ever watched someone undergo a tribulation?”
“No.”
She truly hadn’t.
Although, on the night she formed her human body after transmigrating into the book, she had been struck by several heavenly lightning bolts.
But perhaps because she had been nurtured by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the Heavenly Dao loved her especially.
Those lightning strikes had felt no more painful than a light scratch.
As a result, the words “lightning tribulation” didn’t inspire much fear in her.
“Then tonight, I’ll let you enjoy the spectacle.”
Tian Luo nodded.
“Okay.”
Standing beside her like a divine deity delivering punishment upon sinners, Lu Qizhi swung his hand downward.
The purple lightning-infused spiritual power instantly spread outward.
It enveloped the entire immortal palace complex at the center of Tianyan Sect.
Like a tightly woven net, capable of seizing a person’s lifeline in an instant.
The first thunderous explosion rang out.
Lightning as thick as a man’s embrace spread from beneath Lu Qizhi’s feet, striking with terrifying precision toward the people inside the palaces.
As though those people had been destined to undergo a lightning tribulation tonight.
The purple light illuminated Lu Qizhi’s face, making him appear brighter against the darkness.
The scene was simply too shocking.
Tian Luo covered her chest, unable to speak.
But her mind condensed everything into one conclusion—
Bodyguard. Fighter. Driver. Villain. Caveman. Lu Qizhi was absolutely not someone to mess with.
Shouts and screams erupted from the immortal palaces below.
“What’s happening?! Is someone breaking through and undergoing a lightning tribulation?”
“Why are so many people breaking through? Ahhh! Me too! But I didn’t break through! It hurts!”
“Help! Help!”
Cries echoed continuously throughout the palace complex.
Lightning-fire struck buildings and set them ablaze.
Those purple flames seemed capable of devouring even a person’s soul.
Tian Luo watched figures wrapped in purple lightning leap and writhe across the open spaces below.
Like scattered stars beneath the night sky.
Yet they were completely powerless.
All they could do was watch themselves be burned into ashes, body and soul alike.
Lu Qizhi tilted his head and looked at her.
Aside from the purple lightning and flames reflected in his eyes, all he saw was her determined attempt to remain calm.
His face was pale.
Even paler than before.
He asked,
“Is it beautiful?”
Tian Luo pulled a flawless, one-hundred-percent perfect smile onto her face.
Then she gave him a thumbs-up.
“This is the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen. You’re incredible!”