The disciples outside the courtyard despaired as the shockwave descended. They thought they were certain to die. Yet they were all unharmed, leaving them bewildered.
“Where did the shockwave go? Why are we all fine?”
“Yes! With that pressure just now, I thought I was going to die!”
“Could such a vast ball of Spiritual Qi really have emerged from inside the courtyard?”
Still shaken, the disciples could hardly believe that such a powerful sphere of Qi had come from the courtyard. There were only three people inside, and one was a mortal.
An explosion of that magnitude surpassed even a strike from a Soul Formation Elder.
“What is happening? Why such a powerful attack? Could the Elders be fighting? Or is someone from outside attacking the Sect’s grand formation?”
Lin Tiancheng felt the impact too. His first thought was that the elders were fighting, or outsiders were attacking the sect formation. Only Soul Formation cultivators could cause a disturbance like this.
“Sect Leader, the explosion came from Seven Stars Peak.”
An inner disciple hurried forward to report.
“What? Could the Great Elder have launched an attack on Seven Stars Peak?”
Hearing that the disturbance originated from Seven Stars Peak, Lin Tiancheng sprang to his feet and hastened toward it.
All the other Elders likewise flew toward Seven Stars Peak.
Their assumptions were identical: had the Great Elder targeted Seven Stars Peak?
Only the Great Elder was completely at a loss. Who had attacked? If Seven Stars Peak was under attack, he had to get there, or he would certainly take the blame.
Before long, the Sect Leader and the Elders gathered in the skies above Seven Stars Peak.
While flying within the sect grounds was ordinarily forbidden, emergencies naturally warranted an exception.
“Have all the Elders arrived?”
Sect Leader Lin Tiancheng had arrived first. He had not descended because he found Seven Stars Peak entirely unscathed, showing no signs of having been attacked, though the protective formation had indeed activated, arousing his curiosity.
“Sect Leader, just what happened here?”
Second Elder Yao Yongzhi inquired with similar puzzlement.
Though remaining silent, the other Elders watched the Sect Leader expectantly, hoping for an explanation.
“I arrived only a short while ago and have found nothing unusual.”
Lin Tiancheng was baffled too. After a disturbance like that, how could nothing have happened?
“Hm? Did the Great Elder arrive from the direction of Immortal Sword Peak?”
Noticing the Great Elder arriving late, the crowd cast doubtful glances in his direction.
In their minds, the most likely culprit to strike at Seven Stars Peak was the Great Elder, seeing as his Immortal Sword Peak had suffered repeated losses at the hands of Qin Xiao.
“Why are you all staring at me? I just got here too.”
Faced with everyone’s gaze, Yao Tiansheng hastily defended himself.
“If none of us are responsible, and the Sect’s grand formation bears no marks of assault, then who unleashed a Soul Formation stage attack?”
Third Elder Kang Zhengye was puzzled too.
“There is no sense in guessing. We need only descend and ask.”
Yao Tiansheng wanted to know what had happened too.
Following this, Sect Leader Lin Tiancheng and the nine Elders descended together onto Seven Stars Peak.
“Ah? The Sect Leader and the Elders?” The source of this chapter is g.com.
“Greetings, Sect Leader. Greetings, honored elders.”
As the ten figures touched down, the disciples lingering outside the courtyard snapped out of their shock and bowed.
“What are you doing here? Instead of properly cultivating on your respective peaks, are you standing watch at someone else’s gate?”
Noticing disciples from Immortal Sword Peak among them, Yao Tiansheng barked a reprimand.
“Enough, Great Elder. We should first question these disciples regarding what happened here.”
Anxious to learn the truth, Lin Tiancheng had no patience for the Great Elder’s scolding.
“Speak at once! What occurred here, and what was that attack just now?”
Dropping the matter, Yao Tiansheng demanded answers.
Not daring to conceal anything, the disciples recounted the events from beginning to end.
Because the courtyard’s formation on Seven Stars Peak had been active, they had been unable to perceive the interior from above and had come down to investigate.
“What? It was caused by Shimeng and Yun Man?”
Lin Tiancheng would never have anticipated such an answer.
“Sect Leader, everything I said is true.”
The disciple being questioned quickly lowered his head and replied.
“I see. No wonder the Seventh Elder’s formation activated. Only an attack like that could trigger its automatic shield.”
After a moment of reflection, Lin Tiancheng accepted the explanation, though he still found it hard to fathom how a Nascent Soul cultivator and a late-stage Golden Core cultivator could fuse their power into an attack rivaling the Soul Formation stage.
“So it really is a formation? Master wasn’t lying to me?”
Qin Xiao watched the shield shifting continuously above the courtyard, his eyes filled with wonder.
Before departing, his master had instructed him that should a genuine crisis arise, he need only return to the courtyard and activate the formation to secure temporary protection. His master had also provided a token for controlling it.
Qin Xiao hadn’t thought much of it. Inside the sect, he had no need to activate the formation. If he ever did need it, he would probably have reached a dead end. Three years of quiet living had made him forget all about it.
“Where is Qin Xiao? Open the formation at once.”
Having learned the details, the Great Elder intended to step inside, but finding his path barred by the barrier, he raised his voice in a shout.
“The Great Elder’s voice?”
Qin Xiao was still marveling at the formation. He hadn’t expected the Great Elder to have arrived already.
“Great Elder, please wait a moment. I shall open the formation immediately.”
With that, Qin Xiao hastened back into the main hall of the courtyard to retrieve the token.
Fortunately, the token was still beneath the portrait. No one had moved it; it was just covered in dust after so long untouched.
“What are you doing with that object? Hurry and open the formation.”
Seeing Qin Xiao holding a dust-covered token, Lin Shimeng asked in confusion.
“Ah, Senior Sister Lin, this token controls the formation.”
Qin Xiao replied with a trace of embarrassment.
He had let such a precious thing gather dust without ever using it. What a waste.
“Master, we have a formation this powerful, and you never told me!”
Yun Man stepped closer with an inquisitive look.
“Well… I’d forgotten about this formation myself. If you hadn’t caused that explosion, I might have forgotten it completely.”
Qin Xiao was indeed speaking the truth; without this incident, he probably would not have remembered it until driven to desperation.
Anticipating this long beforehand, the Seventh Elder had imbued the token with Qin Xiao’s voice imprint, allowing vocal commands alongside spiritual power.
“Oh? It truly is voice-controlled?”
Seeing the formation actually open, Qin Xiao could hardly believe it.
“What took you so long? Did you cause all this commotion?”
The Great Elder launched into an interrogation the moment he stepped through, leaving Lin Tiancheng no opportunity to speak.
Naturally, Yao Tiansheng was incensed; he had nearly been forced to shoulder the blame for the disaster.
“Ah, this is merely a misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding.”
Qin Xiao hurried forward to smooth things over.
“Enough, Great Elder. Since no harm was done, let this matter rest.”
Lin Tiancheng stepped in to mediate, especially since his own daughter was implicated.
“Let it rest? Absolutely not! What if that commotion caused a disciple in seclusion to fail a breakthrough, or suffer a backlash injury? Who would take responsibility?”
Unrelenting, the Great Elder pressed the issue.
“How about this? Seven Stars Peak is indeed responsible. I’ll compensate each elder with twenty thousand Spirit Stones, as a small token of our respect.”
Qin Xiao didn’t want this to get out of hand, so he offered compensation.
“Very well, I have no objections.”
Sixth Elder Wen Yuanying of Spirit Spring Peak was the first to consent.
She agreed partly because the disturbance, though it had some effect, was nothing like what the Great Elder claimed, and partly because she wanted good relations with Seven Stars Peak.
The other peak masters and elders then agreed too. They would get twenty thousand Spirit Stones for nothing, and had suffered no loss anyway.
“Hmph. Since the other Elders raise no objections, this old man has nothing more to say.”
Yao Tiansheng had hoped to use this chance to put Qin Xiao in his place. But all the other elders had agreed to the compensation, so he could hardly object.
“Since everyone agrees, I’ll pay the compensation now.”
With everyone in agreement, Qin Xiao paid them one by one, pouring out twenty thousand Spirit Stones before each person. A problem money could solve was no problem at all. Spirit Stones were the one thing he had plenty of.
As they watched him pay, the elders’ expressions kept changing. Was he compensating them or showing off his wealth?
Their business concluded, the Elders departed. As she left, Lin Shimeng cast one final glance back at Qin Xiao.
She hadn’t expected Qin Xiao to take all the blame himself, and thought more highly of him for it.
“Disciple, there’s an auction in Tianyuan City in seven days. We’ll go and have a look. We need some pills for emergencies; using Spirit Liquid every time won’t do. It’s not that I begrudge it, but we mustn’t show off our wealth. If the wrong people find out, they may attack us and steal it.”
With the visitors gone, Qin Xiao addressed Yun Man with a solemn expression.
Using two drops of Spirit Liquid in this contest wasn’t all that extravagant. But if she kept gulping it down whenever she faced danger, and word got out, it could bring trouble down on them.
“I know I was wrong. I’ll follow your arrangements, Master.”
Realizing her impulsiveness that day, Yun Man acknowledged her error without hesitation.
“I’m not blaming you. We just need more ways to save our lives. Go back and cultivate. In seven days, you’ll come with me to Tianyuan City.”
Qin Xiao patted Yun Man’s head as he reassured her.
For seven days, nothing else happened on Seven Stars Peak, apart from disciples coming to look around every day. Qin Xiao simply ignored them.