“Pa.”
A drop of dew formed from morning mist splashed onto Lian Yunzhi’s eyelid, and Lian Yunzhi blankly opened his eyes.
He hadn’t dreamed of Mu Cheng for a long time. Why had the dreams grown more bizarre? This time, the Mu Cheng in his nightmare was even shrouded in thick black mist, as if he were truly a malevolent ghost come to claim lives.
Lian Yunzhi couldn’t help but shiver.
Tsk.
One truly couldn’t do things with a guilty conscience. So many years had passed, and he couldn’t even clearly remember Mu Cheng’s face anymore, yet nightmares still haunted him from time to time.
Lian Yunzhi touched his chest.
Ten years ago, when Mu Cheng had stood before the window, snatched his Moon Gazing Sword from afar, and miraculously escaped Xiaoze State under the joint assault of Mu Kunrong and the Golden Core Puppet, Lian Yunzhi’s chest had ached as if it were dying. For a long time afterward, the pain had struck so fiercely that he wished he could dig out his own heart.
But in recent years, his chest had rarely ached, which meant Mu Cheng was alive and well out in the world—perhaps he had even formed a Dao Companion bond with someone and severed the Beast Taming Contract.
Lian Yunzhi let out a soft breath, wiped the dew from his face with his hand, rolled over, and jumped down from the giant tree where he had lain all night. He continued his training in the Hongshan Secret Realm.
.
Lian Yunzhi had broken through to Golden Core at seventeen and remained at the Initial Stage even at twenty-five, with no progress in his cultivation. Afterward, he had secluded himself in retreat for three years. A few days ago, he had suddenly sensed something and emerged from seclusion to battle a Sixth-Tier Man-Eating Demon Beast in the Hongshan Secret Realm for seven days and nights. Only the night before had he collapsed from exhaustion.
Yet he still hadn’t broken through to the Middle Stage of Golden Core.
A Golden Core Initial Stage at seventeen was a peerless genius anywhere.
But at twenty-eight, a Golden Core Initial Stage no longer seemed so exceptional—in Xiaoze State alone, several could be found, let alone out in the wider world.
“Ah!!! Help—”
A terrified scream rang out from behind him. Lian Yunzhi immediately turned to look and saw a Foundation Establishment Cultivator in his early twenties scrambling desperately forward on all fours, with a familiar Yellow Mist Demon Beast hot on his heels!
Lian Yunzhi harbored a deep hatred for this demon beast. His brows shot up as his long sword traced a beautiful flower in the air, and in an instant, he severed the Yellow Mist Demon Beast’s head.
Hm… Though his realm hadn’t advanced, he seemed even stronger than before?
Of course—three years ago, he had effortlessly defeated a Mid-Stage Golden Core cultivator from the outside world.
Lian Yunzhi’s mood instantly brightened.
“Th-thank you, Senior, for your aid…”
The Foundation Establishment Cultivator, who had been scared out of his wits moments before, finally climbed to his feet. He gasped for breath and tremblingly thanked Lian Yunzhi. Most astutely, he untied the Storage Bag from his waist and offered it with both hands.
But before handing it over, he seemed to remember something. He quickly pulled a jade token from the bag and said cautiously, “S-Senior… could I keep this? It’s our sect’s identification token… Of c-course, I can leave it if you wish…”
Lian Yunzhi couldn’t help but smile.
He took the Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s Storage Bag, rummaged through it briefly, pocketed only a pretty bracelet, and tossed the rest back. “There, keep the remainder for yourself.”
Sensing Lian Yunzhi’s mild demeanor, the cultivator finally dared to raise his head. “Thank you, Senior, for sav—”
His voice grew quieter and quieter as his eyes fixed straight on Lian Yunzhi’s face, as if he had frozen in place.
“What is it?”
“N-Nothing,” the cultivator stammered, lowering his head in a fluster, his face flushing red. “Senior, your immortal grace and jade-like beauty left this junior dazed, as if I’d beheld a true immortal…”
Lian Yunzhi felt a bit pleased by the praise. He cleared his throat lightly and, not in any hurry to leave, glanced at the jade token in the cultivator’s hand. “Which sect are you from?”
In recent years, quite a few sects had emerged in Xiaoze State, but they were all small ones that survived only by attaching themselves to one of the Four Great Families.
The Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s voice was soft, but his spine straightened a bit. “I’m called Feng Yuan, from the Lin Xian Sect.”
Lian Yunzhi’s expression shifted slightly.
Lian Yunzhi hadn’t stayed confined to Xiaoze State. Several years ago, he had ventured out into the wider world.
And the name he had heard most often there was “Lin Xian Sect.”
It was said that the Lin Xian Sect was the foremost great sect in the cultivation world, teeming with countless Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators, Soul Transformation and Void Refining experts everywhere, and its elders all at Body Integration or Great Ascension…
It was said that the Lin Xian Sect directly oversaw dozens of large sects, which in turn managed hundreds of mid-sized sects, and beneath them, thousands of small ones…
