After leaving the house, Elder Xuan led Yuan to the Inner Court to look for Fei Yuyan.
The appearance of Elder Xuan in the Outer Court surprised everyone and attracted countless gazes from the disciples around them, and they all bowed to him the moment they noticed him.
As a high-ranking sect elder, they are revered as much as the Sect Master himself, and they usually don't appear in public, much less the Outer Court, so for Elder Xuan, one of the most renowned high-ranking sect elder to appear in the Outer Court was very shocking, to say the least.
"Who's that Inner Court disciple following him? He's even wearing a mask…"
"Why is he wearing a mask? What's he trying to hide? His ugly face?"
"Who knows."
Sometime later, Elder Xuan and Yuan arrived at Fei Yuyan's living quarters and knocked on the doors.
After waiting for a few moments with no response, Elder Xuan knocked on the door again.
However, nobody answered the door.
"How odd…" Elder Xuan retrieved his jade slip and looked at it before continuing, "Disciple Fei hasn't signed out of the logbook so she should still be within the sect. Maybe she went to the Dragon Pavilion?"
"Do you have any idea where she went?" Elder Xuan decided to ask Yuan.
Yuan shook his head and said, "I tried to visit her a few days ago as well, but she wasn't here either."
"Let's go to Elder Shan's living quarters and see if Disciple Fei is there or if she knows Disciple Fei's location." Elder Xuan suggested.
Yuan nodded his head, and they proceeded to head to the Blossom Peak to see Elder Shan.
Sometime later, they knocked on Elder Shan's door.
"Who is it?" Elder Shan appeared before them a few moments later.
"Elder Xuan and… Disciple Yuan?" It took a few seconds for Elder Shan to recognize Yuan's black jade mask, and when she realized that it was Yuan, she subconsciously took a step back and covered her head with her hands.
"Elder Shan? What are you doing?" Elder Xuan raised his eyebrows when he saw her puzzling actions.
"A-Ahem! Nothing." Elder Shan cleared her throat before continuing, "Anyway, what are you doing here? And why are you hiding your face, Disciple Yuan?"
"It's a complicated situation for him, we'll discuss it later. As for now, we're looking for Disciple Fei so we can head to the Dragon's Peak. She wasn't at her house, so we figured to come here." Elder Xuan said.
"Oh, Fei Yuyan? She's currently in closed cultivation in the Immortal Caves." Elder Shan said.
"Immortal Caves? What's that?" Yuan immediately asked, his interest piqued.
"The Immortal Caves are located at Cloud Peak, where the spiritual energy is incredibly thick and abundant, only second to Dragon's Peak in the entire sect. Core Disciples usually spend the most time cultivating there, especially if there's nothing else to do outside. And since the Mystic Realm is getting close, everybody wants to improve their cultivation as fast as possible to be eligible for the Mystic Realm."
"One must be eligible to participate in the Mystic Realm? How do you pick who gets to participate?" Yuan asked them.
"Well, the Mystic Realm is a mysterious place where one's overall strength and cultivation doesn't matter at all. Instead, one's talent reigns supreme. Everyone who enters the Mystic Realm will have their entire cultivation base wiped, but you'll regain your cultivation once you come back out." Elder Xuan explained to him.
And he continued, "Therefore, we pick the participants depending on their growth and improvements over a certain time. So far, you're the only disciple who is certain to participate in the Mystic Realm. As for the other two disciples… We'll figure it out by the end of the week.":
"Wow… A mystic place, indeed." Yuan's anticipation for this place grew slightly more.
"Anyway, since Disciple Fei isn't here and we can't just disturb her cultivation, I guess you'll have to go to Dragon's Peak by yourself for now, Disciple Yuan." Elder Xuan said to him.
"Okay." Yuan nodded.
"Thank you, Elder Shan. We'll see you later."
"Oh, right. Before I leave…" Yuan suddenly reached into his spatial ring and retrieved a cultivation technique.
"Can you give this to Disciple Fei when she comes out of cultivation?"
"This is…?" Elder Shan accepted the technique with a nonchalant look on her face.
However, when she realized what she was holding, her eyes widened with surprise, "The Divine-rank cultivation technique you'd obtained from the zither competition? You're already done with it?"
Yuan nodded, "Yes, I learned it quicker than I'd expected so I don't need it anymore. Please give it to Disciple Fei."
Elder Shan and Elder Xuan's jaws dropped after hearing his words. He'd managed to learn a Divine-rank technique in just a few days? As expected, his comprehension abilities are beyond their understanding.
"I understand… I will give this technique to Fei Yuyan when I see her." Elder Shan nodded her head.
"Thank you, Senior Shan!" Yuan said to her.
Elder Xuan and Yuan left the place shortly later, heading to Dragon's Peak that was almost two hours away.
"So this is the Dragon's Peak? It's… so empty…" Yuan stared at the spacious land before them with raised eyebrows.
"Well, the Founder was a simple man who loved to feel free, so he didn't have much if anything in his area," said Elder Xuan.
"I see… but the spiritual energy in this area… it's really abundant. I can feel my cultivation base slightly growing just from breathing in this place." Yuan mumbled.
"Rumors say this is caused by a treasure that the Founder had hidden in this place before his disappearance since this place was not like this in the beginning, and it only became like this after the Founder's disappearance." Elder Xuan said.
And he continued, "However, despite all of our efforts throughout the years, nobody has found the supposed treasure to this day, and it's been tens of thousands of years."
"I see..." Yuan mumbled with a pondering look on his face.