Yun Wanfeng, or as most knew nowadays, Sect Master of the Fleeting Mist Sect, had his brows furrowed. Recently the Fleeting Mist Sect’s operation had been continuously hindered and disrupted.
The most prominent suspects were the Unseen Whale Region’s overlords, the Sky Whale Sect, and the Green Scorpion Region, the Five Poison Sect. Neither of these two powers was any weaker than the Fleeting Mist Sect. In contrast to Sect Master Yun’s expectations, his ascension to the Nascent Soul realm did not make these two powers afraid and instead agitated them.
As if on unspoken agreements, the two sects began to hinder the Fleeting Mist Sect’s operations near their borders. At first, it was nothing consequential, but after a few years, there was a noticeable decline in the Fleeting Mist Sect’s advancement. If you did not advance, then you would be left behind and buried by history.
Sect Master Yun even suspected that the two sects had a secret alliance to deal with the Fleeting Mist Sect. If such a thing did occur, then it would be troublesome, although, on the surface, Sect Master Yun was the only Nascent Soul Grandmaster within the three regions. Perhaps the two sects had some old monsters that were in seclusion. And even if he was the only Nascent Soul Grandmaster in the three regions, that did not give him ultimate power.
Both the Five Poison Sect and the Sky Whale Sect had history comparable to the Fleeting Mist Sect. The Sky Whale Sect had a mobile fortress artifact at the Nascent Soul realm, and the Five Poison Sect had a formation that could exhibit the power of a Unity Realm Venerable. Although, rumor has it that the Five Poison Sect could no longer bring out the formation’s full strength. A crucial material that was needed had started to disappear from nature, and what little they did had was not enough.
Even if Sect Master Yun was the strongest cultivator in the region, the massive size of the territories would make it so that he could not guard everywhere at once. The Fleeting Mist Sect was only a single power. The manpower they could summon at any one time was limited. The power of a Nascent Soul Grandmaster was better as a deterrent.
“Master,” A delicate and proper voice broke him out of his musings.
Sect Master Yun looked towards his most beloved disciple. The years were generous to Pan Lanyue; the once young lass had developed into a splendid woman worthy of being the Fleeting Mist Sect’s future sect master.
“What is it, Yue’er?” Sect Master Yun’s voice was gentle and doting, hiding away all of his worries from her. At the very least, before he had passed on the title of Sect Master, he had to solve the problems plaguing the Fleeting Mist Sect first.
“Master, are you alright? You seem troubled the last few days.” Pan Lanyue said, her voice full of concern for her master.
“It’s nothing much. You are still ten years too early to worry about your master.” Sect Master Yun flicked Pan Lanyue’s forehead causing her neck to snap back slightly. Although Pan Lanyue had already reached the Spiritual Altar Foundation Establishment realm, Sect Master Yun was still two realms above her.
Pan Lanyue hissed as she clutched her forehead. “Master! Be more gentle! If you’re not careful, my head might just fly off from your flick!”
“Nonsense! I, your master, am a venerated Nascent Soul Grandmaster, controlling the strength of my flick is a simple affair. It is always at the perfect strength!” Sect Master Yun gave a teasing grin.
Pan Lanyue pouted. Although she had grown slightly older, but due to her cultivation, she still looked like a young lady in her twenties. Due to the affection that has developed over the years, Pan Lanyue became even more mischievous around her master, like a pampered granddaughter.
“The way I see it, you should be more worried about yourself. Isn’t your match with your ex-fiance coming up?” Sect Master Yun said, directing the conversation elsewhere.
“Have you heard anything about Yan Nie?” Pan Lanyue asked, her face no longer pouting.
“There have been sightings of the youngster recently, but none of the accounts are reliable.” Sect Master Yun said; he had found out the Yan Nie had regained his ability to cultivate soon after his disciple returned. But he did not place it in his eyes. His disciple was a genius worthy of even being accepted into the first-rate sects, what realm could a former genius cultivate in a mere ten years?
Speaking of geniuses, Sect Master Yun’s thoughts turned towards the most extraordinary talent he had even laid eyes on, Xi Tianyi.
The shock that had assaulted him when he had discovered that the true cultivation level of the youth was almost heart-stopping. He wondered what realm the child reached in ten years. Perhaps he had already entered the Core Formation realm?
Or maybe even the Nascent Soul realm? Sect Master Yun shook his head at the absurd thought, a Nascent Soul Grandmaster at the age of twenty was preposterous.
“Master what realm do you think he has reached?” Pan Lanyue asked her master.
“Perhaps the peak of the qi circulation realm,” Sect Master Yun deliberated after being brought out of his thoughts by his disciple’s words. “There is a slim chance that he has reached the Foundation Establishment realm, according to eyewitnesses.”
“Do…you think it was a mistake to break off the engagement?” Pan Lanyue asked after a moment of silence.
“No,” It was a straightforward answer from Sect Master Yun. “Frankly speaking, pre-arrange marriage for us cultivators is a needless complication and one that even may cause us to wander off the immortal path. Even if you do not break the engagement, the result would have been the same.” Sect Master Yun thought a bit and then added. “Minus the duel, of course.”
Pan Lanyue pouted when she heard Sect Master Yun chuckle.
But the jovial atmosphere disappeared when someone barged into the hall.
“Sect Master, there’s been a report that someone assaulted one of our spiritual stone mines!”
The sect master’s face immediately darkened. “Explain.” He only said one word.
An unknown enemy had assaulted one of the Fleeting Mist Sect’s spiritual mines. The mine was under joint ownership by the Fleeting Mist Sect and a vassal sect that had pledged allegiance to the Fleeting Mist Sect. The Plum Wing Sect Sect Master’s son was even a disciple of the Fleeting Mist Sect.
On the surface, the attack seemed simple, but once Sect Master Yun heard the details, his brows furrowed at the report. It was to the point that he had personally traveled to the site of the mine.
Once he arrived, his facial expression darkened even more. The mine was a lost cause. It could no longer produce any more spiritual stones without at least a 1,000 years at the very least.
All the people stationed at the mine seemed to disappear into thin air, and the very environment surrounding the mine changed as if eons had passed. The scariest part was that a Nascent Soul Grandmaster like him could not detect any hints or qi usage at all.
For him to not discover any qi usage, the perpetrator must be in the Unity Realm at the least. Sect Master Yun suspected that the perpetrator’s cultivation level would be even higher.
In comparison, the aftereffect of this attack would almost be cute. Someone had just attacked and ruined one of the Fleeting Mist Sect’s resource points. If they did not handle this correctly, their prestige and influence would take a dive.
In the end, Sect Master Yun had a hunch that the matter wasn’t so simple and sent a letter to his friend for his opinion.
Elder Shan’s aged visage twitched when he saw the object at the table. It was a round pill that shone with a golden luster; the limbs poking out of the sphericle body only increased the pill’s abnormality.
“You again, can’t you go pilfer someone else’s materials?”
Elder Shan said as he talked to the pill.
The pill tilted upward and looked up, but no words came out.
“I’m the only one you can take from!? That’s doesn’t mean you should take it from me!”
There was a bit of helplessness in Elder Shan’s voice as he talked to the pill.
“How are you going to compensate me? Unlike you, I have to earn these materials myself. My cultivation is already harder than others because of my condition. You embezzling materials from me is not helping.”
“…”
“If I have the ability to stop you, I should stop you!? I don’t have the ability, otherwise, why would we be talking like this?”
“…”
“I don’t want to be called a loser by a pill who can’t even cultivate even after gaining spirituality after millions of years!”
“…”
“Heh, you’ll be able to do it soon? Aren’t you just relying on Tianyi’s blood? You have already formed an irrevocable connection with him.”
“…”
“He’s not bad? That must be true if you say so. After all, you’ve existed since the primordial era, unlike me.”
“…”
“How did I do it? Heh, not telling.”
The pill suddenly shot up and smashed Elder Shan’s nose, causing a noseblood.
“Hey, just because I refuse to tell, you directly moved to violence!? Why can’t you take after Tianyi more and talk it out.”
“…”
“Tianyi is a lot more violent than I think? At the very least, he doesn’t go punching people at the first signs of disagreements. Especially after eating their stuff.”
“…”
“You’re my senior? Technically I made more improvements than you. Based on schematics, I’m technically in a higher realm, shouldn’t I be the senior then?’
“…”
“Might is right? What a tyrant.”
“…”
“Is Tianyi really that special? Sure, his abilities are far above his realm, but it is not like there have not been cases of people of equal talent.”
“…”
“There’s a lot of bigwigs invested? Why would they be so invested in a mortal who has not even attained immortality?”
“…”
“Not just Tianyi?”
“…”
“There’s actually such a group of people? The chances of them reaching immortality and their predisposition towards the Dao is that high?”
“…”
“They are children of that god? Impossible, that can guy actually had children!?”
“…”
“Not in the true sense? just a term you used to address those that came from a place called Earth?”
“…”
“How small, is it really so special? How come I never heard of it?”
“… … …”
“The more I hear, the more I think you are pulling my leg.”
“…”
“Strange, very strange. Is it possible to visit this Earth?”
“…”
“What? It’s impossible to travel to Earth?”
“…”
“So that’s why there are so many of his children running about it. Do they know?”
“…”
“Hm, so not even Grand Elder Xi knows.”
“…”
“They’ve already marked them? Still, I’m surprised that so many could escape Old Lady Meng’s soup of forgetfulness.”
“..-!”
“What’s wrong!?” Elder Shan stood up when he saw the golden pill suddenly became agitated. Without wasting a second, the pill shot out off of the table and away.
Elder Shan followed, and he soon reached the destination. It was the Jade Lotus Clear Pond and a familiar scene was reoccurring. After all, nearly ten years ago, he had watched Tianyi reach the Core Formation Realm.
“Grand Elder Xi,” Elder Shan bowed and saluted. Grand Elder Xi ignored Elder Shan as her hands snatched the golden pill that wanted to fly towards Tianyi and grasped it in her palm. The golden pill wanted to struggle, but it could not escape Xi Mengfei’s grasp.
Elder Shan just glanced at it before turning his attention towards the youth who was transcending his Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation. After learning some truths, he had some complications towards Tianyi, but years of feeling couldn’t be erased just because of some information.
Tianyi was seated in a lotus position, much like all those years ago. His clothes did not seem to be touched this time and not a hair out of place.
The tribulation lightning thundered ominously and flashed with destructive might. Elder Shan noted that he would be crippled should he take any single strike of tribulation lightning.
At this moment, a five-petal lotus materialized above Tianyi’s head. It seemed fleeting and unreal, ethereal to the point that it might disappear any moment.