That day, when Yun Xiu received the intelligence, she was startled.
The Qiankun Sect was planning to move against the Hehuan Sect in secret.
She immediately contacted Yun Lian, telling her to leave the Hehuan Sect quickly to seek refuge.
However, the response she received from Yun Lian was…
The Qiankun Sect had been driven away.
Driven away…
The result left Yun Xiu stunned.
What kind of strength did the Hehuan Sect possess to actually drive away the people from the Qiankun Sect?
The intelligence she had received stated that Long Yu, who was at Great Transformation Stage 2, was among them.
This time, the Qiankun Sect was fully intent on annihilating the Hehuan Sect.
According to Yun Lian’s further description, Yun Xiu finally learned the truth.
The Hehuan Sect’s Sect Master, Tai Lingxuan, had made a powerful return at the critical moment.
At the same time, the Yan family’s ancestor, Yan Dangmo, had also intervened in time to resolve the crisis.
Not only that, but he had also forced the Qiankun Sect to pay a considerable price.
With Tai Lingxuan steadily stepping into the Great Transformation Realm, Yun Xiu realized something.
The rise of the Hehuan Sect was just around the corner.
With Tai Lingxuan’s talent, her future achievements would only grow higher and higher.
And now, a few days later, Yun Xiu received new information from her sister.
Chen Yuyang had gone out for a journey of experience.
He even took Yun Lian with him.
Chen Yuyang…
He had left the Hehuan Sect.
‘Is this an opportunity? An opportunity to take him down.’
Of course, she did not mean “taking him down” in a physical sense, but rather finding a way to make him join the Saint Church.
He was an unquestionable talent.
The policy of the Saint Church regarding such people was simple: Recruit them, or if they cannot be used, kill them.
Such a genius was an absolute threat if he could not be used for their own purposes.
But…
This matter made Yun Lian hesitate.
It was not because she could not bear to kill.
It was because Chen Yuyang might very well be related to her sister’s future.
In any case…
‘I’ll take it one step at a time for now. I don’t have the time to distract myself with those arrangements…’
Yun Xiu knew her sister had the idea of winning over Chen Yuyang, whether she truly liked him or was simply doing it to increase her strength through dual cultivation.
If it succeeded, the help would naturally be immense.
If it failed…
Then they would see.
He was only at the Golden Core Realm.
Without the protection of Tai Lingxuan within the Hehuan Sect, killing him would not be difficult.
Several days had passed since they left the Hehuan Sect, and the two had been heading north.
For the first few days, Yun Lian thought it was just an ordinary journey of experience and did not think much of it.
But as the journey progressed, Yun Lian noticed that her Senior Brother’s direction was very specific.
They passed through various towns along the way without stopping at all.
Thinking this over, Yun Lian could not help but ask, “Senior Brother, we’ve been traveling without rest. Where exactly are we going?”
Chen Yuyang’s figure paused slightly in the air.
His spiritual power wrapped around his voice, making it perfectly clear even against the whistling wind.
“Heng City.”
The answer was brief, only two words.
“Heng City?”
Yun Lian repeated the name in her mind, her expression changing slightly.
She was naturally aware of this city’s existence.
Because she was originally from Heng City.
To cultivators, a thousand years were but a fleeting moment.
However, Heng City had stood in the North Domain for tens of thousands of years.
This place was the undisputed central hub of the entire North Domain.
Whether for mortals or cultivators, it was a mandatory pass for those traveling between the north, south, east, and west.
At the same time, it was the home of the third-largest family in the North Domain, the Xuan Clan.
The Xuan Clan had also been established in the North Domain for ten thousand years.
Even in the Realm of Cultivation, being able to last for ten thousand years without falling was enough to be called a place of deep heritage and extraordinary foundation.
Chen Yuyang’s purpose for coming here was actually very simple.
He was looking for the Hidden Sect.
The Hidden Sect had always been hidden from the world.
People could not find their exact mountain gate, and no disciples walked openly under their banner.
Through the changes of thousands of years, countless old cities on this land had vanished in the fires of war and the passage of time, while countless new cities had risen.
No matter how mysterious the Hidden Sect was, they still needed a relatively stable base.
Heng City — a place that had existed for tens of thousands of years and would likely continue to exist for a long time due to its unique geographical location and the protection of the Xuan Clan — was undoubtedly the best choice.
“Heng City…”
Yun Lian thought about it carefully and nodded.
She felt that her Senior Brother’s choice was reasonable.
As the central hub of the North Domain, it was a place where dragons and snakes were mixed, and various forces were intertwined.
It was indeed the best place to gain experience and broaden one’s horizons.
It was just that… Yun Lian had never expected that she would one day return there.
To return to that place of heartbreak.
With a quiet sigh, Yun Lian said to Chen Yuyang, “Alright, Senior Brother. But the spiritual power in my body is mostly depleted… flying for several days continuously has been a bit too much for me.”
“Besides, look at the time. It’s getting late. We might as well find a town or a relay station to stay for the night and continue our journey tomorrow.”
Chen Yuyang nodded slightly upon hearing this.
“Very well.”
His spiritual power far exceeded that of cultivators at the same level, and his recovery speed was faster than the consumption of flying, so he did not feel tired.
But Yun Lian only had an ordinary Golden Core cultivation.
After several days of high-intensity flight, her spiritual power was likely mostly exhausted.
Moreover, there was no need to rush this trip, as some of his ideas required time to prepare.
“There are signs of life not far ahead. It should be a small town. We’ll stay there,” Chen Yuyang said, looking into the distance where he could see several columns of smoke.
After saying that, he slowed his flight speed and flew side-by-side with Yun Lian.
A moment later, the two arrived at the outskirts of the town.
At a distance of about 1 mile, they stopped flying and proceeded on foot instead.
Not disturbing mortals was one of the rules of conduct for cultivators.
Flying into a town would cause some level of disturbance.
The town was not large, with only one main street.
On both sides were low buildings, no more than three stories tall.
People were coming and going on the street.
Most were mortals, though there were also a few rogue cultivators dressed in ordinary clothes, blending in with the crowd without revealing their identities.
Chen Yuyang and Yun Lian found a clean-looking inn to stay in.
They each had their own room, located next to each other.
The first thing Yun Lian did upon returning to her room was prepare a large tub of hot water, intending to take a good bath.
Traveling for days had not only depleted her spiritual power but had also left her covered in dust, which was truly uncomfortable.
In his room, Chen Yuyang took out several top-grade spirit stones.
His fingers moved rapidly, and the spiritual power at his fingertips acted like a knife, cutting the spirit stones into smaller, more regular pieces.
Then, following a specific orientation, he arranged the cut spirit stones one by one on the wooden table in the center of the room, forming the prototype of a simple formation.
Over the past few days, in addition to traveling, he had been privately deducing a new formation.
This formation was quite complex, involving many details and key points.
Even with his attainment in formations, it would take a lot of time to carefully deduce and repeatedly verify.
He had set it up simply now to verify some of the detailed changes and see if the actual results matched his theoretical deductions.
Chen Yuyang closed his eyes slightly and submerged his spiritual sense into the prototype formation.
He carefully observed the flow of spiritual energy within the formation, occasionally frowning, nodding, or falling into deep thought.
Knock, knock, knock!
The sudden sound of knocking interrupted Chen Yuyang’s observation.
With a sweep of his spiritual sense, he knew the visitor was Yun Lian.
The door opened, and Chen Yuyang stepped forward.
“Is something wrong, Junior Sister?”
Yun Lian stood gracefully outside the door.
She had changed into a clean dress, her hair was simply combed, and her face carried the flush of someone who had just bathed.
At this distance, Chen Yuyang could even smell the faint, fresh fragrance emanating from the young girl.
Hearing this, Yun Lian gave Chen Yuyang a small eye-roll and asked reproachfully, “Senior Brother, did you forget why I came out with you?”
Only then did Chen Yuyang realize that Yun Lian had followed him primarily because of the bottleneck in her sword path.
Chen Yuyang could not help but smile apologetically and stepped aside to let her in.
“It was my oversight. Please, Junior Sister, come in.”
The girl responded and stepped into the room.
Her eyes immediately noticed the spirit stones on the table, showing a hint of surprise.
Chen Yuyang closed the door behind him and then quickly set up a layer of soundproofing and a basic defensive formation.
This ensured they would not be spied on by outsiders and that the items in the room would not be damaged during practice.
“Senior Brother, what is this?” Yun Lian asked, pointing at the tabletop.
“Just some trinkets I’m playing with,” Chen Yuyang said casually as he put away the spirit stone pieces.
He then asked, “Junior Sister, where do you feel your bottleneck is? Speak freely, and I will help you take a look.”
Yun Lian walked to the cleared space in the room, took a deep breath, and her expression became serious.
“I can’t say exactly what’s wrong… it just feels like I’ve practiced my sword moves until they are very familiar, and my understanding of the sword intent for this strike should be in place. But every time I perform it, the actual result is always unsatisfactory. It feels like I can’t do any better.”
As she spoke, Yun Lian beckoned with her hand.
Her blade left its sheath with a crisp, light tremor.
Then, Yun Lian circulated her spiritual power, pouring it into the blade.
With a soft cry, she executed the first form of the Canglan Sword Art that she was currently studying — Raging Wave.
In an instant, it was as if a real tide had appeared in the room.
The sword momentum surged in layers, carrying an indomitable, violent impact toward the air ahead.
Although she did not inject much spiritual power when releasing this strike, the sweeping wind from the sword still caused the calligraphy and paintings on the wall to flutter loudly.
Chen Yuyang stood to the side, his eyes narrowed as he carefully observed Yun Lian’s every movement and the sword intent she revealed when the strike was completed.
After Yun Lian withdrew her sword, Chen Yuyang slowly nodded and appraised, “Junior Sister, you’ve improved quite fast. The sword moves of this strike are mature, and your spiritual power control is quite exquisite. You are close to mastery.”
Hearing her Senior Brother’s praise, a hint of an embarrassed blush appeared on Yun Lian’s face.
“Not at all, Senior Brother, you overpraise me. I feel like I’m still far from it.”
“Oh?”
Chen Yuyang arched an eyebrow.
“Where do you think you’re falling short? How many layers of waves can you stack with this Raging Wave strike?”
“Thirty-three layers,” Yun Lian answered honestly.
This was the limit of what she could currently achieve.
“Thirty-three layers…” Chen Yuyang pondered for a moment and nodded.
“That’s not bad. I didn’t see any issues with your sword momentum or sword intent just now; it’s indeed the level your current realm should have.”
At this point, Chen Yuyang frowned in confusion.
“As for where your bottleneck actually is? I truly couldn’t see it.”
A bitter smile appeared on Yun Lian’s face as she shook her head gently.
“Even Senior Brother can’t see it? I don’t know the specific defect either, but it just feels like it’s missing something. I just can’t say what that ‘something’ is.”
Muttering, a hint of confusion appeared in Yun Lian’s eyes.
‘Could this… just be my imagination?’
Chen Yuyang did not speak immediately upon hearing this but fell into silence instead.
An imagination?
He did not think so.
Yun Lian was undoubtedly a genius in the field of the sword.
Although he had achieved mastery of the sword path by virtue of a much longer cultivation time, her pure intuition regarding the sword was actually slightly stronger than his.
If she felt something was missing, then something was truly missing somewhere.
After a moment of silence, Chen Yuyang looked up at Yun Lian.
“In any case, words are useless. I will perform this Raging Wave strike once. Watch carefully and feel the difference with your heart.”
As Chen Yuyang spoke, he did not take his own sword.
He did not even mobilize a single shred of spiritual power.
He simply stood in place, pressing his index and middle fingers together to form a sword finger.
There was no grand display, nor was there any sword light.
But the moment his fingertips moved, a majestic and vast sword intent was revealed silently.
When Chen Yuyang had helped Yun Lian perceive the sword path before, he had always held back, never fully releasing his sword intent for fear of influencing her too much.
But now, to let her see clearly, he had to be without reservation.
He hoped that his Junior Sister, who had already stepped onto her own sword path, would not be too overwhelmed by this.
It should be fine…
At this moment, the second Chen Yuyang’s “sword” took shape, Yun Lian felt as if she truly saw it.
She saw boundless waves surging and roaring before her eyes.
The giant waves rolled, layer upon layer, sweeping in from the horizon as if they were going to annihilate the entire world.