The desert north was in the northwest direction.
Lu Xiumei hurried with Lin Zhi and her family toward the central region.
Legend says that in ancient times, ferocious beasts gradually awakened their intelligence and became demons.
They used the Yellow River as a boundary and agreed with humans to mutually non-interfere.
Time passed, and now both sides of the Yellow River are under human rule.
Beside the ninth bend of the river, peaks stood towering, jagged and interlocking.
Spirit trees and strange cypresses grew among the cliffs, and occasionally flashes of light could be seen.
This was from Lu Xiumei’s perspective.
To others, this place was a stone forest maze filled with fog.
Once you stepped inside…
Well, nothing would happen.
After all, the Tai Xu Sect was one of the four orthodox sects.
It would just trap them for a few hours, and when they came out—no need to thank—they would already be at the upper reaches of the Yellow River.
People of the Tai Xu Sect were proficient in escape techniques and curse methods.
Lu Xiumei formed a hand seal with one hand, glanced at the disciple on guard today from afar, then turned and arrived at the Ninth Peak of Tai Xu.
Tai Xu had twelve peaks.
Lu Xiumei was the master of the Ninth Peak.
Each Tai Xu peak master was like a doctoral advisor, recruiting disciples to continuously supply talent for the sect.
Above them were the vice sect leader and the sect leader, and then the various elders who attended when discussing important matters.
Xi Bing was among them.
This time, regarding the search for his disappearance, Lu Xiumei participated because of her picky standards.
Unlike other peak masters who had disciples, she was the most idle person in the sect.
Because of this, the sect leader had often scolded her.
But times had changed.
She, Lu Xiumei, had returned, bringing back a Void Spirit Body that hadn’t been seen in a thousand years!
A confident and proud smile curled on her stern, heroic face.
Lu Xiumei lightly flicked her sleeves and released the two Lins.
Lin Zhi, whose consciousness was still stuck at the moment the Sword Sect disciple drew his sword, stared blankly.
Upon seeing the surrounding misty fog and patches of tree shade, she became even more dazed.
“How is it? This place is the Ninth Peak of Tai Xu Sect, your future launching point. The path of immortality is long. Lass Lin, I’ll accompany you through it, alright?”
“Immortal fate! Immortal fate!”
Before Lin Zhi could respond, Old Lady Lin shouted twice and then fainted with a thud.
“Grandma! Grandma!”
Lin Zhi’s eyes immediately cleared.
She stepped forward to support her grandmother’s collapsing body.
Then she felt her breath, found it still steady, and let out a long sigh of relief.
“Let her be settled in my residence. I happen to have some things to tell you.”
Lu Xiumei summoned a servant, forced a smile, stepped forward, and crouched down to look at Lin Zhi.
“Um, alright. Immortal, you are mighty. Please save her.”
Lin Zhi stared blankly into Lu Xiumei’s eyes, pleading.
The heroic, beautiful Daoist smiled back.
“Immortal? I don’t like that. Lass Lin, call me Master instead. How about it?”
“Master, please save my grandmother.”
She wrinkled the part sewn into the hem of her pants, where Lian Chengxue’s token was tucked.
Lin Zhi steeled herself and spoke seriously.
“Good, good, good!”
Lu Xiumei said with a smile.
She lightly touched Lin Zhi’s spiritual platform with her finger.
“This is our sect’s inner cultivation method. I have annotations for the obscure parts. Study here for now, and Master will come see you later.”
“Huh? Master?”
Profound knowledge immediately filled her spiritual platform.
Lin Zhi blinked, but Lu Xiumei had already turned into a beam of light and vanished.
Above the scenery, there was another layer of gold-stamped characters.
The characters flashed and disappeared, then reappeared when she tried to look closely.
They were beautiful and mysterious, but she had never studied, so she couldn’t recognize a single word…
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Mu Qing walked with Lian Chengxue.
Unlike Lin Zhi’s situation, abstract characters like earthworms floated from the stone wall, and golden light scattered and fled.
“What does this mean?”
Lian Chengxue frowned.
‘Comprehending sword intent is already difficult, and you’re running away?’
“I’m telling you, Xiaoxue, the third trial was designed by that old man. It’s really tough.”
Seeing Lian Chengxue’s expression change, Mu Qing laughed like a smug little brat from a storybook.
“Then Master, help me?”
Lian Chengxue tried to cozy up, completely forgetting that she had just called her Hall Master Mu.
Why not curry favor when you have the connection?
“Mm-hmm, Xiaoxue, you do acknowledge me after all. But…”
Mu Qing changed her tone and pointed at the stone wall.
“These are the most basic Six Initial Sword Forms of the Sword Sect. If you can’t even comprehend these, you still want to be my disciple?”
Mu Qing’s righteous expression made her look like a cat with its fur puffed up.
Lian Chengxue secretly laughed at the sight.
In her past life, her family had always urged her to marry, and she herself was a doting parent.
But when she thought about the responsibilities she needed to bear, she sighed.
‘When will life have a skip button, so I can get a well-behaved, cute, and sensible daughter without doing anything?’
Oh, right.
Now she could probably give birth to one herself.
Damn.
“Hey? Daydreaming again?”
“Master, I’m sorry.”
Lian Chengxue grabbed Mu Qing’s hand that was poking her waist and apologized.
Mu Qing blushed, quickly pulled her hand back, jumped up, and tapped Lian Chengxue’s forehead.
“Hurry up and comprehend the sword intent!”
Thinking acting spoiled would work?
No way!
She had seen plenty of little girls like this, all thinking about taking shortcuts and not learning properly.
In the end, they would die at the hands of demonic cultivators because of their lack of skill.
She didn’t want her own disciple to follow that path.
“Alright.”
Lian Chengxue smiled helplessly.
Thanks to Mu Qing’s tap, the twisted earthworms in her vision barely became recognizable flies.
The characters, resembling small seal script, were not difficult to read.
Lian Chengxue didn’t think too much about how she understood them.
As a pressure-resistant veteran tempered by compulsory education, she kept in mind the law of the strong in the cultivation world and threw herself into it wholeheartedly.
“Not too stupid, huh?”
Mu Qing walked around Lian Chengxue, cast a sword aura barrier to prevent disturbances, waved her hand in front of Lian Chengxue’s eyes, then stuck a sound transmission talisman on her butt and slipped out quietly.
Two days later, in the early morning, birds chirped.
Lian Chengxue suddenly woke up, and the birds that had been perched on her head and shoulders immediately flew away.
A wave of hunger hit her, but she was full of energy, making her want to grab a sword and try it immediately.
However, there was also a faint rancid smell.
Where was it from?
Lian Chengxue turned her head and saw the marks of bird droppings on her shoulder.
How long had she been standing here?
She removed a layer of her outer robe, took out the dry rations she had with her, and forced herself to eat.
When she tried to sit down, she heard the sound of paper crumpling.
She reached behind and found a talisman paper.
After smoothing it out, Lian Chengxue found that the characters on the talisman were the same as the sword intent characters.
“Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman? How do I use it?”
“Awake?”
“Ah?”
Lian Chengxue was startled.
Mu Qing had appeared behind her at some point.
“Master, you’re here. But how…”
“The Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman was in an active state. When you spoke to it, I heard you.”
Ah, so noisy.
Mu Qing covered her ears, grew an azure sword aura from her index finger, and with a couple of light swings, shattered the talisman.
“You’ve comprehended the sword intent, right?”
Mu Qing asked again, still worried.
“Pretty much. The Six Initial Sword Forms: point, thrust, lift, chop, collapse, and hook. I understand them all.”
As Lian Chengxue spoke, she recalled that each time she said one, a small figure demonstrated the form on her spiritual platform.
“If you’ve understood, then let’s go. Follow me.”
“Where are we going?”
“The Sword Forging Hall, to pick a sword for you.”
As Mu Qing spoke, she stole a glance at Lian Chengxue.
Seeing her disciple’s obedient and respectful demeanor, she felt smug inside.
She had said it herself.
What was the sect leader brother worried about?
It was just taking on a disciple.
What was so difficult?