Chapter 101

Chapter 101: Leaving Heaven’s Evolution Sect

After the small interlude of Jun Xiu Ran’s notice, Rong Shu remained unaffected and continued cultivating as usual. Unbeknownst to her, on Limitless Peak, Jun Xiu Ran looked at his eldest disciple Feng Lin with a trace of satisfaction and said: “I have already informed Rong Shu. In one month, she will go to Cloud Link City with you.”

“This honored one knows you cherish Ruan Ruan and fear she may feel wronged on account of Rong Shu, but since this honored one has already taken Rong Shu as a disciple, I hope you, as her senior brother and sister, will look after her.”

Feng Lin kept his head lowered so his expression could not be seen: “Disciple understands. Master, be at ease; on this trip to Cloud Link City, I will certainly take good care of Junior Sister Rong.”

“Good,” Jun Xiu Ran nodded in approval, then added: “Ruan Ruan will be going with you as well. Go tell her the news.”

At the mention of Yu Ruan Ruan, Feng Lin’s expression eased slightly: “Yes, master.”

…

One month later, inside the training chamber on Spirit Nurturing Peak, Rong Shu called out: “Blazing Body!” With a whoosh, flames burst across her entire body from head to toe without a single gap. Her clothing remained intact, but when she casually picked up a discarded spirit herb from the floor, the moment it touched her hand it ignited and turned to ash.

Delight lit her face: “Success!”

After maintaining the Fire Puppet state for a while, she let the Blazing Body subside. With her current fire attribute at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, she could maintain Blazing Body for at most the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. If she broke through to Foundation Establishment and her spiritual energy reserves underwent a qualitative leap, she might be able to sustain it for roughly one stick of incense.

At present, her cultivation stood thus:

Ninth layer of Qi Refining: wind, dark, water, fire, wood.

Seventh layer of Qi Refining: metal, earth.

Fourth layer of Qi Refining: lightning.

Among the manuals she had obtained in Golden Phoenix Pavilion, the most difficult, Blazing Body, had taken her two full months just to touch the threshold. The others—Shadow Kill, Treading the Waves, and Shrinking Earth to Inches—she had already learned half a month earlier. In terms of proficiency, Shadow Kill and Treading the Waves were higher.

The little dark-element sprite was as “reliable” as ever, and she had learned to face it calmly. Since she could not resist, she might as well lie flat and accept it.

Moreover, ever since she absorbed Immortal Jade Nectar in that subterranean cavern within the secret realm, not only had it cured her difficulty in cultivating the water element, it was as if she had been reborn; her cultivation speed had soared. The water attribute had booted fire out of third place and now sat steadily behind wind and dark.

Rong Shu muttered to herself: “[The wind attribute is about to be unable to hold the others down. Little Metal, Little Earth, you two need to work harder… otherwise, when I reach Foundation Establishment, I won’t bring you two along.]” She had suppressed the wind attribute’s breakthrough for so long in order to “favor” the other attributes. As the rightful principal consort, the wind element was reaching the limits of its patience. With one attribute after another catching up to the same level, its status was being seriously challenged.

…

The sect grand competition would run for three months. This year’s competition was being held in Cloud Link City, within Giant Spirit Sect’s sphere of influence. Heaven’s Evolution Sect had relatively few blade cultivators and was dominated by sword cultivators, whereas Giant Spirit Sect had many blade cultivators. At the competition, Rong Shu would be able to observe Giant Spirit Sect blade cultivators in battle.

On the day she left Heaven’s Evolution Sect, Rong Shu packed the items she would bring, placing the important ones in the Han Chuan Cosmos Pearl and leaving the unimportant ones in the Storage Pouch hanging openly at her waist.

She went to the inner peaks to see Lin Dao and bid him farewell: “Senior brother, I’m off.”

“Mm,” Lin Dao answered, then said with solemn emphasis: “Remember to keep on you the items I gave you.”

Certain forces in the Southern Wilds were growing restless; this time he had to go knock on their doors. If they were left unchecked, at worst it could plunge the Southern Wilds into turmoil; at best, even a regional stir would disturb the lass’s days of peaceful cultivation.

“Mm-hmm,” Rong Shu nodded. They had been together long enough for Lin Dao to know she was not one to provoke trouble, yet trouble often came uninvited. He said softly: “If someone bullies you and you can win, then fight. If you cannot, don’t be impulsive; wait for me to get to Cloud Link City…”

Her eyes rippled for an instant. [What does senior brother mean by that?] Seeing that Lin Dao had no intention of continuing, she feared she was overthinking it and did not ask. She only nodded obediently: “Mm, I understand.”

After parting with Lin Dao, Rong Shu left the inner peaks and headed to the plaza before the sect gates to assemble.

“Rong Shu!” two voices called at once. Looking over, she saw Cheng Bu Fan and Fu Yong Kang, who had arrived early and were waving her over.

She walked up to them and asked: “Senior Brother Cheng, you broke through? Fu Gui, you broke through too?” As she drew near, she sensed their cultivation auras were different from before. Cheng Bu Fan had reached early Foundation Establishment, and Fu Yong Kang the sixth layer of Qi Refining.

At the mention of cultivation, Cheng Bu Fan immediately groused: “I barely got pushed into the selection, but luckily my cultivation met the old man’s requirement.”

Fu Yong Kang grinned and said: “I took pills.”

Hearing this, Rong Shu was a little speechless. Cheng Bu Fan continued briskly: “The old man insisted I go. I didn’t want to at first, but then I thought you were going too. To keep you from being bullied, this young master will reluctantly be merciful and go with you.” He remained obstinate, refusing to admit he simply could not resist.

As for Fu Yong Kang’s reason for going to watch the grand competition, it was even more straightforward: he wanted to befriend geniuses. As for how he could go, he had paid for the privilege.

The three chatted for quite some time, and more disciples gathered before the mountain gate. When the appointed departure time arrived, several accompanying sect elders appeared. Among them were Jun Xiu Ran and Cheng Xiao Feng.

With a flick of his sleeve, Cheng Xiao Feng summoned a massive Flying Boat into the air above the gate. As it appeared, the disciples looked on in amazement, especially those newer Qi Refining Stage disciples whose eyes practically stuck to it. Rong Shu also examined the great vessel with curiosity. It looked not only capable of holding several hundred people, but perhaps two or three thousand.

This time, Heaven’s Evolution Sect was sending only about four hundred people to Cloud Link City: three hundred disciples formally competing, thirty accompanying sect elders, and seventy additional disciples going by recommendation to observe.

Cheng Xiao Feng announced: “All of you, it is getting late. Board the boat.”

With the peak master speaking, the disciples dared not dawdle; they filed obediently into the Flying Boat. Once the headcount was confirmed, the immense vessel activated and sped away from the mountains above the sect gate.

Standing on the deck, Rong Shu looked back once in the direction of Heaven’s Evolution Sect. Then she lifted her gaze to the blue sky overhead. The red sun was climbing in the east; it was a fine view.