Chapter 96 First published on Jinjiang: Thirteen Years Apart

For those who cultivate themselves, it seems common to be away for more than ten or even several decades, and it's not something to be surprised about. But Yao Sisi and the others really weren't used to it.

If it weren't for the serious problems she encountered after advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, requiring her to go into seclusion for a long time, she would really think that the child had encountered some danger while going out to train.

Otherwise, why hasn't he come back for so long?

Could it be that he/she has suffered some kind of shock?

But what could possibly trigger such a shock? She felt that she might have been provoked, that she had actually thought of something so absurd.

Her first seclusion lasted for three years.

When she emerged from seclusion, her cultivation had stabilized and her hidden injuries had healed, all thanks to the sect leader who bestowed upon her excellent medicine.

She was about to share the good news with others when she realized there were few people on the mountain. Everyone seemed to be very busy; even Liu Yuan had reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

She sensed the chaotic feeling of others' time flying by while she remained stuck in the past.

She summoned the little puppets, stuffed the remaining seeds into their storage space, and the two little creatures wobbled away in front of her.

The Golden Peak after she emerged from seclusion was quite different from before; now it was surrounded by lush green grass and spiritual plants everywhere.

Some of them were varieties she didn't recognize; she guessed they were seeds sown by her disciples.

Several cranes were flying halfway up the mountain. These little guys had grown up and were perfectly capable of carrying the disciples back and forth between the various peaks.

Now that her cultivation level has increased, she can recruit more disciples within the mountain. Unlike at the beginning when recruiting disciples became troublesome even in the late Foundation Establishment stage, she walked down the mountain step by step, feeling the changes.

In just three years, everything has changed drastically. She needs to find the familiarity she once felt amidst the unfamiliarity.

Ironically, although she successfully advanced to the Nascent Soul stage and became a very famous Nascent Soul Dao Venerable, it was extremely rare for someone to advance before the age of thirty, and she was very well-known among her disciples.

However, she hasn't even finished refining her natal magic weapon yet; while others are refining their natal magic weapons at the Golden Core stage, she hasn't even begun to develop them.

She walked outside with her hands behind her back, a gentle breeze caressing her face, yet she felt a little lonely.

After sensing that she had come out of seclusion, Ri Jiu, who was inside the cave, also withdrew from his cultivation and searched for her on the mountain.

Seeing that he was dressed in flamboyant colorful clothes, Yao Sisi knew it must be him from a distance without needing to use her divine sense to sense him.

A smile appeared on her face as she said happily, "It's been three years since we last met, and your cultivation has improved quite a bit."

Ri Jiu approached her, constantly trying to hold her hand and act coquettishly. This person was ruthless, just leaving him in the cave without a word. He couldn't help but feel wronged: "It's more than three years? I haven't seen you since you came back last time."

Yao Sisi was pulled along by him. She looked at their clasped hands and hesitated whether to pull them apart: "Last time was an accident. My advancement was too fast, so I need to go into seclusion immediately."

Seeing her gaze shift downwards, Ri Jiu pressed closer, as if afraid she would shake him off: "I know, I asked Qi Mu. It's so hard to get anything from him. He's so slow to speak, it drives me crazy."

Yao Sisi, prompted by his question, asked, "Where did he go to train? We haven't heard a word about him."

Ri Jiu: "I heard it's a small secret realm. If it weren't for the fact that I'm not a disciple of a sect, I would also go and train there. Your cultivation has improved too fast. It's really hard to catch up with you!"

...

Ten years passed before she emerged from seclusion again.

Over the past decade, she has thoroughly studied the relationship between magical artifacts and their spirits, and even crafted her own natal magic weapon.

However, due to insufficient materials, she only managed to create a prototype.

The natal magic weapon is like a long scroll, containing various seals.

She named it "Ten Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers".

Inspiration is more or less related to the last advancement. If you encounter a tough opponent, you can first put the opponent into the magic weapon. After the opponent breaks the seal inside, he or she will probably be exhausted, and it will be much easier to deal with him or her.

She needs to perfect the Mountain and River Map little by little. It's like a cage, imprisoning all kinds of opponents. She even wants to refine a Buddhist pagoda inside it, specifically to deal with demonic and evil cultivators.

The Mountain and River Map currently only has a basic outline, containing various magical artifacts. Once her cultivation level is higher, this map could even form its own world.

It has high growth potential, but it is extremely difficult to refine.

She wanted to refine her personal space into the Landscape Painting.

But we need to deal with the spirit of the artifact first.

However, she was bound to the spirit of the artifact. To get rid of the spirit, she would have to break the contract or wait for the contract to expire. Breaking the contract would bring down divine punishment, which was not worth it to risk divine punishment.

There is another way to break the contract, which requires her spiritual strength to be higher than that of this realm. In other words, the best opportunity to break the contract is the ascension tribulation.

She is still a long way from ascending to immortality.

This matter needs to be considered carefully.

When she emerged from seclusion again, she caught up with Qi Mu's return, but she didn't see him.

Qi Mu returned to prepare for Nascent Soul formation. Over the years, he had been fighting enemies day and night, breaking countless spirit swords in the process, but the results were excellent, and he was finally ready to form his Nascent Soul.

Another person has advanced to the Nascent Soul stage within the sect, and this time it's from Golden Roar Peak. The last one already shocked the entire sect, and now someone else has achieved Nascent Soul formation at such a young age. For a moment, everyone is starting to wonder if Golden Roar Peak is an exceptionally well-located cultivation holy land.

It wasn't until everyone learned that he had returned from the Soul Sea Secret Realm that they realized he had achieved his advancement through constant battles against opponents of higher levels, which immediately dispelled many people's hopes.

Not everyone likes cultivating the path of killing; some even prefer the opposite.

Before Yao Sisi could even see him, she received news that he had gone into seclusion. She arrived not far from his cave dwelling, her figure hidden in mid-air, the wind whipping her clothes in the wind. She didn't disturb him inside the cave, but was worried that he might have been injured after being away for so long.

Inside the cave, Qi Mu sensed her arrival and his heart tightened. He saw the scars on his hands and the various other scars hidden by his clothes, all of which were quite ugly.

These are not achievements from the battle, but proof that his strength was not great enough.

Now things are finally looking up; he's about to reach the Nascent Soul stage.

She was thirteen years too late.

After an unknown number of days, dark clouds rolled in outside Jinming Peak, their momentum as fierce as iron horses trampling an icy river; his tribulation of lightning had arrived.

As the first lightning bolt struck, a sword shadow shot straight upwards from inside the cave!

Yao Sisi had been watching this place from a distance, and a look of surprise flashed across her face when she saw the sword.

Young master has already concentrated his sword intent!

It is said that it is very difficult to condense, and the madmen of the Immortal Sword Sect love it the most. Speaking of which, her sword can also condense sword intent, but she has been spending all her time on weapon refining and soul refining techniques lately.

It's been a long time since I practiced my sword skills.

A number of people arrived outside Jinming Peak. Various magical artifacts were in mid-air. Some people were feeling the power of the lightning tribulation, while others were simply watching the spectacle. After all, they were in their own sect, so there weren't many formalities, and the atmosphere was quite relaxed. They were just a little worried about the people undergoing the tribulation.

During tribulations within a sect, death is almost inevitable because many senior members secretly care for the person. If someone senses that the person is completely unable to overcome the tribulation, they will forcibly protect them and allow them to undergo the tribulation again later. Therefore, most people return to the sect after undergoing tribulations, where it is relatively safe.

There were more Golden Core stage disciples watching the spectacle than Nascent Soul Dao Venerables. Even Tang Yan, who had been helped by Yao Sisi before, came.

This wasn't his first time here. The child was grateful and would help take care of the spiritual plants on the mountain. He would even help take care of the tea trees she planted on the mountaintop.

However, she rarely meets him because she has been too busy these days. Once Qi Mu comes out of seclusion, they should have a nice meal together and slow down their pace.

We must not miss the beautiful moments around us.

Tang Yan also saw Yao Sisi. He rode his flying artifact to her side and said, "Peak Master, you've emerged from seclusion!"

Yao Sisi nodded: "I'm out of seclusion. I won't be going into seclusion again for a while. You've worked so hard taking care of the spiritual plants for Jin Mingfeng."

Tang Yan gave a shy smile, "It's just that I was getting frustrated during cultivation, so I fiddled with the spiritual plants to change my mood. It's nothing for the Peak Master to worry about. Is that the senior uncle who is undergoing tribulation today?"

Yao Sisi nodded: "He went out to train for a long time and only recently came back."

Tang Yan said, "This senior uncle is amazing! He advanced to the Nascent Soul stage so quickly. The last time I saw him, he was still in the Foundation Establishment stage!"

Yao Sisi felt proud when she heard someone praising their young master. "Of course, he has excellent aptitude and is very ambitious. If it weren't for the delays in the past, he might have already reached the Nascent Soul stage. But you're not bad either, you've already reached the Golden Core stage!"

Tang Yan's aptitude is excellent even within the sect. A Golden Core cultivator in his twenties is someone to be proud of anywhere. But because of the comparison with the two of them, he doesn't feel anything special.

Not far away, Liu Yuan stared intently at the lightning tribulation in the sky, a worried expression on his face.

His young master always kept everything bottled up inside, like a taut string that's easy to break. A few years ago, he went off to train without even saying goodbye. He was initially happy that his young master was ambitious and looking for a chance to form his core, but who would have thought that he would go to such a dangerous place and never come back.

If I hadn't sent him a message halfway through, he probably would have gone out to look for the person already.

When Qi Mu was undergoing his tribulation, even Lan Lan from outside came over. Yao Sisi guessed that Ning Xiu had informed her. The two were very close, and Ning Xiu told her everything, making her seem like a messenger.

The most relaxed person on the entire mountain was Ri Jiu. He lay on the spirit crane with his hands behind his head, watching the excitement. His red clothes stood out against the white feathers of the spirit crane. Apart from being close to Yao Sisi, he hardly spoke to the other disciples on the mountain. Apart from the two wooden puppets, the only people he was close to were these spirit cranes.

Soon, the second lightning tribulation struck. Yao Sisi sensed it briefly and felt that this tribulation was not too bad, unlike the one she had experienced before. With the young master's resilience, it shouldn't be a big problem.

But there are still plenty of concerns.

Not far away, Ri Jiu drove his spirit crane to her side and reached out to her in public. His sleeves were very wide. In the past, he would not have shown up in such a crowded place, but today was different. That hypocrite was back. After being gone for so long, he was hardly the kind of person a suitor should be.

You should just get out of here and quit immediately.

Sisi is his!

Nascent Soul cultivators can walk in the air without needing any magical artifacts, but Golden Core cultivators cannot. Although Ri Jiu is a demon cultivator, he has not reached the level of being on par with Nascent Soul cultivators, and he cannot easily stay in the air.

When Yao Sisi saw him reach out, she was still wondering why he didn't stay quietly nearby but instead came to her.

You know, right now everyone's attention is either on the lightning tribulation or on her, the peak master. Isn't she the one who least likes to attract attention?

A surge of spiritual energy lifted him up, and Ri Jiu was brought to her side. Yao Sisi said, "Why did you come out to watch the excitement today!"

Ri Jiu's wide sleeves were close to his, a distance usually reserved for close friends. Looking down his sleeves, it looked as if the two were holding hands, which made him feel even better.

"He's undergoing his tribulation of lightning, how could I not come?"

Yao Sisi laughed and said, "You were complaining about him before, how come you've changed your mind and are concerned about him so quickly?"

Ri Jiu thought to himself: I didn't care about him at all.

"It's clearly you who cares about him. I only came to check on you because I saw you were nervous."

Tang Yan, who was not far away, couldn't get a word in edgewise. He knew this person; he was supposedly a friend of the peak master, but he didn't seem like a friend at all. The peak master doted on him.

It's a kind of pampering that's different from everyone else's.

To be honest, the peak master treated him well, but he could sense some distance between them. However, he couldn't feel that distance in this person.

He quietly stepped back a little.

Qi Mu, who was undergoing tribulation inside the cave, kept his eyes open. He was only restrained by the lightning tribulation, not blind. He could see Ri Jiu swaggering around. This person deliberately chose this time to provoke him, probably wanting him to fail the tribulation.

He refused!

His gaze swept over the person half-hidden in the air by the red robes, he silently swallowed a mouthful of blood, and his expression became even more resolute as he faced the next tribulation lightning.