Half a month has passed since the assessment, and no matter how hard Lu Zhaozhao tried, she was unable to make any further progress.
That day, she was resting her face on her hand, staring blankly out the window, when suddenly, a spirit emerged from the fragmented Yi on the table.
“Your cultivation at the late Golden Core stage was achieved by absorbing my power, so your cultivation is unstable and it’s normal that you’re not making much progress now. You don’t need to be so distressed.” Wei Zhanjie said casually, standing three feet away from the window, the sunlight reflecting off the window hitting his afterimage right in front of him.
“I know.” Lu Zhaozhao didn’t turn around. “So these days I haven’t continued to refine the energy you gave me, but have been consolidating my existing realm. But that’s too slow.”
Lu Zhaozhao smiled wryly. She had figured it out these past few days. To solidify her cultivation from the outside world, she needed at least three to five years of accumulation.
Three to five years is an incredibly fast time for an ordinary person to progress from the early to the late stages of the Golden Core realm, but for Lu Zhaozhao, who has less than five years to go before attending the Golden Banquet, it is far too slow.
Wei Zhanjie curled his lips, his pupils hidden in the shadows staring unblinkingly out the window, and continued, "Greed knows no bounds. You'd better not even think about taking crooked paths, or you'll end up losing more than you gain."
Lu Zhaozhao rolled her eyes, not wanting to reply.
Wei Zhanjie continued, "If you really want to speed up your cultivation, you might as well find a place to train, preferably one where you are in danger at all times. This is much faster than meditating every day."
"A dangerous situation?" Lu Zhaozhao turned her head.
"You live a life of constant uncertainty, on the verge of death. You fight with all your might just to survive, and in the midst of these constant crises, you will gain a better grasp of your cultivation."
“But places like this aren’t easy to find.” Wei Zhanjie shook his head with a light laugh.
The room fell silent again, and Lu Zhaozhao turned back to continue her daze.
Just then, there was a knock on the door, and they both looked towards it.
"Junior sister, are you still cultivating? Master is about to descend the mountain, aren't you going to see him off?"
It was Ying Che's voice.
Lu Zhaozhao glanced at Wei Zhanjie, whose expression was rather unpleasant. She looked up at the plum blossoms outside the window and reluctantly returned to Zhili Yizhong.
Lu Zhaozhao walked towards the door, and just as she opened it, a thought popped into her mind.
"No! Absolutely not! This is too dangerous, I will not agree!"
A firm and resolute refusal was warranted.
"Didn't my senior brother go to the back mountain for trials? Why can't I go?" Lu Zhaozhao said angrily. She had been trying to persuade him for a long time, but Ying Che still wouldn't budge.
“I only entered the back mountain after reaching the Nascent Soul stage, and I went there with Elder Cang Jiong. You just returned injured from Mu Mountain, and now you want to venture into the back mountain alone. I will absolutely not agree to that!” Ying Che said resolutely, his tone leaving no room for doubt.
Lu Zhaozhao pouted and muttered softly, "If you won't let me go, I'll just sneak in by myself. These legs are my own, my senior brother can't possibly tie me up."
Ying Che had a headache and gently advised, "Junior sister, you promised me a few days ago to protect yourself and not take any more risks. It's not impossible for you to go if you really want to, but I want to go with you so that I can feel at ease."
Lu Zhaozhao tugged at Ying Che's sleeve and shook it, saying, "But senior brother, junior sister Nian has just entered the sect, and master is about to go down the mountain again. What will happen to her if you and I go to the back mountain?"
Sure enough, whether it was Yunxian or Yingche, the problem could be easily solved as long as Nianzhi was mentioned.
For example, at this moment, Ying Che is also frowning as he thinks about this matter.
"It just won't work. Either you reach the Nascent Soul stage, or I'll go with you when Master returns!"
"Senior brother!" Lu Zhaozhao said helplessly.
But Ying Che's attitude was adamant, and she really couldn't persuade him, so she could only sulk in her heart.
Seeing Lu Zhaozhao's dejected appearance, Ying Che softened his tone and said, "Alright, junior sister, I'll go with you after I'm done with this busy period, okay?"
Lu Zhaozhao nodded dejectedly, leaving only the words, "I'm going to continue my seclusion."
Ying Che could only nod helplessly.
What he didn't realize was that when he left to give instructions to the person on duty at the back of the mountain that day, Lu Zhaozhao also quietly followed him.
As the sun set and it was time for the shift change, Mu Yu was heading to the back of the mountain.
Suddenly, a figure flashed past behind him. He immediately noticed it, but before he could draw his sword, he was knocked unconscious by a palm strike.
"I'm so sorry," Lu Zhaozhao said, but her hands didn't stop moving.
She cast a spell on Mu Yu, making him forget what had just happened. When he woke up half an hour later, he still only remembered that he had to go to the back mountain to change shifts.
Then, she disguised herself as Mu Yu and ran towards the back mountain.
"I'm here, I'm here!" she gasped as she ran to the back of the mountain.
"Why are you so late?" the person in front of me asked, somewhat displeased.
"Sorry, I tripped on the way." Lu Zhaozhao scratched her head and smiled sheepishly, her face covered by Mu Yu's.
"Tsk, alright, I'm leaving then," the person in front of me said.
Just as Lu Zhaozhao was about to nod, the person suddenly turned around and said, "By the way, Senior Brother Ying specifically instructed us today that if Senior Sister Lu comes, we must not let her in."
Lu Zhaozhao's eyes twitched, but she still nodded respectfully.
"But I think Senior Brother Ying is overthinking it. Not to mention that the back mountain is fraught with danger and no one is willing to go in, even if someone wanted to go in, they would have to get past this barrier." The person in front of him complained.
Fearing that saying too much would lead to making a mistake, Lu Zhaozhao could only nod in agreement.
Seeing that he was so boring, the man didn't say anything more, waved his hand and went back.
Once she could no longer see anyone, Lu Zhaozhao breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to look.
Unfortunately, that person had already gone far away, otherwise he would have been surprised to find that Mu Yu, who had just been obedient to him in everything, suddenly turned into the Senior Sister Lu he was talking about the moment she turned around.
Lu Zhaozhao raised her hand and gently covered the area of spiritual energy fluctuations in the air.
A barrier appeared in front of them, which had been empty, separating the inside from the outside.
With a slight thought, she pulled out the Kailiyi from her sleeve and whispered to Wei Zhanjie if he could open it.
Wei Zhanjie did not answer her, but two words, still slightly warm, appeared in her palm.
Behind you!
Lu Zhaozhao turned around abruptly, and a tall, slender figure disappeared into the darkness.
He neither spoke nor acted, leaving Lu Zhaozhao unsure of what to do, so she simply stood there and confronted him.
After a long while, a clear, crisp voice came: "You want to go in?"
"Yes." Since she was already standing there, Lu Zhaozhao didn't intend to make any excuses.
"It's not safe inside," the voice continued.
“It’s even more unsafe outside,” Lu Zhaozhao replied.
The man seemed puzzled and asked, "Why?"
Lu Zhaozhao found it somewhat amusing, and said with displeasure, "Do you think I'm safe standing in front of me like this?"
The person on the other side got stuck, and after a while, raised their hand and waved.
Lu Zhaozhao subconsciously raised her hand to defend herself, but to her surprise, the person opposite her did not attack her. Instead, the fluctuations of the barrier behind her seemed to disappear.
Lu Zhaozhao was a little confused. She slowly lowered her hand and looked at him quietly.
"Didn't you want to go in?" the man said.
Lu Zhaozhao was about to ask something when suddenly she felt a chilling aura coming from the foot of the mountain. Without thinking, she whispered her thanks and quickly turned and ran into the back mountain.
As her figure gradually shrank until it disappeared, the person in the shadows slowly emerged.
He was a handsome young man with delicate features.
The darkness concealed his expression. Although he looked like a young man, he wore a long blue robe embroidered with ferocious beast patterns, which inadvertently exuded a dangerous aura.
"Who are you? What is your purpose in trespassing into our sect?"
The chilling aura from before instantly reached his back, and a cold voice spoke.
With a slight ripple of his robe, he turned around and came face to face with Yun Xian.
Yunxian frowned, certain that he did not recognize the person in front of him.
Following Yunxian's wary gaze, the moonlight shone on the person's face, making the previously indistinct features clear.
If Lu Zhaozhao were still there, she would probably be very surprised, because the person who opened the door for her was none other than Wen Sheng, whom she had met in the stone chamber who had no trace of cultivation!
Wen Sheng's lips curled into a slight smile, and with his face, he looked like a wealthy young master enjoying a leisurely stroll in the street.
His clear voice rang out again: "I have come to find an old friend, and I am just about to descend the mountain."
Go down the mountain? Yunxian found his words inexplicably amusing, raised her hand and pointed lightly, and a sword appeared.
"It seems you will have to stay for quite some time."
Wen Sheng looked at him quietly, her eyes still calm, only the surrounding space rippled slightly.
"Excuse me, I have something to do."
The words had barely left his mouth when the two attacks collided. The force was immense, shaking the forest and causing hundreds of birds to take flight.
Lights suddenly appeared at the foot of the mountain.
Two major events occurred during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Qing tonight.
One possibility is that a villain broke in but escaped from the clutches of Sect Master Yunxian;
Secondly, Lu Zhaozhao, a disciple of Emperor Huizong of Qing, has disappeared without a trace.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com