Days of closed-door cultivation and pure practice in a cave dwelling were extremely boring matters that tested one’s temperament. Cut off from the world, clearing away distracting thoughts, comprehending the heart’s dao. However, many things had both advantages and disadvantages. Besides allowing one to calm the mind and spirit, quiet could also easily make one recall many things one was once unwilling to remember, breeding inner demons.

It was precisely because of this that people who cultivated placed even more importance on cultivating the heart. If the heart wasn’t upright, how could one pursue the great dao of longevity?

With the Dragon Phoenix Cauldron present, when Kong Hou and Huan Zong practiced dual cultivation of heaven and earth, it could almost be described as advancing a thousand li in a single day. Sometimes when she didn’t want to meditate, Huan Zong would teach her to draw talisman patterns. Artifact crafting and drawing talisman patterns were almost complementary. A cultivator who couldn’t draw talisman patterns couldn’t possibly become a remarkable artifact crafting master.

Kong Hou’s spiritual power was very concentrated. The talisman patterns she drew had especially good effects, and her progress was rapid. Almost every few days, she could master a new type of talisman pattern and could also perfectly attach these talisman patterns to magical artifacts.

“I’m amazing, right?” Kong Hou smiled with narrowed eyes, her face still carrying a bit of smugness. “I knew it—aside from divination, I’m capable of anything.”

“Mm.” Huan Zong spread paper on the table. “Then now come over and copy the heart sutra once.”

Kong Hou: “…”

“Let’s not do that.”

Huan Zong looked at her, smiling without speaking.

Kong Hou resentfully walked to the table’s edge and sat down cross-legged. After the illumination magical tool lit up, it made the cave dwelling bright as day. Previously when she practiced closed-door meditation alone, after eating and sleeping it was just meditation. How was it like now, where she still had to copy mental techniques, play chess, and study making talisman patterns? She dipped the brush in ink on the inkstone and turned her head to look at Huan Zong. “Huan Zong, you’re even stricter than my master.”

Sitting down beside her, Huan Zong straightened the paper in front of her. “I am not your master.”

Kong Hou’s calligraphy wasn’t particularly beautiful. Before coming to Lingyou Realm, she was less than ten years old. Although she recognized many characters, her brush strength was ordinary. After coming to Lingyou Realm, she spent most of her time cultivating and hadn’t put much effort into calligraphy.

Normally her characters were barely passable, but when placed together with Huan Zong’s characters, it vividly demonstrated what was called a world of difference.

After copying the mental technique for a while, not yet reaching even thirty percent completion, Kong Hou threw down the brush and looked at Huan Zong with longing eyes. “Huan Zong…”

Huan Zong slowly opened his eyes and said seriously, “Practicing calligraphy is like cultivation—not advancing means retreating.”

“All right…” Kong Hou turned her head to continue copying. After the time it took to burn an incense stick, a small dish of spirit fruits was placed before her. She turned her head to look to the side. Huan Zong still maintained a serious expression standing beside her. “If you’re tired, you can eat the spirit fruits before continuing to write.”

Every parent who doted on their child always said they wanted to be stricter with the child, then turned around and indulged them without any bottom line.

“Thank you, Huan Zong. You’re really good.” Kong Hou put down the brush and picked up a spirit fruit to gnaw on. Although in front of Huan Zong she always tried every means to be lazy, with him present, Kong Hou had made rapid progress these past few months. Her cultivation had already reached the eighth level of the Heart Stirring Stage.

Such a terrifying cultivation growth speed—if other cultivators of the same age knew, they might be so jealous their eyes would turn red. Unfortunately, both Huan Zong and Kong Hou were heaven’s chosen favorites and knew nothing of “ordinary people’s” levels, so they didn’t feel this was abnormal at all.

“After spiritual energy enters the body, try to let the spiritual energy circulate more slowly through each acupoint. This way you can better sense its power.” After eating the spirit fruits, seeing that Kong Hou really didn’t want to write characters, Huan Zong began discussing cultivation insights with Kong Hou. Both he and Kong Hou had five spiritual root qualifications, so he could teach Kong Hou many things that even Wang Tong didn’t know.

Kong Hou believed Huan Zong’s words without doubt and obediently complied every time. The more obedient she was like this, the more Huan Zong wanted to teach her.

Not knowing if it was because the two had been completely isolated from the world for too long, the manner in which Huan Zong and Kong Hou interacted became increasingly intimate. Kong Hou even discovered that one day while meditating, she wanted to reach out and touch Huan Zong’s Adam’s apple and chin.

Was she finally about to embark on the path of a female rogue, and incurably so?

Since Kong Hou and Huan Zong entered closed-door cultivation, Yunhua Sect’s disciples all breathed sighs of relief, especially disciples who primarily cultivated the sword dao. Zhenren Huan Zong’s strength was too powerful. Every time he guided them in sword techniques, they all had the feeling that their qualifications were so poor that receiving Zhenren Huan Zong’s guidance was embarrassing. To the point that every time Zhenren Huan Zong appeared, they would put on the appearance of diligently practicing swordwork to avoid losing face for Yunhua Sect.

Now without the mysterious and formidable Zhenren Huan Zong, they felt the swords in their hands were lighter, the sky was bluer, and their days became easier.

Ling Hui looked at the lazy and scattered disciples on the martial arts training ground and turned to Wu Chuan saying, “Senior martial brother Wu Chuan, I feel these disciples need a master like Zhenren Zhong Xi to teach them before they can become diligent and hardworking.”

Wu Chuan glanced at the disciples. “Let them be. If every disciple in our Yunhua Sect were diligent and hardworking, I could laugh myself awake in my sleep.”

Ling Hui glanced at the sword in Wu Chuan’s hand. Thinking of those rumors outside saying senior martial brother Wu Chuan wasn’t as good as senior martial brother Cheng Yi, she secretly resented those people outside for speaking nonsense. Fortunately, neither senior martial brother Wu Chuan nor senior martial brother Cheng Yi were people who took these matters to heart, otherwise how it would affect the feelings between brothers. Thinking of this, her face couldn’t help but show some emotion. “Some people outside really don’t understand propriety. Although senior martial brother Cheng Yi has already reached Nascent Soul cultivation, our Yunhua Sect’s head disciple…”

“What did you just say martial uncle Qingyuan wanted?” Wu Chuan interrupted Ling Hui’s words and brought her to the treasury. Outside the treasury were layer upon layer of talisman arrays. If the two of them didn’t have direct disciple command tokens on them, they would have long been thrown out by the talisman arrays.

“Nine Revolution Secret Medicine Cauldron.” Ling Hui smiled helplessly and bitterly. “Ever since Gui Lin entered Qiyue Peak, for this past month and more, Master’s mood has been bad. He’s already exploded several pill-refining furnaces. Yet when going outside, he still has to pretend nothing happened.”

Wu Chuan took out the sect master’s token and turned to look at Ling Hui with her head lowered. “Junior martial sister, I suddenly forgot—the Nine Revolution Secret Medicine Cauldron was already taken away by martial uncle Qingyuan some days ago. Did you forget?”

Ling Hui’s expression was shocked. “Taken away? How is that possible?”

Wu Chuan, who usually had little expression on his face, suddenly smiled. The sword light in his hand flashed, and Ling Hui was forced by sword qi into the center of a magical array, unable to break free at all.

“Of course it’s not possible.” Wu Chuan stood outside the array, looking coldly at Ling Hui. “Because the Nine Revolution Secret Medicine Cauldron isn’t used for refining pills at all.”

Outside, everyone said how formidable the Nine Revolution Secret Medicine Cauldron crafted by Elder Qiushuang was—if medicine masters used it to refine pills, it was like adding wings to a tiger, making it easier to craft supreme grade celestial pills. But only Yunhua Sect’s direct disciples knew that the Nine Revolution Secret Medicine Cauldron wasn’t some pill-refining furnace at all but rather a self-heating pot crafted by Elder Qiushuang. As long as two spirit stones were put inside, it could self-heat and cook the vegetables and meat placed in the pot.

When it snowed in winter, the elders and peak masters loved to use this pot to cook hot pot and drink a little wine.

These little hobbies behind closed doors weren’t worth mentioning to outsiders, but as long as one was a direct disciple of each peak, it was impossible not to know about this matter.

This person absolutely wasn’t junior martial sister Ling Hui. With junior martial sister Ling Hui’s personality, she absolutely wouldn’t mention anything about Nascent Soul cultivation in front of him, or what people outside said, seemingly helping him vent his anger but actually sowing discord between him and Cheng Yi.

More importantly, Ling Hui was martial uncle Qingyuan’s disciple. If martial uncle Qingyuan threw little tantrums in private, she couldn’t possibly tell outsiders.

Among the peak masters, martial uncle Wang Tong had the highest cultivation. Cheng Yi was martial uncle Wang Tong’s eldest disciple. If he developed misgivings toward Cheng Yi, it would easily escalate into a conflict between the main sect and Qiyue Peak. Among their generation, junior martial sister Kong Hou, who had the best qualifications, happened to also be a Qiyue Peak disciple and was on good terms with Liuguang Sect’s Zhenren Zhong Xi. If this blew up, it couldn’t possibly be a small matter.

“Speak. Who are you? Where is junior martial sister Ling Hui?” Wu Chuan took out a signal flare and tossed it into the air. After it exploded, all of Yunhua Sect could see it.

“Ling Hui,” lying at the array’s center, couldn’t believe she had been recognized so quickly. To imitate Ling Hui’s walking posture and speaking voice, she had stayed in Yong City for a full five years. Every time Ling Hui descended the mountain, she found ways to follow behind Ling Hui to observe and imitate. Before coming to Yunhua Mountain, she had specially drunk transformation water and found ways to obtain Ling Hui’s heart’s blood, all for today. Who knew it would fall short of success at the last step?

Seeing “Ling Hui” remain silent, Wu Chuan’s face turned cold. Seeing disciples coming outside the door, he immediately ordered, “Go to Chenxia Peak immediately and see if Ling Hui is there.” He looked coldly at the person in the array. “If you only took Ling Hui’s heart’s blood, I can let you die quickly. If anything happened to Ling Hui… you’ll regret what you did today.”

“Ling Hui” glared at Wu Chuan unwillingly. “How exactly did you discover it?”

Wu Chuan ignored her.

“Ling Hui” unwillingly continued asking, “How exactly did you discover I wasn’t Ling Hui?”

Several golden lights descended from the sky. Heng Yan and several peak masters all rushed over. Qingyuan looked at “Ling Hui” trapped in the array, his expression turning ugly. “Someone impersonated Ling Hui and broke in?”

Ling Hui walked the medicine cultivation path and wasn’t skilled in attack techniques, but she had considerable prestige among the sect’s direct disciples, so impersonating Ling Hui was a very good principle. Having figured these things out, Qingyuan became worried about Ling Hui’s safety.

“Report! Senior martial sister Ling Hui has fainted at her cave dwelling entrance. Her heart has an injury. It seems someone took her heart’s blood.” The disciple who went to check on Ling Hui quickly returned, his tone somewhat anxious.

“Sect Master, I leave this place to you. I’m going to treat my disciple’s injuries.” Qingyuan’s feet didn’t stop as he turned to fly toward Chenxia Peak.

Fortunately, Ling Hui’s life wasn’t in danger. Wu Chuan breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed this person didn’t dare injure people within Yunhua Sect. Every disciple in the sect had a life command token. If a disciple died, the life command token would lose its luster, and the disciple guarding the life tokens would definitely discover it at the first moment.

“You approached our sect’s treasury—what did you want to obtain?” Having figured this out, Wu Chuan suspected “Ling Hui” was someone sent by evil cultivators.

“If I tell you what I wanted to obtain, can you tell me how you discovered my disguise?” The person suspected of being an evil cultivator was still unwilling to let go of this question.

“You speak first.” Wu Chuan opened his mouth with a cold face.

“I want the Heaven Earth Harmonious Five Elements Dragon Phoenix Yin Yang Cauldron.” The evil cultivator said, “Our honorable master is going to marry the number one beauty of the evil cultivator world.”

Wu Chuan frowned. “Who told you the Dragon Phoenix Cauldron is at our Yunhua Sect?”

The evil cultivator said, “An ancient text from over two thousand years ago once had records about the Dragon Phoenix Cauldron. My honorable master, based on various clues within, speculated that the Dragon Phoenix Cauldron is extremely likely to be here with you.”

“We don’t have this item.” Wu Chuan thrust his sword through the evil cultivator’s spiritual platform and withdrew his sword. “Master, this disciple suggests imprisoning this evil cultivator in the dungeon.”

Heng Yan nodded. “You’re right. Immediately lock this person in the heavenly prison.”

“Wait.” The evil cultivator whose spiritual platform had been destroyed was on her last breath. She spat out a mouthful of blood and looked at Wu Chuan unwillingly. “You still haven’t told me how you discovered my disguise.” As the person most skilled in disguise in the evil cultivator world, she wasn’t willing to accept this loss.

“Did I promise to tell you?” Wu Chuan raised an eyebrow, a few traces of mockery between his brows. “Hmph.”

The evil cultivator, seeing his face full of disdain, could no longer suppress the indignation and unwillingness in her heart. She spat out several mouthfuls of blood and fainted.

“With this psychological quality, what evil cultivator world are you mixing in? What kind of prospects could you have?” Wang Tong kicked the evil cultivator and had disciples drag her away. He turned to Heng Yan and said, “Senior martial brother, I’m going to see martial niece Ling Hui.” Although Qingyuan was annoying, his disciples were all quite likable.

Heng Yan waved his hand, wishing he would hurry up and scram.

“Master, when this disciple was organizing the treasury some time ago, I discovered a book. The book had relevant records about the Dragon Phoenix Cauldron, saying it has the effect of helping people’s hearts and minds connect. The honorable master of the evil cultivator world probably came for this reason?”

“Hearts and minds connect?” Heng Yan’s expression was somewhat strange. “Isn’t it supposed to assist with dual cultivation and raise cultivation levels?”

“This is the divine artifact that dual cultivation dao companions most want to obtain. When meditating or practicing dual cultivation, this cauldron will make their souls blend and their hearts connect as one. Naturally their cultivation rises rapidly, so what you said isn’t wrong.” Wu Chuan saw Heng Yan’s expression become even stranger. “Master, what’s wrong with you? Why does your face look so terrible?”

Heng Yan looked at his disciple, his eyes carrying a few traces of uncertainty about the future.

Yunhua Sect would perhaps decline in his hands. The reason would probably be martial brothers turning against each other and the Qiyue Peak master killing the sect master.