What was drawn in the small booklet was the foundation of cultivation.

Starting from the acupoints and meridians throughout the human body, to the specific methods of spiritual energy circulation, everything was explained within.

Jian Chou was very fortunate.

Last night, she had stumbled upon success by accident, directly beginning her cultivation smoothly, and already had a very intuitive experience of the cultivation process. With successful experience to reference, reading the cultivation methods written in the booklet slowly by comparison, she surprisingly understood them quite quickly.

However, unlike last night, she could guide spiritual energy very easily then, as if they naturally liked her and let her command them at will.

But today, when she tried to cultivate again, it was different.

She tried closing her eyes, and a faint light appeared at the center of her brow – this was the “mind’s eye” opened by Fudao Shanren, capable of perceiving the existence of spiritual energy. Then, she tried to meditate as she had yesterday, but found that they only maintained their original trajectories, rarely moving even half a step.

She had thought cultivation would be as simple as moving her arms and fingers, but it seemed she had ultimately overestimated herself.

In that instant, Jian Chou felt a sense of loss.

She sat cross-legged in place and inexplicably let out a soft laugh.

Perhaps what Fudao Shanren said was true – she wasn’t any kind of genius.

Since she wasn’t a genius, she would just follow the path of ordinary people.

Jian Chou knew she still had many, many things to do, and still had a very long, long road to walk. Even if the beginning was difficult, she couldn’t fall here.

She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath.

Jian Chou cleared the distracting thoughts from her mind and tried once more to communicate with the surrounding spiritual energy.

This time, it seemed somewhat better.

If the previous time was her waving at them while they glanced over and then ignored her completely, then this time, when Jian Chou shouted at them, they finally turned their heads and walked toward her.

Hard work would surely yield results.

Jian Chou failed again and again, yet continued trying again and again…

The red sun gradually climbed higher, then gradually slanted westward.

Jian Chou’s shadow on the ground gradually shortened, then gradually lengthened.

What remained unchanged was only the light barrier emanating from the Nameless Sword, still breathing in and out, maintaining a constant three zhang radius.

Jian Chou sat within these three zhang, atop the precipice.

A stream of spiritual energy entered through her crown, guided by her direction, flowing through her meridians, nourishing her body while continuously becoming more refined.

Finally, this stream of spiritual energy transformed into specks of starlight, dispersing from the center of her brow and sprinkling onto the battle disc, carried by the Kunxian lines and gathered into Tianyuan…

Only then was one round of cultivation complete.

Dense, fine sweat seeped from Jian Chou’s forehead. With a soft “drip,” her thick eyelashes trembled, and she finally slowly opened her eyes.

The world around her had become pitch black.

Only above the cliff hung a bright moon.

Wind from the bottom of the cliff blew up, making the trees on the mountain behind Jian Chou rustle.

She exhaled a breath of turbid air, and when she stood up, she felt her entire body had become much more agile.

Following the method in the booklet, Jian Chou curled her ring fingers inward, palms facing each other, forming a hand seal.

Whoosh!

Her eyes brightened.

On the uneven ground appeared a Wanxiang Battle Disc like a relief carving, one zhang and three inches in radius, with a Tianyuan the size of a baby’s fist inside, and one and a half Kunxian lines shining brightly in the chaos!

This was Jian Chou’s battle disc!

Beginners needed hand seals to summon their battle disc, but if one was slightly more skilled, a cultivator only needed a thought to make the battle disc rotate beneath their feet.

As for Jian Chou, naturally, she could only summon it through hand seals.

But even so, she already felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

It had only been ten days.

Ten days ago, she was powerless as a trussed chicken, a wife and woman; now she had no worldly attachments, yet was gradually learning skills, even stepping onto the path of cultivation that ordinary people dreamed of, about to seek immortals and ask about the Dao.

Ten days, like a dream.

Joy?

Sorrow?

Perhaps after great sorrow, there would be joy.

Jian Chou’s hand seal gradually loosened, and the battle disc beneath her feet slowly faded away.

She looked around – the wind on the cliff was strong, and the moon above the cliff was large.

The Qingfeng Nunnery at the foot of the mountain could no longer be seen with any figures or lights.

Not to mention her master, who left as he pleased.

Having cultivated for an entire day, perhaps due to the nourishment of spiritual energy, Jian Chou didn’t feel hungry, only that her mouth was dry.

She bent down to take out the water pouch she had brought from home from her bundle, then looked around, wanting to find a place to draw water.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, Jian Chou suddenly heard a strange sound.

“Hum!”

She abruptly raised her head, looking in the direction the sound came from.

It was that wooden sword!

The Nameless Sword inserted in the hard rock of the cliff actually seemed to emit a mournful cry at this moment, its broad blade trembling violently, and the originally constant three zhang of azure light suddenly contracted violently, swaying unstably.

In an instant, the three zhang of azure light contracted inward, actually adhering to the sword body, as if forced back by something!

Whoosh!

A fierce wind swept over!

Immediately, flying sand and stones filled the cliff.

All the trees on the mountain swayed, with fallen leaves drifting everywhere.

Jian Chou stood on the cliff, her plain robes fluttering, nearly blown away by this gust of wind. She couldn’t help but cover herself with her sleeve, afraid sand and stones would get in her eyes.

However, she only covered herself for that instant before putting her hand down.

Her pupils dilated, and after a moment of shock eyes came full of amazement!

In the vast black night, countless golden lights actually appeared, shooting straight from the mountainside position toward the night sky filled with layered clouds!

Piece by piece of clouds, like torn silk, were broken through by the golden light!

Even the originally bright white moon couldn’t help but pale in comparison under this intense golden light.

If not for the surroundings still being pitch black, Jian Chou would have almost thought it was still daytime.

The position emitting golden light was none other than the Qingfeng Nunnery, where Fudao Shanren had gone earlier!

At this moment, the nunnery gates were tightly closed with no one entering or leaving, and not a single figure could be seen in the entire nunnery.

But Jian Chou could see that beneath the entire Qingfeng Nunnery, as if something was being suppressed, waves of golden light spread out from around the nunnery, shooting into the sky. Those golden lights appeared intermittently, flickering and flowing in different positions, actually forming a huge seal that looked like an ancient, crude symbol.

This symbol rose higher and higher, actually rushing up into the clouds!

Jian Chou’s eyes also became golden, containing nothing but this ancient, crude symbol.

In that instant, she had a magical premonition: this symbol was not simple!

The silent black night was illuminated by this seal, and also set boiling by this symbol.

Shijiu Zhou.

Atop a tall building by the sea, a wild scholar who was drinking wine and composing poetry suddenly slammed down his wine cup, stood up abruptly, his eyes showing shocked radiance as he looked toward the vast sea mist on the ocean surface.

That sharp gaze seemed able to penetrate the barriers of time and space to see everything on the other shore.

“Something has happened…”

Also in Shijiu Zhou.

In a crystal-clear lake, a pair of eyes glowed quietly, with long, dark blue hair soaking in the lake water, swaying gently with the waves.

The woman’s eyes were also blue, with a cluster of dark flames at the bottom of her eyes.

The seal from that distant human island strangely appeared on the flames at the bottom of her eyes.

She seemed to furrow her delicate brows in confusion, then slowly closed her eyes and sank into that pure lake.

Still in Shijiu Zhou.

In an underground cavern, on the surface of a huge altar, was a smooth, enormous bronze mirror.

On the bronze mirror sat a withered old man, his hair and beard completely white, covered in dust.

A seal slowly appeared on the bronze mirror, its brilliant golden light instantly illuminating the cavern…

The old man’s dry, wrinkled eyelids moved, slowly lifting open. He looked down, his gaze obscure, not knowing what he was thinking.

…

Throughout all of Shijiu Zhou, all the powerful cultivators with sensitivity to heaven and earth now looked up.

That seal was etched in all their perceptions!

Without exception!

However, Jian Chou at this moment still didn’t know just how significant this event was.

She strained to watch that seal until it gradually dispersed in the mist.

The light beneath Qingfeng Nunnery also gradually dimmed and disappeared.

The light circle on the Nameless Sword that had originally contracted and adhered back to the sword body also seemed to recover some courage, slowly expanding again to envelop Jian Chou within.

In the night, the mysterious seal disappeared; the violent wind also disappeared; the blinding golden light also disappeared…

Everything returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.

For a moment, Jian Chou almost thought she was dreaming.

She stood dazedly in place, with only the broken branches and fallen leaves covering the ground reminding her that everything she had witnessed was not an illusion.

Had something happened to the Qingfeng Nunnery below? The Nameless Sword had also shown unusual movement just now – could it be that something had happened to her makeshift master?

Once this thought arose, it could no longer be suppressed.

Jian Chou was still considering whether she should go down to look for Fudao Shanren when, from the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a streak of deep blue light suddenly floating out from the Qingfeng Nunnery below.

That streak of light came extremely fast, ascending along the mountain ridge from the mountainside.

Jian Chou could even seem to hear its whistling sound.

The light instantly arrived before Jian Chou, accompanied by a wail: “So unlucky, so unlucky! Disciple, disciple!”

With a “thud,” something hit the ground.

Jian Chou, borrowing the light from the Nameless Sword’s circle, finally saw who had arrived clearly.

It was none other than Fudao Shanren, whom she had just been thinking about!

“Master!”

Jian Chou couldn’t help but cry out in delight, quickly walking over. But when she got closer and looked, she discovered that Fudao Shanren was supporting himself with both hands on that broken bamboo pole, panting heavily, his face completely black, and importantly, there were large patches of blood on his body!

For a moment, Jian Chou was greatly alarmed: “Master, you’re injured!”

“I…”

Fudao Shanren looked down, still thinking that he had performed valiantly today and shouldn’t have been injured, but when he looked down, he indeed saw blood all over his body, and was immediately exasperated by Jian Chou!

“This is all other people’s blood, of course!”

“Oh…”

Jian Chou sheepishly withdrew her surprised expression, with thoughts going left and right in her mind. She had many questions she wanted to ask, but didn’t know which one to ask first.

“Master, just now…”

“I know you have many questions to ask, but hold them all in. The situation is serious now, urgent and pressing. You hurry and come with me!”

Saying this, Fudao Shanren beckoned toward the Nameless Sword, and it immediately pulled itself from the ground and flew directly to Fudao Shanren’s side.

He stepped onto it with one foot, conveniently pulling the still-unresponsive Jian Chou along, directly dragging her onto the sword as well. Then he formed a hand seal, and the Nameless Sword immediately flew off at high speed!

The oncoming night wind was very cold, making one shiver.

The Nameless Sword emitted deep blue light, whistling toward the Qingfeng Nunnery halfway up the mountain.

All along the way, unlike the last time flying on a sword when the view was open, when Jian Chou looked around, all she could see were dark shadows like demons and monsters.

“M-Master… what are we going to do?”

The nunnery gates were already in sight, but Fudao Shanren didn’t stop his sword flight. Instead, he swept directly through the air, heading toward the back of the nunnery hall.

“Some disciples from the Central Domain who don’t know life from death came here to gain experience and got trapped in the hidden realm of Qingfeng Nunnery. Damn it, don’t I have to go rescue them? Now the time for the teleportation gate to open is almost up, but there was an error in between – we need to gather five people below the Golden Core stage to activate it.”

Fudao Shanren concisely explained the course of events, then spat.

“Damn it, you’re only at Qi Refining stage, so you’ll do to make up the numbers!”

Ah…

So that’s how it is?

Teleportation array?

Hidden realm?

What are all these things?

Jian Chou could only vaguely understand the meaning. Before she could ask more, she heard Fudao Shanren say: “When you see those ignorant fools in a moment, just say you’re from Yashan—”

“From Yashan?”

Jian Chou was surprised.

The Nameless Sword continued whistling, instantly sweeping past half the nunnery hall.

Fudao Shanren rolled his eyes in his busy state: “I’m from Yashan, so you’re naturally a Yashan disciple! Do you even need to ask this? I wasted my effort taking you as a disciple!”

Who would know without being told?

Jian Chou felt the urge to faint.

She looked around – there wasn’t a single figure to be seen in the nunnery hall, and all the scenery was flying past before her eyes.

“Then what rank am I among the disciples? Master, how many disciples have you taken?”

“I’ve taken seven.”

The Nameless Sword suddenly rose, flipping over a small slope behind the mountain, then immediately descended. Ahead appeared a small mountain stream.

Fudao Shanren answered Jian Chou casually while his body was already tense – they were almost there.

Jian Chou was completely unaware, nodding in understanding: “Then I’m the eighth disciple, the youngest junior sister.”

“Bullshit!”

Fudao Shanren nearly tumbled off the Nameless Sword with a somersault. He didn’t have the energy to speak anymore.

The bloody smell from his body kept spreading, and his voice was particularly loud in the black night.

“You’re in your twenties and have even been married. When those thirty-sixth generation idiots entered the sect, they were all younger than you. Of course, you’re the eldest senior sister!”

E-Eldest senior sister?

Jian Chou couldn’t help but see darkness before her eyes.

She was…

Old?

While she was still in shock, unable to recover for a long time, the words “eldest senior sister” kept circling in her mind. When she finally came to her senses, a mountain cave one zhang in radius appeared before her eyes, continuously growing larger!

Jian Chou widened her eyes and opened her mouth, but before she could cry out in alarm, Fudao Shanren had already flown the sword forward, plunging into the narrow mountain cave—

Moving forward without hesitation!

“We’re here!”