“If you have other arrangements, then just pretend I didn’t mention this…”

“All right.” Huan Zong looked at her. “Even if it’s one year or two years, both are acceptable.”

Kong Hou was stunned for a moment. After a long while, she reached out to secretly cover her face. When Huan Zong looked at her with that kind of gaze, she easily developed the illusion that she was his entire world.

“It won’t need to be that long.” Kong Hou explained that her master wanted her to remain on the mountain to cultivate, and she felt that if the two of them cultivated together, it would yield twice the result with half the effort.

“This is very good.” Huan Zong said, “I am originally a boring and dull person. Without you accompanying me, it’s all the same to me wherever I am.”

“How can you think this way?” Kong Hou disagreed. “You are clearly good in every way.”

Huan Zong wanted to say something but hesitated. He said to her, “With you accompanying me in dual cultivation of heaven and earth, my spiritual platform is recovering very quickly.”

“Does that mean without those medicines, it can completely heal?” Kong Hou’s eyes lit up. She turned around and walked backward, saying to Huan Zong, “Everyone says you are a rarely encountered genius. If your spiritual platform completely recovers, will you be able to break through the Divine Transformation Stage cultivation and advance to the Void Refining Realm?”

“Silly girl, how could it be that easy?” Huan Zong laughed helplessly. Seeing that she was only focused on talking to him and didn’t even know that her back was about to collide with a tree, he reached out to grab her arm and pulled her toward himself. “Be careful.”

“Ah?” Kong Hou turned her head to glance at the tree trunk and obediently stood still, not daring to walk backward anymore.

Several disciples from other sects on the small path beside them saw this scene and silently retreated a few steps, pretending they hadn’t seen anything. No wonder Liuguang Sect had recently been fond of sending things to Yunhua Sect whether there was business or not. It turned out to be because disciples from both sides had developed this kind of romantic relationship.

Had they known such a thing would happen, they shouldn’t have walked this way just now, to avoid embarrassment for the parties involved.

Seeing these two people together, they really didn’t know whether to praise Xianzi Kong Hou for being impressive or praise Zhenren Huan Zong for being impressive. Among Yunhua Sect’s third-generation disciples, not a single one had formed a dao companion pair, yet Zhenren Huan Zong was actually able to make a female disciple from Yunhua Sect fall for him. What kind of ability was this?

Sword cultivators from Liuguang Sect didn’t easily develop feelings for others. What they loved most was only their own swords. Yet Xianzi Kong Hou could make him forget his own sword and wholeheartedly focus on her. What kind of impressiveness was this?

After these few disciples left, within a few days, rumors privately spread that Zhenren Huan Zong and Xianzi Kong Hou were a divine immortal couple. Many people knew about this rumor, except the two parties involved and everyone in Yunhua Sect weren’t quite aware.

It seemed everyone deeply understood the principle that rumors shouldn’t reach the ears of those involved, and they concealed their speculations very well.

Two or three days after the Nascent Soul Formation grand ceremony, guests from various major sects who came to attend the banquet all proposed their farewells. Knowing they couldn’t persuade them to stay, Yunhua Sect held a farewell banquet. Guests from all the major sects came very orderly, with almost no one making excuses not to come, which showed that Yunhua Sect’s banquet spread held great attraction for everyone.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Heng Yan said, “Everyone has come from afar, and I don’t have anything good to give as a return gift. I happened to recently obtain a lost sword technique. Our humble sect and Liuguang Sect have carefully examined it and confirmed there are no problems with the sword technique, so we reprinted them into volumes. If you don’t mind, please take a copy with you.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a disciple came in carrying a thick stack of books. Wu Chuan gave one book to the representative of each sect.

“Heaven and Earth Sword Technique?” Ling Yue received the book and saw the four characters on the cover, finding it somewhat hard to believe her eyes. Despite this, she still couldn’t bear to blink and instead slowly opened this book.

The content of the book truly had substance. One could tell that the person who created this sword technique understood the sword dao very thoroughly.

“Heaven and Earth Sword Technique” was a very famous sword technique from a thousand years ago. It was said that the last cultivator who knew this sword technique had already ascended. Among later generations, there were also people who tried to restore some of the content from the Heaven and Earth Sword Technique, but ultimately, because their understanding of the material wasn’t comprehensive enough, they could only choose to give up.

Over all these years, rumors about the “Heaven and Earth Sword Technique” would appear from time to time. Today, a manual suspected to be the “Heaven and Earth Sword Technique” was discovered here; tomorrow, an inheritor of the Heaven and Earth Sword Technique appeared there. In the end, the conclusion drawn from all these rumors was that they were all fake.

Now that Yunhua Sect had obtained this sword technique, printed it into volumes, and distributed it to all the major sects, this could truly be called noble righteousness. Everyone present, even if they weren’t sword cultivators, was very grateful to Yunhua Sect.

Shuang Qing clutched the “Heaven and Earth Sword Technique” manual, his feelings extremely complicated. As the sect master of Yuanji Sect, his greatest ideal was to push Yuanji Sect into the rankings of the ten major sects. When he was very young, he had heard the elders in the sect mention this sword technique. In the elders’ mouths, this sword technique was powerful and mysterious. If sword cultivators learned this sword technique, their power would greatly increase, and they might even find opportunities for ascension.

These words made him always harbor certain fantasies about the “Heaven and Earth Sword Technique.” However, what he never expected was that the manual he had fantasized about countless times from childhood to adulthood would actually be obtained from Yunhua Sect’s hands.

Taking from others… makes one’s hands short.

After the evening banquet ended, everyone returned to their respective courtyards, preparing to leave early the next morning. Song He, as a peak master of Liuguang Sect, arranged for disciples to pack their luggage while observing his martial nephew’s expression.

His complexion was normal, and he didn’t even look like he was packing luggage. Could it be he was reluctant to part with Miss Kong Hou?

“Junior martial brother, if you don’t pack your luggage now, you’ll be in a flurry tomorrow morning.” Cang Hai helped Song He finish packing his bundle before starting to pack his own. “I know you’re reluctant to part with Miss Kong Hou, but this matter can’t be resolved in a short time. Why don’t you first return to the sect with us, and when they come to Liuguang Sect to attend the exchange meeting next year, you can discuss it slowly.”

“Martial uncle, Cang Hai senior martial brother, I won’t be going back with you.” Huan Zong sat on a cushion, his posture elegant, gently swaying the teacup in his hand. “I’ll have Lin Hu go with you.”

“You’re not leaving? Are you planning to stay at Yunhua Sect for a lifetime?” Cang Hai hadn’t expected that junior martial brother would actually have such an idea. Thinking of how at Daoist Cheng Yi’s Nascent Soul Formation grand ceremony a few days ago, junior martial brother had directly stood beside Miss Kong Hou, he could only say euphemistically, “Don’t make it too obvious. If Yunhua Sect goes crazy…” Liuguang Sect probably couldn’t withstand it either.

“Senior martial brother, you’ve misunderstood.” Huan Zong put down his teacup and smiled slightly at Cang Hai. “It’s Miss Kong Hou who asked me to accompany her in dual cultivation of heaven and earth for the next half year. I agreed.”

Cang Hai: “…”

Had he just seen wrong? Why did junior martial brother’s face show a slightly smug smile?

She was keeping him for dual cultivation of heaven and earth, not keeping him for dual cultivation. There was no need to be so pleased, was there? Cang Hai didn’t want to dampen Huan Zong’s spirits, so he asked, “How long do you plan to stay on Yunhua Mountain?”

“Before next year’s exchange conference officially begins, I will return.” Huan Zong stood up and bowed to Song He and the Cang Hai master-disciple pair. “Please help me convey this matter to my master.”

“For now, I’m afraid I can’t tell your master about this.” Song He said, “Ever since you and Miss Kong Hou became able to practice dual cultivation of heaven and earth, the sect master’s state of mind quickly opened up, and he entered closed-door cultivation a few days ago. Perhaps by the time you return, your master will have already broken through to the Void Refining Realm.”

Jin Yue’s cultivation at the Divine Transformation Stage had been stagnant for three or four hundred years. This time, he suddenly saw through some things and his state of mind changed. Going to attack the realm barrier now was indeed appropriate.

Back when Zhong Xi entered under the sect master’s tutelage, the sect master was at the Divine Transformation Stage cultivation. Now Zhong Xi had also reached the Divine Transformation Stage cultivation, yet the sect master was still at his cultivation level from back then. People jealous of Liuguang Sect secretly mocked the sect master behind his back about this matter. Fortunately, the sect master wasn’t someone who cared about empty reputation. He ignored whatever others said, otherwise, because of these trivial matters, it would probably even affect the mutual trust between master and disciple.

“I have been a burden to Master.” Huan Zong sighed. If Master hadn’t devoted all his thoughts to how to cultivate him over these years, how could his cultivation at the Divine Transformation Stage have been stagnant for so long?

Master raising and teaching him was already so difficult, yet he had problems with his state of mind and spiritual platform, which made Master worry endlessly about him. Now that he could finally see through things, Huan Zong felt both happy and guilty.

“You’re already over three hundred years old, how can you still think this way?” Song He said, “Back then, senior martial brother didn’t let his cultivation stagnate because he raised and taught you. Rather, it was after he discovered his cultivation had stagnated and he had already fallen into a bottleneck that he had time to bring you back to the sect and take you as his direct disciple.”

“The news that you and Miss Kong Hou could practice dual cultivation of heaven and earth spread back to the sect, and the sect master was very happy, so his state of mind broke through.” Song He patted Huan Zong’s shoulder. “Since Miss Kong Hou is keeping you as a guest, then you should stay with peace of mind. As for the sect’s side, we’ll handle everything.”

After all, when you were a peak master before, you didn’t really manage the miscellaneous affairs within the sect much either.

Kong Hou didn’t yet know that Huan Zong’s sect actually strongly supported Huan Zong staying at Yunhua Sect. She remembered that she hadn’t collected her monthly stipend for the past few months, so she made a trip to the Five Elements Hall. On her way back, she heard the sound of sword swinging from halfway up the mountain.

She descended from her cloud and pushed aside the dense tree branches to look down. It was actually that junior martial brother called Gui Lin.

She somewhat doubtfully touched her own arm. This was real; she wasn’t dreaming. In all of Yunhua Sect, there was actually someone who secretly practiced swordwork at night and worked hard to forge ahead? Looking at the little junior martial brother’s forehead covered in sweat, and the repetitive, boring sword-swinging movements he performed again and again, Kong Hou couldn’t help but suspect whether this little junior martial brother had entered the wrong sect.

With the natural talent of a single spiritual root, diligent and hardworking, able to endure hardship—going to Liuguang Sect, Jiufeng Sect, or Zhaohan Sect, any of those sects would work. How did he end up at Yunhua Sect?

Her hand loosened, and the tree branch made a snapping sound. Hearing the unusual noise, Gui Lin hastily put away the sword in his hand. Turning his head, he saw the pink-dressed young woman standing on the treetop. After being slightly dazed, he bowed to Kong Hou and said, “Greetings to senior martial sister.”

“No need for excessive courtesy. Cultivation isn’t urgent for just this moment.” Kong Hou glanced at this little junior martial brother’s face. He had a good-looking face. If his height dragged him down, that would be somewhat regrettable.

“Thank you for senior martial sister’s concern. I will take good care of myself.” Looking up at the young woman on the tree branch who wore an expression of concern, Gui Lin’s cheeks turned slightly red. He was just about to open his mouth to say something when he saw Zhenren Huan Zong dressed in white robes flying over in the night sky.

“Kong Hou.” Huan Zong seemed not to see Gui Lin and stopped beside Kong Hou, graceful like an immortal descending from heaven.

Gui Lin could see very clearly that this man who resembled a banished immortal looked at him with an indifferent expression.

This one glance seemed to see through everything about him, making him feel shame with nowhere to hide.