With a heavy thud, the story book was slammed onto the table by Cheng Yi. The heavy stone table shook but stood strong—it neither collapsed nor cracked.

Cheng Yi had heard that his junior brother took their junior sister down the mountain to play and hadn’t thought much of it, only feeling that since Kong Hou was still young, it was good for her to go out and see more. Who knew that when he came over today, he would discover that his junior sister, who claimed to be cultivating, was actually holding a story book and reading with rapt fascination, not even noticing when he walked through the door.

Tan Feng and Kong Hou were so startled they both retreated a step. Tan Feng swallowed and, mustering his courage, blocked Kong Hou behind him, saying guiltily, “Big Senior Brother, don’t be angry. Let’s talk this through calmly.”

Kong Hou tugged at Tan Feng’s sleeve, looking pitifully at Cheng Yi.

The moment he met Kong Hou’s gaze, Cheng Yi’s imposing manner weakened by half. If Kong Hou was merely somewhat playful or liked gold, silver, and jade ornaments, he would indulge her. But being obsessed with story books couldn’t be considered a good thing. Kong Hou was young and knew very little about worldly matters—she couldn’t distinguish truth from fiction in story books. If she took what was written inside as real and it caused problems with her cultivation, no medicinal pills could remedy it afterward.

Cheng Yi took a deep breath, trying to make his expression gentler. He beckoned to Kong Hou. “Kong Hou, come here and sit.”

“Big Senior Brother, I was wrong. I definitely won’t use cultivation as a cover to secretly read story books anymore.” Kong Hou felt both ashamed and regretful. Thinking of how considerate Big Senior Brother had been to her over the past year, and yet she had deliberately lied to deceive him and immersed herself in story books for several days, even forgetting to cultivate.

“You’re just a half-grown child at the age when you should be playful. I’m not blaming you for this.” Seeing that Kong Hou was already remorseful, Cheng Yi pulled her to sit beside him and opened the story book on the table. “Is the story book good?”

“Not—not good.” Kong Hou shook her head repeatedly. Thinking of how Big Senior Brother had been busy outside for several days yet still remembered to buy her delicious food and fun things, while she hadn’t been making progress, she felt she was truly too detestable. The more she thought about it, the sadder she became. Kong Hou blinked and forced back the tears filling her eyes. “Big Senior Brother, I’m sorry.”

Hold it in, can’t cry. Someone who made a mistake has no right to be delicate.

Cheng Yi touched her head and pointed at the story book. “This story has no logic whatsoever. Forget whether such a small sect could possibly have a secret manual that would attract the covetous eyes of everyone under heaven—even if they did, it’s impossible that everyone would fixate on one single manual. The most important thing for cultivators is cultivating the body and cultivating the heart. Any secret manual is merely auxiliary. Within the same sect using the same cultivation method, disciples still have varying levels of cultivation. Who could rely on a single manual of unknown authenticity to become an unbeatable expert?”

Kong Hou had thought Big Senior Brother would criticize her for not making progress, but unexpectedly he was discussing the story’s logic with her instead. She froze, not knowing what to say.

Cheng Yi thought she didn’t understand his words, so he said, “After spiritual energy enters the body, it needs to circulate according to established patterns. The greatest taboo is being impatient for success. Who would dare cultivate using a manual whose content hasn’t been verified? If something goes wrong, a drop in cultivation level would be the light consequence—more often it results in complete loss of cultivation or death. You’re still young now, so you must remember not to easily trust strangers who give you medicinal pills or secret manuals. They might be bad people trying to deceive children.”

At this moment, Kong Hou inexplicably felt that Big Senior Brother was somewhat like a folk elder teaching children not to open the door for strangers.

Seeing Kong Hou’s dejected appearance, Cheng Yi said, “It’s my fault for not being thorough. At your age, you’re naturally curious about unfamiliar things. I’ll buy some books suitable for young people like you. As for these miscellaneous books…”

Kong Hou looked up at Cheng Yi, feeling immensely grateful to him. At this moment, even if Big Senior Brother told her to immediately burn all these books, she would do so at once.

Unfortunately, Cheng Yi misunderstood the meaning of her gaze. His heart softened, and he ultimately couldn’t bear to harshly criticize this junior sister who had lost both parents at a young age with no one to love her. “If you like them, you can read them occasionally, but you absolutely mustn’t take them seriously, and you can’t read them to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep. Right now is when your body is growing. If you don’t sleep properly, you won’t grow tall, and then you won’t be able to wear beautiful flying immortal dresses in the future.”

Kong Hou had once seen a senior sister in the sect with a graceful figure wearing a beautiful flying immortal dress and had been fantasizing about wearing such beautiful clothes when she grew up. Hearing Cheng Yi say this, she nodded repeatedly. “Big Senior Brother, I’ll definitely eat and sleep on time.”

“Good girl.” Cheng Yi patted Kong Hou’s head and closed the book in his hand. “These books…”

Kong Hou quickly said, “I’ll go throw them away right now.”

“That’s not necessary. I trust that Junior Sister is a good child who knows how to arrange her time.” Cheng Yi smiled at Kong Hou. “Although the content inside has some illogical parts, it’s still relatively mild. It’s not all just shouting about fighting and killing from beginning to end, and some of the protagonist’s ideological theories are somewhat commendable. Taking them out during leisure time to pass the time is fine, but you absolutely must not take what’s written inside as real and neglect your cultivation.”

Kong Hou nodded repeatedly. “I also think the protagonist is very benevolent and kind. This Miaobi Ke must have a righteous and benevolent heart.”

“Silly junior sister, the protagonist’s thoughts in a work are not necessarily the author’s thoughts. Even in your mortal realm, there are literati who write beautiful articles but have very poor character.” Cheng Yi was quite gratified. Although Kong Hou was young, she could distinguish right from wrong—she was truly adorable.

In the entire cultivation world, there was no little junior sister more adorable than their Kong Hou.

“Rest for a while first. Your second senior brother and I still have matters to attend to, so we’ll leave first.” Cheng Yi stood up and smiled at Tan Feng. “Junior Brother, come with me.”

Tan Feng wanted to say something, but facing Big Senior Brother’s gentle smile, he shrank his neck and followed him out.

After the two senior brothers left, Kong Hou touched the story book’s cover and put it in the cabinet, then settled her mind and opened “Essential Points for Qi Refining Cultivators” to read carefully.

It wasn’t until New Year’s Eve that Kong Hou emerged from her cave dwelling to visit the elders at various cave dwellings. After receiving a pile of New Year money in red pouches, she waited for Second Senior Brother to take her down the mountain to play. She didn’t wait long before Tan Feng came out of his cave dwelling, though his expression looked somewhat haggard, as if he hadn’t slept well.

“Second Senior Brother, what’s wrong with you?” Kong Hou pulled out a bottle of Qi Clearing Powder from her storage pouch and handed it to Tan Feng.

Tan Feng took it and drank a mouthful, squinting his eyes. “This bottle of medicine has abundant spiritual energy. It seems like something refined by Uncle Qingyuan.” As the peak master of Chenxia Peak, Peak Master Qingyuan was most skilled at pill refining, but since their master and Elder Qingyuan always quarreled whenever they met, everyone at Qiyue Peak found it very difficult to obtain medicine personally refined by Uncle Qingyuan.

“Mm.” Kong Hou nodded. “Uncle Qingyuan said that since I’m a little girl, drinking this not only benefits qi and nourishes the spirit, but is also good for the skin. Last time, he had Senior Sister Linghui deliver over a dozen bottles to me.”

Tan Feng smacked his lips, feeling extremely conflicted. In Yunhua Sect, stinking men really had no status.

Although the senior and junior disciples differed in age by over a hundred years, they could still have fun together. When Yuxiao Sect distributed New Year’s Eve pouches that evening, the two disciples didn’t hold back due to being direct disciples of Yunhua Sect. They squeezed into the crowd catching pouches with smiles all over their faces.

This New Year’s Eve, although Kong Hou didn’t catch a golden pouch, she still received over three hundred spirit stone exchange vouchers. The senior and junior disciples happily split their unexpected gains equally and bought a pile of trendy snacks to bring back for their sect siblings.

For the next two years, the senior and junior disciples didn’t forget to make a small fortune from Yuxiao Sect on New Year’s Eve. Their annual spirit stone exchange amount was considerable, to the point where the shopkeeper of Yuxiao Sect’s store in Yong City recognized them both.

After the fourth year’s New Year’s Eve passed, the shopkeeper waited a long time without seeing this pair of disciples. Later, after waiting much longer, he finally saw that senior brother come over. This time there were no several hundred spirit stones—only eighty spirit stone exchange vouchers.

Having grown accustomed to the two of them coming every year to exchange a large sum of spirit stones, the shopkeeper felt an inexplicable sense of loss when the amount suddenly decreased this year. After exchanging the spirit stones for this senior brother, he asked with a smile, “Why don’t I see that young immortal lady this year?”

“My junior sister went into seclusion starting before the new year, preparing to break through to Foundation Establishment stage, so this year it’s just me alone.” When mentioning breaking through to Foundation Establishment stage, this senior brother’s voice rose slightly. “She’s only fourteen years old now. Everyone in the sect is worried about her attempting Foundation Establishment after just four years since entering. But when cultivation reaches that point, it can’t be suppressed. We can only let her try.”

Though this senior brother claimed helplessness with a smile at the corners of his eyes, the boasting and pride in his words practically screamed to be written on his face. He pulled out several hundred spirit stones from his storage pouch. “Take me to pick out a flying immortal dress. The color should be fresh and tender, suitable for a young female cultivator of fourteen or fifteen years old.”

The shopkeeper heard that a disciple who had entered Yunhua Sect only four years ago was actually preparing to break through to Foundation Establishment stage, and thought his ears had problems. Yunhua Sect actually had such a diligent disciple? Or rather, there was actually a disciple with innate talent who, after entering Yunhua Sect, could still be this diligent?

This young cultivator was a direct disciple of Yunhua Sect—he wouldn’t boast about such matters.

“Please follow me upstairs to select, Daoist.” The shopkeeper decided to report this matter back to the sect, his enthusiasm in receiving customers not diminishing in the slightest. That Yunhua Sect could have a cultivator who broke through to Foundation Establishment stage after just four years of entry was already a tremendous miracle. As for whether she could successfully establish her foundation…

The shopkeeper glanced at the smiling young senior brother beside him and still hoped she could succeed. Otherwise, who knew how the entire sect would view that girl with the pleasant appearance.

Kong Hou had been in seclusion for two months. Cheng Yi, who had successfully entered Core Formation stage a year ago, was guarding outside her cave dwelling to protect her. Rather than saying he was protecting her, it was more accurate to say he was dealing with sect members who came to wander by the cave dwelling entrance once a day.

“Uncle Cheng Yi, is there any movement from Uncle Kong Hou today?”

“Senior Brother Cheng Yi, this is a talisman pouch I prayed for. Hang it on the cave dwelling entrance.”

You’re a Dao cultivator who should aspire to become an immortal—how can you still follow that mortal realm practice of praying to gods and Buddhas? Cheng Yi strongly disapproved of this behavior in his heart, but still hung up the talisman pouch.

Forget it. After all, it was the sect members’ good intentions and shouldn’t be wasted.

After nearly another thirty days passed like this, when the elders, peers, and juniors throughout the sect were beginning to contemplate what to prepare to comfort Kong Hou should her Foundation Establishment possibly fail, tribulation clouds seemed to faintly appear above Qiyue Peak.

Throughout the entire sect—those refining pills, practicing swordsmanship, taming beasts, and forging artifacts—everyone put down what they were doing and squatted on the mountainside of Qiyue Peak.

This was a five spiritual root cultivator crossing Foundation Establishment tribulation. It would definitely be different from when other sect members crossed tribulations. If they missed this lively spectacle that was rare to encounter once in several hundred years, it would be such a pity.

Author’s Note: Everyone in Yunhua Sect: Those in front, move your legs aside. Those in back, pull in your butts. Short people squat in front, tall people squat in back. Those in front, don’t stand up. Watch the excitement in a civilized manner.