Zhao Yunxiao could not help but let out a sigh of relief as he walked through the familiar sect gates. After a seven-day journey, he had finally returned to Purple Plum Mountain.
Seven days might not be a very long time, but it was certainly sufficient for him to deeply contemplate everything that had happened on this trip.
It was not the first time that he had witnessed the harsh reality faced by ordinary mortals. He had always known about their helplessness before the strength of cultivators, and how they could only do their best in a desperate struggle for survival.
That only made it more important for orthodox cultivation factions like the Black Tortoise Sect to exist – to ensure that this chaotic world did not fall into complete depravity.
That was also why the Scarlet Leaf Sect had to be eliminated for good, as was the case for any other unorthodox cultivators who were willing to act with a similarly blatant disregard for human lives. The first thing he intended to do upon his return was to report everything that happened in the vicinity of Thousand Autumn City, including the part on Ke Huofen and the duo from the Duyuan Empire.
Of course, he would make sure to leave out his own participation, as well as how he had obtained the corpses and treasures of two Origin Core realm cultivators.
As for himself, not only did he manage to successfully complete the unexpectedly complex sect mission, but he had also managed to reap quite a lot of benefits from this trip.
Apart from the clearest benefit in the form of the legacy of the Untethered Sage, he had also gotten his hands on an earth topaz, two Origin Core realm treasures, and two spatial items containing a wide variety of items. Among which was even a Scarlet Leaf Sect token belonging to the frail-looking Scarlet Leaf Sect member, indicating that he was a Base-ranked member.
When he listed down everything that he had obtained this time, he could not help but feel like he was dreaming despite clearly having them in his possession. But at the same time, there was also a matter that continued to weigh down on his heart, preventing him from fully relishing in the joy of the haul – the existence of Kindness in his dantian.
After deliberating over the matter for days, he finally made the difficult decision to not report his issue with Kindness to the sect administrators.
If he wanted to ask the sect administrators for help, there was no way he could avoid revealing the legacy of the Untethered Sage. However, the legacy of the Untethered Sage was simply far too valuable. Not to mention other disciples, he would not be surprised if even protectors and deacons were willing to plot against him in a bid to obtain it for themselves.
And the most important thing was that Jiang Taiming himself might still be alive inside of him!
This was an ancient character who had forced the entire cultivation world into accepting his unorthodox ways. If released carelessly, who knew if the Black Tortoise Sect would be able to escape unscathed?
All things considered, Zhao Yunxiao decided to keep Kindness, or Jiang Taiming, sealed within him for the time being. Since the Untethered Sage had been unable to escape his own seal all these years, it was unlikely that he would suddenly be able to do so in the near future. Otherwise, he would already have escaped when brought out of the hidden space.
It should be safe for the time being.
That said, he did not intend to keep Kindness within himself forever either. One additional day that it stayed within his dantian was akin to one additional day of carrying a bomb around in his body. From today onwards, he would have to start looking for a way to get rid of Kindness!
Before he found a way to do so, perhaps he could explore using the Divine Tether in another manner – to reinforce the seal on Kindness to further ensure his own safety.
Speaking of which, the experience of sealing the Untethered Sage's jade statue back at the Hei Residence had also allowed him to see his own shortcomings. While he understood the governing concepts of the Divine Tether, he was still far too lacking in terms of execution.
Having spent hours just to find the right way to seal a stationary statue, there was simply no way that he would be able to use it in combat. As of now, he could only rely on it as an auxiliary technique when he had greater time flexibility.
***
Outer Grounds, Outer Disciples Hall.
"It's good that things worked out this time, but try not to do something this dangerous next time you encounter something like that," Qi Jiesheng chided while taking down Zhao Yunxiao's report. "Do what you can, and leave the rest to the sect administrators. What would you have done if one of these evildoers had a way to trace your true body from your clone?"
"I understand. I will not overdo it next time," Zhao Yunxiao nodded obediently.
"That said, this is pretty important news. I will report this matter up to the deacons, and if they validate the truth of the matter, they will probably issue a warning regarding this Ke Huofen soon. And don't worry, you will get a small reward for reporting on it too," Qi Jiesheng did not neglect to mention the one thing that he was sure Zhao Yunxiao cared about the most. "Is there anything else?"
"No, there's nothing else. Thank you for the hard work, Senior Martial Brother Qi!" Zhao Yunxiao clasped his fists before leaving.
Now that he was done with the report, it was time to go get some long-awaited monster meat!
The year had already entered the summer season. Under the hot evening sun, Zhao Yunxiao slowly made his way to the Lightwind Pavilion.
But unlike how it had always been in the past, this trip ended up giving him a pleasant surprise.
In order to get to Lightwind Pavilion, one usually had to enter the woods through a narrow dirt trail, of which its entrance was located in an inconspicuous corner of the road.
However, this narrow trail was no longer one of dirt, but was paved with a carpet of lush grass. Coupled with the purple plum flowers blooming by the sides, it almost looked like a royal path into a private mansion.
Zhao Yunxiao could guess what brought about this change as well.
The world origin energy in the surroundings had recently seen a significant rise to a sufficiently high level, likely due to the introduction of Hua Xian and other spiritual plants in the pavilion area. It was only natural that this would in turn grant greater vitality to the vegetation in the area.
It was not just that either.
The trail went on for about a kilometre. But at around five hundred metres in, visibility started to decrease as a layer of fog shrouded the area. This fog did not feel scary or menacing, but merely gave the path a mystical feeling, as though one was slowly walking into the clouds.
To think that a single fairymist plant demon would already be able to produce this much fog... it was no wonder that Ghost Fog Valley had been shrouded in its entirety!
It did not take long before Zhao Yunxiao finally arrived at the pavilion clearing.
Unexpectedly, visibility was actually a lot better here. Instead of spreading out entirely, the fog sank to exist as a dense layer that stayed within twenty centimetres of the ground. If it had felt like walking into clouds earlier, the current sensation was more like walking on clouds instead.
The other spiritual plants were growing well, and numerous flowers had also sprouted all over the clearing. With time to come, they would probably start to bear fruit, bringing more signs of life to this quiet rest area.
"What? It's you? Why are you already back?" Hua Xian remarked the moment he entered.
"To keep an eye on you," Zhao Yunxiao snapped back while doing a quick check on the array that he had set up in the area.
Good, everything was still intact.
"Don't worry, I am now a law-abiding resident of the Lightwind Pavilion!" Hua Xian replied.
"Sure, you are," Zhao Yunxiao answered indifferently while turning his attention towards the Lightwind Pavilion itself.
There, under the pavilion, were many familiar faces. Gu Qiansi, Lu Zhiying, Nie Hanchang, Bo Fei, and Huang An – all of them were present.
Zhao Yunxiao let out a sigh upon seeing this.
To his knowledge, there were usually only two occasions on which all of them would gather at Lightwind Pavilion.
One was when they were practising for an upcoming performance. The other was to discuss their insights following a cultivation lecture.
Seeing them gathered today only reminded him that he had just missed the last cultivation lecture of this month. It was a small sacrifice to make for the benefits that he had obtained on this mission, but it was a sacrifice nevertheless!
It would appear that they were so deeply engrossed in their discussion that nobody had even noticed his arrival. It was only when Zhao Yunxiao walked closer that Nie Hanchang finally noticed his presence.
"Junior Martial Brother Zhao!" Nie Hanchang stood up in surprise.
"Oh? Is it the real Senior Martial Brother Zhao this time?" Lu Zhiying waved excitedly. "You are finally back!"
Even though Zhao Yunxiao had left for his mission, he had left a clone in the sect to perform some simple tasks, including reading up on materials in the Sect Library. Lu Zhiying had naturally seen the clone around as well, and even interacted with it a few times.
"Yeah, the mission took a little longer than expected," Zhao Yunxiao smiled while stepping into the pavilion.
"Not just a little," Gu Qiansi corrected. "Just how did a delivery mission to a place only seven days away end up taking you more than a month?"
"How did you know that I went to a place only seven days away?" Zhao Yunxiao narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't remember telling you that. Have you been spying on me?"
"Heh, don't underestimate my intelligence network!" Gu Qiansi said proudly.
"What kind of intelligence network can you possibly have? You probably just went snooping around at the Outer Disciples Hall," Zhao Yunxiao shrugged. "Well, it's a long story. Basically, the Scarlet Leaf Sect happened to be active around the area, so I stayed around to find out more. Hopefully, my report on the matter would get me a few extra sect points!"
After thinking it through, Zhao Yunxiao decided not to let the group know about his contact with the Untethered Sage's legacy.
This was simply too huge of a deal.
If any of them accidentally let slip of the matter, he could easily end up having a huge target painted on his back. In the worst-case scenario, he could even be turned into a living experimental subject, with the sect administrators trying to study Kindness, which had decided to reside within his dantian!
And even if they were careful enough to not breathe a word about this to anyone else, he would still only end up worrying them with the existence of a time bomb within his dantian. After all, this was a matter far beyond the means of cultivators of their level.
Simply put, there was absolutely no benefit to letting them know about the matter.
"Sect points aside, the Scarlet Leaf Sect aren't easy to deal with. Did you encounter any danger during the trip?" Nie Hanchang asked.
"Don't worry, Senior Martial Brother Nie. I made sure to prioritise my safety over everything else," Zhao Yunxiao gave him a thumbs up.
"So you didn't get to fight any of them?" Lu Zhiying asked in disappointment.
"No, I didn't," Zhao Yunxiao patted her lightly on the head. "And until you are strong enough, you should not think about doing so as well."
"Bleah!" Lu Zhiying stuck out her tongue in protest. "Next time, we can go fight some enemies together! And I will try to learn this clone technique of yours too, so that we can both leave clones in the sect while we are away!"
"Hah! Too bad for you, but most cloning techniques can only be used after breaking through to the Essence Gathering realm," Zhao Yunxiao laughed. "Wait till you do, and you can go grab the manual from the Sect Library."
"Ah! What a shame!" Lu Zhiying sulked. "It seems like I would have to get to the Essence Gathering realm as soon as possible then!"
"I'll be looking forward to that! Just make sure not to neglect to build a strong foundation in your haste to advance," Zhao Yunxiao reminded.
Hearing their exchange, the other four could not help but become speechless.
It was true that clone techniques could only be executed after entering the Essence Gathering realm. But even then, the technique was not usually executed at such long distances.
They had no idea how Zhao Yunxiao had managed to do so, but they could only hope that Lu Zhiying would not feel too disappointed if she eventually failed to emulate this feat!
"In any case, you came back at a good time," Bo Fei interjected. "We have just received a special invitation to attend a performance by the Sentient Light Performance Group. What do you think? Are you interested in going?"
"The Sentient Light Performance Group?!" Zhao Yunxiao's eyes widened in surprise. "Of course, I am interested! But how did you manage to get an invitation like that?"
The Sentient Light Performance Group was an incredibly famous group that had been taking the entire Duyuan Empire by storm in recent years. In fact, they were what inspired the creation of the Flying Shell Performance Group in the first place!
Seats to their performances were always extremely sought after, to the extent that even inner disciples might not necessarily be able to get a hold of tickets. So, just how did ordinary outer disciples like them end up getting invited to one?
"Heh, ready for the even more shocking thing?" Bo Fei replied smugly. "The invitation actually came from Senior Martial Brother Kang!"
"Senior Martial Brother Kang... wait, as in Senior Martial Brother Kang Fuping?!" Zhao Yunxiao almost shouted in shock. "How? Why? When?!"
Smiling Swordsman Kang Fuping.
That was the prime disciple of the Black Tortoise Sect – the one ranked at the very top of all disciples!
He had clearly left a clone in the sect to stay updated on the news, so how did this matter manage to completely slip him by?!