Two months later.
Ge Ying hurried back to her cave dwelling, sending out one after another golden flying sword, each flashing with spiritual light as they carried urgent messages.
One streak of radiance dove from the mountaintop, only to be stopped outside the protective ward of a bamboo lodge at the mountain's base, where it continued to pulse with golden light.
Inside the bamboo house, Li Lingyu was cultivating her divine sense. Sensing the disturbance outside, she quickly formed a hand seal to open the ward and caught the flying sword with an outstretched hand.
In the lower corner of the sword gleamed her master's mark. Her heart skipped a beat. Transmission swords of this speed surpassed even most late Foundation Establishment cultivators. Her master would never use them unless it was a matter of great urgency.
She swept her divine sense over the contents and immediately stepped outside.
In the courtyard, the gray-feathered sand goose was lazily pecking at vegetable leaves, while the spirit-seeking rat used its forepaws to peel open the hard shell of an acorn and nibble on the kernel inside.
"Ji An," Li Lingyu called, "Master summons us. We need to go to the mountain peak's cave-dwelling right away."
She pulled out a folded paper crane and imbued it with spiritual power.
Hearing her voice, Ji An dispersed his mana. The golden sand-like glow at his fingertips slowly faded, and his consciousness connected briefly with the stone tortoise in his dantian.
[Sharp Gold Art (Perfection 45% → 46%)]
He opened his warding formation with a hand seal and asked as he descended the stairs of the bamboo lodge:
"Did Master say what happened?"
At the same time, he pulled out a paper goose and infused it with spiritual energy.
Compared to the lifelike paper crane beneath Li Lingyu, his broad-backed paper goose looked simple and rather clumsy.
"No," Li Lingyu shook her head, "but since the message came through a transmission sword instead of an ordinary talisman letter, something major must have happened."
She lifted her flowing robes and stepped gracefully onto her paper crane. Tilting her head toward him, she asked, half-teasing:
"Why aren't you riding your spirit beast?"
"Just came back from Bihai Lake. Let it catch its breath."
Ji An chuckled. The truth was, such a short trip was nothing for the sand goose. But he had learned that whenever he traveled with others, the bird somehow managed to attract hostility or resentment from bystanders. He had come to understand its personality very well, cheeky and provoking.
The two paper birds rose steadily into the sky and glided away.
Back on the ground, the sand goose turned its gaze toward the spirit-seeking rat.
"Gaa!"
The little rat shivered, quickly split an acorn, and tossed the kernel away. The goose craned its long neck with practiced grace and swallowed it in a single gulp.
As they soared, Li Lingyu said, "Yesterday, I ran into Senior Brother Liu. He told me that a group of disciples from a great sect of the Central Continent has arrived in our sect. That giant flying vessel we saw some days ago is one of their sect's magic treasures."
Ji An spoke thoughtfully, "A sect that possesses a flying vessel hundreds of feet long… I can't even imagine what level that must be."
Li Lingyu's heart tightened, her eyes flickering as she suddenly recalled what their master had told her half a year ago:
'The beast calamity is about to erupt. The Central Continent sects will send people to assist.'
Could it be that there were already signs of the beast calamity breaking out?
She quickly shook her head. Impossible, not so soon. Over these years, the Three Great Sects have been closely monitoring the movements deep within the Hundred-Thousand Mountains. If there were any hint of a beast calamity, they would have already begun conscripting cultivators to prepare for battle.
"Junior Brother," Li Lingyu said softly, "did Master ever tell you about the predicament that the Western Continent sects will face in the coming decades?"
"Uh? No… what predicament?" Ji An asked, puzzled.
Li Lingyu frowned slightly and shook her head. "I can't tell you directly. But I'll give you this advice: do everything you can to raise your strength as quickly as possible."
Ji An scratched his head, muttering inwardly, I'm already giving it my all. The only thing left is to resort to trickery, kidnapping, arson, or murder…
The Western Continent's predicament… it must be the war between humans and monsters, right?
Neither of them spoke again, each lost in thought.
Finding the silence boring, Ji An habitually cast Wind Riding Technique, carefully attuning himself to the rhythm of his spiritual veins as he channeled the spell. Each time he focused with full attention, there were always small gains to be had.
Before long, their paper birds landed on the open space before the cave dwelling. The entrance ward dissolved on its own.
The two stepped inside and bowed in unison.
"Greetings, Master."
They had been the closest, so even though they rode paper birds, they were the first to arrive.
Inside the cave, only their master and two Qi Refinement servant girls were present.
Ge Ying waved her hand, a faint smile touching her lips.
"Find a seat. We'll wait for the others. I've summoned every disciple who's currently in the sect. The rest should be on their way."
From their master's expression, it didn't look like bad news.
Ji An and Li Lingyu chose the last seats and sat quietly to wait.
Before long, the other disciples arrived one after another, all of them Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Once everyone was gathered, Ge Ying cleared her throat and said,
"The reason I've called you here is to inform you of an important decision made by the sect.
Soon, the sect will issue a mandatory task for all disciples. The rewards will be generous contribution points.
Qi Refinement disciples will be required to hand in Five Element Essences, while Foundation Establishment and higher cultivators will be expected to turn in more advanced Five Element spiritual materials.
This task is expected to last ten years, perhaps even longer. You would all do well to prepare in advance."
"Master," one of the disciples asked, "what purpose does the sect have in doing this?"
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