Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Master Daoist Yanglin hadn't finished sighing when he saw the Nascent Soul celestial phenomena all over the sky. He was so surprised that his jaw almost dropped. Just as he was feeling confused since there weren't any cultivators in the sect who'd been in Closed Door Meditation recently, he received a summons from the Head Grand Supreme Elder. He then had to send disciples to investigate the matter while he went to see the Head Grand Supreme Elder.

"Greetings to Grand Supreme Elders." As soon as Master Daoist Yanglin entered the cave of the Head Grand Supreme Elder, Liu Dingyuan, he was faced with four Nascent Soul Elders' staring eyes which were terrifying. There was a cultivator in the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm among the four Nascent Soul Elders. Even though he didn't purposely release his spiritual aura pressure, a cultivator in the middle stage of the Core Formation realm like Yanglin couldn't remain calm.

There were originally seven Nascent Soul Elders in Tiandao Sect. One of them fell on Demonic Mountain ten years ago while another was seriously injured and was now in seclusion. Only one of the remaining five wasn't present now. It was evident that the celestial phenomena also shocked Tiandao Sect's superiors.

"Arise." Liu Dingyuan, the Head Grand Supreme Elder who was sitting in the right-hand seat, opened his mouth first. He was young in appearance and looked no more than thirty years old. There was a three-inch beard below his chin and he wore a Daoist robe, looking like a real immortal Daoist.

But this was just his appearance. Master Daoist Yanglin knew that the Head Grand Supreme Elder actually cultivated the devil arts. He seemed kind when he was in a good mood, but when he wasn't happy, he could be very ferocious.

So although he told Master Daoist Yanglin to arise, the latter still bent over and asked with great respect, "Grand Supreme Elders, on which orders did you call me in for?"

"Orders?" Among the four Nascent Soul Elders, Fairy Fengqing was the most hot-tempered and opened her mouth first. She looked outside with her phoenix eyes. "Sect Head, didn't you notice the grand spectacle?"

Of course Master Daoist Yanglin knew why they called him; he just asked out of politeness, but he now wished he hadn't said anything. "Yes, I did! But we have a total of five senior martial brothers and sisters in the late stage of the Core Formation realm in our sect, two of which were close to the peak stage of the Core Formation realm, but neither of them said they were going to advance to the Nascent Soul realm… I was wondering who it could be and only had time to send my disciples to ask for information."

Upon hearing this, the four Nascent Soul Elders looked at each other separately. Of course they knew these things. It was just the Sect Head might understand some matters more clearly than them, so they called him over and asked him.

"Grand Supreme Elders," Master Daoist Yanglin continued boldly, "I noticed the celestial phenomena appeared on the North peak, which is connected to Demonic Mountain, but no sect's disciples have cave abodes there. I have a wild guess that this person isn't from our sect. Or that there was some hidden situation."

Master Daoist Yanglin was the Sect Head and he was intelligent. Upon hearing what he said, the four Nascent Soul Elders looked at Liu Dingyuan at the same time. Liu Dingyuan touched his beard and said, "That's quite possible. We all understand the situation regarding the Core Formation cultivators in our sect, and it isn't the proper time for any of them to form their Nascent Soul. But the Nascent Soul celestial phenomena appeared at this time, and it's on the North peak… in my opinion, this cultivator isn't from our sect."

"Senior Martial Brother Liu!" Fairy Fengqing frowned. "Who do you think dared to form their Nascent Soul on Tiandao Sect's turf? It's far too bold! We're the number one sect in the Celestial Pole after all. There are so many Nascent Soul cultivators in the sect, and we have you and Senior Martial Brother Buyan around, so how could this person dare?"

Liu Dingyuan shook his head. "We'll find out what's going on in a bit; don't worry."

After being quiet for a long time, the celestial phenomena still hadn't disappeared. The spiritual aura was becoming more and more abundant in the sky, and the golden lights shone with spiritual lights flying around.

Suddenly, Fairy Fengqing uttered "Eh?" and stood up rashly with surprise!

"Senior Martial Brothers, look!"

The other three Nascent Soul cultivators looked up simultaneously. They saw the auspicious clouds like fire on the horizon that were forming the shape of a phoenix! A clear sound then entered their ears and it sounded like a phoenix's song!

"It's the phoenix celestial phenomena!" Even Liu Dingyuan couldn't remain calm. When cultivators formed their Nascent Soul, celestial phenomena would appear and auspicious clouds would turn into shapes of all kinds of spiritual beasts. When Liu Dingyuan formed his Nascent Soul, the celestial phenomena was a Suan, which shook all of Eastern Kunwu. A Suan was one of the nine sons of the Dragon, which was of the later generations of divine beasts. In that instance, he managed to reach the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Now, the celestial phenomena was a phoenix, so what did it mean? A phoenix was a real divine beast!

Liu Dingyuan made a prompt decision and immediately sent out a transmission talisman.

After a while, the transmission talisman was sent back. Liu Dingyuan received it and his face changed!

"Senior Martial Brother Liu?" Fairy Fengqing asked.

After a while, Liu Dingyuan's expression calmed down slowly. He stood up and said, "Your Senior Martial Brother Buyan knows what's going on and he's on his way." Then he swept his gaze over the three Junior Martial Brothers and Sisters, who were all in the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, and he sighed. He said, "It's Xuanqing School's Qin Shoujing. He formed his Nascent Soul on Demonic Mountain and just broke the restrictions to come out."

"What?" The three Nascent Soul cultivators were confused, but Master Daoist Yanglin's expression changed first.

These Nascent Soul cultivators looked down on any Core Formation cultivators no matter how talented they might be. The three Nascent Soul Elders didn't know Qin Shoujing's name, but Master Daoist Yanglin knew him clearly.

Faced with questioning eyes from the three Elders, Master Daoist Yanglin calmed himself and began to explain: "Three Martial Uncles, you probably don't know him. Qin Shoujing is Lord Daoist Jinghe's disciple from Xuanqing School, and he's been considered talented this whole time. He formed his Gold Core when he was seventy-eight, and it shook the Celestial Pole a lot at that time."

"Oh, so it's him," one of the Nascent Soul cultivators said. "Senior Martial Brother Liu once said our Core Formation disciples are weaker than Xuanqing School, so Qin Shoujing was included in that consideration, right?"

"Yes." Liu Dingyuan frowned heavily and said with a deep voice, "You don't handle affairs, so you don't have a clear understanding about that. I heard several years ago that he attempted to form his Nascent Soul and since then, I've kept the matter in mind. He failed the first three times, so he went to Demonic Mountain but then got lost there. I thought he died. I didn't expect him to come out alive and even reach the Nascent Soul realm!"

Master Daoist Yanglin added, "Martial Uncle Liu, more than 90 years ago, Qin Shoujing also went to Demonic Mountain, and he also left over ten years after the restrictions were closed. Presumably, he knows some secrets about Demonic Mountain so he was able to escape each time."

"Is that so…" Liu Dingyuan pondered for a while and shook his head then sighed. "It's fate. I thought G.o.d has been blessing Tiandao Sect and made Qin Shoujing die on Demonic Mountain. Unexpectedly, we're losing to Xuanqing School in the end!"

Upon hearing this, Fairy Fengqing revealed a serious look and said, "Senior Martial Brother Liu, since he happened to appear on Tiandao Sect's turf, why don't we just kill him?"

Liu Dingyuan shook his head. "Junior Martial Sister Fengqing, sometimes killing someone doesn't solve the problem. Qin Shoujing's Life Lantern must be in Qin Jinghe's hands, so how would Qin Jinghe not know his disciple was alive? Besides, Qin Shoujing made such a huge scene appear, so news of this can't be blocked. If he gets killed in Tiandao Sect, what do you think Xuanqing School would do? It's time for Tiandao Sect to rehabilitate, not proper for a fight. Even if the t.i.tle as the number one sect is taken away, we can grab it back someday, but we can't bear to lose any disciples."

"Senior Martial Brother Liu is right." One of the Nascent Soul cultivators agreed. "We have Senior Martial Brother Liu and Buyan, so we still have our strength. We shouldn't take rash actions."

Fairy Fengqing wanted to say something else, but Liu Dingyuan raised his hand to stop her. "They're coming."

By this time, the celestial phenomena in the sky had slowly come to an end. From the North peak of Mount Yuheng, several flight lights flashed over and stopped before Liu Dingyuan's face. It was Lord Daoist Buyan, the other cultivator in Tiandao Sect in the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm, along with Qin Xi and Mo Tiange.

Within an instant, Liu Dingyuan formed a smile on his face and went out to welcome them with the three Nascent Soul cultivators and many other disciples. "Fellow Daoist Shoujing, it's an honor to meet you."

No matter what, Qin Xi had just formed his Nascent Soul, and Liu Dingyuan was polite enough to him by saying that. So, Qin Xi returned a salute to him with respect. "I really don't deserve such greeting. Greetings to Senior Martial Brothers and Sisters in Tiandao Sect. I had no other choice but to try to form my Nascent Soul on Demonic Mountain. If I disturbed you, please forgive me."

"Haha, you're being too humble." Upon hearing that Qin Xi viewed himself as inferior, Liu Dingyuan felt a little comforted and he said, "It could be considered a fated chance, Fellow Daoist Shoujing. Please come in and take a seat."

Qin Xi smiled and winked at Mo Tiange secretly then followed Liu Dingyuan inside.

Mo Tiange understood what he meant. Since Tiandao Sect treated them politely, there wouldn't be any dangers, so she followed on boldly.

After entering Liu Dingyuan's cave, Liu Dingyuan introduced the present Nascent Soul cultivators to Qin Xi one by one. Then he noticed Mo Tiange had been following Qin Xi and asked, "This is?"

Qin Xi smiled. "She's my Junior Martial Sister Qingwei, and we're also Dao companions."

"Oh…" Liu Dingyuan was a little surprised. Most Nascent Soul male cultivators chose female Core Formation cultivators as their Dao companions, but Mo Tiange's cultivation level seemed too low. But this was none of his business, so Liu Dingyuan just smiled and didn't say anything. Then he indicated to his disciples with his eyes and instructed them to be polite to Mo Tiange as well.

After everyone was seated and served tea, Liu Dingyuan said, "Fellow Daoist Shoujing, you not only escaped with just your life this time, but you also reached the Nascent Soul realm successfully. I think you must've experienced a lot—do you want to share your stories with us?"

Qin Xi smiled. "I was just lucky. When restrictions collapsed on Demonic Mountain ten years ago, my Junior Martial Sister and I happened to not be affected, but we were trapped inside and couldn't get out. During that time, the situation on Demonic Mountain was extremely unstable, so we had no other way but to find a safe place and enter Closed Door Meditation. Fortunately, with the help of some treasures I got inside, I advanced to the Nascent Soul realm smoothly and then we escaped from the mountain."

"Really? The restrictions on Demonic Mountain collapsed back then, and only a few people escaped. Fellow Daoist Shoujing, you're so lucky."

Apparently Liu Dingyuan didn't believe what Qin Xi said, but Qin Xi didn't intend to convince him. After all, people could understand such things; they just wouldn't talk about it. Therefore, Qin Xi merely smiled and changed the subject to ask, "Senior Martial Brother Liu, we've been trapped on Demonic Mountain all these years, so what's the situation like in Kunwu now? How many people escaped back then? And how's my Master Lord Daoist Jinghe?"

"Rest a.s.sured, Fellow Daoist Shoujing." Liu Dingyuan also smiled and said, "Brother Daoist Jinghe was lucky and he escaped with your sect's Fellow Daoist Huayan. Your Master was only slightly injured. But I heard Fellow Daoist Huayan was badly injured and I don't know his current situation."

"Oh, thank you for telling us, Senior Martial Brother Liu." Upon hearing this news, both Qin Xi and Mo Tiange breathed sighs of relief. It was good that they were alive.