After court was dismissed, Bao Gu sent out her divine sense to search for the old tea tree’s whereabouts, only to discover that it had gotten into a fight with Bao Nianhui. She had no idea what the old tea tree had done, but Bao Nianhui was furious. Sword in her right hand, talismans in her left, she unleashed spell after spell, even throwing hidden weapons into the mix. Usually, whenever Bao Nianhui practiced her sword, she was slow, steady, and proper. Now, however, she was astonishingly sharp and nimble, chasing the old tea tree down with everything she had, clearly throwing all she had learned in her life into the attack.
The old tea tree dodged with ease. The roots beneath its feet even used Void Shifting. At first glance, it looked as though it had not moved an inch from where it stood, but in truth, those roots were stepping fast and clean. It dodged effortlessly, yet insisted on deliberately provoking Bao Nianhui, shouting nonstop.
“Come on! Come on! Come hit me! Silly girl, how did such an impressive master teach such a stupid disciple like you…”
Its mouth was so foul that even Bao Gu wanted to hit it.
Since her disciple and the old tea tree were only fooling around, Bao Gu could not very well interfere, nor did she intend to ask about it.
Yu Mi gently tugged at Bao Gu’s sleeve and pointed toward the “pitiful little thing” sitting on the steps outside the hall.
Bao Gu understood. She walked over to Qingying, sat down beside her on the steps, and asked, “What’s wrong?”
With these two disciples around, she really did feel somewhat like she was raising children.
Qingying turned her head to glance at her master, then continued hugging the Heaven Refining Cauldron, her face wearing a rare look of dejection.
Bao Gu was used to seeing Qingying all smiles, looking smug and delighted, or overbearing and arrogant, or deliberately pitiful when acting spoiled. She had never seen her so downcast before.
Qingying pouted and said nothing.
Seeing that even the usual sparkle had vanished from Qingying’s eyes, Bao Gu asked, “What exactly happened?”
Only after a long while did Bao Gu hear Qingying mutter in a low voice, “They’re all afraid of me. They all think I’m a monster. I don’t have any blood fiend death qi on me anymore. I’m not a monster.”
Bao Gu said, “They’re afraid of me too. Does that mean I’m also a monster?”
She paused, thought carefully for a moment, then said, “Qingying, you are an existence from the upper realm. To many beings in this realm, you are far too powerful. One careless move from you could cause tremendous harm to the living beings here, so they fear you. I taught you fair trade and the principles of being a person not for any other reason, but for the sake of balance and coexistence. I know you went out to buy spirit treasures and precious herbs. Although you didn’t manage to buy any, I’m still very happy.”
Qingying bit her lip and glared resentfully at Bao Gu.
Bao Gu said, “You want to rebuild the world inside the Heaven Refining Cauldron. You want spirit treasures and precious herbs. With your abilities, you could blast open the mountain-protecting arrays of immortal sects and cities, plunder one sect after another, and obtain as many spirit treasures and precious herbs as you wanted. What difficulty would there be in seizing dozens or hundreds of mountains from this realm, or moving a few rivers into the cauldron? But you didn’t. You didn’t destroy the lands and living beings of this realm through robbery and plunder just to obtain what you wanted. Instead, you chose fair trade. That is very rare.”
Qingying frowned, pondering Bao Gu’s words, then glanced sideways at her.
Bao Gu stood up, patted Qingying on the shoulder, and said, “I still have a few loose ends to take care of over the next two days. Once I’m done, I’ll take you back to Xuantian Sect and formally make you a true disciple of Lingyun Peak’s lineage.”
Qingying blinked and thought, “You really do want to be my proper master, huh!”
She looked sidelong at Bao Gu, her expression saying, Are you trying to trick me again? But then she heard her cheap master say lightly, “I will formally teach you the War King Clan’s cultivation method.”
After saying that, Bao Gu took Yu Mi’s hand and left with her.
Qingying froze for a moment. When she came back to her senses, she smiled so happily that her eyes curved into crescents. She had not robbed anyone, and she had failed to buy spirit treasures and precious herbs despite holding spirit stones, yet she had somehow gained an unexpected reward!
In high spirits, Qingying ran straight to Bao Nianhui, who was still locked in battle with the old tea tree. She grabbed Bao Nianhui by the collar and said with a calm face, “Hey, did you know? Cheap Master said she’s going to formally accept me as a true disciple.”
She copied her master’s tone, speaking lightly as though it were no big deal, but her slightly raised chin and upturned lips betrayed her true feelings.
Bao Nianhui had just charged up to the old tea tree and was about to slash at it when the distance between her and the tree suddenly widened. She thought the old tea tree had run away, only to realize that she herself had been dragged backward. While she was still bewildered, she suddenly felt someone grab the collar behind her neck. Turning around, she saw that inexplicable senior sister of hers.
When she heard Qingying’s words, she was truly stunned for a moment, then cried out in shock, “So you were actually just an outer disciple by name? And one who already had skills before joining the sect, too!”
Qingying was speechless.
She threw Bao Nianhui down by the old tea tree’s roots, turned around, and left.
She never should have come over to talk to this cheap junior sister!
Bao Nianhui turned to look at her senior sister, who appeared and vanished like a ghost without a trace, and secretly swore that she would train hard. It was one thing to lose in the monthly exams, but if she could not even compare to an outer disciple by name under the same master, she would truly have no face left.
After fighting the old tea tree for so long, she had realized that this tea tree demon genuinely had skill. Not only did it avoid injuring her, it was also sparring with her. As for the matter of the tea tree demon stepping on her high-grade medicinal seedlings and crushing them to death, she no longer pursued it. Instead, she kept using their exchanges to figure out how it dodged and how she could get close to it.
The news that Qingying had carried the Heaven Refining Cauldron, shattered the Flame Saint Sect with one strike, emptied its spirit stone treasury, and then left behind an Earth Immortal opportunity for them instantly spread throughout the cultivation world.
Because of its living environment, the Flame Saint Sect did not have a large population, and its army was the smallest. However, its wealth and the sturdiness of its arrays were famous throughout the cultivation world. Setting aside everything else, there were at least five saint artifacts visible in the city-protecting formation alone. That was an enormous investment for any force. Yet under Qingying’s one strike, the Flame Saint Sect’s city-protecting formation, along with the saint artifacts within it, were all shaken into dust.
Was a drought demon frightening?
Frightening!
Then how frightening was a drought demon with an imperial artifact from the upper realm?
Everyone shuddered.
Jade Shura of the Chopping Gang had led a hundred thousand soldiers and a thousand Great Luo Scarlet Gold warships out through the pass, already leaving every indebted force in utter distress. Now, another drought demon had appeared, carrying an imperial artifact from the upper realm and blasting cities apart. The forces that had received the Chopping Gang’s debt collection lists were instantly scared out of their wits. Without waiting for the Chopping Gang to come knocking, they voluntarily sent resources to repay their debts.
The cultivation resources transported to the Chopping Gang filled its treasure vaults to the brim, until they could hold no more. Bao Gu stored all the excess cultivation resources in extra-large storage bags.
After Jade Shura withdrew her forces back to Qingzhou and handed over the hundred thousand soldiers and one thousand Great Luo Scarlet Gold warships, the Gold-Armored Army stationed in Phantom City withdrew and moved into a newly selected Red-Armored Army camp about a hundred li from Phantom City.
The Gold-Armored Army was said to number three hundred thousand, but that was only a rough figure. Even counting ghost cultivators and sword cultivators, they did not reach three hundred thousand. Bao Gu therefore had the commanders of each Gold-Armored Army camp go to Shura Hall and select elite deathsworn to join the Gold-Armored Army. The soul tablets of the Shura Hall deathsworn selected into the Gold-Armored Army were naturally transferred into Bao Gu’s hands, and Bao Gu then handed them over to Yu Mi.
Although both the Gold-Armored Army and Shura Hall deathsworn were deathsworn whose lives were held in another’s hands, there was still a difference between having one’s soul tablet held by the Left Envoy and having it held by the Command Envoy. The treatment and ultimate fate of those who served as something akin to an imperial guard and those who charged first on campaigns were completely different.
To the deathsworn of Shura Hall, joining the Gold-Armored Army meant escaping death. Naturally, they used every bit of strength they had and fought desperately for a place. After the selection ended, the Gold-Armored Army expanded from over two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand and was placed under Yu Mi’s command.
Recruitment of array masters was still ongoing. With Wang Ding in charge of organizing it and the Demon Saint overseeing the selection, Bao Gu was quite at ease. Seeing that the overall situation in the Chopping Gang had stabilized and its operations were gradually getting on track, she handed the remaining trivial matters over to Yu Mi to wrap up.
Since the remaining matters were no longer urgent, Yu Mi put aside the work in her hands and, together with Bao Gu, brought Bao Nianhui and Qingying back to Xuantian Sect before the once-every-three-years annual grand examination.
The annual grand examination lasted ten days. The first and last days were ceremonies, while the eight days in between were for competitions. As the young sect master, Yu Mi had to preside over the competition ceremony, so she had to return before the grand examination began.
The annual grand examination was a grand event for Xuantian Sect’s disciples. It was divided into three categories: outer disciples, inner disciples, and true disciples. Any cultivator in Xuantian Sect below the Nascent Soul stage could participate, and the grandmasters of every lineage would personally appear in Xuantian Square.
Those who won in the competition could obtain large amounts of cultivation resources as rewards. Even if one failed to take first place, if one gained the favor of an elder during the competition and was accepted as a disciple, one’s circumstances and treatment would become completely different.
The top one hundred outer disciples would be specially promoted to inner disciples. The top one hundred inner disciples would become true disciples. The top one hundred true disciples would each receive a Nascent Soul Pill. In addition, depending on their ranking, the amount of spirit stones, medicinal pills, and spirit wine they obtained would differ. In short, the rewards were exceptionally generous.
Bao Gu had deliberately returned with Yu Mi for the annual grand examination. First, she wanted to see the current level and combat strength of Xuantian Sect’s disciples. Second, after the annual exam ended, there would be a grand ceremony to commend the three hundred people who made it into the top one hundred of each category. She wanted to conveniently stuff Qingying into the one hundred inner disciples to be promoted to true disciples.
Otherwise, given her and Qingying’s reputations, if they held this matter on Lingyun Peak, the fellow disciples who came to congratulate them, observe the ceremony, and watch the excitement would trample Lingyun Peak’s threshold flat. In any case, Xuantian Square was large enough, crowded enough, and lively enough. It would not matter if Qingying was missing, and it would not matter if Qingying was added.
Because she was busy, Yu Mi went straight back to Xuantian Hall to prepare matters for the annual grand examination.
Bao Gu disliked noise, so she took Bao Nianhui and Qingying back to the Cloud Sea Dense Forest.
Bao Nianhui had many close fellow disciples in Xuantian Sect. After being away for three months, she greeted Bao Gu upon returning to the Cloud Sea Dense Forest, then ran off.
Qingying followed Bao Gu back to the courtyard in the Cloud Sea Dense Forest. The Demon Saint was in Phantom City with Wang Ding, organizing the recruitment of array masters, so she was not home. Zi Yunshu was there, but she was in seclusion refining artifacts. With no outsiders present, the Cloud Sea Dense Forest was so quiet that only the sound of the wind remained.
Xuantian Sect had its own rules. Even if Bao Gu and Qingying had tremendous backgrounds and great combat strength, the sect rules still had to be followed, and the necessary procedures still had to be completed.
Although Bao Gu had accepted Qingying as a disciple, Qingying had not been registered in Xuantian Sect’s records, nor had she kowtowed before Patriarch Xuantian. Thus, she could only be considered an outer disciple in name, and one who did not even have an identity waist token.
Fortunately, Qingying had a cheap master whose status was extraordinarily lofty. After Bao Gu sent a voice transmission through a jade talisman to Yu Jianming, the current peak master of Lingyun Peak, Yu Jianming immediately put aside what he was doing and helped Qingying obtain the identity of an inner disciple. He also added her to Lingyun Peak’s list of inner disciples participating in the competition.
There were ready-made new robes for inner disciples, but the waist token had to be newly cast. Fortunately, an inner disciple’s identity waist token did not require approval from the sect master. Yu Jianming, as peak master, personally crafted a first-generation Lingyun Peak inner disciple waist token and delivered it himself.
Qingying frowned as she looked at the inner disciple robes. Playing with the inner disciple waist token in her hand, she asked Bao Gu, “If I don’t become a true disciple, you can’t teach me the cultivation method? An inner disciple still isn’t qualified?”
Bao Gu said, “The soul lamps of inner disciples are lit on their respective peaks. Their waist tokens are forged by the peak masters of each peak, and they are not qualified to come into contact with Xuantian Sect’s deepest and most core cultivation methods. The soul lamps of true disciples are lit in Xuantian Hall on the main peak. Their waist tokens are personally forged by the sect master. With their identity tokens, they can enter the highest floor of Xuantian Sect’s library, where the deepest and most complete cultivation methods of Xuantian Sect are kept.”
Bao Gu continued, “Xuantian Sect’s true disciples are the direct lineage inheritance. Only by becoming a direct lineage disciple of Xuantian Sect can you be considered a direct successor of Patriarch Xuantian. With proper roots and records, when you go to the upper realm in the future, this identity will also be recognized by the War King Manor.”
After Qingying went to the upper realm, with this connection to War God Xuantian of the War King Manor, as long as she did not do something so outrageous that both gods and men condemned her, the War King Manor would have to protect her for the sake of its own reputation. Any immortal who wanted to exterminate Qingying because of the Hunyuan Great Emperor would have to factor in the War King Manor when weighing Qingying’s significance. At a crucial moment, whether someone was there to help and protect her might lead to a completely different outcome.
Qingying knew that her master was doing this for her sake, so she said nothing more. The next day, she obediently put on the inner disciple robes, hung the Lingyun Peak inner disciple waist token at her waist, and followed Bao Gu to Xuantian Square.
The annual grand examination was a competition between disciples, but also a competition between peaks. Before participating in the grand examination at Xuantian Square, each peak had already held its own competitions and selected thirty outer disciples, thirty inner disciples, and thirty true disciples to take part. The lists of participants from each peak had already been settled and announced beforehand.
There were only thirty spots. Since Lingyun Peak’s inner disciple list had suddenly added Qingying, someone naturally had to be removed.
The disciple who had fought through dozens of rounds of brutal competition and finally earned a place, only to have it taken away with a single word from the peak master, was especially unwilling to accept it. When he then saw Bao Nianhui chatting and laughing with a smug, spring-breeze expression, he rushed over to her and asked furiously, “You’re always at the bottom of every monthly exam! What right do you have to take my place and represent Lingyun Peak? Come on, let’s fight first. If you beat me, I’ll accept it! If you can’t, Bao Nianhui, even if the peak master, the young sect master, and a whole pile of people protect you, I’ll still look down on you. Every time I see you, I’ll beat you up! Draw your sword. I’m challenging you right now!”
The people of Xuantian Sect’s one hundred and nine peaks had all gathered in Xuantian Square, leaving it packed with people.
As Bao Gu’s personal disciple, Bao Nianhui was known throughout Xuantian Sect from top to bottom. Seeing her being blocked by an inner disciple, everyone gathered around, asking what had happened and why a dispute had broken out.
That disciple angrily spread the story of how the spot he had worked so hard to obtain had been stolen by Bao Nianhui through disgraceful means, asking everyone to judge the matter for him.
Many watching disciples accused Bao Nianhui of going too far, and some even directed their criticism at Yu Jianming.
Someone leaned closer and asked, “Did Peak Master Yu tell you that Bao Nianhui replaced you in the competition?”
The disciple cried out furiously, “In the Cloud Sea Dense Forest, she’s the only one qualified to participate in the annual grand competition! The peak master said my spot was taken by someone from the Cloud Sea Dense Forest. Who else could it be but her?”
Bao Nianhui had been scolded right to her face for quite a while. Seeing more and more people gathering around and rolling their eyes at her, she was so angry that her face turned red. She shouted, “Are you sick? I’m a true disciple! Why would I steal an inner disciple’s competition spot from you?”
When the onlookers heard that, they realized she was right.
Bao Nianhui was a true disciple. The one whose spot had been taken was clearly wearing inner disciple robes. They were participating in different competitions, so how could she have stolen his spot?
Someone asked the disciple, “Did you get it wrong?”
The disciple’s face turned green and white by turns. Gritting his teeth, he said, “The peak master said someone from the Cloud Sea Dense Forest took my spot! I didn’t hear wrong.”
The onlookers could not help feeling puzzled.
Bao Nianhui suddenly let out a surprised “Huh?” Then she raised her hand and pointed toward two familiar figures who had just landed in Xuantian Square.
“The person who stole your spot is over there!”
Everyone looked in the direction Bao Nianhui was pointing and saw Bao Gu appear. Beside her was a little girl dressed in inner disciple robes, holding a seventh-grade spirit fruit and gnawing on it as she walked.
A seventh-grade spirit fruit, and she was actually eating it like a snack for fun!
Even Bao Nianhui did not get that kind of treatment, did she?
The disciple whose spot had been stolen stomped his foot. A burst of firelight flared around his body, and he landed directly beside Bao Gu. He blocked Qingying, who had just finished gnawing on the spirit fruit, and said angrily, “You’re the one who stole my competition spot, aren’t you? I challenge you to a fight!”
