Yu Mi, seated beside Bao Gu, angled herself slightly toward her and leaned closer. With their heads lowered, they spoke in quiet voices. Her low, unhurried tone flowed on and on. In her youth, Yu Mi had been flamboyant and razor-sharp, like fiery liquor. After more than five centuries of aging, she had acquired a mellow richness and lingering smoothness. The bright brows and eyes that had once held so much severity and killing intent had softened. When she smiled, her picturesque features resembled the clear summer sky after dark clouds dispersed on the first fair day of summer. Amid the murmured words and faint smiles, Bao Gu became utterly entranced. Her heart gave a sudden leap, and she did not hear a word Yu Mi said. Everything around her seemed to vanish, leaving only Yu Mi in the entire world.
Sitting not far away, Hua Sheng took it all in and could not help smiling to herself. Five hundred years had passed, yet Bao Gu still had not changed at all. Well, she had at least learned to conceal that face.
Bao Gu wore neither a mask nor a veil, displaying an entirely unadorned face. Yet the more intently one looked, the less possible it became to tell what she truly looked like. Even after staring directly at her face, one could not remember her features.
The cultivation world possessed many arts for concealing one’s appearance. The crudest method was to wear a mask or veil. A slightly more advanced method was to use spiritual power to form a hazy light that obscured one’s features. More profound still was Bao Gu’s method, which seemed almost to touch the realm of the Dao. Her appearance seemed visible and invisible at once, as though she were right before one’s eyes, only to become as distant as the ends of the earth the moment one reached out to touch her.
A person’s face could be concealed, but there was no way to hide the eyes.
Qing Ying, a ba, sat beside Bao Gu. The spell and swordsmanship demonstrations below bored her stiff. She noticed a cultivator repeatedly sneaking glances at Bao Gu, a familiar smile curling at the corners of her lips—the sort of smile reserved for people one knew well. Qing Ying had also seen Bao Gu speaking with her earlier, so this was probably yet another old friend of her master’s.
Bao Gu had told her to sit, and without Bao Gu’s permission, she was not allowed to go anywhere. So Qing Ying did not even stand. She simply scooted herself and the chair over to Hua Sheng, then followed Hua Sheng’s gaze toward her own master.
“Come on, tell me what is so funny.”
The sudden sight of a ba sitting down right in front of her startled Hua Sheng badly. But once she saw that Qing Ying showed no ferocity at all and instead looked like a curious child, her heart settled.
She had already lived through two sect-annihilation upheavals. What kind of storm could still frighten her? After recovering from her initial shock, Hua Sheng quickly returned to her usual composed self.
Unlike everyone else, she felt none of the trembling fear people usually displayed toward a ba. She treated Qing Ying just like Yu Jianming, Bao Nianhui, and the other juniors who had emerged from the Cloudsea Forest.
Seeing that Hua Sheng was friendly, while her own master was too busy staring at Yu Mi to pay her any attention, Qing Ying simply clustered up with Hua Sheng and began chatting about everyday matters. At the same time, she secretly planned to use Hua Sheng to dig up the old secrets of her master’s past.
Qing Ying’s commotion caught Bao Gu’s attention. Seeing that Qing Ying had not caused any trouble, Bao Gu did not question her and continued watching the performances. Before long, however, her senior sister drew her in again, and she became absorbed in listening to Yu Mi talk about the various peaks of Xuantian Sect.
With Xuantian Sect’s elders and the various peak masters present, Yu Mi found many matters concerning the sect inconvenient to discuss openly. Even so, Bao Gu could still glean clues from her scattered remarks and piece together most of the truth.
Before returning to Xuantian Sect, Bao Gu’s impression of the sect had remained fixed on the state it had been in when she left. After seeing how the people from Qiyun Peak treated Yu Jianming, she knew that today’s Xuantian Sect was already vastly different from the one she had known back then.
They had dared, right in front of her, to use her disciple to humiliate Yu Jianming and to browbeat him by hiding behind the sect rules. If she and Yu Mi were not present, who knew how Yu Jianming had been treated?
That made sense. Although Yu Mi was the Young Sect Master, she was also the Hack Gang’s Enforcement Envoy. Because of the turmoil within the Hack Gang, she had spent years traveling outside. She was present in Xuantian Sect for only a handful of days each year, and had practically become the Young Sect Master in name only.
From Yu Mi’s remarks, Bao Gu learned that her Grandmaster, Martial Uncle Feng, Martial Uncle Chen, and the others had taken in many disciples over the years. Their true disciples numbered in the hundreds, and once those disciples had matured, many of them had become peak masters. At the very least, they had become administrators of a peak.
Xuantian Sect, which had once possessed only a few dozen Foundation Establishment and Golden Core disciples, had now become a great sect teeming with talent.
Yu Jianming, the master of Lingyun Peak, was the Young Sect Master’s disciple. Yet more than thirty of Xuantian Sect’s peak masters were direct disciples of the Sect Master. More than ten were disciples of Martial Uncle Feng, the Discipline Hall elder. Another twenty-plus were senior martial brothers and sisters who had left Cloud City together with Bao Gu and Yu Mi back then.
By seniority, Yu Jianming could only be considered a junior among them. As for backing, a nominal Young Sect Master was far less dependable than an elder who held real authority, much less the Sect Master himself, who was the greatest backer of all.
Yu Mi did not handle affairs, yet she occupied the position of Young Sect Master. She was only the Sect Master’s grand-disciple. Would the Sect Master’s later direct disciples willingly allow a junior martial niece who was absent from Xuantian Sect year-round and held no real power to ascend to the position of Sect Master someday?
Not to mention that when Bao Gu had first entered Xuantian Sect, Martial Uncle Chen had still been the acting Sect Master.
Bao Gu did not know whether Martial Uncle Chen still intended to contend for the position of Sect Master, but she knew that plenty of people were certainly coveting Yu Mi’s position as Young Sect Master.
With a master who held little real authority in Xuantian Sect yet attracted an extraordinary amount of attention, Yu Jianming was bound to be suppressed and ostracized by the other peaks, both openly and covertly.
After realizing that Zi Tianjun cherished the position of Sect Master and had no intention of relinquishing power, Bao Gu had been unwilling to interfere in Xuantian Sect’s internal affairs. Instead, she had focused her attention on developing the Hack Gang.
With the Hack Gang as her foundation, she naturally did not set much store by Xuantian Sect’s foundation. Yet Xuantian Sect was like a home to her, and she also carried the identity of an inheritor of the Xuantian Patriarch’s legacy. She had always wanted to restore Xuantian Sect to its former glory, so she had looked after whatever she could and spared no effort in helping the sect grow stronger.
Xuantian Sect’s present strength was not all her achievement, but she had certainly rendered outstanding service. Now that the sect had grown powerful, however, her own martial nephew and the Lingyun Peak she had come from were not receiving much respect. Instead, they were being suppressed and excluded.
Among the one hundred and nine peaks, Lingyun Peak was one of the oldest lineages, yet it had fallen into decline and could not even enter the top ten. Bao Gu remained outwardly calm, but she felt more than a little uncomfortable inside.
Thinking about it more carefully, she realized that the people from Qiyun Peak had not merely slapped Yu Jianming in the face today. They had openly challenged her as well.
Allowing herself to be slapped without striking back was not Bao Gu’s style.
The formal competition would not begin until the following day.
After the performances ended, Bao Gu did not return to the Cloudsea Forest. Instead, she went to the Lingyun Palace atop Lingyun Peak’s main summit and had Yu Jianming summon the ninety disciples who would be competing in the Annual Grand Competition.
Yu Jianming paused for a moment, then understood. He cupped his fists.
“Yes, Little Martial Aunt.”
He ordered his attendants to summon the ninety disciples preparing for the competition.
Before long, thirty outer-sect disciples, twenty-nine inner-sect disciples, and thirty true disciples arrived at Lingyun Palace one after another. When they saw Bao Gu and the peak master standing in the hall, their hearts began pounding wildly. They could not tell whether it was from fear or excitement.
They bowed respectfully and did not dare raise their heads.
Outer-sect, inner-sect, and true disciples had entirely different identities and statuses. Their treatment and access to cultivation resources were worlds apart. One could tell the difference just by looking at their bearing, age, and clothing.
Bao Gu swept her gaze over the group. When she saw that there were only twenty-nine inner disciples, she told Yu Jianming to fill the place Qing Ying had occupied by calling in one more disciple.
Yu Jianming nodded and instructed an attendant to summon another disciple.
That brought the total to ninety.
Bao Gu had heard the rules of the Annual Grand Competition clearly when they were announced that day. Once they entered the arena, the competitors could bring nothing except the weapons and magical artifacts they intended to use in battle. Whether they used concealment arts to hide until the end or relied on their fists and weapons to fight their way through, everything had to depend on their own strength. The only outside aid they were allowed was the artifact or weapon in their hands.
She asked Yu Jianming,
“Do the elders of the various peaks usually bestow magical artifacts or weapons on their disciples before the competition?”
Yu Jianming smiled.
“Little Martial Aunt, nearly ten thousand disciples participate in every Grand Examination. How could there possibly be enough artifacts and weapons to hand out? Besides, not every disciple even has a master. Rewards are usually given only after someone earns a ranking.”
He paused, then spoke frankly.
“Of course, if a master’s own disciple is competing and the master favors that disciple, granting one or two artifacts beforehand is quite common. That is why nearly every true disciple receives some support from their master behind the scenes.”
Bao Gu knew that outer-sect disciples were not qualified to take masters. They were merely affiliated with a particular lineage and assigned chores.
“Inner disciples don’t have masters either?”
Yu Jianming nodded.
“The cultivation of inner disciples is guided by the chief disciple. Only true disciples are taught by individual masters.”
As for outer-sect disciples, they could only receive a few cultivation manuals and techniques meant for outer disciples. How much they could learn depended on their own opportunities. Many outer disciples could not even cross the threshold into cultivation. After studying for a few years, they would descend the mountain and return home.
The skills they learned might make them martial experts in the mortal world, enough to earn a living. Outer-sect disciples were not entirely without prospects, either. There were many ways to become inner disciples, and outstanding outer disciples could even be promoted to true disciples.
The most striking example stood right in front of him: his own Little Martial Aunt, now an inspirational model for outer-sect disciples throughout the cultivation world.
Bao Gu nodded lightly and addressed the ninety disciples.
“Take out all your magical artifacts and weapons. Let me have a look.”
The disciples had already guessed her intention from her earlier words. Their excitement was impossible to conceal, and they hurriedly brought out their artifacts and weapons.
Every true disciple had a natal artifact, and each one was a Golden Core-grade artifact capable of being stored within the dantian. Once Bao Gu finished speaking, they all summoned their natal artifacts.
The inner disciples were somewhat worse off. Only four of them possessed natal artifacts. The rest took weapons from their storage rings or storage bags.
Bao Gu glanced at their artifacts and weapons and found them almost painful to look at. Compared with her Golden-Armored Army, they were not worth mentioning. They did not even measure up to the equipment used by the various divisions of the Hack Gang.
Then again, even a Xuantian Sect cultivator who reached the Nascent Soul stage and graduated from the sect might not be able to match a regular soldier of the Hack Gang. These were merely Golden Core disciples still learning their craft.
All the disciples used swords, but the quality and materials varied enormously. The best was made of jade. Another was forged from black iron. Some had been refined from demon-beast bones, while most were the ordinary refined-metal swords issued by the sect.
The jade sword belonged to a boy who appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen years old.
When Bao Gu took the sword from his hands, Yu Jianming gave a light laugh.
“This is my disciple, my youngest one. I took him in five years ago, and his aptitude is excellent. He only entered the early Golden Core stage this year, but he can even defeat a mid- or late-stage opponent if that opponent’s combat strength is on the weaker side.”
Bao Gu glanced at the sword.
“Your master could fight a Golden Core cultivator head-on when he was only at the late Foundation Establishment stage.”
She examined the sword in her hand.
“The jade is good, but it is too brittle.”
With a flip of her hand, she took out a piece of Da Luo Red Gold. Using spiritual power, she melted it into liquid and fused it into the jade sword. Seeing that the sword contained water spiritual energy, she asked the disciple,
“Are you water-attuned?”
“Yes!”
Bao Gu then inscribed several water-element rune seals and a Spirit-Gathering Talisman into the Da Luo jade sword before returning it to the disciple.
He was overjoyed and cupped his fists.
“Thank you, Little Martial Aunt Ancestor!”
Bao Gu waved a hand, indicating that he should rise, then walked toward the next disciple.
She plucked the natal artifact from the hands of the second disciple in line. It was a sword made from demon-beast bone, its main material being the bones of a Nascent Soul-stage demon beast.
“A natal artifact forged primarily from the bones of a Nascent Soul-stage demon beast is sufficient for your current strength, but it will hold you back in the future. The quality of a natal artifact directly affects your future cultivation. Those who attain the Great Dao generally possess a Dao-proving artifact, and that artifact is usually their natal artifact. If its quality is poor, you will lack a major support on the path to proving the Dao. Sometimes, the slightest difference determines success or failure.”
The disciple answered respectfully, his face full of gratitude.
“Thank you for your guidance, Martial Aunt Ancestor. I have dual wood-and-fire spirit roots, and I mainly cultivate fire techniques.”
He finished speaking and glanced nervously at Bao Gu before hurriedly lowering his head.
Bao Gu smiled.
“You certainly know how to read the room.”
He was much more perceptive than the blockhead from earlier that day.
Bao Gu felt a natural closeness toward the disciples of her own lineage. She also knew that they usually found it difficult to obtain good cultivation resources. Now that they had finally encountered an opportunity, it was only natural for them to seize it. She was happy to promote those who possessed ambition.
This disciple lacked a natal artifact, yet he had preferred to obtain a piece of demon-beast bone rather than make do with the sword supplied by the sect. That showed he was willing to put in the effort.
“With dual wood-and-fire spirit roots, this demon-beast bone does not suit you very well.”
Bao Gu had recently struck it rich. Her enormous storage bag contained vast amounts of cultivation resources gifted by various forces, including a large number of magical artifacts.
After rummaging through it, she took out a Nascent Soul-grade fire-attuned sword, erased the imprint inside it, and handed it to the disciple.
“It is only Nascent Soul-grade, but its materials and craftsmanship are excellent. It is a rare growth-type sword and can serve as your natal artifact. If you obtain better refining materials in the future, you can fuse them into it and have the sword reforged to improve it further.”
“The sword already contains abundant spiritual energy. If you nurture it properly, it may even grow into a spirit sword. I have erased the imprint left by its previous owner. Acknowledge it with a drop of blood and imprint your aura onto it, and you will be able to use it.”
The disciple dropped to his knees and bowed.
“Your disciple thanks you, Martial Aunt Ancestor!”
Bao Gu slowly raised a hand, signaling him to stand, and moved on to the next disciple.
She examined every disciple one after another, yet not a single one possessed an artifact she found acceptable. Before she knew it, she had replaced all of their weapons.
She could not bring herself to give the more advanced disciples anything too shabby, and neither could she bear to give the Golden Core disciples anything subpar. In the end, every one of them received a Nascent Soul-grade artifact. Anything she considered worthy of giving was naturally high-grade or supreme-grade.
Even then, Bao Gu was not entirely satisfied with those artifacts. She inscribed rune patterns suited to each disciple’s spirit roots and cultivation method, increasing the power of every artifact.
She also considered the fact that the competition would not allow them to consume recovery pills or drink spirit wine. Thus, she embedded a Spirit-Gathering Talisman into each artifact. The artifacts would continuously draw in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, replenishing their reserves in a slow and steady stream. Given enough time, the amount of spiritual energy they could restore would be considerable.
Yu Jianming had Yu Mi as his master and was now a peak master himself, so he was naturally not lacking in cultivation resources. Even so, when he saw his Little Martial Aunt hand out ninety supreme-grade Nascent Soul artifacts and treat true, inner, and outer disciples alike, her extravagant generosity left him staring in shock.
He had thought that giving them supreme-grade artifacts would be the end of it, but it was not.
His Little Martial Aunt even personally passed down two techniques to strengthen their combat power: the Void-Evasion Art and the Aura Concealment and Body-Hiding Art.
Sitting nearby, Yu Jianming listened and mulled them over. He discovered that they were even somewhat more profound than the techniques he practiced, so he hurriedly memorized them and planned to study and improve them later.
After replacing all their artifacts and weapons and passing down two techniques to strengthen their combat abilities, Bao Gu had done everything that could possibly help them at such short notice. She then promised them another reward.
“Anyone who places in the top ten will receive one bottle of perfect-grade Nascent Soul Pills and one gourd of fifth-grade monkey wine. If someone takes first place…”
She paused and swept her gaze over the faces filled with excitement and battle intent.
“The Xuantian Sect’s most profound sect-protecting cultivation art.”
What was Xuantian Sect’s most profound cultivation art? The Xuantian Art, naturally.
At present, the only people who had cultivated its most complete version were the Xuantian Patriarch’s daughter, who had not returned to Xuantian Sect in five hundred years, and Bao Gu. So far, no one in Xuantian Sect besides Bao Gu had been able to cultivate the complete art.
That was because cultivating the Xuantian Art required five-element spirit-root aptitude and vast cultivation resources as support. The cultivation arts currently practiced within Xuantian Sect were all branches split from the Xuantian Art.
Bao Gu had passed those arts to Zi Tianjun, who had passed them down to the various peaks. The peaks had then passed them to their disciples. Some masters also believed in concealing their true abilities, so by the time the arts were passed down several generations, the versions disciples received were often incomplete.
Now that Bao Gu had personally promised them the most profound sect-protecting art, it meant they would receive an undiluted cultivation method derived from the Xuantian Art and suited to their own cultivation.
It was Xuantian Sect’s supreme cultivation inheritance.
How could they not be excited? They would have to fight with their lives for first place.
Bao Gu had not realized that the night had passed while she was handing out artifacts and teaching techniques. Dawn had already broken. She checked the time and saw that the competition would begin in another hour, so she dismissed the disciples and told them to prepare.
Once they had left, Bao Gu turned around and saw Yu Jianming looking at her with an expression that suggested he did not know what to say.
“Some people mistake restraint for weakness. Slap them a few times, and they learn their place. Jianming, your master is the Young Sect Master, and the Lingyun Peak you oversee is the true inheriting lineage of Xuantian Sect. Your strength also places you among the sect’s notable experts.”
“Whoever slaps your face, you should slap them right back. They are not merely slapping you. They are slapping your master, and they are slapping me.”
“Yes, Little Martial Aunt.”
Yu Jianming lowered his head and said nothing.
Bao Gu knew that if those people had not possessed someone powerful behind them, they would never have dared to humiliate Yu Jianming. She continued,
“You know better than anyone how Xuantian Sect rose to prominence. Shouldn’t you have more confidence than the people from the other peaks? You have Yu Mi and Zi Yunshu behind you. What are you afraid of?”
“I do not like internal strife, but competition and infighting are unavoidable anywhere. Yielding will not buy you peace. Only by beating down those who dare challenge you, those who dare to compete and fight, can you truly prevent internal conflict.”
“Do not seize what is not yours. But if something is yours, do not let others covet it.”
Yu Jianming remained silent.
His master was away most of the year. His Little Martial Aunt had been gone for more than five centuries, and his Little Martial Aunt Ancestor was the sort who never involved herself in affairs. Although Feng Menglong and Martial Aunt Hua Sheng usually looked out for him, they could not leap out to defend him over every major or minor issue.
His master had only one orthodox direct disciple: Yu Jianming himself. Even counting Bao Nianhui, they barely amounted to one and a half. Bao Nianhui still needed Yu Jianming to look after them from time to time. They could not compare with the strength of the other groups, whether it was the more than thirty direct martial siblings some people possessed or the tightly knit factions formed by several direct martial siblings joining forces.
That was why suffering a few minor losses was inevitable. Of course, they would never suffer a major loss. He and his master were no pushovers; they simply could not be bothered with petty matters.
Yu Jianming knew that his Little Martial Aunt had always been domineering. Anyone who dared challenge her was simply asking for a beating.
Even the Sect Master—his Grandmaster—and Martial Uncle Feng of the Discipline Hall had to speak politely and behave carefully around her. The brainless fellow from Qiyun Peak usually bounced around relying on his excellent aptitude, rapid advancement, and the many good things bestowed upon him by the Sect Master.
Normally, that would have been one thing. But in front of Yu Jianming’s Little Martial Aunt, he had still swaggered around as though the Sect Master were number one and he himself were number two beneath the heavens.
This time, he was certain to be beaten black and blue by the Little Martial Aunt.
Of course, Yu Jianming would never let his Little Martial Aunt know that he was not a doormat who took a beating without retaliating. He kept his head lowered and said nothing, putting on an expression of utter grievance in the hope that she would stand up for him a few more times.
If she also gave him some pointers and helped elevate him, that would be even better. His cultivation had not advanced in ten years, and the frustration weighed heavily on him.
He truly wanted to ask his Little Martial Aunt for guidance. He knew that if he opened his mouth, she would certainly guide him with all her heart. Even so, he could not quite bring himself to ask. It might look as though he were pushing his luck.
Yu Jianming thought that perhaps going out to gain experience would lead to a breakthrough. But then he remembered that his master, who never handled affairs, had handed Lingyun Peak over to him.
Being away for a few months would be manageable. But if he were gone for several years, Lingyun Peak would have no one to hold it up. Under the covetous eyes of those people, who knew what the peak would become?
A closed-door retreat to break through into the Void-Tearing stage could last for decades or even a century, and that was not considered long at all.
