Flying on her sword all the way, Fu Yan finally slowed down only when she was five to six hundred li away from the Red-Black Mountain Range.
With a bit of breathing space, she took out the two storage rings she’d just taken off the Zilan Sect disciples, planning to see what kind of wealth they’d been carrying.
Storage rings and Qiankun pouches were both used in this world to store items. Each contained its own independent space, but storage rings were far more precious. Even an ordinary low-grade ring held ten times the space of a Qiankun pouch.
With her previous status, Fu Yan naturally had never owned a storage ring—only a tiny Qiankun pouch. This time, she’d really scored big.
Storage rings had to be bound with a drop of blood to recognize an owner. Since Liu Chuanhan and the other man were already dead, Fu Yan easily erased their marks and then dripped her own blood onto the rings.
After carefully probing through them, Fu Yan couldn’t help but click her tongue in surprise. These two had just been ordinary inner sect disciples, yet their wealth was actually quite impressive.
Roughly tallying things up, the two of them together had three thousand and twenty‑six low‑grade spirit stones, and even ten mid‑grade spirit stones. Never mind anything else—just those spirit stones alone made Fu Yan feel she’d hit the jackpot.
The original body’s status had been too ordinary; her belongings were miserably poor. All her assets in that little Qiankun pouch barely added up to a few dozen low‑grade spirit stones.
Smiling as she finished counting the stones, Fu Yan continued rifling through the rings. Besides spirit stones, there were some pills, and the two must have harvested a lot in the Red-Black Mountains—piles of rare herbs and heaven-and-earth treasures, including several ice-attribute and water-attribute items.
Fu Yan cultivated the Frost Tempering Art, so she could make full use of those.
The rest were basic techniques—mostly Zilan Sect sword arts and fist arts. Those were naturally off-limits to Fu Yan. If she cultivated them, Liu Chuanhan and his companion’s deaths would definitely be traced back to her.
Once she finished sorting through the contents of the storage rings, Fu Yan couldn’t help but curl her lips in satisfaction.
She took out two True Qi Pills, stowed everything away, then tossed both pills into her mouth. The battle just now had nearly drained all her true essence; her body still felt somewhat weak.
So she headed in the direction of Shuiling Sect while quietly adjusting her breathing along the way.
Because she kept her speed slow for the last stretch, it was already more than half a day later by the time she returned to Shuiling Sect.
Shuiling Sect had three main peaks. The leftmost was where the outer sect disciples lived and cultivated; the rightmost belonged to the inner sect disciples. The largest peak in the middle was the sect’s public face. Large events and the reception of visiting guests were all held there.
By now Fu Yan was standing at the foot of the three peaks. She lifted her gaze to the sky‑piercing mountains before her, and her heart couldn’t help but stir.
Now that she truly thought about stepping onto the path of cultivation, Fu Yan still felt a little excited. Faced with such a grand sight, it was hard not to feel blood boil.
Steadying her emotions, she didn’t dwell on it. She flew straight toward the left peak. Although her cultivation was now at the early Spirit Aperture stage and she could enter the inner sect, there were still procedures that had to be followed.
Once back in the outer sect, Fu Yan first headed to the Mission Hall.
The Mission Hall was where the sect issued tasks to its disciples. All disciples could freely accept missions for tempering; successful completion brought rewards. Failing only cost a bit of face—no one would really care.
It was afternoon, so the Mission Hall was naturally packed. All three floors were crammed full, everyone carefully studying the missions and weighing them against their own strength.
Fu Yan’s appearance naturally sparked a small wave of discussion.
“Mm, who’s that? She actually broke through to the early Spirit Aperture stage. She should be able to go to the inner sect now, right?”
“I also want to go to the inner sect. I heard the resources there are way better than in the outer sect. The outer sect is basically free-range. But my aptitude’s average… I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance.”
“Isn’t that Senior Sister Fu Yan? I remember before she went down the mountain she was still at the ninth level of Foundation Establishment. In just a few days she’s broken through already. Looks like she encountered some kind of fortune down there.”
“So jealous of Senior Sister. I want to go down the mountain to train too!”
“…”
The original body and Fu Yan both had rather cold temperaments and were used to keeping to themselves, so she didn’t care about the gossip.
Holding her mission booklet, she walked straight to the elder in charge of the Mission Hall and spoke plainly.
“Elder Lin, I’m here to close out a mission.”
Elder Lin had been dozing on the side. Hearing her voice, he lazily lifted his eyes like a cat being roused. When he saw Fu Yan, his expression didn’t change much. He just reached out, took her mission booklet, and began recording.
“Assassination of the flower‑thief at Blackspring Town, cultivation at the ninth level of Foundation Establishment—completed.”
After he finished, Elder Lin took out three hundred low‑grade spirit stones, counted them, then tossed them directly to Fu Yan.
“Your mission reward.”
Then this languid Elder Lin closed his eyes again.
Fu Yan stared at the three hundred low‑grade spirit stones in her hands, a bit surprised. She’d thought this mission wasn’t completed, but it seemed the flower‑thief was already dead. Whether or not she’d been the one to kill him, the mission counted as done.
Another three hundred low‑grade spirit stones for nothing, Fu Yan thought.
Leaving the Mission Hall, Fu Yan went straight back to her residence, following her memories. She didn’t have much to her name anyway; her real wealth was now all in the storage rings, so she quickly packed her things.
Then she headed directly for the Deacons’ Hall.
“Mm, since your cultivation has already reached the Spirit Aperture stage, come with me to register in the inner sect.”
An elder at the Deacons’ Hall looked at Fu Yan and nodded in satisfaction.
Reaching the early Spirit Aperture stage at sixteen wasn’t exactly earth‑shattering, but it was good enough to rank above average.
After the elder did a simple registration and revoked Fu Yan’s outer sect identity token, he led her straight to the rightmost peak.
The moment they landed, Fu Yan could feel the stern atmosphere of the inner sect mountain. The expansive square was almost empty, but waves of true qi fluctuations drifted over from the surrounding forests. Clearly, everyone was cultivating hard.
Once they reached the inner sect’s Deacons’ Hall, the outer sect elder directly handed Fu Yan off to an inner sect elder surnamed Li, then turned and went back down the mountain.
“When did you break through?” Elder Li fixed his gaze on Fu Yan and asked.
Fu Yan paused for a moment. She couldn’t see through Elder Li’s cultivation at all, which meant his realm was at least a whole major stage above hers. As expected, the inner sect was full of top‑tier experts.
“Reporting to Elder, I broke through a few days ago while training down the mountain.”
Fu Yan didn’t hide anything and answered truthfully.
Elder Li nodded and said nothing more. He simply took out a wooden identity token and handed it to her.
“This is your inner sect disciple token.”
Fu Yan hurriedly accepted it. Neatly carved on it was her own name. She had no idea what kind of wood it was made from, but it felt as light as paper in her hand.
“The rules in the inner sect are mostly the same as in the outer sect,” Elder Li explained when he saw her curiously studying the wooden token. “All disciples cultivate on their own. The difference is that the inner sect has its own strength ranking. If you inject true essence into the token, you can view it.”
Fu Yan, intrigued, injected a thread of true essence into the identity token. A stream of information immediately projected itself before her eyes like an illusion.
First place: Bai Li
Second place: Yu Heng
Third place: Lin Zihao
Fu Yan only glanced at the top three names before quickly searching for her own. As expected, her name was at the very bottom.
Eight hundred thirty‑second place: Fu Yan
“…”
“If you want to raise your rank, you have to challenge other disciples,” Elder Li said slowly, continuing his explanation of the inner sect’s rules. “Win, and you take their ranking. Each challenge cannot exceed someone more than thirty places above you. Of course, the inner sect’s annual grand competition is coming up soon. During that, this restriction is ignored; opponents are determined by drawing lots.”
Fu Yan nodded, understanding immediately. Without that rule, she could challenge the number one directly as the last place. Who would take the rankings seriously, then?
The inner sect was indeed cruel. After all, anyone who could enter the inner sect had some talent. No one wanted to be someone else’s backdrop; everyone would be desperate to climb higher.
“Alright, this is your inner sect disciple robe. Find an empty courtyard on your own and settle in.”
Elder Li handed her a set of robes and waved casually.
Fu Yan took the clothes and spoke up.
“Many thanks, Elder.”
Soon after, she stepped out of the Deacons’ Hall.
Back on the square, Fu Yan suddenly noticed a crowd of disciples rushing in the same direction. Before she could ask what was going on, she heard the excited chatter.
“Hurry to the arena! I heard Senior Brother Yu Heng is going to challenge Senior Sister Bai Li!”
