It was early morning, and after finishing her practice, Bao Gu took the jade slip she had finished reading yesterday and headed to Zi Yunshu’s courtyard.
She planned to return the jade slip to the demon saint’s study and borrow another one.
As she stepped into Zi Yunshu’s courtyard, she saw Zi Yunshu playing chess with the demon saint, playfully arguing.
Her Little Martial Aunt was always informal in front of the saint aunt.
They say once a move is made, it cannot be taken back, but her Little Martial Aunt was clinging to the saint aunt’s sleeve, stubbornly insisting on taking back a move, acting all coy!
This kind of scene played out every day, and Bao Gu was used to it, not even batting an eye.
She greeted Zi Yunshu and the demon saint and headed straight to the study.
After picking out a jade slip, she was passing by Zi Yunshu when she suddenly heard Zi Yunshu call her, “Bao Gu!”
She stopped and looked at Zi Yunshu, who was about to place a piece on the chessboard and was looking at her.
Zi Yunshu said, “Today is the first, there’s a big exam.
You always say you’re too busy to make it, but today you seem quite free.
It’s not right not to go, is it?”
Bao Gu replied, “Okay,” and said, “I’ll go now.”
She bowed slightly to Zi Yunshu and the demon saint and turned to leave the courtyard.
Zi Yunshu called out again, “Bao Gu, remember to wear a veil to cover your face.”
Bao Gu responded, “Okay.”
Her Little Martial Aunt had been insisting she not show her true face for a long time.
For the past two years, she had gotten used to wearing a veil when meeting people.
The veil her Little Martial Aunt made for her was as thin as a cicada’s wing, light as air on her face, not hindering her breathing at all, and it blocked others’ sight and spiritual sense from probing.
Since her Little Martial Aunt wanted her to wear it, she did.
Bao Gu considered herself not ugly, but not so beautiful as to cause chaos.
Why wouldn’t her Little Martial Aunt let her show her true face?
Seeing that it was getting late, Bao Gu left Zi Yunshu’s small courtyard, put on the veil, and flew towards Xuantian Square on her flying sword.
This was the first time in five years she had stepped out of the forest where she lived.
In these five years, Xuantian Sect not only recovered its vitality, but the younger generation also grew up.
With the influx of fresh blood, Xuantian Sect was full of vigor.
As she stepped out of the forest, the scene she saw felt like a different world from the past.
Five years ago, Xuantian Sect was almost just a slightly spiritual barren mountain with some buildings.
Now, there were clusters of flying eaves and palaces, the mountain was full of spiritual energy and auspicious light, and young disciples were flying on swords or riding flying beasts, heading in groups towards Xuantian Square.
As far as she knew, in these five years, not only had Yu Mi reached the Nascent Soul stage, but Feng Menglong, Hua Sheng, and Lu Lei had also successively reached the Nascent Soul stage.
Among the thirty or so people who survived the Xuantian Sect massacre, about eight or nine had achieved the Nascent Soul stage, and the rest were at the late Golden Core stage, just a step or half a step away from the Nascent Soul stage.
Only she, at the third stage of Foundation Establishment, had only advanced a small stage in five years, with the Nascent Soul stage far out of reach.
She heard that even the newly admitted disciples had quite a few at the Golden Core stage.
In five years, her senior sister managed to cultivate to the Golden Core stage despite the lack of cultivation resources.
Now, with Xuantian Sect’s ample resources, five years was enough to train a batch of Golden Core stage disciples.
This also explained why five-element roots were not favored in the current cultivation world.
She was so wealthy, having consumed enough pills and monkey wine to pile up ten Nascent Soul stage cultivators, yet she was still at the third stage of Foundation Establishment!
As a businessperson, Bao Gu always calculated clearly, and no matter how she calculated, training five-element roots was a losing deal.
The same cultivation resources used on heavenly roots and five-element roots would definitely yield greater returns on heavenly roots.
But since she herself was a five-element root, Bao Gu, despite her disdain, couldn’t give up.
She had long accepted the reality and didn’t plan to compete with those heavenly roots and dual roots genius disciples in cultivation speed, just cultivating at her own pace.
Bao Gu leisurely flew on her flying sword, taking in all the changes in Xuantian Sect over the past five years.
The Xuantian Sect disciples passing by were all wearing sect uniforms, hurrying through the sky.
Only Bao Gu, in her plain white casual clothes, flew leisurely, looking around as if it was her first time entering Xuantian Sect.
If she were a new disciple, how could she have such a high-quality flying sword?
Her attire looked very simple at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it exuded an extraordinary aura from head to toe.
The patrolling disciples on duty saw Bao Gu looking suspicious and immediately blocked her.
Leading them was a disciple at the early Golden Core stage, wearing the attire of a true disciple, with a true disciple waist token hanging from his belt, and standing on a decent-quality flying sword.
The disciple stopped Bao Gu, his face darkened, and shouted sternly, “Stop!”
Bao Gu was slightly taken aback and asked, “What’s the matter?”
The person said in a deep voice, “Outer sect disciples are not allowed to loiter here.”
Bao Gu frowned slightly, thinking, “I was a true disciple when you hadn’t even joined the sect!”
She said, “I am not an outer sect disciple, please let me pass.”
A Foundation Establishment disciple behind the Golden Core disciple scolded coldly, “Where did this unruly person come from?
Don’t you know to salute when you see a senior brother?
Are you not a disciple of this sect?
Show your identity token.”
Bao Gu had to reach for her identity token, only to find that she hadn’t used it in five years.
She had handled so many things in those five years that she had no idea where she had thrown her Xuantian Sect disciple identity token.
Seeing Bao Gu’s suspicious behavior, not wearing sect attire and unable to produce an identity token, the late Foundation Establishment disciple immediately shouted angrily, “Well, you’ve got some nerve to sneak into Xuantian Sect and cause trouble.
Let’s see if I don’t capture you, demoness!”
As he spoke, he raised his hand to grab Bao Gu’s veiled face.
Bao Gu thought, “I’m standing here just fine, how did I become a troublemaker?
And a demoness!
Hmph, Little Martial Aunt isn’t even considered a demoness, what kind of demoness am I?”
She deftly dodged the late Foundation Establishment disciple’s grasp and slipped out of the encirclement of the six patrolling disciples.
Knowing she couldn’t produce her identity token and didn’t even know where her sect attire was, she realized there was no way to explain herself, so she didn’t bother to argue and turned to rush towards Xuantian Square.
Today was the day of the big exam, and the Grandmaster should be at Xuantian Square.
Even if the Grandmaster wasn’t there, many disciples in the sect knew her.
Once she reached Xuantian Square, her identity would be clear.
Her flying sword was originally made by Zi Yunshu for her to escape and save her life, with excellent quality and top-notch speed.
She pushed the flying sword to its limit and flew towards Xuantian Square, quickly leaving the patrolling disciples behind.
The patrolling disciples couldn’t let this mysterious woman with unknown origins escape.
The leading Golden Core disciple shouted, “Chase!”
and led the disciples in pursuit of Bao Gu, while also sending a signal for the disciples ahead to intercept her.
The disciples heading to Xuantian Square were alerted by the commotion and stopped to watch.
The Golden Core disciple, unable to match Bao Gu’s speed or the quality of her flying sword, found himself falling further behind.
As a Golden Core stage expert, he felt embarrassed not being able to catch a Foundation Establishment stage girl.
Seeing many fellow disciples watching, he shouted, “Catch that demoness who sneaked into Xuantian Sect, don’t let her escape!”
His shout made the Xuantian Sect disciples, like constables spotting a thief, rush towards Bao Gu with eyes gleaming.
Bao Gu was speechless seeing her fellow disciples rushing from all directions.
She hadn’t been out in five years, and Xuantian Sect had so many people now!
In such a short time, dozens of people appeared, blocking her from all sides, and all of them were at a higher cultivation level than her!
They came with such momentum and determination, as if they were sure to capture her.
She was somewhat of a notable figure in Xuantian Sect, and if she were captured by these later-joining disciples, where would her face go?
She used her escape techniques to the fullest, employing the footwork and void stealth techniques she had learned from formations.
The development over five years had made Xuantian Sect vastly different, and these disciples’ combat power was much higher than the previous batch at the same level.
If it were just about combat power, the difference might not be too noticeable, but when two or three teamed up, the difference was clear.
With more people, they formed an offensive and defensive alliance, supporting each other!
Five years ago, Bao Gu wasn’t afraid of Golden Core disciples, and now she could still handle one Golden Core early stage disciple, but facing two, she had no choice but to flee.
As she fled, the disciples blocked her path with cunning precision.
They had the advantage in numbers and coordinated well, and even with her void stealth technique, she couldn’t escape their encirclement.
Finally, as she emerged from the void, a sword was placed against her neck, and a cold voice said, “Don’t move, or your life is forfeit.”
Bao Gu knew Xuantian Sect’s rules well.
For those who sneaked into Xuantian Sect with suspicious behavior and unknown origins, if they resisted capture, the disciples were allowed to kill them.
The person’s aura told her that if she dared to move, they would take her head.
She immediately complied, saying, “Okay, I won’t move.”
A group of Xuantian Sect disciples surrounded Bao Gu, with many questioning her, “Where did you come from, demoness?
Speak up!”
“How did you sneak into Xuantian Sect?
Do you have accomplices?”
They bombarded her with questions.
Bao Gu looked at these fellow disciples, many younger than herself, and felt speechless.
It was true that new talents emerged in every generation, and the younger generation surpassed the older.
She wanted to say she was from Xuantian Sect, but without her identity token, who would believe her?
She could only remain silent, obediently being escorted to Xuantian Square and presented before the sect leader.
Since its founding, Xuantian Sect had never had anyone sneak in before.
The group that captured this mysterious woman was both excited and thrilled, almost like they were spreading the news.
Today was already a big day for Xuantian Sect, with hundreds of people gathered at Xuantian Square for the big exam.
Now, seeing their fellow disciples escorting a mysterious woman who had sneaked into Xuantian Sect, they all gathered around.
In an instant, Bao Gu felt like a thief being paraded through the streets.
