Little Martial Aunt, transformed into a human form, floated down from the sky and landed beside Bao Gu, sighing, “Nine heavenly thunders, I’m struck dead!” This remark earned the disdainful looks of the five elders from Xuantian Sect who had come to the rescue: Enjoying the monkey wine, aren’t you?
Elder Feng bowed to Sect Leader Lu, saying, “Brother Lu, we have imposed on you these past days. Staying any longer might cause inconvenience to you.” Sect Leader Lu expressed his regret, saying, “I will definitely investigate today’s matter and give Elder Feng an explanation.” Elder Feng replied, “Brother Lu, there’s no need to take it to heart. Such incidents are inevitable. We already feel bad for troubling you for so long, and the trouble we’ve caused is too much. Staying any longer might not be appropriate, and we fear it might implicate you.”
He sighed deeply and said, “I fear Xuantian Sect will soon face a life-and-death struggle with Taiyin Sect.” Sect Master Lu was genuinely startled , but he knew Elder Feng wouldn’t lie. He said, “If there’s anything I can do to help, Elder Feng, just say the word.” Elder Feng thanked him, “Taiyin Sect is pressing hard, and Xuantian Sect is in a life-and-death crisis!” Without further ado, he bowed to Sect Leader Lu, “We shall meet again if fate allows. Take care, Brother Lu. If I’m still alive, I’ll share a drink with you again.”
Elder Fan asked Bao Gu, “Bao Gu, where is your senior sister?” Bao Gu replied, “Senior sister got injured and is healing. Elder Feng has already given her medicine.” Elder Feng asked, “Where is your senior sister now ?” Bao Gu hesitated and looked towards Little Martial Aunt.
Elder Feng asked, “What’s there to hide?” Little Martial Aunt slightly. With a wave of Bao Gu’s hand, Yu Mi fell out of nowhere, flipping in mid-air and landing steadily on the ground, cursing, “Idiot!”
Everyone present, except for the informed Little Martial Aunt and Yu Mi, changed their expressions. Bao Gu actually had a treasure capable of concealing living beings, and they couldn’t sense the slightest aura from that treasure!
Sect Leader Lu sighed, “Elder Feng, if not for our strong friendship and the fact that we already have a Nascent Soul elder in our sect, I would have been tempted to abduct your little disciple.”
Having the Duobao Spirit Monkey that could bring out supreme monkey wine, being able to invite Nanshan Yijian for protection, and possessing treasures that could conceal living beings without detection, it’s no wonder Taiyin Sect’s big shots disregarded their dignity and risked action.
He had a premonition that Xuantian Sect would either prosper or perish from this point on. After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “Elder Feng, we are brothers who have been through life and death together. If Xuantian Sect is in trouble, my Qingfeng Pavilion will offer full support.” Elder Feng patted Sect Leader Lu’s shoulder gratefully, “Brother, I won’t say thank you! Xuantian Sect still has some confidence in dealing with Taiyin Sect. If we can’t win, I will seek your help!”
After that, he called Bao Gu and Yu Mi, and the group used Qingfeng Pavilion’s teleportation array to rush to Xuantian Sect.
Before stepping on the teleportation array, Bao Gu noticed Duobao Spirit Monkey hadn’t followed and called out, “Little monkey!”
She didn’t see Duobao Spirit Monkey come out and called out a few more times. Elder Feng asked, “Is the spirit monkey missing?”
Suddenly, a muffled “squeak” sounded, and then Duobao Spirit Monkey squeezed out from the wall. It landed in front of the teleportation array, set the coordinates for Xuantian Sect, waved at Bao Gu, and hopped onto the teleportation array.
Its actions once again surprised the several Nascent Soul cultivators present! A monkey the size of a finger actually understood teleportation arrays! Duobao Spirit Monkey let out an urgent, sharp squeak, as if urging them to hurry. The group didn’ t dare delay and quickly stepped onto the teleportation array to leave.
Bao Gu stood in the center of the teleportation array, feeling all the elders staring at her, so frightened she dared not even breathe heavily.
Duobao Spirit Monkey stepped onto the array with them, but now it was nowhere to be seen. Yu Mi secretly transmitted a message to Bao Gu, “With Little Martial Aunt here, don’t be afraid.”
The journey was peaceful, and they safely returned to Xuantian Sect. Once the group emerged from the teleportation array, Little Martial Aunt instructed, “Yu Mi, take Bao Gu back to Lingyun Peak to settle down. Don’t go back to the main peak for now.” Yu Mi responded, “Yes!”
Summoning her flying sword, she took Bao Gu back to the small courtyard where Bao Gu had stayed when she first arrived at Xuantian Sect.
Bao Gu asked in confusion, “Senior sister, why are we living here again?” Yu Mi explained, “The current Lingyun main peak is just an empty shell without even a defensive array. Don’t underestimate this place; it’s where Little Martial Aunt went into seclusion, protected by an array personally set up by our sect master!
Stay calm in the small courtyard and don’t wander around. The arrays in this forest have all been activated. If you don’t know the way and accidentally trigger an array, be careful not to lose your life.”
Bao Gu responded with an “Oh,” and then asked, “Senior sister, why did you say we don’t have to be afraid with Little Martial Aunt here?” Isn’t Little Martial Aunt’s strength far inferior to several elders since she just entered the Nascent Soul stage?
Yu Mi asked, “Do you know Little Martial Aunt’s surname?” Bao Gu shook her head. Yu Mi was speechless, then asked again, “Then do you know the sect master’s surname?” Bao Gu continued to shake her head, then thought for a moment and asked, “Could it be that the sect master and Little Martial Aunt share the same surname?”
“Little Martial Aunt is the sect master’s only daughter. The sect master’s surname is Zi, the famous Zi Tianjun. Little Martial Aunt’s name is Zi Yunshu!”
Bao Gu suddenly realized, thinking, “No wonder Little Martial Aunt dared to demand water essence from Elder Zhu, who is at the late stage of Nascent Soul, even before she had undergone the transformation tribulation!
No wonder there were four elders protecting her during the tribulation just now!” She thought for a moment and asked, “Is our master also very powerful?”
Yu Mi replied, “Probably!”
Bao Gu asked, “What’s master’s name?” Yu Mi was Genuinely speechless for a while before exclaiming, “I haven’t even told you our master’s name?”
Bao Gu shook her head.
Yu Mi sighed and said, “Master’s name is Zhuo Wangchuan, a water-attribute spiritual root cultivator. He is a disciple the sect master took in during his travels. The sect master only took two personal disciples, one is the current acting sect master, our big senior brother, and the other is our master.”
Bao Gu responded with an “Oh!”
Yu Mi continued, “Bao Gu, your current strength is too weak. No matter how Xuantian Sect and Taiyin Sect fight, you can’t get involved. So, stay here and cultivate well, striving to break through to the Foundation Building stage before the ancient ruins open.”
Bao Gu said, “Senior sister, I’m out of spirit stones.” Yu Mi nodded, “I’ll talk to Little Martial Aunt.” After saying that, she turned and walked towards the wooden house. Bao Gu followed Yu Mi and asked, “Senior sister, are you also going to live here?”
Yu Mi replied, “If I don’t stay here, who will protect you?” After saying that, she entered the wooden house to sit in meditation and heal. She had taken a severe fall while protecting Bao Gu today. If it weren’t for her breakthrough to the Golden Core stage, which elevated her physique beyond the mortal realm, that fall would have been enough to kill her on the spot.
Seeing Yu Mi healing, Bao Gu silently left the courtyard and sat down by the creek. This was where she first settled after entering the cultivation world, and returning here felt as comforting as coming home. Now, she had brought great trouble to her family.
If she hadn’t revealed the treasures she possessed, Taiyin Sect wouldn’t have acted this way, forcing Xuantian Sect into a life-and-death confrontation. Perhaps the elders coveted the treasures on her and the rare treasures inside Duobao Spirit Monkey’s belly, but they never forcefully took them.
For her sake, they were willing to gamble the fate of the entire sect. Because she carried the legacy left by the ancestral master, because she possessed multiple treasures, because of her special five neat spiritual roots , they saw her as the hope of Xuantian Sect.
She didn’t see possessing treasures as a crime of harboring jade. On the contrary, in the cultivation world, having treasures but not utilizing their effects, allowing others to plunder and bully, is the real crime.
She didn’t want to live under the protection of her sect anymore. She didn’t want to always seek help and shelter whenever there was trouble. She wanted to become stronger, to protect her senior sister, to protect Little Martial Aunt and the others.
She wanted to live a long life, find a beloved Dao companion, and travel the world with her loved one. The image of Yu Mi appeared in her mind, startling Bao Gu into shaking her head. How could her future Dao companion be her senior sister?
But aside from her father, no one had ever protected her like her senior sister. Her father was her blood relative, and her senior sister had been protecting her since picking her up in Qing Shan County, even risking her life to protect her today.
Ah, thinking too much… Senior sister is senior sister, her kindness to her doesn’t mean they are Dao companions! Xuantian Sect, the heavy responsibility of Xuantian Sect!
Calm the mind and practice cultivation!
Bao Gu dared not think further and immediately sat in meditation to calm her mind. She thought again, she had been seen naked by her senior sister several times.
Fortunately, her senior sister was also a woman; otherwise, she might have had to marry her! Ah, practice cultivation! Bao Gu took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, and focused on sensing the Xuantian Sword passed down by the ancestral master, which was inside her.
She knew the sword was in her dantian; otherwise, why would her dantian have shrunk in fear when her senior sister and Little Martial Aunt were undressing her?
She guessed the Xuantian Sword had already awakened its spiritual intelligence, even Little Martial Aunt said it was more cunning and better at hiding than Duobao Spirit Monkey.
Bao Gu didn’t expect to find it all at once.
She sat cross-legged by the frozen creek, absorbing the scattered spiritual energy from the heavens and earth,circulating the true qi in her dantian to practice cultivation, quietly sensing the changes in the true qi in her dantian, trying to establish contact with the Xuantian Sword.
The aroma of roasted meat mixed with spiritual herbs wafted over, and her stomach timely felt hungry . Bao Gu ended her cultivation and returned to the small courtyard, only to see her senior sister already roasting wild game by the bonfire.
Duobao Spirit Monkey lay beside the bonfire, staring intently at the roasted meat on the fire, drooling non-stop. Yu Mi focused on roasting the meat, occasionally muttering that it would be even more delicious with some spiritual herbs.
Duobao Spirit Monkey would immediately hand over a spiritual herb Yu Mi mentioned. In no time, more than a dozen fourth and fifth-grade spiritual herbs fell into Yu Mi’s hands, which she crushed into juice and brushed onto the roasted meat like sauce.
Bao Gu sat beside Duobao Spirit Monkey, smelling the aroma of roasted meat and spiritual herbs, unable to move, just waiting for the meat to be cooked.
“It smells so good! Yu Mi, what delicious thing are you roasting again?” Little Martial Aunt Zi Yunshu’s voice sounded.
Yu Mi smiled, “The snow leopard demon beast meat we hunted last time.” Zi Yunshu sat down beside the roasted meat with a smile, looking at Duobao Spirit Monkey and saying, “There was news from Xuan Yue Ancient City just now, saying that many medicinal fields there have been plundered clean. Was it your doing?”
Duobao Spirit Monkey “squeaked, ” covered its face, then peeked at the delicious roasted meat through its fingers.
Zi Yunshu said, “Everyone who sees it gets a share!”
Duobao Spirit Monkey swiftly jumped to Bao Gu’s side, placing itself between her and Zi Yunshu. Yu Mi asked, “Little Martial Aunt, how are things on Taiyin Sect’s side?” Zi Yunshu replied, “What else can it be? Xuantian Sect is now tightly surrounded outside, and they are racking their brains to break the mountain protection array.”
Yu Mi exclaimed, “And you still have the mood to come here and eat meat?”
Zi Yunshu said, “Can’t I come and check if you two are alright? The Nascent Soul elders in seclusion have all come out, and your master has also come out, but he took half a jar of monkey wine from me and went back into seclusion.”
She paused, then continued, “All the low-level disciples have already been evacuated. My father also came out of seclusion today, and he asked me to come and settle you two.”
Yu Mi frowned and asked, “Our strength is no match for Taiyin Sect, and there’s no chance of winning if we fight. Sect Master Lu of Qingfeng Pavilion is on good terms with Elder Feng, but with an old sect leader above and the Elder Council below, he might not be able to fully support Xuantian Sect, so the help might be limited.”
Zi Yunshu said,”So we’ve decided to give up this foundation of tens of thousands of years and withdraw.”
Yu Mi suddenly stood up and exclaimed, “Give up Xuantian Sect’s foundation?”
Zi Yunshu said, “What’s left of Xuantian Sect now? Besides these mountains without any spiritual veins or mines, even the spiritual energy is depleted.
In the past, we stubbornly defended Xuantian Sect because all the sect masters believed that the old Lingyun Peak still had Xuantian Sect’s legacy.
Now that the legacy of Lingyun Peak has fallen into Bao Gu’s hands, and all the medicinal fields of the peaks have been stolen by Duobao Spirit Monkey, what’s left of Xuantian Sect besides a mountain protection array?
If we continue fighting, we won’t even be able to protect the remaining techniques, legacies, and disciples. My father said that as long as Bao Gu and Duobao Spirit Monkey are safe, Xuantian Sect will have a chance to rise again.
He asked me to take you two and leave.” Bao Gu softly said, “This is my home.” Zi Yunshu looked deeply at Bao Gu, then suddenly smiled slightly and said, “Don’t you have an empty small world? Put Lingyun Peak in it! Put Xuantian Sect in it!”
Bao Gu was stunned and said , “Our magic power isn’t enough to move mountains, right?” Zi Yunshu smiled, “My father can!” Yu Mi was shocked, her mouth agape.
Zi Yunshu smiled, “Let’s do it!” Yu Mi thought for a moment and said, “This time, the attack by Taiyin Sect has brought such a huge disaster to the sect, and all the peaks are even giving up their foundations. What will they think? Will they agree? Little Martial Aunt, if the peaks are dissatisfied, I’m afraid… I’m worried there might be dissent.”
Zi Yunshu looked at Yu Mi with a smile and said, “Bao Gu has the Xuantian Sword from the ancestral master, they wouldn’t dare to harm her. With Duobao Spirit Monkey following Bao Gu, it represents their hope of reaching the Mahayana stage. Dissent? Where can they go? They can’t rob or force Bao Gu, and joining Taiyin Sect won’t give them the hope of breaking through to the Mahayana stage. It’s better to protect Bao Gu and occasionally trick her into giving them some supreme monkey wine! Moreover, like us, they have been cultivating in Xuantian Sect since entering the cultivation world and have deep feelings for Xuantian Sect. They won’t dissent. Do you think Taiyin Sect is risking their lives and continuously sacrificing Nascent Soul cultivators for what? Isn’t it for the hope of reaching the Mahayana stage? Are they coming for this empty mountain?”
Bao Gu thought for a moment and asked, “Where will we go?”
Yu Mi and Zi Yunshu looked at each other, their lips slightly parted, silently uttering three words.
Bao Gu was confused and asked, “Where?”
It’s really annoying how Little Martial Aunt and senior sister are so in sync.
