Yu Mi saw Bao Gu holding onto that tattered package. When they were being chased earlier, Bao Gu was crouching on the flying sword, and the reason her butt was raised so high was because she was pressing down on this package. Yu Mi asked, “Why don’t you use the storage bag I gave you?”
Bao Gu replied, “I am using it!”
Yu Mi raised an eyebrow and asked, “Using it? Then why don’t you put the package into the storage bag?”
Bao Gu took out the palm-sized storage bag from her bosom, then lifted her own package and compared the sizes. She asked Yu Mi, “How can such a small bag fit such a large package?”
Yu Mi was speechless at Bao Gu’s ignorance and asked, “Do you even know what a storage bag is? Fool! Hold the storage bag in your hand and use your spiritual sense… oh wait, you’re still just a mortal, I can’t expect your limited spiritual sense to understand. This storage bag may look small on the outside, but it’s actually quite spacious inside. Try it and you’ll see.”
Bao Gu skeptically opened the mouth of the storage bag wide and peered inside, but she didn’t see anything. Puzzled, she looked at Yu Mi, who had an unpleasant expression, and prepared to prove to Yu Mi with facts that such a small bag couldn’t fit such a large package! She tried to stuff her package into the small storage bag, but of course, it wouldn’t fit no matter how hard she tried. She exclaimed, “See, this small storage bag can’t fit this large package at all!”
Yu Mi almost spat out a mouthful of old blood. Her complexion turned green and then white, white and then green. She felt like she had wasted her storage bag! The storage bags used by ordinary Qi Refining stage cultivators are very small, with a length and width of one zhang being considered good. Her storage bag was used by a Nascent Soul stage expert. When she had just entered the Foundation Building stage, she encountered a fight between two Nascent Soul stage experts. One person died and the other was critically injured, and the critically injured one wanted to take over her body. She risked her life to kill the dying Nascent Soul stage expert and obtained his storage bag.
Although she used everything in the Nascent Soul stage expert’s storage bag for her cultivation, this storage bag was still hundreds of times better than the ones used by Qi Refining stage cultivators. Seeing that Bao Gu was penniless and a storage bag was indispensable, she generously gave Bao Gu such a good storage bag, only to encounter an ignorant fool. Yu Mi suppressed her anger and patiently said, “Hold the storage bag and use your heart to sense the bag in your hand. Use this bag to put the package inside!” After speaking, she turned her head away, not wanting to pay any more attention to Bao Gu. Then she heard a “huh” sound and saw Bao Gu looking at the storage bag in her hand with a surprised expression, then with a joyful expression.
Bao Gu happily jumped up, opened her arms and was about to hug Yu Mi, but Yu Mi reached out and stopped her.
Bao Gu still kept her arms open, ready to pounce on Yu Mi, and said with a happy smile, “Thank you, Senior Sister Yu Mi! Hehe, now I also have a magical treasure!”
Yu Mi: … She was still in the Foundation Building stage, and she could only take on disciples after reaching the Nascent Soul stage. When she first met Bao Gu, she thought Bao Gu was a talented genius, and she even wanted to bring Bao Gu back to the sect and take her as her own disciple after she reached the Nascent Soul stage.
However, when she found out about Bao Gu’s five mixed roots, she gave up on the idea of taking her as a disciple and planned to throw Bao Gu to her master as a nominal disciple, which would be better than losing face herself! Now, she had changed her mind!
She silently said in her heart, “Bao Gu, it’s better if you just have a nominal status. I’m afraid that if I throw you under my master’s name, and if my master breaks through the life and death barrier and finds out that I helped him take on a disciple like you, he will definitely kill me.”
Xuan Tian Sect, with its depleted spiritual veins and scarce cultivation resources, had extremely strict requirements for accepting disciples. They would rather have a shortage than accept anyone and everyone. Not to mention five mixed roots, even three mixed roots, if they were not top-quality, would not be accepted. Top-quality three mixed roots were equivalent to double mixed roots, and any sect would accept such aptitude. However, those with excellent aptitude who could enter a sect with abundant resources would naturally not choose Xuan Tian Sect.
This was also the reason why Xuan Tian Sect couldn’t recruit any disciples in the past five years. In fact Yu Mi herself entering Xuan Tian Sect was also due to her master’s conniving and deceit. Five years ago, the recruitment event in Yun City was just as crowded as it was this year, but there was no one in front of Xuan Tian Sect. She was only thirteen years old at the time and occasionally heard the old people in the village talk about an immortal city where one could enter and cultivate to become immortal.
She asked the old people for directions, took some dry rations and the hunting bow her father made for her, and set off alone. Despite her experience as a hunter, she almost died on the way, but luckily she met a herbalist who brought her into Yun City. When she arrived in Yun City, she was covered in flesh and blood, dirtier than a beggar. She waited in line for a day and a night before finally reaching a testing platform of the Taiyin Sect.
The disciples of the Taiyin Sect saw her dirty appearance and rejected her, as she was already thirteen and had not yet started cultivation, exceeding the maximum age of twelve to start cultivation. They directed her to the neighboring Xuan Tian Sect, saying, “See that Xuan Tian Sect over there? Go and give it a try!” Tired, thirsty, and hungry, she was kicked off the high platform by the Taiyin Sect disciples and tumbled down the steps, hitting her head and bleeding. She got up in pain and almost crawled up to the high platform of Xuan Tian Sect. At that time, there was a man in white clothes and a young man of eighteen or nineteen sitting on the platform of Xuan Tian Sect. The young man angrily shouted, “Other sects don’t want you, so you come to our Xuan Tian Sect? Let me tell you, our Xuan Tian Sect’s requirements for accepting disciples are even higher than other sects.”
The man in white clothes said, “Since you’re here, let her give it a try! She’s just a little over the age limit, even I didn’t start cultivating until I was fifteen, right?” He then said to her, “Climb up onto the platform and test your spiritual roots. As long as you have double spiritual roots, I will accept you.”
She climbed onto the testing platform and then heard the young man shout, “Master Uncle, it’s a heavenly spiritual root, a fire attribute heavenly spiritual root!” The man in white clothes jumped up and, after looking at the testing platform, grabbed her arm and excitedly shouted, “Disciple!” Without saying a word, he pressed her head down and made her kowtow three times, then turned to the people from various sects who had rushed over and shouted, “Everyone, this is my new disciple of Xuan Tian Sect. She has kowtowed to me and become my disciple. I will take her as my personal disciple. Thank you for your understanding!”
Many people came up to persuade her to change sects, saying that she had not been registered with Xuan Tian Sect and could still join another sect.
Her master immediately declared, with a smile, to those who advised her to join another sect, “I see that you are extraordinary and wish to spar with me here?” It wasn’t until much later that she understood the hidden meaning in her master’s words at the time: “Dare to steal my disciple, I will fight you to the death!” And so, she unwittingly entered the Xuan Tian Sect.
On the second day of her induction into the sect, her master threw her a few jade slips containing the sect’s secret techniques, a water-and-fire-resistant flowing fairy skirt, a flying sword, a fire-attributed treasure sword, and a tattered storage bag, leaving her with the words: “The master leads the way, but cultivation depends on the individual. Disciple, the path of the strong is forged alone.” Then, he closed up… It had been five years, and there was no news at all. She didn’t know if he was alive or dead.
Although Bao Gu couldn’t see Yu Mi’s face clearly due to the shadow, she could sense that Yu Mi’s mood was not very good at the moment, so she didn’t dare to provoke her. She sat on the flying sword, eagerly studying her storage bag. After repeatedly putting things in and taking them out, she could now access her belongings at will. She even found that if she closed her eyes and thought about the contents of the bag, she could “see” the situation of her belongings in the storage bag. The storage bag was huge, even larger than the area from the front door to the backyard with the granary in her previous home. All her belongings could be carried in the storage bag from now on, which was incredibly magical and convenient.
Bao Gu felt the flying sword sinking, so she looked down, but because it was too dark, she couldn’t see anything.
After a while, she felt the flying sword under her suddenly disappear, and she found herself sitting on the ground. The air was filled with the fragrance of grass and trees, and the sound of flowing water could be heard. In the moonlight, she saw a house in front of her.
Yu Mi said, “We’ve arrived. You will rest here tonight! You are a disciple of the Lingyun Peak, and with this waist badge I’ve given you, you can move around the Lingyun Peak. Remember, the waist badge must not be separated from you, and certainly not lost, otherwise your life will be in danger. The guardians of the mountain only recognize the waist badge, not the person. Without the waist badge, the guardians will kill you for nothing. This mountain peak belongs to the Lingyun Peak, and except for places with owners, you can choose your residence at will.”
Bao Gu asked, “Who is the guardian? How do I recognize places with owners?”
Yu Mi said, “You’ll know when you meet the guardian in the future. Places with owners either have a formation, are enclosed, or show signs of being managed, which are easy to identify. There are fruits in the mountains and clear springs in the streams. If you’re hungry or thirsty, pick fruits and drink spring water by yourself. If you want to eat meat, find a way to hunt. If you encounter a demon beast with a symbol of the Xuan Tian Sect, you cannot hunt it; that is the guardian beast of the Xuan Tian Sect. Of course, with your current cultivation, if you provoke the guardian beast, be careful not to be eaten by it.”
After that, she gave Bao Gu two jade slips, a bow and arrow made of gold and jade, and a pot of arrows, saying, “The use of the jade slips is similar to the storage bag. Place the jade slip in front of your forehead and read it with your heart. This bow and arrow are for hunting! Practice the techniques in the jade slips well. When you break through to the late stage of Qi Refining, you will be qualified to seek a master. Right now, you can only be considered a nominal disciple and do not yet have the qualifications to seek a master.”
She finished speaking in one breath and left without looking back, riding her flying sword.
“Hey… Senior Sister…” No matter how Bao Gu called out, Yu Mi didn’t turn back, only saying as she floated in the air, “Remember, you cannot casually go to other mountain peaks. If you do, you must first report to the other mountain peak and obtain permission before entering. If you forcefully intrude into other mountain peaks, be careful not to be beaten until your own mother doesn’t recognize you!” As her voice drifted further and further away, her figure had already disappeared into the depths of the mountains and forests.
Bao Gu: “…” With a bow in one hand, a pot of arrows in the other, and two large jade slips in her arms, she stood still for a long time before reacting. Did her senior sister Yu Mi just casually leave her here to fend for herself? Looking around, she found that the only difference between this place and the desolate mountains and forests was the presence of a small wooden house! According to the books she borrowed from Sun Xiucai, aren’t immortals supposed to live in magnificent and grand buildings? Even if the immortal sect isn’t really immortal, this… isn’t a desolate mountain and a broken wooden house!
She looked down at the bow and arrow in her hands and murmured, “Hunt for meat by yourself, eat wild fruits when hungry, drink from the stream when thirsty… Oh my, is this really cultivation? This is living like a wild person!” It was very dangerous to be in the wilderness and mountains in the middle of the night, so Bao Gu hurriedly ran towards the wooden house behind her. She had just reached out to push the wooden door when it collapsed with a bang, and the dust filled the air, making her cough!
There was only one thought in Bao Gu’s mind: How long had it been since anyone lived in this house…?
