Perhaps

Five hundred li south of Blackwater Market lay the mountain gate of the Profound Heaven Sect.

Five hundred li was neither far nor near for cultivators.

The closest free market to the Profound Heaven Sect was Turtlehead Market to its northwest. However, that market was too small, dealing mainly in materials for refining low-grade talismans and providing cultivation techniques needed by Rogue Cultivators.

Cultivators above the Foundation Establishment Realm generally visited such small markets less often.

The Profound Heaven Sect's mountain gate territory also spanned five hundred li. Within the outer three hundred li stood seventeen peaks, large and small, each over a thousand zhang tall.

All seventeen peaks, each surpassing a thousand ren, were covered in thick glaciers. Natural, fierce astral winds raged between them, forming a natural barrier for the Profound Heaven Sect.

After being tempered by astral winds for countless years, the glaciers were no longer snowy white or crystal pale blue, but a deep black hue. Even beneath the sunlight, they appeared profound and restrained.

Without exception, these seventeen peaks had either endured the impact of Heavenly Punishment or been tempered by battles between powerful cultivators. The summit of each peak had been blasted into broken, jagged teeth. Together with the glaciers covering them, sharpened like blades by the astral winds, they carried an even more chilling air.

Within these seventeen peaks, the two-hundred-li region at their center was the Profound Heaven Sect's core territory, yet it presented an entirely different scene.

It was a naturally sunken basin. The frigid astral winds vanished of their own accord at the basin's edge, while spring reigned year-round within, with spiritual flowers and trees everywhere.

There were thirty-two peaks of various sizes in the basin. Most could only truly be called hills, no more than a few dozen zhang tall. Only thirteen exceeded one hundred zhang, but one among them reached five hundred zhang, more than two hundred zhang taller than the second-highest peak. It stood alone at the northernmost corner of the Profound Heaven Sect's core territory. Seen from above, it looked as though it did not fit in and had deliberately distanced itself from the other thirty-one peaks.

Its appearance was also distinctly unique.

The other thirty-one peaks of the Profound Heaven Sect could be described as short and squat, like round, plump steamed buns. Yet this one was exceptionally narrow and steep. It gave the impression of a fragment that had fallen from the summits of the seventeen outer peaks.

Though no glacier covered it, most of its body consisted of hard black rock. Apart from a few vigorous pines and cypresses, there were scarcely any spiritual trees or flowers on the mountain. It possessed only cold severity, none of the elegant charm of spiritual beauty.

This was the Profound Heaven Sect's Lone Peak.

It was where Profound Heaven Sect disciple Wang Li and his senior sister Lü Shenliang cultivated.

In the past, the Profound Heaven Sect had possessed little fame throughout the Lesser Jade Continent. But in recent years, as Lü Shenliang—who would self-detonate her Golden Core on a whim—traveled outside, this Lone Peak within the sect had gained some renown as well.

To most cultivators of the Profound Heaven Sect, the astral winds weaving through the sect's seventeen outer black peaks were exceptionally chaotic and unpredictable. The weakest of these winds were little different from astral wind spells cast by First Level Qi Refining cultivators, but the powerful ones rivaled the full-force strike of a Golden Core Peak cultivator.

Even though Profound Heaven Sect cultivators knew the routes like the backs of their hands and had mapped out several safe passages in and out, over the past several decades, at least three Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators of the sect had still been swept away by the chaotic astral winds and slapped dead against the glaciers like flies.

Of course, there were also teleportation arrays connecting the sect to the outside world. But every teleportation array consumed spiritual energy, and the Profound Heaven Sect did not approve of low-level cultivators frequently traveling outside. Thus, the sect had never deliberately opened a route through these seventeen black peaks that was one hundred percent safe for low-level cultivators.

The twelve words True Person Baixi had told that group of Immortal Seedlings from the Xianke Sect to keep in mind upon entering the sect were, in truth, a creed embraced by most sects.

Cultivators wrested their lives from Heaven; they were already walking against the heavens. The strong devoured the weak, the superior survived and the inferior were cast out—these were the principles followed by every sect. If one could be slapped to death by astral winds merely entering or leaving the sect, that only proved one lacked fortune. Staying alive would merely waste the sect's spiritual sand.

In everyone's eyes, Lü Shenliang thought differently from ordinary people. At this moment, as she rode her sword-light to the outskirts of the Profound Heaven Sect, she did not take the usual path at all.

With a ripping hiss.

Her Profound Heaven Sword Qi forcibly pierced through a huge, oar-like astral wind charging toward them, and she shot directly through the gap between the two tallest peaks in the northeastern corner—the route the other Profound Heaven Sect cultivators considered the least suitable for passage.

Elsewhere, the astral winds mostly looked like streaks of black phantoms. But the howling winds in this northeastern corner had condensed like crystals. They gleamed brilliantly not only under the sun, but even in the darkness of night.

Even the smaller winds here were several zhang long, like giant oars, while the larger ones stretched beyond dozens of zhang, like ships crashing head-on through stormy seas.

The instant Lü Shenliang rode her sword-light into the region of howling astral winds with Wang Li, their figures and that streak of sword-light appeared incomparably tiny, like an inconspicuous little boat upon a sea of raging waves. And amid the wind and waves, countless crystalline black blades slashed wildly at that little boat.

It felt as though that little boat could capsize at any moment, as though it could never possibly charge through such a region.

Yet no matter how perilous the situation appeared, Lü Shenliang remained calm, even somewhat bewildered. Not a trace of tension could be seen on her exquisite face. Even Wang Li behind her, who seemed as though he could fall from the sword-light at any moment and be slapped to death by the astral winds, appeared thoroughly accustomed to it.

Their conversation did not cease because of this either.

"Senior Sister, you've been self-detonating your Golden Core a little too frequently lately. I don't have enough spirit talismans left. If nothing happens soon, let's hold off for a while..."

"It's fine. After returning this time, you should quickly advance to the Sixth Level of Qi Refining. You should be able to suppress it."

"Senior Sister, you can't put it that way. You don't run the household, so you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil, and salt are. The spiritual sand we consume in cultivation is already considerable, and there's also that Gold-Devouring Beast... Every spirit talisman costs spiritual sand, especially the spirit medicines used to calm the mind and stabilize Core Qi. I've bought so many that their prices have risen. We're already spending more than we're earning."

"Spiritual sand cannot be saved into existence. When it is time to self-detonate a Golden Core, one must still self-detonate a Golden Core."

"Senior Sister, why does that reasoning suddenly stop making sense once we get here?"

As they chatted in fits and starts, Lü Shenliang rode her sword-light through the Profound Heaven Sect's outer region, and that solitary Lone Peak came into view before them.

Several stone huts stood halfway up Lone Peak, and within them were the cultivation quiet rooms now used by Wang Li and Lü Shenliang.

Before the stone huts was a natural stone terrace. It was extremely flat, its front end jutting out beyond the cliff. A small pine that looked half-dead grew at its edge, and thin white clouds often curled around the little tree.

From afar, there seemed to be nothing unusual about the stone terrace and the stone huts. But as Lü Shenliang approached on her sword-light, a faint, almost imperceptible glow gradually appeared around them. Once the sword-light passed through that glow, it vanished completely again. From a distance, however, Lü Shenliang and Wang Li, who had landed on the stone terrace, could not be seen at all.

The moment Lü Shenliang landed on the stone terrace, a point of azure light flew from her hand, and an azure lotus leaf like a parasol floated above her and Wang Li's heads. Almost at the same time, a soft yellow grass mat spread itself across the stone ground before her.

She casually reclined upon the mat. Yellow light rippled across its surface, and soft yellow grass silently sprouted, supporting her body and arranging her into the most comfortable half-reclining posture.

Wang Li also settled into the most comfortable posture on the grass mat. Then, as if appearing from thin air, a small purple square table emerged between him and Lü Shenliang, bearing spiritual fruits and other food.

It looked very leisurely, but Wang Li knew all too well that such time was far too brief.

At that moment, he suddenly thought of a matter of crucial importance.

So he immediately looked at Lü Shenliang with great seriousness. Gazing into her faintly shining eyes, he asked, "Senior Sister, was it because of you—because you were present—that Old Ancestor Tong Hui's Heavenly Tribulation underwent such a mutation?"

"Perhaps." Lü Shenliang quietly ate a spiritual fruit as she spoke.

"Your 'perhaps' and 'mm' are both the same as saying nothing," Wang Li said helplessly.

Lü Shenliang glanced at him. "It may have been because of me, but it may also have been because of you. How would I know?"

After saying this, the light in her eyes suddenly dimmed, as though a candle flame within her body had abruptly begun to go out.

Wang Li shook his head.

The confusion in Lü Shenliang's eyes seemed to turn murky. At that moment, her left hand habitually flicked, and a fish-shaped jade talisman fell before Wang Li.