As day broke, the working spirit of the outer sect disciples burned as fiercely as the morning glow. They grabbed a few steamed buns from the eatery and scattered in all directions to begin a day of toil.
At this hour, only Lin Yunzi was guarding the stone building.
In truth, the old man had been gazing eagerly toward Sword-Wielding Mountain in the east since early morning.
After all, tomorrow was the start of the disciple challenge, and the Sword-Wielding Elder was too lazy; in all likelihood, she would not help Xiao Ran undergo special training.
He had a premonition that Xiao Ran would come looking for him.
Xiao Ran had come... but with a different purpose.
His stomach kept rumbling, resounding to the heavens.
"I'm hungry, do you have anything to eat here?"
Lin Yunzi started, taking a long while to react: the Uncle-Master was still a mortal!
After freeloading a meal in the outer sect stone building, Xiao Ran produced a list—
Spirit grain and spirit wheat seeds.
Melon, fruit, and vegetable seedlings.
Top-tier spirit field fertilizer.
Landscape-grade spiritual plants and trees such as green bamboo, maple leaves, and cherry blossoms, with their fibrous roots intact.
Rice wine yeast pond.
Natural yeast.
Top-tier spirit grain.
Just this?
Though the lines were short, Lin Yunzi read them back and forth three times.
He saw no hidden weapons.
Tomorrow was the day of the disciple challenge, and you still have the mind to farm and brew wine? Staring blankly across the dining table for a long while, Lin Yunzi asked in utter bewilderment, "This disciple has looked over the list. Does Uncle-Master wish to brew wine?"
Xiao Ran ate peanuts, picking at the side dishes.
He was ravenous, and Lin Yunzi had no time to prepare spiritual food, hastily scrounging up some mortal-grade lunch items from the outer sect eatery.
Yet these were, after all, ingredients nurtured by an immortal household, not to be spoken of in the same breath as mortal fare.
It was delicious.
"Mm, the wine Master drinks is too poor; I want to do my part."
"Uncle-Master Xiao truly holds a heart of utter sincerity toward Elder Lingzhou."
Lin Yunzi buttered him up smoothly and imperceptibly, then abruptly changed the subject.
"However, how does Uncle-Master plan to cope with tomorrow's disciple challenge?"
Xiao Ran took a sip of the deep pool fish soup, continued eating heartily, and said offhandedly:
"There's no need to take such a small matter to heart."
And he called this a small matter?
If he failed to win the convinced submission of the inner sect elite disciples, according to the Dao Alliance's new regulations, the Disciplinary Elder possessed the authority to petition the Dao Alliance to abolish Xiao Ran's status as a Direct Disciple.
Tentatively, Lin Yunzi lowered his voice. "If Uncle-Master wishes to take a shortcut, this disciple still has some items sufficient to deal with Qi Refining cultivators here."
What use was dealing with Qi Refining cultivators?
Xiao Ran had his own plans.
"You mean well, but there is no need to trouble yourself with such trifles. I have my own plans."
"This disciple was presumptuous."
After the meal, Lin Yunzi promptly summoned the handymen and doled out Xiao Ran's listed tasks one by one.
Xiao Ran never expected that tasks worth two spirit stones would actually attract a hundred-odd handymen...
There were no difficult tasks, only brave handymen.
Labor crew, set out!
Amidst the void, Xiao Ran seemed to hear a chorus of barking.
After the handyman squads departed in groups, Lin Yunzi spoke again. "Spirit grain and fertilizer can only be purchased at the Three Valleys Granary on Great Valley Peak. Outer sect disciples lack purchasing clearance, but I can escort Uncle-Master there together."
"Troublesome for you."
Great Valley Peak was rather far.
Xiao Ran summoned a paper kite and stepped aboard.
Lin Yunzi felt too embarrassed to fly on his sword in front of Xiao Ran, so he stepped onto the paper kite alongside him.
Xiao Ran:
What the hell.
I'm merely a mortal; could you please cater to my physical constitution? I do have my dignity, you know.
Lin Yunzi, meanwhile, let slip no opportunity to lavish praise.
"Though I have not seen you for a single day, Uncle-Master's control of the paper kite is already so steady. This disciple has lived in vain for several hundred years, yet falls short of Uncle-Master's single day of effort."
This time, it seemed like a heartfelt sentiment.
Hearing it was still somewhat pleasant.
Xiao Ran said, "If you are bored, you may tell me stories of what you know concerning my Master."
Lin Yunzi cautiously organized his phrasing.
He dared not expose too much of the Sword-Wielding Elder's unseemliness, yet he could not ignore the facts to force beautification and lay the flattery on too thick.
"Although the Sword-Wielding Elder's lifestyle habits differ vastly from ordinary people and her reputation within the sect is poor, precisely because of her existence, she has drawn quite a few new disciples to join the sect over the years."
"Especially female disciples."
He added.
Ah, this...
Xiao Ran asked again:
"Do you know Master's true strength?"
Lin Yunzi answered:
"In her early years, the Sword-Wielding Elder was a proud heaven-chosen talent of the Dao Alliance Academy with exceptional innate aptitude. Regrettably, after entering our sect, she allowed her cultivation to lapse, remaining at the Spirit Severing Realm to this day."
"Only Spirit Severing?"
"Yet she minds it not at all. After all, her combat prowess is second only to the Sect Master. Five hundred years ago, upon just entering the Spirit Severing Realm, she defeated Uncle-Master Boyun of the Body Integration Realm and assumed the post of Sword-Wielding Elder—a sensation at the time."
Was fighting above one's realm an everyday occurrence for her?
She must have obtained a female protagonist template, Xiao Ran thought to himself.
"What are the cultivation levels of the other powerhouses within the sect?"
"Grandmaster Sect Master is one of the nine living Mahayana cultivators in the present era; Uncle-Master Boyun holds the sect's sole Body Integration Realm cultivation; the rest of the elders are all at the Spirit Severing Realm."
As an outer sect instructor, Lin Yunzi was a veritable encyclopedia regarding inner sect affairs.
"Among the Direct Disciples, aside from Uncle-Master Jiyun, Uncle-Master Gao Shi of Sword-Tempering Mountain is at the Nascent Soul Realm; Uncle-Master Luo Sheng of Discipline Hall is at the Golden Core Realm. Up on Hundred Herbs Peak, the two Uncle-Masters Chunwa and Qiuchan are rumored to have reached only Qi Refining to this day, but do not underestimate the two of them. There is gossip saying... the two Uncle-Masters possess demon race bloodline."
Demon race bloodline? No wonder they were extremely sensitive to vegetation, insects, and beasts!
Yet something was amiss... Xiao Ran furrowed his brows slightly.
"I've heard that demon race survival demands extremely high concentrations of spiritual energy. In the Dharma Ending Era where spiritual energy is thin, how on earth did they manage to survive?"
"That you would have to ask the Alchemy Elder. Although her old ladyship looks gentle and pretty, and is the dream goddess of countless dashing talents, if you were to cut her open—"
Xiao Ran:
"Cut her open?"
Only then did Lin Yunzi realize he had spoken out of turn.
"Ahem, this old man was muddled. Elder Yinyue excels at fighting poison with poison, possesses extremely profound research into all manner of poisons, and dares to take risks, so..."
Xiao Ran:
"So?"
Faced with Xiao Ran's relentless cross-examination, Lin Yunzi grew somewhat flustered and hurriedly said, "Those are all minor street rumors; they are not to be believed."
"..."
Xiao Ran suddenly recalled the body dissection and herbal baths True Person Yinyue had spoken of...
Could it be that...
The more Xiao Ran thought about it, the more terrifying it seemed.
He simply chose not to dwell on it further.
Let us change the subject.
"What are the cultivation levels of the inner sect disciples challenging me tomorrow?"
Lin Yunzi said:
"Among the inner sect elite disciples, most are at the Foundation Establishment Realm, but there is no lack of a few Golden Core Realm powerhouses among them!"
Xiao Ran remained perplexed:
"It is understandable that there is only one person each at the Mahayana and Body Integration realms. But including subsidiary sects, our sect encompasses over a hundred immortal mountains and spans a hundred miles. For such a vast sect, Brother Gao is the sole person in the Nascent Soul generation. The generational fracture is far too severe..."
"It is not entirely a generational gap, strictly speaking. Aside from Uncle-Master Gao, among the sect's hundred-odd instructors, there still remain a few Nascent Soul seniors. Among them, tomorrow Uncle-Master might encounter a certain Nascent Soul disciple who only just promoted to instructor this year... Still, overall, the sect's Nascent Soul cultivators are indeed far too few."
Amidst the howling gale winds, Lin Yunzi also let out a sigh.
"This is because, during the final Wraith Extermination War, a massive number of Nascent Soul Stage Wraiths appeared. While cultivators at the Nascent Soul level and above could still preserve themselves, cultivators below Nascent Soul could not take the field at all. The Nascent Soul cultivators suffered the heaviest losses; Uncle-Master Gao only advanced to the Nascent Soul Realm after donning the iron ring in recent years."
So that was how it was!
Suddenly, Xiao Ran felt a trace of curiosity.
"How did my Master perform during the final Wraith Extermination War?"
Lin Yunzi spoke slowly and steadily:
"Elder Lingzhou was still young back then. During her first out-of-sect mission for the Dao Alliance Academy, she encountered the Wraith Extermination War. Battling a Nascent Soul Wraith while at the Golden Core Realm, she leveraged the combat to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm. Afterward, she successively beheaded dozens of Nascent Soul Wraiths. From that battle onward, she became renowned, shaking the True Spirit Continent!"
Xiao Ran was thoroughly convinced.
Wraiths were the natural enemies of cultivators of the same rank!
And yet, not only did she break through mid-combat while outmatched by a whole tier, but afterwards she went on to successively slay dozens of same-tier Nascent Souls...
Xiao Ran finally understood why his Master possessed a deficit in the IQ department.
What was IQ? Could it be eaten? Had True Person Yinyue seriously never considered cutting Master open to take a look? What kind of divine constitution was this anyway? Did she pop out from a crevice in a rock? Suddenly, Xiao Ran asked:
"Do you know Master's origins? For instance, is her mother famous? Can she perform divination arts?"
Lin Yunzi started slightly, unaware why Xiao Ran would ask so abruptly.
"This disciple is merely a lowly Qi Refining cultivator; how could I possibly know such secret lore? But what is certain is that Elder Lingzhou's origins are not famous."
"Oh..."
Appearing slightly disappointed, Xiao Ran pondered for a moment before asking again:
"Although Master is overbearing and dislikes men, her figure is proud and her temperament outstanding. Has no man within the sect or the Dao Alliance ever pursued her?"
"Indeed they have."
"Where are they?"
"They're all gone."
Before you continue