Bei Qing Si

After chatting with the two of them for a while, he arranged to meet them here at this time every month. At other times, they might not be able to find him. Then he saw the two of them off.

Watching them leave, Zhong Shan shook his head. They were flowers raised in a greenhouse—untested by hardship and utterly lacking in guile.

After packing enough dry rations, Zhong Shan once again headed for the Flame Fruit Cave Heaven. Inside, he continued cultivating the Great Yang Divine Skill.

He was only at the Innate Second Stage, and he had also chosen a rather excellent technique. Yet among this group, someone had already reached the Innate Third Stage. Even if that person's technique was also top-tier, his cultivation speed was still inferior.

His Root Bone was simply too poor. He could only rely on unceasing effort. He had to work harder than everyone else—that was the only way.

Thus, Zhong Shan continued cultivating in the Flame Fruit Cave Heaven, practicing the Great Yang Divine Skill without pause. Once he grew somewhat restless from practicing, he would enter the mountains to slaughter demonic beasts and battle them. Through repeated trials, he continuously increased his strength.

Zhong Shan had been at the Kaiyang Sect for eight months, but he still had not broken through the Second Stage. Now, he was constantly charging at the peak of the Innate Second Stage. Even in the Flame Fruit Cave Heaven, where he had an advantage over others, he still failed to break through. Zhong Shan did not grow anxious. If he could not break through, he would simply keep working hard. Had he not come through it all like this over the past several decades? He had to hold his nerve!

After returning to the Listening Water Pavilion, the rice had ripened again. Having harvested the grain, he stood outside the courtyard. By now, Zhong Shan no longer chopped wood. As time passed, he had discovered that although his Root Bone was poor, his comprehension was absolutely extraordinary. His saber technique had already been honed to perfection. Once he glanced at a piece of wood, he could accurately split along its grain even if he closed his eyes afterward.

Because of his Root Bone, his internal cultivation was not apparent, but with his astonishing comprehension, his external cultivation progressed extraordinarily quickly.

The Great Yang Divine Skill, Heaven Splitting Strike, and Slaughter All had already become well-practiced. Yet Zhong Shan still trained them every single day. The simpler the saber technique, the more seriously it had to be practiced. The wood he had once chopped had now become stone. Zhong Shan searched for the grain in the stone. Though its grain could not be seen, it could be felt when the saber struck. He had to sense the grain's existence the instant his saber touched the stone, then strike its weakest point in one blow.

It sounded easy, but doing it was exceptionally difficult. It required extreme precision.

This was how Zhong Shan spent his time at the Listening Water Pavilion. Nan Batian and Tian Ling'er also came by to sit with him for a while.

"Zhong Shan, did you know? Overnight, Third Senior Sister's hair and eyebrows all turned white." Nan Batian casually lifted a cup of tea.

The Third Senior Sister Nan Batian spoke of was naturally known to Zhong Shan. The Second-Generation Third Senior Sister, Bei Qing Si, was, like Nan Batian and Tian Ling'er, supremely confident about reaching the Golden Core Stage. Thus, she had long since positioned herself as a Second-Generation disciple of the Kaiyang Sect.

"Her hair all turned white?" Zhong Shan frowned and looked at Nan Batian.

"Yes. But the white was extremely beautiful. It wasn't a withered white—it was glossy and radiant, beautiful beyond compare." A trace of wonder appeared on Nan Batian's face.

"Of course it wasn't withered white. I heard it from my father. Third Senior Sister's hair turned white because she awakened her Bloodline Inheritance. Only her clan possesses this ability. But when I asked Father, he wouldn't say anything. Then I asked Sister Qing Si, and she refused to reveal anything either. Honestly!" Tian Ling'er took a gulp of tea.

"Bloodline Inheritance?" Zhong Shan looked at the two of them.

"Yes. I heard that Bloodline Inheritance is an ability that only certain special Lineages might possess. It sounds quite powerful." Tian Ling'er thought for a moment before speaking.

"So it was Bloodline Inheritance." Nan Batian suddenly understood.

"By the way, Xiao Nanzi, I heard you also have Bloodline Inheritance, but it seems it hasn't appeared for many generations. What is your Bloodline Inheritance?" Tian Ling'er immediately pressed him.

"Me? Who said I have it? I don't." Nan Batian immediately shook his head.

"My father said so." Tian Ling'er replied.

"I don't know." Nan Batian hardened his expression, unwilling to admit it.

"Fine, don't tell me, then." Tian Ling'er also stiffened her face.

Watching Tian Ling'er, Zhong Shan shook his head with a smile. Although Tian Ling'er was a little too innocent and straightforward, being around her made his mood turn cheerful without him realizing it. It was probably the best way to relax during cultivation as well.

"In four months, it'll be your first-year gathering. You still haven't broken through?" Nan Batian looked at Zhong Shan as he asked.

"Not yet. This time, I plan to be gone a little longer. We'll meet again when the first-year gathering arrives." Zhong Shan looked at the two of them.

Seeing him like this, the two of them both knew that Zhong Shan might be training desperately, and they nodded.

"Work hard," Tian Ling'er said with concern.

"Don't worry." Zhong Shan nodded steadily.

After seeing the two of them off, Zhong Shan packed an ample supply of dry rations and cured meat this time.

This time, in four months, he absolutely had to break through to the Innate Third Stage.

There were only four days left before the new disciples' first-year gathering began.

Zhong Shan sat naked inside the Flame Fruit Cave Heaven. He had reached the most critical moment. Perhaps in the next instant, he would attain the Innate Third Stage. Red light surged all over his body, and vast amounts of red Baleful Intent swirled around his body like smoke.

Sweat beaded on Zhong Shan's forehead. He circulated his energy without pause, striving to make his final breakthrough.

"Hahhh~~~~~~~~~~~~"

Zhong Shan roared. The sweat all over his body evaporated completely. His eyes bulged, bloodshot veins filling them, yet a trace of excitement appeared in his expression. Finally—finally, he had broken through to the Innate Third Stage.

It had taken far too much effort. Zhong Shan now deeply resented his own Root Bone for making him suffer so much. Yet it was precisely this suffering that had forged his unshakable will.

The Innate Third Stage. After lightly regulating his breath, Zhong Shan slowly put on his clothes and his Wind Chasing Boots, preparing to leave for the Listening Water Pavilion and await the new disciples' first-year gathering. Zhong Shan knew that on that day, all the Second-Generation disciples, as well as the Sect Master and Peak Lords, would attend personally. If he was lucky enough to receive guidance from some expert, it would save him from taking many wrong turns.

At the moment Zhong Shan reached the Innate Third Stage, a white shadow swept through the hot-spring valley connected to the Flame Fruit Cave Heaven.

The white shadow was dressed entirely in snow-white: white hair, white brows, fair skin, and a pair of bright, large eyes. She stepped on a snow-white long sword, appearing ethereal and otherworldly.

She was a woman of peerless beauty, like a snow lotus blooming atop an iceberg, radiating a sacred purity. Her only flaw was her eyes. They were so otherworldly, as if they had seen through everything in the mortal world, filled with a faint, detached coldness.

The woman descended into the valley and stood atop the huge stone where Zhong Shan had once dried his clothes. She half-crouched and gently brushed her fair, delicate hand across the hot spring. Her half-crouching posture pulled her clothes taut against her body, accentuating a figure that would send every man's adrenal glands into overdrive. At this moment, even an eminent monk on the verge of entering the grave would immediately give rise to the thought of returning to secular life.

The woman seemed to have a sort of obsession with cleanliness. Everything on her was white. Even the bracelet she wore was flawless and pure white. It was a Storage Bracelet. With a flip of her hand, she took sixteen small flags from it.

She flung the small flags toward the four directions. They landed in every corner of the valley, forming a flag formation.

She struck the flag formation with a Magic Seal. In an instant, the valley was shrouded in countless white mists, and soon, nothing inside could be seen from outside.

Of course, this flag formation did more than conceal the valley. It also formed a sealed Small Space here.

After sensing that the flag formation was complete, the woman gently undid the sash around her waist and slowly shed her clothes, one piece at a time, leaving nothing on her body. Draped in her snow-white hair, she slowly entered the hot spring and bathed her perfect body.

Gently, she used the hot-spring water to carefully wash her graceful body. Immersed in the spring, she seemed to be enjoying herself. She sat on the rounded stones and leaned against a large rock, leaving only her head above the surface. After washing for a while, she gently closed her eyes and relaxed.

Elsewhere, at the bottom of the hot spring, Zhong Shan finally sealed up the Flame Fruit Cave Heaven and slowly swam upward.

The bottom of the hot spring where Zhong Shan was was extremely deep. Normally, it took the time of one incense stick to swim to the surface. Zhong Shan was neither hurried nor slow as he gradually swam upward.

An incense stick later, the woman seemed to feel that she had soaked long enough. She gently rose and slowly walked toward the bank. When she reached the shore and the hot-spring water only reached her knees, she once again looked at her perfect body. She placed a hand against her chest and lightly patted it. Just as she felt it tremble faintly, the woman's eyes suddenly froze.

"Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~" The center of the hot-spring lake suddenly erupted upward, and Zhong Shan, dressed in white, burst out of the water.

P.S. A new day, a new chapter! Please vote to help me climb the rankings. Anyone there?