Sect Mission

"Senior Brother Chen."

"..."

"Senior Brother Chen, what's wrong?"

Cheng Ziying reached out with a worried look and gently patted Chen Yan's shoulder a few times.

Chen Yan opened his eyes, and his first reaction was to reach for his chest.

There was no hole in it, nor could he see his heart.

"Senior Brother Chen?"

There was now a trace of fear in Cheng Ziying's gaze as she looked at Chen Yan. She had never seen Senior Brother Chen with such a panicked and savage expression.

Only after another half an incense stick's time had passed did Chen Yan finally come back to his senses, his complexion improving slightly.

"Are you all right?"

Cheng Ziying asked cautiously.

"It was only a nightmare."

Chen Yan shook his head.

"That's good... Ah, Instructor Lu's lecture!"

Having relaxed a little, Junior Sister Cheng suddenly seemed to recall something and smacked her forehead. Then she began running toward the Scripture Hall.

"Senior Brother Chen, hurry too! There are simply too many people attending the lecture!"

Better not.

He recalled Lu Li sitting on a meditation cushion, extending a finger toward him with cold indifference.

Kongshan Finger.

This was a basic technique that disciples of the Empty Mountain Sect at the Qi Condensation Realm had to learn, as well as the most broadly applicable spell technique.

Although it lacked somewhat in power, its perfect compatibility with the Empty Mountain Art cultivation method allowed the vast majority of cultivators who practiced the Empty Mountain Art to wield this technique with great proficiency.

Under normal circumstances, even if a Qi Condensation Realm cultivator used the Kongshan Finger against a Body Tempering Realm cultivator who had yet to develop true qi to protect their body, it would still be difficult to kill them.

Yet Lu Li had casually punched a hole through his chest with the Kongshan Finger.

This was the death that had left the deepest impression on Chen Yan.

It had also made him truly feel the terror of a Martial Spring Realm cultivator.

It had only been one Kongshan Finger.

And it had been a finger strike from dozens of meters away, yet it had effortlessly killed him—a Qi Condensation Realm Late-stage cultivator—in an instant.

The gap between the Martial Spring Realm and the Qi Condensation Realm was even greater than the gap between the Qi Condensation Realm and ordinary mortals.

"Repeating the same mistakes..."

Chen Yan quietly muttered the assessment of his previous cycle that he had seen in the darkness after death.

Perhaps this meant that his two deaths had happened for the same reason.

Sitting before the tree, Chen Yan sorted through his thoughts and sank into contemplation.

"..."

Memories from the first two cycles began echoing through Chen Yan's mind.

"Tch, half a month ago, he was still at the early Body Tempering Realm, wasn't he?"

Those were the words he had heard from one of the black shadows standing by his bed on that night, in the final moments of his life.

"But if someone truly could accomplish such a thing, he would surely be a peerless prodigy capable of shaking the entire Chenping Continent."

Lu Li's face surfaced in Chen Yan's mind once more.

He began linking everything together.

The cause of disaster.

No one would care about an obscure disciple on the fringes.

Thus, though Chen Yan's first life had been rather dull and boring, he had indeed spent a peaceful life in the sect's Outer Court.

But for geniuses, it was different.

Yet Chen Yan was no genius.

He was merely an ordinary Outer Court Disciple, obscure and unnoticed to this day.

Geniuses would receive the sect's focused cultivation. He would not.

Because a cultivation speed as nearly impossible as his would be regarded by some as the "cause of disaster."

No one had ever taught Chen Yan these principles, and before this, he had known nothing of the rules for surviving within the sect.

Even though he had lived for a hundred years, those hundred years had been nothing more than muddling through day after day.

The length of one's lifespan did not increase one's experience.

Only through experience.

Now, Chen Yan knew how he should live.

The world of cultivators was always dull.

Especially for those Outer Court Disciples who received no attention from their sect.

Cultivating, doing chores, listening to lectures on the Dao.

That was every day in the life of an Outer Court Disciple in the Body Tempering Realm.

Only Outer Court Disciples who advanced to the Qi Condensation Realm were qualified to visit the Outer Court's Shang Gong Hall to collect sect missions and gain the chance to briefly leave the sect and travel down the mountain.

"So boring!"

Cheng Ziying lay listlessly across the stone table before her, lightly tapping its surface with her fingertips.

If Search Book Title doesn't work, try searching for the author instead. Perhaps the title was simply changed!

Then she raised her eyes toward Chen Yan.

"Senior Brother Chen, when do you think I'll be able to break through to the Qi Condensation Realm?"

"Probably not too long from now."

Chen Yan answered.

"I want to travel down the mountain too. Staying in the Outer Court every day is boring me to death."

"That is simply the path of immortality..."

"Not listening, not listening—a turtle chanting scriptures!"

Cheng Ziying covered her ears and playfully stuck out her tongue at Chen Yan.

He shook his head with a bitter smile, then looked up at the sky.

It was not as though Chen Yan had never considered leaving Empty Mountain Sect.

But where could he go?

Even if he truly left Empty Mountain Sect, he could never achieve anything greater.

Because more than ninety percent of Chenping Continent's cultivation resources were controlled by the Five Great Sects.

And Empty Mountain Sect was one of those Five Great Sects.

Several white cranes flew through the sky, seemingly heading from Yibai Peak to Kongyuan Mountain.

Chen Yan had joined Empty Mountain Sect at seven, only attaining the Qi Condensation Realm at forty-one.

Thirty-four years in total—he knew all too well just how dull those years had been.

By now, another three years had passed since his last reincarnation.

Over those three years, he had done everything possible to make his presence within the sect even less noticeable.

He neither sparred nor listened to lectures on the Dao.

Compared to an Outer Court Disciple of Empty Mountain Sect, Chen Yan seemed more like a Rogue Cultivator living within the sect.

Chen Yan publicly claimed that his current cultivation was at the late stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

The same level as Cheng Ziying.

Among the Outer Court disciples of Empty Mountain Sect, Cheng Ziying's talent and comprehension were above average.

Disciples with such talent would not draw much attention within the sect, and it would not seem overly surprising for them to break through to the Martial Spring Realm.

As though everything had fallen into place naturally.

Yet in truth, Chen Yan's actual cultivation at this moment was already beginning to approach the Qi Condensation Realm Peak.

Chen Yan had a clear understanding of his own talent.

Perhaps he could barely enter the Martial Spring Realm with his talent, but breaking through to the Qi Sea Realm through cultivation was an impossible feat for him.

Forget cultivating for a hundred years—even a thousand, or ten thousand years, would leave the chance vanishingly slim.

Over these three years, everything that had happened within the sect was the same as Chen Yan had known before.

Including Lu Li catching the eye of Elder Zhengfa of Qingchan Peak and being transferred to Qingchan Peak to serve as an instructor.

And the final victor of Heavenly Peak Dao Seeking at the Chenping Continent Dao Discussion Conference: Qin Qingyu, Chief Disciple of Yuexu Gate of Xingtian Gate, one of the Five Great Sects.

As for what had happened around him, Cheng Ziying had successfully advanced to the late stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

If nothing unexpected happened, she would break through to the Qi Condensation Realm at nineteen, two years from now.

And not long after breaking through to the Qi Condensation Realm, Cheng Ziying would die in that calamity.

In this life, Chen Yan had not grown estranged from Cheng Ziying.

Like a girl from next door, Cheng Ziying was always by Chen Yan's side, adding at least a little vitality to his dull cultivation life.

Thus, whenever Chen Yan looked at the young girl beside him and thought of how she would perish two years from now, his heart filled with boundless regret.

Could he try to save her?

By then, Cheng Ziying had already become a cultivator of the Qi Condensation Realm and could accept sect missions from the Shang Gong Hall of the outer court.

As long as he could use a sect mission as an excuse to get her out of the sect before the calamity struck.

As long as he could get her out of the sect...

"A sect mission?"

Two years later, nineteen-year-old Cheng Ziying stood before Chen Yan.

"Yes."

Chen Yan nodded.

"..."

Cheng Ziying merely fell silent, her hands clasped behind her back as she stared fixedly into Chen Yan's eyes.

She was completely different from the little girl whose childishness had yet to fade five years ago. Now she stood slender and graceful, elegant and captivating.

"Why?"

she asked.

"Why what?"

"Why does Senior Brother want me to go with you?"

"With my popularity, I can't exactly get anyone else to accompany me."

"But it's clearly just a mission to deliver a letter to the sect's envoy stationed in a town near the sect. Can't one person do it alone?"

"It'd be too lonely going alone."

Chen Yan answered.

"Is that so?"

Cheng Ziying tilted her little head slightly, then took two steps forward and leaned close to Chen Yan's ear, her breath fragrant as orchids.

"Is it that going alone would be too lonely, or would Senior Brother feel lonely if I weren't by your side?"