Sect Mission

"Senior Brother Chen."

"..."

"Senior Brother Chen, what's wrong?"

Cheng Ziying reached out with a worried look and lightly 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?"

A trace of fear entered 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 recover somewhat, his complexion improving a little.

"Are you all right?"

Cheng Ziying asked cautiously.

"Just a nightmare."

Chen Yan shook his head.

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

Having relaxed slightly, Junior Sister Cheng suddenly seemed to remember something and slapped her forehead. Then she began running toward the Scripture Hall.

"Senior Brother Chen, hurry too! There are simply too many people listening to the Dao!"

Better not.

He recalled Lu Li sitting on a meditation cushion and coldly extending a finger toward him.

Kongshan Finger.

This was a basic move that disciples of the Empty Mountain Sect at the Qi Condensation Realm had to learn, and also the most universally applicable spell technique.

Although it lacked somewhat in power, its perfect compatibility with the Empty Mountain Art allowed most cultivators who practiced the Empty Mountain Art to wield this move with great proficiency.

Normally, even if a Qi Condensation Realm cultivator used the Kongshan Finger against a Body Tempering Realm cultivator without true qi protecting their body, it would be difficult to kill them.

Yet Lu Li had used the Kongshan Finger to effortlessly punch a hole through his chest.

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

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

It had been nothing more than a single Kongshan Finger.

And from dozens of meters away at that, a single finger had easily 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 mortals.

"Repeating the same mistakes..."

Chen Yan muttered softly the assessment of his previous Reincarnation 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.

"..."

The memories of his first two Reincarnations began echoing through Chen Yan's mind.

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

Those were the words spoken by one of the Black Shadows standing beside his bed on the night of his final moments.

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

Lu Li's face surfaced in Chen Yan's mind again.

He began linking everything together.

Calamity Cause.

No one would care about an obscure fringe disciple.

Therefore, although Chen Yan's first life had been rather plain and dull, he had indeed spent a peaceful lifetime in the sect's outer court.

But it was different for geniuses.

Yet Chen Yan was no genius.

He was merely an ordinary Outer Court Disciple, unnoticed all this time.

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

Because a cultivation speed as nearly impossible as his would be deemed a "Calamity Cause" by some people.

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

Even though he had lived for a hundred years, those hundred years had merely been spent muddling through day after day.

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

Only what one went through could do that.

Now, Chen Yan knew how he should live.

The world of the Immortal Dao was always dull.

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

Cultivation, chores, listening to the Dao.

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

Only Outer Court Disciples who advanced to the Qi Condensation Realm were qualified to receive sect missions from the Shang Gong Hall of the outer court, gaining 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.

Then she lifted her eyes toward Chen Yan.

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

"It probably won't take too long."

Chen Yan answered.

"I want to go down the mountain and travel too. Staying in the outer court every day is boring me to death."

"That is simply how the Immortal Dao is..."

"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 the Empty Mountain Sect.

But where could he go?

Even if he truly left the Empty Mountain Sect, it would be impossible for him to achieve anything greater.

Because over ninety percent of the cultivation resources in the Chenping Continent were controlled by the Five Great Sects.

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

Several white cranes flew through the air, seeming to travel from Yibai Peak toward Kongyuan Mountain.

Chen Yan joined Empty Mountain Sect at seven, only reaching the Qi Condensation Realm at the age of forty-one.

Thirty-four years in total—he knew only too well just how tedious that had been.

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 practiced martial techniques nor listened to the Dao.

Compared to an Outer Court Disciple of the 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 Body Tempering Realm.

The same as Cheng Ziying's cultivation.

Among the Empty Mountain Sect's outer court, 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 too surprising if she broke through to the Martial Spring Realm.

As though everything were only natural.

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 impossible for him.

Forget cultivating for a hundred years—even a thousand years, or ten thousand years, would still leave him with only the faintest hope.

Over these three years, everything that had happened in the sect was the same as what 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.

As well as the final victor of the Dao Discussion Conference, Heavenly Peak Dao Seeking, in the Chenping Continent: Qin Qingyu, Chief Disciple of Moonvoid Gate, one of the Five Great Sects' Xingtian Gate.

What happened around him was that Cheng Ziying successfully advanced to the late 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 distanced himself from Cheng Ziying.

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

Thus, whenever Chen Yan looked at the girl beside him and thought of how she would fall two years later, his heart would fill with boundless regret.

Could he try to save her?

By then, Cheng Ziying would already be a Qi Condensation Realm cultivator and would be able to receive sect missions from the outer court's Shang Gong Hall.

As long as he used a sect mission as an excuse to have her leave 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.

"That's right."

Chen Yan nodded.

"..."

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

She was completely different from the childish little girl of five years ago—graceful and slender, elegant and moving.

"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 come with me, can I?"

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

"It would be too lonely 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 going alone too lonely, or would Senior Brother feel lonely without me by your side?"