Days in the Mountains, Immortal Seedlings Emerge

Even if he could not bring it glory, it would still be good if he could lead Natural Hall onward.

Xuanjizi fell silent in thought for a while, then looked at Qin Haoxuan and sighed. "Weak seeds have a hard time surviving in the sect, but Heaven has allowed our immortal seeds to endure. That, too, is a trial for us. Your Dao heart is steadfast, and your heart is set upon the Dao. Since that is so, this old Daoist will take you as a disciple. Once your three-month initial training period is over and you have completed Entering the Immortal Dao, come report to Natural Hall. If you run into trouble again, give them my name, Xuanjizi. There should be far fewer people pestering you. If someone still refuses to let the matter rest, and you truly have reason on your side, this old Daoist will stand up for you. Even if it reaches Huang Long, this old Daoist still has the strength for it."

Huang Long? Qin Haoxuan had been in the Primordial Sect for many days. Whenever anyone mentioned the Sect Master, they would clasp their hands and raise them high above their heads in respect, addressing him as Sect Master True Lord. Even Elder Chu had shown such deference when referring to the Sect Master. This was the first time Qin Haoxuan had seen someone so casually call the Sect Master by his Daoist title.

Sensing Qin Haoxuan's astonished gaze, Xuanjizi merely smiled faintly. There was an immortal air about him, distinct from ordinary mortals, and his smile carried a touch of appreciation and fatherly kindness. Feeling the sincerity in that unfeigned gaze, Qin Haoxuan hurriedly knelt and performed the grand rite of three kneelings and nine kowtows to acknowledge his master.

"Keep this spirit talisman on you for protection. If anyone here dares bully you, use it. Even if you beat someone to death, your master will cover for you. You have only kowtowed in advance to become my disciple. If you cannot complete Entering the Immortal Dao, then these kowtows will have been for nothing. So do not think that kowtowing means all your worries are over. On the path of immortality, you cannot rely on others. Everything still depends on yourself."

After Qin Haoxuan completed the rites, Xuanjizi caught sight, from the corner of his eye, of the two men with hostile expressions who had tried to assassinate Qin Haoxuan. He took out a spirit talisman carrying the power of twenty leaves in the Immortal Seedling Realm and placed it in Qin Haoxuan's hand.

Feeling the terrifying spiritual energy radiating from the talisman, Qin Haoxuan was overjoyed and knelt again. This Xuanjizi truly was as kind as Pu Hanzhong had said. He had none of the airs of others, considered everything with meticulous care, and dearly protected his disciples. No wonder Pu Hanzhong respected him so deeply.

After Xuanjizi took Pu Hanzhong away, Qin Haoxuan, now without his protective umbrella, held the talisman Xuanjizi had given him. With this trump card in hand, he fearlessly swept his gaze over the assassins lying on the ground.

The group of six-leaf cultivators were all terrified by the violent spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from the talisman. They knew full well that if it erupted, its power would be far beyond anything they could withstand.

For more than ten days, each of them had eaten less than half a bowl of rice a day. In a hellish place like the Nine Yin Ice Cave, which drained one's physical strength so severely, even three full meals a day would not have been enough. Eating less than half a bowl a day only kept them from starving to death.

After half a month of hunger and cold, and intimidated by Qin Haoxuan's imposing presence, they had long since lost the arrogant swagger they had possessed upon first entering the Nine Yin Ice Cave, as well as their lofty ambition to kill Qin Haoxuan in exchange for a chance to soar to prosperity. Deep down, they now only wished to leave this hellhole alive. From then on, whenever anything connected to Qin Haoxuan came up, they would run as far away as they could.

When Qin Haoxuan stepped on and injured several of their companions again, they no longer had the courage to stop him.

Qin Haoxuan, clutching the twenty-leaf Immortal Seedling Realm talisman, had no intention of letting them off so easily. He drove a vicious punch into one man's dantian, making him bare his teeth in agony, yet he did not dare retaliate. From what they had learned of Qin Haoxuan over the past days, if they truly drove him into a corner, he really would dare perish together with them.

That was how momentum worked: when you were weak, he was strong; when you were strong, he was weak! Qin Haoxuan understood this principle deeply.

Over the next five days, Qin Haoxuan seized every moment to absorb spiritual energy and water his immortal seedling. Though there was still no sign of it emerging, the immortal seed had grown much larger, already five times the size of an ordinary immortal seed.

When the time came, Qin Haoxuan was escorted out of the Nine Yin Ice Cave by law enforcement disciples. Having spent twenty peaceful days inside, he emerged still wanting more. After he left, whether the heavily injured assassins still imprisoned there or the other dozen or so old hands, all let out heavy sighs of relief, as though a great burden had been lifted.

Qin Haoxuan had wanted to report those assassins to the law enforcement team, but they were now seriously injured. To make a report, he would need witnesses, and among those imprisoned in the Nine Yin Ice Cave, perhaps only Pu Hanzhong would be willing to testify for him. If he dragged Senior Brother Pu, who had treated him so well, into this matter, he would be doing him a grave wrong.

After turning it over in his mind, Qin Haoxuan decided to pretend this incident had never happened. Those six-leaf senior brothers likely would no longer have either the courage or the face to meet him again.

Returning once more to Spirit Field Valley after twenty days away, Qin Haoxuan hurried eagerly toward Xu Yu's room. Twenty days had passed; he wondered whether she had emerged yet.

As he walked, Qin Haoxuan sensed the spiritual energy around Zhang Kuang's room becoming extraordinarily dense. Shortly afterward, a faint streak of purple qi shot skyward from Zhang Kuang's room.

Had Zhang Kuang emerged? Qin Haoxuan quickened his pace and saw that a sea of people had gathered outside Zhang Kuang's house, making for a lively scene.

Many disciples drawn by the strange phenomenon at Zhang Kuang's residence had rushed over and gathered outside. Once the faint purple qi gradually faded and everything returned to normal, Zhang Kuang emerged with a proud smile on his lips and an arrogant expression on his face. The many lackeys waiting there immediately began congratulating him.

"Congratulations, Boss, on successfully emerging and becoming the first among the purple seeds!"

"Emergence is the dividing line between cultivators and ordinary people. Boss is incredible! You left the other two purple seeds behind and became the first cultivator!"

"Li Jing can scheme and exhaust every trick in the book, but it is all in vain. In terms of strength and realm, he will always be one level below Boss. He will never be a match for our Boss!"

"That's right! Li Jing thinks he can contend with you, Boss, just by winning over Xu Yu? That is nothing but a fool's dream!"

As Zhang Kuang's followers showered him with flattery, quite a few menial senior brothers who had sensed something unusual and guessed that Zhang Kuang had emerged soon arrived. These Immortal Seedling Realm cultivators heaped praise upon him without restraint. Their skill at brownnosing was far beyond that of the new disciples, leaving Zhang Kuang immensely pleased. Next came the customary gift-giving, an indispensable step in currying favor.

"Congratulations, Junior Brother Zhang, on emerging. Emerging after only a month and a half—this speed has broken the sect's record for the fastest emergence. Even among many supreme great sects, there may not be a genius disciple like you! Junior Brother Zhang, these are some spirit herbs I grew myself. Please do not disdain them." A five-leaf Immortal Seedling Realm senior brother placed several clearly high-quality spirit herbs in Zhang Kuang's hands.

"Junior Brother Zhang Kuang, these are pills I refined myself..."

"This spirit talisman is equivalent to the full-force strike of a ten-leaf Immortal Seedling Realm expert. I hope Junior Brother Zhang will accept it!"

For a time, all kinds of things, worthy and unworthy alike, were brought out by the menial senior brothers who had come at the news and piled beside Zhang Kuang. In the end, the pile nearly reached the height of a person.

Zhang Kuang was already accustomed to such ingratiation. It would have been strange if no one came to curry favor with him. No matter whether the gifts were good or bad, he accepted them all with a smile and thanked each giver in turn. Though these menial disciples were insignificant within the sect and had little weight to their words, it would still be good if he could use their mouths to spread word of his reputation for honoring worthy men and treating subordinates with courtesy.

Qin Haoxuan gave a bitter smile. The last time he had come out of confinement, he had encountered Zhang Kuang Rooting. This time, he had come out of confinement only to encounter Zhang Kuang emerging. What a coincidence indeed!

Surrounded by the crowd's flattery, Zhang Kuang also spotted Qin Haoxuan passing by. He gave a disdainful snort through his nose, and the sense of superiority that came after emerging rose naturally within him.

No matter what, even if you could find a Spirit Spring, even if you could defeat an Immortal Seedling Realm expert, even if you completed Rooting in twenty days, so what? You are still a mortal, while I have already crossed the boundary of mortals and become a cultivator!

At that moment, Zhang Kuang looked at Qin Haoxuan as a person looked at an ant. He did not even have the urge to step on him! Having emerged, his state of mind had broadened greatly, and he could better understand the meaning behind True Lord Huang Long's earlier words. Only Li Jing and Xu Yu were qualified to be his opponents. Even Zhang Yang was not!

Faced with Zhang Kuang's gaze, which regarded him like an insignificant ant, Qin Haoxuan merely smiled faintly and continued toward Xu Yu's residence.

When he was still more than ten zhang away from Xu Yu's room, Qin Haoxuan sensed an intensely powerful spiritual energy fluctuation, exactly like the sensation when Zhang Kuang had emerged!

This was a sign of emergence. Could Xu Yu be about to emerge as well? Joy rose in Qin Haoxuan's heart.

The spiritual energy around Xu Yu's house gradually thickened, finally condensing into a faint purple radiance that shot straight into the heavens. This purple glow was wondrous beyond measure, as though it connected to the mysteries of Heaven and Earth and opened the immortal path of unity between man and Heaven.

The purple glow gradually withdrew, and Xu Yu's door opened the next moment. With senses now extraordinarily sharp, Qin Haoxuan saw from afar the faint smile on Xu Yu's face, as beautiful as that of a celestial maiden. After emerging, even Zhang Kuang had developed a faint, almost imperceptible immortal aura, but Xu Yu's temperament was even more transcendent and unworldly, like a fairy of the heavens untouched by mortal dust.

Third update... because of this morning's mistake... this is the third update today... I definitely will not make such a mistake again!