Zhang Yunlu was a senior at Xuanjian City No. 3 Middle School. Influenced by her late parents, she enjoyed studying the history of the ancient cultivation world.
She had even represented her school in competitions on the subject.
At the eighth level of Qi Refining, she was something of a prodigy and fairly well-known at school.
It was finally Friday, and she planned to unwind for a while, even though she had to make up lessons tomorrow.
She walked into a drink shop outside the school.
"One Dragon Scale Fruit Juice, less sugar and ice."
Dragon scale fruit sounded pretty impressive, but it was actually an ordinary fruit.
Aside from tasting a little better than most, it didn't contain even a trace of spiritual energy.
[Simulated finishes: look for the Pure Moon Flying Sword! Pure Moon Flying Sword finishes use third-generation finish technology, with realistic light effects and excellent sound. A trusted brand for fifty years!]
[According to statistics, the Joyous Union Sect has ranked first in applications for six consecutive terms. Does this signal a shift in the cultivation world's trends?]
[The third maintenance of the city-protecting formation is complete. The mayor said, "We will do everything in our power to ensure the safety of our citizens."]
While she waited, a few news reports and advertisements played on the Mystic Light Mirror hanging overhead. She took her juice and had just found a seat when—
The communicator in her pocket began to buzz.
She took it out and looked.
Her big brother.
She walked over to a table and sat down, then took a sip through the straw before leisurely answering.
"Hello, big brother."
After their parents had died while exploring a Secret Realm, her brother—nearly thirty years older than her—had become her true guardian.
"Xiaolu, are you still at school?"
"I just got out. What's wrong?"
Zhang Yunlu spoke indistinctly around the straw.
"Go back to school right now and don't leave. There's a powerful cultivator above the Void Return Realm emerging from seclusion nearby. We don't yet know if he's a demonic cultivator."
A powerful cultivator... above the Void Return Realm?!
His grave tone made her heart clench.
A powerful cultivator emerging from seclusion was no laughing matter.
Three years ago, the demonic cultivator Cang Jiezi, a powerful cultivator of the Void Return Realm, had emerged from seclusion and entered the world.
With just one demonic formation, he had slaughtered half the population of neighboring Hengjian City to refine his sword and cultivate his arts. Orthodox cultivators had eventually rushed over and killed him, but the dead were still dead.
Those ancient demonic cultivators didn't follow the rules of the modern era.
Knowing how serious the situation was, she didn't care that she'd only had one sip of her juice. She hung up, sprang to her feet, and ran outside. But just as she got out—
Whoosh~
The spiritual tide surged, and turbulent spiritual energy churned.
Zhang Yunlu froze and looked up. Red formation patterns lit up across the sky, enveloping the entire city.
The city-protecting formation had been activated!
Her brother had been telling the truth!
"Attention!"
"A powerful cultivator above the Void Return Realm, who has not lived through the Great Transformation, has emerged from seclusion. It is not yet known whether he is a demonic cultivator."
"To protect the lives of our citizens, please proceed at once to the nearest school or Immortal Sect outpost. Do not leave the area covered by the city-protecting formation!"
"The Ancient Cultivator Response Department has dispatched True Person Xiaoning, a Void Return Realm cultivator, along with twelve Spirit Transformation cultivators and seventy-two Nascent Soul Cultivators."
A familiar voice rang out across the city, amplified by a magical device made by the Spirit Sound Workshop.
It was the principal of Xuanjian City No. 3 Middle School!
The highest-cultivating person in Xuanjian City.
In an instant, everyone understood what was happening.
Residents who had moved here from Hengjian City were especially unable to suppress their panic. Having lived through that incident, they knew better than anyone how cruel demonic cultivators could be.
Zhang Yunlu raced toward the school, leaving afterimages in her wake.
Under the city-protecting formation, countless streaks of spiritual light tore across the sky.
Among them was the drink shop owner. He hadn't even had time to shut the shop door. An icy-blue long sword shot beneath his feet, and in an instant he overtook her.
There were also a middle-aged woman holding a cleaver and still wearing her apron, someone carrying a broom, sanitation workers in orange uniforms, and even a person who was putting on his clothes while flying on his sword. Who knew what he'd been doing just before?
Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, even Nascent Soul Cultivators—all of them hurried toward the schools and the civilian outposts of the various sects.
When Zhang Yunlu was nearly at the school, she spotted someone standing in the middle of the road, looking up at the sky.
Without a second thought, she called out, "Hey! Hurry back to school!"
The person turned around. He looked young, only a few years older than her.
"Okay."
He nodded and followed her.
The school gate was packed with people, mostly Qi Refining students.
Zhang Yunlu pushed through the crowd and made it into the school without trouble. At last, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew~"
The teachers were all powerful cultivators. The three vice principals were Spirit Transformation cultivators, and the principal was just one step away from reaching the Void Return Realm.
With the city-protecting formation's power, they could hold off even an attacking Old Devil of the Void Return Realm for a while.
Oh, right. There was also the person who had just followed her inside.
"I'm a student here. If you don't know your way around, I can—"
She turned around.
Huh?
Where'd he go?
At Xuanjian City No. 3 Middle School, Xu Xing wandered beneath a classroom building, stopping now and then to glance at the sky.
No one noticed him. Even when someone's gaze swept over him, it simply passed by, as if they couldn't see him at all.
"I really caused quite a stir by coming out of seclusion this time."
He'd understood as soon as he heard the broadcast outside: the reason for all this commotion was his emergence from seclusion.
As for the details, he'd pieced together most of them from the scattered snippets he'd overheard.
Come to think of it, how had this world become so... modern?
There was the sports field, the classroom buildings, students in matching uniforms, and teachers in suits.
Hah. Some bigwig must have come for an inspection.
The familiar yet strange things around him seemed to overlap with distant memories. If it had only been one thing, that would have been one thing, but with so many familiar details, Xu Xing couldn't help wondering if some transmigrator from his hometown was behind it.
After all, there was precedent. It wouldn't be surprising if there were more.
In any case, he should check out the library first.
He crossed the sports field. With his Divine Sense spread out, he already knew where the library was.
At the entrance, a gaunt old man with a hunched frame, a face full of wrinkles, and only a few strands of hair left lay on a lounge chair, looking perfectly content. The commotion outside hadn't affected him in the least.
Beneath his emaciated body was a torrent of vital energy as fierce as the sun. If he released it all, it would cover the whole of Xuanjian City, and Golden Core cultivators would be burned alive.
What a pity.
Xu Xing glanced at him, then paid him no more attention and headed straight inside.
There weren't many people within. The first floor held rows of shelves packed with all kinds of miscellaneous books. Any student could enter.
The second floor was different. You needed authorization to enter. It held several thousand jade slips, neatly arranged and filled with basic cultivation arts and Qi Refining spells.
The third floor held several hundred types of cultivation arts and secret techniques at the Foundation Establishment level.
The fourth floor held only a few dozen jade slips, containing cultivation arts and divine abilities related to the Golden Core stage.
As for the fifth floor, the last one, it held only seven jade slips, shimmering with colorful light and surrounded by the Dao's aura. They contained the divine abilities of the Seven Great Immortal Sects, and only Nascent Soul cultivators could cultivate them!
At this, Xu Xing was finally a little surprised.
Never mind that these secret, untransmitted divine abilities were in the library of a school.
"The Seven Great Immortal Sects?"
Since time immemorial, there had only been six Immortal Sects. How had another one suddenly appeared?
Aside from the divine abilities of the six Immortal Sects, the extra one was called the Joyous Union Qi-Harvesting Yin-Yang Art!
It was a divine ability of the Joyous Union Sect.
"..."
The Joyous Union Sect had become an orthodox Immortal Sect?!
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