Night had fallen deep.
Moonlight poured like water across the entire Green Cloud Mountain Range, draping its seven towering peaks in a veil of silver.
At Morning Sun Peak, inside Li Xiaoyu's wooden hut.
He ended his day of meditation and slowly opened his eyes.
After several days of consolidation, his fourth-layer Jade Purity Realm cultivation had finally stabilized completely.
In fact, nourished by those pure golden clouds, it even showed signs of further progress.
Yet he still felt somewhat dissatisfied.
The Immortal-Slaying Gourd was a ravenous beast that devoured gold. It was simply too "hungry."
The essence of spiritual energy he refined from absorbing the world's spiritual energy was nowhere near enough to nourish that strand of Geng Metal Sword Qi. It was like trying to put out a cartload of kindling with a cup of water.
"I have to find it something to 'eat.'"
Li Xiaoyu rubbed his chin, his eyes glinting.
He thought of a place he had stumbled upon six years ago, shortly after first coming up the mountain.
It was a secluded valley between Morning Sun Peak and Small Bamboo Peak.
The valley was strewn with strange, jagged rocks and sparse vegetation, but concealed a small vein of iron ore.
The ore was low-grade and its spiritual energy impure. For ordinary disciples, it was not worth mining, so the area was usually deserted.
But to him, with the Immortal-Slaying Gourd, it was practically a treasure trove.
"A mosquito may be small, but it's still meat. Better than nothing."
Having made up his mind, Li Xiaoyu didn't hesitate any longer.
He quietly pushed open the door, then blurred into the night like a ghost.
With his current cultivation, ordinary disciples couldn't detect him unless they were deliberately searching.
Li Xiaoyu avoided the disciples patrolling the mountain and followed the narrow path in his memory toward the valley.
The mountain breeze was chilly, stirring his robes.
Soon, he reached the secluded valley.
It was silent. Moonlight fell upon the exposed ore, reflecting tiny glimmers of metallic light.
The air was thick with the energy of metal and stone.
"This is the place."
Delighted, Li Xiaoyu found an area where the ore was thickest. He warily scanned his surroundings, and only after confirming that no one was nearby did he take the Immortal-Slaying Gourd from his robes.
He pointed the gourd's mouth at the pile of ore and silently recited the incantation.
"Hum..."
A faint hum sounded. A dim golden sheen rippled across the gourd's dull gray surface.
An invisible force of suction emanated from its mouth.
The next moment, a miraculous sight unfolded.
Specks of metallic light, like starlight, began to seep from the hard surfaces of the ore.
The specks gathered into thin streams of light and, like fledglings returning to their nest, rushed eagerly into the mouth of the Immortal-Slaying Gourd.
Li Xiaoyu could clearly feel the golden clouds inside the gourd slowly growing at a visible pace.
The Innate Geng Metal Sword Qi seemed to be nourished as well, radiating a delighted intent.
"It really works!"
Overjoyed, Li Xiaoyu urged the gourd on with even greater vigor.
He was utterly immersed in the pleasure of letting the gourd "eat its fill," completely unaware that, not far away, a figure sat motionless atop a massive boulder high above the valley.
It was a woman.
Dressed in white, she seemed like an immortal untouched by the mortal world beneath the cold moonlight.
Her beauty was peerless, her bearing aloof, as cold as ice.
She was Lu Xueqi, the pride of Small Bamboo Peak.
Gifted beyond compare and tirelessly devoted to her cultivation, Lu Xueqi had already reached the seventh layer of the Jade Purity Realm.
She had come here in the middle of the night because the cultivation method she practiced was different from most.
She not only studied the Dao but also focused on tempering her sword heart and sword intent.
The valley was thick with the energy of metal and stone, its sharp aura ideal for honing the edge of her divine sword, Tianya, and tempering her own sword heart.
Tonight, as usual, she had sat in meditation here. She and her sword had seemed to merge with the cold moonlight, oblivious to the world around them.
But just moments ago, Tianya, the peerless divine sword resting across her arms, had suddenly let out a faint ring.
The ring was filled with wariness—and even excitement and longing!
Lu Xueqi instantly awoke from her meditation. Her cool eyes snapped open, and she looked toward the direction from which the sword's ring had come.
She saw a young man in blue beneath the moonlight, holding a strange gourd.
"It's him?"
Lu Xueqi recognized Li Xiaoyu.
With the Seven Meridians Martial Arts Tournament approaching, she had heard of the outstanding disciples from each peak.
This Li Xiaoyu was the prodigy recently causing a stir at Morning Sun Peak—the one who had returned to prominence after six years of silence and a sudden epiphany.
But he had come here in the dead of night, moving mysteriously, and the gourd in his hands gave off an aura that had even stirred Tianya.
This immediately put her on high alert.
Lu Xueqi rose to her feet and soundlessly landed on a taller boulder, like a night owl, her cold gaze fixed on everything below.
Li Xiaoyu was wholly absorbed in urging the gourd on as it devoured the ore's metallic energy.
Suddenly, a bone-piercing chill came from behind him, making every hair on his body stand on end.
Startled, he whipped around.
Beneath the moonlight, the woman in white stood high above the valley. Her cool gaze was like two drawn swords, piercing straight into his heart.
It was her?!
Lu Xueqi of Small Bamboo Peak!
Li Xiaoyu's heart sank.
He hadn't expected to run into the true pride of the Green Cloud Sect in a place this remote.
And judging by the way she looked, she had clearly been here for a long time.
She had probably seen him using the Immortal-Slaying Gourd in its entirety.
This was bad!
Li Xiaoyu immediately put the Immortal-Slaying Gourd away and concealed it in his sleeve, his mind racing as he thought of what to do.
He definitely couldn't beat her in a fight.
?
Li Xiaoyu shook his head.
With the gourd, perhaps he might not necessarily lose.
But there was no need for that. They were both disciples of the Green Cloud Sect.
It was only the gourd that had been exposed.
Seeing him put the gourd away, Lu Xueqi moved. Like a falling snowflake, she soundlessly landed ten zhang in front of Li Xiaoyu.
She already held the Tianya Divine Sword, its entire length glowing with a faint blue light.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night, sneaking about?"
Lu Xueqi's voice was colder than the night breeze.
Li Xiaoyu forced himself to calm down.
He knew that the more tense things were, the less he could afford to panic.
Li Xiaoyu cupped his hands toward Lu Xueqi in greeting, his expression composed.
"Li Xiaoyu, a disciple of Morning Sun Peak, greets Senior Sister Lu."
His voice was calm, with no trace of panic at being discovered.
"I'm here to practice a crude spell that requires the energy of metal and stone. I didn't mean to disturb your cultivation, Senior Sister. Please forgive me."
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