All of this was naturally Lin Xiaoyao's doing.
Just a moment ago, he had happened to glance over and spotted the siblings.
He had heard their conversation.
The little boy missed home.
He also missed the pear blossoms behind his family's house.
Although the older sister scolded her little brother, the deep longing for home between her brows was plain to see.
It was hard on the siblings. They were so young, yet already had to leave their parents and embark on the winding path of cultivation.
Perhaps their hearts were still troubled, so despite their decent aptitude, the two of them hadn't even managed the first step of sensing the world's spiritual energy.
Thinking of how, as someone who had crossed over into this world, he might never see his parents from his previous life again...
Lin Xiaoyao felt their longing as if it were his own.
And so, he had a thought.
He would help them.
Of course, he couldn't take the siblings home.
After all, they must have obtained their parents' permission before coming up the mountain to seek immortality!
Taking them home now would be highly inappropriate.
According to the sect rules, they couldn't go down the mountain until they had achieved Foundation Establishment.
Still, although they couldn't go home, they could at least see the pear blossoms...
That seemed to go against the laws of heaven and earth, but for Lin Xiaoyao, it was just the right chance to test the effect of Word of Law.
And so, the scene just now had come to pass.
It hadn't taken any time or effort, either.
The whole process had been incredibly simple. Lin Xiaoyao had looked toward the distant pear tree and softly spoken two words: "Bloom!"
This divine ability was indeed astonishingly useful. Though it couldn't let him determine the workings of heaven and earth with a single word like a true sage, it remained wondrous beyond measure, far surpassing any divine ability or spell in this world.
This time, his sign-in reward had really given him something good!
Lin Xiaoyao was very satisfied.
But his whim, granting the little boy's wish to see pear blossoms, stirred a great commotion throughout the Feathering Sect.
The two children had been somewhat astonished, but they were still young and didn't understand what this meant.
Daoist Shi, as a Golden Core Realm cultivator, was another matter entirely.
He was utterly stunned!
He released his spiritual sense and searched the surrounding area carefully, but found nothing amiss.
Instead, he breathed in the fragrance of the pear blossoms and felt his whole body grow comfortable. The small bottleneck that had been troubling him lately seemed on the verge of loosening.
He was both shocked and delighted, but he didn't dare take this lightly. Even less would he treat the matter as an immortal opportunity meant for him alone.
He acted decisively.
He immediately reported the news to the sect elders.
Before long, streaks of multicolored light rose in the distance.
Daoist Shi took a closer look and was stunned all over again.
The elders and peak masters of the sect had personally come after hearing the news.
And at their head... was the sect leader, the True Person?
Daoist Shi was so frightened he hardly dared breathe. He had guessed the matter would attract the sect's attention, but this scene before him... wasn't it a little too much?
The sect leader and all the peak masters had come in person?
When the streaks of light descended, he hurried forward to pay his respects. "This disciple greets the sect leader and all the honored masters."
The siblings were also too frightened to breathe. Only after their master rebuked them did they come forward, trembling, to pay their respects to the honored patriarchs.
Master Green Feather, however, was very kind. He asked the siblings about what had happened in a gentle, amiable manner.
He didn't overlook a single detail.
Once he had heard everything, he had Daoist Shi take the siblings away.
Throughout the whole process, the elders had listened in silence nearby.
The more they heard, the more astonished they became. Now they looked at one another in dismay.
"Fellow junior brothers, what do you make of this?"
Seeing that no one spoke, Master Green Feather finally took the initiative.
"If I hadn't heard it with my own ears and seen it with my own eyes, I'd never have believed such a thing could happen."
"Indeed. Pear trees blooming in the dead of winter—that goes against the laws of heaven and earth!"
"And they weren't protected by any formation. I examined the area carefully, and there wasn't a trace of anything unusual."
The elders all spoke at once.
They had lived for over a thousand years and possessed vast knowledge.
Yet everything that had happened today had opened their eyes.
And they still couldn't figure out why.
They discussed it for a long while, but still got nowhere.
"Those two siblings had been unable to enter the sect for some time. Perhaps it was because they missed home and their hearts remained troubled. But in my view, they may also have encountered a cultivation obstacle."
At that moment, the Head of Sword-Flying Peak, who had remained silent until then, suddenly spoke. But, unexpectedly, he wasn't talking about the pear tree blooming. He was raising an entirely different matter.
"A cultivation obstacle?"
Everyone was startled.
Put simply, a cultivation obstacle was a bottleneck along the path of cultivation.
But since it was a bottleneck, it was usually something only genuine cultivators encountered.
There were, however, a very small number of people who hadn't even begun their cultivation journey but became stuck at the first step, unable to guide spiritual energy into their bodies.
That was what was known as a cultivation obstacle.
When cultivators encountered bottlenecks, they could find a way to break through them.
But if one wasn't even a cultivator, there was no way to speak of breaking through a bottleneck.
Even the elders of one's sect couldn't help with this sort of thing.
And what was frustrating was that people with ordinary aptitude generally didn't encounter cultivation obstacles. More often, a small number of exceptionally gifted geniuses were unlucky enough to run into them.
It was an exasperating outcome. They clearly had excellent spiritual roots, yet couldn't set foot on the path of cultivation.
Anyone would sigh with regret.
And resolving this problem was extraordinarily difficult.
It wasn't impossible, but it required nearly a thousand rare treasures to be refined into a spiritual pill. Only after swallowing it could one break through the cultivation obstacle.
That put everyone in an awkward position...
Even if a person had excellent aptitude, who could say what they might achieve in the future?
It wasn't as if geniuses never died young on the path of cultivation.
Who would be willing to search for a thousand medicinal herbs for someone who hadn't yet grown up, someone who was merely a potential genius?
Everyone understood. The Yang Siblings who had just been mentioned were probably in this situation.
"But according to what Nephew Shi said, the two of them merely breathed in the fragrance of the pear blossoms, and they successfully guided spiritual energy into their bodies. In the blink of an eye, they even reached the first layer of Qi Refining?"
The group exchanged another look.
This was practically a miracle... No, it was an immortal miracle.
After all, the pear trees planted here had originally been nothing more than ordinary pear trees.
Yet the effect of a few breaths of their blossoms' fragrance could actually rival a spiritual pill refined from over a thousand rare treasures?
The elders fell silent.
Though their expressions varied, their feelings at that moment were like a raging tempest.
Over and over, only one thought came to mind... How could this be possible?
"To make pear trees bloom in the dead of winter, and to give their fragrance such an effect... Could this truly be the work of an immortal?"
This time, it was the Head of Treasure Pill Valley who spoke.
Although his cultivation was the lowest among the elders, he oversaw all of the Feathering Sect's pill-refining affairs. When it came to this matter, he had the most authority to speak.
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