Mountain Gate Cultivation, Surprise

Seeing the leopard through a tube, even Senior Brother Guo in the Spirit Plant Academy was busy to this extent. There was no need to imagine what the other places were like.

Lu Qing didn't even need to step outside to look. He merely raised his head toward the sky.

He discovered that what had originally been a clear, azure sky without a cloud had changed.

Countless streaks of light and flight flashed across the heavens, like falling meteors. In broad daylight, they had forcibly created a meteor shower.

Lu Qing raised a hand and closed the Cloud Mist Formation again.

He could still see outside, but an additional layer of mist formed by the formation now covered everything.

"There's been a slight disturbance. Where exactly does it lie—in a person, or an object?"

Lu Qing held the cultivation world's order jade slip in his hand and pondered.

He had originally thought Senior Brother Guo would be the one answering the divination, but they hadn't even spoken for a minute. The disturbance hadn't come from there.

"Could it be these two extra orders?"

Lu Qing cast aside that absurd thought. If that were true, it would be quite nice.

He was an entry-level Spirit Plant Master. Naturally, the orders he received wouldn't involve high-difficulty spirit plant seeds.

"Red Fang Rice, Dragon Fang Rice."

"Am I fated to keep dealing with rice?"

The jade slip contained the seeds. To keep Spirit Plant Masters from making a mess of things, detailed introductions had even been thoughtfully left on the jade slip itself.

The planting methods for these spirit plants were largely similar, nothing special. Sunlight, water, and soil—the things mortal grain needed—were needed by them as well, whether all three or two, or even just one.

The Moonblade Spirit Rice Lu Qing had chosen before was an exception.

Its leaves could serve as talisman paper, so it no longer counted as food meant purely for consumption.

"No difficulty."

After examining them, Lu Qing found that there really was no difficulty.

He merely had to plant them like ordinary crops. The only unusual part was that, since these were seeds containing spiritual energy, they didn't need years to sprout, break through the soil, grow, bloom, ripen, and bear fruit.

It would be more accurate to say that both batches of seeds he had received were fast-growing spirit plant varieties.

"Fifteen Spirit Fields, three types of plants. Three plots for each will do."

Lu Qing sowed all the seeds into the soil.

Clouds descended, bringing cloud-rain.

Sword Qi's sharpness entered the earth.

Lu Qing wasn't in a hurry to advance to Foundation Establishment.

Instead, he first polished his other methods.

Five days later.

Dao Academy disciples left the mountain.

The Demonic Path's lair came under attack.

Those were the events of the first day.

Their momentum was simply one of slaying gods if gods blocked them, slaying demons if demons stood in their way.

"That's amazing!"

"Inner Academy disciples are dealing with Demonic Path elders, while Outer Academy disciples are fighting Demonic Path disciples. The front lines are incredibly fierce right now."

"Ah, how wonderful. I heard someone suddenly broke through an entire major realm on the battlefield and killed a sneaking Demonic Path old thief in return."

"The Demonic Path's lair has countless Spirit Stones, Spirit Fields, and spirit medicines. I heard someone even dug up an ancient ginseng tens of thousands of years old. After handing it over to the Dao Academy, they received a reward."

"I'm dying of envy at whatever reward made that disciple willing to give up that ancient ginseng."

"I want to leave the mountain gate and kill demonic cultivators too!"

"Opportunities are everywhere!"

Looking at the heated messages in the Outer Academy, Lu Qing could roughly imagine how swift and thunderous the front lines were.

Risks and opportunities coexisted.

Lu Qing also saw traces of Gu Xuantian's group among them.

However, though they were Heaven's Pride on this demon-slaying frontline battlefield, the ones truly shining brightly were mostly powerful cultivators.

Their talent was peerless, and they were Heaven's Pride, but among those who could enter the Inner Academy, which one hadn't once been a monstrous genius who pressed everyone else so hard they dared not raise their heads?

"Chen Xuanming, Gongsun Sheng, Li Mingyue..."

During this period, Lu Qing hadn't seen any streaks of light flying over the Outer Academy.

Even the occasional flight flashes that normally passed through the skies seemed to have vanished.

The entire mountain gate was like a bustling place that had suddenly fallen silent.

Lu Qing had thought it was already quiet before, but he hadn't expected this to be true quiet.

Empty and desolate.

Even the White Cranes that usually rested on the lake had disappeared.

Lu Qing asked the White Crane Boy and learned that the White Crane Clan had also rushed to the front lines. The White Crane Boy loved Spirit Stones most in its life, and it was now preparing to see whether it could fish in troubled waters and pick up some profit.

When it saw Lu Qing asking, the White Crane Boy even invited him to leave Li Mountain with it.

Lu Qing refused. How could he possibly go out?

He also tactfully advised it to be careful if it went to the front lines.

Privately, when Lu Qing saw the skies filled with flying lights earlier, along with the enormous rewards being offered, he knew this was a massive operation. Without standing at a higher level, he couldn't see the hidden truth.

But after seeing the victories reported over the past two days and thinking of the divination's great misfortune, he always felt there was something strange on the Demonic Path's side.

White Crane Boy: "Heh, Lu Qing, you're far too cautious. Don't worry. This boy will be in the rear. The moment things look bad, I'll run. Who can be faster than me?"

It spoke smugly through the message.

Lu Qing couldn't help laughing aloud. The White Crane Boy was singing its own praises, but it wasn't wrong. The White Crane Clan was extraordinarily swift, and the White Crane Boy was one of its finest.

Its innate bloodline divine ability should let it escape when used for running away, right?

Lu Qing only hoped it wouldn't run into some Demonic Path old man.

Lu Qing: "The boy is extraordinary."

White Crane Boy: "Of course."

He set down the token. He couldn't see how the battle at the front lines was going now.

What he needed to do was handle his own matters first.

After cultivating for seven straight days, the Cloud-Riding Water Arrow was nearly at major mastery. Yet the technique that would reach major mastery fastest was actually the Concealment Art, specifically meant to hide one's aura. With just a few more days of cultivation, he would be able to perfect it.

"Since I'm a Spirit Plant Master now, I should also master the Geng Metal Finger, an essential technique for planting."

Lu Qing hadn't discovered any insect infestations yet, but he still had to prepare against them. The Spirit Fields naturally emitted spiritual energy, and there was also a Spirit-Gathering Formation here. How could bugs from the cultivation world possibly avoid this place entirely?

Another seven-day cycle arrived.

Lu Qing headed to a corner of the Dao Peak cliff.

The Spirit Fields in the courtyard behind him could be seen clearly from afar.

Cry!

Guo Yongheng wore a broad smile, glowing with pride.

"Junior Brother Lu, nothing much going on lately?"

"Nothing on my end, Senior Brother. But Senior Brother looks radiant with joy. What good news is this?"

Hearing that, Guo Yongheng smiled even more broadly. "Hahaha, it seems Junior Brother is the type to devote himself wholeheartedly to cultivation."

After teasing him, he said with a smile, "This news hasn't reached the mountain gate yet. Junior Brother is too focused on cultivation to know, but I have a friend on the front lines. He told me they discovered a Minor Realm over there."

"A Minor Thousandfold World."

He spoke mysteriously, waiting for Junior Brother Lu before him to be utterly shocked.

Lu Qing truly was shocked.

A Minor Realm, a Minor Thousandfold World.

Damn it. Even Lu Qing's Dao Heart rippled.

No wonder, no wonder this mission had come down so quickly and with such lavish rewards.

He had misunderstood what this Minor Realm meant before.

The Minor Realm mentioned in the divination was clearly not the same thing as the Minor Realm he had heard about.