Closed-Door Cultivation, Eighth Layer of Foundation Establishment

After the White Crane Boy left,

Lu Qing's mind tightened slightly. He was not particularly curious about the outside world, but he clearly understood that garrison missions had to be carried out.

What he considered was that if lots were drawn, he could avoid dangerous places. Thinking in reverse, if the place drawn lay neither among danger nor within a Calming Hexagram, then Lu Qing felt there might very well be an opportunity there—the legendary act of avoiding calamity and turning toward fortune.

Since word of this had reached his ears, he naturally had to begin preparing.

He resumed his cultivation. Once he left the Dao Academy, he would not have such excellent spiritual energy conditions.

"The previous batch of garrison cultivators has returned."

"Eh, I still wanted to stay in the sect. Looks like that won't be possible."

"It has nothing to do with us. Even if people are sent out, they'll be disciples with high cultivation. This batch is at Foundation Establishment."

Quite a few disciples in the Outer Academy had caught wind of the news and watched with some relish.

Most of them had not yet stepped into Foundation Establishment. If they were sent out, the dangers encountered on the road alone would be enough to make them suffer.

For the moment, however, no official notice had been issued from above.

Lu Qing cultivated every day.

At the same time, he planted a new round of spiritual rice.

After the Minor Cloud Rain Technique reached perfection, the rain it summoned carried strands of spiritual energy within it.

The mission Lu Qing had accepted involved Phoenix Rice, a grade higher than ordinary spiritual rice.

Scarlet as blood, plump as pearls.

It took only one cycle to grow to maturity.

When Lu Qing emerged from seclusion again, his Foundation Establishment Fourth Layer Spiritual Power was full and smooth. With a stir of his Othermind, he formed a hand seal. Clouds churned, and rain fell.

He stood in the corridor, gazing at the misty rain drifting down. Yet the damp vapor washing toward him remained cut off beyond his robes.

With a sweep of his sleeve, Spiritual Power circulated, and the rain dispersed once more.

After the rain, clouds, mist, and a green rainbow hung across the heavens in succession.

The Phoenix Rice covering the Spirit Fields formed a sea of crimson.

Lu Qing gathered away the rainwater and formed another hand seal. A force as sharp as Geng Metal swept forth.

The wind stirred, and the spiritual rice fell.

Lu Qing stored the spiritual rice harvested this time in his storage bag.

Since it was harvest day, Lu Qing cooked for himself. His Divine Consciousness stretched out, controlling all manner of kitchen utensils as he prepared a bowl of spiritual rice.

After eating it, he carefully sensed the changes in his Dantian.

"It's somewhat better than ordinary spiritual rice, but for me now, the effect is still negligible."

Lu Qing turned his Divine Consciousness inward and examined himself.

This kind of spiritual rice was of little use to someone like him, who had already achieved Foundation Establishment.

Lu Qing was not disappointed. Instead, he directly left Dao Peak and went to the Spirit Plant Academy to submit the mission.

The buyer was in closed-door cultivation and could not trade face-to-face, so Lu Qing entrusted the transaction to the platform. Missions accepted within the Spirit Plant Academy were backed by the academy itself, so there was no need to worry about someone taking the money and running.

Lu Qing had not descended the mountain for a long time. All the way there, he rode the wind.

Within the Dao Academy, there was no need to worry too much about danger.

Lu Qing's figure transformed into a streak of rainbow light and fled into the distant sky.

The round trip took extremely little time.

It was far faster than when he had yet to develop Divine Consciousness.

Lu Qing was simply too low-key. As his rainbow light streaked through the sky, several disciples below raised their heads with envy on their faces.

They too wished to fly through the air, but unfortunately, their aptitude was poor, and they had been unable to reach Foundation Establishment for a long time.

After submitting the mission, Lu Qing received a little over two hundred Spirit Stones and decided to enter closed-door cultivation again.

He could leave the Dao Academy at any time and be sent to some unknown place. For now, naturally, he had to raise his cultivation first.

Lu Qing settled his mind and sensed the changes in the lake within his Dantian. Within his Divine Consciousness, threads of Dao Rhyme wrapped around his Divine Soul, continuously drawing in the spiritual energy arriving from all directions with every breath.

In the blink of an eye, more than two months passed.

Then the Disciple Tokens of many disciples hummed.

Inside the cultivation room, the doors opened automatically. A young figure stepped out.

Clad in green robes, he carried himself with calm composure.

Lu Qing slowly let out a breath and calculated on his fingers. "More than two months have passed again."

The length of this closed-door cultivation set a new record for him.

Perhaps it was because of his state of mind, or perhaps because his earlier study of the Golden Light Formation had improved his understanding of formations. The Gathering Formation he set up anew was even more exquisite.

The dense spiritual energy here delighted Lu Qing. During these more than two months of closed-door cultivation, he had directly stepped into the Foundation Establishment Late Stage—the Eighth Layer of Foundation Establishment.

"It's finally here."

His gaze shifted slightly. He had emerged today because the garrison mission mentioned by the White Crane Boy had officially been issued.

He had not expected it to take so long for the matter to be finalized.

Lu Qing sent his Divine Consciousness into his token.

Outer Academy Foundation Establishment disciples are to proceed to the Mission Hall today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow to accept a garrison mission. Disciples who have already completed this may disregard this message.

Lu Qing emerged from seclusion, his aura once more drawn in.

At the Outer Academy's Mission Hall, within the vast city, Lu Qing saw many streams of light like his own, all heading toward the Mission Hall.

He descended on the wind.

A disciple came forward. "Senior Brother, the garrison missions are over there."

Those capable of flying through the air today were basically Foundation Establishment disciples.

There were people specifically assigned here for Guidance.

"Thank you."

However, Lu Qing was very familiar with this place, so he had no need for that disciple's directions.

The disciple felt disappointed for a moment, but soon saw another streak of light descend. He hurriedly jogged over.

Guidance duty came with rewards, and not just anyone could take it on.

Lu Qing entered and discovered that quite a few people had gathered here.

Ahead stood a tall platform carved from white jade, upon which sat an elder in purple robes.

"Still your mind and look over here."

The purple-robed elder held a lot container in his hand. It appeared to contain only three fortune slips.

Lu Qing did not dwell on that. He looked at the lot container and immersed his mind. Suddenly, the lot container before him changed.

Countless fortune slips floated before him, like a wall. From top to bottom and left to right, they were arranged with perfect order. There were not even numbers on the wooden slips; one could only judge them by their positions.

Beside them stood figures shrouded in hazy light.

Clearly, they were disciples just like him.

Some wooden slips were selected and taken away, while others pondered repeatedly.

Clearly, with this scrambled method and no visible locations, no one knew where they would be stationed.

Lu Qing looked ahead carefully.

All of a sudden, a vicious divination appeared in his mind.

Yet Lu Qing remained extremely calm this time. How could being a garrison cultivator be so simple?

Those Demonic Cultivators had hidden for so long, like cockroaches that could not be killed, stirring up trouble in certain places.

This time, the Demonic Path's nest had been destroyed. It was hard to say whether those Demonic Cultivators outside the nest would let go of the chance to kill Dao Academy garrison cultivators.

In Lu Qing's view, the garrison locations assigned to Foundation Establishment disciples might be where danger truly lurked.

Divinations appeared in his mind.

Lu Qing examined them one by one.

This time, there seemed to be rather too many irregularities.