This faint sense of disdain was easy enough to understand. Cultivators all strove to rise above the rest; lifespan, enemies, resources... Once one stepped into the cultivation world, countless temptations of cultivation chased close behind like venomous snakes and bottomless abysses. One step too slow, and a thread of fear would hang over one's heart all day.
Or perhaps one saw others standing gloriously at the pinnacle, their bearing as great cultivators enough to set one's blood surging. No matter the reason, one still had to contend.
Once Lu Qing left seclusion, he did not deliberately visit those crowded, gossip-filled places after several days in retreat. Instead, he went to this mountain's summit and gathered the first ray of dawn that appeared with the great sun—the purest violet radiance between heaven and earth.
It was some profound principle of the Heavenly Dao, obscure and unknowable.
An intangible insight into the Five Elements had now emerged within him, but it had yet to fully manifest in the inner world of his Golden Core.
It was at this very moment.
He "heard" many, many voices.
Naturally, Lu Qing would not deliberately try to catch them here, but hearing them in his natural state was another matter entirely.
"The Four Lands..."
"The demon lands... fellow disciples..."
News from tens of millions of li away would still return at the fastest speed the moment there was any movement.
Among it, Lu Qing also heard a piece of news that might be related to him.
"The Dao Discussion Assembly—quite a few introductory disciples have already emerged from seclusion. Some have gone to the demon lands as well..."
"I did not go, but judging from these fellow disciples' opinions, I am probably not considered a qualified Sword Lineage cultivator."
Lu Qing did not need to think