Competition Begins

Senior Brother Chang at the mountain gate: ...Why had this junior brother suddenly gotten so fired up?

"Are you all right?" The junior brothers and sisters who had joined recently were all rather emotional. That junior sister just now had been the same—her expression had suddenly changed completely, and it had been downright frightening.

"I'm fine. I just thought of something happy." Bian Chunchou had just reined in his emotions and was about to head down the mountain when Senior Brother Chang stopped him. "Senior Brother Chang, what is it?"

"If you're not in too much of a hurry, it would be best not to go down the mountain right now."

Bian Chunchou was a sharp one. He immediately caught on. "Senior Brother, why?"

"That Outer Sect junior sister just now..."

As it turned out, Senior Brother Chang had just been forced into a bout of "household affairs." That was not strange, really. Everyone had parents and relatives; nobody sprang from a crack in a rock. Cultivators were no exception.

Most low-level cultivators had not severed their mortal ties. Unless they cultivated the Emotionless Dao, the vast majority maintained their blood relations. For one thing, severing such ties was exceedingly difficult. For another, cultivators were still human, with all seven emotions and six desires. Forcibly cutting off mortal ties brought not the slightest benefit to cultivation.

If one's relatives were ordinary people, then after a hundred years, everything would naturally fall into place. If they were cultivators, there was even less need to sever ties. Many Yonglu Mountain disciples requested leave to visit family every year. After all... not every cultivator could reach the Nascent Soul or Spirit Transformation realm. At best, the lowest-level cultivators reached Golden Core; a great many could only remain at Foundation Establishment. Yonglu Mountain was