Lingji

In the blink of an eye, the time for the Miao Kuo Small Gathering arrived. That day, a phantom shot out from a Secluded Valley somewhere in the Changliu Mountain Range. With a flash, it had already soared into the high sky.

Duan Rong and Lü Yinlin were both within it. Their speed was simply too fast, so from afar they looked like no more than a phantom.

Besides the two of them, the phantom also carried another person—Zhu He, the sect master of the Taiyi Sect.

Bringing Zhu He along to the Miao Kuo Small Gathering had been Duan Rong's idea. He had asked Lü Yinlin whether there was any precedent for bringing a sect master along.

Lü Yinlin said that as long as they did not go overboard, bringing two or three people was no issue. Sect Old Ancestors often brought favored disciples along to broaden their horizons as well.

What Lü Yinlin did not mention was that he had once brought Fu Yi to a Miao Kuo Small Gathering. Unfortunately, that disciple, whom he had favored most, had ultimately betrayed the Taiyi Sect.

Duan Rong wanted to bring Zhu He because this Miao Kuo Small Gathering would surely involve discussions over the division of interests among the sects of the Nine Provinces, and Zhu He was most familiar with such matters. Without Zhu He, Duan Rong would be completely in the dark in that regard.

Two mighty Nascent Soul Realm cultivators swept through the skies with Zhu He in tow. He felt as though even the blazing sun above his head had become a phantom.

Before long, they crossed the borders of Yong Province and entered the Mohe Desert.

Below lay boundless yellow sands; above hung a hollow, blazing sun.

The vast Gobi stretched beyond sight, utterly