Early the next morning.
Chen Family Village, the Song-Style Courtyard House.
Sunlight pierced the thin mist and spilled across the bluestone slabs in the Front Courtyard.
After eating the breakfast Friday had prepared, Chen Lin swept up a current of true essence with a wave of his hand and led Yun Sheng, Song Qiuya, Qin Chuxia, and the other three women straight into the Black Portal.
A brief sensation of weightlessness washed over them.
Inside the Mountains and Rivers Painting.
Spiritual energy so dense it seemed liquid rushed into their faces. In the distance, two Silver Spirit Cats were dozing on the roof of the Wooden House.
"Boss, aren't you going to give those mud-legged fellows outside some pointers today?" Dressed in blue and cradling the Cloudborne Sword, Yun Sheng's cool eyes flickered with confusion. At this time of day, Chen Lin usually checked on the Guards' progress.
"I have something important to do today." Chen Lin stopped and turned to Yun Sheng.
He reached back and patted his waist.
A palm-sized, purplish-red gourd covered in dark gold patterns appeared in his hand.
"Spar with me." Chen Lin brushed his fingertips over the gourd's surface.
Yun Sheng's gaze fell on the Sword-Nurturing Gourd, and her brows lifted slightly. "A magic treasure? Boss, you only broke through to early Core Formation yesterday. Your cultivation hasn't fully stabilized yet. I'm at the peak of late Core Formation."
She paused, a trace of a sword cultivator's pride coloring her voice. "Blades show no mercy. I'm afraid I might hurt you."
In the Cultivation World, the gulf between cultivation stages was like an impassable chasm. An early Core Formation cultivator challenging someone at the peak of late Core Formation was no different from an ant trying to shake a tree.
What was more, she