Over the past few days, the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect had selected those who would travel to Immortal Relic Province to enter the secret realm.
Li Yang had taken Qin Feng's place as the sect master's personal disciple, so he did not need to compete for a spot.
Qin Feng, meanwhile, was using the Qin Household's allocation to accompany the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect as a fellow clansman.
Li Yang had no idea how things stood over on Crane-Cry Peak.
Ning Xi, who bore some resemblance to Ning Qingfeng, had not come looking for him.
Perhaps she was simply a member of the Ning Lineage, like Ning Xinyao, rather than an avatar of Ning Qingfeng or anything of the sort.
Whatever the case, Li Yang wanted no involvement with her.
It was not that Ning Qingfeng was too frightening, but that the whirlpools surrounding someone of her caliber would tear a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like him to pieces the moment he was dragged in.
"Qin Feng, we're getting ready to leave," Su Miao came to call him.
Before long.
Li Yang and Qin Feng followed Sect Master Ling Wujie to the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect's plaza.
"Hmph!" Jiang Qingci snorted coldly at the sight of Li Yang.
Li Yang felt nothing about it.
The real Qin Feng beside him, however, looked pained, as though his heart had shattered.
"The sect master's here!"
"Huh? Who's that beside Qin Feng? Why isn't he wearing our Mystic Heaven Sword Sect's sword robes?"
"He has a Qin Household token at his waist. He must be one of Qin Feng's clansmen."
The plaza seethed with voices, lively beyond measure.
Li Yang looked toward the inner sect's grand elder, his master, Lu Feng.
Ning Xi and Ning Xinyao stood behind him, along with several senior brothers and sisters from the same peak.
Clearly, this secret realm in Immortal Relic Province was on an enormous scale. It was bound to be a grand occasion.
Ning Xi happened to look his way as well and gave Li Yang a sweet smile.
Li Yang observed Ning Xinyao's expression. She seemed perfectly normal, without the restraint she had shown when facing Maid Xiao Feng.
Judging by that, Ning Xi was most likely just another member of Ning Xinyao's clan.
Ling Wujie would not be leading this expedition. He was only at Spirit Transformation himself.
"Since everyone is here, let us depart."
An elderly cultivator with broad sleeves and a sword on his back sent a miniature flying sword out of his cuff. It swelled in the wind, becoming a colossal sword ten thousand zhang long within a few breaths.
The disciples who had received secret realm jade talismans rose on their swords and boarded the colossal blade.
They then traveled to Mysterious Heaven City outside the sect and activated its ultra-long-distance teleportation formation.
Kunyuan Immortal City.
This was Li Yang's first visit to the city.
It was Kun Province's foremost cultivation city, reportedly guarded by a supreme expert at the Human Immortal realm.
Li Yang did not know how magnificent it looked from the outside.
But the spiritual energy hanging in the air as mist made one thing clear: its wealth was downright inhuman.
Every building was lavishly decorated, glittering and bright.
They gathered in a vast plaza, where hundreds of thousands of beings had assembled.
Most were human cultivators, but there were also demon cultivators who retained certain beastly features, ghost cultivators with illusory bodies, and others. A hundred flowers bloomed together in a bustling spectacle.
All around them were cultivation factions arriving on flying boats, riding great demons, or standing on floating rafts. They had all come to Kunyuan Immortal City to take the interprovincial teleportation formation to Immortal Relic Province.
Each activation consumed an enormous amount of resources.
Thus, they would wait until roughly a million people had gathered before activating it.
"The Green Lotus Sword Sect," someone called.
Li Yang looked over as well.
It was a magical treasure shaped like a blooming lotus, each petal containing endlessly renewing sword intent.
Over a hundred female sword cultivators in green robes sat upon it. Each possessed an extraordinary bearing, like white lotuses rising unstained from the mud, cool and pure.
To sword cultivators, nothing was more attractive than sword cultivators of the opposite sex.
Moreover, the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect's parent sect was the Xuanyuan Sword Sect, whose cultivators were predominantly male. As a result, most sword cultivators in the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect were men too.
Now, every last one looked like a demon beast in heat, eyes brimming with lust.
In other provinces, cultivation factions composed entirely of female sword cultivators were virtually unheard of.
Only in regions wholly dominated by women, such as Kun Province, would such an extreme predominance of women appear.
"Fellow Daoist Green Lotus, it has been a long time. I didn't expect you to lead this secret realm expedition." The Mystic Heaven Sword Sect's patriarch steered the colossal sword closer, a warm smile on his aged face.
Above the lotus platform, a white-haired woman in green robes sat cross-legged in the air over its center. Her beauty was peerless, her transcendent radiance dazzling.
"Mm."
The white-haired woman's gaze swept toward Lu Feng. "I hear you have a disciple named Li Yang who has been making quite a name for himself lately. Which one is he?"
Lu Feng cupped his hands. "He suffered serious injuries during the Yongning Commandery incident and is still recuperating at the sect. He won't be entering the secret realm this time."
"What a pity." The white-haired woman sounded regretful. "Had he been here, I would have liked to tie a red thread between him and my disciple."
Lu Feng smiled awkwardly. "You jest, Senior Green Lotus. My foolish disciple has little fortune to his name. He would not dare reach so high as your esteemed disciple."
"Heh." The white-haired woman scoffed. "That might be true of anyone else. But your disciple even dared slay that lady of the Ning Lineage's mortalized body. What wouldn't he dare do?
"Or is it that-
"Your Mystic Heaven Sword Sect, with the Xuanyuan Sword Sect behind it, looks down on my disciple?"
As she spoke.
She pointed a delicate finger.
Below the lotus platform stood a woman with her hair loosely pinned up, a small wooden hairpin shaped like a sword tucked at an angle into it. Unmelted snow water seemed to pool in her beautiful eyes, ethereal, cold, and still.
Li Yang looked at her as well.
At a glance, it was as though he were watching a goddess of the snowy mountains dance with a sword.
Such pure sword intent! Even he was startled.
"This junior, Yan Zhaoxi, greets Senior."
The white-haired woman said, "She is a born sword cultivator with an immaculate sword heart. Your disciple's accomplishments are impressive, but mine is more than worthy of him. Wouldn't it be wonderful for two young people to support each other and cultivate the sword Dao hand in hand?"
Yan Zhaoxi offered no reaction. Her beautiful eyes seemed hollow, as though stripped of emotion.
"Of course, of course. But my foolish disciple is already over thirty this year, and his aptitude is poor. I'm afraid that by the time your esteemed disciple has formed her Nascent Soul, or even reached Spirit Transformation, he'll still be fretting over Core Formation."
At that, the white-haired woman let out an "Oh."
"His cultivation aptitude is that dreadful? You truly aren't deceiving me?"
"I can swear upon my sword heart!" Lu Feng declared solemnly.
"Then forget it. He truly lacks the fortune."
Lu Feng breathed a sigh of relief.
Watching this from atop the colossal sword, Li Yang could not help feeling curious.
Yan Zhaoxi actually possessed an immaculate sword heart. From birth, she had crossed straight over the three sword Dao realms of sword qi, sword intent, and sword momentum to form a sword heart.
Judging by her age, she was likely not even twenty, yet she was already at Foundation Establishment late stage. What heaven-defying talent.
After all, even he had only begun to glimpse the sword heart realm.
But why had his master refused?
There had to be something fishy about it.
It was not that Li Yang had taken a fancy to Yan Zhaoxi. This concerned him, so he had to pay some attention.
Asking Qin Feng yielded no answers either.
The fellow devoted all his thoughts to his five senior sisters. How could he spare any energy for other female sword cultivators?
Just then-
Ning Xinyao came over with Ning Xi.
"Junior Brother Qin Feng, come here for a moment. We'd like to discuss something with you."
Li Yang was suspicious.
These two women knew his true identity. Who knew what trouble they had brought this time?
"Qin Feng, we'd like to ask you a favor."
Li Yang refused flatly. "I'm busy."
Ye Zhiqiu, Su Miao, and the other personal disciples of Sect Master Peak all looked over.
Ye Zhiqiu in particular fixed his gaze firmly on Ning Xi, his eyes burning with desire.
She was an exquisite beauty who outshone even the five stunning senior sisters of Sect Master Peak.
He had met her once before in the Fate Soul Hall, but had not had a chance to speak to her.
"I haven't even told you what it is yet!" Ning Xinyao said, somewhat annoyed.
"Fine, fine. Go ahead." Li Yang was helpless.
"Hmph." Ning Xinyao pulled Ning Xi to her side. "Ning Xi is a pride of our Ning Lineage. She possesses the vermilion phoenix body and is Grand-Grandaunt's favorite child, so she has quite a few suitors throughout the Nine Provinces.
"On this trip to Immortal Relic Province, she'll inevitably attract swarms of wild bees and wanton butterflies. Li Yang of our Crane-Cry Peak is in secluded cultivation, and you're no weaker than him, so we'd like you to act as a shield."
Li Yang's face darkened as he listened.
"Shield your fucking mother!"
He held nothing back. "Do you think I have nothing better to do? Or that I've lived too long?
"I'm just a prodigy of the Mystic Heaven Sword Sect, not the unrivaled champion of the Xuanyuan Sword Sect.
"I've already offended plenty of powerful factions in Kun Province. How many more do you want me to offend?!"
At such vulgar language, Qin Feng beside him, Su Miao and the other four female disciples of Sect Master Peak, and even the disciples from other peaks watching nearby all froze.
Ning Xinyao, however, was long accustomed to it.
It was just that having her mother cursed in front of so many people left her unable to save face.
"For you, this would be a-"
"Shut up!" Li Yang cut Ning Xinyao off. "I've never been anyone's shield, and I never fucking will be! If she's so charming, she can go train those suitors into bootlicking dogs instead of hurting people here."
Li Yang showed Ning Xi no courtesy either.
His scolding infuriated Ning Xinyao. "How can you talk like that?!"
"That's how I fucking am. Listen if you like. If you don't, get lost."
Li Yang did not want to know what schemes lay behind this.
All he knew was that acting as a shield would definitely offend plenty of people.
For someone trying to push him into a fire pit, not laying hands on them was already plenty courteous.
He had been used during the Yongning Commandery incident, only to end up slaughtered by Ning Qingfeng.
Though he had risen again through nirvana, the sensation of death had cut far too deep.
Now they were trying it again. Did they really think he was a professional pawn?
Ning Xinyao turned and left in a fury.
Ning Xi, however, found it rather amusing and studied Li Yang with interest.
Just then, a voice called out to stop them:
"Senior Sister, Junior Sister, please wait! Qin Feng may be unwilling to sacrifice himself for you two fairies, but I cannot stand people who harass others under the guise of courtship. They are a disgrace to us male cultivators!"
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