Qian Renxue nodded, then told Ye Lingtian how she had tried to sense Qi but had gotten nowhere.
Hearing this, Ye Lingtian couldn't help laughing. "Aren't you trying to reach the heavens in a single step? You've only just finished memorizing the acupoint diagram, and you already want to sense Qi."
"Even I took a whole day to sense Qi back then. You've only just started trying, and you're already frustrated. Wouldn't it be even harder for you to accept it if I asked you to enter seclusion for a few decades later on?"
His teasing made the tips of Qian Renxue's ears burn. She clutched the hem of her clothes and pressed her lips together.
Back on Douluo Continent, she had awakened her Angel Martial Soul with level twenty innate soul power, and her cultivation had always been smooth sailing. When had she ever spent so long unable to find a way forward? She couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.
"I just... wanted to start cultivating sooner."
Ye Lingtian shook his head. "I can't help you with this. It all comes down to comprehension. You may have dual spiritual roots, but at this step, you can only put in the time. Keep at it."
Seeing that Ye Lingtian had no solution either, Qian Renxue nodded awkwardly. "All right, I'll think it over myself."
On Shrek Square, Yu Xiaogang, who had just been staring silently at the sky screen, suddenly brightened and nearly jumped up. He had finally found something he could use to put himself above Ye Lingtian, and he immediately began shouting:
"I told you this immortal cultivation business was all fancy tricks to fool people! A dignified Golden Core Stage cultivator can't even help a disciple sense Qi for the first time? I say all that talk of Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and living three hundred years was made-up nonsense to fool people!"
The more he spoke, the smugger he became, his face flushing red. Most of the resentment he had bottled up after being slapped in the face time and again instantly dissipated. He raised his chin and swept his gaze over the people around him, his boasting growing more and more outrageous:
"How is a little beginner's matter like this difficult? If you threw me into that Primordial Sect, with my understanding of teaching students according to their aptitude, once I figured out how immortal cultivation worked, I'd need half an hour at most to help Qian Renxue sense Qi without a hitch."
"Why make the poor girl fumble around on her own? That Ye Lingtian has nothing but cultivation to his name. He doesn't have even the most basic ability to teach!"
Flender and Liu Erlong were stunned for a moment. They hurriedly nodded in agreement, but before they could finish speaking, they heard several students whispering around them, unable to keep their voices down.
"Last time he said the more colors a Spiritual Root had, the greater the talent. Then reality turned around and slapped his face swollen when people with four or five Spiritual Roots ended up as menial workers. Now he hasn't even figured out acupoints and the dantian, but he dares boast that he can help someone draw in Qi?"
"Exactly. Senior Ning Rongrong said last time that Grandmaster couldn't even understand the rules for testing Spiritual Roots. Now he dares spout nonsense across two worlds?"
Yu Xiaogang's face froze for half a second.
Looking at the dejected Qian Renxue, Ye Lingtian shook his head. She still hadn't changed her way of thinking. She would have to work at it some more.
With that settled, Ye Lingtian picked up the jade token from earlier to see what the matter was this time.
A touch of spiritual light from his fingertip sent pale golden formation patterns flowing across the token's surface, and the contents of the sect's message appeared in Ye Lingtian's sea of consciousness.
He raised an eyebrow. No wonder that fellow from the External Affairs Pavilion had looked so deeply aggrieved while standing beside him earlier.
It turned out that Soul-Devouring Zhenren and his band of demonic cultivators had hidden themselves in a desolate border city within the Primordial Sect's territory and committed another slaughter. They had even seized the city, and the situation inside was still unknown.
"Soul-Devouring Zhenren has come out to massacre another city? I remember Senior Sister Mingyue let him get away by sheer luck last time, didn't she? But I'm not the only one at golden core perfection in the sect. Why do they always send me on these missions?" Ye Lingtian scratched his head, at a loss for words.
At a glance, it was obviously a mission the sect master, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, had assigned him because he thought Ye Lingtian was idle.
"Soul-Devouring Zhenren?" Standing beside him, Qian Renxue instinctively clenched the hem of her clothes when she heard about the demonic cultivators massacring a city.
She had been a holy maiden on Douluo Continent for decades, and she hated villains whose hands were stained with the blood of an entire city's innocents most of all. She instinctively wanted to ask if she could go along to gain experience.
But just as she was about to speak, she remembered that her cultivation was completely gone. She hadn't even reached the threshold of drawing Qi into her body. Let alone facing a Golden Core Stage demonic cultivator, even an ordinary Body Tempering Stage cultivator could defeat her.
Ye Lingtian glanced at her. How could he not know what she was thinking? He waved a hand and said calmly, "Stay put on Sword-Seeking Peak. I've already activated its mountain-guarding formation."
"Without my written authorization, even a Nascent Soul Stage elder couldn't force their way in. No one can disturb your cultivation."
As soon as he finished speaking, the Clear Profound Sword hanging at his waist flew from its sheath with a hum, as though it could wait no longer. Pale azure sword light swept through the air in a circle, carrying a fierce sword intent, before coming to rest steadily at his feet.
Ye Lingtian stepped onto the blade. The mountain wind lifted a corner of his azure robe as he shot into the sky with the sword's momentum, becoming an azure rainbow several miles long. In the blink of an eye, he vanished beyond the sea of clouds.
Qian Renxue stood at the courtyard gate, watching the receding sword light in a daze.
Was this the legendary Sword Flight that could only be mastered at the Foundation Establishment Stage?
She had seen Sword Douluo Chen Xin wield his sword on Douluo Continent and had thought him one of the finest sword cultivators of the age. But compared with Ye Lingtian's divine ability to ride the wind on his sword and cleave through the clouds, it was like children playing house.
At the thought, her grip tightened on the acupoint diagram. She could barely suppress the restlessness in her eyes, wishing she could sense Qi the very next moment and learn such skills herself.
The people of Douluo Continent on this side of the sky screen were already dumbstruck.
On Shrek Square, Yu Xiaogang, who had just thumped his chest and boasted that he could help Qian Renxue draw in Qi in half an hour, turned red. After a long while, he craned his neck and shouted, "I say he's in a hurry to get himself killed!"
"The demonic arts of Soul-Devouring Zhenren are bizarre and unfathomable. How could a greenhorn like him be a match? He'll definitely be beaten until his soul scatters!"
The students around him had lost even the desire to agree. That sword light spanning the sky had been tremendously shocking. Even Sword Douluo Chen Xin clutched the Seven Kill Sword in his hand, his eyes so bright they seemed ready to shine.
"This is the true great dao of sword cultivation: controlling a sword to slay demons a thousand miles away. I've cultivated the sword all my life, yet I can't even reach its threshold."
Inside Spirit Hall's Worship Hall, Qian Daoliu saw a hazy azure shield light up around the summit of Sword-Seeking Peak, and most of the worry in his heart instantly eased. He snorted. "That brat is at least fairly thoughtful. He didn't leave my granddaughter alone on the mountain."
In the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, Xue Ye stood holding the dragon throne and stared at the sword light lingering on the sky screen. If every soldier under his command could fly on a sword like that, why would he need to bow to Spirit Hall? He would have unified the world long ago!
After a week of traveling at full speed, Ye Lingtian arrived at his destination.
The dozen or so outer sect disciples who had long been waiting there saw the pale azure sword rainbow stretching several miles across the sky and all bowed in greeting at once.