Among the bamboo groves, the stone paths kept receding and branching as Ming Qi walked.
Whenever she came upon a fork, Ming Qi always chose one direction without the slightest hesitation and hurried onward. She encountered fewer and fewer people, and the places she passed through became increasingly remote.
As the path twisted and turned, the patches of emerald bamboo forest ahead seemed, with Ming Qi's approach, like a slowly drawn curtain, continuously revealing new scenery beyond.
After roughly half an hour, at the end of the stone path through the sea of bamboo ahead of Ming Qi, a courtyard enclosed by bamboo fencing appeared amid another bamboo grove.
The scene within the courtyard could be seen clearly from outside. Spiritual fields lay all around, planted with all manner of spiritual vegetation. Many of those plants were covered in blossoms, continuously giving off wafts of fragrance.
At the center of those spiritual fields stood an exquisite two-story bamboo building. Green vines climbed over its walls, embellishing it like a green gemstone set within the courtyard.
Every time Ming Qi came here, she felt a tranquil state of mind that reached far beyond itself. Her restless thoughts would always calm in a very short time.
Ming Qi had reached the end of the stone path and walked straight to the closed bamboo gate of the courtyard. This bamboo gate appeared to serve no real purpose.
There were gaps everywhere through which one could see everything inside the courtyard, and it seemed that a gentle push would open it easily. Yet throughout the Undying Underworld Phoenix Clan, no one dared to do such a thing.
Upon arriving here, Ming Qi immediately stopped. Standing before the bamboo gate, the indifference on her face was replaced by respect.
"Great Elder, Ming Qi requests an