Zhao Gongming Returns to the Interception Sect and Encounters Lin Tian

Not long after Lin Tian finished writing his diary and claimed the reward issued by the system,

high above the Interception Sect,

an astonishing presence suddenly came charging in from afar.

Its might was astounding, and its baleful aura surged and rolled.

Five-colored rosy light surrounded the figure, and spiritual Qi filled the air.

Though its colors were not brilliant, it was nonetheless profoundly mysterious.

Above the figure's shoulders and head, the three flowers had gathered, and the five Qi had returned to their origin.

His vigor was fierce and abundant, and faint traces of laws appeared there from time to time.

One look was enough to tell he had attained the Daluo Golden Immortal Dao Fruit!

He had even reached its peak and seemed poised to break through.

When the figure arrived at the edge of Jin'ao Island, the Interception Sect's cultivation ground,

he gradually slowed down.

The astonishing phenomena gradually faded, revealing a young man amid the five-colored rosy light.

The young man wore a simple grayish-white Daoist robe and stood upon the empty air.

His robes fluttered and spiritual Qi surged around him, giving him an utterly unrestrained air.

This young man was none other than

Zhao Gongming, a personal disciple of the Interception Sect.

Some time ago,

Zhao Gongming had been stuck at the peak of the Daluo Golden Immortal realm, unable to break through.

So he had thought to venture out in search of an opportunity, to see if he could break through his realm,

gain control over the power of laws, and join the ranks of the Quasi-Saints.

But after hundreds of years away, he had gained nothing.

He had originally planned to continue searching for opportunities farther afield,

only for his master to summon him back to the sect by force.

There was nothing he could do.

As a personal disciple of the Interception Sect, he could not disobey his master's command.

Zhao Gongming had no choice but to hurry back to the Interception Sect.

Looking at the familiar scene before him,

Zhao Gongming sighed, his eyes full of helplessness.

"Alas..."

"I wonder why Master has summoned us back in such a hurry?"

"Could something have changed with the Investiture of the Gods?"

As these thoughts flashed through his mind,

Zhao Gongming paused, then instinctively raised a hand and counted on his fingers to divine the answer.

At first, the workings of heaven were fairly clear.

But as soon as the matter touched upon the Investiture of the Gods,

the workings of heaven became shrouded in haze, making its details impossible to divine.

In the end, having learned nothing, Zhao Gongming sighed helplessly.

He could not help muttering,

"Master could have summoned us earlier or later, yet he chose this very moment to call us away."

"If he had waited a little longer, I might have found an opportunity."

"But now, my efforts over these past few hundred years have all been for nothing."

As he muttered to himself, Zhao Gongming could not help feeling anxious.

"By now, Eldest Senior Brother Duobao has already attained the Quasi-Saint Dao Fruit."

"Grand Master Xuandu reached the Peak of the Middle Stage of Quasi-Saint long ago. He can be called the strongest of the second-generation disciples."

"Daoist Randeng of the Chan Sect has also become its vice sect leader, and his strength is unfathomable."

"Only I am still lingering at the Peak Daluo Golden Immortal realm. My cultivation hasn't advanced in ten thousand years. Surely I can't remain at the Daluo Golden Immortal level forever?"

As these thoughts flashed through his mind,

Zhao Gongming could not help feeling troubled. He could only heave a long sigh and slowly fly onward.

He intended to return to Biyou Palace on Jin'ao Island and meet his master, to see if his questions could be answered.

But

just as he passed a small mountain peak very close to Jin'ao Island,

his primordial spirit suddenly trembled.

A strange, mysterious presence containing endless Dao resonance suddenly rushed toward him.

Zhao Gongming's gaze sharpened.

Hmm?

The Dao resonance in this presence is so pure?

Could there be a spirit treasure?

As these thoughts flashed through his mind,

Zhao Gongming instinctively looked toward the mountain peak.

An utterly ordinary peak came into view.

Zhao Gongming paused.

"Oh?"

"There must be hundreds of millions of small peaks like this in the Primordial World."

"But what was that presence with such pure Dao resonance just now?"

Zhao Gongming locked his spiritual sense onto the small peak.

The full might of a Daluo Golden Immortal surged forth.

Yet even so,

he could not detect any special presence on the peak.

It seemed utterly ordinary to him, and even its spiritual Qi was somewhat thin.

It was not even suitable for cultivation.

The contrast made Zhao Gongming pause.

"That's not right. My senses couldn't have been wrong."

"Although that unusual presence vanished in an instant, it carried an extremely powerful spiritual force."

"That spiritual force was completely different from the meager presence on this small peak. The two are easy to tell apart."

"How could I have sensed it wrong?"

Just as Zhao Gongming was thinking this,

his gaze suddenly fell on the summit of the small peak.

A handsome young man in Daoist robes slowly emerged from a bamboo house on the peak.

At the sight of the young man, Zhao Gongming was slightly taken aback.

"Hmm?"

"I didn't expect there to be a cultivator on this little peak!"

"But spiritual force is scarce here. Cultivating in seclusion here doesn't seem very useful..."

Zhao Gongming frowned slightly, seeming to ponder something.

His gaze swept back and forth over the peak.

"Could it be that this young man also noticed the extraordinary presence here and came specially to await an opportunity?"

"That's possible..."

"Why don't I take a look too?"

"Perhaps this opportunity is waiting for me to claim it..."

As these thoughts flashed through his mind,

Zhao Gongming hesitated briefly, then decided to investigate the peak and find the source of that mysterious presence!

Zhao Gongming descended through the clouds and flashed onto the peak.

His figure shifted, and he concealed his presence, taking the form of an ordinary young man.

He quietly landed a short distance from the bamboo house.

He looked toward the house.

At that moment, after Lin Tian emerged from the bamboo house,

he brought out a chessboard from somewhere and placed it on a stone platform outside.

Then he chopped some firewood in the courtyard

and put it in the latrine.

Finally, he took a strange farming tool and loosened the soil a short distance in front of the bamboo house.

It was unclear what he was doing.

But everything he did was utterly ordinary, like a mortal doing chores.

Seeing Lin Tian perform these ordinary tasks, Zhao Gongming frowned.

"Judging by the fluctuations of spiritual force on him, he's at the Heavenly Immortal realm at most. Among the Jie Sect Disciples, he'd be below average."

"And the things around him, including this bamboo house, are all very ordinary, like a simple dwelling where mortal humans live."

"No matter how I look at him, this young man seems to be living here in seclusion."

"He doesn't look like he's waiting for an opportunity..."

Seeing this,

Zhao Gongming could not help wondering aloud,

"If everything here is so ordinary, how could that mysterious presence have appeared here just now?"

"Could I really have been mistaken?"

Thinking this, Zhao Gongming could not help doubting his own spiritual sense.

He watched Lin Tian closely for another moment,

but still saw nothing distinctive about him.

The mysterious presence he had sensed earlier had vanished like a stone sinking into the sea and did not appear again.

In the end, Zhao Gongming watched as Lin Tian, after busying himself for quite a while,

strung up a bamboo net between two trees beside the bamboo house, lay down on it, and fell fast asleep, snoring.

Zhao Gongming's face stiffened, and he finally sighed helplessly.

"Alas."

"That mysterious presence just now was probably a hallucination brought on by my eagerness to find an opportunity."

"This bamboo house and young man belong to a carefree wandering immortal living here in seclusion, that's all."

"He's not waiting for an opportunity at all!"

Having come to this realization,

Zhao Gongming shook his head helplessly and turned around, somewhat disappointed.

He was just about to leave

when

suddenly,

a gale arose in the air,

becoming a powerful wind that blew in from afar.

It blew through the surrounding trees,

stirring up dust from the ground.

Clatter!

A muffled sound, like that of a wooden zither,

abruptly came from the direction of the bamboo house.

Zhao Gongming, who had just turned around, suddenly froze.

"That sound..."

Zhao Gongming's primordial spirit trembled, and he whirled around.

He looked toward the source of the sound.

When he spotted the wooden zither placed beneath the threshold of the wooden house,

he frowned slightly.

"So it was the strong wind making the wooden zither vibrate, producing that humming sound."

"This wooden zither looks as ordinary as can be, so why did it affect my primordial spirit?"

As he muttered this,

Zhao Gongming's expression grew grave, and he felt somewhat doubtful.

Just as he was about to investigate the wooden zither,

the astonishing sight that followed made Zhao Gongming gasp.