The Undisclosed Nascent Soul

After taking a couple of steps, Yi Xuan noticed something was wrong. Mu Anqing had not followed him and was still standing in a daze at her stall.

"Junior Sister Mu! Junior Sister Mu!"

Yi Xuan had to call out several times before Mu Anqing came back to her senses.

Mu Anqing looked at him blankly. "What is it, Senior Brother Yi?"

By rights, Mu Anqing had entered the Foundation Establishment Realm long ago and had no need to call Yi Xuan senior brother. He should have been calling her senior sister instead.

But Yi Xuan had helped Mu Anqing when she first joined the sect. Thus, even after he became a rootless person, forever unable to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, she still called him senior brother.

At first, Yi Xuan corrected her, but in time he grew used to it and let her have her way.

"Come on, Junior Sister Mu! Why are you standing there in a daze?"

His reminder made Mu Anqing realize her mind had wandered. A little embarrassed, she stuck her tongue out at him.

But Mu Anqing did not follow him. Instead, she said, "Senior Brother, I won't go up the mountain with you. I accepted a mission before coming down, and I have to set off soon. Don't worry, Senior Brother. I'll be back in half a month at most. If there's still no way to resolve this by then, I'll come back and help you think of something."

Hearing this, Yi Xuan knew his junior sister must have accepted the mission first and only heard about the new sect rule afterward.

Otherwise, given her nature, how could she have accepted a mission after hearing about such a thing? She would surely have come down the mountain to tell him at once.

Yi Xuan nodded and asked, a little curious, "What kind of mission is it? Is it dangerous?"

"It's all right. It's a Foundation Establishment Late Stage Demon Beast. I've joined forces with three other fellow disciples at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage. Four Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivators should have no trouble dealing with one Foundation Establishment Late Stage Demon Beast."

Yi Xuan nodded in agreement, but after another moment's thought, he called Mu Anqing back as she was about to leave.

Yi Xuan rummaged in his Storage Bag and took out five identical spherical objects, one after another.

Seeing the objects in his hand, Mu Anqing asked curiously, "What are these?"

As Mu Anqing remembered it, her senior brother Yi Xuan was completely different from the other sect disciples. The others all cultivated desperately, hoping to break through to a new realm as soon as possible.

But Senior Brother Yi spent every day tinkering with strange and curious things. Of course, that might also have been because he was a rootless person, destined never to tread the immortal path in this lifetime.

Yi Xuan offered no explanation. Instead, he pressed the five spheres into Mu Anqing's hands, then took one and pointed to a small round hole on a raised part of its surface. "See this hole? If you run into danger, take one out and channel your True Essence into it through this little hole until you feel that it's full!"

"And then?"

"Then? As soon as you feel it's full, don't hesitate. Throw it at your enemy, then run in the opposite direction!"

Though Yi Xuan had explained in great detail, Mu Anqing still had no idea what the things in her hands were for.

Seeing that Yi Xuan had no intention of saying more, she put the five spheres into her Storage Bag. She did not take them too seriously, though. After all, if even she, a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator, ran into danger, how much help could something made by a Qi Refining Realm cultivator like Yi Xuan be?

Watching Mu Anqing leave, Yi Xuan felt uneasy. He could only hope she would not need to use what he had given her.

Shaking his head, Yi Xuan hurried toward the mountain gate.

Yi Xuan spent most of his time away from the sect's mountain, so many newly admitted disciples did not recognize him at all. Fortunately, he had his sect token in his Storage Bag, which allowed him to pass all the way to the summit.

The sect master's residence stood just behind the sect's main hall, allowing him to handle the sect's various affairs at any time.

Yi Xuan went around the hall to the courtyard behind it. Just as he was about to knock, the gate opened of its own accord.

It seemed the sect master already knew he had arrived. Yi Xuan stepped inside.

In the courtyard, a middle-aged man in white sat beside a stone table, resting with his eyes closed.

This man was Xiao Anhe, the current master of the Azure Cloud Sect.

He was also a sword cultivator, a rarity among immortal cultivators. He had already reached Golden Core Perfection, and a single moment of enlightenment could make him a Nascent Soul patriarch at any time.

When that happened, the Azure Cloud Sect would have two patriarchs, and its standing in the Southern Frontier's cultivation world would rise considerably.

Though Xiao Anhe's eyes were shut, his brow was furrowed with vexation.

As Yi Xuan came to his side, Xiao Anhe opened his eyes and said, "You're here?"

Yi Xuan hurriedly saluted him. "Disciple pays his respects to the sect master!"

Xiao Anhe said with some helplessness, "How many times have I told you? In private, just call me Master! Though those stubborn sect elders won't even agree to recognize us as master and disciple, I've long regarded you as my disciple!"

It was not the first time Yi Xuan had heard the sect master say this, but he was still deeply moved as he called him Master.

Hearing Yi Xuan address him that way, the sect master smiled in relief. But then he seemed to remember something, and his expression grew serious again. "Anqing told you everything, didn't she? About the new sect rule."

Yi Xuan nodded but said nothing.

"The enforcement elder broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm two months ago!" Xiao Anhe said out of the blue.

Yi Xuan stared at him in surprise. "How come no word of it got out?"

Before Xiao Anhe could answer, Yi Xuan realized how foolish his question was. In this world of immortal cultivation, a Nascent Soul patriarch's might surpassed even the nuclear weapons of his previous life. Which was more powerful, a nuclear weapon kept hidden or one displayed for all to see? The answer was obvious: the hidden one, of course.

"It seems you've already worked it out without my help!" Xiao Anhe had lived so many years, after all, and guessed what Yi Xuan was thinking from the expression on his face.

"But what does the enforcement elder's breakthrough have to do with the new sect rule? And Junior Sister Mu has already told me what the new rule says. Master, isn't it a little too obviously aimed at me? They might as well have written my name into it!"

Xiao Anhe smiled at his words. "It is rather obviously aimed at someone, but not at you. This is directed at me!"

Yi Xuan did not quite understand what his sect master meant. Then he saw his master point to the stone stool beside him.

He obediently sat down and waited for his master, the sect master, to speak.

"Did you know that when the sect master was chosen, the current enforcement elder was my only rival?"

Yi Xuan was surprised to hear this. He had never imagined that the enforcement elder, who wore a dark scowl every day and had never once been seen smiling, had once competed with his master for the position of sect master.