So That Was Why No One Could Find It: Master Had It All Along

"Master, you're finally back."

As soon as the flying boat drew near, Luo Ling'er rode up to it on the Chongming Bird.

"It's been so long, I was almost smoking from boredom."

Lu Changzhi laughed, glanced at Xiao Ming beneath Luo Ling'er, and said:

"You've certainly fed Xiao Ming plump."

"Chirp, chirp."

Xiao Ming waved his wings in protest.

"Huh? Master, you've brought back another disciple?"

Only then did Luo Ling'er notice Qin Li behind him.

Lu Changzhi nodded and introduced her:

"This is my new disciple, Qin Li. She'll be your junior sister from now on."

Then Lu Changzhi turned to Qin Li:

"This is Luo Ling'er, your third senior sister."

"The one she's riding is called Xiao Ming."

Qin Li nodded and bowed to Luo Ling'er:

"Greetings, Third Senior Sister."

Luo Ling'er blinked and asked Qin Li:

"How about you be the senior sister instead?"

Qin Li shook her head:

"You came first, so you should be the senior sister. There's no need to mind our ages."

Luo Ling'er nodded, half understanding:

"Then I'll be the senior sister from now on."

After they had gotten acquainted, Lu Changzhi said to Qin Li:

"This is our sect, the Five Symbols Sect. I'm the peak master of Hidden Origin Peak. There are only so many places to stay on the peak, so everyone has to build their own. Find yourself a suitable spot."

Qin Li nodded, then began walking around Hidden Origin Peak.

As the possessor of a Sacred Physique, her perception far surpassed that of ordinary people.

She could sense a powerful killing array hidden on Hidden Origin Peak.

There was also a place with a rather distinctive presence.

Following that feeling,

she soon arrived at the place where Lu Changzhi had planted the Dao Comprehension Tea Tree.

"Why does this tree feel so similar to the Dao Comprehension Tea Leaves?"

Sensing the presence of the tree before her, Qin Li froze.

In her previous life, she had drunk Dao Comprehension Tea.

Not long ago, she had also seen Dao Comprehension Tea Leaves.

Both had felt remarkably similar to the tree before her now.

"According to the rumors, all Dao Comprehension Tea Leaves grow on a single miraculous tree, which is why people named it the Dao Comprehension Tea Tree."

"But no one knows where that tree is, or whether it even exists."

Qin Li murmured, recalling what she had learned in her previous life.

I never imagined that the reason no one could find the Dao Comprehension Tea Tree was that Master had planted it here.

Qin Li's expression grew complicated.

She had thought the water from the River of Life was astonishing enough.

She had never expected to find the Dao Comprehension Tea Tree as well.

After standing there in a daze for a long while, Qin Li let out a wistful sigh:

"It seems I still underestimated Master's origins."

"Hm? You want to live there?"

Lu Changzhi was somewhat surprised when he learned what Qin Li had in mind.

She actually wanted to live beside the Dao Comprehension Tea Tree.

"I hope you'll allow it, Master."

Qin Li spoke up.

Lu Changzhi smiled. "Do as you wish."

"Thank you, Master."

"Oh, right." Something occurred to Lu Changzhi, and he said to Qin Li:

"Your cultivation is higher, so when you have time, help guide Ling'er."

"She's strong, but she doesn't have much technique to speak of."

Qin Li nodded:

"Don't worry, Master. I'll set aside some time each day to guide Senior Sister Luo."

After Lu Changzhi gave her some more Dao Comprehension Tea Leaves, Qin Li rose and left.

Lu Changzhi opened the system again.

"System, raise my cultivation and aptitude."

As his words fell, spiritual power began surging wildly through Lu Changzhi's dantian.

Time passed bit by bit.

When it was all over,

his aptitude had reached the middle grade of the Saint tier.

At the same time, his cultivation had risen to the Peak of the Life and Death Realm.

"I didn't manage to break through to the Creation Realm in one go."

Lu Changzhi murmured softly, then rose and headed outside.

"I wonder if using the Heaven-Veiling Illusion Array will cause a commotion."

After thinking it over briefly, he left Hidden Origin Peak.

Arrays were extremely important to sects and other forces.

Nearly every major sect and force sought them out, especially those of the highest grades.

However, the higher an array's grade, the harder it was to set up and the more resources it consumed.

Of course, Lu Changzhi had none of those worries.

Before long, Lu Changzhi arrived in the area between the major peaks.

"System, use the Heaven-Veiling Illusion Array."

As his words fell, a flash of light spread out in all directions.

The void rippled in response.

Soon, the ripples vanished.

"Deployment in progress... deployment complete."

The system's voice rang out, and the full extent of the array appeared in Lu Changzhi's mind.

The illusion array did not cover the entire Five Symbols Sect.

But the most important peaks, along with the surrounding areas where the inner disciples lived, were now protected.

"Hm?"

At several places throughout the Five Symbols Sect, elders and others sensed something and opened their eyes.

For a moment, waves of perception swept the surroundings.

But they found nothing.

Lu Changzhi had already set off and returned to Hidden Origin Peak.

The Heaven-Veiling Illusion Array did more than create illusions; it could also block probing from outside.

Now, unless someone was powerful enough, they would be unable to probe what was happening within the five major peaks of the Five Symbols Sect.

After all that, Lu Changzhi returned to his house.

He controlled his External Avatar and had it hurry back.

For some reason, he had a vague feeling.

It seemed the Cloud Heaven Holy Land already knew that the person who had triggered the phenomenon in heaven and earth had been found.

Otherwise, the people from the Cloud Heaven Holy Land would not have started to leave.

After all, not long ago, they had been searching with blazing intensity.

Two days later, the External Avatar returned to the Five Symbols Sect's territory.

Lu Changzhi continued controlling it as usual, wandering from place to place.

That afternoon,

the External Avatar arrived near a small city.

From a distance, the city gave off a peculiar feeling.

Lu Changzhi sent out his perception, spreading it over the city.

The next moment, his brows furrowed.

"System, count the living people currently in the city."

Lu Changzhi spoke aloud.

A few breaths later, the system's voice rang out:

"Scan complete. Result: 0."

Lu Changzhi's heart sank.

Something had most likely happened in the city.

He controlled the External Avatar and entered.

The city gates were tightly shut.

Corpses lay everywhere along the roads.

The corpses were in an extremely bizarre state, so shriveled that it would be no exaggeration to call them skin and bones.

The bones beneath the skin were like rotten wood, breaking in two with the slightest force.

As far as he could see, every corpse was the same, without exception.

Lu Changzhi's expression darkened.

Though it was only a small city, it had more than a hundred thousand ordinary people.

Now, not one had been spared.

A massacre on such a scale, carried out by such sinister means.

Having seen it with his own eyes, he would have been lying to say he was not shaken.

Just then, the system's voice suddenly rang out in Lu Changzhi's mind:

[Trial information triggered. Mission being issued:]