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墨書 Inktalez
Spirit Stone Every letter received is a report of safety, mainly reminding a few disciples to cultivate diligently. When it comes to the matters dealt with after descending the mountain, it is mentioned lightly. Today, I encountered a few minor demons and killed them; tomorrow, I found a Demon Sect lair and destroyed it... It seems that the Demon Sect Monster is nothing significant. The higher-ups of the Nine Li Sect express a dismissive attitude when discussing Demon Sect matters, showing great confidence in victory.
However, another narrative quietly spreads beneath the surface.
The higher-ups conceal the truth to reassure the disciples, but as more elders return to the mountain to recuperate, no matter how much they hide it, rumors still leak out.
It is said that the battles with the Demon Sect are extremely fierce, and casualties have begun to appear.
Not long after, Nine Beam Peak Elder Brother Ling Yi Zi suddenly returned to the mountain. After returning, he avoided seeing anyone. The sect leader Ling Xuzi announced that Ling Yi Zi was in seclusion, and all affairs of Nine Beam Peak would be temporarily handled by Ling Yi Zi's fellow disciple Ling Ruzi.
Ling Yi Zi is the main force of this expedition; at this moment, he leaves behind those like Spirit Stone, who are still struggling in battle, to return to the mountain for seclusion. This raises suspicions among all disciples.
Ling Yi Zi is a renowned figure in both the Nine Li Sect and the entire Immortal Sect. He possesses exceptional talent and has reached the late stage of Transmutation in just sixty years, making him the fastest cultivator in contemporary Nine Li Sect, unmatched within the entire Immortal Sect. Additionally, he is handsome and possesses an extraordinary character with rich practical experience; he is said to be admired by many female disciples of the Immortal Sect. How could such a battle-hardened individual abandon his struggling peers during a critical moment to retreat for personal cultivation?
Soon enough, hidden truths began to emerge from Nine Beam Peak.
It turns out that this time, the elders who descended were divided into three groups, led respectively by Nine Vermilion Peaks Elder Brother Spirit Stone, Nine Beam Peak Elder Brother Ling Yi Zi, and Scripture Repository Yue Qingzi. They formed several large teams with other factions of the Immortal Sect to search for Demon Sect lairs. When Ling Yi Zi led his team into action, he underestimated the enemy and advanced deeply; as a result, he was the only survivor in his group. He himself was severely injured; had he not received timely support, he likely wouldn't have made it back.
There have already been significant casualties! This is the most shocking part of this news.
This time, the Immortal Sect actually took preemptive action against the Demon Sect, intending to catch them off guard while they were merely stirring. Logically speaking, they should have had the upper hand; however, reality clearly does not reflect this.
The entire team was annihilated while actively attacking and catching the enemy off guard. All members of the team were elders with cultivation levels above Golden Core Stage! The terrifying strength of the Demon Sect is beginning to reveal itself. It is far from being as insignificant as claimed by the higher-ups.
While most low-level disciples of the Nine Li Sect have not yet received this news, figures like Chuming, who are among the Chief Disciples, have started to learn some insider information; whispers gradually reach Li Hong's ears.
He is no longer the novice he once was; having heard many secrets about both the Immortal Sect and the Demon Sect from Yun Jiuzi, he grows increasingly worried about those like Spirit Stone, who are out on official business.
This person, despite any initial grievances, is ultimately the master who brought him into the immortal sect.
With hidden worries in his heart, he became even more diligent in his cultivation. Sometimes he would not leave the forest for days. Occasionally, he would show his face at the Dining Hall just to satisfy his hunger—at his current level of cultivation, eating was no longer necessary, as he had long reached the state of fasting.
Lingyi had become as familiar to him as his own limbs. After all, it was a Superior Spirit Artifact, only one step away from being a Celestial Artifact, and its power had gradually changed since he first acquired it. It was a treasure that balanced the five elements; on the surface, it appeared gentle and soft, lacking the sounds of wind and thunder or the images of water and fire, seemingly unremarkable. In reality, it was incredibly powerful.
Like the spring waters of Jiangnan, it seemed gentle but concealed infinite lethality. It could strike silently and swiftly over a hundred feet without any warning; a faint Iridescence flashed by, capable of shattering any hard object, including artifacts. This is what it means to kill invisibly.
The Dragon Tail Whip was not as gentle as Lingyi. When used, it roared like a dragon and howled like a tiger, stirring up sand and stones. It looked formidable. However, Li Hong knew that compared to Lingyi, there was quite a gap in their levels. The Dragon Tail Whip was a High-Quality Magical Artifact; it was sufficient for defense but lacked in offensive power. Nevertheless, Li Hong was still quite satisfied. Until he reached the Golden Core Stage and could cultivate the Wind Control Technique, he had to rely on treasures like Lingyi or Flying Swords for aerial movement. In such situations, unless one wanted to risk their life by jumping from a height, it was impossible to use Lingyi beneath him to fight. Using the Dragon Tail Whip for self-defense was the best choice; at least it could knock down nearby artifacts.
As for the Binding Immortal Rope attached to the Cosmic Bag, it was his secret weapon. The Binding Immortal Rope was very convenient to use; it did not require any personal cultivation and was nearly at the level of a Celestial Artifact. However, these two treasures were relics of Heavenly Danzi, and Li Hong did not want others to know they were in his possession, so he only played with them privately. Their power was certainly considerable.
He had already mastered several Mid-Level Spirit Talismans from The Complete Guide to Intermediate Spirit Talisman Techniques of the Nine Departures Sect; however, he could not yet draw a true Mid-Level Spirit Talisman. He could only replicate the shapes of Mid-Level Spirit Talismans as he had done before.
To become a true Mid-Level Spirit Talisman required infusing spiritual energy. Given his current cultivation level, even if he drained all his spiritual energy, he might not succeed in infusing one talisman. Remembering the disaster he once caused that left him unable to live normally for three days and how a Spirit Stone got stuck in a crack in the stone served as a cautionary tale; he dared not attempt it lightly. The same went for using Mid-Level Spirit Talismans.
Low-level Spirit Talismans consumed less spiritual energy when activated; at his current level of cultivation, this posed no problem at all. However, Mid-Level Spirit Talismans were different. Although he could barely activate one Mid-Level Spirit Talisman, there were two issues: first, he might run out of spiritual energy; second, there were no genuine Mid-Level Spirit Talismans available for him to experiment with.
True Mid-Level Spirit Talismans were generally drawn by elders with Golden Core Stage cultivation or higher. They were difficult to create and consumed considerable spiritual energy; who would be willing to let a cautious novice like him use them as test subjects? Unless Spirit Stones returned to the mountain for the sake of disciples would this happen. But currently, without Spirit Stones at Mountain Gate, Li Hong did not even want to think about it.
He had temporarily halted his studies on Beast Taming Technique because that annoying Chief Elder of Punishment Yue Mangzi had been sending people to watch around Nine Vermilion Peaks. Whenever Li Hong went out, they would take turns pretending to greet him with clear intentions—watching him closely and waiting for him to slip up!
Li Hong gritted his teeth in frustration but thought that over time they would grow impatient and naturally withdraw. So during this period, he focused on practicing Summoning Technique.
He remembered that Elder Yue Changzi from Artifact Hall once said that Heavenly Danzi had used Summoning Technique to defeat Demon Sect Monsters decisively; thus Li Hong did not dare underestimate this eerie Summoning Technique. He often practiced alone in the forest during this time; although it became increasingly smooth to use, unfortunately, the Yin Spirits he could summon were mostly insignificant little Evil Spirits except for Ji Lingzi who resembled something more formidable—the Ghost King—who often secluded himself for cultivation due to having successfully built his foundation with Gongxin Pill on Ghost Path. As they were former fellow disciples and mentors, Li Hong felt uncomfortable summoning him frequently for practice. He could only twist those little Evil Spirits around; thus while he became very skilled with Summoning Technique over time, its power remained elusive.
Aside from that, his studies had not fallen behind at all. The cluster of Iridescence in the Upper Dantian Purple Palace was becoming more and more condensed and massive, almost filling up a large portion of the vast space in the Upper Dantian. The Fire Separation Pearl on the first layer and the Essence Blood on the second layer remained unchanged; what changed was the pale white Awareness layer and the outer layer of Multicolored Light Dots, which were rapidly increasing in size.
Now, Li Hong was able to perform Nine Turns in a single breath, indicating that he was progressing toward the Mid Stage of Cautionary Practice. Once he could compress this massive Iridescence, he would officially enter the Mid Stage of Cautionary Practice.
Achieving this took just over three years. Li Hong often thought about how Elder Brother Ling Yi Zi from Nine Beam Peak was considered a contemporary genius, having reached the late stage of Transmutation in sixty years. However, upon reflection, given his current speed of cultivation, he might surpass that record and progress even faster.
Influenced by Li Hong's diligent practice, the gluttonous Chuxiong unexpectedly doubled his efforts. Ever since Chuxuan's exposure, Chuxiong had formally distanced himself from him and no longer interacted with him, spending all day in his room cultivating. A few days ago, he excitedly told Li Hong that he had advanced to the Qi Refinement Stage.
This was an impressive improvement.
Li Hong did not understand why he was advancing so quickly; logically speaking, absorbing the Fire Separation Pearl should have slowed his cultivation speed. After much thought, he believed it was due to the Six Spirit Salty Ritual. However, his second brother was practicing the Li Fire Scripture, and his speed could be quite satisfying compared to the genius Chu Xi.
Speaking of Chu Xi, she had been in seclusion recently, advancing toward the late stage of Qi Refinement.
Although her advancement was fast, Li Hong knew that a significant part of it was due to external factors. Ling Xiangzi favored her and provided her with many rare elixirs to help her improve her cultivation. Unlike his second brother, who had completely relied on his own efforts to cultivate bit by bit.
Many who entered Mountain Gate at the same time were still lingering in the middle stage. The most talented Chuxuan and Chu Liang were only at the Early Stage of Refining Qi.
Originally not highly regarded by others, Chuxiong later surpassed them, leaving many people astonished.
As for Li Hong, they didn't even dare to comment. Who didn't know about this cultivation prodigy? With his unique techniques and even starting to practice Flying Sword techniques, although the elders had not explicitly announced Li Hong's cultivation level, being able to control a sword meant that he was at least at the Initial Stage of Caution.
The Initial Stage of Caution! For those with ordinary talent, it would take decades of hard work to reach this level, yet this prodigy achieved it in just over three years! It was said that even Ling Yi Zi back then could not compare to him!
Since seeing Li Hong frequently flying in and out of Nine Vermilion Peaks on his sword, all disciples no longer dared to underestimate him; the previous mocking voices had vanished. Whenever Li Hong appeared in the Dining Hall, most disciples immediately fell silent and looked at him with admiration; some even deliberately approached him to curry favor.
Their attitude was completely different from before. Even Chuxuan had become more subdued. After returning from the Disciplinary Hall, he had been quietly staying in his own residence for cultivation, hardly stepping out of his room.
Li Hong felt a slight vanity in the eyes of the disciples at Nine Vermilion Peaks. Indeed, there are benefits to having greatly increased strength.
That day, Li Hong went down to the Dining Hall as usual to make an appearance. As soon as he arrived, he noticed that everyone was looking at him strangely, and some were whispering.
As soon as Li Hong took his seat, a disciple approached him eagerly and asked, "Brother Chu Hong, have you heard the new story today?"
Li Hong shook his head; he had been in the forest training for four consecutive days and knew nothing about it.
The disciple waved his hand, and a large group of people quickly gathered around, all looking very excited.
Li Hong recognized this person; he was a disciple from the Chu Lineage who entered Mountain Gate at the same time as him. Although he should be addressed as senior brother due to his age, this person still insisted on calling him Brother Chu Hong. He mysteriously said, "Brother Chu Hong, you are the best among the Chu Lineage disciples. Why not represent us and go to Nine Separation Peak to show those small-minded people what our Nine Li Sect newcomers are capable of!"
Li Hong was puzzled and was about to ask for clarification when someone suddenly shouted from the entrance of the Dining Hall, "Here they come! The Emei disciples are actually coming to our Nine Vermilion Peaks to show off!"
Emei! Li Hong's pupils suddenly constricted.
He certainly would not forget that Heavenly Danzi had fallen victim to someone from Emei Sect.
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