Azure Mountains and Verdant Valleys rushed past beneath him as Li Hongyu soared higher. He often dove down towards the ground, barely grazing the Summit before shooting straight up into the blue sky. An unprecedented rush of extreme speed filled him with exhilaration.
In the Upper Dantian space, the mass of Iridescence began to spin automatically. Tiny Multicolored Light Dots, visible only to Li Hong, swiftly chased after his figure in the sky. Due to his incredible speed, these light dots connected end to end, forming countless fine threads that stretched for miles, continuously penetrating into Li Hong. More and more Multicolored Light Dots surged in, rapidly infiltrating his body without him realizing it.
Large clusters of Multicolored Light Dots poured into his meridians, flowing like the mighty Yangtze River towards the Upper Dantian. The mass of Iridescence at the center of the Purple Palace Space grew larger and brighter; gradually, the part closest to the pale white substance was compressed into a dense form, with some flowing back into the Great Circulation. In an instant, a cycle of nine breaths coursed through all his meridians, and when it returned to the Upper Dantian Purple Palace, its color turned pale white, becoming the “Awareness” cultivated by Li Hong, merging with the surface of his Innate Vital Blood mass.
A portion of Awareness was unconsciously drawn out by Li Hong, and after another cycle of nine breaths, more flowed continuously from his Yongquan point at the soles of his feet into Lingyi. This cycle continued endlessly.
Unbeknownst to him, Li Hong had completed a cycle of nine breaths in cultivating his Awareness, signifying that he had officially entered the “Initial Stage of Caution”!
Li Hong felt an overwhelming sense of power surging through him as his Awareness roamed freely. He maneuvered Lingyi with incredible speed, racing across the sky like riding on a whirlwind…
After flying for an unknown duration, the Multicolored Light Dots finally ceased their pursuit. Li Hong regained awareness and suddenly halted mid-air on top of Lingyi, gaining insight.
After a long moment, he smiled slightly, realizing he had unintentionally crossed another threshold.
Just as he was about to turn back towards the Nine Vermilion Peaks, he noticed a mountain peak about ten miles ahead that looked lush and distinct, with numerous flying eaves and yellow tiles peeking out. Upon closer inspection of the surrounding terrain, he recognized it—wasn’t that where Chu Xi lived at the Nine Purple Peak?
It had been a while since he last saw her; he wondered how she was doing.
With a thought, Li Hong directed Lingyi swiftly towards the Nine Purple Peak, moving with utmost agility.
In an instant, he arrived above the Nine Purple Peak, only then recalling that there was someone here who wasn’t particularly fond of him—Ling Xiangzi Master Uncle. Just as he intended to turn back, it was too late; several slender figures shot up and appeared before him.
A few female disciples from the Nine Purple Peak surrounded him. The leader, a round-faced girl with small eyes who looked rather ordinary but carried herself with great arrogance, glared at him and shouted, “Which disciple from which master dares to trespass our Nine Purple Peak! Do you not respect our master?!”
Li Hong was speechless; she kept saying others were blind—did she think her eyes were large? Just as he was about to explain that he came looking for Chu Xi, one of the female disciples behind subtly waved at him.
Oh? It was Chu Yan. Respecting this kind-hearted senior sister greatly, seeing her frown slightly and shake her head made him quickly close his mouth and say no more. He clasped his fists in salute on his sword and prepared to turn away.
“Coming and going as you please without regard for us! As per usual rules, anyone who trespasses on the Nine Purple Peak must leave something behind; our punishment will be dealt by someone from the office of the Chief Elder!”
After finishing her words, the girl with small eyes flicked her fingers, sending several streaks of fire straight towards Li Hong, moving at incredible speed.
Although he had just cultivated his Lingyi, he commanded it adeptly and reacted swiftly. He dodged with a quick movement on top of Lingyi, soaring upwards as those flames narrowly missed his feet.
“Hey! You dare to dodge! Watch this!” Another female disciple pulled out some kind of talisman; with a flicker of her hand, a massive firebird suddenly took shape and chased after Li Hong, intent on burning him.
Li Hong was also furious. These women were unreasonable! They claimed he had trespassed on Nine Purple Peak, but he hadn't even set foot on an inch of land!
Seeing the enormous firebird relentlessly pursuing him, just an arrow's distance from his backside, he realized that it was at least a Mid-Level Spirit Talisman, and getting burned would not be fun. In a panic, he decided to fight back, even if it meant mutual destruction, and show these girls a thing or two! He prepared to leap off Lingyi and confront them when he suddenly heard the voice of Heavenly Torch in his mind: "Come on! You're afraid of this little fire? Let it burn!"
Li Hong was taken aback, momentarily stunned. Just then, the firebird swooped down, and with a thunderous roar, Li Hong was engulfed in flames, instantly becoming a blazing fireball.
"Ah—" Several long cries rang out, with Chu Yan's voice being the loudest. "Junior sister, he just learned how to control the sword; you've caused a disaster!"
A gust of wind rushed toward him. Some people flew up from below the peak.
Surrounded by roaring flames, Li Hong found it strange that he felt neither heat nor pain; instead, he felt warm and cozy. When he raised his hand to check, not a single hair on his head had been singed. He immediately felt reassured and thought it might be fun to stand still in the fire—scaring these arrogant girls would be good—well, except for Chu Yan.
With a splash, an unknown bucket of water was dumped over him, extinguishing the flames and revealing Li Hong completely unharmed.
Just as Li Hong was about to smile, he suddenly sensed something was wrong...
"Oh my God!"
"Pervert!" Several screams erupted as the female disciples scattered like birds and beasts.
"Shameless scoundrel!" Someone shouted this as their voice quickly faded away, clearly fleeing in panic. It was Ling Xiangzi!
A gust of wind blew past, leaving Li Hong feeling chilly all over. When he touched himself, he realized he had fled in embarrassment.
He was completely clean and unscathed; however, his clothes had been burned to ashes... This was truly humiliating!
Heavenly Torch laughed maniacally: "Good good good! This kind of wicked girl deserves to be dealt with like this! Let them see what a real man is like! Hahaha!"
Li Hong wished he could block his ears and sever his Divine Consciousness. He rode Lingyi at full speed through the sky and dashed into his room at Nine Vermilion Peaks, jumping under the covers while cursing Heavenly Torch a thousand times in his heart.
********
For three whole days, Li Hong dared not step out of his room and even skipped training in the forest. Chuxiong couldn't help but wonder about him, but Li Hong refused to say anything.
By that evening, he could no longer avoid showing his face; Spirit Stone summoned him.
As soon as Li Hong stepped into the Three-Story Pavilion, he sensed something was off. All seven of his brothers were present. The moment they saw him enter, their cheeks puffed up with laughter as if their eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. Someone started it off with a snicker... "Ha ha ha," and soon the uproarious laughter nearly lifted the roof off.
Li Hong felt so embarrassed that he wished he could find a crack in the ground to hide in.
Everyone was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down their faces, unable to stop. Spirit Stone said, "Old Six, you really are something! Now those girls will definitely remember you. Let's see if they dare to act so arrogantly in the future! Haha, your Master Uncle is going to hate you for this!"
"Master..." Li Hong felt a bit shy and didn't know what to say. However, seeing Spirit Stone's expression, he figured he probably wouldn't be punished.
"You can't blame yourself for this; after all, you haven't even set foot on Nine Purple Peak. It's those girls who should be worried. Haha, I really want to see how you pranked them back then..." Spirit Stone laughed wildly.
"Old Six is truly Old Six; you're impressive! Coming up with a trick like that!"
"That's what a real man is!"
"Big brother, you're fierce!"
Listening to the teasing from his fellow disciples, Li Hong felt like he wanted to find a hole to crawl into, yet for some reason, he also felt warm inside.
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