“`
The morning sun split through the mountains and rivers of the earth, sweeping across the Outer City, with disciples constantly flying in and out, busy and yet repressed.
In a mansion.
Chen Xuanjin’s Nascent Soul hovered within the hall, his head lowered, extremely tense.
In front of him sat a man in the chief seat, dressed in a black robe with dragon patterns, his face young and handsome but his brows exuded such authority that it created a pressure incongruous with his appearance. His long hair was coiled under a silver crown with Qilin carvings, and just sitting there, he radiated an aura of unrivaled supremacy.
“Your brother was executed by the demon cultivator from the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion, and now you have been seriously injured by the Flying Leaf Sword Immortal. Tell me, might Zuo Yijian’s master be connected to the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion?” the man in the black robe slowly asked.
His tone was calm, as if speaking of an insignificant matter.
Chen Xuanjin quickly raised his head and said, “We cannot rule out this possibility. It’s no secret that the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion has planted spies within the Supreme Sect. Didn’t you say before that there must be spies from the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion among the high ranks? Haven’t they just revealed themselves now?”
Offending Zuo Yijian meant endless trouble, but if Chen Xuanjin could topple Zuo Yijian’s backer, then he wouldn’t be afraid of Zuo Yijian anymore.
The man in the black robe narrowed his eyes, his gaze falling upon Chen Xuanjin, who quickly lowered his head in fright.
The hall fell into silence once again.
After a while.
The man in the black robe spoke in an eerie tone, “Prepare the formation. With the demon cultivators causing chaos recently, after this matter is resolved, we can pin the blame on the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion.”
Chen Xuanjin hastily said, “But in my current state, I fear…”
“This time, I will take it upon myself.”
“What? That can’t be, whether this can succeed or not is not yet determined, and the Daotian Sect is also waiting for us to try it.”
“Nothing is ever certain to succeed. The path of immortal cultivation is inherently thorny. We’ve been planning this for a century, and the Supreme Sect must act; we can’t let those lurking in the shadows ruin our grand plan. Don’t try to persuade me further.”
Hearing this, Chen Xuanjin could only suppress his worries and agree to the matter.
Elsewhere.
Mystic Valley.
Gu An was directing the disciples in their drills. The commotion from the previous night had left the disciples restless, so they were discussing in small groups.
Tang Yu asked, “Master, how come you returned so quickly?”
The others looked towards Gu An as well.
Gu An snorted, “Didn’t you feel the commotion last night? I rushed back because I was afraid something would happen to you.”
Upon hearing this, the disciples all felt ashamed, believing that they were too weak and always a concern for their master.
Xiaochuan said with worried urgency, “Senior brother, why don’t you go to the Inner Sect’s Medicine Valley? It’s okay if we disband, we can all find our own way in the Outer Sect, so you can be safe.”
He wasn’t afraid of dying; he just didn’t want Gu An to overexert himself.
Gu An had already reached the Foundation Establishment Realm and had a future beyond their comparison. Why should he always live in fear because of them?
Gu An said, “If you want to go to the Outer City, I can let you go, but I must remind you that the Outer City is not necessarily safer than Mystic Valley, since disciples disappear in the city all the time. I’m not threatening or implying anything. Whatever you choose, I’ll respect it, and I can’t keep you against my own will. Whether you stay or go, the bond with Mystic Valley remains.”
He spoke from the heart.
He yearned for longevity and knew he would inevitably face many partings and deaths; he had long been prepared and did not concern himself with the fates of others.
Unless someone truly mattered to him, then he would act according to his heart.
Hearing his words, the disciples fell silent, looking at each other.
Wuxin hesitated to speak, but ultimately held back.
“Leave, why leave? Could we, as servant disciples in other places, ever receive elixir refinement from a master like ours? Mystic Valley doesn’t need so many servant disciples, but our master still took us in without reducing our treatment. We can’t be ungrateful!”
Tang Yu was the first to speak. His greatest regret was that he had not charged to the front like Su Han when Qiu Qianli caused trouble.
Once, Su Han had been following his lead, but now Su Han had achieved Foundation Establishment, while Tang Yu was still unsure if he would ever reach that level in his lifetime. The gap had started to grow from that calamity.
Tang Yu did not resent Gu An but felt ashamed. He swore to perform well and regain the favor of his master.
As he spoke up, the other disciples joined in agreement, and the atmosphere became lively, no longer as oppressive as before.
Gu An smiled and signaled for the disciples to continue their drills.
Just as they finished their drills, Ye Lan arrived, confirming Gu An’s safety before quickly leaving.
Gu An stood by the window, looking in the direction of the Outer City.
Great Cultivators still occasionally flew overhead, though not as many as the previous night.
Gu An’s Divine Sense could easily span thousands of miles to observe the Outer City, and that wasn’t even the limit of his abilities.
He saw the massive Array Platform being rapidly constructed—even disciples had started moving Spirit Stones. He watched silently, still unable to discern the purpose of the formation.
The issue of the sinking Spiritual Energy had thrown the Supreme Sect into turmoil, and the tense atmosphere had only begun to ease after nearly ten days.
Gu An was affected by this.
“`
Several Outer Disciples were moving their caves, resulting in the loss of a few channels for him to collect life span; these disciples were clearly planning to flee the Outer City.
Gu An, however, was not disappointed. He now had three Medicine Valleys and his life span would only continue to increase in the future. He was even planning to expand the Third Medicine Valley.
He was just waiting for the matters of the Outer Sect to end quickly. As long as it didn’t threaten his Mystic Valley or the few people he cared about, he was too lazy to meddle in the conspiracies of the Supreme Sect.
Just as Shen Zhen had said, even the Great Yu Dynasty’s top sect, the Daotian Sect, was involved in such activities. Why should he force himself to intervene? He did not possess such a strong sense of justice to save those suffering from hardship. With so many hardships in the world, could he save everyone even if he wanted to?
Moreover, such matters were not easy to manage. If he forcibly disrupted the Supreme Sect’s plans, and the sect faced a great calamity of demons and could not hold on, he would become the sinner of the Supreme Sect. Everyone in the Supreme Sect would blame him. After all, aside from the sacrificed victims, all others benefited.
Those he saved might even feel that without his intervention, they wouldn’t have been sacrificed and thus blame him.
He couldn’t keep saving one group of people after another and carry the mission of saving all lives forever. Just the thought of it made him feel tired.
Time continued to pass.
One day, Gu An came to Tianya Valley, first harvesting the matured medicinal herbs, then leading three Monkey Demons to sow the seeds.
Luo Hun approached from behind and said, “A month ago, the Earth Spiritual Energy subsided, and many Great Cultivators of the Supreme Sect were patrolling around. Some even passed through the airspace above Tianya Valley. What exactly happened to the Supreme Sect?”
Gu An casually replied, “It seems there was a Demon Cultivator invasion. Oh, and Li Ya was injured by a Demon Cultivator before. He is now recuperating in the Inner Sect.”
Upon hearing this, Luo Hun frowned deeply, turned around, and walked into the forest.
Afterward, Gu An’s Divine Sense saw him casting a spell on a piece of Talisman Paper. Once his Spiritual Power was infused into it, the Talisman Paper ignited, quickly turning to ashes.
Gu An, now at the Unification Realm, could keenly sense a strand of Spiritual Power belonging to Luo Hun fleeing toward the horizon at great speed.
It seemed Luo Hun was sending a message to Li Xuandao.
Gu An didn’t think much about it and continued sowing.
After finishing the sowing, he gave a few instructions to the three Monkey Demons and then left Tianya Valley.
Compared to those conspiracies and tricks, he was more concerned about the development of the Medicine Valley. Focusing his energy on this was the right thing to do.
…
The sky was overcast with clouds, and the Outer City was crowded with people.
Su Han and Zhen Qin stood in front of a stele. Su Han read out loud, “Heavenly Repair Platform.”
Following Zhen Qin’s gaze, they could see a massive Array Platform stretching over a dozen miles in front of them, incredibly majestic. Around the edge of the platform stood statues of various poses, all depicting ancient Immortals.
At the very center of the Heavenly Repair Platform stood a hundred-zhang-tall stone pillar, square and upright, its surface etched with many indentations that resembled human meridians, exuding mysterious signs.
“Senior Brother, what do you think is the purpose of this Heavenly Repair Platform? Why has the Sect summoned all Outer Disciples to return, and we even have to gather on the platform tomorrow?” Zhen Qin asked with a slight frown, her tone quite dissatisfied.
Su Han looked at the Heavenly Repair Platform and said softly, “I don’t know either. It might have something to do with the descent of Spiritual Energy a month ago.”
Many Disciples who had just returned and were seeing the Heavenly Repair Platform for the first time were standing in the streets behind them, also discussing the platform.
How powerful must the Formation be to operate such a large platform?
Without an answer, Zhen Qin turned to look in other directions. In a daze, she thought she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure, but when she looked carefully, she saw no one, as if she had been mistaken.
“Strange…” muttered Zhen Qin.
In the crowd not far away, Jiang Qiong walked in blue garments, her gaze casually sweeping over the Heavenly Repair Platform without any expression on her face.
An old man with a hunched back and a cane in his hand, only reaching her shoulder, accompanied her.
“Miss, this Array Platform is not simple. I’m afraid there will be big trouble tomorrow. Should we really stay?” the hunched-back old man asked.
Not just him, but many Disciples around were worried, with various speculations.
Jiang Qiong, unfazed, replied, “It’s indeed not simple. The Restrictions within the platform are very complex, and it would take decades to deduce and complete. But since we’re already here, we must see what happens tomorrow.”
The hunched-back old man looked at her and exclaimed, “Miss, you’ve changed so much. Do you have attachments to someone in this Supreme Sect?”
“Indeed, I do. That’s why I asked you to come.”
“Hehe, it seems my old bones will need to be put to work again.”
The two casually chatted, not mentioning the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion, so no one suspected their identities.
Meanwhile.
On the other side of the Heavenly Repair Platform, two young figures stood on the edge of a nine-layered pavilion, one of them being the backer of Chen Xuanjin, a man in a black robe.
The man in the black robe looked down at the Heavenly Repair Platform, his gaze profound, as he pondered something unknown.
The young man beside him asked, “Master, the Outer Disciples of this city should have almost all returned. Should we summon more Servant Disciples from nearby Medicine Valleys, Beast Fields, and mines?”
This voice was unmistakably Chen Xuanjin’s!
He had taken over the body of a young Disciple.
The man in the black robe said softly, “No need. The more Servant Disciples there are, the less pure their Cultivation Levels would be.”