Volume 1, Chapter 8 – Nine Heavens Dragon-Guarding Formation

In the blink of an eye, two days had passed.

Gu Han remained quietly at A-Yao’s side the entire time, not daring to leave even for a moment.

In just those two short days, Gu Han had watched with her own eyes as A-Yao went from a tiny little thing with no cultivation at all to the fifth layer of Qi Refinement!

And her foundation was incomparably solid, without the slightest trace of instability.

That kind of cultivation speed left Gu Han speechless.

When people are compared, some die of shame. When goods are compared, the inferior get thrown away.

Just as Gu Han thought she might keep cultivating forever,

A-Yao finally ended her cultivation. She slowly opened her eyes, her little face full of excitement:

“Master Mama!”

“A-Yao feels like there’s something running around inside my body. It’s warm and feels so nice!”

“That’s the spiritual qi A-Yao cultivated.”

Gu Han rubbed her head and explained patiently,

“You have to cultivate properly. Only then will you become very powerful in the future, and only then will you be able to protect yourself, understand?”

“Got it! A-Yao will remember!”

The little girl nodded hard, utterly trusting.

Looking at the lively A-Yao, Gu Han’s feelings were complicated.

The sect was established, and she even had her founding first disciple now, a well-behaved and clingy little darling.

But along with that came a sense of responsibility.

Right now, A-Yao was like a blank sheet of paper, pure and spotless.

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She had to teach her well, and she also had to find more disciples so that Yaochi Immortal Palace could truly live up to its name.

As the Palace Master of this bare-bones sect, she had to start thinking about how to properly manage it.

First, there was the issue of how A-Yao addressed her…

Although “Master Mama” sounded a little strange, it did not seem like it could be corrected for now.

Forget it. She could say whatever she wanted.

Second, she had to prepare some suitable artifacts for A-Yao.

Although her cultivation was still low, as the direct first disciple of Yaochi Immortal Palace, she could not be allowed to look too shabby.

“Come on, A-Yao. Master will show you around our home.”

Gu Han took A-Yao’s little hand and led her out of the main hall, strolling through the grand yet empty Yaochi Immortal Palace.

They crossed the white jade plaza, passed pavilions and towers with carved beams and painted rafters, and walked by the spiritual herb garden wreathed in spiritual qi…

“This is the Transmission Pavilion. In the future, Master will explain Dao teachings to you here.”

“This is the Scripture Repository. Later, it will hold lots and lots of cultivation manuals and secret arts.”

“This is the Alchemy Pavilion. It can refine pills that improve cultivation, heal injuries, and cure illnesses.”

“This is the Artifact Refining Pavilion. It can forge flying swords and artifacts…”

Gu Han introduced each place one by one, her tone carrying a trace of longing for the future.

A-Yao kept her big eyes wide open, glancing around curiously. Everything was fresh and new to her.

When they reached the edge of that clear lake,

A-Yao looked at the islet in the middle and the water reflecting the blue sky and white clouds, then clapped happily:

“It’s so pretty here! Master Mama, does this lake have a name?”

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Looking at the lake, something stirred in Gu Han’s heart.

How could Yaochi Immortal Palace not have a Yaochi?

“From this day forward, this lake shall be called ‘Yaochi.’”

She made the declaration in a clear voice. Dao resonance infused her words, as if she were engraving the name into the very laws of this world.

Gentle ripples spread across the surface of the lake, as though it were responding to the name she had given it.

【Ding! Successfully named the core landmark “Yaochi.” Sect fortune has slightly increased.】

The system notification made Gu Han raise an eyebrow. So giving names to locations within the sect had this kind of benefit too?

While Gu Han was showing A-Yao around their new home and imagining the future, the outside world was being stirred into turmoil by what she had done earlier.

First was the original site of Heavenly Maiden Temple, that enormous hemispherical crater.

The people in the nearby villages had long since spread the news of the “Heavenly Maiden ascending” and “immortal signs appearing.”

Their stories drew officials from the surrounding towns and some low-level cultivators to investigate.

Once they confirmed that the mountain, together with the temple on top of it, had truly vanished into thin air, leaving behind only a massive crater as smooth as a mirror,

all kinds of speculation and rumors began to spread wildly.

Some said a mighty expert had moved the mountain. Others said a rare treasure had appeared. Still others claimed demonic forces were at work, throwing people into panic and attracting even more curious eyes.

Second, and more importantly, were the supreme experts standing at the very top of the continent.

The heavenly phenomena triggered by Gu Han ascending to immortality in a single step, along with her later feat of moving a mountain barehanded and blocking the investigations of multiple people,

had already caused many mighty experts to regard her as someone on their level, or perhaps even stronger.

Such a mysterious expert had appeared suddenly, then suddenly “disappeared” after carrying off an entire mountain. What was her purpose?

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Was she friend or foe?

The Imperial Observatory of the Longteng Dynasty dispatched an investigation team led by a Body Integration elder and composed of several Spirit Transformation cultivators, rushing day and night toward the southern border.

On the northern snowfields, that woman appeared at the fringes of the region, her divine sense sweeping over the area again and again as she tried to find the slightest clue.

From the western region’s Great Leiyin Temple, a monk named Wuxin headed south with a dharma decree in hand.

He looked slow, yet in truth each step shrank the earth itself, his direction aimed straight at the former site of Heavenly Maiden Temple.

The green-robed scholar from the eastern sea’s Penglai Immortal Isle was even more direct. Hovering above the crater where Heavenly Maiden Temple had once stood, he frowned slightly:

“Spatial severance… what an exquisite method!”

“This person’s mastery of formations is probably no less than mine. But why did they move away such an ordinary mountain?”

In Central Province, the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets activated some kind of secret treasure in an attempt to divine Gu Han’s origins and whereabouts.

Yet the heavenly secrets were a complete blur, as if some force had shielded everything about her. That only made the entire Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets even more shocked and wary.

All of these investigations ultimately pointed to the same result.

This newly ascended Immortal Ascension expert, after triggering the heavenly phenomena and moving away an entire mountain, had vanished completely.

Not only did this fail to put the various powers at ease, it made them even more vigilant.

A powerful existence with a known location might be intimidating, but at least they would know where that person was.

But a powerful existence whose whereabouts were a mystery and whose intentions were unknown

was more like a bomb that could explode at any moment, making every faction uneasy.

“Investigate! Keep investigating! We must find out the identity and origins of this mysterious expert!”

“Send more people. Watch for any unusual spiritual qi fluctuations across the continent!”

“Pass down the order: disciples under our sect are to act with greater caution for the time being and must not stir up trouble lightly!”

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Orders like these were continuously issued among all the top powers.

The upper echelon of the entire Canglan Continent was now full of undercurrents because of Gu Han’s sudden rise and mysterious disappearance.

Yet Gu Han herself, the center of the storm, knew nothing of all this, or rather, she had no time to spare for it at the moment.

She was still immersed in her dual roles as a “novice Master” and a “bare-bones Palace Master.”

After taking A-Yao around the main halls, Gu Han began thinking about more practical matters.

The Sect Construction Card had only provided the basic structural framework. Many details still needed improvement, especially daily necessities.

Perhaps she could go out and purchase some supplies, and at the same time learn more about the outside world.

After all, she had been “cut off from the world” for far too long.

“A-Yao, Master needs to go out for a while. Stay here and cultivate properly, and don’t run around, understand?”

Gu Han instructed her.

Yaochi Immortal Palace was protected by the Nine Heavens Dragon-Guarding Formation. Unless she ran out on her own, she would be perfectly safe.

“Will Master Mama be gone for a long time?”

A-Yao tugged at her sleeve, her big eyes full of reluctance.

“Not for long. I’ll be back very soon.”

Gu Han spoke softly,

“Cultivate well. When Master comes back, I’ll bring you something fun.”

The moment she heard “something fun,” A-Yao’s eyes lit up at once, and she nodded vigorously:

“Mhm! A-Yao will definitely cultivate properly and wait for Master Mama to come back!”