Volume 1, Chapter 236 – Sacred Martial World

“You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

In an instant, Shi Lan recovered herself, shook her head slightly, and turned to walk out of the winehouse.

For various reasons, Shi Lan did not want to become too deeply entangled with the scholarly schools.

As the saying went, those who follow different paths cannot make plans together. Her way of thinking did not accord with that of the scholarly schools, and besides, she and Lu Chengye had only met by chance. There was no need for any deeper acquaintance.

Wu Lingkong lifted her brows slightly but said nothing, rising to follow.

“Miss, please wait. If I have been presumptuous, allow me to—”

Seeing Shi Lan’s rather cool reaction, Lu Chengye’s heart tightened. Thinking his own rude behavior had offended her, he immediately hurried forward two steps, intending to apologize.

Unexpectedly, the moment he stepped within five paces of the woman ahead, a wave of true qi suddenly struck him.

A soft white light instantly lit up across Lu Chengye’s body, wrapping him within it.

Bang!

A string of footprints nearly an inch deep was stamped into the bluestone floor. Lu Chengye staggered back five or six steps before barely steadying himself.

What dense true qi!

Lu Chengye lowered his eyes to the footprints on the ground, a trace of shock flashing through them. He had not reacted at all just now. It had been the righteous qi within him protecting him on its own.

Fortunately, the flow of true qi had not been overbearing, nor had it held any intent to injure. That was why he was only somewhat disheveled and had not been hurt.

After steadying himself, Lu Chengye looked around, only to find that the two women from before had already vanished.

“Brother Lu, are you all right?”

“That woman was far too rude. You had hardly said two words before she attacked.”

“Those two women seemed to be from the Demon-Suppressing Army.”

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“No wonder…”

Only then did the few scholars not far away recover their senses and crowd around him.

Lu Chengye answered them absently, but he could not help feeling somewhat frustrated.

After more than ten years of accumulation, he had finally burst forth in full force, cultivated righteous qi, condensed his literary heart in one stroke, crossed over the stage of scholar, and entered the realm of literatus, with battle strength comparable to an Earth Fiend Realm martial artist.

If he had still been in the city where he once lived, that level of strength would have been enough for him to look down on all around him and make his name known for a thousand li.

But here today, he had not possessed the slightest ability to resist. He had collapsed at the first touch…

“That woman, judging from her appearance, should be Young Master Shi’s… younger sister… or something of the sort, right? Otherwise, how could there be two people in this world who look so alike?”

Recalling the woman’s face from earlier, Lu Chengye found himself thinking that uncertainly.

…

A formation had always covered the skies above Xianwu City. No matter the hour, it remained as bright as broad daylight, with almost no distinction between day and night.

After leaving the winehouse and strolling the streets with Wu Lingkong for a while, Shi Lan lost interest and invited Wu Lingkong to head back and rest together.

She did not really like wandering about without any purpose. It always felt like a waste of time, especially under such tense circumstances.

Wu Lingkong refused Shi Lan’s invitation. She still wanted to wander a bit longer. Her cultivation was unlikely to make any major progress in the short term, and with such a rare chance to relax, she truly did not want to go back into seclusion to cultivate.

After accompanying Wu Lingkong on another round through Nishang Pavilion, the two parted ways.

Once she separated from Wu Lingkong, Shi Lan headed straight home. She wanted to sort through the gains from this trip to the Battle Merit Hall.

…

…

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The Sacred Martial Immortal Sect’s sect grounds were located in a mountain range not far from Xianwu City.

Before the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect was founded, this region had been a vast plain.

The first supreme headmaster of the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect had, with great divine powers, forcibly captured several dozen earth dragon veins to serve as its foundation, then drew in nearly a hundred spirit veins and laid down a peerless grand formation, changing heaven and earth and creating an area of top-grade spirit land out of thin air, thereby establishing the foundation of the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect’s inheritance.

At this moment, a silver giant gate some hundred zhang tall floated quietly above the mountain range. Around the gate, layer upon layer of spatial ripples surged, while waves of pure and vast Dao resonance flowed freely.

Because of the gate, the formation over the mountain range had already disappeared, and the bright moonlight poured down like flowing water.

“What is that?”

“That’s the entrance to the Sacred Martial World. It seems a few Supreme Elders are going to take some of the senior brothers and senior sisters from the inner sect, along with the true disciples, inside for a period of secluded cultivation.”

“I heard there is a Nine-Dragon Pool in the Sacred Martial World. Cultivating there for one day is equal to ten days of hard work outside. I wonder what kind of wondrous place it is.”

“If only we had a chance to enter as well…”

A group of outer sect disciples looked up at the sky, discussing it among themselves.

Within the mountain gate, atop a side peak, stood a secluded courtyard.

In the courtyard sat a young man of about twenty-five or twenty-six, dressed in a black martial robe. He stared blankly at the gate in the sky, absently rubbing a round, lustrous spirit crystal in his hand.

“Senior Brother Shi, an elder is summoning you.”

A young woman in a long green satin dress, with a jade-like bearing, stepped into the courtyard.

Shi Feng lifted his head and glanced at her, then lowered his eyes toward his palm. Looking at the spirit crystal whose edges had been worn smooth by years of caressing, he remained silent, his eyes full of shifting emotion.

“Senior Brother Shi, what is so special about this spirit crystal?”

Watching Shi Feng’s movements, the young woman could not help voicing a question that had long lain hidden in her heart.

“There is nothing special about it. It is only a low-grade spirit crystal.”

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After a long while, Shi Feng let out a light breath, tightened his hand around it, then raised his head to look at the gate in the sky blazing with brilliant silver light and said softly,

“Junior Sister Fang…”

“Tell the elder for me that I will not be entering the Sacred Martial World.”

“What?”

Fang Chan froze for a moment. Once she understood Shi Feng’s meaning, her expression changed slightly and she quickly stepped forward two paces.

“Senior Brother, please think again! Every time the Sacred Martial World is opened, it consumes an enormous amount of resources. Even for you, the sect will not be qualified to open the Sacred Martial World for you again anytime soon!”

Sensing that she was becoming too agitated, Fang Chan tried hard to calm herself for a while before continuing,

“And I heard Elder Luo has already applied to open the Nine-Dragon Pool for you, so that you can cultivate in it for a full year. Cultivating in the Nine-Dragon Pool is ten times more effective than cultivating outside. With your talent, it would be enough for you to step into the Heavenly Astral Realm, surpass the entire younger generation, and perhaps in the future…”

At that point, Fang Chan cut herself off.

By then, Shi Feng’s wings would be fully grown, and in the future, he might even qualify to contend for the position of the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect’s next supreme headmaster.

She did not need to say these words. Shi Feng understood them well enough himself.

Shi Feng said nothing. He merely rose in silence, brushed past Fang Chan, and walked toward the courtyard gate.

“Senior Brother… whatever it is, can it not wait until this storm has passed?”

Fang Chan turned around and looked at Shi Feng’s back, her voice trembling lightly as she tried to persuade him to stay.

The demon calamity was right before them. If Shi Feng left now, it was very likely that life and death would be decided.

“I still owe two lives. I have to repay them.”

As if he had heard nothing, Shi Feng did not slow his steps. He crossed the courtyard threshold, and a streak of light shot into the sky, heading straight for Xianwu City, his faint voice drifting down on the wind.

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…

At the summit of the clouds, beside the gate, several figures stood in the air.

“Your disciple seems to have some unfinished business. How about I arrange a Dao Protector for him?”

A white-haired old man in gray glanced at the departing streak of light, then looked at the burly man in black robes carrying a huge blade on his back and spoke indifferently.

“No need. He made his own decision, so he can bear the consequences himself.”

The black-robed man’s expression remained calm. He paid no attention to the streak of light flying straight toward Xianwu City.

“You’ve only taken in this one disciple over all these years and poured so much effort into him. If he dies outside through one bit of carelessness, can you really bear it?”

The white-haired old man shook his head slightly and stroked his beard with a smile.

“My disciple, Luo Xiuhan’s disciple, is no short-lived man. Even if he dies just like that, that too would be his own fate.”

“You really are confident. Shi Feng’s talent is indeed extraordinary, but his temperament still needs more tempering. At such a critical juncture, he still dares leave the sect on his own. He doesn’t seem to know what matters most.”

The smile faded from the white-haired old man’s face as he shook his head slightly.

“If you want to act but do not dare, if you want to do something but do not dare, then what martial path is there to cultivate? What blade is there to train!”

A nearly imperceptible smile appeared at the corner of Luo Xiuhan’s mouth as he looked toward that streak of light.

But when his gaze shifted to the distant Xianwu City, the smile at the corner of Luo Xiuhan’s mouth vanished abruptly, and his eyes became unfathomably deep.

He had long ago asked the divine calculation lineage of the Daoist sect to cast a divination. He knew perfectly well what Shi Feng’s fate would be.

The greatest hurdle in Shi Feng’s life was now within Xianwu City.