Moments later,
Luo Shuiling brought Yun Hao to the summit of the Sect Master’s Peak.
As she gazed at the residence she had not seen for over a month, ripples stirred in her heart.
She had been brought to the Proud Sword Sect by her master to cultivate at the age of three.
Before reaching the Core Formation stage, she had never been allowed to descend the mountain.
Even after successfully forming her core, she had only gone down once to explore the world.
She discovered that while the mortal realm held many extraordinary people and strange events, her Core Formation realm cultivation let her see through their mysteries at a single glance.
After observing a little longer, everything felt dull and uninteresting.
After returning to the sect, she had never left the mountain again.
It was only three years ago, when the demonic path brazenly invaded the Eastern Spirit Continent, that she followed her sect elders down the mountain once more to eliminate the demons.
During the extermination, she encountered a cunning demonic cultivator.
After she defeated him, the fiend knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, claiming he had originally been a scholar from the Northern Cold Continent.
He had been captured by the demonic sect and forced to cultivate demonic arts.
He insisted he had never committed any acts that harmed heaven or reason.
This time, the demonic invasion had been against his will, and he had not harmed a single commoner along the way.
He pleaded with her to spare him.
Luo Shuiling saw that the demonic cultivator looked pitiful, and indeed he had not attacked her.
There was almost no demonic energy on his body either; he had simply been struck down by two casual sword strikes while she pursued another group of demonic cultivators.
After a moment of hesitation, she sheathed her spiritual sword and told him, “I’ll spare your life, but you must never commit any heinous acts in the future.
Otherwise, I will hunt you down no matter where you flee to the ends of the earth.”
The demonic cultivator kowtowed repeatedly in gratitude for Luo Shuiling’s mercy.
She relaxed her vigilance and turned to continue pursuing the original group of demonic cultivators.
But just as she was about to fly off on her sword, the demonic cultivator saw an opening.
He suddenly erupted with spiritual power and struck her back fiercely with a Yin Ancient Palm.
Luo Shuiling had no time to shield herself with spiritual power and took the blow head-on without any defense, sustaining severe injuries.
After receiving the palm strike, she realized the demonic cultivator’s realm when he erupted was at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage—only a sliver away from breaking through to the Dao Integration realm, nearly on par with her own early Dao Integration stage.
She could only draw her sword and engage the fiend in a desperate life-and-death battle.
In the end, relying on the Proud Sword Sect’s secret sword art, the Immortal Severing Art, she sliced off the fiend’s head with a single strike.
Then, forcing herself to endure, she returned to her sect elders.
That injury affected more than just her status as the designated Holy Maiden.
Even her immortal foundation had been heavily damaged by the demonic cultivator.
For the past three years, she could only suppress the damage by rapidly advancing her realm.
Yet the repeated backlash had left her in constant torment. Luo Shuiling’s master, the Sect Master of the Proud Sword Sect, had tried to find heavenly materials and earthly treasures to mend the wounds in her immortal foundation, but the effect was limited.
Only a small portion had been repaired.
The remaining damage could only be fully healed if she encountered a great immortal opportunity someday.
After suffering such a heavy loss, Luo Shuiling became decisive and ruthless.
In subsequent demon extermination missions, she showed no mercy—whether to demons or to humans.
Besides those two outings, this time leading the sect disciples to eliminate demons and search for heavenly materials and earthly treasures marked her third time leaving the sect.
Moreover, it had been over a month, making it a long absence from the sect.
Luo Shuiling looked at Yun Hao, whom she was levitating with her spiritual power, and pondered where to place him.
Sending him back to her own wooden pavilion was impossible.
He was already sixteen, and there was a difference between men and women.
It would be improper to let him stay in her private quarters.
Luo Shuiling glanced around and spotted an abandoned wooden hut to the south.
She paused.
She remembered this wooden hut—it was where the maidservant her master had arranged to care for her in childhood had once lived.
After so many years, she had almost forgotten about the place.
She led Yun Hao toward the abandoned wooden hut.
When she opened the creaky wooden door, she saw the simple layout inside: an ordinary wooden bed, a table, a wardrobe, two stools, and a stove for cooking.
Since the room had not been cleaned in a long time, dust covered everything.
Frowning, Luo Shuiling used her spiritual power to stir up a gentle breeze, sweeping the room clean enough for someone to stay in.
Then she placed Yun Hao on the bed.
Looking at the unconscious youth, Luo Shuiling lowered her gaze and said softly,
“You’re quite fortunate. You just faint and leave everything to me—even making me clean the room for you.”
Yun Hao, lost in unconsciousness, naturally could not respond.
After Luo Shuiling finished speaking, the surroundings fell silent once more.
Luo Shuiling sighed. Seeing him like this, she thought she could only test his aptitude tomorrow.
She stopped paying attention to him after that. She still had things to do.
Stepping out of the wooden hut, Luo Shuiling flew straight into the sky on her sword.
Soon she arrived at the back mountain of the Proud Sword Sect.
Upon landing, she put away her spiritual sword and spoke respectfully,
“Disciple Luo Shuiling requests an audience with Master.”
“Come in, Shui’er.”
A fluctuating ring of light suddenly appeared before Luo Shuiling.
Then an ethereal voice rang out, pleasant to the ear and carrying a trace of gentleness that made one want to sink into it.
Luo Shuiling remained unaffected.
After receiving her master Jiang Shu’er’s permission, she strode boldly into the secret realm.
After a wave of dizziness, she saw Jiang Shu’er lying on a stone bed.
“How did it feel leaving the sect this time?”
Jiang Shu’er saw Luo Shuiling and got straight to the point, asking whether she had completed the mission during her outing.
Luo Shuiling nodded lightly and replied,
“Disciple led Bai Shengxiao and the other junior brothers and sisters to successfully slay those few Nascent Soul stage demon beasts.”
Jiang Shu’er closed her eyes and nodded in satisfaction before asking again,
“Were the rumors about those spiritual herbs true or false?”
Luo Shuiling paused for a moment.
She retrieved several fruits emitting red light from her qi sea and handed them to Jiang Shu’er, who was still lying down.
“They were false, Master. The so-called spiritual herbs were actually a few Nirvana Fruits. While precious, they are useless for repairing an immortal foundation.”
Jiang Shu’er looked at the fruits with a complicated expression.
She sighed, her brows furrowed with unresolvable worry.
“That year I failed to protect you properly. Your immortal foundation was damaged too severely. No matter what we try now, it cannot be fully restored.”
Luo Shuiling said nothing.
She understood that her master truly cared for her, but there was no use rushing the matter of repairing her immortal foundation.
They both knew that heavenly materials and earthly treasures could no longer mend it.
The only way for Luo Shuiling to recover her former foundation was through a great immortal opportunity.
Even Jiang Shu’er’s Tribulation Transcendence realm spiritual power, used to nourish her immortal foundation, had done nothing.
Instead of responding to her master’s self-reproach, Luo Shuiling brought up something else.
“Master, besides completing the mission this time, I also found a youth. He is a fine immortal seedling.”
Jiang Shu’er set aside her melancholy over the past when Luo Shuiling mentioned other matters.
She knew her disciple’s immortal aptitude was exceptionally high, so anyone she called an immortal seedling should not be bad.
Still, she asked for clarification.
“What is the youth’s aptitude like?”
“He should rank among the higher end even within the inner sect disciples. He is only a hair’s breadth away from personal disciple level.”
Luo Shuiling had no intention of revealing that Yun Hao might possess a special physique or that he could stir her Ice Jade Physique.
She wanted to keep him by her side and see whether he would benefit her cultivation.
“Among the inner sect disciples, he ranks high?”
Jiang Shu’er murmured softly.
She was not particularly excited by the news. While the youth’s talent might have been top-tier in the Proud Sword Sect decades ago, with Luo Shuiling and the personal disciples of the other elders already present, this youth could only be considered decent.
Barring any surprises, he would achieve something in the future, but nothing too remarkable.
She replied casually,
“Handle it as you see fit. Take him to choose one or two cultivation methods and place him among the inner sect disciples.”
“Yes, Master.”
Jiang Shu’er looked at Luo Shuiling again and reached out to stroke her head.
“You must be tired after traveling back and forth for over a month. Go back and rest.”
Luo Shuiling bowed respectfully after hearing Jiang Shu’er’s words.
“Then disciple will take her leave.”
She exited the secret realm.
Luo Shuiling did not return directly to the Sect Master’s Peak.
She still had one more matter to handle.
Although she understood Yun Hao’s immortal aptitude, she was not yet certain whether he possessed a special physique.
She needed someone to test him properly, and she had already decided whom to ask.
Luo Shuiling flew on her sword for a while until she reached a certain mountain peak.
She slowly came to a stop before the entrance of a cave residence.
She gently knocked on the large door and said,
“Disciple Luo Shuiling has important business to discuss with Elder Lin. Please open the door, Elder.”
After speaking, she stopped knocking and stood quietly in place.
Before long, a withered old man opened the door of the residence.
Luo Shuiling spoke softly upon seeing him,
“Disciple found an immortal seedling outside. I would trouble Elder Lin to come to the disciple quarters on the Sect Master’s Peak tomorrow morning to test the immortal seedling’s aptitude.”
Lin Xian looked at the graceful woman before him and could not help feeling slightly surprised.
Testing an immortal seedling was nothing unusual, but the location—her residence on the Sect Master’s Peak—was something that had never happened before.
Yet Lin Xian only felt a brief moment of surprise before calming down.
His own time was short; why concern himself with such matters?
It would be better to use his remaining days to settle his affairs.
“I understand. You may go.”
“Then many thanks to Elder Lin.”
After seeing Lin Xian agree, Luo Shuiling said no more.
She bowed, then flew back to the Sect Master’s Peak on her sword.
Seeing that Yun Hao was still unconscious, she returned to her own wooden pavilion and rested.
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