Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several beams of white light streaked across the sky, leaving long white trails behind in an instant.
A young village child, still learning to speak, sat on his mother’s back, babbling incoherently while patting her with his small hands.
“Mommy, there are immortals in the sky! Look!”
“Stop talking nonsense. Behave yourself, child. Don’t move around so much.”
The village woman working in the fields paid no attention to her son’s words.
She assumed he had simply mistaken the birds or wild geese in the sky for the legendary immortals.
Immortals would never come to such a remote place.
The woman thought this as she looked at the crops still left to tend in the field, wondering how many more acres she needed to finish before she could go home.
The weather today was also gloomy and overcast, threatening rain.
Yet the village child refused to give up and kept patting his mother’s shoulder with his little hands.
“Mommy, they really are immortals! Look!”
Perhaps the patting had started to hurt—the child had no sense of strength—or maybe she was simply annoyed.
Wanting to satisfy her son’s curiosity, the woman lifted her head and looked toward the horizon.
The moment she looked, she froze. Several beams of light were streaking across the distant sky at incredible speed.
Especially the leading ice-blue light, which illuminated the far horizon.
The other beams, while not as dazzling as the ice-blue one, were still incredibly bright.
Together they lit up the originally dark and gloomy sky as if it were daytime.
From afar, they looked like a second sun.
“Immortals!!!”
The woman immediately fell to her knees on the ground, muttering prayers under her breath.
She prayed for her family’s health, for her younger brother to pass the imperial examination in the capital this year, for her husband’s small business not to lose money, and so on.
Meanwhile, the child on her back continued clapping his small hands, babbling that he too wanted to learn immortality one day and fly through the skies.
***
The people the village woman and child were kneeling toward were none other than Luo Shuiling and her group, who had just left the Imperial Capital Auction House of the Yuan Sheng Empire.
In the sky, Luo Shuiling led Bai Shengxiao and the others as they flew at full speed toward the Proud Sword Sect.
Although it was described as full speed, this referred to the full speed of Bai Shengxiao and his fellow junior disciples.
If it were only Luo Shuiling, she could return to the Proud Sword Sect in a single day.
With this group of junior brothers and sisters, however, the journey would take three days.
At this moment, Yun Hao was sitting on the flying sword of a Proud Sword Sect disciple named Song Yang.
Looking at the senior brother flying the sword in front of him, Yun Hao opened his mouth, wanting to ask about the Proud Sword Sect, but fearing he might disturb him while controlling the sword, he closed his mouth again without making a sound.
Song Yang noticed Yun Hao’s hesitant expression and found the little junior brother rather amusing.
He had noticed half a day ago that Yun Hao wanted to ask him something but was probably worried about interrupting his sword flight.
Still, Yun Hao’s caution was correct.
Among Bai Shengxiao’s group, Song Yang was indeed one of the weaker members in terms of strength.
After more than twenty years of cultivation, he had only just touched upon the Nascent Soul realm.
His actual cultivation was still at the late Core Formation stage.
In a smaller sect, this would qualify him as a genius or even an elder, but in the Proud Sword Sect where geniuses were as common as clouds, he was merely an ordinary inner sect disciple and nothing special.
Moreover, this was his first time traveling as far as the Yuan Sheng Empire.
At the beginning, he had even struggled to find the right direction and could only focus on keeping up with the main group.
After flying for half a day, they had finally reached an area he was familiar with from previous missions.
If Yun Hao had asked him about the Proud Sword Sect half a day earlier, Song Yang probably would not have answered even if he heard him.
Now, however, things were much better.
Having reached familiar territory, he felt slightly more relaxed.
Looking at the youth in front of him—who resembled his own younger brother and might soon become his junior brother—Song Yang smiled gently and spoke,
“Junior Brother, is there something you want to ask?”
Seeing Song Yang take the initiative to ask, Yun Hao no longer hesitated. He asked carefully,
“Senior Brother, what kind of place is the Proud Sword Sect? Is it very powerful?”
Hearing Yun Hao’s question, Song Yang let out a soft chuckle and teased,
“Junior Brother, you say you want to cultivate as an immortal, yet you don’t even know where you’ll be cultivating?”
Yun Hao’s face turned bright red with embarrassment.
He really hadn’t thought that far at the time.
On one hand, he had been overwhelmed with joy at the possibility of becoming an immortal.
On the other, he had been terrified that refusing might leave him as a slave to be beaten to death.
Under those two pressures, he had simply chosen to follow Luo Shuiling back to the Proud Sword Sect.
Only now, on the journey, did he realize how little he actually knew about the world of cultivation.
It was too late to regret it now—he was already sitting on Song Yang’s flying sword.
Yun Hao pursed his lips, looked up at Song Yang, and said,
“Please forgive me, Senior Brother. I really don’t know much about these things. I hope Senior Brother can tell me a bit about it.”
Seeing that Yun Hao truly knew nothing, Song Yang sighed.
Considering the youth’s previous circumstances, he couldn’t really blame him for his ignorance.
“The continent we are on is called the Tian Ling Continent. Did you know that?”
Yun Hao nodded.
He knew this much.
He had once served as a study companion for his second brother for a period of time and had learned to read and pick up some basic knowledge.
Seeing Yun Hao nod, Song Yang continued with his explanation,
“The Tian Ling Continent is divided into five major regions: the Eastern Spirit Continent, the Western Ya Continent, the Northern Cold Continent, the Southern Mi Continent, and the Central Continent.”
Song Yang paused for a moment before continuing,
“In the Eastern Spirit Continent, there are three major powerful sects: the Proud Sword Sect, the Flower Mist Valley, and the Thousand Snow Cliff.”
“These three sects are roughly equal in strength, but in recent years, our Proud Sword Sect has shown signs of becoming the number one among them.”
Song Yang gestured with his mouth toward Luo Shuiling at the very front,
“In recent years, we have recruited many disciples with excellent talent. Most importantly, we have our Eldest Senior Sister, Luo Shuiling. She possesses extraordinary talent. At only twenty-two years old, she has already reached the late Dao Integration realm—two minor realms higher than the head disciples of the other two major sects.”
“Even more importantly, she is still more than five years younger than them.”
After saying this, Song Yang sighed with admiration and longing,
“Eldest Senior Sister Luo Shuiling is truly the leading figure of our generation.”
Yun Hao felt ripples in his heart upon hearing this.
He hadn’t expected that the person who saved him was actually the eldest senior sister of the Proud Sword Sect.
Although she appeared cold on the surface, she was truly a good person.
Before Yun Hao could think further, Song Yang spoke again,
“In the Proud Sword Sect, strength is respected above all. If a later disciple’s strength surpasses that of an earlier disciple, even if you entered the sect first, you must still address them as Senior Brother or Senior Sister. That’s why even though Eldest Senior Sister Luo Shuiling is younger than us, we still respectfully call her Senior Sister.”
After speaking, Song Yang looked at Yun Hao and asked,
“Is there anything else you want to know?”
Yun Hao blinked. Since he had no understanding of terms like the Dao Integration realm, he continued asking Song Yang,
“Senior Brother, what are the cultivation realms?”
Song Yang listened carefully to Yun Hao’s question and gave a clear answer,
“The cultivation realms for us immortals are divided into: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Dao Integration, Soul Division, Void Condensation, Great Vehicle, Tribulation Transcendence, and the final realm—Immortal.”
“So many?!”
Yun Hao was quite surprised.
He had not expected there to be so many cultivation realms.
It far exceeded his imagination.
“It only looks like a lot. To those true geniuses, there are only four major realms that truly matter: Soul Division, Void Condensation, Great Vehicle, and Tribulation Transcendence.”
“Those geniuses pass through the realms before Soul Division as easily as eating and drinking. They don’t need to comprehend anything special—they only need to cultivate diligently.”
Afterward, Song Yang looked again toward Luo Shuiling, who was leading the way at the front,
“Eldest Senior Sister is the pinnacle of such geniuses.”
Yun Hao fell silent after hearing this.
The amount of information was already enough for him to digest for a while.
He was also tactful enough not to ask Song Yang what realm he was in, because when Song Yang spoke those last words, although there was pride and admiration in his eyes, the deep trace of melancholy within them could not be hidden.
Yun Hao silently looked forward, deeply engraving the graceful figure at the very front into his mind.
He swore in his heart that if he possessed the talent to cultivate as an immortal, he would definitely repay Luo Shuiling for saving his life and granting him the opportunity to walk the immortal path.