People of Danfeng

Li Shiyin went into seclusion.

Early the next morning, she entered the secluded chamber built specifically for her cultivation under the old locust tree by Qin Ran.

This room had arrays for gathering spiritual energy and concentrating starlight, tailored specifically for Li Shiyin's Nine Revolutions Star Sword Technique.

So for Li Shiyin to break through to the next realm, this was the best choice.

Watching Li Shiyin enter the secluded chamber, Qin Ran slowly suppressed the flame of desire and anticipation in his eyes, replaced by a look of complex calculations.

If Li Shiyin succeeded in forming her golden core, it would not only significantly improve her own combat ability, but also notably enhance the strength of Dan Peak and the Dao Sword Sect.

Because even though it was just the Golden Core stage, Li Shiyin's Golden Core stage might very well be stronger than Lu Junxing's.

"If my silly disciple succeeds in forming her golden core, then with Lu Junxing added, this trip to the Boundless Sword Sect will be even more secure," Qin Ran thought to himself. "I don't believe there's anyone stronger than these two prodigies in this Land of Immortal Legacy."

To turn the Boundless Sword Sect, regardless of how it's done, someone needs to go there to do it.

So, among Gu Yueming, Qin Ran, and the man hidden behind Gu Yueming, who is most suitable to do this?

Naturally, it's Qin Ran.

Going to the Boundless Sword Sect to turn them is equivalent to going to their doorstep to slap their face. How could it be done without some real strength?

Moreover, going to a sword sect like the Boundless Sword Sect to negotiate and turn them, a show of martial prowess is inevitable.

Therefore, if they could overpower the Boundless Sword Sect in terms of strength, the subsequent negotiations for turning them would obviously be much easier.

Qin Ran had originally planned to bring Lu Junxing and Liu Baixuan along, but now that Li Shiyin was about to form her golden core, she was clearly more suitable than Liu Baixuan.

Because Li Shiyin and Lu Junxing, one at the Golden Core stage and one at the Nascent Soul stage, would be perfect for two matches at the same realm with the Boundless Sword Sect.

"Two matches?" Qin Ran pondered, "Three would be better, with a Foundation Establishment disciple, making it best two out of three, plus a face-saving match. I wonder who's the strongest among the current Foundation Establishment disciples of the Dao Sword Sect."

As he contemplated these matters, sensing that Li Shiyin had formally begun her cultivation in the secluded chamber, he used his divine walking step, turned around and left Dan Peak, heading towards the Master Peak.

Li Shiyin was his disciple, so when the time came, he could just bring her along. But for Lu Junxing, he needed to personally invite and discuss, and also give advance notice.

Forming a golden core is a big deal, but for Li Shiyin... surely no one would believe that Li Shiyin couldn't form a golden core?

Chasing the Wind, that silly boy, had already gone out to have fun with Li An, Long Qiqi wasn't around either, and Tushan Youyou hadn't come down the mountain to watch. Under the old locust tree, there were only Qin Ran, Yu Chi Zhen, and Zhang Junyi.

Qin Ran went to the Master Peak, Yu Chi Zhen quickly returned to her room, so only Zhang Junyi remained under the old locust tree.

He sat at the table reading a book, but his eyes would occasionally glance towards the secluded chamber where Li Shiyin was in seclusion.

He was quite curious.

Zhang Junyi knew that the very beautiful young woman was the disciple of Dan Peak's head, and also knew that the relationship between her and the head was somewhat peculiar, and that this young woman's talent and strength were both top-notch.

But, firstly, he was curious about how a disciple could be, um, like that with her master, and secondly, he was curious about just how strong Li Shiyin's talent and strength really were.

He knew that he himself had a high-grade water spirit root, which could already be considered as having outstanding talent. But he felt that he still seemed to be quite far behind Li Shiyin.

At the same time, he had never seen seclusion or breakthrough before, this was his first time watching, so it was indeed quite novel.

Was Li Shiyin breaking through to the Golden Core or the Nascent Soul stage?

"What are you looking at?!" Suddenly, an angry voice berated him from behind. He turned around to see his nominal master, who hadn't spoken to him until this moment.

"Nothing!" He quickly lowered his head and replied.

"You think she's pretty and have thoughts about her, right?!" Long Qiqi sneered, "You humans are just so shallow."

We humans? Zhang Junyi looked at Long Qiqi, could it be that this small-statured master wasn't human? Oh, she looked so small but was so powerful, indeed she shouldn't be human.

As for whether he had any thoughts about Li Shiyin... Zhang Junyi shook his head inwardly. Because he had given all the love in his life to that white figure, he would never fall in love with another woman.

"No!" He replied, his voice was soft but his tone was firm.

Long Qiqi could hear the certainty in his voice, and she couldn't help but look Zhang Junyi up and down with surprise. Li Shiyin was so beautiful, yet Zhang Junyi had no thoughts about her, could it be that this boy wasn't interested in women?

Or was his willpower so strong?

She thought about how this guy was brought back by Qin Ran, and was even going to be taken as a personal disciple, but was stopped by Li Shiyin and became her nominal disciple instead. And that Qin Ran could resist the temptation of Tushan Youyou, so for him to take notice...

She felt that Zhang Junyi was someone with strong willpower, and couldn't help but give him an approving look.

"It's best that you have no thoughts. When she comes out of seclusion, she'll be the mistress of Dan Peak, the wife of your sect head!" she said coldly with a laugh.

Although Zhang Junyi had his head lowered, he had been secretly watching Long Qiqi's reactions from the corner of his eye, and seeing her approval of him, he was a bit confused.

Because in his view, while Li Shiyin was beautiful, she was far inferior to his white-robed immortal sister.

"Moreover, I want to solemnly tell you. That Li Shiyin is a person of extraordinary talent, a one-in-a-million, or even one-in-ten-million sword prodigy, someone you'll look up to for your entire life," Long Qiqi warned sternly, fearing that Zhang Junyi might develop some inappropriate thoughts. "Do you know that in this generation's genius rankings of the Dao Sword Sect, Li Shiyin ranks third at the Foundation Establishment stage? Those ranked above her are legendary Nascent Soul cultivators, and those ranked below her are Golden Core cultivators who believe their fate is in their own hands.

"The longer you stay in the Dao Sword Sect, the more you'll realize how formidable she is."

Zhang Junyi listened with a shock in his heart. He had already estimated Li Shiyin's abilities as high as possible. But he still hadn't imagined that the girl who smiled so brightly and ran around Dan Peak was such a terrifying existence.

She was far stronger than him.

"Do you know..." The tiny Long Qiqi stood with her hands behind her back, looking up towards Qi Peak, and sighed, "The entire generation of disciples on Qi Peak has been suppressed by Li Shiyin alone."

Zhang Junyi followed her gaze to look at Qi Peak, that distant mountain range. An entire generation suppressed by one person?

There was admiration and fervor in his eyes.

"When she comes out after forming her golden core, who knows what kind of spectacle it will be," Long Qiqi added.

This Li Shiyin must have half the grace of his immortal sister, Zhang Junyi thought to himself.

"If you could have half her grace... no, even a tenth of her grace, I'd have to kneel and thank Qin Ran," Long Qiqi said. "Living alongside such a genius truly makes one feel desperate."

A tenth? Half? Zhang Junyi gritted his teeth inwardly. He was going to become a peerless, world-class alchemist.

"So stop looking, and don't aim too high," Long Qiqi withdrew her gaze and looked at the book in Zhang Junyi's hands. "Focus on memorizing all those medicinal herbs, start from the very basics."

As she finished speaking, she turned to leave, while tossing a bottle of pills onto the herbal book in front of Zhang Junyi, "These are Bone Tempering Pills, used for nourishing one's constitution and bone structure. Take a couple whenever you have the chance."

Zhang Junyi was stunned. He looked at the pill bottle in front of him, then turned to look at his small master heading towards the Research Building, feeling a strange mix of emotions.

To be honest, after being on Dan Peak for over ten days, he had discovered that this peak was much better than he had imagined.

That white tiger called Chasing the Wind, although he wanted to be his boss, did indeed take good care of him; that Li Shiyin, whom his master called a peerless genius, was actually very friendly to him; the tree spirit in that willow tree was a bit mischievous, but was ultimately an adorable child; although the sect head had always been fierce towards him, he could feel that it was strictness, that he was being trained.

And his master, who had always rejected him before and never spoken to him, now seemed to be just cold on the outside but warm on the inside.

Everyone on Dan Peak was very nice. Regardless of whether the sect head could help him take revenge and destroy Zhican Valley, at least Dan Peak was quite good.

As he watched the young master disappear towards the Research Building, Zhang Junyi withdrew his gaze and picked up the medicinal pills in front of him, breaking the jade seal to pour one out.

The pill fell into his palm, warm and almost hot to the touch.

"?"

Zhang Junyi was stunned. This bottle of pills wasn't just casually given to him by the young master to win him over, but a bottle of pills specially refined for him. The master hadn't come to send off Li Shiyin earlier because he was helping refine pills for him.

A warm current flowed through his heart, filling it with warmth, and he felt his eyes sting a little. Since his family was destroyed by Zhican Valley seven years ago, he had wandered the mortal world for six or seven years, experiencing all kinds of human warmth and coldness. It had been a very long time since he had felt such kindness.

Holding the pills in his hands, he turned back to stare at the Research Building, where the master cultivated, for a long while.

Zhang Junyi's bamboo house had not yet been built. Mainly because Qin Ran required him to build it himself. Li Shiyin and Chasing the Wind were initially very enthusiastic, but were ordered by Qin Ran not to help, so not only was his house not built, it barely had a foundation.

After reading books all morning and finding something to eat in the kitchen at noon, he took a sickle and went up the mountain to cut bamboo.

The main beam for the bamboo house was still missing, so he needed to cut a thicker bamboo pole.

Once the main beam was in place, he could begin to build the basic structure of the bamboo house. After the basic structure was set up, the remaining tasks would be much simpler.

The path up the mountain had been walked so many times by Zhang Junyi that a faint trail had appeared. There was originally no path up the mountain, but one formed from his frequent trips.

Like going up the mountain, cutting bamboo was initially unfamiliar to Zhang Junyi, but with practice, he became skilled at it.

When he first started cutting bamboo, his sickle would break after just one cut. After struggling all day, exhausting himself, he'd only manage to cut three or four finger-thick bamboo poles.

But now he could quickly find the bamboo he needed for the day, approach with his blade, find the right angle, apply the right force, and in no time at all, cut down a bamboo pole as thick as a large bowl.

Moreover, compared to when he first came to Dan Peak, his body had greatly improved.

Although he was still very thin, he had actually started to gain weight. His figure didn't appear to have changed, but by his own conservative estimate, he had gained at least ten pounds.

After felling the bamboo, he skillfully cleaned off the branches, cut off the unnecessary section at the end, and dragged the bare bamboo pole down the mountain.

Halfway down the mountain, at a spot where he could hear the roar of the waterfall, he stopped. Looking at the shallow path leading to the waterfall by his feet, which he had also created, he hesitated for a moment before putting down the bamboo and following the path towards the waterfall.

Actually, apart from accidentally encountering the fairy sister on the first day, Zhang Junyi hadn't seen her again since. Although he came here every day to wait for a while.

Today he was just walking over out of habit. Although he very much wanted to meet the fairy sister, he no longer had such high hopes.

If the fairy sister could be encountered so easily, would she be a fairy sister?

Then, as he approached the waterfall's edge, he saw the fairy sister standing on the opposite bank, lost in thought.

Zhang Junyi was excited and ran over, raising his hands and shouting, "Fairy sister!"

Unexpectedly, the fairy sister looked up, saw it was him, frowned, and directly turned to leave.

"Ah!" Zhang Junyi shouted again, not knowing why the fairy sister would treat him like this, "Fairy sister, it's me! Don't you remember me?"

However, the fairy sister didn't pause at all and quickly disappeared into the mist raised by the waterfall.

Zhang Junyi stood there with his hands raised, stunned. He didn't know what he had done wrong, nor did he understand why the fairy sister was ignoring him now.

Clearly... she had been moved by him before, hadn't she?!

He couldn't understand: "Why would she treat me like this?"

Are women really so heartless? Are they truly so fickle and ungrateful?

He felt he had no love left. Life seemed meaningless. Watching the waterfall rushing down, he had quite an impulse to jump.

Tushan Youyou had been feeling troubled lately because her array formations kept having errors in their derivations, making progress slow.

What troubled her more was that in the past, when she encountered unsolvable array formation problems, she would go to the waterfall to rest for a while, enjoy the scenery, feel nature, and relax.

But now suddenly there was an inexplicable person waiting for her there every day.

If she hadn't known he was Qin Ran's new disciple, she would have dealt with him long ago.

Now she couldn't even go to the waterfall anymore.

"Sigh... there are so many annoying people, and this one is especially annoying!" She covered her face and sighed.

82zhongwen.com