Going to Back Him Up as His Teacher

The sect.

Li Yingling beamed with joy as she manipulated a sword that flowed like water. With a slight lift of her hand, the blade transformed into a coiling water dragon, swirling and dancing at her command.

This was the spiritual treasure her master had solemnly bestowed upon her after she formed her Golden Core.

Who would have thought that despite her master’s poverty, he had still prepared such a fine gift for her?

Moreover, it was clear that he had put great thought into it—the weapon perfectly complemented her divine abilities and cultivation techniques.

No doubt her master had been holding onto it, waiting for the day she could fully wield it after reaching the Golden Core stage.

When her second junior brother formed his Golden Core, he hadn’t received anything this impressive.

Truly, she and her master were the closest in the world.

From now on, she would continue being her master’s most considerate and beloved disciple!

But what pleased her most was that she hadn’t needed to consume any of her master’s self-refined pills to break through to the Golden Core stage.

Back when she was still a naive novice cultivator, she had panicked after being stuck at Qi Refining for just a couple of days and begged her master for pills.

But now, having reached the Golden Core stage, Li Yingling was no longer a clueless beginner!

True prodigies relied on their own strength to ascend through the realms—only those with inferior talent resorted to pill-assisted breakthroughs!

It definitely wasn’t because she was afraid of taking her master’s concoctions!

Cui Hao watched enviously as the spiritual treasure sword morphed into a majestic water dragon, circling around his senior sister.

So cool!

When would he ever learn such techniques?

Sensing his own meager Qi Refining second-layer cultivation, he sighed inwardly.

Then he recalled how Lin Luoyu had initially struggled with the foundational cultivation techniques for several days, and how the learning process had been… somewhat demoralizing?

Some of the concepts Senior Sister explained were so concise that Lin Luoyu could only grasp them partially, forcing her to ask for clarification again.

To her credit, Senior Sister never complained and patiently repeated everything in meticulous detail.

But that faint, almost imperceptible sigh she let out before leaving… It stung a little.

Still, once Lin Luoyu got the hang of it, she caught up astonishingly fast.

Before long, Cui Hao’s slight lead was completely overturned.

At the moment, Lin Luoyu remained secluded in her room, cultivating diligently.

Meanwhile, Chen Baiqing sat by the pond, having finished reading all the manuals passed down by her senior sister.

Lately, she had begun practicing the… peculiar divine ability her master had given her.

Well…

This technique contradicted everything Senior Sister had taught her.

Yet, it aligned perfectly with what her master had first imparted.

But since her master had instructed her to learn it, she would simply follow through.

Besides, the technique promised a direct path to the Great Dao—it certainly seemed profound.

She idly swirled her fingers in the pond, and the fish beneath the surface rose in unison, swimming in synchronized circles.

Hmm…

Chen Baiqing decided this technique was rather amusing.

Today was another peaceful day. Rumor had it that the little monk from the Zen Forest Temple would return in a few days to resume consuming their master’s pills.

But suddenly, Chu Xingchen’s urgent voice cut through the calm:

"Yingling! Stay behind and guard the sect. Protect your junior siblings—I’m heading to the Central Continent!"

Li Yingling spun around to see her master striding out of his quarters, his expression tense.

"Master? What’s happened?" she asked hurriedly.

"Your junior brother’s been bullied! I’m going to back him up!"

With that brief explanation, Chu Xingchen’s form transformed into a streak of light, shooting into the sky and vanishing into the distance.

Li Yingling nearly called out to ask if she could come too, but her gaze flickered to Cui Hao and Chen Baiqing.

She swallowed the words.

She was the senior sister now.

Chu Xingchen raced toward the nearest teleportation point.

After taking Lin Luoyu as his disciple and receiving cultivation feedback, his realm had risen from early-stage Nascent Soul to mid-stage Nascent Soul perfection.

The reward for his disciple’s Golden Core breakthrough had been a spiritual treasure tailored to her—though Chu Xingchen could wield it, it naturally suited her far better.

Besides, spiritual treasures had sentience. The more time she spent bonding with it, the greater its future potential.

Now, the situation was urgent—the teleportation talisman he had given Li Xingtian had been activated.

He could sense Li Xingtian’s location, and it was shifting rapidly.

This could only mean the worst: gravely injured and pursued.

That fool! How had he gotten into trouble so quickly?

Meanwhile, even after using the Thousand-Mile Teleportation Talisman, Li Xingtian—now disguised once more—dared not slow his frantic flight back toward Sunset Valley.

Contrary to Chu Xingchen’s fears, Li Xingtian wasn’t seriously wounded.

But his predicament was dire all the same—he was indeed being chased.

And not just chased, but relentlessly hunted for hours, forced to expend the precious talisman his master had given him.

He could only hope his master was too far away to sense the talisman’s activation. For now, he was managing.

Li Xingtian didn’t want his master worrying or rushing to his aid.

The secret realm had held far greater treasures than expected.

Unlike his past life, where he had only scavenged scraps from the corners, this time he had come prepared—and reaped bountiful rewards.

Poison pills, forbidden techniques, rare materials—Li Xingtian had stuffed his bags full.

The most valuable item among them was the Embroidered Cloud Needle, refined by the master of the secret realm.

It could be imbued with potent toxins, pierce through spiritual shields, and most importantly, the Embroidered Cloud Needle flew without a sound. All one needed to do was lock onto the target with spiritual sense before hurling it.

Once released, the needle would automatically seek out its target.

When Li Xingtian first obtained it, he toyed with it a few times and concluded it was an excellent treasure.

A divine weapon perfect for ambushes.

This was definitely something to save for his master.

According to the plan, after securing the treasure, Li Xingtian intended to flee to another region first, then slowly, in batches, and through different locations, sell off the goods.

This was to avoid unnecessary trouble.

But as it turned out, some things don’t always go according to plan.

Originally, he had planned to scout the area first to assess the situation. However, when Li Xingtian actually arrived, he discovered that the secret realm had long been found by others.

Upon first entering the gaps of the secret realm, he saw over a dozen discarded purple corpses.

Among them were even a few ordinary mortals, forcibly brought in to test the path ahead.

This was clearly the work of rogue cultivators with mediocre cultivation—likely no higher than the early Golden Core stage.

It was even possible they hadn’t reached the Golden Core stage at all.

Li Xingtian figured that if they had a Golden Core cultivator among them, they wouldn’t have needed to push mortals into danger.

Moreover, the number of people who had discovered this secret realm couldn’t be large—at most, no more than three who survived to know of it.

In fact, it was highly likely that, aside from himself, only one other person knew of it now.

Otherwise, the secret wouldn’t have remained hidden for ten years.

When it came to human nature, Li Xingtian didn’t believe everyone was as virtuous as his master.

Having witnessed much of the world’s cruelty, he knew just how good his master had been to him.

Especially when interests were at stake.

This time was no exception. That damned rogue cultivator must have set up some trap, placing a spying device along the only path.

Upon discovering Li Xingtian, they immediately reported it to the Heavenly Rosy Sect.

If they couldn’t have it, they’d make sure no one else could either.

The Sunset Valley town was some distance from the secret realm, and Li Xingtian had traveled discreetly, so it naturally took him longer.

By the time he returned to Sunset Valley to make his escape, the Heavenly Rosy Sect had already taken control of all teleportation arrays, scrutinizing everyone attempting to leave.

At first, Li Xingtian thought some major incident had occurred during his absence.

But when the Heavenly Rosy Sect disciples spotted him and immediately lunged at him without hesitation, crushing a communication token to summon reinforcements…

He realized.

Next time, even if he ventured into a secret realm alone, he’d have to disguise his face and body thoroughly!

This was just too damn ridiculous!