On the Mountain Path

Lin Xiao hurriedly said, "No, Senior, I just meant that I want to enter secluded meditation until I reach the Golden Core stage, but I plan to try it for half a year first to see how it goes."

Then he continued, "I hope you can help keep an eye on things within the sect while I am in seclusion. I figure that gradually, our sect might not remain as unknown as it is now."

Lin Xiao knew clearly in his heart that with the current development of their sect, and his plans to develop Xiushui Village well, it would be impossible to keep their Lingxian Sect hidden from the world forever.

Besides, he had never intended to hide it in the first place.

He still needed to make their sect bigger and stronger.

Moreover, now that Sun Yigao's private school was up and running, the village would inevitably have more and more contact with the outside world. Therefore, it was entirely foreseeable that their sect would gradually be exposed to the public eye.

Liao Pantu was also well aware of this.

Hearing him say this, he nodded and said, "Rest assured, I will keep watch. However, let me tell you, when it comes to cultivation, you must never be too eager for quick success. Although your previous cultivation speed was very fast, you must know that the higher the realm, the harder it is to cultivate, and the speed of your cultivation growth will also slow down. Furthermore, if you want to break through, just cultivating hard is not enough; your state of mind must also keep up.

Moreover, in cultivation, breaking through is never a sure thing. You have to be careful. You are still young, so I suggest that unless you have absolute certainty, it's best not to rush to break through. Otherwise, if the breakthrough fails, it will damage your foundation far too much."

Hearing this, Lin Xiao hurriedly nodded, accepting the advice.

Although he felt that with the system, the breakthrough process would probably be much easier for him than for ordinary people.

But he knew that Senior Liao was telling him all this out of concern for him.

Lin Xiao then discussed some general arrangements for the sect with Liao Pantu.

Meanwhile.

After being dismissed, the crowd preparing to head down the mountain arrived at the entrance of the mountain path and also noticed the changes there.

While everyone marvelled at how pleasing to the eye the mountain path had become, they also noticed Liu Yunan standing in the middle of the path, seemingly lost in a trance.

"Baldy!" Tietou, seeing this and thinking something had happened to him, hurriedly ran over.

The other people behind Tietou—the Lin family of four: Lin Dayou, Lin Yun, Lin Lei, and Lin Ying—also ran in closely behind him.

Not long after the five of them stepped into the entrance of the mountain path, their eyes suddenly went blank, and they looked just as entranced as Liu Yunan beside them.

It was precisely noon.

Little Luan led Da Tao out of a thatched shed not far from the mountain path entrance to forage for food.

Turning their heads, they saw the six people standing in a daze on the mountain path.

Seeing this, Da Tao imitated the way its master usually scratched his head with its chicken wing, and asked, clearly still a bit unskillfully, "Master, what are they doing?"

Little Luan naturally did not know.

But it was brave enough to explore.

If there was something it didn't understand, wouldn't it know just by going over to see for itself?

It raised its left wing, waved in the direction of the mountain path, and said to Da Tao, "Let's go! We'll go over and take a look!"

Saying that, it strode over with its large chicken claws.

Seeing this, Da Tao hurriedly trotted after it.

Before long, the group dazing on the mountain path was joined by two fat monster chickens, one large and one small.

Meanwhile, at the private school at the foot of the mountain.

Sun Yigao had just finished teaching his class, and it was now the lunch break.

Several children from the village had gone home to eat.

As for the other children from the city, their family servants came over to deliver their meals.

Sun Yigao was in the room next to the classroom, organizing the materials he was going to teach in the afternoon.

However, when he turned his head to look around, he found that Tuantuan, who usually spent the daytime sleeping by the window in this room soaking up the sun, was nowhere to be seen.

Although Tuantuan was usually quite well-behaved.

He still went out to look for it.

Recently, many villagers had caught small fish in the mountain stream and laid them out to dry outside their houses. He was afraid that Tuantuan had run off again to snatch someone else's dried fish.

Tuantuan had been doing this often lately.

He had clearly prepared plenty of dried fish in the room.

But Tuantuan seemed to think that other people's dried fish smelled better. Occasionally, when the mood struck, it would run out and snatch a few to bring back and eat.

Sun Yigao walked out of the private school and was just about to go into the village to look for it, when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted it lying motionless on the mountain path leading up the hill.

Seeing this, his heart tightened, and he hurriedly ran over.

When he stepped onto the mountain path, he felt a momentary lapse of consciousness, but it was only for an instant.

He shook his head, which had inexplicably grown dizzy for a second, and then walked over with a clear mind, picking up Tuantuan who was lying on the ground.

Only then did he begin to examine the vastly changed appearance of the mountain path.

So the sudden, rich fragrance from earlier had come from here.

Looking at this, it must be Brother Xiao's handiwork again.

Sun Yigao smiled.

It seemed that in the future, during his free time, he could bring his students here for a walk. Lecturing amidst such beautiful scenery on the mountain path would surely have a much more profound atmosphere.

Looking down at Tuantuan in his arms, whose eyes were blank, he first checked its body.

Finding nothing abnormal, he held Tuantuan and turned back to the private school.

Not long after, Aunt Sun came over to deliver a meal to Sun Yigao.

Although Sun Yigao was now an eighth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator and did not need food particularly often.

Aunt Sun, however, felt that her son had not yet become an immortal. Since he was still human, a human had to eat, didn't they?

Therefore, she never missed a single meal out of the three meals a day.

Sun Yigao knew this was his mother's way of showing her love for him. After mentioning it a few times and seeing that his mother still insisted, he stopped bringing it up and obediently ate every meal she prepared for him clean, under her loving gaze.

Aunt Sun would also prepare some minced meat and small shrimp for Tuantuan every time.

This was her son's disciple; it had to be treated well.

With Liu Shengsheng helping out, Jiang Youfu worked very nimbly and soon had the whole-fish banquet ready.

Liu Shengsheng took bowls and chopsticks from the cupboard next to the stove and arranged them on the large wooden table nearby.

Meanwhile, Jiang Youfu used a skill he had recently learned, the Voice Amplification Spell, to shout, "Time to eat!"

Before long, the tightly closed doors of the Formation Hall snapped open with a bang, and Mo Yuanjiao and Mo Que came out from inside, sprinting toward Jiang Youfu.

The door to the Talisman Crafting Room next to the cultivation room also opened from the inside.

Liu Chun poked his head out with some confusion and looked around.

He then saw the fair and chubby little fellow Daoist he had met that morning waving at him from the foot of the Guiyuan Mountain Residence in the distance.

He remembered that this little fellow Daoist was named Jiang Youfu.

Then, turning his head, he saw the two other fellow Daoists surnamed Mo rushing toward little Daoist Jiang.

That morning, he had originally been incredibly tempted by the Sunflower Manual, but it was that little fellow Daoist Mo Yuanjiao who recommended another, even more powerful mental cultivation method called the Peach Blossom Spring Myriad Void Mantra to him, preventing him from missing out on an even brighter pearl.