The Third Possibility

With the boost from the Wind-Controlling Technique, more than a hundred disciples followed Liu Yunan and soon arrived at the floating-island teleportation platform beside the secret realm’s little garden.

They looked at Elder Liu, who had stopped at the front, puzzled as to why he had brought them here again.

Hadn’t he said they were continuing their tour of the sect? But… they had already visited this place yesterday.

Could Elder Liu have forgotten? Surely not…

As everyone’s minds raced, Liu Yunan turned around and addressed them.

“Everyone, next we’ll be visiting a place we didn’t get to see yesterday.”

“But before that, there’s something I think I should clarify in advance.”

“Our Lingxian Sect is a cultivation sect! From the moment you passed the Path of the Heart and promised to join Lingxian Sect as cultivators, you were destined to embark on a life completely different from the one you lived before!”

“So! You must broaden your horizons beyond those of ordinary mortals and get used to all things extraordinary as soon as possible!”

What Liu Yunan really wanted to tell them was, “Stay calm! Be a little more thick-skinned! Don’t get excited no matter what you see!” But he still had to maintain a certain degree of dignity and grace.

After serving as an elder for more than three years and handling so many of the sect’s affairs, he had long since learned the art of it.

The newcomers didn’t understand what he meant. They only nodded blankly to show that they understood.

Seeing how serious Elder Liu was—and how deliberately he had made this announcement—they all began repeating reminders to themselves in their hearts:

Broaden your horizons beyond those of ordinary mortals. Get used to being a cultivator as soon as possible. Broaden your horizons beyond those of ordinary mortals. Get used to being a cultivator as soon as possible…

Then they watched Liu Yunan turn and walk toward the semitransparent stone platform ahead.

At the same time, his voice drifted back to them.

“This is the entrance to our sect’s floating island. In a moment, stand on it in groups of ten, one group at a time.”

The moment he finished speaking, he shot straight into the air with a whoosh. In the blink of an eye, he had vanished.

The newcomers’ eyes widened!

They had no idea why Elder Liu had taken off so abruptly—or why he had disappeared so suddenly.

However, some of them recalled what Elder Liu had just said and realized that the semitransparent stone platform must be the entrance to the place they were about to visit.

They quickly came to their senses and formed groups of ten as Liu Yunan had instructed.

It was worth mentioning that the teleportation platform had originally been limited to five people at a time.

However, because the Spirit-Essence Mountain on the floating island could produce spiritual energy, and because Lin Xiao and the others had never consumed more than the island could sustain, the concentration of spiritual energy on Yaoguang Floating Island had continued to rise.

The floating island had also reached level two.

Once it reached level two, the island’s total area expanded by one-tenth.

The teleportation platform’s capacity also increased from five people to ten.

The one hundred and thirty-two newcomers were divided into fourteen groups.

The first twelve groups consisted of ten people each.

The final twelve people, however, did not split into one group of ten and another of two.

Instead, they divided themselves evenly into two groups of six.

No one specifically suggested it. The last twelve simply arrived at the arrangement naturally.

Everyone suppressed their excitement as they prepared to experience the rapid ascent through the air they had never felt before.

Yet the moment they entered the platform and took their places, white light flashed before their eyes, and their surroundings changed.

The new disciples: …

What happened to the rapid takeoff?

They didn’t know that the image of Liu Yunan ascending into the sky had merely been a special effect produced by the floating-island teleportation platform.

When Lin Xiao had been idly studying the floating island’s control console, he had noticed that option and thought it looked interesting, so he had activated it. He had never bothered to turn it off afterward.

Still, this minor detail became completely irrelevant the instant the new disciples saw their surroundings clearly.

Just look at what they were seeing…

The new disciples stared around them in shock.

At a glance, it was obvious that they were on a small island.

But there was no water surrounding it.

Only thin streams of clouds curled around the island. Beyond those clouds was nothing but sky and the rising sun.

Even Yuan Jinsheng and Liang Zhonghuai, whose cultivation and experience far exceeded those of the others, could not conceal their astonishment.

What… what was this place?!

Yuan Jinsheng and Liang Zhonghuai were the first to recover. They turned and walked toward the edge of the island.

Only after they looked down with their own eyes and saw the sect’s various buildings and the houses of Xiushui Village reduced to tiny dots below did they have no choice but to believe that they were truly standing on an island floating in the sky!

Yuan Jinsheng had lived in the mortal world for more than two hundred years. He had never seen a sect with a territory like this—not even heard of one.

Moreover, the spiritual energy on this floating island was far denser than that of any sect he had ever visited.

He could guarantee that there was absolutely no sect in the mortal world with such wealth—or with a place where spiritual energy gathered in such abundance!

Yuan Jinsheng was not the only one. Even Liang Zhonghuai, a low-level employee of Wanwantong, the intelligence giant from the cultivation world, had never seen anything like this.

At most, he had heard rumors.

He had heard that some major sects possessed floating islands.

For example, the Talisman Sect.

It was said to be the only sect in the entire Northern and Southern Regions with a floating island—and it had only one.

A colleague who had once traveled to the Southern Spirit Region on business had bragged about visiting the Talisman Sect and shared this tidbit with them.

Even that colleague, however, had never set foot on the Talisman Sect’s floating island. He had merely happened to look up at the sky while surveying the area inside the sect’s entrance and caught sight of it.

What exactly was Lingxian Sect’s background?!

How could a sect from the mortal world possess a floating island that only a major sect like the Talisman Sect should have?

Liang Zhonghuai, who had always avoided any potential danger the moment he sensed it, suddenly wondered whether he had accidentally stepped into some dangerous place backed by a supreme powerhouse.

Whether this sect was a child carrying a priceless treasure or had a powerful backer behind it…

In Liang Zhonghuai’s eyes, both possibilities were extremely dangerous.

The former could easily be targeted and robbed by powerful cultivators.

The latter could easily turn him into cannon fodder.

However…

He glanced at Aunt Yang beside him.

Now that she had personally confirmed that her daughter was safe, the sorrow that had lingered between Aunt Yang’s brows for years had disappeared without a trace.

Liang Zhonghuai thought to himself: Perhaps there is a third possibility after all.

Perhaps this was an otherworldly paradise—a peaceful, carefree place with the power to quell all the turmoil in the world.

He lowered his eyes slightly and touched the identity token that had hung from his waist since that morning.

His slender fingers gently brushed over the raised characters engraved on it: “Disciple of Lingxian Sect.”

When he sent his spiritual sense into the token, he could see his name inside.

Recalling the dream he had experienced on the Path of the Heart, as well as the power that had soothed the panic in his heart at the final moment, he could not help but smile faintly to himself.

So be it.

A sect that used such a rigorous Path of the Heart to select its disciples—regardless of how long and arduous the road ahead might be, what harm was there in taking the journey together?