Visit

Sun Yigao’s behavior was due to the Heart-Rectifying Mirror that Lin Xiao had placed at the entrance to the floating island. Afterward, Lin Xiao had explained its general purpose to everyone:

“Rectify oneself and one’s heart, illuminate the mind and perceive one’s true nature. Only by understanding one’s own heart can one comprehend the Dao.”

Because of this explanation, whenever Sun Yigao passed the Heart-Rectifying Mirror, he would always sneak a glance at it from the corner of his eye.

At first, he only felt that the mirror reflected everything with remarkable clarity.

But as the days passed, Sun Yigao gradually noticed that what he saw in the mirror seemed to differ slightly from one day to the next.

He could not say exactly what those differences were.

However, once he noticed this peculiarity, he began paying closer attention each time he passed by.

Eventually, he discovered that the subtle, indescribable changes seemed to occur only when he had just finished reading a book before passing the Heart-Rectifying Mirror.

If he merely happened to pass by while occupied with other matters, the reflection in the mirror remained exactly as it had been before.

Previously, he had been busy developing pills with his master, so he had not devoted much thought to the matter. After asking around and discovering that no one else experienced the same phenomenon, he had temporarily set it aside.

Now that pill refinement had been put on hold, and the teaching burden on the cultivation-technique side was no longer as heavy, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to investigate.

He estimated that if he conducted a focused test, it should not take too long to determine the cause-and-effect relationship. Afterward, he could resume cultivating; it would not be too late.

And so, the current scene had come to pass: Sun Yigao standing before the Heart-Rectifying Mirror with a book in hand.

Just as Sun Yigao was studying the mystery within the Heart-Rectifying Mirror while a group of his companions secretly watched from nearby, a message arrived from the disciple on duty at the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall.

A Golden Core cultivator calling himself He Yi had arrived. He claimed to be there to pay a visit to the sect master.

Upon receiving the message, Liu Yunan passed it on to Lin Xiao and asked whether he wished to meet the man.

Lin Xiao was initially rather surprised when he saw the name.

“He Yi?”

He racked his memory for a moment before finally finding a vague connection to the name, along with the indistinct yet haughty figure he had seen at the Talisman Master Tournament.

Could this be the He Yi who had won first place at the tournament?

What was a cultivator from the cultivation world doing here?

Then Lin Xiao immediately recalled that a message had apparently been sent from the capital some time ago. It said that the cultivation world had dispatched an envoy to investigate the matter of Huanyou Kingdom’s Lightning Stone with the imperial family.

According to the message, the envoy from the cultivation world had been referred to as Immortal Master He.

It seemed that this envoy from the cultivation world was almost certainly He Yi.

Lately, Lin Xiao had been entirely occupied with the great undertaking of constructing the sect and had no time to spare for matters beyond it.

When Liu Yunan and Qin Jianghe had first received this information, they had also contacted the imperial family. However, the imperial family had assumed that this envoy was merely following the usual routine: coming to the mortal world to go through the motions, throw his weight around, and pass the time before leaving.

Thus, they had told the Lingxian Sect that He Yi had been holed up in the imperial city all day and showed no sign of investigating anything. There was apparently nothing serious going on, and the imperial family would handle him themselves.

As a result, Liu Yunan and the others had stopped paying close attention to the matter and continued following Lin Xiao in dealing with the sect’s internal affairs.

Who could have expected that the man would now appear at the foot of their mountain, openly stating that he wished to visit Lin Xiao rather than the Lingxian Sect?

Clearly, he had conducted a fair amount of investigation into both their sect and Lin Xiao.

Although Lin Xiao had seen He Yi from a distance a few times, he knew nothing about the man’s character. He had only occasionally heard those around him discussing the man. Apparently, He Yi was a member of the Talisman Sect and seemed to have powerful backing.

Many people claimed that all of his achievements in talisman crafting had been built up through the Talisman Sect’s vast resources.

Whether those rumors were true or not was impossible to say. But it was certainly true that He Yi had no friends.

After all, during those several days, Lin Xiao had not seen a single person step forward to speak on his behalf—not even the tournament staff wearing the Talisman Sect’s robes.

The rumors had clearly reached the ears of those Talisman Sect disciples, yet they had not refuted a single word and had simply pretended not to hear.

Unless the Talisman Sect disciples possessed an astonishing level of professional restraint, the only explanation was that He Yi’s standing within the sect was truly terrible and that the rumors were accurate.

Lin Xiao did not dwell on the matter for long before agreeing to meet him.

After all, He Yi came from the cultivation world and had arrived as an investigative envoy concerning the Lightning Stone incident. Meeting him would save them trouble if the man decided to cause problems later.

He Yi had only been waiting at the foot of the mountain for a short while when a Lingxian Sect disciple came to escort him to a nearby academy.

“Although this is an academy, there is also a reception room set aside for guests. Since outsiders cannot enter through our mountain gate, our sect has arranged to receive visitors here instead. We apologize for any inconvenience, honored guest.”

The disciple responsible for receiving him spoke with utmost courtesy.

Elder Qin had instructed them that when dealing with cultivators of higher realms, they should maintain a respectful attitude to avoid provoking those who thought too highly of themselves.

Although the sect would stand behind them, as the saying went, a wise man did not fight when the odds were against him. The sect could provide support after they had been bullied, but by then they would already have suffered the loss.

Therefore, it was always safest to begin with a respectful attitude.

They should be courteous, but as disciples representing the dignity of the sect, they did not need to grovel. That way, the other party would have no excuse to make trouble.

Ever since He Yi had arrived in the mortal world, nearly every cultivator he encountered had treated him with the utmost respect. The attitude of this Lingxian Sect disciple therefore seemed perfectly normal to him.

After all, cultivators in the mortal world always behaved this way toward cultivators from the cultivation world.

Once He Yi sat down, the disciple poured him a cup of tea and took his leave.

It was afternoon. He Yi raised the teacup and took a shallow sip.

Hmm. Ordinary tea.

It contained not the slightest trace of spiritual energy, though its fragrance was fairly pleasant.

He surveyed the reception room. It was not large, furnished simply with a few wooden tables and chairs. It looked like a completely ordinary reception room, without a single spiritual item on display.

It resembled the rooms he had seen in the imperial city, though its furnishings were far less magnificent.

Faintly, he could hear the sounds of reading and the voices of teachers lecturing nearby. It seemed that aside from the isolation formations outside, there were no formations separating the various sections within the academy.

He swept through the academy with his divine sense and gained a rough understanding of the place.

Most of the teachers here were ordinary mortals. Only a few possessed a trace of shallow cultivation. The students, however, were all mortals.

He listened for a while. The subjects these teachers taught consisted entirely of mundane knowledge, with perhaps a few abstruse ideas mixed in. Presumably, the books had been written by outstanding mortals who had occasionally glimpsed a fragment of profound truth.

Yet these teachings could not truly help anyone cross that threshold. For mortals, they were practically useless.

He could not understand why the Lingxian Sect had established an academy specifically for this purpose, or why it had assigned its disciples to teach mortals how to read and write.