Stamping

After the two of them exchanged a few more words, Du Changsheng settled on addressing him as “Senior Yuan.”

After all, he had heard that the other man was over a hundred years old—older than his father, and even older than his grandfather and great-grandfather. Calling him “Uncle” or something similar would not be appropriate. Yet if he did not, it would feel awkward for Du Changsheng to address someone who looked not much different from himself as “Old Master” or the like. In the end, “Senior” seemed the best choice.

Yuan Jinsheng was a large, burly man, and he was not particularly particular about his clothes or appearance. Even the refined and scholarly uniform of the Lingxian Sect looked rather odd on his broad, muscular frame.

He had also rolled up the wide sleeves and tied them behind his shoulders, revealing the tight white undersleeves beneath.

The originally elegant and graceful sect uniform had somehow been made to look rather shabby on him.

Then again, dressed like this, he actually blended in quite well with the villagers of Clear Water Village. Unlike the neatly dressed disciples of Azure Cloud Peak, who stood out conspicuously in the crowd, Yuan Jinsheng looked almost as though he belonged among the villagers.

Having gained plenty of experience from previous missions, Yuan Jinsheng quickly joined the ranks of those working.

With the disciples of the Lingxian Sect coming down the mountain to lend a hand, the construction of Clear Water Village proceeded at a speed that left all onlookers speechless with admiration.

The people from nearby villages who had come to help were astonished by how quickly the construction progressed. It was far beyond what could be achieved through ordinary manual labor, as they had experienced in the past when performing corvée labor to build towns, bridges, roads, and the like.

At this rate, regardless of what the plans for Clear Water Village were, it would probably be completed before too many days had passed.

By evening, the workers at the construction site packed up and prepared to return home for dinner.

The disciples of the Lingxian Sect also went to Du Changsheng to have him stamp their records for the work they had done that day. The stamp had been produced by the Artifact Refinement Hall. It served no purpose other than verification—the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall had a special seal-checking platform that could identify whether it was genuine.

This was not because the sect distrusted its own disciples.

Regardless, as a department responsible for managing sect affairs, it had to establish proper procedures and guard against problems before they arose.

With such procedures in place, many suspicions and precautions could be avoided. If the rules and regulations were too lax, the disciples’ attitudes would gradually become careless and lax as well. By the time a problem actually occurred, it would only create even more conflict.

Once the disciples of the Lingxian Sect had received Du Changsheng’s stamp, they happily left for the sect together.

Yuan Jinsheng was the last one to get his stamp.

After stamping his record, Du Changsheng leaned toward him and whispered mysteriously, “Senior Yuan, when you return to the mountain today, could you do me a favor and pass on a message? Tell Brother Nan—in other words, your Elder Liu—to bring Brother Xiao… that is, your sect master, and the others down the mountain in a few days, whenever they have the time.”

Upon hearing this, Yuan Jinsheng did not ask what it was about. He simply nodded and agreed. “All right. I’ll tell Elder Liu when I get back.”

“Great, great. Thank you, Senior Yuan.” Seeing that he had agreed, Du Changsheng beamed with delight as he bid him farewell.

In fact, Village Chief Du possessed a treasure that could directly contact Liu Yunan. However, his father had said that this was not an urgent matter, so it would not be appropriate to use the treasure casually.

That was why Du Changsheng had asked one of the sect disciples who had come down the mountain to help to pass on the message.

After bidding farewell to Du Changsheng, Yuan Jinsheng soon returned to the entrance of the Heart-Seeking Path. Thinking of the person he had seen that afternoon, he instinctively glanced toward the mountain path.

Sure enough, he saw that same figure from noon.

That afternoon, Elder Liu had replied to the voice transmission talisman Yuan Jinsheng sent him, explaining that the person had some connection and history with the sect. The sect master had therefore opened the restriction on the Heart-Seeking Path and allowed him to give it a try.

Liu Yunan had not explained the details, but he had said that if this person truly passed the Heart-Seeking Path’s test and joined the Lingxian Sect, everything would be explained to everyone at once.

Yuan Jinsheng could not help feeling that his sect treated its disciples exceptionally well.

When it came to privileges and special treatment, he had served the imperial family in the Huanyou Kingdom in the past and had come into contact with many powerful figures, so he had long since grown accustomed to such things.

Many major sects were the same.

Whenever a decision was made, informing the people below it could already be considered sufficient. Who would have thought they would actually provide everyone with an explanation?

Moreover, although Yuan Jinsheng could not determine the person’s exact cultivation level, the aura surrounding him was clearly unlike that of an ordinary mortal. He was obviously a cultivator, and most likely possessed a magical treasure capable of concealing his cultivation.

Judging from this, although the sect master had granted him the privilege of taking the test, he was certainly not merely someone with connections. Most likely, he was beneficial to the sect, which was why the sect master had made such an exception.

As Yuan Jinsheng thought this, he had already passed by the man and was preparing to return to the sect.

Unexpectedly, he suddenly sensed that the person who had been completely motionless behind him seemed to stir.

He then sensed, without needing to turn around, that the man had woken up.

He had actually awakened!

It had not even been that long!

Although Yuan Jinsheng did not look back, he knew that the man had not been rejected and expelled by the Heart-Seeking Path.

That meant he had passed the test.

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Yuan Jinsheng’s mind.

The elders of the sect had previously mentioned that some people passed the Heart-Seeking Path quickly while others took longer. Their own circumstances had been somewhat special.

However, there was one point they had made: the higher a person’s cultivation, the longer they might need to spend passing through the Heart-Seeking Path.

He had never expected that the person before him, who very likely possessed cultivation, had passed through the Heart-Seeking Path so quickly…

Though, of course, he still could not compare with Elder Sun.

Elder Sun was the object of admiration for all the disciples of Azure Cloud Peak. The reason was that whenever the other elders spoke of passing through the Heart-Seeking Path, they inevitably mentioned how Elder Sun had regarded it as nothing and passed through without the slightest hindrance.

The disciples of Azure Cloud Peak had only recently undergone the test of the Heart-Seeking Path, so they understood all too well how powerful it was. They had never imagined that someone could remain completely unaffected by it. To them, it was an extremely shocking feat.

Among the batch of disciples who had newly joined the sect, Baizhu had taken the shortest time of all to pass through the Heart-Seeking Path.

Even so, it had taken him most of the day.

At the time, Baizhu had merely been an ordinary mortal who had never cultivated.

Yet now, someone who appeared to possess cultivation had successfully passed through the Heart-Seeking Path in less than half a day…

Although Yuan Jinsheng had personally witnessed the man awaken, he did not overstep his bounds by receiving him. With a single movement, he slipped away before the man could fully recover and notice him, then entered through the mountain gate.

Since this person had been specifically mentioned to Elder Liu by the sect master, there were surely arrangements for everything that followed after his entry into the sect. It would be inappropriate for Yuan Jinsheng to interfere rashly.

Once he returned inside the mountain gate, he immediately sent a voice transmission to Liu Yunan and informed him of what had happened.

What he did not know was that, at the instant he slipped away, He Yi—who had only just awakened—had already sensed that a Golden Core cultivator was nearby.

The Lingxian Sect had given every disciple a Peach Leaf Pendant capable of concealing their cultivation. The disciples had also been given a detailed explanation of how it worked, as well as why they needed to conceal their cultivation speed and prevent outsiders from learning that these things were unrelated to their cultivation techniques or spiritual roots.

However, Yuan Jinsheng had already been a Golden Core cultivator before joining the Lingxian Sect. He felt that there was no need to deliberately conceal his cultivation until he had made a substantial breakthrough. Otherwise, it might have the opposite effect.