Chapter 247: New Sect, New Enemies

Translator: Minotauruz

The master-disciple duo, Jun Xiaomo and Tong Ruizhen, traveled for three full days and nights before they finally arrived at the Zephyr Sect’s grounds. The other sect elders from the Zephyr Sect had used Teleportation Scrolls to make their way back, and they had already found their way back to the Zephyr Sect a long time ago. Overnight, the news of the Fifth Elder Tong Ruizhen accepting a disciple at only the sixth level of Qi Mastery had spread like wildfire throughout the Sect.

Everyone was curious as so what kind of person his disciple must be like to have received such favour from the Fifth Elder. After all, the Fifth Elder was even willing to make an exception and accept a disciple that was not even in the Foundation Establishment stage of cultivation!

In the midst of all the chaos and excitement and spreading of rumours, the Heavenly Crane that Jun Xiaomo was riding upon finally descended from the sky. The first sight that Jun Xiaomo saw was a lush and verdant field atop a Peak that was enshrouded with a thick layer of spiritual energy.

In fact, they could have arrived way earlier at the Zephyr Sect. Regrettably, Tong Ruizhen’s curiosity got the better of him. Whenever he noticed something peculiar or interesting, he would instruct his Heavenly Crane to land so that he could take a closer look. Whenever he noticed something that looked delicious or fun, he would drag his new disciple along to give it a go or a spin. This was the only reason why they spent three full days in the wilderness before finally arriving back at the Sect.

Then, as they drew closer to the Zephyr Sect, Jun Xiaomo instantly felt a sense of strong pressure bearing down on her, as though there was an invisible force that was stifling and choking her, preventing her from getting any closer to those grounds.

Jun Xiaomo instinctually operated the true energy within her body in order to withstand the overbearing pressure. Unfortunately, the closer they got to the Zephyr Sect, the stronger this invisible force that was bearing down on her. This cause Jun Xiaomo’s face to only grow paler and paler.

“Aiyah, look at this old buffoon. I’m getting old and muddleheaded!” Tong Ruizhen smacked his head, before swiftly retrieving a token from his Interspatial Ring and handing it to Jun Xiaomo, “Hurry and drip a drop of your blood on it. This is the Zephyr Sect’s identity token. Without this, you’ll never be able to enter the Sect, and you’ll end up being choked to death by the protective arrays surrounding the Sect.”

As soon as Jun Xiaomo received the token, she hurriedly bit her index finger and dripped a drop of blood onto it.

Within moments, her blood seeped into the heart of the identity token and vanished. A blue light shone, and then the identity token changed from its original blue colour to a glorious golden colour. An inscription even appeared on its surface – “Zephyr Sect Disciple, Jun Xiaomo”.

This identity token had recognized its master, and the pressure that had been bearing down on Jun Xiaomo’s body just moments ago suddenly vanished.

“This protective array is incredible. We’re still quite a distance away from the Zephyr Sect, yet I can already feel its incredible powers.” Jun Xiaomo exclaimed.

They were still some distance away from the Zephyr Sect, and it would take them several more incense sticks of time to arrive at their destination.

“That’s naturally the case. This protective formation array is set up by my grandmaster.” Tong Ruizhen bragged pridefully.

Master’s...grandmaster...? Jun Xiaomo looked at Tong Ruizhen’s beaming, wrinkled face, and she grew taciturn.

She simply couldn’t imagine how old her master’s grandmaster would look like, or how old he must be.

In this cultivation world, one could never determine a person’s looks solely based on their age. For example, Jun Xiaomo had lived to a ripe old age of several hundred years old in her previous life, yet she looked no different from other twenty-something years-old cultivators. Their looks had far more to do with the type of cultivation technique a person practiced, and when they achieved the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation.

As soon as a person attained the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation, and unless he meets with an accident or encounters some misfortune, the cultivator’s appearance would no longer change for the rest of his life. Tong Ruizhen was an array master and a talisman master, and he rarely focused his attention on increasing his cultivation levels. This resulted in him spending quite a long time before he finally managed to breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation. In turn, this meant that his entire face was covered with wrinkles.

Of course, it was always available to him to use medicinal pills or other means to change his appearances and look far younger. However, Tong Ruizhen had never been the type to mind his looks, and he was content leaving his appearances as they always had been.

Jun Xiaomo shelved these inconsequential thoughts to the back of her mind, and she began to focus her attention on the protective array surrounding the Zephyr Sect.

Although the protective array was no longer bearing down on her and rejecting her presence, she could nevertheless still feel a peculiar yet profound sensation emanating from the protective array. Furthermore, the closer she drew to the Zephyr Sect, the stronger the profound sensation grew.

“This protective formation array is incredible. I wonder what will happen to a person if he forces his way into the Zephyr Sect’s grounds without an identity token.” Jun Xiaomo’s eyes widened as she thought aloud.

Tong Ruizhen chuckled, “Hehe.” Then, he looked at Jun Xiaomo and blinked a few times, before he deliberately mystified his answer, “You don’t want to know.”

Jun Xiaomo: ......

Doesn’t this just mean that the consequences would be dire?

Finally, they were able to see the Zephyr Sect’s main gate. “Zephyr Sect” had ferociously been etched in cursive on the on the main door, giving outsiders the sense of an overbearing presence within. The Heavenly Crane cried out once, flapped its wings a few times, before it soared over the Sect’s main door.

Several people heard the Heavenly Crane’s cry from within the Sect. Several disciples in their Discussion Hall also looked up and turned their attention to the azure blue sky above.

“Sect Elder Tong is finally back.” They whispered to each other with a bright gleam in their eyes.

Tong Ruizhen was still on the Heavenly Crane’s back when some of the disciples immediately relayed the Sect Leader’s message to him, requesting his presence within the Discussion Hall.

Thus, Tong Ruizhen knew that he had no choice. After all, the Sect Leader’s words were final. Once the Heavenly Crane landed and stabilized itself, Jun Xiaomo and Tong Ruizhen leapt off to the ground. Tong Ruizhen patted the Heavenly Crane’s head, instructing it to go find itself some food. Then, he turned to Jun Xiaomo and instructed, “Disciple, master had initially wanted to show you your abode and other places around here. Unfortunately, master has just received a missive from the Sect Leader, requiring master to make a trip to the Discussion Hall, so master has no choice but to leave you on your own for now.”

“It’s fine. Master has urgent matters to attend to. Please go on.” Jun Xiaomo smiled faintly.

“Then, please feel free to wander about and have a look within the Sect on your own. Remember to take only the main roads. Don’t go down the smaller paths where fewer people tread. It wouldn’t be good if you inadvertently trespassed some places you’re not supposed to go. Oh yes, this is master’s unique Transmittance Talisman, and it can be used to determine your location or to call for help. It even possesses some defensive abilities. Hang on to it. Once master is done with his duties, he’ll come looking for you.”

As Tong Ruizhen spoke, he placed a jade-coloured talisman onto Jun Xiaomo’s hands.

“Alright. Thank you, master. You’d best be on your way – it wouldn’t be good to let the Sect Leader wait for too long.” Jun Xiaomo held the Transmittance Talisman on her hands and revealed a warm, radiant smile on her face.

Even though Tong Ruizhen was on the talkative end of the spectrum, Jun Xiaomo could tell from his chattiness that there were strong undertones of a master’s concern for his disciple within. Thus, she hardly minded the fact that Tong Ruizhen was a chatterbox. In fact, she even felt rather warm and fuzzy from his loquacious tendencies.

Having had one lifetime of experience under her belt, Jun Xiaomo now knew what was truly important to her, and what was not.

After Tong Ruizhen went on his way, Jun Xiaomo continued to walk down the road that stretch out in front of her. She hardly concerned herself with where she was going. After all, she had just entered a foreign place, and her only goal was to familiarize herself with her new surroundings.

Just like that, Jun Xiaomo strolled along and took in the sights and sounds around her. Very soon, she noticed a small pavilion overlooking a large lotus pond. In this lotus pond, several lotus flowers were already in full bloom, revealing bursts of colours on the otherwise cool and tranquil pond. A ripple echoed out within Jun Xiaomo’s heart, and she began to walk towards the little pavilion.

There was a similar pavilion overlooking a lotus pond in Ye Xiuwen’s abode as well. This sight before her gave her a deep sense of familiarity in a foreign place, and a wave of complicated feelings mixed with pangs of bitter astringency washed across her heart.

Jun Xiaomo sat down in the pavilion, and she stared vacantly at the koi fishes swimming freely within the pond. Moments later, she shut her eyes.

The koi fishes in the pond would from time to time peek their heads out of the water, creating gently undulating ripples that spread throughout the entire pond. Under the bright illumination of the sunlight, the otherwise tranquil surface of the pond twinkled playfully.

A dazzle of light jolted Jun Xiaomo back to her senses. Almost at the same time, she discovered a peculiar sensation.

It might have been a mere illusion, but she was almost certain she someone watching her from afar. The gaze that was trained on her body was like a sticky substance that clung tightly to her body as it slowly crept around her body.

It gave her an indescribable sensation, causing Jun Xiaomo’s hairs to stand on end.

“Who is it?!” Jun Xiaomo’s gaze grew cold and frigid, and she whipped her body around as she glanced tensely at her surroundings.

But, even after releasing her divine sense, she was unable to find the source of this gaze.

Just then, she heard the sound of footsteps drawing closer to her. As soon as the sound of these footsteps rang out, the earlier creepy gaze instantly vanished into thin air as well.

Jun Xiaomo looked in the direction of the footsteps and she discovered a group of cultivators that were dressed in a similar fashion. These cultivators looked to be between twenty-five to twenty-seven years-old. Their leader was a female cultivator, and one could easily tell that the leader was of an extraordinary stature just by the looks of the embroidery on her clothing as well as the accessories adorned.

This female cultivator must be an inner disciple of a high standing. As to just how high her standing was, Jun Xiaomo was unable to tell this much for now.

“Yo, sister Lenghui, we’ve found ourselves a little kitten over here.” One of the other female disciples chuckled lightly as she quipped.

Little kitten?! Jun Xiaomo shuddered at their description of her.

However, she could tell that of all the looks these people were gazing upon her with, including investigative, contempt, indifference, disdain and the ilk, there wasn’t a single good and wholesome intentions in their eyes.

Jun Xiaomo thought about it – I don’t think I’ve offended these people before, right? At the very least, she knew that she had never encountered these people in her last seventeen years of life.

The leader of the pack sized up Jun Xiaomo and noticed the vigilance in the depths of Jun Xiaomo’s eyes. A bright gleamed flashed across her own eyes.

She cast aside the earlier look of indifference and replaced it with a friendly expression all over her face. Then, she walked over to Jun Xiaomo and introduced herself, “This little sister must be none other than Sect Elder Tong’s newest disciple, right? Welcome to the Zephyr Sect. My name is Zhuang Lenghui, and I’m the First-Seat Disciple of the Phoenixia Peak.”

So she’s the First-Seat Disciple of an entire Peak. No wonder she carries herself this way. Jun Xiaomo murmured in her heart.

However, what Jun Xiaomo simply couldn’t wrap her head around was where this First-Seat Disciple’s hostility towards her came from. Logically speaking, they had never interacted with each other before this present instance.

That’s right. Hostility. Even though the smile plastered all over Zhuang Lenghui’s face appeared as though she had just encountered an incredible treasure or benefit, the frigidity hidden in the depths of her eyes were unmistakable.

If I can’t understand it, then there’s no point thinking about it for now. After all, the truth will one day come to light. With such contemplations on her heart, Jun Xiaomo cordially stretched out her arm and shook Zhuang Lenghui’s hand, “Nice to meet you, martial sister Zhuang. My name is Jun Xiaomo, and I’ve just arrived at the Zephyr Sect. Please look after me.”

Jun Xiaomo’s neither servile nor overbearing attitude caused Zhuang Lenghui to review her earlier assessment of Jun Xiaomo.

Seems like Sect Elder Tong’s newest disciple isn’t going to be as easy to deal with as I’d earlier thought. Zhuang Lenghui thought to herself. Apart from her, nobody – not even her closest friends and family within the Sect – could tell the manifold schemes that she had already prepared in her heart.