Chapter 97

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Chapter 97: Envy Only

Those who practice cultivation, once they reach a high level, do not need sleep, they only need to meditate to restore their energy.

Shen Xinghai used to stay awake, but unfortunately, his spirit was still injured from before, so he was drowsy and not fully awake today, falling asleep early.

The person outside the house stood quietly in the darkness for a moment, waiting for the person inside to breathe long and gently before taking the next step.

The movements were very gentle and slow, almost deliberately holding their breath while moving. Despite Shen Xinghai’s high level of cultivation at the Golden Core Stage, he didn’t notice at all.

The person who came in was like a gentle breeze, quietly sneaking into the room.

The room was dark, but the moonlight shining through the window revealed the figure lying on the bed, where Shen Xinghai was sleeping.

The person stood by the bed watching him, then placed their hand on the scabbard and slowly lifted the sword—

But before they could strike, another sword emerged from the darkness to stop them. As the two weapons touched, the person later made a soft "Hmm" sound and slowed down.

The person in front sneered quietly and struck before the other could wake Shen Xinghai with a shout.

With a tap of the scabbard on his neck, the spiritual power surged down, knocking him unconscious completely.

Outside, the moonlight, which was half hidden by dark clouds just now, now shines through brightly, filling the room with a slanting glow.

The young woman by the bed holding a sword sheath has delicate eyebrows and eyes like morning dew, her brows furrowed and her eyes showing a hint of anger.

"Dream… Martial Sister Mengran?!"

Zhu Erchong stammered in shock.

"Why did you come to Junior Brother Shen’s room in the middle of the night?!"

Martial Sister Mengran tugged at her new dress which was accidentally torn by Zhu Erchong’s sword earlier, her tone unfriendly, "I’d like to ask, why did you come to Junior Brother Shen’s room in the middle of the night?!"

"I really couldn’t sleep, I wanted to discuss going to the upper realm with Junior Brother Shen." Zhu Erchong scratched his head, his expression tangled and complicated, "I feel that my cultivation is really low, and if I go up, I’m afraid I’ll only cause trouble for Martial Sister Wen and the others. I’m thinking about whether to give up my spot to someone among Ancestral Master Yue’s group…"

"What about you, Martial Sister Mengran, why did you come to Junior Brother Shen’s room in the middle of the night?!"

Mengran glanced at Shen Xinghai on the bed, she had not been gentle with him earlier, now he was unconscious like a dead pig, there was no need to worry that he would suddenly wake up.

She tugged at the big hole in her skirt, speaking coldly, "I came to give Junior Brother Shen a farewell gift because I heard him talking to his two disciples outside the courtyard, knowing both of you were leaving for the Upper Realm."

Zhu Erchong angrily replied, "Wait, why did you only think of giving a gift to Junior Brother Shen and not me?"

"Don’t worry about these unimportant details," Martial Sister Mengran sighed, glancing at him helplessly. She continued, "I overheard Junior Brother Shen telling A’xiu and Heishi that he’s leaving early tomorrow morning for a long journey, and he’ll be back in a few months. He asked the two kids to watch over things and deliver messages to him after Senior Su Yuan leaves."

"Is he planning to run away?!"

Mengran looked at Shen Xinghai with a mix of emotions, nodding slightly. "Yes, he probably feels guilty for taking the spot to the Upper Realm and wants to escape."

"So you…"

"So I waited for him to rest, then came in and knocked him out."

She showed Zhu Erchong the empty sword sheath in her hand, as the sword had already been put away in the space bag.

"I hit him quite hard this time, and with his weakened state from last night, he’ll probably be unconscious for three to five days. Take him to meet Senior Su Yuan."

She looked at Zhu Erchong standing still in surprise, threw a space bag, and softly said, "I’ve prepared one for you too, take it."

Mengran, standing by the window, smiled with a hint of satisfaction on her lips, even gentler than the moonlight falling on her head.

*

On the peak known as The Tenth Peak.

Immortal Su Yuan was sitting casually with his legs crossed on a recliner, his movements as rough as usual. Despite being an elder, even the most respectful Yue Xingzhou dared not ask him to put his feet down. Instead, he stood obediently by his side, respectful as if he were a grandson.

"The three of you, don’t regret it before you leave."

He glanced lazily at the three disciples of The Tenth Peak.

In fact, Immortal Su Yuan had informed only the three of them about this matter from the very beginning. After careful consideration, since both Ye Shubai and Wen Yun came from The Tenth Peak and had a closer relationship, and the three of them were indeed much more talented than others, it seemed that their prospects in the upper realm would be better, rather than wasting time in the lower realm.

However, what they didn’t expect was that the three of them volunteered to give up the opportunity!

Yue Xingzhou thought for a moment and said honestly, "Senior, we also have doubts in our hearts. After all, our master and younger martial sister are in the upper realm. We have been thinking about guarding The Tenth Peak for decades, but our minds are made up. The three of us will not regret it."

"Before our master left, he entrusted me with the Sect Leader Token, asking me to take good care of Qingliu Sword Sect. If I leave, there will be no skilled person guarding the sect. Even though other sects have respected us for hundreds of years, without a Transmigration Realm expert, we would be vulnerable, and the other disciples would likely face difficulties."

"As their elder, I should naturally stay in this realm to protect the sect."

After listening for a while, Bai Yushan nodded firmly and said, "Count me in too!"

"Furthermore, speaking a bit boldly, our talents surpass theirs by quite a bit. We may even be able to ascend in the lower realm, so giving them the opportunity won’t hurt."

Bai Yushan nodded again and said, "I agree!"

After Elder Martial Brother finished speaking, Xu Wanfeng smiled and said, "We grew up together since we were little. None of us can be separated from each other. If they don’t leave, I won’t leave either. Besides, I can’t bear to leave so many women in the sect…"

"Ahem!" Yue Xingzhou coughed heavily, interrupting his last sentence.

Immortal Su Yuan sighed and shook his head, "Alright, since you all insist, I will take those two fools with me. They are probably getting dizzy with joy."

Being very happy is not as bad as being knocked out.

In the dim light of dawn, Zhu Erchong carried the unconscious Shen Xinghai up to The Tenth Peak.

Originally planning to stay for three more days, but noticing Shen Xinghai showing signs of waking up, he worried about trouble and decided to go directly to find Immortal Su Yuan.

After listening to the story, Immortal Su Yuan said, "Young people nowadays are quite good at playing."

He was originally planning to relax inside the sect for a few more days, since he could enjoy good food and drinks here without spending money.

Finding out that they had to leave today, Bao Pilong, who had just woken up, rushed over, hugged Zhu Erchong and cried bitterly, before reluctantly giving him the spiritual jade he had saved for a hundred years.

"Expenses in the upper realm are high, take this, I’ll save some for myself."

Touched by this gesture, Zhu Erchong wiped his teary eyes and immediately took out a huge sum of money from his space bag to give to Bao Pilong, saying, "Here, take this Martial Junior Brother, I actually made some small fortune in the past few decades."

Martial Sister Mengran was in charge of writing, while he took it to negotiate business with Wanbao Pavilion. With the book selling well, they made a lot of money.

Bao Pilong looked dumbfounded and couldn’t believe it, "I treated you like a brother, and you secretly made a fortune behind my back?"

Zhu Erchong, "I’m leaving soon, let’s not dwell on this, okay?"

The sadness before parting was somewhat dispelled by this bag of hidden money.

At this moment, the clouds in the mountains were dispersed by the sunlight, making it a rare clear and beautiful day, with the sky clear and blue like the sea.

It’s not good to publicize taking people away, fearing it might cause trouble if too many people find out, so Zhu Erchong didn’t have time to say goodbye to The Second Peak.

He knelt down, facing towards The Second Peak, knocking his head heavily, silently thinking, "Master, I wonder how long I have to wait until your next scolding."

Taking some soil from the Qingliu Sword Sect, Zhu Erchong carried Shen Xinghai on his back, facing the morning light, and followed Immortal Su Yuan towards the unknown upper realm.

Below, the now grown teenager Lang and A’xiu looked up at the sky, "The old senior has left, can we inform the master to come back now?"

However, no matter how joyfully they shouted in the jade slip, Shen Xinghai still did not respond.

"They left."

Martial Sister Mengran’s eyes were slightly moist, murmuring softly, "I envy them so much."

"Yes, I really envy them. Actually, I also really want to go to the upper realm," Bao Pilong echoed.

The two of them smiled at each other, seeing in each other’s eyes the sincerity and purity of a sword cultivator.

Fortunately, it was just envy.

*

"Can you stop wandering around! This is the void! If you don’t stay within my power protection, you’ll turn into dust in an instant!"

Immortal Su Yuan grabbed the distracted Zhu Erchong and angrily tapped his head.

Zhu Erchong chuckled and scratched his head, "Hehe, I found that twinkling star quite pretty and couldn’t help but walk towards it…"

"Oh, that’s the Red Phoenix Realm, it’s all women cultivators inside."

Hearing this, Zhu Erchong’s feet involuntarily started to move towards that direction again. If it weren’t for the big bump on his head still hurting, he might have run towards the Red Phoenix Realm the next moment.

Immortal Su Yuan was furious to almost half death.

They had been traveling in the void for who knows how long. Zhu Erchong was like a stray dog, always wanting to get closer to see things, impossible to hold back!

Shen Xinghai was alright, except when he just woke up and was dazzled by the countless lights in the void, unable to move, and inexplicably shouted something–

"The stars rotate like a chessboard, the heavens are my game pieces! With a flip of my hand, I will not let the sky obstruct my view again! With a turn of my hand, I will defy this unjust sky!"

Immortal Su Yuan was immediately overwhelmed by the inexplicable momentum on him, looked up for a long time, pondered for a while, and felt something wasn’t right.

There’s no sky in this void! Even if there were, no one else is stopping you from seeing with your eyes!

Faced with the questioning from the ancestor, Shen Xinghai’s face turned pale and green alternately, then he walked to the side holding his sword, and never spoke again.

Three of them happily traveled together for many years. Finally, when the snacks in the Zhu Erchongspace bag were almost finished, they arrived at the outer circle of Cloud Sea World.

Immortal Su Yuan, who was troubled by Zhu Erchong along the way, let out a sigh of relief.

He cleared his throat, turned around, and carefully instructed his two disciples.

"We are almost at Cloud Sea World. There are practitioners from various realms there. Remember to be cautious in everything, when interacting with people from the upper realms, we must not only not disgrace our Qingliu Sword Sect, but also avoid making enemies…"

Before he could finish speaking, a distant and melodious sound of a sword whistling suddenly came from behind.

Immortal Su Yuan’s face changed drastically. He immediately used his power to protect Zhu Erchong and Shen Xinghai, pushing them heavily towards the direction of Cloud Sea World.

Shen Xinghai, who hadn’t spoken for over half a year, shouted, "Senior!"

He and Zhu Erchong tried to resist and go to rescue, but Immortal Su Yuan pushed out another burst of power towards them, causing them to descend faster towards Cloud Sea World.

With eyes wide open with anger, he roared, "Escape quickly! Don’t look back!"

As soon as the shouting came out, he quickly drew his sword to block, neutralizing the sharp sword intent attacking the two men.

A young girl in a blue dress stood vividly in the air, with a cold look, thin lips, full of killing intent like the blue sword in her hand.

Behind her stood three young sword cultivators, with extraordinary aura, looking at Immortal Su Yuan with disdain in their eyes.

All four of them are at Ascension Stage.

Even in the upper realm, being able to gather so many ascendants at once can be considered a large sect or clan.

Of course…

For them, it’s not a big deal.

Because they are from the strongest sect in the Eastern Void, the Dongxuan Sect!

The leading girl snorted, not bothering with the two insignificant ants falling towards the Cloud Sea World, but casually focusing her gaze on Immortal Su Yuan.

"What a coincidence! I was only here to train, but unexpectedly found this traitor."

The young man behind her smiled pleasantly, holding up his sword towards Immortal Su Yuan.

"Younger martial sister, don’t let this lowly person dirty your sword, let me handle him."

"No," the girl in a blue skirt raised her hand and said firmly, "It is said that he was disrespectful to Martial Uncle Shang in the past at the sect. I will capture him and make him kneel to apologize to Martial Uncle Shang!"

Another female cultivator behind her covered her mouth and chuckled softly, "Haha, don’t talk nonsense, everyone knows you’re just trying to get close to Martial Uncle Shang."

"I’m not, I’m just outraged that a lowly person dares to question Martial Uncle Shang’s swordsmanship…"

They talked freely about dealing with Immortal Su Yuan, seeming not worried at all that he might escape.

Indeed, it was the case.

Immortal Su Yuan held his sword, silently stepping back, desperately trying to find a way out.

But, how could disciples of the Dongxuan Sect be fools?

They seemed indifferent, but they had already set up a sword formation to trap Immortal Su Yuan, he had no way to escape!