886: Chapter 887 Desolate Cloud Workshop

Liu Qingyao did not believe it.

Passing by by chance? A hidden expert? Saving someone and then just leaving?

But her father was unwilling to say more, and she couldn't get any more answers out of him.

Liu Qingyao stood by the edge of the cliff, facing the mountain wind, her gaze drifting toward the distant, mist-shrouded horizon.

That Senior was unwilling to leave a name, perhaps due to some concerns, or perhaps because he felt she was not yet worthy of knowing it.

But it didn't matter.

She would Cultivate, grow stronger, and make herself outstanding enough.

When that time came, she would seek out that Senior and thank him in person.

She withdrew her gaze and turned to go back and continue cultivating.

Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of several unfamiliar figures near the mountain gate, following an Elder inside.

Five people, their cultivations roughly at the first level of the Heaven-Reaching Realm.

Liu Qingyao took a few more glances and was about to look away when she suddenly paused.

She couldn't say why, but even though those five people standing there didn't have high cultivations, they gave her a very strange feeling.

She shook her head, thinking that she had probably just recovered and her perception was slightly off.

Just then, a steady sound of footsteps came from outside the door, and immediately after, a familiar figure pushed the door open and entered.

Sect Master Liu Zhenshan.

He wore a black robe and had a smile on his face, looking to be in an extremely good mood.

Seeing his daughter standing by the window upon entering, her complexion rosy and spiritual charm flowing around her, the smile in his eyes deepened.

"Yao'er, how do you feel today?"

Liu Qingyao turned around and gave a faint smile. "Father, I have fully recovered, and I'm even stronger than before. You don't have to worry anymore."

Sect Master Liu Zhenshan sized her up, looking more and more pleased as he nodded repeatedly.

"Good, good, good. Father sees it. I've watched the changes in you over the past few days. It truly is... a truly monumental stroke of fortune."

He sat down on a chair, took a sip from the teacup on the table, and as if suddenly remembering something, remarked casually:

"By the way, Yao'er, a few new Disciples joined the Sect today. Their natural talent is quite good.

When you have nothing to do, you can interact with them more, spar and compare notes with each other. It will also benefit your cultivation."

Liu Qingyao was slightly taken aback.

Her father rarely took the initiative to have her interact with other Disciples in the Sect.

Back when she was gravely ill, her father had wished he could hide her in a secret room where no one could see her.

Now that she had just recovered, why was her father so eager for her to go out and socialize?

"Father, are those people you mentioned the ones who just arrived today?

Just now, I saw five people following Elder Chen from the cliffside. Is it them?"

"Yes, yes, yes, that's them,"

Sect Master Liu Zhenshan said with a beaming smile as he put down his teacup.

"Those five people, I saw that they have extraordinary bearing and refined manners. They must come from remarkable backgrounds.

It wouldn't hurt for you to spend more time with them."

Liu Qingyao looked at her father's overly cheerful face, secretly feeling that something was slightly off.

Her father was usually not like this.

As the grand Revered Master of a Sect, when had he ever cared so much about newly admitted Disciples?

He even went out of his way to come to his daughter and urge her to "interact" with them?

She narrowed her eyes and stared at Sect Master Liu Zhenshan for a long while, until he shifted his gaze away uncomfortably.

"Father, tell me honestly, what is the background of those people?"

"They don't have any special background. They're just ordinary Loose Cultivators who happened to pass by our Tianyuan Sect. I saw that their Aptitude was quite good, so I invited them in."

Sect Master Liu Zhenshan spoke with an air of complete innocence.

Liu Qingyao did not believe him.

But she did not press further, only nodding slightly:

"Alright, I understand. If I have some free time, I will go take a look."

Sect Master Liu Zhenshan stood up in satisfaction, patted his daughter's shoulder, and said with earnest sincerity:

"Yao'er, get closer to them in your daily life. If you happen to hit it off with one of them, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?"

Liu Qingyao's face instantly flushed red. "Father! What nonsense are you talking about!"

Sect Master Liu Zhenshan laughed heartily and waved his hand as he walked out. "Alright, I won't say it, I won't say it.

As long as you understand in your heart, as long as you understand."

He strode out of the secret room, leaving Liu Qingyao standing there alone, her cheeks crimson, both exasperated and amused.

After walking out of the secret room, the smile on Sect Master Liu Zhenshan's face grew even brighter.

He glanced back toward his daughter's room, secretly feeling quite pleased with himself.

His Eminence said not to give them special treatment, and indeed I didn't.

I'm just having my daughter go make friends with them. Surely that doesn't count as breaking the rules?

Besides, how could His Eminence's Disciples be ordinary people?

Every single one of them is bound to be a dragon or phoenix among men, a Prodigy among prodigies.

If his daughter could hit it off with one of them...

The more Sect Master Liu Zhenshan thought about it, the more he felt it was a brilliant idea, and he couldn't help but give himself a mental thumbs-up.

"I really am a Genius!"

...

The next morning, the daylight filtered through the window lattice into the residence of the Tianyuan West Courtyard.

Xiao Ruobai, Fang Hanyu, Wang Xiaopang, Mo Yu, and Dong Li simultaneously finished their cultivation.

Opening their eyes, they looked at one another, each seeing a trace of helplessness in the others' eyes.

After a whole night, even with supreme heavenly stones and the Immortal Heavenly Scripture, their cultivation progress was minuscule.

The cultivation environment here was simply too vast a departure from Zizhu Peak.

On Zizhu Peak, they had the enhancement of a supreme Heavenly Vein and a thousand-fold Dao Rhyme amplification from the Enlightenment Platform.

Along with the Formations laid down by their Revered Master, cultivating there for a single day was worth months or even years of hard cultivation for an ordinary Cultivator.

"No wonder the Cultivators of the Heaven Realm Cultivate so slowly," Wang Xiaopang sighed.

"Cultivating in this kind of environment, trying to break through a minor Realm indeed takes thousands or even tens of thousands of years."

"Furthermore, after the Heaven-Reaching Realm, the energy required for each minor Realm is immense."

Mo Yu chimed in, "It seems that for ordinary Cultivators in the Heaven Realm, without top-tier resources or Cultivation Techniques to rely on, the path of cultivation is only more of a struggle."

"This is only normal," Xiao Ruobai said flatly.

"Before, we were simply protected too well by Master, with an infinite supply of resources and Dao Rhyme readily available.

"Now that we have come out to gain experience, we must adapt to the pace of ordinary Cultivators."

Fang Han lightly pinched the longsword with his fingertips, a hint of understanding flashing in his eyes.

In the past, in Xuanhuang and Yunmiao, Master would casually bestow immense treasures and endless Origin, and they never lacked Heaven And Earth Treasures.

They had smooth sailing all the way, long accustomed to the rapid cultivation built upon stacked resources.

Only by stepping out of the territory protected by Revered Master could they truly catch a glimpse of the normal state of Cultivators across the All Heavens.

Xiao Ruobai stood up, pushed open the window to look at the continuous market pavilions in the distance, and spoke in a steady tone:

"Revered Master sent us out to gain experience with the intention of letting us witness the various aspects of the world, rather than hiding in the greenhouse of a Secret Realm forever.

The Spiritual Qi here is sparse. To maintain our cultivation progress, we must go to the nearby Huangyun Market to purchase a batch of Origin herbs and low-grade Heavenly Vein raw stones."

"Let's go, let's head to the market. While we're at it, we can see the trading rules of the Heaven Realm Cultivators and gain some knowledge."

The five left the West Courtyard and made their way down along the green stone mountain path.

The scale of the Tianyuan Sect was extremely grand, with continuous mountains. Even just traveling from the inner Sect area to the market at the foot of the mountain took a full cup of tea's time.

Along the way, they saw nothing but Sect Disciples rushing to and fro, either flying on tools or traveling in groups, as the hustle and bustle gradually grew.

The further down they went, the thinner and more turbid the Spiritual Qi became. By the time they reached the foot of the mountain, even the air seemed to carry a trace of the mundane world's hustle.

Ahead, a massive stone city gate stood across their path, with three ancient characters carved upon the lintel—Huangyun Market.