Chapter Eighty-Six: A Throng at the Door

Along the way, Liu Changtian listened with only half an ear as the disciples spoke of their separate trials in the secret realm: the strange beasts, the eerie power that vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, Luo Tian’s arrival at the final moment, and the fighting strength he had displayed, far beyond what He Yiming had shown.

With the blazing true meaning of fire at his command, victory was not surprising. What truly unsettled Liu Changtian was Luo Tian’s rate of cultivation, which had begun to inspire a faint, genuine dread.

In only a few months, he had surged all the way to the ninth stage of the condensed qi realm. One more step, and he would become a cultivator of the meridian flow realm. How could one even describe such a thing?

And yet Liu Changtian dared do nothing. In the entire region of Windcurrent City, the Sunlight Divine Sect ranked last. Against the seventh prince of the Cloudpeak Empire, let alone bowing the head in submission, they were not even fit to polish his boots. If anything were to happen to Luo Tian within the Sunlight Divine Sect, Liu Changtian could guarantee that the sect itself would become history.

Not knowing the seventh prince’s true purpose, Liu Changtian could not act rashly.

Once they reached Azure Sun Mountain, he absentmindedly ordered all the disciples to turn in their gains from this expedition and collect their storage bags. Their trial results would be judged by the sect. After that, he hurried away.

Luo Tian did not hesitate either. He turned and headed down the mountain. For some time now he had been living with taut nerves. Though he could endure it without issue, a rhythm of tension and release was the proper path. First, he would return and rest well.

“Senior Brother Luo!”

Seeing Luo Tian about to leave, Chen Qingshan hesitated several times before finally calling out.

Before speaking, his face had been full of uncertainty. But once the address left his mouth, it was as though some burden in his heart had been set down at once, and he visibly relaxed.

“Yes?” Luo Tian stopped and turned back, a little puzzled.

“Senior Brother Luo, my name is Chen Qingshan.”

The first word was always the hardest; once the opening had been made, the rest flowed with ease. Chen Qingshan spoke directly. “This time in the secret realm, I gained quite a lot and made great progress in strength, but I still feel I am just a little short of breaking through. I wonder whether Senior Brother Luo might have time later to give me some guidance?”

“Junior Brother Chen, there’s no need to be so polite!”

Luo Tian was delighted. This was an excellent sign. The Chen family had a somewhat better reputation within the Sunlight Divine Sect, and Chen Qingshan was also a disciple of some standing. It had not been for nothing that he had made such a display in the secret realm. “Come straight to my place later.”

“Thank you, Senior Brother Luo!”

Chen Qingshan was sincerely grateful. He had not expected Luo Tian to be without airs, showing none of the unbearable arrogance or haughtiness that often came with rising strength.

“That one over there should be Junior Brother Tang, yes? If you have any doubts in your cultivation, you can come along too.”

Luo Tian’s gaze drifted to the hesitant Tang Yu beside Chen Qingshan. Since he and Tang Yueran were both from the Tang family, he ought not have difficulty providing Luo Tian with experience points.

“Ah—”

Tang Yu forced a difficult grin. “Senior Brother Luo, you really do care about us. All right then, see you later.”

To be honest, after seeing Luo Tian’s battle with He Yiming, Tang Yu had been moved as well.

The reason he had taken the initiative to extend the invitation was that, after absorbing Qin Tianyu’s memories, Luo Tian had gained some understanding of the cultivation conditions and true meanings of other elements. Combined with the effectiveness of his divine eye, dealing with these junior brothers in the late condensed qi realm should be entirely manageable.

Thinking of how Qin Tianyu, that generous soul who had delivered treasure after treasure, had not only left him a fortune beyond measure but also brought him even more valuable cultivation experience and insight, Luo Tian felt a surge of gratitude. In the future, he would be sure to sell Qin Tianyu’s corpse for a good price; at the very least, he had to make certain it was worth what it cost. Otherwise, he would be far too sorry for Qin Tianyu’s kind intentions.

Just as Luo Tian was nearing the residential area on Azure Sun Mountain, he suddenly saw a familiar figure walking toward him.

“Senior Brother Luo, you’re finally back!”

From afar, Li Yang spotted Luo Tian and immediately ran over in a few quick steps, his face filled with worry. “That day we had no idea what was going on. We just saw some giant turtle flying through the sky, and then after a while it left, and even a flying ship departed the sect with it!”

A giant turtle flying through the sky?

Luo Tian nearly laughed aloud. Was this what the beast, the Water-Riding Spirit Tortoise, had become in Li Yang’s eyes, despite the Sunlight Divine Sect’s leader Feng Jinbo describing it as a formidable spiritual beast whose power could stand toe to toe with Liu Changtian’s?

“Everyone was really puzzled at the time. Only later did we learn that the Great Yuan Sect had come to provoke us, and the two sects agreed to compete properly in some secret realm. Senior Brother Luo, are you all right?”

Li Yang noticed the change in Luo Tian’s expression and immediately asked with concern.

“I’m fine, Junior Brother, don’t worry!”

Luo Tian forced himself to look solemn and waved a hand. “It was nothing more than the Great Yuan Sect discovering a secret realm, after which both sects went there together to explore. Some conflict inside was only to be expected. Fortunately, our Sunlight Divine Sect came out slightly ahead.”

“It’s good that Senior Brother Luo is all right!”

Li Yang seemed to have set down a burden. “I also accepted a mission to wipe out bandits, so I need to hurry and find people to form a team!”

Wipe out bandits?

Luo Tian thought about it and asked, a little puzzled, “Why take on a mission like that?”

Everyone in the Sunlight Divine Sect knew these kinds of missions were troublesome. First, the journey was long. Around the sect there were hardly any fools daring to pursue such a hopeless profession; within dozens of miles, the area had basically already been cleared out. Second, bandit groups were not small and held the advantage of terrain, so sending only a few people was often not enough. But if one wanted to recruit a sufficient number of people, both the time required and the division of contribution points made things hard to balance.

For most people, such missions were like a fishbone in the throat: the contribution points were not meager, but they were tasteless to swallow and a pity to spit out.

“Heh heh.” Li Yang’s face reddened at once, and he scratched the back of his head a little awkwardly. “Senior Brother Luo, I’ll tell you, but don’t tell anyone else!”

“Of course.”

Luo Tian’s curiosity deepened. Li Yang usually seemed single-minded and simple, entirely devoted to cultivation, working far harder than most people. Seeing him like this was genuinely novel.

“Senior Brother Luo, when I was at home, I had a personal maid named Qing Die. We were especially close.”

Li Yang seemed afraid of being overheard. Even though the surroundings were empty, he deliberately lowered his voice and said to Luo Tian, “Her older sister was once abducted by bandits when she went out. No one knew where she was taken. Qing Die was terribly upset for quite some time, and later she swore that even if she had to search every inch of the surrounding land, she would bring her sister, Qing Lan, back.”

“Mm.”

Luo Tian nodded noncommittally. There seemed to be more to the story.

“At the time, though I was living in comfort, I still knew that a girl alone could never accomplish such a thing. She might even drag herself into danger. So I told her that within five years, I would definitely help her find her sister!”

The faint foolishness that had been on Li Yang’s face vanished. When he said this, he actually looked somewhat determined and steadfast, which stirred something in Luo Tian.

“You like her, don’t you?”

Luo Tian said carelessly. The trope was not particularly old, but it certainly was not novel either. Still, it was rare enough that a wealthy young master like Li Yang would come to the Sunlight Divine Sect and suffer hardship for the sake of a personal maid.

During their time as servants, there had even been people who could not endure such days and applied to leave early.

“Ah, no I don’t!”

Li Yang froze, the redness on his face like the glow of sunset. “I don’t like Qing Die. I just think she’s too pitiful.”

Luo Tian shook his head slightly and said with earnest gravity, “Listen to your senior brother. If you have any feelings for her, never hide them or deny them. You can’t possibly wait for the girl to take the initiative, can you?”

By the time Luo Tian had walked some distance away, Li Yang was still moving his lips, muttering to himself.

To be honest, it was all rather melodramatic.

After returning to his residence, Luo Tian paused, his thoughts drifting.

Still, after more than two years in this other world, he had seen quite a few beautiful girls. Setting aside only the most recent ones, Zhao Lin’er and Tang Yueran, both were still young, yet already possessed a certain charm of their own. Looking back further, there were even more. Among the junior sisters from his days as a servant, there truly had been quite a few pleasing to the eye.

Yet for some reason, Luo Tian simply had not felt much at all.

He had not rested long before Tang Yu and Chen Qingshan came together. Though their personalities differed, both approached him with proper respect and sought his advice on their problems.

As expected, with the secret realm’s extraordinarily dense spiritual energy supporting them, and with Luo Tian’s precise guidance, Chen Qingshan immediately broke through to roughly the eighth stage of the condensed qi realm.

The sight left Tang Yu both envious and anxious, and his confidence in Luo Tian’s abilities only deepened. After hastily asking for advice, he too prepared to break through.

“Junior Brother Tang, do not be hasty!”

Seeing Tang Yu so agitated, Luo Tian could not help warning him. “In cultivation, you must keep your mind undisturbed. In your current state, things will only get worse!”

“Yes, Senior Brother Luo! I’ll listen to you!”

Tang Yu was not as steady as Chen Qingshan, but he was still from one of the four great families, and he understood the basics of cultivation. It was only because he had seen his friend break through that his mentality had been thrown out of balance, leaving him somewhat off.

Fortunately, with Luo Tian’s reminder, Tang Yu quickly steadied himself, focused his mind, and began attempting to break through to the eighth stage of the condensed qi realm.

After breaking through, Chen Qingshan was in high spirits. He made a gesture to Luo Tian and then went to the doorway of Luo Tian’s residence to stroll about a little, while waiting for Tang Yu to succeed.

“Huh? Isn’t that Brother Chen? What are you doing here?”

A passing outer sect disciple saw Chen Qingshan and looked surprised. “Could it be that Senior Brother Luo is back?”

Seeing that the speaker was a member of the Liu family, Chen Qingshan nodded. This disciple was about on par with himself, a middle-tier younger generation member in his clan. “Yes, Senior Brother Luo has just returned. You—”

“Everyone, come over here! Senior Brother Luo is home already! Hurry and seize the chance, or he’ll run off again!”

Before Chen Qingshan could finish, the disciple from the Liu family shouted at the top of his lungs.

“What are you doing, Junior Brother Liu?” Chen Qingshan asked in bewilderment.

Before long, he understood exactly what the Liu family disciple was doing.

More than ten disciples emerged from nowhere, all of them flushed with excitement and reverence. “Quick, block the doorway to Senior Brother Luo’s place! We can’t let him get away again this time!”

“Right, right, hurry up, don’t dawdle! Even Brother Chen Qingshan is following Senior Brother Luo around, so this has to be right! If we don’t hurry, who knows when we’ll get another chance to break through?”

“That’s exactly it! This time none of you are allowed to compete with me, or don’t blame me for turning my face on you!”

“Get lost! Want to monopolize Senior Brother Luo? Believe it or not, I’ll cut ties with you right now! I’m telling you, today’s Senior Brother Luo belongs to everyone. No one gets to claim him!”

The clatter of footsteps striking the ground came endlessly. Chen Qingshan stared dumbfounded as more than a dozen disciples took up positions, surrounding Luo Tian’s doorway in a semicircle. Behind them, even more outer sect disciples were surging this way in a great wave. At a rough estimate, there were seventy or eighty of them!

Had these people lost their minds?

Chen Qingshan had rarely seen anything like this. It seemed not only the eastern district, but disciples from the other three districts as well, had mingled in—just to wait for a few words of guidance from Luo Tian.

Tang Yu had a lively temperament and had never been able to sit still in the first place. Now that he heard the faint discussion drifting in from outside, he became even more irritated. “What are these people doing, coming here to join the fun? They’re really delaying people from cultivating!”

“Junior Brother Tang, steady your heart!”

Although Luo Tian was secretly delighted that a whole crowd of experience points was waiting outside to deliver themselves to him, he still had to take care of the fellow before him first. A Tang family disciple, moving from the seventh to the eighth stage of condensed qi, was at least a decent source of experience.

“Yes, Senior Brother Luo.”

Tang Yu nodded with some reluctance. He knew his self-control was not very good, so he usually imposed especially strict demands on his surroundings.

Unfortunately, this was not his own territory, and so he could only bottle up his anger. Cursing the fellow disciples outside for delaying his great matter, he did his utmost to control the circulation of his spiritual energy, wishing only to break through as quickly as possible.