Chapter 114: Between Zhongzhou and Yunzhou, Above and Below the Mountain!

With the intention of gaining some insight from their visit to Central State, rather than leaving empty-handed, the four peak elders requested Bai Tianxiang to take them on a tour of Qingyun Sect in Central State.

Naturally, Bai Tianxiang would not refuse. Usually immersed in cultivation, she often hurried past the sect’s scenery without much appreciation. This time, however, she had the chance to slow down and truly admire it.

Out of a deep sense of belonging and pride cultivated over centuries, Bai Tianxiang spoke before the tour began: “I can only take you through the Outer Disciples’ area and a few open sections of the sect!”

Though she wished to show them more—to reveal the flourishing side of the sect—rules were rules, and she was limited to a small portion. She felt a tinge of regret, but little did she expect that even this modest area would fill the four peak elders with envy.

Pavilions and towers, interwoven formations, breathtaking landscapes, and celestial guidance! Compared to Qingyun Sect in Central State, their own sect in Yunzhou was truly built on a mere mountain.

Not to mention the young disciples occasionally flying overhead, teasing and laughing among themselves.

Yuan Dan, Yu Wan, and the other peak elders suddenly understood the meaning behind Sect Leader Yu Qingsong’s words. They, too, had once been young and knew well how the “state of mind” changes with age.

Youth was vibrant and carefree; age was mature and steady.

Those laughing disciples flying overhead, no matter their exact age, were likely all under a hundred years old. Yet, they had already reached the Golden Core stage of cultivation!

Back in Yunzhou’s Qingyun Sect, only disciples above the seventh level of Qi Refining might occasionally fly on the wind. Lower-level disciples, even if they had reached the sixth level and mastered wind-riding techniques for distant travel, would only practice secretly in secluded places with a few friends, never daring to flaunt their skills openly within the sect.

The same was true here in Central State’s Qingyun Sect—only those at Golden Core level or above could fly freely without concern for others’ gazes.

Of course, unlike the Qi Refinement stage’s wind-riding, these were true aerial flights.

Bai Tianxiang was unaware of the thoughts of those from Yunzhou, but she herself did not envy the young disciples flying overhead.

Central State was a land where every mountain surpassed the last in grandeur. The six great sacred grounds embodied this reality.

Bai Tianxiang had once, like those young ones in the sky, broken through to Golden Core before turning a hundred.

Yet the standards of talent in the sacred grounds were ruthlessly exacting.

The rule was thirty Golden Cores—not to reach Golden Core at age thirty exactly, but to do so before turning thirty.

Those “young” disciples in the sky who broke through at thirty-one would not even be considered prodigies in the sacred grounds.

Over the next hundred years, they might linger in the Golden Core stage, just like Bai Tianxiang herself.

“I feel like I’ve been cultivating like a dog all these years compared to these disciples in Central State!” Peak Elder Wang Tie suddenly sighed.

The other peak elders, including Yu Wan who was on the verge of breaking through to Golden Core, fell silent.

In Yunzhou, Yu Wan, Li Zhiyun, and others had always considered themselves top-tier prodigies, even if they weren’t quite on the level of the junior third uncle. Yu Wan was about to break through to Golden Core before she was even a hundred years old.

But when compared to these Central State talents, wearing their distinctive two-lined cyan robes, she realized these Golden Core “great powers” were no more than the many inner disciples in Yunzhou’s own Qingyun Sect.

Those flying and playing in the air would immediately quiet down and respectfully salute whenever a radiant light rainbow streaked past—the aura of a Nascent Soul stage protective elder.

Only once the elder passed would they resume their frolic.

To Yu Wan and the others, it was like a mirror image of their own sect in Yunzhou.

They could imagine how Sect Leader Yu Qingsong must have trembled with caution and humility upon arriving in Central State—an elder of five hundred years, whose cultivation might not even match that of a disciple barely over a hundred. The disparity must have been utterly despairing.

Hearing Wang Tie’s sigh, Bai Tianxiang also sighed. She had been stuck in mid-Golden Core for a hundred years as well.

The cultivation world was merciless. Central State’s Qingyun Sect was only a second-rate sect, and they themselves only disciples of a second-rate sect.

Though the Golden Core disciples frolicking in the sky would, in a hundred years, become steady, hurried Golden Core disciples like Bai Tianxiang.

The fierce competition at this year’s Qingyun Assembly was precisely because the disciples’ masters had warned them early on.

They did not want to remain forever on this small, shallow shore. They longed to ride the wind and transform into dragons.

Li Zhiyun and the others did not yet know the full details of the Qingyun Assembly, but they understood how intense the competition must be against these prodigious Central State disciples.

In previous years, many of Central State’s Qingyun Sect disciples had disdainfully refused to participate in the Assembly, preferring instead to support others on stage, knowing the chances to enter the sect were better that way.

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With a flash of light, Cao Xuan and the others knew the match had ended and they would be transported back to their original location. As soon as Xing Mengfan landed, Cao Xuan hurried to catch her.

Seeing her badly injured, Cao Xuan quickly fed her numerous healing pills and activated his cultivation formula to help dissolve them.

Xing Mengfan smiled faintly, unwilling to speak, and only said three words: “I won!”

Liu Yu and the others were shaken; they understood that Xing Mengfan had made it into the top hundred.

At that moment, Xing Mengfan looked at Cao Xuan with a complicated expression. Cao Xuan’s casual manner in advancing to the top hundred, not saying a word, struck her deeply.

But upon seeing the rewards, Xing Mengfan realized this was her stepping stone into Central State’s Qingyun Sect.

Though the identification token promised numerous rewards, including a spot in the Qingyunxia Cave, the specific rewards would only be revealed upon reaching certain victory thresholds.

Like Liu Yu, who had won over seventy matches and emerged boasting about some rare Foundation Establishment stage medicinal pills, flaunting them to those eliminated earlier, Jin Tiehua and Ye Caixuan.

Compared to his achievements, theirs were trivial.

After quietly healing, Li Yao also appeared, similarly gravely injured. She looked at Cao Xuan and said, “Senior sister, you also made it into the top hundred!”

Then she collapsed into Cao Xuan’s arms, embraced on both sides, yet few envied them.

Because these two beauties were not in their finest condition—though their bodies bore little bloodstain thanks to their magical arts, their faces were drawn and haggard.

Li Yao had been unlucky this time, facing a peak late Foundation Establishment stage cultivator in her final match.

In the past, she would have simply thrown out a handful of talismans and surrendered.

But to remain in Central State, she had exhausted all her talismans and fought to a draw, both sides severely wounded. Only by using her final hidden talisman did she barely win.

No matter what, the outcome was favorable.

In this fierce contest for the top hundred, Yunzhou’s Qingyun Sect had, for the first time, three disciples enter the top hundred.

Perhaps even the four peak elders, after touring Central State’s Qingyun Sect, had never imagined so much.

“Boom~”

Two days later, the sky’s luminous screen suddenly shattered, and an elder appeared in the sky!

His majestic voice echoed throughout the land: “The contests for Foundation Establishment and Golden Core stages in the Qingyun Assembly’s top hundred have concluded!”