Chapter 157: Seven Feathers Nine Heavens, the Encounter of an Old Friend

Mountain peak.

The green-clothed youth sat cross-legged, his aura fluctuating, finally stabilizing at the late Primordial Realm.

"Too fast."

Jiang Ding opened his eyes and clicked his tongue secretly.

It had only been a little over a month, and he had rushed from the early Primordial Realm to the late Primordial Realm; "leap" was not enough to describe it. The key was that his foundation was solid, there was no discomfort, and it could even be said that it was a bit too solid.

"With the talent of a Daoist-level genius of the nine great immortal sects, cultivating martial dao internal power is truly a bit of a waste."

Jiang Ding said somewhat self-pityingly.

But it wasn't too much of a waste.

The "Young Eagle Takes Flight Sword Technique" had extremely high internal power quality; even in the Internal Qi Realm, it could barely drive array flags and other magic treasures. Since advancing to the Primordial Realm and undergoing a qualitative change, it should be comparable to the lowest-level 'Jue' grade immortal cultivation techniques.

In the future, when switching to immortal cultivation techniques, he could retain a portion of his cultivation base without having to start from Qi Condensation Level 1.

Jiang Ding beckoned to the distance.

Swish!

Under the cover of the outer Tier 2 concealment array and the inner Tier 1 concealment array, the blue-gold small tree had grown to over 1.9 meters, swallowing and spitting out spiritual energy and great sun essence within a radius of several hundred meters between photosynthesis, scorching and dazzling, with a phantom great sun scene hidden among the tree shade.

Suddenly, its branches and leaves rustled, contracted, and turned into a blue-gold small sword a foot long, flying toward the distance, its speed increasing by another fold compared to before.

In an instant, it reached the limit distance of the hundred-step flying sword of one hundred meters.

This was the limit distance of a peak Qi Condensation cultivator's spiritual sense and the distance for maximizing the power of controlling magic treasures.

There existed a certain iron law that could not be crossed no matter what.

At this moment, the azure flying sword crossed the hundred-meter distance without any effort, and its flexibility and speed did not weaken in the slightest.

One hundred meters, two hundred meters... eight hundred meters, nine hundred meters, one thousand meters!

Only until exceeding this distance did the azure flying sword show signs of slight instability, its spiritual light dimming slightly; after returning to the thousand-meter range, it recovered as before.

Swish!

A sword light that neither the naked eye nor spiritual sense could fully see flew back and fell into his hand.

"Sword intent, this is the sword intent of soul specialization!"

Jiang Ding's eyes still held a trace of shock: "No wonder those sword maniacs of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion even created suicide techniques like 'Blood Slaughter Sword Dao,' wanting to find people to fight at every turn, regardless of friend or foe, just to refine sword intent."

"The combat power amplification that sword intent brings to cultivators is truly too great."

"Speed and power doubled!"

"Sword control distance increased tenfold!"

"It's simply like splitting off a sword dao soul onto the sword; its flexibility, sharpness, and speed are incomparable to the past. Facing the old me, it could kill in one move, like facing a rigid robot."

"In addition..."

Jiang Ding lightly stroked the azure sword body, warm as jade, and a wisp of terrifying sword qi overflowed, carrying the intent to destroy everything; birds, insects, flowers, and plants within a hundred meters fell silent.

"My sword intent should not be an ordinary sword intent like fire, water, or wood; among the more than 10,000 sword intents of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion, it should also be among the top tier."

"Sword intent and the Law-Breaking Immortal Gold are very compatible; the two combined will have an amplification effect and will not expose the existence of the Law-Breaking Immortal Gold."

The source of the Law-Breaking Immortal Gold was a problem.

It was best to kill everyone who had seen it.

The golden jade pendant flashed with light; this was someone sending a message.

This peak-grade magic treasure from the previous generation's Supreme Elder of the Seven Feathers Sect had been identified by the rusty sword tip and sent to an appraisal company, and there were no problems; it simply possessed the abilities of gathering spiritual energy, defense, and communication.

Of course, the spiritual energy gathering effect was not very useful for now; the spiritual energy of the Tier 2 top-grade metal-attributed spiritual vein already exceeded the swallowing limit of a Primordial martial artist.

He input a wisp of true qi into the jade pendant.

"Little Martial Uncle-Ancestor, Fire Pulse disciple Chen Xi and Thunder Pulse disciple Gong Caiyu request an audience."

Liu Sanqi's respectful voice came, and then it fell silent.

If there was no reply after a period of time, he would politely decline the visitors' request.

"Invite the honored guests up the mountain."

The word "honored guests" made Liu Sanqi's expression even more respectful as he looked at the two young girls before him—one tall and one short, their temperaments either graceful and luxurious or cute and adorable: "Honored guests, please, the Little Martial Uncle-Ancestor is waiting ahead to welcome you."

"Thank you, Senior."

Chen Xi and Gong Caiyu hurriedly returned the salute.

Over these past few days, they had also quickly learned some things about the cultivation world; they had to maintain respect when encountering cultivators with high cultivation.

Not to mention hearing that this old man seemed to come from the vassal family of the Supreme Elder, even Foundation Establishment seniors did not dare to ignore him casually, let alone them.

The moment they stepped into Golden Spirit Mountain, both of them revealed expressions of surprise; such dense metal-attributed spiritual power made their spiritual sense ache faintly, injured by it.

It was several times stronger than the cave dwelling where their master resided.

Walking forward for over a hundred steps, the road was filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers, and every spiritual plant had a metallic luster, with various colors, and most of the spiritual beasts coming and going were also like this.

It gave people the illusion of being in a mountain of gold and iron.

This made the two girls somewhat uncomfortable; one cultivated water-attributed techniques, and the other cultivated fire-attributed techniques. Such overly dense metal-attributed spiritual energy was not only unhelpful but harmful.

"... Hehe... Sister, don't make trouble..."

"... Don't..."

Passing by a golden flower field, Chen Xi looked vigilant and looked inside.

Three beautiful girls with enchanting and plump figures, even stronger than her, all in the mid-stage Qi Condensation realm, were working while playfully making trouble.

Seeing Liu Sanqi arrive, they hurriedly restrained their smiles, lined up in a neat row, and bowed.

"Paying respects to General Manager Liu."

"Do not make trouble during work hours!"

Liu Sanqi frowned; it was not good to say too much with guests present, so he continued to lead the two girls up the mountain: "They are the three handmaidens of Autumn of the Little Martial Uncle-Ancestor. They just came out of the family and don't understand the rules. Let the guests see a joke."

"Senior, dare not."

Chen Xi said as if unintentionally: "The three girls are the three handmaidens of Autumn; are there others?"

Liu Sanqi smiled but didn't smile: "Guests, there are. There are also the three handmaidens of Spring, Summer, and Winter. They are all legitimate daughters of various families, have Tier 3 spiritual root aptitude, and have been taught by famous teachers since childhood. Originally, they were all prepared to enter the sect, but their families used connections to send them into this place."

"So that's how it is, thank you, Senior, for the explanation."

Chen Xi smiled faintly.

Saying it was a small mountain was actually relative; the three cultivators walked for a full quarter of an hour before reaching the peak.

"Guests, the Little Martial Uncle-Ancestor is on the mountain."

Liu Sanqi took his leave very tactfully.

With no outsiders present, the two girls' footsteps became much lighter, and soon they saw the green-clothed youth sitting cross-legged open his eyes and stand up to welcome them.

"Miss Chen, Miss Gong, welcome."

"Young Master!"

"Brother Ding!"

A look of joy appeared on Chen Xi's beautiful face; she quickened her pace and took a small leap, wanting to crash into the arms of the person in front of her.

Unsurprisingly,

She was dodged, missed, and almost stumbled to the ground.

Gong Caiyu was blushed by her actions, her small round face lowered, not daring to see anyone.

"Brother Ding is still so heartless."

Chen Xi sighed.

In her heart, the suffocating feeling caused by the huge status gap relaxed a lot.

It was still the same as before.

Although he still ignored her.

Jiang Ding didn't care about her; he waved his hand, and the golden pendant flashed, releasing a tea table and cushions; tea fragrance curled on the table.

The tea table and cushions were not mortal objects; they were at least mid-grade magic treasures, capable of clearing the mind and assisting cultivation.

The tea was Tier 1 peak-grade Enlightenment Tea, which had a slight effect of increasing comprehension of spells and techniques and stabilizing cultivation; each Foundation Establishment peak master could only receive six taels per year.

These were all prepared in advance by Liu Sanqi.

The three sat down separately.

Chen Xi elegantly picked up the teacup and drank it in one gulp; instantly, she felt her cultivation at Qi Condensation Level 1 increase significantly, taking a big step toward Qi Condensation Level 2, and some doubts about techniques and spells in the past suddenly had some thoughts.

She sat quietly and realized for a moment.

"It's also a dual spiritual root; Brother Ding and Li Qingyun are far stronger than Wu Ma Kong and Fa Zheng. One is a disciple of the Supreme Elder, one is a martial brother of the Supreme Elder, leaving us far behind."

Chen Xi sighed.

The sect Jin Dan cultivators made some modifications to the memories of these disciples that did not damage the soul, protecting the disciples with excellent aptitude as much as possible.

How much effect it had, she didn't know, but at least it could delay the time of exposure.

"Don't talk about me, how is everyone doing?"

Jiang Ding smiled.

Tier 1 peak-grade Enlightenment Tea had no effect on him; he touched the cup wall slightly and put down the teacup.

As for why Chen Xi and the others entered the Qi Condensation stage so quickly, there were two reasons: first, the internal power they cultivated was intentionally released by the Seven Feathers Sect and could connect to the sect's techniques.

Second, the techniques they cultivated were relatively ordinary.

"All quite good."

Chen Xi revealed some joy: "I was valued by a Foundation Establishment senior of the Fire Pulse and taken as a registered disciple. If I advance to late-stage Qi Condensation, there is a possibility of becoming an inner disciple. Sister Caiyu..."

"Young, Young Master, I was taken as a registered disciple by a senior of the Thunder Pulse!"

Gong Caiyu finally found an opportunity to speak and hurriedly said: "This senior is a disciple of the mid-revival ancestor's lineage and takes care of me quite well."

The Seven Mysteries Sect and its vicinity were the hometown of the mid-revival ancestor a thousand years ago, where he left behind bloodlines and inheritance.

Chen Xi was somewhat envious.

Although she was a legitimate daughter of the imperial family and had some connections, compared to the identity of a descendant of the mid-revival ancestor, it was nothing.

"Long Xiuyun, that shameless woman, became a registered disciple of a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Water Pulse." Chen Xi forcefully grabbed the conversation again: "Han Lin... uh, four spiritual roots are a bit worse, still at the disciple peak."

"Besides that, 'Vajra' Fa Zheng went to the Earth Pulse and was taken as an inner disciple by the Earth Pulse master, a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator; 'Half-Ghost' Wu Ma Kong was taken as an inner disciple by the peak Foundation Establishment cultivator, Senior Zhou Kunlong, of the Fire Pulse."

"Most of the other Tier 3 spiritual root disciples also have places to go."

"So many?"

A light flashed in Jiang Ding's eyes.

Looking at the situation, almost all Foundation Establishment cultivators had taken registered disciples with decent aptitude; such a uniform behavior was hard to believe was a coincidence.

"There are indeed a few more this year."

Chen Xi was somewhat puzzled: "I heard from an elder in my family that in previous years, at most three or five Foundation Establishment seniors would take disciples, and other disciples would struggle to the peak of Qi Condensation without necessarily getting any attention from seniors. We hit the jackpot this time."

"That is indeed the case."

Jiang Ding nodded.

Without the guidance of Foundation Establishment cultivators and the provision of initial resources, the start of a cultivator would be much more difficult; relying solely on the disciple peak to explain doubts every fifteen days by late-stage Qi Condensation inner disciples was simply not enough.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 158 =====