Chapter 66

"Has the Divine Martial Gate really sent someone? Is it that person named Yunlong?" Wei Yuning asked nervously; he wasn't afraid, just a bit guilty.

"In a sense, if he hadn't meddled, Nightingale might have been someone's wife. Feelings are unclear; perhaps Nightingale doesn't like that person today but will like them later. Whether love before marriage or marriage before love is better—benevolent ones see benevolence, wise ones see wisdom; it depends on where you sit."

"Mm!" Ye Ying whispered.

"How long until arrival?" Wei Yuning asked.

"Tomorrow!"

"Me... just him alone?" Wei Yuning asked.

"No, Senior Uncle Yunyan said there's also one of his senior sect members!" Ye Ying's tone betrayed her panic.

"Senior sect member? What does that mean?" Wei Yuning asked curiously.

"Master... Master Lord Yuehuang said she no longer cares about this matter; however, her not opposing my becoming a spiritual companion with a Cloud Hidden Sect disciple doesn't mean she rejects the Divine Martial Gate. So he has Senior Brother Yunlong compete with you fairly, and the arriving senior sect member is to serve as a witness!" Ye Ying said anxiously.

"Fair competition sounds refined, but bluntly it means 'prove it with your hands.' Divine Martial Gate disciples are all brave and fierce, outstanding in strength; although Wei Yuning comes from the Cloud Hidden Sect, he may not be a match for Yunlong."

"She and Qiugu had previously discussed who was stronger between Yunlong and Wei Yuning; judging by appearance alone, she thought Wei Yuning was no match for Yunlong, but Qiugu had considerable confidence in Wei Yuning; she trusted Qiugu, so naturally she believed his judgment. However, seeing Wei Yuning's expression now, it was clearly nervousness mixed with fear."

"Ye Ying also never imagined things would come to this—disciples of two great sects about to clash over her; the key point is that, as one side, Wei Yuning is merely a nominal competitor, completely innocent."

"I really don't see what's good about you, yet this Fellow Daoist Yunlong can't stop thinking of you!" Wei Yuning suddenly laughed.

"Ye Ying wanted to retort instinctively, but ultimately she didn't speak, glanced at Wei Yuning, and fell silent."

"All right, I'll go back for a moment to prepare a big gift for Fellow Daoist Yunlong! Stay put and wait for my good news!"

"Senior Brother Qingmo, thank you!"

"Don't mention it, we're all our own people, you're not me... haha, I'm off!"

"Leaving Wind Lotus Pavilion, Wei Yuning grew a bit clearer-headed."

"Although both are body Foundation Establishment disciples, Wei Yuning's path is entirely a shortcut, fundamentally different from those who cultivate martial arts to enter the Dao. He has seen the skills of the direct disciple Qingcong, who also achieved Foundation Establishment through shortcuts but practiced some relevant techniques; thus, among peers of the same realm, Qingcong's attack power far surpasses his fellow sect members. From this we infer that Fellow Daoist Yunlong's combat strength is not weak at all, and is likely superior to Qingcong's."

"A bit troublesome—looks like I need to prepare something! Wei Yuning's only usable attack technique is the Innate Entanglement Technique, which has conditions for use, so material preparation is crucial."

"Besides preparing things, we also need people. Others have senior sect members; don't we have any? The proper master is in seclusion unseen, but there are still others."

"Hongzhi has just broken through to the Opening Light stage, barely counting as high-end combat power, but against body cultivators he might not secure a win; it seems we need to ask an elder from the Hall of Transmission to step in."

"Furthermore, there's Senior Brother Qingwu. Qingwu's strength isn't strong, but he had a prior promise to bring a few friends to help; whether they can help is another matter, but we shouldn't slight their goodwill, and besides, numbers are always an advantage—since it's our home ground, we should use the home-field advantage."

"Besides that, we should also notify Maniu, Qingfei, Qingye, Qingge, Qingfu and fellow senior brothers, as well as Hongle and Hongfeng, familiar elders; whether they come or not doesn't matter, but giving notice is basic courtesy."

"All preparations were complete, already late at night."

"Wei Yuning lay in his own 'cave abode,' staring at the rough stone ceiling, feeling a bit uneasy."

"Saying he isn't nervous would be false; since joining the sect, aside from sparring with fellow disciples, his real combat experience amounts to only two bouts: one against Qingwu, and one against a demonic cultivator Flying Fox. Strictly speaking, the Flying Fox encounter doesn't count, because the Flying Fox was subdued without even seeing him. Thus, his genuine combat experience is just once."

"Judging solely by combat experience, Yunlong could absolutely thrash Wei Yuning."

"After a long while in a daze, Wei Yuning finally fell asleep."

"At the moment he fell asleep, a strong wave of dizziness suddenly hit; when he recovered and opened his eyes, he found himself in a bright garden, before him floated a cold-eyed, pretty maiden in a gray dress, barefoot, hovering over the flowers, with two pairs of huge white wings on her back, gently flapping."

"Baoxiang? No, you're not!" The person before him resembled an Emperor Butterfly maiden, but her demeanor was even colder and her wing color was wrong. "Are you a Boundary Butterfly?" Wei Yuning suddenly realized.

"Not bad, it's me!" the maiden replied coldly.

"Where is this?" Wei Yuning asked.

"Naturally it's a dream! You restricted my freedom in the outside world, so I had to bring you into the mental realm." The maiden said displeasedly.

"You can't blame me either—I was about to self-destruct and had no choice but to do that!" Wei Yuning protested. He truly felt wronged; clearly his own conception should obey his command, yet the reality was the opposite.

"All right, I forgive you, but once you wake, you must rouse me in the real world, or I'll let you never wake from this dream." The maiden tilted her head, thought a moment, her tone softened a bit, yet she still threatened.

"I understand, I will certainly do it!" Wei Yuning promised eagerly.

"All right, to make you remember the lesson, stay here a while!" The maiden said and then vanished.

"Wei Yuning gazed at the endless garden before him, somewhat unable to tell whether this was truly a dream."

"Regarding Qingmo's request, Qingwu still took it seriously; it had been a long time since anything this fun happened. With no set time agreed upon, the idle Qingwu, after breakfast, brought two fellow sect friends to the Half-Mountain Villa on Guest Arrival Peak."

"On Guest Arrival Peak, above the clouds and mist the terrain is broad and suitable for dwelling, but below the clouds and mist the geography is rugged—ravines, deep valleys, cliffs, waterfalls, dense forests abound, all unsuitable for dense habitation. The place where the Half-Mountain Villa stands is a rare large gentle slope of about a thousand mu in area; fortunately there is also a not-small spiritual spring here, of decent quality, so the Cloud Hidden Sect built this as a residence."

The road from the villa to the mountain foot is not complicated either; even mortals can easily come up, so this place gradually became a gateway for the sect to the outside world, and indeed the only gateway, after all the earliest Yunyin Sect was a secluded cultivation school that did not intend to have contact with the mundane world.

Nowadays, anyone who wants to visit the Yunyin Sect, whether a mortal or an outside sect cultivator, the normal way up the mountain is to first come to the gate of the Half-Mountain Villa, state their purpose to the disciples guarding the sect, and only after a sect disciple notifies the corresponding visitor and obtains their consent can they enter the Mountain-Protecting Formation inside the Half-Mountain Villa. Meanwhile, the sect's own disciples or some friends of the sect possess tokens for entering and exiting the mountain gate, allowing them to pass directly through the Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation.

The two friends accompanying Qingwu are Qinghu from the Spirit Beast House and Qinghe from the Overlord Blade House; both are outstanding young experts within the sect.

Qinghu's battle companion is a Winged Tiger, a spirit beast with extremely high combat power among spirit beasts; as the saying goes, "adding wings to a tiger," a tiger's combat power already ranks top among wild beasts, and a tiger grown wings is astonishingly powerful, let alone that this is a spirit beast, not an ordinary tiger without awakened spiritual intelligence.

As for Qinghe, needless to say, he is a direct-line disciple of the sect, an unmatched war general of the Qing generation in the Overlord Blade House; at the age of thirty he barely managed to enter the Opening Light Stage, his talent is so high that people cannot help but feel envy, only despair.