Chapter 216: The Upper Sect's Assessment!

"Strengthen our Profound Heaven Sect!!!"

Hearing this earth-shaking shout, the inner sect disciples behind Jiang Ye and Liu Qingyu felt their hearts surge, their blood boiling, unable to suppress the excitement in their hearts, and they joined in the shouting.

Young people are always the most easily infected by such scenes of unity.

There was a power in that shout that made one's eyes heat up, more capable of stimulating the fighting spirit in the depths of one's heart than any pre-battle mobilization.

Wen Yunyao's beautiful oval face was full of excited rosiness, and she shouted louder than anyone else.

This little girl was naturally bursting with sect pride, and at this moment, she wished she could shout until she lost her voice.

Even the usually steady Zheng Feng flushed red and kept shouting.

This caused Zheng Hui to jump and shout behind him, her small hands cupped around her mouth, her thin, sharp voice not at all inferior when mixed into the torrent of thousands of people.

Jiang Ye looked back and saw that Chen Lili and the others were no less enthusiastic.

Lü Ming was so excited that his voice cracked, while Chen Lili and Xu Qinghuan were screaming without any regard for their image.

Hmm...

Among the crowd, only Liu Yiyi was as pure as a snow lotus.

Jiang Ye turned his head to look; although Liu Qingyu did not join in the shouting, her full chest was heaving like waves.

Clearly, the mood of this Xuan Shui Peak Master was far from as calm as she appeared on the surface.

Seeming to sense Jiang Ye's gaze, Liu Qingyu turned her head.

The two met eyes.

A rare, soaring fighting spirit appeared in her star-like eyes, and she lowered her voice: "Elder Jiang, if we cannot gain a foothold in the Upper Sect and return in disgrace, that would be too embarrassing..."

Jiang Ye smiled faintly, his tone unhurried: "We will gain a foothold."

Lu Guizhou, walking at the front, listened to the shouts of these young people behind him, stroked his silver beard, and shook his head with emotion:

"Tsk tsk, it is good to be young; so full of drive."

When the group walked to the foot of the mountain, the cheering not only did not weaken but grew even louder, wave after wave.

It made it seem as if Jiang Ye and the others were an army setting out on an expedition.

Pei Yunchuan walked slowly out of the crowd; his face, having just recovered from severe injuries, still retained a lingering pallor, but his gaze was more serious than ever before.

He came before Jiang Ye and Liu Qingyu and took two jade boxes from his sleeves, handing them over with both hands:

"Elder Jiang, Qingyu, I leave everything to you from here on."

"These two boxes of Profound Heaven Spirit Marrow are all that the sect has left."

"Last time, to deal with that monster from the Seven Kill Sect, I used up quite a lot of stock. I hope these two boxes of spirit marrow can give you some help at critical moments."

Jiang Ye and Liu Qingyu took the jade boxes with both hands.

Even through the jade walls, they could feel the spiritual energy fluctuations that were pure to the point of being almost viscous.

Liu Qingyu said solemnly, "Sect Master, rest assured, we will definitely do our best and will not let down your expectations!"

Jiang Ye also thanked him in a deep voice.

This Profound Heaven Spirit Marrow was good stuff; he hadn't even finished the box Pei Yunchuan gave him last time.

Now that he had obtained another box, his "True Fire Refining Eye Technique" would have a significant improvement.

Pei Yunchuan gave a few more earnest instructions in a low voice, then stopped delaying and watched the two lead the team slowly away from the mountain gate.

When the group arrived at the foot of the mountain gate, they found that many people had come to see them off—all of them people from the various major families in the prefecture city.

They had long received the news and had been waiting here for a long time, just to show their faces and curry favor with this team about to head to the Upper Sect.

Jiang Ye and Liu Qingyu had long anticipated this situation and just nodded casually to acknowledge them.

However, when Jiang Ye's gaze swept across the crowd, he suddenly paused slightly.

"Hmm?! Why did she come too..."

A woman wearing a purple dress, with a graceful figure and a veil covering her face, was standing at the edge of the crowd.

Even though the other party had covered her face, Jiang Ye recognized at a glance that this woman was undoubtedly Yang Han.

The moment his gaze fell upon her, the purple-dressed woman's brows curved, and she bowed to him from afar, her posture gentle and appropriate, as if it were just an ordinary farewell.

But Jiang Ye had always been on guard against this woman.

He did not know what kind of scheme she was harboring by showing up this time.

He withdrew his gaze, ignored her, and continued walking forward without stopping.

As the figures of the group drifted further and further away.

A crisp sound of teeth grinding suddenly came from under the purple-dressed woman's veil:

"This damned old thing... actually ignored me again..."

"Just you wait..."

"Linzhou, we will meet again!"

Seven days later.

Wuchuan Prefecture territory.

As night fell, the team set up camp on a flat piece of land near the mountains and water.

Campfires were lit one after another. Disciples sat in twos and threes around the fires; some whispered about their longing for the Linzhou Upper Sect, some flipped through the martial arts classics they carried with them by the firelight, and others had already fallen into a deep sleep leaning against their packs.

The fatigue of days of travel was written on every young face, but the light in their eyes had not dimmed in the slightest.

Beside a flat mountain rock at the edge of the camp, Jiang Ye and Liu Qingyu were boiling tea with Lu Guizhou.

The mountain spring water gurgled in the copper pot. The bag of new tea from Green Wood Peak that Sun Die had stuffed into Jiang Ye's hand before they left was taken out. The moment the boiling water was poured into the coarse pottery tea bowls, a clear, sweet tea fragrance permeated the mountain rocks.

"This tea is not bad; it has a unique flavor when paired with the clear spring water from this mountain."

Lu Guizhou picked up a tea bowl, took a sip, and praised it with a smile.

After days of travel, this Primordial Realm elder of the Upper Sect had always maintained a calm and composed demeanor.

He neither urged the team to speed up nor complained about the disciples' slow pace, and occasionally, when the mood struck him, he would even offer a few pointers on cultivation to some disciples.

Jiang Ye smiled faintly and lifted the copper pot to refill the tea: "This is a tender bud freshly picked from the top of our Green Wood Peak, roasted with Wood-Element True Qi. If True Person Lu likes it, I will get you some later."

After these seven days of getting along, he and this True Person Lu could be considered familiar.

This person had an easygoing temper, spoke humorously, and did not have a shred of the high-and-mighty airs of a Primordial Realm martial artist.

He was more like an ordinary old man who loved tea and loved to chatter.

Liu Qingyu sat beside Jiang Ye, holding the tea bowl with both hands. Amidst the curling tea fragrance, her star-like eyes always carried a thoughtful look.

Taking advantage of Lu Guizhou's good mood, she seized the opportunity to ask: "True Person Lu, there is one thing this junior has always wanted to ask. The assessment the Upper Sect will have for us in half a year—is it difficult?"

This was the question she had been most concerned about along the way.

It was just that she had been too embarrassed to ask rashly before, but now the atmosphere was just right, and the timing was perfect.

The hand Lu Guizhou used to hold the tea bowl paused slightly, and a complex look flashed in his old eyes, which had seen all the vicissitudes of life.

He was silent for a moment, placed the tea bowl on the mountain rock before his knees, and spoke slowly. His tone was still peaceful, but it lacked the ease of his previous joking:

"For you all..."

"It is extremely difficult." ===== CHAPTER 217 =====