Chapter 40: The Return Journey

Ye Qingxuan passed through one teleportation array after another, traveling dust-covered and weary, before finally reaching the borders of Qingzhou.

Along the way, Ye Qingxuan also discovered an invisible benefit of being a disciple of the Xuantian Sect.

That was, within the teleportation arrays inside Xuantian Sect territory, disciples did not need to pay spirit stones themselves, provided they were not teleporting alone and the array was activated only after enough people had gathered normally.

There was no other reason; the teleportation arrays in major prefecture cities, commandery cities, and provincial cities within Xuantian Sect territory were all built by the Xuantian Sect.

This, in turn, saved him quite a few spirit stones.

However, as he traveled, the Xuantian Sect disciple robes he wore attracted many envious glances, making Ye Qingxuan feel quite uncomfortable.

Fortunately, he did not stay long at any stop along the way, so no unnecessary trouble was caused.

After arriving in Qingzhou, Ye Qingxuan passed through a commandery-level teleportation array and then a provincial-level teleportation array before reaching Qingmu Prefecture, where the Ye family resided.

One could only say that the Earthly Mystic Realm was truly vast; even with the assistance of countless teleportation arrays, Ye Qingxuan still spent considerable time transferring.

After leaving the provincial city of Qingmu Prefecture, without lingering, Ye Qingxuan eagerly mounted his sword and flew toward the direction of the Ye family.

Seven days later!

On a hill within Qingmu Prefecture.

Ye Qingxuan sat cross-legged on the hill, meditating and regulating his breath. After a long while, Ye Qingxuan slowly opened his eyes and said with a bitter smile:

"I was careless. In my haste to return home, I failed to consider the distance from Qingmu Prefecture to the Ye family!"

When the family head, Ye Yuhong, had taken him to the Xuantian Sect, the journey from the Ye family to Qingmu Prefecture had taken only half a day.

But the family head, Ye Yuhong, possessed Nascent Soul cultivation and used a fourth-grade flying boat to travel, so naturally, the time taken to reach Qingmu Prefecture was short.

Ye Qingxuan currently possessed only Qi Refining cultivation. Flying on his sword for seven days, he had covered only the majority of the journey; he estimated it would still take several more days to reach the Ye Immortal City.

Fortunately, the Xuantian Sect did not lack topographical maps; otherwise, on his first return home, he might not have been able to find the Ye family's location himself.

"If I had known, I should have asked the family head to leave behind a sound-transmission talisman back then; now I wouldn't be foolishly traveling on my own."

After his spiritual power recovered, Ye Qingxuan stood up and shook his head with some vexation.

At that time, he had not yet entered the cultivation realm and had not thought things through thoroughly; he would take this as a lesson for the future!

After silently reminding himself, Ye Qingxuan summoned his flying sword again, transformed into a streak of rosy light, and flew toward the direction of the Ye Immortal City.

"Roar!"

Not long after taking flight, Ye Qingxuan was startled by a massive roar from below.

Looking down from above, Ye Qingxuan focused his gaze on the source of the roar and discovered a first-grade late-stage tiger-like demonic beast attacking a village.

Seeing this, Ye Qingxuan said with a mix of helplessness and amusement:

"A wild demonic beast? Is my luck good or bad?"

Demonic beasts? Within the five inner regions of the Earthly Mystic Realm, under the strong suppression of the major hegemonic powers.

Demonic beasts nowadays did not amount to much; they were basically controlled and bred by the major hegemonic powers in various mountain ranges, becoming a sustainable resource.

As for scattered demonic beasts that arose, the major powers basically all had the responsibility to purge these scattered beasts.

As far as Ye Qingxuan knew, the Mission Hall of the Xuantian Sect often had patrol missions specifically to purge demonic beasts born outside the controlled areas within their territory.

Various measures ensured that even across such vast territories within the major hegemonic powers, peace and stable development could be maintained.

Therefore, encountering a demonic beast outside the mountain ranges was quite difficult.

Demonic beasts encountered outside the mountain ranges were basically those that had just been born, possessing low strength.

In the Earthly Mystic Realm, the path of immortality flourished, and spiritual energy was dense; even most areas without spiritual veins possessed the density of first-grade spiritual vein spiritual energy.

In such an excellent cultivation environment, wild beasts would occasionally transform into demonic beasts and scatter across the Earthly Mystic Realm; cases of demonic beasts attacking villages occurred only occasionally.

Furthermore, almost every village had cultivators at the Qi Refining realm, or even the Foundation Establishment realm, stationed to guard them.

It could be said that in the Earthly Mystic Realm, villages composed solely of mortals were extremely rare; basically, every village had cultivators stationed to guard it.

After all, even without spiritual veins, the cultivation environment of the Earthly Mystic Realm was sufficient for wandering cultivators at the Qi Refining realm to cultivate.

At this moment, below Ye Qingxuan.

Outside the village, two cultivators at the mid-stage of Qi Refining were struggling to resist that first-grade late-stage demonic beast.

Inside the village, hundreds of young and strong men anxiously drew their bows and loosed arrows, continuously shooting sharp arrows at the demonic beast. Although they caused no damage to the beast's skin, they did not give up and continued to draw their bows and shoot.

Behind this group of people were thousands of the elderly, weak, women, and children, looking out toward the village in terror.

As Ye Qingxuan looked down, one of the two cultivators fighting the demonic beast below happened to see him and urgently cried out for help with delight:

"Fellow Daoist, please lend us your aid; afterward, our Liu Village will surely offer a heavy reward!"

Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan flew his sword slightly closer before stopping.

He did not act immediately but began to carefully observe the environment below and that demonic beast.

"So this is a demonic beast? Indeed, its skin is thick and its flesh tough, but the meat must be very chewy!"

Looking at the demonic beast, a trace of reminiscence flashed in Ye Qingxuan's eyes; it seemed he still owed Ye Qingxiao a meal.

While Ye Qingxuan was observing, the battle below had intensified; the demonic beast fought with increasing ferocity, roaring continuously.

The two mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators from Liu Village were being driven back step by step, blood oozing from their mouths, and the light of the low-grade magic swords in their hands began to gradually dim.

When they first saw Ye Qingxuan arrive, they were full of joy; later, realizing Ye Qingxuan showed no sign of acting, they fell back into despair.

"Pfft!"

"Pfft!"

Finally, under another attack from the demonic beast, both of them spat blood and collapsed.

After the two fell, the demonic beast did not stop its advance; with a fierce pounce, its body lunged toward the two.

"It's over!"

"We are dead; what will become of Liu Village? Cough, cough, cough!"

Just as the two were in despair, a sword light suddenly pierced the throat of the demonic beast as it leaped into the air.

At the moment the demonic beast died, the sword light swept up the beast's corpse and flew upward.

That sword light was precisely the Sword Escape technique Ye Qingxuan wielded with his flying sword.

Previously, he had been seeking an opportunity to strike. Since this was his first battle, for safety's sake, Ye Qingxuan himself had not approached the battlefield, only manipulating his flying sword to attack from a distance; fortunately, it proved effective.

After storing the corpse of the demonic beast, Ye Qingxuan resumed flying toward the direction of the Ye Immortal City.

The two below finally reacted. Overjoyed, they hurriedly asked:

"We thank you, Daoist friend, for saving our lives. May we ask your honorable name?"

"Ye Qingxuan, from the Xuantian Sect!"

After this, he would basically never leave the Xuantian Sect again, so there was no need to hide his name.

As his words fell, Ye Qingxuan's figure vanished into the distance.

In Liucun, a young child watched Ye Qingxuan's departing figure, his eyes revealing an unprecedented look of longing.

Three more days passed!

The outline of a massive city began to appear in Ye Qingxuan's sight. Ye Qingxuan paused in mid-air for a moment, gazing at that distant city. His excited heart instead calmed down, and he murmured:

"I have arrived!"

"Father, Mother, I am back!"