Chapter 428: Return-to-Void Is the Road to Ascending Heaven

Li Xuanqing's expression suggested he wasn't too optimistic about the matter, but he still offered Shen Yi a word or two of advice:

"The Seven Sons of Nanhong share life and death, but they won't mind invoking some grand righteousness, some rule, to take your General Nanyang treasure land from you."

"The Qingyue Sect was once the closest to the General Nanyang Sect, like the sun and moon taking turns. If there's any problem, go find them."

"……"

Shen Yi looked at the Dao tablet in his hand and slowly let out a breath: "Phew."

He certainly knew this was no easy matter, but at least there was now a chance to hold his own life in his own hands.

That alone was something others dreamed of.

"Can we go back now?" Li Xuanqing looked toward the formation.

"Wait a little longer."

Shen Yi calmly stared at the horizon as he stored the Dao tablet into his thumb ring.

"Wait for what?" Before Li Xuanqing finished speaking, he suddenly sensed a change in the young man's aura.

The body beneath the white robe seemed to gradually merge as one with heaven and earth.

Soul Transformation, Perfected.

Unlike other cultivators, Shen Yi had actually been cultivating for a very short time, and there was no real obsession to speak of.

If pressed to name one, it would simply be living without pressure.

And now, he had finally seen the road ahead clearly, and without the slightest hesitation chose the direction that suited him best.

This was probably Shen Yi's most effortless breakthrough, and it let him taste what cultivators like Jiang Nie experienced in their practice.

"Alright, let's go."

Shen Yi turned and walked toward the others.

No more hesitation.

To be honest, unless he planned to stubbornly linger here and never return, the moment the formation was opened, there was nothing to stop the others from going in.

As for stubbornly lingering—who could outlast this wooden man? The fellow had been waiting outside all this time.

The only thing Shen Yi could do was judge Li Xuanqing's identity through his words. After this exchange, the man seemed more like a disciple of the General Nanyang Sect than they did.

As he raised his palm, the General Nanyang relief was instantly enveloped in golden light.

Fortunately, there was the aura Nie Jun had infused earlier… otherwise he, as sect master, couldn't even open his own front door.

When the curtain of light faded, everyone on the relief vanished from the spot.

……

Inside the dim great hall.

Li Xuanqing stared blankly at the familiar yet deathly still furnishings around him, under the gaze of everyone.

He withdrew his gaze and slowly walked before the ancestor's statue.

He broke off three twigs from his body, waved his hand to set them alight, then respectfully inserted them into the incense burner.

After doing all this, he actually walked straight over and knelt on that meditation mat, then closed his eyes, as if turning back into a piece of wood.

"Hm?"

Nie Jun silently looked toward Shen Yi.

He had originally thought this would be a great asset to the General Nanyang Sect—why was it that once he knelt down, there was no movement at all?

He didn't seem to regard Shen Zongzhu as worth noticing.

"……"

Shen Yi turned and walked out of the hall. At least this wooden man wasn't causing trouble, which was decent enough; parked here he could barely pass for a door god.

"Sect Master, what should we do now?"

Li Qingfeng walked up to his side in small steps, switching his address remarkably quickly.

They had seen with their own eyes and taken to heart both their master's earlier actions and Li Xuanqing's words.

But even Yu Chaoan, who was the most distant from Shen Yi, had raised no objection to the matter.

They were all born in General Nanyang—how could they bear to leave it lightly?

As for entrusting their lives to Shen Yi—even setting aside that Shen Zongzhu was still at Soul Transformation, a world away from the so-called Bai Yujing—even if he truly merged with the Dao here.

After witnessing that bloody scene on the horizon earlier, there should be no one in this world more worthy of trust than Shen Yi.

After all, in such a perilous situation, the man had not abandoned any of them.

"First clear out all the cave dwellings, and bring anything usable from the treasure lands to the great hall."

Although compared to other sects it was certainly barren beyond compare, for the native cultivators of General Nanyang, these treasures could greatly aid their cultivation.

Shen Yi took out the Dao tablet, rubbed it a few times, and clear light rose one after another throughout the entire Thousand Demon Den.

Those tightly sealed cultivator cave dwellings finally saw the light of day once more.

Seeing this, Li Qingfeng grew somewhat excited: "Can we pick any disciple's cave dwelling to move into?"

He hadn't counted the elders' cave dwellings, or the Ten Great Treasure Lands.

Precisely because they were rebuilding the General Nanyang Sect, they had to value these rules all the more—otherwise, when other sects' elders were all Return-to-Void grand cultivators, or even some Bai Yujing, and their side had a bunch of Soul Transformation cultivators living here, what would that look like?

"Go ahead."

Shen Yi felt a slight headache coming on; he truly wasn't much good at these matters.

Compared to himself, whether it was the disciples of Mount Wutong from an immortal sect, or the people of the Martial Temple who had governed the Great Qian, even the Xu family could almost certainly handle things better than he could.

Watching the others disperse, Shen Yi finally looked at the things he had stored in his thumb ring earlier.

If he remembered correctly, the old dog should have collected all the sect-protecting treasures.

He walked back into the main hall and patted Li Xuanqing's shoulder: "Wake up."

Since he was a direct disciple of the General Nanyang Sect, it was perfectly reasonable for him to offer the sect master some ideas.

He placed all ten-plus treasures before the other party.

"I wish to break through to Void Return; which one is better to use?"

"..."

Li Xuanqing opened his eyes and, without a moment's hesitation, pointed to the most inconspicuous whisk among them: "Only this one is the palace's sacred treasure; it was what Xuanqing originally sought for the disciples."

As he spoke, he grasped the wooden handle of the whisk; above it, several faint, almost imperceptible claw marks were visible, as if someone had tried to destroy it but failed.

With Li Xuanqing raising his hand, the whisk instantly returned to its original state; he handed the item back.

Shen Yi was about to reach out and take the whisk.

But then the Dao token suddenly trembled.

After the sect-protecting formation restarted, it could actually receive news from outside through the General Nanyang Sect.

"General Nanyang has suffered a great upheaval; its lineage is severed. If Shen Zongzhu does not mind, you may bring your disciples to Qingyue Sect for observation. I have already arranged all matters and await your arrival."

Shen Yi took the whisk and looked at the wooden man.

Clearly, it was again the elder from Qingyue Sect just now.

"If Shen Zongzhu intends to rebuild General Nanyang, you may go and take a look. Xuanqing was once a direct disciple; from the moment he entered Ru Sect, he devoted himself solely to cultivation, rarely attended to trivial matters, and never personally taught any disciples. Now he must sincerely confess his crimes and cannot help you much."

"However, if Shen Zongzhu has not yet entered Void Return, you may need to rely on some external force to reach Qingyue Sect."

Having said this, Li Xuanqing closed his eyes again.

"..."

Shen Yi's deepest understanding of the sects outside came from the Soul Transformation pill formula.

According to what was recorded there, true heavenly geniuses among the disciples all achieved Soul Transformation within a hundred years, and moreover, they formed their own spiritual roots.

For the cultivators within General Nanyang Sect, this was simply an unimaginable matter.

Even for himself, who possessed a panel.

If he could personally witness how cultivators outside cultivated, it would certainly yield twice the result with half the effort.

(End of this chapter)