Chapter 350

Qingchi Sect, Qingsui Peak.

The small pavilion on the mountain peak had changed owners several times, yet it still stood quietly in the snow. As the golden sun rose and rainbows scattered, the young man in green robes in the small building sat cross-legged, quietly breathing in and out.

Time passed quickly. It had been over a year since Li Xizhi followed Yuan Tuan to cultivate on the peak. The spiritual energy on Qingsui Peak was dense. He had only broken through to the third level of Taixi before coming to Qingsui, and now he was preparing to break through to the fourth round of Taixi.

"Creak."

Yuan Tuan looked like she had just returned to the mountain, her clothes neat and her cuffs tightly bound. Looking into the pavilion, Li Xizhi was silently cultivating as usual, and she couldn't help but nod:

"Xizhi is still the most sensible."

Yuan Tuan had taken in another disciple this year, one stuffed in by the Yuan family. Although Yuan Tuan had some grudges against the Yuan family in her heart, she still accepted the child, but the child was unruly and likely wouldn't achieve anything great.

The green blade on the wall hung quietly; it was the one Li Chijing had used back then. Yuan Tuan's gaze lingered on it for a while. Li Xizhi finally woke up from his meditation, hurriedly stood up, and said respectfully:

"Master! You have returned."

Yuan Tuan nodded and asked:

"How is your sword cultivation?"

"The sword radiance has been formed, but there is still some distance to go before sword Qi."

Li Xizhi responded with some distress. He seemed to be under great pressure and replied:

"People in the sect are always coming by name to spar with me. If it weren't for Master being away and locking the mountain gate, I reckon I would have suffered."

Yuan Tuan smiled slightly:

Yuan Tuan had been able to maintain herself alone on Qingsui Peak back then, carve out a path to survival, and break through to Foundation Establishment. Her sense of smell and observation of the situation were naturally extremely keen, so she had hurried back.

"How is the Xiao family?"

After all, his mother, Xiao Guiluan, was a member of the Xiao family, and the Xiao family could be considered his maternal clan. Li Xizhi was naturally very concerned and hurriedly asked.

"Nothing."

Yuan Tuan responded, took the sword off the wall to play with it. The sword was cold and gleaming, yet it swam obediently in her hands. She continued:

"True Person Chuting underestimated the killing intent of the Three Sects and Seven Gates toward the Chen clan and was designed and trapped in the East Sea by the Jin Yu Sect's Tianyuan. Thus, he could not return to reinforce them, and the Xiao family suffered a not-so-small, not-so-large loss."

"The Xiao family is the barrier of my Qingchi. True Person Chuting's 'Old Man on the Creek' is very critical. They dare not act rashly. Going to such great lengths was just to kill Chen Taojing."

Yuan Tuan's words were shocking. Li Xizhi just silently recorded them in his heart. Just as he wanted to interject, Yuan Tuan changed the subject and smiled:

"Your Li family should be fine. I was beside Guanyun Peak at the time and used 'Qingxuanyue' to pray for that Li family member—it should be your uncle—three times. At the very least, it can preserve his life."

Li Xizhi was overjoyed and said repeatedly:

"Many thanks, Master!"

"There's no need for that."

Yuan Tuan raised the corner of her mouth and smiled:

"This is my Dao foundation, not a divine ability. At most, it's a little help; it doesn't count as any great assistance."

Li Xizhi said some sensible, nice things. Yuan Tuan seemed to be in a very good mood and listened quite contentedly, suddenly asking:

"Li Tongya should be gone, right!"

Li Xizhi still had joy in his heart, but caught off guard by this question, his hair stood on end. He answered almost immediately:

"Xizhi has not heard..."

Li Xizhi's reaction could not be called slow, but his body's reaction couldn't be faked. How could Yuan Tuan not know? She stared straight at him and sighed:

"A pity."

Li Xizhi silently lowered his head, suppressing the unease in his heart. He was only a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy; how could he deceive Yuan Tuan? Realizing this now, Yuan Tuan had already mourned for two breaths and said:

"If Li Tongya hadn't died and had joined forces with Chen Taojing, they might not have been unable to hold Guanyun Peak... From now on, there will be more and more flaws. I hope your father can cover them up for a few more years."

Looking at Li Xizhi's somewhat downcast appearance, Yuan Tuan comforted him:

"No need to worry. I heard that your granduncle Li Xuanfeng has already requested leave at Yishan City and is in seclusion to break through to Foundation Establishment. When he comes out of seclusion and succeeds, he will also be a good hand."

When Yuan Tuan mentioned this, Li Xizhi had some questions that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time. He hurriedly grasped the opportunity and said urgently:

"Master! Is there any precedent for recalling foreign-surname cultivators from Yishan City? If there is, how can they be recalled?"

Yuan Tuan paused slightly, a look of contemplation appearing on her face. She said in a low voice:

"The sect has also summoned cultivators in previous years. If sect disciples go for ten or twenty years, they come back. Conscripted clan cultivators generally can't last a few years... There is a precedent for releasing them, mostly in fifty to sixty years. If someone in the sect helps to plead for them, perhaps they can be released."

Li Xizhi nodded thoughtfully. Yuan Tuan pondered for a few breaths, swallowed some words that shouldn't be said, changed the subject, calculated the time, and said softly:

"Have you thought about what Qi to harvest to achieve Qi Refining?"

Li Xizhi was silent for a long time. One thought after another flashed through his heart, his heart pounding. Finally, he smiled calmly:

"Whichever technique in the sect has the most people cultivating it, the disciple will cultivate that one."

"Oh? Why is that?"

Yuan Tuan looked at him deeply. Li Xizhi replied:

"If more people cultivate it, perhaps the path will be smoother."

"Creak—"

Before Yuan Tuan could answer, she heard a creak—the sound of the courtyard gate outside slowly opening. The expressions of both people in the pavilion changed. Li Xizhi frowned, while Yuan Tuan was already full of horror.

Li Xizhi hadn't yet developed spiritual sense and thought it was the Yuan family junior brother coming upstairs to visit, but Yuan Tuan's Foundation Establishment-level spiritual sense swept over, only to find white snow drifting in the courtyard, and clearly, there was no one there!

"How is this possible!"

Yuan Tuan's heart was shaken. There was only one type of person who could make her completely unable to detect their presence and enter and exit Qingsui Peak as easily as if they were strolling in their own courtyard:

"Purple Mansion True Person?!"

Yuan Tuan's expression changed, the horror in her heart like a surging tide. In an instant, all the magic power in her body stagnated, and only a few thoughts flashed through...

The two had different expressions. Outside, that person's footsteps were like the wind. In two steps, they reached the front of the pavilion, took off their shoes with a rustle, and strode in carelessly.

"Clatter..."

The bamboo curtain of the pavilion was lifted at once, and a handsome cultivator in green robes walked in, wearing jade at his waist. He was clearly full of smiles, but his eyes were cold and icy, stabbing straight at Li Xizhi.

Peak Master Yuan Tuan had locked the peak, and the great formation isolated the inside from the outside, yet a green-robed Daoist had walked in without a sound. Li Xizhi was terrified in his heart and was just about to question him, only to find his whole body stiff, unable to move at all.

The scenery before his eyes turned gray at once. Li Xizhi's gaze was stiff, looking at Master's horrified expression. Alarm bells rang in his heart. His remaining consciousness watched Yuan Tuan's red lips open and close, forming a shape:

"Buzi."

"Buzi?"

The alliance leader's extra chapter has been completed~()

(End of chapter)