Chapter 288: then title translation, then ===GLOSSARY=== with list of named entities appearing in these lines

On the ship, the three followed the Primordial Empress cultivator into the storage room; the cultivator pointed and let Jiang Yu go rest first, leaving Lu and Jiang Bai to be questioned.

「Quick quick quick, call Senior Brother to set up the formation, your medicinal bath. 」Jiang Tu urged via voice transmission.

Jiang Yu naturally needed to ask the Primordial Empress cultivator for instructions; fortunately, the other also supported her in quickly restoring her body.

Lu Zhou set up the formation in the room, "Junior Sister, from today you focus on resting, I and Jiang Bai will guard outside."

"Senior Brother need not be so tense; the True Monarch personally showed the Taiyi order token and wore sect robes, so he surely wouldn't fake it."

"If it were fake, they'd still have to admit it and then find a way to escape."

But the Yuanhou cultivator really is a steward of the Taiyi Sect; he also doesn't want to travel so far to fetch people, but who let the newly recruited disciples on the pleasure boat be more numerous, needing a quicker return to the sect, so why not go to this small market town?

So Lu Zhou's worries didn't come to pass; three or four days later, the Breaking Cloud boat even caught up with the pleasure boat, and the three were transferred aboard.

On the boat were everyone from mortals to cultivators; Jiang Yu counted a few hundred people, among them about one or two dozen Golden Core cultivators, and the cultivation level she reported also earned her a private room.

After daily medicinal baths and body tempering, Jiang Yu, aside from occasionally looking at the scenery outside the boat, spent her time in meditation, never communicating with other cultivators besides her senior brothers.

But every two or three days, the senior brother would inform her of the spiritual realm news he had gathered: after driving back large numbers of the Demon Race, various sides' mopping-up operations were minor; the key was still contending for territory.

During this period, some sects would disappear in the struggles, while those with deep foundations only grew stronger.

Time flew, the pleasure boat sped along, and after nearly a month's journey, they finally arrived at the Taiyi Sect.

Misty spirits swirled, spiritual birds accompanied with song; Jiang Yu followed the crowd down, standing in the square beneath the lofty mountain gate.

Jiang Tu sensed the increasing pressure atop the steps, "Jiang Yu, could it be a Mahayana cultivator?"

"The Taiyi Sect currently has five Mahayana cultivators; heard they mostly stay in seclusion after the war and won't come out to take disciples; what's before us might be a Body Integration cultivator." Jiang Yu learned from the spiritual realm jade slips that after advancing from Nascent Soul to Void Refinement, due to some reasons, one must seclude for hundreds of years, progressing from Void Refinement to early Body Integration before emerging.

If one cannot reach Body Integration, then death and disappearance of the Dao, all is over.

After Jiang Yu and her senior brothers exchanged glances, they saw that as the immortal mist dissipated on the steps, one hundred eighty sword-wielding Foundation Establishment cultivators stood in rows on both sides; upon careful observation, one would find they clearly formed a sword formation.

Looking further at the several Void Refinement cultivators descending the steps and a group of Nascent Soul cultivators, they actually stood respectfully behind an old man whose cultivation level was indiscernible.

The old man merely glanced at the crowd in the square; whether they had cultivation or not, everyone felt as if their thoughts had been seen through, and involuntarily they lowered their eyes and bowed their heads.

At that moment, as the old man raised his hand, a copper mirror of his height, engraved with complex symbols, fell to the ground; raising his hand again, a flame archway of his height appeared.

Only then did he say, "Line up, first pass the Calming Mirror, then walk through the Refining Fire Gate, only then can you ascend the Taiyi Sword Cloud Ladder."

Jiang Yu, Jiang Bai, and Lu Zhou stood at the end of the line, watching as those with spiritual roots among the mortals passed before the copper mirror, which showed no reaction.

But when it came to cultivators, after a while someone's figure appeared on the mirror's surface, flickering with a black shadow.

And when that cultivator tried to flee, the old man merely dropped a speck of spiritual light, whereupon a demon soul sprang out of the person's body, instantly being caught by a Void Refinement cultivator's net, and after a couple of moves their soul was bound.

"Hmph, those of the Demon Race who still harbor treacherous hearts, come forth to die." The old man's voice struck everyone's hearts; some even collapsed on the spot and were taken away by the steward's Golden Core cultivators.

Jiang Yu let out a light sigh; the Calming Mirror was actually a Demon-Seeing Mirror.

Afterwards, everyone passed the copper mirror without issue, but then someone screamed as they were dragged away beneath the Refining Fire Gate.

The old man declared that those whose bodies were scorched by karmic fire due to evil deeds would be punished; only then did everyone continue through with trepidation.

"In this test, cultivators are actually at a disadvantage compared to mortals.

You see mortals charging up the steps, while cultivators must bear the weight of sword intent." Jiang Tu's heart raced as he watched this in the dragon pearl.

Fortunately, the final stage of ascending the Sword Cloud Ladder was passed smoothly by all, but also as Jiang Tu guessed, those with cultivation were disturbed by the sword formation, entering the mountain gate with wounds all over.

Jiang Yu, like the mortals, ascended easily; as a result, the old man gave her two extra glances.

She didn't know that the old man was a Body Integration elder of the sect; before leaving, he asked the Void Refinement cultivator beside him, "She and the two Golden Core cultivators beside her are the investigators from the Divine Sword Sect, right?"

The Void Refinement cultivator bowed: "Yes, as soon as I got the news, I immediately dispatched people to search, and also learned that after her two senior brothers appeared from the Monster Mountains, they collected many jade slips."

Later, in the mortal world, they even pleaded with the City God to send that cultivator and that dragon clan into reincarnation.

Currently, the origins of the three are unknown; Master, should we place them in the Absolute Spirit Ground to temper their dispositions?

The old man didn't mind: "No need; all three practice the Daoist sect's cultivation methods, those two sword cultivators can be sent to Sword Peak to train and temper.

As long as we rule out the Demon Race or hidden agents of others, they can be treated as ordinary disciples; send that female disciple to the Pill Peak for recuperation, and if she too is a sword cultivator, she counts as sect combat strength.

The Void Refinement cultivator received the order and left, but of course could not truly treat them as ordinary disciples; instead, he had people secretly watch the three.

Thus Jiang Yu received special treatment; just after her lodging was arranged and she received the sect's rules and curriculum, she was sent to the Pill Peak.

Unexpectedly, the pill master of Pill Peak had received her adjusted medicinal bath formula suited to her, and exclaimed, "Marvelous, marvelous, marvelous!" After taking her pulse, he said, "Your meridians have fully recovered; this medicinal bath need not be changed, at most another day or two and you can resume cultivation."

After a pause, he added that he wanted to take her Nascent Soul fruit in exchange for a portion.

Jiang Yu had no objection; the giver was the old shopkeeper, "Different users require different adjustments."

"Naturally, naturally." After the exchange, the pill master also had someone pick her the best cave dwelling for recuperation.

Roughly having secured a place to stay, after this medicinal bath Jiang Yu's spiritual energy was obediently absorbed by her.

As soon as she began cultivating, she entered deep meditation, remaining in seclusion without emerging; her senior brothers' messages were all relayed by Jiang Tu.

After several months, Jiang Yu ended her cultivation and inward inspection; her cultivation returned to mid Golden Core, "It feels wonderful to have spiritual power in my dantian!"

Jiang Tu eagerly sent word to the two senior brothers, informing Jiang Yu of the joyous news of her emergence from seclusion.

Unfortunately, the two were currently training on the Sword Peak arena and could not meet immediately.

Jiang Yu embraced Jiang Tu, who had manifested the true form of the dragon tortoise, "Let's go, we'll head to the Internal Affairs Hall to get your token, then go up to Sword Peak to watch the match."

As she flew Jiang Tu out of Pill Peak, the news was also immediately transmitted to the Body Integration elders.

"A dragon tortoise? This little cultivator does have some fortune."

"After the great war, the Dragon Race lost many dragon offspring; having heard the news, will they come knocking?"

"Heh, then we'll see their sincerity."

"Shall we send word?"

"What are you thinking? Just wait for them to come looking themselves."

All the elders discussed and decided to use this as a pretext to find two Mahayana-stage elders not in seclusion and ask them for some immortal tea to drink.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yu, of course, did not know that her act of clearing Jiang Tu's name would also attract the dragon clan; she easily secured Jiang Tu's token, and upon arriving at Sword Peak she drew many looks.