70: Chapter 70 Arrival at the Jade Void Sect

After passing through a market, Chen Changqing casually found a Qi Refining Cultivator to ask for some directions.

That Qi Refining Cultivator initially thought he had somehow offended a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Trembling all over, he hurriedly apologized, babbling about how this lowly one was blind and failed to recognize Mount Tai, wondering where he had offended the Senior, and begging the Senior to spare him and raise his hand in mercy.

Chen Changqing ignored this and merely said, "Little friend, where is this place?"

Seeing that the other party wasn't here to cause trouble for him, the Qi Refining Cultivator let out a huge sigh of relief and replied tremblingly, "So Senior is asking for directions."

He cupped his hands in a salute and respectfully said, "Reporting to Senior, this is Jiuquan Market, which belongs to Jiuquan Commandery."

"Jiuquan Commandery? I actually ran all the way here. To go back, I would have to cross Youzhou and Qingzhou at the very least before returning to Cang Prefecture." Chen Changqing sighed inwardly.

"Yuqing, doesn't your Void Realm talisman have a fixed destination?"

"Not really. It all depends on luck and feeling, but at least we are still in Dayan," Bai Yuqing said indifferently.

...Chen Changqing was at a loss for words.

Seeing that Chen Changqing's expression looked a bit unsightly, the Qi Refining Cultivator thought he had messed up again and hurriedly began begging for mercy once more.

Chen Changqing waved his hand to dismiss him.

Feeling immensely relieved, the man immediately fled.

"Since that's the case, I have no choice but to buy a high-grade transmission talisman first to send word to the Family and Li Qingling," Chen Changqing muttered to himself as he walked into the market.

After a while, he bought two Tier 3 transmission talismans along with a map of Dayan. Having finished all this, he set off on his return journey.

With the cultivation of the Foundation Establishment Stage, it would take only half a month or so to return to Cang Prefecture City; if it were his previous cultivation of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, it would likely have taken close to two months.

A month later, Chen Changqing finally arrived at Cang Prefecture City. After entering Cang Prefecture, he suppressed his aura back to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining to prevent his rapid advancement from attracting unwanted attention. Precisely because of this, it took him a full month to reach Cang Prefecture City.

The mountain gate of the Yuxu Sect was to the north of Cang Prefecture City, about two thousand miles away.

Therefore, Chen Changqing still had to continue his journey, and he could reach this leg of the trip in just a few days.

Flying along the way, Chen Changqing noticed that Cang Prefecture seemed much more desolate. Originally, when he was in Qingzhou, he thought that was just a local characteristic of Qingzhou, but looking at it now, could something have truly happened?

Although along the way he had guessed whether many Cultivators had obtained an immense amount of resources in the Secret Realm and therefore found hidden places to Cultivate.

However, when he saw some Family Cultivators neatly heading toward the west of Cang Prefecture, looking as if they were dealing with some formidable enemy with solemn expressions on their faces—even quite a few Loose Cultivators were being conscripted—

suddenly, a thought welled up in his mind: Could an accident have occurred in the Wanshou Mountain Range? It was very possible. The Wanshou Mountain Range had been peaceful for twenty or thirty years, and another beast tide was about to break out.

Becoming increasingly convinced of this guess in his heart, he hurriedly sped up his pace to rush to the Yuxu Sect, and then return to Qinghe County. With his current combat strength, he could share quite a bit of danger for the Family.

...

Outside the Yuxu Sect, Chen Changqing quickly shuttled across. After stating his purpose, that group of mountain-guarding Disciples sent someone to the Baicao Peak to report.

Chen Changqing waited outside. The mountain-guarding Cultivators before him were almost all at the Perfection of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, and among them was even someone at the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment, roughly the first or second layer of Foundation Establishment.

Chen Changqing chatted with him for a long time before learning about the internal situation of the Yuxu Sect. The Yuxu Sect was similar to the Xuantian Sect, both having a division of inner and outer gates; however, the Yuxu Sect was far too powerful. The outer gate alone had several outer gate Elders holding down the fort, every single one of whom was at the Early Stage of Purple Mansion.

As for the inner gate, it was even more terrifyingly powerful. The Yuxu Sect externally claimed to have Twelve Peaks, with at least one Purple Palace Cultivator stationed on each peak. The top three ranked peaks even had a Golden Core Old Ancestor stationed there. These were merely common knowledge known to everyone in the Yuxu Sect; as for whether there were hidden high-level Cultivators, that was a matter known only to the upper echelons of the Yuxu Sect.

Anyway, counting them up, the Yuxu Sect had a total of three Golden Core Cultivators, while the number of Purple Palace Cultivators reached twenty-two.

With so many high-level Cultivators, no wonder the Yuxu Sect could firmly sit as one of the very top existences among Dayan's eleven Golden Core factions. Presumably, no more than three factions in Dayan could surpass the Yuxu Sect.

Because when he returned to Cang Prefecture, he had incidentally inquired about the Golden Core factions of Qingzhou and Youzhou. Among them, the Tianyan Sect of Qingzhou was slightly weaker than the Yuxu Sect, while Youzhou had two Golden Core Families, both of which combined might not even be as strong as the Yuxu Sect.

However, Sects were different from Families after all. Sects had more members, occupied larger territories, and naturally obtained more Cultivate resources, so it was completely normal for more high-level Cultivators to emerge.

After the time it takes to burn an incense stick, a familiar figure appeared before Chen Changqing.

Li Qingling, with a face full of happiness and surprise, cried out pleasantly, "Brother, you've already reached the Foundation Establishment Stage!"

Seeing that the Sect's renowned Fairy Qingling was actually so enthusiastic, and it seemed the young man in front of her was her brother, the mountain-guarding Disciples unconsciously widened their eyes. The leading Disciple was even carefully pondering whether there had been any poor hospitality on his part just now; fortunately, he realized he had only been a bit arrogant in tone, with no other offending behavior.

Chen Changqing nodded, and then followed Li Qingling into the reception room inside the Yuxu Sect.

"Brother, I didn't expect you to reach Foundation Establishment so quickly! You're only twenty years old now, right?" Li Qingling exclaimed in amazement.

"Don't you think your brother is amazing?" Chen Changqing wore a proud expression.

Li Qingling nodded, looking at Chen Changqing with an expression of adoration. Reaching Foundation Establishment at such an age—even in the Yuxu Sect there were only a few; no, even in the entire Dayan there were only a few. And those few almost all came from powerful factions. Someone of humble birth like Brother Changqing truly didn't exist among them.

"Let's not talk about me. How are you living here? Is anyone bullying you?" Chen Changqing turned serious.

"Not really. You forgot, I've already become a Disciple under Revered Master Baiye. Our Revered Master is notoriously protective of her own; no one dares to look for trouble with me, not even the Sect Master's biological son," Li Qingling hurriedly explained, genuinely worried that Chen Changqing would go find trouble with others on her account.

"It's good that you're fine. Right, take this Storage Pouch. Inside, besides the Cultivate resources given to you by the Family, there are also some resources of my own." Chen Changqing untied a Storage Pouch from his waist and handed it to Li Qingling.

"No need, Brother. This time in the Secret Realm at the border of Qing and Cang, I obtained a lot of resources. You and the Family should keep yours to Cultivate, don't worry about me," Li Qingling immediately waved her hand in refusal.

"Hehe! When you were in the Secret Realm, your brother was also there, and I even obtained a considerable amount of resources." Chen Changqing used sound transmission to explain his experiences in the Secret Realm. He couldn't speak aloud about his experiences over these past few days here; otherwise, if someone overheard, they might harbor malicious intentions.

Hearing this, Li Qingling was even more astonished in her heart.

Ultimately, unable to win the argument, she accepted Chen Changqing's gesture; after all, this was also a token of the Family's affection.