After seeing off Wen Shuxian, Xue Mingzhao could not wait to slip into her own small courtyard.
The courtyard walls were built from green bamboo and bluestone, simple and elegant, without any gaudy or redundant decorations.
Inside the courtyard, bluestone slabs paved the path, and the house was spacious, airy, clean, and comfortable to live in.
Leaning against the railing and looking out into the distance, the five peaks clustered together, offering a panoramic view of the entire sect.
Xue Mingzhao walked around the small courtyard once, incredibly satisfied.
The layout of the courtyard opposite was exactly the same as hers.
Su Ye did some simple cleaning and tidying up, then lay down directly to rest.
Night fell.
After confirming there was no one outside the courtyard, Xue Mingzhao closed the door and sat cross-legged on the bed.
The near-death sensation of being bitten by the Blood-Withering Snake in Sunset Valley during the day was far too real. She already had a hypothesis, but she still needed to test it.
To fully verify it, she found a dagger in the room and cleanly sliced a small cut on her fingertip.
The moment the blade sliced through her skin, a sharp sting shot through her, causing her to frown slightly.
Blood welled up from the wound; the pain was as real as it could get.
But a bizarre sight unfolded in the next instant.
The sliced skin closed and smoothed over at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, her fingertip was restored to how it was before—smooth and flat, without even a red mark left behind.
Xue Mingzhao stared at her hand for a long while.
Immunity to all poisons, rapid self-healing.
It was truly heaven-defying, but it was also a massive trap—the pain she was supposed to feel wasn't reduced in the slightest.
She put away the dagger, her expression turning serious.
If word of this constitution got out, she would become a walking, breathing medicine furnace.
Drawing her blood to refine pills, dissecting her body to forge artifacts... plenty of people would gladly keep her in captivity to drain her dry for eternity.
Xue Mingzhao took a deep breath and established a strict rule for herself.
Lay low.
She had to keep a low profile.
Quietly growing stronger and hiding her talents was the ultimate way to survive. She must never let anyone discover her trump card.
...
The next day, Su Ye steered the spirit boat and brought Xue Mingzhao to the front hall fifteen minutes early.
Wen Shuxian was already standing quietly in front of the hall, waiting.
Seeing the two arrive on time, a flicker of satisfaction passed through Wen Shuxian's eyes.
He raised his hand and summoned the Shattered Shadow Blade. “Come up. I'll show you around the sect and help you get familiar with the grounds.”
The three of them stood on the blade as it slowly rose into the air.
“These five peaks, from north to south, are Guanlan Peak, Yaoguang Peak, Cloud Listening Peak, Yunqi Peak, and Zhenlang Peak. They are the main areas where our sect disciples carry out their daily activities.”
He pointed toward the boundless sea in the distance. “Our Grand Primordium Sect is located at the easternmost edge of the Tianyan Continent. Though it looks remote, our territory is immense. Not only these five main peaks, but the entire sea out there, along with all the islands, big and small, are within our sect's domain.”
Xue Mingzhao's eyes widened in surprise. “Martial Uncle, our sect is this big? Then we must have a lot of disciples, right?”
Wen Shuxian coughed lightly. “Including those on guard duty and the odd-job workers, there are just over fifty people in total.”
Su Ye looked down with a bewildered expression.
These days, even any random, third-rate sect could easily gather two to three hundred people.
The Grand Primordium Sect held such a vast territory, yet they only had a mere fifty-odd disciples?
How ridiculous.
Wen Shuxian saw right through his doubts and explained slowly:
“The borderlands of the Eastern Territory are barren of spiritual energy, and opportunities for cultivation are scarce. Few cultivators are willing to stay and put down roots here.”
Su Ye immediately focused his senses and instantly realized where the problem lay.
The scenery here was indeed beautiful, with picturesque mountains and rivers, but the density of spiritual energy was less than half of what was found in the central part of the continent.
No wonder it had been ridiculously quiet all the way here; there were barely any people cultivating.
Cultivating in a place like this yielded half the result for twice the effort. No one would want to stay.
Xue Mingzhao was also puzzled. She hadn't even drawn Qi into her body yet and had no formal contact with cultivation, but everywhere she looked was lush greenery and exquisite scenery.
She had originally thought this was a hidden paradise for cultivation, never expecting the spiritual energy to be so thin.
Su Ye couldn't help but ask, “Martial Uncle, since the spiritual energy here is so sparse and cultivating is much harder than elsewhere, why does our sect insist on staying here instead of moving away?”
Wen Shuxian sighed. “Seventeen years ago, this place was teeming with spiritual energy, a genuine blessed land. Back then, our Grand Primordium Sect only occupied one of the five peaks. Numerous sects, large and small, stood all around us. It was incredibly lively.”
“No one knows what went wrong, but overnight, the spiritual energy across the entire region suddenly dried up and dissipated. At first, everyone held onto hope, waiting for the spiritual energy to recover. But year after year passed, and the spiritual veins showed absolutely no activity.”
“The surrounding sects and rogue cultivators couldn't hold out and moved away one after another. In the end, in this vast borderland of the Eastern Territory, only our Grand Primordium Sect remained. Since everyone else had left, Senior Brother Sect Master simply reported to the Spiritual Registry Office and incorporated all the surrounding peaks, seas, and islands into our sect's territory. The Dongcang Heavenly Capital had already deemed the spiritual veins here ruined, so since leaving it would be a waste anyway, they went with the flow and approved it.”
Xue Mingzhao was secretly tongue-tied. This isn't a cultivation sect at all; they are clearly the ultimate holdouts of the cultivation world.
“I've advised Senior Brother Sect Master to move more than once.” Wen Shuxian looked utterly helpless. “At our peak, we had over ten thousand disciples. But as the spiritual energy dwindled and cultivation became hopeless, the disciples left one after another to seek other paths. We've dragged on until now, and only these fifty-odd people are left.”
Xue Mingzhao's heart suddenly stirred.
The spiritual energy dried up seventeen years ago.
The original novel's female lead, Shen Chaoyue, happened to be exactly seventeen years old.
Could the strange anomaly back then have been related to the female lead's birth?
But she quickly shook her head. What kind of ability could a newborn baby have to shake the spiritual veins of an entire region?
That was too absurd.
“The previous Sect Master—who was the master of both myself and your master—dedicated his entire life to cultivation. In the end, he failed to ascend, and his lifespan ran out, leading to his passing here.”
Wen Shuxian's tone turned solemn. “Before he passed, he divined the heavenly secrets and said that a dawn would surely break for our sect within a hundred years. He repeatedly urged us that no matter what, we must not abandon the sect and relocate.”
“Now, the hundred-year limit is drawing near...”
He didn't continue.
But his meaning was clear.
Forget about waiting for a peerless genius to shoulder the responsibility; being able to retain the fifty-odd veterans they had now was already a miracle.
Looking at the two newly joined disciples beside him,
a faint glimmer of hope quietly ignited in Wen Shuxian's heart, which had been dormant for many years.
Could the variable of the sect predicted by his master be these two children?
He first looked at Xue Mingzhao. The young girl was looking around like she had never seen the world, and the hope that had just surfaced was instantly doused by half.
He then turned to size up Su Ye. The boy's cultivation was solid enough, but calling him a peerless genius was a bit of a stretch.
Wen Shuxian silently withdrew his gaze.
Master, where on earth is the dawn of the sect that you predicted?
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