After Huo Furong vanished, the Grand Elder looked toward the area where Diao San and the others were training and spoke softly.
“The cultivation speed of these people is still too slow!”
“We can’t have them dragging us down when the time comes!”
Hanyan nodded flatly. “Right!”
“Notify them for a meeting!”
Hanyan frowned. Was he supposed to call that many people himself? How many words would he have to say?
With a flick of his hand, a sword light swept across the entire Qingshan Sect.
The roofs of every single disciple’s seclusion chamber were sliced clean off!
The Grand Elder looked at Hanyan with a face full of speechlessness.
“Couldn’t you have just used a collective sound transmission?”
Hanyan paused. He had been so focused on not speaking that he had completely forgotten he had that skill.
Meanwhile, Diao San and the others, who were in the middle of cultivating, were nearly scared to death. Some of them almost suffered qi deviation!
The Grand Elder quickly stepped in to stabilize them.
Diao San and the rest rushed out in a rage, clutching their Thunderclap Bricks.
Was someone actually attacking the sect this time?
They didn’t know why they immediately jumped to that conclusion, but the commotion was certainly loud enough!
However, once they charged out, they found the entire Qingshan Sect in total silence, with only the Grand Elder and the Third Elder standing on the square.
Seeing this, everyone was left in a daze.
They didn't understand what had happened.
Finally, Diao San stepped forward and asked, “Grand Elder, where are our roofs?”
The Grand Elder’s lip twitched. “Ahem... I called you out because we need to have a meeting!”
As he said this, the Grand Elder kept his eyes fixed on Hanyan.
Instantly, everyone understood that it was the Third Elder who had called them!
It was just that his method of calling was a bit... well... unique!
The kind where you rip the roof off to get someone's attention!
At that moment, the Grand Elder looked at the group and continued with a look of disdain.
“How is your cultivation speed so slow?”
Hearing the Grand Elder’s words, Diao San and the others looked embarrassed.
They really couldn't be as fast as Lu Ming and the others!
The three Sect Masters were simply not human; they ran around all day and yet their cultivation speed was still so terrifyingly fast.
However, although they couldn't compare to Lu Ming's group, their cultivation speed was definitely among the best on the entire Xuantian Continent.
After Lu Ming and the others left, the Grand Elder and the Second Elder had first given them a boost in talent.
They had forcibly upgraded their ordinary spiritual roots into top-grade spiritual roots.
Then, they were provided with a massive amount of natural treasures.
The top-tier kind, at that.
At the time, when they saw the top-tier treasures the Grand Elder produced, Diao San and the others felt a complex mix of emotions.
The three Sect Masters had always believed the sect was dirt poor—the kind of poor where they couldn't even keep the stove lit.
Because of that, they were always taught to be frugal and pick up anything they found.
Over the years, they had followed the three Sect Masters everywhere.
Wherever they went, they picked things up. They scraped topsoil off mountains and pried up bricks in cities.
They would even crouch down and swipe a couple of handfuls of mud when passing by someone's vegetable garden.
Now they suddenly discovered that the sect was actually wealthy! Super wealthy, in fact.
So, what were their actions over the past few years? Performance art?
To this day, their storage bags still contained soil scraped from three feet underground and floor tiles from other people's sects...
Sigh! Those poor three Sect Masters. If they ever found out about this in the future, would their Dao hearts collapse?
...
The Grand Elder waved his hand through the air, and a circular portal shimmering with flowing light appeared on the Qingshan Sect square.
The portal was filled with swirling spiritual light and misty, ethereal energy.
Diao San and his group looked at each other in confusion, not understanding what it was.
“This is the Time-Space Secret Realm. One day in the outside world is one year inside the realm. All of you, get in there and focus on your cultivation!”
As soon as the Grand Elder finished speaking, Diao San, Niu Lan, and the others stared with wide eyes, filled with shock.
Diao San and the others trembled with excitement.
Their hearts were screaming wildly:
What kind of divine sect is this?! This is too ridiculous, too over-the-top!
To be able to join the Qingshan Sect, their ancestors must have burned incense for eight lifetimes!
The group felt even more immense gratitude toward Lu Ming, Big Yellow, and the others.
While they were still caught up in their excitement and joy, the Grand Elder swept his sleeve.
He tossed Diao San and the entire group into the Time-Space Secret Realm in one go.
With their upgraded talent, the addition of the Time-Space Secret Realm, and various resources, Diao San and the others' cultivation levels soared.
As soon as they made a breakthrough, they were tossed into the large array by the Grand Elder to find sparring partners for combat.
When they ran out of sparring partners, they went to pick fights with the Haoran Sect and the other nearby sects.
This was a disaster for the Haoran Sect, Dingyuan Sect, and Zixuan Sect. They were so miserable they felt they couldn't go on.
Every few days, a group of guys wearing bandit hoods would come to attack their sects.
If they found they couldn't win, they would turn tail and run. Their main strategy was to flee if they couldn't win and never linger in battle.
The major powers were itching with rage and wanted to gather their forces to find them and wipe them out in one fell swoop.
But the moment they remembered the warning from that mysterious expert, they immediately lost their nerve.
In the end, they were forced to issue announcements telling the world's cultivators that they were closing their sects.
They would not accept any challenges or battles!
But those guys ignored it completely and continued to come and cause trouble!
...
Inside a secret chamber, the Haoran Sect Ancestor, the Dingyuan Sect Ancestor, and the Zixuan Sect Ancestor were all present.
Even the Blood River Ancestor was there. Every one of them had a face full of woe, sighing and groaning.
The Haoran Sect Ancestor was the first to sigh, saying helplessly:
“How about... we all run away together?”
On the Zixuan Sect Ancestor’s beautiful face, her brows were tightly furrowed, and she looked full of trepidation.
“What if the expert notices? Wouldn't we be seeking our own deaths?”
The Blood River Ancestor slapped his thigh and roared in anger:
“If we don’t run, we’ll die even faster! We are clearly nothing more than exclusive sparring partners for those people!
If this continues, sooner or later, we’ll be beaten to death...”
The Dingyuan Sect Ancestor nodded with a grim expression.
“I’ve noticed that their cultivation is progressing at a lightning-fast speed!”
As soon as he spoke, the other three looked at him as if he were an idiot.
Did he even need to say that? Everyone already knew!
If it weren't for their rapid progress, these few wouldn't have such a strong sense of crisis.
“We can’t stay in the Eastern Province anymore! I’m running away. What about you?” the Haoran Sect Ancestor said solemnly.
The other three looked at each other and nodded vigorously.
Perhaps running away was their only way to survive.
On a night with a dark moon and high winds—the perfect time for a stealthy getaway!
The Haoran Sect Ancestor and the others quietly left their respective sects.
As for the disciples within their sects, they could only wish them the best of luck!
When the Haoran Sect Ancestor carefully approached the vicinity of the Wuwang Sea, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
No one had stopped them. Did that mean the expert wasn't preventing them from leaving?
A moment later, the other three ancestors arrived as well.
They smiled at each other without saying a word.
They immediately brought out a spirit boat and boarded it...
Looking at the receding Eastern Province, they let out long sighs of relief.
“We’ve finally left!” the Zixuan Sect Ancestor murmured to herself.
But just then, the Blood River Ancestor suddenly cried out in terror.
The others looked up and saw that the coastline was already right in front of them.
How was this possible?
The distance from here to the Central Province should take at least several months of travel.
Suddenly, their pupils shrank, and their faces changed drastically.
Because this coastline was the coastline of the Eastern Province.
They were all too familiar with it!
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