The boundless spiritual energy filled the entire space, as powerful as a condensed sea, oppressing every disciple present to the point where they couldn’t lift their heads. Only Luo Jianqing, standing in the center of the high platform, slightly raised his head as if he was already accustomed to such a terrible pressure, his eyes narrowed, gazing into the distance.

His voice arrived before he did.

After a vast and magnificent golden sword light, a white figure finally appeared.

Black long hair was simply tied up with a white jade crown, and the white silk robe was sewn with intricate and dense patterns. The wide sleeves of the robe reflected against the blue sky, dazzling and making people look up in admiration. He stood at the pinnacle of all living beings, calmly and indifferently gazing at the group of people beneath him, his gaze finally resting on the high platform.

Luo Jianqing raised his head and, separated by hundreds of meters, the two of them, one in the sky and one on the ground, gazed at each other.

As if missing each other for thousands of years, Luo Jianqing silently stared, and the other person also looked at him indifferently. After a moment, the blood imprint pinched in the palm of his hand became so hot it was almost burning, and Luo Jianqing raised his hand to make a bow, solemnly saying, “Master.”

Xuan Lingzi stood in the clouds and lightly responded, “Hmm.”

Xuan Lingzi, the peak master of Yu Xiao Peak of Taihua Mountain, is currently the number one cultivator in the cultivation world. He built his foundation at the age of fifteen, formed his core at the age of twenty-eight, and achieved the Nascent Soul stage at the age of fifty-six. Although he had only cultivated for three hundred years, he had already become the only cultivator in the world to enter the Deity Transformation stage. Looking back over the past five thousand years, he is also the only cultivator with the hope of ascending to immortality.

Countless disciples, upon seeing Xuan Lingzi, widened their eyes in surprise, even the newly entered disciples couldn’t believe they were looking at that person. But they only dared to look for a moment before timidly shifting their gaze away.

That was the pressure of a Deity Transformation stage cultivator, just looking for a moment made them frightened.

Among the group of disciples, the most excited one was Li Xiuchen. He looked at the noble master in white silk robes with wild joy, although he couldn’t look for too long, his heart was excited beyond control: Xuan Lingzi is here! Xuan Lingzi is going to accept him as his disciple!

Xuan Lingzi’s cool and handsome face showed no signs of emotion, as if he completely ignored the disciples around him. His gaze was firmly fixed on his own disciple, the golden sword pattern on his forehead emitting a faint golden light under the sunlight. His narrow eyes, long eyebrows, sharp nose, and pale lips made him seem like a truly elegant and ethereal immortal, inspiring awe.

Xuan Lingzi carefully looked at his disciple on the high platform, Luo Jianqing had been keeping his head down and silent.

A moment later, Xuan Lingzi’s eyes narrowed and he suddenly appeared on the high platform.

His sudden appearance startled Xie Zizhuo, who was standing beside Luo Jianqing. Xie Zizhuo quickly called out “Master Xuan Lingzi,” and Xuan Lingzi nodded at him before Xie Zizhuo hurriedly left the high platform, not daring to stand next to his genius master.

“Why don’t you look up?” Xuan Lingzi asked in a flat voice, as Luo Jianqing continued to bow without responding.

Xuan Lingzi’s handsome eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at his stubborn disciple. He lowered his voice and asked, “I heard that you were preparing for this year’s competition for new disciples as soon as I left seclusion. Your flying sword has taken shape, don’t you want to take a look?”

Luo Jianqing still didn’t respond, keeping his head down.

This situation made Xuan Lingzi frown, as he didn’t understand what was wrong with his usually considerate disciple. He was about to ask again when a surprised cry came from below the platform: “Elder! I am Li Xiuchen, I have admired you for many years and hope to become your disciple.”

Xuan Lingzi seemed not to hear, with one hand behind his back, still looking down at his disciple.

After a moment, the powerful and intense pressure dissipated like the sea, and all the disciples near the high platform turned pale with fright, including Li Xiuchen who had been shouting, drenched in sweat. The white-robed senior brother who was at the center of the pressure couldn’t stand straight, but he bit his teeth and made no sound.

Xuan Lingzi let out a heavy sigh and withdrew the pressure, saying, “Go back to Yuxiao Peak.”

Luo Jianqing suddenly looked up in surprise and asked, “Master?”

It was only then that Xuan Lingzi noticed that his usually respectful disciple’s eyes were red. His elegant and beautiful face was covered in tiny beads of sweat, with strands of hair dampened by sweat and sticking to his face, giving him a hauntingly beautiful appearance.

Xuan Lingzi showed no reaction and nodded indifferently, “Go back, I’ll show you your new flying sword.”

Lu Jianqing was ecstatic and immediately responded, “Yes!” He then entrusted the follow-up matters of the peak competition to the disciples beside him and prepared to leave with his master. Unexpectedly, at this moment, Li Xiuchen ran to the edge of the platform, looked up, and loudly declared, “Respected Master Xuan Lingzi, I want to join Yuxiao Peak and become your disciple!”

As soon as these words were spoken, there was a strange silence throughout the audience.

The smile on Lu Jianqing’s face instantly disappeared, and he clenched his fingers, the nails once again digging into the bloodstains from earlier. The bloodstains had already scabbed over, but piercing them again caused the blood to seep out, and the pain of the wound caused Lu Jianqing to squint his eyes as he looked at Li Xiuchen below.

Li Xiuchen looked sincere and serious on the surface, but his heart was already overjoyed.

By joining Xuan Lingzi’s sect and entering Yuxiao Peak, he would receive the careful guidance of the number one cultivator in the world. He might not be as talented as Xuan Lingzi, but he had a golden finger, and he could make up for his lack of innate talent. The first step was to find a good master, and then he could go further and further!

This was great news. Although Lu Jianqing was acting strangely, Xuan Lingzi had still come, and he could still join Yuxiao Peak.

Overjoyed, Li Xiuchen didn’t notice what was happening on the platform.

Xuan Lingzi was dressed in a cold white robe, and the golden sword pattern on his forehead shone brightly. He looked down at Li Xiuchen for a moment, then turned his head to look at his disciple with a cold expression and calmly asked, “Jianqing, is Yuxiao Peak accepting disciples now?”

Suddenly hearing this question, Lu Jianqing felt a weight lifted from his shoulders, and the overwhelming hatred in his heart disappeared in an instant. He looked at Xuan Lingzi in surprise, and all his reason vanished in this moment.

In the radiant sunlight, Xuan Lingzi looked at him with his usual indifferent gaze and spoke a sentence that eased some of the bitter and sour emotions buried in his heart for two lifetimes.

Lu Jianqing spoke softly, only realizing that his voice had already become hoarse, “Master, no.”

“Then let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Everything happened too fast, and Li Xiuchen looked at the two of them in astonishment, not recovering for a long time. By the time he came to his senses, the two had already disappeared with a golden light, leaving Li Xiuchen and many of his senior brothers and sisters looking at him with anticipation.

“YuXiao Peak hasn’t taken in disciples for so many years. How could this new junior brother be so delusional?”

“I heard that Senior Uncle Xuan Lingzi was the only disciple of YuXiao Peak. Now that YuXiao Peak has a big senior brother, does he think he can still get in?”

“The standard for YuXiao Peak to accept disciples is so high. This person is completely unqualified. Senior Uncle Xuan Lingzi had an exceptional physique, and so does Senior Brother Luo. This person seems to have no physique at all. How could Senior Uncle Xuan Lingzi notice him?”

Li Xiuchen widened his eyes and looked at the direction where the two had disappeared, looking confused. When he was brought to Haoming Peak, he whispered like he had lost his soul in the room assigned to him, “Impossible, impossible, impossible… What went wrong? Where… Huh? Luo Jianqing?!”

Thinking of this, Li Xiuchen was struck by lightning. It took him a moment before he cursed loudly, “Yes! That little girl should have been struck by lightning and died. Why did Luo Jianqing suddenly appear? And why didn’t Luo Jianqing hurt me today? Luo Jianqing, who the hell are you?!”

Luo Jianqing didn’t hear Li Xiuchen’s curse. He followed Xuan Lingzi back to YuXiao Peak and saw two simple bamboo houses not long after. The bamboo forest surrounding the bamboo houses swayed gently in the wind, making rustling sounds.

After returning to the bamboo house, Xua Llingzi took out the long sword from his storage ring. “This sword is three feet and seven inches long, weighing three hundred and twelve kilograms. It was forged using the ten thousand-year-old Xuan iron, thousand-year-old thunder crystal, and low-grade fourth-rank Thunderbolt Dan that you brought back earlier. This sword is fast in speed and can summon ten thousand zhang of thunder to fight alongside you, making it a ground-level magic weapon.” Xuan Lingzi said, handing the sword to his disciple with one hand. “Jianqing, from now on, it will be your life magic weapon. Name it.”

The blue sword light flickered slightly, and the sharp blade seemed capable of piercing through the air but was temporarily sealed by Xuan Lingzi’s spiritual power. The sword trembled slightly, as if unwilling to yield to this small bamboo house. Xuan Lingzi held onto the sword hilt, waiting for his disciple to take it.

However, Luo Jianqing had been staring at the sword, and he didn’t respond for a long time.

In his previous life, he called this sword Zuiyin (Chasing Sound).

His master asked him why he chose such a name, and he said, “This sword is fast, as fast as chasing sound, so I called it Zuiyin.”

At that time, his master nodded lightly and didn’t ask any more questions, but only he knew the meaning behind this name.

The peak master of YuXiao Peak in Mount Taihua, also known as Xuan Lingzi, who’s original name was Wu Yin.

“Chasing the sound, chasing the sound, are you chasing after the speed of sound or the absence of sound?”

As he gazed at the sword, Luo Jianqing’s heart gradually began to ache. After a moment, he took the sword. The long sword, which had been shouting before, suddenly became docile in Luo Jianqing’s hand. A blue light flowed over the sword’s body, and it emitted a low hum.

Xuan Lingzi looked on with satisfaction at this scene, knowing that the sword had found its new master. But before he could think too much about it, he heard his disciple whisper, “Master, it’s called Shuang Fu.”

Xuan Lingzi trembled all over and looked up at Luo Jianqing. After a long while, he asked, “Why?”

Luo Jianqing chuckled lightly and said, “Thunder shocks and electricity scatters, snow splatters and frost floats. Since this sword can summon lightning from ten thousand feet away, let’s call it Shuang Fu.” As soon as Luo Jianqing finished speaking, the long sword trembled slightly, as if responding to his words.

Luo Jianqing smiled at the sword and then turned to leave, intending to try it out in the bamboo forest. However, just as he was about to turn around, he heard Xuan Lingzi’s elegant and indifferent voice behind him say, “Jianqing, your… huh, what happened to your hand?”

The next moment, a cold hand suddenly grabbed Luo Jianqing’s wrist and pulled him back.