Holding the storage bag in his hand, Su Shi'er injected a trace of True Essence into it and immediately sensed a square space about ten feet in size.
The feeling was indescribable, like having an extra room in his mind. He could place any item he touched into this space at will.
Inside the storage bag was a large book about a foot thick. Next to it lay a talisman about the length of a finger, a teleportation talisman.
The talisman paper was covered with intricate, densely packed patterns. Some of the patterns glowed faintly, clearly in the process of charging.
Curious, Su Shi'er glanced at it but quickly gave up. The patterns were too profound for him to understand.
He hung the storage bag at his waist and discreetly placed all his small belongings into it.
Only the White Mist Sword remained strapped to his back.
After some thought, he took out a few talismans from the bag and carefully hid them in his sleeve.
Having done all this, he continued to wait.
This time, the wait wasn't long.
As the sun rose, a melodious bell rang from the center of the sect.
"Let's go!"
Lu Mingshi shouted from the front of the plaza.
With a wave of his hand, he tossed a miniature flying boat from his arms.
The flying boat expanded with the wind, quickly growing to five or six zhang in length.
It hovered less than a meter above the plaza, its hull carved with dragons and phoenixes, grand and exquisite, looking quite impressive.
As the flying boat appeared, the entire plaza fell silent.
All eyes were fixed on the flying boat, filled with awe.
Su Shi'er was no exception. It wasn't his first time seeing this flying boat. When he first joined, the Peak Lord of Heavenly Splendor Peak had used it to bring new disciples back.
But only after becoming a Qi Refining cultivator did he realize how precious it was.
Crafting a flying boat was more complex than making offensive or defensive ritual artifacts. Only the sect could afford to make such large flying boats.
"One day, I'll have a flying boat of my own!" Su Shi'er thought, his emotions stirring.
As the flying boat descended, Lu Mingshi, along with Han Yu and Xiao Yue, rose with the wind and landed at the bow of the boat.
"Everyone, come aboard. There's still some distance to the teleportation array for the trial. My flying boat will save us a lot of time," Lu Mingshi called to the crowd in the plaza.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
With his words, everyone began to use Wind Summoning to leap onto the flying boat.
Then, Lu Mingshi gathered his True Essence and activated the flying boat.
The boat trembled slightly before soaring into the sky, carrying nearly a hundred people westward.
As this flying boat took off, enormous flying artifacts from the other six main peaks also rose into the sky.
Their speed was much faster than the flying boat Su Shi'er was on.
The flying boat flew for half a day before descending into a valley.
The valley was surrounded by mountains, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, extremely secluded. Before landing, Su Shi'er noticed many servant disciples standing in the clearing in the middle of the valley.
At first glance, it was a bustling sea of heads.
These disciples, led by the Peak Lords of each peak, were divided into five groups of varying sizes.
The largest group belonged to Heavenly Splendor Peak, with over a thousand people, making it particularly noticeable.
The other peaks each had about five hundred people.
The most eye-catching was Heavenly Melody Peak, the only peak in the sect that accepted only female disciples.
The area where Heavenly Melody Peak's disciples stood was filled with thousands of beautiful women, all fair-skinned and attractive.
Gathered together, these beauties were like a garden in full bloom, drawing everyone's attention.
Among them, one woman was particularly stunning.
She appeared to be in her thirties, with icy skin and jade bones, her complexion as white as snow. Her eyes were like clear pools, exuding a refined and aloof aura.
She wore an ice-blue disciple's robe with a tasseled shawl, her long black hair styled in a celestial bun, enhancing her ethereal presence, like a fairy maiden from legend.
Even Su Shi'er, usually indifferent, couldn't help but glance at her a few more times. Upon closer inspection, he noticed something was amiss.
The woman seemed like an ordinary disciple at first glance, but the other female disciples around her kept a deliberate distance, their expressions and actions showing restraint and respect.
"There's something off about her!"
Instinctively, Su Shi'er used Heavenly Eye to observe the woman. He saw that the entire area was filled with spiritual energy, with varying amounts of spiritual power in everyone.
However, the servant disciples' spiritual energy was mostly scattered and sparse due to their low cultivation.
But the exceptional woman's spiritual power was concentrated and restrained, clearly extraordinary. Almost as soon as Su Shi'er noticed, her spiritual power suddenly dispersed, appearing no different from the others.
Hmm?
Su Shi'er was slightly startled, and the next second, the woman turned her head to look at him.
Their eyes met in the air, her gaze cold and indifferent, filled with a warning.
Su Shi'er's heart trembled, and he quickly looked away.
Moments later, he turned his gaze to the Heavenly Splendor Peak disciples.
Half a year ago, he had killed Meng Tianyi, a disciple of Heavenly Splendor Peak.
In the beginning, he was anxious every day, fearing discovery by the Heavenly Splendor Peak members.
But as time passed, he realized no one cared.
Seeing so many servant disciples here, he understood that to the sect, servant disciples were plentiful and insignificant.
"It's true what they say about the path being heartless. People don't care about the lives of ants. Perhaps, in the eyes of those powerful cultivators, we're just ants too."
Su Shi'er felt a sense of understanding and sighed inwardly.
At this moment, before the flying boat landed, a voice came from the direction of Heavenly Splendor Peak.
"Senior Brother, what's going on with your Luofu Peak? You have so few people, yet you always arrive so late." From the crowd, Heavenly Splendor Peak Lord Fu Boren grinned and shouted at Lu Mingshi.
"Hmph! You old fool, what do you know? Important figures always make their entrance last. Haven't you noticed that the Sect Master of Heavenly Unique Peak hasn't arrived yet?" Lu Mingshi retorted, his eyes wide and beard bristling.
"The Sect Master hasn't come because Heavenly Unique Peak is truly strong. But what does your Luofu Peak have? No people, no strength. Senior Brother, we should have some dignity!" Fu Boren teased with a smile.
"Dignity? Old fool, if I remember correctly, you still owe me that piece of Purple Thunder Stone from the bet you lost three years ago, don't you? I'm puzzled how someone as untrustworthy as you can talk about dignity?" Lu Mingshi snorted, continuing his retort.
Fu Boren coughed twice and quickly said, "Ahem, I had other uses for that Purple Thunder Stone. I'll find another piece for you later."
"Pah! Other uses, my foot. Don't think I don't know you used that Purple Thunder Stone to craft a low-grade spiritual artifact." Lu Mingshi rolled his eyes, controlling the flying boat's slow descent as he spoke discontentedly.
Fu Boren's face flushed slightly, clearly embarrassed.
This was his dark history!
Fortunately, his skin was naturally reddish, so it wasn't noticeable.
His eyes darted around, and he glanced at the flying boat behind Lu Mingshi, then said with a smile, "Indeed, I crafted a Purple Thunder Sword with that Purple Thunder Stone."
As he spoke, Fu Boren raised his hand and pulled out a purple-blue long sword. The sword was surrounded by spiritual energy, with faint flashes of thunderlight, exuding an astonishing pressure as soon as it appeared.
A low-grade spiritual artifact?
For a moment, almost everyone in the valley couldn't help but look over.
Even the other Peak Lords, who usually didn't pay much attention, cast surprised glances.
Spiritual artifacts were treasures far more powerful than ritual artifacts, containing a trace of spirituality that only Foundation Establishment cultivators and above could wield.
Even among Foundation Establishment cultivators, most used ritual artifacts. Those who possessed spiritual artifacts were not many.
Hi everyone, if you like this novel and want to read more in advance, please support me on PawRead.
Discord:https://discord.com/invite/ua2A852bws