The boat docked.
Sun Jiang led a few people and walked forward for about two miles before arriving at the foot of Lingxiao Peak.
At the entrance to the mountain trail, deacons and disciples from Ling Xiao Sect were already there to register and greet us.
Many warriors heard the news and wanted to come and see the excitement, but if they did not have an invitation and were not a disciple of Lingxiao Sect, they were generally not allowed to go up the mountain.
Of course, exceptions can be made for famous warriors.
Sun Jiang, along with Luo Qingzhou and a few others, walked towards the old man who was welcoming guests.
The old man was tall and thin, wearing a green robe and a long beard. He looked energetic and had an sage-like demeanor, making him quite suitable to be the face of the reception.
When he saw Sun Jiang, he immediately walked over to him with a smile on his face, "Senior Brother Sun, you are finally here. Just now Elder Zhong came down the mountain to ask why Senior Brother Sun hasn't arrived yet. The brothers from other places are almost here."
Sun Jiang smiled and said, "I live nearby, so I was lazy and came a little late. I just hope I can catch up to worship the ancestors."
Then he turned around and said to the person behind him: "This is your Uncle Shang, why don't you come over and greet him."
Luo Qingzhou and the others hurried forward and bowed, "Disciple greets Uncle Master Shang."
The old man laughed, glanced at a few people, and said, "Okay, okay, everyone hurry up, it's getting late, when you are all here, we will start worshiping the ancestors."
Sun Jiang didn't dare to delay any longer and bowed to say goodbye.
As they walked up the steps, the old man suddenly said, "Oh, Senior Brother Sun, people from Qingyun Temple and Jinchan Temple are here too. They were all the people who went to southern Xinjiang with Senior Brother Sun to kill the monsters. Elder Zhong just told you that if Senior Brother Sun comes, you can help entertain them. After all, Senior Brother Sun is familiar with them."
Sun Jiang was slightly startled when he heard this, nodded, and quickly walked up the stairs.
The Lingxiao Sect's main gate was located on top of the mountain. Even though they did not stop on the way, it still took them nearly half an hour to reach the top.
At this time, the sun was about to rise to the zenith.
The peak is covered with jagged rocks and shrouded in mist.
Sun Jiang led a few people through the gate and, led by servants, came to a small square.
Because the new disciples had to pay homage to their ancestors first, the square was filled with disciples from all over Dayan.
Everyone was silently looking at everyone else.
Of course, there were also disciples who looked excited and spoke in low voices.
After Sun Jiang asked a few people to find an empty place to stand, he went to greet other fellow disciples and helped a few people register their information.
Every new disciple's name, age, cultivation level, branch office and master must be registered in the sect.
After they have paid homage to their ancestors, the sect will immediately make waist badges for them, and they will be considered true disciples of the Lingxiao Sect from then on.
After Sun Jiang left, Chu Xiaoxiao began to chatter excitedly. Sometimes she said that this place was so beautiful, like a fairyland. Sometimes she said that this place was so high and it was so tiring to come up here. Then she started talking about other disciples.
Finally, he said indignantly, "That Master Jin is really too much. He just accepted a disciple who is in the late stage of martial arts. What is there to brag about? He even deliberately showed off in front of Master and ridiculed Master as soon as he opened his mouth. How hateful."
Zhang Yuanshan hurriedly said, "Junior Sister Chu, let's not discuss the conflicts between the elders here, or we might be laughed at by other disciples."
Chu Xiaoxiao snorted and did not continue the topic. She said excitedly, "I heard that our sect leader, Fairy Zixia, is very beautiful. I wonder if I can see her later."
Nie Yunrong said: "We will go to the back mountain to worship the ancestors later, and the sect master should show up."
As they were talking, the short and fat old man named Jin Song, along with his eight disciples, strode over and asked with a smile, "Where is your master?"
Zhang Yuanshan bowed and said, "Uncle Jin, Master has gone to greet the other uncles."
Upon hearing this, Jin Song smiled and said, "You've been making connections everywhere since you first arrived. No wonder you were able to get a position at the Kyoto branch. Your master is really good at flattering people."
After that, he laughed and said to the people behind him: "You can get acquainted with several disciples of your uncle Sun here and learn how they deal with people. I have to go and get in touch with other brothers and sisters, so as not to fall behind them again."
After saying that, he strode away.
Zhang Yuanshan and the others all looked unhappy.
Yun Wanrou and the others glanced at them, stood aside, and did not come over to speak.
After waiting for about an incense stick of time, the originally noisy square suddenly became quiet.
An old man with white hair and beard, accompanied by several middle-aged men and women, walked onto the stone platform and looked at the new disciples below.
At this time, Sun Jiang and Jin Song both rushed back, stood in front of their respective disciples, and looked at the stage quietly.
After everyone quieted down, the old man spoke, "I am Wu Youzi, the Grand Elder of Lingxiao Sect. Welcome all the disciples back to the sect today. In addition to the annual Lingxiao Preliminary Examination, the new disciples need to worship the ancestors and swear allegiance to the sect. I will read out the names now. The disciples whose names are called, please stand in the open space on the right. Later, I, other elders, and the masters of each peak will take you to the back mountain to worship the ancestors. As for the other disciples, go and rest and eat first. The first competition will be held in the afternoon."
After that, he took out the list and started reading out the names.
"Baidi City Branch, Baizichuan, Zhang Yao!"
"Yunzhou Branch, Lv Jing, Wang Dang, Miao Xiaolan!"
After a moment, Fang Nian said to the Kyoto branch: "Yujing branch, Dao Ling, Chu Feiyang, Zhou Boyue, Chu Xiaoxiao!"
"Shuicheng Branch, Yun Wanrou, Lei Yang, He Rulan, Cao Hua!"
Those whose names were called went over and stood in the open space on the right, where disciples dressed in green were already waiting to welcome them and asked them to line up.
Chu Xiaoxiao whispered, "Senior Sister Dao, didn't you join the sect when you were in Mo City? Haven't you ever come to worship the ancestor?"
Sister Dao whispered, "My father was recovering from his injuries at the time, and I was worried about leaving, so I never came, but Master had already registered for me."
As the two were talking, a disciple in green suddenly came over, glared at them and said, "Quiet!"
The two of them shut up immediately.
There were more than forty new disciples who had never come to pay homage to the master. They all gathered in the open space, lined up in a queue, and waited quietly.
After a while.
The great elder Wu Youzifang came over with a group of people and explained, "This worship of the ancestors should have been led by the sect master himself, but the sect master is in seclusion recently and cannot come out, so today I will lead you. You must not make any noise, whisper or laugh, and go to the ancestral hall with a pious and respectful heart. If you disturb the ancestors and seniors, I will not forgive you."
All the disciples bowed their heads, their faces full of respect.
Wu Youzi glanced at everyone again before turning around and leading them to the back mountain along the bluestone path next to them.
After exiting the mountain gate at the back, we passed through a bamboo forest. In front of us were piles of huge rocks and mountain mist.
After turning around the rocky path, a towering building suddenly appeared in front of us.
Wu Youzi led everyone along the white marble-paved road to the gate of the ancestral temple. He bowed and said loudly, "Disciple Wu Youzi, today I am leading the new disciples of the sect to the ancestral temple to pay homage to the ancestor and all the seniors!"
As soon as the words fell, the white mist lingering in front of the ancestral temple suddenly dissipated.
An old man in a gray robe and with a hunched figure walked out of the ancestral temple holding a broom. He glanced at everyone, bent down and left.
After seeing him walk away, Wu Youzi stood up and led his disciples into the ancestral hall.
There are densely packed spirit tablets in the ancestral hall, and on the largest one in the middle is the word "Ancestor Ling Xiaozi" written in large letters.
Wu Youzi lit the incense and inserted it in front of the spirit tablet. He first led the elders and peak masters in the worship. Then, each disciple came forward in turn to burn incense, kneel, and raise their hands to take an oath.
As for the oath, Wu Youzi recited one sentence and the new disciple followed him.
Inside the ancestral hall, there are incense smoke and birds singing, making it solemn and dignified.
The sonorous vows of each disciple echoed throughout the hall.
When it was Luo Qingzhou's turn, he stepped forward to light incense and worship, then raised his hands, stared at the tablet above, and recited in a sonorous and powerful voice, following the words of the great elder beside him.
The moment he uttered the oath, his soul trembled slightly. He always felt that his oath seemed to have touched something here, and on those tablets that were hazy in the smoke, it seemed that there were pairs of eyes staring at him.
Luo Qingzhou calmed his mind, finished reading solemnly, bowed and retreated.
After all the new disciples had finished paying homage and taking the oath, they were taken away by several deacons and welcoming disciples, back to the square, and returned to their own team.
Then, led by the servants, they went to rest and have a meal.
Sun Jiang brought a few people and followed the servants to a row of houses and entered a room.
The servants soon brought a sumptuous lunch.
Sun Jiang asked everyone to sit down and eat, then said: "Master still has to go talk to some friends from Qingyun Temple and Jinchan Temple. You can have lunch by yourselves, and then rest here. There will be a martial arts competition in the afternoon, and the martial arts competition will be held early tomorrow morning. The location of the competition is on the arena on the left side of the square. You can go and have a look in the afternoon, or you can rest in your room. But remember, don't run around or cause trouble. If you want to walk around or see the scenery, stay nearby, don't go far, and don't go to other peaks. Be sure to remember."
Several people said respectfully: "Yes, Master."
Chu Xiaoxiao glanced at the room and said, "Master, are we all going to sleep together here tonight?"
Sun Jiang said, "There are three rooms. You can make do with them. There are many guests this time, so other places are full. As for other peaks, they are forbidden areas for you. You cannot go there casually unless you are an inner sect disciple or a direct disciple. Anyway, we will just stay for two nights, and we should be able to leave the day after tomorrow afternoon."
Chu Xiaoxiao said "Oh" and said, "Master, do we have a place to take a shower at night? It will be very uncomfortable if we don't take a shower."
Sun Jiang paused for a moment and said, "There is a hot spring on the hillside behind. Usually no one goes there to take a bath. If you want to take a bath, you can go there in advance. If you wait until tonight, there will probably be a lot of people."
As they were talking, a disciple in green came hurriedly and said, "Uncle Sun, Uncle Zhong and the other uncles are calling you over to accompany the guests."
When Sun Jiang heard this, he hurried out of the hut and left in a hurry.
Chu Xiaoxiao immediately came to Sister Dao and said, "Senior Sister Dao, Senior Sister Nie, shall we go to the hot springs later? Anyway, the afternoon competition is a martial arts competition, and there is nothing interesting to see, so why not we go and have fun on our own?"
Nie Yunrong agreed.
Sister Dao hesitated for a moment and said, "I don't know if it's safe. What if other people go there too?"
Chu Xiaoxiao thought for a moment, looked at Luo Qingzhou and the other two, and said with a smile: "Let Senior Brother Zhang, Senior Brother Chu, and Senior Brother Zhou help us guard outside. If anyone comes, notify us in advance."
Zhang Yuanshan said quickly: "I have to go to watch the competition this afternoon. Although it is a competition for martial artists, I still want to observe it. Let Junior Brother Chu and Junior Brother Zhou go with you."
Zhou Boyao said somewhat embarrassedly: "I also want to watch the competition. After all, this is my first time in the sect and my first time watching this kind of competition. Maybe I can learn some experience."
Zhang Yuanshan smiled and said, "Junior Brother Zhou thinks the same as I do. Although this is a competition between martial artists, there are definitely many things we can learn. Maybe we can use them when we compete on stage tomorrow."
As soon as this was said, Sister Dao also hurriedly said, "Since Senior Brother Zhang said so, let's all go and watch it this afternoon. I hope we can get a good ranking this time, otherwise that Senior Uncle Jin will ridicule Master even more."
Nie Yunrong also nodded and said, "Then I'll go and see it too."
Chu Xiaoxiao was a little disappointed when she saw this. She looked at Luo Qingzhou who had been silent the whole time and said, "Brother Chu, what about you? Are you going to see it too?"
Luo Qingzhou said: "I won't go."
Sister Dao glanced at him and raised her eyebrows and said, "Xiaoxiao, it seems that your Senior Brother Chu is willing to accompany you to the hot springs, but you have to be careful that someone might steal from you."
Chu Xiaoxiao smiled and said, "Brother Chu won't do that. I don't have a good figure, so Brother Chu won't be interested in me. Unless Sister Dao goes, Brother Chu might take a few peeks."
Sister Dao curled her lips and said, "Some people might accept anyone who comes."
Nie Yunrong smiled and said, "Junior Brother Chu, where are you going this afternoon? Are you going to accompany Xiaoxiao to the hot springs?"
Luo Qingzhou glanced at her, paused, and said, "Why, if I want to go, does Senior Sister Nie have to go with me?"
Sister Dao gave him a strange look.
Nie Yunrong smiled and said, "I'm not going. I'm going to watch the competition."
Luo Qingzhou didn't say anything else. After a moment, he said, "I will practice in the house this afternoon and won't go anywhere."
Sister Dao whispered, "Are you going to break through?"
Luo Qingzhou shook his head: "Not yet, I always feel like something is missing."
Zhang Yuanshan heard this and comforted him, "Brother Chu, don't worry. This means the time has not come yet. When the time comes, you will naturally be able to break through."
Others also offered some words of comfort.
After lunch, after a while, Zhang Yuanshan called everyone else to watch the competition together.
Seeing that no one was accompanying her, Chu Xiaoxiao naturally went as well.
Sister Dao was the last one to leave. After seeing everyone else leave, she approached Luo Qingzhou and whispered, "Why have you been treating Senior Sister Nie like that these days? Did she offend you?"
Luo Qingzhou walked into the room, took off his shoes, sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes and ignored her.
Sister Dao clenched her fist and punched his shoulder, angrily saying, "Chu Feiyang, I'm talking to you. Senior Sister Nie is such a nice person, why do you always confront her?"
Luo Qingzhou opened his eyes, looked at her and said, "She is indeed a good person, but she is not good to me."
When Sister Dao heard this, she was confused and asked, "What do you mean? How did they treat you badly? Every time you confront them, they never get angry."
Luo Qingzhou sighed and said, "Senior Sister, you will know the reason after you follow her."
After hearing this, Sister Dao became even more confused.
Luo Qingzhou said: "Go quickly, you won't be able to catch up later. I still need to practice, don't disturb me."
Sister Dao looked at him again, then left the room half-believingly and quickly caught up with the others.
The five of them arrived at the square together.
At this time, quite a few people had gathered in the square.
But the competition hasn't started yet.
As the others were listening to Chu Xiaoxiao's words, Nie Yunrong said softly, "I'm going to go to the bathroom and will be back later."
Having said that, he turned and left.
After she walked away, Sister Dao followed her with doubts.
Nie Yunrong walked out of the square and stopped behind a house. He looked left and right, took out a piece of jade from his storage bag, stretched out his finger, and wrote something on it.
Sister Dao walked around and hid behind a big tree not far to her side, watching from behind.
Soon, a tall and familiar figure walked in front of Nie Yunrong and listened to her whispered words with a cold face.
Sister Dao looked at the slender figure and finally understood.
In the house just now.
Luo Qingzhou sat in the room for a while, but did not practice. Instead, he took out the spiritual liquid and dripped two drops of it on each of his fingertips. Then he got up and walked out of the hut, closed the door, and walked towards the back mountain.
He felt the power in his body was restless, more obvious than in the past few days, and there seemed to be another strange power surging in his Danhai.
So he wanted to find a quiet place to practice.
As for that small house, we definitely can’t stay there.
The news that he was left alone in the cabin would probably spread quickly. If nothing unexpected happened, someone would come to the cabin to find him soon.
He must get a good ranking this time, at least to make the sect's top leaders notice him.
Otherwise, trouble will come soon.
He felt that Luo Changtian was already suspicious of him, and it was not just an ordinary suspicion.
Time is running out.
Therefore, he must seize the time to practice. If he can make a breakthrough today, he will naturally be more confident.
Follow the path in the rugged area and move forward.
When he climbed up the hillside, he suddenly felt a warm breath blowing on his face. After walking for a while, he saw a misty hot spring in front of him.
But it was noon at this time and no one came to take a bath.
He didn't stop and continued walking forward.
In front of us is a rugged rocky hill, and there should be many uninhabited caves.
Arriving at the rocky hill, he was looking for a cave when he suddenly heard a strange cry coming from the front. Looking up, he saw fairy mist in front of him and vaguely saw an iron chain bridge, but he didn't know where it led to.
He hesitated for a moment and continued walking forward.
A cold wind blew in my face, and there was a thousand-foot cliff in front of me.
Below the cliff, there was white fog and the depth was bottomless.
On top of the cliff, there is a bridge made of iron chains and wooden boards. The other end of the bridge leads to another mountain.
The mountain was hidden in the mist, hazy and unclear.
At this moment, the strange cry came again.
Luo Qingzhou looked in the direction of the voice, and in the mist in the middle of the iron bridge, there was a graceful figure in a red dress standing vaguely, who seemed to be shouting something.
He walked a few steps closer, and suddenly heard the figure calling out in a tender voice: "Young Master, Young Master, come and help me... My foot is injured, and I can't walk..."
Luo Qingzhou was stunned for a moment, looked around, and then realized that the man seemed to be shouting at him.
He narrowed his eyes, walked to the end of the bridge, and looked again.