The Azure Firmament Sect had been attacked by the Seven Peaks Alliance. Jiang Zhaoxia and Li Sifeng were gravely wounded.
This news landed like a thunderbolt within the Azure Firmament Sect. All the disciples gathered in the courtyard, discussing the earlier battle down the mountain in hushed tones, afraid to disturb those inside the rooms.
Inside the room.
Li Sifeng lay on the bed. Jiang Zhaoxia sat cross-legged at his feet. Li Qingqiu stood beside the bed, administering the Resurrection Ghost Immortal Needle to Li Sifeng.
He had acquired a set of needles from the tailor. Though they weren't true medicinal needles, they would barely serve the purpose.
Li Sifeng's condition was critical. Multiple rib fractures. His face was battered and bruised. Several teeth had been knocked out. He lay in a coma.
Thankfully, he wasn't crippled. The Resurrection Ghost Immortal Needle couldn't heal permanent disability.
Zhang Yuchun, Li Dongyue, Wu Man'er, Li Sijin, and Yang Jueding stood behind them, tense and worried, watching Li Qingqiu tend to Li Sifeng.
Xu Ning sat cross-legged on a stool in the corner, circulating her energy to regulate her internal qi and blood.
The room was silent. No one dared disturb Li Qingqiu. Their hearts were heavy, afraid Li Sifeng might not pull through.
Li Qingqiu withdrew his hands, leaving three needles in place on Li Sifeng's chest. He spoke: "It's done. Sifeng is out of danger. Now we just wait for him to wake."
At these words, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Yang Jueding turned to Jiang Zhaoxia. "How many from the Seven Peaks Alliance came? Who was leading them?"
Jiang Zhaoxia opened his eyes. "Several hundred. All skilled. Their leader was powerful—gave me plenty of trouble. He got away in the end. Before he left, he said this isn't over. I don't know his name."
"And we owe Xu Ning. If she hadn't arrived when she did, I might be dead."
Xu Ning?
Everyone turned to look at the ten-year-old girl, expressions shifting to shock.
Xu Ning kept her eyes closed, focused inward.
Was she truly a prodigy?
Yang Jueding's heart trembled. He'd misjudged again. But he didn't dwell on it. His expression grew grave. "The Seven Peaks Alliance is a major power in Gu Prefecture's martial world. If they commit their full strength against us, we'll have little chance. They have over three thousand disciples, and countless experts. This is serious."
Three thousand!
Everyone was stunned. A few hundred had nearly cost Jiang Zhaoxia his life. Three thousand converging on them—how could they possibly resist?
Li Qingqiu spoke. "Let them rest for now. It'll take time for that group to return to the Seven Peaks Alliance. At the very least, we have peace for the next half month."
His tone was calm, his face unreadable. But inside, turbulent waves crashed against his heart. He couldn't find peace.
With that, Li Qingqiu turned and walked toward the door. The others followed.
Outside, Zhang Yuchun began dispersing the disciples, sending them back to their tasks. Yang Jueding fell into step beside Li Qingqiu.
"What are you thinking?" Yang Jueding asked quietly, walking alongside him.
Li Qingqiu replied, "I haven't figured it out yet. But this can't be left alone."
Hearing this, Yang Jueding sighed. "This is the martial world. Even if you don't provoke others, they'll come looking for trouble. You're still too young. If it comes to it, relocate somewhere else for a while. Lie low for a few years, then come back and reclaim your territory."
Li Qingqiu stopped, glancing at Yang Jueding. His gaze made Yang Jueding feel uneasy.
"Precisely because we're young, I don't want to retreat."
Li Qingqiu left these words behind and walked toward the mountain gate. Yang Jueding halted, watching him with a complex expression.
Leaving the mountain gate, Li Qingqiu headed straight for the underground spirit lake, even though night was falling.
He walked faster and faster, quickly disappearing into the darkness.
From the day he became Sect Master, Li Qingqiu had anticipated all kinds of trouble. He wanted the Azure Firmament Sect to develop quietly, to delay conflict as long as possible.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as he wished.
He could avoid trouble, but when trouble came, he wouldn't back down.
The Seven Peaks Alliance had now targeted the Azure Firmament Sect twice. In Li Qingqiu's heart, they were irreconcilable enemies.
Think of a way to deal with their next attack?
No!
He couldn't wait that long!
Tonight, Li Qingqiu would select his second Destiny. He planned to test a theory he'd long held—to see if he could forcibly push his cultivation to the third layer of the Nourishing Origin stage.
Half an hour later, Li Qingqiu entered the underground spirit lake. Confirming no beasts or outsiders had intruded, he summoned the Daoist Legacy panel and selected Xu Ning's Destiny.
Currently, Xu Ning's Destiny was the strongest. Who knew how long it would take to find a disciple surpassing her?
And Xu Ning's cultivation speed was actually slightly faster than Jiang Zhaoxia's. It was just that Jiang Zhaoxia's sword talent made him more suited for combat.
After selecting the Destiny, Li Qingqiu was once again drawn into a mysterious, dreamlike state.
Spiritual energy within the underground space began to surge toward Li Qingqiu, gradually forming an air current around him.
If the Sword Saint Destiny was a transformation of comprehension, then the Heavenly Thunder Spiritual Root was a tempering of the physical body.
Before cultivating immortality, Xu Ning's physique had already been extraordinary. A child under ten, enduring hunger, walking over thirty miles? Remarkable.
Barring accidents, Xu Ning would surpass the others, becoming the third to reach the second layer of the Nourishing Origin stage, after Jiang Zhaoxia and Li Qingqiu.
Li Qingqiu's consciousness drifted in chaos, as if floating among clouds, facing vast, rolling heavenly thunder. The thunder was terrifying, yet it seemed to guide him.
Rumble—
Thunder echoed through the night sky over the Taikun Mountain Range, as if heaven itself roared in anger at the mortal slaughter below.
Jiang Zhaoxia opened his eyes, looking toward the window. Night had fallen. Li Dongyue and Xu Ning had returned to the female disciples' room.
"Third Uncle-Master, is there anything we can do?"
Huang Shan, lying on another bed, asked the question. The other second-generation disciples also looked at Jiang Zhaoxia.
With Li Sifeng gravely wounded and unconscious, and Jiang Zhaoxia, their strongest, also recovering, the Azure Firmament Sect was shrouded in unprecedented gloom. Though the Seven Sons of Azure Firmament were frightened, they didn't want to just watch. They wanted to do something for their sect.
Wu Man'er, sitting beside Li Sifeng, rumbled, "Third Senior Brother, I want revenge for Sixth Junior Brother."
Though Wu Man'er had yet to see combat, everyone could sense his strength advancing rapidly. Even sitting there, he looked like a fierce bear, his muscles threatening to burst his sect robe.
Zhang Yuchun lay in bed, facing away from everyone, brow furrowed, thoughts unknown.
Jiang Zhaoxia withdrew his gaze and swept it across the disciples. "What are you all thinking? You're still young. Focus on your training. Your time hasn't come yet. Besides, I sent those enemies packing with their tails between their legs. They won't dare come back."
Seeing Jiang Zhaoxia still so arrogantly confident, the disciples actually felt relieved. At this critical moment, they found themselves appreciating his arrogance.
They began asking about the day's battle. Calmer now, Jiang Zhaoxia didn't hide anything and recounted the fight calmly.
He thought of Xu Ning. A sharp sense of crisis stabbed through him.
He'd misjudged. That girl's talent matched his own. The senior brother was truly sharp.
...
By the underground spirit lake, silver-blue light bathed Li Qingqiu's face. He slowly opened his eyes. Faint traces of lightning flickered within them, lending his features an almost divine quality.
After opening his eyes, Li Qingqiu quickly regained control of his body.
"Huh?"
Li Qingqiu exclaimed in surprise, delight spreading across his face.
He had directly reached the third layer of the Nourishing Origin stage!
Not only that—his strength had increased considerably. He felt reborn, as if his very bones had been remade.
He had originally planned to use the spirit stones embedded in the walls to force a breakthrough. When he'd trained here before, he sensed those crystals held dense spiritual energy, absorbable into the body. But the quantity was too great—it could damage meridians—so he hadn't attempted it, and forbade his junior siblings from trying.
If these spirit stones could aid cultivators, their value was immense. Especially for a newly rising immortal sect.
Li Qingqiu carefully examined the spiritual energy within him. Not only had its quantity multiplied several times over, its very nature had transformed.
Lightning-attributed!
Cultivation methods had attributes. The Supreme Purity Chaos Genesis Scripture he'd obtained encompassed all attributes—you could say it was a collection of the five elements. It could accommodate cultivators with different spiritual root aptitudes, allowing them to develop their own path based on this foundation.
Now, Li Qingqiu's spiritual energy had become lightning-attributed, carrying an overbearing, thunderous might.
In the future, when his spiritual energy struck an enemy, it would carry lightning damage as well.
He felt his spiritual energy had become far more lethal. No wonder, when teaching Xu Ning, he'd sensed something different about her energy.
The spiritual energy around him hadn't yet dispersed. This sparked a possibility in his mind.
"Destinies related to the physical body could be leveraged to elevate my cultivation level?"
This speculation filled Li Qingqiu with anticipation for such Destinies.
He stood, approached the cave wall, removed a spirit stone, and tucked it into his robe. Then he left the underground spirit lake.
He had originally planned to use the spirit stones here to forcibly break through to the third layer. Since he'd already broken through, there was no need to risk it.
Now, his spiritual energy was abundant. He didn't even need to recuperate.
He would act immediately. Catch the Seven Peaks Alliance off guard!
Half an hour later.
Li Qingqiu returned to the Azure Firmament Sect and roused Yang Jueding.
Rain poured down in sheets. Thunder rumbled.
Yang Jueding opened his door and saw Li Qingqiu, soaked through. "Where have you been?" he asked, surprised.
Li Qingqiu fixed his gaze on him. "Do you know the way to the Seven Peaks Alliance?"
Yang Jueding replied, "Of course. I've visited. What are you planning?"
"Pack your things. We're going down the mountain."
Li Qingqiu left these words and turned away, leaving Yang Jueding frozen in place.
He walked to the courtyard where his junior brothers lived and knocked on their door. Soon, Zhang Yuchun opened it.
"Yuchun, I'm taking Yang Jueding down the mountain to patrol the Taikun Mountain Range. Make sure none of the Seven Peaks people are still lurking. For the next few days, keep the disciples close to the sect. Wait for us to return." Li Qingqiu smiled as he gave his instructions.
Zhang Yuchun frowned. "Senior Brother, it's pouring out there. Why not wait until morning?"
Li Qingqiu waved dismissively. "Rainy nights are best for moving unseen."
With that, he turned toward his own room. Zhang Yuchun started to speak, then stopped, ultimately choosing to trust him. He closed the door.
After a while.
Yang Jueding, in a straw rain cape, waited for Li Qingqiu at the mountain gate. Li Qingqiu arrived similarly clad, the Skyrainbow Sword his master had left him hanging at his waist.