Immortal Soaring Blade

In the sky, Sha Sha was standing on her light green Delicate Willow Sword, and Fu Hongling stood on her Heavenly Phoenix Sword with Zhao Jiuuge. The three of them flew away from the Sword Casting Hall.

Sha Sha still had to cultivate, so she left on her own. With the competition between the seven holy lands and the Battle Competition between all the sects arriving soon, Sha Sha’s burden increased. If Zhao Jiuge didn’t mature in time, Sha Sha would have to lead the disciples against the other holy lands and sects.

Looking at Sha Sha’s leaving figure, Fu Hongling’s brows furrowed while thinking about something. However, she didn’t say anything and continued to take Zhao Jiuge to Elder Li. The ray of red light quickly flew forward and the two of them disappeared.

……

Ocean Flower Peak.

There was a wide courtyard at the top of the peak, and there were occasional flashes of light coming from the courtyard. The courtyard was very large and there were mats neatly arranged with a decent amount of space between each one. There were a lot of disciples sitting here, and Elder Li was sitting down on a mat in front of everyone, lecturing.

Normally, once an inner sect disciple reached a certain age, they would leave the sect and explore the world. If they came back alive, they would naturally join the Enforcement Hall and gain combat experience. As their cultivation progressed, they would eventually enter the elder council. Those that fell during the process or got stuck could only wait for their lifespan to run out.

Prior to this, all the inner sect disciples that had just joined or hadn’t reached the Spirit Core Realm would cultivate here. They would be taught by Elder Li and several other elders. As for the direct disciples, they could come and go as they wished, as they naturally had their own teachers teaching them.

Cultivation was survival of the fittest. When there was only a single narrow bridge to cross, only those that could rise up and fight would go further than others.

It had been almost half a year since Zhao Jiuge had last spoken to Leng Rufeng, Luo Xie, and the others. And ever since he joined the inner sect, he hadn’t come to Ocean Flower Peak once.

Soon, a shocking ray of red sword energy flew toward the peak of Ocean Flower Peak. This ray of sword energy was very fast and soon arrived at the courtyard on top of the peak.

Feeling the power and pressure of this ray of sword energy, the nearly 100 inner sect disciples listening to Elder Li’s lesson all looked over. Even Elder Li looked over with a hint of displeasure. However, when he felt who this aura belonged to, he didn’t immediately reveal this displeasure.

When teaching, the most taboo thing was being interrupted. Although it didn’t affect anything, it was a sign of disrespect. After reaching a certain degree of cultivation, one had their own pride. Not to mention that as an elder who was qualified to be responsible for teaching the inner sect disciples, he was naturally not weak.

In the blink of an eye, two figures appeared in the courtyard. Elder Li’s eyelids twitched a bit, but he soon calmed down. The displeasure he felt immediately dissipated for no reason other than the identities of these two people.

Elder Li wasn’t the only one who looked over. The nearly 100 inner sect disciples all curiously looked over as well. There were many from the previous generation, and because their cultivation was slow, they hadn’t gone out to experience the world yet. And the rest were the new inner sect disciples that had just joined like Zhao Jiuge.

When everyone saw the two figures, a small portion of them exclaimed. It seemed they had recognized the two people that had arrived.

Standing there was Fu Hongling in a red dress and a purple hairpin in her hair, holding the red Heavenly Phoenix Sword.

Beside her was Zhao Jiuge, wearing the black clothes with the cloud painting embroidery on it. Although his aura was somewhat weak compared to Fu Hongling’s, it was very stable.

Everyone knew who the eldest disciple of the Head Teacher, Fu Hongling, was. The exclamations came from those who knew who Zhao Jiuge was. Zhao Jiuge’s name had spread throughout the sect, but many people hadn't seen him.

The inner sect disciples that didn’t know Zhao Jiuge had vaguely guessed his identity. There was only one person who would be personally brought here by Fu Hongling. They didn’t know him due to his deeds, but due to his identity as a direct disciple of Head Teacher Jian Wuxian!

The older disciples all looked at Fu Hongling with burning gazes. Others looked at Zhao Jiuge, envious of his identity.

The remaining people were the same disciples that had entered the inner sect together. Most of them were smiling at Zhao Jiuge. His prestige among them was something no one else could reach. They had abandoned any grievances they had with each other after arriving here and grouped together. Now that Zhao Jiuge had arrived, they felt more confident.

The inner sect was not full of new disciples like the outer sect was. There was a mix of several generations of disciples here, and each generation would naturally group together. They had naturally become the bottom of the totem pole. Fortunately, they had six or seven direct disciples, so they weren’t bullied too miserably.

Hearing the exclamations, Zhao Jiuge subconsciously looked down at the figures below. Most of them were wearing different colored sword robes that represented their respective peaks, but the robes were slightly different from those of the outer sect disciples. There were a few dozen figures mixed in that weren’t wearing sword robes, like Zhao Jiuge. They were the direct disciples.

Zhao Jiuge instantly saw a lot of new disciples smiling and nodding at him. However, he also caught the expressions of the other disciples. Zhao Jiuge sighed in the bottom of his heart. It looked like wherever there were people, there would be conflict. It looked like the inner sect was even more messy than the outer sect.

The inner sect was deep like the sea.

Although Zhao Jiuge thought this, he was actually excited. After all, this would make life more interesting.

“Elder Li, sorry to bother you, but I have brought my little junior brother to listen to your lessons.” Fu Hongling had an apologetic smile and spoke respectfully. As for the inner sect disciples below, she didn’t even look at them.

Elder Li pursed his lips and made himself look relaxed. He smiled and said, “No problem.”

Then he looked at Zhao Jiuge and smiled. “This must be Jiuge. You can go down and find an empty spot to sit in. When you are free in the mornings, you can come here to listen to the lessons.”

Elder Li had his own difficulties that he couldn’t speak of. If someone else had disrupted his lesson like this, he would have long lost his patience. Also for someone like Zhao Jiuge, who hadn’t come to a lesson for half a year, he would have harshly scolded him. However, both of them were direct disciples of Jian Wuxian. Besides, it didn’t really matter if Zhao Jiuge came to the lessons or not, as he was being taught personally by the Head Teacher.

Just Fu Hongling was strong enough to earn his respect. She wasn’t very old and her peak Soul Formation Realm cultivation was no worse than his. It was very likely that she would have a breakthrough and continue improving. Her strength and identity were no worse than some of the elders. Aside from those top elders, ordinary elders had to be respectful toward her. With Fu Hongling’s strength, it was certain she would enter the elder council in the future.

Fu Hongling shook Zhao Jiuge’s arm and urged, “Why aren’t you greeting Elder Li?”

Zhao Jiuge quickly bowed and respectfully said, “Greetings, Elder Li.”

Although Zhao Jiuge looked respectful, he didn’t think so in his head. Elder Li might look friendly, but Zhao Jiuge knew that this was only because of his teacher and his senior sister. Back before he entered the inner sect, Elder Li wouldn’t even bother looking at them. Thinking about this, Zhao Jiuge couldn’t help but think about Instructor Zhou.

Instructor Zhou was equally harsh, but that was only on the surface. Deep down, he cared a lot about Zhao Jiuge. Zhao Jiuge decided that he would make some time to go see Instructor Zhou. He could be considered someone who had helped him start learning the sword art.

Elder Li smiled and nodded. Facing Zhao Jiuge, he would do his best to take care of Zhao Jiuge to give Jian Wuxian face. Elder Li whispered, “Just to find a mat to sit down on for today, there are a few empty ones. Tomorrow, you can sit in the first row in front of me.”

Seeing this, Fu Hongling organized her hair that had gotten messy due to the wind from blade soaring. “Then I’ll trouble Elder Li to take care of my little junior brother. I still have things to do, so I won’t delay your lessons anymore.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your little junior brother.” Elder Li nodded and didn’t say more. There was no need to declare everything. Although he wanted to get on their good side, he wasn’t going to make it obvious. He still had a bit of fame himself.

Fu Hongling turned toward Zhao Jiuge and instructed, “You can cultivate at ease here. I’ll go get the materials and send them over to the Grandmaster.”

After she finished speaking, she seemed a bit uneasy and said, “Don’t cause trouble here. After all, there are a lot of people here, and it can get chaotic. However, don’t be afraid. Remember your identity. If it comes down to it, your third senior brother and I have your back.”

Fu Hongling didn’t hide those last few words. All the disciples here heard it; it was as if she had deliberately said it for them to hear.

After she finished speaking, she turned and her sword exuded a fiery red light. She then blade soared toward the Treasure Pavilion.