In a vast desert, with long sand dunes taking over the landscape as far as the eye could see, there was a single, yet gigantic, city-ship floating gently at low altitude, with only one of its bridges anchored to the ground.
Thousands of people watched from the railings of the vessel the desert below, focusing mainly on the few individuals descending the ship's enormous bridge, making that small group seem insignificant. Even so, they could be anything… but that.
Those were the core disciples of the sect's thirteen pavilions, totaling twenty-seven people. In every possible way, they were the most exceptional.
They were:
Xiao Ling, Bao Hui's disciple.
Cang Song, the coward.
Lin Xiaoxue, the little girl.
Bai Yan and Bai Jingjing, the Bai siblings.
Hui Lang, the former toothless.
Lei Yun and Mu Luyin, the former Mahayana and his companion.
Huo Qing and Lan Jun, the two alchemists who won the sect's internal alchemy competition together with Cang Song.
Besides them, there were also other core disciples who had been recruited after proving their abilities before everyone.
And of course, leading them was, obviously, the strongest disciple of the sect, Long Aotian, with his wife, Liu Rihai, by his side.
At that moment, descending the bridge, everyone followed the couple ahead with curious and confused looks about what they were about to do.
Their masters had only told them to follow Long Aotian and obey his orders, as he would be the leader of the important mission they were about to carry out.
Thus, even without understanding exactly what their mission would be, everyone followed him silently without questioning… well, everyone except one.
Skipping suddenly until she reached his side, a little girl completely broke the solemn atmosphere as she grabbed the sleeve of her senior brother, her eyes shining.
"Brother Aotian, what are we going to do?" Lin Xiaoxue asked without lowering her tone in the slightest, blinking her two large, curious eyes at him.
Aotian looked at her for a moment and then frowned, with a heavy look.
"We are about to explore a place from which no one has ever returned, where we have a 99% chance of dying," he declared slowly, solemnly, turning his gaze back to the desert with a complex expression.
The atmosphere grew quieter under the weight of his words.
Exchanging surprised looks, the disciples couldn't help but focus on Aotian, waiting for what he would say next.
"Hmm…" Xiaoxue murmured, frowning, before suddenly asking, "And after that?"
Aotian froze slightly and looked at her, speechless.
"What do you mean, and after that? Didn't you hear what I just said?" he asked, perplexed, staring at the little girl.
Beside him, Rihai smiled, amused by the interaction, as if she had already expected it.
"I heard, Brother Aotian." The little girl nodded cheerfully, her twin braids swaying. "But even so, it shouldn't be a problem. The elders take very good care of us. To this day, there hasn't been a single disciple who died since entering the sect, and everyone knows that the sect's missions are extremely precise, never exceeding a disciple's capability."
She rolled her eyes at him, put a hand on her waist, and declared triumphantly, chin raised, as if saying, "You don't scare me, dummy!"
Behind them, the other disciples also smiled calmly. They were core disciples and had a deep connection with their masters, clearly feeling the affection they received. Because of that, not for even a second did they imagine that this was a suicide mission their masters would send them on without saying anything.
At most, it would be a very difficult mission, precisely because all of them, specifically, had been sent, which made them take it very seriously, but they didn't consider the possibility of death.
In fact, the only person who constantly looked back, wishing to return with a bitter face, was undoubtedly Cang Song. Even so, not even he resisted much after Aotian's joke, which demonstrated the level of unconscious trust he had in the sect.
Aotian couldn't help but smile softly at that, breaking the fake solemn face he had assumed to provoke them.
To them, Aotian might just be a mysterious, powerful, and respectable disciple, but somewhat distant. They didn't truly know him.
But to Aotian, those were his precious direct disciples, every single one of them. In his view, perhaps they weren't very different from his own children.
After all, he was the true master of each of them, and his relationship with them was much deeper than the one he had with his inner or outer disciples.
Because of that, he felt deeply satisfied and proud to see the trust and loyalty they showed toward the sect, even though they had been part of it for only a little over two and a half years in total—some not even that.
Rihai, as a genuine disciple, had a slightly clearer notion than Aotian of the common mentality of disciples, and therefore wasn't so surprised by their reaction. As for him, because he usually saw things from the perspective of a leader and master, his understanding wasn't always so precise regarding such matters.
Smiling and shaking his head in amusement, Aotian explained as he took flight ahead, with the others following.
"Okay, I was just teasing you, little Xiaoxue," he admitted, looking playfully at the little girl, who puffed up her cheeks, annoyed at being called that.
"Hey, I'm not little anymore!" she complained.
Aotian just laughed and, ignoring her pout, continued the explanation.
"Our objective is a Mahayana mansion that fell into this desert and has been siphoning all the surrounding energy, leaving it in this state. According to the information we collected, this mansion is basically a testing ground at present. We'll explore it and try to gain control of it from the inside."
When his words fell, immense surprise appeared on the disciples' faces.
"Mahayana?!"
"That's a rather legendary realm, not seen for millions of years."
"It seems this mission will be harder than we thought…"
Exclamations and surprised whispers sounded among them.
Lei Yun didn't join the discussion, but he raised an eyebrow, visibly interested.
'A Mahayana mansion? There might be some good things there. But the dangers shouldn't be simple,' he judged, though he didn't seem worried.
This time, he wasn't relying solely on his experience as a former Mahayana, but rather on his mysterious sect, filled with hidden immortals, whom he believed wouldn't let anything happen to them.
And, as expected, the confirmation came soon after.
"Well, don't worry. The sect has already confirmed that there's no real danger for us inside. No possession by some hidden old monster, no formation traps, or anything we can't handle. At most, we might get sealed inside, which would force the elders to break the mansion's formation, something less ideal than what we're aiming for this time."
He explained, reassuring everyone, as impressed whispers arose among the disciples.
Everyone there attended the sect's occasional Dao preaching lectures, and therefore knew the subsequent cultivation realms and what they represented, including the legendary Mahayana.
Thus, the ease and confidence with which Aotian conveyed the elders' words about breaking formations of that level only confirmed his theories about how powerful and mysterious his sect truly was.
"Senior Brother Long," a sudden voice drew everyone's attention. "Why don't the elders want to break the formation directly? Do you know?"
The one asking was Lei Yun, who raised one of his white eyebrows, curious and confused.
Aotian smiled at him.
"It's nothing serious. It's just that the main formation of that mansion has existed for so long that its spirit is very mature, and it would be a shame to discard or weaken it if, instead, we can take command of it. Besides, forcibly breaking it might end up damaging the internal environment, harming our future stay," he explained calmly, shrugging.
At that point, they were already quite far away, with the ship being just a small dot in the distance.
"Stay?" Lei Yun murmured, surprised.
The other disciples reacted similarly, their eyes widening slightly before growing brighter and brighter.
No one expected the sect to have decided, in such an unexpected way, to make a Mahayana mansion its new mountain.
Even the former Mahayana couldn't help but be surprised by this. Still, after thinking for a moment, he didn't think it was a bad decision.
A Mahayana mansion was undoubtedly countless times larger than the sect's previous mountain, and its environmental energy certainly left no room for doubt.
Seeing everyone surprised and excited by the prospects, Aotian smiled in amusement.
Rihai was the only one who already knew the news, but even she couldn't contain her excitement just thinking about it.
In fact, from what she knew, the Liu family also lived in a Mahayana mansion, and because of that, she felt even more thrilled imagining the sect conquering its own.
The old man inside the necklace around her neck was also deep in thought, slightly expectant yet cautious about what was to come.
Yes, Liu Taixuan was there as well.
The old man certainly wouldn't let his great-granddaughter go alone after hearing about the terrible place to which she was being cruelly sent by force… although that was only how it was in the old man's head. She had chosen to go and, if she wanted, she could have stayed behind.
But since her husband was going, it was impossible to leave her behind. And since the great-granddaughter was going, it was impossible for the old man to leave her alone.
The only one left behind in this story was the poor Shen He, who watched with a resentful and betrayed look as his non-paternal master abandoned him once again without a second thought.
"Well, if no one has any more questions, let's proceed with the mission," Aotian declared after waiting for the disciples to calm down a bit from their excitement. "What we have to do this time is simple. Enter the mansion, pass the trial, and finally conquer it as the sect's new residence. Once we achieve that, do not fear a lack of contribution points to buy your future Nascent Soul techniques."
He spoke seriously and then suddenly laughed as he declared the last part.
Upon hearing this, the disciples' eyes widened even more, shining with excitement, forgetting everything else.
"OHHHHH!!" Excited shouts echoed.
"Ahhh!! Don't stop me, I have a mansion to conquer!" Bai Yan couldn't hold back and shouted loudly, his blood boiling with desire, as he accelerated forward, overtaking everyone to take the lead.
But Aotian, helpless, quickly grabbed Bai Yan by the collar as he passed, rolling his eyes as he yanked him back, abruptly stopping his flight and making the boy comically stick out his tongue and flail as he was choked.
"Idiot, we're already here. Where do you think you're going?" he scolded him helplessly.
Bai Yan, who was lightly struggling in panic after being caught like a chicken, froze in midair upon hearing those words.
Bai Jingjing, his younger sister, covered her face with her little hands, embarrassed at seeing her brother act like that.
Still, she was also surprised and quickly looked down through the gaps between her fingers, where she could only see sand, without any sign of the mansion she had expected to find from Aotian's words.
But before she and the others could continue searching, a new figure appeared before them.
"Stop looking. It's buried beneath the sand," the man who had arrived explained, smiling gently.
As soon as everyone saw him, they recognized him immediately.
"The juniors greet Ancestor Bao!" Everyone bowed deeply in respect without hesitation, including Lei Yun.
Stroking his beard, Old Bao laughed heartily and waved his hand, releasing a small, controlled gust of wind that helped them rise.
Even after straightening up, the disciples couldn't help but cast admiring glances at the man who represented the ultimate power of their sect.
Through their masters, they knew that the sect possessed other ancestors, but Bao Wuji was the only one most of them had ever seen—aside from the disciples of the Beast Pavilion, who had briefly encountered their pavilion's ancestor once.
"Well then, children, prepare to enter. This old man will clear the path for you," speaking in his naturally loud tone, he didn't hesitate and firmly swung his hand to the side.
His powerful spiritual energy immediately went into action, and a massive typhoon violently swept through the sand dunes, pushing them away and creating a gigantic sandstorm that flew off into the distance, burying everything in its path. Fortunately, there was no form of life in that direction.
As the storm grew in size, the dunes there were slowly drained away, revealing more and more of what they concealed.
This continued for some time until, suddenly, the tip of an enormous golden gate appeared before everyone's eyes, beginning to be revealed.
While everyone watched, holding their breath, at the world-shaking power of the ancestor, inside Rihai's necklace, the old Liu's heart was far from calm.
On the contrary, he stared at the old man outside with wide eyes, jaw dropped, and an incredulity impossible to describe.
'H-How can this be?!'
He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
There was no mistake. That was the same old man he had seen about two years ago guarding the boy and his great-granddaughter, but the problem was…
'How can his aura be so strong?! He was only at the 3rd level of Soul Formation. How the hell is he now at the 9th level of Void Refinement just two years later?! And why, again, is it this same pattern?! Before, those elders and he were equally at the 3rd level of their realms, and now he is exactly at the same level and realm as those two protectors. Why?!'
His soul trembled more and more as he thought about it.
The surprise of seeing Lie Zheng's growth from Golden Core to Soul Formation was, in fact, far smaller than witnessing the growth of Old Bao Wuji.
The further one advanced in cultivation, the harder it became to progress. Seeing such astonishing growth in a powerful realm like Void Refinement, combined with the strange and unnatural coincidence of him being exactly at the same level as the other ancestors of that sect he had seen before, was like a sledgehammer striking his head.
At that moment, he could no longer deceive himself with far-fetched theories. There was only a single plausible explanation for that phenomenon that seemed to deceive even the strongest cultivator's senses.
And that explanation was to accept that everything his granddaughter, that sect, their techniques, and even his own instincts revealed… was true.
The Infinite Dao Sect — had real immortals walking among them.