As the crowd looked on with confusion, Tara York stepped forward and explained with a calm smile, "This pond here is called Inches Apart, Worlds Away."
She paused for a beat, letting the name sink in before continuing. "With Huohuo's cultivation level, he wouldn't have been able to cross it in his lifetime. So I made a few adjustments."
At those words, Gu Chenyuan and the others gasped involuntarily once again.
Xiao Huohuo might be young, but he had already reached the Realm of Domain Creation—a level that put him above most cultivators his age.
And yet, even at that level, he would never have been able to cross such a seemingly small pool of water.
The terrifying part wasn't just that. It was that Tara York had altered it with casual ease, as if brushing dust from a robe.
By now, Xiao Huohuo had stepped into the waterfall.
That one, simple step instantly drove him to his knees with a loud splash.
His entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Within five breaths, he had collapsed face-down beneath the crashing waters, only his pinky fingers barely twitching in resistance.
The icy waterfall smashed against his back with the weight of a mountain, each drop like the strike of a war hammer.
Every bone in his body felt like it had been shattered, the pain seeping all the way into his marrow.
His face twisted involuntarily, and suppressed groans escaped from deep within his throat.
Gu Chenyuan's heart skipped a beat.
Xiao Huohuo had always been tough and unyielding. If even he couldn't hold back a cry of agony, how painful must this truly be?
Tara, seemingly amused, smiled at Gu Chenyuan and said, "This is one of the secret training grounds of our sect—the Body-Forging Waterfall. It's designed to temper the physical body. Would you care to give it a try, Sect Master Gu?"
Snapping out of his stunned silence, Gu Chenyuan nodded quickly. "It would be my honor."
In just a couple of days, he had come to realize one thing clearly: nothing within the Star-Moon Sect was ordinary.
To be allowed to try anything within its bounds was a blessing.
Behind him, Lin Danhua and the others looked on with open envy.
"If the other Elders are interested," Tara added, "you may all enter and try it as well. That includes Wanwan and Jingjing too."
At her words, everyone sprang into action.
Gu Chenyuan, being the highest in cultivation, reached the waterfall first. Jiang Wanwan, with the lowest level, took the longest—nearly a full quarter of an hour.
Once under the falls, it became abundantly clear how massive the waterfall truly was.
Xiao Huohuo, lying motionless beneath it, looked like a tiny ant being pounded by an ocean.
Confident in his strength, Gu Chenyuan stepped forward.
He believed he would surely last longer than Xiao Huohuo, given the vast gap in their cultivations.
But he was sorely mistaken.
Within just two breaths, he too fell—from standing, to kneeling, to flat on his stomach.
His fingers wouldn't even twitch.
The reason Xiao Huohuo had lasted longer was due to his sect disciple token, which had absorbed part of the waterfall's pressure on his behalf.
However, the forging effect remained undiluted.
Gu Chenyuan could now only grit his teeth—literally the only parts of his body still able to move. His mouth contorted in a grimace, the pain boring deep into his bones.
If not for the pride of being a Sect Master, he would have howled so loud it cracked the sky.
He held it in, but his face twisted grotesquely from the strain.
The others fared no better.
When Lin Danhua entered the waterfall and promptly collapsed in the same way, he began wailing like a banshee.
That finally gave the others the excuse they needed to let out their own suppressed groans.
A brief moment of vocal catharsis.
Jiang Wanwan, who had arrived last, was the first to be expelled by the waterfall's current.
Her cultivation simply couldn't hold up for long.
Her face was ghostly pale.
But despite being forcibly ejected from the Body-Forging Waterfall, she could clearly feel her physical strength had grown immensely.
Shortly after, Shi Jingjing was sent flying out.
Then Xiao Huohuo.
And finally, Gu Chenyuan.
Had he stayed even a moment longer, he might have started screaming uncontrollably.
The pain was unbearable.
So intense that even his scalp seemed to throb in rhythm with his heartbeat.
And yet, the sheer improvement in his physique made him feel that every jolt had been more than worth it.
After all, forging the body was one of the most difficult paths in cultivation.
Across the entire Wildlands, there wasn't a single complete body-forging manual in existence.
Those who practiced from fragments often ended up suffering from backlash or mental deviation.
It wasn't noticeable in the early stages of cultivation, but as one advanced, a weak physical body became an unavoidable bottleneck.
Yes, battle itself could forge the body—but it was a slow and unpredictable process.
But here, just a short bout of pain yielded results equivalent to years of effort.
It was a steal.
"Sect Master Tara," Xiao Huohuo asked as he dried himself using spiritual energy, "Is it really possible to walk beneath that waterfall?"
"Of course," Tara replied with a light laugh.
She launched into the air, stepped through the waterfall in three strides, and walked right back out, not a single drop of water clinging to her robes.
"You can't do it because your cultivation isn't strong enough and your body is too weak," she said. "Keep training here when you have time. Eventually, you'll pass."
"Yes, Sect Master!" Xiao Huohuo stood upright, his expression firm.
Gu Chenyuan clenched his fists quietly.
Even if he could only be a servant disciple, he was determined to join the Star-Moon Sect.
Lin Danhua and the others shared that same resolve.
With a wave of her hand, Tara caused Xiao Huohuo, Shi Jingjing, and Jiang Wanwan's disciple tokens to glow briefly before falling silent again.
"I've activated the points system on your tokens," she said. "You each begin with thirty starter points."
"Different contributions to the sect will earn you more points."
"There's also a task board in the sect square. Completing missions there will reward you as well."
"These points can be used to access any of the sect's trial grounds. And of course, they have other uses too."
"At present, the Ninth Peak has three trial grounds available."
"You've just experienced the Body-Forging Waterfall. The other two are the Time-Space Secret Realm and the Trial Tower."
"There will be more in the future."
Everyone froze upon hearing "Time-Space Secret Realm."
Especially Gu Chenyuan.
On the way to the waterfall, he had sensed a familiar aura near one of the mountain paths.
Now he was certain—it resembled the Time-Space Secret Realm of his own Tianxuan Sect.
But… no, that couldn't be.
Secret realms were born of heaven and earth. They couldn't be moved.
Even if it were the same type of realm, the one in Tianxuan Sect only had a fivefold spiritual energy concentration. Star-Moon's outer sect alone had tenfold arrays.
A measly fivefold? That would be embarrassing in comparison.
He was probably just overthinking it.
Besides, it wasn't impossible that multiple Time-Space Realms existed in the world.
Still… what did Tara mean by "more to come"?
Did the Ninth Peak house even more untouched secret realms?
Was this mountain range truly so resource-rich?
On the other side of the sect grounds—
Shao Fei had brought out all his culinary mastery, preparing a full twenty-course feast with help from his two apprentices.
Each dish was carefully sealed within a dome of spiritual energy to maintain its freshness and flavor, as though it had just left the pan.
Wiping sweat from his brow, Shao Fei gave everything a final inspection.
Only after confirming that not a single detail was amiss did he finally look toward Xu Wen nervously.
"Old Xu… do you think Sect Master Tara will like it?"
He desperately wanted to stay.
Earlier, when he saw that spirit beast imbued with a trace of imperial bloodline being used as food… his eyes had nearly popped out of his head.
He had traveled all five continents, but never once had he seen an imperial-bloodline creature used as mere ingredients.
No wonder Tara had asked Xu Wen to assist.
His own cultivation was nowhere near enough to handle those beasts alone.
Would she find him lacking?
If he'd known sooner, he would've worked harder all those years ago.
"I think it looks excellent," Xu Wen said warmly, giving Shao Fei a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Wait here. I'll go invite the Sect Master."