The Central State Realm.
Wanhua Mountain Range—Wanhua City Ridge.
A distant, elusive fragrance of flowers drifted through the air, brushing past one's nose like a half-remembered dream.
Standing atop the city walls, Li Yingling gazed casually at her surroundings. Everywhere she looked, flowers of every hue bloomed in brilliant profusion.
Within the city ridge, this held true. Beyond its walls, even more so.
Countless varieties of flowers carpeted the nearby peaks. Even grass was a rare sight, and while trees were plentiful enough, those of any considerable age grew spindly and pitiful.
Not a single towering ancient tree could be found across the entire mountain range.
Regardless of season—spring, summer, autumn, or winter—flowers always blanketed these slopes.
Yet these flowers possessed a peculiar quality. Their fragrance seemed to blend into a single, unified scent.
Normally, an overwhelming concentration of floral fragrance would turn cloying—the more flowers, the more oppressive the smell became. But here, across these flower-covered mountains, the scent remained perfectly balanced, lending the place an almost mystical quality.
"All I can say is, the Central State truly lives up to its reputation. Every place has its wonders," Li Yingling remarked, turning to Zhang Miaoyu at her side. "Do you have confidence in this mission?"
Zhang Miaoyu nodded instinctively, then hesitated.
"Your second junior brother should be easy enough to handle... but can we really compete against your master?"
Li Yingling smiled with quiet confidence. "That depends entirely on who he's brought along."
"Your third junior sister? That young girl?" Zhang Miaoyu nodded in understanding. "Ah, that would certainly..."
Li Yingling cut her off, correcting her assumption. "I'm talking about my fifth junior brother—Cui Hao! My third junior sister is perfectly reliable."
Zhang Miaoyu looked puzzled, but she had already developed a system for understanding Li Yingling's words.
When something Li Yingling said didn't quite make sense, there was no need to dwell on it. She simply locked onto the key information—what she was meant to understand, and what she was expected to do.
Anything beyond that was unnecessary mental effort.
In short—just listen and obey.
"Understood!" Zhang Miaoyu nodded firmly. "Since your master has brought along the burden that is your fifth junior brother, our mission will certainly be completed faster than theirs."
Li Yingling nodded with satisfaction. She had to admit—while Zhang Miaoyu wasn't particularly sharp, her comprehension speed was impressive.
Xiao Baiqing was fine, but the other junior disciples tended to be problematic. They always wanted to get to the bottom of everything.
This was the location the Tianyan Sect's Sect Master had recommended, claiming there were good things to be found here.
In terms of scenery alone, he wasn't wrong—it was breathtaking. But the spiritual energy here was thin, even sparser than at their own sect back in Yuzhou City.
"Sparse" didn't quite capture it—the difference was stark.
The territory the Tianyan Sect's Sect Master had marked out was absurdly vast.
Li Yingling couldn't help but suspect that he was just making things up to amuse her master.
He had circled as much territory as possible, as if hoping that casting a wide enough net would surely catch something.
Li Yingling privately thought the Sect Master was simply too thin-skinned—otherwise, he would have drawn an even larger circle.
Obviously, having everyone search together wouldn't work.
They needed to spread out. Each group would take responsibility for certain areas, gathering intelligence on suspicious locations before systematically investigating each one.
Her master had taken Xiao Baiqing, Cui Hao, and Zhou Ping along with him.
In Li Yingling's eyes, her master had brought along every possible burden. Xiao Baiqing, of course, didn't count as a burden.
On the contrary, she was an asset—at the very least, Xiao Baiqing had quite a talent for managing Cui Hao.
Li Yingling herself would go with Zhang Miaoyu and Martial Aunt Xie.
Li Xingtian would partner with Lin Luoyu.
Qinghe had originally planned to come along, intending to protect Li Xingtian's group, but Elder Bai had held her back.
The reason was simple enough—aside from slacking off and dragging everyone down, no one could think of a single useful thing this flood dragon could contribute.
No matter how reluctantly, Qinghe couldn't withstand Elder Bai's gentle but firm hand.
A smile played across Li Yingling's face. Regardless of whether this place held what they sought, the scenery alone was stunning.
The world was vast, and beautiful.
Zhang Miaoyu glanced sideways at her team leader. Watching the smile on her face, she realized this was something she never would have seen back when she was still in her original squad.
Ever since her team leader had seen her master, she had become a different person.
"Yingling, do you have news from your side?"
Xie Lingyu walked up onto the city wall, speaking softly to Li Yingling, who was still admiring the scenery.
Li Yingling turned to face Xie Lingyu and smiled.
"I think there's something odd about these flower ridges before us."
Xie Lingyu turned her gaze toward the flowering mountains.
A gentle breeze rose, and flowers of countless colors swayed in the wind.
Though she had spent considerable time in the Central State, she had never heard of such a place.
It was beautiful here, and fragrant. The local cultivators weren't particularly powerful, but they were friendly.
They answered questions readily and热心ly.
The reason this place remained obscure was likely its meager spiritual energy concentration.
In the Central State, if you wanted to live well, clawing your way upward with every ounce of effort was the only path forward.
Even Xie Lingyu, as the personal disciple of Bai Xuanling of the Tianyan Sect, was no exception.
This place offered no future. To those chasing the Dao of immortality, it was a dead end.
Naturally, no news ever spread from here.
Xie Lingyu exhaled softly, trying to release the pressure she carried.
Even after advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, she still couldn't perceive Chu Xingchen's cultivation level.
According to her master, Chu Xingchen seemed to have already reached the Deity Transformation stage.
During her seclusion, he had apparently fought with Daoist Yuyang—and even gained the upper hand.
A former Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator who once pleaded for her help had, in what felt like no time at all, grown beyond her comprehension.
And Yan Yun was the same...
Xie Lingyu still remembered her original dream—to become stronger than Yan Yun.
Back then, she was merely a minor Qi Condensation cultivator, while Yan Yun was already at the Great Perfection of Nascent Soul.
During Yan Yun's training at Zhuji Peak, every day brought new injuries. Every other day, she would reliably cough up blood.
Bai Xuanling's words were filled mostly with mockery and pressure.
Yet Yan Yun completed her cultivation at an astonishing speed.
Even Bai Xuanling had to admit—Yan Yun was indeed a rare top-tier talent, and the Tianyan Sect had found a worthy successor.
The young Xie Lingyu had once thought her future would surely surpass Yan Yun's.
She had wanted her own master to praise her—"Little Lingyu is amazing. The future of Tianyan Sect rests on your shoulders."
But looking back now, the memory made her want to laugh.
Xie Lingyu relaxed her tense mind. Though she didn't know what cultivation path Chu Xingchen walked, from what she could see of her master and the Tianyan Sect's Sect Master, at least he still followed a righteous path.
That was enough for her.
Not everyone in the world had to be worse off than her. Their talent didn't have to be lower than hers.
Every benefit in the world wasn't rightfully hers.
Everything she had now was already more than countless others could ever hope to achieve.
Just as Xie Lingyu was scanning the flowering mountains before her, Li Yingling's curious voice broke through:
"Martial Aunt Xie, why didn't you travel with my master?"
Xie Lingyu turned to look at Li Yingling, then answered after a moment's thought:
"He's too troublesome. He'd definitely drag me around causing chaos, never getting anything productive done."
Li Yingling's expression cleared with sudden understanding, and she secretly rejoiced—so Martial Aunt Xie was shy.
She nodded with feigned seriousness.
"Indeed, Master does enjoy playing around a bit too much."
Xie Lingyu studied Li Yingling's expression and found it surprisingly earnest.
Unlike Qinghe, whose face would always betray her teasing while her mouth spoke misleading words.
Li Yingling took a deep breath, then announced:
"I've picked up some information. There seems to be a flower spirit in these ridges. It should be enough to gather some intelligence."
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