A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Before they knew it, the day of the Miao Kuo Small Gathering arrived. On this day, a phantom flew out from a secluded valley in the Changliu Mountains and, in a flash, soared into the sky.

Duan Rong and Lü Yinlin were among them, but because they were moving so fast, they appeared as blurry shadows from a distance.

Besides the two of them, another person was also wrapped in the phantom image: Zhu He, the sect leader of Taiyi Sect.

It was Duan Rong's idea to bring Zhu He along to the Miaokuo Small Gathering. Duan Rong asked Lü Yinlin about this matter, inquiring whether there was any precedent for bringing a sect leader along.

Lü Yinlin said that as long as it's not too excessive, it's fine to bring two or three people. It's also common for sect elders to bring their favored disciples to broaden their horizons.

In fact, what Lü Yinlin didn't mention was that he had once taken Fu Yi to a small gathering of wonders. Unfortunately, this disciple, whom he favored most, ultimately betrayed the Taiyi Sect.

Duan Rong wanted to take Zhu He with him because the upcoming Miao Kuo Conference would inevitably involve discussing the division of interests among the various sects of the Nine Provinces, a matter that Zhu He was most familiar with. If Zhu He didn't go, Duan Rong would be completely clueless in this regard.

Two powerful Nascent Soul cultivators carried Zhu He as they soared through the sky, making the blazing sun overhead seem like a mere phantom.

Soon, they crossed the border of Yongzhou and entered the Moheyan Desert.

The ground was covered with endless yellow sand, and the sun overhead was blazing overhead.

The vast Gobi Desert stretches as far as the eye can see, devoid of any life.

Lu Yinlin had been here many times and was very familiar with the location of Miaokuo Courtyard. He led the way, and the three of them quickly crossed the Gobi Desert and entered the depths of the Moheyanqi.

Although they were soaring high in the sky, Duan Rong was very sensitive to distance. They had already passed through the central area of ​​the Moheyanqi, which was the location of the Faxiang Sect's mountain gate, and were heading deeper into the Moheyanqi.

At their speed, two incense sticks' worth of time had passed, and they had covered approximately several hundred miles.

Just then, Lü Yinlin's voice rang out. "That's Miaokuo Courtyard up ahead."

Upon hearing this, Duan Rong gazed intently and saw a glimmer of multicolored light in the vast yellow sand in the far distance, like a dazzling pearl.

They moved extremely fast, and the pearl in their field of vision rapidly expanded, soon transforming into a colorful halo.

The three hovered not far from the large halo of light.

Upon closer inspection, this halo appears extremely large, resembling a lake.

Zhu He was also visiting for the first time, and he stared in astonishment at the large, shimmering halo. It was clearly some kind of extremely powerful rune array.

The colorful halo obscured the view, making it impossible to see anything inside with the naked eye.

Duan Rong's mind stirred, and his divine sense was instantly released, but it encountered the flashing halo and could not penetrate it.

Duan Rong's eyes narrowed. His divine sense was so powerful that it was blocked just inches away from the halo.

"This array of runes surrounding Miaokuo Courtyard is designed to isolate divine sense," Lü Yinlin said after sensing Duan Rong's divine sense.

Duan Rong immediately withdrew his divine sense.

A few breaths later, a figure flew out from the colorful halo and hovered not far from the three. It was a monk wearing a brown robe. He glanced at the three and then put his hands together and smiled, "Are you the benefactors of the Taiyi Sect?"

Lü Yinlin said, "That's right."

The monk clasped his hands in a gesture of respect and said, "Please wait a moment, gentlemen." After he finished speaking, he took out a vajra, twirled it in his hand, and threw it toward the colorful halo below.

The vajra was covered with carved runes. When it touched the halo, it shone with brilliant light. The next moment, a hole suddenly opened in the halo below.

The monk clasped his hands together and said, "Three benefactors, please follow me inside."

After the monk finished speaking, he flew towards the entrance of the cave with the halo below, with Duan Rong and the other two following behind him.

As Duan Rong passed through the glowing opening, his eyes widened in surprise.

They were still in mid-air when they saw an ancient and serene temple below, with three courtyards and many ancient pines and cypresses. Keep in mind, this was deep within the Moheyan Desert, yet there were still pines and cypresses here.

But what surprised Duan Rong was not the temple and the pine and cypress trees, but the four huge golden Buddha heads outside the temple.

Yes, only the Buddha head.

To be precise, they were not Buddha heads, but the heads of the Four Great Vidyarajas, which, as Lü Yinlin said, were cast in pure gold. At this moment, the Buddha heads of the four statues shone with dazzling golden light.

Each head was almost the size of the main hall, and their necks were covered in golden sand.

These four statues of the Four Great Kings, cast in pure gold, are buried in the yellow sand, with only their heads exposed.

“Junior Brother Duan, this is Miaokuo Courtyard.” Lü Yinlin said, “This is a special place in the Faxiang Sect. Master Lingji lives here all year round and rarely goes to the sect. The sect affairs of the Faxiang Sect are handled by Master Huizhao and Master Daorong.”

"The Spirit Origin Master lives here year-round?" Duan Rong's eyes flickered slightly. In fact, he was quite interested in this legendary Spirit Origin Master from the Nine Provinces.

“Yes, just as Benefactor Lü said, Master Lingji has lived here for almost the entire past two hundred years.” The monk put away the vajra that had been hovering at the cave entrance and said, “Three benefactors, please come down with me.”

Duan Rong glanced at the gleaming golden Buddha head one last time before following the monk into the temple.

The three landed in the temple, in the second courtyard behind the main hall. The monk led them into a room.

Upon entering the room, they saw a stern-faced monk standing there. His fierce eyes swept over the three of them, and he said coldly, "Please show your invitation."

Duan Rong and Lü Yinlin took out the invitations, which the monk returned to them after reading them. Then, he bowed and looked at Zhu He, asking, "How should we address this accompanying benefactor?"

Before Zhu He could speak, Lü Yinlin said, "This is Zhu He, the sect leader of my Taiyi Sect."

The monk glanced at Zhu He and said, "Sect Leader Zhu, please register here."

Zhu He walked over, picked up a pen, and wrote his name in the register.

Duan Rong stood there, touching his nose, thinking to himself: This Faxiang Sect really has quite the airs.

But Lü Yinlin just stood there, eyes downcast, waiting for Zhu He to finish registering before the monk led them into another room through the side door.

Several people were already seated in the room. It was a very ordinary room, even quite shabby. A large conference table was surrounded by a few scattered chairs. Apart from the table and chairs, the room was completely empty, without even a single decorative item.

Although several people were sitting there, the room was completely silent, and no one spoke.

The three of them sat down somewhere, and Duan Rong noticed someone across the long table nod to him as a greeting. That person was Ji Wuyai from the Qingyang Sect. Beside him sat another person, a slightly overweight individual, whom Duan Rong guessed was Wei Yong, another Nascent Soul cultivator from the Qingyang Sect.

After Duan Rong and Lü Yinlin sat down, everyone's eyes were focused on Duan Rong.

Duan Rong was unaware that his portrait had been circulating among the high-ranking members of the various sects across the Nine Provinces for the past few months. Therefore, as soon as Duan Rong entered, they recognized him at a glance.

Lu Yinlin leaned slightly towards Duan Rong and quietly introduced the identities of the people in the room to him.

"Shang Lu, the patriarch of the Hundred Machines Institute."

"Ke Qian, the patriarch of the Free and Unfettered Alliance."

“The one sitting over there is Fu Hongyu, the patriarch of Wuji Palace.”

Fu Hongyu was a beautiful woman of considerable beauty. Although she was over a thousand years old, she still looked like a young girl, and apart from the unique depth in her eyes, there was almost no trace of time on her.

Duan Rong was quite curious and couldn't help but take a second look.

Before Fu Hongyu could react, a woman sitting next to her suddenly became angry, looking at Duan Rong and saying, "What are you looking at? You have no manners at all! I recognize you, aren't you that Duan guy who recently condensed his Nascent Soul? You're only in your early thirties and you've already condensed your Nascent Soul, aren't you afraid that you'll die young?"

Duan Rong smiled slightly and said, "I admire Senior Fu for her charm. Why are you being so jealous?"

The woman was also quite beautiful, even more so than Fu Hongyu, and more importantly, she exuded a youthful vibrancy and charm. Since she was sitting next to Fu Hongyu, Duan Rong assumed she must be Fu Hongyu's junior.

Therefore, his words immediately put the woman in an awkward position. She had originally intended to stand up for her patriarch because she saw Duan Rong staring at Fu Hongyu, and since Fu Hongyu was the sect's patriarch and couldn't be angered, Duan Rong's words made her behavior seem like jealousy.

“You…” The woman stood up abruptly, her face flushed red.

"Lingchen, you mustn't be rude," Fu Hongyu suddenly reprimanded the woman.

"Master," Ruan Lingchen said sweetly, rolling her eyes at Duan Rong.

Fu Hongyu said, "Sit down."

Ruan Lingchen dared not disobey her master, so she sat down with some grievance.

Fu Hongyu said, "I've spoiled this child. Please forgive him if he has offended me in any way, Brother Duan."

Duan Rong said, "They are all our own children, it's alright."

When Ruan Lingchen saw that Duan Rong was clearly taking advantage of her with those words, she couldn't retaliate because her master was nearby. She could only glare angrily at Duan Rong.

Fu Hongyu smiled slightly upon hearing Duan Rong's words, but remained silent.

Not long after, four more figures walked in from outside.

Duan Rong recognized two of them; they were Zhuang Tairu and Li Ku. They sat down beside Duan Rong and the other two.

Li Yunjing, the sect leader of Tianyan Sect, was also among them. He looked at Zhu He not far away with a complicated expression.

In the past month or so, Zhu He has been launching a fierce attack on some areas of conflict of interest between Tianyan Sect and Shenyi Sect, which has really hurt Li Yunjing.

Zhuang Tairu then sat down beside Duan Rong. He turned slightly and whispered to Duan Rong, "Brother Duan, if we have some free time at this wonderful gathering, how about we play another game of chess?"

After Zhuang Tairu finished speaking, he looked at Duan Rong with a smile. Although he had lost to Duan Rong in their last game, he had been holding a grudge because it was a quick game and he really wanted to find an opportunity to have a proper match with Duan Rong.

Duan Rong smiled without saying a word as he looked at Zhuang Tairu. He hadn't expected this guy to be so addicted to chess. Even at this wonderful little gathering, he was still thinking about playing chess.

As the two were talking, three people suddenly entered the room; they were three monks.

Leading the group was a young monk, followed by an old monk with white eyebrows, and a middle-aged monk who was so thin he was practically skin and bones and looked quite unrecognizable.

As soon as the three entered, Duan Rong stared blankly at the young monk in the lead.

The young monk looked to be in his early twenties, with a face as handsome as jade and skin as smooth as cream. More importantly, he possessed an otherworldly air, as if he were untouched by worldly affairs.

Although he was wearing monk's robes, had a shaved head, and had ordination scars on his head, his overall appearance and demeanor transcended these things, making the monk's robes, shaved head, and ordination scars seem unimportant.

Ruan Lingchen's gaze followed the young monk with infatuation, as if she were glued to him.

When Duan Rong looked at this person, besides being amazed by his appearance, more importantly, he had already guessed that this person was probably the number one person in the Nine Provinces, Master Lingji.

He never imagined that Master Lingji's appearance would be so alluring. Such a face would be attractive to anyone, not just women, but even he, as a man, would find it attractive.

At this moment, Lü Yinlin leaned down to Duan Rong and whispered, "This is Master Lingji. The old monk behind him is Huizhao, and the younger one is Daorong."

Upon hearing this, Duan Rong looked at the two monks behind Ling Ji and found that they were also looking at him.

Duan Rong condensed his Nascent Soul in his early thirties and was known as the second-best Spirit Foundation cultivator among the various sects of the Nine Provinces. How could Huizhao and Daorong not care?

Ling Ji stood at the south end of the council table, his eyes clear and bright, seemingly looking at both the assembled people and a void. There was no smile on his face as he simply said, “You all must have matters to discuss at this Miao Kuo Small Gathering. Therefore, Brother Ji Wuyai has specially moved this gathering forward by two years. Our Faxiang Sect will not participate in the matters you discuss. Once you have reached your conclusions, we will then discuss reinforcing the suppression tower's talisman array.”

After Lingji finished speaking, he walked straight out. Huizhao and Daorong followed behind him, and they walked out of the room together.

Duan Rong touched his nose, thinking to himself: The Faxiang Sect has really distanced itself from this.

The matters that the patriarchs of various sects wanted to discuss were nothing more than disputes over interests.

The Faxiang School dominated the Western Regions and never ventured beyond Yongzhou. None of the other schools in the Nine Provinces dared to set their sights on Yongzhou. Ultimately, this matter had absolutely nothing to do with the Faxiang School.

Regardless of the changing circumstances east of Yongzhou, the Faxiang School has always remained steadfast and unmoved, paying no heed to anything. (End of Chapter)