A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

The three rogue cultivators on the edge of the square had never taken Zhou Ping seriously; they were just chatting idly while watching the Yang-surname cultivator in the square.

One of the tall, thin men in the yellow robe, seeing that no one dared to come up and spar, looked around listlessly.

Just as he turned his gaze to the side and behind him, a figure in a green robe appeared in his line of sight at the foot of the distant mountain. Just as he looked on with suspicion and felt that the other party was somewhat familiar, the figure disappeared from his sight in a blur.

This sudden change immediately widened his eyes. He quickly turned around, rubbed his eyes again, and then patted the two fellow Daoists beside him in shock.

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen! I've spotted someone entering the Qinglian Mountain gate!"

"What did you say?!"

The square-faced man and another rogue cultivator turned around in surprise and asked in unison.

"It's that one! That forty or fifty-year-old cultivator in the green robe!"

The tall, thin man pointed at the Qinglian Mountain gate not far away and shouted incoherently.

"Are you sure!?"

"Impossible! He's so old and only at the fourth level of Qi Refining, how could he possibly enter the Azure Lotus Profound Sect?"

Seeing the disbelief on the two men's faces, the tall, thin man blushed with anxiety. He stopped arguing and hurriedly chased after the place where the figure had disappeared.

The other two rogue cultivators, having reached this point, no longer had any doubts. After exchanging a glance, they hurriedly followed.

But there was no trace of Zhou Ping before the mountain gate. When the three rogue cultivators arrived, they looked at the sect-protecting array shimmering with spiritual light and sighed in unison.

"Could it be a Foundation Establishment cultivator who deliberately concealed their cultivation level?!"

Thinking of this, the three of them once again showed bitterness on their faces, looking heartbroken.

Inside the Spirit Mountain Realm, Zhou Ping saw that the sect-protecting formation behind him had returned to its original state, becoming faintly visible again. Only then did he put away his disciple token and examine the towering behemoth that reached into the clouds.

This sacred mountain is shared by the three sects: Qinglian Xuanzong, Taisu Xuanzong, and Bihua Xuanzong. Therefore, at the entrance of the great formation at the foot of the mountain, the three sects have each left three entrances for the sake of their own privacy. Zhou Ping entered the one representing the Qinglian Xuanzong.

As the five great sects that transcend worldly affairs, there are no anti-flying laws or restrictions within the Spirit Mountain Realm. Therefore, once members of their sects enter, they can freely use flying artifacts and fly freely.

Zhou Ping gazed at the bluestone path that stretched towards the sky, appearing and disappearing in the clouds and mist. Amazed, he immediately took out the flying boat from his storage bag. Once the palm-sized flying boat had transformed into its normal size in his eyes, he leaped onto it.

......

"Junior Brother Yun, the disciples will be arriving in two days to carry out sect missions. I wonder if you've collected all the procurement lists issued by Senior Brother Sect Leader?"

A middle-aged cultivator in white robes arrived at a courtyard in the Spirit Mountain Realm and spoke in a gentle voice. His voice was not loud, but it was clear and resonated into the house in front of him.

Then, the door creaked open, and a younger-looking man in a yellow robe stepped out, casually tossing a jade slip aside and lazily saying,

"It's all here, please take a look, Senior Brother Qin."

The white-robed man, addressed as Senior Brother Qin, ignored the other's nonchalant attitude, took the jade slip, and lightly pressed it to his forehead to examine it secretly.

A moment later, Senior Brother Qin opened his eyes, put away the jade slip, returned it to the man in yellow, and said with a smile,

"Thank you for your hard work, Junior Brother Yun. Here are a few more items that were recently procured by the sect. Please take the trouble to add them to the jade slip."

Then, a letter flew out from his sleeve and landed precisely in the raised palm of the man in the yellow shirt.

After receiving the letter, the man in the yellow shirt did not say anything and simply opened it.

"Maple cherry wood, fox crow blood, celestial crystal grass... Blood Coagulation Pill!"

The man in yellow, addressed as Junior Brother Yun, carefully perused the contents of the letter. When he saw the last item—the spiritual herb that needed to be purchased—his brow furrowed slightly, and he looked at the man in white with suspicion.

"Senior Brother Qin, why are you purchasing so many Blood Coagulation Pills again this time?"

Faced with Junior Brother Yun's questioning, Senior Brother Qin showed a hint of disdain, glanced at the pavilions and towers atop the mountain, and then said noncommittally,

"This is an order issued by the sect. I, your senior brother, am not aware of it. If Junior Brother Yun wants to know, why don't you go to the Lotus Hall up there and ask? It just so happens that Uncle Qingxu is stationed here."

"you!"

Before the man in yellow could speak again, the two men paused simultaneously, sensing footsteps approaching from afar. They then simultaneously suppressed their anger and disdain, replacing them with calm and indifferent expressions.

Shortly after, a respectful voice rang out from outside the courtyard.

"Disciple Zhou Ping has come to receive a sect mission from his martial uncle."

"Come in."

The wooden door to the courtyard opened automatically under Zhou Ping's respectful gaze, followed by a warm male voice.

Zhou Ping straightened his clothes before stepping inside. He then saw two middle-aged men standing quietly in the courtyard, looking at him calmly.

"Greetings to my two senior uncles!"

He hurriedly bowed to the disciples, and from the powerful spiritual pressure emanating from the two men, he immediately knew that two Foundation Establishment senior uncles were standing in front of him.

"No need for formalities."

After recognizing the newcomer, the man in yellow raised his hand to decline the formalities, but there was a hint of surprise in his gaze as he looked at Zhou Ping.

The white-robed man beside him narrowed his eyes upon seeing Zhou Ping's appearance, a sense of familiarity rising in his heart.

"I never expected to find such a sturdy and resilient cultivator like yourself in our sect. How old are you now?"

Although the man in yellow was handsome, his words displeased Zhou Ping, but he dared not show the slightest dissatisfaction and replied in a low voice.

"Reporting to my senior uncle, I have just turned eighteen this year."

"What?! Eighteen years old!"

Upon hearing Zhou Ping's answer, the man in yellow blurted out, without hesitation using his divine sense to investigate Zhou Ping's condition.

Zhou Ping clenched his fists and, under the increasingly gloomy gaze of the other party, recounted his experiences in Flower Valley in detail, hoping to attract the attention of his two senior uncles.

Upon hearing this, the man in yellow's face turned extremely ugly. He seemed to have never expected that a cultivator would so blatantly intercept and kill a disciple of the Azure Lotus Sect. For a moment, the courtyard fell silent.

The white-robed man standing to the side, after Zhou Ping finished speaking, showed a hint of understanding on his calm face, but a shadow of gloom flashed across his slightly narrowed eyes.

"You mean, it was Junior Nephew Qin who saved you?"

The man in yellow seemed to have made a connection to something, and abruptly shifted his gaze from Zhou Ping, turning to look at the silent Senior Brother Qin, his eyes flashing with a sharp light.

But the man in white robes seemed indifferent, glancing at Zhou Ping before turning and leaving without a word, seemingly unimpressed by the man in yellow robes' attitude.