Junior Sister must ascend this time!

Before Yan Li could finish speaking, he transformed into a streak of light and shot out, but he was still a step too slow...

The wisp of black energy had already entered Zhou Ke's dantian. His face instantly turned deathly pale, and his body convulsed violently, as if something was tearing him apart from the inside.

"No! No... Ah..."

Zhou Ke screamed in agony as his body swelled uncontrollably, and the surrounding spiritual energy surged wildly, as if it were about to explode at any moment.

Pu Hengzhi and Yan Li acted simultaneously, using their spiritual power to create a barrier, protecting the others behind them.

"boom!"

Zhou Ke self-destructed, leaving only shattered spiritual energy chains on the spot, not even a scrap of clothing behind.

The power of the Nascent Soul stage cultivator's self-destruction almost leveled the Heavenly Punishment Hall. Even the combined spiritual energy shield of the Void Refinement and Mahayana stages couldn't completely block the violent impact.

Everyone was injured to varying degrees. Pu Hengzhi, who was at the front, took the brunt of the impact and coughed up blood.

Yun Qing quickly helped him up and asked anxiously, "Sect Leader, how are you?"

Pu Hengzhi waved his hand, "It's alright, you go back with Yan Li first. I have other things to take care of, I'll come find you another day."

"But..." Yun Qing was worried, not only about his injuries but also his condition.

Yan Li then pulled her forward, saying, "Let's go, your sect leader needs some time."

Yun Qing had no choice but to obediently follow them away, and they remained silent the entire way.

Yan Li was also feeling quite uncomfortable the whole way. He was really not used to his little apprentice suddenly becoming silent.

After all, she's still a child and has never seen anything like this before. We shouldn't let her get scared and cause her to lose her Dao heart.

Back at Tianji Peak, he spoke cautiously, "You've done very well. It's a pity about Zhou Ke, but he did make a mistake."

The rest is for the sect leader and elders to consider. The demons won't make any further moves in the near future, and the sect will strengthen its defenses. Just focus on your cultivation and don't overthink it.

"What did you say, Master?" Yun Qing snapped out of her reverie, blinking her eyes. "I was just thinking about the cultivation method for the Thunder Spirit Root and got a little distracted. Did I miss anything?"

She wanted to become stronger quickly so that Chengtian Sect would never be at the mercy of others again, and even the Demon Clan would not be able to harm Chengtian Sect for any reason.

Yan Li: ...So you didn't listen to a single word. Fine, at least your attitude is okay.

He coughed twice to ease the awkwardness. "It's nothing. I just said that your lightning spiritual root attribute is still unstable. Starting tomorrow, you still have to soak in the lightning pool every day to temper your spiritual root."

"Huh?! I'm going to get struck again?" Yun Qing slumped down instantly.

Yan Li took a sip of tea guiltily, then said expressionlessly, "Trust me, the lightning spirit root won't suffer so much in the lightning pool."

Yun Qing looked up at him, "That's why I don't believe you.

Yan Li: ……………

He changed the subject, "It's too much trouble for you to travel back and forth between Qingyun Peak and Tianji Peak every day, why don't you just stay here?"

"No." Yun Qing shook her head. "I want to go find my senior brothers and sisters. I don't want to spend every day with an old man like you."

Yan Li: ...Are you even speaking human language? How can I be an old man when I'm over a hundred years old?

After Yun Qing left, he returned to his room and stood in front of the mirror for a long time, comparing himself to himself. No matter how he looked at it, he was still the handsome man he was in his prime, not old at all...

Then... the next day Yan Li moved to Qingyun Peak.

He sat leisurely in Yun Qing's courtyard, munching on spiritual fruit and watching her meditate and cultivate.

Yun Qing didn't even look up, and said helplessly, "Master, you're being a bit noisy."

Yan Li looked completely innocent. "I didn't say anything."

Yun Qing: "You're hurting my eyes..."

Yan Li flicked the fruit pit away, hitting a small lark. "How have you been feeling these past two days in the Thunder Pool? Are you feeling much better?"

It would have been better if this hadn't been mentioned, because as soon as it was, Yun Qing jumped up and shoved Yan Li away. "Master, how dare you ask? The lightning spiritual root can endlessly absorb the electric arcs in the lightning pool, why didn't you tell me?"

She almost died from being electrocuted this morning, and she's still carrying electricity in her body.

Yan Li, who was kicked out, was actually quite innocent. His lightning spiritual root would eventually become saturated when absorbing electric arcs, and would automatically stop once it reached a certain value. After that, those electric arcs would temper his spiritual root in his dantian until they disappeared.

…How can you blame him? He had no idea that his little apprentice had a "Gluttonous" spiritual root.

Having nowhere to go, Yan Li went to find several other junior disciples.

He went to Pei Shubai's courtyard to instruct him on swordsmanship, and things were fine at first.

In a moment of heightened emotion, he wasn't paying attention and the electric current surged through Pei Shubai's sword, knocking him unconscious.

Yan Li became much more obedient when watching Si Mingche draw talismans, and dared not move around easily.

But Si Mingche was a stubborn fool; he insisted on drawing a lightning talisman to compete with him in terms of power. The result was predictable: Si Mingche's courtyard exploded...

The blast even destroyed a wall in Jiang Mian's neighboring courtyard. Jiang Mian looked at the two of them with utter despair, "Uncle-Master Yan Li, why don't you just electrocute me? I'm tired, I don't want to repair the courtyard anymore..."

From then on, a sign was hung outside the gates of all three of their courtyards: "Uncle-Master Yan Li is not allowed to enter!"

Only Cen Ning dared to stand in front of Yan Li, her face flushed, and asked, "Uncle-Master Yan Li, can you give me a flirtatious look?"

So for the next few days, he spent his time in Cen Ning's courtyard... channeling his lightning power, or to put it bluntly, charging his magical artifact.

Cen Ning was happy; her magical artifact's attack power had increased significantly, but Yan Li was nearly exhausted...

Finally, he moved back to Tianji Peak in tears.

He just wanted to spend more time with his apprentices and junior disciples, to soak up some youthful energy, but who knew...

Only now did he realize that it was better to be an old man; at least Xuanwei and the others were still relatively normal.

.........

With only one month left before the opening of the Spirit Void Secret Realm, the elders decided to give the five of them a final test in the Trial Valley.

Although they are currently cultivating diligently, they always cultivate separately, scattered like stars in the sky, but gathered as a pile of dung.

The most important thing in the secret realm is teamwork; it's time for them to get used to each other.

Aside from Yun Qing, the other four didn't take the news seriously. After all, they had ventured into the Trial Valley countless times, and they figured they could probably come out in less than an hour this time.

Si Mingche confidently patted his chest and said to Yun Qing, "Junior Sister, don't worry. Just treat it as a trip for fun, and leave the rest to us."

The group was first teleported to the Sword Array Swamp. As soon as they landed, they heard Si Mingche shout:

"Holy crap, how come there are so many swords?!?!"

Pei Shubai and the others also felt something was wrong; the swords they used in their usual trials were less than one-fifth the size of this one.

Are the elders going to kill them?