"Huh?"

Song Yan’s mind focused, and he split off a wisp of Divine Sense to meet the fourth falling giant stele, but his gaze was fixed on the several glowing small rings.

The fourth ring lit up... the fifth... the sixth... until the twelfth small ring lit up, Song Yan’s consciousness in that space had already begun to blur, and his Divine Sense could no longer be divided.

He let the thirteenth ink-colored giant stele fall, blasting him out of the space.

"Hoo."

Song Yan breathed slightly, this feeling of death, even experiencing it again exactly the same, was still very difficult to remain calm and composed.

However, compared to the first time, this feeling was much better.

There were a total of seventeen light spots, corresponding to seventeen giant steles?

He sat cross-legged, slowly recovering his Spiritual Qi, constantly pondering in his heart.

If he could continuously cut down seventeen giant steles, what kind of change would there be?

"But why seventeen steles." He murmured to himself, holding the stone bead in his hand: "It’s really strange."

However, with insufficient strength and Realm, no matter how much he thought, it was useless. It was better to Cultivate diligently.

This year, Song Yan was sixteen years old, and his birthday had not yet passed.

Although his Spiritual Root Aptitude was mediocre, fortunately, he embarked on the path of Cultivation not too late. Now at Qi Refining Stage 5, he was already in the Middle Stage of the Qi Refinement Stage. At this rate, he would probably reach Qi Refining Perfection around forty or fifty years old.

In the Qi Refining Realm, the first three levels were relatively easy to Cultivate, and the Middle Stage three levels were also not difficult.

For ordinary Aptitude, if one had a small serendipitous encounter or sufficient Cultivation resources, entering the Qi Refining Stage 6 Realm in three to five years was not considered fast.

However, Qi Refining Stage 6 and 7 were a huge hurdle.

Countless Cultivators with mediocre Aptitude wasted their lives in the Late Stage of Qi Refining.

They exhausted their Lifespan and fate, and lost their Dao Heart for seeking the Dao.

"Cultivation resources are a big problem."

According to the sporadic lectures by the Elders in the Outer Sect and Song Yan’s own observations, the Qi Refinement Stage had a total of ten levels.

The first three levels were called Early Stage Qi Refining, levels four to six were called Middle Stage Qi Refining, and levels seven to nine were called Late Stage Qi Refining.

Qi Refining Stage 10, on the other hand, meant that the Qi Refinement Stage was already at Perfection and one could establish their Dao Foundation.

"Foundation Establishment."

Establishing a Dao Foundation meant truly breaking away from the category of Mortals. With abundant Spiritual Qi, one could control objects and fly into the sky.

There was no need to eat human food, and even if one remained in the Early Stage Foundation Establishment forever, they would still have over two hundred years of Lifespan.

Song Yan shook his head, why think so far ahead?

"I still have four Spirit Stones."

"As for Medicinal Pills... the effects of Qi Nourishing Pill are already negligible, only serving to restore Spiritual Qi."

Song Yan was planning ahead, already preparing for the outbound mission half a year later.

"In the Cultivation World, the strong prey on the weak, which is even more dangerous than the Mortal world. It’s better to be well-prepared."

Since entering the Cultivation World, Song Yan had very little experience in fighting others. He had only participated in the encirclement and suppression of a mad low-grade Yao Beast from the Sect when he first reached Qi Refining Stage 4.

"Spiritual Artifacts."

In Song Yan’s qiankun bag, there was indeed a small peach wood Gengjin sword, which was one of the standard weapons issued uniformly to Outer Sect Disciples by the Sect.

It looked good, but in reality, it could only barely be considered a low-grade Spiritual Artifact, not very useful.

In the battles within the great Realm of Qi Refining, unless it was a Late Stage against an Early Stage, in situations where Spiritual Qi differences were not significant, these Spiritual Artifacts and Talismans were the key to determining the outcome of the battle.

Unfortunately Song Yan was a pauper, where would he get the resources?

Spiritual Artifacts were the Sect’s basic welfare, Talismans.

Alas, he could only try his luck at the Fire Worker Village then.

"If this continues, scavenging might become a habit."

Song Yan smiled bitterly.

"Buzz—"

Just as Song Yan was frowning and thinking about how to improve his combat power, a soft yet penetrating sound came from outside Song Yan’s Immortal Cave.

It was the sound of a sound transmission Talisman.

Hmm?

Song Yan was slightly taken aback. Sound transmission Talismans were usually used when a mission was issued, and they were rarely seen by them, Outer Sect Disciples.

The last time someone used a sound transmission Talisman to contact him, an Outer Sect Disciple, was during the Sect’s grand ceremony.

He walked out of his Immortal Cave and took down the sound transmission Talisman hanging in the air.

"Junior Brother Song, today the Outer Sect Miscellaneous Affairs Hall received a plea for help. It seems there are some outside Loose Cultivators in Shiliang Town."

Senior Brother Lin Qing’s gentle voice came from the Talisman.

"Originally, I, your Senior Brother, should have gone down the mountain to deal with it, but I know Junior Brother Song, you are from Shiliang, and those few Loose Cultivators are all in the Early Stage of Qi Refining, so they won’t cause much trouble."

"Why don’t I hand this mission over to you, Junior Brother, so you can take this opportunity to return home and take a look. For the detailed situation, come to me before you leave the Sect, and I will give you the Jade Slip."

"Lin Qing, left."

Song Yan’s eyes lit up.

The Cave Abyss Sect had many types of missions. The Outer Sect Miscellaneous Affairs Hall managed the Outer Sect Disciples, and their missions were usually things like taking care of spiritual plants or cleaning the mountain gate, usually not leaving the Sect.

That’s why they were called "miscellaneous affairs" and not the Inner Sect’s "Sect missions, commissions."

Occasionally, there were missions to go down the mountain among the Outer Sect’s miscellaneous affairs, which usually involved some malicious incident in a Family or town affiliated with the Cave Abyss Sect, or, like this mission, there were foreign Cultivators with unknown intentions and who didn’t understand the rules, and they needed to go and clarify their identity and send them away.

For them, Outer Sect Disciples, this opportunity was too rare.

Song Yan had originally thought that he would only be able to go down the mountain and return home half a year later, during the official outbound mission led by Inner Sect Disciples.

"Senior Brother Lin truly takes great care of me. I must thank him properly when I see him."

Song Yan tidied up his things briefly... He looked around and found there was nothing much to tidy up. The fellow was as poor as a church mouse.

He walked out of his Immortal Cave and headed towards the spiritual plant garden.

Speaking of which, Senior Brother Lin Qing had been in the Outer Sect for many years. With his current strength at Level 8 Qi Refining, he was long qualified to enter the Inner Sect.

However, for some unknown reason, he had always stayed in the Outer Sect and became an assistant deacon of the Outer Sect Miscellaneous Affairs Hall.

He was in charge of the reception of new Disciples and the arrangement of miscellaneous affairs for the Sect. The two of them met when Song Yan was introduced into the Sect by him.

Senior Brother Lin Qing lived near the Outer Sect’s spiritual plant garden.

Now that spring had arrived, the crops in the spiritual plant garden were thriving, and the surrounding Spiritual Qi was abundant. No wonder Senior Brother Lin was willing to live here.

"Senior Brother Lin."

"Oh? Junior Brother Song, you came so quickly?"

Senior Brother Lin Qing walked out of his Immortal Cave, his smile gentle and amiable, already holding a verdant Jade Slip in his hand.

"I just happened to come out of seclusion and came over immediately after receiving Senior Brother Lin’s sound transmission Talisman."

"Huh? Junior Brother... you’ve Breakthrough?"

Lin Qing didn’t use his Divine Sense to investigate; it was just that since Song Yan entered the Realm of Qi Refining Stage 5, his aura was long, his complexion was radiant, and his temperament was vastly different from before.

His face was practically screaming "Breakthrough."

"It cost me my entire fortune, Senior Brother."

"Hahaha. Congratulations, congratulations."

Lin Qing laughed heartily: "Here, this is the mission Jade Slip, and some things you might need for this mission. If you don’t understand anything, feel free to ask me anytime, or send me a sound transmission."

Song Yan also had three sound transmission Talismans, given to him when he entered the Sect. He had never used them before.

"Okay, thank you, Senior Brother Lin."

"Don’t mention it."

After exchanging a few pleasantries and words of thanks, Song Yan left.

He had no financial means to repay the other party, so he could only discuss it another day.

Lin Qing watched Song Yan’s receding figure, his gentle smile gradually fading, returning to calm, and he murmured thoughtfully: "Song Yan."

"Song Yesheng."

He turned and returned to his Immortal Cave.

In a certain part of the Immortal Cave, there were some scattered bamboo tablets with different names carved on them.

Most of the names were crossed out with a deep mark.

"Gu Qingqing."

"Zhou Mengdie."

"Lu Ziye."

"..."

He didn’t pay attention to those bamboo tablets. He paced to the wall and gazed at the two names hanging below the Inner Sect Disciple section.

Song Yan.

Shao Sichao.

"I will never forget."

He took a deep breath, his eyes narrowed, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

"In my previous life, in my Sect..."

"These two people simply didn’t exist."