...

"Quickly, go!"

Gu Sheng pulled Ling Xiao into a secluded mountain path, their steps urgent.

The spirit grass on either side of the path swayed incessantly with the breeze they stirred, exuding a faint fragrance.

"Why are you running?"

Ling Xiao panted heavily as he caught up.

"Those disciples aren’t chasing us."

Gu Sheng didn’t stop and replied without turning his head.

"It’ll be too late once they realize. Su Muxue’s influence in Qinghe Holy Land is far beyond your imagination. Her pause today is enough to make me an enemy of the entire Holy Land."

"Is it really that exaggerated?"

Ling Xiao’s eyes widened.

"Wasn’t it just a couple of words?"

Gu Sheng suddenly stopped, turned and looked directly at Ling Xiao.

"Three years ago in the Northern Territory wilderness, I personally witnessed a core disciple get his legs broken and thrown into a demon beast nest just for looking at Su Muxue a bit too long by one of her pursuers."

Ling Xiao gasped.

"This..."

"Now is not the time to explain."

Gu Sheng glanced around, pointing towards a vine-covered cave not far away.

"There, quickly!"

They quickened their pace and soon arrived at the cave entrance.

The entrance was concealed by dense vines, hard to spot unless closely inspected.

Gu Sheng cautiously scouted around, ensuring no one was following before pushing aside the vines to enter the cave.

The cave’s interior space wasn’t large, but sufficient for two people to sit and cultivate.

Several cracks in the ceiling allowed weak skylight to filter in. A thin layer of dust covered the ground, clearly unused for a long time.

"Here will do."

Gu Sheng retrieved a few array flags from his storage bag and began setting up an isolation array at the entrance.

His techniques were skilled, placing the flags in specific positions on the ground, swiftly forming a complex array map.

Ling Xiao watched in amazement.

"Is this... a Xuan Rank isolation array? When did you learn this?"

Gu Sheng didn’t answer, focusing solely on finishing the last few array patterns.

As the last flag fell, the entire array buzzed to life, an invisible barrier completely sealing the cave entrance.

"Now we can cultivate in peace."

Gu Sheng finally relaxed, taking out a translucent, baby-hand-shaped spirit grass from his robe.

Gu Sheng placed the Tai Chi Seven Star Sword suspended three feet above his head.

The sword emitted a gentle silver light, mingling with the skylight entering from above.

Ling Xiao knew Gu Sheng was unwilling to say more, so he stopped asking, found a corner to sit cross-legged, and began his cultivation technique to absorb spiritual energy.

Gu Sheng formed sealing signs with his hands, activating the Nine Dragon Heaven and Earth Technique within him.

As the technique ran, nine faint dragon-shaped shadows gradually appeared around him, slowly swimming in circles.

The Holy Infant Grass gripped in Gu Sheng’s left hand released its violent energy into his meridians.

Meanwhile, the silver light cast by the Tai Chi Seven Star Sword acted like a catalyst, drawing the surrounding nature’s spiritual energy to form a small vortex.

"The way of Yin, mysterious beyond measure..."

Gu Sheng mentally recited the mantra, circulating the Yin attribute spiritual power through a specific pathway.

His aura gradually turned icy, and the temperature inside the cave seemed to drop a few degrees.

Ling Xiao was startled awake by the sudden chill, opened his eyes to see Gu Sheng’s state, and couldn’t help but gasp.

Gu Sheng’s body was coated in a thin layer of frost, yet the dragon shadows became increasingly clear, each dragon scale carrying a ghostly blue light.

"What cultivation technique is this guy practicing?"

Ling Xiao was both shocked and felt a pressing urgency.

Gritting his teeth, he took out a long-cherished elixir pill and swallowed it, also beginning to fully assault his own bottleneck.

Outside the cave, the spiritual energy disturbance had attracted the attention of several cultivators in the distance.

"There’s an unusual gathering of spiritual energy at midway up the Xuanming Divine Mountain, let’s go investigate."

said a cultivator in a blue robe.

Beside him, Wang Yuchen squinted.

"That direction... could very likely be the person we’re looking for."

"Gu Sheng?"

Asked the third cultivator, Liang Yu.

Wang Yuchen nodded, turning to the leading man.

"Long, this time I entrust it to you."

Long Teng, a standout among the Qinghe Holy Land Core Disciples, with a cultivation of half-step Taichu Realm, makes him a rare match among his peers.

His face was stern, and he responded with just a faint "Hmm."

"Let’s go, make it quick."

Long Teng took a step forward, his pace seeming slow, yet he covered several zhang in a stride, soon leaving the two behind.

Wang Yuchen and Liang Yu hurried to follow, and the three raced towards the direction of the spiritual energy fluctuation.

Inside the cave, Gu Sheng’s cultivation was at a critical moment.

The energy of the Holy Infant Grass had been completely absorbed by him, making his mastery of the Nine Dragon Heaven and Earth Technique First Level increasingly solid.

He could feel that he was just a step away from a breakthrough.

"Hold on a little longer..."

Gu Sheng silently chanted in his heart, increasing the speed of spiritual power absorption.

The spiritual energy outside the cave was drawn, surging into the cave like rivers converging into the sea, even forming a small spiritual energy storm around the cave.

Ling Xiao was awakened by this commotion once again, seeing Gu Sheng’s state, feeling both envious and anxious in his heart.

The gap between the two was widening at a visible speed.

"Can’t fall too far behind..."

Ling Xiao gritted his teeth and also started to frantically absorb spiritual energy.

His forehead was dripping with cold sweat, his meridians faintly aching from the excessive spiritual power infusion, but he didn’t dare to relax.

Just as the two were training with all their might, Gu Sheng suddenly opened his eyes, nine Dragon Shadows simultaneously let out a silent roar, then entered his body.

"Someone’s coming."

Gu Sheng said in a deep voice, with coldness in his tone.

"Found it!"

Liang Yu’s eyes gleamed with excitement, the spiritual energy gathering at his fingertips slightly trembled, pointing to the cave entrance hidden by vines not far away.

Originally, his cultivation was shallow, unable to capture those near-dispersed traces in the flowing mountain winds, but with Long Teng’s assistance, those traces were now clearly discernible.

Wang Yuchen squinted, staring at the seemingly ordinary cave.

He remembered the act that Gu Sheng and Ling Xiao put on a few days ago—a charade of pretending not to know each other and even keeping a deliberate distance.

Now it seemed, that clumsy performance was simply laughable.

"Birds of a feather indeed."

Wang Yuchen sneered, his eyes filled with malice.

Long Teng stood at the forefront.

He had long thought of a strategy and now lifted his palm without hesitation, a mass of dark red spiritual energy condensed in his palm, smashing against the almost invisible transparent barrier at the cave entrance.

"Boom!"

The dull crashing sound echoed in the valley, Long Teng was forced to retreat several steps by the recoil, creating two deep pits where he stepped.

Almost at the same time, a muffled groan came from deep within the cave.

Gu Sheng was sitting cross-legged on a stone platform inside the cave, surrounded by a pale cyan whirlwind of spiritual energy.

Although Long Teng’s strike didn’t directly harm him, the shock from the damaged array struck his chest.

His body shook, blood seeping from the corners of his mouth, he forcibly swallowed the blood rising in his throat.

"Damn..."

Gu Sheng cursed inwardly, at this moment he was at a critical point of breakthrough, spiritual energy was rushing through his meridians, with any misstep leading to deviation.

Ling Xiao, originally meditating on the other side of the cave, opened his eyes immediately upon hearing the commotion.

Seeing Gu Sheng’s pale face, he rushed towards the cave entrance without a word.

"Who’s outside?"

Ling Xiao was puzzled but did not slow down.

He had to drive those uninvited guests away to buy Gu Sheng some time.

Outside the cave, Wang Yuchen frowned and looked at Long Teng.

"Long, what are you doing?"

Long Teng shook his arm which had gone numb from the impact, a sneer playing at the corner of his mouth.

"I just took a liking to this cave, how could I have known who was cultivating inside?"

He turned to Wang Yuchen, his eyes gleaming with cunning.

"The rule of Xuanming Divine Mountain, the strong can occupy an already used cultivation site, isn’t it?"

Wang Yuchen was initially stunned, then suddenly understood.

This move could either attack or defend, without directly violating the Qinghe Holy Land’s prohibition on disciples’ private battles, yet legitimately interfere with Gu Sheng’s cultivation.

He couldn’t help but admire Long Teng for his calculation.

"Ingenious, Long."

Wang Yuchen smirked, bowing his hands.

Long Teng spoke no further, clenching his right fist tightly, the muscles of his arm bulging like steel bars.

This time, he held nothing back, the spiritual energy condensed on his fist almost becoming tangible, accompanied by the howling wind as it slammed towards the already wavering array barrier.