Chapter 40: The Journey Home

Ye Qingxuan traveled through numerous teleportation arrays, arriving in the territory of Qingzhou weary and dust-covered after a long journey.

Along the way, Ye Qingxuan discovered an invisible perk of being a disciple of the Xuantian Sect.

That was, for Xuantian Sect disciples, as long as they were not teleporting alone and waited for the array to activate with a sufficient number of people, they did not have to pay spirit stones themselves!

This was because the teleportation arrays located in the various major states, commanderies, and prefectures within the Xuantian Sect's domain were essentially constructed by the sect.

This, in turn, saved him a considerable amount of spirit stones.

However, throughout his journey, the Xuantian Sect disciple uniform he wore attracted many envious glances, making Ye Qingxuan feel somewhat uneasy.

Fortunately, he did not stay long at any stop along the way, so he did not attract any unnecessary trouble.

After reaching Qingzhou, Ye Qingxuan passed through a commandery-level array and a prefecture-level array before finally arriving at Qingmu Prefecture, where the Ye family was located.

One could only say that the Earth-Mystic Realm was truly vast; even with the assistance of multiple teleportation arrays, Ye Qingxuan spent a significant amount of time in transit.

After exiting the capital of Qingmu Prefecture, he did not linger, instead impatiently flying toward the Ye family's direction on his flying sword.

Seven days later!

Upon a hill within the borders of Qingmu Prefecture.

Ye Qingxuan was sitting cross-legged on the hill, meditating to regulate his breath. After a long time, he slowly opened his eyes and smiled bitterly

"I was careless. In my haste to get home, I didn't account for the distance between Qingmu Prefecture and the Ye family!"

When the Clan Head, Ye Yuhong, had taken him to the Xuantian Sect, it had only taken half a day to travel from the Ye family to Qingmu Prefecture.

But Clan Head Ye Yuhong possessed the Golden Core cultivation realm and used a fourth-grade flying vessel for travel, so naturally, the time taken to reach Qingmu Prefecture was much shorter.

Ye Qingxuan was currently only at the Qi Refinement stage. After seven days of flying on a sword, he had only covered more than half the distance; he estimated it would take several more days to reach the Ye Clan Immortal City.

Fortunately, the Xuantian Sect was not lacking in topographical maps; otherwise, on his first trip home, he might not have been able to find the Ye family's location on his own.

"If I had known, I should have asked the Clan Head to leave a transmission talisman. Now I'm stuck traveling like a fool."

After his spiritual power recovered, Ye Qingxuan stood up and shook his head in frustration.

At that time, he had not yet entered the realm of cultivation, so his thinking had not been thorough enough. He would take this as a lesson for the future!

After silently warning himself, Ye Qingxuan summoned his flying sword again, transforming into a streak of rosy light as he flew toward the Ye Clan Immortal City.

"Roar!"

Not long after he had taken off, Ye Qingxuan was startled by a massive roar from below.

Looking down from his high vantage point, Ye Qingxuan focused his gaze toward the sound and discovered a late-stage first-grade tiger-type demon beast attacking a village.

Seeing this, Ye Qingxuan felt a mix of laughter and helplessness

"A wild demon beast? Is my luck good or bad?"

Demon beasts? Within the Inner Five Domains of the Earth-Mystic Realm, under the powerful suppression of the various hegemon-level powers, demon beasts were currently not a significant threat. They were basically controlled and raised within various mountain ranges by the major powers, serving as a form of sustainable resource.

As for any stray demon beasts that emerged, the major powers generally held the responsibility of clearing them out.

As far as Ye Qingxuan knew, the Xuantian Sect's Mission Hall frequently issued patrol missions specifically to clear out demon beasts that were born outside of controlled areas.

It was through these various measures that the vast territories under the control of the major powers were able to maintain peaceful and stable development.

Therefore, it was quite difficult to encounter a demon beast outside of the mountain ranges.

The demon beasts encountered outside the mountains were generally those that had recently emerged and possessed low strength.

The immortal path flourished in the Earth-Mystic Realm, and the spiritual energy was dense; even most regions without spiritual veins possessed a spiritual energy density equivalent to a first-grade spiritual vein.

In such an excellent cultivation environment, beasts would occasionally transform into demon beasts and scatter throughout the realm, though cases of demon beasts attacking villages occurred only sporadically.

Furthermore, most villages were guarded by cultivators of the Qi Refinement stage or even the Foundation Establishment stage.

It could be said that in the Earth-Mystic Realm, villages composed solely of mortals were extremely rare; basically, every village had cultivators stationed there.

After all, even without spiritual veins, the cultivation environment of the Earth-Mystic Realm was sufficient for rogue cultivators of the Qi Refinement stage to practice.

At this moment, below Ye Qingxuan.

Outside the village, two mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators were fighting desperately against the late-stage first-grade demon beast.

Inside the village, hundreds of able-bodied men were anxiously drawing bows and nocking arrows, continuously firing at the beast. Although they caused no damage to its skin, they did not give up and continued their barrage.

Behind this group were thousands of the elderly, weak, women, and children, looking toward the village exterior in terror.

As Ye Qingxuan looked down, one of the two cultivators fighting the beast happened to spot him and hurriedly called out for help in desperate joy

"Fellow Daoist, please lend us your assistance! Liu Village will surely reward you handsomely afterward!"

Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan steered his sword slightly closer before stopping.

He did not strike immediately, but instead began to carefully observe the environment below and the demon beast.

"So this is a demon beast? It certainly has thick skin, but the meat must be quite chewy!"

Looking at the beast, a flash of reminiscence crossed Ye Qingxuan's eyes. It seemed he still owed Qing Xiao a meal, didn't he?

While Ye Qingxuan was observing, the battle below had entered a fever pitch. The demon beast grew more courageous as it fought, roaring incessantly.

Meanwhile, the two mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators of Liu Village were being beaten back step by step. Blood leaked from the corners of their mouths, and the glow from their low-grade dharma swords began to dim.

When they first saw Ye Qingxuan approaching, their faces were filled with joy, but upon realizing that he showed no sign of acting, they fell back into despair.

*Pfft!*

*Pfft!*

Finally, under another attack from the demon beast, both men spat blood and collapsed to the ground.

After the two fell, the demon beast did not stop its assault; it lunged forward, its beastly body pouncing toward them.

"It's over!"

"We're dead! What will happen to Liu Village? *Cough, cough!*"

Just as the two reached the brink of despair, a streak of sword light suddenly pierced through the throat of the leaping demon beast.

The moment the beast died, the sword light swept up its corpse and flew upward.

That streak of sword light was precisely the Sword Flight technique Ye Qingxuan had performed by controlling his flying sword.

He had been searching for the right moment to strike. Since this was his first battle, for the sake of safety, Ye Qingxuan had not approached the battlefield himself, instead manipulating his flying sword to attack from a distance. Fortunately, it had worked.

After collecting the demon beast's corpse, Ye Qingxuan began flying toward the Ye Clan Immortal City once more.

Only then did the two below react. Overjoyed, they hurriedly asked

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist, for saving our lives! May I ask your honorable name?"

"Xuantian Sect, Ye Qingxuan!"

After this trip, he would basically no longer leave the Xuantian Sect, so there was no need to hide his name.

As his voice faded, Ye Qingxuan's figure vanished into the distance.

In Liu Village, a young child watched Ye Qingxuan's departing figure, his eyes filled with an unprecedented sense of longing.

Three days later!

The silhouette of a massive city began to emerge in Ye Qingxuan's vision. He paused in mid-air for a moment, gazing at the distant city. His excited emotions instead settled into a calm, and he murmured to himself

"I've arrived!"

"Father, Mother, I am home!"

(End of Chapter)