Chapter 27: Heading to Tu Family Village

Cultivation knows no passage of time; even someone with low cultivation like Zhao Chun could harbor such thoughts.

Eight months and over two hundred and forty days passed in the blink of an eye.

Just as Zhao Chun had expected, she had successfully crossed the threshold between the early and middle stages of Qi Refinement.

She faced no obstacles with the fifty-two single acupoints or the three hundred double acupoints, only spending extra effort on the fifty extra-meridian acupoints. Once all the meridians and acupoints were cleared, she could form a complete cycle, expelling the last trace of mortal turbidity from her body and advancing to the fourth layer of Qi Refinement.

Furthermore, the *Tiger Strength Manual* and *Serpent Step* had officially reached the entry level, bringing significant improvements to her strength and speed. While the *Single-Line Flying Dagger* showed no visible change after reaching minor mastery, the *Swift Sword Technique* had become much more exquisite after reaching minor mastery, as her footwork and swordsmanship merged more seamlessly, much to Zhao Chun's delight.

In a flash, a year and a half had passed since she arrived in this Hengyun World. She had once thought she would waste many years in the outer sect, but through various opportunities, she had already risen to the inner sect.

Receiving congratulations from her mortal servants, Zhao Chun calmed her mind.

The road ahead was long; she could not allow joy or anger to disturb her inner self.

Since she was now an inner sect disciple, the formal process of being recorded in the disciple residence was bypassed, yet Zhao Chun still had to make a trip there to collect her minor examination tasks.

Before that, there was another urgent matter: having broken through to the middle stage of Qi Refinement, she needed to obtain the second volume of the *True Consciousness Method Scripture* to continue her cultivation. She had to go to the Wan-Zang Pavilion, verify her cultivation level, and secure the second volume.

Only after this series of errands did she finally enter the disciple residence.

After collecting a wooden token at the counter, a gray-clad handyman handed her a map: "The Tu Family Village is located north of Mount Song, a journey of over several thousand miles. It is a long way; I shall record a three-month period for you, if that is acceptable?"

Zhao Chun nodded and asked, "Are all the minor examination tasks this far away?"

The handyman smiled sheepishly and replied, "Not necessarily. The sect issues various tasks every two months for disciples to choose from. It is just that you arrived late, and the closer tasks have already been taken. If you are unsatisfied, new ones will be available next month."

"That won't be necessary." Zhao Chun shook her head; she was merely asking in passing. Privately, she wanted to travel far to see the mountains and rivers and broaden her horizons.

With all her belongings packed, Zhao Chun did not wish to delay. After leaving a few instructions at Xuancao Garden, she departed from the sect.

The Lingzhen Sect was located in the Southern Region of the Hengyun World, nestled within the valleys surrounded by three mountains.

Emerging from the valley, one reached a lowland flanked by two mountains. Because it lay outside the sect's direct jurisdiction, it was known as the Lingzhen Valleylands. Looking down from above, Zhao Chun could see a dense distribution of houses arranged in lines, which likely belonged to the families of cultivators.

The Gathering City was located at the first plain after leaving the valleylands. By this time, Zhao Chun had been away from the sect for three days, and she had already used one smoke boat from her talismans.

It was not until half a month later that she truly entered the territory of Mount Song.

Zhao Chun wondered why, despite being so far from the sect, there were still families serving as subordinates. Should they not have attached themselves to a closer sect?

She later learned from the locals that this was actually the former site of the Lingzhen Sect, the place where the founder, Daoist Weiye, had established the sect. When the third-generation sect leader moved the sect to the valleys, some cultivation families were unwilling to follow and remained in place.

The Tu family was one of them.

When the Lingzhen Sect relocated, they had stripped the area of all usable spiritual veins, spiritual soil, and even minerals and medicinal plants. Only some untransferable mountain springs and insignificant spiritual veins were left for the remaining families to survive on.

Over time, the families had merged through encroachment and conquest, each carving out their own territories. The Tu Family Village was the area governed by the Tu family, located at a river bend north of Mount Song.

From the intelligence she gathered, the head of the family, Tu Cunshan, was merely a fourth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator and was already elderly, with no hope of reaching the late stage of Qi Refinement.

None of his children were successors; most were mortals. Only one great-grandson, Tu Congwen, was a three-spirit root cultivator, currently sixteen years old and hovering at the second layer of Qi Refinement.

It seemed that without the protection of the Lingzhen Sect, these cultivation families were mostly showing signs of decline. Zhao Chun sighed deeply and continued toward the river bend.

Although the Tu family's path to immortality was dim, their governance of the city was unexpectedly good.

Zhao Chun recalled her smoke boat and entered the city. Unlike the Gathering City, where immortals and mortals lived together and rogue cultivators could be seen everywhere, she looked around and found no cultivators—only ordinary people.

The Tu family did not reside here, but in an ancient manor ten miles outside the city, up a small path toward the mountainside.

Zhao Chun presented her Lingzhen Sect token, and the gatekeeper hurriedly ushered her in. In the main hall, an elderly man with white hair and beard—the family head, Tu Cunshan, himself—came to welcome her.

Most of those beside him were middle-aged men and women, but two youths stood out like cranes among chickens.

Before Zhao Chun could ask, Tu Cunshan spoke first: "This is my great-grandson, Tu Congwen."

Tu Congwen was the one with the square face. His gaze was upright and honest; seeing Zhao Chun look over, he froze momentarily before immediately bowing. "Greetings, Senior."

Presumably feeling that she was too young, he seemed somewhat uncomfortable. Zhao Chun felt a pang of embarrassment; sometimes she truly wished she could grow up faster to make things easier.

The other youth had curved, friendly eyes and appeared very approachable. Tu Cunshan's expression darkened slightly, his lips parting several times before he spoke hesitantly: "This is my grand-nephew, Tu Mian."

"Greetings, Senior." He was expressionless, appearing even more composed than Tu Congwen. Upon closer inspection, Zhao Chun realized he was also at the second layer of Qi Refinement, and his spiritual energy was even more abundant.

However, there was no such figure in the sect's intelligence, which made Zhao Chun instinctively wary.

"That demon moth is diurnal, hiding by day and emerging by night. After I wounded it several days ago, it has not reappeared. However, the day after tomorrow is the full moon, and since the moth loves light, it will surely appear. Fellow Daoist may settle in first, and we shall go together the day after tomorrow."

Zhao Chun had no reason to refuse, so she stayed at the Tu residence for the time being.