Chapter 582: Nine Suns
The next day, when Immortal Jiuyi returned to the palace where the Mount Shu Sect team was staying, he was greeted by an astonishing sight.
He saw three figures sitting calmly, with smoke from the Transformation of Five Qi into Essence Phenomenon filling the sky.
Without Wang Xuanling's restriction barrier, the smoke would have drifted across the capital of Yu, making it visible to everyone.
For someone like Immortal Jiuyi, the occurrence of Perfect Qi Circulation was certainly not unusual. His rise to the position of sect leader meant he was regarded as a prodigy among his peers, someone at the peak of cultivation.
However, while it was impressive for one or two prodigies in a sect to achieve Perfect Qi Circulation, having three attain it at the same time was truly remarkable.
If it hadn’t been for the "street loafer" squatting in front of the entrance, Immortal Jiuyi might have suspected that the Mount Shu Sect had discovered some extraordinary method that even allowed dogs to achieve Perfect Qi Circulation. In that case, he would have gone straight to question Venerable Wen Yuan.
In fact, after Jiang Yuebai's lecture, they had come up with a few "tricks" to slightly lower the threshold for achieving Perfect Qi Circulation. However, it hadn't reached such an absurdly low level yet.
"Three disciples achieving Perfect Qi Circulation. This generation of the Mount Shu Sect is truly filled with talented figures," Immortal Jiuyi said with a smile, keeping his surprise in check so as not to appear as if he had never seen such a scene before.
Wang Xuanling responded with a smile, "It’s all thanks to the disciples' diligence. Perhaps it’s Heaven rewarding hard work."
Upon hearing this, Immortal Jiuyi thought to himself, Does this mean the disciples of Fog-Hidden Mountain of Immortals don’t work hard?
After a moment of reflection, he reluctantly admitted that it might actually be true.
The head disciple, the current generation's eldest senior brother, was known for napping all day, which didn’t do much to foster good habits within the current generation of disciples.
Even Li Guanlong cultivated in his dreams, and his junior brothers all followed suit.
Seeing the Mount Shu Sect disciples' dedication, Immortal Jiuyi decided to give his sect's disciples a stern scolding when he returned.
Originally, when he offered to help the Mount Shu Sect team improve, it was merely to repay a small favor. It never even occurred to him that the Mount Shu Sect team might be able to challenge the Penglai Supreme Sect team after training in his hidden realm just for dozens of days.
After all, the Penglai Supreme Sect also had a hidden realm, with better training results and longer periods of practice than the Mount Shu Sect.
Yet, witnessing this scene, he couldn’t help but wonder if these young disciples of the Mount Shu Sect might truly deliver some surprises.
Immediately, he decided not to waste any more time.
Immortal Jiuyi swept his broad sleeve, and a screen of light rose from the ground, resembling a vast, multicolored mirror. It slowly moved toward the figures of the disciples.
Whizz—
As the light screen swept over the disciples, it moved and settled in the distance. To the naked eye, the young disciples had disappeared from their original spots, leaving only the standing light screen behind.
Looking through the mirror-like surface of the screen, an identical area appeared on the other side, where the three disciples, who had activated the Perfect Qi Circulation, could be seen practicing the circulation of qi calmly and steadily.
"I'll leave this entrance here so that you can enter and exit as you please," said Immortal Jiuyi.
At this thought, Chu Liang felt as if he could almost feel the chilling edge of a knife at his neck. He quickly tried to stop Tuntun, saying, "Be a good girl and stay home. Let’s not go outside."
"Owh..."
He quickly pinned down Tuntun, who pouted and stared up at Chu Liang with her large eyes, as if silently pleading for his sympathy.
"If there's anything you want to snack on, I’ll get it for you," Chu Liang offered, trying to placate her.
As he spoke with the little one, a sudden rumbling noise erupted from outside, as though the entire White Pagoda was being squeezed through a jagged cavern, shaking and accompanied by scraping roars.
What's going on?
Chu Liang was momentarily distracted, giving little Tuntun the opportunity she needed. She suddenly bolted, crashing headfirst into the exit of the White Pagoda.
"Hey!!!" Chu Liang quickly followed after her.
But as soon as he stepped out, he was stunned.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself no longer in the courtyard where the Mount Shu Sect disciples had been peacefully cultivating but in the middle of a vast desert. Jiang Yuebai, Xu Ziyang, and Ling Ao were nowhere to be seen. The air around him was hotter than fire, scorching his body and making it difficult to breathe as soon as he arrived.
As Chu Liang looked up, a wave of dizziness hit him.
There were nine suns blazing in the sky!
Where am I? Am I still inside the Divine Mirror? Is this another illusory realm created by the legendary artifact, like Misty Waters City before? But why is this happening?
But Immortal Jiuyi shouldn’t be interfering with our cultivation, so did the Divine Mirror do this on its own?
Legendary artifacts of this level typically had spirits, and it wasn’t rare for them to act without a command. But what could be the reason for this?
Before he could make sense of it, he saw little Tuntun, completely unfazed by the scorching heat, flap her wings and fly forward.
Chu Liang had no choice but to follow. Perhaps she would find something.
The nine blazing suns in the sky radiated intense heat, making the environment nearly unbearable. However, as a fifth-realm cultivator, he could circulate his qi and dissipate the oppressive warmth.
Even when he fully expanded his divine sense, he couldn’t find the boundaries of this realm, which felt deeply unsettling.
He followed Tuntun forward, unsure of how much time had passed—there was no cycle of day and night in this world; the nine suns hung perpetually in the sky.
At last, just as Chu Liang was beginning to grow impatient, the desert finally ended.
There, before him, stood a mountain.
Atop the mountain was a temple.