Sect

Two months later.

Xu Yue was in her training field, having just finished practicing the Origin Sword Style.

"Breaking through to the Soul Enlightenment realm has really helped a lot in improving my swordsmanship " said Xu Yue as she sat crosslegged a pondered her insights on the sword.

"Too bad my cultivation speed has slowed down a bit" mumbled Xu Yue as she checked the speed at which her soul had grown, based on it, she deduced that it would take several years for her to reach the Soul Nourishing stage.

Even though Xu Yue considered this speed quite slow, compared to the more than three thousand year lifespan of the Soul Enlightenment realm, it was extremely fast, even though Xu Yue did not use soul strengthening techniques.

"I should take it slow and not be too hasty. Maybe I should go for a walk " decided Xu Yue, a moment later, getting up and exiting her cave abode.

As she was exiting her cave abode, she contacted her master and her senior sister before talking with them for a bit.

"It's quite pretty " mumbled Xu Yue as she looked at the golden token her master had given her, this token showed her status as a personal disciple.

Xu Yue then put it on her waist before going down the mountain peak.

As she was walking down the mountain, Xu Yue looked at the mountain right next to her master's.

Inspiration filled Xu Yue's eyes as she looked at it. This promptly caused Xu Yue to take out some painting supplies from her spatial bag.

A while later,

Looking at the serene mountain, and then back at her own painting made Xu Yue let out a satisfied nod.

"It looks quite good " said Xu Yue before putting the painting in her spatial bag, a new addition to her collection was always welcome.

As Xu Yue reached the bottom of the mountain, she started walking on the path away from it.

As she did so, two core disciples dressed in white robes were also walking along it.

Ning Ming and Wu Cheng were walking through the sect, as the two of them were merely core disciples, flying inside of the sect was prohibited.

Having just finished participating in the sect competition, the two of them were going back to their cave abodes to go into seclusion and digest their gains.

"If I go into seclusion, I might finally reach the peak of the true awakening realm " said Ning Yu with a smile on his face.

A bitter look appeared on Wu Cheng's face as he heard this. He had reached the Seed stage much later than his friend, and as such, he felt like it would take him around five hundred years to reach the peak.

As the two of them were talking they suddenly sensed something, they then bowed.

"Junior Brother Ning Ming greets Senior Sister "

"Junior Brother Wu Cheng greets Senior Sister "

Xu Yue nodded before continuing on.

Inside of the sect, disciples were separated into four groups, Outer Disciples, Inner Disciples, Core Disciples and Personal Disciples.

No matter their cultivation base, disciples of lower rank must address those of higher rank as Senior Brother or Senior Sister.

The thought of having junior brothers at the true awakening realm made Xu Yue chuckle a bit.

Both Ning Ming and Wu Cheng were extremely dazed at what happened.

"Junior sister Yu " mumbled Wu Cheng as the Junior sister he pursued entered his mind, but as he thought of her, he couldn't help but make a comparison in his mind.

Wu Cheng felt like his Junior Sister who looked like a fairy, suddenly looked quite tasteless.

Unlike Wu Cheng, Ning Ming merely thought of his little sister. Before he was accepted as a disciple of the Origin Sword sect, Ning Ming was a mortal. The only family he ever had was his little sister.

Even when he looked at the most beautiful fairies, when he compared them to his sister, his Dao Heart would stabilise and he would be able to focus on cultivation. This is why, even though Wu Cheng's talent was slightly better, Ning Ming had managed to surpass him.

"Little sister, I hope you can forgive me. Lying is not what we sword cultivators should do. You should be satisfied with being the second prettiest " thought Ning Ming as his Dao Heart became even more stable.

When he saw Xu Yue, Ning Ming knew that he had no chance with her, and as such, going into seclusion was the natural choice.

"I won't exit seclusion until I enter the Minor Trancendance realm " thought Ning Ming, unknowingly changing his fate.

Because of this meeting and his faster cultivation, Ning Ming would be able to obtain several more opportunities. Because of this, he managed to reach the Major Trancendance realm with the skin of his teeth, increasing his lifespan to 127 000 years.

"Huh " said Xu Yue, quite surprised.

"Someone owes me karma " thought Xu Yue as she felt the karmic connection she had with Ning Ming.

She then ignored this insignificant thing and went on her way.

Xu Ming looked speechless at the several disciples who had renewed Dao Hearts. Merely seeing Xu Yue had caused them to begin ignoring earthly desires and focus solely on cultivation, as they instinctively knew that chasing Xu Yue was a pipe dream that would probably get them killed.

Even though these disciples all experienced both the Trial Pagoda and the heart pagoda they were all still influenced by her.

A frown appeared on his face as he pondered some things.

Xu Yue was happily walking through the sect, sometimes stopping to paint.

Looking at the pagoda in the distance, Xu Yue wondered why the sect had such an obsession with pagodas.

As she got closer to it, Xu Yue saw two large words being inscribed onto it 'Heart Pagoda'.

As she wanted to enter it, a warning entered Xu Yue's mind.

"It will take too long for you to pass the Heart Padoga. You can attempt it after the tournament."

Hearing this, an annoyed look appeared on Xu Yue's face. She started inexplicably shaking before managing to calm down.