Speed running through the second realm.

"How do you know me?"

"If you remember, I am Senior Ji Yan's spiritual pet."

Ji Yan. He remembered her. He met her during a fight for the first time. Not in a sect fight, but a fight against a tree spirit. She was so young back then. He met her many times after that, and he started to call her meimei.

He felt like she was his little sister. He never thought there would be another girl who can be close to him as his jiejie Bai Ying. However, in the end, he had two non-blood-related sisters.

Xie Ra felt warmth in his heart as he heard her name.

"Meimei? Right. I remember you. Compared to then, you grew up a lot. And you both were core formation cultivators back then." He smiled. Then a curious look passed across his face. "How is she now? What realm are you in currently? I never saw a talking pet before."

"Slow down, for heaven's sake. It was me who wanted to ask questions first. Now I'm the one who gets questioned." Ershu shook its head. What a dramatic creature. Xie Ra didn't know if he should laugh or not.

"Well, first thing. She's doing fine. She reached the early-nascent realm a few years before. And, she's currently in seclusion for two years. That's why I casually wander around. By the way, when you suddenly disappeared, your Jiejie and my master both tried to find you.

It was a few months late when they heard what happened to you at your sect. They believed that if your gege was there, no one would dare to do such a thing to you."

Xie Ra felt sorrow when he heard this.

His both sisters; Bai Ying and Ji Yan were Taoist cultivators from the celestial palace. The celestial palace was an all-female sect that didn't have much contact with the outside. So it wasn't surprising that they didn't hear the news until months passed.

On the other hand, after reaching the deity transformation realm, his gege left the sect to continue his journey as a wandering cultivator. It was sure that he didn't think someone might harm Xie Ra as he was already nascent.

It might be his bad luck back then. However, everything belonged to the past now.

"So Xie Ra, Why don't you tell me what happened? Don't let this mighty one wait."

"I will as soon as you tell how you are talking. If Ji Yan is early nascent, You should be in the same realm as well. Early nascent isn't enough for a beast to talk."

"Eh, Idk. I suddenly found out that I can talk. No wonder. This mighty one is smart. Maybe heaven blessed me because they witnessed how smart I am."

What did he expect? Even though it has spiritual powers, it was a beast after all. Xie Ra gave up asking questions from this arrogant but oblivious Ershu and focused back on removing moss from the wall.

"Hey, tell me what happened to you." The ershu didn't want to back down either. Xie Ra sighed. However, he made a promise a moment ago. He couldn't break that. So he started to whisper what happened while completing his punishment.

Let's say that it was a very long evening for poor Xie Ra.

Xie Ra was able to finish cleaning the wall before Cao Xueqin came back. The ershu sensed other Nascent's presence and fled away. Xie Ra was scared that their easy-to-explode trainer might notice something different. Fortunately, Cao Xueqing looked too tired to bully his junior anymore. He let Xie Ra go after throwing another bunch of insults at him.

Their forged body period wasn't anything exciting. Their daily life was almost similar to the body training realm. The only things that changed were the reduction of heavy work, increased meditation time, Beast training sessions, and learning to forge new pills. Another year passed with this same boring schedule.

Yeah, Outer disciple life isn't anything fun as you think. It basically remolds your body for the new transformation that was about to come.

Oh, did I tell you that they earned their sect outer disciple uniforms? **However, they didn't go outside for any reason. For sword cultivators, it was prohibited.

However, within this period, they acquired more self-discipline than in the previous realm. Even the minimum self-disciplined ones were able to meditate for two, three hours straight. Their unsettling natures gradually converted into calm and collective personalities.

This was a very important skill for a cultivator. They couldn't let their concentration break on many occasions, especially during fights. A few seconds of distraction could result in death. Even in realm breaking throughs if you distract, you might have to start the process all over again.

However, the poor 'group 4' members had to bear the mistreatments of their trainer Cao Xueqing. Especially, Xie Ra had to work twice as the others as the angry nascent always put him on detentions. As other boys grew some muscle mass, Xie Ra lost more weight due to these torments.

Ji Yan's ershu visited him many times when he was in detention. It wasn't pleasant to hear this overgrown squirrel talk nonstop with its squeaky voice. It took all the discipline he had to bear the tortures from both Cao Xueqing and ershu. But, at least the spiritual beast was merciful for Xie Ra, unlike the cultivator.

Nothing continues forever. Finally, their inner-disciple-entrance exam arrived. This wasn't like the outer disciples' entrance exam. This was the exam that determined whether they could enter into the sect, or not.

Even if you passed this, it doesn't give you equal ground as in previous exams. It determines your lifetime sect master/shizun according to your marks. So, higher marks mean you will get a great shizun to teach you. It was a famous secret that excellent shizuns create excellent disciples.

Everyone wanted to be the best cultivator. Nobody joined here to be weak and die. Therefore, this was the peak exam any sect disciple faces throughout their lifetime. So, every disciple in Xie Ra's realm started to study and train hard.

The need to become the best ignited a fire among these trainees. That fire ablaze their hearts, encouraging them to do their best.

*************

**I mentioned that sentence because, the blood cultivators, demonic cultivators, and soul refiners started to train as hunters during this realm. It was a necessity to gather enough resources in their next realm.