Talk of The Sect

Chang An and Yin Peng returned a few hours later. They engaged in conversations to get to know each other better, with the exception of Li Xin, who mediated throughout the entire time.

A day passed, and the carriage arrived to take them to the sect.

"True to form for the Moon Palace Sect, even their carriages are extravagant," Gu Yufeng remarked, nodding in approval.

"Wait until you see the sect. It's larger than some of the most populated cities," Chang An said.

Tang Zhi grew eager to see the sect after hearing so many great things about it.

"Hmm? Where is Li Xin? We told you three to be here at this hour," Chang An asked Tang Zhi and Gu Yufeng.

"Fairy Li said she was going to be down in a few. She had to finish up her meditation," Gu Yufeng responded.

Yin Peng sighed, "The life of a genius. They cultivate nonstop because of their talents. I bet in a few years she'll surpass us, despite us having cultivated for decades now," Yin Peng said, with a hint of sorrow in his voice.

Tang Zhi furrowed his brow. Yin Peng and Chang An appeared to be around 20 years old, despite having cultivated for decades. Had they begun cultivating at a very young age?

"Wow, you two must have started cultivating at a young age," Tang Zhi remarked.

Yin Peng shook his head. "Actually, we started quite late. Most people begin cultivating at 16, but Chang An and I didn't start until we were 22," he explained.

"What!" Tang Zhi exclaimed before quickly adding, "I apologize for my outburst and for what I'm about to ask... but how old are you two?"

"We're both 41 years old," Chang An responded calmly.

Tang Zhi felt like he was going to faint upon learning their real age. All this time, he had been speaking casually with individuals his parents' age. If his parents had known, they would have surely scolded him.

"Tang Zhi doesn't know much about the cultivation world, so naturally he wouldn't understand how the aging process works," Gu Yufeng said, before proceeding to explain.

"In the cultivation world, being 40 years old is considered young, even in the hundreds. There are cultivators who are thousands of years old and still appear youthful due to their cultivation practices," Gu Yufeng concluded.

Tang Zhi still found it hard to wrap his head around this. In his village, living past the age of 80 was considered a miracle, yet here he was being told that with cultivation, one could live past a thousand years. The contrast was astonishing to him.

The first thing he planned to do once he arrived at the sect was to study the history of cultivation. After all, he believed that knowledge was just as important as power.

They entered the carriage and waited for Li Xin, who arrived a few minutes later. Upon entering, she glanced at everyone for the first time. However, when her gaze met Tang Zhi's, her mind went blank, and her heart raced.

Yin Peng and Gu Yufeng exchanged mischievous glances with each other. Gu Yufeng promptly got up from his seat beside Tang Zhi and moved to sit across from him, next to Yin Peng and Chang An, leaving the only available seat next to Tang Zhi.

Both Yin Peng and Gu Yufeng knew that Tang Zhi was likely to capture the hearts of many women, but to see him instantly leave Li Xin—the prodigy of the Li family—in a daze with just a glance of less than a second was truly unbelievable.

Li Xin was so captivated by staring at Tang Zhi that she hadn't noticed what Gu Yufeng and Yin Peng had schemed. As her heart raced, she sat down as far away from Tang Zhi as possible, feeling increasingly flustered as she drew closer to him.

She snapped back to reality when Chang An asked her a question, "Li Xin, why don't you introduce yourself to everyone since you weren't able to last time?"

"O-Of course!" she said, regaining her composure. "Hello, nice to meet you all. My name is Li Xin from the Li Family. It's an honor to join the Moon Palace Sect and become fellow disciples with you all," she said with a slight bow.

"Nice to officially meet you, Li Xin. My name is Chang An, and this is Yin Peng and Gu Yufeng. Over there is Tang Zhi," Chang An introduced everyone courteously.

"By the way, the trip to the sect will take about seven hours," Chang An informed the three new disciples.

Five hours later, everyone was engaged in conversation, but Tang Zhi noticed that Li Xin hadn't spoken a word the whole time.

He slid across the seat and sat directly beside Li Xin, whose face flushed red.

"Are you nervous?" Tang Zhi asked gently.

Li Xin nodded, finding it hard to say a word. Tang Zhi noticed her nervous reaction and asked gently, "I'm sorry if I'm overstepping, Fairy Li, but are you shy by any chance?"

Her face turned as red as a tomato in response to Tang Zhi's question. "W-Why would you say that?" she asked, her voice shaking with embarrassment.

"Well, you haven't spoken much to anyone besides when you introduced yourself. That's why I thought you might be shy," Tang Zhi replied kindly.

Tang Zhi noticed that he might have come on too strong. "I'm sorry if I seemed too forward. It's just that I'm also quite shy, and I thought we might have something in common. I hope that didn't come across as weird in any way…" he said with a friendly smile.

Li Xin had encountered many young masters who were prideful due to their looks, cultivation, or status. She had imagined Tang Zhi might be similar in some ways. However, after this brief encounter with him and experiencing his welcoming smile that made her feel as if she could share her whole life story without judgment, her beating heart instantly eased.

"You're correct about me being shy. This is actually my first time leaving my family, so I haven't interacted with many people except for a few," she admitted, revealing the truth to Tang Zhi.

"Same here! I thought I might be the only one here leaving their family for the first time. I'm glad that's not the case," Tang Zhi replied joyfully.

Seeing his happy expression, she couldn't help but smile back without even realizing it.

Meanwhile, Yin Peng and Gu Yufeng exchanged chuckles after noticing that their plan had worked successfully.

After seven hours, they finally arrived at the sect, and Tang Zhi was shocked to see the immense size of the place. He estimated that more than a thousand of his villages would only cover a third of the sect's grounds.

Upon entering the sect, Chang An said, "We must go to the sect hall to officially register you three as sect disciples."

He led the way, and during their trip, everyone they passed by would glance in their direction, particularly focusing on Tang Zhi.

Little did Tang Zhi know that within those few minutes of walking inside the sect, rumors of a handsome man began to spread like wildfire throughout the entire sect.