Jiuxiao Peak.
During the period Yaoguang governed Nandu, he had purged hundreds of merchant associations that failed to heed orders. All the territories occupied by those associations were incorporated into the Domain Master's Manor, such that within the thirty-thousand-li breadth of Nandu, the territory wholly belonging to the Domain Master's Manor spanned six thousand li.
Part of this six-thousand-li expanse was public area, including many commercial shops, immortal caves, and the like.
However, a section spanning roughly three thousand li was entirely garrisoned by members of the Nine Cauldrons Sect.
Within this three-thousand-li range stood hundreds of peaks of varying sizes, every single one inhabited.
Jiuxiao Peak was one among them.
It was also the tallest and grandest.
The mountain itself extended over six hundred li.
Those residing on this peak were essentially the people closest to Domain Master Yaoguang—the very core of the Nine Cauldrons Sect.
At this moment, upon a pavilion atop this mountain peak, Su Yaoqin leaned against the balcony, gazing at the sea of clouds churning endlessly in the distance.
Amidst the sea of clouds, various spirit beasts flitted about, while carriages and sword rays fleetingly flashed across the expanse from time to time like startled swans.
Just then, the sound of footsteps approached.
Dressed in white robes, carrying a longsword on her back, the ethereal Su Yaoshuang walked over.
"I didn't seem to see you at the lecture today. What are you thinking about?"
Su Yaoshuang sat down beside her.
Su Yaoqin did not answer immediately, but glanced at her. "You're still the same as before, caring so much about your appearance and external looks. Even the cultivation path you chose primarily focuses on refining your beauty and nourishing your qi."
"Before?"
Hearing this, Su Yaoshuang was slightly taken aback, but soon recalled something.
The "before" she meant... had to be back during the Dayu era in the Yaoguang Realm.
Back then, as a daughter of the Su family, she truly placed great importance on her appearance and figure.
To maintain her weight, complexion, and the like, she had been harsh on herself to an extreme in clothing, food, housing, and travel.
But now...
She smiled softly. "Why bring that up all of a sudden?"
"Just feeling a bit sentimental, that's all," Su Yaoqin said.
Su Yaoshuang fell quiet for a moment. "Thinking of the Yaoguang Realm? Thinking of Grandfather and the others?"
"Not really longing. Ever since following... following the Nine Cauldrons Sect to Beihai Star, everything in our lives has been like a dream, a legend. Everything we've experienced was almost unimaginable back in the Yaoguang Realm, in Tiannan Province..."
Saying this, Su Yaoqin emphasized her words: "Yes, unimaginable. Back then, no matter how far our imaginations ran, we could never have dreamed we would achieve such heights one day."
She held out her hand, and a flame condensed right within her palm. "Not only does our body contain power rivaling a small star—such that outside Beihai Star, our every gesture could move mountains and fill seas—we have also journeyed through who knows how many light-years across the cosmos, from the Yaoguang Realm to the Cangwu Realm, and then from the Cangwu Realm to Beihai Star... Everything has felt like a dream! These experiences, this deluge of revelations, have long since washed away our grief over departed family..."
She paused. "After all... back in Tiannan, it was just us sisters depending on each other. The others, including Grandfather, didn't necessarily care much about us."
Speaking to this point, she dispersed the flame in her palm and smiled. "I even feel that as long as Eldest Sister is here, home is here. Eldest Sister has always arranged our lives properly, and arriving at Beihai Star is no exception."
Listening to Su Yaoqin's words and recalling every detail of Eldest Sister caring for their lives, Su Yaoshuang could not help smiling as well—a gentle, heartwarming smile.
"Remember back in Tiannan, didn't we both resent Eldest Sister? We thought she nagged about this and that, just like an old mother hen..." Su Yaoshuang replied with a smile.
"Yeah, wasn't that our rebellious phase? We were so disobedient. But looking back now, I'm truly grateful—grateful that Eldest Sister was always looking after us. Otherwise, I shudder to think what would have become of us in the future," Su Yaoqin said.
"What a pair of children we were," Su Yaoshuang nodded with a smile.
On their faces, not a trace remained of the untamed arrogance or rebellious nature from their Tiannan days.
Even the old petty friction between the two sisters had completely vanished; all that remained was the warmth and closeness of family having stayed by each other's side.
At this moment, Su Yaoqin seemed to think of something. "Speaking of Eldest Sister being like an old mother hen, does Third Brother... feel like..."
"He does," Su Yaoshuang nodded with a smile, as if knowing what she was going to say. "Even though we rarely see him... he has already done so much for us. After all, he never owed us anything."
Su Yaoqin nodded. "Back then, when we received the insights on cultivating the Xuan Yuan Creation Technique, they claimed Second Sister gave them to us. But how could Second Sister have had such profound comprehension of that technique at the time? They clearly came from Third Brother. It's just... he didn't want us to grow dependent, so he passed those experiences and insights to us through Second Sister... Compared to Eldest Sister, who is involved in every aspect of our daily lives, he didn't teach us other things, but he taught us what it means to grow independently. He armed us, doing everything possible to ensure that even if we were left on our own out there, we'd have the power to protect ourselves."
Su Yaoshuang looked at her and said with a smile, "You've grown up."
"I've just come to understand that nothing is easy for others, and I've begun trying to see things from their perspective," Su Yaoqin said.
She looked up, gazing at the sea of clouds in the distance. "Even though I've seen it many times, every time I look, I can't help marveling at it. It's truly beautiful."
"It is very beautiful." Su Yaoshuang nodded, likewise gazing into the distance, as well as at the sky above, where patterns flowed like transparent rivers. Those were the visible traces of spiritual energy condensed to the absolute limit.
"Were it not for Third Brother, we would never have seen such magnificent sights in our entire lives."
"'Like mayflies in the vast world, a single grain of millet in the boundless ocean,'" the two murmured to each other.
And so they sat on the balcony, looking out into the distance.
People must ultimately look forward.
Partings, deaths, aging, and illness were unavoidable.
Yet in this life, meaningful things were not confined to love, hate, and personal grievances, nor were they limited to domestic trivia.
The heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, the cosmos and the stars.
Every form of greatness and vastness could cleanse mankind's small spirit, allowing minds to truly open.
Drifting through heaven and earth, how tiny is man in comparison to the cosmos.
Rather than sinking into the inescapable grief of loss and parting, why not turn one's eyes to the world and, with sincere awe, embrace the magnificence and wonder of all things?
***
Not far from this pavilion, Lin Xia and Su Yaoxue were sparring with swords.
Both of them had already formed Incandescent White Golden Cores.
Going from the Foundation Establishment realm to the eighth level of the Golden Core in such a short time sounded incredible, but...
The cultivation environment of Beihai Star was simply too superior.
With Pure Yang Great Pills distributed by Yaoguang and allocated by the sect, practically available for them to use at will, their achievement of Incandescent White Golden Cores was completely a matter of course.
Just as ancient officials standing at the pinnacle of power lived lives that might not even compare to ordinary modern people—such was the transformation brought about by shifts in environment.
Likewise, if a future human from ten thousand years later were to return to the present day, the wondrous feats they could display would easily overturn everyone's imagination like myth.
The reason the two could cultivate so easily now was akin to modern people learning the *Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art*, which was once regarded as the crystallization of mathematical wisdom in ancient times.
It might not be effortless, but it could certainly be called smooth sailing.
After a long time, the two concluded their bout.
"It looks like you'll step into the Azure Blue Golden Core realm faster than me," Lin Xia said.
Su Yaoxue did not deny it, only saying modestly, "Sister Lin Xia's talent is superior to mine. Even though I've walked a bit further in this realm, it won't take you long to catch up."
Lin Xia smiled. "How big can the difference in our talent really be? A few dozen more Pure Yang Great Pills would probably close the gap."
Having said that, she added, "Still, at this rate, forming an Azure Blue Golden Core is only a matter of time for me, and in the future... I might even have a shot at pushing for the Void Piercing realm."
"You definitely will," Su Yaoxue said. "We can both achieve the Void Piercing realm and attain boundless longevity."
"Boundless longevity..." Lin Xia sighed wistfully upon hearing Su Yaoxue's words. "That humans can actually live for ten thousand years was simply unimaginable back then. Our entire recorded civilization spans less than ten thousand years, yet reaching the Void Piercing realm allows one to live longer than recorded history itself."
Hearing this, Su Yaoxue nodded as well. "Not only living for ten thousand years, but even... mastering such tremendous power... Before stepping onto the path of cultivation, walking a bit farther made us tired, eating recklessly upset our stomachs, an irregular schedule left us aching all over, and lack of sleep made us sluggish—not to mention catching a chill from a blast of cold wind, or suffering agonizingly from a fever of forty degrees..."
She extended her hand, looking at her fair, jade-like arm. "Yet now, we are not only free of illness and pain, healthy, and blessed with a lifespan of thousands of years, but we also wield immense strength—unafraid of vicious beasts, venomous vermin, mountain torrents, or raging flames. We can soar into the azure skies and roam the four seas... All of this is the transformation brought by cultivation."
"Indeed." Mortals were simply too fragile. Compared to their mortal days, their current state was beyond anything they could have imagined.
At this moment, Su Yaoyu walked over with a beaming smile. "I just consulted with True Monarch Li Hanqiu. The True Monarch plans to visit the Sanqing Sacred Hall to purchase a batch of Sanqing Enlightenment Pills. This kind of pill easily stirs a cultivator's inspiration, yielding far better results during cultivation. Once this batch of pills arrives, I believe you will soon find the way to break past the Golden Core limit and advance from an Incandescent White Golden Core to the Azure Blue Golden Core realm."
"Sanqing Enlightenment Pills?" Lin Xia was taken aback. "I've heard of that pill. It costs over 3,000 Pure Yang Great Pills each, equivalent to over a century of revenue back during the Cloud Firmament Sword Sect's time. For such pills to be given to us... is that appropriate?"
"3,000 Pure Yang Great Pills?!" Su Yaoyu was startled as well. She had also lived through the Nine Firmaments Sect's arrival on Beihai Star, and her life in the Yunchuan Mountains had made her understand full well what an astonishingly huge sum that was. To think... a single pill they consumed had now become expensive to such a degree. Only after quite a while did she murmur, "This... must have already received Yaoguang's approval."
"Sect Master Yaoguang..." Su Yaoxue murmured upon hearing Su Yaoyu mention the name.
She—and all of them—knew full well that every change in their lives had been brought about by Yaoguang. It was because of him that they could encounter and witness such a splendid world and experience a life that could only be called miraculous. Furthermore, they enjoyed treatment and lives that true disciples of top great sects could not even dare imagine.
Her gaze drifted toward the central peak of the Domain Master's Manor, with only a single sentence in her heart to say to him:
*We are all... doing very well now.*
Chapter 377