"I read your mission report. Using your wits to eradicate a painted-skin demon—very well done."
Lu Yang felt a jolt of delight. Earning praise from Eldest Senior Sister was no easy feat; the trip to Taiping Township had been well worth it after all.
After offering this calm remark, Yun Zhi thought of the implications behind the painted-skin demon, a shadow of gloom settling between her brows.
"Over the past hundred years, with the arrival of the Golden Age, factions lurking in the shadows have begun to stir, and sinister apparitions run rampant. The Great Xia Dynasty appears tranquil on the surface, but who knows how many disasters lurk within? Yet Great Xia is too obsessed with saving face to swallow its pride and seek help from the Five Great Immortal Sects." Yun Zhi let out a soft sigh, clearly speaking more to herself than to Lu Yang.
Lu Yang caught a particular phrase in Eldest Senior Sister's words. "The arrival of the Golden Age?"
He had never heard this term before, nor had he ever seen it in books.
Yun Zhi's voice drifted, sounding as though it did not belong to this realm. "A hundred years ago, the Grand Supreme Elder of the Heavenly Strategy Sect emerged from death seclusion, spilling his blood over the Qinghe River to question Heaven with his very life. What he divined remains unknown."
The Heavenly Strategy Sect claimed that all things could be divined and nothing was beyond comprehension, believing in manifest heavenly principle and karmic retribution. It was precisely they who had cast doubt on the insurance offered by the Falling Coin Chamber of Commerce.
"The Grand Supreme Elder immediately proclaimed to the world that a Golden Age had arrived, heralding the return of the resplendent, glorious days of ancient cultivation."
"Normally, if the Five Great Immortal Sects produced a single spiritual root in an entire generation, it would be considered a bountiful harvest. Yet your generation has seen an Ancient Barbarian, three single spiritual roots, and an Immortal Physique even rarer than a single spiritual root. I have heard that over the past century, other immortal sects have also recruited many geniuses who rival single spiritual roots. From this alone, one can glimpse a corner of the Ancient Golden Age."
The corner of Yun Zhi's mouth curved into a faint, rare smile—one that bordered on mockery. "They call the Ancient Golden Age a glorious era, but in truth, it was chaotic to the extreme. A great age is also an age of turmoil, where all kinds of powers and interests intertwine. Monsters and demons scheme against one another, human hearts are treacherous, and life and death are left to fate. Countless innocent lives were extinguished before a single mighty cultivator emerged. In terms of peace and stability, it falls far short of the present day."
Lu Yang felt that Eldest Senior Sister's smile was terribly cold.
He had read descriptions of the Ancient Golden Age in books. In that era, strength reigned supreme and the victor was king; there was no distinction between righteous and demonic. Humankind back then was merely one of many competing powers, nowhere near their present status as the continent's overlord.
Monsters and demons roamed the world, tigers and dragons vied for supremacy, and peerless prodigies strode across the realm, forging their renown with blood and bone. Decisive and ruthless, countless almighty figures became legends revered by tens of millions in that crucible—distant goals that ordinary cultivators could spend a lifetime chasing yet never reach. Reading about it truly made one's blood surge, wishing one could travel back in time to that era to display one's own talents.
It was precisely in such chaotic times that heroes and titans had the stage to make their mark.
Yet seeing Eldest Senior Sister's expression, Lu Yang finally realized that while an ancient golden age was a blessing for peerless geniuses, for ordinary people, it was a hellish nightmare.
Living from dawn to dusk, never knowing if one would survive the day. A routine clash between figures at the top could reduce one's entire clan to slaves and prisoners, left to be subjugated and slaughtered at will, without the slightest shred of safety or peace.
The grand and magnificent depictions of the Ancient Golden Age in books existed because the authors themselves were high-ranking cultivators who yearned for those times in their hearts.
Seen through the eyes of an ordinary mortal, it would be an entirely different picture.
Lu Yang realized that ever since becoming a cultivator, he seemed to have forgotten that he too had once been a mortal.
He should not have.
Yun Zhi did not dwell further on the topic; it was too early for Lu Yang. "Do you have anything else to ask?"
"Well, uh, Eldest Senior Sister, do you have any traveling techniques?"
"Of course I do. But what do you need such a technique for?"
The Dao Seeking Sect had an agreement with the Falling Coin Chamber of Commerce: whenever Dao Seeking Sect disciples traveled, any lodging or transportation expenses incurred with the Falling Coin Chamber of Commerce were billed to the Dao Seeking Sect's account. Lu Yang did not even have to spend spirit stones to ride a flying boat, so where would he use a traveling technique?
Lu Yang scratched his head, looking uncharacteristically sheepish. "Nothing much. I just want to learn one to save some money for our Dao Seeking Sect."
Yun Zhi did not doubt him. "Since you have such intentions, as your senior sister, I cannot deny your wish. You have only just reached Foundation Establishment, so there are not many techniques you can use."
Lu Yang rubbed his hands together with a chuckle. "As long as there's something I can use, that's fine."
"I have watched your cultivation over this past year. You have certainly lived up to the name of a Sword Spiritual Root. I have a flying sword technique here that allows you to step onto a flying sword and roam the four seas and five lakes."
"There is also the Tengnuo Technique. It tempers your divine sense until it is strong enough to move your body and fly at will. While it is not as fast as the flying sword technique, its virtue lies in requiring little effort, and tempering your divine sense will also benefit you in future battles."
"A Transformation Technique is also an option. Once learned, you can transform into a bird and soar through the air, carefree and unburdened."
"Junior Brother, which one do you choose?" Yun Zhi casually named a few techniques for Lu Yang to pick from.
"...Uh, is there any technique that doesn't involve flying?"
Yun Zhi looked at the blushing Lu Yang with great interest. "Oh? Why do you want to learn a traveling technique that doesn't involve flying?"
Lu Yang hemmed and hawed, unable to get a word out for a long while.
Yun Zhi did not press him further. "There are also techniques that do not require flying. However, this particular technique demands extremely high comprehension of Dao arts and places steep requirements on your dharmic powers. Learning it now might be a bit premature for you."
"It's fine. Let me try it first; if it doesn't work, then forget it."
"This technique is called Shrinking the Earth to Inches, and its difficulty is exceptionally high. Here is the mnemonic chant. Once you have memorized it thoroughly, I will formally instruct you."
Yun Zhi raised her jade hand and casually drew a slit through space, retrieving a golden page neatly lined with elegant calligraphy.
Lu Yang took the golden page with utmost care. One glance was enough to tell that this thing was extraordinarily valuable; if he accidentally tore it, the consequences would be dire.
After Lu Yang left, Yun Zhi closed her eyes and resumed her cultivation. As a gust of yin wind blew past, an aged and resentful voice echoed by her ear, sending a chill down the spine, as if plunging one into an ice cellar.
"My good disciple, just how much longer do you intend to imprison your master?"
The voice seemed to echo from the nine hells, horrifying and chilling to the bone!
"Your master didn't instruct you often, and reaching your current realm couldn't have been easy. Your master is proud of you."
"As the saying goes, a teacher for a day is a father for a lifetime. You cannot disregard your master's nurturing grace and keep your master imprisoned here."
"The Dao Seeking Sect hasn't had a Sect Master in place for ten years. You exercise the Sect Master's authority in your master's stead—aren't you afraid of wagging tongues tarnishing your glorious image as Eldest Senior Sister?"
"You took in an apprentice on your master's behalf, accepting such a sword dao genius for me. Fine, your master won't pursue that."
"But at the very least, you should let your master out so I can meet that disciple of mine! Forcing him to bow to a portrait of his master instead of the real person—wouldn't that make us a laughingstock if word got out?"
The voice held a strange magic that plucked at the heartstrings, making one unconsciously want to believe it, undo the seal, and release the voice's owner.
Yun Zhi cultivated wholeheartedly, turning a completely deaf ear.
Seeing that Yun Zhi was entirely unmoved, the aged voice condensed all its countless words into a long sigh and vanished without a trace, as though it had never existed.
With her five centers facing heaven, Yun Zhi sat in meditation, everything remaining just as before.
Chapter 29