Chapter 48: The Five-Year Pact!

[Consuming Counterattack Points, issuing quest—The Five-Year Covenant!]

[At age thirty-two, after two years and nine months, your cultivation had only advanced to the upper stage of the Ninth Grade Mortal Realm.

Believing your progress to be too slow, you came to the Void Dao Sect to seek apprenticeship.

(Where on earth did your Late Bloomer talent go!?)

Because of your engagement with Lin Xueru, an elder of the Void Dao Sect, your apprenticeship faced obstruction from Xiao Xuanzhen, a descendant of Xiao Huang, the Sect Master of the Void Dao Sect.

On this day, taking advantage of Lin Xueru's seclusion in closed-door meditation, Xiao Xuanzhen not only had people beat you to the verge of death but also humiliated you with words—how dare mere ants harbor ambitions of ascending to the heavens?

In your anger, you made a public vow: In this lifetime, I will surely exact vengeance for this humiliation!

Xiao Xuanzhen glanced at you with disdain, turned away, and left behind a distant phrase: Heh, an ant!]

[Please defeat Xiao Xuanzhen and fulfill your vow! Reward: Great Accomplishment in Swordsmanship.]

[Note: As a high-ranking descendant of the Sect Master, Xiao Xuanzhen's strength has already reached the Second Grade Divine Wandering Realm, and she will soon depart for Mount Taizhou, which is why you are only granted five years.

If you fail the quest or exceed the time limit without completion, you will lose all your cultivation!!]

After reading through the prompts, Chen Yi fell silent for a long moment.

Where did my Late Bloomer talent go?

Heh, that is a great question!

"Are you asking me?!"

Chen Yi suppressed the urge to retort.

While following the crowd as they marched toward the peak, he carefully studied the information provided by the interface line by line.

The counterattack point reward, which came with overwhelming good fortune, was skipped.

A reward granting cultivation? Not bad.

It would allow him to elevate his cultivation even faster.

As far as he knew, among the several children, Lin Xueru, who practiced the fastest, had already reached the peak of the Ninth Grade Mortal Realm.

She was just a single step away from breaking through to the Eighth Grade Qi-Gathering Realm.

With this cultivation reward, he would be able to firmly stand in the front tier, and perhaps even slightly surpass Lin Xueru.

Finally came the third quest—the five-year covenant with Xiao Xuanzhen, the Sect Master's child...

After rereading it several times, Chen Yi could not help but wear a peculiar expression.

Setting aside the five-year covenant for the moment.

Thanks to the system arriving thirty years early, Chen Yi was confident he could defeat any "childhood version" of his targets.

What truly caught his attention was something else.

"Could Xiao Xuanzhen be dissatisfied with my engagement to Lin Xueru simply because she has fallen for the little girl?"

"Otherwise, a formidable grand cultivator in the Second Grade Divine Wandering Realm wouldn't just order others to beat me up, but would also personally step forward to humiliate me. That makes no sense at all."

At this thought, Chen Yi glanced at Lin Xueru, who was following closely at his side like a shadow.

Ranked third among the Ten Great Immortals of the Daoist Gate, she certainly deserved such a high-profile pursuer.

Xiao Xuanzhen, a potential rival in love...

It seemed wise to inquire clearly about her current situation later.

"Brother Yi, is something wrong?" Lin Xueru noticed his gaze and looked at him in puzzlement.

"No, nothing at all."

Taking the opportunity, Chen Yi pointed ahead toward Ning Xue and said, "I have some matters I'd like to ask Teacher Ning about."

Lin Xueru obediently released his hand and smiled sweetly, "Go ahead, Brother Yi."

"Mm."

Chen Yi nodded and quickened his pace to catch up with Ning Xue at the head of the procession.

"Teacher Ning, those medicinal pills Elder Gu brought out earlier—are they really that troublesome?"

Instead of directly asking about the Sect Master's child, he was somewhat curious about Gu Tiangang's "embarrassing plight."

Ning Xue was slightly startled, then answered with a faint smile, "It's no trouble for others, but it is troublesome for Senior Uncle Gu."

"Unless he can swallow his pride and buy them from other apothecary shops, he has no choice but to wait for the master of the sect's Pill Peak to grant permission."

"Why is that? How could someone as powerful as Elder Gu not even afford Qi-Nourishing Pills?"

Recalling certain rumors concerning Senior Uncle Gu, Ning Xue lowered her voice and explained, "This relates to an old incident. I only heard about it from my master: back then, the sect elders jointly demanded that Senior Uncle Gu go to the Capital Prefecture."

"At that time, the Sect Master and several elders agreed that only when Senior Uncle Gu recruited several disciples with exceptional talent would he be permitted to return to the sect."

Jointly demanded? The Capital Prefecture?

Chen Yi thought to himself, isn't that essentially being exiled?

No wonder Old Taoist Gu had such an eccentric temper and rarely received visitors while in the Capital Prefecture.

If it were him, had he been stuck in the Capital Prefecture for reasons like that, he would have felt deeply ashamed too.

"Then why has he waited until now?"

A trace of a smile surfaced on Ning Xue's cold and pure visage.

"At first, Senior Uncle Gu was furious and refused to accept the task."

"Had it not been for the descent of the Buddha Son of Great Kong Temple last year, which caused Buddhism and Daoism to flourish greatly within the Capital Prefecture, he wouldn't even have bothered to try."

"Fortunately, with you all here this time, he likely won't have to return to the Capital Prefecture again."

Having figured out the ins and outs of the matter, Chen Yi also revealed a faint smile.

He never expected that someone as formidable as Old Taoist Gu would harbor such an experience.

"Teacher Ning, I heard that the Sect Master of the Void Dao Sect has an exceptionally talented son?"

Ning Xue froze for a moment, casting a suspicious look at him.

"A son? Who on earth told you that?"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

Chen Yi thought to himself, could it be that the system issued the quest too early, and Xiao Xuanzhen, the son of Sect Master Xiao Huang, hasn't even been born yet?

"Junior Sister Xiao Xuanzhen—she is certainly not of the male gender."

Jun... Junior Sister, a girl?!

Chen Yi's mouth dropped open, a look of utter bewilderment crossing his youthful face, "A, a girl?"

"Indeed," Ning Xue said with a smiling shake of her head. "Perhaps the rumors were inaccurate, but Junior Sister Xiao's innate talent is truly extraordinary."

"At merely six years of age, her cultivation has already reached the Seventh Grade Transformation Realm."

"Such progression in cultivation not only far surpasses her peers, but even a few of my senior martial brothers fall slightly short compared to her."

Saying this, Ning Xue raised her head to glance toward the summit, pondering aloud, "You should be able to see her shortly."

"If my estimation is correct, Junior Sister Xiao will also be participating in this sect recruitment of new disciples."

"..."

Chen Yi nodded numbly, exchanged a greeting with Ning Xue, and slowed his pace to return to the company of Du Yanqing and the others.

Xiao Xuanzhen was a girl; in that case, she wasn't a potential rival in love after all.

Or was she?

"Brother Yi?"

As always, Lin Xueru was the first to detect his strange expression, tugging at his sleeve as she asked.

Chen Yi looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and could not help letting out a soft sigh, "If you ever encounter a senior sister named Xiao Xuanzhen in the future, remember to stay away from her."

"Who is that?" Lin Xueru asked with a puzzled look, "Is she a senior sister here at the Void Dao Sect?"

Chen Yi nodded, "In short, just remember not to approach her casually."

Tilting her head in thought for a few seconds, Lin Xueru beamed with a smile, "Whatever Brother Yi says goes, Ruru has remembered it."

"If I meet that Senior Sister Xiao Xuanzhen in the future, I will definitely give her a wide berth."

Chen Yi smiled and said nothing more.

He hoped his understanding of the situation was correct.

Otherwise, that Senior Sister Xiao Xuanzhen might truly end up becoming his romantic rival.

...

Before long, the group arrived at the summit of Wangdu Peak.

Several disciples clad in the Daoist robes of the Void Dao Sect were already standing there in stern silence.

Among them, a slightly shorter figure standing right in the center instantly drew Chen Yi's attention.

She stood merely four feet tall, her fair-as-jade face adorned with peach-blossom eyes and a beauty mark at the corner of her lips; though her appearance was childish, she possessed an allure that starkly belied her age.

Presumably, this must be Xiao Xuanzhen, the descendant of Sect Master Xiao Huang!