141. Journeying Together to Linhai

The departure for the Linhai region was scheduled for five days later.

Lingyu received word that this batch of sect cultivators heading to Linhai included five Core Formation masters, over a hundred Foundation Establishment disciples, and more than three hundred Qi Condensation disciples.

Such a lineup could only be described as formidable. The Taibai Sect had a total of a little over one hundred Core Formation masters. More than half of them were either in seclusion, searching for treasures, or traveling the world. Of those who remained, at least twenty had to manage the daily operations of the sect. Those with nothing to do numbered thirty or forty at most. Previously, over a dozen Core Formation cultivators had already gone to the Linhai frontline, leaving the roster rather stretched.

As for the Foundation Establishment disciples, they were the core force for combat. A hundred or so was neither too many nor too few. The Qi Condensation disciples, on the other hand, were merely tags along. Core Formation cultivators directed the strategy, Foundation Establishment disciples did the heavy fighting, and someone always had to do the menial chores and clean up the battlefield. That was their primary function.

The disciples gathered at the main peak, paid their respects to the founding masters, and set off.

The leader this time was, once again, Lan Muyang.

As the Head of Discipline and the actual person in charge of the War Command Hall, Lan Muyang had been extremely busy lately—even busier than the Sect Master, Master Gu. To put it politely, the War Command Hall was duty-bound to handle sect security and law enforcement. To put it bluntly, whenever there was a fight, it fell under the jurisdiction of the War Command Hall.

When the war between Lingcang and the demon cultivators broke out, Lan Muyang had rushed to Linhai at the very first moment to arrange defenses and troop deployments, working himself to the bone. Just as he finally managed to catch his breath, the situation at the Linhai frontline shifted again, so he had to return to the sect to draft reinforcements.

The personnel mobilized this time were all outstanding figures of the younger generation, not only among Foundation Establishment cultivators but also among Core Formation masters. Wei Wuyang and Dan Jin were among them, along with Master Yuexiu from Qingtian Peak, who was a female sword cultivator.

Ever since arriving in the Cangming Realm, this was the first time Lingyu had seen a female sword cultivator, and she felt an extraordinary fondness for Master Yuexiu. However, after taking a few extra glances, she caught sight of Qian Jiale making faces at her from behind Master Yuexiu.

They had been separated for five years. Though they were in the same sect, they had not been able to see each other. Seeing him so abruptly, Lingyu was startled. Once they boarded the flying ship and were free to move around, Qian Jiale hurried over.

"Junior Sister Cheng!"

Lingyu did not answer right away. Instead, she looked him up and down for a long while before saying, "Senior Brother Qian, we haven't seen each other in five years. You are still as... stunningly gorgeous as ever."

At the last word, she could not help bursting into laughter.

Qian Jiale glared at her, wanting to retort, but Lingyu was no longer the newcomer she used to be, so the words swallowed themselves back down his throat.

"Oh right, Senior Sister Fang," Lingyu turned around, gesturing toward him as she introduced him to Fang Xinyan standing beside her. "Qian Jiale, a good friend of mine."

Then she said to Qian Jiale, "Senior Sister Fang Xinyan, beloved disciple of Uncle-Master Fang from the Myriad Dharma Pavilion. She has taken very good care of me these past few years."

In her introduction of Qian Jiale, she did not mention his master or lineage, simply calling him "a good friend of mine." Fang Xinyan gave Qian Jiale a meaningful look and smiled. "So it is Junior Brother Qian. I have heard Junior Sister Cheng mention you often. Hearing your name is indeed better than meeting you." Since Lingyu had introduced him as a friend, there was no need for her to address him with junior-senior formalities.

"Ah..." Seeing Fang Xinyan, Qian Jiale was taken aback. Having been plagued by his own appearance since childhood, he rarely saw a woman prettier than himself. He could not help taking a few extra looks, only to be punched squarely in the chest by Lingyu.

"What are you looking at? Aren't you going to greet her? What if Senior Sister Fang thinks all my friends are rogues?"

A slight flush rose to Qian Jiale's face as he cupped his hands in salute. "Senior Sister Fang, please excuse my offense."

Fang Xinyan replied, "Not at all. How could Junior Brother Qian be a rogue?" Pausing for a moment, a hint of playful mischief crept into her smile. "If you wish to look at a beauty, isn't it enough to just look in the mirror every day?"

As soon as those words fell, Lingyu burst into laughter. Leaning against Fang Xinyan, she said, "Senior Sister Fang, you are as straightforward as ever. I've wanted to say that to him for a long time."

Qian Jiale's face turned completely red. He wanted to lose his temper, but facing such a stunning beauty like Fang Xinyan, he truly couldn't manage it. He wanted to laugh it off, but Lingyu was making too much fun of him for him to save any face.

Fang Xinyan seemed to sense his embarrassment and said, "You two chat, I'm going to sit over there for a while."

With an apologetic smile toward Qian Jiale, she gracefully walked away.

Watching her retreating figure, Qian Jiale scratched his head. "This Senior Sister Fang seems rather nice."

"What? Has your heart been stirred?" Lingyu naturally threw an arm over his shoulder and leaned in with a sly grin. "True, finding a woman prettier than you isn't easy..."

"Stop talking nonsense!" Qian Jiale glared at her irritably. "Aren't I just worried that you've once again befriended the wrong sort?"

"... " Bringing that up was thoroughly unamusing. Lingyu rubbed her nose, withdrew her paw, and after a moment, said, "Senior Sister Fang is a clever person..."

"In other words, if she were to turn ruthless, she could ruin you with a single finger!" Qian Jiale extended his pinky finger, accompanied by a look of utter disdain.

"Go on, am I really that weak?"

"Then let's see how much you've improved these past few years when the time comes!"

After trading barbs and exchanging some nonsense, the two finally began to talk about their experiences over the past few years.

"Senior Brother Qian, what on earth is your Qingtian Peak doing? Why won't you even let people enter the gate?"

"Sigh, don't ask!" Having stood for too long, Qian Jiale unceremoniously swept the hem of his robe and sat down cross-legged on the ground. "I heard from Senior Sister Yuexiu that my master has been out of his mind since thirty years ago, claiming that the sword manual in the Holy Canon is incomplete and insisting on perfecting it. And so, not content with fixing it himself, he's dragging all the members of our sect into it as well."

"... " Lingyu sat down beside him, saying incredulously, "So he spends every day guarding the gates of Sword Asking Peak?"

Qian Jiale spread his hands, indicating that he was equally baffled. How could they possibly fathom the minds of Nascent Soul cultivators?

"The moment I entered the sect, my master drilled me mercilessly. I almost didn't make it through..." Speaking of it brought a flood of bitter tears, and Qian Jiale rubbed his neck in lingering fear. "There was a real chance you wouldn't have lived to see me."

Lingyu felt a deep sense of shared sympathy. "My master wasn't any better. I was tormented for a full year, and only escaped disaster when he went into seclusion..." That year in the Mirror of Three Lives was no ordinary span of time; it was a miracle she hadn't been driven completely mad.

The two poured their grievances out to each other for a whole day, finally venting all the suppressed frustration in their hearts.

Since this trip was for the Linhai campaign, the sect had dispatched its finest flying ship. In just two days, they arrived at the Bailu Nunnery battlefield.

The Linhai frontline was vast and stretched out across a long boundary. Taking the four major sects—the Huangfeng Academy, Bailu Nunnery, Danxin Pavilion, and Gu'an Temple—as strongholds, the front was divided into four sectors. The Taibai Sect was closest to Bailu Nunnery, so the majority of their forces had been deployed there.

Lingyu had privately discussed with Fang Xinyan how unfortunate the geographic locations of Lingcang's various sects were. The ones with formidable combat power were mostly situated in the west—places like Zhenhua Immortal Sect, Extreme Intent Sect, Zixiao Sword Sect, Seven Killings Valley, and River of Asura—every single one of them possessing immense might and ruthless methods. And the east? It was all academies and temples. Looking at the four sects involved in the Linhai battlefield this time, both Confucian academies were hit, half of the four Buddhist monasteries were hit, and the only one that was formidable to deal with—the Crying Ghost Tomb—happened to have the defensive barrier of the nether abyss mist to guard it.

Yet, this could hardly be blamed on them. The west was filled with towering mountains, while the east consisted largely of plains. Unlike the Dao and Demonic sects, the Buddhist and Confucian sects largely relied on mortal offerings, so naturally, they built their mountain gates in the relatively densely populated east.

The last time she had ridden a large flying ship was eight years ago, but the scenery she beheld now was completely different.

The flying ship slowly approached Bailu Nunnery. Along the way, the traces of war became increasingly stark.

Bailu Nunnery was a temple for female monastics and housed very few disciples, so its architecture was primarily simple and unadorned. There were no towering memorial archways, nor any imposing, majestic grand halls. The tallest building in the nunnery was a seven-tiered pagoda, its upturned eaves hung with octagonal wind chimes that chimed with Buddhist chants, bringing a touch of peace and tranquility to the war-torn Bailu Nunnery.

Aside from the nunnery itself, the surrounding area was filled with broken walls and ruins, not a single building remaining intact. Mortals were nowhere to be seen; long before the demon cultivators launched their offensive, they had been evacuated deep into the interior. The protection of mortals by the Buddhist and Confucian paths was something neither the Dao nor Demonic paths could match. They flourished through mortals, and once they lost the support of mortals, they would lose their foundation.

The flying ship came to a halt on a temporarily constructed high platform. After Lan Muyang coordinated with the female monastics of Bailu Nunnery who had come to receive them, he led the disciples off the ship.

Lingyu and the other Foundation Establishment disciples were led to the back mountain of Bailu Nunnery—where dense rows of tents had been pitched to accommodate the cultivators participating in the war.

Although Bailu Nunnery's mountain gate was not small, it still couldn't compare to the Taibai Sect, which spanned thousands of miles. However, it easily covered a hundred miles, making the accommodation of tens of thousands of cultivators effortless.

These tens of thousands of cultivators included not only disciples dispatched from various sects but also recruited rogue cultivators.

The old fellows understood well that relying solely on the major sects to fend off the enemy was unfeasible. While the forces of the major sects were vast, their numbers lacked superiority—a single immortal city held a million residents, and how many immortal cities were there in Lingcang? Therefore, rogue cultivators had to be recruited. Only by incorporating the greatest number of rogue cultivators and throwing them into the frontline could there be any possibility of victory.

To recruit rogue cultivators, the major sects had spared no expense. First, any rogue cultivator who registered would enjoy wartime benefits; second, those with outstanding military exploits could be granted exceptional entry into the sects; third, military exploits could be exchanged for rewards with clear, unalterable prices that deceived neither young nor old.

Once these three policies were issued, every immortal city boiled over. Although the battlefield was exceptionally dangerous, the opportunities were also immense, and the one thing rogue cultivators lacked least was a spirit of adventure.

Therefore, the majority of the tens of thousands of cultivators at Bailu Nunnery were rogue cultivators, with sect disciples numbering no more than ten thousand or so.

Naturally, sect disciples had to be placated as well. The policies of wartime benefits and exchanging military exploits for rewards were equally open to sect disciples, and on top of that, they received sect subsidies...

To put it in a single phrase: having a backer was always much better than having none!

On the second day after their arrival, Lan Muyang summoned all the newly arrived Foundation Establishment disciples.

"To be able to come here, you are all rising talents with boundless futures within the sect." With his very first sentence, the Head of Discipline—widely acknowledged as rigid and utterly serious—elevated their status.

"But that is not enough. You possess extraordinary natural talent and exceptional brilliance, yet you have not yet proven yourselves." Lan Muyang paused, then said, "Now, the sect is giving you a chance."

Although this speech sounded fine, it was not quite enough to move these individuals. The Foundation Establishment disciples present all possessed natural talent and formal lineages, and which of them wasn't arrogant? After listening, they maintained their usual indifferent expressions.

However, Lan Muyang's next sentence caused their eyes to widen instantly.

"Whoever achieves military merit here, the top three shall enter the main department of the War Command Hall!"