Chapter 26: A Nighttime Conversation (Revised)

  Xu Ziyuan saw that all the new disciples had thoughtful expressions on their faces, and continued:

  "What is everyone's purpose for embarking on this immortal cultivation path?"

  Her eyes swept across the crowd and found that Xu Dongxue and others also showed a thoughtful expression, so she continued to say:

  "It's to constantly break through oneself! Let me ask, if this time you make excuses and don't go to the Monster Beast Battlefield, will your determination to cultivate immortality still be firm from now on? In the future, when you encounter setbacks again, will you continue to evade them? It would be better to give up on cultivating immortality altogether and become an ordinary person."

  After finishing speaking, Xu Ziyuan stood quietly in front of the door, no longer speaking. In her heart, she thought: I've already said what needed to be said; whether they can wake up or not depends on their own understanding.

  The new disciples stood quietly, lost in thought. But there was no longer any fear or resentment on their faces, only contemplation. Finally, Xu Qingxue took a step forward and stood beside Xu Ziyuan, saying loudly:

  "I'm going!"

  Xu Tie Niu looked at Xu Zi Yan with a glance and took a step forward, walking to her side. In a calm and composed tone, he said:

  "I'm going!"

  Xu Li, Xu De Zhi and Xu Ling also walked out one after another, saying in unison:

  "I'm going!"

  Everyone had already figured it out, knowing that this matter was not something they could avoid just by wanting to hide, and neither was it something that Xu Ziyuan's help could resolve. Moreover, having been stirred up by Xu Ziyuan's words, and further incited by the actions of Xu Qingshuang and others, their blood boiled with enthusiasm - who among them didn't have passion? Who didn't have ideals? And so, everyone stepped forward in unison, shouting in one voice:

  "I'm going!"

  They gazed at each other for a moment, feeling exhilarated and unable to hold back their "haha" laughter.

  Xu Dongxue and others saw that the situation had become so different from what they had imagined, and the new disciples who were shrinking back in fear looked completely different. They felt a great sense of unease in their hearts and hastily bowed to Xu Ziyuan, saying:

  "Now that your matter is settled, we'll take our leave. You can all go to the Central Square by yourselves tomorrow morning, and we won't wait for you!"

  "Little sister knows, no need to send!" Xǔ Zǐyān said politely.

  After the four major factions' people disappeared, Xu Ziyuan looked at the crowd in front of him, thought for a moment, and said softly:

  "I think everyone is clear about each other's cultivation, so let's do this: the top twenty people will go to Central Square tomorrow at dawn. I'll count as one, you guys just choose nineteen others."

  Everyone looked at each other and this time there was no more dispute, and soon nineteen people stood up again. Xu Ziyuan glanced at them and said softly:

  "Everyone go back and get ready, then have a good night's sleep, we'll set out tomorrow."

  After finishing speaking, he waved his hand and turned back to his own house. The crowd outside looked at each other, and the remaining disciples suddenly bowed deeply to the nineteen people, saying:

  "Take care!"

  Those nineteen people were taken aback for a moment, then also solemnly returned a courtesy and said: "Thank you!"

  Then they stood silently for a while before quietly dispersing.

  Night.

  Very quiet. The heavy snow had stopped, and a bright moon hung high in the sky, making the night even more desolate. Xu Ziyuan sat alone on her bed, thinking to herself:

  "Tomorrow, we'll be heading out to battle against the demonic beasts. If I only reveal my cultivation at the 7th layer of the Acquired Realm, it might not be enough to deal with them. Looking at how Xue Dongxue and the others are acting, once we enter Tongyu Valley, they'll probably send us new disciples to the most dangerous places. In that case, controlling my cultivation at the 7th layer of the Acquired Realm really won't be enough! However, I also can't raise my cultivation too high, after all, what I revealed outside during the day is still just the 7th layer of the Acquired Realm. If I suddenly increase it too much, it will definitely arouse other people's suspicions."

  But how much should I raise it? It's been three months since the last time I fought with my younger brother outside the main hall and pretended to break through. If I just raise my cultivation by one level now, raising it to the eighth layer of the Post-Heavenly stage, no one should suspect anything, right? Hmm, that's what I'll do!

  She decided to do it, and Xǔ Zǐyān got out of bed, came to the front of the table, picked up a brush, spread out the talisman paper, drew another concealment talisman, and patted it on her body. A burst of light flashed, the light flowed around her body, and in an instant, it was absorbed into her body. At this time, Xǔ Zǐyān's revealed cultivation was exactly at the eighth level of acquired realm.

  She looked at herself, nodded slightly, and was very satisfied. Just as she had just put everything away, she heard the sound of clothes fluttering in the courtyard. Xu Ziyuan's heart tightened, and she quickly turned her head to gaze out the window. Then she heard a few light knocks on the door.

  "Who?" Xǔ Zǐyān asked lightly.

  "Zi Yan, it's Second Uncle." A voice came from outside the door, belonging to Xu Haobo.

  Xu Ziyuan heard this and felt relieved, hastily quickening her pace to the door, gently opening it and looking out at Erbo in the snowy courtyard, softly asking:

  "Second Uncle, how did you come?"

  "Go in and talk!"

  Xu Haobo flashed into the room. Xu Ziyuan hastily closed the door and followed him in, seeing that Xu Haobo was already sitting on a chair, deep in thought. Not wanting to disturb him, she stood quietly in front of Xu Haobo, waiting for him to speak.

  Xu Haobo let out a light sigh and raised his eyes to glance at Xu Ziyuan. Suddenly, his expression changed and he exclaimed in surprise:

  "Ziyan, your cultivation will be revealed up to the eighth layer, have you broken through?"

  Xu Ziyuan's heart skipped a beat when she heard Xu Haobo's words, and she felt that revealing some truth at this critical moment could also help her family. Besides, she really didn't want to stay in the family and wanted to go to the demon beast battlefield to gain some experience. She was afraid that because of her low cultivation level and high proficiency in talisman techniques, Second Uncle would use protecting herself as an excuse to keep her in the family. However, Xu Ziyuan still made some reservations and said softly:

  "Second Uncle, my niece has just broken through the second layer of the Refining Qi period and reached the early stage of the second layer. So, she also raised her cultivation a bit. I don't know why you came here in the middle of the night, is there something going on?"

  Xu Haobo let out a deep sigh, looked deeply at Xu Ziyuan, and slowly told her about the events that had occurred in their family. Finally, he said with determination:

  "Zi Yan, I originally thought you were just a genius at crafting talismans. Now it seems that not only are you a genius at crafting talismans, but also a genius at cultivating. In just three short months, you've broken through again. This time, don't go to fight the demonic beasts, I'll arrange for you to go somewhere else."

  Xu Ziyuan gently shook her head and looked at Xu Haobo seriously: "Second uncle, don't bother about me, I'll go!"

  Xu Haobo was anxious as soon as he heard it, and Xu Ziyuan hastily said: "How can this girl be so unreasonable? I came here tonight just to arrange for you. Not to mention that you are a cultivation genius and the hope of the family, even if I look at my eleventh brother, I cannot let you go on an adventure!"

  No!

  Xu Ziyuan shook her head firmly and said in a low voice, "Second Uncle, you just said I'm a genius at cultivation. I want to ask you something: if I listened to you this time and hid, would my heart still be firm in cultivating? What about when I encounter danger and setbacks again in the future? Should I hide again? Now with your care, what about when there's no one to take care of me? Without a firm heart, do you want me to spend my whole life running away?"

  New and old friends, if you feel that this book is still short of words, then just keep it for now. You can go take a look at my previous book "Phoenix Chirps in Song", the link is below.