Zheng Dongliu said with a bit of a headache: "After all, at that time, you could say you were acting under Qiu Qingtang's orders... I really dislike this kind of thinking work."

"Given Zhu Tianqi's nature, his current goal is Zhiyu alone, so even if there's something hidden in the agreement, it must be aimed at Zhiyu."

"So what do you think?"

Lu Jin'an said calmly: "Sect Master, when Jun Bingquan brought Zhiyu over initially, he wanted me to take Zhiyu as an apprentice.

I don't care about the Dragon Clan's affairs, but the matters concerning my apprentice - how could I not care?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Dongliu patted his head: "Indeed, there's still that issue; officially accepting her as an apprentice really changes things."

The ceremony for formally accepting apprentices involves many rituals, especially since it involves swearing by the Heavenly Dao to affirm the relationship.

"So when are you planning to…"

"At the Sect Master's grand ceremony." Lu Jin'an replied directly: "By then, it might directly start a war."

"Since you're prepared, I won't say much."

Zheng Dongliu walked around with hands behind his back: "I am not good at thinking, so when the time comes, you just give orders, but..."

Can we hold out until that day?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin'an's expression changed subtly. Looking at the Sect Master's current appearance, although he appeared aged, he hadn't yet reached the phase of Heavenly Human Five Declines, so how could he not persist for even a month?

Thinking about what he heard at the Two Realms Pass earlier, Lu Jin'an quickly asked: "Is it related to Outer Heaven?"

"Mm… I am myself, but also not myself."

Zheng Dongliu took a deep breath and waved his hand: "This matter requires my personal handling; you just focus on your matters, so I can rest assured."

Lu Jin'an made a bow and exited Taiyi Hall.

Outside the hall, Jun Bingquan had already vanished, and Zhiyu ran over cheerfully: "Master, Master, Zhiyu really doesn't want to go back."

"If you don't want to go back, then don't go back." Lu Jin'an gently patted her little face: "Where is my sister?"

"She… she said she wants to go back and see."

Go back?

Lu Jin'an mused thoughtfully, was it back to the Lu Family or to Xuanri Mountain?

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Xuanri Mountain.

As one of the Upper Realm's Immortal Realms alongside Hidden Life Mountain and Cloud Sky Mountain, Xuanri Mountain excels in the Body Refining Path.

In a certain manner, Xuanri Mountain is the most traditional gathering place for the Human Clan's cultivators, still adhering to the Body Refining Skill that prevailed when humans first rose to prominence.

Although tradition is tradition, over tens of thousands of years, they've consistently made advancements in the Body Refining Path, not to mention the various Body Refining Methods they've developed, which indeed outshine those of the entire Human Clan.

Even Hidden Life Mountain's Body Refining Methods were mostly acquired through benefit exchanges with Xuanri Mountain.

However, their excessive adherence to tradition also exposes undeniable weaknesses; although they've reached the peak in the Body Refining Path, their Qi Refining Method is relatively weaker, coupled with the absence of someone as significant as Li Chengshi from Hidden Life Mountain, leaving them at a disadvantage in their nearly ten thousand years of rivalry.

Lu Yunzhu returned to the place of her birth but wasn't concerned about Xuanri Mountain's affairs.

As long as Xuanri Mountain doesn't get annexed by Hidden Life Mountain, everything else is irrelevant.

For her, what matters is related to only one person.

This return was for one purpose alone: to see the Outer Heaven.

Nowadays, even within the Hundred Clans, the three Divine Mountains are rare sites capable of communicating with the Outer Heaven.

She walked into the Sacrificial Hall of Xuanri Mountain, her eyes scanning the numerous Divine Tablets sacred to Transcendent Powers; upon raising her right hand slightly, all the tablets floated into the mid-air, and after a single-hand gesture, the light within them speared upwards into the sky.

Lu Yunzhu donned an enigmatic mask once more, infused with the power of the Heavenly Dao. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

A barrier rose from the ground, and Lu Yunzhu floated cross-legged in mid-air, closing her eyes.

Divine Traveling to the Outer Heaven.

The Outer Heaven, truly worthy of the title Immortal Realm, yet this realm nowadays felt fragmented and desolate.

Lu Yunzhu opened her eyes, not unfamiliar with the scene before her.

However, observing the flickering demon energy in front of her, she slightly narrowed her eyes, a cold light slowly emerging from them.

"Huang Ningshang, dare you meet me this time?"

She spoke with a ghostly tone, her fingers tightening a bit as if she was about to take action in the next instant.

"Little Yunzhu, here you're not my match, anyway…" A slowly appearing Huang Ningshang in a black-purple ru skirt, her aura exceptionally fierce, with a faint blood scent permeating the air, as if she'd just arrived from a battlefield.

She looked at Lu Yunzhu with a cheerful smile: "What's here is only the Divine Soul; be careful not to encounter an accident accidentally~"

"Hehe..."

Lu Yunzhu sneered: "Why are you daring to come to my front this time?"

"Just feel it is the right time."

Huang Ningshang waved her hand, the surrounding scene rotated, and soon they were both within a distinct space.

By the table, Huang Ningshang warmed the wine while saying: "That child has already grown up."

"Only that?"

"Mm…" A glint of amusement flickered in Huang Ningshang's eyes: "Also, I've survived."

Listening to her words, Lu Yunzhu slightly narrowed her eyes, almost instantly, she began to grasp the deeper meaning behind Huang Ningshang's words.

"You mean… you've seen innumerable futures, and in every future, you would die, only by having a connection with him can a glimmer of hope arise?"

While speaking, she leaned forward slightly: "So, you admit Mu Qingyue is…"

"No." Huang Ningshang flatly denied: "How many times have I said, why are you still thinking like this?"

"Okay." Lu Yunzhu didn't pursue the matter further, and instead directly said: "So, you're afraid of death?"

"Who isn't?" Huang Ningshang said indifferently: "With a weakness, who wants to die?

Do you want to die?"

"Then, what's your weakness?"

"My daughter." Huang Ningshang handed over a cup of wine: "I haven't spent good time with her."

"Isn't what you say contradictory?" Lu Yunzhu scoffed coldly: "According to your words, you indeed have some connection with Jin'an; I don't know what kind of connection, but Mu Qingyue, she's just a tool for you to survive, right?"

"It doesn't conflict." Huang Ningshang smiled faintly: "Is your feelings for Jin'an pure?"

"So, what's the connection?" Lu Yunzhu continued to ask.

"I saved that child." A flash of amusement occurred within Huang Ningshang's phoenix eyes, as if recalling something, softening some of the fierceness on her face.

"Saved him?" Lu Yunzhu's fingers rapped on the table: "When did this happen?"

"Ah~ even at Yunding you have unknown matters?"

Lu Yunzhu looked at her coldly: "Speak!"

"Don't get upset." Huang Ningshang sipped a small drink, showing a bit of languor: "In short, I did save him, and he gives me a little return, that's normal, though not the kind you're thinking."

Huang Ningshang collected her smile, speaking seriously: "Then, I just accompanied him to practice swordsmanship.

Qingyue's Sword Dao talent came from this."

"Unconvincing, unreasonable."

"It is true." Huang Ningshang said flatly: "Some talents haven't disappeared, just transferred, that's all."

After pausing, she added: "There are some Daoist Skills, and you being unable to access them is perfectly normal."

"I don't believe."

Lu Yunzhu promptly stood up: "Speak your intention; what do you want to say, coming to me actively?"

Huang Ningshang lowered her eyelids: "Some things lose their magic when spoken plainly; the alien race from Outer Heaven… will release a dragon, pay attention to that."

"Just this?"

"Just this."

Lu Yunzhu turned and left; Huang Ningshang, sipping wine in small sips, lay back leisurely after a while. Gazing at the ceiling, indescribable allure shimmering in her phoenix eyes.

Her right finger lightly caressed, a delicate little sword like Zhan Ming appeared in her hand, gently twirling at her fingertips.

"Hobbies…"

Huang Ningshang muttered softly; some like humans, some like demons, some like…

"Sword Spirit, still quite amusing."

Huang Ningshang closed her eyes as if reminiscing, after a while, with surrounding hues dissipating, she reopened her eyes standing at the same spot, her gaze containing nothing but tranquility.

"Beyond the human, beyond the heaven..."

Huang Ningshang murmured, then turned towards a particular direction, softly speaking.

In the distance, Lu Yunzhu's figure came to a halt, as the voice entered her ears, shadow emerged in her eyes.

"Finding a stepfather for my daughter might indeed be quite nice...

What do you think?"

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