Chapter 4: The Infinite Sect

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As Yao Qian entered the black mist, a wave of drowsiness suddenly washed over her. Instinctively, she felt something was wrong, but soon a refreshing breath appeared in her sea of consciousness, sweeping away the unexpected fatigue. Yao Qian relaxed, knowing that the Heaven’s Evolution Stele would save her.

She quickly scanned her surroundings and found that there were very few people inside the black mist—only five or six children about her age, both boys and girls, including Jin Xiu’er. They all lay on the ground with their eyes closed. Yao Qian followed suit, lying down and relaxing her breath, pretending to have fainted as well.

She did not know the cultivation level of the owner of the black mist and dared not probe the outside situation with her divine sense rashly. She could only wait quietly. After the black mist had absorbed her, it seemed to have absorbed several more people. Then she felt a slight vibration; it seemed the black mist was moving. Yao Qian was puzzled—what was the point of the black mist capturing just a few people?

Inside the black mist, the environment was sealed. There was a faint light within, but no way to sense the outside. If Yao Qian hadn’t started counting after entering, she wouldn’t even be able to tell how long she had been inside.

After she arrived, about ten more people were brought in. Judging by those within her sight, the owner of the black mist seemed to specifically capture children around the age of ten, all unconscious upon arrival.

When Yao Qian reached a count of 43,000 inside the black mist, she couldn’t help but take a nap—not because she was careless, but because she was hungry… She hadn’t started cultivation yet and couldn’t practice fasting. Back home, although she only ate once a day, it was spiritual food containing enough energy to sustain her for a day.

Yet, whether intentionally or not, the owner of the black mist hadn’t given them any food or even a drop of water since capturing them. Fortunately, everyone was unconscious, suppressing their bodily needs to the minimum; otherwise, they would have died of thirst before starving.

Yao Qian dared not use fasting pills inside the black mist, so she had to rely on sleep to reduce her body’s demands. Closing her eyes and calming her mind, she entered her sea of consciousness. There stood a mysterious black jade stele radiating light quietly at the depths of her consciousness. Approaching it, the steady, mountain-like aura of the stele instantly calmed Yao Qian.

This black jade stele was a miraculous encounter from her past life. It was also why, despite being a minor cultivator who hadn’t yet drawn Qi into her body, she could skillfully use her divine sense—because in her previous life, she had refined her divine sense with the stele’s help.

She discovered the jade stele in her mind at sixteen. At the top were two intricate golden characters she didn’t recognize, yet inexplicably knew they read “Heaven’s Evolution.” Hence, she named it the Heaven’s Evolution Stele.

Yao Qian didn’t know the stele’s exact origin, but judging by its grandeur and bearing, she believed it was at least an innate spiritual treasure. Unfortunately, it was unlucky to have ended up with such a useless owner like her, who not only failed to unleash even a fraction of its power but treated it like a mere learning device.

Early on, she discovered that sleeping in the stele’s space quickly restored her spirit; studying inside accelerated her learning and maintained her focus. In her past life, she used the stele as a study system.

After entering the cultivation world, Yao Qian developed new functions for the stele. It not only helped her quickly comprehend cultivation techniques and talismans but even improved her methods, such as her Sunrise Qi Absorption Technique.

This technique was the most common and rudimentary in the cultivation world—barely a legitimate cultivation method, more like an introductory course teaching novices how to breathe and meditate. She had learned it from her clan elders at one year old and eagerly began practicing.

At the start, she found she could channel the stele’s power to directly absorb the sunrise purple Qi. Encouraged by this effect, she practiced harder—whether or not the purple Qi improved her constitution, absorbing more was beneficial.

Yet the stele’s surprises weren’t over. After two years of practice, it even refined her Qi Absorption method, enabling her to nurture innate purple energy. Yao Qian believed that once she truly cultivated real cultivation techniques in the future, the stele would bring even greater wonders.

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She guessed that it was because of the Heaven’s Evolution Stele that she had reincarnated with her past wisdom into this cultivation family. This was also why, despite her low starting point in this life, she dared to dream of ascension—because she had a golden finger!

But no matter how powerful her golden finger was, she had to stay alive for it to matter. Otherwise, would the stele reincarnate her again? Yao Qian worried as she looked at the items stored in the stele’s space. None seemed capable of helping her escape.

She had no idea the cultivation level of the black mist’s owner. To be so arrogant in Qingmu City, the owner must either be powerful themselves or have a powerful backer. Yao Qian hoped it was the latter; otherwise, she had no hope of survival.

After some aimless thinking, unable to find a solution, she abandoned her worries and used her divine sense to pick up a talisman brush, dipping it in ink to draw Sun Yang talismans within the stele’s space. The black mist looked like a yin-type magical tool; perhaps yang-type talismans would counter it somewhat? She was desperate, hoping for some effect.

The stele’s space was small, about a hundred square meters, with no soil inside. It resembled a room made of jade stones. In her previous and current life, Yao Qian had tested that items placed inside were effectively frozen in time.

She had previously tested the storage pouch given by the Grand Elder, which could also be stored inside this space. This made Yao Qian very pleased, as it meant that with enough storage pouches, she could keep a vast number of items in the space.

The stele’s space could only be entered with divine sense; her body could not enter. She was accustomed to reading, practicing calligraphy, and painting with her divine sense inside the stele in her former life. Now her divine sense was stronger; she drew twenty Sun Yang talismans in one go without feeling fatigued.

Just as she prepared to draw a hundred talismans at once and release them all, she suddenly felt a surge of turbulence in the black mist’s space. Yao Qian immediately withdrew her divine sense from the stele and lay on the ground, continuing to feign unconsciousness.

She felt as if her body had passed through a barrier and then fell heavily to the ground. She barely suppressed a groan. Was she being released from the black mist?

“Senior Brother, look, these are the new disciples I just recruited. All have spiritual roots and have yet to draw Qi into their bodies. These should fill some vacancies, right?” A clear, pleasant female voice echoed in the spacious room.

Yao Qian even lightened her breathing, afraid of being discovered awake. So the standard for capturing was children with spiritual roots who hadn’t drawn Qi yet. What did filling vacancies mean?

With her eyes closed, unable to see clearly, she realized she had come to a grand black hall. The furnishings were noble and luxurious, but the most eye-catching were the eighteen uniquely shaped lanterns. Their holders took the form of snakes, tigers, deer, and sometimes human figures, each with vivid features resembling living beings.

The speaker looked about eighteen or nineteen, dressed in striking red, her appearance extraordinarily beautiful. She shyly looked at a man in black robes sitting cross-legged before her—a Daoist who appeared about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with sword-like brows, starry eyes, and a cold, sharp aura, a remarkably handsome man.

The black-robed Daoist opened his dark eyes, glanced at the scattered children lying on the floor, then at the seemingly unconscious Yao Qian, raising his brow. Recovering awareness so quickly while trapped in the Earthly Fiend Banner—she must have an exceptionally strong innate divine sense. A promising disciple indeed.

The Daoist, Pei Changqing, asked, “Where did you get these people?” He saw through Yao Qian’s disguise but didn’t expose her. With his cultivation, he wouldn’t even bother with an untrained child.

Yu Jiao Jiao, the girl in red, wrinkled her small nose and said, “I didn’t inquire much. Don’t worry, Senior Brother. I didn’t touch any sects; I just went to the Shouyang Mountain Range. The sects there are timid and didn’t dare act once they saw my Earthly Fiend Banner.”

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Yu Jiao Jiao’s strength was mediocre, only late Foundation Establishment stage, but her Earthly Fiend Banner was a magical treasure with cultivated sentience. If she encountered disciples of orthodox sects, she was nothing but prey. But among the various heterodox schools in the southern border, no one could withstand a strike from the Earthly Fiend Banner—not even Foundation Establishment or Golden Core cultivators.

Moreover, everyone in the southern border’s heterodox schools knew the Earthly Fiend Banner was a forging technique of the Inner Sect of the Infinite Sect—one of the ten demonic sects, with formidable power. To them, these heterodox schools were mere playthings. While they regretted the Infinite Sect poaching promising disciples, they dared not confront them for these talents. Losing disciples was recoverable; losing the sect meant total destruction.

Pei Changqing nodded slightly, “Well done. I’ll reward you ten thousand merit points.” Recently, the Infinite Sect had some troubles, losing many low-level disciples. Pei Changqing ordered his juniors to recruit new disciples to prevent future shortages. As long as they brought disciples back, he didn’t care how.

Yu Jiao Jiao knelt gracefully before Pei Changqing, her eyes soft, breath like orchid fragrance, “Senior Brother, I don’t want merit points. I just want you to accompany me.”

Pei Changqing glanced at her, half-smiling, “You really want me to accompany you?”

Yu Jiao Jiao gazed at his gentle smile, nearly entranced into nodding. But the corner of her eye caught the pair of humanoid lantern holders behind him, and she shuddered, suddenly sober.

These lantern holders were shaped like two girls equally beautiful as Yu Jiao Jiao, astonishingly identical—even the vermilion birthmark between their brows matched perfectly.

Looking at the lanterns, Yu Jiao Jiao’s face turned pale as she said, “My cultivation isn’t enough yet. I’m not fit to serve Senior Brother.”

Though they called each other senior brother and junior sister, Yu Jiao Jiao was a heart-vein disciple specializing in pure yin techniques, while Pei Changqing was a main vein disciple practicing the profound Nether Classic, which was irresistibly alluring to her. Her weak heart had been repeatedly drawn to Pei Changqing’s aura, but even her infatuation vanished upon seeing the everlasting lamps in the hall.

Pei Changqing smiled faintly and said gently, “Jiao Jiao, you did well this time. Take your merit points and cultivate hard.”

Yu Jiao Jiao’s heart was lost again by his words, and she dizzily agreed.

After Yu Jiao Jiao withdrew, Pei Changqing glanced at the children on the floor. “Take them all to Liuxia Peak.” Liuxia Peak was where Infinite Sect’s young disciples trained.

A dark shadow silently appeared in the hall, enveloping the children in a black cloud. Pei Changqing said softly, “Tell the instructors that if there are any more mistakes this time, I won’t mind adding a few more everlasting lamps in the hall.”

The shadow bowed and silently retreated.