Ruoxi sneakily smiled and skipped her way to the inner chamber to sleep.

　　With her current cultivation, an hour of deep slumber was enough for her rest.

　　To a cultivator, the other advantage they had was that they did not need to waste too much time on sleeping like a mortal. Under the situation where their lifespan did not extend, they have more time to do the things they want.

　　At that moment, Zuo Shaoqing came in and cupped his hands towards Shen Lian as an obeisance. He said, “I just received Senior Apprentice-Brother Jiang’s air message. He would return within these few days.”

　　Shen Lian clasped his hands behind his back, smiled and said, “This is an internal matter of your sect, there is no need to report it to me.”

　　Zuo Shaoqing replied, “My lord, you have granted us the grace of rebirth, we are determined to attach ourselves under your banner.”

　　Shen Lian smiled faintly, “Qingjiang was assaulted by Huang Longzi and your master defected. Fundamentally, the reason for this was because you attached yourself to Qing Xuan. Do you not hold a grudge?”

　　Zuo Shaoqing calmly looked straight at Shen Lian and he quietly said, “I have indeed thought of this matter. However, to be in another man’s shoes, Guangqing would not have treated Qingjiang the way Guangqing would. The defection of our honored master should not have happened. I will search for him and bring him back.”

　　“You have truly grown a lot. Nonetheless, there is one point and that is with your qualifications, you should not limit yourself to this area. This time, once your Senior Apprentice-Brother Jiang Shuijie returns, you should try to go out and travel, witness the different kinds of cultivation of this world and also the kind of sufferings of the secular mortal world. Take these experiences and transform it to merits,” Shen Lian slightly sighed.

　　Zuo Shaoqing’s brows crinkled, “But now my sect is scattered and sparse. What would they do if I wasn’t there?”

　　Shen Lian answered in a serious manner, “No one is a redeemer. You have to learn to trust your own senior and junior apprentice-brothers. You have better qualifications than all of them and your cultivation experience is higher, but this does not mean that they are sitting ducks without you here. Furthermore, how would they grow if they do not weather the storm? You should place more confidence in them.”

　　Zuo Shaoqing kept his silence. This was because the lessons he got from Meng Xunzhen was to have himself continuously become strong until he could finally guard the entire sect while also placing himself above the sect.

　　What Shen Lian meant was that it was not wrong of him to want to become stronger but he only reminded him that he should trust his brothers more and give himself a little more freedom.

　　He asked, “Then, are you very trusting of the other people in Qing Xuan, my lord?”

　　Shen Lian nodded and answered, “I trust them. One day, Qing Xuan would become the most formidable sect in this universe because of them and myself. The same goes to Qingjiang that would also become the most outstanding sword cultivating sect. The vigor when you faced Huang Longzi and the current state of peril would soon become the precious experience in your later lives. No one on the path of Dao has it easy. You would suffer at the beginning and suffer even more in the later stage but an unbiased view is very important. Also, one should not forget the nature of cultivation is to achieve Dao and attain longevity.”

　　During the following period of time, Jiang Shuijie also returned. He helped in settling those disciples who had hurt their Dao foundation and could not cultivate anymore.

　　Under Shen Lian’s witness, he also became the new sect master of Qingjiang. This sword cultivation sect with a thousand year legacy met one of the toughest times since establishment and was left with only thirty to forty people. Everyone had experience tempering themselves and their wills had also grown.

　　When Shen Lian was preaching Dao, he only repeated the summary of the Huandan path. The hundred word summary was spoken eloquently every day until there were only few who were still willing to listen to him in the end.

　　However, Shen Lian also spoke of the swordcraft. The knowledge within him far surpassed Meng Xunzhen and he bore the Milky Way Sword Aura and the path and meaning of Grandmaster Yuanqing. His superficial knowledge on the Trapping of Celestial Sword Will and its swordcraft were still something extraordinary.

　　At the same time, Shen Lian also very thoroughly re-arranged the swordcraft he had learned by himself, he gradually had the tendency make everything into a uniform order.

　　Of course, he still rigidly adhere to the set pattern of his predecessors and was nowhere close to Chen Jianmei’s conception.

　　Nonetheless, he was not pure of the cultivator of the sword and the swordcraft was only one of his methods of self-defense. That was why he did not put much emphasis on breaking out from the predecessor’s framework but only tidied up the jumble of swordcraft.

　　Shen Lian also visited Qingjiang only immortal Zhenren from the past generations, Shui Lingzi’s adobe. It was a grass hut. After being consumed by the years, there were no traces of Shui Lingzi to be found and the few lines of words on the mountain walls by the side of the grass hut were also blurred out.

　　Shui Lingzi finally perished during the trials and Dao and vanished from this universe without a trace. Due to the underperformance of Shui Lingzi’s successor, that only thirty or forty percent of the swordcraft was passed down.

　　This was one of the troubles that many immortal Zhenren faced. Even though Qing Xuan had many portraits of immortal Zhenrens but in actual fact, those who were able to pass on their true teachings to their disciples were very few.

　　The greatest lesson Shen Lian got was that he deeply felt the mercilessness of time. Under the rinsing of time, many marks of powerful existence were annihilated.

　　At the same time, with the passing time, there was one generation after another of new people who would rise up and reached the top of the world.

　　Ruoxi only needed to cultivate in the Taisu Sect, that was why her mind did not grow much but her qualifications were out of this world. She quickly grew as she followed by Shen Lian’s side and drew inferences. She progressed really quickly in her epiphany towards Dao.

　　Sometimes, when Shen Lian heard her explain the sentiment she had after the Huandan stage, he was shaken to the core.

　　He did not know whether it was because of the reincarnation of Yuan Jun or that she was influenced by the Synchronized Heart Mantra of Taisu and had absorbed Fairy Tianmeng’s knowledge.

　　Luckily for him, after making a round outside, he could finally return to the mountains.

　　The sky was high, the clouds were pale and the celestial mountains were adorable.

　　Shen Lian held Ruoxi’s hand as they entered the little town at the foot of Qing Xuan Mountain. Now, many people in the little town knew that Shen Lian was Qing Xuan’s Celestial Teacher and his position was very high. However, they were unclear that he was exactly the Chief of Qing Xuan.

　　After all, no matter how close a mortal was to a cultivator, there were still two separate worlds and there was hardly any intersection.

　　Qing Xuan did not purposely divide the two, it was them who were unable to blend in.

　　Yan Bugui had opened a restaurant but this did not mean that he could return to those days when he was still a mortal.

　　It was inappropriate to vainly attempt to go on with one’s life as a mortal after becoming someone who is out of the ordinary.

　　Shen Lian passed by Yan Bugui Restaurant, stopped in his tracks and held onto Ruoxi’s hand as he went in. In the big hall, there were two Daoists who were drinking alcohol and consuming meat.

　　He said with mirth, “You two seem to have it easy.”

　　He was silent as he held onto Ruoxi’s hand and when he suddenly spoke, it startled the two Daoist until their three immortal souls and seven mortal forms came out.

　　They turned towards Shen Lian and immediately bowed, “It is an honor to see you, Headmaster.”

　　Shen Lian smiled faintly, “You may rise. Why are you two at the foot of the mountain?”

　　These two were Qing Xuan’s disciples, Shoujing and Shouxuan. Both their arms were cut off by Zuo Shaoqing back then and it was Shen Lian who used the Life-regenerating Elixir to connect their severed arms back.

　　Shoujing whose name meant to guard silence was not so silent, he licked his face and said flatteringly, “How are you, Headmaster? Senior Apprentice-Brother and I were about to go on a voyage to search for the Flower of Golden Steel to forge two precious swords. We then remembered that Uncle-Master Yan is keeping watching of the Longevity Temple so we wanted to bring some alcohol for him from here.”