Hearing what Skyler Ling said, Lana Snow nodded to herself. She agreed with him—once you reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, you really should head out to temper yourself. After all, cultivation isn’t just about shutting yourself away; if anyone could become an expert just by training behind closed doors, being an expert wouldn’t mean much.
But Skyler’s status now was far from ordinary. Even the Jade Maiden Sect’s upper elders had expectations for him that far exceeded those for the other two seed disciples. So this wasn’t something Lana could decide alone; she had to gather all the elders to discuss it.
"Skyler, go back for now. I need to discuss this with the elders!"
"Alright, Sect Master!"
After Skyler left, Lana Snow quickly summoned Shayne Snow, Yara Snow, and the other elders to discuss whether to approve his request to go out and temper himself.
To Lana's mild surprise, only Shayne Snow supported letting Second Fool go out for training; the other six elders all voted against it. Clearly, Second Fool's status in the Jade Maiden Sect was even higher than she'd imagined.
But that was understandable. Second Fool’s cultivation talent was freakishly high, not to mention his Spirit-Link Body. Even in a major sect, they’d worry about sending out a disciple like that—how could they let him go out so easily? If something happened to him, they wouldn’t even know where to cry.
So Lana Snow didn’t push her own opinion. Instead, she said, “I’ll report this to Abbess Yvonne and ask for her view.”
The elders all nodded in agreement. Of course, none of them dared object—Abbess Yvonne was the Jade Maiden Sect’s top expert.
A quarter of an hour later, in the rear mountain valley.
After hearing Lana Snow’s report, Abbess Yvonne thought for a moment and said, “A fledgling kept under its wings will never soar. Since Second Fool has reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, he should go out to temper himself. But since Senior Azure thinks so highly of him, you should ask Senior Azure’s opinion too.”
"Understood, Abbess!"
Lana nodded and left the valley. She knew Abbess Yvonne supported letting Second Fool go out for training, but was a little concerned about Senior Azure’s opinion.
That evening, Lana Snow sent someone to inform Ian Song that the sect had approved his request to go out and temper himself.
Ian wasn’t surprised. After all, Lana had consulted his other identity—Senior Azure—about this, and he was glad he’d created Senior Azure in the first place; it made things much easier.
After witnessing the strength of so many Dividing-Spirit experts on Myriad Spirits Island, Ian had been training extra hard.
In half a year, not only had he stabilized his early Out-of-Body Realm cultivation, but he’d also advanced further, reaching mid Out-of-Body Realm—all thanks to the Divine Temple’s time acceleration.
But after reaching this level, he realized that relying on hard training alone wouldn’t get him much further.
Besides, cultivation doesn’t equal fighting power. So this time, when he went out to temper himself, he planned to challenge more experts and turn his cultivation into real combat strength.
To prepare, he’d done a lot of groundwork.
Over the past half year, he’d ordered Jason Ji to help him collect maps of the Southsky Continent. He had to admit, this world was even bigger than he’d imagined—the Tang Dynasty’s territory alone was several times larger than Earth, and the High Zhou Imperium was dozens of times stronger than the Tang Dynasty.
If you set out from the Jade Maiden Sect and headed for the High Zhou capital, just flying there would take months.
But Ian wasn’t planning to go to the High Zhou Imperium just yet. He wanted to visit the Tang Dynasty’s capital first.
Even though what happened between him and Lila Li wasn’t exactly what either of them intended, he had still taken her virginity. No matter how you looked at it, he felt he owed it to her to check on how she was doing.
Since Ian had only just reached Foundation Establishment and his true essence wasn’t that strong yet, the Jade Maiden Sect assigned him a second-rank Wind-Shadow Leopard as a mount. Otherwise, if he traveled by flying sword alone, he’d burn through his essence way too fast.
The next day, with Lena Ling and the others seeing him off, Ian rode his Wind-Shadow Leopard out of the Jade Maiden Sect, heading for his first stop: Yuyang Commandery.
The Wind-Shadow Leopard was much faster than any sports car back on Earth—at a relaxed pace, it could cover two hundred kilometers an hour.
If it really pushed itself, it could hit three hundred kilometers per hour.
After going just over two hundred kilometers, Ian suddenly called his Wind-Shadow Leopard to a halt and shouted toward a nearby grove, “Come out, Senior Sister Lena!”
It was worth mentioning that, in the past half year, Ian—disguised as Senior Azure—had taught Lena Ling a new cultivation method. Thanks to this, she’d already reached late Foundation Establishment in just six months.
Although the Jade Maiden Sect had agreed to let Ian go out for training, they still weren’t entirely at ease. So Lana Snow sent Lena Ling to secretly tail him, ready to step in if danger arose.
But they had no idea Ian’s real cultivation was mid Out-of-Body Realm, not early Foundation Establishment.
The next moment, Lena Ling rode out of the grove on another Wind-Shadow Leopard, looking at Ian curiously. “How’d you spot me, kid?”
Ian glanced at the wine gourd at her waist and grinned. “Don’t forget, the wine in your gourd was brewed by me—I can smell it anywhere.”
Lena Ling gave an awkward smile, then glared at Ian with a hint of annoyance. “If you knew it was me, why’d you blow my cover?”
“Senior Sister, you should head back!” Ian said.
“What, you don’t want me around?” Lena Ling retorted, clearly annoyed.
Ian smiled. “It’s not that. You know why I’m out here training—if you’re always with me, what’s the point?”
Lena Ling nodded instinctively. “Fair enough. But I promised Master I’d keep an eye on you. If I just go back now, I’d lose all face. How about you just pretend you don’t know I’m here?”
Ian couldn’t help but laugh, then slowly raised a finger. “If you go back, Senior Sister, I’ll give you a hundred jin of fine wine.”
“No way—at least two hundred jin!” Lena Ling bargained.
Ian laughed. “I’ve buried a hundred jars of fine wine in my courtyard, ten jin each. If you go back, they’re all yours.”
Hearing that Ian had hidden a thousand jin of wine, Lena Ling’s eyes lit up. She swallowed and asked, “You’d really give me all that?”
Ian smiled. “Didn’t I brew all that wine for you anyway? Why would I mind?”
Lena Ling grinned in satisfaction. “You’ve got a conscience, kid. In that case, I’ll head back. Oh, here—take this flying sword. I never got used to it, I prefer my old one.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a black flying sword dropped in front of Ian, sticking into the ground at his feet.
It was a fourth-grade treasure flying sword, a reward Lena Ling had received for reaching late Foundation Establishment.
“Thanks, Senior Sister!”
Ian clasped his hands gratefully to Lena Ling, put away the flying sword, and urged his Wind-Shadow Leopard onward.
Behind him came Lena Ling’s voice: “Second Fool, come back safe!”
Ian didn’t reply, but a sudden warmth welled up in his heart—the feeling of being cared for.