The old Hui Lang walked calmly with his hands behind his back, followed by Rihai and Aotian. He paid no attention to the couple’s romantic whispers.

And, of course, he knew the two were a couple, since they had arrived hand in hand and he’d seen the looks they exchanged, but he didn’t bother thinking about young people’s business… even though they were technically considered the same generation as fellow disciples.

As they walked and chatted, Aotian noticed, along parts of the mountainside, beautiful entrances filled with golden runes, some sword symbols, and a mystical, natural, and captivating atmosphere — just like the entire mountain of the Bamboo Sword Sect — those were the cave mansions.

‘Say what you will, but the beauty of a Golden Core sect is beyond words, even in the outer disciple area,’ Aotian mused.

The cave entrances were very standardized, with small variations in detail. The main visible difference was that some cave mansions had blue runes instead of golden ones.

“You can choose the ones with blue runes, as they’re unoccupied. The ones with golden runes already have owners,” Hui Lang explained patiently. Rihai and Aotian glanced at each other before beginning to inspect the caves and their future home.

“Somewhere more secluded, right?” Aotian whispered softly in Rihai’s ear, already knowing what she preferred, and she nodded seriously.

“Good.” Aotian agreed and turned to Hui Lang. “Senior brother, is there a more secluded place? My sister and I prefer to live more isolated and in peace,” Aotian asked, already knowing there was such a place.

Hui Lang looked at him, confused. Living in peace was practically a requirement for those who cultivated in constant meditation, so any cave mansion was already peaceful and isolated by definition.

He soon realized that this junior brother and sister wanted to live farther away for some reason, but he didn’t ask. Instead, he would just report it to Elder Zhao later and not worry about it further.

“Well, there is such a place. But since it’s a bit further down the mountain than the usual outer disciple area, no one likes that spot. Would you like to see it? As I said, it’s a little lower, and by definition, the spiritual energy is a bit less pure,” Hui Lang explained seriously.

“Well, we’d like to take a look.” Aotian and Rihai nodded.

Hui Lang didn’t object and led them there.

They walked a bit until they reached a depression in the mountain where a small hollow had formed.

Arriving at the edge, Hui Lang pointed down. There was a small, pleasant valley, about ten meters below where they stood. It was a bit darker, as the surrounding mountain blocked some of the light, but the beautiful, exotic trees, along with some glowing spiritual plants, created a cozy atmosphere in the little valley.

“It’s down there. Want to go down and take a look? As I said, it’s a bit lower,” he asked, looking at them.

Aotian and Rihai also stepped up to the edge and looked down. Both seemed satisfied with the cozy and secluded spot.

Looking at Rihai and seeing her nod, Aotian smiled and looked at Hui Lang.

“Senior brother, no need to search further. This place will do just fine.” Aotian smiled.

“Alright, if that’s what you want.” He nodded, stepped forward with his hands behind his back, and casually stepped off the cliff.

He landed like a feather on a rock halfway down, then, with another step, fell again to another rock. On the third step, he descended gently to the ground.

He could have jumped directly to the bottom without pause or simply used his sword to fly, now that he had reached Foundation Establishment, but he preferred to set an example for his junior brothers and sisters to be self-reliant.

Of course, the two didn’t need that — but he didn’t know.

Following Hui Lang’s example, the two also landed softly on the ground.

“Well, that’s the cave mansion over there,” Hui Lang said, pointing to the mountain wall. There was a cave mansion like the others they’d seen earlier, but with blue runes, indicating it had no owner.

He then pulled out a cyan jade token from his storage pouch, and upon injecting his energy into it, the token lit up with a deep, dazzling blue. Hui Lang pointed it at the cave, and the token released a beam of light that struck the center of the cave’s blue gate.

The runes, upon being hit by the light, quickly changed from blue to gold, starting from the center. When the entire door turned golden, a beam of light shot back, which Hui Lang caught with ease.

Resting in his hand was a gray token, which he extended toward them.

“This is the key to the cave mansion. There’s only one per cave, so if you plan to live together, it might be problematic. I recommend each of you have your own cave, but that’s up to you. One warning: don’t lose the key, or someone else could enter your cave if they figure out which cave it opens,” he explained, then waited for their decision.

But Aotian didn’t hesitate and took the key.

“No need, senior brother. Rihai and I don’t go out much, and when we do, it’s usually together. So we’ll live together,” he said, looking at Hui Lang and explaining politely, though he was slightly reluctant internally about what he said.

The truth, of course, was that he would use his avatars to make a second key later, which wasn’t difficult. As for his reluctance — that was for another reason.

Rihai also nodded in agreement with Aotian and secretly had a victorious smile on her face, as Aotian had just canceled the previous bet with his words — and that was why he was reluctant.

“Well, if you’ve decided.” Hui Lang smiled at them. “I believe this is where we part, junior brother, junior sister.” He cupped his hands and took his leave courteously.

“Thank you, senior brother, for guiding us,” Aotian and Rihai said in unison, cupping their hands and bowing slightly.

Hui Lang simply waved a hand, pulled a sword from his storage pouch, tossed it into the air, and ascended onto it.

“Goodbye.” Smiling freely and elegantly… with his toothless smile, he placed his hands behind his back and shot off on the sword beneath his feet, flying into the clouds.

Aotian watched him disappear into the distance with an amused expression on his face and couldn’t help but feel that Hui Lang was showing off now that he had reached Foundation Establishment.

Shaking his head, he took Rihai’s hand, and the two approached the golden door, which had a sword symbol at the center, indicating they were still in the Bamboo Sword Sect.

‘I need to make a few changes in the future to show more presence of my sect, or simply move the sect out of here. But the problem is that, with a fully functioning sect supporting me as it is now, it’s much easier to manage everything and provide conveniences for the disciples. It’s better if I slowly build the sect’s foundation here until it’s complete and I can move out.’ Aotian pondered seriously.

“What are you thinking about?” Rihai asked, seeing him lost in thought.

“Just some future plans.” Aotian smiled at her without going into detail.

Rihai didn’t think much of it. Aotian tended to get lost in thought from time to time.

As they approached the door, he injected energy into the gray token, which served as the key. The token lit up in gold and shot out a beam of energy that struck the door, causing the runes to spin as the doors opened in the middle and retracted to the sides.

With Aotian and Rihai entering, the doors closed again, and the outer area returned to silence, softly illuminated by the golden glow of the runes.

…

With the ‘coincidental’ and ‘unplanned’ appearance of Bao Wuji, the Bamboo Sword Sect had become much more susceptible to the advances of the Infinite Dao Sect.

Not that the Infinite Dao Sect was being unfair with its requests — they would still pay in the traditional way, with elemental stones — and the Bamboo Sword Sect was aware of that.

But what had made them refuse before was the fact that agreeing to these requests from the Infinite Dao Sect was, in practice, the same as initiating a merger between the two sects, since they had asked for access and authority over most of the fundamental parts of the sect. And if that were allowed, the stronger sect could eventually devour the weaker one over time.

And everyone knew that the stronger one was the Infinite Dao Sect.

However, with the arrival of the powerful Bao Wuji, whose aura was clearly beyond the Golden Core realm, the discussion lost all meaning and they had no choice left. Now, they could only pray for their sect’s future.

Aotian had no intention of swallowing the Bamboo Sword Sect, but there was no way for them to know that — nor for him to guarantee it to them.

Jian Huiyin, the leader of the Bamboo Sword Sect, watched with a complex gaze as the men of the Infinite Dao Sect departed — a sect to which she now also belonged.

Outside the hall, with the departure of the elders of the Infinite Dao Sect, only a large Red Tiger remained, looking with a complicated expression at the four men in front of him: two dressed in dark purple robes, and two in dark red ones.

“Hello, Red Tiger. I’m Shou Xuan, inner elder of the Beast Pavilion, and these are Huan Shou, also an inner elder, and Ling Ye and Bai Mang, outer elders of my pavilion. But we in the Beast Pavilion like to use code names. I’m Coyote, and they’re Falcon, Leopard, and Bear. You can call us that directly,” said Shou Xuan — or rather, Coyote — kindly.

The tiger looked at the men strangely and their peculiarities, but nodded his head.

“Well, we’ve already acquired the location where our Beast Pavilion will be. You’re going to love it. Let’s go and get to know each other better. And don’t worry about the new environment or being treated poorly. Soon, we’ll help you grow stronger and become a king among beasts. We’ll all grow together. Believe it!” Coyote said cheerfully, full of enthusiasm and energy in both his words and actions.

The other elders just smiled, looking a little embarrassed by Coyote’s excitement.

The tiger didn’t mind the extroverted elder, but secretly, he felt curious and confused. He couldn’t shake the sense of well-being he felt in the presence of those four men — as if there was some kind of affinity between them, though he couldn’t quite understand why.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep