It came as no surprise to Li Qingshan now that he had managed to successfully reach the Ascension Plane.
It felt as simple as eating and drinking.
That night, he had absorbed all of the spiritual Qi on Repentance Cliff. Fortunately, there was no one else around, so Li Qingshan was able to do whatever he wanted.
After he had reached the Ascension Plane, Li Qingshan's life continued as before. He ate and drank, wiped the steles, drank tea, gazed at flowers, and watched the clouds roll by.
All of the conflicts in the outside world had nothing to do with Li Qingshan.
One month had passed very quickly in this manner.
Li Qingshan had spent the entire month stabilizing his cultivation and nourishing his root bone. Both his root bone and cultivation grew together and had made a breakthrough, which allowed him to reach the peak of the Ascension Plane.
How terrifying it was to have root bone as thick as a rainforest.
That month, Repentance Cliff had remained peaceful, but Li Qingshan surmised that the outside world was not so.
Everything had changed after Wu Shaobai's sword attack, which shocked the entire world.
A month had already passed, but the outside world was still discussing about this matter.
The Heavenly Path Sect would never forgive the Yuhua Sect. But based on Li Qingshan's instincts, the Yuhua Sect still remained calm. This meant that the Heavenly Path Sect had not been focused on the Yuhua Sect just yet.
Of course, this was all just Li Qingshan's guess.
Besides, soon enough, his little messenger would arrive.
Little Nine arrived happily. She could only visit her brother once a month, and this was the one day she had always looked forward to.
That morning, she bid farewell to her master and hurried over.
"Brother, it's been a month. Did you miss me?" Little Nine asked sweetly.
She ran over and hugged Li Qingshan's arm immediately.
"Did you bring me wine?" Li Qingshan asked.
"I asked if you missed me, but all you think about is the wine." Little Nine pouted.
"If you brought wine, then I will say that I miss you. But if you didn't, then I won't." Li Qingshan laughed out loud and pinched Little Nine on the nose. This girl had definitely grown a lot since she had reached the Grandmaster Plane. She was like a big girl now.
She had grown taller to around 1.7 meters. She had already reached up to Li Qingshan's chest.
She had also grown more beautiful, like a fairy. No doubt she was the crush of countless youths.
"Fine, I brought you wine." Little Nine broke free from Li Qingshan's hold and rubbed her nose unhappily. Then, she proceeded to pull out a few jars of fragrant wine from her bag.
Previously, Li Qingshan had commented that living in the Repentance Cliff was great except that there was no wine; hence his days were tasteless. So he had asked Little Nine to bring him a few jars of wine during her next visit.
Little Nine remembered everything her brother had said, so she displayed the jars of wine, as if showing them off.
"These were all from Master's collection," Little Nine whispered. "I managed to snuck them out."
Li Qingshan arched an eyebrow. He picked up the jars and whispered back, "Okay, then I'll make sure to put them away in secret. Only you and I will know about this."
Little Nine giggled. She found it amusing that her brother was cautiously putting away the wine.
"Brother, I will steal more for you next time," Little Nine said with a wink. "I remember Master once said before that grandfather-master's wine is truly the best in the world."
Li Qingshan recalled that her grandfather-master was the former Yuhua Sect Leader. After passing on the position, he had since retired completely and rarely appeared again.
"If you get caught, you will receive a spanking." Li Qingshan tried to scare her.
Little Nine lifted her chin and said proudly, "I'm a treasure of the Yuhua Sect. Master already decided that I will be the Eldest Senior Sister of the newest generation of disciples, and he even gave me the best treatment so that I can cultivate well. How can he bear to hit me?"
Little Nine did not fall for Li Qingshan's words at all. Besides, she bet that her master knew all along that she had taken the wine. He was just pretending he didn't to let her get her way.
After their bickering, the two siblings sat down next to each other. They gazed at the flowers in the garden and the bamboo forest beyond. They spaced out and felt very at ease.
"Brother, your place is still the best," Little Nine mumbled as she leaned against Li Qingshan's shoulder while enjoying the beautiful scenery.
Li Qingshan straightened his broad shoulders. "Are you tired?" he asked.
"I'm fine. With the technique that you taught me, my root bone has changed drastically. Cultivation comes easily for me now. So I spend most of my time cultivating, and it's quite simple.
"But the Yuhua Sect is having some trouble."
Little Nine sighed.
"What's wrong?" Li Qingshan asked, arching an eyebrow.
"The top righteous sect, the Heavenly Path Sect, has unified a dozen other clans to place sanctions on the Yuhua Sect. They have cancelled most of our activities and even blocked us from receiving the medicinal equipment that we require. They are applying pressure on us in all aspects. They're so mean!" Little Nine said indignantly.
Deep inside, Li Qingshan was not surprised.
He had known of the Heavenly Path Sect's methods for seeking revenge. Therefore, it was no surprise that they were seeking revenge when Wu Shaobai, a disciple of the Yuhua Sect, had caused such a mess.
He originally thought that the Heavenly Path Sect might be too busy dealing with the monsters and enemies that had escaped from the Monster Refining Tower to bother with the Yuhua Sect for now.
But it seemed like Li Qingshan had underestimated them.
The Heavenly Path Sect did not attack directly. Instead, they ganged up on them and isolated the Yuhua Sect, sealing them off from everyone else. Even if this was not a direct attack, their actions were making things very complicated for the Yuhua Sect. Now, the Yuhua Sect were heavily lacking in resources, and it was a really annoying situation to be in.
Little Nine was feeling just as annoyed as well.
"Brother, do you know Wu Shaobai?" Little Nine asked.
"Yes." Li Qingshan nodded.
In fact, he did not just know the man, but he had even met him. That makes them friends, right?
"Then you must know that Wu Shaobai's wife was from the Monster Clan and was imprisoned in the Monster Refining Tower," Little Nine chatted to Li Qingshan like a little bird. "A month ago, Wu Shaobai came back to life and attacked with the sword of a Saint. He used it to break the Monster Refining Tower in order to save his wife. But his actions angered the Heavenly Path Sect."
Li Qingshan looked at her in surprise. "How do you know all of these details so well?" he asked.
Li Qingshan was certain that he had never mentioned to anyone about Wu Shaobai's desire to save his wife.
So how had this rumor been spreading around?
"The Heavenly Path Sect found out about it themselves," Little Nine said. "They were sure that Wu Shaobai was already dead but had left behind a beam of Sword Qi that kept building up power until it finally exploded in order to save his pregnant wife."
"Wait... You're saying that Wu Shaobai's wife is pregnant?" Li Qingshan interrupted Little Nine.
"Yes, the Heavenly Path Sect confirmed this too," Little Nine continued. "They already put out a search warrant for Wu Shaobai's wife all over the world, hoping to capture her as revenge."
"Wu Shaobai made the attack, but the Heavenly Path Sect is planning to hurt his wife and child instead since they can't get back at him anymore?" Li Qingshan frowned.
To begin with, they were also the reason why the couple had been separated, by killing one and imprisoning the other.
After 40 years, the man had finally broken apart the Monster Refining Tower to save his own wife. Yet now, they were searching the entire world to capture them. How was it that the Heavenly Path Sect's actions were even more monstrous than those of the Monster Clan's?
"But then, Wu Shaobai's wife was trapped in the Monster Refining Tower for so long. Shouldn't she have given birth already after being pregnant for 40 years?" Li Qingshan wondered.