Demoness, Stop! - Chapter 23 - Chapter 23 – Entering the sect

Although it was Jiang Li who had asked her for help, the fact that Li Yu could enter Kunlun at all was entirely thanks to Senior Sister Xu. Naturally, Li Yu would never forget this favor.

Xu Qingxin chatted with them a while longer about the sect’s affairs. After about half an hour, Li Yu noticed that the speed of the spirit boat was slowing down and that they were gradually descending.

Xu Qingxin smiled at them and said, “Junior Brother Li, Junior Sister Zhou, we’ve arrived.”

Li Yu stepped out of the cabin onto the deck. Looking down, he saw a range of rolling mountains and towering peaks. From this high vantage point, he couldn’t help but feel a bit dizzy.

Zhou Zixuan felt the same and had to grab onto Li Yu’s arm just to steady herself.

Although the Kunlun Mountains were majestic, Li Yu didn’t see anything that resembled a sect. The mountains below stretched on endlessly, with nothing but peaks and snowcaps—no grand or imposing structures, nothing that looked like a cultivation sect.

Puzzled, Li Yu watched as the spirit boat descended onto one of the peaks.

The peak was shrouded in mist and appeared to be an ordinary mountain, but halfway up its slope, a large platform had been carved out. Several palace-like buildings stood atop it.

People were moving in and out of the halls, and the plaza in front of the buildings was bustling with people waiting.

Although these halls were impressive—certainly grander than those at Baiyun Temple—they still didn’t match Li Yu’s imagination of what the second-largest sect in the Daoist world would look like.

The spirit boat came to a stop in front of one of the main halls. From the other nearby halls, many people could be heard exclaiming in surprise:

“That’s Senior Sister Xu’s spirit boat!”

“Senior Sister Xu is back!”

“So that’s her… I heard she’s already reached the late Foundation Establishment stage and could’ve formed her core by now. She’s just delaying it to temper her mind…”

…

Li Yu heard the murmurs from afar and felt a jolt of shock.

He had known that Senior Sister Xu was at the Foundation Establishment stage, but he hadn’t realized she was even stronger than Elder Sun. She had once mentioned she was only a few years older than him—no more than twenty-three or twenty-four. To reach the Golden Core stage at that age… Meanwhile, Elder Sun had lived nearly 250 years and was still stuck at Foundation Establishment.

So this was the world of cultivation—where the gap between people was greater than between humans and dogs…

Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan followed Xu Qingxin into one of the great halls.

The interior was extremely spacious, divided into many stone chambers. Xu Qingxin walked to the door of one of them and knocked. A young man inside turned around, stunned for a moment, then sprang up from his chair in excitement and respect.

“S-Senior Sister Xu! What brings you here?!”

Xu Qingxin said, “I brought two new disciples to register for their identity jade tokens. This is where we get them, right?”

The young disciple nodded repeatedly and said, “Yes, yes, Senior Sister Xu. Junior Brother, Junior Sister, please have some tea while you wait. I’ll take care of everything.”

He asked for their names, then hurried out.

Less than fifteen minutes later, he returned and handed two jade tokens to Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan. He enthusiastically explained, “These are your identity tokens. Keep them on you at all times—they’re your official proof of identity in the sect and are required for many things. If you lose them, it’ll be a huge hassle…”

Li Yu held the jade token in his hand. It had the texture of jade, but was even smoother and warmer to the touch.

The front side of the palm-sized token was engraved with an exquisite pill furnace and some elegant patterns. On the back, his name was carved. From this moment on, he was officially a disciple of the Kunlun Sect.

In addition to the identity token, both Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan were each issued a set of disciple robes.

Naturally, the uniforms of the Kunlun Sect were no ordinary garments. They were woven from the silk of a spiritual silkworm, making them not only resistant to blades and arrows, but also able to protect against mundane fire and water. They even had a degree of magical resistance, providing a small boost to a low-tier disciple’s survivability in the outside world.

If Chen Ming had been wearing one of these robes back then, he wouldn’t have been haunted twice by female ghosts.

What’s more, the robe could block divine sense probes. While wearing it, even Foundation Establishment cultivators—unless their spiritual sense was unusually powerful—would find it difficult to discern the wearer’s true cultivation level.

They also each received a flying sword, a bottle of qi-recovery pills, a few low-grade talismans, and one hundred spirit coins.

These seemed to be the standard issue for new disciples. Li Yu had noticed earlier that many of the younger faces in the hall were all holding similar sets of items.

After receiving their identity tokens and starter pack, Xu Qingxin said to the young disciple, “By the way, Junior Brother Li primarily cultivates the Fire Spiritual Vein and secondarily the Wood Spiritual Vein. Please arrange for him to be placed on Danding Peak. Junior Sister Zhou cultivates the Wood Spiritual Vein, so assign her to Biyun Peak.”

New disciples were not typically allowed to choose which peak they would train on—it was usually decided by the supervising elders.

Danding Peak and Biyun Peak were two of the best training locations. Danding Peak promised great prospects, while Biyun Peak was peaceful and carefree. Countless disciples longed to be assigned to either. Generally, only those who had secured favors with the supervising elders in advance could gain entry.

Moreover, the number of spots on each peak was fixed in advance. For every additional person added, someone else had to be pushed out.

However, since it was Senior Sister Xu making the request, the rules were flexible. The young disciple didn’t hesitate in the slightest—he didn’t even stop to consider whether he had the authority—and immediately nodded. “Don’t worry, Senior Sister Xu. I’ll make sure everything is arranged properly for the two of them.”

Once Xu Qingxin had helped arrange everything for Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan, she said, “From here on, the sect stewards will take care of the rest. I’ll return to the sect now. If either of you runs into any trouble in the sect, you can come find me at Yuzhu Peak.”

Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan watched as Xu Qingxin left. Only then did the steward disciple cautiously ask, “Junior Brother, Junior Sister, if I may be so bold—what’s your relationship with Senior Sister Xu?”

Li Yu smiled and said, “Actually, we just met her today.”

Of course, the steward disciple didn’t believe that for a second, but he didn’t press further. He smiled and said, “Please wait here a moment. I’ll go arrange your peak assignments right away.”

Outside the stone chamber, many new disciples stood around in the main hall. But Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan sat comfortably inside, sipping fragrant tea. It made him sigh inwardly—so even in the cultivation world, just like in the mortal world, having someone in high places really did make things easier…

Meanwhile, in another stone chamber:

A Foundation Establishment elder’s brows were furrowed in displeasure. “What? You agreed to let two people into Danding Peak and Biyun Peak? Do you not understand your own position or authority? What gives you the right to make such a decision on my behalf?!”

Every year, the slots for Danding and Biyun Peaks were extremely limited. Some were reserved by elders for their own disciples, and others had already been promised to the imperial courts or powerful cultivation families. This year, there wasn’t a single extra spot.

And now, a mere errand disciple under him had the audacity to make such a decision on his own? How could he not be furious?

The young disciple replied helplessly, “But Elder Wang, this was arranged by Senior Sister Xu…”

The elder’s face turned dark. “Which Senior Sister Xu? Since when does she have the authority to interfere in new disciple assignments?”

The young man answered, “Senior Sister Xu Qingxin.”

The elder’s expression froze—and the next second, it transformed into a beaming smile. “Ah, so it was Fairy Qingxin! Why didn’t you say so earlier? If it’s a request from Fairy Qingxin, it must be handled well. Make absolutely sure everything goes smoothly. If anything goes wrong… don’t even think about coming back.”

As soon as he heard Xu Qingxin’s name, the elder knew exactly what to do.

Though his position within the sect wasn’t low, it still depended on who he was compared to. Offending Fairy Qingxin wouldn’t necessarily bring direct trouble from her—but her many admirers could easily make his life difficult.

It was only two extra slots. At worst, he’d just have to return the two bribes he had taken…

Meanwhile, Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan waited for a while in the room before the young disciple returned. As soon as he stepped in, he greeted them warmly, “Junior Brother Li, Junior Sister Zhou, your enrollment has all been handled. I’ll now take you into the sect.”

The young disciple led Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan out of the stone chamber, leaving the main hall and arriving at the center of a large plaza.

There stood a massive dragon-gate archway, about thirty zhang wide and ten zhang tall. Li Yu noticed that when people stepped through it, their figures disappeared completely. At the same time, others suddenly appeared from behind the gate.

The young disciple smiled at them and said, “This is the sect entry formation. Please hold on to your identity tokens, Junior Brother and Junior Sister—let’s go in.”

With that, he stepped through the gate first.

Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan exchanged a glance, then walked through it side by side.

As they passed through the gate, the identity token in Li Yu’s hand grew warm. He felt a brief flash before his eyes—and in the next instant, the scenery around him had completely changed.

What he saw was no longer the Kunlun Mountain they had just been on, but a vast range of majestic, continuous peaks. Some of these extraordinary mountains were connected by bridges, and pavilions and palaces could be glimpsed among them. Countless streams of radiant light soared in and out of the peaks.

In the skies above, immortal cranes flew gracefully. There were also other elegant, exotic spirit birds that Li Yu couldn’t name—each more beautiful than the last. On their backs stood cultivators, their silhouettes elegant and carefree as they soared through the air…

Farther off, several inverted mountain peaks hovered in the sky, clouds and radiant light swirling around them.

But what truly struck Li Yu was the incredibly rich spiritual energy in the air—it was so dense that his pores automatically opened to absorb it.

Li Yu and Zhou Zixuan, both witnessing such a wondrous scene for the first time, stood rooted in place, stunned and speechless.

The young disciple, unfazed by their reactions, smiled and said, “Welcome to Kunlun.”