With her mind made up, Ye Ling took out some healing pills and swallowed them.
The medicinal properties of the pills were gentle and rich. The healing energy flowed through her meridians to every corner of her body, intertwining with the dragon qi naturally generated within her to repair her injuries.
As she recovered, she mentally reviewed the trajectory of her sword strikes from her life-and-death battle with the Tyrant Spirit Tiger.
From time to time, she would stand up to practice the Blue Billows Returning to One Sword, refining and polishing her forms.
Time flowed by, and in the blink of an eye, a whole month had passed.
High above the quiet mountain forest, a figure in green robes stood silently suspended in the air.
The young girl's figure was slender and upright. Holding the Qinglan Sword, she had completely restrained her spiritual energy. It was Ye Ling, who had just finished her secluded cultivation.
At this moment, her injuries were completely healed. Her aura was even more condensed and powerful than before the battle, and her cultivation at the mid-stage Xiantian Realm had progressed significantly.
At her current cultivation speed, she would naturally break through to the late-stage Xiantian Realm in less than a year.
Such a speed of cultivation was already exceptionally fast.
However, with only three months left until the Qingyun Grand Tournament, time was incredibly pressing.
Ideally, the best time to refine the Spirit-Converging Green Grass would be to wait until her cultivation reached the Xiantian Realm Great Perfection.
She could then use the herb's majestic medicinal power to ride the momentum and break through directly to the peak Xiantian Realm.
That would be the choice that maximized her gains.
But now, time waited for no one, and she did not have much time left to cultivate in peace.
Even so, Ye Ling did not plan to use this precious Spirit-Converging Green Grass immediately.
She still held a free slot for training in the Qinglan Sword Sect's secret realm, which she had not used yet.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth inside the secret realm was far richer and denser than in the outside world, making the cultivation efficiency incomparable to bitter training in the wilderness.
Ye Ling immediately decided to abandon any further aimless traveling. She would head back to the sect at once and enter the secret realm to cultivate with all her might.
She needed to raise her overall strength in the shortest time possible to build up her foundation for the Qingyun Grand Tournament.
Her gains from this month of seclusion were far more than just healing her wounds and advancing her cultivation.
After experiencing a life-and-death battle with the peak Xiantian Realm Tyrant Spirit Tiger, coupled with a whole month of constant review and practice, her primary sword technique, the Blue Billows Returning to One Sword, had actually broken through to the Mastery realm.
With this, her martial foundation was no longer much inferior to the Five Geniuses of Qingyun.
Fairy Bai Ling, whose reputation had previously surpassed all her peers, had also cultivated her Profound-grade peak-tier martial art to the Mastery realm.
But Ye Ling knew in her heart that Fairy Bai Ling possessed peerless talent and unfathomable depth.
No one knew if she was hiding any trump cards or had a deeper comprehension of martial arts. Ye Ling could not afford to underestimate her opponent based on surface-level realms alone.
It was time to return to the sect.
Ye Ling sheathed her sword. Her figure transformed into a nimble, green sword shadow as she soared into the sky, rushing back toward the Qinglan Sword Sect's gates at full speed.
Seven days later, thanks to traveling day and night without rest, Ye Ling finally returned to the Qinglan Sword Sect.
The moment she stepped into the sect's territory, she flew straight toward the Miscellaneous Affairs Peak.
The most urgent matter at hand was to turn in the five sect missions she had previously accepted.
Ye Ling noticed that there were significantly more disciples walking around the sect than usual.
It was likely because the Qingyun Grand Tournament was drawing near, prompting the disciples who had been training outside to return and prepare for battle.
Upon arriving at the Miscellaneous Affairs Peak, Ye Ling walked straight into the Mission Hall. The person in charge of registration was still the same inner sect disciple who had registered her before.
Seeing her return, he hurriedly stepped forward and bowed.
“Greetings, True Disciple. Have you come to submit your missions today?”
Ye Ling nodded slightly. “Yes.”
She raised her hand and retrieved her mission proofs from her storage bag, starting with the Quiet Heart Grass she had gathered on this trip.
This mission required turning in fifty stalks, rewarding one hundred and twenty low-grade spirit stones and seventy sect contribution points.
Ye Ling had gathered nearly five hundred stalks of Quiet Heart Grass in total. Excluding the fifty stalks rewarded to the demon frog, the dozen or so used to lure it, and the daily allowance she had agreed to give it, she still had exactly four hundred stalks left in her hand.
Seeing her take out such a massive quantity all at once, the inner sect disciple in charge of registration couldn't help but gasp.
“True Disciple, you've practically swept Heifeng Valley clean of Quiet Heart Grass, haven't you?”
This exclamation instantly drew all eyes in the Mission Hall toward her.
Everyone had already been secretly watching Ye Ling since she stepped into the hall; after all, she was the Tenth True Disciple.
But seeing hundreds of stalks of Quiet Heart Grass with their own eyes still sent a shockwave through the hearts of the disciples filling the hall.
Many of them had accepted this mission before and knew very well how rampant the miasma in Heifeng Valley was, and how fierce its guardian demon beasts were.
Ordinary Xiantian Realm disciples would struggle to gather fifty stalks even after spending several months there.
Ye Ling had returned with four hundred stalks after being out for only two months, which was enough to prove that she had penetrated deep into the inner region of Heifeng Valley and crushed numerous guardian demon beasts along the way to find this much Quiet Heart Grass.
“True Disciple, that is four hundred stalks of Quiet Heart Grass in total.”
“The Heifeng Valley mission can be settled multiple times. Shall I calculate it directly as eight completed missions for you?”
Ye Ling nodded in agreement, then took out the second mission's completion dossier: the investigation of the miasma forest disaster on the Southern Route of Heishui Commandery.
She slowly recounted her experiences along the way, including how she chanced upon the Miasma Demon Frog and used its help to investigate the source of the disaster.
The disciples in the hall listened with bated breath. Many of them had once accepted this investigation mission, only to return empty-handed.
Only now did they learn that the root cause was actually a Xiantian exotic species, the Miasma Demon Frog.
Quite a few secretly lamented; if they could have subdued such an exotic beast and contributed it to the sect, they would have received a massive amount of contribution points. But in the end, they lacked the strength and were destined to miss out on such an opportunity.
After hearing the whole story, the deacon said, “True Disciple Ye, according to the regulations, we must verify the physical body of the Miasma Demon Frog. Would it be possible to release it?”
Ye Ling nodded, raising her hand to undo her beast-taming bag. A Miasma Demon Frog the size of a water buffalo suddenly appeared in the hall.
This drew low gasps from the surroundings, and someone murmured softly.
“So that's what a Miasma Demon Frog looks like.”
“It's a bit ugly...”
These words reached the demon frog's ears. It had been happily chewing away, but its face instantly turned cold, and its bulbous frog eyes glared fixedly at the speaker.
Realizing his slip of the tongue, the speaker sheepishly lowered his head, not daring to look the Miasma Demon Frog in the eye.
Seeing this, the Miasma Demon Frog finally withdrew its gaze. Looking around at the surrounding crowd, it guessed that Ye Ling had probably returned to her sect.
It wanted to write something to explain its situation, but realizing the floor was made of smooth bluestone with nowhere to write, it could only look at Ye Ling in confusion.
Ye Ling said softly to the frog, “I'll explain later. Just stand still for now.”
The demon frog nodded obediently.
The deacon hurriedly stepped forward to inspect it carefully. After confirming it was indeed a Miasma Demon Frog, he quickly settled the reward.
“Alright, come back for now,” Ye Ling turned and said to the demon frog.
The demon frog nodded and was swept back into the beast-taming bag by a swirl of spiritual light.
The remaining two ordinary investigation missions were also quickly settled after Ye Ling handed in her proofs, leaving only the pursuit mission.
Ye Ling raised her hand, using pure spiritual energy to support a severed head. It was none other than Lin Jie.
The deacon's pupils contracted instantly. “I didn't expect you to actually complete this mission!”
“Shortly after you took it, the sect received news that Lin Jie had broken through to the Xiantian Realm Great Perfection.”
“We wanted to warn you, but we couldn't find any trace of you.”
“Later, when we heard that Lin Jie had been slain, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.”
“I never expected that you were the one who killed him.”
“Xiantian Realm Great Perfection?”
The surrounding disciples instantly broke into a flurry of whispers, with some exclaiming in low voices.
“True Disciple Ye Ling broke through to the Xiantian Realm less than a year ago, right?”
“To be able to cross realms and slay an evil cultivator at the Xiantian Realm Great Perfection... such combat power has almost never been seen among peers in the Qinglan Sword Sect.”
“It seems even the Sword Heroine, Lin Wanqing, wasn't able to achieve such a cross-realm kill back then.”
Someone nearby immediately countered, “Just because she didn't do it doesn't mean she couldn't. Senior Sister Lin's talent is peerless. True Disciple Ye is still young, so they can't be directly compared just yet.”
Just as the other person was about to retort, a cold, clear female voice suddenly rang out.
Rate on N.U.
