The more Yun Xi thought about it, the more wrong it seemed. When Wei Yunqing formed her Golden Core, she had timed it exactly with the departure for the Baohua Mountain secret realm, boarding the ship just in time. There was no reason her Nascent Soul tribulation should have been so difficult.
But knowing that Wei Yunqing had ultimately been saved by the Buddhist cultivators of Yunmen Temple, Yun Xi decided to send a message to Yun Chen Fózǐ to ask what exactly had happened. Something about the whole affair felt far too suspicious.
Her suspicion was only half wrong. It was precisely because Heaven's Dao favored Wei Yunqing that she had been spirited away from Haoran Sect's watchful eyes and delivered to Yunmen Temple, for Buddhist cultivators were the natural nemesis of evil spirits.
Yet because Wei Yunqing's Dao heart was unsteady, when Yun Ze helped her drive the evil soul out of her sea of consciousness, the creature managed to slip a strand of its essence deep within her mind, lying dormant, waiting for the day it could sprout and grow.
When Wei Yunqing broke through the barrier and summoned her Nascent Soul lightning tribulation, the lightning sensed the flaw. That was why it struck with such relentless ferocity, hoping to eradicate the hidden danger within her sea of consciousness.
Unfortunately, Wei Yunqing had never cultivated diligently, nor had she received proper guidance from a master. Her relationship with Zuo Qiu was nothing more than a transaction. Even her so-called training was perfunctory, done only when she had no choice. Worse still, she had never tempered her body, leaving her fragile before the storm of tribulation.
In the end, it was only the spirit within her crimson bracelet that sacrificed itself to protect her life. Yet the fall of the heart demon tribulation became the final straw that nearly crushed her.
If she had managed to overcome her heart demon, not only would her Nascent Soul cultivation have been far more solid, her mental state would have grown sharper as well. But she was like mud that could not be shaped. Instead of breaking free, she fell deeper into the trap, even succumbing to corruption, nearly allowing the heart demon to seize her body.
At the critical moment, Yun Ze's intervention awakened the last shred of her rationality, allowing her to barely survive the ordeal.
For Yun Ze Zhēnjūn, his choice to act had several reasons. First, Buddhist cultivators were merciful by nature; he could not bear to see Wei Yunqing perish under the lightning. Second, he worried that his earlier help in expelling the evil soul had gone awry, causing her near failure. And lastly, they could not afford to let a disciple of Haoran Sect meet her end within Yunmen Temple, especially one who was the personal disciple of a Divine Transformation cultivator.
All these reasons combined compelled Yun Ze to intervene, essentially guiding Wei Yunqing through her heart demon tribulation and barely allowing her to condense her Yuányīng.
But because she had not overcome it on her own, her foundation was unstable. Rather than being solid, her cultivation teetered on collapse, threatening to drop her back to the late Golden Core stage. She had no choice but to enter seclusion to stabilize her realm.
Yun Xi still did not know why Wei Yunqing had been transported to Yunmen Temple in the Eastern Region, nor would the temple ever publicize that she had nearly been overtaken by an evil soul.
With incomplete information, Yun Xi could not make a precise judgment. But knowing that Wei Yunqing was suffering left her feeling satisfied enough. She set that matter aside and picked up the other jade slip, probing it carefully with her divine sense.
This slip recorded Haoran Sect's actions during her seclusion. The Law Enforcement Hall had openly arrested a group of disciples, charging them with colluding with fallen evil cultivators to destabilize the sect.
Another group had been secretly taken in, and under questioning, revealed much more.
Their confessions largely aligned with Yun Xi's earlier guesses. Some had been deliberately incited to oppose the sect's elite disciples. Others had taken bribes to cause trouble, or even staged scenes to help certain admirers force contrived encounters with elites.
Those disciples, after interrogation, were sent to the Reflection Cliff to ponder why they had been so easily chosen and used by evil cultivators.
But the ones who had deliberately approached elite disciples with ulterior motives, sowing discord, were not so lucky. They had their souls searched and were utterly crippled.
Even the disciples of the Law Enforcement Hall kept silent, for they had glimpsed the tip of a vast conspiracy targeting the entire Weiyu Realm. Their hearts trembled with fear. What kind of grudge drove someone to hollow out Haoran Sect's foundation by consuming its most promising disciples?
They were not fools. They saw the truth clearly. The foundation of a sect lay in its disciples, especially the elites with high cultivation, strength, and the ability to command respect. If those disciples were quietly eliminated, the sect would wither, leaving no successors.
If that day came, other sects would seize the chance to replace them. Cultivation was like rowing upstream—if you did not advance, you would inevitably fall behind.
Thus even those who had been unwitting pawns earned only disdain. In aiding the evil cultivators, they had become accomplices all the same.
Compared to Haoran Sect, Mingjian Gate was faring better. Sword cultivators trained only the sword, focused and unyielding, caring little for romance. What they loved was dueling, which sharpened their skills and built real combat experience.
The evil cultivators, knowing this, devised schemes where disciples lost control in duels, injuring opponents "by accident," hiding their malice under the guise of mistakes.
But Ming Jia Zūnzhě quickly noticed. After watching only a few duels, he realized something was wrong. Injuries were normal in sparring, but not this frequent. Whoever was behind it was moving hastily, eager to eliminate the sect's elites.
In response, Ming Jia acted with ruthless swiftness, capturing the corrupted disciples. He wasted no time on questioning, directly searching their souls. A few innocents were released, but the rest he left as bait, drawing out more rats from the shadows.
The reply from Mingjian Gate's ascended Ancestor confirmed Haoran Sect's suspicions. Ming Jia even halted Ming Xian's small ascension to stabilize the sect, reorganizing everything from the top.
At the same time, he subtly reminded the Divine Transformation elders of the major sects in the Western Region to conduct their own investigations.
Once Mingjian Gate's situation was resolved, Ming Jia and Hao Yi traveled together across the Four Regions, visiting each domain's foremost sect and quietly spreading the warning. Their final stop was the Central Region's Huaxian Gate.
After finishing the jade slip, Yun Xi returned it to her master and finally asked:
"Master, is Haoran Sect still stable?"
"For now, there is no problem," Yu Ling replied calmly. "But one year from now will be the Five Regions Grand Competition. The sect will begin a new round of selection. What are your thoughts?"
"Disciple wishes to go to the Central Region and participate in the Five Regions Grand Competition."
"You have a year to prepare. Make good use of it."
Yu Ling had no intention of stopping her. His disciple could not grow up sheltered like a flower in a greenhouse.
Seeing his lack of objection, Yun Xi smiled brightly. "Master, disciple would also like to return to the Wei family in Haoran City. There are matters I must attend to."
"Do as you please," Yu Ling said with a wave of his hand. "Your dantian has recovered, and you can defend yourself. I will not stop you."
"Thank you, Master."
He tossed her a new identity jade token. "The formation at Lingxue Peak has been reinforced. Only this new token will grant you entry."
Yun Xi accepted the token, hanging it at her waist, then vanished from the Hive.
At that same moment, in Huaxian Gate, Hua Teng Zūnzhě received the visiting Hao Yi and Ming Jia.
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From this chapter, I will translate 域 (Yù) as region, not domain