Chapter 158 Setting Out Once More

The next day.

Bai Qingzhou opened his eyes right on time. The fatigue from days of rushing about had vanished completely, and thanks to the medicinal bath, he now felt full of vigor.

He stood up briskly, used a simple spell to dry the moisture from his clothes, controlled his long robe to put itself on, and tidied up his appearance.

He pushed open the bedroom door.

Walking over to the adjacent room, he gave the door two light knocks with his right hand. "Xiao Zuo, time to get up."

"Ugh... I know..." He Zuo's lazy voice came from inside, clearly still half asleep.

Hearing He Zuo's reply, Bai Qingzhou moved forward again and knocked on another door. "Xiao Li, are you awake?"

"Screech—"

The door swung open instantly.

It revealed He Li's bright and radiant, delicate face. "Senior Brother, I've been awake for a long time!"

"Hehe, how do you like this room?" Bai Qingzhou asked with a smile.

"It's really nice!" He Li exclaimed, then added happily, "Oh right, Senior Brother, when I was meditating last night, I think I touched the bottleneck of the fourth layer of Qi Condensation!"

"Really?" Bai Qingzhou was quite surprised.

"Yeah, last night I seemed to have a faint sense of it, but that feeling vanished in a flash, and when I meditated afterward, I couldn't find that feeling again..."

Bai Qingzhou nodded slowly. "I see. That means you failed to seize the opportunity this time. But you don't need to worry; since there was a first time, the second time shouldn't be too far off."

"Hehe, I'm not worried at all..."

"Right..." Bai Qingzhou suddenly remembered something and continued, "If you break through to the fourth layer right now, you won't be able to cultivate any further for the time being..."

General entry-level cultivation techniques could only support cultivation up to the early stages of Qi Condensation. Once someone broke through to the mid-stage of Qi Condensation and continued running their original technique, it would be impossible to generate spiritual qi, meaning they could no longer cultivate. The techniques practiced by both He Zuo and He Li were also limited to the early stages of Qi Condensation.

He Li sighed and said, "That's true. We can only return to the sect and obtain the next tier of techniques before we can continue..."

"However..." Bai Qingzhou wore a hesitant expression. After a brief pause, he said, "It will take more than two years to make the trip back. If you wait until you return to the sect to resume cultivation, you will waste these two years of cultivation time in vain..."

"But..." He Li wore a troubled look on her face. "That's the only way..."

"No, I think that if we encounter a suitable cultivation technique along the way, we can buy it. Then you can cultivate all the way back, and that way we won't waste time."

"Senior Brother makes sense..." He Li nodded slightly, then shook her head and said, "However, I heard Senior Brother Qin say that the foundational cultivation technique of our Heavenly Master Sect is quite rare, and it's very hard to find a compatible technique out there."

Bai Qingzhou said, "Let's see when we get there. We'll figure it out if we find a suitable one..."

"Screech—" The adjacent room door slowly opened.

A full-of-life He Zuo walked out. He threw his arms up and shouted, "Senior Brother! I've been resurrected!"

Bai Qingzhou smiled. "Hehe, I can see that."

"Let's go!" Bai Qingzhou took the lead and walked outward. "Let's grab something to eat first, and then leave the market town!"

"You got it!" He Zuo and He Li immediately followed behind.

......

After a simple meal, Bai Qingzhou bought a considerable amount of spiritual rice in the market town to keep as reserve. Once purchased, the three of them finally walked out of the market town, summoned their magical instruments, and continued heading north.

Between major cultivation alliances, there were no distinct territorial boundaries unless exceptionally precious resource sites were present. Otherwise, market towns generally served as the ultimate borders.

Flying out of Wazi Market Town meant stepping out of the territory of the Wuji Alliance and entering the territory of the Four Directions Alliance, another alliance within Linjiang Prefecture.

Feeling the morning breeze, Bai Qingzhou felt lighthearted and said to the other two, "It will take more than ten days to travel from Wazi Market Town to the next market town."

"More than ten days? That's barely acceptable, I suppose," He Zuo laughed, looking entirely relaxed.

"But that's not where we are going." Bai Qingzhou kept them in suspense.

"Ah?" He Li asked curiously, "Why is that?"

"Because even though that market town is relatively close, it's located to the northwest, which deviates from our destination. Going there would be a detour and a waste of time," Bai Qingzhou explained.

"Then when will we encounter another market town in this direction?" He Zuo asked, sticking his head forward.

Bai Qingzhou raised his head and thought for a moment before saying, "In terms of time, it should take about a month..."

"A month..." He Zuo's face instantly turned into a bitter melon. "Isn't that too long..."

The trip from the Xuan-Yang Sect to Wazi Market Town had already taken over ten days, which was quite a bit more than He Zuo could comfortably endure. Now, hearing that this leg of the journey would take a full month of rushing, he immediately slumped in discouragement.

"What's a month or so? There are still two years ahead of us, so you better prepare yourself to sleep under the stars and sky. Our next rest stop won't be until a month from now!" Bai Qingzhou said with a cheerful laugh.

"Exactly! You're always whining about every little thing. Next time, I'll just leave you behind in a market town!" He Li said with a huff.

"You're talking nonsense!" He Zuo's face instantly turned red, and he retorted, "I wasn't whining at all, I was just asking casually..."

By the end of his sentence, his voice grew softer and softer, sounding entirely lacking in confidence.

"Hmph!" He Li pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hahahaha, take it slow, no need to rush. There are quite a few breathtaking wonders to see along this road. Do you two want to go check them out when the time comes?" Bai Qingzhou dangled the prospect with a teasing tone.

His words instantly piqued their curiosity.

He Li asked, "What kind of wonders?"

"Plenty of them. For instance, the Sword Moon, the Firmament Aurora, the Seven-Color Sea, the Fire Dragon, the Broken Heavenly River, the Line-Sky Mountain, the Dragon's Eye, the Pillars Supporting the Heavens, Mirror Lake, and so on." Bai Qingzhou rattled off a long list of wonders.

He had learned of these from reading his copy of the *Langya Rankings of Lizhou*. Aside from recording prodigies and beauties, this booklet also featured brief introductions to various scenic wonders across Lizhou. Bai Qingzhou frequently read it, and had committed all of these to memory.

Hearing Bai Qingzhou's descriptions, the two of them widened their eyes in pure fascination. He Zuo asked, "Senior Brother, are there really that many wonders? Which one are we going to first?"

Without a second thought, Bai Qingzhou blurted out, "Line-Sky Mountain."

"Line-Sky Mountain?" He Zuo tilted his head, puzzlement written all over his face. "Why go there? Is there something famous about it?"

Bai Qingzhou looked up toward the north, his eyes filled with yearning. "It is said that this is a wonder created by a mighty being of the Nascent Soul stage who cleaved a mountain with a single sword stroke. It is exceedingly rare, and many sword practitioners go there to comprehend sword intent."

He was also a practitioner of the sword, and he had no desire to miss such a magnificent sight.

"Then how long will it take us to get there?" He Li suddenly asked.

"There's still quite some distance to go. We need to get out of Linjiang Prefecture first at the very least..." Bai Qingzhou paused and smiled. "Why think so much about it? Let's get out of the Four Directions Alliance first! Let's head to the market town of the Four Directions Alliance!"

"Senior Brother is right!" He Li nodded in agreement, then asked, "Senior Brother, what is the name of the next market town?"

"Gaoshi Market Town!"