Chapter Fifty-two One Step

  Xiao Qiu claimed that he had already broken through San Tian, leaving everyone at a loss. When he added that this might just be a dream he had when he was thinking deeply, his companions immediately showed deep understanding and sympathy. No one mentioned going to Yang Shen Peak to verify his abilities again, feeling that it would be a bad stimulus for Xiao Qiu.

  "There was a teacher who said that thinking too much can be very difficult, and often gives rise to all sorts of illusions." Da Liang Shen Xiu Ming comforted Xiao Qiu, with a hint of worry in his eyes.

  "That's right, so Xiao Qiuge encountered so many strange things." Shen Hao nodded in agreement, "Let's discuss this for today, it's getting late, let Xiao Qiuge get some rest early."

  The young men thought that the big deal was over, and they left Ban Yue Lin one after another. The remaining things were just waiting in an orderly manner to see who would be qualified to participate in the Heqi Lun Dao five years later, and perhaps have a strong revenge battle with Shen Geng.

  On the way back to their dormitory, they unconsciously lined up in order of their room numbers again. Xiao Qiu walked at the end, while Fang Fang and Xiao Qing Tuo, who were originally walking alongside the male disciples, slowed down after a while and caught up with Xiao Qiu.

  "Little Autumn brother, I believe you." Little Green Peach said in a low voice.

  "What's going on?" Xia Qiu slowed down her pace, getting further away from Da Liang in front of her.

  "Believe you passed it!"

  "But the more I think about it, the more I feel that it was just a dream." Xia Qiu's confidence had not been left with much, his memories of the past few days were completely opposite to what he usually remembered. The events of the first few days, such as Shen Yi's visit and the thunderstorm, he could describe clearly, but the experiences of the more than 20 days that followed, especially the last few days, he could only recall fragmented and disjointed scenes.

  "That should also be checked outside." Fangfang stopped abruptly and looked at Xia Qiu.

  At this time, the three people were already a little far away from their companions in front. In the night color, only the back of Dalyang could be vaguely seen. Xiaocitao also stopped and looked at Xiaoqiu.

  "Go out now?" Xia Qiu understood the meaning of the two, "Once entered Yangshen Peak, three years without leaving the valley, I just arrived today, what if I drag you down..."

  "What's the difference between today and tomorrow? If I had known earlier, I would have been more down-to-earth. Besides, no one is in charge here, everyone does things on their own initiative." Little Qing said encouragingly, and in her round eyes, Xiao Qiu suddenly saw a shadow of Er Liang Shen Xiuwei, if Er Liang was still around, he would definitely say something similar.

  "Alright." Xia Qiu made a decision immediately and didn't call out to her companions in front, turning around with Fang Fang and Xiao Qingtuo to head back to Half Moon Forest.

  "There may be magical wards around the valley." Fangfang reminded.

  "I just need to take one step out, let's try first." Xia Qiu took a big stride up a slope and stood at the boundary between the green land and the accumulated snow. She gazed at the moonlight shining on the snowy ground within arm's reach, but her body couldn't feel even a hint of coolness. A strange feeling arose in Xia Qiu's heart, and for a moment, she didn't dare to touch it.

  "Let's go together." Xiao Qingtuo stood on Xiao Qiu's left side.

  "Wait." Fangfang picked up a branch from the ground and slowly pointed it into the air.

  "I'm coming." Xia Qiu took over the branch.

  Just as I was about to touch that invisible barrier, a voice came from behind me, "Wait for me."

  Shen Hao ran over in big strides, "Don't fall behind me, I still want to try out what effect it has after opening the ear and nose holes."

  The branches carefully passed by, without causing any abnormal reaction! The four people simultaneously took a deep breath, stepped over that clear boundary, and trampled on the snow outside.

  The scene in front of them changed rapidly, the snowy ground suddenly disappeared, Xia Qiu's heart was overjoyed, thinking they had already left the valley, but soon realized she was wrong, it was just one step, and shouldn't have changed so much.

  Their feet were still on the green grass, but in front of them was no longer a snowy land or a half-moon forest, but a withered maple forest, where they could see red and yellow leaves scattered all over the ground under the moonlight.

  "What's going on?" Shen Hao asked in confusion, turning around and startling, "Huh? How did the snowy ground end up behind us?"

  "This is the maple forest west of Yangshen Peak." Fangfang remembered, "Look, it's not far ahead that we'll reach Yangshen Peak."

  "It turned out that we didn't go out, but just from east to west." Xiao Qingtiao was both puzzled and excited, wanting to try again to see if she could return to the east.

  "Hasn't anyone tried before?" Xia Qiu asked, the Spiritual Peak had no barriers at all. If he lived here for a month, he would have started exploring everywhere already.

  "It's like no one has thought of it." Shen Hao felt a bit ashamed, as he used to be the most mischievous and trouble-making kid in Ye Lin Town. Nowadays, he had become so well-behaved that even he himself was surprised. Then he remembered the reason, "It's all because of cultivation, our masters teach us the Way of Heaven every day. I'm always being careful, afraid of making a single mistake. If you hadn't come back today, I should be practicing my evening exercises now."

  Xiao Qing nodded repeatedly, "Right right, from morning to night, as soon as I open my eyes, there's something to do, thinking, breathing, eating and chewing a few times, taking big steps... even going to the toilet..."

  Shen Hao continued for her, "Even going to the toilet has requirements, you have to think about how to use force and how to breathe." He leaned in close to Xiao Qiu and lowered his voice, "In the end, there's even a standard that must be met, bowel movements must be trained to be clean and tidy, no need for toilet paper at all."

  Xiao Qiu couldn't help but laugh, he thought of his life in the cave of Siwuzhai, where there was no toilet paper either. He could only relieve himself into the abyss and had to be "spotless". This kind of thing sounds difficult when said, but it's actually relatively easy for cultivators to do. When food is light and not greasy, just controlling those few muscles will do.

  "Try again." Xia Qiu retreated a few steps, planning to make a direct dash out, the other three following suit, though by now they didn't hold much hope in their hearts.

  This time, they didn't return to the Half Moon Forest in the east, but stood at the edge of a dirt road.

  "This is the entrance and exit of the southwest side." Xia Qiu recognized it. He entered Yangshen Peak from here at dawn today.

  "It's fun!" Little Qingtao shouted and rushed again.

  "Halt!"

  Xiao Qiu suddenly opened her arms, stopping the other three people who were about to jump into action. Her vigilant gaze was fixed on the ground - four people, but there were five shadows on the ground. Just a moment ago, there was no one else around, but in the blink of an eye, another shadow had appeared.

  "With this method of yours, you will never be able to leave." A woman's voice sounded from behind the four people, as clear and pure as the crescent moon in the sky.

  The four of them slowly turned around, and right in front of them stood a female Taoist priest.

  The Taoist's attire is all high buns and long hairpins, with a blue robe with a purple collar, which is the only distinction between men and women.

  Xiao Qiu quickly glanced at her three companions, and from their expressions, it was clear that they didn't recognize the female Taoist either.

  "Are you a teacher?" Xia Qiu asked.

  "Uh, I'm Yang Baozhen, and I'll be teaching all five subjects."

  The Pongshan Taoist sect is divided into ten departments, each of which must send at least one instructor to the Nourishing Spirit Peak. The Five Elements department was originally taught by Meng Yuanhou, who had to reflect for a hundred years and naturally needed to be replaced with new people. However, she also arrived a month late, just like Little Autumn.

  The four of them immediately paid their respects, reporting their names one after another. Except for Xia Qiu, the others' postures were very uniform: male disciples raised their right hands, female disciples raised their left hands, with their thumbs and ring fingers touching, while the other three fingers stood upright, placed horizontally in front of their chests, with the other hand hanging behind them, slightly bowing.

  Xiao Qiu imitated Shen Hao's posture, and her movements slowed down for a while.

  She was also teaching Yang Baozhen with the same courtesy, she looked like twenty-six or seven years old, extremely beautiful in appearance, but her expression was too serious and cold, making it difficult for people to get close to her.

  All four disciples knew that a Taoist's true age had nothing to do with his appearance, and Yang Baozhen might have been over a hundred years old.

  "You are new apprentices and can't go out yet?" Yang Baozhen's tone was probably naturally cold, but her words were not severe, on the contrary, they were somewhat polite.

  "We're just messing around with nothing better to do." Xia Qiu chimed in.

  "At the hour of Xu, yang is hidden and yin rises. It's the best time to solidify your daytime cultivation. I suggest you go back and do your evening exercises. Blindly playing around will not help you progress on the path of cultivation."

  Yang Baozhen didn't speak harshly, but used the word "suggestion", and her voice had an irresistible power. Including Xia Qiu, the four disciples' faces all turned red, and they bowed again, consciously lining up to walk towards their rooms.

  After a dozen steps, Xia Qiu, who was walking at the back, turned around and found that Yang Baozhen had disappeared.

  "It turns out we can cast our spells on Yangshen Peak." he said.

  Shen Hao, walking in front, responded with a lackluster "uh-huh". He was already regretful and eager to return to his evening practice. Fangfang stayed by Xia Qiu's side and whispered, "This Yang Du Jiao looks somewhat familiar."

  "Really?" Xiao Qiu furrowed his brow, he hadn't particularly noticed the appearance of this female Daoist priest, "This is the first female Daoist priest I've ever seen."

  Xiao Qingtuo also came over and said, "There are still three girls who can teach, but they look quite different."

  Yang Baozhen looks like someone, Fangfang didn't make any further explanation, and they walked shoulder to shoulder for a while. She said: "Let's try again tomorrow."

  "I'll try it myself."

  "Let's come together, the effect may be better."

  The two of them looked at each other and understood what the other was thinking: they had to use Mei Chuan'an's spell once again to find out if it was really impossible to break through the Spiritual Peak.

  Xiao Qiu only felt a little strange, the new disciples who entered Yangshen Peak became more and more docile, Fangfang seemed to be no different from other disciples on the surface, but in private, her courage seemed to have increased a bit compared to before, could it be... that she didn't break through because of this reason?

  Xiao Qiu returned to his own room, still unsure of how to do his evening work, so he practiced a set of Bone Tempering Fist in the dark, then washed his face and feet before going to bed.

  The image of Du Jiao, who taught Yang Baozhen, inexplicably appeared in her mind, along with his voice, calm but unmistakable. Fangfang said that this teacher looked familiar... Xia Qiu suddenly sat up.

  He woke up and wondered how he didn't recognize them at first, the mother and son looked so alike.

  Yang Baozhen is the mother of Shen Geng and Shen Ji.