While taking the two Foundation Building disciples into consideration, it took Qin Xi and Mo Tiange seven days to get back to Xuanqing School.

As soon as they approached Mount Taikang, before entering the great mountain-protecting formation, Mo Tiange saw several Nascent Soul Lord Daoists and several dozens of Core Formation Master Daoists in midair from the distance.

She looked at Qin Xi suspiciously. “What are they doing?”

Qin Xi also didn’t understand what was going on, but Wu De and Li Yang smiled happily and answered, “Apparently they’re welcoming Grandmaster Shoujing!”

“Huh?” Both Qin Xi and Mo Tiange were dumbfounded. All of them were there to welcome Qin Xi? Even Lord Daoist Zhenyang, the Head Grand Supreme Elder, was there! It was such a big scene; even Master had never been treated like this before!

When Qin Xi was still thinking, Lord Daoist Zhenyang had come up with a huge crowd to welcome him. Lord Daoist Zhenyang greeted them happily from a distance, “Shoujing, you’re back!”

Qin Xi was pulled back and saluted Lord Daoist Zhenyang with respect. “Martial Uncle Zhenyang.” Then he also saluted the several Nascent Soul Lord Daoists: “Martial Uncles.”

Lord Daoist Zhenyang said with a smile, “No need, no need. It should be your last time calling us Martial Uncles today. Later, you shall change to addressing us Senior Martial Brothers and Sisters!”

Qin Xi smiled and didn’t argue. Now that he had formed his Nascent Soul, he’d become a Grand Supreme Elder and from now on, he would be Lord Daoist Shoujing, so naturally, he needed to change the way he addressed them.

After Qin Xi made his salute, the Core Formation cultivators on one side saluted him immediately. “Greetings to Martial Uncle Shoujing.” It was really a big scene to see several dozens of Core Formation cultivators saluting at the same time.

Mo Tiange was quite shocked. She felt that she still needed to call these people Martial Uncles not long ago, but they were now calling Qin Xi “Martial Uncle.” Although they didn’t need to call her that, she and Qin Xi were already wife and husband, so they would also treat her as part of the older generation.

Of course, the fact that she and Qin Xi performed dual cultivation wouldn’t be made public until they told their Master.

Qin Xi was quite calm, though. He retained his smile and said to these people, “There’s no need for this, Fellow Daoists.” Then he turned to Lord Daoist Zhenyang and continued: “Martial Uncle Zhenyang, all the masters must’ve been very worried to not hear any information from me in ten years, but I’m back now, so you may rest assured. I also feel really ashamed about making you come out to welcome me.”

Lord Daoist Zhenyang laughed. “You feel ashamed? Don’t be! You were trapped on Demonic Mountain for ten years, yet you not only escaped in the end, but you also reached the Nascent Soul realm and spread Xuanqing School’s reputation and prestige. You deserve all of this!”

“…” Qin Xi was speechless. He had always been low-key and wasn’t good at dealing with people. Lord Daoist Zhenyang handled this with great care because he valued him highly, but it also made him uncomfortable.

Lord Daoist Miaoyi saw him through immediately, so he smiled and said to Lord Daoist Zhenyang, “Senior Martial Brother Zhenyang, Shoujing just came back. I’m afraid he must be tired. How about we let him get some rest first? We can talk about this later.”

“Oh, right, you’re right!” Lord Daoist Zhenyang patted his own head and smiled. “Shoujing, go back to Clear Spring Peak and get some rest first. Go see your Master—he must be very happy to see you back.”

Lord Daoist Zhenyang was just too delighted.

Mo Tiange felt this was very funny. The key wasn’t actually that Qin Xi formed his Nascent Soul; it was that he did it at the perfect time.

Xuanqing School had fewer Nascent Soul cultivators than Tiandao Sect and was suppressed in strength by the latter the whole time. However, most of Xuanqing School’s Nascent Soul cultivators were young and promising. Coincidentally, Tiandao Sect lost a Nascent Soul cultivator when Demonic Mountain opened last time, so its prestige had been declining gradually. While Qin Xi happened to reach his Nascent Soul this time, it not only strengthened Xuanqing School’s prestige, but it also allowed Xuanqing School to catch up to Tiandao Sect in terms of its number of Nascent Soul cultivators. In that case, people could predict that in about one or two hundred years, when one of Tiandao Sect’s Nascent Soul cultivators fell, Xuanqing School would be worthy of the title as the number one sect in the Celestial Pole!

The number one sect in the Celestial Pole—it wasn’t just a title, because the benefits it conferred were obvious. The first was its appeal to other cultivators. Holding such a title, a lot of cultivators would come to join them, so they could have their pick of the best disciples. With the best disciples, they could have greater potential for development than other sects so the sect could keep thriving on and on.

Lord Daoist Zhenyang was Xuanqing School’s Head Grand Supreme Elder. He had lived thousands of years and struggled with the sect’s development for several hundred years, so why wouldn’t he be delighted to see that Xuanqing School was likely to become the number one sect in the Celestial Pole while under his leadership?

Lord Daoist Zhenyang continued to encourage them with a few more words, and even Wu De and Li Yang benefited from association with the two of them and were thrilled almost to the point of dizziness.

Mo Tiange and Qin Xi were a little helpless. After a long time, they finally pulled themselves away and went back to Clear Spring Peak.

As soon as they returned to Clear Spring Peak, though, several Senior Martial Brothers and Sisters came out with their disciples to welcome them again. After taking some time to talk to them, the two were finally freed and went on to Shangqing Palace.

“Greetings to Grandmaster Shoujing and Martial Uncle Qingwei.” The moment they entered Shangqing Palace, maid servants immediately came up to greet them.

Mo Tiange swept her gaze over the hall. Lord Daoist Jinghe wasn’t there!

“Where’s your Grandmaster?” Qin Xi asked.

Momei bowed to answer on behalf of the maid servants: “Grandmaster is in the Closed Room.”

Lord Daoist Jinghe had a high cultivation level, so he wasn’t worried about being disturbed from his usual cultivation, so he would sit and cultivate directly in the hall throughout the year. But now that he’d been badly injured and was in Closed Door Meditation, he naturally needed to use the Closed Room.

Qin Xi nodded. “Okay, I understand. You may return to your business now.”

“Yes.” The maid servants saluted him again with great respect then went on to do their own things separately.

Qin Xi turned to look at Mo Tiange. “It seems that Master has really been seriously injured. He’s actually in the Closed Room.”

Mo Tiange nodded in silence. Ever since she was accepted as Master’s disciple, Mo Tiange had never seen Lord Daoist Jinghe in the Closed Room. Even if he had cultivation requirements, he would just set a restriction in the hall, so Mo Tiange had only heard about the Closed Room but never entered it.

“Let’s go and have a look first. I hope Master is okay.” Qin Xi sighed lightly. He took Mo Tiange with him and walked outside the hall. After turning several corners, they finally stopped at an unimpressive stone room.

Upon seeing this stone room, Mo Tiange felt it was a place for real Nascent Soul cultivators to cultivate. It didn’t have any superfluous decorations but it had layers of restrictions. Pitifully, the opportunities for Lord Daoist Jinghe to use it were few and far between.

As they stopped outside the stone room, Qin Xi uttered another sigh and said, “The last time Master was in this Closed Room, I was just getting started. Master hadn’t reached the peak in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm at that time, so he would sometimes go into Closed Door Meditation. Later, he reached the peak and lacked fated chances, so he didn’t often cultivate but instead tried to gain a breakthrough in his mental state. I didn’t expect that he’d use the Closed Room again under such circumstances.”

As he finished speaking, he put his palms together and gathered a set of footprints quickly, hitting them on the stone chamber’s door.

The stone chamber shook slightly. A moment later, a voice came from inside. “Is that Xi’er?” The voice sounded quite hoarse and old!

Mo Tiange and Qin Xi looked at each other and saw shock in each other’s eyes.

Qin Xi answered, “Yes, Master, Tiange and I have returned.”

After he finished speaking, after a little longer, the stone chamber door rumbled and opened slowly.

As the stone door moved aside, they saw Lord Daoist Jinghe sitting on the stone bed inside the stone chamber. He still wore his golden hat and gorgeous clothes, still looked elegant and poised, but his hair had turned completely white!

“Master!” The two of them called out in unison. They trembled forward, kneeled down together by the stone bed, and looked up at Lord Daoist Jinghe who had become like this.

Not only had his hair turned white, but his eyebrows and beard had also faded. There were fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and on his forehead, and the muscles at the corners of his mouth also softened.

Originally, Lord Daoist Jinghe looked like he was in his thirties or forties, but now he seemed to have passed fifty! What kind of injury had aged him so much in ten years?!

“Master, why are you…” Mo Tiange couldn’t even finish a complete sentence. Master always made her angry, but she knew he was kind to her in her heart. In her life, no one had loved her like him except for her dead mother and second uncle. Now, upon seeing Master looking like this, Mo Tiange felt pain as if someone had grabbed her heart.

Lord Daoist Jinghe raised his eyes and swept a gaze over his two disciples who were kneeling before him now. He smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t die.”

Then he rested his eyes on Qin Xi and revealed a satisfied expression. “Xi’er, you finally did it.”

Qin Xi looked up and held Lord Daoist Jinghe’s hands tightly. He said with a hoarse voice, “Master, how are your injuries? What can we do, what medicinal pills do you need? Just tell us and we’ll do everything for you.”

“Right!” Mo Tiange was reminded. If Master’s injuries could be healed by medicinal pills, she had plenty of them. “Master, tell me, no matter what medicinal pills you need, I can get them for you. As long as you can heal.”

“Alas!” Lord Daoist Jinghe sighed softly and touched Mo Tiange’s head as if she were still a child. “You don’t have to do this. I need medicinal pills, but are you afraid that your Martial Uncle Zhenyang wouldn’t get me what I need? Although I’m badly injured, I’ll be fine for the time being. We’ll talk about it later. What about you? Do you have anything to tell me?”

Upon hearing this, Qin Xi’s eyes reddened. He pulled Mo Tiange’s hands and said seriously, “Master, Tiange and I were trapped on Demonic Mountain for ten years, and we survived by chance. I formed my Nascent Soul and made Tiange my wife. We couldn’t report that to you at the time, so Master, please forgive us.”

Lord Daoist Jinghe smiled. He never showed such a gentle and grandfatherly smile. He looked at his two disciples, who were his most beloved disciples, and he said lightly, “I couldn’t be happier to see that you’re husband and wife, so there’s no need to ask for forgiveness.”

He looked at Qin Xi and asked, “Xi’er, you’re a Nascent Soul cultivator now and you also performed dual cultivation with Tiange, so you’ve already resolved the knot in your heart and removed the demonic barrier, right?”

Qin Xi answered deeply, “Yes. I didn’t listen to your advice, Master. I’m sorry I made you worry.”

Lord Daoist Jinghe nodded with a smile. “It’s good you understand.” Then he turned to Mo Tiange, “Tiange, what about you? Do you have any barriers or obsessions in your heart?”

“No,” Mo Tiange answered lightly. “Rest assured, Master. Senior Martial Brother and I have been honest with each other, and those misunderstandings and obsessions are long gone.”

“That’s good.” Lord Daoist Jinghe paused for a while and continued, “You were lost for ten years, but I always believed you’d come back. Now you’re finally not letting me down.”

Mo Tiange and Qin Xi both felt shocked in their hearts.

Lord Daoist Jinghe sighed again. “You two… Forget about it, it’s good you came back. Since you’re husband and wife now, you should go and cultivate well. I’ll continue my Closed Door Meditation. If you don’t have anything else to say, you don’t need to come to me. I’m still working on my progress to reach the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm.”