Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Back at Qingluo Peak, Ling Yunpo recounted the situation to Senior Sister An:

"…In short, it's all because our Sect's treasure was stolen, and the Asura Path has been ambushing our Shushan disciples recently. The higher-ups have decided to organize Golden Core True Persons to eliminate the demonic guards on the path, and they've made this the official event for the Dragon Boat Festival competition."

"If you ask me, although this initiative is launched by our Shushan, the responsibility lies entirely with the Asura Path: it was clearly their own lack of vigilance over the Sect treasure, so how can they blame the Shushan Sword Immortals?

"Perhaps the one who found it even intended to return it to the owner originally, but seeing you act so unreasonably, they changed their mind and decided not to return it!"

"Junior Brother's words are quite right," An Zhisu said absently, her thoughts clearly already focusing on the competition.

I'm going to hunt people again? Yay, I'll take down ten!

Ling Yunpo was naturally keenly aware of his Senior Sister's state of mind. In fact, Senior Sister An and Junior Sister Xu had many similarities but also differences.

The similarity was that both were rather competitive. Among female cultivators in the Cultivation Realm, if they were not competitive, it was often difficult for them to rise to the top ranks of their peers.

The difference was that Xu Yinglian merely despised losing. Being defeated by others made her feel humiliated—unless she truly couldn't win.

However, if there was no one ahead of her, she wouldn't insist on competing with others.

But An Zhisu was completely different; after all, she had been spoiled by her father Su Jian since childhood. What she craved was not just victory but the exhilarating triumph of violently crushing her enemies.

Junior Sister Xu loved to win, but Senior Sister An was contentious. This latter quality was quite common among Shushan Sword Immortals and was also the reason for the outsiders' derogatory term "Shushan brutes."

Seeing that An Zhisu was already full of fighting spirit, Ling Yunpo knew there was no need to say more; Senior Sister An would definitely join him in the competition.

Speaking of Core Formation, the Qi Refining Technique of Qingluo Peak initially only went up to the Refining Mansion Rank according to Su Jian; there wasn't even a Core Condensation Technique available, to say nothing of Golden Core Realm techniques.

Fortunately, the two obtained the Supreme Sun and Moon Primordial Classic in the White Jade Capital Secret Realm, so there was no hindrance to their advancement in cultivation level.

However, Su Jian's Seven Kills Sword Technique was also only passed down to An Zhisu up to the Refining Mansion Rank techniques.

As for sword techniques of the Golden Core Realm... Although Su Jian left behind swordsmanship scriptures, learning sword techniques from the scrolls was as unreliable as learning to build a nuclear bomb from a video; there could be significant errors in the subtleties.

After all, in this era where the cultivation lineage is life, no one would write down the key secret techniques in such detail that others could steal the lineage just by reading the scriptures.

Therefore, the two newly advanced Golden Core Sword Immortals could only spar with each other to sharpen their swordsmanship skills.

It was akin to a nation that hadn't completed military mechanization having to develop a cavalry regiment—it was essentially a forced choice.

Taking this into account, Ling Yunpo's eager invitation to Senior Sister An to take part in the Dragon Boat Festival expedition also contained these considerations:

As the Asura Path of Iron City Mountain, lacking natural defenses and neighboring Shushan, also had a top-notch swordsmanship level, it wouldn't have survived the Shushan brutes otherwise.

If they could obtain the Golden Core Realm sword techniques of the Asura Path, even if they were incompatible with Qingluo Peak's Seven Kills swordsmanship lineage, practicing them at least provided some training due to their high rank.

If that failed, they would have to rely on Wei Dongliu to procure a sword technique from the Golden Core Realm of the Demonic Path and then disguise it as a wartime spoils—the relations between Kunlun, Penglai, and Shushan were too close, and stealing their sword techniques could easily lead to slip-ups and be hard to explain.

Fortunately, An Zhisu has always been obedient to this Junior Brother. As long as Ling Yunpo fabricated a somewhat plausible excuse and showed that "I hope Senior Sister would do this," An Zhisu would naturally agree, her compliance already at its peak.

As time entered May, the conflict between Shushan and the Asura Path had escalated to an intense level.

Masses of Shushan Golden Core Sword Immortals, under the leadership of Nascent Soul Elders, mobilized and headed westward to the highlands.

The reason for breaking up into smaller groups was twofold: on one hand, to maximize the strength of the Shushan Sword Immortals, who excel in one-on-one battles, and on the other hand, it served as a clear indication that the goal was to severely damage the Asura Path, not to annihilate it completely.

If it had been the Demon Race from the Eastern Emperor Realm, they would send out forces from several masters at a time, charging with the intention to eradicate and exterminate, a war approach entirely different from the other side's.

Upon arriving near the Hengduan Mountains, the Nascent Soul Elder leading the Shushan group began to assign tasks:

"Next, we divide into three directions."

"One team will follow me to the north to intercept reinforcements descending from Iron City Mountain."

"The second team shall continue west to annihilate the main forces of the Asura Path's fiends on the plateau."

"The third team shall turn southward, traveling along the mountain and river valleys to eradicate the remnants of the Demonic Path!"

Upon hearing this, everyone eagerly looked towards the Nascent Soul Elder.

The reason was simple: the first team would be fighting in the vicinity of Iron City Mountain, facing the greatest danger and the strongest adversaries, possibly even getting caught up in a battle with immortals... of course, let's not forget that this was a grand competition, and when tallying the results for vanquishing enemies, the first team had the greatest probability to take the lead and receive subsequent rewards from the Shushan Shangqing Faction.

The second team was to make their way from here to north of the Tanggula Mountains, a region where Asura Path cultivators were highly active (Ling Yunpo had faced his Tribulation here), but because their link with Iron City Mountain was cut by Shushan's first team, the likelihood was that the quality of adversaries faced by the second team would probably not be as high as the first's.

Although their chances of winning the grand competition were not high, the biggest advantage wasn't sectarian rewards, but rather the spoils from defeated enemies after battle—once it came to magical combat, Shushan Sword Immortals held almost absolute confidence.

As for the third team, even though they were tasked with sealing off the southern edge of the plateau's mountains and rivers, the cultivators who chose to flee southward from the plateau were already the weaker fish.

Add in the complex terrain with alternating snow-capped mountains and rainforests, it made for a nice adventure, but to pursue and kill enemies... that was simply impractical.

Unlike the others who were competing to be assigned to the first team, Ling Yunpo watched from the sidelines with a cold gaze, sneering inwardly.

It was certainly best to fight near Iron City Mountain, but only if there was a senior from the sect leading them. For instance, if an enemy Nascent Soul appeared, it would be intercepted by an elder Nascent Soul from one's own faction, thus enabling the Golden Core True Persons to fight with ease.

However, for Qingluo Peak's Ling Yunpo, joining Senior Sister An in fighting near Iron City Mountain was tantamount to making a delivery: unprotected Second Grade Golden Core True Persons from Shushan arriving! Come take a bite!

If the Nascent Soul Elder really were to send the two of them to the first team, Ling Yunpo would have no choice but to discuss with his Senior Sister how to find a place to hide and survive the grand competition.

Fortunately, no matter how the Shushan higher-ups looked down on the Sentiment Inquiry Path, they weren't deranged enough to push their Second Grade Golden Core juniors to death.

The other party simply gave a concise instruction, "You of Qingluo Peak will follow the third team," and then did not bother to give further orders.

Ling Yunpo secretly sighed with relief, while An Zhisu's expression was evidently one of regret, knowing that she wouldn't be able to fight to her heart's content.

After the team division was completed, the Shushan Sword Immortal group split into three.

The second team had the most members, but the first team was the strongest; the third team not only had fewer people, but their strength was also relatively weaker, mostly comprised of newly promoted Golden Core True Persons.

If they had been in the first or second team, they might have been interested in sticking together in groups, but having been assigned to the edge of the plateau, they didn't even feel like making small talk and soon scattered in different directions to seek out enemies.

Ling Yunpo, following An Zhisu, traveled westward along the mountain range for several days and, as expected, didn't meet a single adversary.

Tell me, if we keep moving forward, won't we enter the Kunlun Territory?

Surely Senior Sister An won't run into Junior Sister Xu, haha.