After some discussion, the four of them decided to find a nearby place to rest and recover. After all, before this, the process of opening the entrance to the Lost Land had consumed a tremendous amount of energy from both Ni Guang and Luo Lan. In a place teeming with danger, they had to maintain their peak condition to deal with whatever threats might arise next.
Fortunately, there was nothing unusual in the vicinity. Ni Guang led the group into a ravine below and concealed their auras.
The ravine network stretched endlessly in every direction, jagged and interlocking like canyons of varying sizes. After descending into the depths, looking up, only a faint, dim light filtered down from above. They were at least several hundred zhang below ground level.
At the bottom of the ravine, cold gusts of yin wind swept through, biting and chill.
Yang Kai and Xue Yue were both brimming with energy. Though their cultivation realms were not as high as the Void King Realm, their strength was far from weak, so the duty of standing guard naturally fell to them.
Ni Guang and Luo Lan each chose a spot not far from one another, took out spirit pills, and sat cross-legged.
Yang Kai guarded beside Luo Lan while Xue Yue stood watch near Ni Guang, each attending to their own charge.
The world was silent, all sounds hushed, with only the eerie gusts of yin wind sweeping along the ravine floor and threading into their ears, adding an unsettling chill.
Xue Yue kept glancing around from time to time, seeming somewhat on edge.
No matter how profound her cultivation, no matter how powerful her strength, she was still a woman at heart, and such an environment naturally triggered instinctive wariness and unease.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, appeared entirely nonchalant. He simply closed his eyes and extended his spiritual sense to monitor their surroundings, lest anything unexpected occur.
Time trickled past, and after an unknowable stretch, Yang Kai suddenly opened his eyes…
He found himself lying on a bed. It seemed to be a wooden plank bed, hard and unforgiving. Looking up, he saw a crude ceiling with gaps letting in drafts from every direction. Turning his head to look around, the room's furnishings were beyond sparse—nothing but a table and a chair.
The scene felt hauntingly familiar. Yang Kai couldn't help but furrow his brow in confusion, his mind murky and unfocused, unable to string his thoughts together.
An instinctive sense of wrongness gnawed at him, as though he had forgotten something important. He tried hard to think, but all it brought was a pounding ache in his skull.
He couldn't even remember what he had been doing moments ago.
He shook his head and stood up from the crude wooden bed. Then he pushed the door open and stepped outside to take a look…
Memories surged into his mind like a tidal wave, and Yang Kai suddenly recalled everything. He was currently a Trial Disciple of Lingxiao Pavilion. But because he had been in the Sect for nearly three years without ever meeting its cultivation requirements, he had been unable to advance to full Disciple status. All he could do was sweep the grounds to earn his keep while continuing his Cultivation, hoping that one day he would fulfill his dream and become an official Disciple.
A broom lay outside the door. The sky had not yet fully brightened—it was the darkest hour just before dawn.
Yang Kai let out a self-deprecating smile, walked forward, picked up the broom, and began another day's work.
Along every path of the Sect—in front of the Contribution Hall, the Martial Testing Hall, and the Martial Arts Pavilion—Yang Kai's diligent figure could be seen. Every road was swept spotless. He was the lowest-ranked Disciple of Lingxiao Pavilion, and the most overworked.
As the sky gradually brightened, a number of fellow Disciples gathered around Yang Kai, ready to challenge him.
In the end, a junior brother at only the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage won the right to go first and thrashed Yang Kai soundly before strutting away.
Lying on the ground, gasping for breath, feeling his own weakness and the pain wracking his body, Yang Kai slowly clenched his fists.
As if sensing something, his gaze shifted toward a large tree not far away.
Atop that tree, a figure stood silently, balanced on one foot at the very crown. Her features were impossible to make out clearly, for a veil covered her face. Her figure was slender and graceful, a sapphire-like ornament adorned her forehead, and her eyes were clear and innocent, flawless as still water.
Yang Kai gazed at her quietly, feeling inexplicably that this woman was terribly important to him—but why he felt that way, he couldn't begin to understand.
Their eyes met for only an instant before the veiled woman's figure swayed and vanished without a trace.
Her disappearance sent a sudden pang of pain through his chest, as though someone had seized it with a hand, making it hard to breathe. Yang Kai shook his head and struggled to rise from the ground, picking up the broom. With labored steps, he made his way back to his small wooden hut.
In the end, he still failed to meet the Sect's requirements before the deadline. In the end, he still did not become a true Disciple of Lingxiao Pavilion…
When the time came for him to be expelled from Lingxiao Pavilion, Yang Kai merely packed his few belongings in silence, tied them into a small bundle, and walked down the mountain along a path he had tread countless times before.
Standing at the mountain gate, Yang Kai turned back to gaze at the plaque carved with the three grand characters "Lingxiao Pavilion." He stood rooted in place, his thoughts drifting far away.
He was only fifteen years old now, but the future stretched before him as nothing but a vast, formless void.
Down the mountain, a group of senior Disciples was approaching, led by one who held a sheathed sword, her bearing cold and aloof, pure as ice and snow. She was like an ice sculpture come to life—exquisite and luminous. She wore a spotless white dress, not a speck of dust upon it, surrounded by her companions as though they were stars circling the moon. The group chatted and laughed as they drew near to where Yang Kai stood.
Noticing his odd demeanor, the leading woman halted in her tracks and looked at Yang Kai. She parted her lips and spoke softly: "Junior Brother, are you heading down the mountain?"
Yang Kai turned to look, and upon seeing her face, he froze for a moment before blurting out involuntarily: "Su Yan…"
The words had barely left his mouth when Yang Kai went still. Though he had been at Lingxiao Pavilion for three years and knew this senior sister by reputation, having witnessed her commanding presence many times, the two of them had never exchanged so much as a single word.
After all, the Eldest Senior Sister of Lingxiao Pavilion stood far above him, while Yang Kai was nothing more than a Trial Disciple. The gulf in strength and status between them was simply too vast—they were not the kind of people who could have a conversation.