At that moment, Liǔ Yúnyān, currently fuming with anger, suddenly felt the vibration of her Sound Transmission Jade Talisman.
Upon hearing the Law Enforcement Elder report that Yun Xiaoyao wanted to leave the sect, Liǔ Yúnyān could no longer contain her fury and roared, "I merely scolded him a couple of times, and now he actually dares to threaten me with leaving the sect?"
Faced with the Sacred Lord's wrath, the Law Enforcement Elder broke out in a cold sweat, not daring to utter a single extra word.
Suppressing the anger in her heart, Liǔ Yúnyān said in a stern voice, "Yun Xiaoyao, if you come back and cultivate with me right now, I will chalk this up to youthful impulsiveness and immaturity, and I won't hold it against you."
Hearing this, the Law Enforcement Elder let out a sigh of relief.
Yet Yun Xiaoyao's single sentence caused his body to stiffen.
"Thank you for the reminder, Sacred Lord, but I have grown too tired of cultivating these past few years. I wish to go out and see the wider world, and I hope the Sacred Lord will grant my wish."
As soon as these words were spoken, the other end of the Sound Transmission Jade Talisman fell dead silent.
The next instant, Liǔ Yúnyān's furious roar came through from within.
"Yun Xiaoyao, you repeatedly threaten me! Do you really think the Qilin Sacred Land cannot function without you?!"
"Process his departure from the sect right now! I want to see what use he has once he leaves the Qilin Sacred Land!"
With that, the Sound Transmission Jade Talisman instantly shattered, turning into a fine dust that filled the air.
It was clear that Liǔ Yúnyān had reached the absolute peak of anger.
Helpless, the Law Enforcement Elder sighed and stamped his seal of approval on Yun Xiaoyao's application to leave the sect.
The moment he stepped outside the mountain gate, he felt a wonderful surge of energy throughout his body, an indescribable sense of relief.
It was as if something that had been weighing heavily on his heart for a long time had suddenly cleared away.
The next second, a dazzling golden light burst forth from within Yun Xiaoyao's body.
As the spiritual Qi inside him continuously converged toward his Dantian, a Golden Core radiating brilliant light slowly condensed.
The Golden Core Realm!
As the Golden Core formed within his body, Yun Xiaoyao slowly opened his eyes.
"This feeling of breakthrough... it has been far too long."
Yun Xiaoyao let out a breath. At that moment, he felt an incomparable sense of ease and comfort throughout his entire being.
It felt as though a knot that had been jammed in his heart for many years had finally been untied.
"Indeed, my choice to leave the Qilin Sacred Land was the right one."
Afterward, Yun Xiaoyao took inventory of the supplies on his person.
"I still have around three thousand spirit stones and a dozen or so Spirit Gathering Pills. That should be enough to sustain my cultivation for a while."
Before long, he arrived at a secluded cave located a hundred miles away from the Qilin Sacred Land.
This cave was a place he frequently stayed at back when he went out on excursions, and over time, he had come to treat it as his second home.
Therefore, he had even taken the special precaution of setting up a concealment array outside the cave, making it completely impossible for ordinary people to discover.
He took out a portion of the spirit stones and arranged them in specific spots on the ground.
In an instant, a majestic surge of spiritual Qi gathered around him as the center.
This was unmistakably a minor Spirit Gathering Array.
One must know that Líng Ruòlán's ability to become a grandmaster of arrays was inseparable from Yun Xiaoyao.
Back then, not only was his cultivation talent peerless, but even his attainments in alchemy and array formations were nothing short of miraculous.
Thus, setting up a simple Spirit Gathering Array was effortless for him.
In the blink of an eye, three days flashed by.
Following three days of cultivation, the remaining three thousand spirit stones had been completely depleted.
Yet the rewards gained left Yun Xiaoyao thoroughly satisfied.
At this moment, his cultivation had reached the third tier of the Golden Core Stage.
Looking at the spirit stones on the ground that had turned to ash, Yun Xiaoyao gave a bitter smile.
"The most urgent task now is to find a sect to join; otherwise, at this rate of consumption..."
……
Qilin Sacred Mountain.
Liǔ Yúnyān sat cross-legged in her chamber, eyes closed in meditation.
Suddenly, however, she felt a wave of panic strike her heart, and her once tranquil state of mind almost shattered.
She snapped her eyes open, gasping heavily for air.
"What is happening? Why did I suddenly feel as though I had lost something important? What is going on?"
Ever since breaking through to the Great Vehicle Stage, she had remained stuck at this exact boundary.
Just moments ago, she had been only a hair's breadth away from breaking through to the mid-Great Vehicle Stage.
Yet the sudden wave of panic had caused this attempt at a breakthrough to end in failure.
Worse still, she felt as though her cultivation had dropped significantly.
For a time, Liǔ Yúnyān was consumed by intense irritability.
Suddenly, a certain person came to mind.
She was about to take out her Sound Transmission Jade Talisman to make inquiries, only to recall that she had crushed the talisman to pieces three days prior.
In an instant, the restlessness in her heart grew even more intense.
"He is only at the Foundation Establishment stage; even if you gave him a hundred guts, he wouldn't dare to leave. He must just be trying to use this to threaten me, it has to be that!"
The next moment, her figure vanished from where she stood.
Meanwhile, the Law Enforcement Elder, who was leisurely sipping tea in the Law Enforcement Hall, suddenly leapt to his feet.
For standing right before him was a tall woman of breathtaking beauty.
"Thud!"
The Law Enforcement Elder dropped directly to his knees, unable to lift his head under the oppressive pressure belonging to the Great Vehicle Stage.
Looking down at the Law Enforcement Elder, Liǔ Yúnyān asked in a cold voice, "Has Yun Xiaoyao returned?"
Hearing this, the Law Enforcement Elder, completely unaware of the situation, shook his head repeatedly.
"Reporting to the Sacred Lord, ever since Yun Xiaoyao processed his departure from the sect that day, he has never returned."
"And... this was according to your wishes, Sacred Lord."
At that moment, Liǔ Yúnyān was completely dumbfounded.
What she said that day had merely been words spoken in anger; she hadn't genuinely wanted Yun Xiaoyao to leave.
Furthermore, she had believed that given Yun Xiaoyao's current cultivation, there was no way he would ever leave the Qilin Sacred Land.
Yet, Yun Xiaoyao really had left, without the slightest intention of coming back.
Suddenly, Liǔ Yúnyān raised her head, her eyes filled with a ferocious expression.
"Yun Xiaoyao, I rescued you, raised you, and nurtured you, yet you actually commit such an act of betrayal against me! Since that is how it is, don't blame me!"
She looked toward the Law Enforcement Elder and declared, word by word, "Pass down my order: starting today, anyone who dares to harbor Yun Xiaoyao had better prepare to face the wrath of the Qilin Sacred Land!"
"When that time comes, I, Liǔ Yúnyān, will personally pay them a visit!"
Hearing this, the Law Enforcement Elder could only nod tremblingly.
Before long, the Qilin Decree was dispatched at breakneck speed.
"Inner disciple Yun Xiaoyao of the Qilin Sacred Land has refused to admit to stealing resources and treasures meant for the junior disciples, has talked back to his elders, and shows utter disrespect to superiors."
"After careful consideration, Yun Xiaoyao is hereby expelled from the Qilin Sacred Land, and is forbidden from ever returning for the rest of his life."
"Furthermore, should any faction harbor or take in Yun Xiaoyao, I, Liǔ Yúnyān, will personally pay them a visit!"
In an instant, all the factions that heard this news were shaken to their cores.
What shocked them was not that Yun Xiaoyao had stolen treasures or shown disrespect to his superiors.
What shocked them was that the Qilin Sacred Land had actually cast Yun Xiaoyao out of the Sacred Land, barring him from returning for life.
Who was Yun Xiaoyao? Back then, he had single-handedly resisted the entire Southern Prefecture, repelling over thirty Great Vehicle experts and a million-strong army all by himself.
He entered Qi Refining in one year, reached Foundation Establishment in two, and within three years became the youngest Golden Core cultivator in history.
Back then, relying on his peak Great Vehicle cultivation, he slaughtered over twenty cultivators of the same realm, forging an invincible posture.
In an era when the prodigies of all races were rising, who among them dared claim they could not be defeated by Yun Xiaoyao? Who dared claim invincibility in his presence?
Yet a peerless prodigy of this caliber had now been reduced to being discarded like an old broom once his usefulness had passed.
At this moment, nobody cared what faults Yun Xiaoyao might have committed; there was only a sense of deep regret and cursing directed at the Qilin Sacred Land.
"If Yun Xiaoyao hadn't stepped forward back then, the Qilin Sacred Land would have turned into a mass grave long ago."
"What a bunch of ungrateful wolves in the sect! Entering the Qilin Sacred Land used to be my life's goal, but now? Bah, absolutely disgusting!"
"A genius like Yun Xiaoyao whom everyone would kill to have, and they actually drove him out? Is this Liǔ Yúnyān a complete idiot?"
Countless people sighed for Yun Xiaoyao, feeling that he had been treated with gross injustice.
The Sacred Land he had risked his life to protect had ended up driving him out and placing a bounty and ban on him.
Had they been in his shoes, their state of mind would have shattered long ago.
While the people of the Southern Prefecture debated endlessly, the four major Sacred Lands, upon receiving the news, were thrown into complete turmoil.