Liang Shan sneered as he looked at the brat in front of him. Seeing the latter's calm expression, he instantly lost control of the jealousy and hatred in his heart. "Chen Fan, you fought with Senior Brother Qiu before, but Senior Brother Qiu is magnanimous and didn't bother to bicker with you. But of all things you should and shouldn't have done, how dare you harbor designs on that Senior Sister from the Outer Sect? Now, even if you have some backing, it won't be able to save you!"

"Hahaha!"

He stared at Chen Fan with venom, feeling incomparably gleeful inside.

Ever since he was surpassed by someone with trash-tier Aptitude, because of those inexplicable rumors last time, someone actually said that Chen Fan had received the care of some big figure?

Hehe, it was all a joke. Nearly a few months had passed, yet wasn't this mud-legged brat Chen Fan still staying right here just like them?

Trash-tier Aptitude was just trash-tier Aptitude; he could never dream of escaping the mud pit in this lifetime!

"What is a dead dog barking for!"

Chen Fan retorted with sarcasm, a cold expression on his face.

The surrounding Menial Disciple onlookers also broke into an uproar.

"No wonder Liang Shan brought people over to corner Chen Fan. So he found Senior Brother Qiu to be his backing!" Some disciples caught wind of what was going on.

"Qiu Wuming is the Steward's son after all. Now that he has offended Steward Qiu, someone with Chen Fan's trash-tier Aptitude will surely have to obediently pack his bags and roll down the mountain!"

"Damn it, this is too dramatic! Isn't Qiu Wuming's goddess that Senior Sister Jiang Yue'er? That Senior Sister is a renowned goddess-figure in the Outer Court, yet she actually has a connection with Chen Fan! No wonder they looked for trouble with him before!"

"Good heavens, looking at it this way, this isn't just about Senior Brother Qiu anymore. Senior Sister Jiang Yue'er has countless pursuers."

The outer layer of Menial Disciple spectators all wore expressions of watching a good show, filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred.

This good-for-nothing who was just like them could actually gain the special regard of an Outer Sect Senior Sister. How hateful.

"Chen Fan, you're courting death!"

Rumble——

A Spell was unleashed, and a huge fireball instantly flew toward Chen Fan's side.

A cold glint flashed in Chen Fan's eyes. Any random tom, dick, and harry came to trouble him; killing intent instantly surged in his heart!

Rumbling——

For a moment, the battle happening here immediately drew attention in the Eighteenth Menial Disciple Area.

These matters at the Mountain Gate had temporarily nothing to do with Lu Qing, who was out executing a mission.

He raised his head to look at the Sky, then turned his head to gaze at a distant peak.

A day passed.

He had originally intended to travel through the starry night to leave Shui Province.

However, because the hexagram reading in his mind flickered slightly, the hexagram reading for this Shui Province mission had already vanished.

He thus landed here briefly because, after the hexagram reading vanished, he happened to catch sight of this peak beneath the clouds during his journey.

His double pupils began to rotate.

"This mountain..."

Lu Qing grew interested now. It was said that during cultivation, there would be some ethereal inductions.

He happened to generate a strange feeling right here, and precisely because of that, he released his double pupils and looked over in this direction.

With this look, he saw this peak eight hundred meters away in the distance.

To the naked eye, among the undulating mountain ranges here, this peak was neither the most ethereal nor the one most abundant in Spiritual Power.

It carried a somewhat mediocre air.

Yet its mountain body also possessed a trace of the aura of heaven and earth and nature; if one weren't careful, it would be very easy to miss that there was a peak here.

The moment Lu Qing saw it, he felt that this mountain bore some similarity to his consistent style of conduct.

"Let's see what is here first."

With a sweep of his Divine Sense, all the beasts and trees in the mountain were taken into view.

In this mountain, there was a cliff face resembling a thatched cottage, extending out from the flat ground with expansive terrain.

Finding no danger, Lu Qing lowered the Flying Boat and arrived here.

"Why does this mountain feel so suitable as a cultivation venue?"

Lu Qing opened his eyes to size it up, discovering that if this place were utilized, it might even serve as the stronghold of a small Sect.

Tranquil and inactive, natural and formless.

There were no treasures here; what remained was merely the feeling of being deep within this mountain.

Upon arriving here, Lu Qing discovered that this place was extremely suitable for cultivation.

Furthermore, that prior trace of induction had come wondrously.

"Could it be that a Qi exists here?"

However, while he trusted his double pupils, it was impossible for him to encounter the tribulation of the Golden Core while at the Seventh Stage of the Purple Mansion Realm, right?

He dismissed this wild and far-fetched thought.

He flipped his hand and took out a map from his Storage Ring. To be fair, this was fetched back when he was doing the Shui Province Baleful Qi mission, and it was still somewhat useful.

Throughout Shui Province, although it only recorded where the Baleful Qi points were located, basic information like locations, terrains, and cities would also be marked. Otherwise, for some disciples who were new to this provincial territory, merely finding the way would be quite a challenge.

"This is already the border region; the mountain ranges here are not outlined, nor are they among the ranks of famous mountains."

Lu Qing searched for a while, but couldn't match what background the mountain peak before him had.

However, thinking of that trace of induction, he still followed his own thoughts.

He felt that this place was a fine location for cultivation. Perhaps there indeed were no treasures or the like, but the treasure itself was placed right here.

He stopped his pondering thoughts. Because this place was remote, the Spiritual Qi and Spiritual Veins were roughly equivalent to nothing. Fortunately, Lu Qing had already learned self-reliance while outside.

With the Spirit Gathering Array present, as long as there was Spiritual Qi in the vicinity, the Spiritual Qi within the mountains and rivers could also be gathered by him.

Of course, Lu Qing nowadays usually deployed one Formation after another.

He even felt a bit of hardship for his Formation Plate for a moment; after all, he still couldn't set up Formations in the void with bare hands yet. The subtlety within this could only be understood as he continued to delve into Formations, or when he encountered some opportunity to suddenly achieve an epiphany regarding his own Dao of deploying formations.

In an instant, a trace of subtle Qi-mechanism flowed within this region, resembling a large net that enshrouded this peak.

Although some flying birds and forest beasts lacked spiritual wisdom, they possessed beastly intuition, and in the ethereal realm, they couldn't help but prefer to stay within this peak.

"Next is going to You Province, which is another journey. I will cultivate my cultivation technique here first, and observe for a few days what changes will occur here with the rising and setting of the sun and moon."

Some mountains, rivers, and cloud streams inherently possessed spirits, and most would reveal a few traces during times of extreme yang and extreme yin.

He cast a Cleansing Spell to clear away the dead trees and fallen leaves on the ground, considering that building another thatched cultivation cottage was unrealistic.

Lu Qing released the Flying Boat. Prompted by his Divine Sense, he looked at its dimensions and chanted a spell to make it larger.

Previously, when traveling alone in the clouds on the Flying Boat, Lu Qing mostly stood at the bow of the boat, observing the movements in the four directions.

Now that the surroundings had grown peacefully quiet for a change, he enlarged it to serve as a temporary cultivation throne.

Mountain breezes brushed the night, and starlight dotted the sky.

At this moment, Lu Qing was startled out of his cultivation by a disturbance. He opened his eyes and uttered in puzzlement, "What is this?"

He looked toward the disturbance before him, only to see a full moon rising into the night sky, a gigantic celestial moon approaching the ground plane, exceptionally magnificent.

At this time, the celestial moon shed a little bit of lunar radiance, heading toward the mountainous platform where he was located.

He reached out his palm to catch a few wisps of lunar radiance. Without waiting for him to refine them, they sank into the skin and Spiritual Power of his palm, and his mind instantly became a bit clearer, allowing his field of vision to see even further.