...

Contribution Points and the like—actually, he would definitely get them as he slowly farmed. Lu Qing firmly believed this.

As for the treasure boat, it hovered in mid-air, and when it approached the shore bordering the sea, it descended from mid-air.

This was also the rule; those who entered this place all set foot firmly on the ground when approaching the shore.

No one crossed over directly by flying through the air either.

"Why are people from the Yue Family coming over as well?"

"Haven't their people always wanted to enter the Inner Sect Courtyard? As far as I know, this Yue Jing's two Brothers have already entered, right?"

"Hehe, that's what you don't understand." One person chuckled twice.

Lu Qing was also silently listening and watching the spectacle.

Basically, those who came with grand fanfare consciously walked to the very front positions.

"I heard that this time, a Senior expert is taking in disciples..."

As soon as these words opened the topic...

Lu Qing already saw that the expressions of some people changed noticeably, while another part had full composure, evidently already clear about the "inside story".

Come to think of it, Lu Qing felt that he was also among this batch of people who knew the inside story.

"So that's how it is, I was saying..."

Someone's expression was stunned for a moment, and suddenly a hint of excitement appeared.

But what emerged on some people's faces was full solemnity.

There were also people with a hint of a bizarre smile on their faces.

"Brother, is this Small Cloud Dao Field?"

Lu Qing was standing right next to a large rock, his expression seeming to be in a bit of thought.

Someone passed by him and he didn't mind, but when this person asked him a question, Lu Qing raised his guard in his heart for the first time.

He looked at the newcomer. The other party was wearing faded clothes, asking with an apologetic look on his face, and the whole person exuded an aura of honesty and simplicity.

Lu Qing's alarm bells rang in his heart. With this appearance, he must be trying to deceive people, right? Someone who had cultivated to the Purple Mansion still wearing old, faded clothes? But what if it happened to be someone else's hobby?

Therefore, Lu Qing nodded slightly and just said casually: "This is it."

After speaking, he looked toward another place, as if the conversation between the two of them ended right there.

"Ah, good thing I've arrived. Thank you, Brother! What's your name? My name is Feng Yun. Hey, originally I didn't want to come out this time, you have no idea, my family..."

Lu Qing's inner Dao Heart was as calm as a tranquil lake. Without waiting for the other party to finish supplementing their background and origins, a sound of bells and drums coming down from the top of the mountain was transmitted to his ears, and he spoke faintly: "Fellow Daoist, the Gathering of Heroes has begun."

He changed the subject, because the Gathering of Heroes had indeed begun.

"I'll take my leave first."

Most people began to move, and streaks of flowing light flew toward the place closest to the foot of the mountain.

Naturally, Lu Qing would not be the eye-catching person here.

The most important point was that this suddenly appearing Feng Yun—his habitually cautious survivalist mindset told him that the person before him had the big words "big trouble" written right on top of his head.

In terms of cultivation, Lu Qing was now at the fourth realm of the Purple Mansion, and he perceived that the other party seemed to possess a rather peculiar aura.

Coupled with this honest and simple disposition—if Lu Qing hadn't cut off the topic, wouldn't the other party have continued introducing himself indefinitely? Who knows if it was the other party's disguise.

Moreover, there was another point: when Lu Qing was leaving just now, there were two or three disciples just a meter away from him. The other party passed by his side, but since he had already passed by one disciple just now, why didn't he come to ask that person for directions?

As a practitioner of the survivalist path, Lu Qing clearly understood that he did not have the protagonist's Fate Pattern to run into such magical and eccentric characters; whenever things are abnormal, there must be a demon.

Feng Yun remained in place, scratching his head and glancing at Lu Qing, who had vanished completely right after speaking.

He opened his mouth, "Bro..." There was no one in front of him anymore.

To be exact, after the sound of the bells and drums rang out, most people had all left their spots, and the only person still standing on this side of the coast was Feng Yun.

"Eh, isn't what's written in the books like this? How come that Brother didn't finish listening before running away?"

He fished out a booklet with the cover reading "How to Communicate and Chat with Others", abbreviated as "Chatting Arts".

"What Master said isn't right."

He patted the booklet again, his honest face filled with incomprehension.

Over there, Lu Qing also smoothly followed a group of Purple Mansion Cultivators and arrived at the foot of the mountain.

A cold jade tablet appeared ahead.

He saw it write: "disciples participating in the Gathering of Heroes, walk up the mountain from this path."

Behind the jade tablet appeared a path—not the white jade stone path commonly seen everywhere in the Dao Academy, but a very ordinary mountain forest path.

When Lu Qing came back, the paths he walked on were all mountain forest paths like this, purely paths trodden out by many people walking on them.

But the problem was—the rules were right here, why didn't he see a single person going up?

After lingering for a long while, Lu Qing finally managed to understand from the chaotic chatter.

"So not everyone can directly enter the Dao Field with their physical body; you need to have your Divine Soul undergo Soul Emergence to attend the gathering."

Looking at the dozens of figures in front of him now, unfamiliar faces made up the majority.

However, he also saw a few figures who had always enjoyed resounding fame in their generation.

Gu Xuantian, degree, Su Xinyue and others—come to think of it, this was the second time Lu Qing was seeing them, though that degree should be considered the third time. Lu Qing could sense the aura on their bodies, but he similarly just glanced over them without staring too much at others.

They lagged one body-length behind those people at the very front.

Sitting cross-legged with the Five Qi converging towards the crown, a cloud bed automatically materialized on each person's body.

Understood, Lu Qing understood. Isn't this just everyone connecting to a virtual network and logging into the Dao Field directly with their Divine Soul?

However, because of this, he also knew that if the Divine Soul was injured, the Foundation was unstable, or tricks were played on the Divine Soul, there was no physical body to protect it.

What the hexagram reading said could thus be understood.

Some people had ancient trees leaning against their sides up ahead.

Lu Qing also followed the crowd and picked a spot beneath a tree, suspecting that he had a strong affinity with the Wood lineage after all, seeing as he was a Spirit Planter.

...