You've only been cultivating for a few years, and you're already talking about cultivating

From Qi Fei's deductions, Zhongli Xingyao knew that he had seen through her family's wealth.

The Five Thunder Sect, to put it bluntly, is a declining sect.

The glory days are long gone; all that remains is an empty shell.

She didn't deny it, but her gaze towards Qi Fei held a newfound admiration.

"Big Guy is indeed impressive," she said, her flirtatious tone fading slightly, replaced by a hint of sincerity.

"To be honest, a thousand years ago, the Five Thunder Sect participated in a great war, and the Five Thunder Sect declined after that."

"Now, I'm the only one left in the Five Thunder Sect. I want to find a suitable husband to help me strengthen the Five Thunder Sect."

She looked into Qi Fei's eyes and said with delight, "Big guy, you're perfect for me."

Qi Fei said again, "I've already said, my ambitions lie elsewhere."

Zhongli Xingyao raised an eyebrow, pointed at Qi Fei, and raised her voice several octaves: "Fine! You really do like men! I can become a man too!"

Qi Fei was both amused and exasperated.

He genuinely didn't know how to explain it to this person.

If you say you don't like women, she'll say she's a man; if you say you don't like men, she'll say she's a woman.

He patiently explained, "So-called desires are nothing more than a kind of human instinct. Part of it comes from heredity; you're born with it."

"Part of it comes from the body, it's those hormones at work, your liking and your love are all influenced by them."

"Another part comes from nurture, taught by the environment, cultivated by habits, and grown up over time."

"This kind of thing doesn't help me on my path. It doesn't help me understand the world better, nor does it help me see the essence of things more clearly. Instead, it distracts me."

He looked at Zhongli Xingyao and said, "That's why I'm not interested. Regardless of gender."

Zhongli Xingyao remained silent.

She stood there, looking at Qi Fei, her expression changing from charming to serious, from serious to silent, and from silent to something that was hard to define—whether it was regret or resentment.

Then, thunder rumbled.

A rumbling, muffled sound, from "name" and "reality," one after another, one after another, surged from all directions, emerging from the void, causing the surrounding air to tremble slightly.

She had no intention of letting Qi Fei go.

She is a cultivator at the Three Pure Realms level from the Five Thunder Sect, and she has plenty of tricks up her sleeve!

But Qi Fei didn't just stand there and take the beating.

He was only at the True Observation Realm, two whole major realms below him in cultivation. Yet he possessed the Dao Name Sword and was intimately familiar with Zhongli Xingyao's lightning techniques.

Between "name" and "reality," sword light and lightning collide.

Lightning bolts flashed like a net, and sword energy was invincible, crisscrossing the lightning!

If it were anyone else, Qi Fei would have some trouble. But facing Zhongli Xingyao, he was completely at ease.

Instead of direct confrontation or brute force, use sword energy to poke, deflect, and guide the opponent, specifically targeting the "contradictions" within the thunder magic.

Thunder magic emphasizes the transformation of Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang are inherently a pair of contradictions. Where there is Yin, there is Yang; where there is stillness, there is movement; where there is gathering, there is scattering.

Qi Fei applied the theory of contradiction to thunder magic, using the yin aspect of thunder magic to clash with the yang aspect of thunder magic, and using the gathering aspect of thunder magic to dismantle the scattering aspect of thunder magic.

Often, before Zhongli Xingyao's lightning could even reach Qi Fei, it would already be clashing within her own ranks.

After a few moves, Zhongli Xingyao stopped.

The aftershocks of the clash between lightning and sword energy extended into the real world. Dark clouds rolled across the sea, lightning bolts darted about, and streaks of lightning struck the sea, exploding into white sprays.

Thunder rumbled across the sky, startling the seabirds in the distance into flight and causing the cultivators of Nantianfang to look up in disbelief.

That area of ​​the sea seemed to be trapped in a cage of thunderstorms, with flashes of lightning and incessant thunder.

Zhongli Xingyao stood amidst the lightning, looking at Qi Fei for a long while.

She knew she couldn't take him with her.

It wasn't because her cultivation level was insufficient, nor because her magic weapon was weak, but because Qi Fei's understanding of thunder magic had surpassed hers.

He used his cultivation level at the Guanzhen Realm to catch the thunder magic of the Sanqing Realm.

Qi Fei is currently only at the Observation Realm. What about later? What if he reaches the Tribulation Realm, the Three Pure Ones Realm, a height she can only look up to?

How would Qi Fei view this battle at that time?

Forcibly injuring him and taking him away is not forming a bond, but rather creating enmity.

It would be extremely unwise to create a potential enemy for the Five Thunder Sect that will inevitably grow into a towering tree!

"It seems," Zhongli Xingyao lowered her eyes, a disappointed smile on her lips, "that I can't have your child."

Qi Fei also stopped, and the sword light around him disappeared.

"What I consider spiritual practice," he said, "is never indulgence, nor is it asceticism. It is a choice made after clear understanding."

"The path to immortality is difficult to traverse; may you slay the Crimson Dragon soon, and may I soon slay the White Tiger."

"Slaying the Red Dragon" refers to a woman's cessation of menstruation, reversion to infancy, and return of yin to pure yang.

With Zhongli Xingyao's cultivation at the Three Pure Realms level, the Crimson Dragon on her body had long since been severed cleanly and without leaving a trace. But the Crimson Dragon in her heart remained; she longed to find her ideal husband, to have children, and to strengthen her sect.

"But..." Zhongli Xingyao's voice lowered, "I only want to pass on the Five Thunder Sect."

Qi Fei looked at her.

That beautiful, alluring face, which had just been smiling and asking, "Do you think I'm beautiful?", now revealed a more real, unadorned fear.

She's scared!

"This path of cultivation," her voice was tinged with longing, "my master, my uncle, and my junior brother all died on this path."

"Whether anyone has become an immortal, I don't know. But I often see people die while cultivating immortality."

Spiritual practice is never an easy path.

Observing Truth, Enduring Tribulations, Reaching the Three Pure Ones, and Reaching the Golden Elixir—each stage is a hurdle, beneath which lie the bones of countless people.

Even in its decline, the Five Thunder Sect still had a few members, so it was still a sect and had some semblance of a lineage.

Now she's all alone.

She walked alone in the empty mountain gate, meditating alone, practicing her skills alone, and talking to the ancestral master's tablet alone.

Her master, uncles, and fellow disciples have all left her.

Thunder magic is not so easy to cultivate.

She wasn't afraid of death; what she feared was that if she died, the Five Thunder Sect would truly be gone.

That name, passed down from a thousand years ago, will disappear with her death.

She felt ashamed before her master and the old man who had entrusted the Five Thunder Sect to her.

After listening, Qi Fei remained silent for a moment, then sighed inwardly.

"Where is the Five Thunder Sect?" he asked.

Zhongli Xingyao's eyes suddenly lit up, like two lamps that had been lit.

She suddenly looked up at Qi Fei, her voice brimming with barely suppressed surprise: "You agreed?"

"No." Qi Fei shook his head, his tone the same as before, "After I return from the South China Sea, I will visit you at the Five Thunder Sect."

He neither agreed nor promised, nor said "I'll stay and keep you company," but simply went to visit the Five Thunder Sect.

He added.

"Live well, cultivate yourself well."