After being jilted by the saintess at the beginning, why is she crying?

But he quickly and keenly sensed something, and his mind raced.

What he didn't know was that in this desolate land, everything containing spiritual energy was priceless.

Although spirit stones contain little spiritual energy, they are pure and gentle, making them "living spiritual energy" that cultivators can directly absorb.

It is completely different from the thin and mixed spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

A spirit stone in such good condition as this is enough to bankrupt a small family and even trigger a bloody battle!

To True Person Qingming, these two spirit stones were like those of a beggar who had lived a life of poverty and hardship.

Suddenly, someone told him that he had inherited two whole mountains of gold!

The ecstasy and disbelief almost overwhelmed him.

After a long while, Qingming Zhenren finally managed to calm himself down and quietly put the two spirit stones into his pocket, as if he were afraid that they would be snatched away.

He took a deep breath, trying to appear calm, but his slightly trembling voice betrayed his excitement:

"Ahem... Um... young friend, where did you get these spirit stones from?"

Lin Fengmian had already prepared a plan in mind, and his face showed a hint of reminiscence, mixed with lingering fear and relief, as he said:

"Reporting to the Immortal Master, this is something I discovered in an extremely secluded ancient cave when I accidentally wandered into a deep mountain while trying to escape demonic beasts."

The cave contained only a skeleton from who-knows-how-many years ago, with two spirit stones scattered nearby; nothing else was there…

A hint of doubt flashed in Qingming Zhenren's eyes, but it was quickly washed away by the ecstasy brought by the two spirit stones.

At this moment, his mind was filled with the thought, "I actually have spirit stones now!"

They had no intention of scrutinizing the flaws in Lin Fengmian's words, especially since this incredibly lucky kid was about to join the sect, and there would be plenty of opportunities to question him later.

He cleared his throat, trying to project the air of a celestial master, and nodded to Lin Fengmian and Cang Yuwei:

"Hmm... Since that's the case, seeing how devoted you two are, I will make an exception and allow you both to enter my Spirit-Severing Sect!"

Having said that, he didn't ask any more questions, and turned to lead the two through a fog.

The scene before my eyes suddenly changed.

A lush, verdant forest appeared before the three of them.

As soon as Lin Fengmian stepped inside, he keenly sensed that there was an extremely thin, almost imperceptible spiritual energy in the air!

Although this concentration is not even as high as the most barren mountains on the Xuan Tian Continent, it is a miracle in a certain sense in this absolutely desolate place!

However, when he followed Master Qingming and saw the so-called "Soul-Slaying Sect" mountain gate located deep in the mountains, Lin Fengmian almost popped his eyes out.

Several crooked, dilapidated thatched and wooden houses, seemingly on the verge of collapse, surround an extremely simple bluestone square. In the center of the square stands a worn-out plaque covered in moss and with faded writing.

There wasn't even a proper protective array in front of the mountain gate. A few listless spirit beasts were tied to a few crooked wooden stakes. They weren't even spirit beasts; they looked more like ordinary wild animals...

This...this is what they call the Immortal Sect?!

"Holy crap! This...this is way too shabby!" Lin Fengmian's lips twitched wildly, his mind racing like a stampede of horses.

"Even the dog huts where the menial disciples of the Hehuan Sect live are a hundred times more magnificent than this!"

He took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to unleash a torrent of complaints, and silently comforted himself:

"Forget it, it's a place devoid of spiritual energy after all, what more can we ask for... If there's a place like this to shelter us from the wind and rain, the people here are probably already living in a 'paradise on earth'."

Cang Yuwei, standing beside him, was so excited that her beautiful eyes reddened.

She felt the faint, almost ethereal spiritual energy in the air, her delicate body trembling slightly, her eyes welling up with tears:

"This...this is the legendary Immortal Gate? I...I actually made it in..."

Lin Fengmian and Cang Yuwei, this newly formed "fake couple," were quickly arranged by Master Qingming to move into a fairly tidy wooden house.

Looking at this shabby dwelling with only a wooden bed and a table, Lin Fengmian's lips twitched again, and he mentally cursed:

"Is this the treatment disciples of a cultivation sect receive?! It's worse than an inn in the city at the foot of the mountain!"

Without making a sound, he separated a wisp of his divine sense and silently swept it across the entire Jue Ling Sect, his heart sinking to the bottom.

The sect didn't have many disciples, only about a hundred in total. They were all acting like madmen, either meditating and breathing exercises or frantically absorbing the faint spiritual energy in the air. Their expressions were so focused that it seemed as if they would die on the spot if they missed a single breath.

Their cultivation levels were generally not high, mostly at the Qi Refining stage. Even the Qingming True Person who guided them was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage.

"Tsk tsk, to be able to cultivate to the Foundation Establishment stage in such a godforsaken place, this old guy must be an old turtle who has lived for hundreds of years."

"He truly is a peerless genius, unparalleled in history!" Lin Fengmian thought to himself, his tone full of sarcasm.

Soon, a sect deacon came and told these newly initiated disciples that they had only one task in the future—cultivation! Seclude yourself in seclusion! Cultivate with all your might! Other than that, you don't need to worry about anything else.

Each year, the sect will distribute one Spirit Gathering Grass as a cultivation resource as a subsidy.

Lin Fengmian swept his divine sense across the spirit herb garden not far away and saw the so-called "spirit-gathering herbs," and immediately felt dizzy.

The grass was withered and yellow, as thin as dry firewood, and contained so little spiritual energy that it couldn't even compare to the most common first-tier spiritual herbs on the Xuan Tian Continent.

It's not even as good as a weed!

"That's terrible! It's absolutely terrible!"

He inwardly groaned, "This isn't cultivating immortality; it's like being in collective prison, a slow, hellish death sentence!"

What's even more outrageous is that the cultivation techniques distributed to his disciples were the most basic, weakest, and easiest to break through to the third level of Qi Refining before making any further progress—the commonplace "Qi Induction Technique."

All the cultivators were like wind-up puppets, meditating and breathing exercises every minute, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

After obtaining the cultivation manual, Cang Yuwei was so excited that she immediately sat down cross-legged and tried to sense the spiritual energy, which was so thin that it was almost non-existent.

However, no matter how hard she tried, or how much she held her breath and concentrated, the spiritual energy seemed to be deliberately working against her, lingering and wandering outside her meridians, unable to be successfully introduced into her body.

It's not that she's not talented enough, but the environment is just too terrible!

She was so anxious that fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and her beautiful eyes were filled with anxiety and resentment.

Lin Fengmian watched anxiously from the sidelines, but felt powerless to help.

He does indeed have several hundred spirit stones in his storage bag, but would he dare to take them out?

A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime!

To flaunt one's wealth in front of these desperate cultivators who would risk their lives for even half a Spirit Gathering Grass is to be asking for an even quicker death!