Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon
That night, Qin Yun left Hu Manor in secret and went to a nameless mountain slightly more than five kilometers away.

"Whooh!" Under the influence of his Dao domain, a huge chunk of stone was dug out from the mountain. It floated in midair and, with a tremble, rubble was forcefully knocked off of it. A rather exquisite stone house suddenly materialized in midair. The patterns on the roof, windows, and doors were quite charming and, as the stone house gradually landed, the land beneath it naturally turned flat, making a perfect landing place for the stone house.

In just half a minute, Qin Yun had a stone homestead.

Using the same method, stone tables, stone chairs, and even a bed appeared.

"I"ll stay here temporarily." Qin Yun took out some living necessities from the Two World Picture while inside the house, giving it some character.

He walked to the stone house"s entrance and looked at the distant Hu Manor that was more than five kilometers away.

This bit of distance could be enveloped by Qin Yun"s Dao domain at all times. If anything out of the ordinary happened, his flying sword could appear and traverse the five kilometers instantly!

"I"ve found my daughter but how should I save her?" Qin Yun frowned slightly as he flipped his hand to take out his transmission token.

Buzz.

The transmission token revealed the detailed information that Chufu had previously given him.

"Yellow-robed Supremacy has employed the selection rule of the demons" survival of the fittest for a bunch of in-name disciples as a way to choose his inherited-teachings disciples. Furthermore, he doesn"t allow his subordinates to influence the disciples" contention," thought Qin Yun. "However, how can he call this absolute fairness?"

"Nearly half the in-name disciples are descendants of Combat Generals or Guardians."

"After all, being an inherited-teachings disciple of Yellow-robed Supremacy is a position higher than the average Guardian. Those demon Combat Generals and Guardians have even taken the initiative to get their descendants to vie in this compet.i.tion despite knowing that the risk of death is very high."

"The compet.i.tion between disciples can lead to death. Combat Generals and Guardians are forbidden from interfering. If they could, a Combat General would easily wipe out a large group of in-name disciples. It wouldn"t be a compet.i.tion, but a ma.s.sacre."

"However, there are some discreet tricks they can use."

"Teaching their descendants personally… or even secretly arranging for some experiential training, even giving treasures in secret. It speeds up the growth of these disciples and Yellow-robed Supremacy has always turned a blind eye towards this." Qin Yun frowned. "Because of this, in-name disciples with considerable backgrounds grow faster and have more treasures. They have a much greater chance in the final round of compet.i.tions."

"There are only three inherited-teachings disciples spots for 392 in-name disciples. It is bound to end tragically." Qin Yun did not like such survival of the fittest selections.

It could be done in completely different ways. Tournaments? Tests? All sorts of methods could be used to select an inherited-teachings disciple if one wanted. These were also commonly done by humans.

However, Yellow-robed Supremacy"s method was like raising Gu. He allowed the in-name disciples to engage in fratricidal fighting.

"Even if I help my daughter, the chances of her becoming one of the three final inherited-teachings disciples are slim. My daughter is too young and there are some in-name disciples that are much older and have cultivated for several hundred years. With such unequal cultivation time, the compet.i.tion between disciples was never fair to begin with."

"But to take my daughter away…"

Qin Yun was frustrated.

"How should I take her away?"

"Only after becoming Guardian and understanding the rules do I know how hard it is to enter and exit the Skywolf continent! Combat Generals and Guardians are allowed to enter and exit the Skywolf continent at any moment but ordinary residents of the Skywolf continent are forbidden from exiting without Supremacy"s permission."

"These in-name disciples are now in a compet.i.tion. The Skywolf continent itself is the battlefield so they are also forbidden from leaving it."

Qin Yun shook his head.

"It"s impossible for me to rush out of the Skywolf continent"s exterior array formation with my daughter! That is a ma.s.sive array that can even keep the troops of heaven at bay."

"My daughter also has no means of leaving by herself!"

"Since a hard stance doesn"t work, perhaps I should take a soft approach?" Qin Yun pondered.

The Skywolf continent was completely isolated from the exterior world. Even Major Void Transference was useless!

As he pondered…he stood on the mountaintop and watched the distant Hu Manor and his daughter.

*****

In the following days, Qin Yun secretly protected his daughter while cultivating.

Having just broken through to the realm of having a Dao domain of hundred and fifty kilometers, he could naturally continue improving having pa.s.sed the bottleneck. He dedicated himself to studying Starlord Covetous Wolf"s sword art and made tremendous gains by the day, constantly infusing these insights into his own Sword Dao.

The enhancement of his Sword Dao realm was also very helpful in creating his own Sword Immortal Essence Soul Dharmic formulation.

It was previously in a nascent form, but now, with his realm matching that of a fourth or fifth firmament Skyimmortal, the Sword Immortal Essence Soul Dharmic formulation he created independently was becoming more complete. He could even make another attempt to condense an Essence Soul himself. However, his last failure made him even more cautious. He wanted to make the Dharmic formulation as perfect as it could be.

"Oh?"

On the sixth day of protecting his daughter in secret, Qin Yun, who was sitting cross-legged in the stone house in silent meditation, suddenly opened his eyes. His Dao domain had detected his daughter leaving Hu Manor.

"Eh? She is rus.h.i.+ng towards me?" Qin Yun was somewhat stunned.

The dragon girl was flying amid the clouds and soon landed in a valley of the mountain. The valley was perennially covered in fog, making it difficult to determine what was happening within.

Inside the valley.

The dragon girl stretched out her hand as a tiny sword in her palm rapidly expanded into a three-foot-long sword.

"Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!"

She immediately began practicing her sword arts.

Her sword moved around agilely, filled with hidden killing intent. As she demonstrated her sword arts, many of the rocks in the valley exploded but the sounds were completely isolated from the outside world.

"This fog is formed naturally. It"s indeed a good place to practice one"s swordplay." Qin Yun smiled as he carefully watched his daughter"s sword arts.

"My daughter"s Sword Dao talent sure is high."

"She has already honed her sword arts to such a level? How old is she this year?"

Qin Yun was pleasantly surprised as he watched.

…

In the valley.

The girl was practicing her swordplay freely. The Hu Manor was on the small side, after all. She cultivated in the Physical Establis.h.i.+ng Sage, so when she cast her sword arts freely she needed a sufficiently large s.p.a.ce. The valley was perfect for that.

"Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!"

As she continued her swordplay, the surrounding rocks kept crumbling under her flying Sword Qi.

"Young Lady, your sword arts aren"t much but you can cause quite a stir." A voice reverberated in the valley.

The dragon girl was alarmed. "There"s someone here!?"

She looked around her and, amid the fog, a figure appeared in the distance.

"Oh? My Dao domain failed to discover him." The dragon girl was secretly alarmed. She carefully looked at the newcomer who was a man dressed in ordinary linen clothes. He was smiling and his eyes made the dragon girl feel a baffling sense of affection.

This feeling of affection made her turn wary.

"Why do I feel affectionate towards him? Is it some bewitching spell?" The dragon girl was very alert. "Not just that, I can"t even sense his aura at all."

If she closed her eyes, she would not even sense the existence of a life that was right in front of her.

"I can"t even sense his aura. The gap between us is huge." The dragon girl immediately bowed. "Greetings, Senior."

The Skywolf continent was filled with experts, after all. It was common to b.u.mp into an expert. It was actually safer than b.u.mping into any of her senior brothers and sisters.

"Young Lady, what"s your name?" asked Qin Yun with a smile.

He looked nonchalant and carefree but he was, in fact, very nervous!

This was his daughter!

He took in her looks, her eyes, and the wound on her face.

All these years, she must have suffered a lot alone. It was unfortunate that he had not been around.

"Senior…" The dragon girl hesitated for a moment before saying, "Dragon Nine."

"Dragon Nine?" Qin Yun smiled and said directly, "I happened to be cultivating on this mountain when I saw you practicing your swordplay here. I have loved sword arts my entire life. When I saw your practice, I couldn"t help but intervene for it is truly riddled with mistakes."

"Riddled with mistakes?" The dragon girl was astonished.

She was very confident in her sword arts. After all, the Sword Dao manual she studied in was given to her by Yellow-robed Supremacy. Although it was incomparable to Starlord Covetous Wolf"s sword art, it was still very powerful.

Furthermore, her talent in the Sword Dao was also extremely high.

"You aren"t convinced?" Qin Yun stretched out his hand as a stream of water flew over from a distance, freezing to form an ice sword. "Come, spar with me."

The dragon girl"s heart stirred.

Had she lucked out?

She was receiving pointers from a senior?

"Senior, watch out." The dragon girl bowed obediently before stabbing out with her sword.

Schwing. The sword was agile and extremely fast as it stabbed at Qin Yun.

"Pa!"

He gave a simple swat with the ice sword and hit her strike to the side. "It"s too direct. Sword momentum needs to be gathered, only at the final instance when you strike at the enemy should the momentum show its true might."

The dragon girl was taken aback as she immediately put that into practice.

"Bam!"

"You have great strength but that is not how it is supposed to be used."

"Pfft!"

"This strike is too wishy-washy. It"s not decisive at all."

With Qin Yun"s present Sword Dao realm, Chufu was the only swordsman comparable to him in the Skywolf world. His bullying of a young lady at the first firmament Essence Soul realm was equivalent to an adult fighting a baby. He saw flaws everywhere and easily acted upon them.

…

In a hall in Treasure Elephant Palace.

Various projection screens were floating that depicted scenes of the three hundred plus in-name disciples displayed.

A group of cultivators were watching them at all times.

The Compet.i.tion of the Disciples was something Supremacy placed great importance on. They naturally needed to monitor it well!

"Look, that dragon girl named Yiyi lucked out."

"She lucked out?"

A number of cultivators looked over in curiosity.

In the projection, Yiyi"s sword arts were repeatedly nullified by Qin Yun.

"Isn"t that the newly promoted Guardian Qin Yun? He"s also Dao Seeking Sword Mansion"s swordmaster. I heard Manor Lord Chufu invited a bunch of Combat Generals to welcome him."

"This Guardian Qin Yun is apparently a mortal but his sword arts are unfathomably profound. That dragon girl has finally lucked out to encounter this strong Guardian who is willing to guide her."

The cultivators commended the situation and thought nothing of it.

If it was only guidance? That did not matter in any way.

Yellow-robed Supremacy had even declared his allowance of Combat Generals and Guardians to guide his in-name disciples before!

Supremacy was naturally more satisfied with stronger disciples.

However, in the Compet.i.tion of the Disciples, Combat Generals and Guardians, as well as the other Skyimmortals, were not to interfere directly. That would be an act of bullying or an outright ma.s.sacre. Therefore, Yellow-robed Supremacy would not bother with their indirect interferences typically! If any act of bullying was committed, however, infuriating Yellow-robed Supremacy in the process… well, few in the Skywolf world would dare provoke Yellow-robed Supremacy. His temper was a lot more brutal than it was when he was in the Heavenly Courts.

…

In the valley.

The dragon girl"s sword arts were nullified repeatedly but she did not turn despondent. Instead, her eyes lit up, filled with excitement.

How many years had it been!?

She finally had a senior who was willing to teach her seriously!

One had to know that despite being her master in name, Yellow-robed Supremacy had only thrown her a few manuals and sent her off.

This was the first time!

She was being carefully guided by a senior expert.

"I have to grasp this opportunity. I must not miss it." The dragon girl practiced diligently and she could also sense that her sword arts were being strengthened at a discernible pace.

"What impressive perceptivity. Among all the Sword Dao geniuses I have encountered, including Huan"er, none of them is as perceptive as my daughter"s." Qin Yun was rather astonished.

While feeling astonished, he waved his hand, dissipating the ice sword he wielded.

The dragon girl was taken aback as she immediately retracted her sword and stood obediently by the side and bowed. "Senior, thank you for your guidance."

"You aren"t so stupid." Qin Yun nodded. "You can still be molded. Return and think through this lesson carefully."

"Senior, might I know when I can meet you again?" The dragon girl asked immediately in her anxiousness.

Qin Yun looked at his daughter and felt his heart wince. He nodded on the surface, saying, "On matters regarding sword arts, you can go up that mountain to seek me." With that said, he pointed at a mountain not far off. The fog naturally parted, revealing a mountain peak in the distance.

With that said, Qin Yun turned and left.

As she watched Qin Yun depart and vanish into the clouds, the dragon girl was filled with excitement.

"Awesome. I have finally lucked out and encountered a senior expert willing to teach me." The dragon girl was elated as she secretly laughed. "He even said that I"m not that stupid. Does he think I can"t tell? My perceptivity must have caught his eye! My Sword Dao talent has been praised by Master before. This senior must have come to teach me when he saw my sufficiently high Sword Dao talent."

After returning to his home up the mountain, Qin Yun watched the valley while standing in front the stone house.

As he looked at his beaming daughter in the valley, he smiled. However, his heart winced a little for her.