THE SECT MASTER and the peak masters rushed outside their cultivation rooms to check the anomalous movement in their sect.
On the other hand, Yang Lujia hurried back to the Sect Master's peak to avoid damaging the array formation further.
Although he was an array formation master himself, staying cautious was still his utmost priority in this world filled with peril. Moreover, it felt like something was observing him in the dark. It made his instincts push him to hide.
"This is strange. Could it be that the Demonic Sects attacked us?" the Sect Leader asked the other peak masters.
A peak master immediately interjected, "But we didn't participate in the war 15 years ago, right? We didn't touch any of the Demonic Sects' people or their disciples."
"That's not entirely correct. There are some people of the Demonic Sects that would randomly attack other sects that they don't have enmity with. As far as I know, they use the blood of other cultivators to strengthen themselves," another peak master said.
The Sect Master replied, "Yes, I also heard it from our Supreme Elder before. Those heinous acts are usually committed by Demonic sects in order to increase their cultivation. However, why are they targeting our War Dragon Sect? Our Supreme Elder is not here at the moment because he told me he'd go to another realm."
"How about we ask Lu'er? He must have known about something regarding the Demonic Sects. After all, he was with the Supreme Elder for a long time."
The Sect Master's eyes lit up. "Right! We still have Lu'er! Perhaps he also knows how to fix the array formation the Supreme Elder established. After all, he was taught by the Supreme Elder himself."
After they checked the situation, the Sect Master and the peak masters brought themselves to the Meeting Hall at the central peak. Then, the Sect Master called for one of his disciples to call for Yang Lujia.
"Right away, master," the disciple responded.
On the other hand, Yang Lujia was drinking elixirs like wine. He poured them all into a divine artifact gourd while munching some heaven-ranked pellets.
One had to know that a divine artifact is the kind of weapon with the highest rank in the five realms.
His gourd was a spatial divine artifact where it could store a lot of things, but he used it like a bottle of water. Moreover, what he ate were pellets, a higher-tier type of pill.
Medicines or alchemist products' lowest-ranked are called pills. Higher than these are called pellets, and the highest being elixirs which he drank like wine. Each of them is subdivided into three ranks: human, earth, and heaven. It goes the same with weapons, the lowest being relics, followed by imperial relics, and finally, divine artifacts.
Wearing a white robe, he lay on the ground as he stared up at the sky. Everything happened so fast for him that it almost felt like a dream.
He didn't know if he was a protagonist or not. It was diametrically opposed to the characters in Chinese novels he had previously read. His journey was smooth-sailing, unlike those protagonists who suffer before reaching the peak of their lives.
Nevertheless, he couldn't remain complacent. He still wanted to keep getting stronger—although there were only slight increases in his strength in the past weeks. At least that was what he noticed despite not knowing exactly how far had he reached in his cultivation.
When he heard footsteps from outside his courtyard, he disappeared from his position and directly appeared outside, waiting for the person who was coming to come up.
"What's a disciple of the Sect Master doing here?" he asked, one of his brows rising.
"Big Brother Yang, the Sect Master and the peak masters asked for your presence in the Meeting Hall," the disciple answered. "I am not aware of the reason. However, I think it is related to what happened to the sect just now."
Yang Lujia was marginally surprised, but he didn't show any expression on his face. His face remained bland. "Oh? Alright, we'll be there in a minute."
He and the disciple walked side by side towards the meeting hall. Yang Lujia could directly tear a spatial gate to transport himself to the meeting hall, but he didn't do so.
He didn't like to be ostentatious. Otherwise, what was the point of hiding his powers all those years when he could just parade his abilities like no one was watching him? If he'd show off, what was the point? Yes, he could get all the praise, but that was it. At the end of the day, he couldn't reap anything from those praises.
"Greetings to the Sect Master and the peak masters," Yang Lujia said as he slightly bowed at the presence of his seniors. Position-wise, the Sect Master was sitting at the center, while the peak masters were encircling him.
"Stand straight now, Lu'er." The Sect Master drew a warm smile on his face. "We only called you here to ask something. I hope you don't mind."
Yang Lujia clasped his hands and bowed perfunctorily. "It doesn't matter, Sect Master. This disciple here doesn't dare be smug in front of the elders."
A peak master praised, "You're really as polite as ever."
"What's the matter that you want to discuss with this disciple?" Yang Lujia didn't want to elongate the conversation further—lest he'd say something unnecessary.
"It's about the array formation, Lu'er. It was suddenly destroyed. Do you have a way to fix it?" the Sect Master asked. "I know that you've been with the Supreme Elder, your grandfather, all those years. Now that he isn't here in the War Dragon Sect, we can only rely on you to fix his array formation."
Yang Lujia didn't directly reject it. After all, he couldn't refute what the Sect Master told him.
He pondered and soon nodded. "I think I found some information and instructions about array formations recorded in a book written by my grandfather. I will bring it to the Sect Master right after this meeting."
"Good! Good!" The Sect Master laughed his heart out. "As a reward for Lu'er, give him a thousand spirit stones!"
The peak masters also reacted the same.
When Yang Lujia bade his goodbye, the old men and women smiled at one another.
"It's a pity that Lu'er has a poor aptitude for cultivation. The Supreme Elder told me once that Lu'er can only be a mortal and cannot cultivate at all. Those spirit stones will only serve as his pocket money to buy some good things for himself."
A peak master sighed. "Yes, it's such a pity. If he could cultivate like other kids, with his attitude, he might become a genius!"
"Why are the gods so cruel to good people?" the Sect Master said as he looked up at the ceiling.
"Yes, like me, I should be given more opportunities. Look, I've done good things—"
"Shut up, old man! I saw your courtyard once! It was full of portraits of naked women!" a peak master cut him off.
"Huh? You're slandering me, you grumpy old woman!"
"Shut up!"
On the other hand, as Yang Lujia stepped into his courtyard, he tapped one foot on the ground. Immediately, thousands of spirit stones flew out of the system's space, particularly from his body, along with the thousand that the Sect Master rewarded him with. Gradually, an invisible barrier enveloped his entire courtyard that no one could detect.
"I need to finish writing the instructions for constructing the array formation his grandfather made," he said to himself. "After all, I don't like delays in things. Otherwise, they'll become suspicious of me and I'll expose myself."
Slowly, the spirit stones were stationed at every corner of his courtyard. His qi spread throughout the whole place, uttering a phrase: "Time Freeze."
Outside, people were still moving happily, the plants swaying along with the breeze, and some beasts were roaring and fighting. Meanwhile, in his courtyard, everything, except him, froze.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!