In the blink of an eye, more than ten days had passed since Guuji Yae formally joined Mount Shu.
During this time, no other newcomers had climbed the mountain, but Jiang Yan wasn't in a hurry. Once the Grand Opening Ceremony began, disciples would flock to Mount Shu in droves.
Besides, the true foundation of the sect lay in the current batch of exceptionally gifted disciples. To put it bluntly—outer sect disciples were just foils.
How many "waste-to-prodigy" stories could there really be in the world?
Though it might sound unfair, the truth was that the gap between people was like a chasm.
Over those days, Mount Shu hadn't been without noteworthy events.
Zhongli and the other two who had reached the late stage of Spirit Transformation hadn't made breakthroughs. At their current pace, even if Jiang Yan lectured them every day, it would still take decades before they advanced.
But Jiang Yan wasn't worried—time was the one thing cultivators had in abundance. Even the longest-lived among them, Zhongli, still had tens of thousands of years of life left.
Time?
They had more than enough.
Those with Heavenly Spiritual Roots wouldn't linger long at the Spirit Transformation stage anyway.
Even if no breakthrough had occurred, their strength was still growing—their true essence was denser, and the techniques they'd drawn from the Sutra Pavilion added depth to their combat ability. They now had the confidence to clash with even Celestia's ruling order—provided the other side didn't invoke the world's authority.
Among the Refining Essence into Qi disciples, breakthroughs were far more frequent.
Ningguang and Keqing had already advanced, and even Baizhu soon caught up, reaching the mid stage. Jiang Yan was pleased, though he didn't want everyone copying Baizhu's extreme methods.
Baizhu knew he lacked the talent of his peers, so he pushed himself harder than anyone else.
No matter what pill he refined, he tested it on himself first. Several times he nearly destroyed his dantian from backlash, but in the process, his meridians and dantian grew unnaturally resilient.
Every day he entered the Heart-Testing Array, grinding his state of mind to near-perfection.
When he wasn't in the Bamboo Peak refining pills, he was at the Hall of Merit exchanging his concoctions for contribution points. He took on more beast-slaying and ore-mining tasks than anyone else.
According to Lisa, even during his rest hours, he sat inside a furnace and begged her to temper him with her karmic flames.
Baizhu had turned himself into a pill to be refined.
Such madness worried the Hall of Discipline, but since his mental state was steadier than even Zhongli's, all they could conclude was that he was cultivating far too obsessively.
Thus Baizhu became known as Mount Shu's most fanatical cultivator. Ningguang and the others could only understand—his talent was mediocre, but he dreamed of immortality. Given the chance, how could he ever let go?
Klee had also broken through to mid-stage Refining Essence into Qi, her Crimson Emperor's Heaven-Burning Physique beginning to truly manifest.
To test her strength, Jiang Yan had her spar against Ningguang, Keqing, Baizhu, and the others. She defeated every one of them within thirty moves.
Only then did the others grasp the truth—divine physiques were simply on another level. Ordinary cultivators could only look on in envy.
Perhaps it was this that pushed Baizhu into his frenzy.
Lisa had harvested more monster souls, her karmic flames deepening from black-violet to pitch-black. Though she hadn't yet stepped into late-stage Refining Essence into Qi, it was likely only months away.
Jean and Kaeya remained at the early stage, yet their power had grown immensely. Against the storm dragon Dvalin, who once bore the remnant soul of the Tower King, they could now restrain him as a group with ease.
Barbara had also advanced to early stage, though her pace slowed afterward due to lack of foundation.
The most dazzling progress came from Lumine and Paimon, both bearers of divine physiques.
Lumine soared straight to the mid stage, her cultivation still climbing toward the late stage at alarming speed—progressing, as she put it, "just by breathing."
Paimon, though small, had also advanced and now surpassed Jean in power. With the simplified Unity Divine Lightning Sword Arts and Foundational Spell Codex, the duo had even forced Cloud Retainer into occasional embarrassment.
Though they couldn't win outright, such feats across realms were still extraordinary.
As for Diluc… he had taken a baffling liking to Buddhist arts.
He chose Great Brahma Sacred Palm and Eightfold Dragon Seal, forged a lotus-platform artifact, and was essentially on track to becoming a prominent Buddhist cultivator—had this been the Immortal Realm.
While their chosen paths varied wildly, nearly everyone had achieved at least minor success with the Sword-Control Formula.
Keqing and Lumine were closest to mastery, soon to qualify for the advanced sword arts.
Meanwhile, the Outer Elders Yunqing and Yunhua, after offering valuable suggestions, had switched to Immortal cultivation. To Jiang Yan's surprise, they now stood at late-stage Spirit Transformation, though perhaps without the deep foundation of Zhongli and his peers.
Life in Mount Shu remained peaceful:
those who should cultivate cultivated, those who should refine pills refined pills.
Zhongli often visited the grave of his fallen senior, Xuanxing, speaking to him about his path.
Though Xuanxing was gone, he had left behind the Finger-Mystic Scripture and the Profound One Sword. To Zhongli, he was a true senior brother.
His death deepened Zhongli's hatred for the Nine Nether beast Qingfeng Ox—but with current strength, no one dared venture there.
This also pushed Zhongli to take his duties in the Hall of Discipline ever more seriously, much to Venti's misery. Fined down to barely ten thousand contribution points, the bard had been uncharacteristically quiet of late.
As for Jiang Yan, his days were still spent lecturing when free, dual cultivating with Ganyu, or guiding Klee, Qiqi, Lumine, and Paimon.
A carefree, leisurely life.
The only odd change was Guuji Yae, who had begun visiting the main hall often. At first, she asked questions about cultivation. Later, she lingered just to chat about random curiosities, sometimes sitting an entire afternoon.
But such small distractions were harmless.
The true upheaval was not in Mount Shu, but in Liyue.
Jueyun Karst had completely become a forbidden zone. Even the elite Millelith could only station outside it, guarding against reckless intruders.
Within, all hilichurls and monsters had vanished, replaced by countless ferocious beasts. Most were at early Foundation Establishment, but some reached late stage and even peak. Fortunately, they rarely left the Karst, sparing Liyue constant disaster.
Qiqi had been harvesting corpses there, but as supplies dwindled, she moved to Wuwang Hill—only to repeatedly run into Hu Tao.
Where once she hid to avoid being "sent off," now she fled to escape Hu Tao's insistence on "collaborating."
The cause changed, but the result was the same: Hu Tao remained her heart demon.
Still, thanks to Qiqi's deliveries—and her slaying of beasts along the way—Liyue Harbor's supply of resources had surged. Combined with the earlier Foundation Establishment beast spoils, Liyue now had over ten thousand innate-strength Millelith. Even Baiwen and her sisters had broken through to Master rank.
Though further progress would be difficult, their true goal remained Mount Shu's path to immortality.
With such changes, Liyue exuded a strong martial spirit.
More importantly, after months of momentum, Liyue had become the storm's eye of all Teyvat.
Those registering for the Grand Opening Ceremony exceeded even Ningguang's estimates—1.3 million passed the initial screening, including many luminaries:
From Sumeru—Tighnari, Dehya, Alhaitham.
From Fontaine—Furina and Clorinde.
Only Inazuma remained sealed off, no envoys permitted by the Raiden Shogun.
Thus Liyue had become the liveliest place on the continent.
Even the skeptics, once they arrived, cast aside their doubts—leaving only fervent yearning for Mount Shu and the Immortal Dao.
As the day of the ceremony drew near, the Ministry of General Affairs grew busier than ever.
At last, by dusk on this day, the month-long initial screening ended.
The gates closed, Yelan and her team ceased their work, and the first round of the Grand Opening Ceremony was officially over.
Those who came late, no matter their pleas, were shut out.
As for causing trouble? With over ten thousand innate-level defenders in Liyue Harbor, plus the Qixing and Baiwen's sisters able to call upon Ningguang's Mount Shu disciples, even a god would be suppressed.
From this moment, the Grand Opening Ceremony of the Mount Shu Sect was truly about to begin.
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