Chen Yan sat inside the carriage.

Seated beside him were four newly recruited disciples of the Immortal Sect—two men and two women.

Aside from this carriage, there was another one carrying the other five newly recruited disciples of Qingxuan Immortal Sect.

The total distance from Nanfeng’s capital to Qingxuan Immortal Sect was one hundred fifteen thousand li.

If they traveled nonstop by carriage from Nanfeng to the sect, the earliest they could arrive would be next year.

That was why the Outer Court Disciples who had stayed behind in Changtian Prefecture to escort these ten new recruits back to Qingxuan Immortal Sect were currently driving the carriages not toward the sect itself, but toward Fengguan Ferry.

From there, they would take an aerial ferry to return to Qingxuan Immortal Sect.

The carriage wheels rolled over the dirt road, creaking and groaning, and the cabin was somewhat bumpy.

Sitting across from Chen Yan was a girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old. Her face bore no makeup, yet she was still strikingly beautiful.

Her name was Su Ying.

And her gaze would occasionally sweep over Chen Yan, who sat opposite her with his wheat-colored, healthy complexion and handsome features.

Along the way, she had frequently found opportunities to strike up conversations with him.

But the reason was definitely not Chen Yan’s appearance—it was his cultivation talent.

Among the ten newly recruited disciples accepted by Nanfeng this time, Chen Yan was the one most highly favored by the Inner Disciples of Qingxuan Immortal Sect. Even the current team leader, an early Martial Spring Realm disciple named Luo Ao, treated Chen Yan differently from the other nine new recruits.

Because it was very possible that Chen Yan could enter the Inner Court of Qingxuan Immortal Sect within a year.

That was also Chen Yan’s goal.

Of course, Chen Yan politely kept his distance from the beautiful girl named Su Ying sitting across from him, who kept trying to get close.

A old monster of his caliber would never develop any worldly feelings.

But there was also another reason.

That was, this girl named Su Ying had not originally been among the ten newly recruited disciples who passed the assessment.

She had been swapped in.

As for the one she replaced—the boy who should have stepped onto the path of immortality and become a disciple of Qingxuan Immortal Sect—Chen Yan guessed his fate was the same as Li Er Niu’s.

Chen Yan had no intention of getting involved in the trivial matters of Qingxuan Immortal Sect. His purpose in joining the sect was solely to gather intelligence about this world, nothing more.

And after his conversation with Luo Ao, Chen Yan was glad he hadn’t gone directly to Qingxuan Immortal Sect to visit but had instead adopted this more covert and cautious approach.

Currently, Qingxuan Immortal Sect had three Ascending to Immortality Realm cultivators stationed there.

There were seven Dao Union Realm cultivators, more than twenty Divine Ability Realm cultivators, and the sect possessed three Immortal Artifacts.

Its scale was already comparable to Heavenly Summit Mountain at its peak—after all, during its prime, Heavenly Summit Mountain had also once hosted two Ascending to Immortality Realm cultivators simultaneously.

Although Heavenly Summit Mountain’s peak had one less Ascending to Immortality cultivator compared to Qingxuan Immortal Sect, it had not lagged behind in terms of Dao Union and Divine Ability Realm cultivators, and it also possessed six Immortal Artifacts and the Heavenly Summit Mirror.

One could say that if Qingxuan Immortal Sect’s strength was only as Luo Ao had described, then its power was still somewhat inferior to Heavenly Summit Mountain in its prime.

Chen Yan had also asked Luo Ao the question he most wanted answered.

“Senior Brother Luo, what is the name of this world?”

Luo Ao had only paused for a moment when he heard the question.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, how should we refer to the world we’re in?”

“Heaven and earth are just heaven and earth.”

Luo Ao seemed confused by Chen Yan’s question, as if wondering why Chen Yan would have such a strange thought.

Chen Yan didn’t press further, knowing he wouldn’t get any results.

He believed that the world he currently inhabited should have a name of its own, similar to the Chenping Continent, but it seemed that might not be the case.

Chen Yan also vaguely mentioned to Luo Ao the matter of someone being secretly swapped among the new recruits.

Luo Ao’s answer was rather evasive, essentially saying that Qingxuan Immortal Sect occasionally made exchanges of interest with certain aristocratic families in the secular dynasties, so things like this happened from time to time.

Chen Yan took Luo Ao’s explanation as complete nonsense.

A sect with three Ascending to Immortality Realm cultivators needed to trade interests with secular dynasties?

For context, even on the Chenping Continent, where the cultivation world had an unwritten rule that cultivators should not interfere in secular government affairs, any low-ranking cultivation sect with just a Qi Sea Realm cultivator could order any secular dynasty’s royal family to do anything for them.

“Senior Brother Chen.”

The beautiful girl sitting across from Chen Yan called out softly.

“What is it?”

Chen Yan responded.

Among these ten new recruits, Chen Yan was the oldest.

At the same time, his cultivation talent was the highest, so the others were all accustomed to calling him “Senior Brother Chen.”

“When we passed through the town yesterday, I bought some apples.”

As she spoke, Su Ying took a slightly green apple from her bosom and handed it toward Chen Yan.

“Are you hungry?”

“Thanks for the kind offer, but no need.”

Chen Yan just smiled faintly.

“Ah, um…”

Su Ying was slightly stunned, then withdrew the apple in her hand back to her chest, her eyes dropping slightly with a dejected expression.

Despite her fragile appearance, Chen Yan knew very well that this girl named Su Ying was a formidable character.

She knew perfectly how to leverage her beauty, and within just a few days, she had wrapped the other four male new recruits around her finger.

But Su Ying’s primary target was still him. She clearly understood that among these ten people, Chen Yan was the one with the potential to enter the Inner Court. If she could latch onto Chen Yan, her future path in Qingxuan Immortal Sect would be much smoother.

“Junior Sister Su, I want one!”

The young male new recruit sitting beside Chen Yan clearly couldn’t bear to see Su Ying’s dejected expression. He eagerly spoke up to engage her.

“Alright, Senior Brother Gui, here you go.”

Su Ying flashed a somewhat forced smile at the male disciple surnamed Gui, then handed him the apple.

Chen Yan paid no attention to the interactions among these juniors. He simply turned his head to look out the carriage window.

Of course, what he also ignored were the hostile looks from the two male disciples in the carriage.