Xu Yi's shock was understandable, as the furnishings in this room were vastly different from anything she had encountered before.
In the center of the ceiling floated a luminous orb. To her right stood a dressing mirror, clear as glass but more transparent, capable of reflecting one’s appearance in minute detail. Before the mirror were placed jars of various sizes, crystal clear and glistening.
Under the light emanating from the orb above, these jars emitted multicolored glows, dazzling and spectacular.
These novelties naturally sparked Xu Yi's curiosity. Had the Kyushu Continent undergone such significant changes in just two hundred years?
It was no wonder people often spoke of rapid progress and immense transformations.
As Xu Yi was contemplating, a young girl clad in a white and black daoist robe entered the room.
The girl was fair and delicate, with a faint scent of herbs lingering around her. Upon seeing Xu Yi open her eyes, she smiled, her brows arching. "You're finally awake. Do you know you've been asleep for half a month?"
Xu Yi quickly propped herself up, expressing her gratitude, "Did you save me? Thank you so much."
The girl hurried forward to support Xu Yi, placing a pillow behind her for her to lean on. She then smiled and said, "It wasn't me. Elder Qing Feng brought you back. How could you be so reckless, going outside the sect to undergo tribulation? Fortunately, nothing happened to you."
"So it was Elder Qing Feng. Where is Elder Qing Feng now? I must thank him in person."
Xu Yi threw aside the quilt and prepared to get out of bed, but the girl quickly stopped her.
"Don't move. You've only just woken up. You should rest for a few more days. Besides, Elder Qing Feng is very busy right now. He's currently acting as the sect leader and handling sect affairs."
Hearing this, Xu Yi abandoned the immediate thought of thanking her benefactor. She said with a hint of embarrassment, "I was too hasty earlier and didn't have a chance to ask for your name. I am Xu Yi, a disciple of the Xuanji Sect."
The girl gave Xu Yi a peculiar look, then chuckled, mirroring Xu Yi's earlier action as she introduced herself, "I am Pu Tao, a disciple of the Xuanji Sect."
After speaking, she found it amusing and let out a cascade of bell-like laughter.
Xu Yi, however, was stunned.
This fellow cultivator claimed to be a disciple of the Xuanji Sect?
But she was clearly not wearing the Xuanji Sect's daoist robe.
Had the style of the Xuanji Sect's daoist robes changed in two hundred years?
Yet, that shouldn't be the case. She recalled that in her dreams, the style of the daoist robes had never changed, even up to the time of her death.
Seeing that Pu Tao did not seem to be joking, and remembering the mention of an Elder Qing Feng she had never heard of, Xu Yi fell silent for a while before cautiously asking, "May I ask the daoist name of the current sect leader?"
Pu Tao's smile faded, and she looked at Xu Yi with a hint of pity, murmuring, "Oh no, I hope the lightning tribulation didn't make her foolish."
Xu Yi's gaze was fixed on Pu Tao, her expression grave, her palms unconsciously clenching.
Pu Tao recovered herself and replied seriously, "The current sect leader's daoist name is Bu Wang."
"Bu Wang? Bu Wang! Ji Bu Wang!"
Xu Yi almost jumped out of bed.
She tightly gripped Pu Tao's hand, confirming repeatedly, "Is it that Ji Bu Wang?"
Pu Tao nodded solemnly.
Xu Yi let out a wail and closed her eyes in agony.
She didn't know Elder Qing Feng, but she knew Ji Bu Wang.
Speaking of which, it had to be mentioned, the dream she had, which seemed to be prophetic.
The reason she was so certain that everything she saw was a dream, and not something that had already happened, was because her perspective followed her junior sister. She had personally witnessed her junior sister's growth.
And she was merely an insignificant stepping stone in her junior sister's journey.
Besides her astonishing talent, her junior sister was incredibly lucky in love. Every young talent on the Kyushu Continent who met her developed feelings for her. One person left the deepest impression on Xu Yi.
It was because, in the dream, she was that person's admirer.
And that person was the instigator who ultimately caused her to kill her junior sister.
Ji Xiu, the genius sword cultivator of the Xuanqing Sect, his Lingtian Swordplay, swept across all cultivators of his generation.
Ji Bu Wang, Ji Xiu.
The relationship between the two could be seen from their names.
Yes, if nothing unexpected happened, Ji Bu Wang should be the child of Ji Xiu and her junior sister.
She had once heard Ji Xiu say that he wanted to name his future child Ji Bu Wang. The meaning of the name was not only to admonish the child to reflect on themselves but also a subtle way of expressing his feelings for his junior sister.
Hearing these affectionate words in the dream, she had gritted her teeth and eventually embarked on an irreversible path.
Even if Xu Yi turned to ash, she would never forget that name with its special meaning.
So, had she now fallen into the hands of her junior sister's descendant?
Xu Yi regretted it so much that she wanted to hit the wall.
How could she, after emerging from the secret realm, still not escape her junior sister's grasp?
As Xu Yi was consumed by despair, her thoughts suddenly took a sharp turn, and she discovered an anomaly.
She had only been trapped in the secret realm for two hundred years. According to the timeline of her dream, she wasn't dead yet at this point, and her junior sister hadn't gotten together with Ji Xiu. Ji Bu Wang shouldn't have even appeared.
Xu Yi's eyes snapped open, and she gazed intently at the conflicted Pu Tao, "How many years has the Xuanji Sect been founded now?"
Pu Tao was taken aback and replied, "You've forgotten this too? This year is the three thousand four hundred and seventieth year."
Three thousand four hundred and seventy years struck Xu Yi like a heavy hammer, making her dizzy.
The year she left the Xuanji Sect was clearly the one thousand four hundred and seventieth year of the sect's founding.
This meant that the place she had appeared in was the Xuanji Sect two thousand years later.
"Haha... Hahahaha..."
Xu Yi cried and laughed, tears streaming down her face.
Two thousand years!
She had actually traveled two thousand years into the future!
Her master, elders, and fellow disciples were all gone.
Thinking of her master's angry and disappointed gaze when she left for the last time, Xu Yi became even more heartbroken. She buried her face in the quilt and sobbed uncontrollably.
Pu Tao, startled by Xu Yi's reaction, ran out in a hurry after a while.
Not long after, she returned, followed by four or five elder cultivators.
When Xu Yi was dug out from under the quilt, her face was streaked with tears, her nose red. She hadn't emerged from her grief when the four or five cultivators began to examine her all over, their actions dispersing her sorrow.
"I, I'm fine, I'm really fine." Xu Yi exclaimed in alarm, trying to stop the hands reaching towards her.
The cultivators, seeing that her emotions were somewhat stable, withdrew their hands, but their expressions remained serious.
"Pu Tao said you've forgotten even the sect leader's daoist name and the year of the sect's founding. Do you remember anything else? Do you remember which elder you were apprenticed to?"
Xu Yi swallowed and then nodded gently.
"Then tell us."
"I was apprenticed to Yuan Ming... the Sect Leader."
The cultivators exchanged glances and secretly shook their heads. It seemed the lightning tribulation had indeed caused some problems.
Then, Xu Yi was forcefully subdued by the group, and they proceeded to examine her from head to toe.