The goofy junior sister is the most eccentric person in the entire cultivation world.

The demonic lightning finally dissipated, and a glint of light flashed in Wu Xuemei's eyes. Her spiritual energy transformed into countless points of light, merging into her dantian.

"It's done! Xue Mei has really broken through to the late Nascent Soul stage!"

An elder shouted excitedly, his voice trembling.

"Excellent! This is wonderful! Apart from Elder Ouyang Feihong, our Lingxiao Pavilion has not had such a young late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator in a thousand years."

Sixteen years old! Such talent—in the entire Tianyuan Continent over hundreds of thousands of years, you'd be hard-pressed to find even three like him!

"With Xue Mei in charge of the sect competition in five days, crushing all the sects will be a piece of cake. She probably won't even need to use one-tenth of her strength to trample the geniuses of the top ten sects such as Misty Peak and Profound Heaven Sect under her feet."

Praises rose and fell, and the elders were beaming with excitement.

The stronger Wu Xuemei becomes, the more secure Lingxiao Pavilion's supreme status will be.

Wu Xuemei lowered her eyes slightly, her face showing shyness, and her voice was gentle: "Elders, you flatter me. Xuemei is where she is today entirely thanks to the cultivation of my master and all the elders."

"Haha, you don't need to be modest, kid! My Lingxiao Pavilion has many disciples, but none of them can compare to you. Even Shi Potian is far inferior to you."

An elder laughed heartily, growing increasingly fond of her delicate and shy appearance.

As soon as he finished speaking, a hesitant voice suddenly rang out from the crowd: "Where is Shi Potian? He should have advanced to the Nascent Soul stage long ago, so why is there no sign of him? Even when Xue Mei broke through to the late Nascent Soul stage, he was nowhere to be seen."

"Yes, where did Shi Potian go?"

The group looked at each other, and finally all turned to look at their sect leader, Ling Xiaozhi.

Ling Xiaozi frowned slightly, a thought flashing through his mind. He had given Shi Potian a Nine-Turn Nascent Soul Breaking Pill long ago. Logically, the other party should have already broken through, so why was there still no news of him?

"Someone! Go immediately to Shi Potian's cultivation cave to check on the situation!"

The two accompanying deacons blurred into two streaks of light and sped toward Breaking Sky Peak.

As everyone waited at the summit, the atmosphere grew increasingly somber.

Given Shi Potian's talent and the sect leader's dedicated nurturing, his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage before the competition should have been a certainty. The fact that he has made no progress now must be suspicious.

“Master, Senior Brother Potian is exceptionally talented. With five days left in the competition, he will surely break through to the Nascent Soul realm.”

Wu Xuemei gently comforted Ling Xiaozi, but inwardly she sneered. Shi Potian had been dead for more than a month, and even his ashes had been devoured by her. How could he possibly break through?

Before half an incense stick's time had passed, the two deacons returned, panting, their faces pale and their expressions panicked: "Sect Leader! Something's wrong! Junior Brother Potian's cave is empty, the spiritual energy fluctuations are weak, it seems that no one has lived there for a long time!"

"What? Empty?"

Ling Xiaozi suddenly stood up straight.

"Shi Potian has always been calm and composed. He would never act rashly on the eve of the sect competition. Could it be that he has some urgent business to attend to?"

The elders were filled with astonishment.

A strong sense of unease welled up in Ling Xiaozhi's heart. He said in a deep voice, "Send more people to search everywhere! Seal off all entrances and exits of Lingxiao Pavilion. We must find Shi Potian's whereabouts!"

In an instant, dozens of disciples and elders scattered, searching the cultivation caves on each peak, the entrances to secret realms inside and outside the sect, and even the forbidden area in the back mountain.

However, an hour later, all the searchers returned one after another, bringing the same news: no trace of Shi Potian was found, and no one had seen him recently.

At the summit, everyone's expressions grew increasingly grim.

Shi Potian is the second most outstanding genius of the younger generation of Lingxiao Pavilion after Wu Xuemei. He reached the peak of the Golden Core stage at the age of twenty. As the sect leader's personal disciple and a candidate for future sect leader, he has now mysteriously disappeared!

"Senior Brother Potian has always been dedicated to cultivation and has never made enemies with anyone. How could he suddenly disappear?"

"He's the leader of our sect's competition!" a disciple whispered among himself.

Just then, another deacon rushed in, his face pale: "Sect Leader! Something terrible has happened! I just went to inform the participating disciples to prepare for the sect competition, but I found that Junior Brother Liu, Junior Sister Chen, Junior Brother Zhao, and the others have all disappeared, and their cave dwellings are empty!"

"what?"

Everyone was stunned into silence.

"Explain yourself! Who is missing? Was a thorough search conducted?"

An elder reached out and grabbed the deacon, pulling him in front of him.

"Ninth Elder, please show mercy!"

We have searched carefully, and apart from Junior Brother Shi Potian, the other six junior brothers and sisters who participated have all disappeared. Their cave dwellings are the same as Junior Brother Shi's, with no signs of fighting..."

The deacon grimaced in pain, but dared not struggle.

These words struck like a thunderbolt, causing an uproar at the summit.

The people who had initially harbored a sliver of doubt were now filled with terror.

"Seven geniuses disappeared at the same time?"

"Could it be that an enemy infiltrated the sect and kidnapped them?"

"But the mountain-protecting formation is intact, so how could someone have quietly abducted so many people? Besides, in the entire Tianyuan Continent's cultivation world, who would dare to cause trouble at Lingxiao Pavilion?"

"Sect Leader, this matter is suspicious!"

Shi Potian and the others are all geniuses carefully nurtured by their sects, crucial to their future foundation. Their collective disappearance must indicate a serious problem!

The elders all cried out in unison.

Ling Xiaozi's face was already so gloomy it could drip water.

Just then, another elder rushed over, looking even more panicked than the others: "Sect Leader! Something terrible has happened! I just sent people to the first secret realm to check on the talented disciples under the age of one hundred who are cultivating in seclusion, and the result... the original one hundred and thirty-odd people, now only about twenty remain! The rest have all disappeared!"

"what?!"

This time, even Ling Xiaozi couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, his body swayed, and he almost fell over.

The genius disciples under the age of one hundred are the future foundation of Lingxiao Pavilion. The collective disappearance of more than one hundred people means that the sect is about to face a crisis of generational gap!

"How could this be? The first level of the secret realm is guarded by elders and protected by array formations. How could more than a hundred people suddenly disappear?"

"Where are the elders stationed here? What are they doing?!"

The hot-tempered Ninth Elder roared, shaking the mountain peak.

"Elder Wang and Elder Liu, who were stationed there, have also disappeared!"

The elder who delivered the message said with a sob in his voice, "The formation in the secret realm is intact, without any signs of being breached. Those disciples and elders seem to have vanished into thin air!"

At the summit, there was a deathly silence, broken only by the heavy breathing and frantic pounding of everyone's hearts.

Panic spread like a plague, and disbelief and deep fear were written on everyone's face.

"The chain has broken down, our Lingxiao Pavilion is about to break down..."

The elder muttered to himself, his eyes filled with despair.

"More than a hundred geniuses! That was the foundation we had cultivated over a hundred years, and it's all gone just like that..."

The Second Elder's face turned ashen.

"Who did this?"

"How dare they kidnap so many disciples and elders from Lingxiao Pavilion! Once discovered, their entire family will be exterminated!"

The Third Elder gritted his teeth, but his voice trembled uncontrollably.

"Could it be the work of Misty Peak, Heavenly Mystery Talisman Sect, or Profound Heaven Sect?"

"With the sect competition approaching, they deliberately kidnapped our geniuses to prevent us from participating, hoping to seize the top spot in the sect?"

Someone speculated.