Only three seconds? He's already the Lord of All Realms, so it doesn't matter.

Looking at a puddle in the woods, Ye Xuan's face was immediately reflected on the water.

His face was so thin that there wasn't an ounce of fat on it, his brow bones were slightly high, and his cheekbones were slightly protruding, making him look seventy percent different from his original appearance.

Using the original Daoist robe underneath, he concealed his aura to the fifth level of Foundation Establishment, which was exactly Zhao Wusheng's cultivation level before his death.

That's enough.

With the Taoist robe providing cover, as long as he doesn't actively use the "Longevity Willow," no one should be able to discover his true identity.

Ye Xuan straightened up and looked towards the southeast.

At the edge of the dense forest, the mountains gradually rise, and amidst the swirling morning mist, several pavilions can be vaguely seen scattered about.

Winding up the mountain ridge until the mountainside is shrouded in even thicker clouds and mist, that is where the outer gate of the Holy Sect is located.

He slowly walked out of the dense forest and stepped onto a mountain path paved with bluestone. Even the stone steps had faint fluctuations of spiritual energy, indicating that there was a formation hidden nearby.

Having not yet witnessed the scene of the Holy Sect from his memories, Ye Xuan dared not use his senses to explore it for the time being.

Upon reaching the mountain gate, two disciples dressed in identical red and white Taoist robes stood on either side, but the wooden plaques hanging from their waists each had a glittering silver star on them.

His senses quietly spread out, and he examined the meridians within the two people's bodies, finding that their cultivation levels were both at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.

"Token".

The tall, thin disciple on the left stretched out his hand expressionlessly; the two of them looked like they hadn't woken up properly.

Ye Xuan handed over the wooden plaque from his waist. The other party took it and then took out a bronze mirror. The mirror swept across the wooden plaque, and a faint bloody light immediately appeared.

"Zhao Wu?"

The disciple on the right flipped through the roster in his hand. "Back so early?"

"Having found the earth dragon, we'll hurry back."

Ye Xuan lowered his eyes and answered, deliberately making his voice low and hoarse. Fortunately, the two of them did not notice anything amiss.

In Zhao Wu's memory, he was different from disciples like Qian San who were good at making friends in the sect. He usually stayed by himself and not many people recognized him.

"Where's the earth dragon?"

"In the storage bag."

Ye Xuan handed over Zhao Wu's bulging storage bag. A disciple took it, infused it with spiritual energy to examine it, and then raised an eyebrow, saying:

"A second-tier earth dragon?"

He turned to his disciple beside him and whispered to him, feeling somewhat unsure about the low-grade earth dragon.

"They didn't specify the grade, they just said to bring those two earth dragons back."

"That's true."

The disciple who had spoken earlier was about to hand back Ye Xuan's token and storage bag when he suddenly remembered something.

"Where did Qian San, the one who was traveling with you, go?"

"Oh, we encountered a Tier 3 earth dragon earlier. We wanted to hunt it down, but we weren't strong enough."

Even risking his life, Qian San failed.

Both disciples frowned slightly upon hearing this. They usually had a fairly good relationship with Qian San, but after only a moment's hesitation, they said:

"Well, you're in luck. Go in and hand in your report."

The tall, thin disciple tossed the wooden plaque back, caught the token, and Ye Xuan stepped over the threshold of the mountain gate without looking back.

The moment he stepped into the mountain gate, he felt the concentration of spiritual energy around him suddenly increase, a world of difference compared to the wasteland of yesterday.

He followed the path he remembered, encountering many outer disciples along the way. Most of them were in a hurry and rarely spoke to each other, creating a somewhat oppressive atmosphere.

"Hall of Stars"

Looking up at the high-hanging plaque, the Star-Picking Hall is a three-story pavilion located between the outer gate and the disciples' cave dwellings.

When Ye Xuan stepped into the hall, there were already more than ten disciples waiting in line. He silently stood at the end of the line and glanced around.

The layout and decoration of the first floor are extremely simple and rustic, with only partitions on both sides. The left wall is covered with wooden plaques, each engraved with different content; while on the right there is only a counter, where most of the disciples stop to linger.

When it was Ye Xuan's turn, the steward behind the counter was an elderly man with gray hair and beard, whose Foundation Establishment cultivation was not visible to him.

From the moment he stepped into the Star-Picking Hall, he sensed a subtle, oppressive aura emanating from the surroundings, and he didn't bother to investigate the person's cultivation level at all.

"Zhao Wu".

The old man took the storage bag and token, and nodded slightly after probing them with his divine sense.

"A second-tier earth dragon, with intact scales and unrotted flesh. According to the rules, it should be awarded thirty merit points."

However… since you and Qian San committed offenses, the rewards cancel each other out, leaving you with neither merit nor demerit.”

Seeing that Ye Xuan had no objection, he took out a thick register and turned to a page.

With a touch of his fingertip on the characters "Zhao Wu," a wisp of spiritual energy was infused into the name, and the original "seven" after the name immediately changed to "six."

"You have six days left."

The old man said calmly, "Next."

Ye Xuan put away his storage bag and token, then turned and left the Star-Picking Hall.

According to Zhao Wu's memory, the cave dwellings of the outer disciples were located on the west side of the mountain. He made his way there until a rock wall full of caves came into view.

Ye Xuan found the second room on the left side of the first floor and pushed the door open to enter.

Each registered disciple was assigned a small room about ten feet square, containing nothing but a wooden bed and a stone table. Zhao Wu's room was just like that.

He sat on the bed and immediately noticed the notebook left on the table. He casually flipped through it; the handwriting was messy.

"On March 27th, the quota for Blood Pills was reduced again. Senior Brother Wang said that something went wrong in the Short Life Realm, and the supply of essence blood could not be met."

"On the second day of the fourth month, I was running low on merit points, so I went with Qian San to work on refining blood pills."

"On the fourth day of the fourth month, I never expected that Qian San would be caught hoarding blood pills, and I would also be punished to go to the wasteland... What bad luck."

Ye Xuan closed the book. "This Zhao Wu doesn't seem like a good person either."

After a few moments of reflection, he sat cross-legged on the wooden couch. At this time, the sun was rising outside the window, casting dappled light and shadow through the paper window.

I closed my eyes and focused my mind, carefully extending my senses outward.

In this area filled with magic arrays, he had to be cautious, cautious, and even more cautious!

Ten zhang, twenty zhang, thirty zhang...

Precisely manipulating his senses, Ye Xuan bypassed one obstacle after another, various images flashing through his mind, one of which was particularly noticeable.

Outside the southern side gate of the sect, in the opposite direction from the wasteland, lies the dense forest where he had just fallen.

In the dense forest, besides those sandalwood trees that looked as if struck by lightning, there seemed to be many things wandering around there.

They are invisible to the naked eye, and Ye Xuan, relying on his senses, immediately made a bold guess.

"I'm afraid those are the souls of the registered disciples."

He remembered the steward from the Star-Picking Hall saying he had six more days...

According to Zhao Wu's memory, registered disciples of the Holy Sect need to consume merit points every day in order to continue cultivating within the sect.

Merit points are automatically deducted from the roster every day at midnight.

Zhao Wu and Qian San were exiled to the wilderness two days ago, so the counting stopped. It wasn't until Ye Xuan returned today that the counting started again.

But what if you run out of merit points?

"Outer disciples who commit offenses are exiled to the wilderness..."

If you run out of daily merit points and can't replenish them for the day, throw them into the dense forest behind the mountain to fend for themselves.

Ye Xuan is still unsure what lies hidden in the dense forest behind the mountain, but judging from the sheer number of wandering ghosts, his chances of survival are slim.

"It seems that these merit points are especially important."

As he sat blankly on the bed, pondering how to act in the Holy Sect, there was a knock on his door.

"Junior Brother Zhao, upon your return, did you first go to the Star-Picking Hall to report?"