After going back, Xi Yangyun was just about ready to bid farewell to them.
Once Xi Shuangyun and Ling Ziwei formally apprenticed themselves to masters, there hadn’t been any movements for several days in a row. Naturally, Xi Yangyun and Ling Ziqi were quite worried, but they also believed in Gongyi Tianheng. As a result, under Tianheng’s placations, they remained calm and waited patiently.
During this time, Ling Ziwei’s news was first to be conveyed.
She sent a personally-written letter to inform Ling Ziqi that she had entered the Fallen Soul Palace Hall. She also managed to get a placement that would allow her brother to learn at the Sect Offering Academy.
From this, it could be seen that Ling Ziwei had a clear understanding of things.
Although she already had a deeply-rooted love for Tianyang, she was also basking in the light of Tianheng’s luck. However, after joining Ten Ultimates Sect, she also had some capability. It was Ling Ziwei herself who made arrangements for her elder brother. From this point on, she didn’t think that she ought to rely on Tianheng’s help.
At the same time, even though Ling Ziwei hadn’t given things that were outstandingly valuable, she also sent over several Crying Sound Pendants, which were specialties of the Fallen Soul Palace Hall. This item could move the hearts and souls of others. It was an imitation of the palace hall’s great treasure, the Fallen Soul Bell. The effects were somewhat weak, and it could only be used three times, but as far as martial artists below the Ascendent Realm were concerned, it truly was a good offensive spirit weapon.
Ling Ziwei’s display naturally left Tianheng satisfied.
It was one thing to help each other, but it was another matter whether the other party knew how to stand on their own feet. In addition, remembering to return favors was something else altogether. Even if it was a member of their own clan, there was no reason to freely accept benefits and not pay for them.
However, Tianheng didn’t take Ling Ziwei’s things for himself. Instead, he passed them on to his family’s biological younger brother, Tianyang. This would also motivate him to work even harder.
Afterwards, Ling Ziqi entered the Sect Offering Academy, and parted ways with them.
As for Xi Yangyun, he didn’t obtain any information from Xi Shuangyun, so he remained on the mountain peak.
Xi Shuangyun’s martial path realm was even worse than that of Ling Ziwei, and her physical body and other various aspects needed substantial growth. As a result, it took more than half a month before only a word or two was divulged. As a matter of fact, it was only after waiting for another period of time that Xi Yangyun finally found out that his younger sister had settled down. Thus, he also bade farewell to Tianheng.
Tianheng sent Xi Yangyun off on his journey: “Senior Sect Brother Xi, have you already thought about where you’ll be going?”
Xi Yangyun answered: “As I said before, I haven’t seen Lingxiu for many years, so I’ll go pay him a visit.”
Although he accompanied his younger sister for some time, his way of thinking hadn’t changed. He was still concerned about his junior brother.
Tianheng nodded his head. He unfolded his palm, and a wooden token appeared in his hand: “This item was a gift from Senior Sect Brother Xu. He said that it can be used as proof to meet with him directly. Right now, I have things to do, so it would be hard to send senior brother there. Thus, I’ll give this to senior brother, and hope that senior brother’s journey is smooth and unhindered.”
It was only natural that Xi Yangyun was grateful. He accepted it, and said: “Many thanks, Junior Sect Brother Gongyi.”
At this time, Tianheng had already accompanied Xi Yangyun out of Ten Ultimates Sect. He plainly said: “Senior Sect Brother Xi, there’s no need to be polite.”
After that, Xi Yangyun left Ten Ultimates Sect just like this.
As for how he would get to Great Zhou, how he would meet Xu Lingxiu, and what would happen after they saw each other, that was a story for another time.
Once Tianheng went back, his and Gu Zuo’s lives returned to normal. Both of them focused on cultivation, and improved in large strides. Among these things, Tianheng was in the middle of consolidating the cultivation methods of his six paths. He carefully experienced and comprehended the powers contained within them. Meanwhile, Gu Zuo was continuously refining medicine — He was already a peak Immortal Realm, but there was still quite some distance to the Atomic Realm.
This was how it was for pharmacists. When handling their spiritual path realms and internal qi realms, it was like painting while holding two brushes. In general, their breakthroughs were much slower than that of martial artists. If Gu Zuo’s aptitudes weren’t good enough, the speed of his breakthroughs would’ve been even slower. It also would’ve been harder to meet Tianheng’s requirements.
One day, the Blood Transformation Palace Master issued a summons. The ones he called for were Gongyi Tianheng and Gu Zuo.
The two didn’t dare to be neglectful. Of course, they quickly proceeded to the Blood Transformation Palace Hall, and waited for the palace master’s orders.
The Blood Transformation Palace Master remarked: “Apprentice, do you remember when this teacher said that, once you become an Atomic Realm, the people you’ll meet in the future will be different?”
Tianheng answered: “This disciple remembers.”
The palace master faintly nodded his head: “There’s no harm in this teacher telling you directly. Although the Central Continent is extremely large and has lots of resources, there are even more martial artists. If these resources are partitioned, there will inevitably be a struggle over them. However, resources of different ranks can’t all be fought over by waging wars. Members of my generation also can’t always step forward to fight over them… Thus, when prodigies reach the Atomic Realm and above, they have the duty to represent their sects and compete for resources.”
Tianheng listened with respectful attention.
In Gu Zuo’s heart, he had a guess: Could it be that big brother’s mission is here?
Sure enough, the Blood Transformation Palace Master continued to talk: “Now that this apprentice’s identity and strength are in place, you should be able to act on behalf of the sect. A few days ago, our Ten Ultimates Sect and several other sects came across an opportunity. However many benefits that can be obtained from this chance will depend on the young powerhouses of each sect. Apprentice, because the appropriate realm for this chance is the Atomic Realm, you will personally take action, and compete over this opportunity for the sect!”
Tianheng’s expression didn’t change: “What kind of opportunity is this? How far should this apprentice go?”
The Blood Transformation Palace Master said: “This time’s chance is a qi vein mine. There are many qi veins in the mine. When you leave for this trip, you have to seize control of as many qi veins as possible for our Ten Ultimates Sect. Among the qi veins you acquire, sixty percent will belong to the sect. Of the remaining forty percent, thirty percent will belong to the Blood Transformation Palace Hall, and ten percent will be yours. Apprentice, you must do your best to get more!”
— A qi vein mine?
This was a new term.
Gu Zuo thought about it. He recalled that, back when they first came to the Qingyun Mountain Range, there had been a profound qi vein in that place. So long as the points of agitation along the qi vein were excavated, profound qi eyes could form. If martial artists sat near a profound qi eye, they could absorb the profound qi and cultivate. Compared to drawing in ambient profound qi, this was much faster.
As mentioned previously, the composition of ambient qi was quite complex, but in the end, most of it was still true qi. The higher the grade one went, the thinner the profound qi became. As far as martial artists were concerned, the density of the Central Continent’s ambient qi far surpassed that of the Peripheral Continents. As a result, martial artists below the Immortal Realm only needed to absorb ambient qi to cultivate sufficiently. On the contrary, if those at the Immortal Realm and above wanted to accumulate faster, it was better to have profound qi eyes.
After Gu Zuo and his big brother, Gongyi Tianheng, came to Ten Ultimates Sect, they actually didn’t use profound qi eyes very much.
After all, profound qi eyes were produced on top of profound qi veins, and profound qi veins were very difficult to distribute. They all basically assembled in one location. As a result, if Tianheng wanted to utilize a profound qi eye, he could only go to that place — Even though he had the qualifications, he attached the most importance on his self-created cultivation methods. As for accumulating profound qi, he had the help of Gu Zuo’s medicinal pills. Thus, he almost never went.
Gu Zuo inwardly thought: If these qi veins are really profound qi veins, and the quantity that big brother seizes is enough, then maybe a completely intact qi vein can be allocated to us. Moving it onto the manor grounds will be a huge advantage! It can also become one of our foundations!
One ought to know that the huge Qingyun Sect only had a single profound qi vein…
Tianheng naturally recalled these things, too. He somewhat pondered, and asked: “Master, what are the ranks of the qi veins contained within this qi vein mine?”
The Blood Transformation Palace Master was pleased that he asked about this important point, and plainly said: “The qi veins are mainly divided into two types, which are profound qi veins and vital qi veins. Since we’re letting Atomic Realm prodigies compete, the qi veins you’ll come across in this place will be the profound qi veins.”
Following this, the palace master talked at length.
From his words, Gu Zuo and Tianheng gained a deeper understanding of these qi veins.
First of all, the so-called qi vein mine was an undeveloped land with many qi veins. With the qi veins treated as the “ore” of the mine, the untapped reserves were rich and plentiful.
Qi veins were also accompanied by crystal veins, which attached closely to the qi veins. These were extractable products, which formed due to the gathering of ambient qi. In the vicinity of long-established profound qi veins, large quantities of profound crystals were produced. If the profound qi vein was young and immature, then the number of profound crystals formed was relatively sparse.
Finally, qi veins of the same classification were also divided by grades. Of course, this grading wasn’t based on quality. Rather, it was based on content — After all, the things contained inside were profound qi.
Under normal circumstances, the division of qi veins used three hundred meters as a unit of measurement. For every additional three hundred meters, the content of the profound qi more than doubled.
On the Peripheral Continents, Qingyun Sect was able to tower above the others for so many years without toppling precisely because its profound qi vein reached nine kilometers. After a long time had passed, it also generated many branching veins. As a result, based on the concepts of Qingyun Sect, that place possessed many profound qi veins — In actuality, there was still only one vein. None of those branching veins reached three hundred meters, so they couldn’t be called qi veins at all. Of course, Qingyun Sect wouldn’t drain the pond to get the fish. By protecting them for many years on end, the branching veins would grow longer. Ultimately, however, it wasn’t known if all of the branching veins would become profound qi veins that were three hundred meters long.
Returning to the main topic, the qi vein mine being fought over this time contained many profound qi veins. Among which, those that were three kilometers or longer were better, but it wasn’t known if any had reached thirty kilometers… Even if it was the Central Continent, a thirty-kilometer-long qi vein was a rare sight.
Once Tianheng finished listening to everything, he answered resolutely: “Master, rest assured. This disciple will certainly spare no effort on this trip. I shall seize control of many qi veins for the sect!”
The Blood Transformation Palace Master revealed a satisfied smile: “Apprentice, if you’re successful on this trip, the contributions to the sect will be turned into contribution points. Under certain conditions, some treasures that the sect won’t easily show to others can be acquired with contribution points.”
His words contained the greatest self-confidence: “With this teacher around, no matter how many contributions you put forward, regardless of how many contribution points you have, absolutely no one will dare to cheat or defraud you!”
This was actually something that Tianheng was confident in…
He smiled, and said: “This disciple understands. Many thanks, master.”
Later on, the palace master continued: “For this trip, you should bring Ah Zuo along to gain first-hand knowledge. In places where qi vein mines are located, the ambient qi is extremely dense. This is a driving force for the formation of heavenly materials and earthly treasures. Many of them can only be removed by pharmacists, so both of you can’t miss this chance.”
Gu Zuo heard this, and hurriedly said: “Many thanks for the guidance, palace master!”
The Blood Transformation Palace Master briefly nodded: “Although the two of you have experienced some big and small things in the past, you have only just stepped foot upon the road of great struggles. This teacher believes that you two will definitely uphold the sect’s prestige. Don’t disgrace the brilliant glory of our Ten Ultimates Sect!”
Listening to this, Gu Zuo also felt a little overwhelmed by emotions.
Meanwhile, Tianheng showed a smiling expression. It was just that a flash of darkened light streaked across his eyes.
“This disciple certainly won’t disappoint master. Nor will he disappoint the sect.”
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