On a towering sacred mountain thousands of miles away from the Floating Cloud Mountains, Guangling Zhenren, the general affairs elder of the Xiaoyao Sect, was resting with his eyes closed in the hall.
Soon, a gray-robed foundation-building disciple hurried into the hall, holding a red communication talisman in his hand. Upon seeing Master Guangling, he quickly spoke:
"Master, Senior Brother Tian sent a note saying he's found the Pearl Spirit Fruit Tree in the Floating Cloud Mountains. He's now leading Junior Brother Li and the others back to the sect. With the speed of his Qingling Boat, he should be able to return to Tongxuan Mountain in three or four days."
"Congratulations, Master, for making another great contribution to the sect. This time, you found a Five Elements Fruit Tree for the sect. If the head master knew about this, he would definitely reward our General Affairs Hall."
Master Guangling slowly opened his eyes and said with a smile, "We've obtained a Five Elements Fruit Tree. This spiritual object, which can enhance the sect's foundation, is naturally a blessing for the sect. Before the monsters in the northern border become rampant, being able to train one or two more Foundation Establishment cultivators will also provide a little more support for the sect."
Master Guangling, dressed in black, looked young, no more than 20 or 30 years old. He narrowed his sharp eyes, nodded with a smile at the person reporting in front of him, and then gave an order calmly.
"Tianyu, send a disciple to Qinghefang to inform Lu Yuanfeng that the Liu family in Jingyuan Mountain, Qinghe County, no longer needs to exist. All cultivators are to be sent to Huoyan Mountain to mine the black iron ore veins."
"Master, the Liu family's cultivators have all been sent to Huoyan Mountain. What should be done with the remaining mortals? Should they be assigned to Qinghefang?"
Guangling Zhenren looked at the thoughtful disciple in front of him and smiled. He said, "Let Lu Yuanfeng handle it himself. If he is willing to take it over, it can be assigned to Qinghefang. If he is not willing, let the Huang family and the nearby families take it over. It is better not to involve the mistakes of the cultivators on the mortals below."
Lin Tianyu nodded and was about to leave when he suddenly thought of something and asked, "Master, we also know that it was the Liu family who organized the people to go to the Floating Cloud Mountains to hunt monsters. We are not sure that the Liu family knows about the spiritual fruit tree. Should we invite the Liu family to ask again to clarify, so as not to wrongly accuse them?"
"No need. The one from the Liu family who established his foundation a hundred years ago must have obtained the Water Spirit Fruit from here. A small Qi Refining family now dares to hide their secrets under the nose of the sect. This time, we must spread the news to deter those dishonest families and let them know the consequences of being too clever."
"But Master, why did you treat the Qi Refining disciple who discovered the Spiritual Fruit Tree so courteously? He behaved badly and was willing to betray the clan members for his own benefit."
Immortal Guangling narrowed his eyes and stood up. He walked to the temple gate and continued, "I knew you didn't understand. Yes, when I asked the divine talisman that day, this person was indeed a selfish person. However, his first thought was to donate this spiritual fruit tree to the sect, even if it meant selling out the interests of his own family. The sect must reward people like this and let the cultivators of the families below know that the sect is also their protector."
"I hold the position of Head of the General Affairs Hall, managing the hundreds of vassal families under the sect. Nowadays, more and more families under me have forgotten the sect's protection. They only care about their own family's interests and completely disregard the sect. There are even a few who are traitors. If this continues for a long time, they will become increasingly alienated from the sect. When the monsters in the northern border cause unrest, how can the sect still rely on them?"
After listening to this, Lin Tianyu nodded woodenly. Although he was a little confused about his master's arrangement, he never dared to object.
Du Yucheng, who was standing on Tian Qinghu's Qingling Boat at this time, didn't know that when he went to Xiaoyao Sect to report the news about the Shuiling Fruit Tree, the Xiaoyao Sect cultivators had already investigated the matter thoroughly using the Questioning God Talisman.
The Questioning God Talisman is a second-level spiritual talisman. It can be used by ordinary Qi-refining cultivators or even foundation-building cultivators to fix the cultivator's mind for a short period of time, preventing the cultivator from lying and allowing them to easily ask the questions they want to know. However, it is of no use to cultivators above the foundation-building stage.
Although this talisman is a second-level talisman and is very valuable, costing hundreds of spirit stones, in order to confirm the news about the water spirit fruit tree, Master Guangling used it on Du Yucheng without hesitation. He even used the soul-calling technique on him before using the Questioning God Talisman. Du Yucheng still doesn't know that the Xiaoyao Sect actually wasted the precious Questioning God Talisman on him.
Guangling Zhenren's cultivation level is at the fourth level of the Golden Core Realm, which is only considered average among the nine Golden Core cultivators in the Xiaoyao Sect.
Don't be fooled by his appearance of being only in his twenties or thirties. It's only because he took anti-aging elixirs in his early years. In fact, he has been practicing Taoism for more than three hundred years, which is not young among Jindan cultivators.
A cultivator in the Jindan stage has a lifespan of 500 years. If he takes some third-level life-extending spiritual objects, he can live another 100 years. If there are no other reasons affecting his lifespan, he can generally live to 600 years old.
Zhenren Guangling formed the Golden Core relatively late. He formed the Golden Core three times in succession and finally succeeded in forming the Golden Core when he was almost two hundred years old. It has been almost two hundred years since he formed the Golden Core, but he is only at the fourth level of the Golden Core. In the Xiaoyao Sect, he is considered a Golden Core cultivator whose potential has been exhausted. That is why the Sect Master appointed him to the position of Elder of the General Affairs Hall, which has a lot of miscellaneous tasks.
However, Master Guangling himself was not so desperate about his own path. He often thought about making contributions to the sect, gaining more merits, and wanting to speed up his own cultivation progress.
Over the years, relying on the convenience of his position as the Lord of General Affairs, he has gained a lot of benefits and obtained a lot of cultivation resources. However, his cultivation speed is really slow. It is hard to say whether he can cultivate to the late Golden Core stage before his lifespan is exhausted, let alone reach the Nascent Soul stage.
This time, for the sake of the Pearl Water Spirit Fruit Tree, Master Guangling has done his best. If it weren't for the recent busy affairs of the sect, he would have wanted to lead the team to the Floating Cloud Mountains in person.
In Xiaoyao Sect, apart from the Grand Elder Li Mufeng who had advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage three hundred years ago, among the remaining nine Jindan cultivators, the only ones who have the greatest hope of reaching the Nascent Soul Stage are Sect Leader Yao Qianshu and Bai Yuxian.
As the head of Xiaoyao Sect, Yao Qianshu is considered to be a person who is second to none except the supreme elder Li Mufeng. He has cultivated to the ninth level of Golden Core at an early age and has also tried to reach the Nascent Soul stage once. Now he still has more than a hundred years to live, and there is about a 20 to 30 percent chance that he can form a Nascent Soul.
Another female Jindan cultivator, Bai Yuxian, although she is a woman, is a person with extraordinary talent. She is the only cultivator with natural spiritual roots in the Wei State in hundreds of years. She has cultivated to the seventh level of Jindan at only over two hundred years old. Her hope of forming a Nascent Soul in the future is even higher than that of the headmaster Yao Qianshu.
Most of the resources in the Xiaoyao Sect naturally tend to these two people. Although the Jindan cultivators like Guangling Zhenren in the sect are somewhat dissatisfied with this, there is nothing they can do about it. After all, whether it is a family of immortal cultivators or a large sect like the Xiaoyao Sect, they have to do this in order to successfully cultivate Yuanying cultivators to inherit the sect's inheritance.
If a Nascent Soul sect is in a period of transition, if the previous generation of Nascent Soul cultivators pass away, and there are suddenly no Nascent Soul cultivators left in the sect, it will definitely attract the attention of surrounding forces, and it will be difficult to avoid the sect's fate of ruin.
However, Xiaoyao Sect is still relatively good. The Yuanying Grand Elder Li Mufeng of this generation is only over 700 years old. The average Yuanying cultivator has a lifespan of at least 1,200 years. In addition, they can take some high-level life-extending spiritual objects and live another two to three hundred years. Normally, they can last to about 1,500 years old. As long as their luck is not too bad, Xiaoyao Sect should have enough time to cultivate new Yuanying cultivators.
