On the surface the tone of the Palace Master’s voice was absolutely normal, as if nothing happened, but within his heart, the Palace Master was cursing Chu Heng with a torrent of abuses.
Du Qian had reported Chu Heng’s attitude towards Yang Chen some time ago already, but in the Palace Master’s eyes, an inner disciple of the mid foundation stage was far more valuable than someone who had just recently become an outer disciple and joined the Pure Yang Palace only two years ago. If Yang Chen was not able to persevere through this minor issue, that would only illustrate the fact that Yang Chen was a lump of rotten wood, which could not be carved.
But currently, without any guidance from anyone, just by relying on the knowledge he gained from the Hidden Pavilion, Yang Chen had already become a second grade pill concocting expert. And as for his cultivation, not only had he reached the third qi layer within the brief period of three years, but he had also already killed the peak qi layer cultivator Sun Hai Jing, facing him head-on. In addition to that it had been reported that several sixth and seventh qi layers cultivators had fallen under Yang Chen’s hand.
If this kind of result had been due to Chu Heng’s meticulous guidance, then the Palace Master would have naturally been delighted. But throughout these past three years, Chu Heng hadn’t even said one word to guide him and had instead created innumerable obstacles for Yang Chen. Whether Yang Chen had learned to read or had gained enlightenment, it had all been due to his own efforts. Such a talented disciple, if he was at any other sect, he would certainly be guided and cultivated properly, but within the Pure Yang Palace he had received this kind of treatment. How could the Palace Master, who was worried for the growth of the Pure Yang Palace every day, endure this?
In his previous life, Yang Chen did not have a lot of contact with the Palace Master, so he did not know much about his character. As for the Palace Master’s instructions, he only agreed to them because he could sense some of the anger the Palace Master held for his treatment.
But Xu Cheng Xin and Zhu Chen Tao who were familiar with the nature of the Palace Master, had sensed that deep rooted anger within the Palace Master’s voice. Both of them were also angry, the outer disciple’s Merit Transferring Disciple would definitely have to take the consequences this time. Perhaps, this time even his Uncle Master, Liang Shao Ming, would not be able to help him.
But these two didn’t feel any sympathy for Chu Heng, they had a favourable impression of Yang Chen, so naturally they would not have a good attitude towards Chu Heng. Previously they were not aware that while cultivating, Yang Chen also had to face these kinds of circumstances. If they had known about this earlier, then Chu Heng would have already received what was coming for him, and would not have gotten the chance to create such a situation at the sect’s martial competition.
If Chu Heng said he didn’t have his fingers in the meteoric rise of Sun Hai Jing’s strength within those three months, who would believe it? There is also the matter of Yang Chen being attacked by assassins which also had Chu Heng’s secret support, otherwise how could Sun Hai Jing, a fourth qi layer outer disciple, get the money to hire seventh and eighth qi layer experts?
These were naturally some important affairs which were investigated later, but the earlier words of the Palace Master allowed Yang Chen to be reassured and look to Pure Yang Palace’s strength to support him, so that he could cultivate at ease.
Only Zhu Chen Tao thought that this was somewhat unfortunate, Yang Chen was a second grade pill concocting master, if he concentrated on the dao of pill concocting, he would certainly become a great pill concocting expert. Unfortunately The Palace Master had already given Yang Chen permission to go to the Immortal Falling Well, otherwise Zhu Chen Tao would have confined Yang Chen and forced him to practice the dao of pill concocting.
The person who was most happy here, apart from these several high class experts, was precisely Du Qian. The Palace Master’s words towards Yang Chen implied that he would do his utmost to support Yang Chen, perhaps this could not have happened without Du Qian’s help, he estimated that the reward for this service would be of great benefit to him. To be able to help with the problems of Yang Chen, whom he appreciated, and also receiving great benefits. Du Qian greatly regretted that these kinds of misdeeds did not happen every day.
Following this, Yang Chen immediately started gathering many different herbs for the yang qi pills, almost sweeping the market of the town nearby clean. After Zhu Chen Tao returned, he also gave a good amount of herbs and money to Yang Chen. Yang Chen’s qiankun pouch was completely packed with the materials to make yang qi pills, but he still he didn’t stop buying them. Fortunately he had the Achievement Ring, which was a magic tool with an infinite amount of space, so he could collect even more raw materials.
Chu Heng had been removed from the position of Merit Transferring Disciple and had simultaneously been arranged by the Hall Master of the Luminous Moon Hall to go to another famous, fearful region, the Desolate Valley, to temper himself. The Luminous Moon Hall’s inheritance was water attributed, but the Desolate Valley was a barren land where water was very rare, this kind of arrangement really exceeded the idea of a punishment, naturally this was also set under the Palace Master’s watch.
For the time being, Yang Chen did not pay much attention to Chu Heng, but this didn’t mean that he would let Chu Heng get away with everything he had done. In any case, immortal cultivation was a long road, Yang Chen would have plenty of time later to slowly take his revenge. As for the present, his top priority was to immediately go to the Immortal Falling Well.
The reason why Yang Chen wanted to hurry to the Immortal Falling Well was due to a secret of the Immortal Falling Well. In his previous life, Yang Chen had learned this secret only after ascending to the world of immortals, from someone of the Heavenly Court. The Immortal Falling Well, apart from having a large amount of high level underground spirit beasts due to its unique topography, it also had a fire source which would help Yang Chen’s pill concocting cultivation, the geocentric flame.
The geocentric flame did not have formidable offensive power, but, at the moment it was most suitable for Yang Chen at this stage. As long as he was able to obtain this fire source, Yang Chen’s fire attributed cultivation would advance one more layer and not only would his pill concoction become more proper, even for other tasks, like refining herbs, it would have great benefits. At the same time, the geocentric flame was able to enhance the grade of his Profound Spirit Furnace. One has to know that the best way for the Profound Spirit Furnace to increase in grade, was by swallowing different fire sources.
Initially Yang Chen would have only come here once he had properly attained the foundation stage, but the Palace Master had unexpectedly given him an opportunity to skip this process, during the Martial Arts Competition, so naturally Yang Chen immediately went to obtain the qualifications to enter the Immortal Falling Well, to gain the considerable benefits it had to offer, such as obtaining a large amount of spiritual essence.
Before leaving, Yang Chen had to make arrangements for his servants and guide each one of them, according to their character. He guided his third and fourth qi layer servants under the pretense of having gained the knowledge from the Hidden Pavilion, so others couldn’t say a thing.
His servants had also resolved to not fall short, at the moment, Ho Lin’s fire controlling skill had already increased by a large amount, her cultivation had also reached the peak of the third qi layer, just one step away from making a breakthrough. Gu Qin had also followed Shen Da’s footsteps and had entered the fourth qi layer. The slowest of them was Ting Yuan, but although she was only at the third qi layer, she was still able to refine low level talisman tools.
At the moment, these four servants had far greater ambitions when compared to the time when they were at the Ye Xiu Manor. Even they had noticed that the sudden increase in Yang Chen’s status, would entail large benefits for them, such as an increased amount of time they had for cultivation, when they previously had to do chores for the sect.
After making the proper arrangements, Yang Chen departed from the Nine Earth Manor. But before going to the Immortal Falling Well, he first had to visit the Ye Xiu Manor, as he had made a promise to Manager Wang Yuan, that he would get him one Profound Yang Fruit.
“Congratulations, Younger Disciple Yang!”
Wang Yuan was the Manager of the Ye Xiu Manor so he could not leave easily on a normal day. Every day he had been hearing more and more news about Yang Chen, so seeing Yang Chen today, he immediately cupped both hands to congratulate him.
Yang Chen smiled in response to Wang Yuan’s greetings and at the same time also cupped his hands towards Wang Yuan, saying:
“Congratulations, Senior Disciple Wang, it seems that your strength has increased yet again!”
Wang Yuan had once again increased his strength when compared to the last time he had seen Yang Chen. Because he had the guarantee of receiving a Profound Yang Fruit from Yang Chen, he had gained some self confidence, initially he was just an eighth qi layer cultivator, but at the moment, as if he had gained the highest level of enlightenment, he had already broken through to the ninth qi layer and then immediately to the peak of the qi realm, only one step away from the foundation stage.
“It was my good fortune that I was able to get Younger Disciple’s support!”
Wang Yuan was really grateful to Yang Chen. Originally he was the same as Shangguan Feng, hopeless for reaching the foundation stage, that’s why he was picked as the Manager of the Ye Xiu Manor. But Yang Chen’s promise to give him a thousand year old Profound Yang Fruit had ignited his desire to reach foundation stage again. Propelled by this force, within the brief period of a few years, his cultivation, which had stopped at the bottleneck, had suddenly advanced by leaps and bound. After breaking through from his original boundary, he had rushed to the closest he could be to the foundation stage.
After thinking about this carefully, Wang Yuan felt that, even if Yang Chen did not give him a thousand year old Profound Yang Fruit, he was still confident in reaching the foundation stage within ten years.
However, when he looked at the bright red fruit in Yang Chen’s hands, although Wang Yuan was already at the peak qi realm and his mind had been tempered properly, yet he could not stop his heart from beating frantically within his chest.
That fruit’s colour, shape and size, all were exactly the same as the thousand year Profound Yang Fruit which he had seen Yang Chen eating last time, but not only did everything look the same, it was actually a real Profound Yang Fruit. Yang Chen had not broken his promise and had really found a Profound Yang Fruit for him.
“Senior Disciple, this is the thing I promised to give to you.”
Yang Chen opened his hand sincerely and offered the thousand year Profound Yang Fruit to Wang Yuan and said with a smile on his face:
“This time, because of the Floating Mountain Assembly, I did not have much time to visit Senior, nor did I have many opportunity to delay along the way. I hope that Senior forgives me!”
Wang Yuan’s hands trembled while receiving the thousand year old Pure Yang Fruit. After receiving the Pure Yang Fruit he stayed rooted to the ground, with a shaken mind, not knowing what to do next. Only after Yang Chen reminded him did he take out a jade box to store the fruit properly and then he repeatedly expressed his thanks to Yang Chen.
Never before had the foundation stage been so close to him, just one step away. His tremendous fortune still made him shiver slightly. Originally he was selected as the Manager of Ye Xiu Manor because he was considered as a clever and eloquent person, but at this moment he kept on talking stupidly, trying to express his gratefulness for Yang Chen. Within those stammering words, the word ‘thanks’ was mixed in randomly, really proving that Wang Yuan had lost his self control.
Only after regaining his calmness with great difficulty in front of Yang Chen, did Wang Yuan start to think about his future path. After receiving the Profound Yang Fruit, advancing to the foundation stage was not much of an issue. It would not be a long time before he would be able to become an official inner disciple.
However, even among the inner disciples, there were quite a few factions. Basically, there were many Palace Halls and Main Halls, which had specific purposes pertaining to different aspects among each of them. Logically, Wang Yuan would be considered under the power of the Palace Hall or Main Hall which he would enter. But at the moment, looking at this extremely young and peak level genius, standing in front of him, Wang Yuan suddenly thought that perhaps following Yang Chen within the Pure Yang Palace would not be a bad path.
Not to mention the fact that Yang Chen had already proven himself by ascending to the peak of the Heavenly Stairs, just by seeing the great value which Medicine Hall’s Hall Master attached to him, he had already gotten some clues. For the past two years, the Ye Xiu Manor had received a new type of pill, known as ‘xun qi pill’, for the preparatory disciples, which allowed them to sense qi quite easily and start on the path of cultivation. Just this one pill had increased the number of outer disciples by sixteen in the past two years, which was at least twice as many as usual.
Whose contribution was this pill? Although this information was very tightly sealed, the Manager of the Ye Xiu Manor had still gotten many clues. All of this had happened only after Yang Chen entered the Nine Earth Manor, added to that, his importance to the Medicine Hall’s Hall Master, if Wang Yuan could still not guess the rest, then he would be a real fool.
A person who had shown talent for either cultivation or concocting pills, regardless of what kind of person he was, everyone would put in great effort to curry favor with them, let alone Yang Chen, who was a natural genius in both of them.
At the time when he made the prompt decision to accept the position of Manager at the Ye Xiu Manor, then when he saw Yang Chen holding the Profound Yang Fruit, he had decided to come to Yang Chen’s side, from this it could be seen that Wang Yuan had a resolute and firm character. After absentmindedly holding the Profound Yang Fruit for a moment, he immediately decided which path he had to choose.
“Younger Disciple Yang, whatever sort of troubles you have later on, do not hesitate to inform me. As for all of the matters which this Senior Disciple has in the Pure Yang Palace, I will follow Younger Disciple’s lead!”
Wang Yuan no longer spoke any more words of gratitude, instead he declared his devotion and loyalty to Yang Chen. These words were spoken very sincerely, without the slightest amount of contempt because his cultivation was higher than Yang Chen’s.
“I do not dare, Senior Disciple Wang, in the future, if there is a problem, we must support each other! These kinds of words must never be spoken again!”
Yang Chen politely declined.
Wang Yuan made the promise and within his heart he became determined about this. These words would never be said again, if any kind of major affair occurred, he would follow Yang Chen’s instructions. This time Yang Chen had helped him to become a foundation stage expert, maybe next time he could help him reach the JieDan stage.
Yang Chen hadn’t realized that he had unintentionally gained himself many faithful followers. After bidding farewell to Wang Yuan, Yang Chen started to move on the road to the Immortal Falling Well alone.
If it were any other person, he would never know the location of the Immortal Falling Well without getting directions from someone, but Yang Chen was thoroughly aware of the way to the Immortal Falling Well. After he had travelled a thousand miles after leaving the Meiqing Mountain, Yang Chen suddenly discovered that someone was apparently following him secretly, but this person was extremely clever and hadn’t revealed the slightest bit of his presence. After detecting him, Yang Chen calmly turned into another direction. After spending two days riding on the bamboo falcon, he stopped at the edge of a deep pond at the very bottom of a hidden and not very well known valley.
After leisurely putting away the bamboo falcon, Yang Chen took out the commanding jade tile and inserted his spirit power into it, a circular sphere of light shrouded Yang Chen therein. Soon after that, without idling around, Yang Chen jumped into the the pond and in flash he disappeared without a trace.
After the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the figure of a person appeared on the side of the abyss, knitting his brows and looking at the shady pond at the bottom of the valley. Thinking for a while, he put his hand into the water and when he found nothing unusual, after hesitating again and again, he jumped into the water and began to sink.
After sinking by ten meters, he felt no peculiarity, but he still couldn’t see the end of the pond, and it was very dark to look at. The sinking person felt quite relieved, and using his spirit power, he once again began to dive. Just as he thought that he could overtake Yang Chen very easily, something strange suddenly happened.