Chapter 399 - 397: Fang Tiancheng’s Invitation

Chapter 399: Chapter 397: Fang Tiancheng’s Invitation

"We originally had enough, but we’ve had to spend Spirit Stones on too many things these past few years. We’ve poured millions of Spirit Stones into developing our various Spirit Veins..."

Wei Dao paused, then stammered.

"Perhaps we can buy on credit and pay the other sects after the Immortal City settles its accounts with us."

"No, that won’t work. If we manage to take on a subcontract, it will be our first time doing something like this. The vast majority of these factions have never done business with us before. If we rely purely on our sect’s reputation, I’m afraid we won’t be able to secure the quantity Zengguang Immortal City requires."

Bai Zichen recorded the location and access route of the large-scale Spirit Stone ore vein he had discovered onto a Jade Scroll and handed it over.

"The reserves of this Spirit Stone ore vein should be the largest ever discovered in the Black Mountain Range, but it’s extremely difficult to mine... Senior Brother Wei, you can have the Sect Disciples brainstorm and see if they can come up with a good method."

The Spirit Stone ore vein was located beneath a volcano, and the fact that one needed a Core Formation cultivation to enter and exit freely was a crippling restriction on any mining operation.

The few Core Formation Ancestors couldn’t possibly act as miners. However, if a solution to the problem was found, it would be feasible for them to create a permanent access tunnel.

"Also, take this Spirit Rhinoceros Belt. Consider it my loan to the sect. For transporting goods on a massive scale, a few Top-Grade Storage Bags won’t be enough."

"Junior Brother, your actions have solved our two biggest problems. I’ll take the disciples from the Spiritual Ore Hall to check it out later. We can’t just let a Spirit Stone ore vein like this lie fallow."

Wei Dao was fired up, throwing himself into the matter with great passion.

As for Bai Zichen, it was impossible for him to spend his time on such matters.

If the Spirit Stone ore vein could be developed, sitting back and collecting a share of the Spirit Stones would be a wonderful thing.

While in the sect, his current cultivation didn’t rely on external aids, so he didn’t have much use for Spirit Stones.

But once he started traveling the world, any treasure that managed to catch his eye would be astronomically expensive.

Even though he currently had over two hundred Top-Grade Spirit Stones, if he really started spending, they would be gone in a flash.

...

After three months, Ge Cang had still not come out of seclusion. The gate to his Cave Mansion on Flame Mountain remained tightly shut.

Bai Zichen could only leave a message before setting out alone on the road to Zengguang Immortal City.

This time, all the Nascent Soul level powers of the entire Northern Domain would gather.

The event was prompted by the shocking news of Du Heng turning to the Demon Path, but the Moral Sect’s involvement also meant this gathering would subtly decide the future power dynamics of the Northern Domain.

As a rising star that had just become a Nascent Soul Sect, if the Qingfeng Sect didn’t make an appearance at such a grand occasion, others might think the Moral Sect was ignoring them. This, in turn, could cause some sects to get ideas they shouldn’t have.

’The invitations were sent out by Celestial Punishment Peak, so security should be guaranteed... That peak places the utmost importance on rules and regulations. If anyone fails to recognize the gravity of the situation and starts trouble, someone will surely deal with them.’

During this period, the Qingfeng Sect finally managed to gather information about Great True Monarch Hongfa’s past.

In the Central Domain, he was a famous and widely admired cultivator. They had easily found the information by simply asking a merchant guild that did business with the Central Domain.

By comparing different sources, a highly objective profile of the man was delivered to Bai Zichen.

Great True Monarch Hongfa was from the direct lineage of Celestial Punishment Peak. His progression through Foundation Establishment and Core Formation had been incredibly smooth, and he formed his Nascent Soul around the age of two hundred. Among all the True Monarchs in the history of Celestial Punishment Peak, his speed ranked in the top three.

The Moral Sect’s methods were highly controversial. Outside of the Great Zhou, all other sects and Cultivation Families regarded them as a plague.

They treated cultivators from the Moral Sect with respect, but kept them at arm’s length.

But Great True Monarch Hongfa, as the Vice Peak Master of Celestial Punishment Peak, was for all intents and purposes the true Peak Master. It was only because a Divinity Transformation Great Power still held the official title that he remained vice.

His personal reputation and prestige among the cultivators of the Central Domain, however, were excellent.

Even the Five Phoenix Sword Sect—their direct rivals, whose methods were the complete opposite—would fall silent when Great True Monarch Hongfa was mentioned and would not speak ill of him.

Two hundred years ago, a great drought struck the lands of Great Li. For three years, no rain fell, and the earth was scorched for thousands of miles.

Many cultivators went to perform rain-summoning techniques, but at most, they could only gather dark clouds. The rain would evaporate into vapor before it ever touched the ground.

They couldn’t even bring a trace of moisture to the air. Instead, it made the mortals die even faster, their skin cracking as they perished violently.

Over the three years, hundreds of thousands of mortals died of dehydration.

Seeing the situation was irreversible, the nearest super major sect, the Celestial Star Sect, proposed a solution: relocate all the mortals in the region to more habitable lands.

But with millions of mortals, the relocation would be a massive undertaking.

The people were mostly bedridden. It would require a vast number of cultivators just to gather them, and the process could easily take a year or more.

By the end of it, it was feared that half the mortals would die from the extreme heat.

When Great True Monarch Hongfa heard of this, he went there alone and found the source of the heat: a fissure that led directly to the Earth’s Lungs.

The heat radiating from the burning Earth Core Poison Fire was the true culprit.

It was the direct reason why the cultivators’ rain techniques had all failed.

Furthermore, if the fissure had been allowed to expand for several more centuries, the Earth Core Poison Fire would have erupted onto the surface, creating a new desolate land in the Cultivation Realm.

The poisonous flames would have spread, affecting an area several times larger than the current one.

Tens of millions, even up to a hundred million, people would have been affected, and several nearby sects would have had to relocate their Mountain Gates.

Great True Monarch Hongfa used his own body to plug the fissure, single-handedly withstanding the might of the Earth Core Poison Fire while using his Great Magical Power and Great Divine Techniques to seal the rift.

He spent a full one hundred years there, never leaving his post, working day and night, until he finally resolved the great disaster.

After he succeeded, Great True Monarch Hongfa’s physical body was deeply corroded by the poison fire. It was said that he had to return to Celestial Punishment Peak and recuperate for several decades before he recovered.

For a cultivator who had a high chance of reaching Divinity Transformation, delaying his cultivation by over a century for the sake of mortals was an immense price to pay.

It was common consensus in the Cultivation Realm that if it weren’t for sealing the earth fissure and resisting the poison fire, he would have reached the Nascent Soul Great Perfection realm long ago.

He single-handedly saved countless lives, and it wasn’t even in his own sect’s territory.

For this act, perhaps many cultivators secretly scoffed and sneered, unable to understand his choice.

But on the surface, at least, every cultivator had to show Great True Monarch Hongfa solemn respect.

The Grand Elder of the Celestial Star Sect himself had said, ’Hongfa’s great virtue is beyond me. If our paths should cross in conflict in the future, I will surely yield to him.’

Great True Monarch Hongfa’s actions also greatly enhanced the Moral Sect’s prestige, making it so cultivators outside the Great Zhou no longer feared them like the plague, afraid to interact with them.

’Celestial Punishment Peak will handle the major issues. As for minor matters, if someone wants to try and step on the Qingfeng Sect openly, my Qing Emperor Longevity Sword isn’t just for decoration...’

Moonlight streaked through the sky as Bai Zichen mulled over the sects that might be hostile to the Qingfeng Sect.

The Northern Domain was not like the Central Domain. Nascent Soul True Monarchs were generally quite old; cultivators who successfully formed a Nascent Soul at two or three hundred years of age were as rare as a phoenix’s feather.

In the last thousand years, Ge Cang was considered the youngest Nascent Soul True Monarch in the Northern Domain.

And aside from the No-Life Sect and the Dharma Aspect Sect, it was very difficult for other sects in the Northern Domain to ensure an unbroken succession of Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

Early-Stage Nascent Soul Cultivators who were seven or eight hundred years old were a common sight; they were even the norm in the Northern Domain.

Bai Zichen, having completed the Hidden Sword process for his Qing Emperor Longevity Sword, had some confidence in facing this type of Nascent Soul True Monarch.

The Moonlight Sword Light zipped through the sky tens of thousands of feet in the air, but it didn’t head straight for Zengguang Immortal City. Instead, it took a small detour.

Bai Zichen looked at the not-so-distant Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, took out a small flute, and began to play it softly, standing in place to wait.

A quarter of an hour later, a colossal beast flew over, casting a massive shadow.

"I’ve made Fellow Daoist Bai wait."

Fang Tiancheng leaped down from the Gold-Devouring Earth Dragon Beast and spoke in a gentle voice.

He had completely lost his former domineering aura, now appearing old and feeble with murky eyes.

"Senior, did you fail in Shattering your Core and Transforming into a Nascent Soul? No, that’s not right. The transformation to Nascent Soul is irreversible. Once it begins, you either succeed or you die and your Dao vanishes."

Bai Zichen was greatly alarmed as he looked at Fang Tiancheng, who was emanating an aura of death and seemed on the verge of expiring from old age.

It wasn’t just him; even his Lifebound Spiritual Beast, the Gold-Devouring Earth Dragon Beast, had a weakened and aged aura, no longer possessing the might of a Tier Three Peak Spirit Beast.

The unique nature of the Spirit Control Scripture had granted Fang Tiancheng a lifespan far exceeding that of a normal Core Formation True Man.

For such a drastic change to occur so suddenly, it could only be the after-effects of a failed breakthrough, which must have caused a massive loss of his essence.

But Fang Tiancheng was already at Core Formation Perfection. The next step was forming a Nascent Soul, so this outcome defied logic.

A few months ago, the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect had sent a secret letter through a private channel between the two sects. It was from Fang Tiancheng, and accompanying the letter was that very flute.

The letter requested a meeting with Bai Zichen before he left for Zengguang Immortal City, promising to bestow a great fortune upon him.

After some consideration, Bai Zichen had decided to make the trip.

After all, their two sects had once been allies. Even if their relationship had cooled, Fang Tiancheng had no reason to plot against him.

Besides, with his strength, he could escape even if every Core Formation True Man in the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect came out to attack him.

"It wasn’t I who was Shattering my Core and Transforming into a Nascent Soul. It was my old partner here, attempting to break through to Tier Four..."

Fang Tiancheng reached out and stroked the Gold-Devouring Earth Dragon Beast’s head. The Dragon Beast had failed its attempt to reach Tier Four, and its body must have been shattered and wracked with pain from the backlash of its own immense Demon Power, yet it still stretched out its tongue to affectionately lick its partner’s hand.

"Success hinges on the Spirit Beast, as does failure. If my old partner couldn’t reach Tier Four, there was no way for me to complete the process of Shattering my Core and Transforming into a Nascent Soul. I could have studied it more carefully, but ’they’ wouldn’t give me the chance, so I had to force it. When my Lifebound Spiritual Beast’s breakthrough failed, we shared the backlash. That’s the only reason we’re still alive, able to cling to life for a little while longer."

Fang Tiancheng paused for a moment, then spoke with a smile, showing little sign of regret or sadness.

"Although it was a failure, at least it left behind the experience of a Lifebound Spiritual Beast attempting to break through to Tier Four. I have some new theories on how to reach the Nascent Soul Realm with the Spirit Control Scripture. In the end, I can still make some contribution to the sect."

Bai Zichen understood why he had run out of time without needing a detailed explanation.

The Blood God Son had traveled all the way from the Southern Domain for his junior brother. After dealing with the direct murderer, Du Heng, there was no way Fang Tiancheng, his direct accomplice, could escape.

Whether he alone would pay with his life or if the entire Ten Thousand Beasts Sect would be implicated was hard to say. It all depended on the whims of that Blood God Son.

At this critical juncture, knowing the conditions weren’t ripe and the chances were slim, he had still attempted to break through to Nascent Soul. It was a final, desperate gamble.

If he had succeeded, the combination of a Nascent Soul True Monarch and a Tier Four Great Demon would have given him room to negotiate.

The worst-case scenario would have been to pledge allegiance to the Moral Sect. The allegiance of two Nascent Soul level combatants, sealed by a Dao Heart Oath, would have been enough to convince the super major sect to step in and protect both Fang Tiancheng and the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect.

But clearly, this risky gambit had failed.