Chapter 609: Recalling the Past, Hearing of the Present (Part 2)

“Unfortunately, Eldest Senior Brother was not fated to see you one last time, Master. He kept talking about it before he passed away. He said he was slow-witted and had no affinity for the Sword Dao, bringing shame to our sect. He hoped that you would attain the Great Dao and that he might have the chance to become your disciple again in his next life.”

“So, Huan’er is gone…”

Even though he had long been prepared, a pang of sorrow still struck Bai Zichen’s heart.

That dark-skinned little monkey had grown up right before his eyes. He was his very first disciple, from back when Bai Zichen had just begun to develop Feiyue Lake and the White Jade Tower had just been built.

Later, Tong Huan had followed him, his own status rising as his master’s did. Realizing his talent for cultivation was limited, he had decisively switched his focus to administrative affairs.

In the end, on the strength of his achievements managing Hejian County and his status as the Ancestor’s eldest disciple, he successfully became the Sect Leader.

His tenure could be considered the Qingfeng Sect’s golden age, during which he successfully spearheaded a reform of the sect’s structure.

He adapted the Qingfeng Sect’s thousand-year-old structure of Five Halls and Seven Chambers to the new era, transforming it into the Five Halls and Thirteen Chambers.

In his later years, even when Core Formation True Men had emerged among the Five Halls Masters, Tong Huan still held his position as Sect Leader securely.

Besides having an excellent master, his own abilities played a significant role, allowing so many of the sect’s cultivators to accept his appointment.

But in the end, the matter of his aptitude was an unavoidable obstacle for Tong Huan.

Even as Sect Leader, with no shortage of contributions to his name, he certainly wouldn’t have lacked for Core Formation Spiritual Objects.

With Bai Zichen as his master, he had long ago examined Tong Huan’s meridian map for cultivation and pointed out every area that could be improved.

Yet even with all the supplemental aids, his chances of successfully reaching Core Formation would not have exceeded forty percent.

The final result proved that fate was not on Tong Huan’s side either; he still fell at the bottleneck to Core Formation.

Ma Ruoxi then took out a Tier One Flying Sword from her storage bag. It was covered in nicks, its spiritual nature dim. She presented it, saying that Tong Huan had clutched it in his hand before he died, unwilling to let go for the longest time.

Tong Huan’s descendants had thought it was some special Magical Artifact. Several branches of the family fought over it for ages, only to discover it was just an ordinary, severely damaged Tier One Flying Sword.

In the end, Ma Ruoxi stepped in and retrieved the flying sword.

“The Ink Bamboo Sword. The one I gave to Huan’er. It was also the first Magical Artifact I ever owned after I began my cultivation journey…”

Bai Zichen reached out and swept a hand over it. Specks of green light scattered down, merging into the blade.

The once-tattered, lifeless Ink Bamboo Sword became a brand-new flying sword again, exuding a faint bamboo fragrance as if it had just been crafted from a freshly cut stalk of Spiritual Bamboo.

At his current realm, using the Sword Nurturing Technique to repair a Tier One Wood Element Flying Sword produced instantaneous results.

In his mind’s eye, he saw a dark-skinned youth, sword in hand, diligently practicing his swordsmanship, yet unable to grasp its essence no matter how hard he tried.

He looked even further back and saw a delicate-featured youth, full of anticipation, receiving this very Ink Bamboo Sword from a clan elder.

‘Come to think of it, this flying sword holds great sentimental value for me as well.’ He solemnly stored it away in his personal Realm.

“Tell me about the major events in the sect over these years. I want to see how Black Mountain has changed.”

Bai Zichen set aside his grief for the past and spoke.

“Yes. After you left the sect, we found a way to mine that Spirit Stone Ore Vein. We purchased a batch of Tier Two Puppets refined from the shells of Fire Scorpions that live deep within volcanoes. They can walk through magma smoothly as long as they’re equipped with Mid-Grade Spirit Stones…”

Ma Ruoxi’s expression turned serious as she began to recount the events, one by one.

She understood that a single word from her could reach her master’s ears and decide someone’s fate, so she did her best to narrate from an impartial standpoint.

Beneath the Qingfeng Sect’s blazing prosperity, however, there were hidden dangers.

The Qingfeng Sect had taken the crucial step from a Core Formation Level Sect to a Nascent Soul Major Sect far too quickly.

Two heaven-sent powerhouses, Ge Cang and Bai Zichen, had passed their Celestial Tribulations and become True Monarchs one after another, before the Qingfeng Sect was fully prepared.

As a result, when the Qingfeng Sect became a Nascent Soul Major Sect, it was still a sect where over ninety percent of the upper echelon came from the Black Mountain region alone.

But as they came to occupy Hejian County, cultivators from other provinces and counties began to seek refuge with them. After discovering their children possessed Spiritual Roots, many Cultivation Families and Loose Cultivators would send their descendants to Black Mountain from thousands of miles away, willing for them to start as the most junior disciples.

Occasionally, Immortal Seedlings from even beyond Liang Country would insist on joining the Qingfeng Sect.

These Immortal Seedlings were almost all drawn by the two Nascent Soul Ancestors, and generally, the farther they traveled, the higher their aptitude.

Fifty years ago, a Cultivation Family in Beiqi produced a clan member with a Celestial Spiritual Root and had even considered sending them to Black Mountain.

However, the Tianhe Sword Sect, being closer, had the advantage. Yann Yuanzai personally visited to accept the person as his disciple.

News came two years ago that this person had already reached the Foundation Establishment Perfect Realm.

As these new disciples’ cultivation levels rose, they quickly began to occupy key positions within the sect, inevitably leading to conflict with the native cultivators from Black Mountain.

One faction’s strength was its abundance of fresh blood; for several consecutive generations, over seventy percent of the True Inheritance disciples came from outside Black Mountain.

The other faction’s strength lay in its deep-rooted history, with the Elder Council still predominantly composed of local cultivators from Black Mountain.

For now, the conflict wasn’t intense because the Qingfeng Sect’s rapid growth masked all other issues. They were still in a period where there were more cultivation resources than disciples.

Once the sect entered a period of slower growth and key resources began to fall short of demand, fierce competition would arise, and the conflict would naturally come to the forefront.

As a representative cultivator from Hejian County and a disciple of Ancestor Bai, Ma Ruoxi had always been a prime target for recruitment by the faction of outsider cultivators.

She, however, was engrossed in the Sword Dao and had no desire to become a spokesperson for the outsider faction, so she simply lived in seclusion and gave them no opportunity to approach her.

But with a Heart Like a Bright Mirror, she knew that while the upper echelons still had the situation under control, the animosity between the cultivators in the lower ranks was already becoming quite serious.

This was especially true after Tong Huan passed away. The new Sect Leader was powerless to restrain the Five Halls, and different departments had already become battlegrounds for the two factions.

“An annual output of five million Spirit Stones is acceptable… But have you found any Top-Grade Spirit Stones?”

No matter how many ordinary Spirit Stones there were, they held little meaning for Bai Zichen.

After his trip to the Central Domain, he had come to deeply understand the saying that Top-Grade Spirit Stones were the true currency among Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

With enough Top-Grade Spirit Stones, one could still purchase many fine treasures in the Central Domain.

“Two Fire Element Top-Grade Spirit Stones in total. One is used to maintain the Flame Mountain Array, and the other has been placed in the Secret Hall.”

Ma Ruoxi naturally held nothing back, telling him everything she knew.

Bai Zichen’s interest immediately faded. One or two Top-Grade Spirit Stones were just a drop in the bucket for him; it wouldn’t solve any of his fundamental problems.

For instance, activating the Qing Si Sword just once required ten Top-Grade Spirit Stones.

It would take at least an amount of that magnitude to even begin to tempt him.

Besides the Spirit Stone Ore Vein, in the Tier Three Spirit Vein that the Qingfeng Sect had been developing over the years, they had opened two new mining caves. From them, they obtained a Tier Three Top-Grade Apricot Yellow Plum tree and several streams of Earth Vein Yin Sha.

The Apricot Yellow Plum tree was the most valuable of these finds. It bore fruit once every thirty years, producing forty-nine crisp plums each time.

Consuming a single one of these fruits could extend a person’s life by ten years, and the effect worked for the first three fruits each person consumed.

Moreover, the spirit fruit had the wondrous effects of healing latent injuries and replenishing Essence. The area had been designated a forbidden ground and was now the Spirit Plant Hall’s most prized treasure.

However, the Pill Hall had not yet discovered a feasible way to use the Apricot Yellow Plum in alchemy, mainly because it was too valuable to risk wasting on experiments.

As for the sect’s Core Formation True Men, besides the most senior ones, Wei Dao and Zhou Suqing, there were also Longx Longx and Lu Songx.

After them came their fellow disciples, Lii Guizhen and Ma Ruoxi, as well as a late bloomer, Lian Liangpu, who only succeeded in Core Formation at the age of one hundred and seventy.

Including Qi Yue, who had returned to the sect, the Qingfeng Sect now had a total of eight Core Formation True Men.

Two hundred years ago, such a grand situation would have been unimaginable.

“Senior Sister Huo has been missing without a trace ever since she disappeared. More than ten years after you left, her Soul Lamp went out…”

Ma Ruoxi raised her head slightly, her voice dropping. Even after so much time, she was still filled with sorrow.

Among their fellow disciples, she had been closest with Huo Feiyan. Back at Ten Thousand Immortals Creek, Senior Sister Huo had taken great care of her when she had just joined the sect.

At the same time, this matter was considered a stain on Ancestor Bai’s name—his Direct Disciple had been abducted and ended up dying under mysterious circumstances.

“Rest assured, not a single one of them will escape. I will make their entire clan accompany Feiyan in death…”

Bai Zichen’s eyes were terrifyingly cold. This matter was a thorn in his heart.

Back then, in his search for Huo Feiyan, he had rushed to the Sea of Suffering and wiped out two Demon Caves.

But he had been a step too late and was unable to save her.