Chapter 293 - 147: Zen Pure Land, Chaotic Celestial King, Jiangyin Black Market, Once I Sought the Title of Marquis Across Ten Thousand Miles

Chapter 293: Chapter 147: Zen Pure Land, Chaotic Celestial King, Jiangyin Black Market, Once I Sought the Title of Marquis Across Ten Thousand Miles

Night had fallen.

On Daoist School Street, the lamps burned bright.

On this day.

The plaque for the ’Daoist School’s Top Card’ was once again hoisted high.

Thus, the reputation of Jiangyin Prefecture’s Celestial Blade Daoist School had risen and fallen three times. After weathering decades of trials and tribulations, its position remained unchanged in the end.

For three consecutive generations.

It had never been broken.

They watched the silhouette of the young man departing with the Heir of the Marquis’s Mansion.

At the far end of the street, inside the Wind and Cloud Daoist School.

Hall Master Feng Hao looked at the few apprentices from Anning County and at his own Great Robe Inheritor, Feng Zhengming, remaining silent for a long time.

"You have all spent time in Anning. Do you have any connection to this... Master Ji?"

They exchanged uncertain glances.

Feng Zhengming, in particular, looked awkward.

"Master, a while ago, when you were handling business for the Medicine Shop, I was assigned to guard the Medicine Shop Master’s grandson. During that time, I offended him."

At these words, the color drained from Feng Hao’s face. His white brows knitted in anger, and he slammed his palm down.

"What have I taught you? I’ve only just become a Grandmaster! We need to establish a firm foothold in the Prefecture City if we’re ever to have a chance of Founding a Sect."

"At a time like this, you need to learn to be diplomatic and tread carefully. Whatever you do, do not make enemies!"

"Our foundation is small. We can’t afford any major trouble. And you just went and silently stirred up a hornet’s nest?"

"Why didn’t you mention any of this when you returned?!"

’He hadn’t even entered the Prefecture City back then, much less caused such a huge stir or gotten involved with the Beicang Marquis’s Mansion.’

Feng Zhengming’s lips twitched as he complained internally.

’Besides, weren’t you the one who said the Medicine Shop has a hundred years of history, that old Huang Ai is a magnate who’s traveled far and wide, with connections spanning the prefecture and state?’

’You said that as long as we latched onto that great tree, our Daoist School would surely establish itself on Daoist School Street, and you told me to befriend his grandson.’

’But who could have known the tides would turn so quickly!’

Sweat beaded on Feng Zhengming’s brow as he scrambled for a reply. Suddenly, he glanced to the side and saw the group from Anning County. Inspiration struck.

"Master! The heirs of the three Bosses from Anning County—Young Master Lu, Miss Lu, and Miss Wei—all have a connection to Master Ji!"

"When he stepped onto Daoist School Street earlier, he even greeted them. Do you remember?"

Upon hearing this, the sharp-eyed, green-robed elder immediately snapped out of his daze.

His gaze fell upon Lu Yu and the others, whom he had previously only glanced over, planning to train them as mere apprentices. Now, his eyes lit up.

Even his hawk-like gaze softened considerably.

"Good, good!"

"Lu Yu, Lu Hongyu, Wei Zhi, and Xuu Heng, correct?"

"From this day forward, you are all my personal disciples! You are qualified to receive the Secret Inheritance of the Wind and Cloud Daoist School!"

Huh?

The group was still reeling from the aftershocks of Ji Xiu’s success.

So when Feng Hao promoted them all with a grand wave of his hand, Lu Yu and the others were completely stunned.

Before their arrival, Grandmaster Feng of the Wind and Cloud Daoist School had merely given them an opportunity to enter the Prefecture City and become apprentices.

That was only because their fathers had joined the Wind and Cloud Association and supplied him with silver coins. Without that, they wouldn’t have even qualified.

And now, in the blink of an eye...

...just because they knew Ji Xiu and had a connection with him, they had been promoted from ordinary disciples straight to a True Inheritance Position!?

The group hadn’t fully grasped the significance of Ji Xiu’s current status.

But in that instant, they finally understood the vast, unbridgeable chasm that now lay between them.

Lu Hongyu was the first to feel a pang of dislocation.

She could vaguely recall when Ji Xiu first clawed his way up from being a Horse Slave—homeless, taking shelter in the miserable heat of the Fire Kiln.

’How much time has passed since then?’

’Is it possible that the threshold I’ve struggled with all my might to cross is so far behind you that all I can ever see is your back?’

’So this is the gap between the mediocre and the heaven-blessed prodigies...’

"Xiaoyu, Hongyu, the rest of you... when you have a moment, go to the school’s storehouse and fetch two stalks of Great Medicine. The kind cultivated in Spirit Soil, worthy of being called Spirit Grade. Box them up and take them to Master Ji as a gift. Just make some small talk, catch up."

"You all came from the same place. In this unfamiliar city, it’s important to look out for one another and nurture your relationships."

Feng Hao, of course, was oblivious to the complex emotions stirring within them.

He only saw Ji Xiu’s immense potential.

A man like that had currently only caught the eye of the Young Lady Heir and become her Guest. But what if he became a Grandmaster? What if he caught the eye of the Marquis himself?

Once you’ve latched onto a great tree like the Marquis’s Mansion, you can never say what might happen.

How did the Upper Nine Professions get their start within the Thirty-Six Professions?

Didn’t they all, more or less, have connections within one of the state’s Vassal Towns, or act as a front for a branch of some True Sect?

Even those shady operations could amass such huge fortunes within a single prefecture...

If one were to truly secure their backing, the rewards would be unimaginable.

If the gamble failed, the loss would only be two or three stalks of Spirit Medicine. It would hurt, but it wasn’t an unacceptable risk.

But if it paid off...

...the Wind and Cloud Daoist School might just be able to move its location a little further up the street.

Feng Hao narrowed his eyes, watching the Everlasting Lamps on either side sway wildly in the night wind, his mind already churning with calculations.

Meanwhile, at the head of Daoist School Street.

Chang Panshi of the Water and Fire Daoist School watched his personally trained Disciple, Du Yan. The boy was unable to even activate his Immortal Robe, and despite holding the Spirit Dao Treasure Hammer, he hadn’t been able to lay a finger on the youth. Chang Panshi’s heart was utterly devoid of fight.

And to one side.

Zhou Changming of the Purple Mist Daoist School stared at the Celestial Blade Daoist School, his eyes bloodshot, his teeth grinding so hard they nearly shattered.

He ordered the disciples under him to carry his Great Robe Inheritor—the one he had painstakingly cultivated, only to be brutally crippled—back inside. His fists were clenched tight.

"Two of them... This is the second one!"

Two True Inheritance disciples from his Daoist School, both fallen at the hands of this brat!