Lu Xiuyuan had obtained one each of the following: Sect-Guarding Great Formation X4, Sect-Suppressing Gate X4, Law Enforcement Hall X1, Library Pavilion X1, Secret Realm X1 (Grade 9). But the old house’s lot was only a little over a hundred square meters. The paper fox said he could choose a new site, or spend spiritual power to expand the space.
Lu Xiuyuan’s gaze rested on the Secret Realm (Grade 9), and he asked the paper fox a question: “How big is the secret realm’s space? Can it be upgraded? What are its growth attributes?”
The paper fox puffed out his chest and said very proudly: “Secret realms below Immortal grade were basically all destroyed in the Immortal-Demon War. Although this one is Grade 9 now, it originally fell from Immortal grade. As long as it can be upgraded, the minimum is Immortal grade!”
Lu Xiuyuan’s eyes lit up: “In that case, let’s put Wenxin Sect in this secret realm!”
Hearing that Lu Xiuyuan wanted to move the sect into the secret realm, the paper fox hurriedly waved his paws: “That won’t do, Sect Master. Although this secret realm is vast for ten thousand li, the place you can actually move around in is less than ten li. And the difficulty of upgrading it is also…”
A circle five kilometers in diameter. For ordinary people that area wasn’t small, but for a cultivator who could fly on a sword, going around once took only a minute or two, which was too big a limit on the sect’s development.
“The prosperity and growth of the sect can’t rely only on you and me. Every disciple has a duty to help our Wenxin Sect flourish. The secret realm’s upgrade depends on everyone’s joint effort,” Lu Xiuyuan said with a smile. “If they can’t even do this much, they might as well go sell roasted sweet potatoes!”
So it was a test and training for the disciples. The paper fox suddenly understood: “As expected of the Sect Master! Your thinking is truly far-sighted!”
The paper fox eagerly rubbed his little paws: “Then Sect Master, let’s quickly enter the secret realm!”
Lu Xiuyuan only smiled faintly: “First, set up the sect.”
The paper fox: “?”
The paper fox didn’t understand, but Lu Xiuyuan had already begun to move. Four palm-sized stone models were thrown out by him and turned into four streams of light flying in four directions.
The four gates had originally been connected to stone steps, but Lu Xiuyuan broke the four sets of steps off and spliced them into one, set the number to the maximum 9999, and threw it toward the east gate—
“Hum—”
Something woke up.
In the city, the real prosperity began when the sun went down and the workhorses got off work. There were many cars and pedestrians on the road, and in an instant everyone seemed to sense something and looked up at the sky.
In the night sky there seemed to be only twinkling starlight. Just as they were about to look away, they suddenly saw four black dots growing in the wind, and in an instant, four ninety-nine-meter-tall lingxing gates appeared before everyone’s eyes.
Several azure dragons coiled up the pillars, a faint purple qi flowing between their scales. On the plaque, the relief carvings of the sun, moon, and stars lit up one after another, and then a ray of golden light lit up, and the three large characters “Wenxin Sect” appeared within it. In the swirling mist, a heavenly ladder with no visible end appeared at the east gate, while the other three gates had only a billowing sea of clouds.
“What is that?”
He heard himself ask out loud, but no one gave an answer. Everyone simply looked up in a daze at this enormous complex of buildings floating in the air.
Yes, a complex of buildings.
After a brief stupor, those who came to their senses took out their phones one after another.
“Holy crap, holography is this impressive now?! Or is it done with drones?!”
“Whose event is this? Why didn’t they notify us in advance!”
“Mom! Come to Jiefang Road quickly, the drone show here is insanely awesome!”
The building complex was too high and too far to be seen clearly, but the mist seemed to carry light, and in its churning the workhorses nearby, using their phones’ zoomed-in cameras, captured several buildings.
The black-tiled building was full of killing intent, and the three large characters “Law Enforcement Hall” inspired fear, while another, the tallest building, was reserved and gentle.
Before the characters on the plaque could be read clearly, someone shouted with certainty: “Library Pavilion! This must be the Library Pavilion!”
Before he could find a stone hammer to verify his guess, countless illusory images of immortal beasts suddenly flew out of the buildings, like auspicious omens descending from heaven.
Fingers kept swiping on screens, trying to see these buildings clearly, but several dazzling beams suddenly lit up and converged toward the sky, lighting the city as bright as day.
“Ding—”
A crisp wind chime, like a phoenix cry, passed by everyone’s ears on the night wind. Everyone felt their head clear, and the fatigue of a day of work disappeared at this moment, no, rather, their bodies had never felt so light and refreshed.
“Drones? Holography?”
Even the one who said this didn’t believe it. What holography could turn a whole city from night to day in an instant!
At this moment, Lu Xiuyuan deliberately controlled all the swords to fly in formation.
“Ten thousand swords return to the sect! Holy shit! Cultivation is real in this world!”
The crowd instantly boiled over.
“Master! I’m your dear disciple, Master—”
【Ding—Esteemed Sect Master, you have obtained 3 reputation points.】
【Ding—Esteemed Sect Master, you have obtained 8 reputation points.】
【Ding—Esteemed Sect Master, …】
【Fame: 664368/1000000 (Somewhat Known)】
【Ding—Diligent Sect Master, under your leadership Wenxin Sect has gone from somewhat known to renowned in the region. To thank you for your hard work, congratulations on obtaining Immortal Fate X100, Spirit Stone X10000, Basic Pill Gift Pack X1000, Basic Talisman Gift Pack X1000, Internal Affairs Hall X1, Enlightenment Mountain X1, Spirit Mountain X5, Cave Dwelling X10.】
Lu Xiuyuan had no time to check the specific rewards and hurriedly threw out the Internal Affairs Hall, Enlightenment Mountain, Spirit Mountains, and Cave Dwellings, all of them.
For a moment, multicolored Dao resonance radiated down from the sky. The onlookers below didn’t know that Lu Xiuyuan had just received the rewards and immediately used them, and thought they were lucky to have glimpsed more of heaven’s secrets.
“The Sect-Guarding Great Formation is up and running, and it’s time for Wenxin Sect to ‘move’ into the secret realm.”
Lu Xiuyuan took out the secret realm stone and was about to take the entire building complex into it, when he heard the paper fox suddenly scream: “Sect Master, it’s terrible! A demon has suddenly broken its seal!”
Lu Xiuyuan frowned: “A demon? Didn’t you say ten years later—”
“It’s a demon that wasn’t killed off completely!” The paper fox’s voice had gone shrill with fear, and his claws clutched Lu Xiuyuan’s sleeve tightly. He said urgently, “The Immortal-Demon War… the Immortal Way won, but it was a terrible victory! To seal the demons that hadn’t died, the Heavenly Dao itself also fell silent. But now the Heavenly Dao has awakened, and the demons that weren’t killed off back then have woken up too.”
“Nascent Soul stage, no, Sect Master, this is the aura of the Spirit Transformation stage!”
“…” Lu Xiuyuan pointed at himself. “I fight a Spirit Transformation stage?” If he remembered correctly, he was only Qi Refining Layer 1.
The paper fox looked tense, as if making a decision that went against his own moral bottom line: “…Run, Sect Master. You are Blue Star’s hope. Although the demon’s rampage will cause casualties, only if you survive can you train more disciples to save Blue Star!”
Qi Refining Layer 1 vs. a Spirit Transformation demon. Was there a risk of keeping a whole corpse?
Lu Xiuyuan lowered his eyes, thought for a second, and asked: “I remember you said spiritual qi began recovering from the moment I bound the Sect Master Token, right?”
In a state of zero spiritual qi, even a Spirit Transformation stage cultivator couldn’t last long. Fifteen hours. The spiritual qi density in this world wasn’t high, so even if it absorbed every second, it couldn’t return to its peak state.
“Is there any way to quickly raise my realm?”
The paper fox looked at Lu Xiuyuan, trembling. He didn’t want the Sect Master to go to his death, but he couldn’t stop him.
Ten thousand years ago, everyone in Wenxin Sect had also been like this… one by one dying on the way to self-detonating with the heavenly demons, never to return.
“Sect Master, use immortal fate.”
“Immortal fate” was a concept. “Ubiquitous” spiritual power couldn’t be compared with it. Spiritual power couldn’t turn into “immortal fate,” but “immortal fate” could turn into spiritual power of any form.
Including turning into “Lu Xiuyuan’s spiritual power.” Being “born as Lu Xiuyuan’s spiritual power,” it naturally would not have any rejection.
Immortal Fate: 121
Lu Xiuyuan used 100 Immortal Fate without hesitation.
A flickering white light lit up on Lu Xiuyuan’s body: Qi Refining Layer 2… Qi Refining Layer 5…
Only when he reached Qi Refining Great Perfection did Lu Xiuyuan feel his cultivation increase stop.
There was no unstable foundation from rapid realm advancement, and none of the discomfort from a sudden surge of strength. The strength gained with immortal fate felt as if it had belonged to him all along, like breathing.
“Wait here and guard the sect.”
Lu Xiuyuan dropped the paper fox and flew on his sword toward the direction where the demonic qi was rising.
A Spirit Transformation demon—Lu Xiuyuan had no concept of it, but he deeply understood the gap in strength between himself at Qi Refining Layer 1 and himself at Qi Refining Great Perfection.
Suppose the demon had only the strength of Foundation Establishment Layer 1; paired with so much combat experience, and suppose the gap between them was only a thousandfold, how would he win?
One plan after another took shape in Lu Xiuyuan’s mind. If, he was saying if, he really couldn’t win, how would he escape on low health—
“Master!”
Three voices in unison pulled Lu Xiuyuan out of the sorry pictures in his head.
“Splash—”
Foul-smelling blood and countless pieces of flesh fell from the air. Lu Xiuyuan slightly frowned and threw out a hundred basic defense talismans, cutting off the risk of being splattered and possessed.
Dead? Impossible. He had only made one move of a thousand swords, and the other was an old Spirit Transformation demon. How could it die so easily!
Possession. It must be this cunning demon wanting to gain fresh flesh through possession to restore its strength, and to scheme against him at the same time!
Although he didn’t know whether basic talismans could have any effect on a Spirit Transformation stage, the quantity could make up for it somewhat.
The joy of surviving a catastrophe made Jiang Yuhuai and the other two forget their awe of the sword-cultivator master, and they rushed over in tears.
Jiang Yuhuai dropped to his knees with a thud: “Master’s great kindness and virtue, I, Jiang Yuhuai, can never repay. I swear to death to serve Master faithfully and offer my heart to Wenxin Sect!”
Tao Yuxiang was shocked by his thick-skinned way of eating and taking at the same time. She was about to speak when Huang Ruihe also spoke forcefully: “Master’s great kindness, your disciple cannot repay! Only follow you to death, and give my utmost for the sect!”
Oh my god, Huang Ruihe really was her best friend! This quickness of reaction was simply amazing!
Tao Yuxiang said urgently: “I, I’m the same! Everything of mine belongs to Master and the sect!”
Lu Xiuyuan said nothing, closely observing the three and everything around them, but unfortunately, the demonic qi was slowly vanishing.
Lu Xiuyuan didn’t speak, and Jiang Yuhuai didn’t dare raise his head. Silence pressed hard on Jiang Yuhuai’s spine, forcing him to keep his head lowered and not lift it a bit, waiting uneasily for a verdict.
This powerful sword cultivator before him had been “insulted” by him, yet had saved him without holding a grudge. By reason and by feeling, he didn’t dare be so thick-skinned as to beg the other to take him in. But whether from ambition or selfish desire, he wanted to try once more, to try whether he could become a sword cultivator, to try whether he could clear up that “misunderstanding.”
Lu Xiuyuan opened the Sect Master’s log, and only after seeing written there that he had killed a Spirit Transformation stage demon (weakened) did he somewhat uncertainly believe the other was really dead.
“There is no need to call me Master.” Lu Xiuyuan put away his sword, keeping up the sword-cultivator persona, his tone indifferent. “Slaying demons and eliminating evil is the duty of a Wenxin disciple. There’s no need for gratitude. I would have saved anyone.”
Jiang Yuhuai suddenly raised his head and looked straight at Lu Xiuyuan: “Ma—I also want to slay demons and eliminate evil! I hesitated just now. I’m afraid of dying; I wanted to go home, so I hesitated. But they’re afraid of dying too and want to go home too, so I couldn’t leave them behind. I, I don’t know what I should do. If I had power—”
Jiang Yuhuai spoke in a jumbled way, but his eyes were very firm.
Lu Xiuyuan lowered his eyes, his black eyes giving away neither joy nor anger. After a moment, a paper crane carrying a jade tablet in its beak flew in front of Jiang Yuhuai.
Jiang Yuhuai cried out in delighted surprise: “Master!”
“This is only the trial qualification.” Lu Xiuyuan’s gaze did not linger on him, and he was about to turn and leave, but his gaze paused when he saw the Sect Master’s log.
Immortal Fate +10
Jiang Yuhuai’s talent was very good. Lu Xiuyuan had thought of taking him as a disciple from the start, and had not given him the jade tablet directly only to keep him hanging for a while. Now that the control group existed and the reputation points were in, naturally he couldn’t miss this born sword bone.
But what he disheveled was that “accepting” Jiang Yuhuai actually gave 10 Immortal Fate as well.
So the 10 Immortal Fate from taking Zhou Xingjian as a disciple wasn’t a one-time reward for the “first” disciple?
The “system light screen” that the Sect Master Token had turned into was a product of him having the token adapt according to his habits, not a real “sect management” system, so it had no explicit tasks or rewards, and 99% had to be figured out by himself.
Could it be because of Jiang Yuhuai’s good talent?
Not sure. Try it.
Lu Xiuyuan’s gaze swept over Huang Ruihe and Tao Yuxiang.
In front of the two there was no paper crane or jade tablet. The two, in a wretched state, couldn’t hide their disappointment, tears welling in their eyes, but their gazes were very clear.
Lu Xiuyuan turned and left on his sword without pausing.
Huang Ruihe and Tao Yuxiang could no longer hold back, and tears fell, hu, huh?!
In their blurry vision a paper crane appeared, carrying not only a jade tablet but even a pill on its head.
The two looked up in delighted surprise: “Master!”
Lu Xiuyuan’s back had long since melted into the night and could not be seen.
Immortal Fate +5
Immortal Fate +6
Lu Xiuyuan was sure now. Zhou Xingjian’s Immortal Fate +10 had benefited from the “first time,” giving a reward far beyond his talent. Huang Ruihe and Tao Yuxiang had middling talent and no first-time bonus, so the immortal fate given was less.
“It seems I can’t take disciples along the traditional sect development route.”
From Qi Refining Layer 1 to Qi Refining Great Perfection, Lu Xiuyuan had used 100 Immortal Fate. To break through successfully to Foundation Establishment, he would need at least 1000 Immortal Fate more, and from Foundation Establishment Layer 1 to Great Perfection would be an even more frightening number.
Lu Xiuyuan’s bone structure was terrible, and relying on cultivating by himself, who knew how many ages it would take to reach Foundation Establishment.
The most crucial point was, his own talent was poor, but his disciples and future disciples had good talent!
For now he could still use pills and talismans to create an “atmospheric sword cultivator master,” but once the disciples’ cultivation rose after entering the sect, they would quickly notice the flaws.
For an atmospheric sword cultivator to shed the word “atmospheric,” he had to have real ability.
Raising cultivation quickly was too hard. After the double certification of the Sect Master Token and the Celestial Fox, Lu Xiuyuan held not the slightest hope that his cultivation would advance a thousand li a day. So, his focus had to go on the speed of obtaining “immortal fate.”
What? Immortal fate is for training disciples?
If immortal fate trains them, what would the disciples do?!
Those who walk the Dao should advance and level up steadily through diligent study and hard practice!
Wasn’t the “thread of life” left by the newbie gift pack something he had gotten only by using immortal fate himself? The iron-clad facts proved it, immortal fate should be given to the Sect Master!
The current Sect Master of Wenxin Sect was him, Lu Xiuyuan, so the immortal fate was Lu Xiuyuan’s!
“First, a small goal, take a thousand disciples!”
The goal: Foundation Establishment Great Perfection!