Chapter 34: Sanhe's Recruitment, Opportunity for Foundation Establishment

Outside the cave dwelling, following Lu Yang's breakthrough, information regarding him was placed upon the desks of those with keen interests, and his background was swiftly investigated from top to bottom.

As Lu Yang had predicted, his origins could only be described in four words

Deeply rooted in darkness.

He was a disciple recruited during the Saint Sect's annual intake; he had officially entered the sect after killing a senior sister in the Hehuan Hall, and subsequently made a massive profit by flipping Death-Substituting Yin Puppets, after which he went into seclusion and never emerged.

"This is a bitter cultivator."

Looking at the materials on the desk, a female cultivator with a face full of ferocity and eyes brimming with sharp intent could not help but admire him. She was also a cultivator at the late stage of Qi Refinement, but compared to the newly broken-through Lu Yang, her cultivation had reached the ninth level of Qi Refinement, only one step away from the tenth-level perfection!

The female cultivator was named "Feixia," and she held quite a reputation within the Saint Sect.

This was not only due to her beauty, but also because she was one of the few Talisman Cultivators in the Saint Sect; through her talisman-making skills, she had even earned the appreciation of a Saint Sect Elder.

"A bitter cultivator alone could not have reached the late stage of Qi Refinement."

Beside Fairy Feixia, a young man holding a feather fan and wearing a scholar's cap smiled slightly. "He clearly made a fortune flipping Death-Substituting Yin Puppets, yet he has kept a low profile."

"This shows he is a cautious and clever man."

"Normal. It is only logical."

Fairy Feixia sighed upon hearing this. "For us ordinary disciples to make a name for ourselves, talent, caution, intelligence, and courage... all are indispensable."

"In that case, it's settled."

Fairy Feixia nodded and said, "I will recommend him. This person broke through to the late stage of Qi Refinement in just ten years; our Sanhe Society is in dire need of such talent."

Inside the cave dwelling, Lu Yang sat cross-legged on a prayer mat.

Spread out before him were more than ten talisman books, each acting as an olive branch. They claimed that as long as he was willing to join their faction, grand gifts would be presented immediately, including but not limited to Dao companions, cultivation techniques, divine abilities, treasures, and medicinal pills... it was truly everything one could desire.

"I didn't pay attention in my previous lives; I didn't expect there to be so many factions within the Saint Sect..."

Basically, as long as one possessed the cultivation of the late Qi Refinement stage, one could raise a significant team within the Saint Sect; for instance, Liu Xin from Lu Yang's previous life had done exactly that.

Lu Yang was not surprised by this.

After all, within a sect without formal factions, there were all sorts of strange groups. The Saint Sect was so vast that it was impossible for everyone to be of one mind; people would inevitably cluster together for mutual benefit.

Of course, those factions were like floating duckweed, lacking deep roots.

Those who truly had the leverage to recruit him would be the factions established by certain Saint Sect Elders or even True Disciples, whose promised conditions were relatively authentic and credible.

But that was as far as it went.

"I was overestimating myself." Lu Yang shook his head. The conditions offered by those large factions were indeed excellent, often amounting to tens of thousands of contribution points.

However, he simply did not lack money.

After all, he hadn't even finished spending the contribution points he earned from flipping the Death-Substituting Yin Puppets.

Compared to money, what he lacked was "authority"—the authority to truly access the middle management of the Saint Sect and purchase things that were normally unavailable.

Just as Lu Yang was pondering, the formation outside his door suddenly vibrated.

Lu Yang looked up at the sound, only to see the illumination formation he had placed in front of his cave dwelling flare with brilliant light. The magnificent array light illuminated a curvaceous and graceful silhouette.

It was Fairy Feixia.

"Junior Brother Lu, you actually understand formations?" Fairy Feixia looked at the floating array patterns around her in surprise, her beautiful face showing a hint of unexpected joy.

Lu Yang cupped his hands. "Senior Sister, may I ask what brings you here?"

Fairy Feixia did not act coy; she returned the salute with grace and poise. "I am Feixia, a Deacon of the Saint Sect's Sanhe Society. I have come specifically for you, Junior Brother."

"Oh? Please, Senior Sister..."

Lu Yang hurriedly hosted her, while simultaneously becoming alert. The Sanhe Society—wasn't that the faction behind Zhao Xuhe? Why would they come to recruit him?

Lu Yang actually hadn't known much about the Sanhe Society, but he knew Zhao Xuhe was a member. More importantly, as a disciple of the Peak Master of Butian Peak, Zhao Xuhe seemed to be only at the middle or lower levels of the Sanhe Society. One could see the prestige of the Sanhe Society just from that fact.

"I hope Senior Sister will forgive my ignorance. This junior is unlearned; may I ask what the Sanhe Society is...?"

Lu Yang asked very cautiously. Fairy Feixia was not surprised by his question and smiled. "The Sanhe Society was established by three True Disciples."

"The Eldest Senior Brother is already a Foundation Establishment True Person, having opened a peak within the Sea of Clouds."

"Although the Second and Third Senior Brothers have not yet reached Foundation Establishment, they have both refined Third-Grade True Qi and are at the Great Perfection of Qi Refinement, capable of reaching Foundation Establishment at any time."

"I heard that you, Junior Brother Lu, also come from an ordinary disciple background, so you should understand the hardships of an ordinary disciple's early life. The three Senior Brothers came from humble beginnings just like us ordinary disciples. Therefore, after achieving great cultivation, they established the Sanhe Society with the goal of helping ordinary disciples overcome their initial difficulties."

"I see." Lu Yang wore an expression of admiration. "The three Senior Brothers possess immeasurable merit."

*My foot.*

*If I hadn't taken loans from your Sanhe Society in my previous lives and witnessed your 36% annual interest rate with my own eyes, I might have almost believed that nonsense.*

Lu Yang grumbled inwardly. He was never one to act without seeing the prize; naturally, he would not make a hasty decision just because Fairy Feixia said so. He immediately asked cautiously, "To be invited as a member of the Sanhe Society is an honor. I only wonder, what are the benefits of the Sanhe Society?"

"You can rest easy on that point, Junior Brother."

Fairy Feixia replied candidly. "As long as you are willing to join, I can immediately decide to grant you a True Disciple-level divine ability."

"After joining, you will receive an annual stipend of contribution points."

"Furthermore, as long as you have the funds, you can use the society's True Disciple authority to purchase items of your choice, or even request guidance in cultivation from the three Senior Brothers."

"Of course, there are requirements."

At this point, Fairy Feixia took out a jade slip and placed it before Lu Yang. "All members must sign a contract and leave a trace of essence blood..."

"That is simple."

Lu Yang glanced at the contract before him. It was nothing more than the standard clauses found in any faction, such as confidentiality obligations, etc. Some might feel that doing so meant losing their freedom and being unable to act on their own will, but Lu Yang did not care at all. With a wave of his hand, he signed his name.

It was just a matter of one lifetime; it wouldn't affect his next life.

In fact, Lu Yang almost wished the constraints were even stronger; that way, he would be more likely to be treated as one of their own, and the resources he received would surely be even better.

Seeing Lu Yang's decisiveness, Fairy Feixia nodded with satisfaction.

"Next, you only need to produce your Saint Sect disciple token. I will set a restriction upon it, and from then on, the token can be used universally within the society."

"I have troubled Senior Sister."

Lu Yang took out his token. He saw Fairy Feixia perform a hand seal and strike a talisman seal into it, after which a brand-new section immediately appeared on the token.

"Talisman-making techniques..."

Lu Yang's eyes brightened slightly. He could now be considered a Ninth-Grade Array Master; through lateral thinking, although he did not understand talisman-making, he could understand a bit of it.

In his view, a talisman was essentially a simple, temporary, small-scale array.

*Good stuff... I want to learn this.*

In the next second, watching this display of talisman-making, Lu Yang finally remembered who this Fairy Feixia before him was. He had heard of her in his previous lives.

"She is Zhao Xuhe's Dao companion..." Lu Yang mused. "In my previous life, while studying formations, I heard that she and Zhao Xuhe became Dao companions. Both were at the Great Perfection of Qi Refinement and shone brilliantly on the battlefield between the righteous and demonic paths. They even attempted to reach Foundation Establishment together, but unfortunately, they both passed away after failing..."

Thinking of this, Lu Yang's eyes suddenly lit up.

The key was not that they passed away after failing to reach Foundation Establishment, but that they actually had the opportunity to attempt Foundation Establishment—there must have been a Foundation Establishment opportunity behind that!