Chapter 36: Perfected Guangling

On a towering spiritual mountain thousands of miles away from the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, Perfected Guangling, the Elder of Miscellaneous Affairs for the Xiaoyao Sect, was resting with his eyes closed in a hall.

Before long, a gray-clad Foundation Establishment disciple hurried into the hall, holding a red message talisman. Upon seeing Perfected Guangling, the disciple spoke hurriedly

"Master, Senior Brother Tian has sent an audio talisman. He has already located that Spirit Fruit tree in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range and is currently leading Junior Brother Li and the others back to the sect. Given the speed of his Azure Spirit Boat, he should be able to return to Mount Tongxuan in three or four days."

"Congratulations, Master, on once again performing a great service for the sect. Finding a Five Elements Fruit tree this time... if Martial Uncle the Sect Leader finds out, he will surely reward the Hall of Miscellaneous Affairs."

Perfected Guangling slowly opened his eyes and said with a smile, "Obtaining a Five Elements Fruit tree—a spiritual treasure that can enhance the sect's foundation—is naturally a blessing for the sect. Before the demon beast unrest in the Northern Border, being able to cultivate one or two more Foundation Establishment cultivators for the sect will provide us with more assistance."

Dressed in black, Perfected Guangling appeared not very old, looking as if he were only in his twenties or thirties. He narrowed his sharp eyes and nodded with a smile at the reporting disciple, then gave an order with a calm expression.

"Tianyu, send a disciple to Qinghe Market to notify Lu Yuanfeng. There is no longer any need for the Liu family of Jingyuan Mountain in Qinghe County to exist. Send all their cultivators to Fire Rock Mountain to excavate the Black Iron ore veins."

"Master, if all the Liu family's cultivators are sent to Fire Rock Mountain, how should the remaining mortals be handled? Should they be assigned to Qinghe Market?"

Perfected Guangling looked at his attentive disciple and smiled, saying, "Let Lu Yuanfeng handle it himself. If he is willing to take them, assign them to Qinghe Market; if not, let the Huang family or nearby clans take them. We should not involve the common mortals in the faults of the cultivators."

Lin Tianyu nodded and was about to leave when he suddenly thought of something and asked, "Master, we know that the Liu family organized the manpower to hunt demons in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, but we haven't confirmed if they were definitely aware of the Spirit Fruit tree. Should we invite the Liu family here to question them clearly, lest we wrong them?"

"There is no need. The one from the Liu family who reached Foundation Establishment a hundred years ago certainly obtained that Water Spirit Fruit from this place. A mere Qi Refinement clan dares to hide secrets right under the sect's nose; this time, we must spread the news to deter those disloyal clans and let them know the consequences of being 'clever'."

"But Master, regarding that Qi Refinement disciple who discovered the Spirit Fruit tree—why do you treat him with such courtesy? His character is improper, and he did not hesitate to betray his own clan for his own interests."

Perfected Guangling narrowed his eyes, stood up, and walked toward the hall entrance, continuing, "I knew you wouldn't understand. Indeed, under the Divine Inquiry Talisman that day, that person was indeed a selfish individual. However, his first thought was to offer this Spirit Fruit tree to the sect, even at the cost of betraying his own clan's interests. This is the kind of person the sect must reward. We must let the subordinate clan cultivators know that the sect is also their protector."

"I hold the position of Hall Master of the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall and manage hundreds of subordinate clans under the sect. Nowadays, more and more clans below us have forgotten the sect's protection; they only care about their own clan's interests and completely disregard the sect. Those who are disloyal and 'eat from the inside' are not a minority. If this continues, the sect will become increasingly alienated. When the demon beast unrest hits the Northern Border, how can the sect rely on them?"

After listening, Lin Tianyu nodded blankly. Although he was somewhat puzzled by his master's arrangements, he never dared to oppose them.

At this moment, Du Yucheng, standing upon Tian Qinghu's Azure Spirit Boat, had no idea that when he had gone to the Xiaoyao Sect to report the news of the Water Spirit Fruit, the sect's cultivators had already used Divine Inquiry Talismans to investigate the matter thoroughly.

The Divine Inquiry Talisman is a second-grade spiritual talisman. When used on ordinary Qi Refinement or even Foundation Establishment cultivators, it can stabilize their mind for a short period, preventing them from lying and allowing questions to be asked easily. However, it is useless against cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage or higher.

Although this talisman is a second-grade item and quite valuable—costing over a hundred spirit stones per sheet—Perfected Guangling had used it on Du Yucheng without hesitation to confirm the news of the Water Spirit Fruit. He had even used Soul-Guiding Techniques on him before using the talisman. To this day, Du Yucheng still did not know that the Xiaoyao Sect had wasted such a precious Divine Inquiry Talisman on him.

With a cultivation at the fourth layer of the Golden Core stage, Perfected Guangling's strength was only considered mid-tier among the nine Golden Core cultivators of the Xiaoyao Sect.

Though he looked only in his twenties or thirties, it was only because he had consumed Beauty Preserving Pills in his early years; in reality, he had been cultivating for over three hundred years, which was not an old age for a Golden Core cultivator.

Golden Core cultivators possess a lifespan of five hundred years. With the consumption of third-grade longevity spiritual items, they can live another hundred years. Barring other causes affecting lifespan, they can generally live to six hundred.

Perfected Guangling had formed his core quite late. He had attempted to form his core three times, only succeeding by luck when he was nearly two hundred years old. Despite having been at the Golden Core stage for nearly two hundred years, he was only at the fourth layer. In the Xiaoyao Sect, he was considered a Golden Core cultivator whose potential had been exhausted, which was why the Sect Leader had appointed him as the Elder of the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall, a position burdened with many trivial matters.

However, Perfected Guangling himself was not so despondent about his path. He often thought of performing meritorious service for the sect to earn more credits, hoping to accelerate his cultivation progress.

Over the years, by utilizing the conveniences of his position as the Hall Master, he had reaped many benefits and exchanged them for various cultivation resources. However, his cultivation speed was truly not fast; it was hard to say if he could reach the late stage of the Golden Core stage before his lifespan ran out, let alone attempt to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

This time, for the sake of this Water Spirit Fruit tree, Perfected Guangling had truly done his utmost. Had it not been for the recent heavy workload of sect affairs, he would have wanted to lead the team to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range personally.

In the Xiaoyao Sect, aside from the Supreme Elder Li Mufeng, who had advanced to the Nascent Soul stage three hundred years ago, the two with the greatest hope of reaching the Nascent Soul stage among the remaining nine Golden Core cultivators were the Sect Leader, Yao Qianshu, and Bai Yuxian.

As the Sect Leader of the Xiaoyao Sect, Yao Qianshu was a figure second only to the Supreme Elder Li Mufeng. His cultivation had long reached the ninth layer of the Golden Core stage, and he had even attempted to break through to the Nascent Soul realm once. He currently had over a hundred years of lifespan left, with a twenty to thirty percent chance of forming a Nascent Soul.

The other female Golden Core cultivator, Bai Yuxian, though a woman, was a person of extraordinary talent. She was the only Heaven-Spiritual Root cultivator in the State of Wei in hundreds of years. At only over two hundred years old, she had already reached the seventh layer of the Golden Core stage; her hope of forming a Nascent Soul in the future was even higher than that of Sect Leader Yao Qianshu.

Naturally, most of the sect's resources were inclined toward these two. While Golden Core cultivators like Perfected Guangling were somewhat dissatisfied, there was nothing they could do. After all, whether it be a cultivation clan or a large sect like the Xiaoyao Sect, such measures were necessary to successfully cultivate Nascent Soul cultivators to carry on the sect's legacy.

If a Nascent Soul sect suffered a gap in its generational succession—if the previous generation of Nascent Soul cultivators passed away and the sect suddenly lacked a Nascent Soul cultivator to guard it—it would certainly attract the scrutiny of surrounding powers, making the downfall of the sect almost inevitable.

However, the Xiaoyao Sect was still in a good position. The current Nascent Soul Supreme Elder, Li Mufeng, was only in his seven-hundreds. A typical Nascent Soul cultivator has a lifespan of at least twelve hundred years, and with high-grade longevity spiritual items, they can live another two or three hundred years, normally lasting until around fifteen hundred years of age. As long as luck is not too poor, the Xiaoyao Sect should have sufficient time to cultivate new Nascent Soul cultivators.