Another day passed, and Ning Fa met with the six Nascent Soul elders and a group of Core Formation disciples of Fu Ling Hall.
Now, in the main hall exclusively for the Hall Master, only Ning Fa and Murong Zhaoxue remained.
Murong Zhaoxue looked at Ning Fa with a joyful expression, while Ning Fa appeared contemplative, his gaze flickering.
After a thorough discussion, he now had a general understanding of Fu Ling Hall's situation.
It could be said that despite the great calamity Fu Ling Hall had suffered, its foundational strength was still considerable.
As far as he knew, five of the six Nascent Soul cultivators in the hall were Thunder Cultivators, with two of them practicing Dual Cultivation of Body and Law, and three possessing Lightning Attribute Spiritual Bodies.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that one of them could be equivalent to two or three ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators.
If placed in the Five Spirits Sea, Fu Ling Hall's strength would undoubtedly rank second.
At this point, Ning Fa looked at Murong Zhaoxue and smiled, "With the Hall Masters for Punishment Hall and You Hall yet to be decided, Zhaoxue, which hall would you like to be the Hall Master of?"
Given Ning Fa and Murong Zhaoxue's relationship, it was natural for him to offer her one of the positions.
Upon hearing this, Murong Zhaoxue was not surprised. Her jade-like face bloomed with a smile as she said, "I'll still be the Hall Master of Punishment Hall."
Ning Fa nodded and then asked, "Then, for the Hall Master of You Hall, who do you think would be more suitable?"
Murong Zhaoxue's eyes showed thought as she slowly replied, "I think Senior Brother Tie would be more suitable."
Ning Fa was slightly surprised. The Senior Brother Tie Murong Zhaoxue mentioned was Elder Tie Hengye of You Hall, the dark-faced man in the Nascent Soul mid-stage who practiced Dual Cultivation of Body and Law.
Based on Ning Fa's brief sensing earlier, he seemed to be the strongest among the six elders, likely much stronger than Gu Huai.
Of course, if Murong Zhaoxue also advanced to the Nascent Soul mid-stage, with her spiritual body advantage, she should be stronger than him.
"I thought you would recommend Gu Huai," Ning Fa couldn't help but laugh.
After all, from what he understood, Murong Zhaoxue had a good relationship with Gu Huai and had always belonged to the same faction.
Murong Zhaoxue chuckled charmingly, "Chang Ning, you might not know, but Senior Brother Tie has high prestige within the hall.
Moreover, since Senior Brother Gu and I were previously in the same faction, if we were to occupy the positions of both Hall Masters, it's very likely that many disciples would be dissatisfied, leading to unnecessary internal strife.
Besides, Senior Brother Tie has always been impartial and loyal to the hall."
Ning Fa nodded. From his previous interactions with Tie Hengye, he had a good impression of the man.
What pleased him was that Murong Zhaoxue was considering the situation entirely from his perspective, without any personal bias.
Then, his expression turned serious as he said, "Zhaoxue, I will likely be traveling for a while soon, and there's something I need you to personally handle for me."
As he spoke, he flipped his right hand, producing a Jade Slip and a Storage Ring, which he handed to Murong Zhaoxue.
"This Jade Slip contains a batch of Spiritual Materials I need, most of which are rare even for Nascent Soul cultivators.
I hope you can mobilize the hall's strength to find them for me. Of course, I'm not asking you to find all of them, just as many as you can. Even if you can't obtain them, having clues would be good.
Also, I know that the hall is currently in a phase of recovery. Although there are still considerable foundational resources, we can't use them all to search for these Spiritual Materials for me.
Therefore, in this Storage Ring, I've left a large sum of Spirit Stones and a batch of precious Spiritual Materials, which should be enough to support you for some time."
The Spiritual Materials listed in Ning Fa's Jade Slip were basically items that could help open the Sea of Lightning Divine Treasury, materials needed to craft the remaining components of the Divine Firmament Thunder Armor Set, and Spiritual Materials that could aid in cultivating the Divine Firmament Manifestation and the Moon God Heart.
Ning Fa didn't expect Murong Zhaoxue to find much; even finding ten or twenty percent would be a great help.
He had also left tens of millions of Spirit Stones and resources of comparable value.
Murong Zhaoxue was initially a little surprised. After she scanned the contents of the Jade Slip with her Spiritual Sense, her expression became a wry smile, but she said without hesitation:
"Chang Ning, don't worry, I will definitely do my best to handle this matter."
Ning Fa smiled and nodded.
At this moment, Murong Zhaoxue suddenly gently licked her rosy lips, her starry eyes looking at him as if veiled in mist, her gaze alluring.
"Chang Ning, we haven't been intimate for a long time..."
As she spoke, she began to shed her clothes and snuggled into Ning Fa's embrace.
Ning Fa was stunned for a moment, then chuckled and picked her up by the waist, walking towards the jade bed behind them.
A long time later, Murong Zhaoxue left, her steps somewhat unsteady.
Ning Fa, however, sat at the desk and solemnly took out the white long box.
This was precisely the handwritten letter left by Ancestor Juelei.
Ning Fa gently touched the item, unsure how to open the box.
But he remembered what Hermit Wuxin had said: only those with the Five Elements Thunder Body could open it.
Thinking of this, Ning Fa's mind stirred, and in his dantian, the Five Elements Thunder Rune Pattern symbolizing the Five Elements Thunder Body appeared.
The moment it manifested, the white long box in Ning Fa's hand seemed to be stimulated. The mysterious patterns on its surface suddenly lit up, and after a flow, the lid automatically opened.
Inside was a sheepskin scroll, densely covered with writing.
Ning Fa's gaze sharpened. After a brief scan with his Spiritual Sense, he eagerly began to read.
He spent several hours reading.
Finally, Ning Fa put down the sheepskin scroll, his expression fluctuating, his eyes filled with shock and excitement.
This handwritten manuscript indeed focused on how Ancestor Juelei, after forming his Nascent Soul, opened up the Sea of Lightning Divine Treasury within his body, detailing what spiritual materials he used and how he obtained them.
However, after reading it, Ning Fa couldn't help but wear a wry smile. This was because Ancestor Juelei lived a hundred thousand years ago. At that time, the world's spiritual materials were abundant, not comparable to ancient times, but still much richer than the present day.
Even so, Ancestor Juelei could be said to have relied mostly on luck and opportunity to obtain these spiritual materials for condensing the Innate Thunder Seed, making it incredibly difficult for him to replicate.
But it wasn't without its rewards; on the contrary, Ning Fa benefited greatly.
Because Ancestor Juelei also listed some places where it was possible to obtain spiritual materials for condensing the Innate Thunder Seed. Some of these were places he had planned to visit, but he didn't go because he had accidentally condensed the Innate Thunder Seed.
Without exception, these places were extremely dangerous. Therefore, it was highly likely that even now, those spiritual materials still existed.
This was naturally of immense help to Ning Fa, at least giving him a direction.
Concurrently, Ancestor Juelei also recorded his experiences and insights from the process of opening up the Sea of Lightning Divine Treasury within his body, as well as some detours he had taken.
He even included some special divine abilities he comprehended after advancing to Spirit Transformation, which were specifically cast using the Divine Thunder of the Five Elements and possessed immense power.
These records were naturally very helpful to Ning Fa.
Beyond these, this manuscript contained another piece of information: the final whereabouts of Ancestor Juelei.
This part of the record also greatly shocked Ning Fa.
After Ancestor Juelei advanced to Spirit Transformation, he had already felt the limitations of the world. Even with his Five Elements Thunder Body, he could only barely advance to the middle stage of Spirit Transformation before finding it impossible to progress further.
Ancestor Juelei was naturally unwilling to be trapped and die there. Thus, he traveled throughout the Human Realm, searching for a way to ascend.
During this process, through some special opportunities, he discovered a world-shattering secret!
That was why the world they currently resided in, the Human Realm, had experienced such drastic changes in its spiritual energy.
According to Ancestor Juelei, approximately a million years ago, someone from the Spirit Realm had brought an unimaginably precious treasure to their lower realm.
The grade of this treasure far surpassed ordinary Heaven-Piercing Spirit Treasures.
At that time, the Human Realm had not lost contact with the Spirit Realm. Soon, the human, demon, sea, and giant spirit races residing in the Spirit Realm learned of this news.
They all dispatched personnel, sparing no expense, to investigate and contend for this treasure.
Furthermore, somehow the news of this matter also reached the Ancient Demon Realm. Consequently, the Ancient Demon Realm also dispatched numerous demon cultivators to break through the realm and enter the Human Realm, also vying for this treasure.
As a result, during that period, the entire Human Realm was engulfed in bloodshed, with constant infighting.
According to Ancestor Juelei's estimation, it was highly possible that terrifying existences like Void Refinement cultivators were present among the experts of the lower realm at that time.
Ancestor Juelei did not know how long this struggle and competition lasted. Later, by chance, he obtained the final testament of a powerful figure from the lower realm, who was precisely Daoist Tian Yan, mentioned earlier by Hermit Wuxin.
From Daoist Tian Yan's final testament, Ancestor Juelei received news that stunned him:
It turned out that the treasure was the legendary Profound Heaven Spirit Treasure!
However, it was incomplete, seemingly only a portion of it.
Even so, upon receiving this news, the major races in the Spirit Realm went mad. They then spent immense resources to dispatch numerous experts to the lower realm, intending to seize this Profound Heaven treasure.
After all, even in the vast Spirit Realm, Profound Heaven Spirit Treasures were the pinnacle of treasures. Only the super-great clans of the Spirit Realm could possibly possess them. Unexpectedly, through a twist of fate, one had fallen into the Human Realm.
According to Daoist Tian Yan's deduction, it was likely that a mysterious race from the Spirit Realm possessed this Profound Heaven Spirit Treasure. However, this race suffered a great calamity, causing some of its members, along with a portion of this Profound Heaven Spirit Treasure, to fall into their Human Realm.
The members of that mysterious race, under siege by numerous experts from the lower realms, eventually activated that Profound Heaven Spirit Treasure.
Instead of directly eliminating the experts from the lower realms, they directly severed the connection between the Human Realm and the Spirit Realm, preventing races from the Spirit Realm from sending reinforcements.
This was also the fundamental reason for the drastic change in the world's spiritual energy. Since this realm was originally an affiliated realm of the Spirit Realm, after losing contact with it, it was like water without a source, and its spiritual energy naturally declined day by day.
The top experts from the lower realms then united and, taking advantage of the fact that the Profound Heaven Spirit Treasure could not be used again for a short period, engaged in a final decisive battle with the people of the mysterious race in a place called Mi Tian Valley.
As for what happened afterward, Daoist Tian Yan did not know.
This was because he had cultivated a special soul-splitting secret technique. His main body had entered Mi Tian Valley, while his split soul remained outside.
However, his main body suffered some unknown terrifying attack, and his external split soul was also severely injured.
Knowing that his death was imminent, he left behind this final testament and his legacy of cultivation for future fated individuals.