"Of course you can. Every disciple of Qingxiao Sect has the right to make their own choices."
Chu Jing looked at the timid Zhang Ping and replied softly. In his heart, he felt helpless, thinking that Zhang Ping was truly hopeless—mud that could not be molded into a wall.
He had encountered fortuitous opportunities yet lacked courage. His road ahead would likely be difficult.
Chu Jing had invited Zhang Ping to join the Guardian Immortal Guard not merely because of Zhang Ping's cultivation. Back when Chu Jing had first entered Qingxiao Sect, Zhang Ping had clung to him, and they had gotten along fairly well. Chu Jing had wanted to give this junior a hand.
"Then I won't go. Thank you for thinking highly of me, senior."
Zhang Ping said seriously, a sense of vigilance toward Chu Jing arising in his heart.
For some reason, he felt that Chu Jing looked somewhat familiar, even though Chu Jing had concealed himself very thoroughly.
Chu Jing did not say anything further and turned to leave.
Zhang Ping sat back down and let out a sigh of relief.
"Life in the sect is becoming more and more dangerous. Wanting quiet cultivation is really hard."
Zhang Ping sighed inwardly. He considered whether to go out alone to gain experience. After all, so many years had passed—Grand Director Xuan was probably already dead or had left Jiuzhou long ago. Outside, he would have no enemies.
After thinking for a while, Zhang Ping decided to go to the Training Hall the next day to take a look.
…
The establishment of the Guardian Immortal Guard spread throughout the sect, making the Eight Halls, the Sword Sect, and the Martial Hall all feel a threat to their authority. However, upon hearing that the Guardian Immortal Guard numbered only twenty people, they relaxed somewhat.
Lord Jing was a newly risen power within Qingxiao Sect and represented the Sect Master. The Guardian Immortal Guard he formed was naturally authorized by the Sect Master. As a result, more and more people began trying to find ways to join the Guardian Immortal Guard. Unfortunately, Lord Jing rejected all such requests—even when hall masters approached him, he turned them down.
This caused many disciples to admire Lord Jing, believing he truly wanted to do things properly, especially since some of the disciples he selected came from humble backgrounds.
Only Lord Jing himself knew that these disciples had not been chosen by him at all—they had been personally designated by Li Qingqiu.
He had also been curious why these disciples were worthy of Li Qingqiu's favor. After observing them, he found that they had not had close interactions with Li Qingqiu.
Could it be that Li Qingqiu had truly selected them through inspection?
Chu Jing knew that Li Qingqiu had a habit of wandering around the sect.
After the Guardian Immortal Guard was fully staffed, Chu Jing began leading them in action. He soon discovered that these disciples held Li Qingqiu and the sect in the highest regard, feared no powerful figures within the sect, and were extremely convenient to use. This made him admire Li Qingqiu even more.
The Guardian Immortal Guard's impact on the sect was limited for the time being, but the Qingxiao Swords distributed by the Heavenly Works Hall caused a major stir throughout the sect.
Every True Disciple received a Qingxiao Sword. After refining the owner-recognition restriction within the sword, they began attempting to master it. For most of them, this was their first time using a magical artifact. They were extremely excited, even going to the Martial Platform to demonstrate.
The Heavenly Works Hall had long been capable of forging magical artifacts, but none had previously circulated. The Qingxiao Sword was the first magical artifact to be distributed on a large scale—and it was given out for free. While this thrilled the True Disciples, it also filled them with gratitude toward Li Qingqiu, something Li Qingqiu could clearly see from their loyalty.
The power of the Qingxiao Sword was soon verified. This artifact was extremely formidable, allowing disciples to wield the Sword Riding Technique more effectively. Their sword qi was strengthened, and they could even use it to cast different techniques.
The number of True Disciples had now surpassed six hundred. With each of them wielding a Qingxiao Sword, the entire sect could witness just how powerful the Qingxiao Sword was.
It was said that after autumn arrived, Inner Disciples would also receive Qingxiao Swords. This further ignited the disciples' motivation to cultivate.
To become a True Disciple, one needed cultivation at the fourth layer of the Nurturing Essence Realm—very difficult. Becoming an Inner Disciple, however, was much easier; as long as one cultivated vital energy, there was hope.
The Heavenly Works Hall had to research formations and artifacts while also forging Qingxiao Swords. This forced Li Qingqiu to expand their manpower. The number of disciples in the Heavenly Works Hall reached three hundred, which in the martial world could already be considered an entire sect.
Additional manpower was assigned to the transport route from the Spirit Copper Mountain Range to Qingxiao Mountain. Occasionally, blind bandits or military forces tried to block the way, but in the end they were all frightened into kneeling and begging for mercy. Disciples with gentler tempers would let them go, while those with fiercer tempers would carry out a massacre on the spot.
The name of the Qingxiao Sword rapidly spread throughout the martial world. Many True Disciples took Qingxiao Swords down the mountain to gain experience. Before the Qingxiao Sword, mundane divine weapons all seemed utterly inadequate.
Summer passed, autumn arrived.
Amid the eager anticipation of the sect's disciples, the Heavenly Works Hall finally began distributing Qingxiao Swords to Inner Disciples, with assistance from the Spirit Management Hall, issuing them in batches.
The Qingxiao Sword was destined to cause an unprecedented impact on the martial world.
This day, shortly after noon.
Zhang Yuchun came to visit Li Qingqiu and spoke to him about events across the world.
When the lords of the realm were blocked by the Northern Barbarians' army, Li Sifeng stepped forward. The cavalry force he commanded advanced straight through, unstoppable. He slaughtered his way into the Northern Barbarians' main camp, captured their general, and shook Cangzhou with his might. Now the Northern Barbarians were in complete disarray.
Zhu Xian thus rose to great fame, his prestige surpassing that of other major lords.
Li Qingqiu showed little reaction. In his view, Li Sifeng achieving this was only natural. He even felt Li Sifeng had not done enough and had been somewhat slow.
After finishing this topic, Zhang Yuchun brought up Fengxia Mountain.
Li Qingqiu had always been very interested in Fengxia Mountain's alchemy arts, so he instructed Zhang Yuchun to send disciples there to study and exchange knowledge of the Alchemical Dao. Of course, they would not learn for free—the disciples would bring Qingxiao Sect's own alchemy methods with them.
As two of the Martial World's Two Saints, Fengxia Mountain and Qingxiao Sect had always maintained friendly relations, and their interactions were pleasant. When Seeking Immortal Town previously held an auction, Fengxia Mountain had also shown Zhang Yuchun respect by sending Daoists to participate.
"Recently, Fengxia Mountain has produced a prodigy. At only seven years old, he has already received true transmission. His name is Bai Yutian. The disciples I sent came back and told me that this child was born able to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Fengxia Mountain's inheritance is extremely simple for him—he practically masters everything the moment he learns it," Zhang Yuchun said with a sigh of emotion.
Being born able to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was, by itself, enough to prove that Bai Yutian was an extraordinary cultivation genius.
Li Qingqiu smiled and asked, "What, do you want to recruit him?"
"I'm afraid that won't work. He's already been designated as the next Abbot of Fengxia Mountain. Fengxia Mountain understands some esoteric arts, but they follow a martial path. They don't yet realize what this child's aptitude truly represents. I feel sorry for Bai Yutian, and I'm also a bit worried," Zhang Yuchun shook his head.
"Worried about what?"
"I'm worried he'll turn out like Yan Daozong. Yan Daozong was able to enter the Dao on his own and create even stronger martial arts. I'm afraid this child might comprehend cultivation methods by himself and lead Fengxia Mountain to transform into a cultivation sect."
Zhang Yuchun spoke with concern. He had always gotten along well with Fengxia Mountain and maintained regular correspondence with them, but no matter how good their relationship was, he did not want Fengxia Mountain to become a threat.
Li Qingqiu shook his head and laughed. "Relying on him alone, achieving that won't be so easy."
He had been able to rapidly build up Qingxiao Sect not merely because of the Supreme Purity and Primordial Harmony Sutra, but also because of the Dao Lineage guidance that directed fortune opportunities. That was the true key to the sect's rapid development.
Zhang Yuchun asked, "But what if?"
Li Qingqiu replied, "If it truly comes to that, we'll see whether they're willing to attach themselves to us. If they're not willing, we won't force them—but we won't allow them to compete with us for resources."
He thought of the Qingxia Sect founded by Zhou Ya. That small cultivation sect had yet to make a name for itself, but he had already dispatched Shadow Hall disciples to infiltrate it. Sect Master Qiu Dahuo trusted that Shadow Hall disciple greatly and even showed signs of grooming him into a deputy sect master.
Zhang Yuchun was right—one had to guard against problems before they arose. Li Qingqiu decided to also place a Shadow Hall disciple within Fengxia Mountain.
In the struggle of sect development, there was never much room for morality. If everyone harbored ambitions to dominate the world, conflict was inevitable.
If there was no threat, Li Qingqiu would naturally treat others with courtesy and would not bully the weak with strength. But if sect development was endangered, he would have few scruples.
"Let's hope things won't reach that point," Zhang Yuchun said with a sigh.
At that moment, the three Xiao brothers strode quickly into Lingxiao Courtyard, all three wearing excited expressions.
They came before the table and saluted Li Qingqiu and Zhang Yuchun. Seeing that Zhang Yuchun was still present, they did not speak immediately.
Zhang Yuchun chuckled, feeling that these three youngsters had truly grown up.
"I still have matters to attend to. I'll take my leave first."
Zhang Yuchun stood up and departed.
After he left, Xiao Wudi and the other two finally removed the storage bags from their waists and placed them on the table.
"Sect Master, your dream was real. The Thousand Dragon Cave in Xiaoyao Prefecture truly hides a treasure left behind by ancient cultivators. Everything is inside these storage bags. We even saw that cultivator's corpse—you should've seen it, his bones were all golden."
Xiao Wudi said excitedly. Xiao Wuqing and Xiao Wuming were just as thrilled.
The Thousand Dragon Cave they spoke of was a fortune opportunity unlocked by Li Qingqiu. There were special restrictions inside the cave; only by activating mechanisms could one reach the cave residence.
Although it was not a blessed land or a cultivation resource, Li Qingqiu believed the value of this cave residence was definitely not low.
"Mm, not bad. You can all go rest first. After I finish inspecting everything, I'll reward you," Li Qingqiu said with a satisfied smile, picking up one of the storage bags to examine.
Xiao Wuqing hurriedly added, "Sect Master, on the way back, we clashed with a group of mysterious martial artists. We didn't suffer losses, but their martial skills were extraordinary. Should I send people to investigate?"
"If you want to do it, then do it," Li Qingqiu replied.
Xiao Wuqing acknowledged the order.
After the three brothers left, Li Qingqiu extended his Awakening Spirit into the storage bags and inspected them one by one.
Inside were manuals, talismans, pills, magical artifacts, seeds, and more—extremely abundant. He took out the thickest manual and flipped through it.
It was a cultivation art called the Five Hearts Path-Turning Art. Although it was inferior to the Supreme Purity and Primordial Harmony Sutra, it was still a very solid method of absorbing energy. It could switch the attribute of vital energy. Once cultivated to completion, the five attributes would merge into one, condensing even stronger Five-Element vital energy.
Not bad—this could be added to the Scripture Pavilion.
Li Qingqiu only gave it a cursory glance before setting it aside.
After inspecting all three storage bags, he was fairly satisfied. Although there was nothing he personally yearned to learn, if these items fell into someone else's hands, they might truly be enough to build a cultivation sect.
Unfortunately, the formation manuals inside were very basic. They did not contain the teleportation formations he wanted most.
He put away the three storage bags, planning to distribute them later to the halls that needed them.
He returned to his cave dwelling to cultivate. The demon domain and the Azure Dragon Domain were like two blades hanging over his head, forcing him to cultivate diligently and make himself as strong as possible, as quickly as possible.