Chapter 54: Sheng Sect Disciple

Sheng Sect Disciple

"Senior Brother, the Ancestor is waiting for you at the Star Observation Chart. It seems that a sect elder will be visiting in a while."

"Understood."

Diwu Cang flicked his sleeves slightly, as if to brush away dust that did not exist in this wonderful cultivation realm, got up, rode the wind, and walked slowly, drifting to the side of the pool. He certainly knew that the Ancestor summoning him at this time must be for something important, but as a Qingling disciple, he had his own demeanor. He bowed to the few outer-door disciples by the pool and said with a smile, "Thank you, Junior Brothers."

Only then did he turn into an escape light and fly toward the depths of the Grotto-Heaven. Flying all the way, he pondered the Ancestor's intentions and speculated which Grotto-Heaven expert among the sect elders was visiting, what their relationship with the Diwu clan was, whether the Ancestor calling him over meant to place him in some errand, or whether he wanted to use his identity as a sword envoy to facilitate his own actions.

That's right, Chang Chunfeng and Qu Pingting both knew nothing about the sword envoy matter, but Diwu Cang was ultimately a Sheng Sect disciple. Since childhood, because of his identity as a sword seed, he had been looked at differently by his family. For twenty years since Foundation Establishment, he had been in closed-door cultivation in the Ancestor's Grotto-Heaven—he was the great-great-grandson of the Qingling Sect Grotto-Heaven Ancestor, and could be considered to have come from a famous family. Ruan Ci's dream this time, besides the various wonderful and subtle feelings of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, also gave her a much richer understanding of the several major Sheng Sects in the Central Continent than before.

The more she had these strange dreams, the more she could taste the benefits. Besides being able to serve as intent-cultivation resources, the longer Ruan Ci immersed herself in the cultivation world, the more she could feel the importance of foundation. For example, Xie Xie Yan Huan, not to mention her outstanding talent, had a Grotto-Heaven cultivator like True Person Wang among her relatives, so one could imagine she had a certain foundation in the Central Continent. After entering the sect, she worshipped under the Sect Master, and naturally, she could grow up step by step as a small disciple.

Even for a mortal family, if they could grow up in the Nine Kingdoms under Zijing Mountain, they would hear some of the various mysterious stories of the cultivation world. Unlike Ruan Ci, who was born in the South Zhuzhou, which was not a prosperous place, and grew up in the Song Guo array. The only two relatives she could rely on were just like her, surrounded by many people with ulterior motives because of the Donghua Sword. With their current status and cultivation base, how could they distinguish who was truly guiding them and who was intentionally setting them up, just to use the Donghua Sword at some point in the future to achieve their own goals? For Ruan Ci, this path seemed to be going very smoothly, worshipping in a wealthy family, looked at differently by a Grotto-Heaven True Person, but only she knew that there was no one she could trust and no one she could rely on. Even Rong and Qian could not provide any help at this moment, and might even become bargaining chips for others to deal with her at some point in the future.

But in this strange dream, a cultivator's consciousness would never lie. She had a dream and gained a person's knowledge. Before, Chang Chunfeng didn't feel it, and Qu Pingting was just a small Qi Condensation cultivator and not in the Central Continent, so the feeling wasn't obvious. But this Diwu Cang's soul, the details in his memory that she found very interesting were very complex. There were many trivial matters Ruan Ci wanted to investigate, but she also knew that the moment the Donghua Sword collected souls was hard to predict. Chang Chunfeng's dream before death lasted several days, but Qu Pingting's only lasted a few hours. The most urgent task was to imprint every aspect of a Foundation Establishment cultivator into her memory as much as possible.

However, this was not difficult. Ruan Ci's heart moved, and she took in Diwu Cang's inner-scene world at a glance, and couldn't help but nod secretly, thinking, "So that's how Foundation Establishment works. No wonder they all say Qi Condensation cultivators are only 'near the Dao,' constantly adjusting their bodies to get closer to the Great Dao. This Foundation Establishment is the beginning of entering the Dao. Indeed, cultivators can only have an absolute difference from mortals after Foundation Establishment, or rather, after Foundation Establishment, the difference from mortals is so great that it cannot be ignored. No wonder cultivators don't take mortals seriously. To them, mortals can only be considered kin, but they are no longer the same race."

In Diwu Cang's inner-scene world, the jade pool was about twenty zhang in size, which was quite impressive in the Profound Heaven Sect. However, since he had been valued by the Grotto-Heaven Ancestor since childhood, this size was not considered a great genius. Ruan Ci could also read from his memory the various care he had received since opening his meridians. Although the Qingling Sect, like the Profound Heaven Sect, required outer-door disciples to live in the sect and not rely too much on a certain Grotto-Heaven, for a descendant of the Ancestor like Diwu Cang, this rule was naturally a mere formality. He would occasionally stay in Elder Diwu's Vast Sea Bai Yu Heaven for a few months under the name of visiting relatives, and naturally, there was a lot of support involved. It was also from Diwu Cang that Ruan Ci learned that True Person Wang was not really generous to her. Although the treasure materials Tianlu sent her were enough, they were not even one-tenth of what Elder Diwu bestowed upon Diwu Cang.

Regardless of whether these good things of Diwu Cang were useful or useless to Ruan Ci, Ruan Ci still kept a small account for True Person Wang in her heart. Only then did she continue to explore—but in fact, Diwu Cang could only give her rich knowledge on many small matters. On major matters, he didn't know much, and didn't know how he was sensed. He only remembered a gathering of the clan when he was young, after which his parents looked happy, and not long after, he was taken to the Vast Sea Bai Yu Heaven, and after that, he opened his meridians and established his foundation without any twists and turns. Twenty-five years to reach Foundation Establishment, forging an eight-layer high platform, only a sliver away from the ninth layer. After that, he practiced diligently in this small spirit realm within the Bai Yu Heaven. The Ancestor often sent down rewards, and his control over him was quite loose. Besides practicing, Diwu Cang was often sent out by the sect to handle things, all of which were good jobs. He also set up many industries outside the sect and made many friends with great prospects.

Ruan Ci had no emotional inclination toward the memories of Chang Chunfeng and Qu Pingting, but in Diwu Cang's memory, there were many things she didn't like, so she flipped through them hurriedly and didn't want to look at them again, just focusing on experiencing the feeling after Foundation Establishment. She explored Diwu Cang's feelings during Foundation Establishment even more—naturally, Diwu Cang's cultivation method had no secrets to her.

Diwu Cang practiced the "Qingling Myriad Blessings Yu Yu Mi Lu," the town-sect method of the Qingling Sect. During the Qi Condensation period, every time he operated the method, he would visualize the Qingling Myriad Blessings secret text in his brain. Diwu Cang chose the 'Luck' secret text. During the Qi Condensation period, this secret text would not condense into a solid body, but would only form a faint phantom at the bottom of the jade pool. Until the jade pool was full, he would visualize the secret text, mobilize magic power, and then take external medicine. With the help of the 'Luck' secret text, after the medicinal power was dispersed, it was extremely harmonious with the magic power, quickly turning the magic power pool water into thick spiritual liquid. Diwu Cang then used this thick spiritual liquid to condense layer by layer in the jade pool, first forging the foundation, then building upward, while constantly visualizing and reciting the secret text. In this way, manipulating the spiritual liquid would not be too exhausting, and the Dao foundation that could be forged would even be two or three layers higher because of this.

Ruan Ci could feel from Diwu Cang's memory that he actually still had a lot of energy left when forging the eighth-layer Dao foundation, which was because of the help of this secret text. Of course, the external medicine he used for Foundation Establishment was also a treasure sought for him by the Diwu clan, among which there were a few rare ones that were not even inferior to the treasure gourd given by True Person Wang (this also made Ruan Ci keep another small account for True Person Wang), which also made him more relaxed. It was just that between this eighth layer and the ninth layer, it seemed that it was not just magic power spiritual liquid that was needed. Diwu Cang piled up very high, but still did not step over the threshold of the ninth layer. Fearing that his spirit would be exhausted, and instead the Dao foundation would collapse and Foundation Establishment would fail, he regretfully stopped at the eighth layer.

After successful Foundation Establishment, one could no longer see meridians and flesh in inner vision, only the inner-scene world. It was truly that the physical body was a skin bag, and the cultivator's origin was all in the inner-scene world. It was only then that Ruan Ci could imagine what the so-called 'rebirth from a drop of blood' felt like. Taking Diwu Cang as an example, at this time, even if his head were cut off, as long as the inner-scene world was not damaged, it could be cultivated again in time. If the cultivation base went up another level, and one could hide the inner-scene world in a drop of one's own blood, then rebirth from a drop of blood would not be such an unimaginable supernatural power.

And at this time, the inner-scene world was the jade pool, with a high platform reaching the sky, surrounded by pool water, with thick spiritual liquid in the middle. After spiritual power entered the body, it passed through the high platform and dripped onto the pool surface. When Diwu Cang first established his foundation, the eight-layer high platform was all a phantom, and spiritual power would pass through directly. After ten years of cultivation after Foundation Establishment, the first layer of the high platform turned from virtual to real. Spiritual power passed through the first seven layers, but fell to the outside at the bottom layer, rolling down slowly. Rolling down one layer meant it was one-tenth purer. When his eight-layer high platform all turned from virtual to real, he could draw in spiritual energy like the sea, pass it through the eight-layer high platform, roll it down layer by layer, and drip it into the jade pool as thick spiritual liquid almost like a solid. To forge a Golden Core with such spiritual liquid, it seemed that the obstacles would be much fewer than other cultivators.

The "Qingling Myriad Blessings Yu Yu Mi Lu" naturally had various wonderful uses during the Foundation Establishment period, and there were many ways to defeat enemies, which were countless times richer and more practical than the "Qinghua Secret News." The cultivation method practiced by Qu Pingting could not be compared with it at all, and could simply be torn up and thrown away. This was the reason why Sheng Sect disciples were always one step ahead. Diwu Cang could stay in the Grotto-Heaven, occupy a secret realm to practice, and the spiritual energy here was almost endless, even richer than the Zijing Mountain of the Profound Heaven Sect. He didn't need to extract it, he only needed to breathe and inhale with all his might, and he could practice almost endlessly. If he wasn't often sent out by the sect to train, it wouldn't be difficult to practice steadily to Golden Core here.

Although his thinking was very fast, Foundation Establishment was ultimately not comparable to Qi Condensation, and the changes in his body were earth-shaking. As Ruan Ci experienced it carefully, Diwu Cang had already passed through the beautiful Grotto-Heaven scenery and arrived at a palace, bowed, and called the Ancestor, "Ancestor, may your blessings and longevity be long. This grandson is unfilial and hasn't visited for a long time, making the Ancestor worry."

The Fifth Ancestor was also an incarnation here. Judging from Diwu Cang's vision, this incarnation was only at the Golden Core cultivation base, so it was not too oppressive. This incarnation was in his thirties, dressed as a scholar, holding a ruyi in his hand, waved it casually, told Diwu Cang to sit down, and said, "You are a sensible child, always practicing diligently. I have nothing to worry about with you."

Ruan Ci originally had no likes or dislikes for this Fifth Ancestor. After all, Diwu Cang didn't have much contact with him, and most of the time he just came to listen to some admonitions. His cultivation base was too low to be personally guided by the Ancestor. However, as soon as she heard the Ancestor say this, she felt a great dislike in her heart and thought secretly, "Nothing to worry about? If you knew how he bullied low-sect cultivators outside the sect and how arrogant he was, could you still say this?"

Diwu Cang was the first soul she hated very much, and even this Fifth Ancestor, and even the Qingling Sect, were not liked by Ruan Ci. However, Diwu Cang naturally felt nothing. After all, this dream was just a very vivid memory. Not to mention Diwu Cang, even the Fifth Ancestor didn't seem to know that someone was peeking from the side. Diwu Cang was polite and humble for a few words, and the Fifth Ancestor said, "I summoned you this time because there is movement in the South Zhuzhou. That Xie Demon has already broken through the array, and it's hard to say if she will break through the air at any moment. However, she definitely cannot take away the Qingjun Sword. This time, my Qingling Sect is prepared to fight for the sword with all its strength. I ask you, do you have the confidence to be the first sword envoy?"

Diwu Cang paused for a moment. He was a man of some shrewdness and did not rush to agree, instead asking, "Old Ancestor, I only know that besides me, there are four other Sword Seeds in the sect..."

"You don't go out much, but your news is well-informed." The Fifth Ancestor seemed quite satisfied with Diwu Cang and smiled, "Well, at this point, I won't hide it from you. From three thousand years ago to now, the sect has collected and cultivated hundreds of sword seeds, and now there are more than twenty left. Among them, the one with the highest cultivation base is already at the Nascent Soul realm, but it is still incomparable to the Xie Demon. The one with the lowest cultivation base is still in the Qi Condensation period, so let's not talk about him. You, a Foundation Establishment kid, although you have my full support, if you want to force yourself to stand out and fight for this first place, I'm afraid the foundation of our Vast Sea Bai Yu Heaven is still a bit shallow."

The Sheng Sects were always united when facing the outside world. What the Ancestor said was all about things after bringing the Donghua Sword back to the Qingling Sect. If it wasn't brought back, then naturally there was no need to mention it, but they couldn't not do preparatory work because of this. Diwu Cang knew that if he had the confidence to fight for this first place, then the Ancestor would contact friends to occupy a position for him in advance. If he retreated in the face of difficulties, the Ancestor could also use temporary concessions to gain more benefits. And the Ancestor's inquiry at this moment was also to see what Diwu Cang's character was like and how to arrange it. —Diwu Cang had already worshipped under the Ancestor's sect, and was also a descendant, and also a disciple of a disciple. In fact, in the cultivation world, master-disciple relationships were much closer than blood relationships. A disciple betraying a master had to bear great karma, and a master failing a disciple was the same. Therefore, although the Ancestor's power was heaven-reaching, he would not act arbitrarily and completely treat Diwu Cang as a bargaining chip. He still had to ask for his own opinion and also choose the most suitable path for him.

With Diwu Cang's current cultivation base, he naturally could not fight against a Nascent Soul senior. However, if he could hide in the Grotto-Heaven after obtaining the sword, refine the divine sword in a short time, and raise his cultivation base to the late Golden Core stage, it was not impossible to fight against a Nascent Soul senior. Diwu Cang had heard many stories of the Xie Demon wielding the sword and acting fiercely. That Xie Demon, after drawing the sword during the Golden Core period, was invincible among her peers in the world, and even killing enemies across realms was like a daily routine for her. After she advanced to Nascent Soul, the Donghua Sword could emit the power of a full-strength strike from a Grotto-Heaven True Person. After that, she hadn't beheaded any Grotto-Heaven, but everyone firmly believed that if she was forced to a dead end, she would have this ability in a desperate fight.

If Diwu Cang had this confidence in his own aptitude, then naturally fighting to be the first sword envoy was the safest. Otherwise, he would have to bear the risk of never having a chance with the Donghua Sword, and even being hunted down and killed by the sword envoy. But if his realm did not improve quickly enough after obtaining the sword, then he would have to accept this sect errand that came once every hundred years. This was a great opportunity for other forces. At that time, it would still be death, and no matter how you looked at it, the probability of dying as the first sword envoy was much higher.

Diwu Cang carefully weighed the aptitude and foundation of the several sword envoys he knew in his heart, and also had to pay attention to the time, so as not to think for too long and make the Ancestor think he was indecisive and disappointed. Countless thoughts surged in his heart, and Ruan Ci also noticed that the speed of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's thoughts was much more agile than that of a Qi Condensation cultivator. She considered her brain to be very fast, and Chang Chunfeng and Qu Pingting could not compare to her, but at this moment, Diwu Cang's thinking and consideration calculated hundreds of things clearly in an instant, which was even faster than her. If compared with his own memories during the Qi Condensation period, it was almost doubled.

Foundation Establishment cultivators were like this, what about Golden Core cultivators, Nascent Soul cultivators, and even Grotto-Heaven cultivators?

At this moment, Ruan Ci couldn't help but think of Qu Qu Tan Yue's parting advice in the South Zhuzhou, and only then did she know that what he said was indeed from the heart. Great cultivators were all monsters, and even this kind of thinking was not comparable to small cultivators. Before possessing the corresponding cultivation base, wanting to play any tricks was indeed overestimating one's own capabilities.

But fortunately, there was one point that made Ruan Ci feel more at ease, and that was that the incarnation manifested by a cultivator's spirit had the power of thought according to the cultivation base of the incarnation, and could not exceed the cultivation base of the clone, at most having the vision of a great cultivator. If it weren't for this, she really wouldn't know how to get along with those Nascent Soul and Grotto-Heaven old monsters. Just imagine, your thoughts are still on this matter, but he has already deduced all the changes after one hundred or two hundred steps. How terrifying would that be?

In the Qingling Sect, there were also many forces and peaks, and the Diwu clan also had its own allies. Diwu Cang actually only had a half-understanding of this, but even so, he had his own judgment on the status and energy of the Vast Sea Bai Yu Heaven in the Qingling Sect. In an instant, many thoughts flowed through his heart, all related to the sect's secrets. Ruan Ci almost instinctively recorded them one by one, not knowing if they would be useful one day. After just a few sips of tea, Diwu Cang also had his own conclusion. In fact, he knew from the very first moment that he had no confidence in competing with another Golden Core sword seed in the sect, but he was still unwilling and struggled for a long time. Finally, he sighed secretly, accepted the facts, and said, "Ancestor, this grandson thinks that stability is the best. I heard that refining the Donghua Sword as a sword envoy takes a short time of ten years and a long time of twenty years. Even if one is lucky enough to refine it, there is still a very long time before one can wield it as one wishes. This grandson is still in the Foundation Establishment period, and my time is limited. It would be better to give the Donghua Sword to others and let them delay their cultivation. This grandson will take the opportunity to form a core and plan for a hundred years later."

Inner-door disciples of the Qingling Sect must undertake sect errands every hundred years and go out to train. This was an opportunity for many things to happen. The Fifth Ancestor nodded slowly, unable to tell if he was happy or angry, "You can be considered to have self-knowledge."

It seemed that he also didn't think Diwu Cang could win the first place and keep the Qing Sword. Diwu Cang actually had the same judgment about himself, but the Ancestor's words still made him feel a trace of resentment in secret. He hurriedly explained to himself in his heart, and planned to find an opportunity to go out of the Grotto-Heaven later, looking for ways to vent the anger in his heart.

Ruan Ci knew his thoughts like the back of her hand, and at this moment, she was also disgusted with this person, wishing she could manipulate Diwu Cang's hands and feet and let him slap himself. Just as she was listening to Diwu Cang carefully flattering the Ancestor, she suddenly felt a flash of Qi, which seemed to lock him in the dark, and she also sighed secretly, "Sigh, this is the Qing Sword soul-snatching. During the Qi Condensation period, one can only see one big star, but a Foundation Establishment cultivator can sense that Qi. I don't know what it's like during the Golden Core period."

"This—how dare she!"

The Ancestor's angry shout came from beside her, but Diwu Cang's consciousness ended here. He only felt his whole body trembling violently, his soul flew out of his body, and he flew out of the Grotto-Heaven involuntarily. The strong wind scraped his soul like torture. Diwu Cang soon couldn't bear such severe pain, his consciousness blurred, as if falling into a deep sleep.

The next moment, Ruan Ci opened her eyes, the treasure gourd still held in her mouth, not yet fully melted.

She looked at the top of the tent, turned over the various things in the dream, thought about it many times, and had many new views on Ruan Ci's experience in the past ten years. After a long time, she slowly exhaled, swallowed the last of the medicinal liquid in her mouth, got up, poured a cup of spirit spring water, drank it slowly, and thought secretly, "Regardless of what her plan is, Sister Xie collected all the sword seeds in the world before leaving, which indeed helped me a lot. This actually also helped her collect karma. Otherwise, with the Heavenly Boat pressing on the border of the Central Continent, how could it be just such a point-to-point competition? I'm afraid it would have shattered the Mandala and even damaged the fortune of the South Zhuzhou, leaving behind heavy injuries that would be difficult to make up for."

These countless souls indeed gave her many more trials in the process of refining the Donghua Sword than all other sword envoys, but they also gave her a lot of help in every aspect. Ruan Ci savored and guessed Xie Xie Yan Huan's considerations at that time, and then thought of the current Seven Stars Small Abode, as well as Ruan Rong, True Person Wang, Chen Jun, and even Lin Ji. She took more than half an hour to drink a cup of tea before she came back to her senses. She practiced Qi and adjusted her breath for a while, only feeling that the spiritual energy was overflowing and her meridians were swollen and painful. Knowing that she couldn't delay too long, she hardened her heart and thought secretly, "Qingjun, don't find me annoying—oh, no, she won't find me annoying. To her, this is thousands or tens of thousands of years apart. It's just that to me, this month or so has been constant dreaming... With so many dreams, can I still remember who I am and where I am?"

While thinking wildly, she lay down again, her spirit guarding her dantian, and silently recited the "Yin Jun Dan Ge Zhu" again, "The sun and moon have their times, reverse the operation of yin and yang, the Great One has a lord, in the heart-scene—"

She had a sudden whim, "Qingjun won't find me annoying. If anyone should find me annoying, it should be the Great One Lord..."

She used her heart for multiple purposes, and the recitation in her heart didn't stop. The Great One Lord emerged from the void, as if sensing Ruan Ci's thoughts, and in a trance, actually raised its eyes and glanced at Ruan Ci. Ruan Ci hadn't seen it clearly, when her eyes lit up, her eyes stung, and she threw herself into that light—

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One of the reasons why Ruan Ci needs to keep intent-cultivation a secret has come out. It is known that all major sects cultivate sword seeds, and the Donghua Sword has absorbed all the souls of the sword seeds. If the news that she can sense the souls of sword seeds for intent-cultivation spreads, she will immediately become an enemy of all sects. This is a different level of hostility than fighting for control of the sword envoy; it is news that might make it impossible to survive once leaked.

Still, some readers guessed it~

I'll send red envelopes for the next chapter in a while. Actually, I feel that the rhythm of continuous dreaming is not very good, but the jade pool is full and very uncomfortable. I feel that little Ci wouldn't endure the discomfort to do other things, it doesn't fit her personality...

. Thanks to the little angels who cast overlord votes or irrigated nutrient solution for me between 2020-08-09 11:06:00~2020-08-10 11:59:42~

Thanks to the little angels who cast hand grenades: Zhi Yin (2);

Thanks to the little angels who cast landmines: Gu Gu Gu (2); truedfy, Wo Yu Linu Bu Chumen, Huajiao Ya, Li Li He Ping, Yu Yu Wan Yao, Bei Dao Guo Hao De Lizhi, Chao Xihuan Dushu, Shijian De Wangyu, Shaoguang, Yuan You Tao (1);

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated nutrient solution: 17804320 (100 bottles); Pie Wan De Zi Chuan (20 bottles); Jing Hai Tian Lan (18 bottles); Yun Xiao Yu Ji, Wuli Ye Ye (10 bottles); Chang Xi (8 bottles); Miss. M (6 bottles); sidewalker, Quanshui Dingdong (5 bottles); Feng Guang, Lilyko (2 bottles); Du Zhe Zhi Zhong, Mo, Wa Wangwang, Lu Fei (1 bottle);

Thank you all very much for your support, I will continue to work hard! ===== CHAPTER 55 =====