Chapter 317: Nine Orifices Bear Golden Fruit

"You are all too kind."

Amid the respectful bows of the many Foundation Establishment cultivators, Jiang Ding walked through them and took a seat in a place second only to the main position.

In the Cultivation World, one cannot yield in such matters.

If you dare to yield, they will dare to press their advantage, presuming without scruple that you have already declined, and more probing and trouble will follow one after another.

Though he did not fear it, there was no need.

He gently closed his eyes, entering a half-cultivation state.

Only then did Lei Lei Linghe and the others rise, glancing left and right; they could all see the other's look of relief, along with a trace of deep unwillingness.

Half-step Jin Dan combat power!

Such a person, and so young, his status was second only to the two ancestors.

Truly a reputation well deserved!

This single address of "Martial Uncle" had to be spoken aloud, no matter what one thought in one's heart.

"I and Zhou Zhou Kunlong were born in the wrong era."

Lei Lei Linghe transmitted his voice to an old friend, sighing.

The sect's great hall was still and solemn, so quiet that a needle dropping could be heard; occasionally there were fluctuations of divine sense transmission, but they vanished in a flash,

and finally it fell completely silent.

"The Supreme Elder has arrived!"

"Elder Zhou has arrived!"

Lei Lei Linghe called out in a loud voice, the sound carrying for several miles.

Jiang Ding opened his eyes. On the main seat above the sect's great hall, at some unknown time, there appeared an old cultivator with white eyebrows and a middle-aged man with a wild bearing; a faint Jin Dan pressure spread outward, causing people to involuntarily hold their breath.

"Little Junior Brother, though we have exchanged many messages, it has been twenty-five years since we last met, has it not?"

The white-eyebrowed old cultivator blinked and transmitted his voice.

He felt some emotion in his heart as well.

A mere twenty-five years, and the mortal child brought back back then now already possessed mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation, with combat power alone sufficient to overawe a host of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

It gave quite a sense of the seas turning into mulberry fields, of worldly affairs changing without end.

"Many thanks to Eldest Senior Brother for your care over the years."

Jiang Ding smiled slightly and replied via voice transmission.

"I must also thank Second Senior Brother for the grand gift; I have benefited greatly from it over the years."

He also exchanged a few greetings with Zhou Zhou Sanyan.

"No matter, merely some trifling wealth."

Fire-Veined Jin Dan Zhou Zhou Sanyan said boldly.

Lei Lei Linghe led the sect's Foundation Establishment cultivators into a neat formation and they all knelt down together.

"We pay respects to the Supreme Elder!"

"We pay respects to Elder Zhou!"

The Foundation Establishment cultivators pressed their knees tightly together, knelt, crossed their hands on the ground cushioning their foreheads, and respectfully performed the great bow upward.

Jiang Ding's expression was calm as he sat peacefully in his seat.

He and the Xiang Qiyu Jin Dan were martial brothers; aside from the previous generation's Supreme Elder, True Person Jin Lian, who had passed away many years ago, he need not kneel to anyone.

In his heart, he was somewhat averse to cultivators performing the kneeling rite.

But if one really thought about it, it was also appropriate.

Don't be fooled by these Foundation Establishment cultivators being called Martial Uncle and Senior by others outside; in truth, they were all watched over by the two Jin Dan cultivators as they grew from infants to now, and receiving the kneeling rite as elders was entirely proper.

"Disciples, please rise."

The white-eyebrowed old cultivator waved his sleeve, and the Foundation Establishment cultivators felt only a gentle force supporting them, causing them to involuntarily stand; they bowed once more, then stood obediently in the hall.

"Patriarch True Person Xiang Qiyu, three thousand years ago, obtained a fortuitous encounter and founded our sect."

"He left behind a treasure called the Nine-Orifice Golden-Spirit Fruit Tree, which bears fruit once every nine hundred years; after picking, it is sealed within the sect's forbidden grounds and opened once every four hundred and fifty years, selecting one disciple within the sect to bestow it upon."

"This is the Patriarch's grace toward us disciples."

The white-eyebrowed old cultivator spoke slowly, falling into some reminiscence.

It was said that when Patriarch True Person Xiang Qiyu was alive, the rule he set was that four or five Golden-Binding Fruits would each be contested by the disciples through merit, aptitude, and martial combat.

After the Patriarch's passing, the number the disciples could contest continually decreased, from four or five every four to five hundred years, down to two or three, and now to only one.

This history, gradually, only the sect's Jin Dan cultivators knew.

"Time flows swiftly, and once again it is four hundred and fifty years; disciples must not forget the hardships of the Patriarch, who blazed a trail with brushwood and rags, opening the path for us."

The white-eyebrowed old cultivator said in a gentle voice.

"Disciples would never dare forget!"

Lei Lei Linghe, Zhou Zhou Kunlong, Li Li Qingyun, and others said in unison, their hearts stirred; some even had reddened eyes, as if recalling the Patriarch's arduous path of accumulating spirit stones one by one.

'This is the Xiang Qiyu Sect's transmission of sect ideology.'

Jiang Ding watched silently.

No one would put on an act that could be seen through at a glance in front of a Jin Dan cultivator.

Even Zhou Zhou Kunlong and the others, cunning and treacherous, not treating others' lives as lives, still had a sense of belonging to the sect—this was the place where they had grown and lived for untold years.

Although, after much deliberation, it was not that they could not sacrifice it, but they did have it.

"Hahaha!"

"Brother Zhou, Brother Li, how could you gather here without inviting this King? Could it be that you thought this King was drunk after three thousand jin of spirit wine?"

Outside the sect's great hall came a thunderous laughter, exceedingly bold and unrestrained; without waiting for any response, it forcefully barged in.

The many Foundation Establishment cultivators snapped out of their reverent mood and looked toward the spot where the pressure weighed down like a mountain.

A burly man with a bird's head crowned by seven-colored plumes.

And a plump, alluring young woman with three fluffy fiery-red tails behind her flew into the great hall, followed by Brother Brother Moyu and Princess Princess Chiyan. Their oppressive aura was wild and overwhelming as they walked over step by step.

"Greetings, Princess Princess Chiyan!"

"Greetings, Great King Kong Que!"

Thunder Spirit Crane Li Li Qingyun and the others scattered to either side as if two mountain peaks were crashing toward them, afraid that the slightest misstep would smash them into dust.

Only after putting a good distance between them did they bow respectfully.

Demon cultivators were all beings with overwhelmingly powerful bodies, capable of taking a cultivator's magic treasure head-on at the same realm. To low-level cultivators, they were like a divine mountain rolling over them—no exaggeration at all.

Jiang Ding's eyes flashed as he looked at the two great demons who had just appeared.

The intelligence on Xiang Qiyu Sect surfaced in his mind, cross-checked against his own observations.

The young woman trailing three fluffy fiery-red tails was none other than Princess Princess Chiyan of the Master Tushan Demon Kingdom—a great demon at the late Jin Dan stage, skilled in an endless stream of fire-type spells and no slouch in close combat either.

Great King Kong Que, on the other hand, was that bird-headed burly man crowned with seven-colored plumes, at the early Jin Dan realm. His signature move was the Five-Colored Divine Light, said to collect anything and everything, specifically countering long-range offensive magic treasures.

Under the violent Jin Dan pressure, the many Foundation Establishment cultivators bowed their heads.

Only three people remained calm.

The white-browed old cultivator, Zhou Zhou Sanyan, and a youth in green robes sat where they were, quietly watching them, lost in thought.

Everyone else's bodies trembled ceaselessly under the Jin Dan great demons' deliberately released pressure and killing aura, nearly suffocating.

"Oh?"

Demon-kind had a strict hierarchy, and Great King Kong Que was instantly displeased.

A cold glint flashed in his bird pupils. He abandoned his straight path, detoured around, and walked deliberately up to the seated green-robed youth, letting out a cold laugh.

"Where did this whelp come from? Didn't your parents teach you any manners?"

"Daring to block this Great King's way?"

Roar! Roar!

Vaguely, the killing aura condensed from centuries of hunting and slaughter coalesced—wails of ten thousand beasts and human souls—all pressing down upon the green-robed youth.

Enough to drive a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator mad, induce hallucinations, and under the clash of divine sense and killing aura, inflict Shen Hun Zhong injuries and even sever one's Dao path entirely.

"Great King Kong Que, my mother raised me very well."

Jiang Ding gave him a faint smile.

His gaze was calm and clear, exceedingly friendly.

"You seek death!"

Great King Kong Que flew into a rage, his face changing instantly. A claw wreathed in Five-Colored Divine Light swept downward.

Boom!

The sect's grand array thundered into motion. For dozens of kilometers the wind and clouds changed color; bolts of thunder-patterns formed in the sky. An extremely terrifying violent phenomenon even at the Jin Dan level appeared in an instant, churning the world's spiritual energy into restless agitation.

Princess Princess Chiyan's expression changed.

Great King Kong Que's claw, about to touch Jiang Ding's skull, froze in place.

Looking around, he saw a white-browed old cultivator quietly watching the scene, a seven-colored stone stele manifesting behind him, its spiritual light flickering, its terrifying aura shifting back and forth between a top-grade and a superior-grade magic treasure.

The Xiang Qiyu Sect's inherited treasure—the Seven-Element Stele!

Beside the white-browed old cultivator, Zhou Zhou Sanyan held aloft a Huo Yan Shan Fa treasure with blazing flames rising from it, likewise silent, the pressure of Jin Dan Zhong Qi faintly visible.

Array formation. Cultivators.

Under the convergence of so many pressures, Princess Princess Chiyan was fine, but Great King Kong Que—at only Jin Dan Chu Qi—felt as though mountains were pressing down on him one after another. His magic power stagnated unbearably, and a clear, terrible sense of mortal danger rose in his heart.

His heart turned to ice, a chill running down his spine.

"Ha ha!"

Great King Kong Que let out a great laugh. With his left claw he brushed the air before Jiang Ding as if wiping away dust, and praised: "The Xiang Qiyu Sword Son truly lives up to his reputation as a Xiang Qiyu prodigy. Hearing of you is no match for meeting you in person—you surpass my son by no small measure."

"You flatter me."

Jiang Ding smiled faintly, exceedingly polite.

(End of this chapter)