Chapter 566: A Painting Recording the Comprehension of Immortal Arts

The fourth in merit was He Hei Louxi of the Xun trigram.

The fifth in merit was Blood Spear General He Lou Cheng.

The two of them both had merits of around one hundred and eighty, a considerable gap separating them from the top two.

Below them was another huge gap, and the seventh in merit was Bai Mei True Person, with one hundred and two merits.

Further down, the differences were small, basically matching their cultivation — one bunch at Jin Dan peak, one bunch at late-stage Jin Dan, one bunch at Jin Dan Zhong Qi.

Han Lin swept past these figures at a glance and quickly looked toward where he himself stood.

"Twenty-second in merit, Han Lin."

"Jin Dan Chu Qi, merit plus one; stationed at the Dui formation, responded to the array swiftly, merit plus fifteen; first to raise the alarm in a time of peril, merit plus twenty; attempted to rally hands to resist when the array collapsed, merit plus twenty-five…"

"Seventy-six merits. Reward: five hundred and twenty jin of third-tier Yao Jin, and twelve jin of fourth-tier Yao Jin."

Han Lin was immediately overjoyed, reading the fourth-tier Yao Jin reward over and over.

A fourth-tier treasure of heaven and earth!

If this were fused into his Green Cloud Teng Scale Sword, its power would surely rise another level; next time he might lightly wound the Six Paths Holy Son, and his chances of escaping alive would grow by several points.

At the same time, everyone else was also looking at their own merits and ranking.

Some were delighted, some resentful, some furious, but after seeing the merits for every rank and the corresponding battle scenes, they had nothing to say — they knew arguing was useless and would only earn them contempt.

Overall, the vast majority of Jin Dan cultivators were ecstatic.

Many Jin Dan cultivators read the words "fourth-tier Yao Jin" again and again, unable to put it down; even those with the lowest merits could receive one or two liang, and were overjoyed.

Just this bit of fourth-tier material alone made this trip to the Luoxu Sect not a wasted journey; fused into their Ben Ming Fa, it would surely greatly increase their power and let them outpace fellow cultivators in magical combat.

The Six Paths Holy Son and the Lieyang Sword Son were also greatly pleased in their hearts.

Third-tier was one thing, but fourth-tier treasures of heaven and earth were a tremendous fortune even for them — don't think that being a Holy Son or Sword Son meant they could receive large amounts at will; small amounts were fine, but large holdings were unthinkable.

Just from this one occasion, they could easily earn the wealth of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

"Haha…"

The Lieyang Sword Son couldn't help but let a smile creep onto his lips, his joy plain on his face.

A material like Yao Jin was simply a perfect match for a sword cultivator like him; in the past it had taken a thousand hardships to find even a little, but now he had suddenly struck it rich — used sparingly, it would cover his sword-forging materials for the next hundred years.

"Lieshan, give me a storage bag — the most ordinary one will do."

The Six Paths Holy Son lowered his voice and sent a transmission.

He was in an awkward spot right now: every single storage treasure on his person had been taken by that one, leaving him with nothing; carrying it bare-handed was too inconvenient.

The Lieyang Sword Son glanced at him.

"Ten jin of fourth-tier Yao Jin."

"You…"

The Six Paths Holy Son flew into a towering rage.

A second- or third-tier storage bag — how dare he ask to trade it for a fourth-tier treasure of heaven and earth, and ten jin at that?

The Lieyang Sword Son couldn't be bothered to look at him.

If General General Heishi's people weren't still here, he would have dared to ask for a hundred jin.

Besides, once they left the Luoxu Sect, he would have to find a way to beat this man to death — that might narrow the gap between himself and that one…

"Fine, remember this…"

The Six Paths Holy Son clenched his teeth.

……

Jiang Ding paid no heed to the various reactions of the cultivators around him.

After several quarters of an hour passed and everyone had finished reading the Merit Jade Register, Jiang Ding spoke again: "Does anyone have objections to the merits?"

"Lord Master Tushan,"

A group of Jin Dan cultivators glanced at one another, then all bowed down, sincerely convinced: "We have no objections and will follow your instructions."

It was more than just having no objections.

The figures in this merit division were detailed and backed by solid evidence — the only such case they had seen in their several centuries of cultivation. Whether serving as subordinates or as Jin Dan ancestors rewarding Foundation Establishment and Qi Training cultivators under them, they had never achieved such a standard, pushing fairness to its utmost.

Even if they wanted to argue, they couldn't find any concrete evidence to do so.

Unless they resorted to sophistry — that, they could find plenty of.

But that would be courting death; no one was that foolhardy.

"Then the spoils shall be distributed accordingly."

Jiang Ding nodded, forcibly requiring all Jin Dan cultivators to oversee with their divine sense. Then the hundred-zhang giant statue on the ground split apart, dividing into piles of varying sizes; occasionally a piece or two was cut, and each pile flew toward a Jin Dan cultivator and landed in their hands.

Many Jin Dan cultivators were parched with excitement, their gazes fixed on the small squads of Yao Jin moving through the sky; especially the hill-like piles of the Six Paths Holy Son's group of three dazzled the eyes.

Han Lin also received his share — over five hundred jin of the heavy treasure of heaven and earth. After carefully inspecting it, he cautiously stored it in his storage bag.

The many Jin Dan cultivators all did the same, swiftly stowing it away, well versed in the principle of not flaunting wealth.

Once all was done, the crowd looked toward the Ancestral Master Hall with burning eyes.

They had only just broken through the array, and already gained such a haul.

What could possibly lie within, guarded layer upon layer of formations?

"Next, we explore the Luoxu Sect's Ancestral Master Hall."

Jiang Ding did not keep them waiting long and said calmly: "There are several principles that must be observed."

"First, the Luoxu Sect's ancestral tablets must not be damaged. If encountered, they must be worshipped with the rites of a junior. Violators will be punished."

Whether the Luoxu Sect of ten thousand years ago was righteous or evil, it had all long since vanished into thin air, leaving only the wisdom of its forebears passed down. Out of respect for knowledge, he would grant these forebears their due respect.

"Second, if there are inheritances, each of you may choose one item to record and study; everything else belongs to me."

"Any objections?"

"Yes!"

Lieyang Dayan Jianzi and the other Jin Dan cultivators listened to the order with solemn respect.

Honoring the ancients aligned with the basic moral outlook of the Cultivation World; although many people did not pay it much heed in daily life, if someone proposed it, naturally no one would object.

As for the latter, it had been made clear beforehand, so naturally no one dared to refute it.

"Enter."

Jiang Ding said calmly: "Do not conceal the One-Eyed Cicada, do not deliberately destroy any inheritance — that is all."

"Yes!"

The crowd of Jin Dan cultivators bowed once more in salute, then filed into the Ancestral Master Hall of the Luoxu Sect in an orderly manner, each dispersing to different directions.

Jiang Ding stepped inside.

What met his eyes were rows upon rows of memorial tablets standing like stone steles; before each tablet sat a great cauldron inscribed with mysterious runes, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered from all directions, transforming into curling incense that rose straight into the clouds.

The most conspicuous, tallest tablet bore several spirit-characters carved upon it.

"Spirit Tablet of Luoxu Master Dinghai Zhenjun!"

This person was the founding patriarch of the Luoxu Sect; his birth date was unknown, but he seemed to have lived some seventeen or eighteen thousand years ago. He too had been a hero of his era, founding what would one day become the foremost sect beneath the heavens — though it had swiftly declined thereafter.

Jiang Ding took out three long sticks of incense and lit them, then offered sacrifices with reverent propriety according to the etiquette for outer disciples of the Luoxu Sect as recorded in the Scripture Pavilion.

Only then did his divine sense sweep across the spirit tablets.

His divine sense grew faintly hazy; the surroundings turned into a dim, empty azure. A lean old Daoist in the distance was resting with closed eyes. Suddenly he opened them, waved the horsetail whisk in his hand, and ten thousand black threads — like rifts in space — flashed past in an instant, forming a net across the void that snuffed out a cultivator's Nascent Soul within; the talent of teleportation was useless against it.

"Junior disciple, this move is called Luoxu!"

The lean old Daoist's voice rang like a great bell, then softened into kindness as he began to explain every detail of the move in full, teaching patiently and thoroughly, leaving nothing out.

An hour later, the hazy space shattered, and the various features of the Ancestral Master Hall returned once more.

Jiang Ding looked at the spirit tablet; it had grown much dimmer, and it seemed it could only be comprehended once more — he would have to wait an unknown span of time for it to fully recover.

"Truly remarkable."

Jiang Ding's divine sense swept across the densely packed spirit tablets around him and discovered that at least one in ten flickered with spiritual light — clearly each was either some spell or an explanation of a key point in a Luoxu Sect Gong Fa, the proud creations of some Luoxu Sect forebear, preserved here to instruct later generations.

That this sect later became the foremost sect of the Northern Plain was no coincidence in many respects.

The only pity was that there were only spells and explanations of key points in Gong Fa; as for a Wan Zheng De Gong, there was none here — clearly that was the function of the Scripture Pavilion.

Jiang Ding walked past these spirit tablets one by one, and soon arrived at the last batch of tablets from ten thousand years ago, his gaze settling on the most conspicuous one.

"Spirit Tablet of the Seventy-Sixth Sect Master, Madam Zhen Lan Master Dinghai Zhenjun!"

Jiang Ding's breath caught.

This person had been the wife of Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun back in the day; it seemed she had walked alongside him from humble beginnings, his companion for over a thousand years. It was precisely after her death that Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun could no longer bear the contamination of immortal arts, and his temperament changed drastically.

His gaze moved downward,

and before the spirit tablet, an ancient, unadorned painted scroll lay quietly on display.

The Beautiful Picture of Jin Huangyu.

Just before Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun was about to fall into madness, he painted his comprehension of immortal arts into a scroll, sealed it, and offered it at his wife's spirit tablet as a token of remembrance.

This was, at present, the closest lead to immortal arts!

(End of this chapter)