Chapter 34: Recruiting at Sanhe, Opportunity for Foundation Establishment

Outside the cave dwelling, with Lu Yang's breakthrough, intelligence on him was laid out before those with an eye for it, and his origins and backing were thoroughly investigated in short order.

And just as Lu Yang had anticipated, his background could only be described in four characters.

"Root is red, sprout is black."

Every year, the Holy Sect recruits new disciples; he formally joined after outpacing senior sisters of the Bliss Hall, then made a killing flipping substitute-death Yin Puppets, and has been in closed-door cultivation ever since.

"This is an ascetic cultivator."

Looking at the materials on the table, a female cultivator with a powdery face and a fierce air, sharp intent brimming in every glance, could not help but sigh in admiration. She too was a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, but compared to Lu Yang who had just broken through, her cultivation had astonishingly reached the ninth layer of Qi Refining, only a step away from the tenth layer's perfection!

The female cultivator was called "Feixia," and her reputation within the Holy Sect was considerable.

Not only because of her looks, but also because she was one of the Holy Sect's rare talisman cultivators, and through her talisman-crafting art had even earned the appreciation of a Holy Sect elder.

"An ascetic cultivator alone could not have reached late-stage Qi Refining."

Beside Fairy Feixia, a young man with a feather fan and silk kerchief smiled faintly: "He clearly made a fortune flipping substitute-death Yin Puppets, yet kept a low profile."

"From this we can see he is also a cautious, clever person."

"That's normal, it's only to be expected."

Fairy Feixia sighed upon hearing this: "For ordinary disciples like us to rise, talent, caution, cleverness, courage—none can be lacking."

"So then, it's decided?"

Fairy Feixia nodded and said: "I'll make the recommendation. This man broke through to late-stage Qi Refining in just ten years; my Sanhe Society is in need of exactly this kind of talent."

Inside the cave dwelling, Lu Yang sat upright on a meditation cushion.

And before him, over a dozen talisman letters had already been laid out in a row, each one an olive branch, claiming that as long as he was willing to join their faction, generous gifts would be presented immediately, including but not limited to cauldrons, cultivation arts, divine abilities, treasures, and pills—truly everything one could want.

"In my past lives I didn't pay attention, I didn't expect there to be so many factions within the Holy Sect."

Basically, anyone with late-stage Qi Refining cultivation could raise a sizable team within the Holy Sect; for instance, Liu Xin from a few lives ago was exactly like that.

Lu Yang was not surprised by this.

After all, within any sect there are factions of every stripe; the Holy Sect is so large, it can't be that everyone is of one mind—there will always be those who band together for warmth out of their own interests.

Of course, those factions are all rootless duckweed, without foundation.

Those truly qualified to recruit him had to be factions established by Holy Sect elders, or even True Transmission disciples; the conditions they offered were also relatively genuine and credible.

But that was all there was to it.

"I've still set my sights too high." Lu Yang shook his head. The conditions offered by those major factions were indeed not bad—tens of thousands of contribution points at the drop of a hat.

Yet the trouble was, he was not short on money.

After all, he hadn't even finished spending the contribution points earned from flipping substitute-death Yin Puppets.

More than money, what he lacked was "access"—access that could truly reach the Holy Sect's middle tier, to purchase things that normally could not be bought.

Just as Lu Yang was pondering, suddenly the formation outside the door gave a violent shudder.

Lu Yang looked up at the sound, only to see the illumination formation he had set up before the cave dwelling blaze brightly; the dazzling formation light revealed a curvaceous, graceful silhouette.

It was Fairy Feixia.

"Junior Brother Lu, you understand formations too?" Fairy Feixia said in surprise as she looked at the formation patterns appearing all around, a few hints of unexpected delight surfacing on her pretty face.

Lu Yang cupped his fist in greeting: "This Senior Sister, may I ask what brings you here?"

Fairy Feixia did not feign coyness, and returned the greeting with an open, generous bearing: "I am Feixia, an executive of the Holy Sect's Sanhe Society; I have come on this occasion for you, Junior Brother."

"Oh? Please, Senior Sister."

Lu Yang hurried to receive her, and at the same time quickly became alert. The Sanhe Society—wasn't that the faction behind Zhao Xuhe? They actually came to recruit him?

Regarding the Sanhe Society, Lu Yang actually had never known much, but he knew Zhao Xuhe was one of its members. More importantly, as a disciple of the Mending Heaven Peak Master, Zhao Xuhe seemed to be only at the middle-to-lower tier of the Sanhe Society; from this alone one could see the Sanhe Society's caliber.

"Please forgive my ignorance, Senior Sister. I am ill-informed and do not know what the Sanhe Society is.?"

Lu Yang asked very cautiously. Fairy Feixia was not surprised upon hearing this, and smiled: "The Sanhe Society was founded by three True Transmission senior brothers."

"Among them, the eldest senior brother is already a Foundation Establishment True Person, having opened up a peak within the Sea of Clouds."

"The second and third senior brothers, although they have not yet reached Foundation Establishment, have both cultivated Zheng San Pin true qi, ranking at Great Perfection of Qi Refining, and could break through to Foundation Establishment at any time."

"I have heard that Junior Brother Lu is also of ordinary disciple origin, so you should understand the hardships ordinary disciples face in the early stages. The three senior brothers, like us ordinary disciples, came from poor backgrounds, so after achieving great cultivation they founded the Sanhe Society, aiming to help ordinary disciples through their early difficulties."

"I see." Lu Yang's face was full of admiration: "The three senior brothers' merit is truly immeasurable."

Pfft!

If in my past few lives I hadn't taken out loans from your Sanhe Society and seen with my own eyes your 36% annual interest rate, I would almost have believed this load of nonsense.

Lu Yang grumbled inwardly. He had always been the type not to cast his net without seeing the rabbit, and naturally could not make a hasty decision just because Fairy Feixia said so. He immediately said cautiously: "To be invited to become a member of the Sanhe Society is my great honor; I only wonder what the treatment is like?"

"On this point, Junior Brother may rest easy."

Fairy Feixia replied frankly upon hearing this: "As long as Junior Brother is willing to join, I can decide on the spot to gift you a divine ability secret art of True Transmission caliber."

"After joining, you will receive a stipend of contribution points every year."

"Moreover, as long as Junior Brother has the money, you may also borrow the Society's True Transmission access to purchase things you fancy, and even request the three senior brothers to guide your cultivation."

"Of course, there are requirements as well."

At this point, Fairy Feixia took out a jade slip and placed it before Lu Yang: "All who join must sign a contract and leave behind a drop of essence blood."

"That's simple."

Lu Yang glanced at the contract before him upon hearing this. It was nothing more than the usual clauses found in any faction—confidentiality obligations and the like. Some might feel that doing so meant losing freedom, with many things beyond one's control, but Lu Yang paid it no heed at all, and with a grand wave of his hand signed his name.

It's only a matter of one lifetime; it won't affect the next.

In fact, Lu Yang would have welcomed even greater binding force, for only then would he be more likely to be treated as one of their own, and the resources he received would surely be better.

Seeing Lu Yang so straightforward, Fairy Feixia also nodded with satisfaction.

"Next, Junior Brother only needs to take out your Holy Sect disciple token, and I will set a restriction upon it; from then on the token can be used universally within the Society."

"Many thanks for your trouble, Senior Sister."

Lu Yang took out his token, only to see Fairy Feixia form a hand seal with one hand and channel a talisman imprint into it; immediately, an entirely new panel appeared on its surface.

"The art of talisman-making."

Lu Yang's eyes lit up slightly. He could now be considered a ninth-rank array master, and by drawing parallels, although he did not understand talisman-making, he could still make out a fair amount of it.

In his view, the so-called talisman was simply a simple, temporary minor array.

What a good thing—I want to learn it.

The next moment, looking at this mastery of talisman-making, Lu Yang finally recalled who this Flying Mistress before him was. He had heard of this person in his second-to-last life.

"She is Zhao Xuhe's dao companion," Lu Yang mused. "In my second-to-last life, when I was studying arrays, I heard she and Zhao Xuhe had formed a dao companion bond. Both of them were at peak Qi Refining, and they shone brilliantly on the Righteous-Demonic battlefield. They even attempted to break through to Foundation Establishment together, but unfortunately failed and both passed away in meditation afterward."

Thinking of this, Lu Yang's eyes immediately gleamed.

The key was not that the two of them had failed to reach Foundation Establishment and passed away, but that they had actually had the chance to attempt Foundation Establishment—behind that there had to be a Foundation Establishment opportunity!

(End of chapter)