Chapter 795: Not Decreasing, But Increasing

"The Ding'an Bai Clan—I never expected them to come as well."

Upon hearing Lu Qingshan's words, Qian Mu watched the direction in which those people had departed, unable to collect his thoughts for a long time; only after a good while did he sigh with emotion.

"Which batch is this?"

Qian Mu felt even more certain in his heart that his own thinking was correct: he must join the Zixiao Sect, so that his family's future would be even brighter.

"This is already the fifth batch, though this Bai Clan is the most powerful one so far."

Lu Qingshan's tone was filled with a sense of pride.

The Ding'an Bai Clan was, after all, the top-tier family power in the Donghai Immortal Alliance; even placed among the Nanyu Thirty-Six Continents, they were still a top-tier power.

In the entire Nanyu, if one were to speak of powers whose strength exceeded the Bai Clan, there would likely be no more than three.

That such a powerful force had also sent people to visit their Zixiao Sect at Qingjian Dao—how could it not make him proud?

Although he knew that those people visiting their Zixiao Sect was merely incidental, and their true intention was to pay respects to that person.

But regardless, was that person not also the Sea-Stabilizing Needle of their Zixiao Sect?

Lu Qingshan naturally had reason to be proud.

Now, he felt no guilt whatsoever regarding the Yunyang Sect merging into the Zixiao Sect; on the contrary, he felt pride. He believed that even if he were to pass away in the future and go to meet the ancestors of the Yunyang Sect, he could do so without any guilt.

Even if the Yunyang Sect were to develop for another ten thousand years, it would never reach its current level, while the Zixiao Sect would only grow stronger in the future; surpassing the Yuanding Sect would not be a problem.

It was even possible that they might rank among the top-tier sects of the Nanyu.

After all, that person had no intention of leaving immediately; as long as he remained in the Zixiao Sect, the Zixiao Sect would continue to develop at high speed, and the rate of its strength increasing would only get faster.

Currently, if one counted Qian Mu, the Zixiao Sect had five Nascent Soul Stage cultivators, and soon, people like Lin Taihe and Jin Guang would have the opportunity to attempt a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Stage.

As for whether they could succeed, in Lu Qingshan's eyes, their chances of success were greater than those of many cultivators from major sects.

After all, they had a Primordial Spirit Stage cultivator supporting them from behind.

Besides this, cultivators like Su Wanjun and Su Shi'an, who were at the late Golden Core stage, also had the opportunity to attempt a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Stage.

It was likely that within these two hundred years, the Zixiao Sect would have at least five or more cultivators attempt a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Stage; once they succeeded, the number of Nascent Soul Stage cultivators in the Zixiao Sect would be no less than ten.

By that time, the strength of the Zixiao Sect would no longer be inferior to that of the Yuanding Sect.

At most, the quality of their Nascent Soul Stage might be slightly inferior, as the majority of their Nascent Soul Stage cultivators would be at the early Nascent Soul stage.

However, after two hundred years, Lu Qingshan was confident that his own cultivation could at least reach the third or even fourth level of the Nascent Soul Stage.

And that demon race member in the Zixiao Sect could reach the sixth level of the Nascent Soul Stage, and perhaps even have the opportunity to attempt a breakthrough to the late Nascent Soul stage.

By then, even if that person left the Yuanyang Jie, their Zixiao Sect would no longer fear petty characters.

As long as it was not those top-tier powers coming to attack the Zixiao Sect, such as the Yuanding Sect, the Zixiao Sect would no longer be afraid.

After all, the array of the Zixiao Sect's mountain gate might not compare to the Four Symbols Great Array here in Donghai, but it did have several Fifth-Grade High-Rank Arrays, and coupled with so many Nascent Soul Stage cultivators, even two Yuanding Sects would find it difficult to threaten the Zixiao Sect.

As for those top-tier sect powers, with the favor left behind by that person, Lu Qingshan believed that as long as the Zixiao Sect did not provoke them, they would not come to set their sights on the Zixiao Sect.

Relying on its foundation, the Zixiao Sect would slowly develop into a top-tier power in the Nanyu Thirty-Six Continents; compared to the Yuanding Sect, the Zixiao Sect had greater potential.

And all of this was related to that decision; if he had refused back then, the Yunyang Sect would certainly not exist, but the Zixiao Sect, Lu Qingshan was clear, would still exist—as for whether it would be similar to how it was now...

Lu Qingshan believed even more that it would not be weaker than it was now; without the Yunyang Sect, the Zixiao Sect could still merge with other powers.

"With this battle, the Zixiao Sect has also completely made a name for itself."

Qian Mu did not know Lu Qingshan's internal thoughts, but he could see the faint sense of pride on Lu Qingshan's face.

Especially since he had seen with his own eyes that when those late Nascent Soul cultivators communicated with Lu Qingshan, they did not show any negligence, but rather maintained an equal stance.

All of this was because the Zixiao Sect had a Primordial Spirit Stage cultivator behind it, and the disciples of the Zixiao Sect had sufficient confidence.

"Indeed! But this was also exchanged for by the lives of countless disciples."

When Lu Qingshan said this, there was still a trace of sorrow in his eyes, because in these decades of fighting, the Zixiao Sect had also lost about ten percent of its disciples.

Among them, one of his own disciples had also died in battle.

That was a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator; if they had not died, not to mention the Nascent Soul Stage, at least the late Golden Core stage would have been no problem at all.

Of course, while they had lost over ten percent of their disciples, in these years, the Zixiao Sect had also recruited a batch of Spirit Roots on Qingjian Dao and its surroundings.

There were many with dual Spirit Roots, variant Spirit Roots, and even more than ten with Heavenly Spiritual Roots.

Heavenly Spiritual Roots, previously in Zheng Guo, might only appear once every thousand years; once they appeared, countless families and sects would scramble to compete for them.

After all, for someone with a Heavenly Spiritual Root, as long as they did not die young, reaching the Golden Core stage was absolutely no problem.

The Golden Core stage, in the former Nanhuang Six Kingdoms, was already standing at the peak.

Of course, now the Golden Core stage in the Zixiao Sect could only be considered middle-to-upper level; currently, the Zixiao Sect had dozens of Golden Core stage cultivators.

After another period of time, reaching hundreds, or even several hundred, would not be a problem.

In these years, countless Loose Cultivators on Qingjian Dao and its surroundings all wanted to join the Zixiao Sect, including many Purple Mansion and Golden Core cultivators.

If the Zixiao Sect truly opened its doors to recruit them, its strength would likely expand once again.

But Lu Qingshan and the others did not recruit on a massive scale; after all, these Loose Cultivators were of mixed quality, and the Zixiao Sect was no longer what it was at the beginning; it did not need a large number of cultivators.

Those Loose Cultivators joined the Zixiao Sect for their own ideas and did not have much loyalty to the Zixiao Sect.

Such people, joining the Zixiao Sect, would only ruin the original atmosphere of the Zixiao Sect.

It was better to recruit those Spirit Roots who had not yet begun to cultivate; regarding the Zixiao Sect recruiting young children with Spirit Roots here, the local powers had no objections either.

After all, the Zixiao Sect could be called the savior and guardian deity of the area around Qingjian Dao; the reason why Qingjian Dao and some of the surrounding affiliated islands were able to survive this Human-Demon War was entirely due to the Zixiao Sect.

Therefore, no one opposed the Zixiao Sect recruiting young children with Spirit Roots.

Even if the Zixiao Sect recruited tens of thousands of young children with Spirit Roots, and even more than ten with Heavenly Spiritual Roots, for the local powers, it was not a significant loss.

At most, after one hundred years, they would be able to recover again.

The population base of mortals here was too large, and many had direct bloodlines of cultivators, so more Spirit Roots were born.