novelapdf Chapter 1089 Rank and Status
Chapter 1089 Rank and Status
"Master, this senior doesn't want me. Please let me stay with you." The girl smiled through her tears, gently tugged at Chen Yuan's sleeve, and looked at him with pleading eyes, like a pitiful kitten.
"Alright, it was my oversight..." Chen Yuan said a few words of comfort, then put the Xuan Yin Armor back into his dantian, feeling a sense of relief.
But Master Fu didn't want the Xuan Yin Armor; he had no other treasure that could be exchanged for the Demon Saint's Demon Core.
The Cangming Halberd is still some distance from being a Heavenly Treasure, and it is Chen Yuan's most relied-upon weapon of war, perfectly suited to him. It must not be used to exchange for a demon core.
Chen Yuan was at a loss and looked troubled. Master Fu seemed to see through his thoughts and said calmly, "If you can't produce a treasure, you might as well change your request. It's not too late to exchange this demon core after you advance to the Fusion stage and accumulate enough battle merits."
After pondering for a long time, Chen Yuan said, "Sect Leader, could you allow me a few more days to consider this?"
Master Fu's eyes flashed, and he said calmly, "Then I will give you a one-month deadline. After one month, you will officially assume the position of elder of this sect. If you still haven't thought it through, then this matter will be dropped."
"Thank you for your leniency, Sect Leader." Chen Yuan clasped his hands in a respectful bow and replied.
When he straightened up, he found himself back outside the palace gates. One step forward, and he was in a pitch-black palace.
The magnificent sea of stars and the desolate void all around him vanished, leaving only the gentle voice of Master Fu seemingly lingering in his ears.
Chen Yuan turned and walked out of the formation, only to see Elder Yuan standing at the edge of the formation, looking in this direction with a smile on his lips.
At the summit of Tongtian Peak, Chen Yuan dared not freely disperse his divine sense. Upon seeing Elder Yuan, he was slightly taken aback, then stepped forward and bowed respectfully, saying, "Senior..."
"Junior Brother Chen, you flatter me. Now that you are an elder of our sect, you can simply call me Senior Brother," Elder Yuan interrupted him.
"Senior Brother Yuan, could it be that you came here specifically to wait for me?" Chen Yuan readily agreed and changed his form of address.
Elder Yuan said, "That's right. If you want to establish your own peak and take on the role of an elder, you must first understand the responsibilities of an elder, and then choose a mountain peak to modify the Spirit Gathering Array."
"The sect leader, considering that junior brother is new to the sect and unfamiliar with its situation, specially ordered me to guide him so that he can integrate into the sect as soon as possible."
"Thank you for your trouble, Senior Brother." Chen Yuan clasped his hands in thanks.
"It was nothing, just a small favor, please, junior brother." Elder Yuan laughed and gestured.
The two stepped out of the great formation, gathered their true essence to form a protective shield, and rode their escape light amidst the fierce gale, flying down the mountain.
The scenery on Tongtian Island is magnificent, with towering mountains and flowing water, and towering peaks. Dark green moss covers the gray rocks, and mist swirls around the steep cliffs. A majestic vermilion palace stands beside towering ancient trees, and elegant pavilions are hidden deep in the quiet bamboo forest. Light shines like a rainbow in the sky, and cultivators are as numerous as ants among the mountains.
No one approached Tongtian Peak for miles around, and every ray of light falling from the mountaintop was particularly eye-catching.
Chen Yuan and Elder Yuan, met with the awe-inspiring gazes of the Tai Xuan Sect disciples, landed on a quiet, low mountain several hundred feet high, where two ancient stone doors stood on the mountainside.
Under a cypress tree outside the door lay a huge rhinoceros, pure white all over, as if clad in hard armor, with a single horn pointing to the sky, gleaming with a sharp, cold light in the sunlight.
But its large, copper-bell-shaped eyes were full of docility. Upon seeing Elder Yuan, it transformed into a burly man in pure white armor, clad in fists and bowing: "This humble servant greets Master."
"This is Huayu Peak, please, junior brother." Elder Yuan flicked his sleeve, and the stone gate slowly opened. He turned around and smiled at Chen Yuan.
"This is my pet spirit beast, named Xi Ze. It's a bit weak, only a high-level demon general, but it's more than enough to guard the cave."
“Cultivators in the Spirit Realm like to keep spirit beasts to guard their caves, and the higher their cultivation level, the more so.”
"I heard from Han Xuan that my junior brother has a spirit pine tree, which will save us a lot of trouble."
"Otherwise, as a junior brother, it would be undignified for his cave to be unguarded, and he would inevitably be ridiculed."
Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow. It was quite surprising that one of the eleven peaks of the Tai Xuan Sect was just such an inconspicuous low mountain.
But he didn't say much and followed Elder Yuan into the stone gate.
Elder Yuan seemed to have seen through Chen Yuan's thoughts and explained with a smile, "Junior brother, you may not know this, but the eleven peaks of our sect are not as majestic as Tongtian Peak. They are just the locations of the cave dwellings of the various elders."
“Take Huayu Peak for example. Within a radius of fifty miles, there are the cave dwellings of my disciples. There are many strange and wonderful places, but the core is still this inconspicuous little mountain.”
"If Junior Brother wants to establish his own peak, he also needs to choose a place on Tongtian Island. The area within fifty miles of it will be allocated to Junior Brother as the residence for his Void Refining Protectors, True Disciples, and Inner Disciples."
As the two were talking, they had already entered the reception room.
The hall is very grand, with ancient paintings, zithers, jade ornaments and strange stones hanging on the four walls. All of them are made of rare spiritual materials and are harmoniously integrated, giving the entire stone hall a sense of luxury.
The two took their seats as host and guest, but Elder Yuan made no move. A beautiful lady in an ancient painting on the wall turned into a wisp of smoke and floated down from the painting.
She went to the table, reached out and grabbed a wooden box from the air. After opening it, she revealed half a box of emerald green tea leaves, the aroma of which was intoxicating and refreshing.
The lady smiled gently at Chen Yuan, opened the teapot on the table, put in tea leaves, and with a gentle wave of her fair, jade-like hands, the sound of boiling water could be faintly heard, and a wisp of steam rose from the spout.
The lady picked up the teapot and filled the jade cups in front of the two men with spiritual tea. She then bowed gracefully to Chen Yuan and said softly, "Please enjoy your tea, guest."
As soon as she finished speaking, the lady's figure vanished like wisps of smoke, returning to the ancient painting.
Chen Yuan picked up the spirit tea, took a sip, and praised, "Excellent tea. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would hardly have been able to discern this woman's background. Senior brother, you have excellent skills."
Elder Yuan smiled slightly: "I acquired this painting by chance a thousand years ago. Although it is only a top-tier magic treasure, it has been refined with a wisp of the fox demon general's soul, making it full of spirituality. It is quite effective in serving guests."
Chen Yuan nodded, put down his teacup, and asked, "Just now, Senior Brother said that if I want to establish my own peak, I need to choose a region. Are there any restrictions?"
Elder Yuan said, "There are only three rules: you cannot be within a hundred miles of Tongtian Peak, you cannot encroach on the territory of other mountains, and you cannot encroach on the spirit herb garden. There are no other restrictions."
"I will have someone fetch a map of Tongtian Island later. Junior Brother can examine it himself before making a decision."
"Tongtian Island was personally crafted by the sect leader using his extraordinary abilities. He forcibly infused it with a giant spiritual vein and set up a spirit-gathering array to regulate the spiritual energy of heaven and earth on the island."
“Junior brother, don’t worry about the concentration of spiritual energy. Once the selection is made, the array masters in the sect will fine-tune the spirit-gathering array to adjust the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to be the same as that of the other peaks.”
Chen Yuan said, "Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother, but the Sect Leader has given me a month, so there's no rush."
Elder Yuan said, "Very well, tomorrow I will have Han Xuan lead Junior Brother on a tour of Tongtian Island, and Junior Brother can take his time to choose."
"This matter cannot be taken lightly. Although the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is almost the same after adjusting the spirit-gathering formation, if it is too remote, it will affect your future recruitment of Qi-refining disciples."
"Oh? What do you mean? Please enlighten me, Senior Brother," Chen Yuan asked. Elder Yuan explained, "After you become an elder, Junior Brother, you will not only hold the power of an elder and enjoy the sect's offerings, but you will also bear the responsibilities of an elder."
"The first task is to lead the disciples of the sect to conquer the other world and make meritorious contributions."
"The second thing is to cultivate disciples. Every hundred, thousand, or ten thousand years, a certain number of Core Formation disciples, Nascent Soul disciples, and Deity Transformation disciples must be cultivated."
"These two tasks are closely related. If we cannot train disciples, we will have no one to use when we conquer other worlds. And no matter how strong my junior brother is, he cannot kill all the cultivators in other worlds and mine spirit mines and spirit stones."
"If one cannot achieve military merits and obtain cultivation resources during the conquest of other worlds, it will be impossible to cultivate elite disciples."
"This is a responsibility that all the elders of each peak must bear. If they fail to complete it, their offerings will be reduced. If they complete it well, the sect leader will bestow treasures upon them."
"If you want to train disciples, aptitude is extremely important. It is best to take them directly from Qi Refining disciples."
“Qi Refining disciples have not yet mastered the art of flight. If the place chosen by junior brother is too remote, the time spent traveling between the Spirit Herb Garden, the Weapon Refining Hall, the Pill Refining Hall, and the Dharma Practice Hall will be too long. Little by little, this will delay their cultivation and inevitably affect their choice.”
Chen Yuan frowned: "My cultivation is low and my foundation in the sect is shallow. I am afraid I am not up to the task of both training disciples and conquering other worlds..."
Elder Yuan drank a cup of spiritual tea and chuckled, "Junior brother, don't worry. According to the sect rules, newly promoted elders will not be assessed by the sect within a thousand years, and their offerings will not be reduced by the slightest."
"Junior brother can focus on cultivation, break through the bottleneck first, and then slowly train disciples."
Chen Yuan's expression softened slightly. He only wanted to cultivate in peace and didn't want to expend much energy on training disciples.
As for sect offerings, it's better to advance to the Nascent Soul stage as soon as possible and gain more rewards by killing a few more demon saints.
"Senior brother knows that my cultivation method is special and requires the refinement of true spirit blood. I wonder if senior brother has any information about demon cores containing true spirit blood, or at least demon king cores? I will definitely reward you handsomely," Chen Yuan said sincerely.
Elder Yuan put down his teacup and frowned, saying, "The blood of the true spirit has endless uses. Whether it is used for alchemy, weapon crafting, or cultivating certain supernatural abilities, it is an excellent material."
"The demon race has always been very protective of the descendants of true spirits. Demon cores containing the blood of true spirits are extremely rare in the spirit world. When they do appear, they are immediately bought up."
"However, the blood of the true spirit is useless to me. I haven't paid much attention to it in the past, so I haven't heard anything about it..."
"How about this, I'll have Han Xuan lead my junior brother to Donghua City tomorrow."
"Our sect's Treasure Pavilion controls 30% of the city's markets. Every 300 years, it holds an auction, which attracts more than half of the Void Refinement cultivators in the Xuanling Domain. It is extremely well-informed and may even have news about True Spirit Blood."
Chen Yuan's eyes lit up, and he clasped his hands in a bow to him, saying, "Thank you, Senior Brother."
Elder Yuan smiled and said, "Junior brother, there's no need for such formalities. You saved Han Xuan's life. He'll just have to endure some hardship, but what does it matter?"
"However, this Treasure Pavilion is managed by Elder Ling of Yanheng Peak. Even if there is true spirit blood, according to the sect rules, junior brother must exchange it with spirit stones and treasures. I am unable to help him."
"Don't worry, senior brother, how could I dare to violate the sect rules?" Chen Yuan said solemnly.
He did not mention that he had asked Master Fu for the blood of the true spirit, and that the Tai Xuan Sect's treasury did not contain such a thing.
The two then drank spiritual tea and talked about the Tai Xuan Sect. Elder Yuan did most of the talking, while Chen Yuan listened attentively.
He had also inquired about the situation of the Tai Xuan Sect from Han Xuan, but Han Xuan was only a true disciple and his understanding of the sect was far less thorough than that of Elder Yuan.
From Elder Yuan, Chen Yuan gained a preliminary understanding of the eight elders besides Elder Su and Elder Mei, which would make it much easier to deal with them in the future, at least he wouldn't be a stranger to them.
The two talked for several hours, during which the lady condensed her form three times and brewed three pots of spiritual tea before Chen Yuan finally got up to take his leave.
However, he did not yet have his own cave dwelling, so Elder Yuan ordered Xi Ze to lead Chen Yuan to a vacant cave dwelling near Huayu Peak for temporary residence.
Tongtian Island only has cultivators from the Tai Xuan Sect; there is no place to welcome guests, nor are there any cave dwellings or courtyards prepared for them.
All cultivators who come to visit friends at Tai Xuan Sect can only stay in Donghua City and travel back and forth via short-distance teleportation arrays; they cannot stay for long.
The next day, Chen Yuan returned to Elder Yuan's cave, where Han Xuan was already waiting.
When he saw Chen Yuan again, his eyes were filled with complicated emotions. He stepped forward and bowed respectfully, saying, "Han Xuan greets Elder Chen."
Chen Yuan sighed inwardly. From the moment he became an elder of the Tai Xuan Sect, Han Xuan was no longer his senior brother.
Elder Yuan addressed Chen Yuan as his junior brother, and as Elder Yuan's personal disciple, Han Xuan had to treat him with the respect due to a junior.
Chen Yuan was very displeased with this, but it was a precedent in the cultivation world. He still had the Tai Xuan Token, which was personally modified by Master Fu. If he still addressed Han Xuan as his senior brother, it would be a breach of the proper order of seniority, and even Elder Yuan would not agree to it.
Chen Yuan had already made preparations, but seeing Han Xuan's respectful face, he suddenly felt a little annoyed and put his thoughts from yesterday out of his mind.
He stepped forward and helped Han Xuan up: "Senior Brother Han, what are you doing? We are both at the Refinement of Emptiness stage, so we should address each other as equals."
Han Xuan tried to break free from Chen Yuan's hands, but how could his strength compare to Chen Yuan's? He also couldn't circulate his true energy in front of Chen Yuan, so he could only let Chen Yuan help him up.
But he remained respectful, saying, "Elder Chen and my master are of equal rank, how dare I disregard their proper order?"
Chen Yuan said solemnly, "Senior brother, you are mistaken. In the Xuanli Realm, despite my suspicious origins, you risked violating the sect rules to take me into Huayu Peak and fabricated a story about me being a shadow spy. Afterwards, the two of us joined forces to fight against Zhou Lang and entrusted each other with our lives."
"I will remember this kindness and friendship forever, and never forget it."
"Although I am now favored by the sect leader and appointed as an elder, my cultivation has not yet broken through the bottleneck. We can address each other as equals."
Han Xuan hesitated and said, "But the elders and my master..."
Chen Yuan smiled slightly: "We are all ascended cultivators, why should we care about the formalities of the Spirit Realm? Besides, our cultivation levels are similar. I wonder if Senior Brother Yuan could grant us this opportunity?"
He turned to look at Elder Yuan, and Han Xuan also looked over hesitantly. Elder Yuan smiled and said, "Why not? We embark on the path of cultivation to pursue freedom and longevity. How can we bind ourselves to rules?"
"But this is ultimately a precedent in the cultivation world. We must not break the rules in front of outsiders to avoid causing controversy. Let's discuss this privately. What do you think, Junior Brother Chen?"
Chen Yuan smiled and said, "What Senior Brother Yuan said is absolutely right."
He then turned to look at Han Xuan. Meeting his resolute gaze, Han Xuan felt a surge of warmth in his heart and smiled, "Then I shall respectfully accept your offer. Today, I am here on my master's orders to guide you, Junior Brother, on a tour of Donghua City. Junior Brother Chen, please!" (End of Chapter)