Innate Immortal Seed

Chapter 381: Chapter 379: The New Generation of Core Formation Seeds

”Senior Brother Wei sent me a message a few months ago saying he’d found an opportunity for a breakthrough. He’s likely in his Cave Mansion right now, in seclusion to break through to the Mid-Stage Core Formation.”

With only Wei Dao absent, Zhou Suqing explained.

”Breaking through to the Mid-Stage Core Formation? That’s wonderful news.”

For Core Formation Cultivators, unless they were at a Heaven-Defying Level like Bai Zichen, there was little difference between the Early-Stage and Late-Stage in Ge Cang’s eyes.

Still, a breakthrough for any Core Formation True Man was a joyous occasion for the Sect.

In any sect, the status of a Nascent Soul True Monarch and a Core Formation True Man were worlds apart.

Sects with strict regulations would change all official titles the moment a Nascent Soul True Monarch appeared.

They would never be like the Qingfeng Sect, where both were called Ancestor, blurring the lines of their status.

However, the Qingfeng Sect was also slowly changing. It had gone from granting the title of Elder to anyone who reached Foundation Establishment...

...to now, where one had to serve a ten-year apprenticeship before competing for a position.

Every time an Elder position opened up, even for an unpopular and unprofitable post, three or four people would sign up to compete.

Last month, when the Hejian County supervisory Elder position in the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall became vacant, a total of fifteen people registered.

In addition to Foundation Establishment Disciples without any official post, many Elders from less popular branch halls also wanted to switch departments.

In the plan Tong Huan reported to Bai Zichen, the goal was to raise the minimum Cultivation requirement for all Elders to Late-Stage Foundation Establishment within a 60-Year Cycle.

To become an Elder without reaching this Cultivation level, one would need to have achieved exceptional honors or possess a special skill, and then receive special approval from the Sect Leader or one of the Ancestors.

Bai Zichen was happy to see this happen. His ultimate goal was to raise the threshold for the Sect Leader and the Five Halls Masters to the Core Formation Stage.

Only then would the Qingfeng Sect be worthy of being called a true Nascent Soul Major Sect.

After he and Senior Brother Ge Cang were gone, the Sect would be able to operate stably and uphold the Qingfeng Sect’s prestige.

Among the Five Halls Masters, Su Li and Longx Longx were old acquaintances, but frankly, while the door to Core Formation hadn’t completely closed for them, their chances were slim.

The acting Hall Master of the Artifact Refining Hall was a transitional figure, not worth mentioning.

Liuu Sanshui of the Alchemy Hall had impressive talent in the Alchemy Dao. According to Master Zhu of the Danxia Sect, he had a seventy to eighty percent chance of becoming a Tier Three Alchemist.

Coupled with the Qingfeng Sect’s strong support, he had numerous opportunities for Opening the Furnace and Refining Pills—something even the most outstanding Tier Two Alchemists from the Danxia Sect couldn’t match.

Becoming a Tier Three Alchemist was practically a sure thing.

However, compared to his talent in the Alchemy Dao, Liuu Sanshui’s Cultivation aptitude was much worse. Reaching Foundation Establishment Perfection was likely his limit.

He didn’t know much about Lian Liangpu of the Transmission Hall, only that he had joined the Sect during the period when the Qingfeng Sect implemented the Great Extinguishing Spirit Field plan and began to significantly increase its recruitment of disciples for the first time.

He was astonished when he used his Identity Token to pull up Lian Liangpu’s file.

His Cultivation path was somewhat similar to Zhou Suqing’s; they were both the kind of prodigies for whom mastering one art meant mastering all.

He had reached a state of perfection in his mastery of Five Elements Magic. He was also incredibly learned and had an excellent memory, knowing multiple basic Cultivation Techniques by heart. In terms of teaching and passing on knowledge, he was in no way inferior to the Zhou Suqing of the past.

When it came to guiding junior disciples, he could be called the joint second-best in the Qingfeng Sect for the past several centuries.

The main difference between him and Zhou Suqing was in the Hundred Skills of Cultivation.

For instance, he was unlike Zhou Suqing, who studied the Array Dao, became an initiate in a few months, and became a Tier Two Array Master in a few years.

She had even achieved considerable success while also studying the Alchemy Dao.

If she hadn’t focused on the Array Dao, she might have become a decent Alchemist as well.

However, although Lian Liangpu wasn’t famous for his Combat abilities, at least he wasn’t completely clueless like Zhou Suqing and possessed the skills of a normal Cultivator.

This was his only advantage when comparing the two.

The moment Bai Zichen saw Lian Liangpu’s file, his experience, and his age of over 120, he felt he had discovered a diamond in the rough—a hidden Core Formation Seed.

Achieving a Pill Discussion and Perfect Core Formation might be a difficult path for him.

But he still had a good chance of achieving a normal Core Formation.

After all, the Qingfeng Sect was not short on Clear Spirit Jade Marrow these days. Every Foundation Establishment Cultivator could enjoy the triple blessing of a Core Formation Spiritual Object, the Desolate God Stealing Sun Technique, and a Tier Three Top-Grade spiritual land.

Except for a handful of individuals, like the Saint Child and Saintess of the Holy Lotus Sect who could consume an Enlightenment Lotus Seed, the external conditions for breaking into the Core Formation Realm were worse for ninety-nine percent of the Cultivation Realm’s Perfect Foundation Establishment Cultivators than for the disciples of the Qingfeng Sect.

As for Bai Zichen’s own disciples, his first disciple, Tong Huan, held the position of Sect Leader. In terms of Cultivation, he could only be described as diligent but limited by his talent.

His third disciple, Huo Feiyan, was sharp and handled matters impeccably. She had managed Celestial Thunder Cliff for all these years without a single mistake and had done an excellent job of mediating the undercurrent of conflict that had once existed between the Bai Clan Members and the Qingfeng Sect disciples.

But on the path of Cultivation, she still lacked a bit of that Spiritual spark.

His second disciple, Lii Guizhen, possessed a Thunder Spiritual Root. He was decisive and resolute, driven and efficient, and his Combat strength was the most like his master’s.

After reaching Foundation Establishment, he was nearly undefeated in combat against those of the same realm and even had a record of defeating multiple opponents at once while traveling in other lands.

Most importantly, his fortune was excellent.

He had come to the Qingfeng Sect as a child, smoothly became Ancestor Bai’s disciple after reaching Foundation Establishment, and had a Blessed Land like Celestial Thunder Cliff that allowed him to absorb Thunder Element Spiritual Power and rapidly advance his Cultivation.

While traveling, he had also obtained a top-tier Thunder Skill that was extremely compatible with him.

If he weren’t so ambitious, suppressing his Cultivation in the hopes of achieving a Pill Discussion, he could have reached Foundation Establishment Perfection by now.

As for his fourth disciple, Ma Ruoxi, she was the one who had brought Bai Zichen the greatest surprise.

The cultivation speed of her Water Stone Spiritual Body after obtaining the Curved Water Five-Eyed Bodhi was just so-so in his eyes. The real surprise was Ma Ruoxi’s Sword Dao Talent.

He had always been hailed as the number one talent in Sword Dao since the Near Ancient era, yet none of his own disciples were skilled in Swordsmanship. It was frankly embarrassing.

Instead, it was Ma Ruoxi, whom he had accepted partly for other reasons, who displayed astounding Sword Dao Talent. Under his guidance, she advanced by leaps and bounds, showing new progress almost daily.

She had comprehended Sword Qi Thunder Sound early on, learned several Swordsmanship techniques with ease, and was now studying them at a deeper level.

Lii Guizhen and Ma Ruoxi were both Core Formation Seeds among this generation of disciples. It was highly likely that both would step into the Core Formation Realm.

Setting aside Core Formation True Men, the boom in the number of Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the Qingfeng Sect should occur within the next few decades.

The disciples recruited when the Sect became powerful and opened its gates wide were now approaching the age of harvest.

The Cultivation Conditions this batch of disciples enjoyed were on a completely different level and couldn’t be compared to the past.

Take Spirit Rice, for example. In Su Li’s time, only True Disciples were guaranteed a daily supply of Tier One Spirit Rice. Inner Sect Disciples could only receive six catties of Spirit Rice per month.

But now, even the daily meals of Outer Sect Disciples included a serving of Tier One Spirit Rice.

True Disciples could even receive an unlimited amount of Tier Two Spirit Rice as a monthly benefit from the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall, with as many as seven different varieties available.

This would have been unimaginable just a few decades ago.

Back then, Bai Zichen himself had relied on planting Dragon Tooth Rice to earn his first fortune.

Two of these Tier Two Spirit Rice varieties had been discovered by disciples during the development of Black Mountain. They had presented the Spirit Seeds to the Sect, which then cultivated them on a large scale.

Two other varieties were offered as tribute by the Shennong Sect, a former Vassal Sect of the Holy Lotus Sect, which provided their highest quality first-generation Spirit Seeds.

After True Monarch Jiulian’s fall, the Holy Lotus Sect could only fend for itself and was unable to look after its Vassal Sects.

Many sects, including the Shennong Sect, were looking for their own way forward.

Every time the Qingfeng Sect opened up a Tier Three Spirit Vein, even if there were no other resources to be gained, at least dozens of hectares of Spirit Fields were added to its ledgers.

As these lands were added one after another, the total area of the Sect’s Spirit Fields reached a staggering amount.

Every year, large numbers of servant disciples became Spirit Farmers, but it still wasn’t enough to fill the massive demand from the Spirit Field Hall.

It was because of this that the Spirit Rice produced could finally meet the needs of all the disciples in the Qingfeng Sect.

For this, Gu Xisheng, who had already passed away, deserved credit.

His Great Extinguishing Spirit Field plan, which established the Spirit Field Hall as a separate entity, had played a huge role in promoting the development of Spirit Farmers in the Qingfeng Sect.

Now, in terms of Spirit Fields alone, the Qingfeng Sect was only behind the Shennong Sect in Tier Three Spirit Rice; its cultivation of Mid-Low Tier Spirit Rice was already on par.

The Spirit Rice had greatly improved the average physique of the disciples, and this was beginning to be reflected in their success rates for Breaking Realm.

Once the number of the Sect’s Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators surged, the total number of Core Formation True Men was bound to increase as well.

Bai Zichen was very confident he could achieve his ambitious goal within a hundred years.

”I’ve summoned you today mainly to inform you of two matters...”

Bai Zichen recounted the shocking events that had occurred on Meili Snow Peak, telling them only what could be said.

Everyone present stared with wide eyes, their mouths agape in disbelief.

In the minds of all Cultivators, Nascent Soul True Monarchs already stood at the pinnacle of the Cultivation Realm. They could establish sects and become ancestors; they were omnipotent.

With a thousand-year lifespan, they could witness the changes of heaven and earth, the shifting of mountains and rivers. A normal person’s life was but a tenth of theirs.

Many Foundation Establishment Cultivators and Core Formation True Men did not live to their maximum lifespan, but Nascent Soul True Monarchs, aside from those with incurable, severe injuries, could almost always live beyond it.

For Nascent Soul True Monarchs, obtaining various Life-Extending Elixirs and Life-Extending Spiritual Objects was much less difficult.

There were even numerous Secret Techniques that could extend their lives.

The sudden fall of five Nascent Soul True Monarchs, beings who were like Celestial Gods in the eyes of ordinary Cultivators, had an unimaginable impact on them.

Those with a weaker disposition might even begin to question the meaning of their own Cultivation.

”I’m telling you this for two reasons. First, you are to cut off all trade with Zengguang Immortal City. In the coming days, the Immortal City will become a public target, and our caravans won’t be able to do any business there.”

Bai Zichen turned to Tong Huan and gave his disciple an order.

”Without the route through Zengguang Immortal City, you must figure out how to sell the Sect’s surplus resources and how to acquire scarce Spiritual Objects... especially the Thousand-Year-Old Golden Crown Lingzhi. I expect you to find a substitute. The Sect cannot run out of Foundation Establishment Pills.”

He and Ge Cang had already decided to personally hunt Tier Three Demon Beasts for the next twenty to thirty years.

Their main purpose was to use Tier Three Demon Pills to refine Foundation Establishment Pills, ensuring a minimum number of pills could be produced.

However, there was no need to tell the rest of the Sect about this. It was best to avoid letting them grow complacent and lose their sense of crisis.

”Rest assured, Master. I will find an alternative channel within two years and guarantee the supply of Alchemy Materials for the Pill Hall.”

Tong Huan’s expression was grave as he made his promise.