The First Immortal of Destiny

In response to this situation, Shen Mo and the other high-ranking members, after discussion, decided to use the remaining Spirit Stones in the sect’s Treasure Hall. Each month, two low-grade Spirit Stones would be given to each outer disciple.

After all, the disciples’ cultivation had already been significantly delayed during the three years they were trapped in the Mountain River Dungeon. If this lack of cultivation resources continued, it wouldn’t take long for the foundation of the Riverside Sect’s lower ranks to be shaken!

A rough calculation showed that this routine expenditure alone would consume over two million low-grade Spirit Stones annually.

If the situation didn’t improve, the Spirit Stones in the Riverside Sect’s Treasure Hall would only sustain them for three more years. The rest of the Treasure Hall’s inventory consisted of various magic artifacts, elixirs, spiritual medicine, ores, and similar items; it wasn’t entirely composed of Spirit Stones.

Meanwhile, Shen Mo and Zhao Lingyin’s wedding was also put on the agenda, scheduled for a month later.

After careful consideration, Shen Mo deliberately contributed 300,000 low-grade Spirit Stones from his personal wealth to organize the grand marriage ceremony.

This sum of Spirit Stones was used for various arrangements and purchases, including preparing delicacies and spiritual wine for the guests. A portion was also allocated as remuneration for sect tasks, issued in the form of missions.

These tasks were numerous and varied in difficulty.

They ranged from small tasks like setting up the ceremony venue to large ones like traveling to other states to invite guests. Simpler tasks included gathering Spirit Fruits and collecting fine wines, while more complex ones involved crafting the phoenix crown and official robe Zhao Lingyin would wear on her wedding day. Disciples of different Realms and specializations, as long as they were willing, could find a mission suited to them!

It wasn’t that Shen Mo was being excessively benevolent or couldn’t bear to see his disciples struggle; rather, he was making long-term plans.

Generally speaking, for cultivators who had reached his level, the spiritual items needed for daily cultivation could rarely be purchased directly with middle or low-grade Spirit Stones.

Whether it was high-class magic artifacts, elixirs, talismans, corresponding spiritual materials, or even Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, most were items for which there was a price but no market. They were either gathered and offered up by disciples or exchanged for spiritual items of equivalent value with others!

Thus, Supreme Elders like Yuan Heming and Zhou Zhiwei weren’t particularly keen on accumulating Spirit Stones. Instead, they placed more importance on the sect’s smooth operation.

Only then could disciples, through activities such as going out for training, exploring, trading, and undertaking missions, continuously provide the sect with various spiritual items!

Even if most of these items were of ordinary quality, a significant portion consisted of high-class resources. Furthermore, some were Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that Spirit Stones couldn’t buy, or clues related to them!

After Shen Mo was promoted to Supreme Elder, he, too, couldn’t be an exception. He needed to strive to maintain the sect’s smooth operation to maximize his own benefits from it.

Of course, he was still somewhat different from the other patriarchs like Yuan Heming.

Patriarchs like Yuan Heming would be fine even without a single Spirit Stone, as the offerings from the entire sect were sufficient to meet their daily cultivation needs.

Shen Mo, however, still needed a large quantity of Spirit Stones to offer to his special Destinies, such as [Insight into All Beings] and [Martial Performance].

For instance, with [Insight into All Beings], the higher the Realm of the creatures being examined, the greater the consumption of Spirit Stones.

That wasn’t all. For the [Martial Performance] Destiny, advancing a cultivation method or magic to the next stage would consume tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of Spirit Stones each time!

However, as long as the sect recovered some of its vitality, it wouldn’t be long before the Spirit Stones he had invested would be returned to him severalfold, perhaps even tenfold. This return would come in various forms, such as the Supreme Elder’s monthly stipend, allocations of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and profits from selling high-grade elixirs and magic treasures.

Therefore, Shen Mo acted quite generously.

Seeing his actions, Yuan Heming and the others, after some hesitation, allocated an additional 200,000 low-grade Spirit Stones from the sect’s Treasure Hall to cover the expenses of the marriage ceremony.

After all, Shen Mo had just rendered immense service to the Riverside Sect.

If the sect showed no recognition for his marriage, it would be truly unjustifiable.

Shen Mo was perfectly clear about the Riverside Sect’s Spirit Stone inventory and financial situation, and he deeply appreciated the goodwill shown by Yuan Heming and the others.

With 500,000 low-grade Spirit Stones poured in, and numerous halls and residences having just been constructed, the Chong’a Mountain sect entrance, which had been quiet for some time, once again erupted into a scene of bustling activity and excitement.

From outer disciples in the Body Tempering Realm up to the various Hall Masters, everyone began to busily prepare for Shen Mo’s marriage!

As for the other difficulties facing the Riverside Sect—such as the source of new disciples, the insufficient nature’s spiritual energy on Chong’a Mountain, and the challenge of finding the entrance to the Vacuous Realm—the high-ranking members were also devising solutions.

First was the source of new disciples.

Previously, the disciples who joined the Riverside Sect’s outer sect were mostly from Qing State. They were either children born to Dao companions within the sect, descendants of Cultivating Families, the offspring or disciples of rogue cultivators, or young boys and girls from mortal families who possessed cultivation Talent.

However, some were also promising talents on the Immortal Path, brought back from other states by Riverside Sect disciples who were out gaining experience or stationed at various sect-owned industries in the Red Flame Country.

Now, with the exception of the Linjiang Mountain Range, more than half of Qing State had fallen into the Soaring Serpent’s belly, severing many recruitment channels at their source.

The sect had also relocated to Chong’a Mountain in Yu State, the same state as the Seven Stars Altar. Naturally, it wouldn’t be appropriate to compete with them for disciples within Yu State’s territory.

Even if the Seven Stars Altar didn’t object, the Riverside Sect wouldn’t dare to openly recruit Born Immortals from within Yu State. After all, the Seven Stars Altar had been established in Yu State for nearly a thousand years and had intricate, deeply entrenched connections with various major and minor powers that were difficult to unravel.

If they weren’t careful, the Riverside Sect could become a branch of the Seven Stars Altar within a few hundred years.

Fortunately, a large number of disciples had already been dispatched to other states to connect with the sect’s industries. Along the way, they could also identify and recruit some new disciples.

Given the Riverside Sect’s current situation, it was no longer feasible to broadly open its gates and recruit outer disciples on a large scale as before, subsequently culling the weak and retaining the strong to cultivate a core force.

Outer disciples who had experienced the demonic calamity and the drastic changes in the world, even if their Talent was somewhat lacking, should have had their characters considerably tempered.

By selecting the best from among them, a large batch of usable talents could surely be found!

Providing them with a monthly stipend of two Spirit Stones was also a factor in this consideration; it was a strategic adjustment made by Shen Mo and the other high-ranking members after careful deliberation to suit the current circumstances.

As for the issue of Chong’a Mountain’s relatively low-grade Spirit Vein and insufficient nature’s spiritual energy, Shen Mo, Yuan Heming, Zhou Zhiwei, and other Golden Core Realm cultivators took action. They moved mountains and diverted rivers from elsewhere, altering the terrain to achieve an effect of sheltering wind and gathering Qi. The results wouldn’t be apparent for several years, but after ten or twenty years, the nature’s spiritual energy at the sect entrance would become denser.

Then, with considerable effort, they set up several large Spirit Gathering Arrays in the core area.

Although the effect couldn’t compare to their original sect’s core area, it was sufficient to support the daily cultivation of disciples in the Body Tempering and Qi Gathering Realms. For Spirit Sea Realm disciples, a slight decrease in the concentration of nature’s spiritual energy wouldn’t have a significant impact, as long as it wasn’t as scarce as in the far seas of the Immortal Burial Sea.

As for the entrance to the Vacuous Realm, it was inherently beyond the Ninth Heaven and drifted unpredictably.

Finding it again was not something that could be accomplished overnight. Whenever Shen Mo had free time, he would dispatch ten Demon Soul Generals, implanted with Soul Splitting Runes, to search above the Ninth Heaven. Whether they could find it would depend on luck.

In summary, numerous difficulties needed to be addressed one by one.

Currently, the most pressing matter, and the one that most occupied the minds of the Riverside Sect disciples, was still the marriage ceremony of Shen Mo and Zhao Lingyin.

Not only within the Riverside Sect but also due to various other reasons, this grand ceremony had attracted significant attention from the other Four Great Immortal Sects and various other powers!