Longzang

Chapter 125 There is a successor
Although somewhat embarrassed, a True Lord's word is his bond, and having already agreed, Xuan Yue couldn't go back on his word. However, he was also a little curious and asked, "How come your Bright King Palace has become so wealthy lately?"

The Lord of the Bright King Palace had finally gotten the question he was waiting for, and he laughed heartily, saying, "This is just the beginning! Give me some more time, and my Bright King Palace will be no less than the Heavenly Mystery Palace or the Creation Temple. What's the most valuable thing in this era? Talent!"

Xuan Yue Zhenjun was completely confused, but in front of the big spender, he couldn't question his words.

The Lord of the Mingwang Palace didn't linger. He placed the two extra jade rings on the table and then got up to take his leave.

After he left, True Monarch Xuan Yue remained silent, puzzled as to why the Lord of the Bright King Palace would go to such lengths. It seemed unlikely that it was solely for the Immortal Stone Qing Ming.

He suddenly remembered something. A few days ago, at the triennial council meeting of the True Lords of the various halls, someone pointed out that the two sessions of intensive instruction had been remarkably effective, with more and more disciples participating. In the first session, the participation rate was less than 30%, but in the second session it was already over half. Once the new batch of disciples arrives, it will probably exceed 60%.

With the intensive teaching proving effective, the reformers took their second step: teachers choose their students, and students choose their teachers.

Specifically, the recruitment of disciples is now handled centrally within the palace. Once recruited, they are no longer directly assigned to various temples and halls; instead, there's an additional selection process. During this process, each temple and hall can choose its preferred disciples, and the disciples can also choose where they wish to go.

This proposal received support from many True Lords, with the higher the ranking of the hall, the stronger the support, thus making it a done deal. True Lord Xuan Yue originally had an indifferent attitude towards this. The Azure Sky Hall had indeed produced quite a few genius disciples in the past few decades. With Zhang Sheng already causing some resource shortages, Wei Yuan had unexpectedly emerged as well. If a few more genius disciples were to appear, True Lord Xuan Yue, whose resources had been depleted, wouldn't know what to use to cultivate them.

At this juncture, the Lord of the Bright King Palace suddenly pulled this stunt, presumably to bring all the disciples to the Hall of Myriad Forms during the disciple selection process, in order to demonstrate the divine power of his Bright King Palace disciples in supporting the earth. In this way, the new disciples' goodwill towards the Bright King Palace will undoubtedly rise sharply, and presumably, several more Heavenly Foundations will be established in the coming years.

Thinking of this, True Monarch Xuan Yue cursed inwardly for being cunning, never expecting that the Lord of the Bright King Palace was laying the groundwork for this! Who said that body cultivators are honest and upright?
However, True Lord Xuan Yue was not someone to be trifled with. At that time, he planned to send a disciple in disguise to stay in the Hall of Ten Thousand Images. After the Lord of the Hall of Bright Kings finished demonstrating the strongmen who lifted the earth, he would tell the newly recruited disciples what those four strongmen were carrying.

Just thinking about this matter reminded Xuan Yue Zhenjun of Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan is currently on his first solo training trip, and after only a few days, he has already caused a major incident involving the recognition of the immortal stone as its master, which has put True Monarch Xuan Yue in a very difficult position.

The Azure Nether was renowned in ancient times, its creation shaking heaven and earth. Throughout history, fewer than ten boundary stones have exhibited extraordinary phenomena upon their creation. However, the Azure Nether disappeared shortly after its creation, vanishing without a trace for tens of thousands of years. Everyone assumed it had fallen into the hands of alien races and been destroyed, but unexpectedly, it still existed and had even been activated and recognized as its master by Wei Yuan.

Upon receiving Wei Yuan's letter, True Lord Xuan Yue immediately dispatched Zhang Sheng westward. Furthermore, True Lords Fen Hai and Lan Hua also set off, intending to oversee Hanyang Pass and intimidate the Xu family. True Lord Xuan Yue was no ordinary person; from Wei Yuan's few words, he deduced that the Xu family was problematic. Otherwise, with the Xu family so close at hand, why wouldn't Wei Yuan seek help directly, instead sending so many letters to the palace pleading for assistance?

At this moment, the storerooms of the Azure Sky Palace and the Moonlit Water Palace were empty. Apart from some heirlooms passed down by True Monarchs and Immortals, almost everything else had been sold off. True Monarch Xuan Yue searched the storerooms and barely managed to gather enough supplies worth 100,000 taels of immortal silver for Zhang Sheng to take with him. Those heirloom treasures, of course, could not be sold; otherwise, it would be tantamount to selling off ancestral property.

But if you want to expand your territory, 100,000 taels of silver is not enough.
Fortunately, the Lord of the Mingwang Palace came to the rescue, relieving the immediate crisis. Originally, when the offer was two million, True Lord Xuanyue almost agreed. Fortunately, he was a True Lord of many years, and his self-control was excellent. He always liked to speak slowly and deliberately. As a result, he not only got a loan of five million taels, but also added a helper to Wei Yuan's immortal foundation.

Although they received a sum of money from the Mingwang Palace, it would still be difficult for the Tianqing and Shuiyue Palaces alone to defend Qingming.

Just as True Lord Xuan Yue was having a headache, he suddenly heard the voice of Immortal Lord Ting Hai: Come to Xianju Peak and let's discuss Wei Yuan's matter.

Figures kept appearing on the peak where the Immortal Lord of the Sea was located. In the end, a total of fifteen True Lords arrived. Some True Lords were in seclusion and could not participate.

The Immortal Lord of the Sea was sitting on the edge of the cliff, fishing. His fishing rod bent at an extreme angle, clearly indicating a large fish had taken the bait. A plume of white steam rose from his head, and suddenly, with a loud "Hey!", he finally lifted the fishing rod!
The long fishing rod was raised high, but nothing came out.

After a moment of contemplation, the Immortal Lord put down his fishing rod, rose and walked into the main hall, sat in the main seat, and said, "I have summoned everyone here today to discuss the matter of Wei Yuan."

"What just happened?" someone asked.

Pei Tinghai said, "I clashed with Xu Wangu again, and lost a small round this time. Something I had been planning for a while failed. But it's nothing serious." Yan Shi Zhenjun, who still looked like a young Taoist, said, "I observe that the weather in the west is becoming more and more dangerous. This old guy is playing with fire! We must be wary of him taking risks."

The Lord of the Mingwang Palace snorted and said, "Isn't that obvious? That old fellow is nearing the end of his life, and he's going to any lengths to advance further. At this point, no one wants to provoke him, so he's becoming increasingly reckless."

Everyone knew that Xu Wangu was the patriarch of the Xu family, who had achieved the Unity Realm over two thousand years ago. Due to the suppression of their Immortal Lord status, even these True Lords of the Realm of the Peak could not address Xu Wangu by his name directly, lest it provoke him to act impulsively. If their cultivation level was lower, it would be fine.

Xuan Yue Zhenjun stood up and said, "Wei Yuan mistakenly ordered Qingming to recognize him as its master. He was at fault first, and I will take responsibility for this matter."

Someone sneered, "Can you handle it?"

Some people said, "There's a saying that celestial objects can mistakenly recognize a master? Heh, if I didn't have some knowledge of weapon crafting, I might have believed it!"

Xuan Yue's eyebrows gradually furrowed, indicating her intention to rise. Pei Tinghai reached out and pressed down, instantly silencing all the True Lords.

“Wei Yuan was sent west by me. Although Qingming’s recognition of him as its master was intentional, the situation at the time was special. For the sake of hundreds of thousands of people, it cannot be said that Qingming was wrong to recognize him as its master,” Pei Tinghai said.

A True Lord with long, flowing eyebrows and down to his shoulders, his eyes lowered and his eyelids unmoving, said, "How can the lives and deaths of a mere few hundred thousand mortals compare to the celestial artifact Qingming? If Qingming is used properly, it can save tens or hundreds of millions of lives. To plant Qingming for such a small number of people is, to put it nicely, a case of losing the big picture for the small, and to put it bluntly, short-sighted and defiant!"

"Isn't that inappropriate?" Xuan Yue Zhenjun's voice was already filled with coldness.

The Long-Browed True Lord remained unmoved and calmly said, "I'm just stating the facts. Xuan Yue, speak from your own Dao heart, if Qingming were to move to the North, it would surely break the current stalemate in one fell swoop. With a few hundred years of proper management, it could expand the territory by three thousand miles and save fifty million lives—and that's an understatement, isn't it? Even if there's a chance to hold onto the land in the West, the North is a sure thing. How can they be compared?"

Xuan Yue Zhenjun was at a loss for words and could only say, "But Qing Ming might not be able to bring it back either."

Immortal Lord Tinghai raised his hand again to stop the argument, and said, "Now at least Qingming still belongs to my Taichu Palace. Xu Wangu not only gained nothing, but also lost a capable general like Xu Guanwen. So in this round, we can be considered to have won a great victory. Wei Yuan should be credited first, and his merits outweigh his demerits. As for what will happen in the future, we will have to see if we can hold on to it. This time, I have decided to increase the merits that should be awarded for all activities in Ningxi by 30%, so if any family has the capacity, they may as well participate."

The Long-Browed True Lord slightly raised his eyes and said, "This is going to shake up the entire palace."

"Just a slight movement."

The Long-Browed True Lord nodded and said nothing more.

The Immortal Lord of the Sea continued, "For the next period of time, I will be traveling west to witness the Daoist arts of the Eternal Immortal Lord. This may take anywhere from a few days to a year. During this time, minor matters in the palace will be decided by the individuals themselves, while major matters will be discussed collectively."

The Palace Master of Mingwang immediately said, "Absolutely not! That old thing has cultivated for over a thousand years and is now on the verge of madness. Palace Master's path to immortality is vast, and there is hope for further advancement. How can we fight that old fellow head-on at this time?"

Pei Tinghai smiled and said, "Everyone thinks so, including Xu Wangu. But I'm afraid the path to immortality will be cut off. Doesn't he fear the shattering of his hopes for longevity? If I perish, he won't live more than ten years either. Even if I'm gone, there's still the Palace Master in charge, and you and the rest of us. Every generation will have talented disciples, and my Taichu Palace will still stand strong. As long as there are successors, what do I have to fear?"

The True Lords exchanged glances, and Pei Tinghai said, "There's no need for further words, my mind is made up. Qingming suffered such a great loss this time, he will definitely not let it go. If I don't go, Xu Wangu will definitely feel that everyone must give way to him! But there's no need to worry too much, these old guys with not much lifespan are actually the most afraid of death."

Despite the pleas of the True Lords, they could not persuade him otherwise. Then they saw the Immortal Lord of the Sea of ​​Listening walk towards the edge of the cliff, step by step into the sea of ​​clouds, and disappear from sight.

(End of this chapter)