Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Qi State, Lingyun Mountains.

Hundreds of cultivators gathered on the white jade square at the top of Lingyun Peak, some were in the stage of forming the elixir, building the foundation, and refining qi. Each of them had a serious expression and it was completely silent except for the sound of the wind blowing their robes.

In front of the Lingyun Hall, a high platform was built with three armchairs on it. Jin Luoheng and Zhuge Qi were sitting on the armchairs with their eyes closed, resting.

Below the platform, fifteen Lingyun Sect Jindan cultivators stood with their hands behind their backs.

Suddenly, a beam of light flew from a distance and landed in front of the platform, revealing the figure of Chu Guangkai.

He clasped his fists and bowed to Jin Luoheng, his old voice slightly high-pitched: "Master, the Guiyuan Sect's huge ship has arrived outside the mountain gate!"

Jin Luoheng slowly opened his eyes, looked at Zhuge Qi beside him, and said with a smile: "Thank you, Senior Brother Zhuge, for taking the trip."

Zhuge Qi nodded and stood up: "Please lead the way, Senior Brother Chu."

Chu Guangkai nodded, and with a flash of light, the two of them flew into the thousand-foot-high wall of clouds.

About two quarters of an hour later, a huge boat of a hundred feet in length slowly emerged from the ten-thousand-foot-long wall of clouds. The huge boat blocked out the sky and the sun, and it stopped only after it reached the sky above Lingyun Peak.

Jin Luoheng stood up from the armchair, hundreds of cultivators on the White Jade Square scattered, and the giant boat slowly descended.

Zhuge Qi and Chu Guangkai were standing at the bow of the boat. Next to them was Bai Yanji, who was smiling and chatting happily with Zhuge Qi.

After the giant boat landed, the smile on Bai Yanji's face disappeared. He swung down the giant boat and came to the high platform. He bowed deeply to Jin Luoheng and said earnestly: "Greetings to the master!"

Jin Luoheng returned the greeting and said with a smile: "The grand ceremony has not yet taken place, Brother Bai Daoist is too modest."

Bai Yanji said solemnly: "The referendum has ended. From today on, there will no longer be Guiyuan Sect, only Lingyun Sect. If the Sect Master doesn't mind, you can call me Junior Brother."

Jin Luoheng followed suit and extended his hand, "Brother Bai, please take a seat."

Bai Yanji smiled and followed Jin Luoheng's instructions and sat down on his left.

At this time, Zhuge Qi also returned to the platform and sat down on the right side of Jin Luoheng.

Chu Guangkai, together with other Guiyuan Sect elders, came to the front of the platform, and hundreds of Guiyuan Sect disciples also got off the giant boat.

An elder in the late Jindan stage raised his hand and made a gesture to put away the giant boat. The scattered Lingyun sect cultivators gathered around again and stood aside, clearly separated from the Guiyuan sect cultivators.

The number of people on both sides is almost the same, but Guiyuan Sect has only seven Jindan elders, and the number of foundation-building disciples is only half of that of Lingyun Sect, and most of them are Qi-refining disciples.

Ever since Chen Yuan returned to the sect, the Lingyun Sect has become increasingly powerful, while the Guiyuan Sect has been declining, and is already showing signs of a lack of successors.

Bai Yanji sat on the armchair, looking at the Guiyuan Sect disciples who were standing with the Lingyun Sect monks below, with fear or excitement clearly shown on their faces. A trace of gloom flashed in the depths of his eyes.

Two years ago, when Zhuge Qi was visiting Guiyuan Sect, the monks in the sect suddenly asked to merge into Lingyun Sect.

He was furious and wanted to take action to deal with this traitor immediately, but was stopped by Zhuge Qi.

The fallacies and heresies that Zhuge Qi uttered afterwards are still clearly remembered by him today.

Bai Yanji certainly didn't believe in "the legal rights of low-level cultivators", "every cultivator has the right to choose his own path to immortality", "Guiyuan Sect is the Guiyuan Sect of every cultivator in Guiyuan Sect, and they have the right to decide their own future"...

There is no place for the weak in front of the strong.

But unfortunately, he was a weakling in front of Zhuge Qi, no, in front of Chen Yuan.

He was confident that he could suppress Zhuge Qi, and he was not afraid at all even if he faced Jin Luoheng.

But when he thought of Chen Yuan, who was competing with the Demon Lord and killing monsters like killing chickens, he could only swallow his anger and agree to the "referendum" proposed by those rebels.

Zhuge Qi put on a righteous look and praised these rebels highly.

He said that this was a "pioneering effort" that would definitely "lead Guiyuan Sect to a better future," that it was "the first time that low-level cultivators had their own voices heard," and that it was a "groundbreaking day" in Qi's cultivation world.

Bai Yanji wanted to disregard everything and turn against Zhuge Qi on the spot countless times.

Without the support of Lingyun Sect behind them, they would not dare to betray their master and ancestors even if they had a hundred guts!

But whenever Bai Yanji wanted to start a killing spree, Chen Yuan's figure would flash through his mind, and a basin of ice water would be poured on his head, extinguishing all his anger.

Not only did he not dare to get angry, he also had to force himself to smile.

But how could he be willing to give up the position of the head of the sect and watch Guiyuan Sect being annexed by Lingyun Sect?

Late that night, he sent his disciple to Tianxuan Sect to ask Elder Zhou for help.

But who would have thought that Elder Zhou had been in seclusion for many days and did not see any outside visitors.

Bai Yanji had no choice but to ask his disciples to meet Daoxuan, explain the pros and cons, and beg him to intervene to stop the Lingyun Sect from annexing the Guiyuan Sect.

Although Bai Yanji's strength is mediocre, he is well versed in strategies and calculations, and is very good at judging the situation. Otherwise, he would not have been able to preserve his sect during the several major changes in Qi's immortal cultivation world.

However, Lingyun Palace is now the only dominant force and has shown its fangs. Guiyuan Sect has no room for maneuver and must seek help from outside forces.

Faced with the relentless pressure from those rebels and Zhuge Qi's seemingly kind but actually threatening words, Bai Yanji pretended to be submissive while waiting for a response from the Tianxuan Sect.

Finally, the disciple returned to the sect and brought back a letter from Daoxuan, promising to help.

Bai Yanji breathed a sigh of relief. When Zhuge Qi pressed him again the next day, he could no longer bear it and said bluntly that if the Guiyuan Sect cultivators could vote on whether to join the Lingyun Sect, then could they also vote on joining other sects, such as... the Tianxuan Sect. He asked himself that he had made it very clear, and Zhuge Qi should immediately give up.

No matter how powerful the Lingyun Sect is, can it be compared with the Four Great Xuan Sects?
Chen Yuan’s strength is not weak, but after all, he is only at the early stage of Nascent Soul, so he is still inferior to the great cultivators.

But unexpectedly, when Zhuge Qi heard the three words "Tianxuan Sect", he was not frightened at all. Instead, he spoke sternly and said something about "sects' self-determination" and that other sects should not interfere in the affairs of the immortal cultivation world of various countries, otherwise the Lingyun Sect would definitely resist.

Bai Yanji was greatly surprised, but with the support of Lingyun Sect behind him, he was naturally fearless and confronted Zhuge Qi head-on.

The two sides parted ways unhappily, and the referendum became a distant prospect.

But Zhuge Qi still lingered in Guiyuan Sect, discussing philosophy with those rebels every day, and his arrogance was extremely rampant.

Those rebels began to pretend to obey Bai Yanji but secretly disobeyed him. The elders who were guarding the spirit stone mines, markets and other places outside, used various excuses to withhold the spirit stones, spirit herbs, magic tools and elixirs, and refused to hand them over to the sect.

Fortunately, he has been in control of the sect for hundreds of years, and there are still some elders and disciples who are loyal to him, so he has not completely lost control of the sect.

He did not dare to confront Lingyun Sect directly, so he could only urge Tianxuan Sect to take action as soon as possible.

But at this moment, Chen Yuan, who had disappeared for a long time and did not even participate in the battle of Mingyin Valley, suddenly appeared in the Southern Wilderness and joined forces with the casual cultivator Tang Jiugongzi to kill two level nine demon kings.

The Baihe Sect bought a ninth-level Zhentianhu horn from Chen Yuan. Elder Wei of the Muli Sect competed with Chen Yuan, but was defeated after a few rounds. He also claimed to the outside world that Chen Yuan had broken through the mid-term bottleneck.

This incident shocked the Donghua immortal cultivation world.

It is not uncommon to see cultivators in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul, and the ninth-level demon king is not invincible either. But more than 20 years ago, Chen Yuan had just held the Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony, and now he has broken through the bottleneck of the middle stage. This speed of cultivation is unprecedented.

In another thirty, fifty, or one hundred years, to what extent will Chen Yuan's cultivation level increase?

There are even rumors that Chen Yuan will be the first divine cultivator in Donghua Continent since ancient times.

Bai Yanji soon received feedback from his disciples that Tianxuan Sect had changed its mind and would "respect the rights of Guiyuan Sect monks and let them choose their own path of cultivation."

The moment he saw the letter, Bai Yanji was stunned.

This was exactly Zhuge Qi's weird talk, which made him hate it so much. Even the Tianxuan Sect said so!
He had to accept the cruel fact that the Tianxuan Sect had given up on the Guiyuan Sect.

Bai Yanji sat in the cave for three days and three nights. On the fourth day, he walked out of the cave and found Zhuge Qi. He changed his previous resistance and was willing to join the Lingyun Sect, and there was no need to even hold the "referendum ceremony".

However, Zhuge Qi sternly refused, saying that the referendum must be held. The Lingyun Sect had no intention of annexing the Guiyuan Sect and would only respect the choices of the Guiyuan Sect monks.

Bai Yanji thought this was a complete waste of time, but Zhuge Qi insisted, so he had no choice but to agree.

Three months ago, after a month of preparation, the referendum ceremony was officially held.

All 849 cultivators of Guiyuan Sect participated in the vote, 575 were in favor, 138 were against, and 136 abstained. The resolution to merge Guiyuan Sect into Lingyun Sect was passed with an overwhelming majority.

The entire referendum ceremony was conducted in accordance with the suggestions put forward by Zhuge Qi, including the three options of "yes", "no", and "abstention".

They also had to set up a formation to prevent others from spying, and the votes were counted by secret ballot, with everyone supervising. It was really eye-opening.

Every word of Zhuge Qi was very novel, but even the monks of Guiyuan Sect who were most opposed to the referendum ceremony had to admit that the referendum ceremony was extremely fair and that Lingyun Sect did not seem to have any intention of forcibly annexing Guiyuan Sect.

This also gave Bai Yanji a glimmer of hope. As long as there were enough cultivators who opposed the merger with Lingyun Sect, the referendum ceremony would not pass and Guiyuan Sect would not be annexed by Lingyun Sect.

But the result obviously disappointed him. He had never expected that there would be so many Guiyuan Sect monks who wanted to merge into Lingyun Sect.

He knew that Lingyun Sect had made a promise that as long as they were merged into Lingyun Sect, every disciple of Guiyuan Sect would receive the same treatment as the disciples of Lingyun Sect, and the cultivation resources they received would be at least double what they received in Guiyuan Sect.

Moreover, the Lingyun Sect successively annexed the Ziyang Sect and the Mingyin Valley, and obtained two medium-sized spiritual veins, two medium-sized markets, many spiritual stone mines, spiritual plant gardens, etc., all of which required the arrangement of new formations.

The Guiyuan Sect focuses on the inheritance of formations. All disciples in the sect practice the art of formations to a greater or lesser extent. There are a large number of sect missions to be taken on, and the rewards are very generous.

Bai Yanji once arranged for his loyal disciples to secretly join those rebels and gather information, so he knew all about these things.

But he was still extremely angry. Just for some petty gains, these people gave up their loyalty to the sect and became shameful traitors!
These rebels even argued that the Guiyuan Sect first attached itself to the Ziyang Sect and then to the Lingyun Sect, and suffered great humiliation, so it would be better for it to be directly merged into the Lingyun Sect.

Bai Yanji also admitted that in order to keep his sect alive, he had to offer tributes to powerful sects like the Zi Yang Sect and the Ling Yun Sect.

But this is also for the sake of the sect's inheritance. Why can't these disciples understand his difficulties?
Now that Guiyuan Sect has been merged into Lingyun Sect, these low-level disciples have benefited from it.

But as the sect leader, he originally enjoyed the entire Guiyuan Sect's offerings alone. Even if he had to share a portion with Ziyang Sect and Lingyun Sect, it would not hinder his cultivation.

Now he has changed from the leader of a sect to a supreme elder, and he is not from the Lingyun sect. How should he deal with it?
All he hoped now was that the cultivation resources he was allocated would not be reduced too much. Although he had been stuck at the bottleneck of the mid-term for nearly a hundred years, he still held on to a glimmer of hope and was unwilling to give up.

When Bai Yanji was feeling mixed emotions, Jin Luoheng looked around and said, "After the referendum ceremony, the monks of Guiyuan Sect have passed the resolution to merge with our sect. The merger ceremony will be held today..."

He stopped talking halfway and looked up into the distance.

Seeing this, Bai Yanji was surprised and looked up into the distance.

I saw a ray of light flying out from the thousand-foot-high cloud wall at an extremely fast speed. In a moment, it arrived in front of the platform, stopped, and Chen Yuan's figure appeared.

Bai Yanji was shocked and stood up quickly.

Chen Yuan ignored him and bowed to Jin Luoheng: "I am a step late, Master, please forgive me." (End of this chapter)