Shennong Sequence

Xin Ruyin rolled her eyes at Zhao Yun, but her tone carried a hint of helplessness, "But no matter what, we have to go see Gongshu Tianming and the others for this piece of innate jade. First, to find out where this jade came from and what its quality is; second, to see if there is any room for negotiation later."

"Hopefully their demands aren't too outrageous. Let alone nurturing ten Foundation Establishment cultivators, we can't even manage to nurture one."

Zhao Yun also wanted to discuss the matter with Gongshu Tianming and the others, but the conditions they offered at the outset were too outrageous!

Furthermore, the foundation building of the Great Dao not only requires an astonishing amount of resources to cleanse the physical body and nourish the foundation, but also requires drawing in the Dao principles of different worlds to integrate with one's own path and comprehend a portion of the mysteries of the Great Dao. But more importantly, it also requires the origin of any one of the five primordial elements to permeate the foundation throughout its entirety!
Furthermore, the Five Primordial Elements are powers that existed before the chaos was created, and are treasures that are several levels higher than ordinary innate objects!

If Zhao Yun and Xin Ruyin could easily produce such a thing, Zhao Yun wouldn't have been stuck in the 'lead and mercury mining' project for over a year, unable to extract or refine genuine lead and mercury, making no progress whatsoever.

Therefore, a single piece of innate jade is simply not enough for them to make a promise to 'help one person advance to the Foundation Establishment stage of the Great Dao'.

At most, it's just about helping those from the future to understand the path of cultivation within the framework of humanity, earth, and heaven, so that they can draw more inspiration from the principles of heaven and earth during their cultivation and lay a more solid foundation.

As for other things, such as helping people condense the Great Dao and build a foundation, or breaking through the bottleneck of their cultivation realm, those are things that don't even need to be considered.

Zhao Yun and Xin Ruyin are themselves trapped in a situation of resource shortage, so how can they have the extra ability to help others?
Furthermore, Zhao Yun considered things more deeply and added:

"You should handle this negotiation."

I'm usually a nobody. Aside from the occasional attention I get from jealous disciples from powerful families, I'm generally not noticed by anyone in the sect.

This time, we won't linger in front of Gongshu Tianming and the others, lest our fact that we're both at the Foundation Establishment stage of the Great Dao be exposed too thoroughly, making them think our potential is terrifying...

"If we don't help them, they'll hold a grudge and, when we return to the future, they'll gang up on us and force us to hand over their so-called Great Dao Foundation Establishment Secret Technique. That would be a real problem!"

"late."

Xin Ruyin shook her head. "This group of people specifically brought innate jade to find me because they were determined to see you and me!"

They already know that we both laid the foundation for the Great Dao.

That's why they dared to use this innate jade as a test, demanding that we two help them forge at least ten foundation-building Dao cultivators.

Otherwise, if they only knew that I had single-handedly laid the foundation for the Great Dao, how would they dare to make such an outrageous request?

"That's not right, how did they know about me?"

Zhao Yun frowned suddenly, then realized the reason. "That's right! I didn't even change my name! They only need to check the people who have been close to you recently, and they can find my name by following the clues... But in the end, it was Gongshu Tianming who leaked the information!"

Then, Zhao Yun's expression darkened. He thought that his and Xin Ruyin's future selves were still stored in Gongshu Tianming's spatial treasure.

When the hundred-year period arrives and everyone is to return to the future world, they will first need to break through Gongshu Tianming's spatial treasure and leave in advance...

Zhao Yun paused, his tone becoming more wary, and began to analyze the pros and cons with Xin Ruyin:
"Gongshu Tianming can now unite with others to negotiate with us, and in the future, when he becomes even stronger, he will definitely be able to unite even more people and use even stronger methods to suppress us! At that time, if he still holds our physical body and imprisons us in the spatial treasure, we will only be controlled at every turn!"

Therefore, at that point in time when we return to the future, a danger will inevitably erupt!

Zhao Yun specifically mentioned these points to Xin Ruyin, and after a serious discussion, the two decided:

We cannot reveal even a fraction of the information about the "return after a hundred years" mentioned by the sect leader "Ling Daoren" to Gongshu Tianming and the others!

Only in this way can they buy themselves a chance to escape when everyone returns together.

In addition, these people do need to meet at this moment.

Whether it was to understand the potential for violence in these people in the future, or for the sake of that piece of innate jade, the two of them had to make this trip.

Subsequently, both parties agreed to meet at the East Gate of the Second Imperial Immortal City the following afternoon, and then have a casual meal at the Purple Qi Restaurant near the East Gate of the Immortal City, where they would discuss various matters together.

The next afternoon,
Zhao Yun and Xin Ruyin arrived at the appointment on time. As soon as they reached the east gate of the No. 2 Imperial Immortal City, they saw Gongshu Tianming leading several cultivators, who went straight to greet them.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, they went into the Ziqi Inn restaurant together and chose a quiet private room to sit down.

When Zhao Yun's gaze swept over the nine men brought by Gongshu Tianming, he had already made a judgment in his mind:

Of the ten, most of them were still at the basic stage of the late Body Refinement realm, while only Gongshu Tianming and one other calm-looking cultivator had just reached the Qi Refinement realm.

'They arrived twenty or thirty years earlier than me, yet they're still only at this level. It seems their initial foundation in this life wasn't very high.' Zhao Yun looked at the few people in the private room with weak auras and sighed inwardly.

Therefore, Zhao Yun became even more certain:
The Myriad Spirits Mark imprinted by the Myriad Dragon Emperor on him and Xin Ruyin must have provided considerable assistance during this time-space crossing, which is why he and Xin Ruyin were able to cultivate to the current Foundation Establishment stage of the Great Dao in a short period of time, far surpassing the others who crossed over in the same batch.

However, Zhao Yun has already mentioned the name of Wanlonghuang countless times.

Moreover, everyone says, "If you think of the immortal, you will surely receive a response." But let alone receiving the protection of the Myriad Dragon Emperor, there wasn't even the slightest connection to him, not even a single thread.

They couldn't say for sure whether the Myriad Dragon Emperor hadn't yet been born, or was cultivating in seclusion in some secret realm, or whether the ancient Myriad Dragon Emperor simply didn't want to see them.
Even in the sect's archives and among the elders, there is very little useful information about the Myriad Dragon Emperor; all that can be found are vague dragon legends.

However, Zhao Yun also discovered that even true dragon offspring were extremely rare within the sect, almost to the point of extinction.
However, the scaled creatures such as the dragon and python, which are below the dragon species, have multiplied extremely well and are quite numerous.

What puzzled Zhao Yun even more was that when he and Xin Ruyin were investigating within the sect, they discovered that the most typical divine beasts, such as the phoenix, white tiger, and black tortoise, actually existed within the sect and even had their own groups.
Only the true dragon race is gone...

This strange situation aroused suspicion in both of them, yet they couldn't figure out the reason behind it. (End of Chapter)