Chongming Xianzong

Chapter 492 Heading to Yingzhou
—Three years later, in the Raven Mountain Range and Phoenix Forest Mountain
As Yu Xiaobao, the head of the Yu family, heard the two family heads in Maolin Jia arguing fiercely over water, his headache caused the hideous scars on his face to tremble incessantly.

"Alright, alright, the Floating Spirit Spring is located at the border between your two families. Since it only emerges at the intersection of the two seasons, then each of you should take turns enjoying one. What's there to argue about?!"

Upon hearing him speak, the two heads of the household, who had been arguing fiercely, became quite respectful and shut up for a while.

After all, You Xiaobao was not only the head of Maolin Jia, in charge of more than ten cultivation sects in Maolin Jia, but also repeatedly recruited by Chongming Sect as a volunteer and made outstanding contributions in battle.

To be honest, although You Xiaobao's cultivation level is only at the sixth level of Qi Refining, and he can't even be considered a late-stage cultivator, he is still a prominent figure in the surrounding area. At least, he is not someone that the two people in front of him can underestimate.

However, there is only one spring of this Floating Spirit Spring. Even though You Xiaobao is very prestigious, this dispute between the two cannot be resolved with just empty words.

The older Hua family head glared at the Golden Sword Sect leader before him, then bowed to You Xiaobao and said, "Master, you are wise. This Floating Spirit Spring clearly originated from our family's spiritual veins. How can we share it with other families?!"

The Golden Sword Sect leader, Xian, was not afraid. He merely sneered, "It is true that the Floating Spirit Spring emerged from your family's spiritual veins, but the springhead is located within my territory. How can you take it away with mere words?!"

"You despicable person who twists the truth!"

"You treacherous scoundrel who spouts nonsense!"

Seeing that things were spiraling out of control again, You Xiaobao could no longer sit idly by. He immediately shouted, "Silence!" His shout caused the two leaders to freeze in their tracks and fall silent.

You Xiaobao knew that this spring of spiritual energy could yield nearly fifty spirit stones a year, so neither family was willing to part with it. However, both sides had their reasons, making it difficult to reach a fair judgment.

However, he was getting annoyed by the dragging things out, so he stopped being polite and made a decision on his own: "The spring and autumn seasons will be used by the Golden Sword Sect, while the summer and winter spiritual springs will belong to the Hua family. Let's settle it like this."

"Captain!"

"Patriarch You, this..."

“Alright,” You Xiaobao frowned, then continued:
"If you two feel that Mr. You's judgment is not fair, then you can go to Chief Dong for a fair discussion, and I will not hold a grudge. If Chief Dong is also unable to be fair to you, then you can find a time and place to fight it out and resolve the dispute."

But don't forget that we need to first request permission from the Jia Chou military camp to invite disciples from the upper sect to act as witnesses. Otherwise, this would be fighting without prior authorization, and all the dozens of cultivators from the more than ten families in Maolin Jia would have to face this lawsuit because of you.

As for other petty tricks, you may try them if you dare. But I, You, must first warn them. If the higher-ups find out, confiscating your property and exterminating your entire family would be the least of your worries.”

The Hua family head's expression shifted for a moment, but in the end he just gritted his teeth, cupped his hands in greeting, and left the You family's main hall.

The Golden Sword Sect leader, who was lagging behind, did not share the same expression as the Flower Clan Head. He knew that the spiritual energy of the spring was stronger in spring and autumn, and thus he had the upper hand in this dispute.

You Xiaobao felt no remorse for his favoritism. The Golden Sword Sect was quite small, with only five or six Qi Refining cultivators, making it a laughingstock. However, one of them had been recruited as a member of the Pine Wind Guard and had died in Fazhou, so he naturally had to take good care of him.

Although the Hua family is large, with nearly twenty cultivators, they were not very enthusiastic when recruiting, clearly showing the difference in their abilities. The Chongming Sect has many conquests to attend to, and in the future, various families of Hanya Mountain will need to gather and participate.

If the Hua family doesn't want to be inferior to others in the future, they need to emulate other families and dedicate themselves to the Chongming Sect. When that time comes, they won't be targeted, and You Xiaobao will take good care of them.

"Your boundary marker was moved secretly, so be it. The boundary is only a few feet off, and the sect leaders probably won't be able to find out when they come to measure it later. Just be careful to keep your family members quiet and don't let it get out of the way. If the village head comes to investigate, I won't be able to protect you."

You Xiaobao gave the Golden Sword Sect leader another admonition, then politely saw him off. On his return, however, he didn't head straight for the main hall. Instead, he changed out of his respectable robes and into a short outfit, then walked towards the spirit field.

At this moment, the person working in the field is Cai Qingyun, You Xiaobao's mentor. Since he came to Fenglin Mountain with the You family, he has been enjoying a rare period of peace and tranquility.

The Chongming Sect and Cai Qingyun's other masters in the past hundred years of cultivation were different. Although they still collected annual tributes and provisions, they were not completely irresponsible.

Inside the Hundred Arts Pavilion, located in Jiachou Military Camp, there were even retainers and disciples hired and stationed by Chongming Sect, who opened their doors to teach more than 400 families in Hanya Mountain.

All cultivators need to do is pay a small amount of resources to enter the Hundred Arts Pavilion to listen to lectures.

While these retainers and disciples were not highly skilled in any particular art, at most only at the mid-level of the first rank, and often lacked clarity on crucial points, they were still able to move these low-level cultivators who had no way to seek the Dao to tears of gratitude.

Cai Qingyun was one of the beneficiaries. This old man had been cultivating spiritual fields for sixty years, but it wasn't until last year that he heard the Dharma and attained enlightenment, becoming a first-level low-grade agricultural master. Since then, he has been able to cultivate spiritual plants with twice the results with half the effort, and after paying the rent, he has more surplus grain to raise his descendants.

Seeing You Xiaobao approach, Cai Qingyun quickly advised, "You don't need to do anything. Rest. Your injuries haven't fully healed yet."

The former smiled but ignored the advice and went down to the spirit field with his spirit hoe.

As a family member, you know your own situation. You Xiaobao knew that his old injuries had not healed and had not improved for several years. If nothing else happened, these injuries would be difficult to cure for the rest of his life, and even his cultivation would hardly make any progress.

Emperor Chongmingzong's supplies were not easy to obtain, and the phrase "risking one's life" was no joke.

Even so, You Xiaobao felt no resentment, because compared to his neighbors and comrades who had all perished somewhere, he felt he was already lucky enough.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade his disciple, Cai Qingyun stopped what he was doing and came over to say, "Wenrui went to the Upper Sect to participate in the Ascension Conference last time. His aptitude was not bad, but his temperament was a bit lacking. He only lasted three breaths in the Heart-Questioning Formation before he fainted. It's a pity."

You Wenrui is the only one among You Xiaobao's dozens of offspring who possesses spiritual roots. Since returning from the Chongming Sect's Ascension Ceremony, he has been in a slump.

You Xiaobao also valued the future of his offspring, so he whispered to Cai Qingyun, "Yes, after a few days when the spirit fish in this valley have grown a bit fatter, we'll go to Jia Chou military camp to exchange for a slightly better item for Wenrui to attract spirits into his body."

I heard that the head of the Mo family in Baomaduo Ridge, Weishan, is recruiting disciples. He is a master cultivator who has received proper inheritance.

Back in the Chongming Sect, he often served Elder Zhou, and even Sect Leader Kang knew his name. If Wenrui could become his disciple, he would at least have a solid foundation in the future.

Cai Qingyun seemed to approve of You Xiaobao's plan. He narrowed his small eyes slightly and said with a faint smile, "This is indeed a good way. There are still some provisions at home. You can take them to Jia Chou Military Camp to exchange for some presentable spiritual items to use as tuition fees."

You Xiaobao echoed, "Yes, but this might seem abrupt. I don't know if Bai Jiang is available or if he's in the Jia Chou military camp. He's the senior brother of the Mo family head; if he's willing to put in a good word for us, this shouldn't be difficult."

Cai Qingyun nodded repeatedly upon hearing this. This was the benefit of meeting a benefactor. You Xiaobao had only accompanied Yuan Changsheng on one expedition, yet this important figure from the Chongming Sect had already made the You family known.

As long as You Xiaobao knows his place and how to behave appropriately, the You family of Fenglin Mountain will have many advantages under the jurisdiction of Chongming Sect, which is something that other small families cannot compare to.

Soon it was time for You Xiaobao to go out and sell spirit fish. After paying a broken spirit seed and joining the Jia Chou Soldier Village, he found it quite lively.

But You Xiaobao quickly realized what was happening and murmured softly, "That's right, today is the fifth day of an even-numbered month, the day for selecting the Crimson Guards."

The area beneath the arena in the center of the stronghold was already bustling with activity. On the stage stood a newly made combat robot puppet from the Craftsmanship Fortress. Although it looked clumsy, it was slightly stronger than an ordinary late-stage cultivator.

Occasionally, cultivators who had registered their names and hometowns below the stage would come up to challenge, but they still lost more often than they won. You Xiaobao stood below the stage and watched for about half an hour, but no one could defeat the mechanical puppet, which made the surrounding cultivators quite bored.

You Xiaobao wasn't too surprised by this. After all, among the more than four hundred families in Hanya Mountain, those with real connections wouldn't need to go through such trouble to enlist in the Chizhang Guard.

This bustling place was merely a stepping stone for ordinary families and independent cultivators, created by Chongmingzong to prevent the unappreciated talents from going unused.

However, how many of these people were truly outstanding? It was common for the Chongming Sect to come up empty-handed after a day of holding this arena, only wasting over ten spirit stones to control puppets. After watching the spectacle, You Xiaobao took the spirit fish and went to a familiar restaurant. There was a mediocre, unranked chef there, also from the Maolin Jia jurisdiction, who could offer You Xiaobao a fairly reasonable price.

You Xiaobao then walked to the entrance of Chongming Branch Building, ignoring the scrolling messages on the mirage screen at the entrance, intending to sell the odds and ends he had accumulated first.

Although You Xiaobao didn't achieve many victories in the recent battles, he did gain some small gains, managing to exchange them for over a hundred spirit stones.

You Xiaobao used a small amount of money to buy You Wenrui the item for guiding spirits into the body. He wasn't in a hurry to leave, and carefully looked around the hall for a while before spending forty spirit stones to exchange for a bottle of wood spirit pills and a few other nice-looking odds and ends before finally leaving.

When he arrived at Yuan Changsheng's residence, the latter had just returned from Chongming Sect and looked travel-worn.

"Oh, so you want your son to become a disciple of Junior Brother Mo?! That's certainly a good thing. I'll write a letter, and Junior Brother Mo surely won't refuse."

However, Yuan Changsheng stopped exchanging pleasantries with You Xiaobao after saying this much.

The latter was quite sensible, knowing that important figures were naturally very busy, and receiving a letter was already an unexpected joy for him. He dared not say anything more and immediately bowed and withdrew with profuse thanks.

After serving tea and seeing the guests off, Yuan Changsheng frowned and sat alone for a long time.

He had every reason to be upset. It was only because Yuan Changsheng came from a special background that the Chongming Sect would allow a mere Qi Refining cultivator like him to know about such a major matter as the sect leader's Core Formation.
However, judging from his expression alone, it was clear that Sect Leader Kang's attempt to form his core was not going smoothly.

He didn't know how much time had passed when Yuan Changsheng turned his head to look at the sunset outside the window, and then let out a long sigh: "Uncle-Master, you didn't succeed this time?!"

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"Not only did it fail, but I also lost a piece of Yellow Dragon Wood. Who knows how long it will be before I encounter a Core Formation spiritual item of this caliber again? My brother-in-law will probably give me a severe scolding. We're not exactly well-off to begin with, and now we've incurred a huge debt. It's troublesome."

Kang Dabao, who was in the reception hall, had a rosy complexion and showed no signs of disappointment. After he finished speaking, he handed the newly engraved Core Formation jade slip to Yang Wuwei, who had come to visit, to look through it.

The latter's injuries, sustained during the attack on Yang Baofeng years ago, have only begun to heal this year.

Therefore, it was only at this point that Yang Wuwei picked up his cultivation again, and the matter of forming the core was left to Headmaster Kang.

My purpose in coming here is twofold: to visit and to learn from others' experiences. As the saying goes, "learn from the mistakes of those who came before," and with readily available examples before us, there is no reason not to seek their guidance.

However, his injuries last time were quite severe, and it was only because his status as a Golden Core seed was somewhat valuable, and the two senior cultivators of the Yang family were considerate of his life-risking efforts, that they spent a large sum of money to save his life.

However, it may take more than ten years to restore things to their original state, and Yang Wuwei was ultimately left behind.

Yang Wuwei had also seen some cultivators who failed to form their core. Regardless of the severity of their injuries, they were all filled with sorrow, a stark contrast to Kang Dabao's current reaction.

Instead of offering any words of comfort, Yang Wuwei was met with a smile from Headmaster Kang, who casually remarked:
"This setback is not entirely a bad thing. At least I have discovered the shortcomings of the alchemy theory and glimpsed the wonders of the Heart Tribulation. I just need to recuperate for a few years and find some spiritual objects, and I will be able to try again. I should not be left too far behind by you, fellow Daoist."

In truth, Kang Dabao's failure to form his core this time was not as trivial as he claimed. The dangers involved were a hundred times greater than those during his Foundation Establishment stage.

In this world, the process of cultivators forming their core generally involves three steps: first, debating the truth of the core theory; second, questioning emotions through mental tribulations; and finally, forming the core with spiritual power.

Before forming the core, Sect Leader Kang had consumed another round of spiritual dew. This time, however, no extraordinary phenomena were observed; it only slightly improved his aptitude by one level.

However, the effects are far less immediate than when taken for the first time; it's better than nothing.

However, Kang Dabao's theory of pills is now nearing completion, and the challenge of discerning truth is no longer a problem for him. As for the so-called tribulation of the heart and questioning of emotions, Kang Dabao had already been tempered by the inexplicable tribulation of the heart that appeared before he condensed the jade leaf Dao foundation, and he was not confused by one inner demon after another.

The real danger came from the stage of spiritual energy forming the core. As the dragon horn patterns on the yellow dragon wood crumbled inch by inch, Kang Dabao could already see the rudimentary form of the golden core.

However, he could sense that if he were to truly form a core using this spiritual object, it might only be a low-grade core, or there was a very small chance it could be a mid-grade core.

To be honest, given Kang Dabao's previous easygoing nature, he wouldn't have cared about these things. But now, faced with the readily available nine-year lifespan, Kang Dabao is still hesitant.

Just as he was hesitating, the Jade Leaf Dao Foundation within the Niwan Palace stirred, clearly not wanting Kang Dabao to take this opportunity to form his core.

So, Master Kang made a tough decision and actually abandoned the golden elixir he had obtained, instead intending to transform it back into liquid.

Kang Dabao didn't know if anyone had ever done something so dangerous before, nor did he care whether his actions were unprecedented or unparalleled. He only knew that he almost exploded and died in the process.

Only by enduring a physical condition comparable to that of a demon beast and a will honed through hardship did they manage to survive and avoid death.

Given Master Kang's cautious nature, he would never do such a tightrope walk a second time, barring any exceptions.

These matters could not be clearly explained to outsiders, so Kang Dabao compiled a semi-true, semi-false record of his Core Formation and gave it to Yang Wuwei as a way of repaying a favor.

Just as the two were having a pleasant conversation, a sudden gust of wind blew up outside the Chongming Sect. The culprit didn't even need the disciples on duty to come forward and ask questions before he soared into the air and loudly proclaimed, "Ancestor, I'm back! Young Kang, come out and greet me at once!"

"Is that old bird back?"

Both Kang and Yang adopted serious expressions. Kang was puzzled, wondering to himself why this old bird had come to Chongming Sect without even going home after returning!
Fei Tianqin only transformed into a creature with a wingspan of two zhang this time, but it still couldn't conceal the imposing and majestic aura emanating from him.

The palaces and halls on his back were also dismantled and used for other purposes. The dejected Peng Daoren was no longer by his side, and he seemed to be returning alone from Yingzhou.

Seeing the two of them come out side by side, the old bird didn't even glance at Yang Wuwei beside Kang Dabao, and then only summoned the former to his front.

"Greetings, Elder."

"I told you not to bow, not to bow, don't be like a kowtow worm."

It had been several years since Kang Dabao had last seen Fei Tianqin, but his tone and manner remained unchanged:
“I heard from Nan Ying that you failed to form your core, so I came here specifically to see you.”

"Thank you for your concern, Ancestor, but it's a waste of a Core Formation spiritual artifact."

"Heh, it can only be used to help people form their core, what kind of extraordinary spiritual object is it? Let it be wasted." Fei Tianqin sneered, and then said, "After you go to Yingzhou, these kinds of things will be piled up like mountains, and you can take as much as you want."

Kang Dabao could tell that there was definitely an exaggeration in these words. These Core Formation spiritual items must be valuable to the Fei family, but he couldn't refute them at this time.

He sounded somewhat doubtful, then repeated, "Went to Yingzhou."

Fei Tianqin spoke directly without any formalities: "Pack your things, I'm going to take you to Yingzhou now. My brother said he wants to see you."

(End of this chapter)