Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 414 Strange Fire News
Inside the spacious and brightly lit room of Qiyuan Mountain, Xu Yaoming entered from outside, but his usual smile was absent: "Fellow Daoist Song, I've kept you waiting."

"I wonder what brings Fellow Daoist Xu here?"

"This is a summons issued by the Qianqing Sect. Sect Leader Song, please take a look!" Xu Yaoming pulled out a file and handed it to him.

As expected, it was about this matter. Song Xian took the file, unfolded it, and took a look.

The lengthy accusations against Zhou Junyi and others for betraying Emperor Qianqing and establishing their own faction need no further explanation.

The key point is that the Qianqing Sect requested the recruitment of 50,000 cultivators from various prefectures.

"Fellow Daoist Song, you must have already heard about this!" Xu Yaoming guessed that Song had already learned of the news, seeing that he showed no shock or surprise on his face.

"To be honest, this morning I received a report from a disciple of the sect that there was infighting within the Qianqing Sect. I saw the joint statement issued by Zhou Junyi, the former true disciple of the Qianqing Sect and now an elder of the Qianqing Sect, and the Yuji Sect of Nanhan County."

"Fellow Daoist Song is quite well-informed. Since Fellow Daoist Song already knows, then I won't explain further. The Qianqing Sect has requested to recruit 50,000 cultivators from this prefecture, and the Xuanyuan Sect has already responded. Our sect intends for our Bianxi City to send 800 people. Your Hunyuan Sect can send 300 people, right? As for the other 500 people, let the other sects contribute."

"Since it is Chief Xu who has spoken, our clan will go through fire and water without hesitation." Song Xian agreed without any bargaining.

After absorbing the territory of Bianxi City, Hunyuan Sect has been constantly recruiting people to expand its strength. In addition, it has absorbed many cultivators from the former Luoyun Sect and Fengxing Sect this year. The sect now has more than a thousand disciples, and sending three hundred people to participate in the recruitment is not a problem.

Originally, he absorbed a large number of cultivators from the former Luoyun Sect and Fengxing Sect in order to prepare for the possible internal turmoil in Qin.

"Alright, it's settled then. Half a month from now, the cultivators recruited by this city will first head to Xijiang County to meet up with the other recruited cultivators, and then together they will head to Xishu County City."

"Master Xu, besides our Xishu Prefecture, I wonder if the other prefectures have responded to Emperor Qianqing's summons?" Song Xian asked immediately.

The Southern Han Commandery has already openly supported the rebels who supported Emperor Qianqing. Of the five commanderies of Qin, besides Xianyang Commandery and Xishu Commandery, the attitudes of Dongchuan Commandery and Bei'an Commandery remain unclear.

The fact that Xishu County responded to the summons was within his expectations. From the incident involving Emperor Yunxuan, he had already deduced that Xishu County had participated in the power struggle within Emperor Qianqing's court, and that it must have supported Liu Qingyue, who won, at a crucial moment.

In other words, the Xuan Yuan Sect and Liu Qingyue's group must have reached an agreement and formed a de facto alliance.

Looking back now, Yun Xuanzong's arrival must have been arranged by Qi Xiaofeng, a casual move. At that time, Xuanyuan Sect should not have been deeply involved in the internal struggle of Qianqing Sect. Qi Xiaofeng sent him here with a mission, presumably to win over the Xuanyuan Sect's higher-ups, or at the very least to prevent them from supporting Liu Qingyue's faction.

However, Xuan Yuanzong obviously ignored it. Qi Xiaofeng, in order to put pressure on them, or perhaps as a warning, had Yun Xuanzong create chaos in Xijiang County.

There must have been disagreements and controversies among the high-ranking members of the Xuan Yuan Sect at the time, because he had heard that after Qi Yunxuan arrived in Xijiang County, he became very close to several high-ranking members of the Xuan Yuan Sect.

Regardless of the process, the final result was that Xuan Yuan Sect chose to support Liu Qingyue's faction.

Now that Liu Qingyue has taken power, and the Qianqing Sect is experiencing internal strife, the Xuanyuan Sect will undoubtedly continue to support Liu Qingyue.

It is unknown whether the Tianling Sect of Dongchuan County and the Yunxu Sect of Bei'an County have participated in the internal power struggle within the Qianqing Sect, or whether they will answer the call.

In normal circumstances, such as an invasion by external forces, like the Chu sect or the Muhe steppe forces, they would certainly answer the call to arms.

Firstly, they each face different external threats, and if they don't answer the call, no one will help them when faced with external invasion.

In addition, if you do not respond to the summons in this situation, you will become the enemy of all the sects in Qin. Everyone will contribute their manpower and resources, but if you do not, you will naturally become the target of everyone's attacks.

When the time comes, at the command of Emperor Qianqing, everyone will rush to seize the territory.

Secondly, as the strongest sect in the Qin state, the Qianqing Sect had an absolute advantage in strength compared to the major sects in the four prefectures. The reason why the major sects in the four prefectures paid tribute to it every year and obeyed its orders was simply because they could not defeat it.

But now the situation is different. The Qianqing Emperor's own internal strife has greatly weakened his strength, leaving him no time to deal with them, in addition to the internal turmoil.

The Tianling Sect of Dongchuan County and the Yunxu Sect of Beian County might be thinking of sitting back and watching the two fight it out, and refusing to be summoned.

"If I had known, I wouldn't be in charge of this small Bianxi City." Xu Yaoming smiled slightly: "Whether Dongchuan County and Bei'an County accept the conscription is not our concern. In any case, Xuanyuan Sect has already ordered the conscription of 50,000 people."

"Did Qi Yunxuan and the others flee to Nanhan County?"

"Probably! I haven't received any definite news, but since Fellow Daoist Song has read the proclamation of the Qianqing Sect rebels, you should know that Qi Xiaofeng and Zhou Junyi are in cahoots. Qi Yunxuan went to great lengths to use the Golden Cicada Shedding Its Shell trick, so he must have gone to join Qi Xiaofeng."

"The internal strife and division within the Qianqing Emperor's court may disrupt the peace of the entire Qin Kingdom in the future."

"That's not necessarily true. As long as we can wipe out the rebels in one fell swoop, the turmoil will naturally end..."

After chatting for a while, Song Xian took his leave and returned to Luoyun Mountain. He then ordered his men to summon all the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sect.

Several days later, the sect held a grand meeting, where ten Foundation Establishment cultivators gathered together.

Song Xian sat in the main seat, while Su Zhirou, Lin Zixiang, Hu Xiaobao, Jiang Zichen, Qi Xiaobai, Xiao Ling, Wang Feng, Li Tai, and Xu Tianci sat in their respective positions.

Only Huang Qi, whom Yun Xuanzong had sought refuge with, did not arrive, as he was in charge of trade in the Muhe Grassland.

"I have gathered you all here today to announce a major event. An internal strife has broken out within the Qianqing Sect. Zhou Junyi, a former true disciple and current elder, has rebelled and established his own sect in Hannan County, calling it the New Qianqing Sect."

"The Qianqing Sect issued a conscription order to recruit 50,000 cultivators from Xishu County to suppress the rebels, and the Beast Taming Sect wants us to send 300 people."

Upon hearing this, the group was shocked and immediately began to discuss it amongst themselves.

After they finished speaking, Song Xian announced the team leader: "Junior Brother Xu, you are the deputy director of the Martial Guard Pavilion, so I will trouble you to lead three hundred recruited disciples of our sect to go!"

After hearing the Qianqing Sect issue a conscription order requiring 300 members to participate in the war, Xu Tianci's expression turned somewhat grim, and he vaguely guessed that he was probably going to be called upon.

Since he happened to hold this position and was not a direct descendant of the Hunyuan Sect, he was naturally the best candidate for this kind of cannon fodder task.

Sure enough, Song Xian's next words were to ask him to lead the team.

Xu Tianci didn't say anything, he just nodded stiffly.

He had only been a few months since joining the Hunyuan Sect. He thought the war in Xijiang County was over and that he could just do odd jobs, collect his salary, and guard his cultivation room. He never expected such a huge change to happen.

The other people had different expressions when they heard this.

Xiao Ling, Wang Feng, and Li Tai, in particular, secretly breathed a sigh of relief and looked at him with complicated expressions.

It was hard to tell whether to feel sympathy or relief. "The three hundred disciples to be recruited will be selected from the Martial Guard Pavilion. Senior Brother Zixiang, Junior Brother Xu, you two discuss and decide which people to take with you."

Lin Zixiang responded with a "okay," and then asked, "Sect Leader, when our sect sends people to participate in this recruitment, will the Qianqing Sect be responsible for the disciples' salaries?"

"The salaries of all conscripted personnel will be covered by the Qianqing Sect, but there will be no additional rewards. I have decided to give all disciples who participated in the conscription double their salaries. After the war, each person will be rewarded and promoted according to their merits. However, let me make this clear beforehand: if anyone deserts during the battle, they should not return to the sect. If the Qianqing Sect investigates, the sect will not protect them..."

The meeting lasted for more than an hour, and after it ended, everyone dispersed.

"Husband, Xu Tianci doesn't seem very willing. Will he just abandon us and run away?" Su Zhirou said after everyone had left.

“You wouldn’t be willing either, it’s only natural.” Song Xian shook his head. Selecting three hundred disciples from the sect to go to Hannan County to fight against the Qianqing Sect’s rebels was clearly sending them to be cannon fodder for the Qianqing Sect. No one would be willing to go, let alone Xu Tianci, who had only been in the sect for less than half a year.

But he had no choice; he had no option but to comply. The lives of these three hundred disciples were now in their hands.

He had already prepared for the complete annihilation of these people, with none of them returning. Therefore, he asked Lin Zixiang to select personnel. Given Lin Zixiang's personality, he would definitely keep the sect's direct descendants and elites, so there was no need for him to give special instructions.

To prevent the selected disciples from abandoning their posts and running away, he decided to pay them three months' double salary, but it had to be handed over to each of them before they set off.

For the sake of these spirit stones, those who want to slip away will probably wait until after they set off before looking for an opportunity to escape.

Once the required number of people has been handed over to the Beast Taming Sect, the rest is none of his business.

Whether they fight or flee, the Hunyuan Sect will not bear any responsibility, as long as they do not return to the sect. Therefore, he declared during the meeting that he would not protect disciples who fled during the war.

After all, it was a summons from the Qianqing Sect, which was fundamentally different from that from the Beast Taming Sect.

The Beast Taming Sect's summons was due to its own strength, and the various forces in the Western Frontier County had no choice but to obey out of fear of retaliation. In contrast, the Qianqing Sect's summons came with a legal obligation to obey.

If a sect dares to harbor a deserter disciple who has been conscripted, it will certainly be implicated.

He could only pray that these recruited disciples would have good luck; any number that returned would be a bonus.

.........

Soon, the list of 300 disciples to be recruited by the sect was completed.

On the day of departure, Song Xian personally led them to Qiyuan Mountain and, as promised, paid them three months' worth of double salary in advance. He watched as they boarded the Beast Taming Sect's spirit ship and headed to Xijiang County before returning to Luoyun Mountain.

In the blink of an eye, several months have passed. Although the internal strife and division within the Qianqing Emperor's court has caused quite a stir, the main battleground is in Nanhan County, and the conflict has not spread here.

Therefore, Xijiang County remained as peaceful as ever, and this matter was merely a topic of conversation among the people.

That day, Song Xian was cultivating with his eyes closed in his cultivation room as usual when a knocking sound came from outside. He opened his eyes, waved his hand to open the stone door, and saw Huang Ye standing outside, bowing to him: "Sect Leader, I just received some information. We have a clue about the special flame that you have been asking us to inquire about."

Song Xian's eyes lit up: "Oh? What's going on?"

"The message came from Xiao Xuan, the deputy director of the Surveillance Hall. Would you like to see him?"

"Take him to the waiting room in the mansion immediately."

"Yes." Huang Ye responded and left.

Song Xian had no intention of continuing his cultivation, so he got up and left the room, going to the waiting room in the mansion. Before long, Huang Ye led two people in from outside. One of them was tall and had a cultivation level of the eighth level of Qi Refining.

The other person, judging from his pretty-boy appearance, was only at the fifth level of Qi Refining.

"Disciples pay their respects to the Sect Leader." The two bowed and said in unison.

"who are you?"

The sect now has nearly a thousand disciples, and Song Xian naturally doesn't know them all. He recognizes the man at the eighth level of Qi Refining as Xiao Xuan, the deputy director of the Surveillance Hall, but he doesn't recognize the man at the fifth level of Qi Refining who he brought.

"Disciple Zhang Yuansheng."

"I've heard that you have special flames. Tell me more."

"Yes." Xiao Xuan replied, "I learned this news from a rogue cultivator named Li Zixing. According to him, his master died under a white flame. I guess this flame is the special flame that the sect leader instructed us to use."

White flames, if that's true, then it's very likely a strange flame. Song Xian remained expressionless: "Who is this Li Zixing? And who is his master?"

Xiao Xuan glanced at the man beside him, who understood and immediately replied, "Reporting to the Sect Leader, Li Zixing is my friend. His master is named Xu Qianhe, a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

“A few days ago, I was ordered to follow the main force to the Muhe Grassland to purchase supplies. When we rested in Dongluo City, I went to the market and happened to meet him. When we talked about the past and his master, he said that his master had been killed by a villain and died from a very powerful white flame magic.”

"I heard Senior Brother Xiao mention it and know that the Sect Leader has been searching for a special flame, so I took it to heart and reported it to Senior Brother Xiao."

Song Xian nodded: "When did you join the sect? Which department are you currently working for?"

When Hunyuan Sect returned to Bianxi City, there were only a hundred or so disciples. Even if he couldn't name every one of them, he would at least recognize their faces. But he had no recollection of this person. Therefore, he could conclude that this person had joined the sect in recent years.

"I joined the sect five years ago, through the recommendation of Senior Brother Xiao. I currently work in the External Affairs Hall."

Xiao Xuan, who was standing next to him, immediately added: "Junior Brother Zhang is a friend I've known for many years. I know his background very well. At that time, the sect was recruiting a lot of people, so I suggested that Junior Brother Zhang come."

Where is Li Zixing now? Can you find him?

Zhang Yuan replied, "He should still be in Dongluo City on the Muhe Grassland. This disciple can try to find his whereabouts."

Song Xian nodded in satisfaction: "Good. If the information you provided is true, I will reward you handsomely. Now bring this Li Zixing to the sect. I want to see him in person and find out what happened."

"Yes. Your disciple obeys."

"Huang Ye, Xiao Xuan, you two go with him and make sure to bring this person here."

The three responded and left.

(End of this chapter)