Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 418 Foundation Establishment Level 7
As the year draws to a close, Bianxi City is covered in a blanket of white snow.

The howling wind felt like a knife, stinging people's cheeks.

Pedestrians coming and going were wrapped up like rice dumplings, with frost and ice forming on their eyebrows.

However, inside Luoyun Mountain, it remained warm, with disciples constantly busy preparing for the year-end feast.

This is a tradition of the Hunyuan Sect. Every year-end, a banquet is held to reward the hardworking disciples and express their gratitude.

But since returning to Bianxi City, this year-end feast has become increasingly grand, no longer just about eating and drinking, but also includes all sorts of activities and ceremonies.

For example, sect competitions, alchemy, weapon crafting, talisman making contests, and the selection of the disciple with the fastest cultivation progress of the year have gradually become an annual assessment within the sect.

The winners received very generous rewards and were almost always promoted the following year. As a result, many disciples were eager to try their luck and wait for their chance to shine.

"Xu An sent word from Xijiang County that he pretended to be in the business of talismans and wanted to import a large quantity of a certain type of talisman paper. He successfully made contact with Wan Yuesheng under this pretext, and things are progressing well. Wan Yuesheng has agreed to get him a batch of talisman paper. However, he is having some financial difficulties and has requested additional funding." In the dimly lit room, Huang Ye was reporting the progress to Song Xian.

He had already persuaded Xu An to contact Wan Yuesheng on their behalf through coercion and enticement, and almost every month, Xu An would send news of the latest developments.

“Funding is not a problem. Let him continue to contact Wan Yuesheng, deepen their relationship, and make sure he gains Wan Yuesheng’s trust.”

"Yes. When does the sect leader plan to proceed with the next step?"

"It's too early now, no rush, be patient. Have you kept an eye on Xu An's parents, siblings, and other relatives?"

"We've already sent people to keep an eye on it."

"Very good. Keeping an eye on them is the same as keeping an eye on Xu An. Our biggest weakness lies with Xu An, so we can't afford to be careless in the slightest. By the way, has there been any news from the battle in Nanhan County?"

Song Xian changed the subject, saying that a year had passed since the sect sent three hundred disciples to participate in the recruitment.

Recent news indicates that the Qianqing Sect has led the cultivators recruited from the three prefectures to attack the Southern Han Prefecture.

However, the specific situation is subject to various opinions, and there is no accurate information yet. Some say that the advance is unstoppable and that they have already captured half of the Southern Han Commandery.

Some say the war is not going well and the two sides are at a stalemate.

Some even say that Emperor Qianqing suffered several defeats in a row.

Because Xijiang County was too far from the battlefield of Nanhan County, the news was passed through several hands, greatly reducing its authenticity and reliability.

"I heard the war is going quite well and has already advanced to Yeyuan County in Nanhan Commandery, but I can't guarantee the accuracy of the information."

"Tell me immediately if you have any definite intelligence," Song Xian said.

Although the war in Nanhan Commandery seemed far away from Xijiang County, and the cultivators there were not affected at all, it was still a major event concerning the safety of the entire Qin Kingdom, and a move that would affect the whole situation.

If the war goes smoothly, it's fine, but if it doesn't go well, it will be difficult to handle. The Qianqing Sect will constantly recruit cultivators from various sects, which will be a huge burden for everyone.

When the burden reaches a certain level, it will explode, plunging the entire Qin state into chaos.

In fact, before the war began, almost everyone was optimistic about the suppression of the rebellion.

Not only did Liu Qingyue, the sect leader of Qianqing Sect, personally lead the team, but Xishu County, Bei'an County, and Dongchuan County also each sent 50,000 recruited cultivators to assist them.

With such a powerful military formation, they should have been unstoppable.

However, throughout the year, a constant stream of true and false news came from Nanhan County, suggesting that the allied forces' efforts to quell the rebellion were not going so smoothly.

This has shaken the confidence of many and raised questions.

Like most sects, Song Xian also hoped to quell the rebellion. The sect had only been back in Bianxi City for a few years and was now in a phase of rapid development.

If the Qin state falls into chaos, it will be very detrimental to the current sect.

……

Before we knew it, it was April.

Bianxi City, Yixian Peak, was bustling with people, creating a lively and extraordinary atmosphere.

The Beast Taming Sect's once-a-decade selection competition has commenced as scheduled, and today marks the final round.
Outside the arena, a large crowd of cultivators had gathered to watch the spectacle.

On the upper floor of the viewing platform, Jiang Zichen sat side by side with the disciples of the Beast Taming Sect in charge of the selection, drinking spirit wine and chatting idly.

Inside the arena, the two were already in place. One of them was tall and dressed in the Hunyuan Sect's attire. His temples were already white, and he looked to be about fifty or sixty years old. It was none other than Shen Fan.

The other person looked to be in his thirties or forties and was dressed in the attire of Emperor Xuanzong of Hua.

With the referee's whistle, both sides immediately launched an attack.

A disciple dressed in Huaxuan Sect robes clasped his hands together, and a large, golden sword materialized, slashing down at Shen Fan—a first-tier, high-grade metal-attribute spell.

Golden light flashed between Shen Fan's palms. He clapped his hands together, and a giant golden palm appeared, meeting the golden broadsword. The two collided with a loud bang.

Soon, the golden broadsword was no match for the golden giant hand and shattered inch by inch.

Hua Xuanzong retreated rapidly, clasped his hands together again, and slowly opened them, revealing a flaming spear that condensed in his hands—the second-tier, low-grade technique, the Fire Cloud Spear.

With a soft shout, he unleashed the Fiery Cloud Spear, which struck the giant golden palm. With a loud bang, the giant golden palm shattered.

Shen Fan was enveloped in golden light, and a phantom image of Guanyin appeared behind him. The phantom image extended its two palms and caught the incoming Fire Cloud Spear.

As the Fiery Cloud Spear trembled violently, the illusory hand shattered like a curtain of water. The next moment, even more hands reached out from behind the illusory Guanyin, and in an instant, dozens of hands sandwiched the Fiery Cloud Spear between them.

As the phantom hand emitted golden light, the Fiery Cloud Spear shattered inch by inch.

Shen Fan remained motionless, while dozens of golden palms extending from behind the illusory Guanyin stretched out like shadows, striking towards the man.

The man from Yunxuan Sect clasped his hands together, forming a circle of flames—the second-tier, low-grade defensive technique, Fire Cloud Circle. At the same time, he retreated and unleashed Fire Cloud Spear once more, clashing with the golden palm.

With a series of loud bangs, the golden palms shattered one after another, and the Fiery Cloud Spear also turned into sparks and dissipated.

The next moment, hundreds of illusory hands stretched out from behind Shen Fan and struck him.

Yun Xuanzong's pupils shrank sharply. Each time he used a second-tier low-grade spell, he needed to consume 25 points of spiritual power. Now, his spiritual power was already running out, while his opponent was able to launch increasingly powerful attacks with ease.

Hundreds of illusory giant hands struck the fire cloud circle that had gathered around the man, and within just a few breaths, the fire cloud circle visibly distorted.

"I surrender." Seeing the illusory giant palm striking down like a storm, the man's expression changed, and he hurriedly shouted.

Shen Fan remained unmoved, and those illusory palms instantly retracted into the illusory Guanyin statue behind him.

On the viewing platform, Jiang Zichen's eyes flickered slightly.

"Your disciple Shen Fan's abilities are truly extraordinary. I wonder what kind of technique this is?" The man from the Beast Taming Sect praised.

"To be honest, fellow Daoist, I also don't know when Senior Brother Shen learned this divine ability." Seeing that the referee had announced the outcome, Jiang Zichen said "Excuse me" and flashed into the arena.

The two were inseparable best friends in their youth, but over the years they have gone their separate ways and become busy with their own lives, and their relationship has become increasingly distant. Although their friendship remains, it is not as close as it used to be.

"Senior Brother Jiang." Shen Fan greeted him with a calm nod upon his arrival.

Jiang Zichen smiled warmly: "Congratulations, Brother Fan. Winning the top prize in this competition means you can go to the Beast Taming Sect to build your foundation. You're sure to succeed."

Shen Fan's face was expressionless, and he looked somewhat wooden: "I hope it's as Senior Brother Jiang said."

"I came here today specifically to watch your competition. I have had a banquet prepared at the mountain gate. We haven't drunk together in a long time. Today you have won the competition, so let's drink until we're drunk."

"Thank you for your kindness, Senior Brother Jiang, but I have other things to do, so I won't be able to go."

"This is a celebration especially for you. How can you not go? Not only me, but also Senior Brother Lin. I've already spoken to him and he's agreed. Don't embarrass me."

After Jiang Zichen finished speaking, without waiting for his reply, he grabbed his wrist, enveloped him in spiritual energy, and soared into the air.

……

Time flies, and a few years have passed in the blink of an eye.

The Hunyuan Sect also grew stronger and stronger. With its relationship with the Beast Taming Sect, the sect not only took over many of the Beast Taming Sect's businesses, but also relied on the unique advantages of the Tianshan Market to expand its business.

Nowadays, trade in Tianshan is not limited to Xijiang County, but also involves cooperation with forces in other counties. For example, several sects in the neighboring Huayang County and Anfeng County purchase large quantities of cultivation items from the Muhe Grassland from the Hunyuan Sect.

Many forces on the Mukh Steppe also directly purchased Qin's supplies from it.

Song Xian's idea of ​​using the Tianshan Market as a springboard to become a trade intermediary between the Muhe Grassland and the Qin State has been gradually becoming a reality over the past few years.

The sect is now incredibly wealthy, with substantial financial resources supporting it. In addition to training new disciples, the sect is also constantly recruiting new members.

In the past few years, the sect has added four more Foundation Establishment cultivators. The first one was Shen Fan. No one knows where he got the opportunity, but he cultivated a powerful secret technique, won the first place in the Bianxi City competition, and successfully established his foundation at the Beast Taming Sect's mountain gate.

The second is Gu Qingming, a disciple of the former Yunxuan Sect, with a Foundation Establishment level of four.

Back then, a large number of Yunxuan Sect disciples were ambushed by the Beast Taming Sect on their way to Huayang County. Gu Qingming was one of them. After being separated from the main group, he inquired everywhere about the whereabouts of Qi Yunxuan, the sect leader of Yunxuan Sect. He eventually learned that Qi Yunxuan had led a group of elites of the sect to escape and leave Xijiang County.

After realizing he had been betrayed and used as cannon fodder, Gu Qingming was disheartened and stopped looking for Qi Yunxuan. Because Xuan Yuan Sect had issued an arrest warrant, he did not stay in Xishu County but fled to Muhe Grassland.

One day, he met Huang Qi, who was sent by the sect to Muhe Grassland to be in charge of trade there. After a conversation, he learned that Huang Qi had joined the Hunyuan Sect and that the Hunyuan Sect offered high salaries and benefits. Under Huang Qi's persuasion, Gu Qingming chose to join.

The third newly added Foundation Establishment cultivator was also a former disciple of the Yunxuan Sect, named Shen Su, with a Foundation Establishment level of three.

Like Gu Qingming, he was intercepted by the Beast Taming Sect and fled to the Muhe Grassland. The two had met before. After Gu Qingming joined, he introduced him to the sect, and so he also joined the Hunyuan Sect.

The fourth newly added Foundation Establishment cultivator was somewhat unexpected by Song Xian. It was none other than Yu Lian, an elder of the sect.

He actually broke through the Foundation Establishment stage and entered the Foundation Establishment realm.

At this point, the sect had a total of fifteen Foundation Establishment cultivators, including Xu Tianci, who had been recruited to go to Nanhan County, and the sect's total number of cultivators had reached 1,400 to 1,500.

The reason why Song Xian was so eager to expand the sect’s strength and recruit disciples was because the war in Nanhan County was still uncertain.

In recent years, news of battles in Nanhan Commandery has been coming in more and more frequently.

It is said that in order to defend half of the Southern Han Prefecture, the rebel army of Emperor Qianqing did not hesitate to invite trouble and sent people to Emperor Tianxuan of Chu for help.

The reason why Emperor Qianqing failed to completely suppress the rebel forces was because the rebels had the support of the State of Chu.

Now, with the support of the State of Chu, the rebels are holding onto half of the Southern Han Commandery and are locked in a stalemate with the Qin allied forces.

Although Nanhan County is far from Bianxi City, it is merely a topic of conversation among the cultivators here during their leisure time.

But as the sect leader, he had to prepare for the worst.

If the Qin state were peaceful, he wouldn't need to rush to expand and support so many people.

It's important to understand that the financial cost of supporting so many disciples is enormous.

According to the Hunyuan Sect's salary system, a disciple in the early stage of Qi Refining receives an average of fifteen spirit stones per month, including salary, mission rewards, and commission.

Mid-stage Qi Refining disciples receive 30 spirit stones per month. Late-stage Qi Refining disciples receive 60 spirit stones per month.

Even though late-stage Qi Refining disciples are few and far between, on average, each person's monthly salary cost is at least thirty spirit stones.

With 1,500 people, that's 45,000 spirit stones per month, and 500,000 spirit stones per year.

With the addition of Foundation Establishment cultivators, the sect's annual personnel expenses alone now amount to over 700,000 spirit stones, heading straight for the 800,000 mark.

This is still the official financial expenditure. Too many independent cultivators have flooded into the sect in a short period of time, leading to a lot of corruption within the sect.

Last year alone, the sect dealt with more than forty disciples, either for embezzlement or for fighting and causing trouble.

Those rogue cultivators join sects only to seek personal gain; they have no feelings or loyalty to speak of, let alone any intention to prevent them from enriching themselves.

Therefore, although the sects appear large now, they are actually somewhat weak inside. They are fine when there is no war, but once a large-scale war breaks out, no one knows what problems will arise.

.........

That day, the sky was clear and the air was bright, with not a single cloud in the sky.

In the dimly lit cultivation room, Song Xian sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, his spiritual power surging out from his Linghai acupoint like a flood, flowing through his limbs and bones.

With the spiritual energy within his body returning to his spiritual sea acupoint, he slowly opened his eyes, a smile hard to hide between his brows and eyes.

Just now, his cultivation broke through to the seventh level of Foundation Establishment, and his spiritual power reached 1800 points. He is now a proper late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

This breakthrough brought him more joy and excitement than ever before.

Although he had expected to break through this realm soon, he was actually quite worried, fearing that he would encounter another bottleneck in his cultivation.

He had encountered a cultivation bottleneck when he was at the third level of Foundation Establishment. Although the delay was not long, the experience was truly unpleasant.

That time, he had the Zhixue Grass and had someone refine the Huanglong Pill to help him break through his bottleneck, which prevented his cultivation from being delayed too much.

He currently doesn't have any pills to break through the bottleneck of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. Even if he could buy some, he might not be able to break through the bottleneck smoothly.

Elixirs only have a chance of helping to break through bottlenecks, not a certainty.

There are quite a few people in the cultivation world who are stuck at the bottleneck of cultivation for their entire lives, so he was greatly relieved to be able to break through this bottleneck so easily this time.

(End of this chapter)