Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Nighttime, on the topmost canopy of the Qingwu tree.

In the center of the tree canopy is a small courtyard that has naturally grown from the branches, and the courtyard blends seamlessly with the Qingwu tree.

In the main hall of the courtyard, Qingwu Zhenjun was sitting on a wooden chair with a piece of white paper on the wooden table in front of him.

He looked to be only around forty years old, with jet-black hair and only a few strands of silver at his temples.

Li Peilan stood to the side.

The white paper is just an ordinary piece of white paper, but it has a special mark on it.

Qingwu Zhenjun recognized this mark; it belonged to Yunhai Cangming Sect and Qingyuan Zhenjun.

That happened a long time ago.

At that time, he was still a Qi Refining cultivator, barely reaching the tenth level of Qi Refining in the market, but he did not have any spiritual objects to build his foundation.

He met someone by chance while drinking outside, and overheard him complaining about not having a Foundation Establishment spiritual object.

The man casually gave him a second-tier spirit wood, saying it could aid in foundation building, and if the spirit wood advanced to the fourth tier in the future, he would return a fourth-tier spirit item in return.

At the time, he only thought of him as a generous sucker, and never considered what would happen after he advanced to the Nascent Soul stage.

He readily agreed to receive a second-tier spirit wood for free.

Later, he successfully established his foundation, and then advanced to the Core Formation and Nascent Soul stages. The spirit tree stayed with him, nurturing it little by little from the second rank to the middle grade of the fourth rank, eventually becoming the Qingwu Tree it is today.

Back then, he didn't know the identity of the man in the green robe.

After advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, he learned that the person was True Monarch Qingyuan. After that, he never saw True Monarch Qingyuan again.

It's unbelievable that two thousand years later, someone is finally coming to collect this debt.

Standing beside her, Li Peilan recounted everything that had happened since she first met Lin Zhao.

How to infiltrate the caravan, gather information in the market, defeat Wei Yuan Zhenren in the arena, and hand over this blank piece of paper.

Qingwu Zhenjun did not speak. After listening carefully, he then dismissed Li Peilan.

He raised his hand and took out two spirit-sealing boxes.

Each box contained a fourth-tier spiritual item, Qingwu Wood—two sections of core spiritual wood separated from the Qingwu Tree.

These two spiritual items were originally prepared for the two disciples.

The eldest disciple, Yang Si, and the fifth disciple, Zhou Yichu, each assisted them in forming their Nascent Souls.

But he never sent it.

First, Zhou Yichu is not yet at the stage of Nascent Soul formation.

Secondly, he hesitated.

He has lived for two thousand years, so naturally he has not only trained this group of disciples.

I've trained several before, but they all died; some reached the end of their lifespan, and others perished while traveling.

Several others reached the peak of Core Formation and were also given fourth-tier spiritual items, but they all perished under the heavenly tribulation.

He doesn't have much time left to live, so he doesn't have time to train the next batch.

Zhou Yichu and Yang Sihe are probably the last two disciples he can teach.

He wasn't sure if the two of them could successfully form a Nascent Soul, and he had considered giving both spiritual objects to the same person to increase their chances of success.

He deliberately spread the rumor that he was "about to die".

It serves as bait for those restless cultivators outside, and also as a test for the two disciples.

Zhou Yichu's performance was decent; he fought for what he should fight for and defended what he should defend. He didn't disappoint him, but he didn't surprise him either.

But Yang Si disappointed him.

It's not about robbing cultivators.

Killing a Core Formation cultivator or colluding with a few Tribulation cultivators are trivial matters in the eyes of True Monarch Qingwu.

In the cultivation world, the strong prey on the weak. He grew up in a desolate region, and in his youth, he nearly wiped out all the cultivators who had undergone the Tribulation Realm.

Those who reach the Nascent Soul stage have all experienced all sorts of messy things.

He was disappointed by Yang Si's attitude toward Qingwu Prefecture.

If Yang Si inherits Qingwu Prefecture, he won't focus on it; he'll only use it as a stepping stone.

This training ground in Qingwu Prefecture requires a great deal of time and effort to maintain. If the training ground is left unattended...

That forcibly condensed fourth-order spiritual vein will collapse in a few decades, and the thousand-mile oasis will turn back into yellow sand.

Yang Si would forcibly extract the power of the Daoist temple to improve his own cultivation, and then abandon this foundation without hesitation to seek opportunities in a wider world.

This goes against his path.

Different road non-phase plan.

Zhou Yichu is different; he is a local and is willing to guard this land like Qingwu Zhenjun.

The resources of Qingwu Prefecture are actually not much. If a Nascent Soul cultivator relied solely on cultivation in Qingwu Prefecture, their spiritual energy would have been exhausted long ago.

What's truly precious here is this sacred space.

Over two thousand years of accumulation, the Qingwu Tree has formed a complete spiritual energy cycle with the spiritual veins and oases.

This is the most precious thing here.

When he named his two disciples, he had already put a lot of thought into it.

Zhou Yichu – Unwavering in his original aspiration.

Yang Si – a thoughtful person.

Qingwu Zhenjun had been hesitant, feeling that there was still time and he could take another look.

But now you don't need to look at it anymore.

A fourth-tier spiritual item must be given to Lin Zhao—this is a debt owed by True Monarch Qingyuan, and cannot be shirked.

For the remaining question, you can only choose one of these two people.

The results are in.

Three days later, Qingwu Zhenjun formally summoned Lin Zhao.

The meeting took place in the small courtyard at the top of the canopy of the Qingwu tree.

The two sat facing each other, with a small wooden table between them and a pot of Qingwu tea on the table.

Qingwu Zhenjun kindly poured Lin Zhao a cup of tea, and then began to recount how he was fortunate enough to meet Qingyuan Zhenjun back then.

He recounted how he nurtured that second-tier spirit tree little by little to the fourth tier, and how much effort he had put into this oasis over the past two thousand years.

After talking for a long time, they finally pushed a spirit-sealing box in front of Lin Zhao.

Lin Zhao accepted the sealing box, thanked him, and didn't say anything more.

Qingwu Zhenjun then explained to him the cultivation methods of the Qingwu tree.

He talked a lot, but they were all seemingly unimportant topics.

Lin Zhao listened attentively, occasionally asking a question or two.

A day later, Lin Zhao left the tree canopy and returned to her residence.

He successfully obtained the fourth-tier spiritual item this time, so the mission was half completed, which was considered a smooth success.

Qingwu Zhenjun stood at the edge of the tree canopy, watching Lin Zhao's escape light disappear among the branches and leaves of the Qingwu tree.

Ever since Lin Zhao took out that mark, he has never considered not giving it to her.

It's not about keeping promises; he's not that pedantic.

It is because he can use this Daoist temple to regulate the spiritual veins of a thousand miles. Within Qingwu Prefecture, ordinary mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators are no match for him.

Legend has it that the Cangming Sect can regulate the spiritual veins of Yunzhou's millions of miles of territory—what terrifying methods that must be, a world of difference.

If the Cangming Sect were to get serious, it would be too easy for them to crush him, so naturally he wouldn't dare refuse.

Now, something else is giving him a headache: Qingwu Prefecture will eventually have to be handed over to Zhou Yichu.