Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

It's difficult for Xia Jin.

The Great Xia Dynasty has lasted for nearly ten thousand years, with strict rules and ironclad etiquette.

The family has a large number of members, including four Nascent Soul ancestors and over a hundred Core Formation cultivators.

There are fourth-tier magic weapons, but there are just too many people eyeing them.

Etiquette, social status, blood ties, and the distinction between elders and juniors—each layer was a huge threshold that weighed heavily on Xia Jin.

Even though Xia Jin is highly regarded among the younger generation, he is still only a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator.

I'm not qualified to use a fourth-tier magic weapon yet.

Fourth-tier magic treasures can only be obtained by Nascent Soul cultivators. Core Formation disciples can only obtain them by making unparalleled contributions to the imperial dynasty.

That was something he could never accomplish in his lifetime.

For example, destroying a Nascent Soul faction on the other side, or killing a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

The group remained silent for a while, and none of them had any good ideas.

In the end, Pei Yue made the decision: put Xia Jin's matter aside for now and concentrate our efforts on tackling Qin Tianjun's task.

Let's deal with one person's fourth-tier magic weapon first, then we'll figure out how to deal with the other one.

-----

Once the important matters were settled, the atmosphere relaxed.

The five of them leaned back in their chairs and chatted, eventually turning to the recent situation in their sect.

In the past ten years, the sect has produced a total of nine Nascent Soul cultivators.

Lin Zhao knew several of them, including Master Qianqiu, Master Kongming, Master Zhantian of the Law Enforcement Hall, and Master Gu.

The remaining few were all high-ranking members of the seven halls of the five palaces and seven halls.

If it doesn't make a sound, it's a blockbuster.

Moreover, it seemed as if these nine Nascent Soul True Monarchs had agreed beforehand that none of them held a Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony.

With True Monarch Beichen stepping down as Palace Master of Cangming Palace to break through to the Nascent Soul stage in seclusion, True Monarch Xuanyang ascending to become the most powerful figure in the sect, and the Sect Master abdicating, True Monarch Tianyi taking over Yunhai Palace as the new Sect Master, the sect leader's position has been further strengthened.

The sect's upper echelons have undergone a major reshuffle of power, and the situation has yet to completely subside.

"I heard they've already started, but of course, the sect rules prevent them from actually fighting within the sect, but they can still request a sparring session."

"A friendly sparring match, a sparring match between Nascent Soul level cultivators, where the winner keeps their word, right?"

Pei Yue nodded.

Anyway, things are very chaotic at the top of the sect right now.

And recently, another fire has been added – the Qingyou lineage has applied to return to the sect.

Qingyou Zhenjun is a rare late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator in the sect. He wields the Qingyou Palace, a fourth-grade high-quality palace magic treasure, and his combat strength is considered strong even among late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.

If her combat strength were comparable to that of a peak Nascent Soul cultivator in the outside world, even within a sect, few could suppress her.

In other words, she had few connections and shallow foundations within the sect; otherwise, with her cultivation and combat power, she would have been fully qualified to transcend the various sects and become a sect leader.

Even so, her return caused quite a stir among all the factions.

In the end, she single-handedly managed to get the Qingyou lineage, originally ghost cultivators, back into the sect.

As for the newly appointed True Lord Tianyi, he is no pushover either.

After taking charge of the Cloud Sea Palace, he defeated five Nascent Soul True Monarchs in a row, all under the guise of friendly sparring. This new sect leader was establishing his authority.

More importantly, he has someone behind him: Shouyi Zhenjun, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator and also Tianyi Zhenjun's senior brother.

Upon hearing this, Lin Zhao's heart stirred. Another Nascent Soul cultivator he had never heard of had appeared in the sect.

Seeing his expression, Pei Yue explained their origins.

The sect has 108 secret realms of the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends, some of which have been nurtured for tens of thousands of years and have become complete small worlds.

Ten of these smaller worlds spanned over ten thousand miles in circumference. They lacked spiritual veins and cultivation resources, but they bred a large number of mortals.

This is an insurance measure that the sect implemented a long time ago to prevent "accidents" from happening to ordinary people from the outside world.

It can be ensured that even if all hundreds of billions of mortals were wiped out, hundreds of billions of mortals could be reproduced again within a thousand years.

Similar to a "fire"?

Many powerful cultivators also emerged from this period—there were ten Nascent Soul True Monarchs, who were generally referred to as the Secret Realm lineage within the sect.

The cultivators of the Secret Realm lineage usually submit to the direct rule of a Heavenly Lord of the Divine Path and rarely participate in sect affairs, so not many people know about them.

Tianyi Zhenjun was born in a secret realm.

In the secret realm, he can be considered the chosen one of the world. Born into an ordinary mortal family, he cultivated to the peak of the Core Formation stage at just over a hundred years old and was about to advance to the Nascent Soul stage.

Later, Dao Yitianjun personally rescued him from the secret realm, allowing him to receive orthodox sect education and rebuild his cultivation.

From Qi Refining to Nascent Soul, it took less than a hundred years to rebuild.

"If he hadn't started over, he could have advanced to the Nascent Soul stage before he was two hundred years old, possibly becoming the youngest Nascent Soul True Monarch in the sect's ten thousand years of history."

Lin Zhao sighed inwardly, no wonder True Lord Beichen said that True Lord Tianyi was qualified to become a secret disciple.

Without any sect's guidance, to advance to the Nascent Soul stage before the age of two hundred is truly terrifying talent.

Tianyi Zhenjun possessed terrifying talent and had become the leader of the secret realm lineage. He also had Shouyi Zhenjun protecting him, and both of them were disciples of the Nascent Soul stage.

Even the most powerful figure in the sect right now, True Lord Xuanyang, has to give him face.

"So now there are two poles side by side. On one side is True Monarch Xuan Yang, who can be considered the representative of the old faction of the sect. On the other side is True Monarch Tian Yi, who has also won over the newly advanced young Nascent Soul cultivators."

The third party qualified to get involved, True Lord Yu Shu of Tianji Hall, has been keeping a very low profile lately and clearly has no intention of getting involved in this mess.

As for True Lord Qingyuan, he's never really been involved in anything.

Pei Yue picked up his teacup: "Anyway, the higher-ups are in complete chaos right now. The sect originally had seven lineages, four venerable ones, and more than fifty Nascent Soul cultivators."

Now, including the Qingyou lineage, the Secret Realm lineage, and the nine young Nascent Soul cultivators who have just advanced—the number of Nascent Soul True Monarchs appearing in the sect has exceeded seventy. It's even hard to say whether the sect has any other Nascent Soul cultivators yet.

The relationships among these Nascent Soul cultivators are complex, and they have been vying for power within their sects both openly and covertly recently.

He revealed some breaking news—the sect intends to upgrade the original seven halls to be directly controlled by Nascent Soul cultivators, thus placing the five halls and seven departments on equal footing.

The original power structure was that the Five Halls were controlled by Nascent Soul cultivators, while the Seven Halls were of lower status and controlled by Core Formation Peak cultivators.

If the Seven Halls are upgraded, all hall masters will be Nascent Soul cultivators, which will undoubtedly give more power to newly advanced young Nascent Soul cultivators.

Speaking of which, each of the people present has their own background.

Lin Zhao himself is a disciple of the Wuya lineage, a disciple of the Qianqiu True Lord, and also a secret disciple of the Qingyuan True Lord.

The Wuya lineage was already weak, and its interests were greatly reduced in this turmoil. However, Qianqiu Zhenjun, being a newly advanced young lineage, was able to obtain a considerable amount of resources.

Lin Zhao was under the command of True Lord Qingyuan, which ensured that he would not be drawn into the core vortex.

It won't have much of an impact on him.

Pei Yue belongs to the original sect leader's lineage, the Xuan Yang lineage.

His overall strength improved, but for the sake of sect balance, his grandmaster stepped down from the position of sect leader, his power decreased, and he became an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator.

It's hard to say whether it's a gain or a loss.

Yan Feng belongs to the Beichen lineage. Originally, it was the most powerful lineage in the sect, but when True Monarch Beichen attempted to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, the success or failure was uncertain, and the Beichen lineage withdrew from the core of the sect's power.

He has been keeping a low profile lately, which is why Yan Feng didn't say much when he changed the target for hunting Nascent Soul cultivators.