Yunmeng Immortal Clan

A day later, they arrived at the Nine Heavens Gate. What came into Jiang Xun's view was a series of mountain peaks, sharp as swords, breaking through the clouds, surrounded by dreamlike white mist, like a fairyland on earth.

The Nine Heavens Sect belongs to the continental dynasty and is the oldest and most ancient cultivation sect in the continental dynasty.

Along the mountain peaks, numerous bamboo and wooden houses were built along the cliff caves, serving as the dwellings of cultivators. Amidst the surrounding mountains, several majestic palaces stood, important places where sect elders imparted cultivation methods.

Qu Mengli put away the flying sword magic weapon and then led Jiang Xun to a white-robed old man in his eighties with white hair.

The old man was sitting on a huge rock, drinking wine with great relish.

"Elder Heng, this is a new disciple, please make arrangements for me..."

Old Master Heng blushed deeply and waved his hand dismissively: "That's impolite! Who do you think you are, to decide what to do?"

Elder Heng glanced at the woman in white, and suddenly his legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground: "So it's Elder Qu, please forgive my rudeness just now..."

Qu Mengli frowned slightly, gave a soft hum, and then said gently, "Get up!"

Elder Heng cupped his hands respectfully and said, "I didn't know Elder Qu had graced us with his presence. What are your instructions?"

The old man glanced at the graceful figure in a white dress. She spoke softly, though she didn't open her mouth, "This disciple can be promoted to a menial disciple. Please take good care of her..."

The sound was melodious, like a gentle spring breeze, soothing the heart.

Immediately afterward, the woman spoke with Elder Heng about many other matters. Upon finishing, Elder Heng knelt and bowed respectfully, saying, "Respectfully seeing Elder Qu off on her return home..."

The white-clad figure nodded slightly, while Ye Qingti gave Jiang Xun a communication disc, allowing them to contact each other even from thousands of miles away.

After speaking, a sword flew like a rainbow, carrying Qu Mengli and Ye Qingti behind her, disappearing into the verdant mountains deep in the clouds. These were the nine peaks of the inner sect, standing majestically in the center of a spiritual vein. The main branch-shaped terrain extending outwards was the residence of many outer sect disciples, while the scattered small hills on the outermost edge were the residences of the miscellaneous disciples.

There are many miscellaneous disciples, about 50,000. Every year, 100 new disciples are selected to enter the outer sect through martial arts competitions. However, if special circumstances occur, such as war causing a large number of cultivators to die, this limit will be greatly relaxed.

Now, if Jiang Xun wants to cultivate immortality, he must participate in the struggle and step into the outer sect in order to move from the preparatory stage to the formal stage. He must not expose his demonic cultivation, so he must start from the Qi induction of immortality and cultivate step by step to accumulate.

Although his aptitude for cultivating immortality is poor.

However, his aptitude for cultivating demonic arts is extraordinary.

As a disciple of the Demonic Sect, he was subjected to the Demonic Sect's ultimate technique, the Great Rebirth Nirvana Technique, at the moment of his death, transforming him into a physique capable of cultivating both immortality and demonic powers.

As time passed, all the precious collections in his storage bag turned to ashes with the wind and sand.

However, Jiang Xun is, after all, a demon with the cultivation level of Golden Core. He has some things stored in his mind from ten thousand years ago. If he were to throw these things out, the whole world might fight over them. But Jiang Xun will only turn these things into his current trump cards. In this way, Jiang Xun, a demon cultivator, can be ahead of other cultivators of his generation. In addition, he can use the small gourd to possess others, slowly lay out his plans, and eventually accumulate power to ascend to the upper realm. It is not impossible for him to do so.

Ascending to the upper realm grants immortality, and this has remained the ultimate pursuit of cultivators to this day.

However, before ascending to immortality, if a cultivator wants to prolong their life, they must improve their cultivation level. As their level improves, their magical power will also increase, and their status in the cultivation world will also rise.

After Qu Mengli left, only Jiang Xun and Elder Heng remained.

Elder Heng didn't give Jiang Xun a friendly look. He first shrugged, then frowned and said, "Heh! Kid, don't think that just because Qu Mengli told me to, I'll give you special treatment. Qu Mengli is kind; everyone in the Nine Heavens Sect knows that. He's brought back hundreds, if not a thousand, of the mortals, but which one of them has stood out from the menial disciples? So, kid, cultivating immortality isn't that easy! So, once you step into the menial disciples' quarters, you'd better lie low, don't cause trouble, and obediently follow orders!"

Jiang Xun smiled nonchalantly and laughed heartily, "Of course!"

"This is a Bronze Disciple Token, which is possessed by menial disciples. By injecting divine sense into it, one can unlock the basic cultivation technique, Nine Heavens Qi Guiding Technique."

Upon entering the outer sect, one will receive a silver disciple token, which will naturally grant access to the cultivation technique available after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage: the Nine Heavens Spirit Sword Technique.

If one can enter the inner sect, one will obtain the Golden Disciple Token and the complete Nine Heavens Dao Sword Technique…

"But with your talent, if you can even learn the basic Nine Heavens Qi Induction Technique, that would be quite remarkable. As a new disciple, your spiritual sense is weak and your memory is very limited. It's extremely rare for a servant disciple to comprehend the Nine Heavens Qi Induction Technique in ten years. However, I doubt you'll ever reach the Foundation Establishment stage. I also doubt you'll ever learn the Nine Heavens Spirit Sword Technique. Right now, you must water the spirit fields and plants properly, and feed the spirit beast mounts of the formal disciples. Otherwise, don't expect me to expel you from the Nine Heavens Sect. The Nine Heavens Sect never supports idlers or good-for-nothings. Keep this token safe. It allows you to enter the servant disciple's living area. Don't wander around. Otherwise, if you violate any restrictions or killing formations and die, the Nine Heavens Sect won't give you any compensation..." After saying this, Elder Heng tossed the token over.

Jiang Xun accepted the bronze token. To avoid his status as a menial disciple being too special and causing any trouble, he put it into a brocade pouch and tied it to the side of the small black gourd at his waist.

It is not advisable for Jiang Xun to reveal his demonic cultivation at this time. In this era of immortal rule, where demonic cultivation has disappeared, once exposed, it would be a dead end.

Just as Elder Heng was about to turn and leave, he suddenly slapped his forehead.

"I forgot to remind you, if you can't reach the Qi Refining Realm after ten years of cultivation and fail the aptitude test, you'll be expelled from the Enforcement Hall by the elders and your memories will be erased..."

Heng Lao's figure suddenly disappeared.

Jiang Xun was startled. Could it be? But then he realized he was actually quite nervous. After all, the standards for defining cultivation levels were different between the righteous and demonic paths. The demonic path focused on the strength of blood and physical body to determine the level of power.

The strength of righteous cultivation is determined by the control of spiritual energy and divine consciousness.

While the cultivation of spiritual consciousness in the demonic path is inferior to that of the righteous path in immortal cultivation, the demonic path currently surpasses the righteous path in the tempering of the physical body.

But overall...

The stages of cultivation are divided into Qi Refining, Foundation Building, Golden Elixir, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Return to Emptiness, Body Integration, Mahayana, and Tribulation Crossing.

Although his demonic cultivation is decent, his immortal cultivation has only just begun. If he does not cultivate diligently, he will be expelled from the sect. Jiang Xun's bone age is currently around ten years old. If he cannot successfully establish his foundation by the age of twenty in ten years, he will miss the best age for immortal cultivation.

There is a saying that there is a foundation in cultivation. If one cannot establish a foundation by the age of twenty, one will not be able to do so perfectly. Even if one manages to establish a foundation later, one's achievements will be very limited.

Jiang Xun's aptitude is mediocre; even cultivating immortality and establishing a foundation would be difficult for him, but cultivating demonic arts would be a dead end.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xun gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He wanted to cultivate immortality, not demonic cultivation. From now on, he would be the righteous cultivator Jiang Xun, not the demonic cultivator Jiang Xun, just a child of about ten years old.

He decided to rely on Qu Mengli and temporarily spend his days cultivating at the Nine Heavens Sect. He remained alone, without a Daoist partner or disciple, embarking on a lonely path of cultivation.

After a moment, Jiang Xun channeled his divine sense into the bronze token and located the location of the menial disciples. They were scattered in a branch-like pattern on the outermost edge of the Nine Heavens Sect. Their main duties were to do hard, dirty, and tiring work, and very few of them could actually be promoted to outer sect disciples.

After nearly half a day, Jiang Xun finally found his lodging after bumping and traversing between several cliffs. He tidied up the room, took out the bronze token, and a wisp of divine sense entered, and a scroll with a pale white halo appeared in his mind.

"Nine Heavens Qi Guiding Technique"

It is merely a lower-level cultivation technique in the Qi Refining Realm, which can assist novice cultivators with low cultivation levels in drawing Qi into their bodies and absorbing a very limited amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth. It requires accumulation to transform into true essence, which is also known as internal force in the mortal world.

Jiang Xun sat upright on a futon, suppressing some of his fierce and irritable aura. He slowly narrowed his slightly bloodshot eyes, spread his hands, and faced the sky with his palms facing outwards. This technique allowed Jiang Xun to slowly feel the flow of spiritual energy, which gathered from the heavens and earth into his dantian, and then was digested by his dantian, turning into some insignificant energy.

He sat there for three days. After three days, Jiang Xun seemed to have touched something. He rubbed his fingers together, and a faint milky white aura lingered around his fingertips. After three days of hard work, he finally managed to step into the first level of Qi Refining...

If it were a cultivator with slightly stronger spiritual root aptitude, this process could probably be completed in less than half a day. However, for Jiang Xun, it would take much more mental effort and time. Therefore, Jiang Xun's spiritual root aptitude is the lowest grade.

However, that's not all. Jiang Xun's cultivation also encountered a so-called bottleneck period, and his cultivation level was temporarily stuck at the first level of Qi Refining.

"This is the bottleneck! I didn't expect to encounter this so-called bottleneck at just the first level of Qi Refining. Unlike cultivating the demonic path, where absorbing blood energy allows for rapid advancement in cultivation..."

It's rare for cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm to have a bottleneck period, but this doesn't exclude the lowest aptitude cultivators. They have many impurities in their bodies, absorb spiritual energy very slowly, and find it difficult to convert it into true essence. So even if such cultivators dedicate their entire lives to cultivation, they will hardly achieve anything. If we exclude Jiang Xun's demonic cultivation, then he is a good-for-nothing.

"Jiang Xun! These past few days you have neglected the irrigation of the spirit fields and the feeding of the mounts and spirit beasts of the formal disciples. Several people have already reported this, so we have decided to erase your memory, abolish your spiritual root aptitude, and expel you from the Nine Heavens Sect..."

Jiang Xun had just emerged from seclusion when he was reprimanded by a steward of the miscellaneous affairs office.

The disciple in charge was dressed lightly, stood nine feet tall, and was as majestic and upright as a mountain. He was bare-armored, which made him look exceptionally brave. His cold eyes had a hint of ferocity, and he carried an iron ringed battle sword about one and a half meters long on his broad back.

Soon, a group of miscellaneous disciples surrounded Jiang Xun and the person in charge, chatting and watching the show. Most of them were at the second to fourth level of Qi Refining, a level of cultivation that was quite common in the Nine Heavens Sect.

Although their cultivation levels were not high, or even very weak, they enjoyed watching disciples weaker than themselves suffer setbacks and humiliation, kneeling down and begging for mercy.

However, what happened next stunned them. Jiang Xun's expression remained calm, without much change, as if the punishment mentioned by the steward did not put much pressure on him. Besides, this was just a child of about ten years old. Although many cultivation families send their talented children to the Nine Heavens Sect for training when they are very young, this child was different.

In such a situation, not crying or making a fuss, but remaining calm and cautious without any fear, is completely contrary to the courage and spirit one should have at this age.

"Then just destroy my spiritual root and expel me from the sect..."

Jiang Xun responded, seemingly unconcerned. After all, with his mid-stage Golden Core stage demonic consciousness and physical body, crushing this manager at the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining would be as easy as crushing an ant. However, he certainly wouldn't dare to make a move, since there were even stronger people in the Nine Heavens Sect.

Even if this person were to make a move, they wouldn't be able to harm Jiang Xun.

Of course, Jiang Xun could also use his aura to disguise himself and fabricate the illusion that his spiritual root was destroyed and his memory was lost. It would just mean being expelled from the Nine Heavens Sect, which was no big deal. He could just find another cultivation sect.

Everyone was stunned by Jiang Xun's words for a long time, and after a while, all eyes were focused on Jiang Xun, and the discussion came to an abrupt halt.

"Who dares to destroy my junior brother's spiritual root...?"

Suddenly, a pure and agile figure appeared. This little girl in a green Taoist dress was none other than Ye Qingti, the true disciple that Qu Mengli valued most. Although she was only fourteen years old, her cultivation had reached the early stage of Foundation Establishment.

Ye Qingti placed her hands on her slender waist. Although the little girl was still young, she was already quite well-developed, with a pretty and delicate face. It was clear that Ye Qingti would definitely become as stunning as Qu Mengli in the future.

Ye Qingti's name is known to everyone in the Nine Heavens Sect. At a young age, she has already reached the Foundation Establishment stage. Most importantly, she has a powerful background. Her Ye family is already a first-class cultivation family in the continent's dynasties. However, in order to advance further, the Ye family decided to unite with another powerful family, the Zhao family. Ye Qingti and Zhao Xuanbing, the eldest son of the Zhao family, were betrothed since childhood.

Upon seeing Ye Qingti's arrival, all the handyman disciples bowed respectfully and said...

"Greetings, Fairy Ye!"

The manager was even more frightened, his legs went weak, and he immediately hid in the crowd, not daring to make a sound.

"In the sect, bullying weak newcomers is forbidden. For children like him, the tasks in the chores department can be arranged according to the actual situation, understand?"

"Got it! Got it!"

Ye Qing smiled and said, "That's good, you're quite sensible!"

After saying that, Ye Qing patted Jiang Xun's head and rubbed it.

"Junior brother, if anyone bullies you in the future, just tell Sister Ye, and Sister Ye will bring people to beat them up..."