Junior Sister must ascend this time!

Elder Zhao's eyes suddenly went vacant, and he knelt on the ground, recounting all the wrongdoings he had made from childhood to the present.

"I was wrong. I shouldn't have hidden Master's whisk in the latrine and put chili powder in the elder's tea..."

"I shouldn't have disliked Elder Chen and given him croton oil water..."

"I shouldn't have succumbed to Jiang Fu's temptation and used my position to eliminate her rivals..."

"...I'm sorry, I was wrong."

Yun Qing, who was standing nearby, thoughtfully recorded everything using a recording stone, then squatted down in front of him and asked:

"So, you gave her the slow-acting poison?"

Elder Zhao nodded. "It was me who gave it to her. It was also my idea to have her lure Yun Qing to Broken Spirit Cliff."

"Besides Jiang Fu, how many other people did you accept bribes to promote to inner disciples?"

Elder Zhao's empty eyes darted around, as if he were trying to think. "I don't remember, there were probably thirty."

Yin Shuang was so angry that her face turned ashen. As an elder in the sect, she was not doing her best to cultivate talents for the sect, but was instead focusing her attention on such a thing.

"You dare to wreak havoc on the Chengtian Sect that I built with my own hands?! Even if I disappear, I'll make sure you die!"

Qingyuan quickly stopped Yin Shuang: "My goodness, don't get excited, let the little girl finish asking her questions."

Yin Shuang had no choice but to float to the side and become a puffed-up balloon.

Yun Qing then asked, "Besides these, what else did you do using your position?"

Elder Zhao thought for a while, then shook his head blankly.

Undeterred, Yun Qing pressed on, "Before Uncle-Master Fushu ascended to immortality, did you approach the Ascension Platform? Did you tamper with it?"

Elder Zhao shook his head again.

Yun Qing frowned. Could it really not be him?

She had previously thought that someone was using Elder Zhao to prevent "her" ascension, since no one would suspect him given his status and abilities.

Judging from his current reaction, he really knows nothing about it.

It seems we have to change direction.

Yin Shuang floated over and asked, "Are there any more questions you want to ask him?"

Yun Qing stood up, shook her head, and casually put the recording stone into her storage bag.

"Go a little further away."

After Yun Qing and Qing Yuan had dodged several feet away, Yin Shuang gathered her strength and with a flick of her sleeve, used all her power to send Elder Zhao flying.

"biu~"

Si Mingche, who was wandering around Jiang Mian's courtyard because he couldn't sleep, suddenly brightened up. "Junior brother, look! There's a shooting star!"

Jiang Mian rolled her eyes at him. "Then make a wish to it and pray that you'll pass the test your master gives you tomorrow. I don't want to hear you howling anymore."

Si Mingche:…………

When Elder Zhao regained consciousness, he found himself flying in the sky. Before he could even feel scared, he landed in the field in front of the Discipline Hall.

The noise startled Pu Hengzhi awake from his dream. He sat up abruptly and felt his sect leader's token flashing wildly.

He probed it with his divine sense and heard the patriarch roar, "Pu Hengzhi! You come here!!! I entrusted the Chengtian Sect to you, and this is how you manage it?!"

Pu Hengzhi was startled and fell off the bed.

In the other stele forest, Yun Qing was kneeling with her head bowed before the two patriarchs.

"Grandmaster, Eighth Ancestor, I was wrong. I shouldn't have used you to help me deal with Elder Zhao. Please punish me, Ancestors, I have no complaints."

Qingyuan wasn't actually angry at all. He just liked clever kids. Why do you have to do it yourself if you can use someone else's strength against them?

"Get up, child. This can be considered a contribution to the sect, making up for your mistake. Isn't that right, Ancestor?"

Yin Shuang wasn't angry, but she still pretended to be serious and said, "Did you set up that formation? You're only at the Qi Refining stage; your divine sense probably couldn't do that."

Yun Qing smiled and said, "This formation was originally Elder Zhao's Spirit Devouring Formation. I just changed the positions of a few formation stones to turn it into the Thousand Illusions Formation. I can do that with my divine sense."

Qingyuan asked in shock, "You mean you changed a few positions and that changed the entire formation?"

Goodness, this requires a deep understanding of formations. It seems this child is quite accomplished in formations. She's only at the Qi Refining stage now; I can't imagine how far she can go on this path once her cultivation level increases.

It will probably be much farther than him!

He immediately said, "Girl, how about you learn formations from me starting tomorrow?"

Yun Qing naturally agreed. The Eighth Elder was a master of formations, and with his guidance, her understanding of formations would be more thorough.

Yin Shuang objected, "No, she still wants to learn swordsmanship from me!"

Yun Qing immediately smiled and said, "Grandmaster, I'll learn swordsmanship first, then I'll learn formations from Ancestor Qingyuan. I promise I won't miss either!"

For the next month, Yun Qing spent her days sweeping tombs and cultivating, and her nights learning swordsmanship and formations from Yin Shuang and Qing Yuan.

Soon, the barriers in her late-stage Qi Refining realm loosened, and she would soon be able to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

However, Yin Shuang's first words upon seeing her increase in cultivation were not congratulations, but rather to send her away...

"Yun Qing, you're about to reach Foundation Establishment. Why don't you go back first?"

Yun Qing was reluctant to leave; she hadn't learned many formations yet. Before she could speak, Yin Shuang added:

"If you want to change your spiritual root, you can only do so during the Foundation Establishment stage by drawing upon the power of lightning to temper it and forcibly fuse the metal and wood attributes into one. Only then will you have a slight chance to grow your opposing spiritual roots into a complementary Azure-Gold Lightning Spiritual Root."

If you've made up your mind, go back and prepare early. We don't want to see you floating around again next time.

Yun Qing: ………

Qingyuan chimed in, "Child, I'd like to talk to you more. But changing one's spiritual root is against the will of Heaven. What if Heaven discovers this and sends down another bolt of lightning to obliterate us?"

So, Yun Qing packed up and slunk back to her disciple's residence.

Upon her return, she heard some good news: after Elder Zhao was detained by the Discipline Hall, the sect leader personally interrogated him and ultimately sentenced him to have his cultivation stripped away and to be forever barred from entering the Chengtian Sect.

Yun Qing was very happy; she could finally cultivate properly.

…………

Inside the council hall of Chengtianzong.

Pu Hengzhi sat upright above, rubbing his temples, and said with a weary expression, "What suggestions do you have regarding the selection of people to enter the Spirit Netherworld in three months?"

The First Elder, Xuanwei, sitting to the lower left of Pu Hengzhi, snorted coldly, "In the past, each sect could get ten slots for those participating in the secret realm. This time there are only five, clearly indicating that only the direct disciples of each sect are allowed to participate."

Throughout the entire Central Continent, everyone knows that among the seven major sects, our Chengtian Sect has the fewest direct disciples. The Immortal Alliance's decision is clearly aimed at suppressing our Chengtian Sect!

The Immortal Alliance is composed of the seven major sects of the Central Continent. They jointly manage all sects in the Central Continent, and are responsible for resource allocation, order maintenance, and external affairs.

Pu Hengzhi sighed, "We submitted far fewer resources to the Immortal Sect this year than the other six sects. It seems we'll have to think of more ways next year."

"Alright, don't be angry. The most important thing is to finalize the personnel. The more people we send to the secret realm, the more resources we can obtain."