Journey to the head

At the Qinglian Zhenzong mountain gate, inside the Tianchi, more than a dozen Jindan masters sat cross-legged in silence. The place was very quiet.

This is a tranquil pool with a faint spiritual mist. The surface of the water is shrouded in a rich milky spiritual energy, which is full of spiritual energy and makes people feel relaxed and happy.

The milky white spiritual energy obscured the water surface, and the water's color could not be seen, but there were many huge and broad green lotus leaves growing on the water surface, swaying gently in the spiritual mist and floating out. There were also dots of golden light condensing on the lotus leaves, slowly gathering into drops of golden spiritual liquid, rolling down the leaves into the pool, making a crisp sound.

Among this large piece of green lotus leaves, eighteen red lotuses are rising up, like eighteen flames burning in the spiritual mist.

Each red lotus was several feet in size when opened, and the golden lotus pod was three feet in diameter, just the right size for a person to sit in. At this moment, more than ten Jindan were each sitting in a red lotus, silently recalling the information they had just received.

"Why aren't you talking?" The one sitting cross-legged on the lotus in the center of the pond was the Qinglian True Sect's master of the Golden Core, Fenghe Zhenren. Since his Golden Core was perfected, the Qinglian True Sect had already begun to mobilize resources to fully support him in his tribulation and becoming an infant. This support reached its peak after Baopeng Lingjun died in battle in the void.

Now, twenty years have passed since Bao Peng Lingjun died in battle. Not only is his preparation almost complete, he feels confident that he will start fighting his inner demons in the next few years, but also two more Jindan masters have achieved perfection in the Qinglian True Sect.

The smooth progress in this regard is related to the Qinglian Zhenzong's strategy of giving up peripheral interests and even giving up some core interests in recent years, keeping a low profile and defending itself. It is also inseparable from the protection of the Xuanwei Sect's righteousness.

With the guarantee of Miaomiao Xuanjun and the basic satisfaction of the Lingshou Sect and the Sikong Family by giving up part of their profits, the Qinglian Zhenzong was able to develop its territory and train disciples with peace of mind.

The situation is now gradually improving. If destiny favors us, we will be able to welcome back a Nascent Soul Spirit Lord in a few years, or even continue to break through in the near future. In this way, the status of the Qinglian Zhenzong will be elevated again, and the lost interests can be naturally regained.

Even though they received intelligence that the Sikong family and the Lingshou Sect had also reached the Perfect Golden Core stage and were advancing towards the Nascent Soul stage, and everyone was recovering from the war between the two states more than 160 years ago, the Qinglian Zhenzong's confidence in its imminent resurgence had never wavered.

For more than 1,500 years, the four gates of Cangzhou have maintained such a tacit understanding, keeping close cooperation amidst hostile competition and even hatred, and jointly governing the land of Cangzhou.

But now the latest intelligence has come that Wu Yan of Yunshan Sect is most likely a natural spiritual root and has survived the golden elixir heavenly tribulation. Sect leader Lu Qian died and came back to life in the thunder tribulation. Not only did he obtain the golden elixir, he also led the other golden elixirs to brazenly surround and kill Ningzhou's Qiming Lingjun!

After repeatedly confirming that the information was correct, Qinglian Zhenzong hurriedly summoned all the Jindan to discuss the matter. Except for those who were in seclusion, all the Jindan had gathered at the Tianchi at the mountain gate, but they were all shocked by the news and fell silent for a while.

"Are you all frightened by the Yunshan Sect? Why don't you say anything?"

Feng He Zhenren provoked him with words, and finally a Jindan responded: "Although the Yunshan Sect has made a lot of noise, it is still a small sect with only a thousand disciples. It is nothing compared to our sect, so how can we say that we are 'scared'?"

Another Jindan snorted coldly, "Qiming Lingjun has just reached the Nascent Soul stage and his power is not yet complete. It is not surprising that he was surrounded and killed by Jindan. This is just a coincidence. It is a chance achievement. There is no need to take it too seriously."

However, a Jindan said in a deep voice: "Although it is not worth mentioning now, it can also be seen that it has great potential. Yunshan Sect already has four Jindan, and also has other means such as battle formations and Taoist soldiers. In addition, there are the existence of heavenly spiritual roots. If they are allowed to develop smoothly, they may grow into a Yuanying sect in more than a hundred years. We should pay more attention to them."

Others said: "Lu Qian said that he died first and then was reborn in the thunder tribulation. Was it because the spies were observing from a distance that the story was distorted, or was it true? The truth of this matter needs to be investigated. Is it related to Lu Qian's magical powers? His and Wu Yan's magical powers also need to be investigated."

Everyone talked about it, and seeing that everyone had enough understanding and speculation, Master Feng He said calmly: "What we are going to discuss now is how to deal with the sudden rise of the Yunshan Sect. I wonder what your opinions are?"

There was silence for a moment, and a Jindan said thoughtfully, "How about making friends? Last year, my subordinate Fenglei Gang cooperated with Lu Qian and successfully expanded the territory in Junle County. We don't have many disputes, and with this successful example, as long as my faction makes concessions, Lu Qian will definitely be happy and grateful."

A Jindan's eyes lit up: "I think this plan is feasible. Since ancient times, the weak have always united to resist the strong. Now our sect is in the recovery period, and the Yunshan Sect has potential. If the two sides can unite, our sect may be able to withstand the pressure from the Spirit Beast Sect and the Sikong Family, and we don't have to fight with the Sikong Family anymore."

Another Jindan hurriedly said, "Absolutely not. We have been implementing the strategy of standing with the Sikong family to fight against the Spirit Beast Sect for hundreds of years. We must not betray them for the sake of a small profit."

Feng He Zhenren suddenly sneered: "Betrayal? Could it be that my Qinglian Zhenzong has been based in Cangzhou for more than 2,000 years, and has continued to thrive endlessly, relying on the illusory faith?"

"I know you have received benefits from the Sikong family, so you are eager to speak for them, but you can't even find a good reason. It's really laughable."

His stern eyes swept across the scene: "Among you, there are also several people who have been in contact with the Sikong family for a long time, and I have never pursued it. You should be clear-headed. You can take the benefits, but you can't say nonsense! If anyone sits on the wrong side of the seat and forgets his identity, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Although he had not yet reached the Nascent Soul stage, his aura was extraordinary. The lotus pond also shook violently, and the spiritual energy surged, as if resonating with him. So the Jindan present nodded in agreement, and the Jindan who was rebuked by him lowered his head, thinking angrily in his heart.

You just got the key to Tianxin Lotus Pond, so why are you so arrogant? You haven't been promoted yet after all!
Feng He Zhenren continued, "Now, as a whole, cooperating with the Sikong family to fight against the Spirit Beast Sect is indeed courting disaster. For example, with the help of the Sikong family, we get 10% of the benefits from the Spirit Beast Sect, and we have to give up 60% to the Sikong family. The benefits are not great."

Hearing this, everyone thought that Master Feng He would then talk about contacting and befriending the Yunshan Sect, so they all pricked up their ears, but he suddenly changed the subject.

"It's not a big benefit, but it's better than no benefit at all!"

"On the one hand, it is enough for Cangzhou to have three Yuanying sects. The three of us have divided up the benefits outside of Xuanwei Sect. How can we have enough space for a fourth person to enter? The newly emerged Yuanying sect is just snatching food from us."

"On the other hand, the Yunshan Sect has long been won over by the Spiritual Beast Sect and is a thug cultivated by the Spiritual Beast Sect. It is impossible for them to give up the benefits of the Spiritual Beast Sect and choose to make friends with us while fighting against the Spiritual Beast Sect and the Sikong family."

A Jindan interrupted and asked, "Since the cooperation with the Sikong family is not satisfactory, why don't we turn to the Spirit Beast Sect? We can simply join hands with the Spirit Beast Sect and divide the Sikong family!"

Feng He Zhenren sighed, "How foolish! Why did the Spiritual Beast Sect choose the Yunshan Sect? Because the Yunshan Sect is weak enough! They will be satisfied if we give them some benefits. It will take many years for the Yunshan Sect to grow into a rival of the Spiritual Beast Sect, so we can use them without any worries."

"And what about our Qinglian True Sect? With our strength, can the Spirit Beast Sect be assured?"

"Now the three-way confrontation has taken place. Those who turn to the Spirit Beast Sect will be abandoned immediately and pushed to the front line against the Sikong family. They will not feel at ease until my family is emptied of flesh and blood."

"So we have no choice but to continue cooperating with the Sikong family to fight against the Spirit Beast Sect. Only after we defeat it can our sect have a chance to rise."

All the Jindans nodded in agreement. The real person who first proposed to make peace with Yunshan Sect sighed, "I didn't think far enough. Now that we have made a decision, we must severely suppress Yunshan Sect to achieve the goal of weakening the Spirit Beast Sect."

Another Jindan said, "But we can't do it ourselves. If we do it directly, it might trigger a chain reaction, and the Spirit Beast Sect will also join in. Our sect has reached a critical moment, and Senior Brother Fenghe needs to survive the calamity safely, so there can't be any mistakes."

Master Feng He closed his eyes and said in a deep voice, "That's right, let's just make a small move first."

When we said farewell to Master Zang Feng and Ye Xiao, the sun was already high in the sky and it was bright.

The two Jindan Zhenren said goodbye to Lu Qian, and their expressions were more polite and respectful.

Looking at their receding backs, Lu Qian felt calm.

In this way, they would certainly not reveal the details of this battle. The specific process of his tribulation and the siege of Qiming Lingjun would be left to the various sects in Cangzhou to guess based on the superficial information observed by the spies from afar. The more rumors spread, the more the truth would be covered up.

He turned around and found Wang Yu standing quietly under a forest on the mountainside, looking here.

"Brother Wang, you are seriously injured. Even though you have a miraculous body, you should not be taken lightly." Lu Qian flew over and saw bloodstains on his body and injuries to his dislocated bones. He thought that his internal organs must have been seriously damaged as well, so he hurried forward to persuade him.

But Wang Yu just looked at him calmly: "These injuries are not a problem for now. I want to say a few words, just say them."

Lu Qian nodded, and the two of them climbed up the mountain path, walking side by side. "Just now I saw the Sect Master talking secretly with Master Cang Feng and Ye Xiao. Does the Sect Master want our Yunshan Sect to become the leader of the three sects alliance?" Wang Yu asked.

Lu Qian raised his eyebrows: "Of course I have this thought, but not now. We have to eat one bite at a time, there is still a long way to go."

Wang Yu nodded: "It's great that you think so, Master. I'm worried that within one day, my sect will have two new golden cores, and Master will be complacent and do something impulsive."

Lu Qian laughed and said, "How could I be so arrogant? Up to now, I have been stationed in Mianlong Mountain for thirty-two years, and I have only acquired this much wealth. It is not the time to be arrogant."

Now, it is May of the year 406.

Rounding up to a larger number, the Yunshan sect has a total of 1,200 disciples, including 400 inner disciples and 700 elite disciples in the middle and late stages of Qi training.

Sect leader Lu Qian and the sect leader's eldest disciple Wu Yan are both newly promoted Jindan.

Gu Nishang had just entered the middle stage of the Golden Core. Yu Jiao was still in the early stage of the Golden Core, but was only one step away from the middle stage.

Wang Yu, Jiang Qingfeng, Xiao Tianci, Ding Shu, Tao Boliang, and guest general Shen Jialuo are all in the middle stage of foundation building.

Zheng Duan, Xu Yingcai, Hao Qiuguang, Tao Zhongxian, Jiang Baitao, Su Yan, Li Da, and Wang Ruoyu are all in the early stages of foundation building.

Among the disciples who received special attention from their master, Cui Linglong and Liu Zaijiu had already completed their Qi training, and Wei Zhaixing had reached the ninth level of Qi training. With his talent of dual spiritual roots, he would be able to reach perfection in a few years.

In addition, there are also some elite disciples who, after decades of experience and polishing, are now very close to perfecting their Qi training.

In general, there are four Jindan and fourteen foundation-building people. There are also four foundation-building flying snake Taoist soldiers (three of which were originally deployed in Mianlong Mountain. After the Ming Snake Taoist soldiers used them, they were stored in the treasury due to insufficient spiritual vein energy supply), one Jindan Ming Snake Taoist soldier, and fourteen Lingxu Zhenyuan Shenzhou.

There are also the Yunshan Battle Formation and the Immortal Slaying Dragon Diagram to supplement the Jindan combat power.

Then the situation of the foundation-building feathered masters of the partners and subordinate sects is as follows.

Zhou Chao and Zhou Ang of the Zhou family are both in the middle stage of foundation building, while Zhou Yuan, the Qilin boy and the one with double spiritual roots, is in the early stage of foundation building.

Kong Pengfei from the Kong family is in the middle stage of foundation building.

Zhuang Hui of the Linglu School is in the late stage of foundation building, and Zhang Guangzhong is in the early stage of foundation building.

Qin Zhiyi from the Shouzhuo school is in the middle stage of foundation building, and there is another one in the early stage of foundation building.

Wan Lusheng of the Xianyou Sect is in the middle stage of foundation building, and Liu Gu Shou is in the early stage of foundation building.

The second qi gate is the foundation.

A person who builds the foundation of Huanmeng Temple.

That is, the twelve people who have built their foundation.

After so many years of cultivation, many potential people in these sects have already completed their Qi training and are waiting for the opportunity to build their foundation.

Such overall strength seems good at first glance, and is completely superior to that of the Huanggen Sect.

Today, the Huang Gen Sect is located in Junle County, and remotely controls Tieyuan together with the Yunshan Sect through the Never-Sleeping City. The sect leader Ye Xiao is in the late stage of the Golden Core Realm, and he has nine other people who are building their foundation and 1,400 elite Qi practitioners.

However, the Yunshan Sect is still somewhat inferior to the old-established Mingyu Sword Sect.

Now, there are two people in the Mingyu Sword Sect who are in the late Jindan stage, True Man Cangfeng and True Man Haoran who are in the early Jindan stage.

The Mingyu Sword Sect has 27 people who have established their foundation and 2,800 elite Qi practitioners.

In addition, there are twenty-four foundation-building people from subordinate sects and two thousand five hundred elite Qi-cultivating people.

They firmly occupied the entire Liangxiang County and a small part of Chongming, with a population of 56 to 57 million. On average, one or two new foundation-building Taoist priests were promoted every year.

"In addition to these on paper, the Mingyu Sword Sect has been established for a long time, and it must have a lot of hidden cards. For example, I don't know how many sword talismans refined by Master Cangfeng they have in stock." Wang Yu continued to remind, "Also, the gap in the cultivation level of our sect is very obvious. The leader and Wu Yan have already reached the Golden Core stage, but there is not even one person in the late Foundation Establishment stage below them."

"According to intelligence, there is a new person in the Mingyu Sword Sect who has reached the Perfect Foundation Establishment stage and is waiting for the heavenly tribulation."

"My Yunshan Sect needs to calm down and work hard."

Lu Qian looked at the mountains dyed by the setting sun and understood what Wang Yu meant by this suggestion.

Senior Brother Wang is afraid that I will become complacent and lose my sense of proportion.

Now it seems to be stirring up the storm and stealing the show, but in fact it has also attracted more prying and fearful eyes. Under the grand scene of raging fire and boiling oil, there is a danger that is gradually approaching. If you are not cautious and humble, you will surely be overturned.

"I understand what Senior Brother Wang means. Please rest assured." Lu Qian chuckled. "Let Mingyu Sword Sect lead the three-faction alliance. We don't need to fight for this false reputation. The best way is to make a fortune quietly."

Wang Yu nodded and was about to respond when Lin Le came hurriedly to report.

"Master, Uncle Wang, the intelligence has come in. We have roughly figured out the reasons why the Nascent Souls of the Spirit Beast Sect and the Xuanwei Sect were unable to come to our aid."

After receiving the sorted information, Lu Qian took a few glances at it and understood it in his mind, so he handed it to Wang Yu.

After reading it, Wang Yu snorted coldly: "The Spirit Beast Sect is still reliable, and the policy of making friends and relying on them in the future will naturally not change. But the Xuanwei Sect, Miaomiao Xuanjun."

"I see this man as someone who is good at making plans but lacks decisiveness, who looks fierce but is timid. He can only be considered a mediocre person, not a hero."

"This is the opportunity for my Yunshan Sect!"

Suddenly, a beam of light came flying towards them, getting closer and closer to Mianlong Mountain. A disciple hurriedly reported.

"Master, Xuanwei has sent an envoy to visit you." (End of this chapter)