There is a progress bar in my cultivation of immortality

Rong Yang held the wine jar and looked at Yu Lian. From his expression, he was not surprised by Yu Lian's question. Perhaps many of the guests he entertained had mentioned this matter.

"You should be interested in why our Zhenyang Sect can produce cultivators of the first and second realms in large quantities, right?" Rong Yang asked as he uncovered the seal on the wine jar.

All the monks in the world who know the secret of Zhenyang Sect are curious about it.

Yu Lian glanced at Wang Ping and responded, "I am just purely curious. Rumor has it that your Zhenyang Sect has enslaved a real fire spirit. With its power, you can observe the success rate of cultivators when they are promoted, so that you can select disciples who can be promoted more quickly."

Rong Yang drank in big gulps while Yu Lian was talking. When Yu Lian finished, he put down the wine jar in his hand, looked at Yu Lian and Wang Ping and said, "The five sects of Xuanmen have been developing for more than 6,000 years. After so many years of inheritance, each sect has formed at least dozens of branches. Each branch has its own secret method of cultivation. The current orthodox secret methods of cultivation have been deduced by predecessors at the cost of their own lives countless times."

"The origin of the secret method we practice is now impossible to verify, and we can only deduce it through some illusory legends. However, the practice of this set of secret methods has paid a huge price, which led to the establishment of the current five sects of Xuanmen and the countless side sects derived from them."

"As for the rumors you mentioned, they are nothing more than the experience we have gained from practicing for thousands of years..." Rong Yang's eyes fell on Wang Ping. "Ruan Chunzi, as the former deputy head of the Zhenyang Sect, may have told you some of his ideas, but his ideas are too narrow. After all, his cultivation determines that he looks at problems differently."

"He is a traditional True Yang Sect monk, but tradition means conservatism. He may think that he is right. He hates evil, just like me in the rumors. In fact, most True Yang Sect monks hate evil. This is the fire spirit vein in our body that subtly influences our thoughts. Fire represents light, and light represents justice."

"Light hates darkness, justice hates evil. This is a natural habit. Coupled with a bad temper, many of our disciples become paranoid when dealing with problems, and it is difficult for them to change the facts they have determined."

Yu Lian seemed to agree with Rong Yang's words. She said with her eyes shining brightly, "I understand this feeling. Every time I see a place lacking rain, I can't help but want to summon rain to engulf it. Just like now, I really want to summon rain to put out the fire here."

Rong Yang laughed, "Yes, that's the feeling..." He stretched out his left hand, and a flame suddenly jumped up in his palm. "I remember when I first learned how to control fire, I wanted to burn something every day, so I got into a lot of trouble. My master also beat and scolded me a lot, and even made me face the wall for several years because of this."

"As time went by, I slowly controlled my inner desire to burn the darkness, which led to my gradual advancement. This is the humanity that a True Yang cultivator needs to cultivate."

Yu Lian spit out her snake tongue, glanced at Wang Ping who was drinking, and asked, "When are you going to take us to see the fire spirit?"

Wang Ping thought of Wen Yang at this moment. Now he thought that Wen Yang's decision was really one-sided and even naive. He actually tried to directly devour the finished fire spirit. The success rate of his promotion was almost zero, unless he had a way to suppress the fire spirit's chaotic thoughts.

He might have done this because he was misled by some rumors among the five sects of Xuanmen, but he forgot the price and time paid by the protagonists of those rumors.

After all, it was because of insufficient spiritual practice that desires overcame human nature, leading to such a disaster.

Rong Yang picked up the jar of wine again and said casually: "This is a simple matter. When Fellow Daoist Zhigong arrives, we'll go together." After he said that, he raised his head and drank in big gulps.

Wang Ping continued to remain silent, picking up the jar of wine and taking big gulps to enjoy this rare experience.

Before he finished drinking the jar of wine, he sensed the breath of Zhigong emanating from the west. Rongyang immediately put down the jar of wine, and without saying hello to Wang Ping, he turned into a stream of light and went to greet him in person.

In just a moment, Rong Yang and Zhi Gong landed next to the stone table one after another.

Rong Yang did not talk about business first, but picked up a jar of strong liquor for Zhi Gong to taste.

Yu Lian looked at Rong Yang who was drinking one jar of wine after another, but did not interrupt his interest.

Wang Ping only drank three jars of wine and did not continue because he found that he was actually addicted to drinking, which was of no benefit to his practice, so he stopped decisively.

The same went for Zhi Gong. It was Yu Lian who accompanied Rong Yang to drink all the liquor he brought, and then Teng Yun lay on Wang Ping's shoulder, resting comfortably with her tongue spitting out.

"I don't usually drink too much, and I can drink to my heart's content today thanks to the three fellow Taoists."

Rong Yang said while holding the last empty wine jar. He now looked like an ordinary citizen who was looking for excuses for himself after killing chickens and ducks because of greed.

After saying this, he shook his head with a look of unsatisfied feeling: "It's a pity that after drinking so much strong liquor, I don't seem to be drunk at all."

Wang Ping smiled and responded: "You pursue too much, so you feel that you have lost something."

Rong Yang was stunned, and did not continue the topic. He stood up and said, "Let's go. I will take the three Taoist friends to see the real fire spirit rumored by the outside world."

Zhigong's eyes flashed, showing great interest.

Rong Yang walked silently towards the cave next to him. The cave looked pitch black from the outside, but it was unusually bright when he walked in. There were densely packed fire spirit runes carved on the surface of the cave wall, which flashed crimson light regularly.

Yu Lian's limp body lying on Wang Ping's shoulder suddenly stood up because she felt uncomfortable. She subconsciously opened her mouth and spit out some water bullets to repel the fire spirit that was approaching her. But it was just discomfort. After all, according to the rule of the Five Elements, water overcomes fire, not fire overcomes water.

There is a large wing room after walking through a three-meter-long corridor. The air here has no oxygen and is filled with a strong scent of fire spirit. Ordinary people will die if they enter.

This room should be where Rongyang usually rests and meditates. There is a cloud bed in the front of the room with three cushions on it. There is an incense burner on the left side of the cloud bed and a bookshelf on the right side. There are many jade slips on the bookshelf.

There is a passage on each side of the room, and fire spirit runes flashing crimson light extend into the passage.

"this way please."

Rong Yang invited the two and walked towards the left passage.

Wang Ping and Zhi Gong exchanged a glance, then followed Rong Yang's pace. After going three feet into the passage, they began to see some smoke, which was the smoke from the burning fire, and the smoke became thicker as they went deeper. After walking about ten feet, Rong Yang led them to a hall. Although the light here was still bright, the visible range was less than ten feet.

However, Wang Ping and his companions were all at the fourth realm of cultivation, and they could quickly "see clearly" the specific situation of the hall. There was no furniture or furnishings here, just a bare hall. There were densely packed holes on the surrounding walls, and each hole was inlaid with crystals. The crystals were constantly absorbing the energy of the fire spirit through the rune lines on the rock wall.

There is a huge pit about three meters in the middle of the hall. The thick smoke that blocks the view comes from here, and the energy absorbed by the crystal is also transmitted from here.

Wang Ping's soul immediately probed into it and found a huge pit that was thousands of feet deep. It seemed to go straight into the ground. There was burning magma rolling underground, and a consciousness was looming in the magma.

"It's right down there."

Rong Yang walked to the edge of the huge pit, called Wang Ping, Zhi Gong and Yu Lian, and then jumped in.

Wang Ping naturally followed with Yu Lian, but Zhi Gong was a step slower.

For people of their level of cultivation, the distance of thousands of feet is covered in the blink of an eye. The environment here is almost the same as the underground environment of Zhenyang Mountain. Thick smoke and dust block all vision. The further the passage extends downwards, the larger its area becomes.

When you reach underground, you will see molten lava and flames that are dozens of miles deep!
While Wang Ping was observing the surroundings, Yu Lian said in the Spiritual Sea: "The spiritual energy here is very abundant. It almost gathers the spiritual energy of most of the creatures in the northern snow mountains."

Wang Ping's soul immediately followed Yu Lian's consciousness to explore, and immediately found a magic array that connected thousands of miles of mountains and rivers. They passed through Taoist temples in various places of the Zhenyang Sect and absorbed the spirituality of living beings through a special magic array. The damage these spiritualities caused to living beings was negligible, but when they gathered together, they were surging.

The magic circle for absorbing spiritual energy is very common, similar to the sacrificial magic circle, Wang Ping can set it up at will. However, gathering so many spiritual energy in one place is very dangerous. If you are not careful, the spiritual energy will riot, causing the rules between heaven and earth to lose balance.

The solution of the Zhen Yang Sect is the unknown fire spirit deep in their magma. It can perfectly absorb these spiritualities and then generate rich fire spirit energy, providing the Zhen Yang Sect monks with a constant supply of energy.

At this time, Wang Ping and Zhi Gong had the same idea in their minds, which was to capture a spirit to construct an identical magic array. However, this idea flashed through Wang Ping's mind and was rejected by him. For Tai Yan cultivator, having such a true spirit would be better than exchanging it for a promotion quota directly.

Moreover, although raising it underground may seem harmless, it is actually detrimental to the harmony of nature. The current split in the Zhenyang Sect may be caused by it.

While Wang Ping was observing, Yu Lian reminded him in the Spirit Sea: "This fire spirit is too overbearing. Look, there is only the fire spirit energy left here, and there is no room for any other substances."

Wang Ping couldn't help but respond: "Just like Rong Yang said, the flames burn everything, even himself."

In this place, even Wang Ping had to hold his breath, because as soon as he breathed, sparks would rush into his chest, trying to ignite his body and soul.

Rong Yang floated above the molten lava, looking at Wang Ping, Zhi Gong and Yu Lian and said, "You must have been thinking about whether to control a true spirit to convert energy. I advise you not to do this, because according to my understanding, a long time ago, there were predecessors who experimented with it. They captured the distorted objects that failed to be promoted, guided them to become true spirits, and then controlled them to artificially produce a large amount of five elements spiritual energy."

"But in the end, only the Fire Spirit succeeded. Although fire may seem fierce, it is also the only controllable one. The Wood Spirit is too strange and is almost everywhere. It can make creatures live well, but it can also make creatures die silently. Then there is the Earth Spirit. Its existence will cause gravity to be unbalanced, and there will be earthquakes every once in a while. The Water Spirit has no fixed form. To fully control it, you need a cultivator of the same realm, which is not worth the effort. As for the Gold Spirit, the best solution is to use its quota to get promoted."

Zhi Gong also figured it out at this time. She looked at the molten lava flowing under her feet and said, "You are too dependent on this fire spirit. It would be better to kill it and use it to upgrade a fourth-level cultivator."

Rong Yang continued, "You are right, fellow Daoist. However, the Zhen Yang Sect has been fighting all over the country for many years and needs a large number of low-level disciples. If it hadn't existed, the Zhen Yang Sect's low-level disciples would have been exhausted long ago."

Zhi Gong asked in confusion: "A fourth-level cultivator cannot compare to the entry-level and second-level cultivators?"

Rong Yang said: "There are too many restrictions for cultivators in the fourth realm."

Zhi Gong raised his eyebrows and wanted to say something in rebuttal, but in the end he didn't say it.

Yu Lian then asked: "How do you determine the success rate of foundation building and inbound cultivators?"

Rong Yang smiled when he heard that. He stretched out his left hand and a magic circle composed of crimson light suddenly appeared in front of him. "It's actually very simple. We will send the promoted disciples into this magic circle, and then..." He changed a spell with his right hand, and a four-limbed creature with flames all over its body suddenly emerged from the magma.

"Then we will use the fire spirit in the magma to gather an energy consciousness. For the foundation-building disciples, we will use this consciousness to simulate the morning fire entering their bodies. In just a few moments, we can clearly observe the reaction of their spiritual veins. For the incoming disciples, we will simulate the yang fire entering their bodies."

In the secret method of "The True Transmission of the Three Yangs", to enter the first stage one needs to try to gather morning fire in the morning and swallow it to merge with the spiritual veins; the second stage requires one to use one's own spiritual veins to generate yang fire in the body. This method is equivalent to letting the promoted disciples try to be promoted once in advance.

Rong Yang dispersed the gathered Morning Fire and Yang Fire, and repelled the part of the Fire Spirit consciousness, saying: "As for the True Fire of the Third Realm, it is too overbearing. Even if ten Third Realm cultivators were allowed to control it, there is a risk of spontaneous combustion, and it is a waste of manpower, so we did not continue the experiment."

After he finished speaking, he immediately changed the subject and said, "Now my Zhenyang Sect has enough first-level and second-level monks to deal with the dispute over the artifacts in Zhongzhou and the threat from the Vajra Temple. Even if we have to fight with third-level monks in the end, I will not back down, because we have second-level perfect monks who are beyond your imagination to make up for the losses."

Wang Ping nodded subconsciously. He knew that Rong Yang was saying that they had no intention of bargaining with Vajra Temple.

"Ao Hong has several plans, maybe you are interested..."

Wang Ping briefly explained Ao Hong's plan.

Rong Yang's eyes lit up when he heard this, and then he looked at Zhi Gong and said, "Then I will cooperate and give up Qingpu Road to take the northwest land first. In addition, since Ao Hong is the vanguard, I am interested in providing him with a magic weapon to eliminate Ao Bing."

He looked at Wang Ping again, "How about you find a time to invite him out so that we can talk alone?" (End of this chapter)