From martial arts sects to immortality sects

Chapter 70 Heavenly Thunder Step, Shocking Changes in the Prefecture
"The new five major sects? Shouldn't there be seven major sects?"

Li Dongyue asked in confusion, noticing Yang Jueding's gaze, which made her guess what was going on.

Li Sifeng was getting anxious and pressed, "And then what? Isn't this a good thing? Why do you look like you're holding in your pee?"

Li Qingqiu slapped him lightly on the head and glared at him, saying, "Speak properly."

"Brother, you're so vulgar!" Li Sijin said with a look of disgust.

Yang Jueding wasn't angry. He picked up a bowl of wine, drank it all in one gulp, and said, "Guang Lantian, the first leader of the Seven Mountains Alliance, and Du Mian, the peak master of Iron Mountain Peak, spoke rudely to our Qingxiao Sect at the banquet. They even said that we should hand over the legendary martial arts skill to benefit the martial arts world of Guzhou. This was agreed upon by many martial arts figures at the banquet. Even after I clarified that the Qingxiao Sect did not possess the legendary martial arts skill, they still wouldn't let it go. In the end, Xu Ning proposed a duel to the death. If she died, they would hand over the skill..."

Upon hearing this, everyone finally understood why two sects were missing.

Li Sifeng looked at Xu Ning with excitement and said, "Xu Ning, how are you so amazing? This is too fierce! Third Senior Brother wiped out one sect, and you wiped out two sects in one go!"

Xu Ning remained calm and said, "I naturally cannot tolerate their arrogant words. My master said that when facing an enemy, one must eliminate them completely and be decisive. I only killed two sect leaders. The reason they were destroyed was mainly because of the Demonic Sect."

"The Demonic Sect? Why is it them again?" Li Sijin asked in surprise.

Yang Jueding picked up the thread and said, "After Guang Lantian and Du Miangang were killed by Xu Ning, just as the experts from the Seven Mountains Alliance and Iron Mountain Peak were about to make their move, the people from the Demonic Sect suddenly appeared. They stood on the rooftops and announced that the Seven Mountains Alliance and Iron Mountain Peak had been destroyed, and threatened to massacre the remaining five major sects in Guzhou. The White Emperor's Mansion immediately ordered the capture of the Demonic Sect experts, but unfortunately, these guys were very skilled in lightness skills and they escaped. In the following days, the prefecture received news by fast horse that a massacre had occurred in the Seven Mountains Alliance and Iron Mountain Peak, and all the disciples of both sects had been slaughtered... Only then did the prefecture declare that there were only five major sects."

"Moreover, the state government has issued an official order that regards the Demonic Sect as a major threat, and the five major sects need to join hands with other martial arts sects to deal with the Demonic Sect's chaos."

At this point, everyone began to discuss the Demonic Sect.

Those present were all high-ranking members of the Qingxiao Sect, and they were already familiar with the Demonic Sect. The Seven Fiends of the Demonic Sect had visited before, which meant that the Demonic Sect had long been an enemy of the Qingxiao Sect.

Unfortunately, Yang Jueding and Xu Ning were also unaware of just how powerful the Demonic Sect was now, but judging from the tone of those Demonic Sect masters, the Demonic Sect was absolutely confident in overthrowing the entire martial arts world.

Li Qingqiu suddenly asked, "What about the Absolute Saint Sect? Why isn't it among the five major sects?"

Yan Wujin's martial arts skills are not weak, and with the support of the Tang family of Linchuan, the Juesheng Sect will surely succeed.

Yang Jueding looked at Li Qingqiu and replied, "The Juesheng Sect has gone north and is quite powerful. Its sect leader, Yan Wujin, has swept through the experts of various sects in Dongling Prefecture and is very famous. Many people talked about him at the banquet in Baidi Mansion."

Li Qingqiu nodded slightly after hearing this. Yan Wujin was also the leader of the sect that opposed the emperor and the demonic sect. If he developed well, it would be a good thing for Qingxiao Sect.

Zhang Yuchun looked at Li Qingqiu and asked, "Senior Brother, the prefecture government has called on the five major sects to send disciples to search for the Demonic Sect. Should we respond to the call?"

Li Qingqiu replied, "There's no need. It's already good enough that Qingxiao Sect can protect the people in the Taikun Mountain area. In the past few days, some people have started to come up the mountain seeking help from Qingxiao Sect. There will be many more such cases in the future. Compared with the other four major sects, our number of disciples is still far behind, and we don't have that many manpower."

Zhang Yuchun nodded; he thought so too, but important sect matters needed to be decided by Li Qingqiu.

"Gentlemen, the Demonic Sect has re-emerged. Regardless of whether they can threaten the martial arts world, they have already threatened the Qingxiao Sect. We cannot be careless now, as the Demonic Sect may invade at any time."

Li Qingqiu scanned the crowd and spoke. The crowd nodded. They did not feel fear, but only a sense of urgency.

Qingxiao Sect needs a lot of time to grow.

After chatting for about half an hour, everyone dispersed, and Li Qingqiu led Xu Ning towards the woods behind the mountain.

Although Yang Jueding had already recounted the journey to Baidi Mansion, as her master, he still needed to pay special attention to her separately. He knew that Xu Ning longed for his praise, especially after Zhao Zhen became his disciple, which made the girl feel a sense of crisis.

Li Qingqiu was genuinely proud of Xu Ning. Not only did Xu Ning bring honor to the Qingxiao Sect, but she also helped him obtain a legacy reward.

He has already activated the inheritance reward and obtained a lightning attribute spell called [Thunder Step], which is very suitable for Xu Ning. He has decided to pass this spell on to her.

Although Xu Ning uses a sword, she does not follow the path of sword cultivation. Unfortunately, the Qingxiao Sect has too few spells, so she has not yet truly realized her talent.

Once everyone else was gone, Xu Ning became more lively and expressive, taking the initiative to tell Li Qingqiu about what had happened on her journey and her feelings when she fought with others.

Li Qingqiu listened patiently. Although he already had four disciples, he still loved his eldest disciple, Xu Ning, the most.

No matter how talented a genius emerges in the future, he hopes that Xu Ning can stand among the top ranks of the sect.

……

The news that Qingxiao Sect had become one of the five major sects in Guzhou spread rapidly throughout the region. Zhang Yuchun posted a notice to inform all the disciples of the matter, but the disciples' feelings about it were not particularly profound.

It wasn't until half a month later that wealthy families, merchants, small gangs, and government officials began to visit, and all the disciples finally felt the influence of the name of the Five Sects of Guzhou.

As summer turned to autumn, the number of disciples in the Qingxiao Sect exceeded three hundred, a result of careful selection. On this day, within the Lingxiao Academy, Zhang Yuchun approached Li Qingqiu to discuss establishing a power structure for law enforcement.

"Let's call it the Law Enforcement Hall for now, and Ning'er will be the hall master. We'll start by taking in twenty disciples, and add Chai Yunshang into the group," Li Qingqiu said thoughtfully. The name wasn't particularly original, since the Qingxiao Sect's criminal laws weren't yet fully perfected.

Chai Yunshang often went to the martial arts arena to spar and also gave pointers to her disciples. She had already gained some fame within the Qingxiao Sect, and Zhang Yuchun knew of her as well.

Zhang Yuchun nodded and said, "Once the Law Enforcement Hall is established, other branches of power will also need to be established. My power is too great. Do you want to establish a hall to supervise me?"

“Senior brother, I’m not joking. After all, I have disciples and my own network. If there are no checks and balances on my power, I will often be forced by interests and have no choice but to act against my will. Moreover, there can be no order without rules.”

Li Qingqiu had already come up with an idea, so he said, "Then let's establish the Yuling Hall. The Yuling Hall will be responsible for recording the disciple roster, the transfer of various departments, and the labor contributions. You will be the hall master, and Fourth Junior Sister and Yang Jueding will be the elders of the Yuling Hall. The Yuling Hall can recruit fifteen disciples, and the three of you will each select five."

"it is good!"

Zhang Yuchun had no objections; he even breathed a sigh of relief.

Since Qingxiao Sect became one of the five major sects in Guzhou, too many people have come to him, either wanting to send their family members into Qingxiao Sect, or wanting to seek a higher status for their children. Some even want to buy martial arts skills for their children. The various large sums of money have almost shaken him. Now that someone is undermining his power, he can use this as an excuse.

Afterwards, the two began to discuss the treatment of the disciples in the two halls. After all, doing these things would delay the disciples' martial arts training, and they should not be made to work for nothing. Moreover, setting a treatment plan could also stabilize the disciples' mentality and prevent them from being tempted by money.

Ultimately, they settled on a monthly allowance of ten strings of cash for disciples of the Enforcement Hall and eight strings of cash for disciples of the Imperial Spirit Hall.

Such treatment is a monthly salary that many low-ranking officials cannot achieve, after all, the disciples also have families and their families need to make expenses.

From this day forward, Qingxiao Sect will continuously refine the duties and benefits of its disciples, rectify its internal and external affairs, and eliminate the chaos.

The establishment of the Spirit Control Hall and the Law Enforcement Hall quickly caused a stir within the sect, with most disciples vying for them and thus displaying their unique abilities.

The guests who remained on the mountain, upon hearing of this, also went to visit Zhang Yuchun, Li Dongyue, and Yang Jueding, hoping to take this opportunity to curry favor with them.

Li Qingqiu didn't care about these things, letting his junior brothers and sisters worry about them themselves. He continued to lead Zhao Zhen and Yuan Li in cultivation every day.

Zhao Zhen's progress in the Great Sun Yang Technique was so rapid that Li Qingqiu couldn't resist passing on the basic mental techniques of the Hunyuan Scripture to him ahead of schedule, to see if he could modify the Great Sun Yang Technique through the Hunyuan Scripture mental techniques.

Even though Yuan Li frequently went to the underground spiritual lake with Li Qingqiu, he was still unable to reach the first level of the Nourishing Yuan Realm. His older brother, Yuan Qi, had already reached the first level of the Nourishing Yuan Realm without such treatment, which made him very disappointed. However, fortunately, Li Qingqiu kept encouraging him, so he did not give up.

It is worth mentioning that when Li Qingqiu went to inspect the Law Enforcement Hall, he saw Chai Yunshang, who had already reached the first level of the Nourishing Yuan Realm.

Only five days had passed since Li Qingqiu taught her the first level of the Hunyuan Scripture, and such a cultivation speed was definitely outstanding.

When Chai Yunshang met Li Qingqiu, she did not thank him in public, but acted like the other disciples.

Before leaving, Li Qingqiu secretly passed a message to Xu Ning, asking her to pass on the second level of the Hunyuan Scripture to Chai Yunshang.

Afterwards, Li Qingqiu went to the pavilion of the Yuling Hall and encouraged the fifteen disciples of the Yuling Hall in his capacity as the sect leader. After the disciples dispersed, Zhang Yuchun invited Li Qingqiu into his room.

He took out a roster from the wooden cabinet and said, "This is the roster of disciples who have reached the Nourishing Yuan Realm. There are a total of forty-six people, but only two disciples have reached the second level of the Nourishing Yuan Realm."

Li Qingqiu sat down, picked up the roster and flipped through it. He chuckled softly, "Reaching the second level of the Nourishing Yuan Realm is not easy. Forty-six people have already reached the first level of the Nourishing Yuan Realm, which is a great achievement. It shows that the disciples have been very diligent in their cultivation."

Zhang Yuchun smiled and said, "Yes, I'm quite satisfied, but people always want more."

Upon entering the first level of the Nourishing Yuan Realm, one can contend with second-rate masters in the martial world, while the pinnacle of the first level of the Nourishing Yuan Realm can contend with first-rate masters.

In most gangs, second-rate experts are the backbone, or even the gang's most powerful members.

"From now on, only those who reach the second level of the Nourishing Essence Realm can become true disciples." Li Qingqiu quickly flipped through the roster, looked up at Zhang Yuchun, and said earnestly.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuchun immediately agreed with delight.

The two brothers chatted for a while longer, then Li Qingqiu got up to leave. Zhang Yuchun insisted on seeing him off, and the two arrived at the foot of the Yuling Hall.

"Sect Leader Li, it's good to see you here. I have something to tell you!"

A voice came from behind, and Li Qingqiu and the other turned to look. They saw the merchant Liu Fanzhou walking quickly towards them, accompanied by two guards.

He was covered in sweat as he approached Li Qingqiu and the other man. Wiping his brow, he whispered, "Something terrible has happened! The Demonic Sect has stormed the prefecture, the governor has been murdered, and his body is hanging on the city gate. The army inside the city has also mutinied! The entire prefecture is under lockdown, and no one inside can get out!"

(End of this chapter)