The Long Journey to Immortality

Having already guessed that his master would ask about his senior sister, Qiu Peng, who was well-prepared, immediately recounted everything about when Nian Haoge formed her core.

Nian Haoge was born from Elder Haoge's Dao embryo.

He was exceptionally talented, diligent in his training, and had the guidance of the renowned teacher Han Lu.

Naturally, when the right time, place, and people are all present, the resulting golden elixir will be a first-grade golden elixir.

When talking about the final moments of Core Formation, Qiu Peng's face lit up with excitement.

"When my senior sister formed a first-grade golden core, there was still 20% of her spiritual power in her dantian that she couldn't use."

"Finally, he simply poured it all into the golden core in one go."

"According to my senior sister, her current Golden Core is even more advanced than the first-grade Golden Core of other cultivators."

“Drawing the red patterns on it is as free as writing wild cursive script on rice paper with a brush.”

"It will only take a maximum of twenty years to cross the threshold of the early stage of Golden Core, complete the first Dan pattern, and successfully advance to the middle stage of Golden Core."

Hearing this, Han Lu smiled with satisfaction and sighed, "Haoge is indeed exceptionally talented. If I hadn't been diligently cultivating all these years, Haoge might have caught up with me in terms of cultivation level."

However, having successfully advanced to the Golden Core realm at the age of seventy-something, Nian Haoge was not much inferior to Han Lu.

"Qiu Peng? And you?" Han Lu asked Qiu Peng with concern. "What achievements have you made over the years? You can tell me about everything."

Han Lu was also aware of Qiu Peng's abilities.

While he is far less talented than Nian Haoge in cultivation, he has his own unique strengths in other areas.

Qiu Peng replied modestly, "Compared to my senior sister, my achievements are just minor ones."

"Through diligent cultivation, I finally lived up to my master's expectations and successfully advanced to the late stage of Foundation Establishment."

"Although I have only been at this level for five and a half years, I believe that I will need another twenty years before I can attempt to form my core."

Hearing this, Han Lu was slightly surprised. "Oh? You've been hovering around the mid-Foundation Establishment stage for a full seventeen years. Why are you so confident?"

Although she was a first-rate genius, Han Lu also understood the objective laws governing cultivators' progress at different realms.

If a Foundation Establishment cultivator's talent is merely sufficient...

Even if everything goes smoothly, it will still take about ten years to advance to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

The middle to late period lasted twenty years.

It takes about forty years to reach the Pseudo-Core stage.

Qiu Peng's talent could only be considered above average, so his sudden "progress" in the late stage of Foundation Establishment was naturally a bit of a surprise to Han Lu.

Qiu Peng explained, "Master, do you still remember the spiritual herb that helped me advance from the Qi Refining Realm to the early Foundation Establishment stage?"

Han Lu nodded slightly, quickly realizing what was going on, "But what are the effects of this spiritual herb?"

“That’s right,” Qiu Peng said with a smile. “There’s still a trace of the medicinal power of that herb left in my dantian.”

"As I advanced to the late stage of Foundation Establishment, these medicinal effects were activated."

"I found that when I solidified my spiritual energy, the speed was almost the same as when I liquefied my spiritual energy."

"This result was obtained through sequential calculation."

Upon hearing this, Han Lu clapped her hands lightly and said, "That's a good thing, but even so, you must not slack off in your cultivation."

"Yes," Qiu Peng promised, "This disciple will definitely cultivate diligently and strive to advance to the Golden Core Realm as soon as possible."

"Besides that?" Compared to Qiu Peng's cultivation, Han Lu was more looking forward to her disciple shining in other areas.

When asked about other things, Qiu Peng smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "I only did three small things."

"First, I helped the sect compile two textbooks for disciples in the Daoist novice stage to learn how to enter the sect."

"Secondly, I followed the example of my master, who led my senior sister in cultivation when he was in the Foundation Establishment stage, and also took on a disciple in the sect."

"Thirdly, I assisted the sect and contributed to the reform of the outer sect."

Qiu Peng was not the kind of cultivator who was keen on burying himself in ascetic practices, so he spent his efforts in other areas over the years and achieved some results, which was within Han Lu's expectations.

"Let me see the textbook."

Han Lu reached out her hand, and Qiu Peng immediately handed her two small booklets, each no more than twenty pages long.

Qiu Peng explained, "One of them is a textbook for children under the age of twelve to learn about education."

"The other book is for disciples who join the sect after the age of fifteen."

"They were all very well received, so I earned quite a few contribution points."

After quickly flipping through a few pages, Han Lu could see the highlights in these two books.

"You've done a good job. You should be able to accumulate a lot of good karma, which will be of great benefit to you when you advance to the Golden Core stage in the future."

"What about your disciple? Tell me the details." Han Lu inquired about the situation of her grand-disciple.

Qiu Peng didn't have the same prestige as Han Lu, who was able to take on a genius cultivator like Nian Haoge as his disciple when he was still in the Foundation Establishment stage, for various reasons.

He is just an ordinary disciple with average talent, and it is unknown whether he can advance to the Foundation Establishment stage in the future.

However, considering that he was the first third-generation disciple of her lineage, Han Lu still prepared a small gift with great care and asked Qiu Peng to help deliver it.

Chapter 1019 Propaganda

One hundred spirit stones and two magical implements.

Considering that Qiu Peng's cultivation time was still short and his own resources were insufficient, Han Lu prepared a rather generous gift for this grand-disciple.

Qiu Peng did not refuse, but accepted it readily. He even thanked Han Lu on behalf of his disciple, saying that he would definitely bring her to see Han Lu next time.

Qiu Peng was well aware of his own shortcomings as a "master," and naturally he wouldn't be so concerned about saving face at this moment, lest it affect the future of his first disciple.

After discussing the two matters, Han Lu brought up the last thing Qiu Peng did.

“I just left the Qingxu Sect Master, and he also mentioned the outer sect reform you mentioned.”

However, it was only mentioned briefly and not explained in detail.

"Now that you've told me about it, it seems this matter is not simple. Tell me, what exactly is going on?"

Han Lu was also puzzled as to how Qingxu Daoren, who always valued harmony, had become involved in such reform activities and even asked Qiu Peng for help.

Qiu Peng scratched his head. "Master, this is a rather long story."

The system of inner and outer gates of the Zhengyi Sect has lasted for ten thousand years, and it has long become somewhat rigid, unreasonable, and out of step with the times.

Xuan Chengzi initially planned to implement sweeping reforms, but it was temporarily shelved for various reasons.

Upon stepping down, he handed over this task to Daoist Qingxu.

That's why Master Qingxu was so concerned about this matter.

I hope to work together with other elders to think about how to reform the sect's outer organizational structure and even its systems, so as to strengthen this "limb" that has become a hindrance to the sect's development.

Qiu Peng got involved in this matter because of the negligence of a disciple who served as the "secretary" of the Qingxu Sect Master.

When Daoist Dai Qingxu invited the core elders of the sect to participate in the discussion, he inadvertently sent Han Lu a paper sword as well.

After the paper sword collided with the protective barrier at Han Lu's residence, it was delivered to Qiu Peng as arranged by Han Lu.

Qiu Peng was very interested in this topic and felt he could offer some helpful tips.

However, he did not honestly take the "invitation" originally sent to Han Lu to attend the elders' meeting.

Qiu Peng privately pondered the matter and wrote a "reference," which he then submitted in a very conventional manner.

It was well-written, and the solutions within were both firm and flexible, which piqued the interest of Daoist Qingxu.

Not only did they overturn several guidelines established in the meeting with the core elders, but they also invited Qiu Peng to their office to report and present his case in person.

Qiu Peng performed exceptionally well as always, and was naturally assigned this task to participate in the reform that was originally only open to elders.

"I see. It was a coincidence that some of your talents caught the attention of the Qingxu Sect Master," Han Lu said in a half-joking tone. "Maybe in the future, you can become the sect master of the Zhengyi Sect because of this."

"Thank you for your kind words, Master." Qiu Peng smiled broadly.

Clearly, he does have this ambition and wants to showcase his talent on the top platform of Zhengyi Sect.

"Then tell me in detail, what exactly has been reformed in this so-called outer sect reform?"

Han Lu was curious about what brilliant plan Qiu Peng had given her.

"It's not complicated at all..."

Qiu Peng has said these words countless times to outsiders and within the team, and he has long since memorized them perfectly.

When discussing this with Han Lu, one only needs to be mindful of their respective positions and slightly change a few words in their tone to clearly explain the matter to her.

"Simply put, it's about enabling the outer sect to more efficiently and effectively send talented disciples to the inner sect."

"At the same time, it will bring the outer sect closer to the mortal world, reduce the financial pressure on the team, and allow more outer sect disciples to quickly integrate into the mortal world after losing their dream of cultivation."

In a brief summary, Qiu Peng cited several representative reform measures.

"First, we will increase the promotion channels for outer disciples, so that many disciples who do not perform well in the competitions but whose cultivation progress is rapid can join the inner sect early on, instead of having to wait until they advance to the Foundation Establishment stage to enjoy better cultivation benefits in the sect."

"In addition, we should also appropriately reduce the number of disciples recruited each year to prevent the number of outer disciples from continuing to expand and to avoid spending too many resources on disciples who are destined not to continue on the path of cultivation."

……

Qiu Peng's measures and methods were mostly about "increasing revenue and reducing expenditure," but it was because they were adapted to local conditions and combined firmness with flexibility that they were valued by Qingxu Daoren.

In particular, Qiu Peng's plan for "re-employment of laid-off monks" received high praise from Daoist Qingxu.

Of all the reform measures implemented in recent years, this one has been the fastest.

Holding a high position, Han Lu didn't even think to care about the situation of these "outer disciples" when she returned to the sect.

She never expected that her disciple would actually possess the talent of a sect leader, handling such a matter so well.

After listening to everything, Han Lu praised him again, "Qiu Peng, you will definitely be able to become at least one sect leader in the future."

As Han Lu spoke, her words carried less encouragement and more approval.

Qiu Peng said with a grin, "Then next time, Master, you'll have to say a few more good words to the higher-ups."

"Definitely," Han Lu said, recalling something she had discussed with the sect leader, "Qiu Peng, have you ever heard of 'Western democracy' in the sect?"

"Of course I've heard of it. In fact, there are similar systems in ancient cultivation secret realms."