39: Chapter 39 The Shocking News of the Inner Sect Selection

A few days later, an explosive piece of news swept through the entire Xuantian Sect like a hurricane!

During the trial in Duling Valley, the Inner Sect Disciples suffered heavy casualties!

Two Qi Refining Tenth Layer Inner Sect elites were found dead in the passage of the Myriad Poisons Pill Chamber, their corpses torn to shreds by second-rank venom beasts, a truly gruesome sight!

What was even more shocking was that Great Elder Li Changyuan's own grandson, the Qi Refining Ninth Layer Genius Li Ao, managed to save his life, but his legs were bitten off raw by second-rank venom beasts, and his Dantian was eroded by poisonous Qi, turning him completely into a cripple!

The entire Xuantian Sect upper echelon was furious!

An Elder from the Law Enforcement Hall personally led a team and turned Duling Valley upside down.

In the end, they discovered a large amount of explosion traces on the periphery of the Myriad Poisons Pill Chamber, as well as the lingering aura of blood path Cultivation Techniques left behind by Blood Fiend Sect demonic Cultivators.

At the scene, there were also dozens of corpses of Loose Cultivators who had been bitten to death by venom beasts.

The evidence was conclusive!

"Blood Fiend Sect demonic Cultivators ambushed our Sect's Prodigy! They detonated the Formation and lured second-rank venom beasts to surround and kill him!"

The Law Enforcement Hall gave the final conclusion.

Hearing the news that his grandson had been crippled, Outer Sect Grand Elder Li Changyuan was so enraged that he vomited blood on the spot.

This Foundation Establishment Stage mighty Cultivator went directly berserk, personally leading over a hundred Xuantian Sect elites as they aggressively charged out of the Sect to annihilate several strongholds of the Blood Fiend Sect in the Fallen Soul Mountain Range, swearing to avenge his grandson.

The Xuantian Sect and the Blood Fiend Sect went to total war.

Meanwhile, in the Special Grade Herb Garden, the sunlight was bright and warm.

Qi Yang was wearing ragged hemp robes with a hunched back, holding a broken pair of scissors as he slowly trimmed the withered vines on the fence.

A few handymen responsible for transporting spirit fertilizer passed by the Herb Garden, whispering to each other and gossiping.

"Have you heard? Senior Brother Li Ao is crippled! Grand Elder Li has gone mad and wiped out three branch strongholds of the Blood Fiend Sect in a row!"

"Serves him right! That bunch of demonic Cultivators from the Blood Fiend Sect are truly damn vicious, even daring to kill an Inner Sect Senior Brother at the Qi Refining Tenth Layer!"

"Sigh, when immortals fight, Mortals suffer. Life hasn't been easy for us in the Outer Sect during this period."

Listening to this gossip, Qi Yang's cloudy old eyes showed not a single ripple, as he simply lowered his head, the corners of his mouth curling into an imperceptible sneer.

Investigate?

Even if they investigated until the end of time, who could trace it back to a hundred-year-old peasant at the Qi Condensation Third Layer?

Demonic Cultivators took the blame, venom beasts killed, and he, Qi Yang, remained completely clean without leaving behind a single piece of evidence.

Killing without shedding blood, deeply hiding one's achievements and fame.

After the handymen walked far away, Qi Yang put down the scissors, turned around, returned to the thatched cottage, and bolted the wooden door.

After entering the underground secret chamber, Qi Yang's expression turned solemn.

He took out the Jade Slip recording the list of supplementary ingredients for the foundation establishment pill, his brows tightly furrowing into a knot.

Over the past few days, he had been studying the supplementary ingredients on the list.

Although rare things like the Ice Spirit Flame Grass and Purple Monkey Flower were hard to find, as long as he had enough Spirit Stones and made a few trips to the Ghost Market, he could always buy their seeds, and ripening them with the black gourd would settle it.

However, there was precisely one core supplementary ingredient that troubled Qi Yang.

xuanyin water!

This thing was not a Spiritual Plant, but rather a rare extreme cold spirit liquid.

When refining the foundation establishment pill, it was the absolute core used to neutralize all kinds of violent medicinal properties and prevent cauldron explosions!

Without xuanyin water, even if all the main ingredients were gathered, the success rate of refining the foundation establishment pill would definitely be zero!

"Damn it! Where on earth can I get this xuanyin water?"

Qi Yang had searched through all the ancient texts he acquired from the Scripture Pavilion, and finally reached a despairing conclusion.

Within a radius of tens of thousands of miles, there was only a single xuanyin water Spiritual Vein!

And this Spiritual Vein was located right within the deepest Forbidden Ground of the Xuantian Sect's Inner Sect, the Spirit Spring Cave!

The Spirit Spring Cave was the lifeline of the Xuantian Sect, absolutely monopolized by the upper echelon of the Sect.

Not to mention Outer Sect Disciples, even those Inner Sect prodigies wouldn't even dream of coming within half a step without a joint warrant from the Sect Master and the Elders!

Outer Sect market? Ghost Market? It was simply impossible for any xuanyin water to flow out!

A large Sect's control over such strategic-level resources was strict to a hair-raising degree.

"Hiding and developing in the Outer Sect, I'll never touch xuanyin water in my lifetime."

Qi Yang leaned against the bronze stone platform, his gaze flickering uncertainly.

He now had a Special Grade Herb Garden as an absolutely safe fortress, and the black gourd in the underground secret chamber could continuously provide top-grade Spirit Medicine.

Logically speaking, he only needed to hide and develop here until reaching Qi Condensation Twelfth Layer Great Perfection.

But without xuanyin water, he could not refine the foundation establishment pill.

Without the foundation establishment pill, if a Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Root wanted to forcefully Breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, the success rate wouldn't even be one in ten thousand, and the only end would be death by body explosion!

"It seems that I can no longer stay in this Outer Sect."

A trace of ruthlessness flashed through Qi Yang's eyes.

The Inner Sect was a dragon's pool and tiger's den, crowded with geniuses, where Foundation Establishment Stage Elders walked everywhere. If he, a Qi Condensation Seventh Layer Cultivator, sneaked in and made the slightest misstep, he would expose his secret and die without a burial place.

But for longevity, for Foundation Establishment, he had to charge into this dragon's pool and tiger's den!

However, the threshold for the Inner Sect was the Qi Refining Tenth Layer! On the surface, he was currently a trashy old peasant at the Qi Condensation Third Layer, so how could he possibly get in?

Qi Yang fell into a deep dilemma.

...

Half a month later.

The Spiritual Qi in the Special Grade Herb Garden was even denser than before.

While cultivating in the underground secret chamber, Qi Yang had casually modified the surface Spirit-Gathering Array slightly, filling the entire courtyard with visible spiritual mist.

Early in the morning, the wooden door of the West Wing Room creaked open.

Su Qinghan walked out.

She wore a plain white dress, her temperament growing increasingly icy and ethereal.

After half a month of closed-door cultivation, she had not only completely consolidated her Qi Condensation 8th Layer cultivation base, but even faintly showed momentum toward breaking through to the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

Su Qinghan's growth speed was astonishing, and the talent of her Three-element Profound Spiritual Root was fully revealed.

Qi Yang was holding a water ladle to water a stalk of purple leaf grass. Seeing Su Qinghan come out, he immediately hunched his back further, putting on a senile appearance: "Has the Fairy emerged from closed-door cultivation? Congratulations to the Fairy for the great advancement in your cultivation base."

Su Qinghan looked at Qi Yang, her gaze somewhat complex.

She knew this old man was not simple. Although on the surface he was a trashy Qi Condensation Third Layer Cultivator, the dense Spiritual Qi in this Herb Garden was definitely his doing.

But everyone had secrets; Qi Yang didn't interfere with her, and she wouldn't expose Qi Yang either.

"Old man, stop watering."

Su Qinghan walked over to the stone table and sat down. Though her tone was cold and detached, it carried a bit less arrogance than before.

"I made a trip to the Outer Sect Deacon Hall today and brought back a piece of news."

Qi Yang put down the water ladle and walked over slowly: "Please speak, Fairy."

"The Sect's upper echelon has issued a decree."

Su Qinghan looked into Qi Yang's eyes and said word by word: "Three months from now, the grand handyman assessment ceremony will be exceptionally opened!"

Qi Yang's cloudy old eyes suddenly constricted, but on the surface he still feigned a blank expression.

"Handyman assessment? Don't we have assessments in our Outer Sect every year-end?"

"Not the Outer Sect! It's the Inner Sect!"

Su Qinghan took a deep breath and explained in a deep voice: "During the battle in Duling Valley a while ago, the Inner Sect Disciples suffered heavy casualties, along with a large batch of Inner Sect handymen who went along to serve them. The Inner Sect is now extremely short of people to tend to the spiritual fields and Spirit Beasts."

"Therefore, the Sect has decided to exceptionally select a batch of people from the Outer Sect to replenish the Inner Sect. As long as one can pass this grand handyman assessment ceremony, even a Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Root can exceptionally become an Inner Sect handyman!"

Exceptionally entering the Inner Sect!

Hearing these words, Qi Yang's heart beat fiercely twice.

Just as he was dozing off, someone brought a pillow!

He was just worrying about how to sneak into the Inner Sect to get xuanyin water, and this opportunity directly smashed right onto his face!

An Inner Sect handyman, although nominally still a lower-class person doing hard labor whose status was vastly inferior to formal Inner Sect Disciples, as long as he entered the Inner Sect, he would have the opportunity to contact the Spirit Spring Cave!

As long as there was an opportunity, he could think of a hundred ways to steal the xuanyin water out!

"Fairy, is this assessment difficult? This old bone of mine..."

Qi Yang deliberately put on a look that was both tempted and terrified, trembling all over.

"It's difficult."

Su Qinghan did not hide it.

"Although Inner Sect handymen do hard labor, what they tend to are high-grade Spiritual Plants and Spirit Beasts. The assessment content tests not only the recognition of Spiritual Plants, but also survival abilities. Out of tens of thousands of handymen in the Outer Sect, it is estimated that less than a hundred will ultimately be selected."

Su Qinghan stood up and gave Qi Yang a deep look.

"Old man, I don't know what kind of pretense you're hiding, but I advise you to give it a try. The Spiritual Qi concentration in the Inner Sect is ten times that of the Outer Sect. Even sweeping floors there is better than waiting to die here. Words end here; consider it yourself."

Having said that, Su Qinghan turned around and returned to her room to continue cultivating.

She also had to prepare for the Inner Sect assessment three months later; she would never hole up in this Outer Sect Herb Garden for the rest of her life.