348: Delay time!

Li Changfeng was momentarily speechless, caught between laughter and tears, after hearing your comforting words.

In Li Changfeng's eyes, you were barely able to protect yourself, so how could you talk about saving him?

Nevertheless, your comfort warmed Li Changfeng's heart; at least all the Medicinal Pill support he had given you over the years had not been in vain.

"Don't talk about me yet. Just protect yourself and don't die out there."

"Sigh! You should go back first!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Changfeng began to issue an order for you to leave.

You could tell that although Li Changfeng appeared fine on the surface, he was suffering greatly inside.

You nodded, then slowly exited the Medicinal Pill Hall.

When you returned to Peak Number Twelve, you found that everyone was still in the pavilion.

"How was it, Little Junior Brother?"

In response to the inquiry, you shook your head helplessly.

"There's nothing we can do. The only thing we can do now is to try and buy as much time as possible."

You told everyone to acquire as many resources as possible before leaving the Immortal Spirit Sect.

You told everyone that in the coming years, they could appropriately participate in some external missions.

...

In the following month, as expected, people from the Vanguard Hall sought out Xuanyuan Tianji.

Xuanyuan Tianji followed your advice and told the people from the Vanguard Hall that she was willing to lead a team to search for resources, but not yet.

Xuanyuan Tianji told the Vanguard Hall that she needed some time to stabilize her Realm, and once it was stable, she would immediately lead a team out.

The people from the Vanguard Hall were satisfied with Xuanyuan Tianji's explanation and left Peak Number Twelve without making things difficult for her.

Sixteenth year!

A year later, people from the Vanguard Hall came to Peak Number Twelve again to find Xuanyuan Tianji.

This time, Xuanyuan Tianji's reason was also very simple.

Xuanyuan Tianji told the people from the Vanguard Hall that it was her first time going out to find Cultivation resources, so she wanted to improve her strength as much as possible to ensure that no accidents would occur during this trip.

The people from the Vanguard Hall found this reasonable and left again.

During this year, you also signed up for an external team.

The team you joined for this outing was very short-term; it didn't search for Secret Realms, but instead found a small immortal stone mine vein and returned to the Immortal Spirit Sect.

Upon returning to the Immortal Spirit Sect, as you expected, you received rewards from the Hall Master of the Vanguard Hall.

Fortunately, you had the Medicinal Pills given to you by Li Changfeng, which prevented your memories from being tampered with.

And the Celestial Lord Disciple who led you out also, as expected, disappeared from the Immortal Spirit Sect.

This time, the resources you obtained from the outing were very few; from a small immortal stone mine vein, you only received less than ten percent of the resources, which at most was equivalent to three months' worth of resource supply in the Immortal Spirit Sect.

Seventeenth year!

Another year passed.

During this year, the Vanguard Hall sent people twice to inquire about Xuanyuan Tianji's intentions.

However, each time Xuanyuan Tianji brushed them off, but in the most recent inquiry, you could feel that the people from the Vanguard Hall were gradually losing patience and becoming annoyed.

You sensed that next time, if Xuanyuan Tianji refused again, the Vanguard Hall might very well resort to forceful measures.

By now, you had delayed them for two years.

Over these two years, the time between each visit from the Vanguard Hall had been shortening, and you had a premonition that the next visit might not be more than three months away.

Over these two years, besides you, several others had also participated in some external teams.

From the circumstances of these external teams' outings, some clues were discovered.

You found that all the external teams, including yours, were searching for small Immortal Stone Mine Veins; none were like Ye Wushuang, who directly searched for medium-sized immortal stone mine veins.

Because these outings were for small immortal stone mine veins, the Eerie Creatures encountered were all very weak, with no Eerie Creatures at the Immortal Lord Realm, which meant there were no casualties among you.

If one had to speak of casualties, it would be the Celestial Lord Disciple leading the team.

These Celestial Lord Disciples were completely thankless; they not only brought back Cultivation resources but also offered them all to the Immortal Spirit Sect, and they themselves became the prey of the Immortal Spirit Sect's higher-ups.

Of course, while it was not friendly to Disciples at the Immortal Lord Realm, it was very friendly to Disciples like you who were still Earth Immortals and Heavenly Immortals.

You could guess the intention behind the Immortal Spirit Sect's higher-ups' arrangements: it was nothing more than to allow you all to acquire more resources, Breakthrough to the Immortal Lord Realm as quickly as possible, and then start leading teams out.

Such an arrangement could both stimulate the enthusiasm of Disciples from various Peaks and allow the Immortal Spirit Sect to enter a very positive cycle.

Time flowed, and soon three months passed.

Members of the Vanguard Hall arrived as scheduled.

As you expected, the people from the Vanguard Hall indeed came.

This time, you noticed their attitude was even colder than the last.

"Have you considered it?"

"What reason do you plan to use to dismiss us this time?"

The three from the Vanguard Hall, though only at the Heavenly Immortal Realm, showed no fear of Xuanyuan Tianji, who was at the First Heaven of the Immortal Lord Realm.

With the Vanguard Hall as their backing, they walked with impunity within the Immortal Spirit Sect; only others feared them, and they had never feared anyone.

Xuanyuan Tianji heard this, exchanged a glance with you, and then slowly spoke.

"I have adjusted my state to its Peak and can lead a team out at any time!"

The three from the Vanguard Hall were stunned by her words; they hadn't expected Xuanyuan Tianji to agree so readily.

Before they came to Peak Number Twelve, the Elders in the Vanguard Hall had told them that if Xuanyuan Tianji still didn't agree this time, they would have to use force.

But to their utter surprise, Xuanyuan Tianji relented today.

"It seems you are still sensible!"

Upon hearing Xuanyuan Tianji's change of heart, the three from the Vanguard Hall's attitudes softened considerably; they were no longer cold but looked at her with smiles.

"Let's go, we'll go to the Vanguard Hall to post your external team recruitment!"

Before the words finished, the three from the Vanguard Hall extended their hands, making a gesture of invitation.

Xuanyuan Tianji nodded at this and followed them.

However, you saw Xuanyuan Tianji stop abruptly after only a few steps.

"There's no need to go to the Vanguard Hall, is there?"

"Hmm? What do you mean by that? Are you not planning to go out..."

The people from the Vanguard Hall were interrupted mid-sentence by Xuanyuan Tianji's sudden voice.