275: Lingyun Sect Niu Pi

Lu Xingchen gave her a thumbs up.

“Then you’re awesome!”

“A 25-year-old Eighth-Grade Alchemist is simply a heaven-sent genius! How good is Master at picking people? All the Disciples he takes in are extraordinary!”

Seeing Lu Xingchen’s admiring expression, Xu Qing was quite pleased, a joyful look on her face.

Xu Qing laughed, “Don’t worry, your talent is stronger than mine; you’ll reach Eighth-Grade someday. But reaching Ninth-Rank is truly difficult; it requires Soul Power at least at the Heaven Realm Mid-stage. Not even Senior Sister has reached that step.”

Lu Xingchen sighed and softly said, “The road is long and arduous. My path of Cultivation has just begun!”

Li Changbai also walked over, handed two spirit formation seeds to Lu Xingchen, and said with a smile, “Since Xu Qing has shown her generosity, I can’t fall behind. Junior Brother, these are two spirit formation seeds of an Eighth-Grade Spirit Formation. Just inject Qi, and they will activate instantly.”

Lu Xingchen took the spirit formation seeds and solemnly said, “Senior Brother, you wouldn’t happen to be an Eighth-Grade Spirit Formation Master, would you?”

Li Changbai nodded slightly.

“Then you’re right; I only Breakthrough in the last year or two. The difficulty of making spirit formation seeds is too high, so I can only offer two. One Spirit Formation is for defense, and one is for offense, to keep you safe in times of crisis. I hope Junior Brother doesn’t find it too little.”

Lu Xingchen laughed, “Senior Brother is truly amazing! I’ve never even heard of spirit formation seeds for an Eighth-Grade Spirit Formation before. Thank you, Senior Brother, for the gift!”

Immediately, Lu Xingchen turned to look at Liu Ruyan and solemnly said, “Senior Sister wouldn’t have a hidden profession too, would she?”

Liu Ruyan nodded slightly, “Of course! I am an eighth-grade spirit talisman master. Take these ten eighth-grade spirit talismans for self-defense, Junior Brother!”

With that, Liu Ruyan handed the ten eighth-grade spirit talismans to Lu Xingchen.

Lu Xingchen took the spirit talismans and solemnly said, “This is too much! Senior Sister, you’re truly a little rich woman!”

Liu Ruyan chuckled, “My Soul Power has already Broken through to the Heaven Realm, so making eighth-grade spirit talismans is quite easy. I’ll just give you a few more.”

Xu Qing put her hands on her hips and indignantly said, “Senior Sister is so biased! When I first joined the Sect, you only gave me five eighth-grade spirit talismans!”

Liu Ruyan tapped Xu Qing’s head and laughed, “My Soul Power was only at Spirit Realm Great Perfection back then. Can it be compared to now? If you want spirit talismans, exchange them with the Medicinal Pills you refine.”

Xu Qing rubbed her head, feeling a bit wronged.

“No, I don’t even have enough for myself. Senior Sister is truly heartless!”

Lu Xingchen cupped his hands in greeting to the three and chuckled, “Thank you, three Senior Brother and Senior Sister, for the generous gifts. I will definitely manage Lingyuan Peak well in the future and live up to your high expectations!”

Liu Ruyan chuckled, “Giving you the Peak Master position was out of necessity; we simply couldn’t find anyone else. The affairs of Lingyuan Peak can be handled by the Three Elders. Your main task is to focus on Cultivation and strive to improve your cultivation as much as possible. Do not lose sight of the bigger picture for minor matters.”

“On the Tianyuan Continent, personal strength is the most important!”

Lu Xingchen nodded heavily, “I understand that!”

Then he smiled and said, “Our Lingyun Sect really doesn’t keep idlers. All three Senior Brother and Senior Sister possess Eighth-Grade professions, which is enough to establish a Sect in the Central Plains.”

Liu Ruyan nodded slightly and softly explained, “This is normal. After all, these three professions all require powerful Soul Power, and our Lingyun Sect teaches the Dao of Word Spirit, only recruiting Disciples with strong Soul Power. So many Disciples have hidden professions.”

Hearing this, Lu Xingchen was startled.

“Then how many Disciples does our Lingyun Sect have in total?”

Liu Ruyan chuckled, “Including Disciples and Elders, our Lingyun Sect has a total of 918 people. The number is far too small compared to Sects of the same rank, which is also our disadvantage.”

“But there’s nothing we can do. Cultivating Word Spirit Power not only requires powerful Soul Power but also extremely high Comprehension Ability, so the threshold is too high.”

“With loss comes gain. While our numbers are small, the quality of our Lingyun Sect’s Disciples is extremely high. Every Disciple’s Soul Power is above the Spirit Realm, and many possess special professions.”

“Xu Qing is the only Eighth-Grade Alchemist in Lingyun Sect. Her Spirit Medicine Peak, with 87 Disciples, are all Alchemists, ranging from Sixth-Grade to Seventh-Grade.”

“Li Changbai is the only Eighth-Grade Spirit Formation Master in Lingyun Sect. His Spirit Formation Peak, with 65 Disciples, are all Spirit Array Masters.”

“As for the eighth-grade spirit talisman Masters of Lingyun Sect, there are two in total: one is me, and the other is Senior Li He. Senior Li He is Master’s long-time friend, invited by him to serve in Lingyun Sect. He holds a very high position in Lingyun Sect; I even respectfully address him as Elder Li.”

“Spirit Talisman Peak is presided over by Elder Li, and all 56 Disciples within the Peak are Spirit Talisman Masters.”

“As for the other six Peaks, very few Disciples have special professions; they only specialize in Word Spirit Power. Just as you said, our Lingyun Sect does not keep idlers!”

Hearing this, Lu Xingchen gasped.

“Oh my goodness, Alchemists, who are rarely seen in the outside world, our Lingyun Sect actually has over a hundred! Every Alchemist is a precious resource! Although our Lingyun Sect has few people, its Sect foundation is quite profound!”

Liu Ruyan nodded lightly, “Whether it’s Medicinal Pills, spirit talismans, or spirit formation seeds, they are all hard currency on the Tianyuan Continent. Our Lingyun Sect can not only produce and sell them ourselves but also export them, establishing trade relations with many Sects, with a very good reputation and many connections.”

Hearing this, Lu Xingchen gave Liu Ruyan a thumbs up.

“Lingyun Sect is awesome, Master is awesome! However, our Lingyun Sect is truly overflowing with wealth, and with so few people in the Sect, it’s hard not to attract the covetousness of others, isn’t it?”

Liu Ruyan nodded slightly, “You react quite quickly. Master is a powerhouse who can suppress an era. When he was in charge of Lingyun Sect, no one dared to challenge it. But since he left three years ago, troubles began to emerge.”

“The main troubles are divided into three types. First, some Ninth-Rank Sects covet Lingyun Sect’s Alchemist resources and want to directly annex us, having negotiated with me many times and pressured me. But based on Master’s prestige and my combat power, they haven’t taken any actual actions yet.”

“Second, other Sects have begun to continuously annex Lingyun Sect’s industries. We have too few people in the Sect, and Disciples prioritize Cultivation, making it impossible to send enough Disciples to maintain the Sect’s industries, so our territory has been shrinking.”

“Third, some people have started poaching from Lingyun Sect. They offer high positions and generous salaries, inviting our Lingyun Sect’s Disciples to defect to other Sects, mainly the Disciples of Spirit Medicine Peak, Spirit Formation Peak, and Spirit Talisman Peak.”

Hearing this, Lu Xingchen sighed softly.

“That really is a bit troublesome!”