479: Chapter 479 Freebie

Tiangong Immortal City?

A Tier 4 Medium Grade Artifact Refining Great Master?

'When did such a figure arrive in Southern Border? How could I not know?'

After her initial surprise, Li Xihe's expression turned somewhat ugly. She actually didn't know about such important news!

In name, she was the Personal Disciple of Daoist Lord Lihuo, making her one of the highest-status individuals in the entire Southern Border battlefield.

In reality, the people she could actually use were very limited. She couldn't command those big shots at the Late Nascent Soul Stage or Peak Nascent Soul Stage at all.

The Academy, Star Academy, Azure Profound Sect, Peach Blossom Demon Lord, and even Junior Martial Uncle Chixia—none of these powers would follow her lead unless there was a decree from the Dao Lord.

The ones who truly held real power on the Southern Border battlefield were the Peach Blossom Demon Lord, Immortal Master Shen of the Academy, and the Chixia Luan Bird.

Lu Chen of the Azure Profound Sect also held a portion of real power due to his proximity to the Sect.

Only Li Xihe had no one available under her command. The Peach Blossom Demon Lord kept her at arm's length, and Junior Martial Uncle Chixia had even taken away some of her personnel. She couldn't even establish an intelligence System.

It was because nothing was going her way that she had been so unreasonable in front of Liu Xuan earlier.

'A Tier 4 Medium Grade Artifact Refining Great Master from Tiangong Immortal City... no wonder Sister Peach Blossom values him so much!'

While Li Xihe was deep in thought, Liu Xuan had already instructed Lingxiu and Ling Yun to call over all the clan children who had begun cultivating the Great Sun True Fire method.

In its early days, the Liu Family lacked fire-attribute Cultivation Techniques, so not many Disciples had begun with the Great Sun True Fire method—only about twenty or thirty people in total, roughly one-tenth of the children over sixteen.

Among all the Liu Family children, the most cultivated the Green Wood Longevity Method and Geng Metal Sword Art, followed by the Kun Yuan Earth Control Art and Supreme Good Myriad Transformation Scripture, with the Great Sun True Fire method being the least common.

A total of twenty-two children came to the dojo this time. The one with the highest cultivation was Liu Daodan, ranked thirtieth, who was at the Peak of the Qi Refinement Stage and about to reach Foundation Establishment.

He was Ye Manqing's son. Because he loved Alchemy, he had cultivated fire-attribute techniques in his early years before later switching to the Great Sun True Fire method.

The other children had lower cultivation levels and were younger, but they had higher talent and were full of vitality.

By cultivating the Great Sun True Fire method, these children were basically all interested in Alchemy and Artifact Refining. They carried a faint scent of smoke and fire, or the fragrance of medicinal herbs.

Li Xihe didn't care at first. Weren't they just a group of little Qi Refinement Stage youngsters? Not even a single Foundation Establishment among them.

What she truly looked for were geniuses who reached Foundation Establishment at a young age, before forty.

Such geniuses were still worth nurturing even if switching techniques wasted a bit of time.

But when she saw these twenty-two people, her eyes suddenly brightened.

It wasn't because of their cultivation, nor their talent, but because they were too... rich!

Everyone wore at least a Tier 1 Top Grade Dharma robe, carried a precious sword at their waist, and had protective spirit jade hanging from their chests. Everyone above the Middle Stage of Qi Refining had a Storage Pouch, and Liu Daodan, with the highest cultivation, was even decked out in Tier 2 spirit swords and Spiritual Artifacts.

Each person's aura was stable without the slightest hint of instability, and their blood qi far exceeded those of the same level. One look and you could tell they were Revered Masters who never lacked for Medicinal Pills.

Li Xihe suddenly realized that the Liu Family didn't lack money at all and valued the cultivation prospects of these people so much. To take them as Disciples, she only needed to pass on the techniques; she wouldn't have to spend money to nurture them. It was a pure profit!

"Good! Very good!"

Li Xihe smiled and said, "I have decided to personally take them as my Disciples. I wonder if Head of the Liu Family is willing?"

"Of course!" Liu Xuan guessed her general thoughts from her expression and said, "By joining the Lihuo Sect, they remain children of my Liu Family. The Family will continue to supply all necessary cultivation resources as usual."

Liu Xuan didn't care for the meager resources the Lihuo Sect currently had. What he wanted was to get the Lihuo Heritage for nothing and have them nurture his children for free.

Although he also taught the Family children, his time and energy were limited. Ordinary children didn't get much time for his personal guidance, so Li Xihe was doing him a huge favor.

Both sides got what they needed, and both felt they had gotten the better of the other. Li Xihe happily left with the twenty-two Liu Family children.

...

The Lihuo Sect's gate was located several hundred miles south of the Star Academy. It was actually a Tier 4 Low Grade branch of the Star Academy's Tier 4 High Grade Spiritual Vein.

With Daoist Lord Lihuo absent, the Lihuo Sect only had one Nascent Soul Cultivator, Li Xihe. A Tier 4 Spiritual Vein gate was more than sufficient.

In any case, once the war was won, the Black Mountain of the Endless Demon Court would be Daoist Lord Lihuo's dojo, and the Lihuo Sect would move there. It didn't matter where they were for now.

Returning to the main hall of the Sect gate, Li Xihe instructed her Disciple Jiang Wanying to arrange housing for the new Disciples and help them familiarize themselves with the environment. She then flew off toward the front lines where Junior Martial Uncle Chixia was located.

Jiang Wanying, at the Early Golden Core Stage, was one of Li Xihe's two Disciples.

Her Revered Master had suddenly brought back so many people and said she would take them all as Disciples, making her think she had misheard.

'Revered Master has been in the Southern Border for several years and has only taken one Disciple in total. The others all joined under my lineage. Why take so many at once this time?'

Jiang Wanying was full of confusion as she led everyone to register their basic information and carve their identity tokens.

After registering a few Disciples, she suddenly felt something was off and asked, "Are you all Liu family members from the Star Academy?"

"That's right!" Liu Daodan nodded. "Is there a problem, Senior Sister?"

"No, none. Let's continue the registration!"

Jiang Wanying had stayed at the Star Academy before and had heard some rumors about Liu Xuan and knew about the Liu Family's situation, so she didn't say much more.

She actually wanted to ask if it was true that their father, Liu Xuan, could help female Cultivators increase their cultivation speed, but after hesitating for a while, she was too embarrassed to speak.

In the afternoon, with red clouds filling the sky, Li Xihe returned from the south. Her expression wasn't very good. It was unclear what she had discussed with the Chixia Luan Bird, but it looked like they hadn't reached an agreement.

The Peach Blossom Demon Lord was her future natal spirit beast, and the Chixia Luan Bird was her Junior Martial Uncle. With those two falling out, she was caught in the middle and felt quite miserable.

The key was that neither of these two gave her Face. If she said a few more words, she would likely be scolded instead.

Putting aside these annoying matters, Li Xihe's Divine Sense swept over the General Affairs Hall. She planned to first teach the Cultivation Techniques to the twenty-two newly recruited Disciples to relax her mood.

'Since Sister Peach Blossom values Liu Xuan so much, I'll start with the Liu Family and slowly infiltrate from within!'

Entering the Teaching Hall, Li Xihe put on a dignified posture, first having everyone perform the formal Revered Master-Disciple greeting before carefully examining their cultivation status.

'Great Sun True Fire method? The grade isn't high, but the fire-element Foundation is sufficiently deep and solid!'

A solid Foundation meant it would be very easy to switch to the techniques of the Lihuo Lineage. She even discovered that the Qi Refining portion of the Great Sun True Fire method highly overlapped with the Qi Refining portion of the Lihuo Illumination Spirit Art; they didn't even need to switch and could be fused directly.

'A self-created technique of the Liu Family—why does it overlap so highly with the Tier 5 Soul Transformation level Lihuo Illumination Spirit Art?'

While Li Xihe explained the detailed basics of the technique to the twenty-two Disciples, she was lost in confused thoughts.

Suddenly, a wave of scorching Spiritual Qi surged from Liu Daodan, who was listening below.

Li Xihe focused her gaze and was immediately stunned! "This... he's about to Breakthrough?"