275: The troubles of the Taiyi Sect

Zhou Yan sat on Holy Son Peak, lost in distress.

At this moment, he didn't even have the heart to continue plotting for the Eastern Region. Fortunately, development there was already on the right track, and whether he was there or not didn't make much difference; he only needed to continue providing funds.

"You want me to teach Disciples, but how am I supposed to teach them?"

Ever since Zhou Yan returned from the Sect Main Hall, he had been troubled by this question.

Originally, he intended to choose performing tasks to repay his Karma, but the Sect Master and others seemed to place special importance on taking in Disciples and imparting the Dao.

The veteran players had already pointed out the path, so what to choose was self-evident.

Yet, in the end, Zhou Yan still chose to do tasks. The reason was simple.

With his cultivation level, he could claim to be the king of all in some small places without issue, but this was in the Qingxu Grotto-Heaven. Zhou Yan's Nascent Soul cultivation at most counted as a veteran Senior Brother.

With so many professional Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters, and Elders in the Sect giving lectures, why would Disciples bother to come and take him as their master?

Moreover, the Sect had numerous schools of thought; there was nothing they couldn't learn. Why go to other Domains and fight those people for Disciples?

Zhou Yan had hardly Cultivated any of the hundred arts of immortality; he relied entirely on homestead items and the resources produced by yuanwu xielü, so he couldn't teach them at all.

And he himself was only proficient in the Water Technique and wood techniques. But one could just go to the Library to self-study those.

He couldn't just teach them how to cheat, could he?

Although Zhou Yan had long declared that he wouldn't teach Disciples, the task of passing on the Legacy eventually fell on his shoulders, leaving him to figure it out himself.

Should he wait for the next Northern Region-wide recruitment to select one, or go out and find a few Disciples himself?

The veteran players were already spoon-feeding him, so no matter how reluctant Zhou Yan was, he could only accept this task for now. Now he finally understood what was up with the Fifth Elder's "lying flat" style of taking in Disciples.

By the way, why must one take in Disciples? Is it really "with great power comes great responsibility"? Or could it be... that in the future, he could use his Disciples as a backup plan for resurrection?

Thinking of that phrase that spread throughout the Three Realms that day and struck a chord with everyone—that it could help him resist one Mahayana attack—Zhou Yan always felt that there was more to this matter of taking in Disciples.

"Forget it, I'll deal with the Disciple matter later. I'll head down the mountain first to finish the task, and while I'm at it, see if I can generate some more revenue and earn some extra money to subsidize the church."

"With Qingxuan and Yuan Chenling there, the church should be able to keep going even without my help, right?"

"It's over, it can't keep going!"

Watching yet another old believer being pulled aside by his son, only to leave in a panic after a few whispered words, Yuan Chenling could only fret helplessly in the main city.

During this time, he had been remotely controlling the small yuanwu xielü through the small television made by Qingxuan to perform some blessings and accumulate so-called faith.

Everything had been going smoothly, but for some reason, since last night, the number of believers had plummeted, and the faith of the remaining believers was rapidly fading.

During the day, large numbers of believers either left suddenly or were taken away by family and friends. Zhou Yan had only been gone for half a day, and the church was almost empty.

When he first heard that Zhou Yan wanted to help him become a god, and that becoming a god would allow him to avoid the Heavenly Tribulation, he had put in the effort to manage the blessing affairs.

Now, seeing that only a few scattered specks of light remained, it didn't look like it could help him become a god at all. Was it all in vain?

Besides, the Boss might even blame him.

Now Mo Ran had gone to investigate the cause, and Qingxuan was somehow muttering to himself again, unable to help at all.

Yuan Chenling, who could only watch everything happening through the screen, was feeling incomparably heartbroken and exhausted.

At this moment, Mo Ran's mood was also very heavy. He was sitting in his small shop, with Chu Tianci opposite him.

Chu Tianci ordered two portions of sticky rice dumpling as usual, but didn't take a single bite; he just stared at the sticky rice dumpling, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table.

"Uncle Chu, who exactly is that 'Young Master Wang'?"

"Tap." Chu Tianci's tapping fingers suddenly stopped.

"You... how did you know he did it?"

Previously, he had come to find Mo Ran to congratulate him on the founding of the church. But that day, Mo Ran had suddenly asked him if he knew someone called "Young Master Wang."

Having mixed in this city for so many years, he knew who some people were the moment he heard their names, but he couldn't say it. The other party's background was too great; it was definitely not someone he could afford to provoke.

So he first pretended not to know, and went back to block him. Only after investigating clearly whether the two had any conflict, and confirming that he wouldn't be implicated, did he take Mo Ran off the blacklist.

But only a few days after being unblocked, Mo Ran called to ask him for a favor. After all, he was in the wrong for blocking him, and since it was rare for Mo Ran to ask for something, and it was just a small matter of investigating who was hindering the church's development, Chu Tianci agreed to help.

But who would have thought that this small matter would actually be linked to Young Master Wang.

He had come today intending to have a showdown, and even planned to cut off contact. But after all, they had known each other for a while, and he wanted to persuade Mo Ran before parting ways, yet he didn't know how to bring it up. Based on his understanding of Mo Ran, the other party would most likely not listen to advice.

But before he could even advise him, Mo Ran seemed to know everything. Truly, one cannot judge a book by its cover; those who can come to the Eastern Region are no ordinary characters.

Seeing Chu Tianci's reaction, Mo Ran also sighed. He didn't use technology much, so naturally, he didn't know he had been blocked by Chu Tianci.

But he knew that his Uncle Chu, who was usually well-informed, hadn't given him an answer for so long, so he must have encountered trouble. And the other party's reaction at this moment also indicated the source of the trouble.

As for how Mo Ran knew that the church's development was being hindered and who had done it, he raised his hand and pointed to the ceiling.

Chu Tianci felt strange and subconsciously looked up at the ceiling. There, a large "Wang" character was written, made with special Materials, the ink deeply soaking into the building material.

"This..." Chu Tianci felt that he had completely overthought it; Mo Ran was still that pure child. But he also hadn't expected that Young Master would go to such lengths.

"Uncle Chu, thank you for your care during this time." Mo Ran stood up and bowed to Chu Tianci.

"If you feel it's difficult, it's fine if we don't keep in touch from now on. I am already very satisfied that you could come today."

"At least the friendship you and I established in such a hurry over these few months is tougher than I imagined. This shows that I didn't misjudge you, and you really do treat me as a friend."

This sentence made Chu Tianci's heart ache. As an outsider in the Eastern Region, having struggled for so many years, he had long lost the sharpness he had when he first arrived, and was held back by his family, no longer as sharp as he used to be.

It was precisely because he saw the vitality and straightforwardness in Mo Ran that hadn't been contaminated by the Eastern Region that he was willing to associate with this young man. Their friendship progressed rapidly also because Mo Ran had a direct nature and upright character—things he himself had long lost.

But thinking of that Young Master, and thinking that he was not alone, Chu Tianci ultimately didn't touch those two sticky rice dumplings, pushed them aside, put on his coat, and turned to leave.

Mo Ran seemed to have expected this, just watching the other party leave without following him out. And after the other party closed the door, he silently tidied up the dishes.

But just as he picked up the plate, he discovered a small black rectangular object pressed underneath it.

Qingxuan had tutored him before, allowing him to recognize quite a few technological creations. If he wasn't mistaken, this should be a chip, one of the important items used by Eastern Region people to store information.

Realizing that this might have been dropped by Chu Tianci, Mo Ran hurriedly put down the dishes and chased after him, but only saw the fading tail lights of a flying car.

He opened his phone to try to contact the other party, but found that the number had been blocked. For a moment, Mo Ran was at a loss.

Until he looked at the chip again and flipped it over. Written on it was a line of familiar handwriting. "Open it."

Qingxu Grotto-Heaven.

"Senior Brother, I really didn't expect to meet you here." Niu Zhiyuan smiled and cupped his hands at Zhou Yan.

"Yeah, I didn't expect to run into you here either." Zhou Yan looked at the scholarly, frail-looking man in front of him, feeling quite surprised. He hadn't seen Niu Zhiyuan since returning to the Sect, and to think they would reunite here.

Because he was a Saint, Zhou Yan could skip many procedures and proceed directly to the task. So after accepting the Third Elder's task, he headed directly to the meeting point, and thus knew nothing about the accompanying personnel, only knowing that there were four people in total on this trip, including himself.