Translator: AnubisTL
True Monarch Tianbao from the Ten Thousand Treasures Merchant Guild had indeed come with goodwill, intending only to establish more Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilions throughout the Azure Ridge Domain.
To this end, the merchant guild was willing to offer the Lingyun Sect various benefits.
For example, they would sell spirit materials, spirit herbs, and other resources scarce in the Azure Ridge Domain directly to the Lingyun Sect at reduced prices.
Furthermore, they were willing to trade for any precious magical artifacts or high-grade talismans and elixirs the Lingyun Sect might wish to exchange in the future.
These were exceptionally generous terms for the Lingyun Sect, and Li Qing could find almost no reason to refuse.
After all, the Azure Ridge Domain was merely a great domain, not a vast and abundant land with every resource readily available.
For instance, the Heaven Origin Flower that Li Qing had previously searched for across the seas was not native to the Azure Ridge Domain.
By establishing ties with the Ten Thousand Treasures Merchant Guild, they could directly purchase such resources with spirit stones or trade other materials, eliminating the need for Li Qing to scour the world aimlessly.
With its presence spanning nearly every great domain in the Human Realm, the Ten Thousand Treasures Merchant Guild possessed the most diverse and abundant resources imaginable.
No force in the entire Human Realm could rival the Ten Thousand Treasures Merchant Guild.
Without much hesitation, Li Qing quickly agreed to True Monarch Tianbao's proposal.
"Heh, our Ten Thousand Treasures Merchant Guild doesn't interfere in the conflicts between worldly powers. We maintain absolute neutrality, believing harmony brings prosperity," True Monarch Tianbao said, drawing a paper fan from who knows where and fanning himself as he spoke.
"If other powerful cultivation sects emerge in the Azure Ridge Domain in the future, our guild will also engage in business cooperation with them. I hope Fellow Daoist Limitless can understand this."
Li Qing naturally understood. As long as the guild truly maintained absolute neutrality, refusing to side with any faction in their conflicts, that was enough!
"No problem. I agree to this condition!" Li Qing nodded in agreement.
Hearing this, the smile on True Monarch Tianbao's face relaxed further. He continued, "Actually, when the merchant guild sent me to the Azure Ridge Domain, their original plan was to give the Shangqing Sect a good lesson."
"The immortal dao war initiated by the Shangqing Sect across the Azure Ridge Domain has already affected several of our Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilions."
"Later, we even sent other core formation realm leaders to negotiate with the Shangqing Sect, but their arrogance was infuriating. I don't know where they got the nerve."
"Still, now that the sect has been destroyed, it saves me a lot of trouble."
Li Qing smiled faintly. "Virtue attracts support, while wickedness invites isolation! Our Lingyun Sect will never be as short-sighted as the Shangqing Sect. True Monarch Tianbao, you can rest assured on that point!"
True Monarch Tianbao was even more pleased. The Ten Thousand Treasures Merchant Guild was essentially a business empire operating across various great domains, expanding its influence through trade.
Now that the Azure Ridge Domain was nearly unified under the Lingyun Sect's rule, the future environment would likely be far less turbulent than other great domains—a scenario the merchant guild had long hoped for.
"Hahahaha! Nothing could be better!"
"It's about time I departed. We'll send representatives later to select a site for rebuilding the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion. In the future, we'll rely heavily on Fellow Daoist Limitless's support!"
With these words, True Monarch Tianbao rose to his feet, signaling his intention to leave.
Li Qing offered a few polite attempts to persuade him to stay, but True Monarch Tianbao seemed to have urgent matters to attend to and declined to linger.
Thus, Li Qing escorted him to the sect gates, watching his figure vanish into the horizon before finally exhaling in relief.
"Phew! Talking to a Nascent Soul True Monarch is truly nerve-wracking. If I hadn't set up the Heavenly Origin Spirit-Slaying Formation, I wouldn't have had the confidence to treat him as an equal!"
In the immortal realm, differences in cultivation realms dictate seniority. Li Qing's decision to address the other party as True Monarch Tianbao rather than Senior Tianbao required considerable courage.
"Nascent Soul realm... Without a Nascent Soul cultivator to oversee the Lingyun Sect, I fear we won't be able to maintain our dominance over the Azure Ridge Domain for long."
The Azure Ridge Domain's spiritual energy is gradually recovering, becoming increasingly dense, and the cultivation environment is improving rapidly.
It's only a matter of time before the domain's cultivation resources become abundant, leading to a surge in high-level cultivators.
To maintain their dominance over the Azure Ridge Domain, relying solely on the sect's few Core Formation cultivators and the Heavenly Origin Spirit-Slaying Formation will ultimately fall short.
The Lingyun Sect urgently needs a Nascent Soul cultivator to oversee it, only then can they adapt to the inevitable changes ahead.
Li Qing calmed his inner turmoil and withdrew to his spirit peak cave abode.
The following days were relatively peaceful. No major events occurred within the Lingyun Sect, and Li Yuhuan diligently carried out the tasks Li Qing had assigned her.
She held the bronze fragment containing Dao Lord Bai Ling's hidden presence and had every disciple and elder of the Lingyun Sect personally touch it.
The results were dismal. After every member of the sect had made contact, the fragment showed no unusual activity whatsoever.
Li Yuhuan even began to suspect that the bronze fragment her master had given her might be completely inert. Covered in rust and lacking any discernible special features, it seemed utterly ordinary.
This meant that not a single person in the entire Lingyun Sect met Dao Lord Bai Ling's requirements. No one was qualified to inherit the legacy of this great cultivator at the divine transformation stage.
Li Qing wasn't surprised by this outcome.
Dao Lord Bai Ling's inheritance criteria were exceptionally stringent. It demanded not only extraordinary talent in cultivation but also proficiency in multiple cultivation techniques, including artifact refinement, Pill Refinement, formation deployment, and talisman crafting.
In Li Qing's view, such a combination of skills was virtually impossible to find.
In the modern immortal realm, few cultivators would even attempt such a foolish endeavor.
Most focused primarily on cultivation, using it as a foundation to supplement their training with a single cultivation technique, such as artifact refinement or Pill Refinement.
Attempting to master too many techniques would inevitably lead to the problem of "biting off more than one can chew."
Such cultivators often end up achieving nothing, mastering no particular skill, and even struggling to advance their own cultivation.
Even Li Qing, with his exceptionally long lifespan, was unwilling to attempt such a path.
This alone demonstrated just how heaven-defying Dao Lord Bai Ling's innate talent truly was!
In the end, Li Qing retrieved the bronze fragment from his disciple's hands, sighed, and assured Dao Lord Bai Ling that he would mobilize the entire sect to search for suitable disciples throughout the Azure Ridge Domain.
Dao Lord Bai Ling, however, seemed less urgent about the matter. He replied:
"There's no need for such a grand display. I was being too naive before. Someone with such extraordinary talent is rare beyond measure. Let things take their natural course."
"You are a person blessed with great fortune. I believe you'll find such a person before my lingering obsession fades!"
Li Qing paused, then shook his head, declining to discuss the matter further.
In the days that followed, Li Qing retreated to his cave abode, focusing on diligent cultivation in seclusion.
Within the Myriad Beasts Secret Realm of the demon realm, he had reaped considerable benefits and now needed ample time to digest them, converting them into his own strength.
Meanwhile, the Ten Thousand Treasures Merchant Guild finally made its move. They dispatched numerous personnel to scout locations throughout the Azure Ridge Domain for establishing Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilions.
Ultimately, they tentatively selected five sites: the former Heavenly River Market, the leased ruins of the Heavenly River Sect, River Gap Market near Lingyun Sect, the former Lingyun Market in the Southern Domain of Azure Ridge, and the border region in the northern part of Azure Ridge, near the Grasslands.
The number of pavilions might increase in the future, but Li Qing remained unfazed. He provided the guild with maximum convenience, even sending some of his sect's disciples to assist.
Thus, time slipped away like sand through an hourglass, and another three years passed in a blur.
During this period, Lingyun Sect held its second ascension conference!
The second ascension conference drew even greater attention than the first, with signs suggesting it might surpass its predecessor in scale. A large number of rogue cultivators flocked to participate, making the competition exceptionally fierce.
Naturally, all of this was due to the increasingly abundant heaven and earth spiritual energy in the Azure Ridge Domain, which created an ever-improving cultivation environment. As a result, the number of rogue cultivators continued to grow.
Adding to this influx, rogue cultivators from the Southern Great Wilderness Domain were constantly crossing over in various ways to escape the ravages of the immortal dao war.
In short, the Azure Ridge Domain was becoming increasingly lively.
Although no core formation realm rogue cultivators had openly revealed themselves, rumors circulating in the marketplace suggested that such cultivators had begun to appear in the Azure Ridge Domain's cultivation world.
The origins of these rogue cultivators remained a mystery. Some speculated they had crossed over from the Great Wilderness Domain, while others believed they were local cultivators who had broken through to the core formation realm.
The exact reason remained unknown.
Amidst this flourishing environment, the Lingyun Sect's influence continued to expand, and the number of foundation establishment elders also increased significantly.
This success was largely due to the Lingyun Sect's flexible recruitment methods.
In addition to the ascension conference, elders were permitted to travel abroad and recruit promising disciples they encountered, bringing them back to the sect.
If a candidate possessed exceptional talent, they could be directly admitted as an inner sect disciple, enjoying extremely generous benefits. In such cases, the recommending elder would also receive a substantial reward of contribution points.
Those with ordinary talent would remain in the outer sect, gradually accumulating contribution points. Even then, they might still have a chance to advance to the inner sect in the future.
Additionally, cultivation clans with close ties to the Lingyun Sect had the privilege of recommending their disciples for admission.
However, this privilege came with conditions. To recommend a disciple, they must either possess exceptional talent, at least a dual spirit root, or demonstrate exceptional proficiency in cultivation techniques such as Pill Refinement or artifact refinement.
Finally, there were the ascension tokens!
As the Azure Ridge Domain's foremost cultivation sect, Li Qing had not forgotten how he himself had joined the Lingyun Sect.
Each core formation realm supreme elder of the sect possessed three to five ascension tokens, which they could bestow upon anyone they deemed worthy.
An ascension token granted unconditional admission to the Lingyun Sect, immediate promotion to inner sect disciple status, and a foundation establishment pill!
The Lingyun Sect's core formation realm supreme elders, including Li Qing, rarely left their cave abodes. For the past few years, they had essentially remained secluded within their residences.
Consequently, there had been virtually no opportunities to bestow the ascension tokens.
As a result, the Lingyun Sect's ascension tokens were merely rumors in the Azure Ridge Domain's cultivation world. No one had ever truly had a chance to obtain one, turning them into a mythical legend.
As the sect gradually grew stronger, Li Qing began secretly evaluating some of the elders and disciples.
He was preparing to select a future sect leader for the Lingyun Sect. A vast sect like this couldn't possibly have its leadership remain in his hands forever.
"A qualified sect leader doesn't need exceptional talent or cultivation level," Li Qing mused. "The most crucial qualities are their character and their methods of handling people and affairs."
"Deficiencies in talent or cultivation can be compensated for with spirit pills. A foundation establishment realm cultivator should be sufficient to serve as sect leader."
"I vaguely recall that Sect Leader Xu Yun's talent was only that of three spirit roots. Later, through his contributions to the sect, he obtained numerous spirit pills and elixirs, eventually reaching the pseudo core formation stage."
Li Qing internally established a set of criteria and identified several potential candidates for sect leader.
He planned to secretly assess these individuals before making a final decision based on his observations.
Of course, Lingyun Sect wasn't his personal fiefdom. He truthfully informed Wu Chong and the other supreme elders about the sect leader selection process.
As expected, these supreme elders were completely absorbed in their own cultivation and showed no interest in interfering, leaving the entire matter to Li Qing's discretion.
"Sigh, these fellows truly don't care about the sect at all!" Li Qing sighed heavily.
"But this works out well. Once a sect leader is chosen, I'll be able to relax more and focus my energy on cultivation, aiming to break through to the nascent soul realm!"
He had four candidates in mind: three foundation establishment elders and one inner sect disciple at the perfected qi refining stage!
The reason for including the qi refining disciple in the evaluation was his exceptional qualities.
This disciple, named Xu Xia, had joined Lingyun Sect during the first ascension conference.
Xu Xia's innate talent was only average. When he first joined the sect, he became an outer sect disciple. It took him two full years of accumulating Sect Contribution to finally become an inner sect disciple.
His record was unremarkable, with nothing particularly noteworthy.
What truly caught Li Qing's attention was Xu Xia's involvement in the sect's mission to help the Ten Thousand Treasures Merchant Guild rebuild the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.
During that mission, Xu Xia demonstrated exceptional organizational skills and a strategic mindset, surpassing even the accompanying elders in these areas.
Later, Xu Xia finally accumulated enough Sect Contribution to exchange for a foundation establishment pill from the sect.
However, fate had other plans. Despite using the pill, Xu Xia, whose innate talent was only average, failed to achieve foundation establishment. His cultivation stagnated, advancing only from the ninth layer of the qi refining realm to the perfected qi refining stage.
Yet Xu Xia didn't remain discouraged for long. He quickly recovered and resumed diligently completing sect tasks, both large and small, to accumulate more Sect Contribution in hopes of obtaining a second foundation establishment pill.
"Xu Xia..."
"This man requires thorough evaluation. His character, temperament, and loyalty to the sect must be carefully observed."
"As for the other three foundation establishment realm external affairs elders, they are all rather mediocre, lacking any outstanding qualities."
"If Xu Xia fails my test, I will select from these three foundation establishment elders instead."
With that, Li Qing closed his eyes, pondering the best method to assess these individuals.
(End of the Chapter)
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Translator's Corner
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