Free Web NovelChapter 254: The Future
The Cangwu Alliance Council convened an emergency meeting. Representatives from every sect attended. Naturally, those who participated in such meetings were, for the most part, the hall masters of each sect’s Public Relations Hall.
With the existence of the Void Psychic World, these hall masters could instantly communicate with their respective sect masters and Golden Core cultivators. As such, the words of each attending Public Relations Hall master essentially represented the words of their sect master and the stance of the entire sect.
As the meeting started, the gaze of nearly every Public Relations Hall master repeatedly drifted toward the ten seats at the very front. It hadn't been that way in the past.
These ten seats belonged to the Ten Great Immortal Sects, and they had been there since the founding of the Cangwu Alliance Council.
Originally, only six of those seats truly held any voice: the Infinite Star Palace, the Immortal Alliance, the Thousand-Beast Sect, the Lunar Sect, the Dharma Heaven Pavilion, and the Golden Temple. The remaining four, the Nine Cauldrons Sect, the Pill Sect, the Yang Psyche Sect, and the God-Fiend Hall, had virtually no presence at all.
Sects such as the Pill Sect, the Yang Psyche Sect, and the God-Fiend Hall had merely followed the lead of the other immortal sects like puppets. Their words carried no weight whatsoever.
But this time, things were different.
While the crowd would still cast occasional glances at the representatives of the Infinite Star Palace, the Immortal Alliance, and the Thousand-Beast Sect, most of their attention was focused on Zhou Lijian, who represented the Nine Cauldrons Sect.
Under the watchful eyes of all, Zhou Lijian spoke steadily, outlining the Nine Cauldrons Sect’s proposal for peace. In particular...
"Our sect’s Perfected Master Yaoguang once exterminated a remnant squad of the Lunar Fiend Empire. While interrogating them, we obtained a relatively complete cultivation method. Of course, since we cannot be certain whether this method contains hidden traps left behind by the remnants of the Lunar Fiend Empire, it is not yet suitable for public release. However, the art of the North Sea Star should not belong to the Nine Cauldrons Sect alone. They belong to the entire Great Cangwu World." Zhou Lijian’s voice echoed.
Since the matter concerned a complete cultivation system from the North Sea Star, everyone focused intently.
Even the hall masters of the Public Relations Hall from the Infinite Star Palace and the Immortal Alliance exchanged glances, visibly startled. Is the Nine Cauldrons Sect really this generous? Are they really willing to share such an art with everyone?!
"After discussing it internally, for the sake of the development of the Great Cangwu World, and to ensure that all cultivators do not ruin their futures by following flawed paths, our Nine Cauldrons Sect proposes the Immortal Cultivation Community Initiative. We sincerely invite all sects within the Cangwu Alliance Council to join us in researching this cultivation art." Zhou Lijian’s voice carried righteous conviction.
"Let us all study this art together, derive the optimal path of cultivation, and search for any hidden traps within. By doing so, we can ensure that all cultivators may practice it safely, rectify the flaws within the current cultivation system of the Great Cangwu World, and enable everyone to successfully achieve Foundation Building, Core Formation, and ultimately attain longevity, living for a thousand years."
The moment these words were spoken, the representatives of the major immortal sects present all changed expressions.
As for the medium and large sects, countless faces lit up with joy.
It had already been proven that Yaoguang was able to defeat Golden Core cultivators from both the Immortal Alliance and the Infinite Star Palace due to the superiority of his cultivation art. Now, the Nine Cauldrons Sect was actually willing to share this method with all sects of the Great Cangwu World... Didn't that mean that, in the future, they might also be able to raise experts like Yaoguang? Experts capable of contending against the Golden Core cultivators of the Immortal Alliance and the Infinite Star Palace? They would no longer be forced to endure their oppression!
What was being said within the Cangwu Alliance Council was quickly learned by Feng Ao, Lin Deng, Luo Fu, and others who had been closely monitoring the situation.
"This is an open scheme."
Lin Deng, a Dharma Form cultivator, let out a sigh. "And an unsolvable one at that."
"The complete inheritance of the North Sea Star... In ten or twenty years, once the experts of the North Sea Star return, its value will diminish. But right now, whoever obtains this complete inheritance first will gain the initiative in the coming upheaval. For the Nine Cauldrons Sect to release the inheritance at this moment, and even propose the Immortal Cultivation Community... What a brilliant move. With such a seemingly small favor, they can draw countless medium and large sects into their camp... Truly insidious."
Everyone could see just how formidable this move by the Nine Cauldrons Sect was.
"We cannot sit and wait for defeat!" Johan said in a low voice. "We must find a way to cause them trouble. Otherwise, if they truly form a dominant trend, our situation will become dangerous."
"Agreed." Luo Fu nodded. "We can publicly claim that their cultivation art has issues. Anyone who cultivates it to a certain level will face the risk of sudden death—"
"Sudden death isn’t enough. It should be that they will be silently controlled by the Nine Cauldrons Sect. The deeper they cultivate, the higher the probability of being controlled," another Golden Core cultivator added.
"But... wouldn’t many cultivators be able to judge whether a cultivation art is good or bad?" Janko asked hesitantly.
"When enough people spread a claim, it becomes the truth. In this world, public opinion is ultimately controlled by top-tier immortal sects like the Infinite Star Palace and Immortal Alliance. Whether others believe it or not doesn’t matter. As long as we repeat it often enough, we can muddy the waters and make other forces hesitate," Luo Fu replied.
"Not only that, but we must also immediately release our own new cultivation art," Lin Deng said.
"Ours?" Janko was taken aback. "Do we also have a complete North Sea Star inheritance?"
"Of course not. But didn’t we obtain the Nine Cauldrons Sect’s Primordial Creation Art? We can simply modify it slightly and present it as our own," Luo Fu quickly added. "Also, once we release our art, people will inevitably point out the similarities between the two. So we must leverage our influence to spread rumors in advance, claiming that the Nine Cauldrons Sect’s Primordial Creation Art was actually stolen from us, which is why it has flaws during cultivation."
His words sparked inspiration for Lin Deng. "We should also claim that only by cultivating our art can one truly reach the supreme Dao. Yaoguang’s rapid rise is merely a shortcut, achieved at the cost of his future potential. Our path may be slower, but it is stable."
"Exactly. Let those medium and large sects practice our art first. Whether it works or not doesn’t matter. We can attribute any lack of progress to the art being too orthodox and therefore slower to show results. The key is to disrupt the Nine Cauldrons Sect’s plan! As long as we can delay things for ten or twenty years, once the experts of the North Sea Star arrive, everything will be settled."
After some discussion, these Dharma Form and Golden Core cultivators quickly formulated their countermeasures. No matter what, they would first muddy the waters of the Great Cangwu World.
The Infinite Star Palace and Immortal Alliance had been powerful for so many years that they still inspired instinctive awe. Other forces would naturally place a degree of trust in their words. As long as the waters of the Great Cangwu World were stirred into chaos, it would not be difficult to delay matters for another ten or twenty years.
***
Within the Nine Cauldrons Sect, Yaoguang withdrew his gaze after observing the Cangwu Alliance Council for a short while.
After all, the key matters of the council had already been discussed in advance by these top-tier figures. The meeting itself was nothing more than a formality.
As for the agreement stating that Golden Core cultivators, star gods, and divine beasts were no longer permitted to interfere with the affairs of the Great Cangwu World, it served not only as a restriction on him but also as a restraint upon all top-tier immortal sects.
Given the current development speed of the Nine Cauldrons Sect, they could establish a new battle institute almost every year and launch a new warship every two years. This included fifth-generation warships.
In another ten years or so, the Nine Cauldrons Sect would have over forty battle institutes and more than a dozen Sky Patrol Warships.
More importantly, the combat power of these warships would be sufficient to sweep through the fleets of every sect across the entire Great Cangwu World. With those in mind, an agreement preventing top-tier experts from interfering in the Great Cangwu World was not a bad thing for him.
"This battle brought quite a few gains..." Yaoguang muttered.
Within his residence in the Purple Firmament Institute within the Nine Heavens Domain, Yaoguang shifted his gaze to the spoils he had obtained from Janko and Mi Le.
There were nine ordinary spirit treasures! These nine spirit treasures alone were worth at least one hundred million spirit stones.
However, compared to the top-tier spirit treasures, the Void-Splitting Disk and the Chaotic Heaven Ruler, their value still fell somewhat short.
After glancing over the treasures, Yaoguang diverted a portion of his mind to sense the increase in experience within the Merchant branch.
"Roughly equivalent to an income of three hundred million spirit stones," Yaoguang muttered.
That's not a lot. He thought.
After a moment, he seemed to realize something. "It’s not that the value of these spirit treasures has decreased, but rather, my manpower cost has increased again. My battle against Janko and Mi Le placed me at the forefront of the global stage. Especially after the Cangwu Alliance Council, there is probably no top cultivator in the Great Cangwu World who does not know my name. With that said, even though the total value of these eleven spirit treasures far exceeds three hundred million, the experience gained by the Merchant branch only amounts to about the same as that figure..."
Understanding this, he felt a trace of regret.
But this was inevitable. Strength and reputation were always directly proportional.
For a top-tier expert, unless they had never acted or revealed themselves, it was impossible to remain unknown.
"Three hundred million it is," Yaoguang said.
Yaoguang shifted his attention toward the three branches: Immortal Dao(Void-Piercing Realm), Refiner, and Array Caster.
At present, improving his cultivation realm held little significance. The current cultivation system had already exceeded what the Great Cangwu World could sustain.
It was like a group of billionaires gathering in a small town, often having money but nowhere to spend it. No matter how high his realm or how many techniques he mastered, if the Great Cangwu World lacked the corresponding resources for him to utilize, then what meaning did a higher realm truly have? Therefore...
The branch with the highest progress right now is the Refiner branch. I’ll continue investing in it and see what new domain opens beyond the artifact paragon tier. Yaoguang thought.
With that thought, the experience from the Merchant branch poured rapidly into the Refiner branch, causing it to bloom and bear fruit at an astonishing rate. As the branch completed its transformation, Yaoguang came into contact with a new realm of artifact refinement beyond spirit treasures.
"Dao Artifact," Yaoguang repeated the words he saw.
An artifact that helps one attain the Dao.
