“Is this the Qingyuan Sect?”
A young man dressed in white, in the prime of his youth, looked somewhat astonished at the vast, mysterious, and ancient sect that stretched before him, his heart filled with endless emotion.
He had lived in the Qingtian Domain for decades, yet this was his first time coming to this place.
The scene within the Qingyuan Sect—ancient trees standing in dense clusters, spiritual cranes soaring through the air—made him truly understand for the first time what a true immortal’s sanctuary looked like.
This spirited young man was, naturally, Qi Ping’s tree-person clone.
Since he was here to join the sect, Qi Ping had not made himself look as demonic and ominous as Daoist Feng.
This appearance was one that Qi Ping had specifically crafted when the tree-person clone took form, so it did not carry any trace of his original body. This face was the tree-person clone’s natural appearance.
“Truly worthy of a great sect with a heritage spanning over ten thousand years. This magnificent grandeur and the flavor of time—it’s not something that can be built overnight!”
“I hope this trip goes smoothly and I can join the Qingyuan Sect, successfully learn their cultivation knowledge—especially regarding breaking through to the Golden Core…”
This was Qi Ping’s purpose for coming to the Qingyuan Sect at this moment.
Ever since he contracted the Zhaoxuan Green Snake and gained the Transcendent Eye and Transcendent Comprehension talents, and then stacked them with the Three-Colored Deer’s Three-Colored Spirit and other soul talents, his comprehension of cultivation techniques and formations had become unstoppable. In just fifteen years, he had comprehended the vast amount of spells and knowledge he had collected almost entirely.
He wouldn’t call himself a master, but he could basically cast all of them.
Water and fire techniques and spells had all been cultivated to perfection by Qi Ping!
Now, Qi Ping had not only elevated his understanding of the True Essence of Water, the True Essence of Fire, and the fusion of water and fire to a new height, but had also created and mastered a Foundation Establishment technique called the Water-Fire Immortal Art!
The strength and foundation of this technique far surpassed the Golden Flame Art he had originally practiced!
Being able to achieve all this was not only due to the vast amount of techniques and knowledge as reference, but largely because of the Zhaoxuan Green Snake’s powerful talent!
Qi Ping could only say that the Zhaoxuan Green Snake truly deserved its reputation as a spiritual beast capable of secretly learning all the laws of heaven and earth. Its talent was terrifyingly powerful—if used well, it could truly be called a divine skill! Combined with Qi Ping’s Moonlit Soul Wood and other talents that could enhance soul comprehension, he had finally reached such results.
In formations, Qi Ping had completed the extremely difficult fusion of six formation paths! Although currently limited to water and fire formations, their power should be enough to contend with an ordinary Golden Core cultivator.
However, this was also the limit of what Qi Ping could achieve.
In fifteen years, Qi Ping had basically digested all the knowledge he had seized, and it was hard to derive anything more profound from it.
Because although these things seemed like a lot—having seized so many family knowledge vaults—most of it was low-grade material. Being able to rely on these things to reach this point and comprehend the Water-Fire Immortal Art was already thanks to Qi Ping’s various talents.
But to continue further, Qi Ping needed to obtain more precious knowledge.
Especially knowledge and techniques regarding breaking through to the Golden Core. Qi Ping currently had not obtained any specific related knowledge, and his cultivation had gradually approached Foundation Establishment perfection. Now he had to prepare for breaking through to the Golden Core.
In the Qingtian Domain, the only channel was the Qingyuan Sect. Compared to the Qingyuan Sect, the Immortal Alliance subordinate forces that Qi Ping had destroyed weren’t even qualified to carry the Qingyuan Sect’s shoes.
The Qingyuan Sect’s accumulation over tens of thousands of years was absolutely enough to raise Qi Ping’s knowledge foundation by a whole level!
The mysterious black market could purchase a small portion of key Golden Core techniques and knowledge, but with limited black market points, if Qi Ping wanted that vast knowledge foundation, the only path was the Qingyuan Sect. As for other places, Qi Ping currently could not manipulate his tree-person clone to travel such a great distance.
A vast knowledge foundation was the basis for Qi Ping to ensure he could advance bravely on the path of immortality and not become a human-shaped great medicine.
So after spending fifteen years digesting things and making all preparations, Qi Ping manipulated his tree-person clone to set foot in the Qingyuan Sect.
Meanwhile, Qi Ping’s original body continued researching water-fire spells and the power of yin-yang within the Natural Sanctuary, as well as paying attention to the little stone spirit that had devoured all the ore and spiritual tools and was now transforming at a critical juncture.
As Qi Ping’s knowledge foundation grew richer, he discovered that the Five Elements contained the power of yin-yang. If he could comprehend the True Essence of Yin-Yang, then forge a Yin-Yang Foundation, condense a Yin-Yang Core, and after reaching the Golden Core, supplement his earth and wood constitutions, finally achieving a Yin-Yang Five Elements body and cultivating the Way of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements—
If he could successfully cultivate this, his future path of immortality would surely be smooth sailing!
But whether this path could succeed, Qi Ping could not be certain. This was also another purpose for going to the Qingyuan Sect—to find answers regarding yin-yang and the Five Elements!
Besides this, Qi Ping had another goal: to spend the over five million spirit stones he carried and purchase things of real value to his current cultivation.
“Daoist friend, may I ask what brings you to the Qingyuan Sect?”
After Qi Ping arrived at the Qingyuan Sect’s main gate, a Foundation Establishment Qingyuan Sect disciple who had been cultivating stepped past the Qi Refining guards and came forward, cupping his fists in greeting before asking Qi Ping his purpose for coming.
During this, there was no condescending or arrogant questioning. Instead, the treatment was warm and welcoming, fully displaying the demeanor of a great immortal sect.
In fact, Qi Ping’s impression of Qingyuan Sect disciples was generally quite good. When Qi Ping was still a lowly bee farmer, many matters of eliminating demons and defending the Dao were carried out by Qingyuan Sect disciples. It was precisely because of their presence that the Qingtian Domain remained so peaceful during peacetime.
“Hello, I am Lin Ya. I’ve come this time hoping to join your esteemed sect,” Qi Ping also cupped his fists in greeting and stated his purpose.
“Join the Qingyuan Sect?” Hearing this, a trace of surprise appeared on the face of the Qingyuan Sect disciple receiving Qi Ping.
“Now is not the time when the sect recruits disciples. Wanting to join at this time has much higher requirements. However…”
After briefly scanning Qi Ping, this Qingyuan Sect disciple relaxed and said:
“However, I observe that Daoist Friend Ya is not old yet has already broken through to late Foundation Establishment. Your talent must be extraordinary. If you can pass the test, it’s not entirely without a chance. Daoist Friend Ya, please follow me!”
“Then I’ll trouble you, Daoist friend. May I ask how to address you?”
“Daoist Friend Ya can simply call me Han Li.”
Han Li was being so polite for a reason—the Qingyuan Sect had regulations stating that if one encountered a disciple with potentially extraordinary talent seeking to join the sect, they must be treated with courtesy.
Afterward, Qi Ping followed Han Li into the Qingyuan Sect’s mountain gate and entered a magnificent great hall.
This process went much more smoothly than Qi Ping had imagined, and he was not subjected to any difficult questioning.
“The Qingyuan Sect’s outward manner of treating people is truly impeccable.”
The impression the Qingyuan Sect had given Qi Ping so far made him silently nod in approval.
If he could join the Qingyuan Sect relying on his own qualifications, that would be best for Qi Ping. After all, once he used the token given by that silver-masked Golden Core cultivator, it would basically mean exposing his identity as Daoist Feng, which might bring him unpredictable crises and restrictions.
If he could cultivate in the Qingyuan Sect as a normal disciple, he could better learn knowledge and trade items here, while slowly figuring out what kind of existence the Qingyuan Sect truly was internally.
Under Han Li’s arrangements—this mid-Foundation Establishment disciple—the test quickly began, and Qi Ping finally understood why he had not been subjected to any questioning.
Because the Qingyuan Sect’s entrance test had two parts: one was a talent test, and the other was the Heart-Questioning Mirror test. Only by passing both the talent and heart-mind assessments could one join the sect.
Before long, Han Li brought Qi Ping before a crystal stone emanating a mysterious aura.
Qi Ping had read about this in texts—this was a talent-testing crystal stone, capable of measuring a person’s cultivation talent and soul talent.
“Daoist Friend Ya, you only need to place your hand on the testing crystal!”
“Alright!”
After nodding, Qi Ping without any hesitation placed his palm on the testing crystal. Fortunately, this was merely a tree-person clone—if anything unexpected happened, he could simply self-destruct or self-detonate it, and then use the token given by the silver-masked Golden Core cultivator to join the Qingyuan Sect afterward.
As Qi Ping’s palm made contact with the testing crystal, four astonishingly intense beams of light burst forth from the testing crystal!
