As Zhao Yuanji led Li Xue back to his own cave dwelling,
he hadn’t expected that someone was already waiting for him outside, and had been for quite a while.
Looking at the figure standing outside the cave dwelling, Li Xue, who was at Zhao Yuanji’s side, immediately bowed respectfully and said:
“This disciple greets Elder Yan.”
Zhao Yuanji’s expression changed when he saw that figure. He also slowly bowed and said respectfully:
“Yuanji greets Uncle Master.”
The person waiting for the two of them outside Zhao Yuanji’s cave dwelling was none other than Yan Zongfeng, an elder of the Enforcement Hall who was at the mid-stage of the Tribulation Transcendence realm.
Back when Ye Qingxuan ran into an elder of the Xuantian Sect at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, that elder was Yan Zongfeng.
Yan Zongfeng nodded slightly and looked at Zhao Yuanji with an expressionless face, questioning him:
“Did you go to the Tianfu Shop?”
Facing Elder Yan’s question, Zhao Yuanji was silent for a moment, then admitted it directly:
“Yes, that’s right. But I haven’t violated any sect rules, have I?”
He knew he couldn’t hide it from Elder Yan, but he was confident that he hadn’t broken any rules. Elder Yan couldn’t do anything to him.
The disciples of the Xuantian Sect’s Enforcement Hall had been raised from a young age to uphold the sect’s rules as their duty.
Therefore, everyone in the Enforcement Hall was also among those most strictly bound by the rules. Others might possibly violate the Xuantian Sect’s rules, but no one in the Enforcement Hall, from top to bottom, could ever break them.
Not only because of the special restrictions they swore when joining the Enforcement Hall, but also because if someone in the Enforcement Hall violated the sect’s rules, they would be going against their very own Dao.
So as long as he didn’t violate the rules, there was no need to fear the disciples of the Enforcement Hall, or even the elders.
That was the reason Zhao Yuanji dared to speak to Elder Yan like that.
Hearing Zhao Yuanji’s words, Yan Zongfeng indeed didn’t get angry. He just asked back:
“Yuanji, do you think I came to see you because of the Tianfu Shop?”
This time, Zhao Yuanji fell completely silent and didn’t answer.
Seeing this, Yan Zongfeng looked up at the distant sky, a hint of reminiscence in his eyes, and spoke again:
“I came to see you simply because you are Qingfeng’s only disciple. I don’t want you to go down the wrong path.”
Qingfeng was Yan Zongfeng’s junior disciple – a true junior disciple who had formally entered the same master’s tutelage.
It was just that Yan Zongfeng’s junior disciple, Qingfeng, had fallen on the extraterritorial battlefield many years ago, leaving behind only this one disciple, Zhao Yuanji.
It was out of respect for his junior disciple Qingfeng that Yan Zongfeng came here to warn Zhao Yuanji, not wanting him to walk down a dead-end road.
Zhao Yuanji gave Yan Zongfeng a look and said defiantly:
“Uncle Master, I just want to get the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Pill. Once I have the formula, I’ll never lack cultivation resources again. I promise I won’t cause you any trouble.”
Ever since his master fell, although his status hadn’t declined, without his master’s support, the cultivation resources he received had greatly decreased.
In the time that followed, he could only watch as those old friends and rivals, one by one, continuously surpassed him in cultivation.
As time went on, Zhao Yuanji became more and more withdrawn and began trying every possible way to obtain resources to improve his own cultivation.
That was the main reason Zhao Yuanji was so determined to get the formula for the Nuclear Explosion Pill.
Seeing that Zhao Yuanji still wouldn’t see reason, Yan Zongfeng gave him a long, hard look. Thinking of his fallen junior disciple, he said with a mix of disappointment and frustration:
“If you lack cultivation resources, you can go to the extraterritorial battlefield, the Endless Sea, or the various secret realms to fight for them. You don’t need to set your sights on seizing resources from your fellow disciples.”
After a brief pause, Yan Zongfeng spoke again, his tone both earnest and exceptionally forceful:
“Every true strong person of the Xuantian Sect grew up by fighting outside the sect! Has anyone ever risen to power by forcibly taking resources and opportunities from their fellow disciples? If anyone has, my blade will be the first to cut them down.”
Finally, Yan Zongfeng glanced at Li Xue, who was standing next to Zhao Yuanji, and then his figure vanished, leaving only these last words behind:
“Stop messing around with these crooked paths, Zhao Yuanji. Remember, do not violate the sect’s rules. Otherwise, this old man’s blade will show no mercy.”
These last words carried a rumbling thunder that struck directly at Zhao Yuanji’s heart.
A long time after Yan Zongfeng had left, Li Xue glanced at Zhao Yuanji, who was still standing motionless, and softly said:
“Senior Brother Zhao?”
Hearing Li Xue’s voice, Zhao Yuanji snapped awake. He took a deep breath and said:
“There’s no need to keep an eye on Zhu Dafu anymore.”
The sect’s rules! After this warning, he really didn’t dare to violate the Xuantian Sect’s rules anymore.
But he couldn’t easily give up on the Nuclear Explosion Pill formula either.
Zhao Yuanji thought about the information he had on Zhu Dafu. A flash of insight crossed his eyes, and he said:
“Let’s go. We’re leaving the sect. We’re heading to the Zhu Corporation.”
With that, he led Li Xue toward the Xuantian Sect’s external teleportation square.
On the other side.
After returning to the Enforcement Hall, Yan Zongfeng immediately filed Zhao Yuanji’s information with the Enforcement Hall.
The Xuantian Sect’s Enforcement Hall wasn’t limited to acting only after a disciple had already violated the rules.
As long as a supervisor or higher-ranking member of the Enforcement Hall sensed that a disciple intended to violate the rules, they could report it and file a record, explaining the specific reasons.
Once an elder in charge of this area in the Enforcement Hall reviewed it and confirmed that the disciple did indeed have such intent or behavior, and approved the record, that disciple would be placed under the Enforcement Hall’s close observation.
Inside the Xuantian Sect, the Enforcement Hall wouldn’t interfere much with disciples who had such records. But once those disciples left the sect, they would be monitored by Enforcement Hall personnel to prevent problems before they happened.
Only after passing several rounds of covert observation by the Enforcement Hall would the record be cleared.
After filing Zhao Yuanji’s information, Yan Zongfeng stopped paying attention to the matter.
Out of respect for his junior disciple, he had personally warned Zhao Yuanji, which was already more than enough. If Zhao Yuanji still insisted on violating the sect’s rules, then he would be walking straight to his own doom.
A month passed quickly.
During that month, although the Tianfu Shop and the Nuclear Explosion Pill became increasingly popular, the undercurrents that had been stirring up trouble strangely began to calm down.
Anyone who had cultivated to a certain level wasn’t stupid.
Those with status and connections had already been warned; those without status or connections had also sensed something was wrong.
The traces behind the Tianfu Shop had been suddenly erased. Smart people naturally knew what that meant.
Besides, since the Tianfu Shop was located inside the Xuantian Sect, no one could go too far. As long as Zhu Dafu didn’t give in, there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Moreover, the Nuclear Explosion Pill held no great secrets for truly high-level cultivators.
After all, the method of refining the Nuclear Explosion Pill was much cruder and more straightforward than that of other pills.
Because they understood the Nuclear Explosion Pill well enough, high-level cultivators above the Nascent Soul realm didn’t really care about its existence. Purely relying on explosive energy damage only worked against low- and mid-level cultivators.
High-level cultivators above the Nascent Soul realm could already freely tear through spatial constraints and travel deep into the void of the Earth Mystery Realm.
For such beings, whether banishing the Nuclear Explosion Pill into the void or hiding themselves in the void to avoid its energy, it was all very easy.
Besides, creating a Nuclear Explosion Pill powerful enough to threaten the Void Realm was incredibly difficult.
What is the Void Realm? Cultivators at the Void Realm had already begun to comprehend elemental truths and could phase their bodies at will.
Only attacks imbued with elemental truths could harm a Void Realm cultivator.
Simply piling up ordinary energy wasn’t very useful.
So, while the appearance of the Nuclear Explosion Pill mildly surprised the higher-ups of the Xuantian Sect, it didn’t cause much of a stir among them.
As time passed, fewer and fewer people came to harass Zhu Dafu during that month.
Just when Zhu Dafu thought things were finally about to settle down completely, he suddenly received a message from his parents.
After reading the message from his parents, Zhu Dafu’s expression shifted through several changes. Finally, he sighed and said:
“Oh well, it’s not like I can make the decision anyway. I’ll just let Ye Qingxuan decide for himself.”
He had been under so much pressure these days for the Tianfu Shop, and it wasn’t like he didn’t have some pent-up frustration.
As it happened, this was something Zhu Dafu couldn’t decide on anyway. So he simply forwarded the information to Ye Qingxuan, letting Ye Qingxuan make the call himself.
