“Could it be because I rejected all the olive branches extended by the three major factions of the Qingyuan Sect, and now no senior member of any faction is willing to fight for this troublesome resource on my behalf?”
“But according to the Qingyuan Sect’s rules, anyone who earns the ‘Pillar of the Sect’ evaluation must receive preferential resource allocation. Could the sect’s higher-ups really be ignoring their own rules? Or are they just playing the same old stalling game again?”
During the past two months, Qi Ping had interacted with a large number of sect disciples, making him more familiar with the Qingyuan Sect than many of its own members. That was exactly why he could now sense something so strange about this situation—something that had never happened before!
“Could the resources for late-stage Foundation Establishment really be this scarce? Or has something unexpected happened?”
And what was more—not a single Golden Core cultivator had stepped forward to handle this matter according to the sect’s rules!
The implications behind this were quite intriguing. Not long ago, they had let a highly talented disciple with a ‘Pillar of the Sect’ evaluation die, and now they were giving another ‘Pillar of the Sect’ disciple the cold shoulder. Wasn’t this exactly the kind of situation where bad money drives out good?
This made Qi Ping feel thoroughly disappointed with the current leadership of the Qingyuan Sect.
Truth be told, Qi Ping didn’t really care about those resources. What he truly cared about was the authority to exchange for rare cultivation techniques and knowledge, as well as the number of floors he could access in the Technique Pavilion.
Because only by obtaining higher authority could Qi Ping access more precious cultivation knowledge! That was what mattered most to him!
“Forget it. Since that’s how things are, I’ll just set this matter aside for now and treat myself as an ordinary inner sect disciple first!”
“I’ll do missions to earn contribution points, read whatever knowledge an inner sect disciple is allowed to access, and if all else fails, I’ll use contribution points to raise my rank.”
After all, what Qi Ping truly cared about was only the knowledge within the Qingyuan Sect—especially knowledge about water and fire, yin and yang, and the five elements. This was the key to his next step: forging a Yin-Yang Foundation and condensing a Yin-Yang Golden Core.
“As long as I gain enough foundational knowledge, then purchase some yin-attribute and yang-attribute spirit wood and yin-yang cultivation techniques from the mysterious black market, and use the 【Plant Monarch】 talent to accelerate my comprehension of the true essence of yin and yang—then forging a Yin-Yang Foundation and condensing a Yin-Yang Golden Core shouldn’t be a problem.”
Once he had clearly thought through his future direction, Qi Ping decided to stop paying attention to the affairs of the Qingyuan Sect’s upper echelon.
Rather than waiting for others to show him pity, it was better to carve out his own path!
Besides, as long as he didn’t violate the sect’s rules, the Qingyuan Sect wouldn’t expel him—he would just be unpopular, that’s all. And there were plenty of people like that in the Qingyuan Sect.
Moreover, there were actually some senior members within the Qingyuan Sect who protected those who were loyal to the sect but didn’t join any factions. It was just that their power wasn’t enough to seize the right to distribute resources from those factions.
Having made his decision, Qi Ping then crafted a thorough plan along with contingency strategies for unexpected situations. He stopped concerning himself with other matters and immediately stepped out of the No. 7 Immortal Residence of the inner sect, heading straight for the Qingyuan Sect’s Mission Hall!
Naturally, Qi Ping’s movement attracted the attention of quite a few interested parties.
Because of Qi Ping’s four supreme-grade talents and his Questioning Heart Mirror evaluation, virtually every inner sect disciple in the Qingyuan Sect now knew of his existence.
Just as they were wondering which faction Qi Ping would join, word came that he had rejected all olive branches!
This move caused quite a stir among the inner sect disciples of the Qingyuan Sect.
Yet another ‘Pillar of the Sect’ evaluator had chosen to refuse joining any faction!
In the past century, the Qingyuan Sect had produced only two people with such high talent and Questioning Heart Mirror evaluations—and both had made the same choice!
At this point, everyone gradually began to realize that perhaps it wasn’t because these people were foolish. Rather, it was precisely because they possessed such special character that they received such high evaluations from the Questioning Heart Mirror!
“What a pity! Born at the wrong time. If he had been born a hundred years ago or earlier, he would surely have received focused cultivation. But now, all we can say is that he’s courting death!”
This was what most people thought.
After all, whether it was Qi Ping or the previous ‘Pillar of the Sect’ evaluator who had died, either of them could have received sufficient protection and cultivation by choosing any faction—and the Golden Core realm might have been within reach!
Compared to becoming a Golden Core cultivator, what did a contract and a heavenly oath matter? Why was this person so stubborn?
How many people would beg for such an opportunity and never get it!
Little did they know, the heavenly oath would affect Qi Ping’s true body—while the death of his tree-person clone wouldn’t have much impact on him.
It was also for this reason that some friends who had previously been on brotherly terms with Qi Ping now kept their distance from him entirely.
The moment they saw him, they would avoid him as if fearing they’d be caught in the crossfire.
Others were somewhat better—though they avoided Qi Ping, their eyes were full of helplessness and regret. At the same time, there was a hint of admonishment in their gazes. They still wished Qi Ping well; they just didn’t dare take the risk in order to protect themselves.
But there were also those who didn’t care about any of this and treated Qi Ping as they always had, genuinely considering him a friend. However, these people were ultimately few in number.
The warmth and coldness of human relationships was displayed in its fullest at this moment.
Qi Ping felt rather helpless about it too. He could understand everyone’s choices, but experiencing it firsthand was indeed somewhat unpleasant.
Still, Qi Ping didn’t mind it much. Such was the way of the world, and this experience could serve as a trial to temper his Dao heart.
What he truly pursued was the immortal path and eternal life. Everything happening now was merely an interlude on his journey toward immortality!
With such thoughts in mind, Qi Ping, dressed in white robes, stepped into the Qingyuan Sect’s Mission Hall with unwavering determination. This path, after all, could only be forged by himself through his own risks.
Although it was Qi Ping’s first time here, he didn’t feel too unfamiliar, because he had long since learned every detail about this place through conversations with others.
Qi Ping paid no attention to the strange looks from others and walked straight to the mission board, seriously searching for missions that suited him.
“Missions like watching over spirit fields or raising spirit beasts—forget those. They’re time-consuming and exhausting, and the contribution points are few.”
If this were Qi Ping’s true body, he would definitely choose to lay low and develop steadily. But there was no need for that with his tree-person clone.
“Let me just find ones with higher contribution points!”
“A bounty on a human-demon butcher at late-stage Foundation Establishment. Not bad.”
“Annihilate the Huang family at Foundation Establishment who secretly practice cultivation by eating people, suspected of colluding with a demon sect… This one works too!”
“Destroy a batch of Foundation Establishment demon insects hiding in the Black Mountain Range… I’ll take this one too!”
…
“Just these three for now!”
“Once I’m done and back, I can enter the Technique Pavilion for a while. Getting the knowledge in hand is what matters most…”
After scanning through, Qi Ping directly picked out several missions from the Foundation Establishment cultivator section that had the highest contribution points but also extremely high danger levels!
Although there was some danger, only these missions could satisfy Qi Ping’s need for contribution points.
“But with my current strength, handling them shouldn’t be a problem…”
