Chapter 4: The Spirit of the Hidden Immortal

  But Huang Jian put away those powders and also stood up to enter the palace, turning into the back hall to find Fuling Elder.

  Knock on the door respectfully.

  A simple and clear "Come in" was heard from inside.

  Huang Jian carefully pushed open the door and entered, only to see a beautiful woman standing right in front of him. Her face was not adorned with powder or rouge, yet she had an elegant and refined air about her.

  She wore a white robe, with a red silk belt tied around her waist. At first glance, it seemed ordinary, but Huang Jian recognized it as the famous protective artifact "Yan Ri Dai" of Fowu Ling. It was said to be left by her father, the former sect master Fowu Huang, as a high-quality artifact for her protection.

  The magic tools used by the masters are generally divided into four levels: symbol tools, method tools, spirit tools, and immortal tools. Each level also has lower, middle, upper, and extreme distinctions. For example, Ling Xiao, an outer door disciple, only uses lower-grade symbol tools; inner door disciples mostly use mid-grade symbol tools. Method tools far surpass symbol tools and are more difficult to control, with only a few senior members of the sect having some, but most of them are only lower or middle grade.

  The entire Qiyun Sect, those who can use top-grade artifacts are limited to just Fowling alone.

  Fu Ling sat cross-legged on the ground, her beautiful eyes still closed, and she didn't open them. She said lightly, "What's going on?" She wasn't actually opposed to Huang Jian, it was just her nature.

  Even if it was the Fú Líng elder in front of him, who was slightly younger than him, Huáng Jiàn didn't dare show any disrespect. Fú Líng's cultivation was far superior to his, by how much he had no idea! He immediately spoke with great respect: "Fú Shī Shū, what do you think about these powders?"

  Feng Ling waved his hand, and the powder on his hand was suddenly sucked away. Feng Mu glanced at it, and a look of surprise flashed across his face: "70% to 90% purity? No, it's already barely reached 80% purity! How can this be such high-purity powder? Where did it come from?"

  80% purity!

  Huang Jian was also startled. The original judgment of 75% purity was already unbelievable, but that outer sect junior brother had actually refined a powder with 80% purity?

  Huang Jian did not dare to conceal anything, and hastily reported the whole story to his superiors; including Ling Xiao's reasons for risking the purification of the spiritual medicine because the task could not be completed.

  Having finished speaking, Huang Jian stood there respectfully and didn't dare say another word.

  "Over ten pieces of spiritual medicine, and only one piece is refined?" Fú Líng's eyebrows slightly furrowed as she asked another question.

  "Huang Jian thought for a moment and carefully said, 'Reporting to Master Shu, at that time he was determined to complete the task, but he only brought out one copy. It seems that it was because he only had these in his hands.'"

  Feng Ling nodded and shook her head, "The purity of these powders is indeed quite high. However, when refining elixirs, purity and quality are important, but the success rate is also a crucial factor that cannot be ignored! His success rate is a bit too low! However..." She slightly hesitated, "To succeed once and have such high purity, the talent for refining elixirs is probably not bad."

  Huang Jian nodded in agreement, paused for a moment and then carefully asked: "Master Shu, does that count as him passing the task? Should we let him enter the hall to listen to the lecture?"

  "Of course it counts!" Fuling glared at him, "Not just this time, from now on, whenever I come to lecture, no matter how much he contributes, he can enter the hall and listen!"

  "Yes, Master Uncle."

  After bowing again, he retreated. It seems that although the old man's words were severe, he still valued Ling Xiao greatly.

  Even he couldn't help but feel a little envious of Ling Xiao, who was truly a lucky kid, able to refine such high-purity powder and even catch the attention of Fowling.

  He has been in the inner gate for a long time and is far more aware of Fuling's energy than Ling Xiao, an outer gate disciple!

  Don't look at Fú Líng being the youngest among the crowd of elders, but her cultivation talent is astonishing, and she is one of the only two fourth-grade alchemists in Qí Yún Sect; plus the identity of the previous sect master's daughter, which makes her status in Qí Yún Sect transcendent. Even the current sect master, Gěng Xīn, doesn't dare to offend her easily!

  ……

  However, Ling Xiao, who was waiting in the temple to listen to the lecture, naturally did not know about these things.

  This side hall is very spacious, divided into three parts: the front hall, the back hall, and the inner hall. The front hall is where the task was verified just now; the inner hall is where the sect's elders rest and the earth fire room for alchemy is located. And the back hall is where the sect holds its grand lectures. This back hall alone can hold nearly a thousand disciples, with a meditation cushion placed every three feet inside the hall for the disciples to use while listening to the lecture. Of course, many outer sect disciples have gathered here now, and it's already quite crowded.

  Ling Xiao pulled Feng Yi to find a place to sit cross-legged and closed his eyes to meditate.

  As soon as he sat down, a man came over with a cyan long sword hanging from his waist, the pattern was faintly visible, and it looked extraordinary. He had a warm smile on his face, but it looked very fake. "Ling Shidi, you're here too, really unexpected for Shixiong. Is this month's harvest of spiritual herbs enough?" He wore a white robe, looking quite elegant.

  Ling Xiao's eyes suddenly turned gloomy.

  His name was Zhi Ming, and he had entered the sect together with Ling Xiao. He was now a cultivator of the third layer of Qi Refining. The long sword at his waist was also an extremely rare mid-grade artifact among the outer sect disciples - Qingfeng Sword! While others struggled to complete their tasks, he could accumulate contribution points and exchange them for a mid-grade artifact, which showed the difference between them.

  His cultivation is high and he has a good talent for alchemy, so he has always been considered the most likely to enter the inner door among his fellow disciples that year.

  It is worth noting that among every batch of outer door disciples taken in by Ziyun Sect, almost all who can enter the inner door are one in a hundred.

  Of course, to become an inner disciple of the Qiyun Sect, one must meet three requirements: first, their cultivation must reach the sixth layer of Qi Refining; second, they must have accumulated 30,000 contribution points; and third, they must pass the sect's assessment. Qi Ming naturally does not yet meet these requirements, but he has already surpassed many outer disciples.

  This also made Qi Ming more arrogant and looked down on others.

  Originally, Ling Xiao and he had no grudges, but just a few days ago, a conflict occurred. It was when they were picking spiritual herbs in the wild, he and Fengyi discovered five stalks of longing grass that were connected together.

  Longing Grass, with a milky white stem and white flowers. It's often used as an auxiliary herb for refining low-grade dan medicine. When several plants grow together, the maximum of seven connected stems can become a second-grade spiritual medicine, which is worth 30 contribution points! Even if it's just five connected stems, it's only a first-grade spiritual medicine, but each stem can still be exchanged for 3 contribution points.

  They were overjoyed, and if they could pick a few more of these, this month's sect task would be half completed.

  But just as they were about to go forward and pick them, Zhi Ming suddenly led someone out from the side and said harshly that these spiritual medicines were discovered by them first, wanting to take them away by force.

  Ling Xiao and Feng Yi were unwilling, but they were only first-level cultivators of Qi. The other side had many people and was overwhelming, so they could only leave with resentment...

  As fellow disciples of the Qi Yun Sect, he was able to do such a thing, leaving Ling Xiao and Feng Yi chilled to the bone. Moreover, Qi Ming seemed to have targeted the two of them for some reason, making progress inch by inch over the past few days, constantly finding fault with them.

  At this time, he came over with cold ridicule and hot sarcasm, really making people feel disgusted.

  Feng Yi's anger was beyond words. "You... how can you be like this?" Her temperament was delicate, and these were already harsh words that she would only utter when extremely disgusted with someone.

  But obviously aligning with Ming, without any killing intent, the latter feigned surprise, "What? I came to care about my fellow junior brother with good intentions, is there anything wrong with that?"

  "You——"

  Feng Yi was originally not a glib talker, facing him like this, she was suddenly tongue-tied and couldn't say a word.

  Ling Xiao had already seen through his hypocritical face, but he didn't have any evidence in hand and wasn't willing to turn against him here. Silently pulling Feng Yi back to make her shut up, he then said to Qi Ming: "It's all gathered, no need for Brother Qi to trouble himself."

  At this time, the three of them had already attracted the attention of their fellow disciples around them, who were all staring over at them.

  Ling Xiao was unwilling to make a big deal out of it, but Qi Ming refused to let him off easily. Looking at him with a cold smile, he said: "How about it? Did you, younger brother, rely on borrowing spiritual medicine from Feng Yi sister to complete the task? Now you don't dare admit it?"

  That day, he overheard Fengyi and Ling Xiao's conversation and knew that the amount of spiritual medicine Ling Xiao had picked was far from enough. It had only been a few days, so he wouldn't have believed that Ling Xiao could gather the required amount, which is why he thought it was natural to think this way.

  But before Ling Xiao could speak, Feng Yi had already become annoyed and argued: "Ling Xiao didn't borrow any spiritual medicine from me!"

  She would naturally agree to lend Ling Xiao the spiritual medicine in private, but if this matter were to be spoken of in public, it would inevitably make Ling Xiao lose face and become a laughing stock for relying on a woman's help. Moreover, Qi Ming was purely slandering her, so she was even more furious.

  Seeing the people around her already looking over, she couldn't help but defend Ling Xiao. However, everyone knew about her relationship with Ling Xiao, so when they heard her say this, they just thought she was trying to save face for him, and instead believed Zhen Qi Ming even more.

  Zi Ming even directly laughed and said: "Why must you cover up for him, Junior Sister? Some people only know how to hide behind a woman's back?"

  "You..." Fengyi's words trailed off in anger.

  Ling Xiao pulled her back, looked up at Qi Ming and said lightly: "Qi Shixiong's words are too serious. Between us as fellow disciples, even if we help each other, what is there to be afraid of saying openly? Moreover, although I, your junior brother, am not talented and do not have the 'cunning' methods like Shixiong, it's not like I won't be able to complete the sect's task."

  "Hiss——"

  "Haha."

  Although he spoke in a reserved manner, only mentioning "cleverly taking" and omitting the words "by force", there were many people around who were not stupid, and more than one person had been bullied by Qi Ming's gang. Hearing him say this, they immediately felt a sense of solidarity against their common enemy. At once, many people couldn't help but laugh out loud in secret, and the looks they gave Qi Ming already contained a lot of disdain.

  "You——" Zhi Ming was choked with rage, but Ling Xiao's words and actions were unexpectedly flawless.

  Ling Xiao only said "cleverly taken", if he had to say that he was slandering himself, wouldn't it be equivalent to admitting that he had "robbed" himself? Therefore, he held his breath and only turned his face purple.

  Qí Rì was normally low-key, and Qí Míng had never paid attention to her before. But after that conflict with Líng Xiāo and Qí Rì, he discovered that Qí Rì's shy appearance was actually lovely, and his heart was moved. However, several times when he tried to get close to her, Qí Rì would hide behind Líng Xiāo and refuse to acknowledge him. This made him feel both frustrated and angry. This time, having suffered another setback, he felt even more stifled.

  A fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and although the sect strictly forbade fellow disciples from engaging in private fights, he was a third-layer cultivator who had many ways to force a first-layer cultivator like him to make a fool of himself.

  The true energy slowly rotated and pressed against Ling Xiao from a distance.

  But at this moment, a clear and cold shout suddenly came, "What are you doing?" The voice was clear and melodious, like a plum blossom in the icy snow, which was not only beautiful but also revealed a few hints of coldness and pride.