Chapter 169

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Chapter 169: Zhang Wanjing Returns

The old stronghold of Wilderness, Five Elements Sect.

"Finally broke through."

Lin Jiang almost shed tears. He had already reached the mid-stage of Building foundation a hundred years ago, but had to abandon his cultivation and start over. Finally, he made a breakthrough to the later stage of Building foundation. Meanwhile, Zhang Wanjing had been gone for fifteen long years.

"Let me calculate my age, damn, I even forgot it myself."

Lin Jiang tried to think about how old he was, but he had forgotten his age. Time seems to have no meaning in the mountains.

Calming down his excited emotions, Lin Jiang carefully recalled his timeline. He left Yunzhong City at the age of two hundred and five, stayed in Medicine City for three years, spent a little over ten years in Huangmu Village, stayed at Shanxue School for three years, farmed for twenty years, spent seven to eight years in Internal Affairs Hall, farmed outside the sect for seven years, and lived in Wilderness for twenty-eight years. He should be around two hundred and eighty-four now, with a slight margin of error, but not significant.

"The publicly declared age is eighty-one, not too old and also consistent with the character."

Lin Jiang was thinking in his heart that even at the age of eighty-one, the later stage of Building foundation in the Five Elements Sect was still at an average level. There were many talented disciples who broke through the Building foundation in their twenties, and even more who broke through the later stage of Building foundation in their fifties or sixties. Being in the later stage of Building foundation at the age of eighty could only be considered as ordinary.

"There is still a long way to go from the later stage of Building foundation to the complete stage of Building foundation. It’s impossible to break through the golden core before three hundred years, and we need to plan ahead for the treasures of Nascent Soul."

Lin Jiang planned for the future and felt that cultivating immortality was really difficult. He didn’t have the time to slowly plan for it with his ordinary Building foundation. The Building Foundation Period only had two hundred years of life, and at the age of one hundred and seventy or eighty, the blood qi would decline, leaving no chance at all.

After tidying up his mood, Lin Jiang went to drink with Zhang Shuhua. Zhang Shuhua was also very happy to learn that Lin Jiang had broken through the later stage of Building foundation.

"Junior brother, it’s not easy for you. I broke through the later stage of Building foundation fourteen years ago, and now I have reached the complete stage of Building foundation."

"Can’t you stop showing off? Aren’t you also inferior to those talented disciples from the inner sect?"

"We’re also from the inner sect."

"I mean we entered the inner sect as soon as we joined the sect."

"How can it be the same? They don’t have to worry about cultivation resources from the moment they enter the sect. They can just focus on their cultivation. But what about us? We have to go everywhere to earn resources, risking our lives. Even if you are practicing alchemy or drawing talismans, how much time do you need to learn? If I had the same conditions as them, I, Zhang Shuhua, would never be weaker than any of them.

Zhang Shuhua said. The world is unfair. Some people are born with advantages and lack nothing, while others face difficulties. He may not be the best, but he’s content with what he has.

"What Senior Brother said is right. There are plenty of disciples in the inner sect who can’t compare to us, right?"

"If we’re talking about rankings, at least half of the people are beneath us."

"Hahaha! So-called geniuses are nothing special. Come, let’s have a drink."

Lin Jiang laughed heartily. They could be proud of the fact that not everyone had surpassed their achievements, even though the inner sect disciples were superior in talent and background. Some couldn’t even establish a foundation, some were stuck at a bottleneck in their cultivation, and some were too indulgent in pleasure. Their cultivation had long surpassed them.

"This year is the year when Foundation-Building Treasures will be distributed. Junior Brother, don’t worry. When my father comes back, he’ll find a solution."

"Senior Brother really doesn’t know how to comfort people. Isn’t it hurtful to bring this up now? But speaking of it, when is our master coming back? It’s been fifteen years already."

Lin Jiang explained. The Five Elements Sect distributes Building Foundation Pills every year. They are quite generous, but there aren’t as many treasures for Nascent Soul cultivation.

Generally, a batch is distributed every fifteen to twenty years, with about ten positions available. However, it’s not fixed, as it depends on the cultivation of spiritual medicines nurtured by the sect. The Five Elements Sect has three different treasures for Nascent Soul cultivation, not just the Five Elements Golden Fruit Pill. Zhang Shuhua has already successfully established a foundation, so theoretically, he could apply for a treasure this year. But since Zhang Wanjing isn’t here, he didn’t bother applying, knowing that it would be futile.

"Not so fast, the Purple Origin Taoist Fruit cannot be swallowed, we need to search for complementary herbs, it may take lucky ones one or two years to gather them all, but if luck is not on our side, it’s hard to say. And then, we need to find a reliable Alchemist to refine it, after the refinement, we need to isolate ourselves to break through, it may take about twenty years."

"Then let’s endure for another five or six years, we have been sitting on this cold bench long enough."

Lin Jiang said. The old base of the Five Elements Sect has been completely abandoned by the sect, not because they don’t need it anymore, but because it has become an ordinary base. Since fewer and fewer independent cultivators come here, the sect decided to dismantle all the institutions.

Now there are more people in the base than before, but the disciples who are arranged here for farming are only at the Qi Refining Period. They provide full support for the new base in terms of spiritual paddy and vegetables.

Lin Jiang has been to the new base a few times, it is bigger than here and can accommodate more people. It is naturally more prosperous. Moreover, the Five Elements Sect has discovered several mineral resources near the base and sent people to occupy them. The required resources are very demanding. It is too wasteful to dispatch low-level resources like spiritual paddy from the sect. So the old base in the Wilderness is responsible for planting, and it’s the same for the bases that come after."

A Building Foundation Period cultivator is enough to guard this type of base, but the sect intentionally neglected their senior brothers and placed them here. Over more than ten years, most of the manpower that Zhang Wanjing had gathered before has been separated, and it will be difficult to gather them again in the future. It can be said that Zhang Wanjing’s core team has been completely dissolved."

·······

In the blink of an eye, another five years have passed. On this day, Qin Quan, the sect master of the Five Elements Sect, was discussing matters regarding the Wilderness with several elders in the sect hall. Since the Heavenly Wolf King died, the power of the demon race in the Wilderness has declined greatly, and the three major sects joined forces to invade.

After more than ten years of fighting, the new bases of the three sects have become firm foundations rooted in the Wilderness. The territories of several fourth-order demon beasts have been greatly compressed, which makes it worthy for them to invest their efforts once again in development.

"In the deeper parts of the Wilderness, there haven’t been any powerful Demon Kings that have emerged. This is a good thing. Although the Thunder Cloud Beast has advanced to become a new Demon King, its strength is not enough to compare with the Heavenly Wolf King. We should concentrate our forces and eliminate some of the rank-four demon beasts."

"I agree with this point too. There are more good things in the Wilderness than we imagine. The spiritual mountains occupied by a few rank-four demon beasts have better spiritual veins than we imagine, not inferior to the ones in our sect. Once occupied, they can be cultivated into advanced Spiritual Herb Gardens."

"We also need minerals. We have already discovered seventeen mineral veins, but only two of them can be developed. It’s a pity that we can’t get the valuable spirit stones."

"So we still need to increase our investment. If the new stronghold can be expanded, we should expand it. Many disciples in the sect can’t be accommodated, so we should send them all there to explore and expand our territory."

Several elders agreed with using troops in the Wilderness because over the past decade, they have gained a lot of benefits. These benefits are not even inferior to a mere Purple Origin Taoist Fruit, and may even be more. The elders who have tasted the sweetness all agree to send more people.

"Since everyone agrees, let’s discuss the details. Which rank-four demon beast should we start with, and…"

"What’s wrong, Master?"

Qin Quan was speaking when he suddenly stopped. Everyone asked him questions, but Qin Quan didn’t answer. He just stared at the door, and everyone turned to look. There were two people standing outside the door.

"Greetings, Elder."

When everyone saw the approaching person, they stood up and bowed to him.

"You guys go on, don’t worry about me."

Shi Yuntang smiled and said, but Soul Changing Ancestor had returned, so they were too busy to pay attention, especially since he didn’t come back alone.

"Welcome back, Wan Jing."

Qin Quan looked at Zhang Wanjing who was standing next to Shi Yuntang and said.

"Greetings, Senior Brother, Wan Jing has returned."

Zhang Wanjing nodded and when everyone heard Zhang Wanjing’s address, they quickly released their spiritual awareness. Soon, they noticed that Zhang Wanjing’s cultivation had changed and he had also become a Nascent Soul Ancestor, just like them.

Among them, Guo Yunfeng had the most drastic change in his expression. When he saw that Zhang Wanjing had truly reached the Nascent Soul stage, his face became very gloomy.

"Since no one is speaking, I’ll say it. Disciple Zhang Wanjing, your cultivation has reached the Nascent Soul stage. According to the sect’s rules, as the new elder of the Five Elements Sect, what is your ranking?"

"Sixteenth"

"I remember a few years ago there should have been ripe Infant Nourishing Fruits. Didn’t you succeed in refining the Nascent Soul Achieving Pill?"

"Reporting to the ancestor, the Nascent Soul Achieving Pill is ready, but the Pill Hall Deputy, Fang Yu, failed in the final test."

"Trash"

Shi Yuntang said directly, the Nascent Soul Achieving Pill is one of the best elixirs for forming a foundation. It is more suitable than the Purple Origin Taoist Fruit. How can it fail? What else can it be besides trash?