Chapter 90: Official Recognition
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Official recognition was quite simple – nothing complicated about it. A sect that had existed for many years would always construct its own management system. After disciples successfully advanced, they needed to come to Cultivation Hall for official recognition. You couldn’t just say you were at Tribulation Crossing stage and have it be so! Moreover, some people cultivated strange techniques that could completely conceal their cultivation level, so verification was needed. The process was simple – after proving one’s cultivation, Cultivation Hall would bestow a sword. With this sword, you could return to Penglai Pavilion to be recorded in the registry, giving you legitimate recognition – this was called official recognition.
The two walked to the end of the valley, where white mist stretched endlessly before them. The gate-guarding disciple shot out a beam of white light from his hand into the mist, and the white fog automatically parted to reveal a path. This white mist should be a formation – Yue Qianchou had seen similar formations at Hundred Flowers Valley.
Passing through the white mist, the view suddenly opened up, and a completely new Floating Immortal Island appeared before Yue Qianchou’s eyes. Throughout the vast mountains and wilderness, people could be seen flying up and down on swords – clearly many disciples were cultivating. Some were even engaging in sword combat with sword techniques, fighting with great enthusiasm. The flowing lights of flying and earth-escaping techniques dazzled Yue Qianchou. The two were walking toward the Cultivation Hall’s great hall behind the square ahead, while Yue Qianchou looked around at the sword-flying figures in all directions.
Just as his mind was wandering, suddenly a beam of white light came whistling toward them at high speed. Yue Qianchou was greatly alarmed, but saw the gate-guarding disciple ahead point his finger and shout: “Go!” The long sword on his back rang out with a “clang” and shot out, instantly transforming into flowing light to meet the incoming white beam. With a “clang,” the two lights struck once and returned. The gate-guarding disciple pointed his finger back, and the returning sword automatically sheathed itself.
That attacking white light flew toward a distant tree and disappeared. There was clearly a person standing on the treetop. The gate-guarding disciple waved at them as a greeting, then continued forward without another word. Following behind, Yue Qianchou was filled with envy – this was the cultivation world he had in mind!
The gate-guarding disciple led him to Cultivation Hall’s great hall. After meeting an elder surnamed Quan, he handed over the jade disc and returned.
After Elder Quan examined the jade disc in his hand, he looked at Yue Qianchou with somewhat puzzled eyes – clearly unable to see through his cultivation level. Without saying much, he brought him to a spacious but empty room. There was nothing else inside, not even a place to sit – only a large bell hanging in the center, with the ceiling covered in swords suspended overhead.
After Elder Quan cast a technique toward the bell, he said: “Yue Qianchou, use your full cultivation to strike this bell barehanded.”
This was probably a magical artifact for verifying cultivation! Yue Qianchou respectfully bowed: “Yes.”
Walking to the hanging bell, he silently drew true essence from his dantian, circulated it to the limit, and suddenly struck out with his palm. “Dong!” A deep, resonant bell sound rang out. Yue Qianchou didn’t feel anything special, but suddenly heard a light sound overhead. Looking up, he saw a long sword falling toward him and instinctively reached out to catch it.
Yue Qianchou held the sword, looking questioningly at Elder Quan. The latter stroked his beard and nodded: “Not bad. Yue Qianchou, your cultivation has reached early Foundation Establishment stage. This elder officially recognizes you – the sword in your hand is the proof.” He then called toward the door: “Zhiqing.”
An expressionless middle-aged man quietly approached and bowed: “Elder Quan.”
Elder Quan handed him the jade disc and waved his hand: “Early Foundation Establishment stage, take him away!”
“Yes.” The middle-aged man said to Yue Qianchou: “Follow me.” After speaking, he left. Yue Qianchou bowed to Elder Quan: “Thank you, Elder Quan.” Seeing the other nod, he also turned to follow the middle-aged man.
Arriving at a room, the middle-aged man opened a box and placed the jade disc inside. He then opened another box, took out another jade disc, and handed it to Yue Qianchou: “Input your true essence.”
After Yue Qianchou complied, the middle-aged man cast a technique into the jade disc in his hand and said coldly: “Keep the jade disc safe. From now on, you can use it to freely enter and exit Cultivation Hall’s territory.”
“Yes.” Seeing him put on a cold face with an attitude like a dog that won’t eat shit, Yue Qianchou was too lazy to talk much with him. Looking at the jade disc in his hand, he thought of Hundred Flowers Valley’s Hundred Flowers Token – weren’t they remarkably similar in function? They probably couldn’t be separated from each other, as could be seen from the father-daughter relationship between the Hundred Flowers Palace Master and the previous Floating Immortal Island sect leader.
Next, the middle-aged man, regardless of whether Yue Qianchou remembered or not, expressionlessly rattled off a bunch of rules in one breath, then told him he could go back. Yue Qianchou, thinking about what he had said, reluctantly bowed and left the room.
It turned out that within Cultivation Hall’s territory, which occupied nearly half of Floating Immortal Island’s area, there were two other halls protected by Cultivation Hall: Heavenly Heart Hall and Scripture Repository Hall. When mentioning Heavenly Heart Hall, the middle-aged man sternly warned that he was absolutely not allowed to approach it even half a step – it housed some of Floating Immortal Island’s elder-level late-stage Tribulation Crossing experts, or else he shouldn’t blame anyone if accidents happened.
As for Scripture Repository Hall being protected by Cultivation Hall, it was because it contained all of Floating Immortal Island’s techniques and some precious classics. Issuing entry jade discs to Floating Immortal Island disciples outside Cultivation Hall was precisely to allow them to pass through the outer protective formation and enter Scripture Repository Hall to study.
Yue Qianchou’s heart leaped with excitement – he now had cultivation but lacked cultivation techniques. After leaving the great hall, he really wanted to visit Scripture Repository Hall right now, but thinking he still needed to return to Penglai Pavilion to report back, he wasn’t in a hurry for this moment. Looking around at the flying figures, he walked across the square to the misty sea at the entrance, took out his jade disc, input true essence to emit a beam of white light into the mist. The clouds rolled and opened a path, allowing him to smoothly pass through the maze and return to the valley. When passing the mountain gate archway, it was still the same two mountain-guarding disciples. He cupped his hands in greeting to them, thus exiting Cultivation Hall.
After coming out, he drew the long sword in his hand. The blade was like autumn water, so bright it could reflect a person’s image. At the connection between blade and hilt were carved the three characters “Floating Immortal Island.” Back at Qingguang Sect, his master and Wu Baoru had each given him a sword – this could be considered his third.
After obtaining official recognition and settling this matter, he was in the mood to look at the surrounding scenery. Arriving at Penglai Pavilion, he discovered a long-unseen familiar person coming out – it was Cheng Gengqing, who had brought him to Floating Immortal Island. He waved and called: “Uncle Master Cheng!”
Cheng Gengqing was slightly stunned, then smiled after seeing clearly: “So it’s Yue Qianchou!” He glanced at the long sword in his hand and smiled again: “Congratulations on successfully establishing your foundation.” The scene of being surrounded by dozens of elders here that year involuntarily appeared before his eyes.
Yue Qianchou smiled noncommittally and asked: “Uncle Master Cheng, are you here on business?”
“What business could an outer affairs disciple like me have? It’s just running back and forth between Floating Immortal Island and Hundred Flowers Valley.” Cheng Gengqing shook his head. The two walked to the side and chatted about old times for a long while, until finally Cheng Gengqing had business to attend to and needed to take his leave.
Yue Qianchou remembered the promise he had made to Ling Feng and the other two – to give each of them a storage bag. So he spoke up: “Uncle Master Cheng, please wait. Yue Qianchou has something to ask of you.”
Cheng Gengqing said straightforwardly: “Speak! What is it?” After calculating in his mind, Yue Qianchou said: “I’d like to ask Uncle Master Cheng to help me buy five storage bags from Hundred Flowers Valley. I wonder if it’s convenient?”
“Uh… you mean buy five storage bags?” Cheng Gengqing looked at him with some difficulty. It wasn’t that he was unwilling to help – five storage bags was no small amount of money. One with a room’s capacity cost one high-grade spirit stone, so these five would cost at least five pieces, worth fifty thousand low-grade spirit stones. You, Yue Qianchou, just reached Foundation Establishment stage – how much money could you have? He didn’t have that much money to advance!
Yue Qianchou seemed to see through his thoughts. He reached into his storage bag and pulled out ten high-grade spirit stones, handing them over: “Buy me five with one room’s capacity each.”
Cheng Gengqing stared at the spirit stones in his hand, stunned. He hadn’t expected Yue Qianchou to actually have so many spirit stones. Coming back to his senses, he quickly said: “Too much, too much! Five high-grade spirit stones are enough.” He was about to return five pieces.
Yue Qianchou blocked with his hand and smiled: “Thanks to Uncle Master’s regard, consider these spirit stones as wine money for Uncle Master. Just take them – I’ll inevitably need Uncle Master’s help in the future, and I hope Uncle Master won’t refuse then.”
Cheng Gengqing pointed at Yue Qianchou and laughed: “You, oh you! Forget it, I’m too lazy to lecture you. I’ll consider it accepting your bribe. When I buy the items, I’ll come directly to the Alchemy Pavilion to find you – consider it taking money to run errands.” He unceremoniously put away the spirit stones.
Yue Qianchou chuckled. This uncle master truly deserved to be someone who often traveled outside – his method of using money to win people’s hearts was seen through at a glance. But this person was truly worth befriending. Just based on his Core Formation stage cultivation not putting on airs with him like others did was enough to be certain. The two laughed and parted ways, each going about their own business.
