Volume 5 Chapter 62
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Volume 5 Chapter 62: Growth
After hearing the bell ring, Xu Qingfan hesitated for a moment and then turned to fly towards the front mountain.
It had been over ten years since Xu Qingfan visited the front mountain. About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea later, he arrived in the sky above Jiuhua’s front mountain. Looking down, he saw that the destruction caused by the Jianhua disaster from a century ago had mostly been restored. The trees, rocky hills, and pavilions looked just as they did over sixty years ago. From the outside, Jiuhua seemed far from the shadows of sixty years ago.
Seeing this scene, Xu Qingfan shook his head slightly. Restoring Jiuhua was his duty as the Jiuhua Deacon Elder, but he had long forgotten about it. Now, the scenery of Jiuhua’s front mountain was likely thanks to Li Yuhan’s efforts.
In fact, Xu Qingfan owed the most to Li Yuhan. Compared to Jin Qinghan, Xu Qingfan had only a casual relationship with Li Yuhan, but after Xu Qingfan became the Deacon Elder, Li Yuhan had been helping him manage the Deacon Elder’s responsibilities, giving Xu Qingfan much more time to meditate or travel.
Although Li Yuhan helped Xu Qingfan out of friendship, the more important reason was Zhang Hualing’s request, but regardless, it was a fact that helping Xu Qingfan had slowed Li Yuhan’s progress in his own cultivation.
Sometimes, Xu Qingfan wanted to do something to repay Li Yuhan, but after thinking it over, he realized he had nothing to offer him, which made Xu Qingfan feel more helpless.
…
Of course, the restoration of Jiuhua was only about the scenery.
Over sixty years ago, before the great disaster of Jiuhua, there were forty elders in Jiuhua. Twenty of them fell during and after the calamity. However, after Zhang Hualing’s "Jiuji Cave" plan, the time for the young elite disciples of Jiuhua to reach the Core Formation stage was greatly shortened. Now, among those young disciples who entered the "Jiuji Cave," more than half, about twenty-five disciples, have reached the Condensed Core Stage, and sixteen of those have also received teachings from the previous generation of Jiuhua elders. This means that Jiuhua now has a total of forty-five elders.
Just by counting the number of elders, Jiuhua’s strength at this moment is only second to what it was before the rebellion of Zhang Xusheng nine hundred years ago.
However, determining the strength of a sect cannot solely rely on the number of elders. Back then, although Jiuhua had only forty elders, the weakest among them was at the late stage of the Real Golden Core Stage. But now, among the twenty-five newly appointed elders, only four or five can reach the Real Golden Core Stage. Therefore, compared to before the Jiuhua calamity, Jiuhua’s strength has only been restored on paper; its actual strength has not fully recovered.
Another point is that most people in Jiuhua are completely unaware of this: Liu Huaxiang, or Li Xuhan, the Mahayana Stage master who protected Jiuhua for over a thousand years, and a visionary with great skill, passed away forty years ago. Neither his wisdom nor his power can be compensated for by adding more Condensed Core Stage cultivators.
In this situation, how should Jiuhua respond to the calamity outside the mountains?
With this question in mind, Xu Qingfan landed in front of "Linghua Hall" at the waist of Jiuhua Mountain and slowly walked inside.
…
Xu Qingfan arrived quite early. At this time, there were only a few elders in "Linghua Hall." Those he was familiar with, like Jin Qinghan and Li Yuhan, had not yet arrived. Zhang Hualing and Gongsun Huasa quietly sat in the main positions, with Zhang Hualing in the center and Gongsun Huasa to Zhang Hualing’s right.
After entering, Xu Qingfan first nodded to the elders present, then bowed to Zhang Hualing and Gongsun Huasa, before casually walking to sit down to Zhang Hualing’s right.
When Xu Qingfan saw Zhang Hualing sitting in the main seat of the hall, his brow furrowed. The unique aura from the secret transformation was even stronger on Zhang Hualing.
After Xu Qingfan walked into Linghua Hall, the elders kept looking at him in surprise. They were shocked to see that Xu Qingfan had reached the late stage of the Real Golden Core Stage. Just sixty years ago, he was only at the middle stage of the Lingji Stage, but now he was already on par with the older generation of elders. This progress seemed unbelievable.
If the elders were only surprised while looking at Xu Qingfan, their astonishment grew when they noticed Little Black resting on Xu Qingfan’s shoulder. Most of the elders who survived the last disaster had the strength of the Condensed Core Stage, so they sensed an intense feeling of danger hidden beneath Little Black’s restrained aura. This sense of danger made even the Golden Core Stage elders feel uneasy, which meant that Xu Qingfan’s spirit pet had reached a high Earth-level strength!
Moreover, the moment Xu Qingfan entered Linghua Hall, the Condensed Core Stage elders clearly felt that it wasn’t just Xu Qingfan who had entered. There were two faint waves of Spirit Qi on either side of Xu Qingfan, and their strength was not less than Xu Qingfan’s. But no matter how the elders tried to detect them, they could not uncover the true nature of these Spirit Qi waves. They only felt that these two waves resonated subtly with Xu Qingfan’s Spirit Qi, as if the three were one.
After noticing all of this, the elders looked at Xu Qingfan with complex expressions. They realized that with a spirit pet at the Golden Core Stage strength, along with the two late stage of the Real Golden Core Stage Spirit Qi waves, together with Xu Qingfan’s own late stage of the Real Golden Core Stage cultivation, Xu Qingfan’s strength had surpassed most of them. Even within the entire Jiuhua Mountain, Xu Qingfan’s power was likely among the top seven.
Next to Xu Qingfan’s seat, Zhang Hualing and Gongsun Huasa had even more complex looks. Zhang Hualing appeared relieved but also sighed, while Gongsun Huasa looked dark and displeased.
"Deacon Xu has made great progress in his cultivation over the years. He is likely no weaker than the Zhang Xusheng of the past. Given that, it is understandable that Deacon Xu has not concerned himself with the matters of Jiuhua."
Just as the elders were marveling at the new generation surpassing the old, Gongsun Huasa suddenly spoke up.
Ever since Xu Qingfan greatly reduced Gongsun Huasa’s power and inadvertently gained far more prestige, Gongsun Huasa had looked at Xu Qingfan with dislike. He initially planned to compete with Xu Qingfan for the position of Master of Jiuhua, but now, with Xu Qingfan’s growing strength and status, his hopes seemed more and more distant.
Although his words seemed to praise Xu Qingfan for his improvement, they actually secretly criticized him for focusing only on his own training over the years and neglecting the important duties of Deacon Elder.
Hearing Gongsun Huasa’s words, Xu Qingfan was secretly startled; Zhang Xusheng was considered a taboo within Jiuhua Gate, and the elders rarely spoke of him. So why did Gongsun Huasa compare Xu Qingfan to Zhang Xusheng? Did Gongsun Huasa know about Xu Qingfan’s past transformation by Zhang Xusheng’s secret method?
Even though he was secretly alarmed, Xu Qingfan showed no expression on his face and simply smiled lightly, saying, "Yes, I am very grateful for Li Yuhan’s help; otherwise, I wouldn’t have had any time to train."
The implication was that he had Li Yuhan take care of the duties of Jiuhua Deacon Elder without any delays, so there was no reason for you to criticize him.
Upon hearing Xu Qingfan say this, Gongsun Huasa quietly snorted and then fell silent.
Just then, Zhang Hualing, who had been silently sitting, suddenly stood up and said to Xu Qingfan, "Deacon Xu, please come with me to the back hall."
Saying this, Zhang Hualing ignored Xu Qingfan’s reaction and got up, walking ahead towards the back hall. Xu Qingfan hurriedly followed, secretly guessing Zhang Hualing’s intentions.
"Could it be that Zhang Hualing is also unhappy that I have focused solely on my training over the years? But that can’t be right; he clearly told me to concentrate on my training."
While guessing, Xu Qingfan followed Zhang Hualing to the back hall, where he saw that Zhang Hualing had already stopped and turned to quietly observe him. After a long while, a look of relief flashed in his eyes.
"You are very good. Over the years, your progress has exceeded my initial expectations. It seems it is time to hand over some things to you."
Hearing Zhang Hualing say this, Xu Qingfan was slightly taken aback, and then he saw Zhang Hualing wave his right sleeve, causing two green slips and a blue bead to suddenly appear in his hand.
