chsdbacks Chapter 259: Fermentation
Chapter 259: Fermentation
It is unknown when exactly, but the news of the strange death curse that broke out in several sects, including the Green Ox Sect, eventually leaked out and spread throughout the entire Thousand Mountains region.
In the cities near the sects involved in the incident, panic instantly gripped the city. People and merchants reduced their interactions with these sects, and many powerful families, having learned of the horrifying details, transferred their core members and direct descendants away from this dangerous place overnight.
This only made matters worse for the already troubled sects.
"What are we going to do?!"
Inside the secret chamber of the Green Ox Sect, a group of sect elders sat together, sighing and looking worried. Half a month had passed since the sect leader went to the Heavenly Gate Sect for help, and there was still no news of him.
The Thousand Mountains region is neither very large nor very small. The Heavenly Gate Sect's mountain gate is not located in the heart of the Thousand Mountains, but rather at its easternmost point, adjacent to the Penglai Immortal City. It occupies the most fertile spiritual vein plain, possessing unparalleled cultivation resources, far surpassing those of the Green Ox Sect.
Inside the secret chamber, besides the sect elders, there were several core inner disciples whose cultivation had reached the Essence Blood Realm, and Xu Hao was among them. He sat in the corner with his head down, not uttering a word throughout. Watching the elders on the stage who could come up with no solutions and could only sigh, the chill in his heart grew heavier and heavier, and even his hands and feet felt icy cold.
The lengthy meeting ended abruptly. Xu Hao declined the invitations from his familiar disciples and returned to his residence alone with a gloomy face. He turned a hidden compartment in the corner of the wall to trigger a mechanism and followed the secret passage into the underground cultivation chamber.
On the stone platform in the very center of the secret chamber, a completely black wooden box sat silently. The box had an ancient design, and its surface was engraved with ferocious and twisted patterns of savage beasts from the wild. Just looking at it, one could sense a cold and sinister aura.
Xu Hao stood in front of the stone platform, hesitating for a long time, reaching out his hand and then pulling it back, repeating this several times, but in the end he still didn't dare to open the box.
"Let's wait a little longer... What if the sect leader really does get a solution from the Heavenly Gate Sect..." He muttered to himself, his face flickering between light and shadow before finally sinking completely. He focused his mind and looked inward, only to see a strange, pitch-black mark floating in the flesh of his chest, like a maggot clinging to his bone, slowly wriggling.
"Damn Long Zuo! That bastard dares to practice the evil arts of the Black Demon Path!" The moment he sensed the mark, Xu Hao's face contorted with rage, and he squeezed out a vicious curse through gritted teeth.
In the secret chamber just now, all the elders racked their brains trying to find the source of the death curse, but he knew better than anyone else what was going on!
"Hmph, just a discarded son kicked out of his family, yet he dares to threaten me with this." He took a few deep breaths, forcibly suppressing his surging emotions, glanced coldly at the black box on the stone platform, and turned to leave the secret chamber.
The Dark Path... Evil Arts... Dragon Left... When all hope seems lost, perhaps this is the only path left to take.
On the other side, the Yin Yang Sword Sect.
A streak of light streaked across the sky and landed steadily in the direction of the sect's mountain gate. The female disciples who were busy tending to the spiritual plants in the spiritual fields on the mountainside all looked up, their eyes fixed on the streak of light.
"That...that's the sect leader?" A female disciple put down the gourd she was using to water plants and exclaimed softly.
"It must be the Sect Master! In our sect, besides the Sect Master, who else can fly?" A cute female cultivator with a round, chubby face chimed in, rubbing her aching back. Her cultivation had only just reached the Skin Tempering Realm, and after working for most of the day, even a cultivator would feel exhausted.
"I'm so envious... When will I be able to fly freely like the sect leader?" The first female cultivator to speak cupped her cheeks, her eyes full of longing.
"Alright, stop daydreaming." The chubby-faced female cultivator chuckled and poked her arm. "Flying requires reaching the Marrow Infusion Realm, and whether we'll even be able to touch that threshold in our lifetime is another matter!"
The female cultivator retorted defiantly, "How do you know I can't do it if I haven't even tried? So what if I have poor talent? I've heard many people say that our sect has a mysterious cultivation technique that can directly enhance one's cultivation talent!"
As she spoke, she crept closer, their full chests almost touching.
The round-faced female cultivator rolled her eyes and quickly took a half step back to create some distance, silently complaining in her heart: Our sect is full of women, and the yin energy is very heavy. Don't try to turn me gay.
"Where did these rumors come from? I've never heard of them before!"
"Who told you to spend all your time farming and cooped up in your room cultivating? The whole academy's been talking about it for days!"
"It's definitely fake!" The chubby-faced female cultivator pouted. "Changing one's cultivation talent isn't that easy. It requires rare and precious materials; there's no cultivation technique that can achieve that so easily..."
The streaks of light in the sky gradually slowed down, and Zhang Ping, suspended in mid-air, looked down.
The sect's buildings had expanded to cover half of Bobo Mountain, with over eight hundred disciples scattered throughout the mountainside. Spirit fields, herb gardens, training grounds, and the library were all bustling with activity. Fortunately, during the initial recruitment process, appearance and physique had been considered, resulting in all the young women possessing delicate features. Since the sect hadn't yet established a uniform, the girls dressed in diverse styles, each with their own unique charm, making for a pleasing sight to behold.
Zhang Ping couldn't help but nod in satisfaction, thinking to himself: Hmm, there are still too few people. After things have calmed down, I'll have Shu Yi go down the mountain to recruit another batch of disciples.
A moment later, Zhang Ping landed in the sect leader's courtyard on the mountaintop.
At the stone table in the courtyard, Dongfang Shuyi was organizing the sect's account books. Upon seeing Zhang Ping return, he immediately stood up and quickly went to greet him, bowing respectfully: "Master, you're back."
"Hmm." Zhang Ping nodded slightly and asked directly, "During my absence these past few days, has anything happened in the sect?"
He was away for five whole days investigating the strange deaths, and apart from him, there were no other cultivators at the Nascent Soul Realm in the sect. He was always worried about this.
"Reporting to Master, everything has been peaceful in the sect these past few days." Dongfang Shuyi replied softly, "I have also tightened the distribution of sect missions and suspended all missions that require leaving the sect's headquarters, so that all disciples can stay on the mountain."
As she spoke, she recounted to Zhang Ping all the news she had received from the outside world over the past few days. Zhang Ping listened, and as the information he had gathered confirmed the details, he slowly nodded.
He walked to the stone table and sat down. With a flick of his finger, he pulled out a large pile of things from his storage space: cultivation manuals, magic weapons of various grades, talismans, spiritual herbs, a small pile of neatly arranged spirit coins, and a lot of miscellaneous rare and precious materials.
"I picked these things up on the way. You can take them to the sect's storeroom later," Zhang Ping said casually.
"Yes, Master." Dongfang Shuyi responded and stepped forward to tidy up, but her double eyelids twitched almost imperceptibly. In her heart, she thought to herself: Master's luck is too good. Every time he goes out, he can "find" so many good things. I wonder which blind "kind people" specially gave them to Master.
After Dongfang Shuyi left with the things, Zhang Ping leaned back on the stone chair and sighed heavily.
"Sigh, we need to find a way to improve these disciples' talents as soon as possible. Otherwise, their cultivation levels will remain stagnant, and the sect's output will be far too poor."
Relying on him, the sect leader, to go out and "scavenge" things to supplement the sect's income is ultimately not a long-term solution. Zhang Ping has now fully realized just how difficult it is to start a sect from scratch.
Even more critically, the sect suffers from a severe power imbalance. Apart from him, the sect leader at the Divine Integration Realm, there isn't a single strong individual capable of holding the line. If he were to leave the sect for an extended period, and a powerful enemy were to attack, no one would be able to withstand the onslaught.