This move was also a divine ability, however, it in itself was devoid of any offensive nature. Only after fusion did it become progressively more powerful! 

In Xu Yangyi’s heart, there was a sliver of extremely light recognition towards Daomaster Ancientpine. Truly, not every Dao Master was willing to part with such a precious item. Even though his ultimate goal was perhaps not so seemingly beautiful, to say the least now, this gift still touched him a little. If this sentiment was said to be hell-bent, though, then that was too mawkishly sentimental.

“There are some things… in the surroundings of Danxia Temple… that I should still look at.” Xu Yangyi gazed at the starry sky, as if looking upon the gargantuan fish tail from that day and the lotus flowers that blotted the sky and covered the earth.

“Everything… starts from the lotus sea… As for the lotus sea, all present threads point at Danxia Temple… If I don’t go look, my heart will be restless and my thoughts disorderly.” He picked up the telephone. “Get ready. In a month, the Xingtian Legion will begin recruitment!”

“Commander!” Peony’s voice on the other end of the line was incredibly excited. “W-We’re finally going to start our first mission?!”

“That’s right.” Xu Yangyi smirked. “This time, I’ll be personally doing the examination!” His gaze chilled. “As for those without sufficient qualifications, talents, or people with the mindset of joining to carelessly get resources, keep ‘em all outside the door for me!”

“Our Xingtian Legion only recruits true geniuses! Comparable to the legionnaires of the ten S-rank legions, divine dragons unseen in either head or tail!” 

“Yes! I understand! Got it!” Peony was even more excited than him. “Tomorrow! I’ll post an advance notice on the cultivation net tomorrow! No worries! Commander, I know about the auction business! This time, there’s absolutely going to be crowds of outstanding individuals coming together! Enough to make you choose in perfect satisfaction, sir!”

Far exceeding his imagination, the speed of this news spread even faster!

In a heavily guarded villa in Ninghai Province, a soft light-screen was clearly broadcasting everything from the day of the auction. In front of the screen, there were five middle-aged and elderly men seated at the lead. On their chests, there were different-shaped clan emblems pinned on.

Their expressions were incomparably solemn, and they stared fixedly at the light screen, not uttering a word. Behind them, there were also over a dozen people seated. Their ages were young, some of them eighteen or nineteen and the oldest no more than thirty. However, their faces were colored with shock and incredulity.

Whish…

 After an unknown amount of time, the light screen died out, yet the old man at the lead said unquestionably, his voice somewhat raspy, “Play it again.”

No one whatsoever objected.

After approximately two hours, the scene on the light screen ended again. The room was a stretch of deathly stillness.

“This is top secret information that Beijing’s Meng Clan passed onto us…” After an unknown length of time, the leading old man then turned around and casually waved his hand. The entire room was suffused with a wave of soft brightness. “Right now, the low-ranked clans are completely unaware. The higher-ranked clans also seem to have no intention of letting the low-ranked clans know…”

“How can this be?!” An old man anxiously stood up. “We can only approach the first-rate clans. If it weren’t for the fact that you’re a branch of the Meng Clan, Old Meng, perhaps we still wouldn’t have been able to receive this jade slip! The Dao of Pills has come into the world… How big of an event is this?! The cultivation world should jointly cooperate on this great undertaking! Why is it that only the top clans and powers are aware?!”

“Can the second-rate clans afford it?” The elderly man surnamed Meng snorted. “You saw those top secret images. What was the price stormed up? For a single pill! The Meng Clan’s high lord specifically reminded the pill master to approach a power. The pill master is also at the beginning of the Pill Dao. In the next few years to even a dozen, medicinal pills might only come out in a single count. As for not letting the second-rate clans know…”

He paused and said solemnly, “This is the intention of the Core Formation ancestors.”

No one spoke any further. Everyone knew this was a kind of formless protection. If there were many people who knew, the human heart muddled, and news that the pill master’s realm wasn’t high, nobody would be able to bear the price in case some deranged cultivator recklessly found the other!

“What I want to talk about isn’t this business.” The old man surnamed Meng took a cup of fragrant tea at the side and said heavily, “Meng Tiankuo.”

“Present!” A handsome and dashing youth around seventeen or eighteen years old immediately stood up. He cupped his fist and bowed. “Please instruct me, Ancestor.”

“If I haven’t remembered incorrectly… although you’re not ranked on Chinacultivation’s Qi Condensation Tiger Ranking, you’re rank eighty-seven on the CSIB’s Top 100 Strongest Qi Condensation Cultivators.”

“Yes.”

“Very good…” Old Man Meng set down his teacup, and he looked towards another long-haired female cultivator, as if he was rather familiar with her. “Yue Baocha, you are twenty-nine years old and have already stepped into the middle stage of Qi Condensation. You’re aptitude is uncommon. In our five great clans of Ninghai, have you also not just begun touching upon the gateway of the Yue Clan’s Flowing Wind, Returning Snow Law?”

“Yes, Clan Elder Meng.”

The old man wordlessly looked towards a few people. “Qiu Hong, you are twenty-one years old and at the peak of the initial stage of Qi Condensation. Although the Qiu Clan’s Brightmoon Heart Art is in no way smoothly cultivated, you have an eidetic memory and are moreover exceptionally sensitive to numbers. While you are a youth, you treat people maturely. To hold half of the Qiu Clan’s financial resources by yourself at your tender age, you are a talent.” 

“Sima Gong, your Sima Clan’s Great Art of Falling Leaf, Harkening Wind has been passed down since the beginning of the Tang dynasty. It is the oldest clan among our several clan inheritances. Your acuity concerning the qi of any biological movement is your greatest advantage.”

“Yan Ningshuang, the Yan Clan’s Five-Phases Blade of Returning Wind, Dancing Willow attacks the enemy in the light and dispenses them in the dark. To a team, all of you are indispensable heavy-firepower cultivators…”

All the clan elders faintly knitted their brows, not knowing Old Man Meng’s intention in saying this.

“All of you listen up to what I’m going to say next…” The old man looked into the eyes of each person he had just called out and said solemnly, “All of you are our Ninghai Province’s most excellent young cultivators with the best talents. Tomorrow, you will set out immediately and go straight to Mingshui Province’s Panshan City!”

“Old Meng, why?” 

“What’s the meaning of this?”

“Our Yan Clan’s Ningshuang is just preparing to enter seclusion. Old Meng, what are your intentions?”

Shortly, several clan elders asked questions. Old Meng suddenly slammed a table and said loudly, “Seclusion! Seclusion! All you know is seclusion! Do you still not know of the enormous affair that happened outside?!”

“Yes! The second-rate clans don’t know! Our Ninghai Province doesn’t have a first-rate clan! It was thanks to my relationship to the clan master that I found out! Don’t you know…” His eyes were flushed somewhat red. “The pill master’s sole contact is named Xu Yangyi! The person involved with the Vermilion Snow Incident from that year!”

“Don’t you know he’s presently the Xingtian Legion’s commander! An A-rank legion seed!”

“Aren’t you aware that the Xingtian Legion is about to recruit legionnaires!” He tightly locked his eyes on each person. “What kind of an opportunity is this?! Just a while ago, that auction only used middle-grade spirit stones. The Xingtian Legion is allocated with a surplus of 200,000 pieces! Moreover, that’s not to say…”

He didn’t finish speaking, panting for air and sitting down. The crowd remained filled with shock.

The Yan Clan elder, a middle-aged man, was the very first to react. His eyes swiftly reddened, and he said hoarsely, “Moreover not to say… if there’s an opportunity to get in touch with the pill master, our Y-Yan C-C-Clan will…”

Flourish and develop!

These three words didn’t leave his mouth, but everyone present thought of this. All that remained was coarse and heavy breathing that filled the room.

“This is the only thing that I still haven’t immediately determined. The Meng Clan… also passed on a message…” Old Meng said, his voice carrying incomparable envy, “Just then, the Meng Clan’s special envoy met in secret with Commander Xu. On his chest… there was a shield-shaped pine tree…”

“Hiss…” 

“Heavens…” 

“T-This is…”

The room was a stretch of cold gasps.

Everyone clearly understood the ten Core Formation greats, their insignias, and their disciples. If not a disciple or sect member, the insignia couldn’t be worn! 

Thinking back on how they saw Ancestor Ancientpine’s attitude towards Xu Yangyi on the light screen, everyone realized one thing! This… While their inheritances were inadequate and their strength insufficient, this was a titanic fortune for clans with gifted disciples!

As long as they entered the Xingtian Legion, and with the pill master behind it, even if medicinal pills couldn’t be used regularly, a single one occasionally was already enough! In addition… there was also the reliance of Ancestor Ancientpine’s sect for protection! Subordinates of a Core Formation master!

“I am willing!” 

“Junior is also willing!” 

“Me too!” 

Without nearly any further consideration, the five talented youths, who had been called out, promptly cupped their hands.

“Good, good! This is a cultivator of my Ninghai Province!” Old Meng took a long sigh and looked at them earnestly. “You must remember, according to the Meng Clan’s information, the Xingtian Legion’s recruitment is in a month. You definitely won’t be able to clearly see through any competitor. A chance so great isn’t limited to just the first-rate clans… even the clans at the top of the first-rate clans are absolutely tempted!”

“When the time comes, the entire nation’s best geniuses will converge in one hall. If you are selected, good. Even if you aren’t, we still can’t squander this chance!”

“Without daring to try and compete, one will forever be unable to act as an apex cultivator!”

Meanwhile, in an unknown number of provinces, a number of clan branches and sub sects who held connections with the first-rate clans that had attended the day of the auction all received a great majority of this jade-slip imprint.

“Clan Elder, this is the imprint that Shanghai’s Gao Clan used a Shadowblink Talisman to send.” In a broad building in Lingxi Province, a cultivator’s eyes glimmered after he received a flying jade-slip in the air, and he immediately phoned his clan elder.

“Bring it at once.” In a wide office, a square-faced middle-aged man was at a three-meter-long table holding a meeting with a few other high-level executives. After he put down the telephone, he furrowed his brows. “Could it be… that the Gao Clan is spreading something big?”

“It shouldn’t be… They’re already a first-rate clan, an inheritance of six centuries. They have four Foundation Establishment Seniors in their house and one at the Great Circle… however, they didn't use a communication tool to transmit this, but rather a Shadowblink Talisman. Although the speed is the same, the cost is a hundred middle-grade spirit stones…” A woman beside him said doubtfully and laughed. “In fact, in the modern era, the market for Shadowblink Talismans is small. The internet is really the mortals’ greatest invention.”

“Hehe… Our Cui Clan’s distribution market is quickly being squeezed out of business by some Jingdong and Tmall… If it weren’t for a few great Dao Masters still taking care of their sects’ distribution businesses, our Cui Clan… wouldn’t have even been allowed to stay as a first-rate clan…” Another man laughed wryly.

[1]

“Sometimes, I really want to slap these mortals to death…” The square-faced man laughed bitterly as well. At the same time, a jade slip flew in.

“Let’s see what the Gao Clan has to say.” With a casual wave of the hand, a light screen appeared inside the room.

An hour passed and two hours passed. After a full three hours… the light screen had faded away. In the end, it was frozen in frame on Xu Yangyi’s face.

Confronted with this young face, each one of the several present people lacked their prior serenity. Instead their breathing was becoming gradually ragged, and their gazes increasingly fiery! 

“The Xingtian Legion… Xingtian Legion!” The square-faced man suddenly slammed the table and stood up. Great Circle Qi Condensation spiritual pressure caused the air in his vicinity to start trembling. “Right now, right now! Get the top three from the Cui Clan’s last competition to come to the martial garden at once! I… am personally going to test them!”

“Elder,” a woman immediately said, “Yuan’er is still in seclusion.”

“What seclusion?! When?! Get him out now! Right now! Immediately!”

1. Jingdong and Tmall are two e-commerce businesses in China.

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