Floating Immortal Order

Chapter 104: Heart Refining Mountain

Chapter 104: Heart Refining Mountain

Back at Sect Affairs Hall, Luo Zheng furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Xu Disheng and Wei Tianhe. “Wait here just a moment, you two. I need to first pass this on to the Deacon of Sect Affairs Hall, then we will discuss this matter in more detail.”

After all, the death of two Dao Foundation stage disciples was no small matter.

If a Sea of Qi stage disciple died while carrying out a sect mission, the sect would just erase their record and confiscate their personal property. They wouldn’t care too much about it.

But Dao Foundation stage disciples could already be considered to be an important foundation of the Shangqing Sacred Sect. Losing any one of them was the sect’s direct loss.

After a while, Luo Zheng came back from the rear hall and glanced at Xu Disheng. “Come on in,” he said.

Xu Disheng nodded, entering the hall with Wei Tianhe.

A young black-robed man was sitting in the hall with a record jade slip in hand, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Luo Zheng brought the two in, then respectfully stood off to the side.

The black-robed man continued to look at the jade slip, not lifting his gaze to look at them before speaking. “So you two said there were two Evil Spirits at Miaohua Mountain. And Dao Foundation stage disciples Ying Wei and Luo Chengyi both died on Miaohua Mountain?”

Xu Disheng nodded and replied, “That’s correct.”

The black-robed man’s aura became turbulent. He lifted his gaze, a cold light flashing within. “Setting aside the fact that two Evil Spirits shouldn’t have stood a chance against two Dao Foundation stage disciples in the first place… Why were the two of you able to escape while those two Dao Foundation stage disciples died?”

He put down the record jade slip in his hand and continued, “In the image jade slip submitted by some of the other disciples who undertook this mission with you and returned yesterday, there were over a dozen Malicious Spirits. They were only able to escape by relying on the power of a Magic Treasure. How did the two of you manage to escape?”

Xu Disheng’s expression remained unchanged as he stepped forward and responded, “Lord Deacon, I also have an image jade slip to verify my word.”

The black-robed man paused, then glanced at Xu Disheng and nodded.

He handed the image jade slip to Luo Zheng, who had been standing to one side in attendance. He respectfully passed it to the black-robed man.

The black-robed man received the jade slip and examined it carefully.

Recorded within was the moment when Xu Disheng and Wei Tianhe flew up the mountain, and Xu Disheng shouted, ‘Martial Uncle, we’ve come to save you!’. It captured the moment when Xu Disheng suppressed one of the Evil Spirits, and lasted until the moment right before Luo Chengyi was about to speak.

The black-robed man took a good look at Xu Disheng, his eyebrows furrowing. In his mind, he had some recollection of hearing about this Yin Yang Diagram in the past few days.

He put down the jade slip and said, “Are you Xu Disheng? If you are, then that Yin Yang Diagram must be your Magic Treasure. I can accept the fact that the two of you managed to make it out of there.”

Wei Tianhe let out a sigh of relief. But before he could secretly celebrate, the man’s cold voice reached his ears once more.

“Seeing that the image jade slip stops here, you two clearly abandoned Luo Chengyi and escaped. Am I right?”

Wei Tianhe’s heart tightened once more. He didn’t dare to respond in the slightest. He simply lowered his head and cast a fleeting glance over at Xu Disheng from time to time.

“That’s right!” Xu Disheng said, raising his head. He continued in a flat tone, “Under the circumstances at the time, Martial Uncle Luo was already an arrow at the end of its flight, without the least bit of combat power remaining. The two of us didn’t stand a chance against that Evil Spirit. Staying there would have been no different from sending ourselves to our deaths.”

“And besides,” Xu Disheng said, ripples appearing in his bright, radiant eyes, “I took down an Evil Spirit myself, so the medium-scale mission should already be considered complete! Therefore, I believe the two of us should be cleared of any misgivings, and instead be rewarded for this achievement! I would still ask Lord Deacon to give us this time’s mission reward!”

The black-robed man’s complexion turned even colder as the aura around him became even heavier. He glared directly at Xu Disheng as if he wanted to make Xu Disheng bow to him.

However, Xu Disheng’s eyes were unclouded as he met the black-robed man’s gaze in a neither overbearing nor servile manner.

Just as Wei Tianhe thought the black-robed man was going to explode with anger… His face spread into a smile, like the melting of snow and ice. The black-robed man waved his hand with an amused look and said, “Not bad. Luo Zheng, they passed the mission investigation. Go ahead and give them their reward.”

Wei Tianhe’s face was full of disbelief. He never could have imagined that the two of them would not only be cleared of suspicion, but also given the reward for completing the mission!

Xu Disheng gave a polite bow, as if he had already anticipated this to happen. Then, he turned and left the rear hall of Sect Affairs Hall.

Wei Tianhe didn’t dare to stay any longer, hurriedly following after him.

After a while, Luo Zheng came out with a storage pouch and said, “Junior Martial Brother Xu, since this time’s mission wasn’t considered fully complete, the reward is only about half the amount. You two can split it amongst yourselves.”

Xu Disheng received the storage pouch and said lightly, “Thank you, Senior Martial Brother Luo.”

His expression becoming even more amicable, Luo Zheng said, “I’ll be sure to keep an eye on you in the next round of the main tournament in a few days, Junior Martial Brother Xu.”

After that, he patted Xu Disheng on the shoulder and returned to his position behind the massive desk.

As it turned out, Xu Disheng’s phantom image portrait had already become widespread among the Sea of Qi stage disciples in the last few days. They even knew of the cultivation methods he practiced and the two Magic Treasures he had.

When Xu Disheng looked inside the storage pouch, his pupils contracted in surprise.

There was a grand total of 1,100 spirit stones within! Wouldn’t that mean that the total mission reward for this medium-scale mission should have been over 2,000 spirit stones?

Next to him, Wei Tianhe was bashful as he looked at the storage pouch in Xu Disheng’s hand. “Junior Martial Brother Xu, about that…” he started with a smile.

Xu Disheng gave him a sidelong glance and took out 100 spirit stones, placing them next to him. “Is that enough?” he asked.

“That’s enough, more than enough…” Wei Tianhe said. He couldn’t have any complaints at this point. He put away the spirit stones and said, “With these spirit stones, I can make a trip to Heart Refining Mountain. Junior Martial Brother Xu, it seemed like you had some interest in Cultivation Hall when I last mentioned it. Do you want to go in a few days?”

Xu Disheng just happened to be looking for a place to refine all of the remaining souls in the Yin Yang Diagram, so he could raise his fighting strength as much as possible before the next round of the tournament.

Hearing what Wei Tianhe said, Xu Disheng nodded and replied, “I’ll go with you, but let’s go right now.”

Wei Tianhe was originally planning to go back to his own courtyard and have a good, thorough round with his concubines.

That was why there seemed to be a look of hesitation on his face. But after a moment’s thought, he seemed to make up his mind. Readily agreeing, he said, “Since this is your first time going, you probably don’t know where Cultivation Hall is. I’ll be your guide this time, Junior Martial Brother Xu!”

The two of them left Sect Affairs Hall and took out a flying-type Spirit Tool, then started flying in the direction of the Second Mountain, Heart Refining Mountain.

Heart Refining Mountain was ranked second among the Sacred Sect’s mountain ranges, and there was only one hall that belonged to it, which was Cultivation Hall.

Cultivation Hall was extremely famous, and there were several thousand different practice rooms. The most well-known among them were ‘Heart Seeking Road’, ‘Heart Refining Road’, and ‘Severing Heart Road’.

It was rumored that regardless of their current cultivation, those who could make it through the Heart Seeking Road would definitely be able to make it to the almighty Primordial Spirit stage one day.

As for Heart Refining Road, there were only around a dozen people who had completed it in the Shangqing Sacred Sect, in all the years it existed. But all of these people were at the very least Saint Lords by now, able to split their primordial spirit and form clones, controlling the power of creation.

Naturally, regardless of the distance walked along these two Roads, there would be a massive benefit to the cultivation of one’s mind. That was why the price was extremely expensive, and also the reason why Dao Foundation stage disciples and Divine Core stage Spirit Masters flocked to this place so readily.

The other practice rooms below those most famous ones had a huge, all-encompassing amount of variety.

There were places specially set up for body refining, places for practicing puppet control, and there were even places for practicing cultivation methods related to elements such as fire, water, wind, lightning, yin yang, and so on.

There were even practice rooms that would increase the odds of breaking through to the Dao Foundation stage. This was the place that Wei Tianhe wanted to go.

Although cultivating within that practice room would be twice the result with half the effort, the price wasn’t something that ordinary disciples could afford.

Practicing in a typical elemental cultivation method practice room cost 200 spirit stones for a single day!

As for the practice room for breaking through to the Dao Foundation stage, one day cost an entire 600 spirit stones!

It was no wonder that Wei Tianhe had saved up so long just so he could go to that practice room and seek out his foundation in the illusory profound laws.

As they got closer to Heart Refining Mountain, Xu Disheng could see more and more disciples who weren’t from the Mingxin Mountain Range.

Although Mingxin Mountain had several tens of thousands of disciples, and was a flourishing, busy place, the disciples were always rushing about, as if they were pressed for time.

But the disciples in these parts were different. Their cultivation bases seemed more profound, and even the trails of their flying-type Spirit Tools were neat and tidy, without any sense of being in a rush.

There seemed to be an indescribable sense of confidence about each person, and many people were riding on high-grade flying-type Spirit Tools. Even the white Spirit Clouds that were so widespread in the Mingxin Mountain Range were rarely seen here.

Wei Tianhe brought Xu Disheng along with him on a path weaving through the various Peaks of the Heart Refining Mountain Range. On the way, they spotted at least twenty Dao Foundation stage disciples.

If this were the Mingxin Mountain Range, such a sight simply wouldn’t have been possible!

Moreover, the Dao Foundation stage disciples here were all very young. Their odds of breaking through to the Divine Core stage were clearly far higher than those of the Dao Foundation stage Deacons in Mingxin Mountain who were simply biding their time, waiting for death.

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