Forming a Team

The Nine Provinces Situation Strategy records major events happening in the cultivation world.

The most significant event last month was undoubtedly the Nine Doubts Immortal, the sect leader of Mist Hidden Immortal Mountain, emerging from seclusion. He battled the left and right guardians of the Nether King Sect at Furnace Mountain, directly killing the Silver King and severely injuring the Purple Gold Marquis, who then fled.

As one of the giants of the demonic path, the Nether King Sect has been developing with increasing momentum in recent years, even showing signs of coming into the open. The Nine Doubts Immortal's decisive action this time can be considered a major blow to them. It remains to be seen how the mysterious sect leader of the Nether King Sect will respond.

Another event is the emergence of a new female disciple named Luo Yao in the Three Absolutes Valley, one of the Ten Earths sects. Her methods are extremely ruthless. Traveling through the southern region, she has already wiped out three evil witch-gu sects within a month.

The key is that the Three Absolutes Valley itself is established in the world based on the three absolutes of witchcraft, gu, and poison, belonging to a major sect that is both righteous and evil. With Luo Yao being so fiercely opposed to evil, one wonders if her fellow disciples are trembling.

The Mount Shu also made an appearance in this month's Nine Provinces Situation Strategy, but it was only briefly mentioned. A few days ago, Wang Xuanling, the peak master of Jade Sword Peak of the Mount Shu, killed a Jiaolong in the East Sea that was stirring up trouble and harming fishing boats.

When Chu Liang saw this news, he suddenly felt a wave of worry. His master has always been at odds with Wang Xuanling. Given her temper, it would be strange if she could restrain herself after Wang Xuanling did something that gained him face.

He wasn't worried about his master's safety, but rather a little worried about the ecosystem of the East Sea...

As if sensing something in the unseen, just as this thought arose, he saw a flash of fire shoot up into the sky not far away, heading straight southeast. A voice transmission drifted on the wind: "Your master is going out for a few days, take good care of yourself!"

"..." Chu Liang was silent for a moment.

Ah, my master, always so competitive.

Finally, there was the "Jianghu Anecdotes," which the common people enjoyed the most.

Compared to the serious and formal "Nine Provinces Situation Strategy," "Jianghu Anecdotes" was more entertaining, mostly consisting of gossip and scandals.

For example, the first piece of news was that when the Emperor of the Yu Dynasty previously inspected the Rising Dragon Academy, he intended to arrange a marriage between his youngest daughter, Jingyang Princess, and Zhang Chen, the chief disciple of the Rising Dragon Academy. However, Zhang Chen actually refused.

The reason he gave was that romantic relationships would affect his studies.

Rising Dragon Academy is the foremost academy of Confucianism, backed by the imperial court, and is one of the top sects among the Ten Earths. As the chief disciple of Rising Dragon Academy, it is certain that Zhang Chen will have a bright future, whether he dedicates himself to cultivation or enters officialdom. With this refusal, his future has suddenly become somewhat unpredictable.

The Emperor wasn't the only father troubled by his daughter's marriage.

The fortress lord of Thunder Fortress, one of the Ten Earths sects, also sent out a message, willing to offer ten heavy treasures as a betrothal gift to recruit a worthy son-in-law for his only daughter, Huang Ling'er. Yet, none of the heroes of the Nine Provinces dared to accept.

Of course, there was a hidden reason for this.

This was the son-in-law of Thunder Fortress, even if he were a live-in son-in-law... there would definitely be no shortage of young talents with excellent character and cultivation applying.

The reason why no one dared to come was because Huang Ling'er had already issued a harsh statement: anyone who wanted to marry her had better have a higher cultivation than her, otherwise, on the first day of entering the household, they would become food for her Dragon Tooth Mammoth.

Among the many anecdotes, Shu Mountain still only had one piece of news on the list.

It was that Jiang Yuebai, known as Immortal Jiang on Shu Mountain, was seen having dinner with Feng Chaoyang of the Heavenly King Sect at the Jiangnan Drunken Moon Pavilion, suspected of having an ambiguous relationship.

Of course, the Tian Shu Pavilion would not fabricate things based on rumors. Before confirming their relationship, they would only use "suspected" to describe it.

However, one can imagine that this news alone is enough to break the hearts of many of Immortal Jiang's supporters.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"My Jiang Jiang would never be abducted by that bad boy from the Heavenly King Sect!"

"Immortal Jiang! Please! Keep your love in the Mount Shu!"

"..."

On the vast white plaza in front of the Boundless Palace, desperate roars could be heard from time to time.

Occasionally, there would be dissenting voices from female disciples.

"Just because you like Immortal Jiang doesn't mean you have to belittle Feng Chaoyang, right? He's the ideal man, hardworking and kind!"

"Exactly, exactly. At nineteen, he's already the most promising contender for the Chief Disciple position of the Heavenly King Sect. When will you sour grapes catch up to even half of him?"

"..."

The joys and sorrows of others were not his own; Chu Liang only found them noisy.

He calmly walked through the crowd, crossing the entire plaza. The four halls of the Mount Shu were located on the edges of this plaza.

Among them, besides the Discipline Hall which was in charge of the sect's laws and regulations, the Sword Transmission Hall was responsible for magical treasures and weapons, the Guardian Hall for divine abilities and techniques, and the Pill Hall for elixirs and talismans.

These three halls would have many items listed for Shu Mountain disciples to purchase with Sword Coins.

The tasks Chu Liang had completed so far had earned him twenty Sword Coins. This was certainly not enough to buy magical treasures or scriptures, but he could buy some elixirs for cultivation.

He went to the Pill Hall and bought four Spirit Gathering Pills for the Divine Intent Realm. With the help of these few pills, he believed he would soon break through to the mid-stage Divine Intent Realm.

Compared to other disciples, he could save all his Sword Coins to exchange for elixirs, which was a considerable benefit.

After leaving the Pill Hall, he went to the Sword Exchange Pavilion.

His steps in doing tasks and eliminating demons could not stop. Since he had the white tower in hand, he had to make full use of it.

It wasn't good to ask Old Shen for help choosing tasks every time, so this time he planned to pick one himself. In the main hall of the Sword Exchange Pavilion, several jade boards were hung high, with task slips changing rapidly on them. Especially the one for the Divine Intent Realm, which had so many tasks it was dazzling.

After only a few glances, he heard someone shouting over there: "Picking Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower! Generous reward, just need one more Divine Intent Realm cultivator, leaving immediately! Led by a Golden Core Realm senior brother, absolutely safe!"

"Picking Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower..." The one shouting was a young disciple dressed in black brocade, with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a sharp gaze, looking full of vitality at first glance.

Behind him stood three other disciples, two male and one female, who seemed to be with him.

Human-Faced Jade Essence Flower...

Chu Liang pondered for a moment. He wasn't sure where this item needed to be picked. But he knew that tasks that required multiple people usually indicated a higher difficulty or facing many demons.

Tasks with many demons were good tasks.

So he proactively walked over and smiled, "Hello, I can join you."

Although he didn't know these few people, they were all Shu Mountain disciples, like one family, so there wouldn't be any estrangement.

"Eh?" The black-clothed youth was delighted upon hearing this and immediately smiled and pulled Chu Liang over. "That's great! Come on, let's quickly get the task slip first. My name is Lin Bei, what's your name?"

"Chu Liang."

"Brother Chu, let me tell you, this task is very popular."

With the number of people complete, Lin Bei familiarly stepped forward to help the few people claim the task slip, then returned to distribute them to everyone.

After handing one to Chu Liang, he also enthusiastically asked, "Brother Chu, we are from Jade Sword Peak, which peak are you from?"

Chu Liang replied, "I am from Silver Sword Peak."