Insufficient funds

Su Bai flew through the clouds on his sword, returning from the Yunhai Spirit Plain. By the time the rolling mountains of the Qingshan Spirit Plain came into view again, more than ten days had passed.

It was early April, and spring was in full bloom.

Inside and outside the Jade Mist Sect, everything brimmed with life.

The Jade Mist Sect's outer sect and inner sect were full of vitality.

The Foundation Establishment Elders each had their own arrangements as well.

Su Bai's return caused little stir.

He passed quietly through the sect gate's grand formation and flew straight to his Qingyun Cliff Cave Abode, as though he had merely taken an ordinary short trip.

Throughout the sect, very few knew that he had left this time to settle grievances in the mortal world.

In the eyes of most fellow disciples, a cultivator's ties to the mortal world were merely insignificant bonds of dust, best left to scatter with the wind.

Not long after his return, good news spread throughout the Jade Mist Sect.

Wan Haoran, the Lightning Court's exceptionally gifted elder with a single spirit root, had recently brought his cultivation to fruition during seclusion and successfully condensed a Golden Core!

With the Golden Core formed, he had caught his first glimpse of the Great Dao!

This was a grand occasion the sect had not seen in a hundred years!

It meant that the Jade Mist Sect's high-end combat strength had gained another pillar capable of overawing an entire region, raising the sect's fortune and reserves in turn.

Golden Core cultivators enjoyed long lifespans of up to five hundred years. They could sit and watch mortal dynasties change and lineages rise and fall, having truly entered the upper ranks of the cultivation world.

For this reason, the sect decided