Sect Leader Token

Leaving Taoyuan and arriving at Yangliu Bay halfway, I recalled events from months ago and couldn't help but sigh.

Lu Zi'an, Ping Gu, and the Hermit of Xishan – one about to reach Foundation Establishment, one at the fifth level of Qi Refining, and one at the eighth level of Qi Refining – all toiled diligently on the path of cultivation for decades, only to fail and turn to dust. Was this their fate?

And what about his own fate?

The Quchi acupoint on the Jueyin Hand Meridian suddenly began to throb violently, making Liu Xiaolou both surprised and anxious.

He was pleased that the five spirit stones consumed during the artifact refining of the formation disk hadn't been wasted. The spiritual energy contained within had been converted into true essence to some extent, greatly aiding his attempt to break through the Quchi acupoint. The Quchi acupoint was on the verge of being unblocked.

He was anxious because he needed to quickly find a safe and stable place to attempt to break through the acupoint, lest he be disturbed.

The nearest place was, of course, the residence Ping Gu had lived in. Liu Xiaolou hurried there, climbed over the wall, and entered. The courtyard had been abandoned for months and was now overgrown with weeds.

He casually entered a room, immediately held a spirit stone, converted it into true essence, and sat in meditation to attempt to break through the Quchi acupoint.

After many days, at a certain moment, the Quchi acupoint could no longer withstand the repeated impact of the true essence. It was broken through by the torrent of true essence and flowed into the acupoint's pool.

Three of the nine acupoints on the Jueyin Hand Meridian had been opened. This took half a year in total. Calculating it, this cultivation speed was quite fast. The main reason was the several small windfalls he had experienced continuously over the past year, and the fact that he was the only one in the Three Xuan Sect to enjoy the spirit stones.

Of course, his achievements couldn't compare to the disciples of those famous sects. They didn't worry about spiritual energy at all, cultivating by spirit springs, and their Qi Refining cultivation was soaring. He couldn't help but envy that.

However, among rogue cultivators, at eighteen years old… ah, now nineteen, at nineteen years old being at the third level of Qi Refining should be considered a rising star. Wei Hongqing was also only at the third level of Qi Refining when he was nineteen. His own progress was half a year faster than his!

Liu Xiaolou was in a good mood. He got up and took a short stroll in the courtyard. He remembered that he had arrived in a hurry that day and had focused on searching for people when inspecting the courtyard, not on valuables. If he searched again now, he might find something valuable.

He rummaged through chests and cabinets and, sure enough, found a small wooden box in a hidden compartment behind the head of the bed. Inside were several small silver ingots, worth about twenty taels, which was a small windfall.

Besides the silver ingots, there was also a thick stack of letters, all written by Lu Zi'an to Ping Gu, thirteen in total. Liu Xiaolou casually flipped through them and found that the time span covered over three years.

In the first few letters, Lu Zi'an's writing was full of teasing, and the content mainly focused on lower body matters. This showed that his attitude towards knowing and being intimate with Ping Gu was mostly driven by desire, with a touch of novelty-seeking.

In the middle letters, his language gradually returned to normal. They contained content about him stepping in to help Ping Gu resolve several troublesome matters, with occasional boasts. Ping Gu's replies were not in the box, but he imagined they were mostly full of gratitude, giving Lu Zi'an a sense of accomplishment.

Lu Zi'an also gradually recounted major events he encountered in his letters. Especially in the last few letters, he told Ping Gu that Tianmu Mountain was going to select inner disciples, and he had a great chance of entering the inner sect and obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill, thus entering the ranks of Foundation Establishment cultivators. He spoke of how things would be then…

In the second to last letter, Lu Zi'an expressed great unease. He said that his cultivation among outer disciples was top-tier, and he was originally the most favored. However, in the past few months, several minor incidents had greatly diminished his impression in the minds of the sect elders. The sect generally favored another female disciple named Lu Yanshi, and he suspected that these incidents might have been orchestrated by Lu Yanshi.

In the last letter, Lu Zi'an cursed Lu Yanshi, calling her unscrupulous and a black-hearted woman. He even described Lu Yanshi using a poisonous spider called the black widow, saying she lived up to her name and must have been transformed from such a venomous creature in a past life!

In addition, he said that Lu Yanshi was promiscuous and used her beauty to please others. Certain sect elders and disciples were her supporters, whom she had slept her way into. She also kept unsavory characters and gigolos outside, whom she commanded to run errands for her, and so on.

At the end of the letter, he said he was going to take Ping Gu on a journey of a thousand miles to start a new life. He also told Ping Gu not to worry, as he knew of an ancient immortal's cave dwelling in the land of Bashu. He knew its approximate location and planned to take Ping Gu there to explore it, thus embarking on the great path of cultivation, flying together, and reaching great heights.

After reading them, Liu Xiaolou was filled with emotion. He never expected that the case of the stolen Foundation Establishment Pill from Tianmu Mountain would be due to such a reason.

After thinking for a moment, he put the letters back into the wooden box and prepared to hand them over to Wei Hongqing at an opportune moment for him to read.

Lu Zi'an described many people and events at Tianmu Mountain from his personal perspective in his letters. Wei Hongqing was now affiliated with the Lu clan of Tianmu Mountain. He didn't know if he had become an outer disciple of Tianmu Mountain as he had wished, but gaining more insight into the inner workings of Tianmu Mountain would be beneficial to him.

On the kitchen beam of the residence, several pieces of cured meat were still hanging. Liu Xiaolou unceremoniously took them down and filled his stomach.

While eating, he remembered the gift from Lord Xingde. After witnessing such a secret, his curiosity was piqued, and he could no longer restrain himself. He finally broke his promise and opened the wooden box.

There were only two items in the wooden box. One was a Daoist scripture, made of mulberry bark paper, which was quite thick. The scripture was called "Qianji Fang" and it cataloged the eighteen categories of materials used in refining formation disks. For each category, it described several main specific materials and provided examples of which materials were similar and could be substituted.

This Daoist scripture was clearly not a copy, at least not one made in the past few months. It looked old.

Beneath the "Qianji Fang" lay a wooden plaque carved from rosewood. The front was engraved with the words "Purple Extreme Sect Token," and the back bore the sect's rules from the founding ancestor, Shen Wulu:

"Without contemplating the scriptures and relying on external tools, how can one attain the Dao? Man is the Dao; by remaining steadfast, one only seeks artifacts. It is like a person living at home, never going out; they cannot perceive the Dao!"

This statement was likely meant to admonish future disciples not to rely solely on artifact refining to cultivate the Dao; scriptures were also very important.

A secret manual of the Purple Extreme Sect and a sect token, what did it mean?

Recalling his several months of interaction with Lord Xingde and remembering every detail of Lord Xingde's guidance during the formation disk refining, Liu Xiaolou roughly understood. Was Lord Xingde intending to pass on the legacy of the Purple Extreme Sect to him?

He took out his own sect leader token of the Three Xuan Sect and placed it alongside the sect leader token of the Purple Extreme Sect. Both tokens were very similar, ancient. As he turned and rubbed them, he couldn't help but let out a wry smile.

Given his life-saving grace towards Lord Xingde, Liu Xiaolou felt that Lord Xingde's actions were not unreasonable. However, he was the sect leader of the Three Xuan Sect, and now he was to become the sect leader of the Purple Extreme Sect. What kind of situation was this?

He suddenly remembered that since Lord Xingde was willing to give him the position of sect leader, why was he unwilling to let him stay at Xingde Temple?

Liu Xiaolou suddenly realized. Lord Xingde was leaving, and he was fleeing!

Why was he fleeing?

Naturally, it was to elope!