After swallowing the Myriad Spirit Pill, Zhang Yang felt waves of majestic spiritual power spring forth from his dantian. The efficiency of his Qi Guiding Technique was many times greater than before. What he did not know was that whenever he circulated the Qi Guiding Technique, the spiritual energy around him roiled as though three violet-seed disciples were cultivating at once!
Gu Yunzi's eyes shone brightly as he secretly praised Xia Yunzi's alchemy as truly peerless. The Myriad Spirit Pill had been well worth the enormous price he had paid to obtain it!
Zhang Yang continuously drew in spiritual energy and poured it into the immortal seed, which had cracked open by a tiny fissure. The roots of the immortal sprout within grew at a speed visible to the naked eye, extending outward from the seed. After a while, Zhang Yang felt it was about enough. He stopped circulating the Qi Guiding Technique and poured every scrap of spiritual power in his body into the immortal seed in one rush.
Fed by that vast amount of spiritual energy, the immortal root lengthened once more. In the end, guided by the spiritual power, it rooted itself in Zhang Yang's dantian!
A faint ripple of spiritual energy spread out. Zhang Yang's bearing rose slightly, and Gu Yunzi's already-small eyes immediately crinkled into nothing but two fleshy slits.
"Master, I succeeded! I successfully rooted myself! I rooted myself even before Li Jing and Xu Yu!"
Gu Yunzi was so excited that he wanted to burst into loud laughter, but he still had to preserve some of his master's dignity before his disciple. Suppressing the surging emotions in his heart, he nodded and said, "Gray seeds were never weak to begin with. As long as you win at the starting line, gray seeds may not necessarily lose to violet seeds!"
Those words stirred Zhang Yang immensely. He had a little scheme of his own as well!
Though Zhang Kuang was a violet seed, he had repeatedly run into walls and suffered setbacks before weak-seed Qin Haoxuan. His prestige among his underlings had already greatly diminished. As long as Zhang Yang cultivated diligently, sprouted before them, and then suppressed Qin Haoxuan, those fence-sitters loyal to Zhang Kuang would surely come running to him. If he could display potential before the sect elders that did not lose to violet-seed disciples, he would certainly receive more attention in the future. Perhaps he might even create a legendary tale of a gray seed overpowering violet seeds!
Having rooted himself before even Li Jing and Xu Yu, Zhang Yang's confidence swelled without limit. After this, he believed that nothing was impossible. "Man proposes, heaven disposes" was no empty saying!
Qin Haoxuan had spent the entire night cultivating in the bushes. Throughout the night, he had frantically absorbed spiritual energy, neutralizing the medicinal power of the One-Leaf Golden Lotus and injecting it into his immortal seed. He could feel that the roots of the tiny immortal sprout within had grown a little longer.
Seeing dawn approach, and with Spirit Field Valley not far away, he crawled out of the bushes to avoid causing a sensation. He shook out the frost-stiffened clothes he had taken off, put them back on, and headed toward the schoolhouse.
As he passed Li Jing's house, he sensed a faint disturbance of spiritual energy. Li Jing emerged from his room with a face glowing with satisfaction. The fatigue in his eyes showed that he must have spent the entire night straining to break through Rooting, only to finally succeed at daybreak!
This was the second violet-seed disciple to successfully root himself. The disciples who sensed the spiritual energy fluctuation hurried from their dormitories to gather outside Li Jing's door, offering congratulations one after another!
Amid the crowd of flatterers, Li Jing spotted Qin Haoxuan passing by and greeted him with a smug smile. "Junior Brother Qin, good morning."
Qin Haoxuan returned a polite smile, cupped his hands, and said, "Congratulations, Senior Brother Li, on successfully rooting yourself."
That simple congratulation left Li Jing slightly displeased. But remembering that he still needed Qin Haoxuan to win over Xu Yu, coupled with the joy of Rooting, he remained in an excellent mood. He strode over and said, "I have just successfully rooted myself. Junior Sister Xu has not rooted herself yet, has she? Come, let us go to Junior Sister Xu's room together. I will share my insights and experiences of Rooting with her!"
Li Jing's generosity made the weak-seed disciples look on with immense envy. But Qin Haoxuan merely smiled faintly. Unsolicited courtesy concealed either treachery or theft. If Li Jing had not believed Xu Yu lacked ambition and posed no threat to his future, he would not be using Rooting experience to display his own ability while pulling Xu Yu onto his pirate ship. Would he truly be so kind otherwise?
The spiritual energy fluctuation from Li Jing's successful Rooting naturally alerted Zhang Kuang. He came out of his room and stood at the entrance, watching the triumphantly smug Li Jing in the distance, a trace of disdain flashing across his lips.
Seeing Li Jing's smug expression and the proud, invigorated looks on Li Jing's followers, Zhang Kuang's people were displeased. It was merely Rooting. He had been a full day later than Senior Brother Zhang Kuang—what was there to be proud of? Thus began another round of mockery and verbal sparring.
"Both violet seeds, both starting from the same line. Rooting a day later means you are a whole level weaker. What is there to be happy about? Could they not even understand such a simple truth?"
"Luckily our boss rooted himself first. Otherwise, seeing the way certain people act, they would really think they were number one under heaven."
Before Zhang Kuang's underlings could say much more, Li Jing's brothers could no longer tolerate it and immediately struck back.
"Have you never heard that a brilliant child does not always become a great adult?"
"Wait until you are the first to sprout before saying such things. What did Rooting even count for?"
The verbal sparring was truly grating to the ears. Li Jing raised a hand to stop his underlings from arguing back and said, "No need to say more. Just as Junior Brother Qin said, do not fight over the length of a single day. We will see who is superior when we sprout!"
Li Jing deliberately used Qin Haoxuan's words, then gave him a faint smile. His intention to draw him over and show goodwill could not have been more obvious. When Li Jing mentioned him, Qin Haoxuan only smiled politely, inwardly admiring Li Jing's methods of winning people over. Used on others, they would surely make them even more devoted.
Li Jing's underlings, however, were not nearly as refined as Qin Haoxuan. They chimed in and cheered one after another, endless flattering words such as, "Boss is wise! Boss's broad state of mind is truly a blessing to our sect!"
Watching Qin Haoxuan, who had remained silent throughout, Li Jing, his face glowing from all the flattery, brought it up again. "Come on, let us go to Junior Sister Xu's place. I want to tell her some of my Rooting experience and help her root herself as soon as possible!"
But since Li Jing had taken the initiative, Qin Haoxuan naturally could not refuse on Xu Yu's behalf. Since Li Jing wished to offer this favor and it would benefit Xu Yu without harming her, Qin Haoxuan let him do as he pleased.
Just as they neared the female disciples' dormitory area, they sensed another familiar ripple of spiritual energy from Xu Yu's room. Xu Yu had unexpectedly succeeded in Rooting as well!
Sensing that spiritual energy fluctuation, Li Jing's expression changed drastically. He sighed inwardly that before he had even gotten the chance to offer his goodwill, how had Xu Yu already succeeded in Rooting? He felt endless regret at having missed another excellent chance to win her over.
Yet when Xu Yu stepped out of her room, Li Jing still put on a warm smile, cupped his hands, and congratulated her. "Congratulations, Junior Sister Xu, on successfully rooting yourself as well!"
Xu Yu merely smiled faintly and thanked him. As for the flattery offered by Li Jing's people, she ignored every word of it. She walked straight to Qin Haoxuan's side and said, "Brother Haoxuan, shall we go have breakfast, then attend class?"
"Let us go together." Li Jing laughed and inserted himself into the conversation, trying hard to appear very familiar with the two of them. Without caring whether Qin Haoxuan and Xu Yu agreed, he walked beside them toward the dining hall.
The dining hall lay behind the male disciples' dormitory area. As they headed there and passed Zhang Kuang's residence, they heard another burst of startled cries from that direction.
"Zhang Yang... Zhang Yang has rooted himself too!"
"Heavens, a gray seed and violet seeds rooted themselves on the same day!"
Even Qin Haoxuan could not help stopping to look over. He happened to see Zhang Yang recruiting followers.
At that moment, Zhang Yang no longer had his former underling's appearance of trailing behind Zhang Kuang. His expression was arrogant, his confident smile brimming across his face, his bearing openly unleashed as he deliberately displayed the fact that he had rooted himself.
Zhang Yang's conduct made Zhang Kuang extremely unhappy. This man had barely returned before wildly digging away at his foundations, telling Zhang Kuang's underlings to recognize him as their boss. What made Zhang Kuang even more upset was that several people had actually gathered around Zhang Yang and acknowledged him as their boss!
So what if you rooted yourself in eight days? You were still merely a gray seed! Yet you actually wanted to ride over his head and openly poach his followers. Such behavior was no different from slapping Zhang Kuang hard across the face.
Seeing Zhang Kuang's furious gaze, Zhang Yang revealed a solemn smile, cupped his hands, and said, "Brother Kuang, from today onward, this little brother will establish his own faction. I will no longer trail behind your backside and vex you. This little brother also wishes to contend for the position of Supreme Primordial sect leader in the future."
Zhang Kuang gritted his teeth so hard they nearly shattered, only to discover that Zhang Yang had not finished speaking. The gray-seed disciple who had just completed Rooting continued his provocation. "Brother Kuang, even if I establish my own faction, as your younger brother, I must still advise you on a few matters. You and Li Jing have been secretly fighting over the position of sect leader, yet neither of you dares bring it into the open. Even I possess more courage than that. So what if you are violet seeds? How can the future of our Supreme Primordial Sect be entrusted to people without lofty ambition, magnanimity, or courage? Besides, as a violet-seed disciple, you cannot even handle weak-seed Qin Haoxuan. Yesterday, he even rode over your head and humiliated you. Cowardly as you are, with neither methods nor breadth of heart, I think you should simply give up on becoming Supreme Primordial sect leader."
Had the sect leader not summoned Zhang Kuang to Hidden Dragon Temple the previous night and spoken those words that greatly improved his temperament, Zhang Yang's words today would have enraged him to death—or blown him apart with fury. Though he could not avoid being angry now, he quickly regained his calm and replied with composed pride, "Heh heh, Junior Brother Yang, you are merely a gray seed. How could you possibly understand the realm of violet seeds? I do not care what fortunate encounter you have had, but you do not even possess the qualifications to contend for the future position of supreme sect leader. I advise you to abandon that thought early, kneel and kowtow to apologize to me as soon as possible. For the sake of our brotherhood, I will let bygones be bygones. Otherwise, I am afraid your days ahead will not be pleasant."
After Zhang Kuang finished speaking, he glanced at Li Jing beside Qin Haoxuan. Li Jing had not said a word, yet a gloating smile had remained on his face. When Zhang Yang said that Zhang Kuang and Li Jing lacked courage, Li Jing had not refuted him. But brilliance flashed repeatedly in his eyes. Standing there casually, he appeared calm and unhurried, unfathomably profound—a complete contrast to Zhang Yang's domineering, arrogant image of a suddenly wealthy upstart. Who was higher and who was lower was clear at a glance.
On the surface, Li Jing seemed too disdainful to compete with Zhang Yang. Yet the bearing he displayed plainly told everyone—I look down on Zhang Yang. You are unworthy to contend with me, unworthy even to make me speak to you.
Watching Zhang Kuang and Zhang Yang's farce, Qin Haoxuan only shook his head. The two brothers who had once joined forces to bully others in town had now reached the point of turning against each other. Zhang Kuang's heart had become much calmer, while Zhang Yang's coming forward like this amounted to challenging all three violet seeds at once. With such a mentality... he would likely suffer a great loss in the future.
They had only entered the sect eight days ago and had merely just rooted themselves, yet they were already fighting and bickering over the sect leader's position, still a hundred thousand miles away. What was there to fight over now? Were they fighting over who was stronger and who was weaker? That was not something eight days could reveal. So what if one rooted oneself first? The road of immortal cultivation held countless encounters. Even with the finest talent, differing encounters could lead to vastly different future achievements.
Moreover, before the supreme Great Dao, all men were ants. Even violet seeds were no more than motes of dust between heaven and earth! Those who cultivated immortality should contend with heaven for their fates, seeking eternal life and ascension as feathered immortals. Yet they fought and scrambled over the position of sect leader. It was truly to see only as far as a mouse's eyes, utterly shallow!
Qin Haoxuan turned to Xu Yu, who had not said a word, and said, "The Dao is cultivated to become immortal and attain the Dao. What use is fighting for the position of sect leader? In my eyes, becoming sect leader would only add another thread of mortal desire to one's heart. It would bind up one's time and state of mind for cultivation with endless trivial affairs, and make one miss many possible opportunities! Their struggle for the sect leader's position is simply putting the cart before the horse. Little sister, no matter how powerful your cultivation becomes in the future, do not involve yourself in their struggle!"
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