Azure Cloud's Enormous Potential

"How did you do that? Did you hide your cultivation realm?"

Wang Mingyue grabbed Zhang Yang and kept questioning him, her eyes filled with disbelief.

For a Golden Core cultivator, controlling even one Spirit Artifact was already outrageous, yet Zhang Yang had controlled two.

Where would a Golden Core cultivator get that much spiritual power?

Even more shocking, Zhang Yang had forcibly taken control of someone else's flying boat?

She even grew wary, afraid that if Zhang Yang got near the core of her flying boat, he might take control of hers as well.

She simply could not understand how any of this had been done.

It was not just her who could not understand it. The middle-aged man in azure could not either.

He had seen it clearly. Zhang Yang was only in the Core Formation Realm, yet his spiritual power was even more abundant than that of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.

This was completely abnormal!

He looked toward Ling Yunzi and found him equally stunned. He sent a voice transmission, asking in astonishment, "Fellow Daoist Ling Yun, you didn't know about his condition?"

Ling Yunzi gave a wry smile and shook his head. "Before today, he had never fought anyone!"

Zhang Yang was the next sect master they had been cultivating. Wherever he went, one of the Azure Cloud Seven Sons would protect him. Whenever trouble arose, the Azure Cloud Seven Sons had already resolved it.

If Zhang Yang had not insisted on making a move today, Ling Yunzi probably would never have discovered that Zhang Yang possessed such deep reserves of spiritual power.

As for the Spirit Artifacts, they had all been given to Zhang Yang for protection.

Spirit Artifacts had spirits. They could protect their master automatically without needing to be activated. Of course, without sufficient spiritual power to drive them, a Spirit Artifact could not unleash its full strength at all.

Judging from how the Immortal-Binding Rope and Restriction-Breaking Banner had performed just now, although the power they displayed was not great, they had indeed been activated!

Thus, Ling Yunzi could not figure out what was going on either.

After questioning Zhang Yang for ages and seeing that he still refused to answer, Wang Mingyue finally gave up and asked, "How long did Qi Gathering take you?"

"This... let's call it one day," Zhang Yang answered honestly.

Wang Mingyue snorted in displeasure. "What do you mean, 'let's call it'? One day is one day; if it wasn't, then it wasn't. I know you're exceptionally gifted, but there's no point in being so secretive."

Zhang Yang smiled. "When Master and my martial uncles first taught me Qi Gathering, I couldn't sense spiritual energy at all, and that took a whole day. Later, Master and my martial uncles gathered spiritual energy for me, and I was finally able to sense it. Then I succeeded in one go, so I suppose it counted as one day."

Wang Mingyue froze.

To gather qi, one first had to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, then draw that spiritual energy into one's body. The entire process was called Qi Gathering.

When she had gathered qi back then, it had taken her three days just to draw the first strand of spiritual energy into her body.

Yet Zhang Yang had only spent a day because he initially could not sense spiritual energy... Didn't that mean the time he had actually spent succeeding at Qi Gathering was far less than a day?

A genius?

This was a monster!

She knew perfectly well that anyone chosen by the Azure Cloud Sect to serve as acting sect master would surely possess extraordinary talent. She just had not expected it to be this heaven-defying.

But that only made her more confused.

"Since your talent is so exceptional, why are you still in the Core Formation Realm?" Wang Mingyue looked at Zhang Yang. "Which stage of cultivation did you progress through slowly? How long did Body Refinement take you?"

Zhang Yang looked at Wang Mingyue and countered, "There are another eighty-seven people on Azure Cloud Mountain who gathered qi in a few days. Can you see Azure Cloud's potential now?"

Wang Mingyue said impatiently, "Fine, I admit that your Azure Cloud has enormous potential, all right? Don't worry. Since we agreed to come to Qingyun Market, we had more or less already prepared to cooperate. As a partner, it's only reasonable for me to understand your talent, isn't it?"

"Reasonable!" Zhang Yang nodded. "Since you want to know, there's no harm in telling you. I gathered qi in one day, completed Body Refinement in one month, successfully opened my Sea Opening two months later, formed a Dao Seed and reached Foundation Establishment three months after that, then formed my Golden Core in the following half year!"

Wang Mingyue sucked in a sharp breath. "You've only cultivated for one year?"

"I've cultivated for ten years! I reached the Core Formation Realm nine years ago, and I'm still in the Core Formation Realm now."

"Th-This... this..."

Wang Mingyue did not know what to say.

Forming a Golden Core in one year was undoubtedly monstrous, but still being in the Core Formation Realm after ten years only made him an ordinary genius, didn't it?

Zhang Yang smiled. "Perhaps I learned a little too much and wasn't in a hurry to break through, so I've remained in the Core Formation Realm all these years. I have one master and six martial uncles, and I learned all kinds of skills from them."

Wang Mingyue felt that must be the reason. She shook her head and said regretfully, "If you had put all your heart into cultivation, who knows what realm you would have reached by now."

Zhang Yang merely smiled and said nothing.

It was not that he had never thought of breaking through. He simply could not!

His Golden Core was like a bottomless pit. Even nine years of Qi Refining had not been enough to fill it... Otherwise, why would he be so eager to reform the Azure Cloud Sect?

Wasn't it because he hoped to use vast amounts of resources to break through the Core Formation Realm?

When the flying boat arrived at Qingyun Market, Wang Mingyue looked at the market, which was much smaller than Anqing City, and sighed. "This place is truly dilapidated! It won't be easy to develop it."

Zhang Yang nodded. He agreed as well.

"The current Qingyun Market was formed by villagers from the surrounding area gathering here, along with those who came to Azure Cloud for assessments over the past century and stayed behind. A Qingyun Market like this truly holds little appeal. But once the name of the Azure Cloud Sect enters everyone's sight again, Qingyun Market will certainly draw the attention of the world. Especially when the talismans, pills, and magic treasures produced by the Azure Cloud Sect are sold here, many people will surely come to Qingyun Market."

Zhang Yang paused, then continued, "Moreover, the Azure Cloud Sect will recruit large numbers of disciples up the mountain in the future. This will attract people from all directions to take the assessments. Among them, other factions will inevitably gather at Qingyun Market as well, bringing business opportunities.

Moreover, our Azure Cloud Sect will also discuss measures to stimulate Qingyun Market's economy.

For example, we may consider opening secret realms or something of the sort."

Ling Yunzi was stunned. Where would the Azure Cloud Sect get any other secret realms?

Wang Mingyue did not know the Azure Cloud Sect's true circumstances. Hearing this, she was immensely shocked. "The Azure Cloud Sect is actually willing to open its secret realms to outsiders?"

Zhang Yang smiled faintly. "If there's an opportunity, why not?"

Wang Mingyue stared blankly at Zhang Yang. It was one thing for this fellow to possess outstanding talent, but he actually had such bold ambition?

She suddenly said, "It seems my decision to come to Qingyun Market was the right one. I agree to this cooperation. I will invest in your Azure Cloud, and I hope your Azure Cloud won't disappoint me."

Zhang Yang secretly rejoiced. He had displayed his talent and spun all those tales precisely because he wanted to bring investment to the Azure Cloud Sect.

Now, the investment had finally arrived.

However, he did not agree immediately. Instead, he said meaningfully, "Cooperation depends on sincerity. Yet I don't even know Miss Mingyue's background right now, and even your name may be false. Without even basic trust, how can we cooperate?"

"Easy enough!" Wang Mingyue wiped a hand across her face, revealing her true appearance as she smiled radiantly. "Situ Mingyue of the Cloud Soaring Merchant Association greets Acting Sect Master Zhang Yang of Azure Cloud, and pays respects to Senior Ling Yun!"

Looking at the face and figure before him, Zhang Yang secretly thought, Back in the Past, wouldn't she have been a top-tier celebrity?