Thick Earth

A Grandmaster stood above the rest.

As long as nothing went wrong with the Flying Flower Sword Sect and Song Feiqiong was not distracted by other concerns, he would be helping the Imperial Court while also earning Song Feiqiong's goodwill.

He pondered the situation at the time.

His words had stirred the emotions of two Elders, while the other Elder and Lu Wan had shown little reaction.

Certainly, they were deeply calculating, but more importantly, they had also seen the problem.

Yet trying to change the mindset of the entire sect at this time, stopping those disciples who could not wait to join the Imperial Court, would make one the enemy of every Flying Flower Sword Sect disciple.

But if this could not be reversed, then the Flying Flower Sword Sect would suffer.

Behind Jade Capital's prosperity and clamor lay brutal competition. Those martial arts experts who committed every evil under the sun would not care whether the Flying Flower Sword Sect had a Grandmaster.

Every expert in the Town Martial Division had a Grandmaster behind them.

If Flying Flower Sword Sect disciples entered the Town Martial Division, they would become soft persimmons for others to squeeze. Who knew how many they would lose?

Casting aside these self-interested thoughts, Chu Zhiyuan asked, "Lord Gao, does the Thick Earth Sect fall under our Department of Martial Affairs?"

"It does fall under our Department of Martial Affairs." Gao Lingfeng's expression darkened as he sneered. "These cults rely on their many followers and are arrogant as can be."

"What other cults are there?"

"Here in Jade Capital alone, there are eighteen Great Cults. The Thick Earth Sect is one of them, along with the Pure Heart Cult, Profound Thought Cult, Round Light Cult, True One Cult, Heavenly Diligence Cult, and so on. Not to mention the Carefree Cult and Blissful Cult, which spread across Great Jing. None of them are particularly obedient toward the Imperial Court."

"They bear resentment toward the Imperial Court?"

"This subordinate believes they do."

"Why?"

"Hmph, they do not want the Imperial Court interfering, nor do they want it managing them so broadly... Heh, how could that possibly be allowed? If the Imperial Court did not control them, they could turn our Great Jing into a pot of porridge!"

"It is only natural for them to want more power." Chu Zhiyuan nodded slightly.

Expansion was the fundamental nature of cults and organizations, and they most loved unchecked expansion.

"I think the Imperial Court has been far too lax, far too indulgent with them!" Gao Lingfeng sneered. "If this continues, their tail will grow too large to wag!"

Chu Zhiyuan shook his head.

Strict Imperial Court control would indeed save trouble, but it was not conducive to the prosperity of the realm.

The best approach was to bind the top sects into the same boat. That was precisely how the Four Great Sects were handled.

Of course, the Imperial Court's strength had to be ensured at all times. With the Four Great Grotto-Heavens and Four Great Secret Lands, no sect could shake the Imperial Court.

Only with such confidence could the Emperor be so tolerant.

"Just how strong is the Flying Flower Sword Sect?" Chu Zhiyuan asked. "How many Masters and Xiantian Realm experts do they have?"

"According to this subordinate's investigation, they have three Masters in total: the Sect Leader, Elder Lu, and one Supreme Elder. They have thirteen Xiantian Realm experts. One is a genius, while the rest are mediocre and cannot be molded."

The Flying Flower Sword Sect's luck was not bad. Every generation produced a genius. In the generation above, there had been the current Sect Leader and Song Feiqiong. In the previous generation, there had been Lu Wan, who would become the next Sect Leader. This generation also had one genius. That ensured the Flying Flower Sword Sect would not decline completely.

Of course, if the Flying Flower Sword Sect had not been lucky, it would never have produced a Grandmaster like Song Feiqiong. She truly had fortune gathered upon her.

"Cannot be molded..." Chu Zhiyuan mused.

Gao Lingfeng said, "This subordinate believes that even with Heavenly Treasure Department elixirs, they would not be able to become Masters."

It was difficult to become a Master. Talent alone was not enough; one also needed sufficient comprehension. Otherwise, no amount of desperate, painstaking cultivation would be of use.

There were many Masters in Jade Capital because eighty or ninety percent of the Masters in the entire Great Jing Dynasty had gathered here.

Nearly every Master wishing to become a Grandmaster came to Jade Capital.

Those Masters who were not in Jade Capital either had detached temperaments and knew they had no hope, or had already fallen into complete despair and left Jade Capital.

Gao Lingfeng continued, "If the Flying Flower Sword Sect wishes to rise, it can only wait for the next generation and recruit more geniuses. But if it wants to catch up with the Four Great Sects, this subordinate fears that will be impossible forever."

The Four Great Sects were powerful not merely because their disciples were geniuses, but also because their cultivation arts were peerlessly formidable and rare beneath heaven.

The Flying Flower Sword Sect was different.

Throughout the generations, Song Feiqiong was the only one from the Flying Flower Sword Sect to become a Grandmaster. Clearly, Song Feiqiong had encountered another extraordinary opportunity; it was not because the Flying Flower Sword Sect's mental method was powerful.

The martial artists of Jade Capital were each more shrewd than monkeys. They had surely seen this clearly, which was why they had not flocked forward.

Chu Zhiyuan shook his head and smiled. "You underestimate Grandmasters too much."

He had read a Grandmaster's martial arts notes and knew how profound and unfathomable Grandmasters were. Once Song Feiqiong had become a Grandmaster, if she so wished, the Flying Flower Sword Sect's martial arts could leap into the top ranks.

"Oh, right. When you return, send me the files on the Thick Earth Sect and the Flying Flower Sword Sect."

"Yes."

Ministry of Rites Office, Department of Martial Affairs

As an Assistant Director, Chu Zhiyuan had a room of his own.

The bright morning sunlight shone through the window onto a vermilion-lacquered desk carved with patterns, and onto the two stacks of case files atop it.

One stack contained the files on the Flying Flower Sword Sect and the Thick Earth Sect.

Dressed in a crimson robe, Chu Zhiyuan picked them up and skimmed through them at a glance per ten lines.

The Department of Martial Affairs was responsible for harmonizing yin and yang and maintaining stability in the martial world.

Any turmoil or chaos in the martial world was a failure of duty for the Department of Martial Affairs. If it could quell the unrest, it would be an extraordinary achievement, and one's rank would be assessed according to the merit—often rising above the ninth rank.

If the Town Martial Division was a sword, subduing demons and vanquishing devils while playing the villain, then the Department of Martial Affairs played the kindly face.

One suppressed, one soothed; together, the two divisions maintained the stability of the martial world.

The Town Martial Division did not belong to the Ministry of Rites and reported directly to the Emperor. The Department of Martial Affairs, meanwhile, belonged to the Ministry of Rites, and its authority was naturally much weaker.

Chu Zhiyuan felt that this arrangement contained subtle ingenuity.

The Town Martial Division subdued demons through force, while the Department of Martial Affairs used power and influence to pressure others. Neither answered to the other, allowing them to weaken the martial sects' resistance and hostility to the greatest extent.

The intelligence gathered by the Town Martial Division would be transferred here.

The Department of Martial Affairs was responsible for using this intelligence to analyze the movements and trends of the various martial sects, making timely adjustments to prevent unrest.

After reading through the files, Chu Zhiyuan shook his head.

The Thick Earth Sect had been established after the founding of the Great Jing Dynasty. Over the past thousand years, it had flourished ever more greatly and now had developed to a scale of a thousand members.

Those thousand people were cult members and did not include the believers.

The Thick Earth Sect's main altar was not in Jade Capital, but it had an Earthly Soil Hall in Jade Capital, as well as branch halls elsewhere.

The Thick Earth Sect taught that the earth was the mother of all things and humanity's final destination. If one could merge with the earth, then after death, one could become mountain stone, forest trees, mountains and rivers, no longer needing to be reborn as a person and suffer the hardships of the mortal world.

The Thick Earth Sect worshiped the Earth Venerable. Through arduous cultivation, one could form a connection with the Earth Venerable and the earth, drawing power from the earth.

As a follower of the Thick Earth Sect, one could bear all the myriad pains of the world. Every pain was soil, making one more substantial and bringing one closer to the earth.

As Chu Zhiyuan read the files, he recalled the situation with High Ritual Elder Zhu Yishan.

Unfortunately, he had not touched Zhu Yishan at the time and had failed to grasp his mental method.

He was extremely curious how the Thick Earth Sect could mobilize the earth's power. Perhaps it would be of great benefit to his Earthly Yuan Art.

After finishing both stacks of files, he left the office and went to Tongtian Pavilion.

Night was like water.

Chu Zhiyuan sat quietly upon his bed as his plain white, wide-sleeved robe gradually subsided from its swollen state.

Only nine of the twelve Jade Towers remained. Having broken through the Third Layer, he had reached the fourth layer of the Xiantian Realm.

With every Jade Tower broken, his True Qi became a measure deeper and purer.

His swordlike brows were tightly furrowed, and there was no joy on his face.

The Jade Lock Golden Pass Technique was powerful. With the support of the Earthly Yuan Art, it smashed through the Jade Towers like bamboo splitting beneath a sharp blade, advancing a thousand miles in a single day.

This rate of progress was enough to crush the prodigies of the current age.

Yet his realm was still too low. The fourth layer of the Xiantian Realm was still too weak. Only upon reaching Master could he protect himself without worry. He wished he could step into the Master realm in a single stride.

Unfortunately, that was wishful thinking.

More importantly, he had discovered a problem.

His True Qi had become deeper and purer, but the strengthening of his meridians could not keep pace with the growth of his True Qi. As a result, the pressure on his meridians grew greater and greater.

He had originally been able to form twelve Dragon Binding Ropes, but now even forming ten was more than he could bear.

And the further one went, the sturdier and harder to break the Jade Towers became.

The first two Jade Towers had shattered with one strike, while the Third Layer had required more than ten impacts before it barely broke open.

At the root of it all, his meridians were now what held back the speed of his advancement.

The Dragon Transformation Technique was already one of the finest body-tempering methods in the world, yet the progress of his body tempering still could not keep up.

Should he use Spiritual Medicine like the Minor Marrow Cleansing Pill to accelerate his body-tempering progress?

Was there another, faster method?

He decided to visit Bright Martial Hall again and search there.

There was also the Audit Department. Its efficiency was too slow. He did not know what rank of merit his two instances of helping the Town Martial Division would earn him.

Casting aside his helplessness, he picked up the gold-inlaid jade beside him and stared at it with his mind until his spirit grew exhausted. Then he fell onto the bed and slept.

Early the next morning, he rose.

He first went to Bright Martial Hall, where he practiced for the entire morning with Chu Zhiting, Chu Zhichuan, Chu Mingxuan, and the others. When the time came, he went to the Ministry of Rites Office to check in. After checking in and reading the files on his desk, he went to Tongtian Pavilion.

That was the course of his day.

When he returned to the Prince's Manor for lunch at noon, he suddenly spotted an Earthly Soil Hall.

He had never noticed it before. Only after paying attention to the Thick Earth Sect did he realize that its Earthly Soil Hall stood right beside the bustling main road.