Over those five years, after the Sect issued its declaration of war, many of its cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Peak and False Core cultivators had chosen to enter seclusion to attempt to reach the Golden Core stage.
Yet how difficult the Golden Core Great Dao was!
Only Pill Lineage Branch Master Xue Qingxia and Battle Deputy Hall Vice Lord Sun Wudi had successfully broken through, adding two more Golden Core Elders to the Sect.
Deputy Hall Vice Lord Shang Shan had burned his boats and staked his life on passing the three Golden Core trials, only to fall short at the final hurdle and die of grievous injuries-a lamentable loss.
Tianshu Hall Deputy Hall Vice Lord Zhang Da, who also served as Inspection Hall Master, had likewise failed to break through, instead damaging his foundation and impairing his cultivation.
The other two Island Lords at the Foundation Establishment Peak had also returned with their feathers shorn in defeat.
One had been grievously wounded and left on the brink of death, surviving only thanks to the protection of the Sect's spirit pills;
the other had fortunately escaped injury, but his vital energy had been severely depleted, and only after several years in seclusion had he recovered fully.
There was no anger on Qing Chen's face. Instead, a meaningful smile appeared:
"It seems the Sect Master has left the toughest bone for me to gnaw on. This Dragon-Subduing Armor Robe really wasn't so easy to obtain!
Presumably, this is the tacit understanding between the Sect Master and the sects of the various archipelagos, and even the Shushan Sword Sect."
Xin Bairen stood with his head bowed and his eyelids lowered, his gaze on his nose and his attention on his heart, his expression respectful;
he resembled a clay statue or wooden