Evening.
The setting sun melted into gold. Beyond the small white-jade building, the boundless azure sea shimmered with golden ripples.
Chai Hongzhou, Xiao Yuansha, Gu Hongchen, and the others arrived one after another.
Only Chu Yuechai and her Dao companion, Yue Ming, were absent.
Before Fang Hong could ask, Chai Hongzhou volunteered, "Senior Sister Chu won't be able to come this time. Not long ago, she went out to sea with several inner disciples on a sect assignment. In the end, she alone returned, gravely wounded. They say everyone who went with her perished at sea."
"Yue Ming went too?" Fang Hong asked, raising an eyebrow.
Chai Hongzhou nodded. "Old Yue perished, but Senior Sister Chu did complete the assignment and received quite a few Yin-Yang Talisman Coins from the Primordial Demon Hall. She's currently in seclusion in her cave abode, recovering from her injuries, and can't get away."
Sure enough, her husband-dooming fate killed him... Fang Hong thought.
Xiao Yuansha, Gu Hongchen, and the others were all astonished to hear this. They had never expected a fellow disciple who had been chatting and laughing with them just last month to be gone so suddenly.
Yue Ming had come from the Yue Household of Black Demon Island. Though he kept a low profile, they could all tell that he was certainly a formidable figure. To think he was simply gone.
"All right, let's leave her be for now." Fang Hong composed himself and invited everyone to sit at the stone table in the garden.
The spirit tea served to the guests was once again "Beauty's Tongue" from the Xiao Household of Biluò Island.
There were also plenty of pastries and dried fruits, making for a dazzling spread.
After exchanging pleasantries with everyone, Fang Hong got straight to the point. "Junior Brother Chai, tell everyone about the information you've gathered lately."
Chai Hongzhou cleared his throat and looked around at everyone. "As you all know, the Yin-Yang Sect clashed with the Li Fire Heavenly Palace six months ago. Both sides suffered heavy casualties among their low-ranking disciples and expended considerable resources."
"You could say that nearly all the Yin-Yang Sect's outer disciples who survived that great battle have been through brutal fighting and have extensive experience in magical combat."
He paused, took out a Jade Slip, and handed it to Fang Hong. "This contains a list I compiled through my inquiries of thirty-four outer disciples whose cultivation is at late Qi Refining."
Fang Hong accepted the Jade Slip. With a sweep of his divine sense, he took in its contents, then passed it to Xiao Yuansha.
After reading it, Xiao Yuansha handed it to his Dao companion, Fan Jingyun, and the others passed it around in turn.
The Jade Slip contained not only the names of these outer disciples, but also information about their backgrounds, the cultivation methods they practiced, and even their magical implements and treasures. It was quite detailed.
Chai Hongzhou continued speaking at ease. "Of these thirty-four, six are former inner disciples who were pushed out in recent years. Fifteen in total are at the ninth level of Qi Refining..."
He introduced those fifteen in detail, one by one.
After listening, Fang Hong found that three of them had caught his attention.
The first was named Yan Feihuang. His elder sister was the concubine and furnace of a Golden Core elder of the Yin-Yang Sect, and he had entered the sect last year through that connection.
He was born with powerful divine sense, several times stronger than that of cultivators at his level. A second-tier Dharma Treasure gifted by his sister had further increased his strength, and he had risen to prominence in the great battle between the Yin-Yang Sect and the Li Fire Heavenly Palace six months ago.
His sister, Yan Yuzhen, was reportedly much favored by that Golden Core elder, and rumor had it that he possessed more than one second-tier magical implement.
Judging by the fighting strength he had displayed, he already surpassed most inner disciples.
The second was named She Yutang. She had originally been an inner disciple, but over the past few years, she had gone up and down, in and out, between the inner and outer ranks.
The reason was that she had incurred a grudge with an inner disciple over some unknown matter, and every year at the Fish-Dragon Assembly, the two were certain to fight a fierce battle.
They were evenly matched, with victories and defeats on both sides, so she alternated between being an inner disciple one year and an outer disciple the next for several years.
Six months ago, the inner disciple who had fought her for years had perished at the hands of a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Li Fire Heavenly Palace.
She, however, had shone brilliantly in her battles against the Li Fire Heavenly Palace's Qi Refining disciples, slaying more than a dozen of their late Qi Refining disciples in succession.
Not only that, she had captured five reasonably handsome male disciples of the Li Fire Heavenly Palace and brought them all back to the Yin-Yang Sect as furnaces for her to harvest.
The third was one of this latest batch of newly admitted outer disciples of the Yin-Yang Sect, named Xun Yan.
He came from the Xun Household of Black Demon Island, just as Fang Hong had slaughtered nearly all its cultivators. Thus, after he entered the sect, most of the cultivation resources originally intended for the household's other descendants had been diverted to him.
He had exchanged for a large quantity of Yin-Yang Talisman Coins and selected a Foundation Establishment Furnace Disciple from the Punishment Hall. His cultivation had been advancing quite rapidly.
The Xun Household wouldn't support him for no reason. They must intend to cause trouble for me at the Fish-Dragon Assembly.
Such were Fang Hong's thoughts.
The Xun Household probably would not be foolish enough to harm him directly through underhanded means.
But within the Yin-Yang Sect's rules, using the Fish-Dragon Assembly to push him out of the inner ranks, or even finding a way to suppress him into the ranks of Furnace Disciples, would certainly be a form of openly plotted revenge.
There were no restrictions on methods in the Fish-Dragon Assembly's magical contests. The Xun Household must have begun preparing well in advance.
After Chai Hongzhou finished, Fang Hong and the others all offered their opinions.
With Yue Ming now dead, only nine of their batch of inner disciples remained.
If those fifteen outer disciples sought to claim positions in the inner ranks, everyone among them except Fang Hong would count as a priority target for challenges.
For most outer disciples, the first-tier superior-grade spirit node and the three Nascent Soul-level cultivation inheritances that came with inner disciple status were tremendously enticing. Anyone with the strength could hardly refrain from competing for them.
While gathering information, Chai Hongzhou had also heard plenty of reports that many outer disciples were collecting information about them on a large scale.
"There's less than a year left until the Fish-Dragon Assembly. Besides cultivating, everyone should pay attention to improving their combat methods. At the very least, prepare some trump cards that can settle things with a single hammer blow."
As the head of their association, Fang Hong naturally could not avoid saying a few words for the occasion.
Next, under his direction, everyone held a small exchange gathering.
They bartered, trading for what they needed.
Fang Hong went last, naming several spiritual materials used as ingredients for the seven great medicines that were unavailable both in the Fang Household and in the Yin-Yang Sect's Myriad Treasures Hall.
He did not expect to obtain them immediately. In any case, he had cast out a lead, and those present would keep an eye out for him to some extent in the future.
Sure enough, once he finished, a gleam flashed through the eyes of Xiao Yuansha's Dao companion, Fan Jingyun, and she said, "Senior Brother Fang, I can find some parasitic phantom orchids, but what age do you need?"
Fang Hong was rather surprised. Parasitic phantom orchids were not particularly precious spiritual objects, but they were extremely rare. Thus, the Fang Household's External Affairs Hall had been unable to find any, and even the Myriad Treasures Hall had none in its collection.
This flower was one of the spiritual materials used to prepare [Lust], one of the seven great medicines. If he could gather all the ingredients, he could attempt to prepare it.
"Preferably over a hundred years old. The more, the better. I'm buying in quantity," Fang Hong said with a smile, looking at Fan Jingyun.
She and Xiao Yuansha both came from the Xiandu Sect. Xiao Yuansha had not introduced her in much detail at their last gathering, but now it seemed her background was probably no simple matter either.
Fan Jingyun considered for a moment. "I can get three to five hundred-year-old parasitic phantom orchids, but it will take some time. At least six months or so."
"There's no hurry," Fang Hong said evenly. "What would your terms be, Junior Sister Fan?"
Fan Jingyun glanced at Xiao Yuansha, then said to Fang Hong, "I'd like to exchange five parasitic phantom orchids for two second-tier defensive talismans."
Fang Hong pondered briefly before agreeing. "That's acceptable."
Hundred-year-old parasitic phantom orchids could be considered second-tier exotic spiritual plants. Exchanging them for two second-tier talismans was reasonable enough.
The two then settled the details of the trade.
Not long afterward, Fang Hong announced the end of the gathering, and everyone dispersed.
Before you continue