Foundation Establishment Pill? There It Is!

In the days after Yun Du formed his Golden Core, White Cloud Temple threw open its mountain gates.

Gilded message talismans flew out to the nine counties.

Each bore four words: White Cloud Minor Gathering.

Those words had been all but forgotten over the past few years, but now that they had reappeared, they carried more than ten times their former weight!

The message attached to the talismans was brief: Yun Du, master of White Cloud Temple, whose Daoist title was True Person Yunxiao, would hold a Golden Core formation ceremony in fifteen days. All cultivators at Foundation Establishment and above from the nine counties were summoned to attend and discuss commandery affairs.

When Sun Bo'an received the message talisman, he was turning the soil in the medicinal herb garden on the back mountain.

After reading it, he put down his hoe and sat on the ridge between the fields for a long time.

Then he rose and headed straight for the back mountain.

"Ancestor, White Cloud Temple's invitation has arrived."

Shi Jian was lying at the edge of the valley, basking in the sun. His ears twitched at the word "invitation"; he had clearly expected it:

"Speak."

Sun Bo'an repeated the contents, then added:

"By custom, we must bring a substantial gift to a Golden Core formation ceremony. I've calculated that, to make a respectable showing, we'll have to spend at least twelve hundred low-grade Spirit Stones."

"Spend them."

Shi Jian didn't even lift an eyelid.

"Ancestor, twelve hundred..."

"That's too little. Make it fifteen hundred."

The corner of Sun Bo'an's mouth twitched.

Shi Jian rolled over, exposing his furry belly. "Think about it. How many forces in all of White Cloud Commandery sent Yun Du information before he formed his Golden Core?"

"We're the ones who brought him charcoal in the snow. This gift isn't money spent; it's an investment."

"And what comes back will only be greater."

Sun Bo'an hesitated no longer. He turned and went to make preparations...

Half a month later.

The main peak of White Cloud Temple was hung with lanterns and decorations.

No, calling it that hardly did it justice.

The whole of White Cloud Mountain was shrouded in a pale golden haze of clouds. Beneath the influence of a Golden Core True Person's presence, even the vegetation on the mountain glowed with a lustrous sheen.

Cultivators from the clans of all nine counties had gathered.

Everyone who could come had come.

Those who hadn't most likely no longer had the chance...

Sun Bo'an had brought a group of Sun Clan members, all dressed in new clan robes that were understated but proper.

The congratulatory gifts purchased with fifteen hundred Spirit Stones were two second-tier spirit medicines and a high-grade Law Artifact, accompanied by a hand-carved congratulatory plaque.

Sun Wanqing had engraved it with runes, and spiritual light gleamed within it. It was quite exquisite.

In terms of value, the gifts couldn't compare to those of the long-established great clans.

But as an expression of goodwill, they were beyond reproach.

Shi Jian did not show himself during the Golden Core formation ceremony. He lay comfortably in the beast-drawn carriage, waiting quietly.

The ceremony was long and splendid beyond compare.

But at its heart was one thing: True Person Yunxiao publicly displayed his Golden Core Law Power, cowing everyone present, and thereby reassuring those under his rule...

This was what it meant to establish one's legitimacy!

From this day forth, someone was once again holding up the heavens over White Cloud Commandery.

But what followed was the main event.

After the ceremony, True Person Yunxiao hosted a banquet for the cultivators under his rule...

The banquet was held in White Cloud Temple's great council hall. Every Foundation Establishment cultivator from the nine counties was present, and Shi Jian counted them...

Including him, a bear demon, there were only twenty-two Foundation Establishment cultivators at the banquet, and twelve of them belonged to White Cloud Temple itself.

The remaining ten belonged to the clans of the various counties.

Compared with their peak in years past, their number had fallen by more than half...

True Person Yunxiao sat in the seat of honor, his face lean and his white hair bound beneath a crown. He wore pure white Daoist robes embroidered with intricate cloud patterns.

Since forming his Golden Core, his whole bearing had undergone an earthshaking transformation. The decline of an old man at death's door had been swept away, and his eyes were as clear and bright as the stars...

A Golden Core cultivator could live for five hundred years, and he had gained nearly another three hundred years of life at the very least.

"Everyone, be seated."

His voice was not loud, but every word fell clearly into the ears of everyone present, neither too much nor too little, just right.

Such was a Golden Core cultivator's control over spiritual power: he wielded great weight as though it were light!

After the pleasantries, True Person Yunxiao raised his teacup and took a gentle sip.

"White Cloud Commandery has suffered a great deal these past few years."

His opening words brought silence to the hall.

"Demon Beasts ran rampant, Devil Cultivators stirred up trouble, and outside it, people with the hearts of wolves and ambitions of jackals watched covetously... It hasn't been easy for you to hold on until today."

The cultivators present each had their own thoughts. Some felt guilty, while others were composed.

"But some debts must still be settled."

True Person Yunxiao set down his teacup, and the temperature in the hall immediately plunged.

"The Chen Clan of Hong'an County."

At the seats on the north side, Chen Yu's body abruptly went rigid.

"During the chaos, you formed a clique for personal gain. Infighting within your alliance led to the deaths of Foundation Establishment cultivators and left the common people under your rule displaced..."

True Person Yunxiao's tone was flat, as though he were reading out a bill:

"Chen Yu, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Chen Yu went deathly pale and rose to defend himself, but two White Cloud Temple stewards had already stepped up behind him, one on either side.

Chen Yu's voice caught in his throat.

He understood. This was not an interrogation, but the passing of a sentence...

"Tomorrow, he will be beheaded in public. All the Chen Clan's inheritances will be confiscated, every cultivator in the clan will be executed, and Hong'an County will be reclaimed."

Chen Yu had just thought to resist when Yun Du pointed a finger, destroying his entire cultivation.

Immediately afterward, the Zhao Clan and Liu Clan in the south were named.

After Han Qing's rebellion, those two clans had secretly swallowed up considerable territory and withheld spiritual taxes while White Cloud Temple had sealed its mountain.

Their crimes were even worse than Chen Yu's.

The Zhao Clan patriarch was seized on the spot. The Liu Clan patriarch hadn't even made it into the hall; he had been intercepted by White Cloud Temple's people on the way.

With the three clans purged, and the Wang Clan of Pingyang County wiped out in the earlier Demon Beast tide, four of White Cloud Commandery's nine counties had been left vacant in one stroke.

The hall was so quiet that a falling needle could have been heard.

The remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators sat straighter than the last.

True Person Yunxiao swept his gaze around the hall and continued, "The four vacant counties will be filled by four of this temple's Foundation Establishment disciples. Each will establish a new clan and govern the local area."

Four names were announced, all direct disciples of White Cloud Temple.

This move not only filled the vacancies but also drove White Cloud Temple's tentacles deep into every inch of the land, restoring its control over its domain!

Having weathered this calamity,

True Person Yunxiao clearly had no intention of leaving any gaps through which his domain might slip out of control again.

With the great game settled, all that remained was to reward merit.

"The Sun Clan of Hongtian City."

Shi Jian's heart skipped a beat, and he raised his paws in a cupped salute.

"The Sun Clan's domain has remained stable, and its spiritual taxes have never been in arrears. I have kept all your merits in mind, and they deserve a reward!"

True Person Yunxiao looked at Sun Bo'an, a trace of warmth in his gaze.

It was the only time he had shown goodwill to anyone present.

"I award you one Foundation Establishment Pill in recognition of your merits."

A Foundation Establishment Pill.

The words struck the hall, and every cultivator present changed color.

"In addition, I grant you three prime storefronts in White Cloud Market, rent-free for ten years. In the future, the Sun Clan may bring all the spiritual resources it produces to our sect's market for sale."

Shi Jian's expression changed to one of gratitude. "On behalf of everyone in the Sun Clan, young and old, I thank you for your generous gift, True Person! I am willing to spill my liver and brains on the ground for the temple master, and serve until death!"

"If you will have us, sir, the Sun Clan will follow the temple master's lead!"