Ye Tianlong was so full of regret that he could puke. Why had he provoked such a little brat just out of boredom? The [Yin-Yang Hammers] that he had purchased with a great fortune had been split into two, and who knew how much it would cost to get it repaired? Additionally, it could be said that his reputation was in ruins now that he’d been chased into hiding by a newly recruited valley disciple.

　　However, these were not the most pressing matters at the moment. He needed help, and he needed it now.

　　Message Talisman after Message Talisman was lit and activated as he yelled into it, “Dear Shifu, please help! Please help me!”

　　—

　　At this time, the chief elder of Duanzhen Valley—Tie Rukuang—was in truth not actually in the valley, but at the Qing-Yun Peak with the rest of the chief elders as Sect Master Chen Xuanhua spoke to them. “There are quite a few events happening lately. Shishu Bai just began his life-or-death seclusion, and there are also reports saying large amounts of Demonic Qi has settled in the areas of Mount Desolation. The seal binding the beast king seems to have loosened once again, so it’ll need to be repaired.”

　　Danxia Valley’s chief elder Qin’nyao tightened her brows. “It’s been hundreds of years. That old freak still hasn’t died yet?”

　　Chen Xuanhua nodded in agreement. “When our supreme elder and Shishu Bai sealed it under Mount Desolation, they said it would take a minimum of three hundred years and up to five hundred years before its Demonic Qi was cleansed by the seal. At that time, there would only be a single wisp of its demonic soul, and it would evaporate into the air once we opened it. It has been almost four hundred years now, so I don’t believe it’s capable of doing much. The fact that some Demonic Qi has leaked out must be from its final struggle before death. Even then, it’s still not safe to open the seal right now; it’d be best if we send someone to add another layer to the seal and keep it inside for another hundred years. If we do this, it will be much more guaranteed.”

　　Shanhe Valley’s chief elder Xiao Shanhe added, “In that case, we only have to send out the younger generation of disciples.”

　　Chen Xuanhua nodded. “I’ve been thinking the same thing. The Demonic Qi of this beast king is still somewhat strong and has infected numerous beasts around Mount Desolation, causing the environment to change completely. This is the perfect chance to test those youngsters’ abilities. When these children live in peace for too long without the need for real battles, they tend to forget how cruel and bloody the real world is. It is better for them to experience some hardship.”

　　Upon hearing this, all of the chief elders agreed in unison, “Indeed, Sect Master!”

　　Shuwen Valley’s chief elder Bai Fujian also quickly added, “There are over four hundred inner court disciples. Who should we send out?”

　　Chen Xuanhua continued, “Although this is a practical experience with risks, it is also a great opportunity for these youngsters. The seal of the beast king has loosened, which has allowed for the Demonic Qi to leak out and stimulate the growth of many rare herbs and plants, all resources waiting to be harvested that ordinary disciples aren’t qualified for. To be fair, each of the four valleys will pick ten of their own disciples apiece to be sent out via a Duty Talisman. Their rewards will be all of the resources they obtain from Mount Desolation.”

　　“You mean….” A quick flicker of understanding flashed in Qin’nyao’s eyes; she’d caught the true purpose behind the sect master’s words.

　　Chen Xuanhua let out a sigh. “That is correct. We’ve been left with no other choice but to borrow some of the methods the dark sects use to choose their disciples. Since only the five of us are here, there’s no need to hide anything anymore. Our supreme elder went into a life-or-death seclusion eight years ago, and Elder Bai has gone into a life-or-death seclusion as well. Only the five of us are left of the Qing-Yun Sect now, and we won’t be able to endure any serious hardships.

　　“The Melodic Ice Palace, Ephemeral Butterfly, and smaller second and third-rate Chufung Kingdom sects might be restrained by fear towards our supreme elder and Elder Bai so as to not touch us for the next ten years… but we don’t know if things will be the same even ten or twenty years from now. If we don’t want the sect to be annihilated, we must begin preparing for the storm well in advance.

　　“From now on, the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute will begin recruiting additional disciples, and each one that successfully makes it in will be treated the same as a core disciple. Hopefully we’ll have enough time to nurture a few good saplings.”

　　The chief elders all became silent. Chen Xuanhua may have spoken in a calm voice, but the contents were gravely serious. Now that both their supreme elder and Elder Bai had gone into seclusion, it could be interpreted that they had completely lost their protection against their rivals; the Qing-Yun Sect could be in serious danger at any time now. Ten or twenty years might be long to an ordinary person, but it was no more than the flick of a finger to a cultivator. Something like this was an urgent matter—an emergency.

　　“Who shall we send, then?” Elder Qin’nyao asked.

　　“In order to preserve fairness, ten disciples apiece from each valley!” Chen Xuanhua replied.

　　Qin’nyao continued with her questions, “Ten disciples apiece from the four valleys is not a problem, but the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute isn’t planning on sending out a few disciples as well?”

　　Sect Master Chen Xuanhua smiled. “I plan on having Xiao Jianming going as well. With his protection, there shouldn’t be any problems at all.” As he spoke, he looked towards Xiao Shanhe, to which the latter remained silent and emotionless.

　　“I see.” The rest of the elders felt a sense of relief at these words. With Xiao Jianming—the top disciple from the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute—coming along, the safety of all of the valleys’ disciples would be guaranteed. Granted, it wasn’t that they were bothered about losing a few during the mission, but if unexpectedly severe danger showed up, there might be the possibility of a complete wipeout.

　　Chen Xuanhua quickly added, “Let us not delay. Go back and consider who you’d like to send and give me the list of names as soon as possible. Additionally, to facilitate this mission even more, each of you please choose one disciple with a respectable amount of prestige to be a leader for these youngsters on the mission.”

　　Elder Qin’nyao’s reply came immediately: “That’s simple. Danxia Valley will no doubt be led by Linyun!”

　　As for the rest of the elders, they could only bitterly smile when they thought of how easy it was for her to say such words. In order to focus on her alchemical studies, Xu Linyun was one of the very few core disciples within the Qing-Yun Sect who had chosen to stay at Danxia Valley instead of entering the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute despite being eligible. For her to lead the Danxia Valley disciples was only a matter of course. The remaining three valleys, on the other hand, had to really put some thought into who was the most suitable disciple with a certain level of authority and prestige.

　　Xiao Shanhe considered for a few moments longer before speaking up as well, “Shanhe Valley will have Feng Qingwei as the leader!”

　　Shuwen Valley’s elder also gave it thought. “Shuwen Valley shall have Pi Junzi as the leader!”

　　When it came time for Duanzhen Valley, Elder Tie Rukuang hesitated. “There’s not really anyone who is extremely outstanding in my Duanzhen Valley. No matter how much I think about this, all I can come up with is my pupil Ye Tianlong. He’s not bad, so I guess he can be the leader!”

　　Once the matter had been settled and they were all about to go into the mission’s details, the jade talisman on Tie Rukuang’s waist lit up. Tie Rukuang wasn’t sure who would need him at this moment and scrunched his eyebrows, but even though he wanted to ignore it for the sake of this much more important meeting, the jade talisman unfortunately did not seem to want to stop flashing. Without any other choice, Tie Rukuang took out the talisman and glanced across it, before suddenly growing surprised.

　　From the look of the symbol atop the flashing talisman, it was an urgent call for help. Not wanting to be careless, he immediately sent Qi into the talisman, causing a small flame to light up with an anxious-looking face inside. “Please help me, dear Shifu! That little bastard has gone mad and wants to kill me! Please, help me Shifu…. If you don’t come back, I’m really going to die…” it yelled out.

　　Within the quiet and solemn hall, the cries coming from Ye Tianlong’s direction caught everyone’s attention. Those who had been quietly discussing the details paused to look at him in confusion.

　　Tie Rukuang himself immediately took off without even saying a word, leaving the remaining four baffled at the sight.

　　It wasn’t until some time later that Elder Qin’nyao finally broke the silence. “Who’s gone mad?”

　　—

　　Tie Rukuang’s face began to darken as Ye Tianlong told him the entire course of events, and he mounted his cloud to fly straight towards the Duanzhen Valley immediately after leaving the hall. As soon as he arrived in the valley, he saw Fang Xing standing in front of a cave entrance with the [Saber of Azure Dragon] lodged in the ground with a giant iron hammer in his hand. The boy was swinging the hammer by its chain, hitting the cave door over and over.

　　BAM…. BAM…. BAM….

　　Every slam caused the stone door to shake, and it even seemed as though the door would be broken open anytime now.

　　“Little bastard, are you trying to tear apart my Duanzhen Valley?” Tie Rukuang arrived just as Fang Xing finished one swing and was preparing for the other. He furiously flew right over to where Fang Xing was and stepped harshly against the giant hammer to push it into the ground before opening his palm. Fang Xing was forcibly tugged over and—with one hand grabbing Fang Xing’s robe—Tie Rukuang began to spank Fang Xing’s bottom without a shred of mercy.

　　Fang Xing ground his teeth in pain and struggled. “That bastard wanted to kill me, so I have to slice him open!”

　　Ye Tianlong shivered from inside the cave after hearing such a thing from Fang Xing. He had been about to come out of the cave after hearing Tie Rukuang’s voice, but for Fang Xing to say he wanted to slice him open right in front of their shifu, it was impossible to mistake the little bastard’s intent to kill.

　　As for the other Duanzhen Valley disciples, all of their jaws had dropped. Out of the hundred or so disciples of the valley, who didn’t act cautiously in front of their shifu? Who would dare to speak to their shifu in such a manner?

　　Yet, Tie Rukuang’s actions were also rather strange. The punishment he handed out was actually a good spank on the bottom—an act suitable for a loving parent disciplining their child….

　　It seemed the boy had so arrogantly dared to make such a scene in the first place because his shifu spoiled him.

　　“What exactly happened? Tell me everything!” Tie Rukuang threw Fang Xing to the side after commanding him not to act so impulsively.

　　Fang Xing dusted off his sleeves before pointing to the cave and cursing aloud, “I was just collecting the Refined Iron. Those bastards schemed against me, but I was able to see through their scheme. Then he and that bastard of a Murong Ying jumped out while saying something about ‘teaching me a lesson’. I dueled Murong Ying and defeated him, but this bastard decided to sneak attack me with a flaming sword….”

　　Tie Rukuang tightened his brows even more. “Fang Xing, Ye Tianlong, Murong Ying, all three of you come with me right now!” The command was so loud that the entire valley could hear it. All of the disciples stiffened and no one made a single noise.