117: Chapter 117: Senba

"If the Fang Family is unwilling, what do you plan to do?" Chen Yuanzhan asked.

"Although the strength of the Li Family is far inferior to the Fang Family, after all, the Fang Family is not a Foundation Establishment Family of Taihe Prefecture; only one branch of them has entered our Taihe Prefecture."

"Before the ziyu pill, every participating Foundation Establishment Family will frantically woo its own forces and fiercely reject forces from other regions. Therefore, this Taihe Prefecture Fang Family has only one choice, which is to join the ranks of our Chen Family and Li Family, because the three of us happen to be excluded from the core of the Taihe Prefecture Foundation Establishment Families," Chen Changqing continued.

"As for the other branch of the Fang Family in Huian Prefecture, it is hard to say whether they will send people to participate in this Zifu Secret Realm. Anyway, there are not many Cultivators in each Family who have the strength to compete for the ziyu pill."

"I see," Chen Yuanzhan said. He was merely a Qi Refining Cultivator and did not know about such matters.

He only knew that every few decades, the Yuxu Sect would open the Zifu Secret Realm. Cultivators whose cultivation had reached the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment or above, or whose strength reached the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment, could participate. As for those whose strength fell short, they generally would not participate because the Zifu Secret Realm was extremely dangerous. This danger came not only from the Yao Beasts inside but even more so from other Cultivators.

In the past, every opening of the Zifu Secret Realm was accompanied by the deaths and perishing of quite a few Foundation Establishment Cultivators. To a certain extent, this stifled many Cultivators whose cultivation had reached the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment, and at the same time, it diverted conflicts.

Because when a major force concentrated all important resources in its hands, what they feared most was that the lower-tier forces and Cultivators would unite in rebellion. Perhaps one or two problems were not a big deal, but when ten or even twenty such forces rebelled—even for the Yuxu Sect, these combined forces might not be their opponents, yet they would still cause no small amount of trouble.

The opening of the Zifu Secret Realm effectively alleviated this contradiction and conveniently shifted it, making the subordinate Foundation Establishment forces and Purple Mansion forces fight to the death. On the other hand, the Yuxu Sect simultaneously recruited Disciples from these forces, tying their honor, disgrace, rise, and fall to the Yuxu Sect.

Of course, everyone was well aware of these calculations, but no matter who it was, no one would harbor any thoughts of rebellion. Not to mention the huge gap in strength between the two sides, even if you united all the forces and families, you, the prominent bird, would definitely be the first to be retaliated against.

In other words, no matter what, as long as you rebelled, even if you won or lost, the beneficiary would definitely not be you.

It had to be said that the Yuxu Sect's control over human nature had reached a masterly level.

Chen Changqing sighed. To be honest, he was not that confident in his qualification to obtain the ziyu pill.

Foundation Establishment forces were easy to talk about, but he feared the Purple Mansion forces. At the final checkpoint, they would surely join forces to intercept all Foundation Establishment Cultivators. The Zifu Secret Realm at that time would be the real challenge.

After a few days, the Fang Family agreed to join forces with the Chen and Li families.

A few more days later, Chen Changqing invited the two families to discuss all precautions regarding the Zifu Secret Realm, as well as the distribution issues among the three parties.

...

"Who are you?" In the gloomy room, a roar suddenly erupted.

"Trust you have been well since we last met, Daoist Yun." Three figures materialized from outside the room.

"It's you?! How is that possible? Weren't you dead long ago?" Yun Tiansheng felt terrified in his heart. The Lifespan of the person before him was even longer than his, and back then, he had provoked the Yuxu Sect and was slain by Disciples of the Yuxu Sect—this was something many Foundation Establishment Cultivators knew. Yet, how was he still alive?

Furthermore, this aura—this aura was extraordinarily powerful, absolutely something that a Foundation Establishment Cultivator could not achieve. Could it be...

He had already reached the Purple Mansion Stage.

"Daoist Yun, we have come to see you to discuss an important matter. I think you certainly will not refuse, especially since your Family doesn't have many Foundation Establishment Cultivators left," the Foundation Establishment Cultivator standing in the middle continued.

"Alright, I won't waste words either. You only need to know two things: first, I am now Master Qianyu; second, join us. Of course, you can choose not to join, but..." When he reached the end, he didn't continue, merely drawing a palm across his neck. His intention was evidently clear.

"Gulp." Yun Tiansheng's throat involuntarily bobbed as he nodded weakly.

Then, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator beside Master Qianyu stepped forward, took out a black Medicinal Pill, and fed it to him.

Afterwards, Master Qianyu smiled and said, "Congratulations to Daoist Yun for joining us. As long as we overthrow the Golden Core Sect of Yan Country, you will be a great contributor."

In just a few days, the same thing happened to quite a few forces. However, some forces did not receive favor—for example, the forces that the Chen Family sought out were mostly those that had already declined. Forces that were rising were instead not within their consideration, because only such declined forces would be willing to take a gamble.

...

Qingyang Mountain, Chen Family.

Chen Yuanwen and Chen Changyue sat together discussing the Dao, verifying each other's path of cultivation.

The Aptitude of the two of them was relatively poor. Although they had both formed a Medium Grade Foundation Establishment, they could not compare with Chen Changqing and the others. Moreover, over the past few years, Chen Changyue had been switching his Cultivation Technique; he discovered that a Cultivation Technique Chen Changqing had obtained from goodness-knows-where fit him extremely well—it was a Cultivation Technique called the Heavenly Tribulation Karmic Fire Art.

The most important aspect of this Cultivation Technique was releasing karmic fire to launch attacks. The power of the karmic fire varied according to the amount of spiritual power the Cultivator possessed.

The more spiritual power he used, the stronger the power of the karmic fire would be. Theoretically, if he used all ten parts of the spiritual power within his body to release the karmic fire, with his first-layer Foundation Establishment cultivation, even a fourth-layer Foundation Establishment Cultivator would undoubtedly die when facing this strike.

Besides this, these karmic fires could also temper the Dao foundation, allowing the Dao foundation to further enhance its quality.

A Dao foundation could be formed innately or enhanced acquiredly. For example, Master Baiye succeeded in Foundation Establishment with a supreme-grade Dao foundation, and then used various spiritual items to refine and wash the Dao foundation, bringing the Dao foundation to the Peerless Grade level.

Although the effects of this Cultivation Technique were very powerful, the difficulty of cultivating it was not small. Had it not been for his desire to further enhance the quality of his Dao foundation, and because he himself felt that this Cultivation Technique fit him extremely well, he would not have spent time switching his Cultivation Technique.

Chen Yuanwen had also switched his Cultivation Technique. The Transforming Rain Art was not difficult to Cultivate, but there were too many Bottlenecks. Continuing to Cultivate it made him fear that one day he wouldn't even reach the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment, even though he felt the probability of himself cultivating to the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment was extremely low.

After all, Chen Changqing had brought back so many Cultivation Techniques back then, among which quite a few were better than the five original Cultivation Techniques of the Chen Family. With this opportunity, many Cultivators of the Chen Family would choose Cultivation Techniques that suited them better. As a Foundation Establishment Cultivator of the Family, Chen Yuanwen naturally had the right to peruse various Cultivation Techniques and select one suitable for himself from among them.