228: Chapter 228 Establishing a Branch Altar: A Person's Name, A Tree's Shadow!

Inside the Meeting Hall, major and minor affairs were decided.

The candidates to go to Hua Prefecture to establish a branch were quickly decided.

Branch Master Yun Ci would be the person in charge, holding the position of Branch Hall Master.

The Sect allocated five additional Foundation Establishment Cultivator to accompany him. Together with the five Foundation Establishment Cultivator from the Yun Clan, they had ten Foundation Establishment Cultivator to set up the initial framework.

They also drew more than three hundred Qi Refining Disciples from various peaks and lineages to serve as personnel for the branch.

In addition, more than ten Foundation Establishment Families under the Ming Prefecture Northern Protectorate took the initiative to volunteer, willing to move west to Hua Prefecture with White Cloud Temple to re-establish their clans.

These small Families were mostly of a scale with only one, or two or three Foundation Establishment Cultivator, struggling in Ming Prefecture.

Rather than continuing to be squeezed by the big clans here, it was better to go to a new place and take a gamble.

"The Hua Prefecture branch is just starting, so everything should be kept simple."

Daoist Yun Du set the tone in the hall: "The first three years will focus on construction. Don't cause trouble, don't expand. Establish a firm Foundation before doing anything else."

Branch Master Yun Ci stood in the middle of the hall and bowed to accept the order.

He knew clearly in his heart that the Old Ancestor was giving him an opportunity, but also testing him. Whether he could carry this burden depended entirely on his own ability.

After the meeting, Lu Xun found Branch Master Yun Ci.

"Have you figured out the situation in Hua Prefecture?"

Branch Master Yun Ci shook his head: "I only know that it was one of the core territories of the former Blood Bone Demon Sect, and the entire area was devastated by war."

"Most of the Spiritual Veins are nowhere to be found, having been dug up by various parties. The environment is extremely harsh. We will only know the specific details once we arrive."

Lu Xun pondered for a moment: "I will have someone send a batch of Spirit Beast cubs to you from Mushou Mountain. Once you get there, set up the beast garden first. When developing wasteland, Spirit Beasts are more useful than people."

"Then many thanks, Junior Brother Lu."

Lu Xun waved his hand. After all, they were fellow Disciples; this naturally counted for nothing, and then he turned and left.

He didn't go to Hua Prefecture. Daoist Yun Du kept him in Ming Prefecture, naturally intending to cultivate him to support White Cloud Temple in the future.

After all, White Cloud Temple was the root Foundation.

Currently, within the Sect, the Yun Clan had the greatest influence and moved a portion of their clansmen away to establish the branch for the Sect. The Zhao Clan lineage came next, also establishing a Family chamber of commerce in Yuan Prefecture...

And now, the Sun Clan lineage was in decline, and the various factions were reshuffling.

If he left as well, the Sun Clan lineage would have no one left to hold the fort. In such a situation, it was easiest for trouble to arise.

Regardless, Lu Xun was not an ungrateful person.

His master, Sun Lin, had the grace of teaching him, and Old Ancestor Shi Jian and the Thunder Bear Lineage had also helped and cultivated him a lot...

Staying behind to guard the Sect was the best choice.

Hua Prefecture was the former territory of the Blood Bone Demon Sect.

The Blood Bone Demon Sect had managed this place for nearly ten thousand years. Although most of the Restrictions and Formations spread across the land had been destroyed by the flames of war, the residual Devilish Qi deep in the earth veins would likely not dissipate within thirty or fifty years.

When Branch Master Yun Ci led the team to arrive in Hua Prefecture, it was the depth of winter.

The northern wind, wrapped with fine gravel, stung their faces.

Looking out, the gray-brown land stretched to the horizon. Clumps of withered yellow grass were scattered here and there, and occasionally a few crooked Spirit Trees struggled in the barren soil layer.

On the distant mountains, traces of the war could still be seen.

A large, blackened area where nothing grew.

"This is the place?"

A Yun Clan Elder saw the harshness of the place, and his expression was ugly.

Branch Master Yun Ci didn't answer. He jumped off the flying boat, squatted on the ground, and grabbed a handful of soil. The soil was gray, mixed with fine black particles...

This was the product of erosion by Devilish Qi.

This kind of soil could not grow Spiritual Plants or raise Spirit Beasts.

It had to be purified first, the Devilish Qi washed away, and then watered with the water of a Spiritual Vein for several years to restore the land's fertility. It would even require an Earth Dao Cultivator to comb through the earth veins, perhaps then life could reappear in this place.

He patted the dust off his hands, stood up, and scanned the surroundings.

His gaze finally landed on a cliff over a thousand feet high in the northwest direction.

The cliff looked like it had been split by a single blade, the cross-section as flat as a mirror, with dense Formation patterns remaining on it. Although they were shattered, the Foundation still existed.

"What is that?"

An accompanying Elder probed with his spiritual sense for a moment: "Looking at the style of the Formation patterns, it should be the ruins of a stronghold of the Blood Bone Demon Sect."

"Under this ground, there is the residual aura of a Spiritual Vein, but it is very weak; at most, it is a First Grade Medium Grade."

Branch Master Yun Ci nodded.

First Grade Medium Grade, in Ming Prefecture, would not even catch anyone's eye, but in this godforsaken place, it was already a rare, good thing.

"This is it. The branch location is set at this cliff."

He made a prompt decision and assigned personnel.

More than three hundred Qi Refining Disciples were divided into six groups, acting separately.

Group one surveyed the direction of the Spiritual Vein, group two cleaned up the residual Devilish Qi, group three repaired the ruined buildings on the cliff, group four set up warning Formations in the surrounding area, group five was responsible for logistics and supplies, and group six built a temporary beast garden.

Bai Ling of the White Fox Lineage brought a dozen white foxes and two young primitive bear demons to patrol and keep watch on the outskirts of the cliff.

Bai Ling's illusion techniques were extremely useful in this open terrain; no movement could escape her perception.

"Branch Master Yun, there are three Foundation Establishment auras approaching from the southeast."

Upon receiving Bai Ling's message, Branch Master Yun Ci frowned.

They had only arrived for two days; how could someone have found them so quickly?

"What kind of people?"

"They shouldn't be remnants of the Demon Cultivators. The auras don't resemble Demonic Path Cultivators. They should be like us, here to occupy territory."

Branch Master Yun Ci thought for a moment: "Let them come over."

Half an hour later, three Cultivators appeared at the foot of the cliff.

The leader was a young man in his early thirties, wearing a half-new, half-old gray Daoist robe, with golden chrysanthemum patterns embroidered on the cuffs.

That was the symbol of the Golden Chrysanthemum Sect in Qing Prefecture.

"I am Lu Mingyuan of the Golden Chrysanthemum Sect." The young man stepped forward and cupped his hands, his attitude polite, but his eyes kept scanning the camp on the cliff: "I don't know, Fellow Daoist, which faction are you from?"

"White Cloud Temple, Ming Prefecture Northern Protectorate."

Hearing this, Lu Mingyuan's expression changed slightly.

The reputation of White Cloud Temple was not small in the Qingcang Kingdom cultivation world.

A Golden Core Sect, in charge of a Protectorate, and with two Golden Core Cultivators in the Sect, it was not an ordinary faction. This kind of weight was not something his Golden Chrysanthemum Sect could afford to provoke...

"So it is a master from White Cloud Temple."

Lu Mingyuan's words became a bit more respectful: "Our Golden Chrysanthemum Sect also followed the orders of our Upper Sect to come to Hua Prefecture to settle down."

"It's just that I didn't know that this area had already been taken by someone. If there is any offense, I hope you Fellow Daoists will be magnanimous."

"Where do you plan to settle?"

"In the southeast direction, about five hundred miles away, there is a withered mountain. There is a fragment of a Spiritual Vein remaining underground. Although the quality is too poor to look at, it is better than nothing."

Branch Master Yun Ci nodded. Five hundred miles away.

That was far enough from his side, not interfering with each other...

"Your territory, you decide."

"But from now on, this area, within three hundred miles, will be the territory of our White Cloud Temple branch."

"If you break in rashly in the future, our Sect will not be as easy to talk to as we are today."

Hearing this, Lu Mingyuan readily agreed.

He was a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, bringing two Foundation Establishment - Early Stage Cultivators, and a bunch of Qi Refining clansmen.

Let alone fighting for territory with White Cloud Temple, being able to stay safely under their nose was already something to be thankful for.

After sending away the people from the Golden Chrysanthemum Sect, Branch Master Yun Ci returned to the cliff.

In the following days, three more groups of factions arrived one after another, the larger ones with over a hundred people, and the smaller ones with only fifty or sixty.

They were all small Families from Ming Prefecture, Qing Prefecture, and Yin Province, similar to the Golden Chrysanthemum Sect, coming to Hua Prefecture to make a living.

Branch Master Yun Ci did not drive them away, but he did not show favor either.

Those who could be accepted into the fold were recruited by White Cloud Temple as vassals; those who were unwilling stayed far away from the area marked by White Cloud Temple and dared not step into it at all.

Sure enough, a person's reputation, a tree's shadow.

Once White Cloud Temple became powerful, even its reputation was very useful. Basically, no one would easily provoke them, after all, in Qingcang Kingdom, White Cloud Temple was already considered a Golden Core great Sect that could be ranked.