Chapter 43 (Part 2)

Ever since becoming Qingyang’s disciple, everyone had adored him. It could truly be said that they granted his every request.

Truly, every request.

When he wanted to move, they moved immediately.

When he wanted to open new spiritual fields, Qingyang allotted him a huge stretch of empty land and told him to cultivate as much as he pleased.

Even when it came to planting spiritual plants, his senior brothers and sisters personally helped him.

There was also his miniature secret-realm fortress. He had transplanted many spiritual plants into it. Some came from his own spiritual fields, while others had been brought back by his senior brothers during their travels.

In any case, his miniature secret realm now possessed not only abundant spiritual energy, but enough spiritual plants to make anyone envious.

Most importantly, he had secretly cultivated a vast number of Five Element spirit fruits, ice lotuses, wind-thunder fruits, and other plants inside it. Once those spirit fruits matured, the Taizhen Immortal Sect would gain a large supply of spiritual plants capable of purifying spiritual roots.

With those spiritual plants, the sect would also welcome a great number of rapidly advancing disciples and elders.

This was Yu Yu’s own form of romance and repayment.

Before the spiritual plants matured, he would not tell anyone. Otherwise, if his master and the others learned that he was cultivating desperately while secretly growing a huge quantity of high-level spiritual plants, they would undoubtedly stop him.

After all, high-level spiritual plants were a herd of money-devouring beasts, while Yu Yu himself already consumed enormous quantities of resources. As he cultivated more and more high-level spiritual plants, his resources dwindled day by day and were visibly approaching exhaustion.

Yu Yu therefore had no choice but to think of another solution. The matter involving the Hall of Affairs had merely given him an opportunity to find a way of earning money.

Of course, he had also used the opportunity to let everyone know that he was not easy to manipulate. Anyone who wanted to use him would first have to see whether he was willing to be used.

There were probably still plenty of people staring in disbelief even now.

Hadn’t they said Little Martial Uncle was a child and easy to coax? Why was even a child this clever? Not only had their plans failed, but they had also brought Lingbao’s purge down upon themselves.

The current Hall of Affairs was no longer the Hall of Affairs it had once been. It was now filled entirely with responsible disciples and elders who handled matters fairly and impartially.

As for why Yu Yu chose this method to make money, wasn’t it because he was still young?

His strength was poor as well. He could not enter secret realms and search for resources like his senior brothers, so he could only think of ways to earn money within the sect.

It did not matter even if he failed. What mattered was showing everyone that he was not easy to bully.

Anyone asking for his help had to exchange spirit stones or resources for it. That allowed him to earn money while also deterring people who wanted something for nothing.

He was not a fool. He had already helped them once. If he continued helping for free, he would truly become a puppet in their hands, doing whatever they ordered him to do.

Yu Yu’s attitude did indeed make everyone realize that no matter how young he was, he remained a Daoist Lord’s final disciple and a martial uncle of the Ling generation.

Given his status, he could not be treated like an ordinary disciple. Anyone who truly treated this little martial uncle as an ordinary disciple would become the next Hall of Affairs disciple or elder to be purged.

Some people understood. Others still did not. They thought Yu Yu truly deserved to belong to Qingyang’s lineage, because he was so calculating. He was clearly the personal disciple of a Daoist Lord and possessed considerable wealth, yet he still schemed for the few spirit stones inside the storage pouches of ordinary disciples like them. He was truly despicable.

Even without personally hearing their complaints, Yu Yu could guess what they were saying. As for Lingtong, there was even less need to mention him. He was based among the outer disciples, and his information was more current than anyone else’s.

Those disciples merely thought such things in their hearts without speaking them aloud. Lingtong could not punish them merely for having thoughts, could he?

Would that not amount to fabricating unjust cases?

However, Lingtong did not ignore them completely. Whenever those who secretly resented his little junior brother came to accept assignments, he gave them troublesome tasks that paid very few spirit stones. His guiding principle was to make the work time-consuming, exhausting, and thankless.

It was true that he could not punish them merely for thinking something, but no one could object if he made things slightly difficult for them when assigning tasks.

What could they possibly say? Lingtong had not violated any sect rules.

Likewise, they had not violated any sect rules by complaining inwardly or muttering a few words. Everyone was the same, so they could all pretend nothing had happened.

It could be said that Yu Yu’s senior brothers and sisters were quietly protecting him in places he could not see.

How could Yu Yu not cherish senior brothers and sisters like them? He was still young and weak, so there was only so much he could do.

He could only repay everyone with the things he did best. It was not that their sect lacked heavenly spiritual roots, but most disciples still possessed single spiritual roots or dual spiritual roots.

Most of Yu Yu’s senior brothers and sisters possessed single spiritual roots or dual spiritual roots. Those with heavenly spiritual roots were not inside the sect. They were all outside gaining experience.

They were strong and exceptionally talented, and all of them hoped to ascend to the Immortal Realm as soon as possible. They rarely remained in the sect for long.

Unless the sect summoned them, they were like missing persons. Seeing them even once was more difficult than ascending to heaven.

Although the sect valued heavenly spiritual roots, it did not place excessive importance on them.

Why?

Because people with heavenly spiritual roots were simply too talented.

Being too talented meant they were destined not to remain in this world for long.

Most cultivators with heavenly spiritual roots ascended within five hundred years. Only a minority delayed it until eight hundred years. They would not even remain for a thousand years, so expecting them to guard the sect was unrealistic.

If the sect invested vast quantities of resources in them, only for them to shoot straight into ascension soon afterward, would that not be a classic case of losing both the bride and the army sent to escort her?

Thus, the sect’s backbone had always consisted of cultivators with single spiritual roots and dual spiritual roots. Heavenly spiritual roots were traditionally the sect’s public image. Every sect needed a few geniuses to prove it was skilled at nurturing disciples and attract more people seeking masters. Only then could it select the best disciples to strengthen the sect.

The disciples with heavenly spiritual roots understood this as well. They ascended too quickly to offer the sect much assistance. The only thing they could do was leave behind valuable objects they discovered while gaining experience but could not use themselves.

They would not take those things away even when they ascended.

The sect had nurtured them. Had they left nothing behind and simply ascended, they would be complete ingrates. Who would dare invest wholeheartedly in nurturing them afterward?

Besides, after they ascended, their sect also had a presence in the Immortal Realm. Once the sect there learned of their conduct, it would certainly be unwilling to invest vast resources in them again.

Thus, it was a matter of balance: you nurture me, and I leave resources behind.

Neither side suffered a loss. Even if someone joined another sect after ascending, they would not offend their original sect.

The karmic ties between both sides had already been settled.

As for why they did not worry about cultivation methods after ascension, it was naturally because the cultivation methods practiced after becoming an immortal differed from those used in the lower realm.

The Immortal Realm also had rules. Objects and messages could be transmitted downward, but cultivation methods designed to counter other sects could not be sent to the lower realm.

If everyone did that, no disciples in the cultivation world would ever be able to ascend again.

If you struck on the first day, others would retaliate on the fifteenth. In the end, vast numbers of disciples would be killed. How could the sects continue developing? How could they keep sending talented people to the Immortal Realm?

The ancestral masters in the Immortal Realm were not fools. Naturally, they understood that killing the chicken to obtain the eggs was unacceptable, so they all obeyed that rule. Any sect that refused to follow it was eventually destroyed.

Every link connected to the next, forming an unbroken chain.

You might disregard a single sect acting this way, but what if every sect joined together? Who would still dare oppose them?

That was why sects did not prevent disciples from joining another sect after ascending. Even so, one had to possess a sense of proportion. After joining a different sect, one should forget the lower realm cultivation methods of the former sect.

They should not dream of creating trouble in the Immortal Realm, because the Immortal Realm would not indulge someone merely for possessing a heavenly spiritual root. After ascension, spiritual roots were no longer the most important factor. Immortal Realm sects placed greater importance on one’s understanding of the Dao.

In other words, the Immortal Realm valued comprehension more.

Only disciples with strong comprehension could receive the support of Immortal Realm sects. Otherwise, they would have to rely on their own efforts.

Anyone who believed an excellent spiritual root alone would earn them respect in the Immortal Realm simply did not understand the situation.

The Immortal Realm believed that spiritual roots could be improved through resources and other methods. Comprehension alone could not be remade by anyone.

Who would care about something that could be mass-produced?

Poor aptitude could be changed somehow. Poor comprehension, however, meant that one’s path would never extend very far, because the Dao could only be understood through comprehension.

Thus, many cultivators with heavenly spiritual roots received little attention after ascending to the Immortal Realm because their comprehension was merely ordinary. Unable to endure the enormous difference in treatment, they ultimately faded into mediocrity.

In both status and strength, many former cultivators with heavenly spiritual roots were inferior to people whose talent had once fallen short of theirs. Those people had possessed slightly poorer aptitude but exceptional comprehension.

As for the cultivators with heavenly spiritual roots, many had been spoiled in the lower realm. Unable to tolerate the difference, they eventually abandoned themselves and accomplished nothing.

Heaven had granted them the finest aptitude, yet forgotten to give them even a little comprehension.

It appeared that heaven was still fair. Poorer aptitude did not matter. With enough effort, one could still ascend. But one’s comprehension belonged to oneself, and no one could take it away.

Even if spiritual roots and bodies could be exchanged, comprehension came from the soul. Changing bodies could not increase it and would only strengthen the tribulation lightning during Tribulation Transcendence.

Yu Yu, however, was one of the rare people who possessed both excellent talent and excellent comprehension.

Through a single copy of the Classic of Nature, he had cultivated a completely different cultivation method.

Even now, no one understood why everyone else cultivated the same Classic of Nature, yet only his results were different.

All this common knowledge about the Immortal Realm came from Qingyang. He had explained it to every one of his disciples. Comprehension could also be increased, but only through personal effort. External assistance was useless.

That was one of the advantages enjoyed by disciples of major sects. Loose cultivators and cultivators from small sects had no way of learning many such things, so naturally, they could not prepare themselves before ascension.

Enough digression. It was time to return to Yu Yu.

Lingyin stayed at Holy Sun Peak to keep her little junior brother company—or perhaps she needed her little junior brother to keep her company.

Moreover, she had once lived on Holy Sun Peak for a long time, and her cave residence was still there.

Thus, arriving at Holy Sun Peak felt no different from returning home. She entrusted the affairs of the Punishment Hall to its other elders. In any case, nothing important currently required her personal attention.

Returning to Holy Sun Peak was wonderful. Here, she could simply be Lingyin. Her little junior brother cooked delicious spiritual food for her every day and even made her a hammock in the peach grove.

Why had he not made her a swing? She had no particular attachment to swings. A hammock was much better.

Whenever her little junior brother cultivated, she lay in the hammock and watched him.

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