thenovelthief Chapter 331 - 272: Level 4 Sect (2)
Chapter 331 - 272: Level 4 Sect (2)
After all these years together, Fang Yun understood his master Xiong Xingfeng’s personality.
With his master’s personality, he would absolutely never agree to this.
Reason was on his master’s side. He wasn’t just his master’s disciple; he was also an Elder of Artifact Casting Peak.
With these two conditions, his master was definitely in the right.
"Forget your master. Tell me what you think," Miao Qinghong said bluntly.
"As for me, I have no interest in it right now."
Fang Yun told the truth.
After becoming a Management Elder, he had even more things to do.
If Miao Qinghong really did succeed in reaching Core Formation, then Feng Tianrui, her second-in-command, would become the new number one. To Fang Yun, that seemed like a good thing.
"Let’s leave it at that, then."
Fang Yun didn’t want to become an Elder of Battle Peak, and Miao Qinghong had no intention of forcing him.
If Fang Yun had truly been interested, she would have definitely gone to have a good talk with Xiong Xingfeng, even knowing his personality.
In Miao Qinghong’s eyes, nothing was impossible.
There was a chance she could persuade Xiong Xingfeng.
Afterwards, the two of them discussed the current situation.
After the Demon Spirit Sect began openly supporting the Celestial Demon Sect against them, the Demon Spirit Sect’s subsequent desire to attack wasn’t very strong.
Both of them felt this was likely the effect of Fang Yun killing three Late-stage Foundation Establishment Demons.
Among those three Late-stage Foundation Establishment Demons, two were Elders of the Demon Spirit Sect. The Demon Spirit Sect was surely feeling the sting of that loss.
The Demon Spirit Sect and the Celestial Demon Sect were not a monolithic bloc. When it came to dealing with the Celestial Cloud Sect, the Demon Spirit Sect most likely had its own ulterior motives.
Another key point was that when these three Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators died, they hadn’t managed to send any information back.
...
Artifact Casting Peak.
Fang Yun’s cave residence.
Right now, Fang Yun was in his Artifact Refining Room, Refining a Spiritual Artifact.
He was Refining an Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Profound Crystal Shield.
As soon as he had gathered all the Spiritual Materials for the Profound Crystal Shield, he had immediately begun Refining. He was now in the final stages.
The Profound Crystal Shield was a defensive Spiritual Artifact. After breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, Fang Yun had barely used it.
This was mainly because his current attack style was extremely cautious, and he never gave Demons a chance to counterattack.
Just because he hadn’t used it didn’t mean the Profound Crystal Shield was useless. When he eventually faced a siege, it would be able to display its proper function.
Since he rarely used the Profound Crystal Shield, he hadn’t Refined many. Besides the Upper-Grade one he was currently working on, he only had two Lower-Grade and one Middle-Grade Profound Crystal Shield.
In contrast, he had far more Attack Spiritual Artifacts.
This Profound Crystal Shield had nine Spirit Patterns.
At this moment, Fang Yun was in the process of carving the ninth Spirit Pattern.
During the process of carving the ninth Spirit Pattern, a ripple of Spiritual Power fluctuated through the Artifact Refining Room.
His Artifact Refining Room had excellent insulation. For something like this to happen, there must have been a huge commotion outside, like the sect’s Grand Array being fully activated.
’If the Grand Array is active, it means the Demons have already reached us.’
’But given the current situation, it’s too soon for the Demons to launch an all-out assault on the Celestial Cloud Sect’s headquarters. Besides, I haven’t received any urgent messages.’
Based on the information he had, Fang Yun quickly thought of a possibility.
Without getting too distracted, he continued carving the ninth Spirit Pattern on the Profound Crystal Shield.
This small disturbance had little effect on him.
The Artifact Refining continued at a steady, unhurried pace.
The last Spirit Pattern was carved. Next was the final step: the formation of the Spiritual Artifact.
Four hours later.
A brand-new Profound Crystal Shield floated before Fang Yun.
"Complete!"
Just like the nine-Spirit-Pattern Yellow Iron Sword he had Refined before, this Profound Crystal Shield was a masterpiece among nine-Spirit-Pattern Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifacts.
He had yet to bind the new Profound Crystal Shield.
Fang Yun immediately left the Artifact Refining Room.
Sure enough, the Spiritual Power fluctuations in the main hall of his cave residence were different from usual.
’Elder Miao has successfully reached Core Formation!’
This was the conclusion Fang Yun had reached during the Artifact Refining process.
Stepping out of his cave residence, even without sensing the Spiritual Power, the layers of clouds gathering in the sky were enough to explain the situation.
This was part of the Core Formation Phenomenon.
The center of the Core Formation Phenomenon was over at the sect’s Main Peak, Cloud Summit.
Cloud Summit not only had cave residences for disciples to attempt their breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, but also a specially prepared place for Elders to attempt their breakthrough to Core Formation.
The process of breaking through to the Core Formation Stage, starting from secluded cultivation, took at least half a year. For most Cultivators who broke through to the Core Formation Stage, their seclusion lasted between one and three years.
From the start of her seclusion until now, Miao Qinghong had taken about eleven months.
"Fang Yun."
Just as he exited his cave residence, Fang Yun heard his master Xiong Xingfeng’s voice.
He saw Xiong Xingfeng in mid-air, gesturing for him to come over.
"Master." Reaching Xiong Xingfeng’s side, Fang Yun greeted him respectfully.
"Were you performing Alchemy or Artifact Refining just now?"
"Artifact Refining."
Xiong Xingfeng nodded. As soon as he heard Fang Yun was performing Artifact Refining, he knew Fang Yun was Refining something for himself.
As the Management Elder of Artifact Casting Peak, he was well aware that Fang Yun hadn’t accepted any Artifact Refining tasks recently.
"Elder Miao has successfully reached Core Formation. The Celestial Cloud Sect will now have five Core Formation cultivators."
Among all the Core Formation cultivators in the sect, the oldest was their Sect Leader.
Even the oldest, the Sect Leader, still had nearly a hundred years of Life Span remaining.
If the Core Formation Stage Supreme Elder and the Sect Leader didn’t perish in the near future, the Celestial Cloud Sect’s state of having five Core Formation cultivators could last for almost a hundred years.
Fang Yun nodded and looked toward Cloud Summit with Xiong Xingfeng, watching the Core Formation Phenomenon.
Miao Qinghong had successfully reached Core Formation.
This was something Fang Yun was very happy to see.
As the sect’s strength increased, if the Celestial Demon Sect and the Demon Spirit Sect wanted to join forces to attack the Celestial Cloud Sect’s headquarters and wipe them out, they would have to carefully weigh the cost.
The stronger the Celestial Cloud Sect became, the higher the price to destroy them.
With a higher price, the likelihood of the Demons taking that final step would be smaller.
Once the Core Formation Phenomenon ended, the Management Elders of the four peaks, Three Halls, and two institutes all began to move.
Fang Yun also followed Xiong Xingfeng to Cloud Summit. Upon seeing Miao Qinghong after her breakthrough, he and his master offered their congratulations.
Having just reached Core Formation, Miao Qinghong had not yet mastered her new power, causing some of it to leak out uncontrollably.
Standing near Miao Qinghong now, one felt as if their body was being pricked by swords.
This visit also allowed Fang Yun to deduce another rule about his Combat Talent.
’Uncontrolled power without malicious intent cannot passively trigger my combat state.’
’If I want to resist this kind of power, I have to actively enter the combat state myself.’
This sword-pricking sensation was still tolerable for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and Fang Yun wasn’t one to complain.
「Five days later.」
Fang Yun was spending his time just as he did at the end of most months.
He was reading a book while waiting for the monthly calculation of Talent Points at the beginning of the new month.
The books he was reading now were mostly personal notes and insights on planting, Alchemy, and Artifact Refining. He had already finished the books on general knowledge.
Having read all the relevant books in the Celestial Cloud Sect, he knew he would have to visit other Core Formation Sects, or perhaps the Purple Mist Sect, to learn more.
The start of the month arrived. Fang Yun quickly closed his book and opened the light screen.
——
Refining Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifact Profound Crystal Shield x1, Talent Points +25,951
...
Affiliated Faction: [Celestial Cloud Sect]
Sect Level: 4
Sect Position: Elder (60%)
Sect Influence: 75%
Regional Influence: [Not Unlocked]
Talent Point Bonus: 540%
Calculation: Talent Points +226,318
——
The first thing he checked was how many base Talent Points he had received last month for Refining the Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Profound Crystal Shield.
He had come to treat the calculated Talent Points as a precise score for his Artifact Refining.
The result was good; he was only forty-nine points shy of twenty-six thousand base Talent Points.
When he had Refined the nine-Spirit-Pattern Earth Yellow Sword, the gap had been sixty-nine points. He had improved by twenty points.
"The sect is already Level 4!"
Fang Yun saw this month’s bonus Talent Points and felt something was off.
Then he looked closer and discovered that the Celestial Cloud Sect was no longer a Level 3 sect.