Chapter 275: Little Red Sky

The significant figure from the Immortal Sect is named Gongye Zhixu. He is one of the two Deputy Hall Masters of the Immortal Affairs Hall, and in the future, he may even become the Master of the Immortal Sect.

The overall system of the Immortal Sect is quite interesting. Among the Three Great Halls, the Immortal Affairs Hall governs the land and is the highest authority within the Immortal Sect. The Master of the Immortal Affairs Hall also holds the title of Master of the Immortal Sect. Therefore, the Deputy Hall Masters of the Immortal Affairs Hall can be considered significant figures in the Immortal Sect, second only to the three Hall Masters themselves.

Gongye Zhixu hails from Taiyuan Academy. With a Golden Core cultivation and not yet two hundred years old, he is in the prime of his life, full of vigor. If he successfully forms a Nascent Soul, there's a high probability he could succeed the current Master of the Immortal Affairs Hall, who is nearly eight hundred years old and approaching retirement. Unfortunately, in a resource-scarce place like Diyuan Star, forming a Nascent Soul is incredibly difficult, almost an impossible task.

Gongye Zhixu is a prodigious talent. In his youth, he chose to attend Taiyuan Academy because it was close to home, forgoing an opportunity to study at Butian Daoist Academy. At thirty-three, he achieved Foundation Establishment perfection. To acquire resources for forming a Golden Core, he joined the Immortal Affairs Hall. He worked across various departments for sixty years, dedicating himself to serving the people from the grassroots, eventually obtaining the Golden Liquid Jade Restoration Pill and successfully forming his Golden Core in one attempt.

Regrettably, after forming a Golden Core, one still needs to form a Nascent Soul. The Immortal Sect's three spiritual medicines for forming a Nascent Soul—the Infant Nurturing Pill, the Infant Cultivation Pill, and the Infant Transformation Pill—are all priceless and supreme treasures that cannot be purchased with merit points. The most legitimate way to acquire them is by serving the people and gaining universal recognition for one's governance. This pathway allows access to the Nascent Soul spiritual medicines from the Immortal Sect's treasury. Gongye Zhixu is precisely a practitioner of this legitimate path.

However, he gradually realized that he was running out of time. A Golden Core cultivator has a lifespan of eight *jiazi* (cycles of 60 years), totaling 480 years. Forming a Nascent Soul before one's essence, qi, and spirit decline from their peak undoubtedly offers the highest success rate. Gongye Zhixu has already passed his two-hundredth birthday. Although he possesses several longevity-extending pills, he only has about a century left, at most, to form his Nascent Soul. And despite governing for the Immortal Sect for over a hundred years, he has only managed to obtain one Infant Nurturing Pill. For the remaining two Nascent Soul spiritual medicines, it's already somewhat too late to acquire them through conventional means. While there have been fortunate individuals in the Immortal Sect's history who succeeded in forming a Nascent Soul with just one Infant Nurturing Pill, Gongye Zhixu still desired to be more thoroughly prepared.

Five years ago, the "World Gate," a supreme treasure inherited by the Immortal Sect, began to fluctuate. This indicated that an otherworld was approaching Diyuan Star. Therefore, after seeking approval from the three Hall Masters, Gongye Zhixu began preparing for a pioneering war. The Immortal Sect no longer had sufficient resources to refine the Infant Cultivation Pill and the Infant Transformation Pill, so they could only hope that the newly discovered otherworld would possess them. Although the "World Gate" had detected the existence of the otherworld, the considerable distance between the two sides meant that a complete channel could not yet be established. According to calculations from the Stargazing Academy, it would take approximately another century for the two worlds to fully converge. This century happened to coincide with Gongye Zhixu's final peak period.

Not only him, but many Golden Core Perfected Cultivators in the Kaiyuan Hall, who were struggling due to the lack of Nascent Soul spiritual medicines, also saw this as an opportunity to advance further. Even the several Nascent Soul Venerables who resided at the pinnacle of the Immortal Sect had awakened due to the World Gate's fluctuations. After all, beyond the Nascent Soul stage lies the Soul Transformation realm. Everyone desired to reach a higher level.

However, the power of the otherworld detected by the World Gate needed to be confirmed as quickly as possible before the two worlds converged. If it were too powerful, the Immortal Sect would have to conceal its traces and hope not to be discovered by the other side. If its power was average but it possessed abundant resources, then a pioneering war would certainly be launched. Therefore, starting five years ago, the Immortal Sect, which had long enjoyed peace, began consciously cultivating the next generation's combat awareness. And in these past years, Gongye Zhixu gathered hundreds of top talents from various fields within the Immortal Sect and revived the sealed Minor Chitian, all for this purpose.

Before leading his team to Chicheng Grotto-Heaven, Chen Mobai specifically visited Che Yucheng, who briefed him on the Immortal Sect's main policy directions in recent years. When he heard terms like "otherworld," "World Gate," and "capture," his eyes and face showed unconcealed shock. However, a normal person hearing such secret information would probably be even more astonished than Chen Mobai, so Che Yucheng didn't pay it much mind.

Chen Mobai, however, was thinking, "Could this otherworld, captured by the World Gate, be the 'Tianhe Realm'?" If that were true, wouldn't he have successfully infiltrated ahead of time? But he had been very successful in the Tianhe Realm; if a war between the two worlds truly broke out, wouldn't all his years of effort be wasted? Furthermore, the Tianhe Realm had seen many ascended cultivators. No one knew if there were still connections between the lower realm and the upper realm. If, at the final critical moment of conquering the world, ascended cultivators descended, the Immortal Sect might suffer greatly. He still needed to find a way to ascertain whether the world captured by the World Gate was indeed the Tianhe Realm.

"What is Minor Chitian?" His thoughts and words were completely different. To prevent Che Yucheng from noticing anything unusual, Chen Mobai asked another question that genuinely interested him.

"It's a virtual reality world, a proud creation from the time of the Immortal Sect's first Master, during his Void Refinement stage. You can project your power into it, undergo various trials, and also engage in matched combat to improve your combat awareness and skill."

"The Immortal Sect has something like this? Why wasn't it brought out before?" Chen Mobai expressed great confusion.

"This item is equivalent to a sixth-tier spiritual treasure. Once activated, it consumes an immense amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth every moment. The Immortal Sect only activates it before wars of world-pioneering magnitude, to collectively enhance the combat skills of the masses."

As an veteran Golden Core cultivator of the Immortal Sect and a former rotating committee member of the Kaiyuan Hall, Che Yucheng was one of the Immortal Sect's upper-echelon figures. Therefore, he was very knowledgeable about Gongye Zhixu, Minor Chitian, and the World Gate. When his disciple, Chen Mobai, came to ask, he didn't hold back, telling him everything he knew in full detail.

"Once Minor Chitian is activated, the spiritual energy supplied to the Immortal Sect's general populace will drop by one level. But the ones who will suffer most are us, the Wuqi Daoist Academy." Che Yucheng sighed, having already received notification that the fifth-tier spiritual vein of Chicheng Mountain was forbidden from being activated from now on. This was because Minor Chitian required an enormous amount of spiritual energy during its operation, and among the Immortal Sect's four fifth-tier spiritual veins, only the spiritual energy from Chicheng Mountain met Minor Chitian's requirements. So, when he heard Gongye Zhixu was coming, he had already guessed this. But upon actually receiving the official directive from the Immortal Sect, Che Yucheng's heart still felt heavy.

Hearing this, Chen Mobai's expression showed righteous indignation. However, he immediately realized that a fifth-tier spiritual vein was beyond the scope of a Foundation Establishment cultivator like himself, so he merely verbally condemned the Immortal Sect.

"Won't the dean come forward to object?" The fifth-tier spiritual vein of Chicheng Mountain undoubtedly belonged to the dean of Wuqi Daoist Academy. If he, as a Nascent Soul Venerable, disagreed, the Immortal Sect should not forcibly requisition the Chicheng Mountain spiritual vein.

"The dean has also passed half his lifespan. A world-pioneering endeavor offers the hope of reaching Soul Transformation, however slim, which is still better than waiting idly for the illusory 'Divine Awe Melody'." Hearing Che Yucheng's words, Chen Mobai's face showed understanding. So, the dean also supported this pioneering war. No wonder Gongye Zhixu could requisition Chicheng Mountain's fifth-tier spiritual vein without the dean showing his face.

"Is there anything I need to do in Minor Chitian?" Chen Mobai asked. Che Yucheng nodded and gave him a requirement. "The combat rankings in Minor Chitian will be displayed. As our Wuqi Daoist Academy's current leading figure, you must be first."

"Teacher, it's not that I lack confidence in myself, but I've only just reached Foundation Establishment. Defeating Zuo Qiushi would be fine, but facing Lan Haitian, or Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators, ten of me combined wouldn't be a match." Chen Mobai grimaced, indicating he couldn't do it.

"Don't worry, Minor Chitian has a perfect matching mechanism. You'll only encounter opponents of similar cultivation levels; it won't make you challenge those beyond your rank."

"So, the strongest opponent I'll be matched with is Foundation Establishment Layer 3. Isn't that bullying?!" Chen Mobai's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief. It wasn't that he wanted to boast. It was simply that he couldn't imagine any Foundation Establishment Layer 3 cultivator in the Immortal Sect being able to withstand even one sword strike from him!

"Indeed. Of course, if you win too many matches, Minor Chitian will increase your hidden score, and then it might be possible to be matched against opponents from Foundation Establishment Layers 4 to 6. However, even if you lose at that point, you would have already brought glory to our academy." Che Yucheng knew his disciple's combat abilities. Under the Sword Rainbow Splitting Light technique, he was unrivaled among early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. It was indeed a bit like bullying. However, among mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, there were still some individuals with profound foundations and astonishing talents whose sword light might not be so easily suppressed. But as he said, as long as Chen Mobai performed at his normal level, even losing to a Foundation Establishment Layer 6 opponent would already bring honor to the academy.

"Teacher, I feel that opponents below Foundation Establishment Layer 7 offer no challenge, which isn't conducive to refining my combat skills. Furthermore, I took on the role of Student Council President precisely to spar and exchange pointers with the chief disciples of the other three academies. This separation by cultivation realm somewhat disappoints me, as I can't test my sword against everyone." Chen Mobai uttered something that left Che Yucheng quite speechless. "First, defeat all early and mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. Besides, once those three enter Minor Chitian, they might not have time to deal with you."

Che Yucheng's words left Chen Mobai very perplexed. However, as soon as he arrived at Chicheng Grotto-Heaven with Hua Zijing and other student council executives, he immediately understood why. In the central plaza of the Grotto-Heaven, a colossal screen was divided into nine grids. Some displayed rankings, while others showed ongoing combat within Minor Chitian. Among these, the three central screens displayed the chief disciples of the Three Great Daoist Academies. In the upper right corner of the three chief disciples' combat screens, a number "100" was displayed, indicating "matching in progress." This meant that at least three hundred late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, who had obtained internal test slots, had initiated matching challenges against the chief disciples of the Three Great Daoist Academies. Among them, who knew how many were at Foundation Establishment Layer 9, and there were probably even some at the perfection of Foundation Establishment, in the pseudo-Golden Core realm. Everyone desired to make a name for themselves. Challenging the chief disciples of the Four Great Daoist Academies was undoubtedly the most attention-grabbing act. If one could win, they could boast of their superior talent, even going so far as to question the quality of the Four Great Daoist Academies themselves. No wonder Che Yucheng said the chief disciples of the other three Daoist Academies had no time for him; there were simply too many people lining up to challenge them.

"Mobai, you're finally here?" Bian Yiqing approached with Jiang Yuyuan and Meng Huang'er. When she saw him, she visibly sighed in relief. When Gongye Zhixu arrived, Bian Yiqing led Meng Huang'er and other performers in a welcome song at the grand theater. Chen Mobai, uninterested in such matters, had been in secluded cultivation at home. After Minor Chitian was activated, the chief disciples of the other three Daoist Academies were present and were immediately given entry slots by Gongye Zhixu. As favored children of heaven, the three naturally had no reason to back down and had already begun to face successive challenges from numerous users. Bian Yiqing, as the team leader of Wuqi Daoist Academy, was also given twenty entry slots by Gongye Zhixu. Many members of the student council had already entered, and even Zuo Qiushi, who had already graduated, came over to get a slot. However, whether they had slots or not didn't matter, because among the chief disciples of the Immortal Sect's Four Great Daoist Academies, only Wuqi Daoist Academy's was missing. Since Chen Mobai hadn't come yesterday, and coupled with the fact that curious individuals had found out he had only just reached Foundation Establishment last year, at merely the first layer, rumors had already begun to circulate: fear of battle, retreat, cowardice, Wuqi Daoist Academy's five-thousand-year reputation about to be ruined by this person... Hua Zijing selectively mentioned some of these rumors, intending to provoke Chen Mobai, but he remained perfectly calm and utterly unmoved. When he was engaged in online debates, such words were mere child's play to him.

"Didn't Senior Brother Zuo Qiu also go in? How are his battle results?" Chen Mobai wasn't in a hurry to enter Minor Chitian; instead, he asked about Zuo Qiushi's situation. "He's doing alright. He fought five consecutive matches, with three wins and two losses, barely maintaining a positive record." Hua Zijing was utterly loyal to her former leader. Not only had she given Zuo Qiushi his internal test account, but she also constantly monitored his battle record after he entered Minor Chitian. As soon as Chen Mobai asked, she recited the details like a treasure map. She knew everything, from who he fought in each match, their Foundation Establishment layer, their favored cultivation techniques, to the reasons for his victories and losses—all in meticulous detail.

"Alas, it's a good thing he left quickly. Otherwise, as the chief disciple of Wuqi Daoist Academy, how could such a record be presented? It would simply bring shame upon our academy." Hua Zijing was speaking enthusiastically when she heard Chen Mobai's comment, and her face instantly turned pale. On the side, Ming Yu, Shen Renyou, and other student council executives either looked down or gazed at the sky, pretending not to hear. Chen Mobai dared to say such a thing, but they certainly wouldn't dare to agree. However, internally, the student council members quite agreed with Chen Mobai's statement. After all, the chief disciples of the Three Great Daoist Academies had fought ten consecutive matches since yesterday, winning every single one with overwhelming victories. In comparison, Zuo Qiushi's record was somewhat embarrassing.

"President, why don't you go in and try? After all, as the current chief disciple, the academy needs you to bring glory!" When she spoke the last two words, Hua Zijing was gritting her teeth. Chen Mobai, however, had an expression that clearly stated he would not shirk his duty.

"Upholding the academy's glory is an inescapable duty for our generation."