Chapter 39: Helping Disciples Condense the Golden Core

Fortunately, she hadn't underestimated Xu Yang's power and had knelt down early. If she had acted with those people, she would now be a cold corpse on the ground, just like them.

"Lord Xu," Yu Sanniang whispered, "these people were acting on the Tianwu Commandery Prince's orders to recruit you to work for the Commandery."

Xu Yang looked at the corpses on the ground, his expression turning odd.

"Are you sure these people were here to recruit me? Not to kill me?" Xu Yang asked, pointing at the corpses on the ground, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

If they were trying to recruit him, shouldn't their attitude have been better? Even if he wouldn't have agreed to their offer, he certainly wouldn't have killed them.

Their lives could have been spared.

Their deaths were well-deserved.

"Yes, Lord Xu," Yu Sanniang replied honestly. After this incident, she was completely awed by Xu Yang and resolved to serve him diligently, hoping to shelter under his powerful influence.

"Alright, I understand," Xu Yang said calmly.

"Lord Xu, you've killed them and offended Tianwu Commandery. What should we do now?" Yu Sanniang asked after a moment of thought.

She guessed Xu Yang's cultivation level was the Nascent Soul stage, but Tianwu Commandery also had several hidden cultivators of that same level.

She feared that the powerful figure she was now relying on might not be reliable.

If Xu Yang proved no match for Tianwu Commandery, she would likely need to find another patron.

Xu Yang looked at Yu Sanniang's face, seeing her worried and fearful expression, and smiled.

"Not only have I offended Tianwu Commandery, but I've also offended the Spirit Treasure Auction House and the Demonic Cloud Sect. Are you afraid?"

"What?" Yu Sanniang was startled, looking a bit bewildered.

"The Demonic Cloud Sect too?" Yu Sanniang's mind was in a whirl; she couldn't fathom how Xu Yang had also offended them.

Xu Yang then recounted what had happened in Qizhou City to Yu Sanniang.

After listening, Yu Sanniang was completely overwhelmed. What had she just heard?

Xu Yang had actually killed four Nascent Soul cultivators single-handedly, one of whom was an apprentice of a Demonic Cloud Sect elder.

What exactly was Xu Yang's power?

Yu Sanniang dared not ponder further, only lowering her head. Yet, her resolve to rely on Xu Yang's powerful influence solidified even more.

Xu Yang's influence was far greater than she had imagined; compared to him, Tianwu Commandery was utterly insignificant.

Even if all the old Nascent Soul cultivators from Tianwu Commandery mobilized, they wouldn't be a match for Xu Yang alone.

"Have you found any clues about the spirit herbs I asked you to search for?" Xu Yang suddenly asked.

He had kept Yu Sanniang specifically to help him find spirit herbs.

"Lord Xu, I did get a clue recently," she replied. "According to rumors, there's a peerless spirit herb in a forest within Tianwu Commandery."

"I don't know what kind of spirit herb it is, but many cultivators have already gone to that forest," Yu Sanniang added.

"Tianwu Commandery, a peerless spirit herb of unknown type?" Xu Yang murmured to himself.

"Alright, I understand," Xu Yang said, nodding. He then took out a cultivation-boosting pill, handed it to Yu Sanniang, and said, "This pill is your reward. If you take it, your cultivation can be significantly raised by one stage."

Yu Sanniang took the pill and sniffed its fragrance, instantly feeling a blissful lightness.

Her face immediately lit up with surprise and delight; she could tell at a glance that this pill was a true treasure.

If she took it, her cultivation, which had reached a bottleneck, could potentially advance further, making it not impossible to break through her current realm.

"Thank you, Lord Xu," Yu Sanniang said gratefully.

When she had worked for the Tianwu Commandery Prince, despite doing so much, she had never received a single reward.

Yet, by working for Xu Yang, simply by inquiring about the emergence of peerless spirit herbs, she had earned such a generous reward.

After Yu Sanniang left, Xu Yang walked over to Ling Qingshu, glanced at her, and sighed. "You clearly couldn't win, so why did you come out?" he asked.

Ling Qingshu smiled and replied, "I just knew, Patriarch Xu, that you would return."

Xu Yang, however, gave a cold laugh. "Then if I hadn't returned, wouldn't you have been doomed?"

Ling Qingshu lowered her head. Indeed, if Xu Yang had arrived even a second later, she would have been annihilated.

"But if I hadn't come out," she argued, "they would have broken through the mountain-guarding array, and our junior brothers and sisters would have been in danger."

Hearing this, Xu Yang suddenly raised a hand, and a ball of spiritual energy slammed onto the mountain-guarding array.

The mountain-guarding array instantly shook violently, and a low hum resounded for a long moment.

However, the mountain-guarding array, which had appeared on the verge of collapse, remained steadfast. After a while, it was as if nothing had happened.

Xu Yang's attack had been ten times stronger than the combined assault of the dozen or so Golden Core cultivators from earlier.

"Do you see?" he said. "You should trust your Patriarch. Those few Golden Core cultivators were nothing; even if another dozen Golden Core cultivators came, they couldn't breach our mountain-guarding array."

Ling Qingshu was somewhat taken aback, remembering that Xu Yang had set up this mountain-guarding array quite casually. Could a casually arranged array truly be so powerful?

Ling Qingshu felt Xu Yang's presence become even more imposing. As long as he was there, their Tianlan Sect would surely rise.

Ling Qingshu vaguely remembered the sect's ancient texts stating that countless millennia ago, the Tianlan Sect was once the most powerful sect in the world.

After returning to the sect, Xu Yang instructed Ling Qingshu to gather all the selected individuals in a plaza.

In the plaza, a dozen or so Foundation Establishment stage disciples looked nervously at Ling Qingshu.

According to Ling Qingshu, their Patriarch Xu would, today, elevate their cultivation to the Golden Core stage.

When they arrived at the plaza, they were all dumbfounded.

Some of them had unremarkable talents, and their cultivation levels within the Tianlan Sect were so average they'd be lost in a crowd.

Without an unexpected turn of events, they would have been stuck in the Foundation Establishment stage for their entire lives, never even glimpsing the Golden Core stage.

However, an unexpected event occurred: Ling Qingshu suddenly told them that today they could form their Golden Cores!

How could this not make them both suspicious and excited?

On the periphery of the plaza, all the Tianlan Sect disciples gathered in circles, craning their necks to watch the dozen or so individuals in the center.

Among them were not a few talented individuals, all wearing disgruntled expressions.