Chapter 167: Junior Brother Gu, what have you realized from it?

"Senior Brother Dai, wake up, wake up!"

Dai Bufan vaguely heard someone calling him. Who was calling him? It was so noisy.

Dai Bufan struggled to open his eyes, seeing Lu Yang's large face very close to his, looking at him eagerly. As he came to, Lu Yang's large face moved away slightly. Dai Bufan shook his head, feeling as though he had forgotten something. What had happened before? Why was he unconscious?

"Oh, Junior Brother Lu. What do you need?"

Lu Yang revealed a line of people behind him, all tied up like zongzi. He showed them off to Dai Bufan, smiling somewhat shyly. "Senior Brother Dai, I just went out for a bit of fun and accidentally caught the Four Ancient Immortals, all the ancient slumbering Half-Immortals, the First Emperor Gan, the First Emperor Yu, the First National Preceptor, and the First Emperor Xia! Now, our Dao Sect is sure to win the Great World Competition!"

"What?!"

Dai Bufan's eyes shot open. He sat bolt upright, his eyes wide, staring at Lu Yang's loathsome large face. He looked blankly at Lu Yang, Meng Jingzhou, and the others. The Four Ancient Immortals, tied up like zongzi, had all vanished.

"It was just a dream, just a dream..."

A chill ran down Dai Bufan's spine as he recalled the dream's scene. He was relieved it was a false alarm. The Grand Elder was skilled in dream arts, and Dai Bufan himself knew some dream spells; he hadn't had a nightmare in hundreds of years.

"Senior Brother Dai, are you alright?" Lu Yang asked with concern, thinking to himself, "Senior Brother Dai, your Dao Heart isn't strong enough. This is just the beginning. If I wasn't afraid you'd end up on the kill list too, I'd tell you about Gray Bean's identity."

His memory gradually returned, and Dai Bufan remembered what Lu Yang had said before he fainted. "Lu Yang, you really cause trouble. They say there are no Half-Immortals in the East Sea, but as soon as you went, not only did the East Sea gain Half-Immortals, but two of them also died."

"As for the Immortal War, it hasn't started in three hundred thousand years. 'Anything that happened in the East Sea could go down in history.' And then you tell me all these things are related to you?"

Lu Yang was caught off guard by Dai Bufan's praise and felt a bit shy. "It's not as grand as you make it sound..."

Dai Bufan forcefully stabilized his Dao Heart. "Tell me properly, how did your two-day trip to the East Sea turn into the East Sea triggering an Immortal War?"

Lu Yang, as the primary firsthand witness, recounted most of the events, with Meng Jingzhou and the others providing additional details. Only then did Dai Bufan understand the full sequence of events. According to the five of them, the East Sea incident truly couldn't be blamed on Lu Yang; it was purely a matter of luck. From an intelligence perspective, this was invaluable information, worth a thousand pieces of gold. Dai Bufan dared to say that while the East Sea events shocked the cultivation world, only Lu Yang and a few others knew the full story. Others only saw the surface phenomena. From the perspective of the Task Hall manager, Dai Bufan only wanted Lu Yang to take his place.

Dai Bufan rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache. He shooed the five away like flies. "Alright, alright, I know what happened. Just let me have some peace and quiet." He needed to properly digest the information about the East Sea.

After Lu Yang and the others left, Dai Bufan sat cross-legged, calming his breath. The events of the East Sea replayed in his mind, finally erupting in a furious exclamation. "Even if it was luck, this is just too ridiculous!"

*Boom!*

In his fury, Dai Bufan's aura soared, and he instantly advanced to the mid-Integration stage!

It had been one month since the Dao Sect's entrance examination, and the four new disciples who were recruited had all taken elders as their masters. Innate Daoist became a disciple of Dao Lord Han Hai, Gu Junye became a disciple of the Grand Elder, Zhou Xing'er became a disciple of Old Man Ba, and Zhuang Ping became a disciple of the Fourth Elder. Since the Grand Elder was currently resting in an unknown coffin, Senior Brother Dai had to take on the role of master, teaching Gu Junye in an open area in the back mountains. It was a good change of pace.

"Our lineage manages both the Task Hall and the power of punishment. The most important rule is not to cause trouble. Since you've joined our lineage, you must adhere to the rules. Remember, never cause trouble."

"Understood, Senior Brother," Gu Junye replied, sitting obediently opposite him. "As for counter-examples, the most typical one is Lu Yang. Whenever he goes out on a mission, he's bound to stir up trouble. At first, it wasn't so bad, just joining the Immortal Cult or something. Later, he attended the Qing Province celebration and encountered two ancient Integration stage cultivators and one ancient Tribulation-Crossing stage cultivator. After that, he went to Barren Province and met three ancient Tribulation-Crossing stage cultivators. Not long ago, he returned from the East Sea, and the events there are inseparable from him."

Dai Bufan recounted Lu Yang's inexplicable connections with high-level cultivators; each time Lu Yang returned with new 'achievements,' it scared him half to death. "Junior Brother Gu, tell me, what have you learned from this?"

Gu Junye's eyes lit up as he listened. "A true man should be like that!"

Dai Bufan: "...Is it too late to get a different junior brother now?"

When Lu Yang returned to Tianmen Peak, he saw Senior Sister and Ao Ling drinking tea. Ao Ling was sitting with her legs crossed, looking quite unrestrained.

"Our sect already has two guest elders, Senior Immortal and Senior Lianyi. I wonder if Senior Ao Ling would be interested in becoming a guest elder for our sect?"

"Darn it, Lianyi got ahead of me again!" Ao Ling regretted. Why had Jiang Lianyi awakened first, and not her? A step behind meant being behind everywhere. Even if she became a guest elder now, she'd still be separated from Immortal Sister by a Jiang Lianyi.

"So, what are the benefits of becoming a guest elder?"

"Becoming a guest elder naturally has many benefits. For example, if you find anything in our sect to your liking, you may take it with you."

"Oh, there's such a good deal?" Ao Ling's gaze fell on Lu Yang, who had just arrived, and she flashed an interested smile, giving Lu Yang an ominous feeling.

"Junior Brother is not an 'item'," Yun Zhi reminded her.

"However, our sect has captured several Half-Immortals and confiscated their possessions. They are all currently in our treasury, and you may choose an item you like from there." As Lu Yang served as bait, a large number of Half-Immortals were caught. Now, the Dao Sect's resources were even richer than those of the Dragon Clan.

"Alternatively, you can make contributions to our sect, earn contribution points, and use those points to redeem a 'Sect Master One-Day Experience Tour,' temporarily becoming the sect master. Everyone in the sect, including other guest elders, must obey the acting sect master's orders."

"Even guest elders are not exempt?"

"Guest elders are not exempt."

Ao Ling slapped her thigh. "I'll do it!"

"Then can I also earn contribution points?" Immortal Fairy suddenly remembered she hadn't earned contribution points in a long time after hearing Yun Zhi say this. Yun Zhi replied, "Senior Immortal Fairy has made indelible contributions to our sect, so you've naturally earned contribution points."

"Then I want to redeem the 'Sect Master One-Day Experience Tour'!" Immortal Fairy's eyes sparkled.

Yun Zhi showed no surprise. "How long would Senior Immortal like to redeem it for? One year or two years?" The Dao Sect had captured Half-Immortals, and Immortal Fairy had made many contributions; her contribution points could be described as massive.

"One year is enough."

Yun Zhi nodded. "In that case, starting today..."

"Wait," Immortal Fairy interjected. "I'm just redeeming it in advance. I don't want to be the acting sect master right now." Immortal Fairy recalled that the previous two times she immediately became acting sect master, she either had to organize the Five Elements Sect exchange meeting or the Dao Sect's 120,000th-anniversary celebration. Both were fraught with difficulties, and if she hadn't had Lu Yang as her cheat code, she would have struggled to get through them. This time, she would choose a good moment to become the acting sect master.

This time, Yun Zhi was the one who found it strange. She hadn't realized that Immortal Fairy's intelligence had improved by leaps and bounds without her noticing.