Chapter 338: Qingzhou Grand Ceremony

Immortal Fairy was flicked away by Senior Sister with a single finger, ending up hanging head-down from a nearby tree branch, swaying back and forth.

"Lu Yang, you disrespect immortals!" Immortal Fairy fumed, feeling she had suffered an unexpected and undeserved calamity for no reason.

She thought of her days of power and glory in ancient times; who would dare treat her like this?

Lu Yang said respectfully, "It's not that I disrespect you, Fairy. I've just formed the Invincible Pill and am not yet familiar with it. I was hoping you could demonstrate how to use it."

"Thanks to your demonstration just now, I now understand how to use the Invincible Pill."

"Really?" Immortal Fairy looked at Lu Yang suspiciously, feeling something was amiss.

"I am merely a mortal. How could I dare deceive you, Fairy?"

"Indeed."

Immortal Fairy, considering herself magnanimous, did not pursue the matter further.

The puppet jumped up and plucked Lu Yang from the tree branch, holding him by the collar like a mischievous cat.

Senior Sister placed two fingers on Lu Yang's wrist, as if diagnosing him, and nodded almost imperceptibly. "So that's it," she murmured. "It was my oversight. When compiling the cultivation method, I forgot that the Invincible Pill also has the characteristic of inducing blind confidence. The method made you even more confident, causing you to lose the ability to think normally and control your body."

She picked up the cultivation method that had fallen to the ground. It automatically burned, reduced to ashes, as if it had never existed.

"I'll revise it again. Wait a moment."

Senior Sister sat by the stone table, slashed through space, and retrieved a blank book from within.

She pondered for a moment, then knew how to revise it, and wrote swiftly.

Before long, a new version of the 'Mind-Clarifying and Nature-Perceiving Art,' Golden Core chapter, was complete.

"Here, try again."

Lu Yang took the cultivation method. Compared to the previous version, only a few phrases had changed.

Could this really suppress the Invincible Pill's impulsiveness?

Lu Yang circulated a grand cycle as usual, then secretly glanced at Senior Sister, who was resting with her eyes closed, and breathed a sigh of relief.

This time, there was no suicidal urge to hit Senior Sister.

Lu Yang sat in meditation where he was, feeling the changes brought by the cultivation method.

The biggest change was a profound clarity in his heart. The cultivation method clearly pointed out the path forward; he only needed to follow its prescribed route.

Previously, his cultivation had been merely accumulating spiritual energy without true realm advancement. Now, with the new cultivation method, the spiritual energy he had accumulated came into play, allowing him to advance from the early Golden Core stage to the early Golden Core stage.

Secondly, there were changes in his divine sense and mental space. The range of his divine sense slightly expanded, and his mental space also grew somewhat larger. Immortal Fairy's bed, which was originally against the wall—the boundary of his mental space—was now two spans away from the boundary.

Immortal Fairy also noticed this and pushed her bed back to the boundary of the mental space.

She found it very comfortable to lean her back against the bed and kick the wall with her small feet in that position.

"Is Lu Yang here?" Meng Jingzhou called out softly as he came up the mountain.

Given his usual boisterous personality, he typically yelled at the top of his lungs when looking for someone.

However, this was Tianmen Peak. Besides Lu Yang, there was also the extremely formidable Senior Sister. Even if Meng Jingzhou were given eight times his usual courage, he wouldn't dare make a loud noise on Tianmen Peak.

"Senior Sister, you're here?" Meng Jingzhou said, bowing respectfully upon seeing Senior Sister leaning against a tree with her eyes closed.

Senior Sister softly hummed in acknowledgment. She had known the moment Meng Jingzhou stepped onto Tianmen Peak.

"What are you looking for me for?"

Meng Jingzhou said mysteriously, "Good news, of course! Have you heard of the Qingzhou Grand Ceremony? It's about to begin."

Lu Yang, who didn't know much about common activities in the Great Xia Dynasty, asked, "What is the Qingzhou Grand Ceremony?"

"It's a grand ceremony for cultivators, led by the Qingzhou government and involving several first-rank sects. Held every year in early August, it features competitions, auctions, and various other events, making it quite lively. Its main purpose is to attract young cultivators to stay in Qingzhou, so many of the participants are around our age."

Lu Yang's eyes lit up. He rarely interacted with peers, so this was a good opportunity.

"Let's go! Oh, right, is Qingzhou the place Elder Five mentioned, where, twenty thousand years ago, the Tribulation Stage Qingzhou Governor, under the guise of a duel, moved a neighboring city there?"

"That's the one."

Senior Sister, who had been resting with her eyes closed, slowly opened them, a hint of curiosity in her gaze. "Elder Five told you about the Qingzhou Governor?"

"Senior Sister, you know about it too?"

"Of course, I do. After all, that Qingzhou Governor is our sect's Grand-Ancestor."

Lu Yang was speechless.

Meng Jingzhou was speechless.

For some reason, neither of them was surprised by this fact.

It certainly fit the consistent style of the Dao Seeking Sect—logical, yet utterly preposterous.

"It's fine that you know about the Qingzhou Governor, but don't spread it outside. It would harm the reputation of my Dao Seeking Sect."

Senior Sister, as the de facto Sect Master of the Dao Seeking Sect, cherished the sect's reputation greatly.

Even though she had no idea what the Dao Seeking Sect's reputation was like among outsiders.

Meng Jingzhou asked curiously, "Senior Sister, what happened to that Governor later?"

"Later, he systematically developed Qingzhou. The Qingzhou Grand Ceremony you spoke of was his idea; it attracted many talented cultivators and proved exceptionally effective, leading other governors to follow suit. Under his governance, Qingzhou grew increasingly prosperous. After achieving great success and renown, he retired and returned to the sect."

Lu Yang realized a problem. "Wait a minute," he said. "Can people from our Five Great Immortal Sects still serve as officials in the imperial court?"

He had thought that given the Five Great Immortal Sects' high status and immense power, the Great Xia Dynasty, out of apprehension and suspicion, would not allow their members to hold official positions.

"Of course, they do."

Meng Jingzhou gave Lu Yang an example: "The imperial court yearns for talented individuals. Where are most of the wise found? Of course, among the Five Great Immortal Sects. The imperial court even invited the abbot of Xuankong Temple to serve as an official; if he had agreed, he would have been prime minister, but he simply declined."

"The imperial court also invited the Sect Master of Zhenyu Sect, but he also declined."

"For young talents like you and me to serve as officials, the imperial court is quite welcoming. However, unlike the abbot of Xuankong Temple, if we want to become officials, we need to pass the imperial examinations."

Senior Sister reminded him, "Lu Yang, you cannot participate in the imperial examinations, nor can you become an official."

Lu Yang was stunned. "Why?" he asked.

He had no intention of becoming an official, but he couldn't imagine not even having the opportunity.

"Because of our master."

Lu Yang understood. Such was his intelligence that he grasped it instantly, figuring out the crucial point: Twenty thousand years ago, the Dao Seeking Sect was not yet the leader of the Five Great Immortal Sects. The Dao Seeking Sect was now vastly different, having become the undisputed foremost immortal sect.

The imperial court worried about the Dao Seeking Sect becoming too dominant and dared not allow Dao Seeking Sect disciples—or, more specifically, himself, as the Sect Master's direct disciple—to become officials. This was to prevent collusion between the court and other sectors that might destabilize the Great Xia Dynasty's rule.

Senior Sister continued, "Our master committed crimes multiple times, so his disciples—our grand-masters—cannot hold official positions."