Cultivation: I have an equipment slot

"The Central Plains?" Zhang Yan was taken aback for a moment, then quickly asked, "How is it over there?"

"there……

"They're completely two different worlds." Mo Changqing sighed softly, speaking to Zhang Yan in an indescribable tone.

"what?

"Two worlds?" Zhang Yan asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Hmm, not bad. The spiritual energy in the Central Plains is so abundant that it is far beyond what we can compare to here."

Moreover, there are many experts over there, and their magical abilities are formidable. Compared to them, our situation feels like children playing house. At this moment, Lei Kunhai spoke in a somber tone.

"Is it really that powerful?" Zhang Yan was somewhat incredulous. If that were the case, wouldn't there be an enormous number of experts in the Central Plains?
“Yes, impressive. During this time, we pretended to be independent cultivators and spent some time there, and we benefited a lot.” After Mo Changqing finished speaking, he stopped talking, turned around and took a deep look at the black hole, and said, “Let’s seal this place away for now and study it carefully later.”

"Speaking of which, will the people from the Central Plains attack us?" Zhang Yan asked with some concern.

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Zhuge Wan chuckled softly upon hearing his words. “Your teleportation array is set up in a rather remote location, so most people won’t go there. And most importantly… what are the people from the Central Plains here after?”
They'll only come if there's something in their favor, right?

We have neither resources they could covet, nor any special techniques or secret arts here. Coming here would be a losing proposition for them.

Although Zhuge Wan said this with a smile, for some reason, Zhang Yan felt a sense of sadness. Yes, sadness.

What they fought so hard for was so worthless in the Central Plains, so what were they striving for?

"Alright, alright, stop talking. Let's just plunder the resources of the underworld. After all, we now know about the Central Plains and have a way to get there. Who knows, maybe we can even establish our own sect there someday?"

Mo Changqing waved his hand and addressed everyone.

"What the sect leader says is true. Now that we know about the Central Plains, it is actually a good thing for us. After all, in our Zhao Kingdom, the Nascent Soul stage is the pinnacle, but in the Central Plains, there is much more room for progress. This is a good thing for us." Zhuge Wan also agreed with this point.

Finally, as if he had thought of something, Mo Changqing looked at Zhang Yan deeply and said, "Especially for you, this is a good thing."

Zhang Yan roughly understood what Mo Changqing meant. What the other party wanted to say was that the Golden Core stage was a constraint. Qianxiong Daoren once said that if one did not achieve the Golden Core stage in the Central Plains, one would be stuck at the Nascent Soul stage for life.

Only by reaching the Central Plains and tempering one's immortal bones can one go further. However, at that time, Zhang Yan had no idea where the Central Plains was, or even heard of it, so he didn't pay much attention to it. But now that he knows about the Central Plains, he might have to go there eventually.

Upon returning from the Central Plains, Mo Changqing and his companions began a rapid exploration of the entire underground world. It must be said that this underground world was much larger than they had imagined.

There were many demonic beasts inside, some of which were never seen in the outside world. Mo Changqing adhered to the principle that only by personally tasting them could he know their true nature, so he basically tasted them all.

Then he categorized these monsters into those that were delicious, those that were not delicious, those that could be used in medicine, and those that were pure garbage.

For those that are pure trash, they are simply captured and distributed to the disciples of the Qingheng Sect as spirit beasts, suicide squads, food, and medicine. Depending on their value, they are either artificially raised or free-range in the wild.

can only say……

Mo Changqing has finally figured out how to deal with these monsters.

He would squeeze every last drop of value out of them, as long as they had even the slightest bit of usefulness.

During this time, Zhang Yan had nothing to do, so he quietly cultivated. After this period of hard work, his cultivation finally broke through and he reached the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.

Feeling the magical power within his body expand several times over again, Zhang Yan was somewhat moved. At the Foundation Establishment stage, he was probably really strong!
It would be almost impossible for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to fight him.

Five more years passed.

In the past five years, Zhang Yan has consolidated his mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation, and the underground world has been sorted out by Mo Changqing and others.

This directly led to the formation of a distorted system.

Within this system, all living beings depend on the Qingheng Sect for survival. They can only obtain food or cultivation resources by working for the Qingheng Sect.

Fishmen salvage aquatic creatures, frogmen mine minerals, and other races are responsible for raising and cultivating livestock. This underground world has clearly become the Qingheng Sect's resource mine.

Countless resources are extracted from here every day.

"These are all pure white spirit stones!" Zhang Yan couldn't help but exclaim every time he saw those precious resources.

This underground world has truly earned them too many resources, especially since it is part of Taiyi Mountain's territory. Taiyi Mountain can receive 30% of the profits, while the remaining 70% must be handed over to the sect.

Even so, they still made a fortune.

especially……

Taiyi Mountain currently has no disciples, only Zhang Yan, which means that Zhang Yan alone has obtained 30% of all the resources.

I can’t spend it all, I can’t spend it all!
“You should take on a disciple.” It was at this moment that Mo Changqing sighed and said to Zhang Yan.

"Taking on disciples?" Zhang Yan was taken aback when he heard Mo Changqing's words.

But then he smiled and said, "Indeed, he should take on disciples. He's already at the Foundation Establishment stage and has even opened his own mountain. He should take on disciples no matter what."

In a few days, it will be the Qingheng Sect's disciple-acceptance ceremony. If you are interested, you can go and take a look and find a few disciples. Otherwise, your Taiyi Mountain is a bit too empty.

Mo Changqing smiled and said to Zhang Yan, "Besides, only after you take on a disciple and inherit the legacy can you go and see the Central Plains."

"Huh?" Zhang Yan was slightly taken aback when he heard Mo Changqing's words, not understanding what he meant.

"What do you mean 'ah'? You're different from us. We've all reached the Golden Core stage, and at most we'll stop at the Nascent Soul stage. We might not even be able to get past the Nascent Soul stage. But what about you?"

You're only at the Foundation Establishment stage, with limitless potential. Most importantly, your talent and abilities shouldn't be wasted here. So I think you should go and see the Central Plains.

"Only there is a place worthy of a genius like you," Mo Changqing said to Zhang Yan with a smile.

"Thank you, Sect Leader." Upon hearing Mo Changqing's words, Zhang Yan was taken aback for a moment, then bowed to him earnestly in gratitude.

Mo Changqing's meaning was very clear: Zhang Yan could leave the Qingheng Sect and go to the Central Plains, provided that he left behind his legacy.

This is simply what should be expected.

After all, the Qingheng Sect had invested a lot of resources in cultivating Zhang Yan. Under normal circumstances, no sect would be willing to give up a disciple they had worked so hard to cultivate.

The fact that the Qingheng Sect released him so readily can only mean that Mo Changqing was truly considering his well-being.

"No need to thank me. If you do well, then help the Qingheng Sect out. If you fail, then the Qingheng Sect won't recognize you," Mo Changqing said to Zhang Yan with a smile.

“Of course.” Zhang Yan smiled genuinely when he saw Mo Changqing joking like that.

……

time flies.

Before they knew it, it was time for the Qingheng Sect's triennial disciple recruitment ceremony.

On this day, the entire Qingheng Sect was busy, and people had already gathered at the sect's mountain gate.

The Qingheng Sect is accepting disciples.

There are two types.

One type is a spiritual root in the body, but without prior cultivation experience and with a clean background—a potential cultivator, like Zhang Yan, who grew up cultivating at the Qingheng Sect. The second type is someone who acquires a skill and becomes an apprentice.

These people are often independent cultivators or family cultivators who have reached the Qi Refining or even Foundation Establishment stage and then come to the Qingheng Sect to become disciples.

The Qingheng Sect will be more rigorous in its screening of such individuals, and they may fail the screening if they are not careful. Moreover, such individuals will generally never become core members of the Qingheng Sect.

Even so, many people still come to become his disciples.

The reason is very simple: as long as one joins the Qingheng Sect, one will have a powerful backer and will be able to survive in this chaotic world.

Now, the Hehuan Demon Sect is pressing forward step by step, while the Wanhua Palace is only retreating. The entire Zhao Kingdom is in chaos. Apart from the Qingheng Sect, a paradise on earth, the rest of the country is not doing well.

Therefore, this Qingheng Sect's disciple recruitment ceremony attracted many people, all of whom wanted to join the Qingheng Sect to avoid some disasters.

Zhang Yan didn't even glance at those who wanted to become his apprentices.

Taiyi Mountain doesn't want these people.

The reason is very simple: those who take on these arts and become apprentices are too complicated and too old to be easily controlled, while his Taiyi Mountain connects the underground world with the Central Plains.

That's too sensitive.

These people absolutely cannot be allowed in.

On the contrary, those who are trained from childhood will have very high loyalty, and Zhang Yan feels at ease using them.

After learning about Zhang Yan's idea, Mo Changqing also agreed with it.

Although Mount Taiyi is currently just one of the peaks of the Qingheng Sect, not even the main peak, it holds a very significant position within the sect due to its connection to the underground world and the Central Plains.

It's not even as good as Qingheng Peak.

After all, Qingheng Peak is theoretically the hub of the Qingheng Sect, but it is ultimately just a main peak with relatively abundant spiritual energy.

It can be completely replaced.

Although Mount Taiyi is not the main peak, but just a hill, it cannot be replaced.

What cannot be replaced is the most scarce.

It is something that everyone needs.

Therefore, all the disciples accepted by Taiyi Mountain this time are people with clean backgrounds.

After learning that Taiyi Mountain was going to recruit disciples, everyone in the Qingheng Sect sprang into action, especially those who had connections within the sect.

Many people want to send their children to Taiyi Mountain.

The reason is very simple.

Taiyi Mountain has just been opened up; it's a new mountain, and there are resources there once you go there.

Besides all that, most importantly, the master of Taiyi Mountain is Zhang Yan.

Zhang Yan is a true disciple of the Qingheng Sect, and there are even rumors that he is the future new leader of the Qingheng Sect. He also has a very close relationship with the Nascent Soul stage ancestor of the Qingheng Sect.

He seems like someone with a bright future.

So once you enter Taiyi Mountain, it's like you've found a powerful backer.

These people were naturally very happy to agree.

Unfortunately, to everyone's surprise, Zhang Yan did not give face to anyone when it came to recruiting disciples; instead, he personally selected them.

His criteria for selecting disciples were not particularly strict.

Anyone with a mid-grade spiritual root or above and a clean background could be selected, but he valued personality the most.

Only humble and mentally mature people can do it.

Conversely, no matter how talented someone is, they will not be accepted.

Although many people had some complaints, Zhang Yan ignored them completely, and even Mo Changqing and others just smiled and remained silent.

The main reason is that the things in the underground world are too important to be taken lightly.

Therefore, he completely delegated authority to Zhang Yan, and even allowed Zhang Yan to choose first among the disciples this time.

Because this is the first time I've accepted an apprentice.

Therefore, he did not select many disciples, but only seven according to his own requirements.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, these seven people will be the first generation of disciples of Taiyi Mountain. Moreover, because he directly accepted them as disciples, these seven people became inner disciples of Qingheng Sect from the very beginning.

She was much happier than Zhang Yan was at the beginning.

After all, he started as an outer disciple and only later became an inner disciple.

Zhang Yan did not hold back his knowledge when it came to his seven disciples, and the cultivation methods he imparted to them were those of the Taiyi Sect.

Unfortunately, even though the Taiyi Yantian Record was passed on to them, the power they cultivated was far inferior to that of Zhang Yan.

after all……

Even if these people succeed in their cultivation, they will at most have a mixture of one or two kinds of spiritual energy, while Zhang Yan has a mixture of five kinds of spiritual energy.

The difference here is still quite significant.

As the Qingheng faction's strength continued to grow, tremendous changes were also taking place in the Zhao Kingdom.

The conflict between the Hehuan Demon Sect and the Wanhua Palace finally erupted.

Previously, some people in the Myriad Flowers Palace wanted to cooperate with the Joyful Union Demon Sect, but after being discovered by the Nascent Soul stage cultivators within the Joyful Union Demon Sect, they began an internal purge.

Then they became enemies with the Hehuan Demon Sect.

At that time, the Hehuan Demon Sect did not launch a direct attack, but quietly waited for the Nascent Soul cultivator of the Myriad Flowers Palace to perish, but now for some unknown reason.

The Myriad Flowers Palace took the initiative and wiped out one of the Hehuan Demon Sect's strongholds in the Zhao Kingdom.

This is tantamount to a direct declaration of war.

The entire Zhao Kingdom was in complete chaos. The war between the Wanhua Palace and the Hehuan Demon Sect had drawn in almost all the sects in the Zhao Kingdom.

Even the Qingheng Sect cannot remain unaffected.

Because Wanhua Palace has already issued a decree, requesting Qingheng Sect to send troops to provide support.

"What do you all think?" Inside the Qingheng Sect's grand ceremony, Mo Changqing looked at everyone and asked softly. (End of Chapter)