Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 143: Sect Leader (2600 votes plus more)
At this time, the leaders of various sects also came to Shangqing Temple one after another.

Sun Youyue said to Ren Yuan and A Yao, "Junior brother, follow Junior Brother Zhang to the front and let everyone get to know him. Junior sister, stay here, I will help you refine the sword."

The two men responded, and Ren Yuan followed Zhang Jingyi to the Sanqing Temple.

There were already twenty or thirty sect leaders gathered in the hall. Some had gray hair and beards, while others looked younger than Ren Yuan.

Seeing the two people coming out from the back, all the sect leaders looked over. Zhang Jingyi coughed and introduced Ren Yuan, saying, "Come and greet him. This Taoist Master Ren is the fellow disciple of Master Uncle and a true disciple of the Shangqing Sect."

"Really?" Upon hearing this, all the sect leaders hurriedly saluted Ren Yuan. Some called him junior uncle, and some called him great uncle. In short, they were not even his peers, but all of them were his juniors.

Ren Yuan hadn't expected that his generation was so high. Hearing so many people calling him uncle and grandpa, he felt uncomfortable for a moment.

Fortunately, the situation was urgent and there was no need for so much red tape. After a simple greeting, Zhang Jingyi told the leaders about what Ren Yuan had brought. Finally, he said:

"The Ghost Nation's army will be here soon, so all the leaders must come up with a set of rules as soon as possible."

"..." Ren Yuan's pupils shrank when he heard this, and he knew that there was going to be trouble.

Sure enough, all the leaders spoke up and expressed their opinions. In short, they can be divided into two groups, one group wants to defend the Peach Blossom Spring, and the other group wants to break out quickly.

The two groups argued endlessly, each holding their own opinion, until dark, and neither could convince the other...

Ren Yuan was so suffocated by what he saw that he quietly left the Sanqing Hall.

Zhang Jingyi followed him out and said with a wry smile, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Junior Master."

"It's already this late, why are you still arguing?" Ren Yuan was puzzled and said, "That precious time is wasted just like that."

"I have given the order to activate the defense formation and have everyone on combat readiness. Men should prepare for battle, and the elderly, weak, women and children should pack their bags and be ready to retreat at any time." Zhang Jingyi said softly, "In short, be prepared for both situations."

Since Ren Yuan was considered an elder, he said directly: "If we cannot unify our thoughts when a war is imminent, we will definitely lose."

"Alas, there is nothing we can do. Those who have managed to hold on until now are all stubborn people. Those who are smart have already found another way out." Zhang Jingyi sighed:

"The advantage of being stubborn is firmness, but the disadvantage is obstinacy, and only believing in one's own ideas."

"Then don't you have anyone who has the final say?" Ren Yuan said speechlessly: "There are thousands of people in a family, but only one person is in charge. There must be a decision maker, right? In times of crisis, what is most needed is someone to step forward and take leadership responsibilities. Even a mediocre leader is better than a group of dragons without a leader."

"The original leader was Master Feng. He was the one who led us to this Peach Blossom Spring, so we all elected him as the leader. After Master Feng left, the current leader is Master Uncle." Zhang Jingyi sighed again and said, "But you can see Master Uncle's condition. He can basically not take care of things."

"Why can't you stand up?" Ren Yuan said to Zhang Jingyi, his teacher's nephew.

"I'm not strong enough," Zhang Jingyi said helplessly, "I've only just opened up a few skills, and I'm fine as a housekeeper at ordinary times. But when it comes to the time when I really need to overcome all the opposition, I simply can't control the situation."

"Ah?" Ren Yuan was a little surprised. The leader of Lingbao Sect was not much stronger than him?

"There is no way." Zhang Jingyi said with a sad heart: "Over the years, too many elites of our Taoist sect have died heroically under the stranglehold of the Buddha Religion and the Ghost Country. Now all that is left are the seeds that they tried so hard to protect. But no matter how good the seeds are, they still need nutrients and fertile soil to grow."

"It's hard to survive in this paradise, so where can we find elixirs for cultivation? So we can't make any progress at all." He pointed at the quarreling heads in the front hall and said, "The strongest among these people are the two Five Apertures, who are already the two strongest under the Grand Master."

"The Five Apertures are quite powerful..." Ren Yuan sighed and said, "But I'm afraid it's far from enough." "Yeah." Zhang Jingyi laughed at himself and said, "If we were strong enough, who among us would hide in this Peach Blossom Land and not dare to leave?"

~~
There was an endless quarrel in front and Zhang Jingyi had no idea what to do, so Ren Yuan went to the backyard to check on the progress of his senior brother's sword-refining.

He originally thought that the process of sword-making would be difficult, but he heard that in the thatched cottage, the eldest senior brother was calmly teaching the secrets of sword-wielding to the youngest sister.

"Has it not started yet?" Ren Yuan was puzzled. He stood outside for a while and then heard his senior brother say, "Junior brother, come in too."

Ren Yuan then lifted the curtain and went in. He saw his senior sister and senior brother sitting cross-legged facing each other. A purple sword was suspended between them. There were golden patterns on the sword and lightning was entangled. It was obvious that the sword had not been refined yet...

But both the senior sister and brother looked relaxed, as if they didn't put in much effort.

"Brother, is it so easy to refine the sword?" Ren Yuan asked.

"Haha..." Senior Brother laughed and said, "How could that be? A sword is a very strong and sharp thing. Even if it is a female sword, it would rather break than bend, and would rather die than yield. Every time you refine the sword, you must use all your strength and concentrate on it. If you make a mistake, you will fail and destroy your precious spiritual sword."

"What about this?" Ren Yuan pointed to the sword in the air that he was refining by himself.

"To be honest, this is the first time I've seen such a situation." Sun Youyue smiled bitterly, "It should be because the status of this sword is too high, and it has too much of a kingly aura. The female sword didn't even dare to resist, and surrendered directly. It was willing to be its sword shell, and even actively merged with it, without us having to do anything."

"I'm just watching from the side, just in case." He smiled and said, "I have nothing to do anyway, so I'll teach you the sword-controlling technique as well."

"That works too." Ren Yuan was greatly surprised. He didn't expect that Lian Jian also admired Qiang.

"What's the situation ahead?" the senior brother asked him again.

"Don't mention it. There's no leader and we haven't come to a conclusion yet." Ren Yuan couldn't help but said, "Brother, you have to step up and make a decision."

Senior Brother pointed at himself with difficulty and said, "I can't even stand up, how can I stand out?"

"It's the same if you sit down and talk." Ren Yuan said.

The senior brother shook his head and said to him, "Junior brother, I want to discuss something with you."

"Please speak, senior brother." Ren Yuan said hurriedly.

"Brother, I have another powerful sword here. I'll give it to you." The senior brother said as he took out a green magic sword.

Ren Yuan refused to take it: "I don't have the courage of a sword."

"It doesn't matter. I have already refined this sword," Senior Brother said with a smile, "It has its own sword spirit. I will teach you a set of sword-controlling techniques, and you can use it directly."

"Brother, please tell me first, what do you want me to do?" Ren Yuan said.

"Haha, you are a very cunning kid." Seeing that he couldn't fool him, the senior brother spoke frankly, "I want you to take over the position of the head of Shangqing Sect. What do you think?"

ps. Yuan is finally getting rid of the state of being a little Karami. Please subscribe and give me a monthly ticket!
(End of this chapter)