Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 203 Personnel Transfer
In March in Bianxia Town, the weather has gradually warmed up and all things are showing signs of revival.

In the spacious and bright room of Qingyuan Sect, Song Xian was concentrating intently, moving the mysterious brush in his hand slowly and forcefully across the talisman paper, outlining complex lines under his brush.

After an unknown amount of time, his palm suddenly trembled slightly, and in an instant, the entire talisman paper was twisted for no reason as if driven by an unknown force.

Song Xian sighed.

Failed again. I have wasted countless pieces of second-level talisman paper, but this second-level low-grade flying talisman has not even been able to complete a complete pattern.

The refining of a second-level talisman is quite complicated, and is several levels more difficult than a first-level talisman.

First-level talismans generally have only one pattern structure, or at most two.

This flying talisman has five different pattern structures, and each structure intersects with each other, crisscrossing each other. The distribution of spiritual power on it is even more fluctuating, like a dark and bumpy path. A small mistake will lead to all the previous efforts being wasted.

After putting away the failed talisman, he closed his eyes and rested for a while, then took out the talisman paper again and began to carve patterns.

The creation of this talisman had not even reached the stage of the previous one, but there were already signs of spiritual power getting out of control.

Song Xian threw down the mysterious brush in his hand in annoyance, wiped the slightly condensed sweat on his forehead, put away the items on the desk in a distracted manner, left the quiet room, and was about to go to the backyard to practice magic.

As soon as he reached the courtyard, he saw a butler waiting outside who came up to him quickly. He saluted and said, "Master, Immortal Master Zhang Ningyuan has arrived. He said he wants to see you for something. He's currently resting in the guest room of the mansion. He asked me to report to you as soon as you come out."

Song Xian was not allowed to be disturbed when he was refining talismans, because making talismans required full concentration and no distraction. Any small mistake would render the talisman scrapped.

Zhang Ningyuan came to Qingyuan Sect specifically to ask for a meeting. There must be something important, but it shouldn't be a very urgent matter.

The two soon met in the living room. Zhang Ningyuan bowed and took a seat. He flipped his hand and took out an exquisite three-foot-long wooden box. "Master, this is the three-colored spiritual lotus from the Water Curtain Cave. It's now fully mature. When I delivered supplies to Senior Brother Zhong, he picked it and asked me to return it."

Song Xian took the wooden box and opened it. Inside was a beautiful dark blue lotus, and above the lotus was a crystal clear fruit in red, green, and blue.

As the main ingredient of the foundation-building pill, the three-colored lotus fruit is naturally very valuable.

The three-colored spiritual lotus only produces one fruit in its lifetime and then withers, so the fruit and the stem and root are pulled out together. The stem and root are also very useful as a spiritual medicine.

"Thank you for your hard work, Senior Brother Ning Yuan." Song Xian put the wooden box into the storage bag.

"Senior Brother Zhong asked me to pass on a message. The Spirit Pond is now empty. Can we use it and send people to plant some aquatic spiritual herbs?"

"Yes, but it must be someone trustworthy, so as not to expose the place. It would be best if we could select one of the sect's disciples to go and plant the spiritual herbs."

"But there doesn't seem to be any disciples in the sect who understand the way of spiritual plants."

"It's time for us to train some spiritual plant disciples. How about this! From among the sect's mortal disciples, select an honest and dedicated one who is interested in this. Send him to Wei Lian. Under the pretext of supervising the spiritual farm production, ask him for instruction on spiritual plant cultivation techniques and learn from him."

"Will Wei Lian agree to this? He'll teach his apprentice and starve his master. Wei Lian was hired by us to begin with. He might be worried that after he passes on his skills to a sect disciple, the sect will take back the spiritual field and hand it over to that disciple."

"I will talk to him and give him reassurance and generous conditions."

"But if I start learning now, it will probably take many years to become a master! Is the spirit pond going to remain empty forever? In my opinion, it would be better to give the spirit pond to Wei Lian. Doesn't he have a disciple? After following him for so many years, he should have learned some skills. We can just give the spirit field to his disciple."

"Let me think about this again!"

Song Xian was mainly worried that if he told outsiders the news about the spirit pool, it would be exposed.

Although Wei Lian has cooperated with the sect for many years, he is not a direct disciple of the sect after all, so he may not be trustworthy.

"By the way, Master, have you heard any news about Yang Jinzhang? It's been all over the place lately."

"Yang Jinzhang, what happened to him? What's the news?"

"I heard that the Beastmaster Sect wants to transfer him back and send someone else to take over the affairs of Bianxi City."

When Song Xian heard this, his brows immediately furrowed. "Where did this news come from? Is it reliable?"

Yang Jinzhang's transfer is not a big deal, but it will have some impact on the various sects and forces in Bianxi City.

He has been the head of Bianxi City for nearly a hundred years and can be said to be a real local tyrant. There are countless forces in Bianxi City that have interests entangled with him.

If he is transferred and replaced by a new person, it may cause a major reshuffle of the Beastmaster Sect's industries in Bianxi City, which would have a huge impact.

Even the Hunyuan Sect in Bianxia Town has connections with the Beast Taming Sect and has taken over three industries from it, not to mention the various forces in Bianxi City. Yang Jinzhang's involvement is even greater.

There is also the Tianshan Sect in the west, which was built up by Yang Jinzhang. When the new leader comes to power, will he reform the Tianshan Sect?

If the Tianshan Sect falls into chaos, will there be peace in Xiazhen?

"Anyway, many people out there are spreading rumors. Whether it's true or not is unknown for the time being, but I think since there are rumors, they shouldn't be groundless!"

"Keep a close eye on this matter. If you have any concrete news or progress, tell me immediately."

"Okay, I'll pay more attention to it. But even if Yang Jinzhang is really replaced, it won't have much impact on our sect. We have only taken over three industries from him, which only add up to a few thousand spirit stones a year. Even if he takes them back, it won't cause any big trouble."

Song Xian shook his head and did not say what he was really worried about.

.........

In Bianxi City, at Yang Mansion, inside a brightly lit house.

Yang Jinzhang held the jade slip in his hand with an expressionless face.

"Uncle Yang, I wonder if you have any words to say to our master. I will convey them to you." A man dressed in the uniform of the Beast Taming Sect stood in front of him and said with a bow.

"Please tell my uncle that I understand and that I will visit him again after we return to the mountain gate."

"Then I won't bother you any more."

"Go! Yude, please entertain us well for me." "Yes. Senior Brother Xu, please come." Yang Yude responded.

After the two left the room, Yang Jinzhang sighed slowly, his expression unable to hide his loneliness.

"Uncle, what's wrong? What news does my great-uncle master have this time?" Yang Yuling's heart sank when she saw his expression.

Yang Jinzhang stood up from his seat, walked to the window, and looked at the crescent moon outside. His voice was indescribably tired: "The sect has passed a resolution to allow me to return to the mountain gate and serve as the head of Discipline Peak."

Discipline Peak is in charge of the sect's disciplines, which sounds quite impressive, as if he has the power of life and death, but in reality it is a puppet position, and at most he can show off his power to the Qi-refining disciples who have no background.

Whether or not any disciple with a background or a foundation-building disciple will be punished is not something that the Discipline Peak can decide.

Not to mention that Discipline Peak is a dull place with no money at all, and it is far behind the person in charge of Bianxi City.

The person in charge of Discipline Peak is usually a disciple in the early stage of foundation building, while the person in charge of Bianxi City must be a disciple in the middle stage of foundation building.

Although the two are not much different in terms of salary level, their power cannot be compared.

The head of Bianxi City is a high-ranking official in the region. He is far away from the emperor and has many industries. He is comparable to a local lord. If he takes a step up, he will become a disciple of the cabinet. How can he be compared with a marginal figure like the head of Jieli Peak?

Therefore, being transferred to Jieli Peak to be the head is undoubtedly a demotion.

What made Yang Jinzhang feel powerless was that the main responsibility for his transfer this time did not lie with him at all, he was completely affected.

The real reason is that there is a problem with the backing behind him. He can reach his current position entirely due to the power and promotion of his father-in-law.

His father-in-law Song Zhongping is the external affairs elder of the Beast Taming Sect, in charge of the sect's external affairs. The reason why Yang Jinzhang has been able to sit firmly in this position for nearly a hundred years is because of Song Zhongping.

His spiritual root aptitude was actually not high, he was just an ordinary disciple with three spiritual roots. Fortunately, he had a good appearance and was handsome and charming when he was young. In addition, he was active in mind and eloquent, so he finally won the daughter of Song Zhongping.

From then on, he received a lot of resources and made rapid progress in the sect's position transfers, and it can be said that he rose to prominence.

As a result, just after he broke through the middle stage of foundation building, he was promoted by Song Zhongping to be the head of Bianxi City.

This position is one of the most powerful and lucrative positions in the sect. It requires at least a cultivator in the middle stage of the foundation building stage to hold the position. In many cases, only cultivators in the late stage of the foundation building stage can hold the position.

With his qualifications at the time, he would not have been able to obtain this position if Song Zhongping had not promoted him.

Over the years, many people have attacked him, but because of Song Zhongping, his position has never been moved. With his cultivation level, this position is already the best position he can get in the sect.

But now Song Zhongping can no longer speak for him.

The reason started last year. He didn't know the specific situation, but he only knew that the Intelligence Peak received an important piece of information last year, which led to the discovery of a traitor within the sect.

This person is someone close to Song Zhongping. He is highly regarded by Song Zhongping and has been promoted all the way. He is recognized by the sect as one of Song Zhongping's confidants. However, it was discovered that this person is an insider planted in the Beastmaster Sect by other sects.

This is a big problem. Song Zhongping is the sect's external affairs elder and holds a high position of power. There are spies from other sects around him. What secrets can the sect have?

What's more crucial is that the spearhead of this matter points directly to Song Zhongwen. The confidant around you is a traitor, and you reused a traitor. Then, is there any problem yourself?
Of course, no one dares to say this openly, but it cannot stop others from thinking and seeing it this way.

In addition, others would also wonder if there were traitors around you? Are the people you favored all clean? Although the sect did not explicitly state this, after this incident, all the disciples promoted and valued by Song Zhongwen were investigated to varying degrees.

In particular, the disciples who were in some important positions were all transferred from their original positions.

Because Yang Jinzhang was far away in Bianxi City and did not hold an office within the mountain gate, he was not investigated immediately.

But this trend finally reached here. Some people were already dissatisfied with his position, and this time, taking advantage of this trend, these people attacked him again.

This time Song Zhongping could no longer speak for him. He himself was at the center of the storm and was being watched by everyone. How could he keep his position?

It was also because they were usually being targeted and envied by others that Song Zhongping's other confidants were given good positions even after being transferred from important positions.

He was the only one who was openly demoted. He was not even given a lucrative position like the head of a spiritual mine. Instead, he was directly transferred to the completely marginalized position of Discipline Peak.

Yang Yuling lowered her eyes and looked lost. She and Yang Jinzhang shared the same fate. Now that Yang Jinzhang was demoted, she would certainly not be much better off. She definitely could not stay in Xicheng anymore. No matter who the new person in charge was, he would not rely on her so much.

"Then who will take over the position of head of West City?"

"Jiang Feng." Yang Jinzhang put his hands behind his back, looked at the bright moon, and spat out two words coldly.

"It's him." Yang Yuling showed a look of surprise.

.........

In the spacious and bright hall of Qingyuan Sect, Song Xian walked in from outside, and Wei Lian, who was sitting inside, immediately stood up and saluted.

After exchanging some pleasantries, the two sat down as host and guest.

"Master Song, I wonder what you want me to do this time?"

"Fellow Daoist Wei, your disciple has followed you for all these years and I wonder how many skills he has learned from you. Can he manage the spiritual garden independently?" Song Xian asked instead of answering.

Wei Lian was puzzled, wondering why he suddenly asked this question. He simply answered truthfully, "My disciple's skills are not yet up to par. I'm afraid it would be a bit difficult for him to manage the affairs of the Spiritual Garden independently. But if he must be in charge, it's not impossible. He has been with me for many years and is already very familiar with all the affairs of the Spiritual Garden."

"I want to move into that spiritual garden and leave it to your disciple to take care of. I'll also give you another piece of spiritual land to take care of. I wonder if you're willing to do that?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Lian said without hesitation, "Thanks to Sect Leader Song's kindness, I am very willing to take over the spiritual plant affairs of your sect. I will leave the spiritual garden there to my humble disciple to take care of. It will be no problem. At most, I will visit in my free time and offer some guidance. I wonder what piece of spiritual land your sect has acquired recently?"

"To be honest, our sect has found a second-grade, low-grade spiritual pond in the Muhe Grassland area. It's quite secretive and unknown, and we discovered it by chance. We'd like to ask Fellow Daoist Wei to take care of it and plant some aquatic spiritual herbs in it."

"A second-grade, low-grade spiritual pond." Wei Lian's eyes lit up. He had never managed such a high-grade spiritual land in his life, and he was eager to try. "I wonder when Sect Leader Song will set off to plant those spiritual herbs for me?"

"You can take care of it and plant those spiritual herbs as you wish. We will continue with our previous cooperation, splitting all the harvest 70% to 30%. However, due to its secluded location and outside the territory of Bianxia Town, if it is discovered, the spiritual pond will definitely be occupied by local forces. Therefore, I need you to promise that you will never reveal this information to anyone."

(End of this chapter)