Fairy, return my flying sword to me

Chapter 57 The Secret of the Abyss
The news that the sect had eleven new disciples with superior spiritual roots and three with heavenly spiritual roots quickly spread throughout the sect.

The elders who rushed over after hearing the news almost poked their fingers at the elder who was teaching the skills in the nose and asked, "What do you want to do? Who sent you? What is your purpose?"

"How did you come up with such a brilliant idea: to call back the expelled sect masters and make them your masters?"

"Is our sect some kind of lowly sect? Or is our sect leader so scarce? If all else fails, you can just let me teach you!"

"And you, too, are you the law enforcement officer? You're just teaching him the same thing, and you're just doing it with him? Tell me, how much benefit did you both receive from Zhen Yang and Xuan Jian?"

The law enforcement officer was so frightened that he denied it three times on the spot, "I'm not! I didn't! You're talking nonsense!"

The clan leader also said in a deep voice: "This matter requires an explanation."

Chuan Gong finally had the chance to speak, "This matter all started because of that disciple named Lin..."

At that moment, he told the whole story from the cause to the process.

"...Many disciples and law enforcement elders were present and could testify for me. At the time, the situation was unclear, so I could only resort to this temporary measure to keep the person here for now."

After hearing his words, the other elders looked at each other in confusion. "Although it is a temporary measure, it is too temporary."

"No! What level of skill does that kid have that could have attracted the geniuses of an entire mortal nation to chase him? If their local sect knew about this, wouldn't they be furious?"

Immediately afterwards, an elder who had a personal grudge against Chuan Gong shot him a sly look and asked, "How come such an outstanding disciple has remained unknown in the sect until now?"

The instant the power was transmitted, he jumped up and fought back like a cat with its fur standing on end. "That's not the case. Quite the opposite. In fact, that's not the case. From what I've seen, this disciple's cultivation is only at the foundation-building stage. In my opinion, there's something fishy going on here."

"Oh?"

"It's a secret affair! They want to be in love!"

"..."

"..."

The clan leader's face darkened, "You're old now, so be serious."

"It's the real Sect Master! You don't know, that boy is quite handsome. Not only do many female disciples in the sect admire him, but even an elder from the Hehuan Sect has sent a message asking for him to be his Taoist partner. Now that he's out training, it's perfectly normal for him to accidentally attract a mortal woman. This incident is also recorded in 'The Journey of Flower'..."

A female elder's eyes lit up, "Have you also read that storybook?"

"I've done some research on this," Chuan Gong said with a serious expression. "Based on this, I've discussed it with Fazhi and come up with a suggestion – we propose that at the annual disciple recruitment conference, we have this disciple become the spokesperson for our Zhengyang Sect. In his free time, he can travel the world under the sect's banner. In the long run, our Zhengyang Sect will surely prosper!"

"Nonsense!"

"What kind of behavior do you have?"

"If this plan succeeds, won't outsiders call us the Succubus Sect?"

Chuan Gong's face was filled with sorrow, and he said righteously, "Master, think twice! It's better to increase revenue than to cut costs!"

The Sect Master pondered for a moment, his temple veins suddenly throbbing. "Is this the question we were discussing at the beginning?"

"Yes, I'm passing on my skills! You almost fooled me! Now, three of the eleven high-grade spiritual roots have all been taken in as disciples by those two cripples, Zhen Yang and Xuan Jian. If such a promising child is ruined by them, can you bear the responsibility?"

"Don't worry, everyone. I have a plan in mind for this matter." Chuan Gong looked calm. After this incident, he had already thought of all the countermeasures in advance.

"We certainly can't let Sect Masters Zhenyang and Xuanjian waste such a good talent. So, we can add a new rule for the Sect Masters from now on—"

"Every so often, we assess the disciples of each sect master. If a disciple's cultivation is poor or progressing slowly, we can use 'lack of ability' as an excuse to have them hand over their outstanding disciples to more suitable sect masters." "It just so happens that the Four Sects Competition is coming up soon, and only Lin Jian, a disciple of Zhenyang and Xuanjian, is eligible to participate. If his performance in the competition isn't ideal, we can use this as an excuse to have them hand over their disciples."

"At the same time, during these few days, we must also do our best to make these new disciples, including Lin Jian, realize that the sect is their true home and that the sect master is just a passing guest. When the time comes, as long as these promising young people go with Lin Jian, they will have no objection."

"But the Four Sects Competition is only a few days away. Will they recognize these suddenly added rules?"

Chuan Gong sneered, "Rules are rules, and they are fair to everyone. Let alone three months, even if it's three days, they have to accept it!"

The clan leader was silent for a moment, then nodded, "Then I'll do as you say."

Chuan Gong paused and asked, "Both?"

"Where are the two?"

"Let Lin Jian travel the world as the sect's spokesperson..."

"Don't mention this matter again!" The sect leader waved his hand and walked away with a dark face.

Chuan Gong, representing the conservative faction, murmured in disappointment, "Open source... We can even open up overseas kingdoms, so what does mere face matter? The patriarch is still too conservative."

……

Lin Jian returned to the courtyard with the few spells he had just received from his master.

But he didn't rush to learn. Instead, he asked Haruyuki, "Are you familiar with Tianyuan?"

Haruyuki paused as he flipped through the manual of magic. "Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"Everything about the sect, including Master's current situation, stems from this. With the Tianyuan riot today, I'll have to deal with it myself soon, so it's always good to learn more about it in advance. When we first met, you said you were exorcising demons. The Upper Nine Realms should also have a better understanding of Tianyuan. What kind of place do you think Tianyuan is?"

Haruyuki was unusually silent. He stood up and paced back and forth a few times, then suddenly spoke with his hands behind his back, "Enjoy life while you can."

Lin Jian frowned and asked in confusion, "So pessimistic?"

"Why are you pessimistic?" Chunxue's tone became lively again. Holding the hem of her skirt, she returned to sit in front of Lin Jian, her clear eyes fixed on his. "The ancient immortals had infinite lifespans, but now they have all disappeared. Even if a cultivator today reaches the pinnacle of cultivation, his lifespan is only a thousand years. Life ends someday, so it's time to enjoy life while it lasts. Even without Tianyuan, life should be like this."

"There's a difference between free choice and having no choice, and I want to know why."

"Okay." Chunxue closed her eyes and said in a gloomy tone, "Then I'll tell you the reason..."

"There are four great demons in the Tianyuan: Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire. They are the Flame Hell Demon Lord, the Nether Abyss Mother Goddess, the Formless Gangsha, and the Burial Earth Underworld Corpse."

"Three of the great demons have not been active yet. The most active one is the Flame Hell Demon Lord who controls the Fire God's Rebellion."

"This Flame Hell Demon Lord attacked the Upper Nine Realms not long ago, but was repelled by the combined efforts of seven extremely powerful sword immortals from the Upper Nine Realms. He escaped with severe injuries..."

Lin Jian was puzzled, "Isn't this a good thing?"

Haruyuki looked at him, an inexplicable smile playing on his lips. "But the Seven Sword Immortals didn't come without paying a price."

"What price?"

"Seven sons go, six sons return..."

(End of this chapter)