The Wandering Immortal

Chapter 36 Master and Disciple
Qinghe hasn't shown her face for over a month since she became Elder Lu's disciple, so it's time to go and pay her a visit.

Old Lu glanced at Qinghe, his face showing shock. No wonder she hadn't been seen for a month; it turned out she had gone into seclusion to break through her cultivation barrier.

To break through to the Innate Essence realm in just one month—his talent is truly astonishing!
Elder Lu was originally a very low-key person who only knew how to refine pills and didn't care about anything else.

As a fourth-tier alchemist, his status in the sect was not high, and he was not well-liked, which speaks volumes.

The main problem is that he's too straightforward. In his previous confrontation with Zhao Cangwu, he had already sought help from the inner sect, and the inner sect elders had clearly stated that they were investigating corruption in the Immortal Market. Yet, he still chose to break ties with Zhao Cangwu and showed no remorse whatsoever.

After Zhao Cangwu was demoted, Lao Lu was overjoyed and even went against his usual behavior by wanting to hold a grand apprenticeship ceremony.

When Jiang Yuan heard this, he simply smiled. Cui Qinghe's name was already too well-known in Luofu Immortal City, and even in the entire outer sect of Luofu Mountain, so let Old Lu be happy.

Old Lu was, after all, a senior outer sect elder who had long been in charge of inspecting and appraising pills in Luofu Immortal Market. He was quite powerful, so the disciple-acceptance ceremony was naturally quite grand.

More than a hundred guests came to offer their congratulations, filling Old Lu's cave dwelling to capacity, and a crowd gathered in front of the door.

The newly appointed head of the outer sect, Elder Cheng, was naturally the most distinguished guest of the day and presented Qinghe with a set of defensive magic artifacts.

Elder Cheng seemed to have heard of Qinghe's glorious deeds, as he had carefully selected a magical artifact—the Wind and Fire Wheels, specifically designed to counter metal-type sword cultivators. It consisted of five fiery red iron rings that, when infused with magical power, would generate flames. These rings could form a fire-based light shield around the user, be used to lock and restrain flying swords, and even be used to break apart and injure enemies.

Other guests presented dozens of magical artifacts of various sizes, along with numerous materials for refining qi, medicinal herbs, and so on.

Old Lu didn't keep any of them; he gave them all to Qinghe.

Since Qinghe is already a direct disciple of an outer sect elder, she should naturally go to the mountain gate to pay respects to the patriarch.

The image of the founder of Mount Luofu is extremely tall and is enshrined in the outer hall. The hall seems to be even taller than ordinary mountains and is usually hidden by an array, making the nearby Immortal Market invisible.

Qinghe was truly amazed. If even the outer gate hall was so grand, ten times larger and more spacious than the Luofu Immortal City Management Office, what must the inner gate be like?
Speaking of the inner sect, Old Lu also had a hopeful look on his face. The inner sect of Luofu Mountain was located within Luofu Cave Heaven. He had only been inside a few times in his life, and those were for the opportunity to participate in the sect's selection. Apart from that, he could not enter without being summoned.

The inner sect has three Grand Elders at the late Nascent Soul stage, two Elders at the early and middle Nascent Soul stages, and three Golden Core Elders. Elder Chu is the youngest Golden Core Elder.

There were over a hundred Golden Core cultivators and one or two thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators, but even Old Lu didn't seem to know the exact number.

Those who can enter the inner sect during the Qi Refining stage are extremely rare. Without exception, they are all geniuses with spiritual roots, the kind who can reach Foundation Establishment in just one or two years after joining the inner sect.

Old Lu naturally hoped that Qinghe could join the inner sect, but she needed to pass the sect's selection process, which was held every five years. The next selection would be in three years, so he instructed Qinghe to work hard in her cultivation during that time.

Qi Refining stage disciples are not qualified to create their own cave dwellings and can only cultivate together in the inner sect. However, Old Lu has special privileges; he also manages the outer sect's herb garden, where there are three registered disciples and more than fifty miscellaneous disciples.

Qinghe can cultivate in the herb garden and also help her master manage it.

As for their families, they do not need to live in the Immortal City's dependents' village. They can move into the dependents' village exclusively for outer disciples, where there are ready-made houses that are several times larger than the small courtyards in the Immortal City, and they are completely free.

Since arriving in Luofu Immortal City, the two elders of the Guan family have been in much better health than before. They often praise that this is indeed a blessed land of immortals. They are even happier to move to the outer gate of the family village. This house is much larger than the old Guan family's house, and it has everything they need, all of which are immortal objects.

The only regret of the Guan family elders is that they cannot hold their grandson yet.

These past few days, Qinghe has clearly become a bit arrogant, and asked Jiang Yuan with great confusion, "Why are there so many benefits to joining the outer sect?"

Jiang Yuan chuckled, "There's no such thing as a free lunch. It's all about creating value for the sect." "For example, sword cultivators are always out there fighting, risking their lives for the sect's interests."

"The disciples in the weapon-refining workshop work day and night forging iron, refining armor and robes."

"Alchemists are required to hand over a certain amount of pills, and this amount often doubles when a sect faces a major battle."

"Only a few exceptional individuals, due to their innate superior spiritual roots, will receive preferential treatment from the sect's resources. They don't need to do anything; they only need to improve their cultivation to inherit the sect's lineage in the future."

Jiang Yuan instructed Qinghe that interpersonal relationships within major sects are extremely complex, and she must remember not to stand out and only do seven or eight parts of what she can.

If it's something like an inner sect martial arts competition or selection, if you can get second place, don't get first, so as not to become the target of everyone's criticism.

"Especially healing spells, you must keep them hidden. If they know you are good at healing spells, they might send you to the battlefield to provide support."

Jiang Yuan believed that with Qinghe's current spiritual root foundation, after comprehending the innate essence, her cultivation would inevitably advance rapidly, and she would break through the Foundation Establishment stage in at most one or two years. It was best not to cause any more trouble before she reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

Jiang Yuan read through all the Luofu Mountain martial arts techniques passed down by Lao Lu, and his evaluation was summed up in three words: "Unorthodox."

Of course, he couldn't say that to Qinghe. Instead, he broke down all the key points of the technique so that Qinghe could understand it as soon as possible.

Qinghe soon discovered that the wood-based cultivation techniques of the outer sect of Luofu Mountain had many contradictions with the "Yi Wood Classic," making cultivation quite awkward.

Jiang Yuan naturally continued to have Qinghe focus on cultivating the "Yi Mu Jing" until she reached the Foundation Establishment stage, and he had already planned this out.

As for the wood-based cultivation techniques of Mount Luofu, they should only be used as supplementary references, but the spells recorded in those techniques must be mastered as much as possible. Sect selections must exclusively use the spells of Mount Luofu; otherwise, it will be questioned.

As long as the cultivation techniques are not too different, and both are of the same wood spirit root, it is difficult for opponents of the same level to tell which technique is being used in a real battle.

Experts can naturally discern the difference; even a Golden Core cultivator can tell what kind of cultivation technique a lower-level cultivator has learned simply by observing the flow of true qi. However, many outer disciples already possess skills when they join a sect, so there's no need for them to hide it.

Old Lu did not explicitly state that Qinghe could not practice her original cultivation method. In fact, he himself wanted to learn Qinghe's healing techniques, but he was too embarrassed to say it.

Jiang Yuan had only broken through his meridians a few days ago, yet he was already able to inject jade slips. To deal with Lao Lu's questioning, he specially prepared a general outline of the "Yi Mu Jing" for Qing He, removing the annotations.

It's not that I'm afraid Lao Lu will learn it, but rather that experts can tell the level of cultivation of the person annotating from the annotations, so as to avoid arousing suspicion.

Jiang Yuan was very worried about Qinghe's personality. She appeared weak on the outside, but was extremely strong-willed on the inside. In the world of cultivation, unless you are really strong, being strong-willed and lacking in strength is the kind of thing that leads to your quickest demise.

Qinghe was truly impressed. Her husband had almost died a few days ago, but once he could use his magic, he was able to quickly use many minor spells, such as retrieving objects from a distance, illuminating the sky with a wave of his hand, and creating ice with a pinch of his fingers. He was much more skilled than she, a cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Refining.

Jiang Yuan didn't bother to explain, after all, he had used magic for a thousand years in his previous life and was already used to those actions. On the contrary, he felt uncomfortable in the mortal world a few years ago.

Jiang Yuan can now be considered a minor cultivator at the half-level of Qi Refining.

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(End of this chapter)