Above the source of Tao

In Nanshanfang, in the magnificent palace located beside the cliff, there is a spacious hall. Standing on the throne of Emperor Gaozu, sits King Damin of Xinyang Domain.

Duke Lin Chong stood at his side with his sleeves hanging down.

The chief monk, Saiwang Su Zhiyao, and the monks from the Supervision Department who were the first to arrive here were seated on the other side.

The second prince, Su Ziyu, stood behind his father, holding a pile of thick letter papers in his hand. He placed them behind the dragon table, stepped aside, and bowed slightly, "Father, these are the names of members sent by the major sects who participated in the conference in the past few days. Please take a look."

King Damin's eyes were burning as he asked, "Is this all?"

Su Ziyu responded in a low voice, "Father, apart from those sects that were causing trouble in the town and were driven out of the town, there are also a small number of sects that accepted the invitation but were unable to come here, as well as those that voluntarily gave up. There are more than ten sects. The rest have already submitted their applications, and here are all of them."

King Damin said, "Have the monks from various sects who submitted their names for the meeting been properly arranged?"

The Duke walked out first, clasped his fists and said, "Everything has been arranged. We are all waiting in the guest hall."

King Damin was very satisfied. He picked up the letter papers on the table at random, took a quick look at them, and then stuffed them all into Lin Chong's arms. "Please take more care of it, Duke."

In full view of everyone, Lin Chong took the pieces of letter and read through them carefully. The pieces of letter recorded the names, ages, and Yuangu talents of the monks from various sects who were attending the conference.

Lin Chong took the small seal from his waist, dipped it in some red ink, and casually stamped it on the letter paper that he had also thoroughly checked, and then put it back on the desk for inspection.

After a moment of silence, Lin Chong stopped what he was doing and frowned as he looked at the letter in his hand. The letter in his hand was the one that the great elder of Shangyang Sect handed over to the monks who were attending the conference not long ago.

But strangely, Lin Chong did not find Yun Changan's name.

He paused for a moment, then smiled and stamped the letter with the seal in his hand. Then he placed it on the desk along with the previous letter.

King Damin observed carefully, and that smile happened to catch his eye. You know, Lin Chong had never smiled in the court in his life. He was puzzled and asked, "Did the Duke find anything interesting? Or did you see someone familiar on this list?"

Lin Chong's hand holding the seal paused and shook his head, but did not answer.

King Damin was very confused. He picked up the page of letter paper. It looked like just a small sect, but he felt like he had heard of this sect somewhere before. He fell into deep thought for a moment, muttering "Shangyang Sect". Su Ziyu beside him was thinking, isn't Shangyang Sect the sect of the young man that my sister mentioned?

Su Ziyu turned his head to look at the list of monks on the Shangyang Sect's letter paper. He looked through it and did not find a monk named Yun Chang'an. He thought he had missed it, so he moved his head closer and looked more carefully. This time he saw for sure that Yun Chang'an was not on the list.

He wanted to warn him, but was glared back by Lin Chong. King Damin did not have any good feelings towards Yun Chang'an, this mountain monk. After his daughter went to the secret realm, her heart was lost there. He didn't know what kind of charm this mountain monk Yun Chang'an had. The girl was just beginning to fall in love, and he would never watch his beloved being abducted by a young boy.

When they arrived at the town, King Damin did not go to meet the court officials, but instead brought Su Ziyu to Su Tao's boudoir.

After carefully questioning the matter, King Damin felt more and more that Su Tao was in love and wanted to "meet" the young man very much, but he never had the chance. He was busy with the conference affairs and all kinds of complicated and trivial matters piled up together, making it impossible for him to get away and put the matter behind him.

Now that all the sects have submitted their names of members and the Hundred Sects Conference is about to begin, this court meeting is to discuss the details, but these complicated details have not yet been finalized.

Although Su Zhiyao was the first to arrive in the town, he was only responsible for the construction of the venue, which is now complete. He cannot make the final decision on the contents of the conference, so the Supervision Department has not yet issued a notice on how to compete for the top spot in this Hundred Sects Conference.

The Hundred Sects Conference over the years was not large in scale, with only a hundred, or sometimes less than a hundred sects participating. Most of them were held within a region, where they would compete with each other and select the top two sects in each region to enter the final competition. Previous conferences were nothing more than deciding the winner, not life and death. King Damin had long been tired of it, there was no novelty, and wanted to change the way.

The beginning is always difficult. King Dae Min and his officials arrived in the small town and held a court meeting the next day, discussing the issue several times.

Some people thought that the fight should be held in the same way as before, but this proposal was naturally opposed by King Dae Min.

This Hundred Sects Conference fell to the Damin Dynasty. King Damin was a competitive character, and those bloodless fights looked very boring.

King Damin looked into the distance and took a fancy to the heart of the plain. It was said that there were several places in the Guitian Domain that cultivators could not set foot in, and this area of ​​dense forests and mountains on the Cangtan Plain was the first among them. It was a rare and important place, and it was particularly suitable for tempering one's character. After thinking it over again and again, he had a general direction in his mind.

It took Lin Chong nearly half an hour to finish reviewing all the letters in his hand. There were many new faces in this conference. Those sects that participated in the Hundred Sects Conference for the first time were lucky. Not only did their disciples work hard, but their masters also broke through the realm and entered the realm of godhood in recent years. However, in Lin Chong's eyes, this was not a good sign.

Rumors about the conference were flying everywhere, saying that the Damin Dynasty would invite monks from the Return to One Realm to preach, but they all knew that there would be no such monks. Not to mention how many monks there were in the world today who could set foot in the Return to One Realm. Even if there were, they could not see them. How could those monks from the Return to One Realm dare to show up in public?

These old monks who had just joined the sect only wanted to have a place in the conference, and they were trying hard to break through and enter the realm of gods. Their foundation was not solid, and they were destined to have no chance of future practice. The Damin Dynasty did not want to see this happen, but had no choice. Many talented monks were very weak and inconspicuous, and stayed in small sects, and have not been discovered yet.

Comparing the two sides, they knew clearly in their hearts that if they did not do so, the Dongqing Realm would become even weaker in the future, as the older generation of cultivators would become old and frail, while the younger generation of cultivators would not be able to keep up.

There are many sects in the thirteen blessed lands of the seven continents in the Xinyang Region, and most of them are in the same situation, with serious generation gaps. They know that they have no hope of breaking through and returning to oneness, so they place their hopes on the younger cultivators. Even if it takes another hundred or thousand years, as long as there is hope, they will never give up.

King Damin held the letter and thought for a long time, clasping his hands on the table. "Everyone has been thinking about the competition at the Hundred Sects Conference for a few days. Do you have any ideas?"

Lin Chong gestured, took the lead and stepped forward, cupping his hands and saying, "Before this, there is one thing I would like to get King Min's consent for."

King Damin said softly, "What's the matter?"

Lin Chong lightly lifted his clothes. He did not find Yun Chang'an among the monks who were sent to attend the meeting from Shangyang Sect. He thought that Yun Chang'an might have failed to get a seat there, so he could not help but want to win him over.

Although everyone here didn't know Yun Chang'an, they still wanted to give it a try. Since they gave him a valuable gift and Yun Chang'an didn't accept it, it meant that this guy was mature and didn't care about these material things. It was a pity at the Qiu Shui Tavern at that time. Yun Chang'an refused several times, which really made him doubt that Yun Chang'an had bigger ambitions and wanted more.

But then I changed my mind and realized that this was not the case. Someone who could make a promise and lead the monks out of the secret realm would not care about these material things.

If you fail to make a plan, you have another plan.

Lin Chong had a lot of ideas in his mind. Since Shangyang Sect did not have a seat for him, it was considered that they were blind and he was determined to fight for it. Seeing Yun Changan's talent, Lin Chong did not stick to the rules. When they first met, he was well aware of Yun Changan's Yuan bone. However, he was not the kind of person who only valued Yuan bone and ignored a person's character.

This is somewhat similar to Master Chao.

Lin Chong bowed and said, "Some time ago, I found a young man and I want to cultivate him. You all know that there are not many young guys who can catch my eye, but this guy is mature and steady, and looks no different from us old guys. There is still a vacant seat among the disciples sent by the Damin Dynasty. I think it is better to treat this little guy as the last of the ten seats."

King Damin instantly became interested and gave the Duke a playful smile. The little guy who could catch the Duke's eye was naturally much better than his peers. Several powerful men in the Damin Dynasty had worked together for hundreds of years and knew each other very well.

"I wonder what the little fellow the Duke is talking about is called? And where is he now?"

Lin Chong seemed a little embarrassed and hesitated to move forward. He said with difficulty: "I met him a few days ago, but the little guy rejected my request. He is a difficult thorn."

King Damin laughed out loud, "The Duke is embarrassed too. He was humiliated by a brat, so he came here to redeem himself. Tell me, I want to know where this brat is that even you can't handle him."

Although Lin Chong was happy to hear that, his face was still embarrassed. Since Yun Chang'an was unwilling to attend the Hundred Sects Conference as a member of the Daming Dynasty, and his name was not on the list of Shangyang Sect, it was enough to show that the small Taoist sect did not value him. Lin Chong had a keen eye for talent. There were quite a few talented young people, but almost no ones he was worthy of. It was not easy to meet one, so how could he let him slip away?

"That kid is indeed a troublemaker. No matter who tries to stop him, he won't be able to stop him. Even if he comes in front of our high and mighty King Damin and offers him all kinds of money and status, that little guy won't be tempted." Lin Chong spoke loudly, which was tantamount to putting King Damin under a siege.

Chao Shi and Su Zhiyao looked at each other sideways. What the Duke said was too obvious. This was not a difficult problem that could not be solved, so they just threw it to King Damin.

The court teacher looked at King Damin's dazed expression and hurriedly stepped out to advise him, "You are a bad old man. If that young boy doesn't agree to your request, then forget it. Why force it?"

Lin Chong seemed to have been prepared. He pretended to be sad. He looked around at the people around him, took a few steps forward, staggered, and said with emotion: "I have been the Duke of Yu for hundreds of years and have devoted myself to the Daming Dynasty, but there is no successor. I am heartbroken day and night. Xinyang Domain has a thousand-year foundation and is bound to stand proudly among the five domains. Although some young people are very talented, they lack character. If one day I pass away and choose a useless person to sit on the Duke's seat, it would be sad to think about it! For the future of the Daming Dynasty, in recent years, many young cultivators have been inspected, but none of them are up to the task. And we cultivators are all old and decayed, and we don't have the character to compete for the future. Now this young man has come into my eyes, and I specially mention him to you at this moment. I hope you can see this young man. If you think he is worth cultivating, maybe there will be another Nanmu Zhenjun in Xinyang Domain, which is not a bad idea."

King Damin was obviously stunned, his eyes slightly narrowed. Lin Chong's sudden move made everyone on the spot shocked and confused, and everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

Is this old guy serious?

Who could have such great charm that even Lin Chong, who is usually a thoughtful person, would look at him with a sidelong glance?

This was the first time in the Da Min Dynasty that Lin Chong talked about life and death, using his old age as an excuse to discuss state affairs.

Everyone was a little confused and felt that this old guy was a little evasive. No one knew what he was thinking about. Could it be that he really met a younger generation worthy of training and wanted to take him in as his disciple? After going to meet him, he was flatly rejected. He then thought of asking King Damin to coordinate, but that was even more impossible. He himself could represent the Damin Dynasty, not to mention that he was a Duke of the dynasty. It didn't make sense. The only explanation was that he wanted to test King Damin's attitude. Perhaps the young man mentioned by Lin Chong had some connection with King Damin.