Gou Zai Fei Men made up myths

Upon returning from the Xuanji Gathering, Shen Mo brought back not only rare materials such as "Earth Essence Crystal" and "Star Sand," but also a preliminary understanding of the Foundation Building Circle in the Southern Region of the Eastern Wilderness and several important pieces of information about the Tianyuan Conference.

As the ship of Qingyun Sect sails towards a wider world, its vision becomes increasingly clear.

The next two years passed quietly in a fast-paced yet orderly rhythm.

For cultivators, two years is but a fleeting moment, but for a sect in its rising phase, it is enough to bring about earth-shattering changes.

At the Qingyun Mountain gate, the morning bell still rings on time every day, but the number of people queuing outside the Body Tempering Pool has increased from the initial dozens to more than a hundred.

The newly built villas, expanded preaching platform, and library all demonstrate the flourishing development of the sect.

On the mountain path, disciples came and went in droves, their auras varying in strength, but each one had bright eyes, hurried steps, and was full of vigor.

The source of all this vitality is the increasingly sophisticated and deeply ingrained "contribution point system".

Under Su Xiao's guidance and Wang Hu's meticulous management, this system has reached its pinnacle.

The task list is updated daily, ranging from "Class D" daily tasks such as tending an acre of medicinal garden and copying ten volumes of Taoist scriptures, to "Class C" skill tasks such as assisting in refining a batch of pills and maintaining a certain array node, to "Class B" external affairs such as escorting caravans down the mountain and eliminating low-level monsters that are causing trouble in the area, and even "Class A" important tasks such as exploring a newly discovered micro-mineral vein and representing the sect to conduct preliminary negotiations with surrounding forces. There are all kinds of tasks, with clear levels and generous rewards.

Disciples can freely choose based on their own cultivation level and strengths to earn contribution points, which can be used to exchange for more profound cultivation techniques, more effective pills, more powerful talismans and magical artifacts in the Scripture Pavilion, or even precious time to cultivate in specific areas of the "Flowing Cloud Secret Realm".

The atmosphere of "more work, more pay" and "the more capable, more pay" made the entire sect like a tightly wound, precise machine, with every gear turning frantically to improve itself and strengthen the sect.

The disciples of Shi Tie's "Battle Hall" are the group that goes out for training the most frequently and risks their lives the most.

With the body-refining resources that Shen Mo obtained from the Xuanji Small Meeting, coupled with Shi Tie's brutal teaching method of "real combat makes you truly knowledgeable, and you only become tough after being beaten," the core members of the Battle Hall, such as Sun Hao and Xiong Meng (whose injuries had long since healed and who had even benefited from the misfortune by making progress in their cultivation), became exceptionally fierce and became the "Qingyun Killer Stars" with a small reputation around the Blackwater Marsh.

They have an extremely high completion rate for the missions they take on to exterminate monsters and explore dangerous places. Although they are occasionally injured, no one has died. Their combat ability is soaring at a visible speed.

After digesting some of the body-refining insights bestowed by Shen Mo, Shi Tie's aura became increasingly serene, and he seemed to be no longer far from the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.

The "Internal Affairs Hall" under Su Xiao's leadership is like the brain and bloodline of the sect, managing the cultivation, life, and tasks of more than a hundred disciples in an orderly manner.

While dealing with numerous complex matters, her cultivation did not suffer. On the contrary, through coordinating resources and resolving conflicts time and time again, she gained a deeper understanding of the meaning of "clouds rolling and unrolling, control at will" in the "Flowing Cloud Dao Body". Her cultivation steadily advanced towards the peak of the early stage of Foundation Establishment.

Wang Hu, as her capable assistant, managed the contribution point ledger meticulously, and his prestige grew daily.

With ample resources, Zhao Qingyan's array hall and Li Xiaocao's alchemy hall have also achieved remarkable results. The mountain-protecting array has been reinforced several times, and the quality of the pills and talismans used by the disciples has continued to improve, becoming a strong and solid support for the sect.

Even A-Tu, who was initially at the bottom of the talent pool, steadily improved his cultivation to the fifth level of Qi Refining under Shen Mo's unique teaching of "perceiving the world with the heart".

He remained taciturn, spending most of his time "feeling" nature in the herb garden and mountains, but the aura of extraordinary harmony between him and his surroundings became increasingly apparent.

Occasionally, when Shen Mo was making minor adjustments to a certain formation, or when Li Xiaocao's batch of pills reached its peak, he would unconsciously mutter to himself, "It seems... more comfortable," which would make Shen Mo, who was aware of the situation, nod in approval.

This unpolished gem is quietly growing in its own way.

Meanwhile, Shen Mo, the sect's true pillar of strength, has spent most of the past two years in seclusion deep within the Enlightenment Cave.

Not only did he completely solidify his early Foundation Establishment realm and begin to touch the threshold of the mid-Foundation Establishment realm, but more importantly, he combined what he had seen and heard at the Xuanji Gathering with the needs of the sect's development, and once again quietly used the power of the "system" and, relying on his own profound understanding of the cultivation techniques, carefully "fabricated" and "released" several new "stories of the sect's foundation".

On this day, Wen Min, who was in charge of organizing the rare books in the library, discovered an annotation written in extremely ancient, almost lost, cloud seal script at the end of an old animal skin scroll about the geography of the Eastern Wilderness.

Out of curiosity, she consulted Elder Han Lin, who had studied this subject. The two spent several days working on it and finally deciphered it, the contents of which shocked everyone in the know!

The notes state that in his later years, Master Liuyun, in addition to his main cultivation method, traveled to various places and comprehended fragments of three auxiliary cultivation techniques in different secret realms and ancient sites. One of them was the "Star Sand Refining Manual", which recorded the miraculous technique of tempering the embryo of a magical artifact with the power of stars.

One is the "Earth Nourishing Spirit Technique," which explains how to draw upon the essence of the earth's veins to nourish the physical body and solidify its foundation.

The other is "The Hundred Herbs and Spiritual Scents," which is a unique perceptual technique that allows one to identify the scents of all things and communicate with the spirits of plants and trees.

The note states that these three secret techniques, because they differ greatly from mainstream Taoist methods and are incomplete, were not included in the core inheritance and are hidden in a corner of the scripture pavilion, waiting for those with the right affinity.

The news caused a stir in the sect! The weapon-refining fanatic Zhao Qingyan immediately took the "Star Sand Refining Manual" as if it were a treasure and asked her to study it.

The "Earth Spirit Nourishing Technique" caught the eye of body cultivators like Shi Tie.

The most mysterious chapter, "The Fragrance of a Hundred Herbs," was assigned by Shen Mo after careful consideration to A Yuan, who excelled in the herb garden and had a keen sense of plants.

These three secret techniques perfectly compensated for the sect's shortcomings in weapon crafting, specific body tempering, and deep perception. Moreover, they were a perfect match for the "Star Sand" and "Earth Essence Crystal" that Shen Mo had obtained from the Xuanji Gathering, as if it were arranged by fate.

The disciples held their patriarch in even higher esteem for his foresight and the sect's profound heritage.

One day, while Zhang Daniu was conducting his routine patrol of the array nodes in the back mountain, he accidentally triggered a hidden ancient restriction at the foot of a secluded cliff.

After the restriction was broken, a small cave was revealed, inside which was the remains of a cultivator who had passed away peacefully. Next to the remains was a jade slip and a small array plate.

The jade slip records that this cultivator was a rogue array master who admired the Flowing Cloud True Man a thousand years ago but had no chance to become his disciple. He called himself "Hidden Moon Hermit".

After the immortal's passing, he was disheartened and built a hermitage here to live in seclusion. Before his death, he recorded and preserved his life's research on formations, especially the secrets of how to use the terrain, the sun, moon and stars to set up the "Small Moon-Covering Formation," hoping that it would be of some help to future generations of disciples of the Liuyun lineage.

That array plate was the base of the "Small Moon-Covering Array".

This discovery undoubtedly adds another significant chapter to the sect's inheritance of formation techniques.

With this legacy, Zhao Qingyan felt empowered and began to set up auxiliary formations that combined concealment and protection in important areas of the sect outside the Flowing Cloud Secret Realm.

The timing of these successive "opportunities" was perfect, their content directly addressed the sect's development needs, and they were all intricately connected to the legend of Master Liuyun, making it all seem natural and inevitable.