Considering that Shu Xin might not be very familiar with the other people, Qu Yougu volunteered to take Shu Xin to the scripture repository located in the Changsheng Dao Sect's territory.
On the way, Qu Yougu also brought Shu Xin up to speed on the latest developments.
"The Changsheng Dao Sect will put together a catalog that lists exactly what cultivation techniques and methods are stored in the Xuanling Dao Sect's scripture repository. All of our participating sects can trade for those techniques using our own resources. Even the legendary fragment of the core divine ability that is said to be the very foundation of the Xuanling Dao Sect — as long as you can offer a price that meets their terms, the Changsheng Dao Sect is willing to share it," Qu Yougu exclaimed. "This is the perfect example of all Dao sects standing in solidarity with one another."
It's all a lie, the Sword Spirit piped up loudly. That Changsheng Dao Sect cultivator said it himself when he killed He Yong — the Earthly Immortals have forbidden that kind of divine ability from ever appearing again. The Changsheng Dao Sect is deliberately setting a trap for all of you.
"Relax. The old foxes running all these sects know far more about this kind of game than a little Sword Spirit like you does," Shu Xin said with a soft laugh. "The sects that already have an Earthly Immortal sitting at their helm have no need for that so-called divine ability. And the sects that don't have an Earthly Immortal backing them up? If they get their hands on that divine ability, they'll just be the ones suffering the crime simply for possessing a precious jade they have no right to guard."
The Changsheng Dao Sect is just dangling a bait out there. Whoever bites first will end up the next Xuanling Dao Sect!
As for Qu Yougu...
He's still too young to realize that behind all this seemingly harmonious, friendly negotiation is hidden the sharpest knife that can stab you when you least expect it.
"Xianzhi told me that he's already introduced Chai Lingxin and Fellow Daoist Xiang Peiyao to you. Several other fellow daoists also put on quite impressive performances in the recent battle," Qu Yougu said, then went on to name a few more people. "And Fellow Daoist Rong Yun has officially been allowed to return to the Xiaoyao Dao Sect now, since he slew so many demon cultivators during the fight. By seniority, he's Senior Brother to Fellow Daoist Chai Lingxin."
Shu Xin took a moment to think about who Rong Yun was.
Oh right — that was the person who attacked the Hu family back then, only to turn around later and come to Qu Yougu's aid.
"Fellow Daoist Rong Yun is actually a really good person. He broke his sect rules back then only because he killed a few of his fellow disciples who'd been running wild and doing evil out in the world. But he acted too fast, and didn't gather enough evidence to prove their crimes, so they turned the tables on him and framed him. If he were truly a wicked person, I would never have become close friends with him," Qu Yougu explained proactively, afraid that Shu Xin might get the wrong idea.
Shu Xin half-listened with casual interest, then asked, "Who is the person the Changsheng Dao Sect sent to handle this matter?"
"It's Long Ling, Fellow Daoist Long," Qu Yougu answered.
"Oh, it's her." The moment Shu Xin heard that name, she pulled all the relevant memories about her to the surface.
Long Ling was the very definition of a core, well-connected disciple of the Changsheng Dao Sect. For generations, every member of her family had been a loyal disciple of the sect. She was raised to be a standout from the day she was born, and as soon as she broke through to the Dao Infant stage, the acting sect leader — the eldest of the Nine Changsheng Disciples — took her in as his personal student. Before Situ Jian rose to sudden fame, everyone had always considered her the most talented cultivator of her generation.
And unlike those empty-headed female cultivators from prominent clans like Lin Youwei, Long Ling was incredibly meticulous and serious with everything she did. Back when Shu Xin was working as an outer sect elder at the Changsheng Dao Sect, whenever she heard that Long Ling was coming to audit the accounts, she would double-check every single ledger herself just to be safe.
Even though Situ Jian has a far more dazzling reputation these days, when it comes to winning the affection of the sect members and the level of importance the sect places on her, Long Ling is unquestionably ahead.
Handing such a major, high-stakes matter over to her now is clear proof that the Changsheng Dao Sect values her deeply and is grooming her for greater responsibilities.
Qu Yougu noticed that Shu Xin seemed to be in a rather low mood, and it dawned on him that Shu Xin probably did not like running into people from the Longevity Dao Sect again. He immediately regretted not thinking things through more carefully—he should have picked a time when Long Ling was not around to come here.
But it was already too late to do anything about it.
From a distance, Xie Xianzhi, Rongyun and the others had already spotted Qu Yougu and Shu Xin approaching.
"Junior Sister, you should have already met Shu Xin," Rongyun sent a message to Chai Lingxin through his spiritual sense, "She is not someone you can look down on. I can't even see through her."
"Senior Brother, you'd better worry about yourself first," Chai Lingxin replied unhappily, "The sect finally allowed you to return, so all you need to do is behave yourself and not stir up any trouble. Once this whole affair is over, you can come back with me. As for Shu Xin, just leave her alone. Otherwise, you and Qu Yougu might not even stay friends."
"Huh? You mean Qu Yougu... No way?" Rongyun finally caught on to what his junior sister was implying. He glanced over at Qu Yougu and Shu Xin not far away, and there really was a strange, unspoken atmosphere lingering between the two.
"We've known Qu Yougu for all these years, when has he ever been this attentive to anyone?" Chai Lingxin said, a hint of mischievous schadenfreude in her tone, "Back when Qu Yougu came to our sect for cultivation exchanges, he broke so many senior and junior female disciples' hearts. Now it looks like his turn to get tangled up in romantic troubles has come."
Unlike Rongyun, Chai Lingxin had been pursued by all kinds of cultivators ever since she came of age. She could tell at a single glance what a man really meant when he looked at a woman.
But as for who Qu Yougu's life partner would be, not even Qu Yougu himself had the final say on that—even his master, White Crane Dao Lord, could not make that decision for him.
Why would he bother to stir up more unrequited romantic debts for no reason?
"Greetings, fellow daoists," Qu Yougu and Shu Xin arrived in the blink of an eye, exchanged formal greetings with everyone present, and then started chatting casually.
Most of their small talk consisted of complimenting each other on their impressive feats, such as how many demonic cultivators they had killed to uphold justice for the celestial path.
In reality, Shu Xin could not even tell most of these people apart clearly.
It was obvious that all of these people already knew one another.
They were all from top-tier sects, around the same age and at similar levels of cultivation. These proud, exceptionally talented men and women naturally gravitated toward each other. Even if they had not been very familiar before, they could take any chance to ask each other for favors as an opportunity to get close.
Back at the Hu family residence, even though Qu Yougu had only met Rongyun once before, he still reached out to ask Rongyun for help. After Rongyun agreed, the two of them smoothly became friends.
Favors exchanged, debts owed back and forth—this was how a basic friendship was built.
Shu Xin, however, was a total odd one out.
Quite a few people had heard of Shu Xin's name, but no one had actually met her in person. And from the accounts of cultivators like Xie Xianzhi and Rongyun who had interacted with her at length, Shu Xin seemed like a different person every time she was described. Long before she arrived, she had already drawn a lot of attention. Now that she was here in the flesh, she naturally became the center of curious stares from all sides.
"I hate the way they are looking at you, like you are some kind of exotic spirit beast," Sword Spirit said, clearly annoyed.
"It's alright. One day soon, when they see me, they will respectfully call me their old ancestor," Shu Xin said with a bright smile, "Right now, they might have a better background and more promising future than me, but I have you. All of them put together can't even compare to you."
Sword Spirit was instantly over the moon, completely won over by her words.
"You don't look as strong as the legends say you are," someone called out.
"I have a question. Is it true that you and Situ Jian used to be betrothed as dao partners?"
"After you left the Longevity Dao Sect, did you suffer any persecution?"
……
Xie Xianzhi couldn't help but frown.
The ones asking these questions were all the junior fellow apprentices and junior fellow disciples they had brought along. It was hard to tell if they were truly just being impolite, or deliberately trying to put Shu Xin in her place. Their seemingly innocent inquiries were laced with ill intentions, and even the straightforward, naive Xie Xianzhi could tell something was off.
Clearly, this group was deeply annoyed by how highly Qu Yougu, Xie Xianzhi and the others spoke of Shu Xin. They simply could not fathom how a mere loose cultivator with no major sect background could stand above them.
Qu Yougu's face darkened, and he was just about to step in and scold them to stop.
But Shu Xin only gave a faint, calm smile. "I feel relieved now. It turns out that not everyone in the Longevity Dao Sect is a top talent like Fellow Daoist Qu and Fellow Daoist Xie. Seeing all of you, I know the disciples of my Inquiry Divine Sect still have a good chance of outperforming the cultivators from the great sects."
Those junior disciples froze for a moment before they caught the implication of Shu Xin's words. They burned with anger, but were silenced by sharp warning glances from their senior fellow apprentices, so they had to swallow their fury.
"Is that Junior Sister Shu Xin?"
Just then, a voice rang out.
Shu Xin turned around, and saw a female cultivator walking towards her. She had a gentle smile, two tiny dimples on her cheeks, and an overall sweet, endearing aura.
Anyone who has ever worked a grueling 9-to-5 office job knows that the blunt, unsmiling colleagues are never the worst you have to deal with. The truly toxic ones are those who act like they are close friends with everyone, who seem to get along with anyone, but will sneak behind your back and stab you with a petty report the second you let your guard down.
Unfortunately, Long Ling is exactly that kind of person.
She did not climb to her solid, well-secured position in the Longevity Dao Sect through cultivation skill alone.
She got there with shrewd, careful scheming.
This is not to say that being sharp-witted and strategic is inherently a bad thing.
But Shu Xin absolutely detests the type of person where you can never come out ahead in any interaction, and will only end up getting taken advantage of before you even realize what is happening.
"So it's Senior Sister Long. It has been ages, hasn't it?" A perfectly natural, delighted look appeared on Shu Xin's face. "I had no idea you had finished your seclusion! That is such wonderful news."
"If I had known all these troubles had broken out while I was in seclusion, and that you were treated so unfairly, I would have ended my seclusion early to stand up for you and get you the justice you deserve," Long Ling declared with a show of utmost righteousness.
Sure you would, Shu Xin thought, rolling her eyes internally. You weren't in a life-or-death closed-door seclusion where no news could reach you. There is no way you didn't hear every single thing that was going on.
But with Long Ling's arrival, the tense, hostile atmosphere that had filled the space just moments earlier dissolved. Everyone acted as if nothing awkward had happened at all, and went back to chatting casually.
Before long, they moved on to the main matter at hand.
"Junior Sister Shu used to be a disciple of our Longevity Dao Sect, and the Inquiry Divine Sect is a time-honored, renowned orthodox sect. The matter regarding the Profound Spirit Dao Sect has been placed fully in my charge by our sect leader. If your sect is willing to contribute the necessary resources, the Inquiry Divine Sect will be granted the exact same treatment as every other participating sect. I will not treat you unfairly in the slightest," Long Ling said right off the bat, elevating the Inquiry Divine Sect to equal standing with all the other major sects, a gesture that was clearly meant as a show of great favor.
But Shu Xin could tell exactly what she was up to. Long Ling was only doing this to fish for information, to see exactly what benefits the Inquiry Divine Sect had managed to secure during their trip to the remains of the Profound Spirit Dao Sect.
"Senior Sister Long, you are too thoughtful," Shu Xin nodded, "It's just that my sect, the Wenwen Sect, doesn't have much in the way of resources or background. My junior fellow apprentices were unfortunately taken hostage and injured by demonic cultivators, so my master had to bring all the younger disciples back with him. That's why, even though we gained something on this trip, trying to trade for the cultivation techniques with the Longevity Dao Sect is next to impossible."
"So that's how it is," Long Ling replied with a forced, hollow smile, "Well, that's fine too. If Junior Sister doesn't want to go through with the trade, then..."
"I may not have the means to make the trade, but I'm still very interested in this whole matter. I wonder if Senior Sister Long would allow me to observe the process at least, so that my trip here won't be a total waste?" After saying that, Shu Xin worried that Long Ling might feel put on the spot, so she added quickly, "If this puts you in a difficult position, or you're afraid of being punished by the sect leader, just pretend I never brought it up."
Right after, Shu Xin shot sharp, meaningful glances at Qu Yougu, Xie Xianzhi, and the other people standing beside her.
Qu Yougu and Xie Xianzhi immediately caught on to what she meant. Chai Lingxin and the rest of the group were also more than happy to make things a little harder for the Longevity Dao Sect, so they all chimed in to persuade Long Ling.
"Right, Senior Sister Long, Shu Xin isn't some outsider. It won't cause any trouble for her to watch the whole process."
"We also brought our own junior fellow apprentices here to broaden their horizons. One extra person doesn't make any difference."
"Senior Sister Long, don't worry. If your sect comes after you for this, all of us will step forward to testify for you."
...
One person after another spoke up, their words completely blocking off every possible chance Long Ling had to refuse.
She stared deeply at Shu Xin for a long moment, then said, "Since all of you feel that way, I'll do Junior Sister Shu Xin this favor."
"Thank you so much, Senior Sister Long," Shu Xin beamed with delight.
Before long, the whole group arrived at the location of the Xu Ling Dao Sect's scripture depository.
The area was already surrounded by layers upon layers of guards from the Longevity Dao Sect, with cultivators of the Unblemished Realm posted at every direction, a display that powerfully showed off the Longevity Dao Sect's deep, formidable heritage.
With such a heavy defensive formation set up here, strong enough to wipe out an entire minor sect on its own, no one foolish enough to force their way in would dare to step forward.
Just outside the scripture depository, a group of cultivators with thick, murky auras were already waiting.
It wasn't just the righteous Dao sects that had come to the Xu Ling Dao Sect— the demonic sects had arrived too.
The demonic disciples, led by the Blood Demon Sect and the Wicked Demon Sect, were also eyeing the Xu Ling Dao Sect's cultivation techniques covetously. Demonic cultivation techniques were never created out of thin air; most of the time, they were modified from orthodox sect techniques, which saved them half the work and got twice the result.
Just like the Dao sects, every single person who showed up from the demonic sects was their most outstanding elite disciple.
They were Yin Rushi from the Blood Demon Sect, Juechen from the Yin Corpse Dao Sect, Yang Fei from the Wicked Demon Sect, and Fairy Mochou from the Joy Union Demon Sect.
All four of them had reached the Cave Heaven Realm at a very young age, and each of them had committed a notorious "grand feat" that marked their official graduation as full-fledged demonic cultivators.
For example, Yin Ru once performed a blood sacrifice on several different affiliated sects of major orthodox sects, and managed to escape completely before the pursuing Dao sect elders could even arrive at the scene. Juechen from the Yin Corpse Dao Sect was even more brutal: he refined his own master, uncles, senior and junior fellow apprentices all into his personal corpse puppets, and even merged all their corpse puppet powers into his own, which allowed him to climb straight into the inner core circle of the Yin Corpse Demon Sect. Yang Fei had led the complete extermination of over a dozen different cultivation aristocratic families, and had nurtured three full strands of powerful sinister demonic qi. As for Fairy Mochou, her most famous feat was using her cultivation art to drain every single person in a whole Buddhist cultivation sect dry, turning every last one of them into nothing but white bones.
Every single one of them was a famously ruthless figure, a sinner so evil that death would be too good for them.
The moment Qu Yougu, Xie Xianzhi and the rest of the group laid eyes on these demonic fiends, they immediately burned with the urge to draw their weapons and fight.
"Hold your horses, two junior fellow apprentices. They are here to trade cultivation techniques of the Black Spirit Dao Sect too," Long Ling spoke up to stop them. "I won't interfere with whatever you choose to do once this whole affair wraps up. But right now, these people are representing the entire Demon Sect. If you start a fight here, it will be the same as declaring war on every single sect under the Demon Sect. I ask that the two of you prioritize the bigger picture."
Qu Yougu and Xie Xianzhi had no choice but to suppress the killing intent surging in their chests.
"Since everyone has arrived, follow me in," Long Ling said as she pulled out a token. After verifying her true identity in front of other elders of the Stainless Realm, she activated the formation entrance and invited the group to step into the scripture depository of the Black Spirit Dao Sect together.
"This batch of people would make excellent targets for dual cultivation," Fairy Mochou remarked. She looked as pure and charming as a lotus flower, with a soft aura that made her seem like the harmless, friendly older sister next door.
"If you had the skill to pull that off, you'd be stepping into the Stainless Realm before you know it," Yang Fei sneered. "Right now the top priority is to get those cultivation techniques traded over. If we fail, we won't be getting any warm welcome back home."
None of them had climbed to their current positions easily. There were countless people back in the Demon Sect just waiting for a chance to take their place, and one wrong misstep would lead to total, eternal ruin.
"Juechen, what are you looking at?" Yin Rushi asked, noticing his odd behavior.
Juechen kept touching the scar marring his right eye, his gaze shifting back and forth between Long Ling and Shu Xin.
"I'm trying to figure out which one of them is the female cultivator who might have injured me a hundred years ago," Juechen replied calmly. "Thirty years ago, I set up the Demon Cave. I had a whole plan arranged to stir up a fight between the loose cultivators in the area and my men at the Demon Cave, but some random female cultivator out of nowhere ruined it all. I tried to chase after her, but she got a clean sword strike on me before she escaped. Later I tracked the direction she fled, and it led straight to the Eternal Life Dao Sect."
"Wait, are you talking about that mysterious cultivator who kept killing demon cultivators one after another for a hundred years, then suddenly vanished without a trace?" Yin Rushi asked, having heard the rumors. "But everyone said that person might not even be a woman—most people thought it was a male cultivator in disguise to hide his identity, didn't they?"
"She was definitely a woman," Juechen said, running his fingers over the scar on his eye. "The sinister, extreme yin aura I'd nurtured back then was so potent that no male cultivator, with his natural pure yang energy, could have survived it even for a moment. Only a female cultivator could have lasted long enough to strike me right when my aura was at its most vulnerable. It had to be a woman."
"That's where you're wrong, Senior Brother Juechen," Fairy Mochou chuckled upon hearing this. "There are male cultivators with pure yin bodies too. It's just that the cultivation techniques they need are extremely rare, and most of them are so sickly even when they're ordinary mortals that almost none make it onto the path of cultivation. My Joyful Harmony Sect actually has male cultivators with pure yin bodies, you know. After all, everyone has their own preferences, and my sect exists to cater to the desires of all kinds of men and women."
"Thirty years ago, you were already a cultivator of the Cave Heaven Realm. And as far as I know, Shu Xin only broke through to the Cave Heaven Realm within the last ten years. The Eternal Life Dao Sect even sent an elder personally to the Inquiry Divine Sect to make that official, there's no way that's a lie," Yin Rushi mused for a moment before arriving at her conclusion. "So the only person who could have injured you thirty years ago is Long Ling."
Juechen listened, and had to admit that made perfect sense.
There was no way a cultivator as strong as him, already at the Cave Heaven Realm back then, could have gotten hurt by someone only at the Dao Infant Realm, right?
"Ugh, what a shame. All of these are only at the Cave Realm, not the Flawless Realm. If they were, I could get a little cleaner again," the Sword Spirit said, sounding rather melancholy and a little exasperated. These demon cultivators really were far too useless.
"Back when the cultivation world was relatively peaceful, there wasn't much room for demon cultivators to make their moves," Shu Xin said casually. "But now that all restrictions are completely lifted, I'm afraid plenty of powerful demon cultivators will take the chance to rise soon. You won't have to worry about not getting to draw your blade then. And anyway, you've been having a great time killing these past few days, haven't you?"
"That's exactly why I want to keep that good streak going," the Sword Spirit quietly retorted.
"Everyone, look here. This is the catalog of Profound Spirit Dao Sect's cultivation techniques that the elders of our Longevity Dao Sect spent quite some time sorting out. If you scan the corresponding names with your spiritual sense, you can also see some simple information about them," Long Ling said as she led the group into the first floor of the scripture pavilion. She invited them to sit down, had tea and snacks served, then slowly pulled out a treasure shaped like a book, on which the names of various cultivation techniques were listed.
Immediately, everyone released their spiritual sense to look over what techniques were recorded in the register.
Longevity Dao Sect had divided all the cultivation techniques that once belonged to Profound Spirit Dao Sect into three tiers: Heavenly, Earthly, and Human.
Heavenly-tier techniques could be cultivated all the way to the Land Immortal realm. There were seven of them in total, though two of them were incomplete, and would require cultivators to figure out the missing parts on their own.
Earthly-tier techniques could be cultivated up to the Great Ascension stage. There were thirty-two of them, but fifteen of those required rare, heavenly-grade spiritual materials as a key to practice, and those materials had long since vanished from the world, rendering those techniques nearly useless. Everyone would have to tell those apart on their own, and if you bought one that you couldn't use, you'd only have your own bad judgment to blame.
Human-tier techniques could be cultivated up to the Flawless Realm. There were fifty-seven of them in total.
As for the techniques that could only take a cultivator as far as the Cave Realm, Longevity Dao Sect considered them unworthy of being ranked. They were giving those away for free directly, no need to trade any valuable resources for them.
And the core fundamental technique of Profound Spirit Dao Sect, the one powerful enough to stand up to a Land Immortal, was set aside completely. Trading for that would not be a negotiation for these junior disciples to handle; each sect would need to send a representative with sufficient status to discuss the terms.
"All of you fellow junior and fellow disciples, feel free to look through as much as you like. Since the Heavenly, Earthly, and Human tier techniques are of different ranks, the resources needed to trade for them will differ accordingly," Long Ling said generously. "And you fellow demon cultivators, if there is any technique you want, you may speak up. As long as the price is right, our Longevity Dao Sect is willing to make the trade."
Shu Xin and the Sword Spirit went through every single introduction for all the techniques. They had been hoping to stumble on a hidden, unrecognized gem.
But unfortunately, there was none.
Sure enough, that kind of lucky break you read about in novels, where a top-tier technique is hidden inside a low-tier one for the protagonist to pick up for nothing, was never going to happen to her.
Shu Xin felt a little disappointed, but unwilling to give up, she asked, "You really can't see any top-tier technique hidden away in any of the Earthly or Human tier listings?"
"There's really nothing good here. What's more, all these Heavenly Tier cultivation techniques seem to have flaws. No wonder the Xuanling Dao Sect doesn't have a single Earthly Immortal among them. Most of these techniques are not only missing the crucial cultivation catalyst, but they are also completely out of step with the times," the Sword Spirit, who had truly seen it all, remarked. "Take one of the techniques here for example. On the surface, it looks like you can practice it normally without any special requirements, but in reality, it demands the highest concentration of spiritual energy of all. Back in ancient times, the spiritual energy was so rich that cultivators never had to worry about it, so that detail was never written down. Now that spiritual energy is thin and scarce, there's no way anyone could ever cultivate it all the way to the Earthly Immortal realm no matter how hard they try."
"Out of all these Heavenly Tier techniques, the only one that's actually usable is the Minor All-Encompassing Art, but that one requires the cultivator to have a very specific special constitution. Every other technique here has its own set of problems. The Xuanling Dao Sect has been clinging to these things and practicing them day in and day out, it's no wonder they've never produced a single Earthly Immortal."
"And this one here is even more ridiculous. It's just a hodgepodge of different techniques cobbled together. It looks impressive at first glance, but it's nothing more than a sham. Only the opening section is real, and everything after that is half true and half false. If someone isn't very familiar with ancient cultivation techniques, they'd definitely get tricked by it." The Sword Spirit went on picking apart every flaw it could find. "At the end of the day, all of these techniques put together still aren't half as good as the Universal Great Sword Scripture I had you practice."
Shu Xin didn't pay any mind to the Sword Spirit's boasting. She was far more curious about which sect would end up being the poor unsuspecting sucker that picked one of the flawed techniques the Sword Spirit had just ranted about.
Compared to Shu Xin, who had the Sword Spirit as her secret cheat code, all the other cultivators who had just finished reading the descriptions of these techniques thought every single one of them was incredibly useful, and were currently stuck in a difficult, agonizing process of choosing which one to take.
