Legend of the Great Sage

Yang Miaozhen could only say, “Miaozhen is forever indebted to master.”

The Qingyang Master’s face lit up, and he no longer tried to keep it a secret, finally telling them his objective of this trip—to merge the entire Qingyang temple into the Myriad sect.

All of the disciples were greatly startled, speaking up to persuade him otherwise.

Lingxiaozi objected vehemently. He was the first senior brother of the Qingyang temple. Whenever the Qingyang Master was out, he was responsible for the various affairs of the temple, both big and small, truly standing above dozens, only second to one. If the Qingyang temple merged with the Myriad sect, he would only be a formal disciple, belonging to the bottom of the hierarchy of disciples in the Myriad sect.

Then he glanced at Yang Miaozhen, and his heart ached. If the Qingyang temple really does merge with the Myriad sect, junior sister Miaozhen and that Li Qingshan will continue their relationship, while I’ll have to live at the mercy of him.

After learning about the Qingyang Master’s plans, Yang Miaozhen’s feelings became rather mixed. After going around in circles, am I still going to return to his side?

As for the reactions of his disciples, the Qingyang Master had been anticipating it all.

The Human realm and beyond the Nine Heavens possessed an extremely deep connection. Basically all of the grand sect masters of large sects were True Immortals up in the heavens, so the conflicts between sects was not even as intense as in the trichiliocosm, not only because the sect masters were all acquaintances, but also to avoid any unnecessary internal conflicts so that they could fend off the Demon domain’s expansions.

The battlefields in the Demon domain were extremely intense, far greater than any regular skirmishes between sects, but the responsibility of holding off the demonfolk basically all lay with the large sects. They did not force middle-sized and smaller sects into battle either. If these sects were not interested in making a contribution and did not proactively take part in the battle, they could completely pass off everything that happened in the distant lands as mere stories.

Under this situation, the middle-sized and smaller sects of the Human realm, as well as the independent cultivators, truly spent their days in peace.

Peace had gone on for too long. It would make people forget the looks of war, or even lose the ability to imagine war.

Even when they constantly mentioned phrases like “the daemon star of misfortune” and the “crisis of the world”, it did not feel realistic at all. They always felt like there would be stronger people to deal with this problem. The immortals and gods beyond the Nine Heavens would not simply sit still. Even the worst-case scenario to them was just relentless fighting.

The Qingyang Master said firmly, “I’ve already made up my mind, so say nothing more!” Then he sighed and said some other things, such as “You’re all too young, so you have no idea about the crisis of the world’s power” and “I’m doing it for your good. You’ll understand in the future.”

The disciples were unable to understand, but they could not defy their master. However, they all felt rather dejected, no longer in the mood for sightseeing like when they first arrived. However, when they left the ship and arrived in Myriad city, the sights there left them reinvigorated.

People flowed endless through the city. It was so busy that it did not resemble a cultivation sect at all, but a city of mortals.

However, the city of mortals would never be so grand and majestic. Skyscrapers rose up from the ground, each and every one of them beautifully decorated. Long bridges passed between them like rainbows as graceful cultivators moved around on them.

The hanging garden balconies were like exquisite flowerpots, blooming with all sorts of exotic flowers and grasses. Among these ornamental buildings and scenery, many cultivators sat together to drink tea and discuss their cultivation.

Having grown tired of the spacious, expansive sight of the ocean, everything inside Myriad city left them dazzled, too much to take in at once. It made them almost forget the disappointment of the soon-to-be dissolution of their sect.

But very soon, the disappointment returned, and it was even greater than before. Even Yang Miaozhen felt it—So there’s nothing special about us.

The Qingyang temple could not be compared to the Myriad sect, but in the eyes of mortals, they were still transcendent immortals, supreme talents chosen from millions, yet when they gazed out here, there were basically cultivators everywhere. Who knew just how many of them there were. Standing among them, they did not feel special at all. Instead, they looked around in intrigue like a bunch of country bumpkins visiting a city for the first time.

Lingxiaozi’s shock lingered for a very long time without fading away. He murmured, “Is this the place that that Li Qingshan rules over?”

The Qingyang Master glanced at him and knew this disciple of his struggled to accept it. He said, “The grand sect master of the Myriad sect manages the imperial study of the heavenly emperor, while the two sect masters have followed him to beyond the Nine Heavens. The grand sect master’s mount, the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance, watches over the Pavilions of Heavenly Tomes and works on developing the Myriad Heavenly Tomes, so he never dabbles in any other affairs.”

“As a result, the various matters of the Myriad sect are split up between the direct disciples, which they discuss and agree on how to handle. As the leader of the direct disciples, Li Qingshan has authority to order all the direct disciples around. At the same time, during the battle of Black Cloud city, he forced back Demon God Taowu’s embodiment, so all of the direct disciples owe him their lives. He possesses extremely great prestige, which is why you can say he rules this place.”

When he mentioned the three sect masters, the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance, and even Li Qingshan, he clasped his hands at the sky. His voice was filled with reverence when he mentioned them.

There was a saying that the older they got, the more cowardly they became. In reality, it was the higher their cultivation was, the more experienced they were, and the more they understood the significance behind many matters. As such, he did not find riding coattails through his connections embarrassing at all. Even lofty Yang Soul cultivators and direct disciples had only survived because of Li Qingshan, so what kind of pride was there for him to still cling onto?

There was nothing that Lingxiaozi could say. He was completely dispirited.

When stories ceased to be just stories, the storyteller would also lose the calmness they displayed when telling the stories.

The Qingyang Master patted Lingxiaozi on the shoulder and continued towards the city. Gazing at the many cultivators, he thought, Looks like many people have the same plan in mind as me.

Through the battle of Black Cloud city, the Myriad sect had lost half of their direct disciples. If it had been some other ordinary sect, they definitely would be greatly weakened. It would take them thousands of years at the very least to recover.

However, the Myriad sect used the tremendous bestowments from the Desireless Heavenly Palace and their rich resources accumulated in the Hundred Herbs garden to open their doors and recruit en masse. It just happened to coincide with the emergence of the daemon star, so many smaller sects and independent cultivators made the same decision as the Qingyang Master. They ended up gathering a large number of people, such that their prosperity even exceeded before.

Of course, the root of all this was the Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes.

The Qingyang Master gazed over, only to see a building several thousand metres tall, piercing the clouds and looming over Myriad city imposingly. Despite that, it also seemed like it was about to float away in the wind.

On the eastern foundations beneath the Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes was a stone wall several dozen metres across. The wall was flat and smooth, with only two large words engraved on top—Myriad rankings. Under the glow of the sun, it presented several names.

The name at the very top was Li Qingshan, above all other disciples.

The Qingyang Master and his disciples gazed up at the stone wall for a while and could not help but become even more cordial towards Yang Miaozhen, constantly calling her senior sister or junior sister. The Qingyang Master stopped calling her Miaozhenzi, basically only ever referring to her as “dear disciple” now.

Yang Miaozhen felt extremely unnatural. She felt like the burden of the entire sect rested on her shoulders, waiting for her to meet with Li Qingshan. However, it was not that she was worried about whether he would consider their past—he valued his relationships far more than she had ever imagined. Instead, she was worried about how he would tease her when they did meet.

Only Lingxiaozi stood in the distance silently as if he intentionally maintained his distance from her.