Chapter 70: The Congealed Branch Elixir

  Here is the translation:

  (I'd like to report our achievements. Currently, Xian Nian San Jiang ranks first in the chart, second in the overall member click ranking and first in the fantasy category, 12th in the recommended ticket ranking, 9th in book review activity, and first in New Year's reward props. Such achievements are inseparable from everyone's support. Tomorrow I'll add more updates. Thank you very much to all book friends!)

  The next morning, Shi Sheng hadn't even gotten out of bed when he was woken up by Jin Ling's loud and clear voice!

  "Clap to death again!" Shi Sheng woke up with a daze, rubbed his eyes and found Jin Ling standing by the bed, clenching her waist and gritting her teeth, with a pair of lively small eyes blinking non-stop.

  Shi Sheng yawned and slowly closed his eyes, looking like he was about to continue sleeping. A moment later, Shi Sheng suddenly opened his eyes wide and slapped out a palm, which happened to be where Jin Ling was standing.

  Whoosh!

  Jin Ling's legs kicked out, and he immediately transformed into a golden light that shot to the distant ground, standing upright and rushing towards Shi Sheng. His two front paws covered his belly, arched his waist, as if holding his stomach in laughter, his eyes narrowed, revealing rows of small white teeth.

  Shi Sheng's face turned gloomy, he hadn't expected to miss again in a sneak attack. He had been unable to catch the little guy all of last night, and just now he thought the sneak attack would be successful, but instead he was met with Jin Ling's ridicule.

  "Asheng, dinner is ready!" Lin Wan'er shouted.

  "Here comes Sister Wan'er!" Shi Sheng got out of bed, washed up and came to the main hall. He found Lin Wan'er already sitting at the dinner table, while Jin Ling was sitting directly on the dinner table with a banana in her arms that was bigger than her own head.

  "Ah Sheng, Jin Ling seems to be injured. There are several places where if I touch it, she'll cry out in pain." Lin Wan Er said with some sympathy.

  "It serves you right! You're so naughty, it's a wonder you didn't get hurt!" Shi Sheng said casually while eating, which earned him a scolding from Jin Ling.

  "Heh heh!" Lin Wan'er smiled: "A Sheng, this morning someone came to inform us that we need to gather at Tianyang Pavilion. I reckon it's for task assignment."

  "Alright, I'll take a look and see if I can help Sister Wan get an Aggregation Elixir, that way she can advance to the Sea of Transformation stage!" Shi Sheng's expression turned serious.

  "Ah Sheng doesn't have to force it, just focus on your cultivation, Sister Wan'er is not in a hurry!" Lin Wan'er smiled slightly, and Shi Sheng nodded.

  After dinner, Shi Sheng directly came to Tianyang Pavilion. At this moment, Guan Ping, Yuan Yong, Mu Qing and others had already gathered here, and there was another group of disciples, but they seemed more miserable, only five people returned!

  There were two people standing in front of the Tianyang Pavilion gate. They were Liu Changlao and Wang Changlao, the pavilion master of Tianyang Pavilion. Below them were over a dozen disciples from Huahai Realm!

  "First of all, congratulations to everyone for returning to the sect safely. Your first life test has been passed smoothly!" Liu Changlao looked at the crowd and said with a slight smile, seemingly having expected some casualties among the disciples.

  "According to the sect's rules, each person can receive ten pieces of Xuanjing Jade as a reward. The captain of Team Three, Tian Zhong, due to his carelessness, fell into an enemy ambush and lost eight disciples, he should be severely punished!" Liu Changlao looked at a young figure in the crowd.

  "Disciple, you know your mistake!" The young man called Tian Zhong sighed, and Shi Sheng and the others also shook their heads. In this regard, Guan Ping was obviously more meticulous, and the entire battle situation was well under control. The sneak attack was also very smooth, but the appearance of the evil cultivator at the end could only be blamed on the sect's intelligence being incorrect.

  However, Tian Zhong was able to unite all his fellow disciples and turn the tide of defeat into victory with the strength of five people. This can be considered a great achievement, making up for past mistakes. Tian Zhong was neither rewarded nor punished, but the other four disciples of the third team each received twenty pieces of Xuanjing Jade, with ten pieces as a reward.

  "Thank you, Old Liu!" The three teams of people all chimed in at once, especially Tian Zhong, who only slightly relaxed his breath after hearing that he wouldn't be punished.

  "No need to thank me, this is what you deserve. Tian Zhong's strategy may have been flawed, but it also showed another strong aspect. Sometimes, it's not necessarily about having the strongest power that's the key to victory. Super strong cohesion is also a kind of ability!" said Liu Changlao slowly.

  Everyone nodded, and Liu Chang Lao looked at Guan Ping and said: "Guan Ping, the captain of the fifth team, has a good strategy. Without losing a single soldier, he launched a surprise attack on the enemy and easily captured them all. It's a great achievement."

  Due to the incorrect intelligence of the sect, the other party suddenly appeared with a cultivator who was in the Huahai realm and had achieved great perfection. As a result, some disciples were injured. However, the captain was remiss in gathering strength and unity to resist the enemy together. This mistake is noted, but since it's offset by their merits, no reward or punishment will be given. Each of them will receive ten pieces of Xuanjing Jade instead."

  "Thank you, Old Liu." Guan Ping and others nodded in unison to express their gratitude.

  Liu Chang nodded: "En, but the greatest credit this time goes to Shi Sheng. That evil cultivator harmed innocent people and was beheaded, which counts as one merit."

  "When fellow disciples were helpless, seeing many juniors injured or dead, Shi Sheng alone broke away from the Five Elements Seal, resisting the evil cultivators with all his might. To ensure everyone's safety, he disregarded his own life and death, earning another merit. Two merits without demerit, heavily rewarded. Do you have any opinions?"

  "Everything will be done according to Liu's instructions!" Guan Ping said in a low voice.

  "Shi Shidi deserved it, originally it was for everyone to risk their lives fighting against the evil cultivators." Lin Paozi said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

  "Alright, this time's merits will be rewarded after all the disciples return to the sect. A collective commendation ceremony will be held, and Shi Sheng will receive first-class honors and a Disciple Honor Plaque. There is even a possibility of being awarded a Congzhi Dan, which will be announced at the commendation ceremony!" Liu Changlao looked at Shi Sheng with a relieved smile.

  "Thank you, Elder, it's what a disciple should do!" Shi Sheng felt somewhat depressed. He had originally thought he would receive a spiritual treasure or at least a hundred pieces of high-quality crystal jade as a reward, or even an extremely valuable spiritual artifact. But instead, he only got a useless honorary token and a dan medicine whose purpose was unknown to him.

  "Haha, congratulations Shishidi!" Lin Paozi said, and the rest of the people also looked at Shisheng with a fiery gaze.

  "Alright, nothing to worry about, everyone can disperse. From this incident, everyone should understand the dangers outside and work hard to cultivate themselves, increase their strength, which is the foundation of survival!" Old Man Liu said, then left with them.

  "Everyone except Shi Sheng, follow me to receive the Xuanjing Jade!" Elder Wang said, then led the crowd into the Tianyang Pavilion. Shi Sheng was left standing there, speechless and stunned for a moment, as the surrounding crowd had already dispersed.

  "Never mind, go find Elder Xiao!" Shi Sheng said as he arrived at the residence of the elder of Tianyuan Pavilion. The guarding disciples already knew that Shi Sheng was a disciple of Elder Xiao and only reported his arrival before letting him pass.

  "What's wrong?" asked Xiao Chang in the main hall, seeing Shi Sheng ask a question.

  "Master, my fiancée has reached the Ascension Realm but is unable to progress further to the Sea of Transformation. I was wondering if you could bestow upon her the Gathered Thoughts Pill? Otherwise, it would be truly impossible for her to make any further advancements!" Shi Sheng had naturally come for Lin Wan'er's medicine.

  "Oh, Shi Sheng, you probably don't understand the sect's system very well. Let alone the聚念丹 (聚 means gathering or collecting), even the 开念丹 (开 means opening) is not something that can be easily given to anyone. The 聚念丹 you have was only taken out under the instructions of the Great Elder, and as for your fiancée, she can only wait until later when there's an opportunity to make contributions to the sect or perform outstandingly."

  Shi Sheng also knew that the possibility was low, but hearing Xiao Lao's personal response dispelled his thoughts: "Xiao Lao, what is the use of Ning Zhi Dan?"

  "Cong Zhī Dān? Haha, I didn't expect you to be running around everywhere for your fiancée. You should take some time to cultivate yourself or learn more knowledge. I didn't think you wouldn't even know what Cong Zhī Dān is."

  In the realm of thought, when one's mental power reaches a certain level, it will mix with the primordial energy of heaven and earth in the sea of thought, condensing and growing into thought branches. These branches are almost as solid as real objects, resembling small trees, but initially they are relatively thin. Later, they will become increasingly robust. Only cultivators who possess thought branches can rely on their power to propel spiritual treasures and even fly with swords! Elder Xiao explained.

  "Is it not the Unity Realm where spiritual energy merges with yuan energy?" Shi's expression changed.

  "Not bad, the outcome is as expected. It's naturally a Yuanhe boundary, and advancing to the Yuanhe boundary, this Congzhi Dan can increase the chances of success by no small margin, it can also be said that it's an indispensable item. However, the cost of this dan is extremely high, and very few people are able to obtain it."

  Even if it's a disciple of the Sea Boundary Sect, not everyone can get it. What's going on? Did Liu Zhanglao announce it? This old guy is really anxious, heh heh!" said Xiao Zhanglao.

  "Ah! I see!" Shi Sheng was suddenly excited, his originally gloomy mood swept away, and he didn't expect to receive such a heavy reward this time.

  "Don't be too happy yet, this time you've made a significant contribution, but the reward of Cong Zhidan is a bit heavy, so many elders are opposed to it. After all, you're just a newcomer, so you'd better behave well recently and don't cause any trouble. At the commendation meeting, I'll try my best to get it for you!" Elder Xiao smiled.

  "Thank you, Master. I will never forget your teachings!" Shi Sheng's face turned serious, feeling that Xiao Changlao was genuinely good to him, at least for now, he couldn't see any other intentions.

  "Heh heh, no need to thank me. If you don't perform well and aren't outstanding, I'll naturally give the opportunity to someone else. So, it's still your own efforts that have led to this result. However, there's also no need to worry, even if you can't get the Cong Zhizhi Dan, you can still obtain a spiritual treasure as a reward." Elder Xiao said with a smile.

  "Master, I want to go down the mountain for a while!" Shi Sheng suddenly changed his tone, and there were still some things that needed to be asked of Wang Bo. Xiao Zhang heard this and slowly put away his smile, seemingly somewhat embarrassed. (End of chapter, next chapter is even more exciting!)

  Here is the translation:

  "Reporting our achievements, currently ranking first in Xian Nian San Jiang, second in overall member clicks and first in fantasy category, 12th in recommended votes, 9th in book review activity, and first in New Year's reward props. Such achievements are inseparable from everyone's support. Tomorrow will be an update, thank you very much to all book friends! By the way, still seeking recommended votes and collections!!!"