Chapter 6: The Start of the Great Alchemy Competition of the Instrument Spirit Sect

  "Why? Now it can be driven, doesn't that mean the refining is quite successful?" Sun Ming asked in puzzlement.

  "It's quite successful, but think about it, the real Heaven-Sealing Stamp was forged from half of Mount Buzhou, the greatest mountain in the Primordial Chaos, whereas this one is just a few pieces of ordinary iron that have been refined and transformed with spiritual energy. Get it!!!" Upon hearing Sun Ming's response, Yun Zhongzi felt an urge to cry and laugh at the same time.

  "The reason I let you refine the Fantian Seal is that it can be refined intermittently, and its development potential is almost limitless. As long as you use the method I taught you to refine it every day, continuously arranging the materials according to the Yin-Yang Five Elements method, and continuously adding materials to increase the weight of the Fantian Seal, its power will become greater and greater. Do you understand now?" Cloud Middle Child said.

  "What about the current power of Ban Tian Yin's master?" Sun Ming asked.

  "Ah, if it were an ordinary person, they would definitely be smashed to death. However, for a cultivator who has entered the stage of Qi Refining and Body Tempering, it's hard to say. As for those who have reached the stage of Qi Transformation and Spirit Ascension, one can only say that it's just scratching their itch." - Yun Zhongzi said

  "For the time being, it can only be considered a low-grade artifact, so you must work hard to cultivate and improve its grade as soon as possible. Only then will its power continue to increase. Never let this treasure gather dust in your hands!!" said Yun Zhongzi.

  "Don't worry, Master, I will definitely work hard." - Sun Mingdao

  Spring comes and goes, flowers bloom, it can be said that there is no time in the mountains, but a thousand years have passed in the world. In the blink of an eye, eighteen years have passed, and the day of the Refining Sect's Refining Grand Competition is approaching, this is a day that Sun Ming has been looking forward to for a long time. In these eighteen years, he endured how much loneliness, how much suffering, when those disciples who were eliminated from the outer sect returned home in glory, Sun Ming was constantly cultivating the Xuantian Yuexu Gong, when the outer sect disciples were scolded and even killed by the inner sect disciples, he learned to endure, he would silently return to his residence to refine the Fantian Seal. When this day that changed his fate arrived, even the eighteen years of endurance could not calm the excitement in his heart.

  "Master, I'm already at the stage of fusion, that is, after absorbing the energy into my body. If I go to participate in this grand competition of our sect, won't some of my senior uncles discover me?" Sun Ming asked worriedly.

  "Don't worry, apprentice. My Kunlun Xuantian Yu Xu Gong's ability to hide my cultivation is the best in the world. How could it be detected by those masters who are about the same level as you? This time, going to the Great Competition will be no problem." Cloud Middle Child said.

  "In a few more months, it will be the day of the Grand Competition. Do you have confidence to become my junior brother?" said Ling Feng.

  "Of course, I have confidence in you, Lingfeng Shifu. Perhaps it won't be long before we'll be calling you Lingfeng Shixiong." Sun Ming said with a pretty good mood.

  (The generations of Qiling Sect are all determined by their cultivation level. When the cultivation realm changes, the title also changes. The first word of the Daoist name will be replaced with the new title, and at most three generations, it's Shifu, Shizu, and then directly calling them seniors. The strict hierarchy has also led to Qiling Sect's prosperity over the years.)

  "Alright, remember that the selection for outer sect disciples to enter the inner sect is fair and just. A senior fellow disciple will demonstrate the refinement of equipment in front of you and explain it to you. Then, you will have to start refining the same thing he just refined. Whoever refines something with a power closest to this item will be more likely to enter the inner sect. The exam questions are different every year, so don't even think about asking me what last year's question was, it's useless. Go and focus on your cultivation!" With that, Ling Feng Yu Jian left.

  Watching Ling Fengzi ride his sword and fly away, Yun Zhongzi hummed a tune in Sun Ming's mind.

  "With a sword riding the wind between heaven and earth, true love is left for whom. In an instant, it's already been a thousand years, withered away are my youthful looks. For whom am I waiting, for whom do I think of, for whom do I wield my sword to ask the heavens? Your gentle face forever remains in my heart. Love follows the wind, who can sympathize with this melancholic tune? Alas, human affairs are like smoke, dispersing into the wind, filling every corner of the world. Sighs fill the red dust, as I turn back to look, people have already gone far away, the world has already changed beyond recognition, but my heart remains unchanged. You still remain in my heart, without you, even the phoenix and immortals are not enviable."

  "What's wrong with you, Master?" Sun Ming asked.

  "Watching you wield the flying sword, I recall an incident from when I first started practicing. Back then, I didn't become a disciple under your ancestor's tutelage, but rather under a sword cultivator from ancient times. Before I embarked on my cultivation journey, I had a childhood sweetheart who was my confidante. When I left to pursue the way of the sword, I told her I would return to find her. However, during a moment of enlightenment in my cultivation, not only did I achieve my heavenly body, but also traversed a thousand years of time. By the time I went back to look for her, she had long since become a memory, and I was left with only sorrow. It was then that I composed this melody." Cloudson said wistfully.

  "What is this thing called love in the world, that it can make people promise to be together for life and death? Two guests from the ends of the earth, how many times have they experienced the cold and heat of old age. Joy and pleasure, parting and sorrow, among them there are also foolish boys and girls. You should have something to say, but in vain, with a thousand miles of layered clouds, a thousand mountains of evening snow, only shadows going towards whom? The horizontal flute road, the desolate years of the Xiao drum, the wild smoke still relies on the flat Chu. Summoning the soul of Chu, what is the sigh and regret, the mountain ghosts secretly cry in the wind and rain. Heaven also envies, not believing, the oriole and swallow both turn to yellow earth. For a thousand autumns and ten thousand ancient times, for leaving behind to wait for the poet, crazy songs and painful drinking, come visit the wild hills. As a teacher, I finished this song, changed from the explosion of true yuan, fortunately being saved by the World Honored One later, and then surrendered under his door." Cloud Middle Child said.

  "Master, what were those sentences you read? Although I didn't quite understand them, they sounded really moving!" Sun Ming said.

  "This is a poem, written by a poet from the planet called Earth in the mortal world outside of the Immortal Realm where I reside. The author of this poem went to Bianzhou for an examination and met a goose hunter on the way. The hunter told him about a strange thing that happened to him: he set up his net to catch geese, caught one but another escaped. Unexpectedly, the escaped goose did not fly away, instead it circled above him and then fell to the ground dead. The poet looked at the two geese in the hunter's hands and was deeply disturbed. He bought the two geese with money, buried them on the bank of the Fen River, piled up stones as a marker, and named it 'Yanqiu'. Later, after this poet died, I brought his soul back to the Immortal Realm, gave him a new body, and made him one of my immortal companions." - Yun Zhongzi

  "The Great Way is emotionless, Heaven and Earth are not benevolent. Is the Great Way really emotionless? What is emotional, what is emotionless, perhaps even the venerable Hongjun Patriarch cannot clearly explain! Disciple, beware that cultivators of the Way can have emotions, but absolutely must not be trapped by them. Your master does not wish for you to repeat past mistakes." Cloud Ancestor said.

  "Don't worry, Master. Someone as mediocre as me, who would look at us? Besides, Lingkong Shifu said that the more beautiful a woman is, the more arrogant and willful she is. I don't even dare to think about it, let alone be troubled by love. Ouyang Xingyue has made me understand women thoroughly." Sun Ming arrived.

  "Yin and Yang is the ultimate principle between heaven and earth. As they say, 'pure yin does not sprout, solitary yang does not grow.' Just think of it this way for now, anyway, as your master I won't tell you, but you'll understand later." said Yun Zhongzi.

  Get ready, there's just over two months left before the big competition.

  "Yes, Master." Sun Ming replied.

  Two months later, the square at the top of Qixing Mountain was bustling with people. Sun Ming looked out at the mountains and saw cultivators constantly flying in from the depths of Huoyun Mountains, and his chest felt a surge of heroic spirit. He thought to himself that he would definitely be able to soar through the skies like them one day, riding the wind and wielding his sword. Suddenly, the arrival of a man made Sun Ming's heroic feelings instantly disappear without a trace. The middle-aged man was wearing a blue cloth shirt, with a messy beard that seemed to be tangled with scabs, and he was stepping on a wine gourd. In this era where flying swords had almost taken over as the sole means of personal flight, it was astonishing that someone would still use a wine gourd as their magical tool. If it were anywhere else, it might not have been so surprising, but in Qixing Sect, it seemed somewhat out of place.

  "Apprentice, be careful. This drunken Taoist's cultivation is absolutely in the late stage of Lian Shen Fan Xu, almost at the stage of merging bodies. I don't dare to confirm whether he can discover your true cultivation or not. In any case, you must be careful." Yun Zhongzi said.

  "Is this for real? He's in the merging period, and he can even control a wine jug with his twisted powers. I'm not even sure if he can fly here safely." Sun Ming said with a face full of disbelief.

  "As a master, I still have some reservations about this. In short, be careful not to reveal your true cultivation level, or it will be very troublesome." Cloud Middle Child said.

  "Master, I understand." Just as Sun Ming finished speaking, a loud noise interrupted his thoughts.

  Only to see that the master of "combined period" fell on the high platform of Gongwai Gate disciples' competition, and the wine gourd shrunk back to its normal size. And this master was lying there slowly savoring his wine.

  "Pay respects to the ancestors" Next to Lingfeng, a large group of spiritual sons and disciples who came to preside over the affairs all knelt down.

  Ling Feng knelt down and kept giving Sun Ming eye signals, "Kneel down quickly," Ling Feng said in a low voice.

  Sun Ming quickly knelt down and whispered "Who is this person, Master?"

  "Tian Fengzi, the elder, one of our sect's elders. He loves to drink and is also known as Tian Feng, so behind his back, many people call him Tian Fungzi. Be extremely careful not to offend him. It's said that a senior brother once offended Elder Tian Feng and was crippled by him, unable to cultivate again." Ling Feng whispered.

  "You young folks, when you see an old man like me, don't always be kneeling, come on and let's have a couple of drinks." As soon as Tianfeng finished speaking, the wine jug suddenly flew into mid-air.

  "Come on everyone, let's have a drink. Look at old me, I'm considerate of you young folks." A surge of wine swept through the crowd, sending people tumbling in all directions.

  "Haha, nowadays young people really can't hold their liquor, just a little and they're already stumbling around, it's really embarrassing." After saying that, he picked up the wine jug and flew away from Qishen Mountain.

  "This old man is finally gone, if he didn't leave, today's matter would have been ruined," said a disciple of the Lingzi generation.

  "I declare the start of the Great Competition of the Instrument Spirit Clan!" Ling Feng shouted from atop the high platform.