Jiang Shu untied his heart knot, completely turning his mentality around.

Shi Feiyang was also very pleased, allowing him to take back the Broken Jade Hook and the Heavenly Escape Mirror. In the days he had been isolated in meditation, the two items had remained untouched on the table.

Jiang Shu, feeling deeply ashamed, apologized and thanked Shi Feiyang once more, then went to his room to put away the hook and the mirror.

He felt that Shi Feiyang was more like his senior brother, always capable of exerting efforts in crucial aspects of his cultivation, offering him many new insights and improvements, unlike that detestable old man Zhu.

Zhu Mei had also reincarnated, and though he was not old at this time, he had already resumed his previous life's mannerisms—gesturing and making faces, carrying himself like in his last life. Zhu Mei's attitude was defined by his disdain for the world, mocking and scolding, playing with the mortal dust.

He's not like a senior brother at all, more like he wants to be my father!

Thinking of Zhu Mei's expressions filled Jiang Shu with disgust.

Shi Feiyang asked Jiang Shu what his future plans were.

Jiang Shu still wanted to return to Qingcheng Mountain to cultivate: "In my previous life, I promised my two respected masters to create a sect and pass on the Daoist tradition. I still haven't accumulated enough."

"I must ask again, who will be the Sect Hierarch of your Qingcheng Sect in the future?"

Jiang Shu pondered and said, "Based on my calculations, because my own Daoist power and the outer skills accumulated for the sect are both insufficient, Senior Brother Zhu will first take charge of the sect. After a few decades, when he ascends, I will take over. Although he currently complains a lot, he will still return to take charge when the time comes."

"No ambition!" Shi Feiyang said with a light smile.

Yang Xu, Chen Taizhen, and Hu Yanxian heard this and immediately lowered their heads.

They had seen Zhu Mei and Jiang Shu arguing. Although the words were always degrading Jiang Shu, they would never be so direct. Angered beyond control, the two often ended up shouting at each other, even coming close to drawing swords at times.

Initially, they thought Shi Feiyang, with his good temperament, wouldn't argue with his master, but he turned out to be even more outspoken than Senior Zhu.

They already envisioned Jiang Shu retorting sharply and exploding in rage, coming to blows with Shi Feiyang.

However, contrary to their expectations, Jiang Shu did not show even a trace of anger. Instead, he earnestly asked, "Then what would constitute having ambition? With my current abilities... actually, Senior Brother Zhu is also right; I indeed am ambitious but lacking in talents, definitely incapable of handling all this.

I don't mind his disdain. What annoys me is that while criticizing my incompetence, he stands by with his hands on his hips as a spectator, acting as if the two masters only belong to me, and the Qingcheng Sect is solely my responsibility, completely unrelated to him!"

"If he wants to stay out of it, then let him be, you don't need his help."

Jiang Shu nodded: "I think so too. This time, I even brought up sending him back to the Emei Sect's Ningbi Cliff. But I..."

"I'll help you with that; don't worry, we'll take it one step at a time," Shi Feiyang said. "For a sect to thrive, first, you need people. Various types of excellent materials and disciples—without people, everything else is moot. Currently, you only have these three disciples under you, fewer even than those at my place. That won't do; you need to recruit more disciples."

Jiang Shu sighed: "I know I need to recruit disciples, but good ones are hard to find and even harder to get. I can't just indiscriminately admit disciples who might bring their poor temperament inside, not only providing no benefit to the sect but potentially dragging it down."

"I'll think of a few good ones for you."

Shi Feiyang calculated the current time. Some of the third-generation disciples of the Emei Sect hadn't yet been born, some were still infants—it was indeed a good time to start. However, many were already deeply connected to the Emei Sect, which complicated matters.

Calculating for a long while, he opened his eyes: "Recruiting the younger generation is uninteresting, let us recruit from the seniors!"

Jiang Shu didn't understand his intention and hurriedly inquired.

"There's an Independent Immortal at Zhongnan Mountain called Ke Yizi, are you aware of him?"

"I know him. He's not new to the Dao path, having practiced for three to four hundred years. Nevertheless, he always acts with extreme caution, hardly involving himself in anything and rarely traveling outside."

Shi Feiyang said, "His path is peripheral, and he's not even able to become an Earth Immortal. In a few years, he'll face the Forty-Nine Heavenly Tribulations and must proceed with Soldier Disintegration beforehand; otherwise, he will surely be annihilated. You should go to him—no, send a disciple to him, and say that you calculated a predestined mentor-disciple relationship with him. If he agrees, in the next life you can accept him into the Qingcheng Immortal Sect and teach him the orthodox Immortal Law of the Mysterious Sect, which he'll desperately desire."

After hearing this, Jiang Shu was somewhat hesitant: "I have never met him, nor do I know his temperament or talents. If they turn out to be very poor, he might still find it difficult to pursue the path of immortality in his next life."

"You're being picky!" Shi Feiyang said, "His temperament must be good; otherwise, he wouldn't have survived until now. In his next life, you should educate him well. Three parts nature, seven parts nurture. I have plenty of elixirs here for reforming muscles and remolding skeletons. As long as his temperament is good, his talents don't matter."

Hearing Shi Feiyang say this, Jiang Shu nodded in agreement: "Although Ke Yizi is a peripheral Independent Immortal, his seniority is not low, and he has cultivated for many years. It's not suitable to send a disciple; I must go there myself."

He immediately took his three disciples and hurried toward Zhongnan Mountain.

After he left, Shi Feiyang called Zhu Changyuan in and asked him, "In your past life, you were brutally murdered, your soul shattered, and I expended a lot of heart power to gather your shattered soul to refine your form, giving you this life. Do you... want to seek revenge against the killer from your past life?"

Upon mentioning being killed in his past life, Zhu Changyuan didn't have much of an instinctive reaction, and naively said, "Grandson is slow-witted, not sure whether I should seek revenge or not, still need your guidance, uncle-grand-ancestor. If I should seek revenge, then I shall go; if not, I will let go of this grudge and focus on cultivation."

Shi Feiyang said, "I didn't let you regain your memories from your previous life because I didn't want you to get entangled with the past. But as your cultivation progresses, you'll eventually be able to recall past events, although many memories would have been lost when you were rendered soulless. A cultivator must not let hatred muddle their mindset, but everything should have a conclusion."

Zhu Changyuan's previous life was Geng Peng, who had been beaten until his soul scattered. The main culprits included Lady Bao Xiang of the Heavenly Fox and Red Flower Grandmother.

Before Geng Peng died, Shi Feiyang had personally promised to avenge him by killing those two.

At that time, he was driven to desperation by Lady Bao Xiang, and he harbored deep hatred for those two. Now, as time has passed, the hatred has somewhat faded, but this matter still needed to be concluded—he couldn't just let her ascended to immortality peacefully.

Shi Feiyang took Zhu Changyuan and left Big Bear Ridge, rushing to Guihua Mountain's Fuxian Pond.

Big Bear Ridge is in Yunnan, and Guihua Mountain is in Guizhou, which are not too far apart. The two of them used their flying escape technique and soon arrived.

Guihua Mountain was hidden among vast mountains, densely covered with osmanthus trees. When the trees bloomed, the mountainside was adorned with rice-sized yellow flowers, their fragrance filled the valleys and intoxicated anyone who smelled it.

Shi Feiyang brought Zhu Changyuan to the mountain, looked around a bit to assess the situation, then took out the Taiyin Earth Net and spread it on the ground.

Once spread out, the net became an array of incredibly fine black shadows that merged into the soil and sank underground.

Next, he took out the Twelve Flower Evil Divine Gang, twelve columns of smoke flying from his palm, each blending into the surrounding air.

In this way, he sealed off the heavens and the earth to prevent Red Flower Grandmother's primordial spirit from escaping.

Red Flower Grandmother originally practiced a secondary Daoist Technique, similar to Ke Yizi. Despite many years of cultivation, she was unlikely to achieve much. Before the arrival of her heavenly tribulation, she would have to undergo corpse disintegration and reincarnate. Thus, despite her resentment towards the tyrannical demands of the Emei Sect for Black Wind Grass, she decided to ingratiate herself with Emei to survive the disaster.

Unexpectedly, she later acquired a Heavenly Book. Although it was also a secondary path, it could lead to great achievements. Since then, she secluded herself deep in the mountains, never leaving and successfully cultivating her Nascent Soul until the yin residue was exhausted, reaching the state of Pure Yang. If nothing unusual happened, she would be able to ascend in a few years.

However, the immortality she achieved was not much different from that of Lu Rongbo and might even be inferior. Lu Rongbo at least cultivated the authentic Immortal Law of the Mysterious Sect and could ascend without external help.

Even after Red Flower Grandmother's Nascent Soul reached perfection, she still couldn't ascend by herself. Additionally, given her many past misdeeds, she had to rely on her enemies to disintegrate her body first, and then she could undergo corpse disintegration and ascend.

But if her enemies knew her plans in advance, they would cast spells to obstruct her, making it even more dangerous than Lu Rongbo's situation.

This time, Shi Feiyang sealed off heaven and earth before the duel to trap the turtle in the jar.

After completing all this, he finally spoke loudly, "Come out! Can you hide in the cave forever?"

His voice traveled far, echoing in every corner of the valley; even the giant crocodiles beneath Fuxian Pond heard him, but for a long time, there was no response.

At this moment, Red Flower Grandmother was hiding deep within her stone cave. Even after many years, she hadn't changed a bit, her eyes only slightly less sharp than before, but much more composed.

Red Flower Grandmother was destined to ascend. This morning, she felt restless and a cold breeze blew up the roots of her tail, prompting her to hastily consult the I Ching. The divination showed great danger today, indicating an avenging foe was coming to her doorstep. She thought about fleeing, but another calculation revealed that escaping would lead to even worse disaster!

She hurriedly took a bath and changed clothes, focusing her mind to calculate the details.

The divination revealed that her enemy, who had died at her hands in the North Sea in a past life, had now reincarnated and was coming to seek revenge.

The signs indicated that this enemy in a past life was related to winged creatures. After some thought, she concluded that it matched Geng Peng.

In addition to Geng Peng's reincarnation, there was another formidable character. She couldn't deduce who, but staying in the mountain meant certain death.

If she attempted to escape early, she would encounter four other foes. An analysis of characteristics shown in the divination indicated they were likely Xuanyuan Dharma King's three disciples and the Yin Yang Sect's Sect Hierarch from the Divine Demon Peak's cave in Wushan Gorge!

It was needless to say what Xuanyuan Dharma King's disciples were like. That old rogue Yin Yang Elder was male in the first half of the month and female in the second, specializing in vitality-absorbing techniques—taking from females when male and from males when female. He even developed the yin-yang jade divine demon technique and once proposed marriage, wanting to pursue dual cultivation with her, but she drove him away using the terrain to her advantage.

She, known as Red Flower, was actually still a virgin. If captured by them, not only would her life be at risk, but she would also face terrors worse than death...

Red Flower Grandmother continuously calculated to find a sliver of hope amidst the myriad dangers.

She really did calculate that there was one savior, but she didn't know when he would arrive.

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