Several days later, Yunwu Sect was officially renamed Zixia Sect's Mount Yunwu Branch.
As soon as she regained her freedom, Mo Tiange went for a trip down the mountain to visit Second Uncle, checking to see if he was well or not and informing him about what happened.
Ye Jiang had long understood the matter that happened over these past few days, so he only said to her, "You just need to focus on cultivating. You don't need to manage and have no ability to manage this kind of matter anyhow. As long as you can build your foundation, it doesn't matter which cultivation group you are in."
To be honest, Mo Tiange's feelings towards the sect weren't really deep. In the past ten years, it was Second Uncle who took her wandering all around, spending his best efforts for her, and raising her until she grew up. Yunwu Sect hadn't spent anything for her and she also hadn't directed much affection towards Yunwu Sect. In the entire Celestial Pole, or perhaps in the entire cultivation world, the majority of people were this pragmatic.
Having reached the tenth layer of the Aura Refining realm, she could now completely abstain from eating. Because of that, she bluntly shut herself in her room, stabilizing her cultivation realm and studying formations. Previously, she never had the time to study the Qimen Dunjia book she got in Miwu Valley two years ago. This time was the perfect time for her to study it carefully.
During the time she confined herself in her room, the impact of the sect being annexed grew increasingly heavier. Zixia Sect sent several Core Formation cultivators to take over. Right now, there was no Sect Head; there was only Mount Yunwu's Branch Master.
The one who took the job as Branch Master was precisely the Core Formation cultivator from Jiang Clan. Naturally, this matter didn't really affect Jiang Shanghang. The relationship between him and his clan had never been close. Furthermore, there was a grudge between him and Jiang Chengxian, so it could already be considered very good that he didn't get bullied. How could he get any special treatment?
Except for the members of Jiang Clan, no other Core Formation cultivators managed to escape this calamity. Even cultivation clans were also affected. Because most of the sect's disciples came from cultivation clans, Zixia Sect used threats and promises, in addition to killing the chicken to warn the monkey so to speak, causing the deaths of some disciples every day and turning their days into days of terror.
Rationally, all of them who lived in this courtyard were individual cultivators who joined the sect through the Immortals Assembly and thus shouldn't be too affected by this event. Nevertheless, there were a few disciples who were still affected and perished. Fortunately, Xu Jingzhi wasn't among them.
Later, Mo Tiange heard Wang Qianyi was married to a descendant of a Core Formation cultivator from Zixia Sect and went to live there. As a result, Wang Clan made a narrow escape and was no longer being investigated.
Regarding this matter, Mo Tiange could only heave a sigh. For women, their bodies were, after all, their last means. Senior Martial Sister Wang was a proud woman. Although she had a father who was a Foundation Building cultivator, she was never arrogant. However, in the end, she still couldn't save her own self.
Mo Tiange recalled the moment she met her and Shen Bing in Miwu Valley. When they were harassed with obscene words, Shen Bing, although furious, held herself back. Wang Qianyi, on the other hand, broke out into a torrent of curses. Thinking that now Wang Qianyi was compelled to marry a decadent son of an influential family who was the type of person she despised the most, really… no one could control fate.
After a period of time, Mo Tiange heard another piece of news. Shen Bing was forced to become a concubine of that Sect Head Li's son. Senior Martial Sister Shen Bing's beauty and talent were well-known across the three cultivation groups. Many disciples from the three groups were her admirers, so Mo Tiange wasn't at all surprised that Shen Bing would fall into this predicament. Beauty was a fortune, but it was also the root of trouble. If she hadn't disguised herself as a man and hid her woman's stature, perhaps she also wouldn't have a good ending today.
Fortunately, Murong Yan didn't have to follow their footsteps. Shen Bing's sacrifice saved her.
Some days later, Mo Tiange received a Summoning Talisman from Murong Yan. After going through this string of misfortunes, she expressed her frustration and her determination to cultivate diligently. Except for sending a Summoning Talisman back with her blessings, Mo Tiange really couldn't do anything else.
After a few months, the storm that arose because of the annexation of the two groups gradually calmed down.
When Mo Tiange came out of her room, she saw that the three others were all present in the sitting room. She couldn't help but feel rather surprised as she said, "What are you all doing?"
Liu Yidao beckoned to her. "Junior Martial Brother Ye, come here and let's discuss together."
With a belly full of questions, she walked towards them and found a seat for herself. She really didn't believe there weren't any problems. There wasn't anything strange about Liu Yidao and Xu Jingzhi gathering here. Both of them had an outgoing personality, so gathering and chatting together although there wasn't anything happening was normal for them. Qin Xi, however, never came out of his room unless it was necessary. He stayed outside only if there was a problem or the subject they talked about was something he was interested in.
Liu Yidao excitedly asked, "Junior Martial Brother Ye definitely hasn't heard about the newly released news, right?"
"What news?"
Liu Yidao gave off a mysterious vibe and paused for a moment before continuing, "News about the Foundation-Building Pills."
"Ah…" She almost forgot about this matter. After the sect extermination occurred, she forgot about the minor competition that should've been held several months ago. "What happened? They're going to hold the minor competition again?"
Liu Yidao shook his head and said in an extremely excited manner, "The news I heard said that to appease the sect's disciples, they will increase the number of Foundation-Building Pills they're going to grant and change the method of granting them."
"Granting method? What is it? We don't need to go through a minor competition?"
Liu Yidao nodded. "Correct! This time, the minor competition is canceled."
Out of confusion, Mo Tiange asked, "Then what kind of method are they going to use?"
Xu Jingzhi, who had been silent, sneered. "This happened only because too many people died already. Holding the minor competition would make them appear cold and merciless, so they changed the method."
Xu Jingzhi's mood wasn't good. Although the Xu Clan wasn't implicated, they also didn't have an easy time. Xu Jingzhi originally had an uncle who was a Foundation Building cultivator, but because his uncle was close to Sect Head Fang, his uncle was covertly forced back to his clan. Fortunately, his uncle was very quick in declaring his position and therefore didn't implicate other people.
On top of that, what Shen Bing and Wang Qianyi went through also made Xu Jingzhi, who was also a child of cultivation clan, harbor a grudge in his heart.
Seeing him behaving like this, Qin Xi gave a perfunctory cough and said, "Junior Martial Brother Xu, you better calm your mind. Regardless of what has happened before, the ones above us now are Zixia Sect."
Although Xu Jingzhi's expression went stiff, in the end, he still uttered a complying noise. He understood this fact, but ever since he was a child, he always had things easy. Except for the Immortals Assembly matter, he had never gone through this kind of depressing matter. Consequently, he couldn't hide his emotions.
This interruption made Liu Yidao feel extremely embarrassed. Xu Jingzhi was in a bad mood, yet he was still feeling excited. Nevertheless, he quickly hid his emotions and said, "I heard the demonic beasts in the depths of Kunwu mountain range are restless and are about to cause trouble. The small demonic beasts in our vicinity are also constantly injuring people. Because of that, the sect has decided that for us in Mount Yunwu, we will be rewarded according to the number of demonic beasts we manage to catch in one day. The top few dozen disciples will be qualified to receive Foundation-Building Pills."
"I see…" Mo Tiange said with a frown. The southern depths of the Kunwu mountain range included a very vast forest. The area reportedly had countless high-ranking demonic beasts. As for the area around their sect, there were only first and second rank demonic beasts.
The first rank was equivalent to the Aura Refining realm while the second rank was equivalent to the early-stage of the Foundation Building realm. As long as they were careful, Aura Refining disciples like them could beat a first rank demonic beast. As for second rank demonic beasts... although it would be slightly harder to handle, the beasts couldn't use formations, talismans, and the like. Those who could use magic were also few. Aura Refining disciples could still kill it if they worked in a team and attacked it together. Even if they couldn't kill it, they could still give themselves an opportunity to run.
Nonetheless, compared to having a minor competition, this method indeed sounded good. In minor competitions, even if one was strong enough, if they ran into a similarly strong opponent, one side would definitely leave the stage a loser. If the matter was thought through carefully, however, this method was actually a form of preferential treatment for cultivation clans. Because cultivation clans had a lot of manpower, they only needed to focus their efforts on one of their members to obtain a Foundation-Building Pill.
As for other disciples, on the other hand, none of them would be willing to sacrifice themselves for other people. After all, the things they might gain from their battle against the beasts could also be categorized as rewards.
"Can we work in teams?"
Liu Yidao shook his head. "The event this time is different from Miwu Valley's. This time, our disciples will compete against each other. Of course, if we happen to meet inside, traveling together is presumably allowed. But the odds of this happening are really low; the forest on this mountain is too huge…"
Mo Tiange started to make some calculations in her mind. This rule had both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage was that she didn't need to be worried about people seeing her. She could use whatever means she wanted to. The disadvantage was that she had to double her cautiousness. She was, after all, going to fight against demonic beasts. If she wasn't careful enough, she would be buried inside a beast's jaws.