After spring comes fall. It was time for the annual feast day in Spirit Sword Sect.
This day, the chefs of Spirit Sword Sect's major canteens were busy, offering a sumptuous meal for the disciples. Among them, Carefree Peak canteen specially invited a team of celebrity chefs from Heavenly Fragrant School, the number one culinary school in the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals. Among them, the leader of the group was Great Master Bai Qie, a Yuanying Stage Daoist Master who was famous for his culinary skill in Nine Regions in the last more than one hundred years.
The several disciples of Great Master Bai Qie had also inherited around fifty to sixty percent of his culinary skills. Successively, they provided food and drink for a few dozens of tables in Carefree Peak. For a moment, Carefree Peak seemed to have a rainbow that rose to the sky, so intense that the Great Cloud Array could not conceal it. The array was shaken under the impact of that light beam as if it was unable to withstand the temptation of food, wanting to be absent without leave due to gluttony.
What was more valuable was that the cooking of Heavenly Fragrant School not only could meet the appetite of the stomach, each of the dishes also had a unique effect, which, after eating it, would greatly benefit the cultivation.
This was also the result of the increasing popularity of Spirit Sword Sect in recent years, business expansion, and the increasing influence of the sect. In the past, the Sixth Elder who was in charge of the Sect's finance, no matter what, would not squander such a huge amount of money to invite the chef, and moreover, the Great Masters of Heavenly Fragrant School would not come just by relying on money alone. For example, in this annual autumn feast day, there were hundreds of sects who sent invitations to Heavenly Fragrant School, but only two or three Yuanying Stage Great Masters could be sent. In this year, even the Royal Soldier Sect failed to taste the craftsmanship of Heavenly Fragrant School, and Great Master Bai Qie, as the best of the best among them, also uncharacteristically did not go to Shengjing Sect, but to Spirit Sword Sect in Blue River Region.
As a matter of fact, the biggest reason why Heavenly Fragrant School paid so much attention to Spirit Sword Sect this time was that Spirit Sword Sect had been steadily rising in status in the administrative committee of the group of immortal tombs in recent years. The influence of the group of immortal tombs and Plentiful City on Heavenly Fragrant School even overwhelmed that of Shengjing Sect, and as it turned out, in recent years, Heavenly Fragrant School needed to collect their food ingredients from the group of immortal tombs. Thus, both sides fitted perfectly. At the same time, the lead disciple of the younger generation of Heavenly Fragrant School would go to the group of immortal tombs for experiential learning. Thus, this time, he came to Spirit Sword Sect to seek advice from someone who was publicly known as the number one strategist in the younger generation.
A year ago, the Five Uniques of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals simultaneously sent their lead disciples to the group of immortal tombs to explore their respective immortal dream lands. However, they accidentally ended up encountering each other in the immortal dream land and began a fierce competition.
The final result was intriguing. Using the Kill Immortal sword, the lead disciple of Shengjing Sect, Qiong Hua, harvested the majority of the energies of the millions upon millions of entities in that immortal dream land. The immortal sword washed away millions upon millions of creatures, which caused Qiong Hua and her immortal sword to resonate, obtaining an unprecedentedly huge upgrade. This upgrade was even rarer than an advancement in cultivation base, in that, in Jindan Stage cultivation, Qiong Hua basically had no bottleneck. Just by following the prescribed order of training, advancing to Yuanying would be a cinch, even so much that advancing to Deity Stage was not a difficult thing. Because as an immortal treasure, if Qiong Hua wanted to obtain a perfect resonance with Kill Immortal sword, it could only be encountered but not sought. Right now, in the entire Nine Regions, cultivators who could perfectly resonate with their immortal treasure could only be counted with one hand.
In addition to Qiong Hua, the improvements of Zhan Ziye of Ten Thousand Arts Sect, Zhou Mumu of Kunlun Sect, and Xiang Liang of Royal Soldier Sect were also obvious. Their overall strength was at least ten percent higher than before they entered that immortal dream land.
Now it was Wang Lu's turn. As the ultimate winner of the five blood spirit crown, his harvest should be the largest. Even Qiong Hua, after returning to her sect, implicitly expressed her admiration for Wang Lu. Thus, the world was curious. How much harvest did he gain in that immortal dream land? What miraculous effect did the five blood spirit crown have? Unfortunately, unlike the other four lead disciples, once he returned to the mountain, he immediately took a closed-door training. The reason was that he was just about to reach Jindan. This also made those who thought that Wang Lu had already advanced to Jindan Stage very surprised.
Even more amazing thing was that, Wang Lu's closed-door training was shockingly long. For a whole year, he stayed in Golden Clay Hall in Misty Peak, which was the special place in Spirit Sword Sect reserved only for disciples' closed door training to break through Jindan Stage. Were it not for the Spirit Sword Sect Elders who confirmed that his breathing was steady the whole time, a lot of people would've suspected that he had failed and died.
However, the news that Wang Lu had succeeded in reaching Jindan Stage finally came out last month. This shocked the cultivators who paid close attention to Wang Lu, and they looked forward to his next action.
Wang Lu had always been a person who couldn't bear to be lonely. During his more than ten years of cultivation, he usually spent training on the mountain for a few years, and then would go out to do a major event... and then he would return to the mountain for a few years, and then he would go out for yet another major event... Now that he had spent a year of closed door training, successfully reaching Jindan, he should go down the mountain to show his strength.
However, Wang Lu did not follow his pattern this time. After he reached Jindan, he remained on the mountain, refusing to meet any foreign guest. During this time, he even turned down the invitation to have tea and refreshments in Plentiful City from Qiong Hua!
Now, it was fortunate that the cultivators of Heavenly Fragrant School had come to visit and outsiders had the opportunity to meet with Wang Lu.
In the cafeteria of Misty Peak, the lead disciple of Heavenly Fragrant School curiously looked at the dashing young man in front of him and couldn't help but think of all the legendary stories about him. While in Xudan Stage, he went to Western Continent, cooperated with a demigod of Western Continent to lure and kill several Supreme level Holy Ones of Holy Light Religion. More than a year ago, he defeated Qiong Hua whose reputation had been flourishing and had now been hailed by people as the strongest cultivator of the younger generation. And compared to his cultivation base in the immortal path, his problem-solving ability was even stronger!
And now he was fortunate enough to listen to Wang Lu's experience in the trial completion. This was a rare precious experience. It was just that, when listening, he couldn't help but feel strange...
"... The second is to strengthen the organizational leadership. Within the sect, it is necessary to clarify the leadership responsibilities and establish the team to complete the trial led by an elder. All the departments should take part, and the division of responsibilities must clearly be defined, so as to ensure that every aspect of the work has a corresponding person responsible for it.
"... Fourth, we must pay close attention to the implementation. We must earnestly strengthen the implementation of all aspects of the mission deployment."
Wang Lu's patient and meticulous lecture had lasted for an hour. However, Gao Tang, who always bragged about how good his perception was, was overwhelmed with dizziness. He felt that every word that entered his ears could be understood, but they became incomprehensible as a whole. Although he had obtained a 'rare book', the true meaning of its content was still difficult to understand. Or could it be that this full of bureaucratic cavity report was exactly what Wang Lu learned in his many experiences of creating miracles? Did Heavenly Fragrant School send their team of best chefs to Spirit Sword Sect, despite the risk of antagonizing Shengjing Sect, just to seek such experience?
As if sensing the confusion of Gao Tang, Wang Lu, who was reclining at the dining table, suddenly raised his gaze from the draft in his hands and thoughtfully smiled. "Junior Brother Gao Tang, the cooking skill of Heavenly Fragrant School is number one in Nine Regions, the signature work of your revered Master Great Master Bai Qie, white slice dog meat once tempted a certain mountain spirit embryo to be born into a mountain spirit. May I ask how much is the efficacy of that white slice dog meat dish if it is you who cook it?"
Gao Tang said with some embarrassment, "I am afraid I won't even produce even ten percent of Master's efficacy."
"Then why didn't Great Master Bai Qie teach you the essence of that white slice dog meat?"
Gao Tang said, "Cooking has to be a step by step affair. My basic skills are still far less than my respected Master. For a single dish, no matter how hard I work, I would still have limited achievements."
Wang Lu said, "So, using the same reason, given that your IQ and ability are too different from me, even if I give you my experience, it will mean nothing to you. For now, what suits you is this simple and hearty report."
Gao Tang couldn't help but ask, "But, from what you just previously said, most of them are directed at the overall requirements of the sect, rather than directed at personal guidance. Moreover, those methods can't just be implemented in a day. This…"
Wang Lu laughed. "Oh, I understand. You want to have a quick way? Then that's easy. You have to return to the sect quickly, steal the secret code of the sect using the lead disciple authority as much as you can, and bring out those rare books as you betray your sect to take refuge in Royal Soldier Sect. The Royal Soldier Sect is one of the Five Uniques of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, which means that the sect already reached the requirements of my strategy guide, which can save eighty to ninety percent of your effort. And since Royal Soldier Sect has already long coveted the gods of food from Heavenly Fragrant School, as long as you offer them the secret book and promise them that henceforth you would serve Royal Soldier Sect wholeheartedly, naturally, they would accept you and you would end up benefiting from it."
Gao Tang angrily said, "Senior Brother Wang Lu, don't go too far!"
Wang Lu's eyes turned cold, which flashed with the reflection of his golden core. A chill instantly seeped into Gao Tang's spine. In his jade mansion, his void core sent out a dull thumping sound as his magical power dissipated. He was the most outstanding disciple in Heavenly Fragrant School younger generation disciples, and in his thirty years of cultivation, he had already reached peak Xudan Stage, however, he actually couldn't stand Wang Lu's casual stare!
"Make no mistake. Exploring the group of immortal tombs could never be done just by talking. The reason why I can often create miracles is that I have the support from one of the Five Uniques of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals. The methods that I cultivated, the knowledge that I learned, the elixirs that I consumed, and the teammates that accompanied me are all top standards in the Nine Regions. But although your Heavenly Fragrant School is among the top rank sects, the actual combat capability of your school's cultivators is only at the intermediate rank sect. And you, as the lead disciple, have an astonishing talent in cooking, but if you cultivate in my Spirit Sword Sect, your level would be the same as the standard of my sect's outer court disciple. The only way for your Heavenly Fragrant School to successfully explore many immortal dream lands in the group of immortal tombs is to strengthen the overall level of your school according to the methods that I said previously. If you really can't wait for that, then you can only take refuge in Royal Soldier Sect. After all, if you can't build, you have to rent. If you can't rent, you have to buy, and if you can't buy, you have to steal—only by selling your own school you can have everything."
Seeing that Gao Tang was still tangled, Wang Lu let out a sneer. "If you don't want to listen, then leave. In any case, the advance payment is not refundable."
After listening to this remark, Gao Tang sighed and sat down firmly. "Please continue, Senior Brother Wang Lu."
After half a day, Wang Lu finally finished his lecture. Gao Tang looked complicated as he received the "Several Opinions on the Heavenly Fragrant School's Exploration of the Group of Immortal Tombs" and thanked Wang Lu for it.
Just before he left, he reached into his bosom, took out a letter, and handed it over to Wang Lu.
"This is a letter from Senior Sister Zhou Mumu of Kunlun Sect. Because the more than ten letters that she sent through the formal channel seemed like a stone dropped into the sea... In any case, she can't contact you, thus she asked me that if I have the opportunity, I should give it to you."
Wang Lu somewhat curiously received the letter. Previously, when he was busy with straightening out his method, he refused all private correspondence, thinking that with his interpersonal relationships, no one would anxiously look for him. He never thought that Zhou Mumu would actually look for him anxiously.
When he opened the letter, the message from Zhou Mumu was concise.
"The lead disciples of the Five Uniques have scheduled a meeting at my sect in the middle of the month of next month. Qiong Hua, Xiang Liang, and a certain idiot have promised to attend. As for you, if you want to come then come, if you don't want then don't! Who's asking you to come!"
The ink used on the last few words penetrated to the back of the paper, clearly channeling the inner anger of the writer!
Bai Qie means white slice