Luckily, Patriarch Jiang Yun and the other Heaven Immortals did not seem to have any interest in listening to Guigu'zi. They waved their hands, pushing Guigu'zi back into the crowd with a gentle force.
Daoist Qing Xin sighed softly and said, "We can understand the hatred in your hearts, as we came from the outer space and seized your foundations. We'll not dispute with you about the deeds you've done in this immortal abode, and from today onwards, you will be the outer sect disciples of our sects. From now on, please behave yourself! Jiang Yun, let us leave now."
Patriarch Jiang Yun nodded, and together with the other Heaven Immortals, they brought their disciples who did not manage to find too many things here and left the immortal abode in a rather sulky mood.
After the trip to Cang Ao Immortal Abode, Patriarch Jiang Yun was greatly disappointed by the performance of the emperors and ministers of six dynasties, the disciples he had conveniently taken upon arrival. So, he had given up on further investigating into the case of the murder of many people by Lu Buwei. However, many people from the six dynasties were very curious about the person who was trying to frame Lu Buwei. Nevertheless, they were just being curious, and that would not lead them to Wu Qi, as nobody would have thought that Wu Qi, a Gold Core cultivator, was the real culprit who tried to frame Lu Buwei.
Time flew in the realm of cultivators. In a blink of an eye, three years had gone by since the day White Cloud Immortal Sect and Tranquil Vimalā Sect arrived and established their branches in Myriad Immortals Planet.
Over the three years, Wu Qi carefully preserved the various spirit herbs he found in Cang Ao Immortal Abode with restrictive spells. He also secretly gave Princess Zhang Le and Lu Chengfeng an extremely precious Heavenly Wit Fruit each, helping them to improve their intelligence and even gain several times greater affinity towards the Heavenly Dao. Apart from these two Heavenly Wit Fruits, he kept the rest in a safe place, not daring to waste them.
During the same period of time, following the pill formulae provided by Wu Qi, Patriarch Jiang Yun had successfully concocted a cauldron full of immortal pills, the 'Mind-Soothing and Thunder-Resisting Pills', twelve of them in total. With them, twelve disciples from both White Cloud Immortal Sect and Tranquil Vimalā Sect managed to transcend their tribulation, who had been held up at peak-stage Nascent Divinity realm for nearly ten thousand years but lacked the confidence to transcend their thunder tribulation. And so, the two immortal sects gained six new Heaven Immortal each, and their morale was greatly boosted.
With a total of eighteen Heaven Immortals, the overall strength of both great immortal sects had taken a leap, and could be even ranked among the top ten strongest in the entire Minor Heavenly Circle Realm. However, as proposed by Patriarch Jiang Yun, the newly promoted twelve Heaven Immortals were made to stay low in the Minor Heavenly Circle Realm, and were not exposed to any outsiders.
Over the three years, Wu Qi had also focused his attention on secluded meditation, asking other people to handle all the works and affairs for him. Lu Chengfeng was in charge of all the affairs in Meng Mountains region, Lu Quyuan in charge of Star picking City, while Hai Yuntian in charge of the trading of rare products through Star picking Pavilion. With that, Wu Qi's wealth bloated at an incredible rate, and the power under him had grown to a pretty decent size.
Every now and then, he would travel to White Cloud Planet through the Grand Universal Teleportation Formation, spending some fun and relaxed time with Princess Zhang Le, who was having her secluded cultivation at Spirit Cloud Peak. Using three years, Wu Qi had strengthened his foundation, but his cultivation base did not improve much. On the other hand, for reasons only goodness knew, Princess Zhang Le's cultivation base advanced by leaps and bounds, from peak-stage Gold Core realm all the way to Nascent Soul realm. With such an incredible cultivating speed and extraordinary talent in cultivation, Princess Zhang Le won Bai Xia and Qing Wu's favor, and managed to become a core disciple who carried a big weight in White Cloud Immortal Sect.
It was a carefree and leisurely period of three years for Wu Qi. Because he was backed by White Cloud Immortal Sect, Lu Buwei and the others had temporarily stopped to conspire and intrigue against him. Before these people could possess sufficient overall strength, none of them would dare to touch even a single stand of Wu Qi's hair. As a result, he was living a very relaxed life.
One day, at the shore of a little river that flowed behind the back of Spirit Cloud Peak, Wu Qi and Princess Zhang Le had just hunted a few wild tigers and were feeding them to Gold Horn and Silver Horn, when a sword beam suddenly came descending from the sky and hovering before Wu Qi. He reached out to the sword beam and picked up a jade slip, then sent his divine will into it to read the contents. A brief moment later, he sighed and shook his head.
Princess Zhang Le was happily teasing Gold Horn and Silver Horn with a bloody tiger leg held in her hand. She raised her head with surprise and asked, "Some work for you?"
Wu Qi gave a whistle, and Gold Horn and Silver Horn immediately twisted their huge bodies and slithered back into the Spirit Breeding Ring. Then, he nodded with a smile and said, "Yes. The leader of Discipline Hall summons me. It seems he has some work that needs my help. Zi Xuan, be good and stay here to continue your cultivation, and don't bully your junior sisters again!"
Leaping over and grabbing Wu Qi's shoulder, Princess Zhang Le yelled, "You're going out alone again? No way!"
Wu Qi rubbed Princess Zhang Le's long hair and said with a smile, "Have you forgotten what I've told you? When you transcend and become a Heaven Immortal, you will be able to follow me everywhere. At that point in time, I'll need you to protect my safety!"
Pouting, Princess Zhang Le breathed out a long sigh and said sulkily, "Well, off you go then! Be careful!" Then, she rolled her eyes, and suddenly waved her hand to cast out a lightning bolt that smashed into a thicket off in the distance, sending twigs and leaves flying everywhere. Immediately, two little Daoist nuns sprung out from the thicket, screaming and running backward disorderly. Princess Zhang Le burst into a loud laughter and shouted, "White Egret, White Deer, haha, I've caught you two again! Come, let Granny Ancestral-Master teach you how to use the Five Thunders Spell! I'll teach you with real examples, real examples!!"
After the shouting, a five-colored cloud rushed out from underneath Princess Zhang Le's feet, carrying her up as she chased after the two little Daoist nuns. Then, crackling noises echoed out, as numerous electric arcs, that were tiny as hair, were released and bolted towards the two little nuns, causing them to scream at the top of their voices with fright. They quickly exercised movement techniques to avoid the electric arcs while crying for pardon from Princess Zhang Le.
"Ugh!" Wu Qi shook his head helplessly, and thought to himself that it was better to have a few unlucky fellows that Princess Zhang Le could bully. He gave the two unlucky little nuns a glance with a hardened heart, cast out his sword beam, and sped away towards the Discipline Hall, which was located halfway up the Thousand Clouds Peak, the front mountain of White Cloud Immortal Sect.
The Discipline Hall was in charge of the execution of White Cloud Immortal Sect's sect rules, observing and examining all the disciples in the sect to decide the punishment and reward they would receive, and also having the absolute power to decide the merit each disciple had to contribute to White Cloud Immortal Sect. Based on the merit, they would decide the amount of cultivating resources that disciple could receive in the next year. Therefore, among all the official halls in White Cloud Immortal Sect, Discipline Hall was the most important hall. Apart from the internal and external Chief Supervisors, the leader of Discipline Hall was the disciple with the most power in hand.
Similar to the building style of all the departments under the heavens that were in charge of discipline and supervision, the Discipline Hall in White Cloud Immortal Sect had a gray and dull exterior. It was a square and flat building that looked like a cage, and was lying on a flatland hewed out purely with manpower, halfway up the Thousand Clouds Peak.
When Wu Qi flew into Discipline Hall, Jiangcheng Zi, clad in a blood red Daoist robe specific to the leader of Discipline Hall, was seen sitting down with a long face and knitted brows. His expression turned slightly better when he saw Wu Qi, and he quickly rose to greet him. He grabbed his hand and said, "Junior Brother Wu Qi, I really need your help here! I have a task that only you can help me with!"
Three years ago, for the credit of discovering the Myriad Immortals Planet, Jiangcheng Zi was relieved from the leader post of Spirit-Gathering Palace, which was a very risky post with a lot of work to do, and was promoted as the leader of Discipline Hall. Discipline Hall had a very prestigious status and heavy power, and although it was responsible for supervising all the disciples of White Cloud Immortal Sect, basically there were not many nasty issues to handle wit. Yet, the resources allocated to it were one of the best in White Cloud Immortal Sect, thus making the position one of a few very rewarding positions.
Wu Qi offered greetings to Jiangcheng Zi, spending some time in asking about his health, the safety of his clan members, and stuff like were the yellow dog and the frogs in front and behind his house still safe and sound, and all sorts of nonsense. Wu Qi's superfluous words made Jiangcheng Zi roll his eyes and put up a wry smile, then he quickly stopped Wu Qi from continuing. "Alright, alright, Junior Brother, quickly help me complete this task. I'll make your record of merit to the sect as generous as possible."
Wu Qi rolled his eyes and glared at Jiangcheng Zi, then laughed and said, "Senior Brother, you should know that these little merits never attract me. Aye, my brother is the Chief Supervisor of ore mines, what is the point of having these merits?"
Jiangcheng Zi smiled bitterly, then helplessly pointed at the empty Discipline Hall and said, "How about taking it as a favor that I owe you? You can see with your own eyes that over the last two years, more and more executing-disciples of Discipline Hall had entered secluded cultivation, and lesser people are willing to go on a journey for a task. If this situation continues, Discipline Hall is soon going to be an empty shell!" Lowering his voice with a humble attitude, Jiangcheng Zi said, "Recently, I need to go through and organize this year's assessment records of all the disciples. Therefore, I'm really too busy to carry out any other tasks. The rest of the executing-disciples are either in secluded cultivation, or they are busy with other duties. I've no other alternative but to ask you to help me!"
Looking at Jiangcheng Zi's poor face, Wu Qi shook his head and sighed. "Alright then. Don't forget that you owe me a favor, Senior Brother! Hehe, compared to the favor you owe me, those merits are just nothing! If I did something that violated the sect's rules in the future, Senior Brother better remember the favor you owe me this time!"
Jiangcheng Zi rolled his eyes and did not respond to Wu Qi.
He turned and pulled out a pale-yellow official document from a table, passed it to Wu Qi and said with a wry smile on his face, "There are a total of 13 continents in White Cloud Planet, with 784 states and dynasties scattered across. They are all vassal states and dynasties of our sect. On Tai Yuan Continent is a dynasty called Gu Tai Dynasty. It has the strongest national strength among all the states and dynasties. Some of the members of Gu Tai Dynasty's imperial clan are our sect's disciples."
Wu Qi took over the official document and asked with a deep voice, "Why are you making such a great fuss over a mortal dynasty?"
Jiangcheng Zi shook his head and said, "The old emperor of Gu Tai Dynasty is dying. Now, his eight princes are fighting fiercely with one another for the throne. However, as all eight princes are actually disciples of our Sect Elders, we cannot let their fight go out of control."
Then, he paused for a brief moment while pondering, and continued, "I need Junior Brother to pay a visit at Gu Tai Dynasty, secretly and carefully study the reputation these eight disciples have among the ordinary people, examining their characters and the way they handle matters. After that, select one that you think is most suitable, and make him the new emperor with our sect's edict." With a tone of warning, he said, "The states and dynasties in the mortal world are the foundation of the establishment of White Cloud Immortal Sect. Those disciples with excellent bone structures are gathered by these dynasties and then sent to us. If a dynasty falls into a chaotic state, it will bring no good to our sect's future development."
Wu Qi shook his head silently. Now he knew that even an immortal sect such as White Cloud Immortal Sect would have to worry about the transition of the imperial throne in all the states and dynasties under them. With over seven hundred vassal states and dynasties, the affairs they needed to handle must be extremely complicated. It was no wonder that Discipline Hall always faced the issue of lacking manpower.
After that, Jiangcheng Zi gave Wu Qi some other essential items including a command medallion and an edict token. Wu Qi cracked some jokes with him and invited him to be a guest at Star picking City sometime in the future, then transformed into a stream of light and began to fly toward the capital city of Gu Tai Dynasty, Tai City, according to the official document.
White Cloud Planet could only be considered as a standard-sized planet, unlike Myriad Immortals Planet, which was absurdly enormous. It measured roughly thirty-four thousand miles in diameter, while Tai Yuan Continent and White Cloud Immortal Sect were sitting right on the opposite sides of the planet. After traveling several tens of thousands of miles, Wu Qi finally arrived at the Tai Yuan Continent and found the capital city of Gu Tai Dynasty, the Tai City.
Looking from afar, the size of Tai City was far smaller than Ji City. With both its length and width measuring less than thirty miles, even Wu Qi's Star picking City looked more grand and magnificent than it. Nevertheless, it was, after all, an ancient capital city of a dynasty with several tens of thousands of years history. The buildings in Tai City were all anciently and elegantly fashioned, sending forth a very graceful and poised air.
Violet energies were seen lingering above the city, with auspicious gleams vaguely shining through them. It was indeed the capital city of a dynasty, significant and never to be underestimated.
However, when Wu Qi exercised Mystic Eyes of Universe and peered at the city, he was shocked to see a few very faint devil energies mixing amidst the violent energies and auspicious gleams. Those devil energies were very faint, and if not for the magical effect of Wu Qi's Mystic Eyes of Universe, he would have failed to detect them.
The evil energies gave Wu Qi a very, very familiar feeling.
He began to ponder, "Could it be that some old friends of mine are creating trouble here?"
According to the temperament of those people, was the time for them to strike and cause some problems supposed to have arrived?
Wu Qi shook his head and control his sword beam to land thirty miles away from the city. He changed into a magnificent and luxurious loose robe with long and large sleeves, then swaggered his way into Tai City.
The closer he got to Tai City, the clearer he could see the violent energies and auspicious gleams above the city. They looked in a mess, as if they were completely twisted by some external forces.