"White Sparrow!" Patriarch Jiang Yun gnashed his teeth in hatred while fixing his gaze at the white-haired old Daoist. A white sword beam thrust out from the top of his head, transforming into an over one hundred feet long beam of light as it sped away.
A moment ago, when their immortal pressures clashed with each other, they were actually using their life force cultivation base to endure the impact. Originally, Patriarch Jiang Yun was just one step away from becoming a Thirty-Fifth Tier Heaven Immortal. After obtaining numerous benefits in Myriad Immortals Planet, as well as receiving nourishment in Cang Ao Immortal Abode, both of them had brought a huge improvement to his cultivation base. As a result, most of his body had already squeezed into Thirty-Fifth Tier Heaven Immortal realm currently. On the other side, the old Daoist who he called White Sparrow was only a Thirty-Sixth Tier Heaven Immortal. As such, when their immortal pressures clashed together, it was naturally White Sparrow who took a beating.
Although there was blood oozing out of Patriarch Jiang Yun's seven apertures, it was not much really. Only a few drops of blood were dripping down. But the old Daoist White Sparrow met with a heavy backlash. His seven apertures were like faulty faucets, with blood rushing out endlessly. Stars were dancing before his eyes, and there was a constant humming in his ears. His immortal soul was greatly shaken, which made his vision turn dim, nearly losing his consciousness.
With just one strike, Daoist White Sparrow was severely wounded, while Patriarch Jiang Yun merely suffered a minor impact. Not willing to stop there, he cast out the sword beam, having the intention to launch a full power assault on Daoist White Sparrow. Seeing that Patriarch Jiang Yun behaved in such a menacing and threatening manner, Daoist Mo Luan bellowed, "Jiang Yun, who gave you the audacity to hurt someone here?"
With a point of his finger, a beam of green light shot out. Daoist Mo Luan had also cast out his sword beam to counter Patriarch Jiang Yun's sword beam.
The distance between them was merely three hundred feet. As the sword beams flew at an incredible speed, they quickly met and snarled with one another. Like two great pythons in heat, they tangled each other while wiggling and slithering in the sky, filling the atmosphere with a ringing of weapon clashing and a strong light that made one's eyes hurt upon looking at them. Before long, a plaintive whine was heard coming from the sword beams, while Daoist Mo Luan gave a muffled snort before retreating several tens of steps backward in a hurry. His face turned deadly pale in an instant.
Patriarch Jiang Yun snorted coldly, reached out his hand and waved at the sword beam in midair. In the next moment, a less than six inches long, white immortal sword came falling into his grip. There were bits of cold, white specks flickering on the flying sword, shaped like pearls. The sword itself was dancing and flying swiftly, as if it were a living being with high intelligence. The flying sword did not suffer any damage, and was still glinting brilliantly.
On the other side, the green flying sword fell heavily to the ground. It was a flying sword with a strange design, about nine inches long and shaped like a green bird, with a pair of green wings serving as its edges. The design was elegant and ancient. However, its edges were currently filled with many notches, which made it look more like a saw than a sword. Evidently, the flying sword had been physically damaged, and could no longer be used.
Wu Qi grinned coldly with his head bowing low. Patriarch Jiang Yun's flying sword was equipped with 120 Grand White Spatial Breaching Pearls of Innate Energies. Although they were precious treasures that were yet to take their final form, they still possessed an incredible power. Enhanced by these 120 precious pearls, the power of Patriarch Jiang Yun's flying sword had been improved tremendously, basically reaching the level of a higher grade immortal item. Although the quality of Daoist Mo Luan's flying sword was pretty decent as well, it was only a lower-grade immortal sword. With the huge gap between them, how could it withstand the hacking and attacking from the innate gold element energy at such a close distance?
Patriarch Jiang Yun let out a long laugh, opened his mouth, and swallowed his flying sword. After that, he cupped his fist and bowed at Daoist Mo Luan, then said, "Thank you very much for the teaching, Uncle-Master!"
Immortal Green Staff chuckled, then nodded at the unsightly Daoist Mo Luan and said, "Senior Brother, you've gone too far by attacking a junior with your sword! Hehe... even so, you're actually defeated by Jiang Yun? Could it be you're having too many concubines recently, which resulted in the falling of your energy?"
Both Daoist Mo Luan and Immortal Green Staff were Yuan Hua Sect's Elders, and they had a similar cultivation base of Thirty-Second Tier Heaven Immortal realm. They had always been on bad terms, which led to the constant conflicts between their disciples. Nevertheless, as they were bound by Yuan Hua Sect's sect rules, none of them dared to make the conflicts break out completely.
Little did Daoist Mo Luan expect that a small negligence of his had allowed Patriarch Jiang Yun, a mere junior to him, destroy his flying sword. It made his face turn extremely unsightly, as if his entire family had just been murdered, and his body was trembling from head to bottom with anger. Even worst was the teasing and mocking words coming from Immortal Green Staff, which had further infuriated him, and turned his eyes bloodshot. He gave Immortal Green Staff a glare and said coldly, "Good, very good!"
Daoist Mo Luan flung his sleeve and grabbed up Daoist White Sparrow, who had completely lost consciousness. After that, he cast out a beam of green light, stepping onto it together with all the cultivators behind him and quickly sped away. Immortal Green Staff roared with a loud laughter, and as he was about to say something, he saw Wu Qi dashed out from the company.
With one quick move Wu Qi grabbed up the green, bird-shaped flying sword which Daoist Mo Luan threw on the ground, then shoved it right into Black Dragon Spirit Ring. He then turned to the dumbfounded Immortal Green Staff and said with a smile, "Even if this flying sword is broken, it still has some materials that I can use. I'm very poor, and since he doesn't want the sword anymore, I might as well claim it as mine!"
No matter it was his earth element dragon scale shield or the celestial fiend puppets, they had the ability to absorb and digest all kinds of materials to evolve further. With this lower-grade immortal item, Wu Qi was confident that he could bring more power to the few treasures he owned. Therefore, even though his action made him look like a waste picker, he could care less of what others were thinking about him.
Shaking his head, Immortal Green Staff smiled and said, "There is no harm in doing that. Your Uncle-Master is a very generous man. To him, a flying sword counts for nothing!"
Then he gave a cold grin, raised his head, and looked into the sky while saying in a low voice, "Jiang Yun, spare some time later on to explain what had happened to these children, so they won't be schemed by someone even in our own sect, as that will be a huge disgrace."
Patriarch Jiang Yun wiped away the bloodstains on his face while answering respectfully. After that, he turned to Wu Qi and gave him a pleased nod. Actually, Daoist Mo Luan's green flying sword could still be repaired if he was willing to spend some materials and effort. However, as it was seized by Wu Qi now, even if Daoist Mo Luan had a very thick face, he would never come back to claim it from him. Being able to destroy an immortal item that belonged to Daoist Mo Luan, Patriarch Jiang Yun felt really satisfied!
Wearing a radiant face and having his spirit elevated abruptly, Immortal Green Staff held his head high up and brought Wu Qi and the company into the Internal Affairs Palace.
A few young Daoists clad in white silk robes greeted up eagerly, cupping their fists and bowing vigorously to Immortal Green Staff as they said, "Please forgive us for not preparing in advance and welcoming you, Grand-Uncle-Ancestral-Master! Is there anything we can help you with?"
Immortal Green Staff gave a cold harrumph, glaring at these executing-disciples of Internal Affair Palace as he said, "Why was Mo Luan here just now?"
A young Daoist answered quickly, "Grand-Uncle-Ancestral Master Mo Luan is bringing Uncle-Ancestral-Master White Sparrow back to the sect, who finished his apprenticeship one hundred thousand years ago, together with slightly over one hundred disciples of Uncle-Ancestral-Master White Sparrow. It is said that they will represent our sect in the deathmatch with Huiling Sect."
Immortal Green Staff responded with a sneer, then turned to look at Patriarch Jiang Yun and said, "Jiang Yun, it looks like our children have some competitors now!"
Patriarch Jiang Yun gave a jeering smile and said confidently, "There is no way they can take away this opportunity from us." He was very confident. Could Daoist White Sparrow find a priceless planet which was completely isolated since two Aeons? Could he have so many spirit pills and magical items of excellent quality to give to his disciples? The Myriad Immortals Planet was where Patriarch Jiang Yun found his confidence.
Suddenly, Patriarch Jiang Yun's faint voice transmission rung out in Wu Qi's ears, "Remember this, my disciples, Mo Luan is your Ancestral Master's enemy. White Sparrow is your Master's enemy of life and death. It was because of him that I was forced to leave Yuan Hua Sect! There is a great enmity between us, as I cut away one of his arms many years ago. So, you have to extra cautious in everything you do. If a conflict breaks out between you and his disciples, do not show them any mercy!"
Wu Qi nodded at Patriarch Jiang Yun, then turned to give Princess Zhang Le a look.
It turned out that Princess Zhang Le and Catfish-flood-dragon did not take Patriarch Jiang Yun's words seriously. Princess Zhang Le was quite interested in observing the solemn and reverent atmosphere that prevailed in the Internal Affairs Palace, and the decorations that looked completely different from those in Great Yan Dynasty's imperial palace. As for Catfish-flood-dragon, she had her gaze fixed straight at the few white-robed young Daoists, with saliva dripping down from the corner of her mouth.
Led by the few white-robed Daoists, Wu Qi and the company walked slowly into a hall in the depths of the Internal Affair Palace.
There, everyone had their name and cultivation base recorded down, and each was given a few sets of Yuan Hua Sect's standard Daoist robes, and an identity medallion made entirely from white jade. It was worth mentioning that the approaches used by a true immortal sect were different from those of ordinary mortals. When the few executing-disciples of Internal Affairs Palace had their hands swiped across the surface of the identity medallions, everyone's name immediately appeared on the surface of their own medallion, including their status in Yuan Hua Sect. For example, for Wu Qi, it was written as: Fraction of Green Wood Peak, Disciple of Outer Sect Disciple, Wu Qi!
On Patriarch Jiang Yun's identity medallion was written - Fraction of Green Wood Peak, Outer Sect Disciple, Jiang Yun! On the back of it was an additional row of eye-catching golden characters - Thirty-Sixth Tier Heaven Immortal, Elder of Outer Sect!
After that was done, the executing-disciples of Internal Affairs Palace produced a total of 111 thumb-sized dark jade slips. They were the 'Soul Jade Slips' frequently used by most of the immortal sects. By injecting a thread of divine will into it, if the person were wounded, the jade slip would make a loud cry. Once the person died, the jade slip would break apart, and if the person's soul disintegrated completely, the jade slip would shatter to pieces. This was how an immortal sect found out the current status of their disciples, the ultimate approach with which they could dispatch rescue in case of an emergency, or trace back the enemy and retaliate.
As White Cloud Immortal Sect did not possess a very strong overall strength, and it was almost like an overlord in Liyuan Galaxy, it did not prepare soul jade slips for its disciples. On the other hand, Yuan Hua Sect was very powerful, and it was residing in Puluo Heavenly Realm, a place where formidable immortal sects and mighty experts stood in great numbers. Hence, a facility such as soul jade slips was a must. Without that, if a great number of its disciples were killed outside, and their Masters did not receive any information about that, it would simply post a great threat to the foundation and the continuity of an immortal sect.
It was the first time Wu Qi saw a soul jade slip. In order to make one, it took a rather rare material - the 'Underground Abyss Dark Soul Jade'. Apart from being used to produce soul jade slip, this material was an excellent ingredient for some extraordinary treasures of the Ghost Dao. In the Scroll of Stealing, it was ranked as the eighth grade among all natural treasures.
After injecting a thread of divine will into the soul jade slip, an executing-disciple quickly carved Wu Qi's name and origin on its surface. Then, someone would bring it over to the internal region of the sect, storing it in a special place - the Soul Palace.
When everything was done, Immortal Green Staff brought Wu Qi and the company and left the Internal Affair Palace. While smiling at them, he said, "Come, let's go and have a rest at Green Wood Peak. Over these years, I've made several thousand jars of Green Bamboo Wine, and a few of them have been aged for over ten thousand years. Let's dig them out today and drink to our heart's content!"
A spirit wine that had been aged for over ten thousand years? Wu Qi's eyes shone with a bright gleam instantly. It was known that the wine brewed by Immortals had an incredible effect on improving one's cultivation base. Without even asking, the effect of a ten thousand years spirit wine must be extraordinary!
The company walked out of the Internal Affair Palace excitedly. But, before they could leave with their clouds, a beam of white light had already landed before them.
A middle-aged man dressed like a scholar and wearing a grim face appeared before the company. Upon seeing them, he immediately let loose a torrent of abuse.
"Green Staff, why have you wounded your Disciple-Nephew White Sparrow without rhyme or reason? Are you trying to show your might by picking on a junior?"