The jade disc appeared extraordinary at first glance.
To the touch, it was as smooth and tender as a young girl's skin.
Originally, Gu Xinghan had planned to hand it over to the sect.
Yet somehow, as if guided by unseen spirits, he had concealed the fact that he had found it.
Young Gu Xinghan was not someone who knew how to lie.
Consequently, for several days in a row, with a guilty conscience gnawing at him like a thief, he did not dare look up and meet the eyes of the seniors in the valley.
Fortunately, his personality had always been rather solitary, and having just weathered a massive upheaval, the cultivators throughout the Valley of Longevity were all consumed with resting and rebuilding.
Thus, no one noticed anything unusual about him.
Slowly, he began to set his worries aside.
A child's curiosity is boundlessly strong.
Firmly convinced he had unearthed some miraculous treasure, Gu Xinghan busied himself quietly studying the jade disc whenever he found a free moment.
Yet to his immense disappointment, even after many days had passed, he could not fathom what was special about the disc or what practical purpose it served.
It seemed to truly be an ordinary piece of jade, merely prettier than most.
Still, spurred by the fancy that resides in every person's heart, Gu Xinghan did not discard it.
Instead, he drew the jade disc into his dantian, nourishing it with his own spiritual energy and tending to it with meticulous care.
As the reconstruction of the Valley of Longevity drew to a close, Gu Xinghan's attention was forcibly diverted.
Because former Sect Master Li Fan had tragically perished in the catastrophe, the question of where the Medicine King Sect should go from here became a grave problem.
The lineage of the Medicine King Sect had never depended on bloodlines for succession.
Li Fan had inherited the seat of Sect Master merely through Liu Ruchen's dying wish.
Now that Li Fan had died suddenly, a successor had not been decided at all.
If decided purely by cultivation strength, the Sect Master would undoubtedly emerge from among the three Dao Integration cultivators: Liu San, Jiang Yushan, and Fang Zaiji.
Jiang Yushan and Fang Zaiji possessed little interest in power. The most likely candidate was Liu San.
However...
First, Liu San considered himself merely a servant to Liu Ruchen, neither willing nor worthy of holding the post of Medicine King Sect Master.
Second, what the Medicine King Sect faced was not just the matter of succession.
An even greater crisis stemmed from the more than a thousand cultivators who had been cast out of the Medicine King Cauldron.
All of them were ancient-method cultivators, and practically all practiced the Medicine King Sect's true heritage, the Scripture of Saving the World and Cultivating Longevity.
Were they to awaken at once, a tribulation of slaughter would likely erupt within the sect.
Although the three Dao Integration cultivators had joined forces to force them back into deep slumber, without a supreme treasure like the true Medicine King Cauldron, this could only buy time.
In such a short window, finding enough suitable cultivation methods for all these slumbering cultivators was simply impossible.
Considering various factors, Liu San and the others ultimately deliberated and decided to submit to the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, just as the Taiyan Sect had done.
Since the future destiny of the Medicine King Sect hung in the balance, Liu San felt uneasy and personally went to observe things for himself.
Upon his return, the three Dao Integration cultivators reached a consensus.
Liu San would step forward to formally visit the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and beg to submit to them.
Meanwhile, Fang Zaiji took advantage of this period to distribute the End Discs to key figures within the sect, particularly the prodigies he had retrieved. He explained how to use them and solemnly cautioned them never to leak the matter.
Although the Medicine King Sect was not as illustrious as the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao, its disciples had always been benevolent and devoted to healing and saving the world. Thus, even after thousands of years, many of their legends still circulated. In terms of renown, they were by no means inferior to the Ten Sects.
As the second pocket-world faction to voluntarily submit, and with their overall strength remarkably well preserved, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals took the Medicine King Sect very seriously.
They dispatched a Dao Integration Immortal Venerable named Qingyun to oversee the matter.
Guided by Liu San on a tour of the Valley of Longevity, Qingyun beamed with undisguised delight.
Without any friction, the two parties swiftly finalized the terms of the Medicine King Sect joining the Alliance.
The Medicine King Sect would retain relatively independent autonomy; their disciples merely needed to carry a Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror, just like ordinary Alliance cultivators.
As for the fact that a number of Medicine King Sect cultivators had previously infiltrated the Alliance ahead of time, Qingyun did not press the matter.
Soon, news of the Medicine King Sect joining the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals spread across the Xuanhuang Realm.
The entire world was shaken.
It accelerated the surrender of more and more pocket worlds.
And the Alliance did not break its word; all manner of aid was swiftly delivered.
Naturally, what took place first was the scan by the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror.
Once the Beast Seed Realm and the Valley of Longevity were illuminated under the radiance of the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror, the Medicine King Sect received the cultivation methods they so desperately needed, just as they had hoped.
As slumbering cultivator after slumbering cultivator was awakened and switched to the new method, the crisis facing the Medicine King Sect finally subsided.
With the disaster resolved, it was time to look forward.
The Medicine King Sect now possessed six Dao Integration cultivators, twenty-three at Soul Formation, and a number of Nascent Soul cultivators.
In today's cultivation world, it could truly be considered a formidable faction.
Yet with no leader emerging for so long, they truly had no one at the helm.
Although they had submitted, and their nominal overseer was the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, under such high autonomy, the authority of the sect's chief remained immense.
Moreover, dealing directly with and answering to the Alliance brought even greater benefits.
Even Dao Integration cultivators could rarely remain unmoved.
Thus, after a period of overt contention and covert maneuvering, and in order to prevent the recently stabilized Medicine King Sect from fracturing once more, a vote was held. In the end, Liu San was chosen to succeed as Sect Master.
The young Gu Xinghan understood very little of this process.
In his confusion, he merely watched as many cultivators dressed in strange garments arrived, followed by the awakening of many seniors.
Through all the turmoil, the final outcome was good in the end.
He still retained a vivid impression of Liu San, the old grandpa who had personally instructed them in the past.
Come to think of it, what had he taught back then?
Young Gu Xinghan could not help falling into bewildered contemplation.
This contemplation lasted throughout the entire grand sect ceremony.
Even by the end, he still could not make any sense of it.
Later, when all the sect disciples were required to step before the Heavenly Profound sub-mirror to generate their own Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirrors, his attention was temporarily drawn elsewhere.
To Gu Xinghan, a treasure like the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror, endowed with countless functions, was vastly more entertaining than the jade disc.
Absorbed in exploring its myriad uses, he gradually forgot all about the jade disc.
Until one day, after he formally resumed his cultivation.
He noticed something was not quite right.
When his young companions began attempting to "borrow wonders of Heaven and Earth to establish a Dao Foundation," Gu Xinghan discovered that he seemed, possibly, perhaps...
To have already established his Dao Foundation.
Gu Xinghan was momentarily dazed.
Dreading the strange condition within his body, Gu Xinghan did not dare ask anyone about it.
He could only slowly mull it over on his own.
And in the midst of this, the jade disc—which had remained completely inert like an ordinary mundane object all this time...
Finally showed a reaction.
Chapter 797