As the Huaxia saying goes, true feeling shows in times of adversity.
Although Lu Yang shared no bond of cultivation heritage with Guihua Sect, his conduct when facing the brink, paired with his performance within the sect over the years, had long led Lin Yi to regard him as one of their own.
If Lu Yang's lifespan ran out in seven or eight years and he passed away, Zhao Ping and Su Qing would honor Lin Yi's wishes and give the little old man a burial befitting a second-generation disciple.
As for the Dharma artifacts Lin Yi had commissioned Lu Yang to forge...
Naturally, they were intended for the home world's research.
To that end, while still in Jiuwu City, he had spent a full seventy low-grade spirit stones to purchase some rather high-quality first-rank materials.
If Lu Yang truly managed to complete the task, Lin Yi certainly would not shortchange him.
Having received their instructions, Lu Yang, Zeng Kefan, and Wei Tong exchanged glances and tactfully took their leave.
Lin Yi gladly permitted it.
Once the three had withdrawn,
Lin Yi looked toward his two remaining disciples and Wei Chongshan. His fingers tapped against the armrest a few times, and after a long silence, he finally spoke again.
"Zhao Ping, Su Qing, Chongshan. On my way down the mountain this time, I unexpectedly learned two pieces of news.
"The first is that over this recent period, quite a few sects around Huailing Circuit have also suffered demon beast attacks..."
Lin Yi briefly recounted the incidents involving the demon beast attacks.
Hearing this, Zhao Ping was immediately astonished. "Master, you mean other sects were attacked as well?"
"Indeed," Lin Yi acknowledged, brushing past the matter lightly, as talk of a beast tide was still too unsubstantiated. "The Dao Protection Bureau is still investigating the exact cause, but there don't appear to be any definitive findings yet, only some unreliable rumors and speculation."
Then he paused deliberately, his tone turning somewhat complicated.
"The second piece of news is that... in this upheaval, Wuji Sect was wiped out by three second-rank demon beasts."
The moment Lin Yi spoke those words,
Three stunned expressions stared back at him from below, completely bewildered.
Evidently, the news Lin Yi delivered had caused the trio's minds to short-circuit.
After several seconds, Su Qing was the first to recover her senses, asking in a rush, "Master, what did you say? Wuji Sect... is gone?"
Lin Yi nodded heavily. "Aside from that old rascal Jiang Yu, not a single one of the other forty-seven members of Wuji Sect survived.
"Perhaps... this is retribution."
As he spoke, even Lin Yi could not help clenching his fists.
In truth, back in Jiuwu City, he had nearly lost control of his emotions.
For never in his wildest dreams had he imagined hearing the names of Wuji Sect and Jiang Yu from Daoist Hengshui's mouth...
Unlike the Xunyang Sect that Daoist Hengshui belonged to, Jiang Yu's Wuji Sect and Guihua Sect could be considered old acquaintances... or rather, old enemies.
Wuji Sect was located very close to Guihua Sect and was likewise a micro-sect. Its overall strength was modest, possessing only two Foundation Establishment cultivators:
One was the Sect Master of Wuji Sect, at early Foundation Establishment.
The other was Jiang Yu, at late Foundation Establishment, who, like Lin Yi, had stepped back behind the scenes to serve as Grand Elder.
Back when Guihua Sect had just been established,
Lin Yi had accompanied Professor Xu on a special trip to Wuji Sect, adopting a humble stance to pay respects as if acknowledging an elder brother sect.
Yet they had never expected that Jiang Yu, despite graciously accepting their gifts with smiles, would immediately turn around and pull underhanded tricks against Guihua Sect.
And the only reason the man bore such hostility was simply that Guihua Sect was situated so close...
Then, nine years ago, the conflict between the two sects was thoroughly amplified because of one person.
That person was Wei Chongshan, the eldest brother among the third-generation disciples and currently the only cultivator with four spiritual roots in Guihua Sect besides Su Qing.
During the Selection Ceremony nine years ago,
Jiang Yu had expended a considerable price pulling strings to "randomly" secure an allocation quota for an apprentice with four spiritual roots.
Then, according to the spiritual root rankings, this quota fell upon Wei Chongshan.
According to convention, as long as the individual's consent was obtained, Wei Chongshan would be taken into Wuji Sect's fold. This step was essentially little more than going through the motions; after all, since he was not a true genius with three spiritual roots or better, hardly anyone would be finicky.
Yet no one could have anticipated what happened.
Right during this formality, Wei Chongshan pulled off a stunning upset before countless onlookers:
He wished to join Guihua Sect instead.
Only later did Lin Yi learn the truth.
While Professor Xu Hua was still alive, he had once saved a group of displaced refugees from the clutches of a band of brigands.
Among those refugees was a young boy named Wei Ping and his parents. Years later, when the boy grew up and started a family of his own, another baby boy was soon born into the household.
Namely...
Wei Chongshan.
Indeed.
Professor Xu Hua had saved the lives of Wei Chongshan's father and family.
Thus, from the time he began to understand the world, the boy had been taught by his parents, his heart set entirely on joining Guihua Sect to repay the debt of gratitude.
Later, considering the candidate's firm resolve, the Shen Family presiding over the ceremony granted Wei Chongshan's request.
By way of compensation, Lin Yi provided a batch of resources to Jiang Yu's Wuji Sect.
Yet those resources were on a completely different scale from what Jiang Yu had spent behind the scenes. Moreover, for a micro-sect like Wuji Sect, an aptitude of four spiritual roots was a dream caliber seen perhaps once in thirty or forty years.
So from that point on, Wuji Sect locked horns with Guihua Sect.
In particular, Jiang Yu, the Grand Elder, had personally stepped into the fray on several occasions.
For instance, the fact that Lin Yi's lifespan was running out in his nineties was directly linked to Jiang Yu.
Otherwise, a mid Foundation Establishment cultivator would have had little trouble living to a hundred and seventy or eighty.
In fact, Lin Yi had long harbored a suspicion that the demise of his second disciple, Wang Yichen, who had fallen in a demon beast attack eight years ago, very likely had Jiang Yu lurking behind it as well.
For it was while investigating the cause of Wang Yichen's death that Jiang Yu severed Lin Yi's possibility of undergoing tribulation breakthrough.
Furthermore, Zhao Ping's eldest disciple had also fallen victim to Wuji Sect's underhanded schemes during a trip outside.
Although he had barely managed to preserve his life and cultivation realm, he had lost all hope of advancing any further, permanently stuck at mid Qi Refining.
Therefore, at this moment,
Even Su Qing, who had no fondness for strife, could not conceal her delight upon hearing this news.
"Master, though, I have a question..."
Once her emotions had settled, Su Qing pondered and asked, slightly perplexed, "No matter how strong three second-rank demon beasts were, surely they wouldn't have kept all forty-plus members of Wuji Sect from escaping, right?"
At her side, Zhao Ping and Wei Chongshan gave it some thought and nodded in agreement.
Indeed.
A sect gate falling and no survivors remaining were two entirely different concepts.
After all, when demon beasts attacked a sect, it was to feast on the blood essence of cultivators who had entered the realm. Let alone those at the Awakening stage, even early and mid Qi Refining cultivators were not always their primary targets.
What was more, sect disciples were not simple bots in an online game; when faced with life or death, they would inevitably scatter and flee in different directions.
Just like Guihua Sect back then.
Had the home world not intervened across the boundary, Lin Yi would certainly have perished, and the chances of Zhao Ping or even Su Qing surviving would have been slim.
Yet among the remaining thirty-odd disciples, it shouldn't have been difficult for a fourth or a fifth of them to escape.
Chapter 60