The Five Elements Sect, one of the Five Great Immortal Sects, was situated on the Five Elements Spirit Vein in Yunzhou. The Five Elements Spirit Vein naturally attuned to the five elements and was the finest locale in all of Yunzhou.
Under the leadership of Sect Master Qiu Jin'an, the Five Elements Sect brimmed with talent and thrived with vitality. Internally, the sect was serious and earnest, cultivating diligently and striving for excellence; externally, it was warm, hospitable, and friendly to all.
Even when disciples from the Dao Seeking Sect came to study, the Five Elements Sect let bygones be bygones. Elders personally led the welcoming party, holding dharma treasures in hand—as if terrified the guests from the Dao Seeking Sect wouldn't suffer an "accident."
"We're so popular! Look at all these people coming out to greet us," Man Gu chuckled happily, gazing at the crowd before the mountain gate of the Five Elements Sect.
The corner of Lu Yang's eye twitched uncontrollably. He had learned from the Immortal Fairy that the cultivators holding dharma treasures were all at the Body Integration stage, which meant they were undeniably elders of the Five Elements Sect.
Did they really need to brandish dharma treasures just to welcome them?
The flying boat docked, and Meng Jingzhou led the team off the vessel. Qiu Jin'an stepped forward warmly to receive them. Behind him followed five elders with fierce, tiger-like eyes, looking ferocious and menacing. One elder held a banner in his left hand and a weapon in his right, leaving everyone wondering what he intended to do.
"Welcome to our Five Elements Sect for your exchange visit! Is there no elder leading the group?"
Qiu Jin'an counted: there were only five people, and not a single one of the Nine Sons of the Dao Seeking Sect was present.
Unwilling to give up, he swept the surroundings with his divine sense to see if anyone was following with a concealed aura.
"No. The elders are all busy, so they didn't come," Meng Jingzhou answered honestly.
Qiu Jin'an shook his head in regret. What a pity. Why hadn't anyone walked into their trap?
Behind him, the five elders activated their dharma treasures. The tips of the treasures glowed brightly, giving Meng Jingzhou quite a fright. Fortunately, they didn't aim the treasures at anyone, pointing them upward toward the sky instead.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Five blasts exploded in midair, as gorgeous as fireworks blooming against the night sky during the New Year.
Along with the detonations, the banner unfurled: *Warmly Welcome Disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect to Our Sect to Study.*
The Five Elements Sect was meticulous in its dealings and had prepared for both possibilities. If the Nine Sons of the Dao Seeking Sect had come, they would have greeted them with dharma treasures, then stomped them underfoot while unfurling the banner and launching the fireworks. If Yun Zhi had come, they would have switched straight to fireworks and the banner.
Even though Yun Zhi hadn't come and only a few juniors had arrived, unfurling the banner to welcome them would do just fine.
"Disperse, disperse! Old Scoundrel Buyu and his lot aren't here."
"I heard Old Scoundrel Buyu was spotted in Huangzhou. Should we go take a look?"
"Forget it. It's probably false news again. When have we ever caught him after getting wind of his whereabouts?"
"That bastard is as slippery as an eel and runs faster than a rabbit!"
"Man and Sword as One, followed by One Sword Into Ten Thousand Swords—using those two moves back to back, who could ever find his true body? By the time anyone finds it, he's already long gone."
"Say what you want, but if I ran into him, I'd find him."
"How would you find him?"
"See these eyes of mine? I jumped into a furnace and smoked them for seven times seven—forty-nine days—before I finally perfected them! These eyes of mine rival the Demon-Revealing Mirror of the White Horse Temple!"
"It's that effective? Is it easy to train? Maybe I should burn myself a bit too."
Having unfurled the banner and launched their fireworks, the elders chatted among themselves and dispersed.
Seeing that their real targets hadn't arrived, Qiu Jin'an coughed twice and shot a glance at Bai Ming, gesturing for him to attend to the five guests.
The sect master and elders had departed, but the disciples of the Five Elements Sect had not.
"Which one is Lu Yang? Point him out to me."
"That one right there—the clean, neat-looking one."
"You really can't judge a book by its cover. I heard that back when he was at the Foundation Establishment stage, he fought across cultivation realms and defeated Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Soul Formation cultivators. Now that he's in the Golden Core stage, can he defeat Void Refining cultivators?"
"Why would he need to fight Void Refining? Pick a Void Refining cultivator in a weakened state, and even I could fight him."
"Fair point."
"Which one is the creator of the Phantom Bubble?"
"Are you blind? There's only one female cultivator there, and you still have to ask?"
"She's so talented! Why can't I ever come up with such a lucrative idea?"
"What good ideas could you possibly have? After eating skewers from the Dao Seeking Sect, you thought of opening a shop outside, only to realize barbecue shops face too much competition these days?"
"Is that exceptionally muscular one from the Ancient Barbarian race? I thought the Ancient Barbarians were extinct."
"Supposedly, it's an ancestral atavism unseen in ten thousand years, tracing back to the bloodline's origins."
The disciples of the Five Elements Sect rarely interacted with disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect, so they were immensely curious about Lu Yang's group.
After Qiu Jin'an left, Meng Jingzhou spotted Bai Ming and asked in confusion, "You didn't go on an exchange?"
Bai Ming curled his lip. "Nowhere for me to go. Shi Chan went to your Dao Seeking Sect; Yan Tianzhi went to the Hanging Temple; the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace doesn't allow male disciples, so two of my junior sisters went there; and I visit the Prison Suppressing Sect all the time, so there was no point in going there. That left me with no choice but to stay at the sect."
As Bai Ming led the way, he introduced the circumstances of the Five Elements Sect to Lu Yang and the others.
"You probably saw it from the flying boat: our Five Elements Sect is built upon the Five Elements Spirit Vein. Based on their different specializations, the sect is divided into five branches according to the five elements. The ones who came to greet you alongside Master earlier were the Grand Elders of the five branches. When they were young, they had a bit of personal bad blood with your Dao Seeking Sect's elders and wanted to catch up on old times. A pity none of your elders showed up."
"What kind of bad blood?"
Bai Ming had heard his master mention several past grudges between the Five Elements Sect and the Dao Seeking Sect. "There's too much to tell. For instance, frequent brawls. When your Dao Seeking Sect elders had the numbers advantage, they used human wave tactics to beat our elders up. When they were outnumbered, they reported it to the local magistrate.
"Sometimes they even used honeypot schemes. Your sect's Fourth Elder wrote a letter to our elder in the tone of a female cultivator, saying she had admired our elder for a long time and wanted to meet up. The letter even said 'she' was shy, didn't want to meet around a crowd, and wanted to meet our elder alone. Our elder went, only for nine people to leap out from behind a huge rock! Can you imagine that scene?"
Lu Yang found the ploy terribly familiar. Had the Fourth Elder suffered a setback once, grown wiser, and adopted the tactic for himself?
Fearing that Five Elements Sect elders might be eavesdropping and that Bai Ming's words might reignite old grudges that would burn back onto them, Li Haoran quickly changed the subject. "Which branch do you belong to?"
"Me? I'm proficient in Five Elements spells, so I don't belong to any of the five branches. I belong to the Sect Master's branch.
"Only those skilled in all Five Elements spells like me can become disciples under the Sect Master." At this point, Bai Ming showed a hint of pride, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile. Being proficient in spells of all five elements made his talent one in a hundred even within the Five Elements Sect—a truly rare feat.
"Does that mean I qualify too?" Lu Yang pointed to himself.
His spell talent was second to none. For Metal spells, he knew the Six-Zhang Golden Body; for Wood spells, he knew the Tree Planting Art; he hadn't learned Water spells yet; for Fire spells, he knew the Three Flavors True Fire; and for Earth spells, he knew Shrinking the Earth.
Bai Ming turned his head to look at Lu Yang, a touch of surprise in his eyes. "Your spell talent really is something. You'd actually be quite suited to join Master's lineage. Why didn't you come to our Five Elements Sect back then?"
Lu Yang scratched his head awkwardly. "The Dao Seeking Sect was closer to home, so I just thought I'd give it a shot first. Who knew I'd pass right away?"
Bai Ming: "..."
What a delightfully plain reason.
Chapter 527