"This is the Scripture Pavilion. It houses virtually every book on the market. Disciples may read freely on the first floor, but accessing the second floor and above requires redeeming points earned by completing missions."
The Five Elements Sect also had a Mission Hall. Unlike the Dao Seeking Sect, where disciples could freely study any cultivation method suited to their realm as long as their cultivation level was high enough, disciples of the Five Elements Sect had to complete missions to learn the techniques they desired.
This was a system established at the sect's very founding, based on the rationale that "the Dao cannot be imparted lightly." What came too easily was rarely valued; only fruits won through hard work would be truly treasured.
"However, as disciples who have come to study at our Five Elements Sect, naturally we cannot demand that you earn contribution points to redeem them. By custom, each of you may choose one cultivation technique. If you want more, you'll have to complete missions."
"This is the Lecture Hall. Later, a Dharma Transmission Elder will lecture on the General Principles of the Five Elements for you. It's an introductory course mandatory for every disciple joining our Five Elements Sect. Of course, we won't force you to agree with our sect's theories; just listen, and if there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask the elder anytime."
"This is the Martial Teaching Hall, where disciples of our Five Elements Sect usually spar and test their techniques."
On dozens of large arenas reinforced with formations, disciples in Five Elements Sect Daoist robes cast Five Elements spells in fierce duels. The stages trembled faintly from the force, drawing cheers from the watching disciples below.
Even from a distance, Lu Yang could feel the shockwaves from the battles, which ruffled the tips of his hair.
On one arena, the fighting was intense, rubble littering the ground. A Five Elements Sect senior brother pointed at the scattered stones and barked, "Turning Stone into Gold!"
The stones transformed into glittering, yellow gold.
Then, sweeping his divine sense over all the gold, that senior brother cast another spell: "Squandering a Thousand Gold!"
The glittering gold dissolved into visible waves of power, warping the very air around it. Driven by the spell, countless blasts of golden force bombarded his opponent!
"Is that the legendary spell that turns wealth into an offensive attack?" Tao Yaoye was astonished. She had assumed the technique was lost to history, never expecting to see a senior brother wield it here in the Five Elements Sect.
Bai Ming explained, "Squandering a Thousand Gold is a closely guarded secret art of our Metal Vein, possessing immense power. Senior Brother Zhang even innovated upon it, linking the Turning Stone into Gold spell with Squandering a Thousand Gold to form a combo.
"However, it does have a flaw. Gold is a mundane material after all, not particularly valuable. Senior Brother Zhang can only compensate for quality with sheer quantity to achieve that level of offensive power."
"Great idea," Lu Yang praised. To see such ingenious thinking right after arriving at the Five Elements Sect meant this visit was bound to teach them a great deal.
"Old Meng, do you want to learn this spell?" Lu Yang felt Meng Jingzhou was tailor-made for Squandering a Thousand Gold. If gold, silver, jewels, and spirit stones could all be converted into attacks, how devastating would it be in Meng Jingzhou's hands?
Meng Jingzhou frowned and shook his head. "Our Meng Family knows Squandering a Thousand Gold too. But our ancestral teachings forbid learning it. It's a forbidden art."
"Why?" Lu Yang asked in bewilderment.
"Can you imagine a father and son getting into a furious argument, and the son using Squandering a Thousand Gold to blow through all of his father's spirit stones?
"That guy lit up the sky brighter than New Year fireworks. The Imperial City was illuminated like daytime in the middle of the night, and the racket was deafening. Nobody got a wink of sleep, and an angry mob surrounded our Meng Family compound in the dead of night."
Usually, the Meng Family offended people one household at a time, but that night they offended the entire Imperial City in one go. Even the Meng Family couldn't withstand that many people.
Lu Yang: "..."
When I go to the Imperial City in the future, I am definitely not telling anyone I know you, lest I get beaten half to death without even knowing who did it.
Meng Jingzhou continued, "Besides, our Meng Family has far more brilliant techniques. There's no need to learn this one."
"A more brilliant technique? What is it?" Lu Yang grew even more curious.
The Meng Family's standing in the Imperial City was much like Daoist Buyu's standing among all the Body Integration cultivators of the world—they had made so many enemies that even plucking every hair from one's head wouldn't suffice to count them all. Even so, they had stood tall for a hundred thousand years and still held the title of the Number One Aristocratic Clan, proving there was truth to the saying that scourges live for ten thousand years.
"I don't understand the exact magical principles behind it, but I can tell you how to use it," Meng Jingzhou said.
"Basically, during battle, you toss a massive pile of spirit stones at the opponent. That transfers ownership of the stones from the Meng Family to them. Then, you demand that they return the stones immediately. If they don't, the power of heavenly punishment descends—thundering down with apocalyptic fury to strike them dead!"
Lu Yang's expression turned strange. Why did this move sound so familiar?
"Oh, right, the power of heavenly punishment is called Debt-Paying Life-Claiming Thunder."
Lu Yang thought the name of this heavenly punishment sounded quite familiar as well.
He looked at Meng Jingzhou, then glanced at Li Haoran, who was happily watching the spars, utterly oblivious. Don't tell me Qin Haoran borrowed money from your Meng Family back in the day?
In the end, Lu Yang chose not to bring it up, so as not to damage the bond between fellow disciples. Such was the responsibility of an Eldest Senior Brother.
Judging by how Li Haoran had only inherited half of Qin Haoran's memories, either Li Haoran hadn't yet recalled whom Qin Haoran had borrowed money from, or the Meng Family had used a fake identity to run their loan-sharking racket back then.
Ah well, so much time had passed, and Qin Haoran was already dead. The one who owed money now was Vice Cult Master Shi. Better to let bygones be bygones.
Bai Ming looked at Meng Jingzhou with a bizarre expression. "No wonder your Meng Family has made so many enemies. This fighting style alone is wickedly unscrupulous."
Meng Jingzhou retorted plausibly, striving to defend his family's honor: "What nonsense! This is called making reasonable use of the power of heavenly punishment. What's wrong with applying the laws of nature? Hasn't every step of human progress come from understanding and applying natural laws?"
Bai Ming then led the five of them to a scorching area. Flames flickered up from the ground from time to time, and the heat was terrifying. The earth beneath their feet had turned crimson, and they could feel the searing heat even through the soles of their boots. Had they not already reached the Golden Core stage, they likely would have been dehydrated by now.
"This is the cultivation ground of the Fire Vein. Beneath it are nurtured several kinds of True Fire. Practicing fire-attribute techniques or cultivating with a Fire Spiritual Root yields twice the results with half the effort here. Disciples can also comprehend the concept of True Fire through the wisps of flame and cultivate True Fire of their own.
"Fellow Daoist Li should feel something here."
Li Haoran indeed felt it most intensely. After standing there for only a brief moment, the spiritual energy within his body showed signs of boiling, and his cultivation technique began cycling automatically, drawing him into cultivation.
Possessing a Fire Spiritual Root, he was best suited for this environment.
"May I cultivate here?" Li Haoran felt this place was practically tailor-made for him.
Bai Ming wore a conflicted expression and hesitated. "Your master is Elder Zhou Xin, right?"
"Yes."
"Does he possess a great many True Fires?"
"Yes. My master's artifact-refining room has all sorts of True Fire sealed away, ready to be retrieved whenever he wants to forge artifacts."
Lu Yang had also witnessed the Fifth Elder forging before; when refining the Dark Moon Sword, he had used several kinds of True Fire.
"Several of the True Fires Elder Zhou Xin possesses were obtained from our Fire Vein Elder... through rather dishonorable methods. While our Fire Vein Elder wouldn't stoop to taking his anger out on juniors, the same can't be said for his disciples.
"I'd advise you not to cultivate here alone. It isn't safe."
Li Haoran: "..."
Chapter 528