Especially Mochen, recalling how he used to fight tooth and nail just for a Yellow-tier magical artifact, yet now these treasures were within arm's reach...
The stark contrast made it all feel so surreal.
Right at that moment, the *Forgetful Scripture* within his body suddenly began to circulate, clearing Mochen's mind and restoring his focus.
So all of this was real, not an illusion.
Taking a deep breath, Mochen looked back at Guliang Yuan, his eyes now filled with a deeper sense of respect. "Thank you, Master."
With that, he waved his hand and put the items away.
Seeing that Song Xian'er was still at a loss, Mochen helped her store her share into the magical storage pouch Guliang Yuan had given her.
Though Song Xian'er had accepted the storage ring handed to her by Mochen, her mind was still in a daze.
She simply imitated Mochen's gesture and bowed. "Thank you, Master; thank you, Junior Brother."
*"Ding! Host has bestowed an Earth-tier magical artifact..."*
Guliang Yuan's bestowal of these spiritual treasures triggered another series of rebates.
Unfortunately, most of the refunded items were merely Heaven-tier magical artifacts.
Just as Guliang Yuan was feeling a bit disappointed, the final system notification made his eyes light up.
*"Ding! Host has bestowed a flying boat, triggering an eight-thousand-fold rebate. Rebate reward: Twin Dragon Jade Chariot."*
*"Twin Dragon Jade Chariot: A top-grade flying spiritual treasure crafted entirely from spiritual jade, pulled by two white-dragon-shaped puppets at the front. As long as there is sufficient spiritual stone, it can travel eighty thousand miles in a single day. Inlaid with a defensive grand array, it is completely impervious to the attacks of ordinary Deity Transformation cultivators."*
Guliang Yuan stared at the system description, unable to conceal the excitement in his eyes.
From what Guliang Yuan knew, the speed of a Deity Transformation Stage cultivator could only barely rival the speed of sound, or perhaps exceed it by a very small margin.
Even when using his Lightning Flash technique, he could only sustain such speeds for a short period.
Upon reaching the Void Refining stage, one's speed would increase by another fold or two.
Yet beyond that, aside from those who possessed special techniques, increasing one's speed further was exceedingly difficult; all that really increased was the duration one could sustain flight.
And this Twin Dragon Jade Chariot, capable of traveling eighty thousand miles a day, moved at several times the speed of sound.
It was simply the ultimate weapon for assassination, arson, and fleeing for one's life!
Most importantly—it looked incredibly cool!
The two true dragon puppets were lifelike; as long as he didn't tell anyone, who would know they were fake?
He was temporarily in no shortage of magical artifacts, but Guliang Yuan's goals had not yet been fully met—he was still lacking in divine abilities!
At this thought, Guliang Yuan flipped his hand and took out several more spells, bestowing them upon the two disciples respectively:
"I have selected these spells specifically for you, suited to your aptitudes. They range from the Yellow-tier all the way to the Heaven-tier."
"It is not that Master is unwilling to bestow divine abilities upon you, but rather that your current strength is simply insufficient to execute them."
"Once you break through to the Core Formation stage, Master will grant each of you a minor divine ability."
Though the two had already mentally prepared themselves after Guliang Yuan's previous two rounds of bestowals, the moment they actually laid eyes on the array of spells suspended before them, they were once again struck with a mixture of shock and profound gratitude.
In this world, how could there possibly be such a selfless master!
Holding the thick volumes in their hands with both hands, the two knelt down together and bowed in unison:
"Thank you, Master!"
"You silly children, get up."
What Mochen was feeling was beyond Guliang Yuan's knowledge, but to Guliang Yuan's surprise, after this series of operations on his part, Song Xian'er's obsession value toward Zhang Yang actually dropped from 90 down to 85.
*"Ding! Congratulations to the host for bestowing a Heaven-tier spell, Law and Phenomenon, triggering a ten-thousand-fold rebate. Rebate reward: Manifestation of Holiness!"*
*"Ding! Congratulations to the host for bestowing a Heaven-tier spell, Azure Dragon Roar, triggering a seven-thousand-fold rebate. Rebate reward: The 'Heng' Mantra!"*
*"Ding! Congratulations to the host for bestowing an Earth-tier spell, Metal-Breaking Sword Technique, triggering a two-hundred-fold rebate. Rebate reward: Hsin-metal Sword Technique!"*
*"Ding! Congratulations to the host for bestowing..."*
The system prompts rang out in a continuous stream, yet none of the subsequent refunded items surpassed the first three in magnitude.
Even so, this greatly exceeded Guliang Yuan's expectations.
He had never imagined that a ten-thousand-fold rebate and a seven-thousand-fold rebate would actually be triggered, and both originated from Heaven-tier spells. They were bound to be extraordinary.
Thus, he clicked on the detailed descriptions of the rebate rewards one by one:
Name: Manifestation of Holiness
Rank: Supreme Divine Ability
Minimum Cultivation Requirement: Nascent Soul Stage
Function: By circulating spiritual power, one can cause their body to grow immensely vast. Theoretically, as long as one's spiritual power is sufficient, the body can expand infinitely.
Along with the growth in size, the user's physical strength will increase correspondingly!
Correspondingly, the consumption of spiritual power will also increase exponentially.
As Guliang Yuan read this description, his heart skipped a beat for a few seconds!
As expected of a supreme divine ability!
With this divine ability in hand, fighting opponents of a higher realm would be a mere walk in the park!
Just imagine a day when his strength was sufficient, with his head brushing the Azure Heaven and his feet stepping upon the netherworld—what an awe-inspiring sight that would be!
"System, can this Manifestation of Holiness be used partially?"
"Don't get me wrong, I was just thinking—in battle, if my fist suddenly grew in size, wouldn't that catch the opponent completely off guard?"
System: ......
After a moment of silence, a mechanical prompt rang out:
"Yes."
Guliang Yuan smiled.
Hehehe!
Very good, very good!
Next.
Name: The 'Heng' Mantra
Rank: Divine Ability
Cultivation Requirement: Refine a wisp of Profound Yellow Breath
Function: With a cold huff, the Profound Yellow Breath is expelled from the nasal passages, its sound like a booming bell that shakes the soul.
Those struck by the Profound Yellow Breath will suffer severe damage to their soul at best, or have their soul scattered into oblivion at worst!
Guliang Yuan frowned. The divine ability itself was excellent, but that requirement—needing a wisp of Profound Yellow Breath... that stuff wasn't exactly easy to find.
It seemed he would have to pay more attention to this in the future, along with glazed celestial crystals; both were matters of pressing urgency.
"Open the description for the Hsin-metal Sword Technique."
Name: Hsin-metal Sword Technique
Rank: Top-grade Heaven-tier Spell
Cultivation Requirement: Sufficient spiritual power is all that is required.
Function: The companion piece to the Geng-metal Sword Technique. Hsin-metal belongs to Yin, focusing on subtlety, concealment, and ruthlessness. Geng-metal belongs to Yang, focusing on uninhibited and expansive momentum.
When the two are combined into one, one can unleash the Geng-Hsin Sword, uniting Yin and Yang, fusing hardness with softness, rivaling even ordinary minor divine abilities in power!
Under the enhancement of sword intent, its might is even greater!
Guliang Yuan was thoroughly satisfied. He had previously felt that the Geng-metal Sword Technique was becoming a bit inadequate, but now he felt completely at ease.
Through these three disciples, he suddenly discovered that items bestowed right at the beginning of taking on a disciple seemed to have a much higher probability of triggering rebates.
He made up his mind that when he took on his next disciple, he must put this pattern to the test.
Looking down at his two touched disciples, Guliang Yuan was just about to offer some words of encouragement when, gifted with the Heaven-Blessed Dao Body, he acutely sensed a faint aura of thunder suddenly arising between heaven and earth.
Guliang Yuan instantly understood: Qianqiu could no longer suppress her cultivation, and her Foundation Establishment Tribulation was about to arrive.
Guliang Yuan spread out his divine sense and discovered that his spiritual awareness had expanded from eighty miles to a hundred and fifty miles—nearly doubling compared to when he was at the First Layer of Nascent Soul!
Scanning with this formidable divine sense, Guliang Yuan immediately spotted Qianqiu speeding away in the direction of the Tribulation Forest.
With a flick of his divine will, Guliang Yuan grabbed Mochen and Song Xian'er and shot straight toward Qianqiu.
"Your Senior Sister is about to undergo her Foundation Establishment Tribulation. I'm taking you along so you can all get acquainted."
***
Chapter 35: Qianqiu's Foundation Establishment, Sixth Layer of Nascent Soul
Amidst roaring winds and crackling lightning, the group arrived within the Tribulation Forest.
At this moment, scattered disciples sat cross-legged around the perimeter of the forest.
Scanning the area, Guliang Yuan saw that most of them were at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation, individuals on the verge of undergoing their First-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.
There were also a small number of Foundation Establishment perfection cultivators wishing to undergo the Second-Nine Tribulation.
These people were clearly on the brink of a breakthrough and had come to accumulate experience by observing others undergo tribulation.
As the crowd of disciples watched Qianqiu step into the lightning tribulation zone, they were first struck by awe at her breathtaking beauty, only to then notice a figure resembling an immortal descending out of thin air.
Though some among the disciples had never laid eyes on Guliang Yuan before, based on his peerless appearance unique to the Holy Land, they instantly recognized his identity and hurried forward to bow, calling out in unison: "Greetings, Uncle-Master Supreme."
Seeing the two disciples trailing behind Guliang Yuan, they hastily called out "Junior Uncle" as well.
This was the first time the pair had ever been addressed in such a manner, and moreover, those addressing them as Junior Uncle possessed cultivations superior to their own.
While this gave them a secret thrill, it also left them somewhat flustered.
Guliang Yuan flicked his sleeve, and a gentle wave of spiritual power lifted everyone to their feet.
"No need for formalities. Just watch the ceremony together."
"Understood, Uncle-Master Supreme."
Seeing that Guliang Yuan stood on no ceremony, the disciples relaxed and gathered along the outer edges of the Tribulation Forest to watch Qianqiu's Foundation Establishment Tribulation.
The commotion caused by the recent disciple-recruitment ceremony had been widespread; everyone knew that Qianqiu had joined Forgetful Peak just a month ago.
To think that in a mere month, Qianqiu had vaulted straight from an ordinary mortal to the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation.
Even for someone with a top-grade heavenly spiritual root, wasn't this progress a bit too terrifyingly fast?!
Under the gaze of the crowd, thunderclouds abruptly condensed in the sky!
Accompanied by howling gales, the clouds stretched across three or four miles, presenting a magnificent and imposing spectacle.
In the blink of an eye, flashes of lightning surged within the dark clouds, carrying terrifying bolts of thunder within them.
Directly beneath the thunderclouds, Qianqiu sensed the impending tribulation. She turned her head toward Guliang Yuan and broke into a radiant smile, showing not a shred of tension.
Rumble!
Heavenly lightning struck down ferociously!
Without dodging or evading, Qianqiu relied on her lightning spiritual root to directly absorb the bolt of lightning, channeling it back to nourish her own body.
Immediately after, the second, third, and fourth bolts...
Six consecutive bolts of heavenly lightning rained down, only to be absorbed by Qianqiu one by one.
By the seventh bolt of heavenly lightning, Qianqiu began to find it somewhat difficult to sustain. With a flip of her hand, she summoned a small azure pagoda, which hovered above her crown.
This very pagoda was the Earth-tier magical artifact, the Azure Gold Pagoda, bestowed upon her by Guliang Yuan.
Hovering above her head, it shed cascading wisps of azure Qi that completely sealed off her surroundings.
Crack! Snap!
The final three bolts of heavenly lightning slammed successively into the small pagoda, wrapping it in crackling arcs of electricity and showering it with sparks.
Yet Qianqiu, sheltered beneath the pagoda, remained completely unaffected.
With the Nine-Layer Heavenly Tribulation concluded, dense streams of spiritual energy instantly surged downward, pouring into Qianqiu's body.
Before long, Qianqiu's aura erupted outward!
Foundation Establishment—achieved!
Watching the scene of Qianqiu successfully transcending her tribulation, the surrounding disciples were dumbfounded!
You make it look so effortless—it's going to give me the false impression that I can do it too!
I came here to learn tribulation-transcendence experience, but with you pulling stunts like this, how am I supposed to learn?!
Am I supposed to learn by swallowing heavenly lightning?
Or by using Earth-tier magical artifacts?
My body can't handle the former, and my wallet can't handle the latter!
I hate this!
Why is the gap between people so massive?!
Amidst the envious, jealous, and resentful gazes of the disciples, Qianqiu stepped up to Guliang Yuan's side:
"Master, Qianqiu didn't let you down, did she?"
Guliang Yuan put on a stern face.
"You call that not letting me down? Have you forgotten how I taught you?"
"If a problem can be solved using magical treasures, you must never rely solely on your cultivation."
"You just had to go and show off. If you had summoned the Azure Gold Pagoda a bit earlier, wouldn't it have been a breeze?"
"You just *had* to absorb the heavenly lightning—your meridians must have suffered some damage, didn't they?"
"Do you have any idea how much that breaks your master's heart?"
Qianqiu protested weakly: "Master~ You're going to spoil me rotten if you keep this up."
Guliang Yuan waved a hand dismissively, declaring domineeringly:
"If I don't spoil my own disciple, who will?!"
"Right, these are your newly arrived junior brother and junior sister. Come introduce yourselves to one another."
After the three exchanged pleasantries and Guliang Yuan offered them a few words of encouragement, the group headed back up Forgetful Peak, leaving behind a crowd of disciples standing in the wind, completely bewildered.
When other people transcended tribulations, getting charred black was considered a light outcome, while heavy cases resulted in being blasted straight into flying ash.
When your disciple undergoes a tribulation, the worst that happens is some slight meridian damage, and you actually get *angry* about it?
If you hadn't been standing right there, those minor injuries would have healed completely before she even made it back to Forgetful Peak!
Was there any need for this?!
Spoiling a disciple like this is terrible!
Mostly because I've never experienced it myself.
Sob, sob~
Ever since Qianqiu's tribulation, the development of Forgetful Peak had finally gotten onto the right track.
Over the next few days, Guliang Yuan wandered around the Holy Land and took in a dozen or so inner sect disciples, leaving him only eight short of the quota of fifty inner sect disciples required by his mission.
With the increase in inner sect disciples, the previously desolate Forgetful Peak grew lively.
Mochen and Song Xian'er's cultivations were also progressing steadily.
The only annoyance was that Song Xian'er kept running off to the chore-duty quarters to find Zhang Yang, and Mochen constantly harbored thoughts of sneaking out to see Liu Shuang, which deeply displeased Guliang Yuan.
Additionally, Guliang Yuan had already given instructions to Song Rentou to carefully inquire about any news regarding glazed celestial crystals and Profound Yellow Breath, though unfortunately, there had been no movement over the past few days.
During this period, Guliang Yuan bestowed magical treasures upon his three disciples multiple times, though he failed to trigger even a single hundred-fold rebate.
On this day, Guliang Yuan, sitting cross-legged, exhaled a long breath of stale air and slowly opened his eyes.
He opened the system interface:
Host: Guliang Yuan
Spiritual Root: Void Spiritual Root
Comprehension: Supreme
Physique: Heaven-Blessed Dao Body
Cultivation: Sixth Layer of Nascent Soul
Identity: Lord of Forgetful Peak, Taishang Holy Land
Cultivation Technique: Taishang Forgetful Scripture
Divine Abilities & Spells: Geng-Hsin Sword Technique, Nine Dragons Leaving Fire Palm, Heavenly Lightning Escape, Manifestation of Holiness, The 'Heng' Mantra...
Items: Earth-Nine, Earth-Three, Earth-Twelve, Mustard Seed Bracelet, Twin Dragon Jade Chariot, Longevity Peach...
Disciples: Qianqiu, Song Xian'er, Mochen
Thanks to Qianqiu's cultivation breakthrough yesterday, Guliang Yuan's own cultivation had naturally advanced to the Sixth Layer of Nascent Soul, leaving him only a single step away from entering the late Nascent Soul stage!
One had to realize that at this point, only a month had passed since Guliang Yuan underwent his Nascent Soul Tribulation!
A month, for other Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, was nothing more than a short period of closed-door cultivation or the time it took to refine a single batch of pills.
Guliang Yuan could only sigh at his own training speed—he truly lived up to being a cheater.
Calming his thoughts, Guliang Yuan stood up and had just stepped out of the grand hall when he saw Elder Wang Defa hurrying toward him in a panic:
"Uncle-Master, disaster has struck!"
"That Liu Shuang has come to the Holy Land under the pretext of visiting Junior Brother Mochen."
"Junior Brother Mochen went eagerly to keep the appointment, only to wait in vain for Liu Shuang. He later discovered that her visit to him was a fake, and her true motive was to seize the opportunity to meet Long Chen, the senior-most disciple of Wuji Peak."
"Junior Brother Mochen caught wind of it somehow and found out that Liu Shuang and Long Chen were sticking together up on Wuji Peak. Consumed by jealousy, he insisted on having a man-to-man fight with Long Chen."
"When Long Chen refused, he went and blocked the gates of Wuji Peak, demanding that Long Chen come out."
"The law-enforcement disciples wanted to chase him off, but out of respect for you, they didn't dare to take direct action."
"Right now, the mountain gates of Wuji Peak are packed tight with people who went to watch the spectacle. Uncle-Master, please go and deal with this!"
Upon hearing this, Guliang Yuan cursed aloud:
"That damn simp really hasn't changed his nature one bit!"