Chapter 185: Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques
The third day after receiving his prediction, Su Chen took Gu Qingluo back to the Boundless Sect.
He had just arrived when he saw that streaks of light were shooting into the sky from the Ten Ten Thousand Swords Mountain.
These streaks of light weren’t flames but rather streaks of sword Qi, dancing through the air and surging towards the clouds.
The tens of thousands of disciples that were part of the Boundless Sect were welcoming the return of their esteemed Sect Master, the Worldly Sage, the one responsible for creating a new path forward for the entire human race.
Gu Qingluo was stunned when she saw this. “The Boundless Sect actually has this many disciples now?”
“Yes, I’m quite surprised as well,” Su Chen sighed. “This is all because of Li Chongshan and the others! I’m reaping where I have not sowed as the Sect Master.”
Gu Qingluo shot him a glance. “Of course. You need to roam the four seas and destroy the other races, as well as save some beauties. How could you have time for these things?”
Su Chen laughed loudly and didn’t take the bait.
Li Chongshan and the others were already walking towards Su Chen and bowed to him. “Greetings, Sect Master!”
Su Chen hurriedly said, “There’s no need to be so polite. We’re all on the same side here.”
Li Chongshan said calmly, “It’s precisely because we are on the same side that we must uphold etiquette. The Boundless Sect is not the same as it was before. We are carrying out a great undertaking. Without the appropriate order, how will we spread our influence?”
In this time period, etiquette and courtesy were extremely important, in some cases more so than the law. After all, the law was enforced, and whether or not it was obeyed depended on the strength of the enforcer. Courtesy, on the other hand, came from a person’s own heart.
What stopped the great powers from not acting recklessly and endangering the ma.s.ses wasn’t the law but common etiquette.
For this reason, etiquette was of utmost importance. When Su Chen heard Li Chongshan say this, he could not refute Li Chongshan’s words and could only accept their greeting.
After this greeting, the group began to head towards the interior of the mountain.
Su Chen asked, “How many people are there in the Boundless Sect now?”
Li Chongshan said, “Sect Master, there are a total of 32,240 disciples right now.”
“This many?” Su Chen was taken aback.
Back then, the Boundless Sect didn’t have more than ten thousand members, even with the old Heavenly Might Battalion filling in those numbers. But in a few years, the number had managed to jump to thirty thousand, three times as much as before.
This place was not a high-traffic location. The Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was relatively desolate, with merely a population of five thousand individuals before the Boundless Sect established their home here.
Chu Yingwan smiled. “This is all because of Sect Master. With Sect Master’s influence, as well as the Boundless Sect’s bloodlineless Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique, it’s only natural that so many people want to join. These twenty thousand people were carefully selected by us as well.”
Su Chen had agreed to not distribute the bloodlineless Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique publicly, but had left a loophole for himself: he had placed no stipulation on how many people the Boundless Sect would accept.
During the earlier years, this wouldn’t have been as big of an issue. But as the bloodlineless cultivation techniques became more and more ubiquitous, and more and more people advanced along this cultivation system, the fact that only the Boundless Sect possessed a method for reaching the Light Shaking Realm meant that only one outcome was possible.
These twenty thousand people had been carefully screened as well. Every day, countless Origin Qi Scholars were traveling here from foreign territories, wanting to join the Boundless Sect.
However, the Boundless Sect’s selection criteria were quite harsh. They didn’t test apt.i.tude, but etiquette and intelligence.
Sects were not like clans. There was no such thing as blood relations, so this instruction was the only thing keeping the sect together. This was why having a proper ethical code was so highly emphasized.
Every individual who wanted to enroll with the Boundless Sect would need to take three years of etiquette cla.s.s at the Etiquette Hall. This was basically like brainwas.h.i.+ng them into respecting their instructors. After these three years, they would be formally admitted.
Many people would give up when faced with this condition, but even more continued to push on recklessly.
The enticement of the bloodlineless cultivation technique was simply too great.
For instance, during the earliest days of the Heavenly Might Battalion, there were only twenty or so people whose cultivation base were at the Light Shaking Realm. However, following the spread of Su Chen’s cultivation techniques, this number was now around five hundred.
Most shockingly, there were plenty of individuals at the Yang Opening Realm just waiting to break into the Light Shaking Realm. Not many cultivators existed below that.
And as time went on, this number would only increase. Even the slowest cultivator amongst them would probably reach the Light Shaking Realm in five years.
In other words, it was possible that the Heavenly Might Battalion would be entirely at the Light Shaking Realm five years from now.
This was quite the shocking accomplishment.
Even so, this was the result of these cultivation realms becoming much more common. A similar situation was developing across the entire human race as a whole, and Blood Boiling Realm and Yang Opening Realm cultivators could be found everywhere.
It was only because Su Chen had kept his promise to Long Sang Country that there weren’t more Light Shaking Realm cultivators wandering about.
Even so, the number of Light Shaking Realm cultivators was still increasing.
The reason for this was very simple. Before a bloodlineless cultivation technique for reaching the Blood Boiling Realm had been developed, any cultivator would have needed a bloodline to successfully break through. Because mixed bloodlines were impure, the Light Shaking Realm became the absolute peak achievable for those with such bloodlines.
Now, with these low-level cultivation techniques, many people would choose to break into the Yang Opening Realm first before accepting the power of a bloodline.
With this elevated foundation, the same amount of bloodline power would allow a cultivator to reach new heights.
At this point, it was theoretically possible for those with mixed bloodlines to reach the Thought Manifestation Realm already.
Of course, this was merely theoretical; not enough time had elapsed yet for anyone to actually achieve such a feat.
If one were to reach the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline, then the peak achievable cultivation realm would become the Ultimate Emperor Realm. It would no longer be a pipe dream for those without a bloodline to reach the absolute pinnacle of the human system of cultivation, and those cultivation realms would no longer be accessible only by those from Bloodline n.o.bility Clans.
This was also why so many people were trying to think of ways to join the Boundless Sect.
The attraction was far too great. By reaching the Light Shaking Realm without a bloodline, then accepting a bloodline infusion, it would suddenly be possible to reach the Ultimate Emperor Realm.
This was the highest-known cultivation realm currently achievable by a human.
Their Sect Master had even managed to develop a technique for breaking into the Spirit Burning Realm, meaning that it would be even more likely for them to reach the Ultimate Emperor Realm.
And this could only occur by joining the Boundless Sect.
Three years of brainwas.h.i.+ng was nothing. If it weren’t for the fact that they only had one life, they probably would have been willing to dig out their own heart and guts for a chance to enter.
This was also a reason why the Bloodline n.o.bility Clans hated him so intensely.
The Boundless Sect had found itself in quite a bit of trouble during these few years that Su Chen wasn’t present. But since the Boundless Sect was self-sufficient, and the strength of its cultivators was not insignificant, it was impossible for most people to do anything to the sect.
Most importantly, the failure of the Zhu Clan had clearly demonstrated one thing: it was completely pointless to try and stop the spread of information.
Only by killing the inventor would they be able to stop the problem from spreading.
However, Su Chen wasn’t even in the country, so there was nothing the Bloodline n.o.bility Clans could do to him.
Finally, the Boundless Sect’s strength was constantly increasing. Not many Bloodline n.o.bility Clans had the power to wipe them out at this point.
The five hundred Light Shaking Realm cultivators alone were quite problematic.
They had trained together as part of the Heavenly Might Battalion, so their teamwork was impeccable. Now that their individual strength had increased, it was likely that they were strong enough to even take on most normal Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators.
During these past few years, no particularly great disasters had befallen them despite the fact that many people had been looking to cause them trouble.
This was also due in no small part to the efforts of Li Chongshan, s.h.i.+ Kaihuang, and the others.
“But despite the fact that we did our best to try and screen the applicants, it’s hard to ensure that all of them are totally loyal. It’s entirely possible that some undercover agents for the n.o.bility clans have managed to sneak in.”
Guo Wenchang, who was responsible for security, said with some worry, “We already caught a traitor who was trying to bring back the bloodlineless cultivation technique back to his clan. I looked upon him quite favorably, and he was one of the first disciples I accepted. I never would have suspected him to sell out the clan. Thankfully, we discovered it in time……”
Su Chen nodded. “Our scale of operation is beginning to get too large, so it’s not surprising that these kinds of things are beginning to happen. But that’s not really a big issue. If it weren’t for my agreement with Long Sang Country in the past, this bloodlineless Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique would have been publicly distributed a long time ago. I only left it here out of consideration for the Boundless Sect. If one day the technique is leaked, it’s not such a big deal.”
Lin Shaoxuan said, “But for the sake of the Boundless Sect’s longevity, I would prefer that the Light Shaking Realm cultivation technique spreads later rather than sooner.”
Su Chen chuckled, “So our goal should not be to monopolize the cultivation technique but to take advantage of the opportunity to grow stronger. Old Guo, your responsibility is very important. Do your best to prevent this technique from escaping, but if it does one day, don’t worry. At that point in time, we will have eaten our fill, and it will be time for the entire human race to benefit. Just…… allow the situation to progress naturally.”
When Guo Wenchang heard this, he let out a long sigh.
Those Bloodline n.o.bility Clans were simply too good at sneaking in, and the problem had been giving him quite a headache.
Su Chen’s words helped to put him at ease.
“However, while the bloodlineless cultivation techniques are important for the future of the human race, the other secret combat techniques should still be hidden. I think that the disciples themselves should do their part as well. What if we split them up into Inner Court, Outer Court, and Inheritor Disciples in the future? The cultivation techniques can be learned by anyone as long as their cultivation base is sufficient, but the secret techniques like Aspects can only be learned at the Inner Court. Of course, the extremely powerful techniques can only be learned by Inheritor Disciples,” Su Chen proposed.
Those gathered all felt like this was quite a good idea.
These divisions would create some tension between the disciples, further increasing their strength. At the same time, this would prevent those intent on causing trouble from being able to do so, increasing the sect’s overall security.
Su Chen had a heart for the human race as a whole, but he still had some preference for those close to him. He was not a completely selfless saint. Actually, those selfless saints wouldn’t have been able to accomplish much either, because no one would be willing to follow them.
At that moment, Gu Qingluo suddenly said, “That sounds like a good idea, but I can think of one problem.”
“What?” Su Chen asked.
Gu Qingluo said, “Don’t you think that the name ‘bloodlineless cultivation technique’ doesn’t sound very pretty?”
The people present all glanced at each other.
Somehow, this had managed to slip through the cracks.
Gu Qingluo’s reminder made sense to everyone present.
Calling them bloodlineless cultivation techniques was truly a bit in poor taste.
s.h.i.+ Kaihuang stroked his beard. “Sect Master’s Wife makes a good point. These techniques will form the backbone of our sect, so we should indeed come up with a more pleasant-sounding name. We can’t be so sloppy in the future. Sect Master, you should come up with a name.”
“Come up with a name?” Su Chen squinted.
He stood at the peak of the mountain, staring off into the distance.
After a moment, he said slowly, “The Boundless Sect is stationed here at the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain. A person standing at the top of the mountain forms the character for ‘immortal’. Immortals are transcendent, legendary creatures that only exist in the imaginations of men. However, these bloodlineless techniques are intended for the constant progress of the human race, so that eventually we will all stand at the very top of a mountain. If I can someday research a technique for reaching the Ultimate Emperor Realm without a bloodline, or even discover even higher cultivation realms, we may be able to enter that ever intangible realm occupied by the immortals.”
“So I believe that we should call these bloodlineless cultivation techniques…… the Flying Immortal cultivation techniques.”
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