Hearing this, Xu Ziqing understood somewhat what they meant.
He smiled. “I only established my foundation recently and have merely begun thinking about the future. My ideas are hardly worth mentioning. But I imagine the two of you already have plans?”
Diao Zimo and Luo Hou exchanged a glance. Diao Zimo spoke first. “I wouldn’t call them plans. There are many sects in the great world, and there are several I’ve long admired.”
Xu Ziqing became interested. “Which sects?”
Diao Zimo said, “My master once told me that for a cultivator like me who practices thunder arts, if I want to gain a foothold in the great world, then either I join the Myriad Thunder Sect or enter a large sect capable of accommodating many different schools of techniques. Only then will I have some future.”
Xu Ziqing understood that he had more to say and tilted his head slightly to show he was listening.
Diao Zimo continued, “Cultivators who practice thunder arts are rare, so the Myriad Thunder Sect is only a small sect. Its resources cannot compare with those enormous powers, so it isn’t an ideal choice. As for large sects that accept many different paths, there are roughly the Jinghua Sect, Haotian Sect, Emotion-Severing Sect, Danxia Sect, and others. Of these, both the Haotian Sect and Emotion-Severing Sect have thunder-art lineages, so they should be worth trying.”
Luo Hou nodded as well. “I’ve heard that members of the Emotion-Severing Sect must cut away the seven emotions and six desires. They cultivate methods of forgetting emotion and severing desire. I don’t like that.”
The implication of their words was obvious. Both of them felt the Haotian Sect was a very good option.
Xu Ziqing heard this and sent a thread of spiritual sense into the storage ring.
He asked, “Brother Yun, have you heard of the Myriad Thunder Sect and those other four sects?”
Yun Lie answered, “The Myriad Thunder Sect has existed for several million years. In its earliest days it was once a great power of the immortal path, but it gradually declined until it now holds only seventh-rank status and has become a small sect. The Haotian Sect and Emotion-Severing Sect are fifth-rank. The Jinghua Sect and Danxia Sect are both sixth-rank. All four are middle-sized sects.”
Xu Ziqing could not help being astonished.
Diao Zimo was an elite disciple of the Thunderfire Sect. Information passed down by his master was surely among the sect’s most precious knowledge. Yet even so, this first-rate sect of the small world knew mainly about middle-sized and small sects of the great world. The difference between small and great worlds truly seemed as vast as heaven and earth.
In truth, anyone from a small world capable of entering a great world was already among the finest talents of their entire world. In the great world, such people were also highly sought after by many small and middle-sized sects. After all, most naturally gifted disciples born in the great world had heard of the great sects and rushed to join them. Only the occasional overlooked talent reached a middle-sized sect, and only after still more were missed did a small sect have a chance. Such opportunities were extremely rare.
For the great sects, however, geniuses were countless. Talents from small worlds were good, and great sects were willing to recruit them, but they did not need to struggle desperately for every one. They certainly did not hunger for talent the way middle-sized and small sects did.
Among the great sects near each Dragon Ascension Gate, most of those who frequently sent Golden Core Perfected Ones into small worlds as gatekeepers were middle-sized sects. Great sects rarely did so and generally did not compete too fiercely with those below them in this regard. Thus, it was uncommon for a gatekeeper position to fall to a great sect at all. And among the people brought up from small worlds, those truly worth a great sect gatekeeper personally recruiting were usually only cultivators with single spiritual roots.
In this Dragon Ascension Gate Gathering, Tang Wenfei himself was a rare gatekeeper from a great sect. His manner was never aggressively overbearing, but he naturally carried the presence of someone looking down from a higher place. Throughout the gathering, he had taken the initiative to speak directly to Xu Ziqing and Su Xin only once or twice.
Therefore, aside from cultivators with single spiritual roots, most people from small worlds ultimately entered middle-sized sects, while a smaller number joined small sects. It was entirely reasonable that the sects Diao Zimo’s master knew best were all middle-sized and small powers.
Only because Xu Ziqing had encountered Yun Lie by fortunate chance did he possess this broader knowledge. Had he truly been traveling alone, setting aside whether he would even have survived until now, he could only have learned scraps about the great world from Su Xin. He could never have been as clear-minded as he was now.
Diao Zimo and Luo Hou were still waiting for his answer. Xu Ziqing thought briefly, then asked, “Why haven’t the two of you considered the sect Senior Tang belongs to?”
Logically, Tang Wenfei’s various methods should have been more than impressive enough to attract them.
Diao Zimo paused and then laughed. “I won’t hide it from Fellow Daoist Xu. The reason I chose the Haotian Sect is that several seniors from my Thunderfire Sect entered that sect many years ago. If I go there, I’ll have senior fellow sect members who can look after me, which will make things somewhat easier.” He glanced at Luo Hou and continued, “I invited Brother Luo because I found him straightforward and open, with excellent aptitude, and thought he was worth befriending. I invited Fellow Daoist Xu today for the same reason.”
“I wonder what Fellow Daoist Xu thinks?”
Diao Zimo’s intention was actually very easy to understand.
Now that they had established their foundations, once they entered the great world, naturally they would need allies. In choosing such people, one looked first at character, second at aptitude, and third at connections.
Luo Hou’s character and aptitude were both excellent. His sect had not sent anyone into the great world for many years, so he carried relatively few existing entanglements. If Diao Zimo built a good relationship with him, Luo Hou himself could become part of his network.
Xu Ziqing also had no fault in the first two respects. As for connections, those came from the people behind him.
Diao Zimo had already noticed that the Rogue Cultivator Alliance had four people remaining, each extraordinary and upright in character. Xu Ziqing belonged only to the Outer Alliance, but he was close with Su Xin. Zhuo Hanyan had also established her foundation, while Ran Xingjian was already very close to Foundation Establishment and should have little difficulty succeeding during the remaining months. These four knew one another well. Once they reached the great world, most likely they would enter the same sect. Since the cultivation methods they practiced were all different, only a broad sect like the Haotian Sect could accommodate them all.
If that happened, six of them could advance and retreat together. With two single spiritual roots and four dual spiritual roots among them, why would the Haotian Sect refuse them?
Unfortunately, although Diao Zimo thought the plan excellent and believed it benefited both sides, Xu Ziqing considered it briefly and then shook his head. “Since Fellow Daoist Diao has been so straightforward, I won’t deceive you either. Once, I was merely a rogue cultivator with the lowest aptitude. By accident, I became acquainted with a friend from the great world. He left behind a wish that I enter the Wuling Immortal Sect where he once belonged. So although I appreciate Fellow Daoist Diao’s invitation, I can only…” Xu Ziqing paused. “I hope you’ll forgive me.”
Neither Diao Zimo nor Luo Hou had expected that. Both were momentarily stunned. Then Diao Zimo suddenly blurted, “Fellow Daoist Xu said the Wuling… Immortal Sect?”
Xu Ziqing nodded. “The Wuling Immortal Sect.” He was somewhat puzzled by the reaction. “Why?”
Diao Zimo’s expression became complicated. “My master once said that in the great world, any sect with the word ‘Immortal’ in its name is an overwhelmingly powerful sect that has produced true immortals. Fellow Daoist Xu was actually acquainted with someone from such a sect. Your fortune truly runs deep.”
Although there was some envy in his voice, Diao Zimo had enough manners not to mention that Xu Ziqing’s friend had supposedly died.
Xu Ziqing was also surprised. He had never heard such a rule before.
He immediately transmitted a question to Yun Lie. “Brother Yun, is that really true?”
Yun Lie said, “It is true, but incomplete.”
Xu Ziqing became even more astonished.
Immortals.
True immortals were legendary existences who obtained the laws of heaven, earth, creation, and nature, comprehended boundless mysteries, shed the mortal body, achieved an immortal body, ascended amid radiant clouds, and possessed limitless divine powers.
In the small world, even Golden Core Perfected Ones already stood at the summit. Yet in the great world, traces of true immortals could actually be found. What kind of enormous and terrifying existence must a sect be if it could produce disciples who ascended as immortals?
While Xu Ziqing was still dazed, Yun Lie continued, “For cultivators, ten thousand years constitute one generation. Only a sect that produces an immortal in every generation may place the word ‘Immortal’ in its name. If three consecutive generations pass without anyone ascending, the word ‘Immortal’ must be removed. If another three generations then pass without an ascendant, the sect drops by one rank.”
Thus, the struggle over Dao lineages and resources in the great world was thousands upon thousands of times more intense than in the small world.
Xu Ziqing understood what Yun Lie left unsaid. He had been overly shocked just now, but after thinking it through, fear disappeared. Since he had chosen immortal cultivation, naturally his wish was to become an immortal. If no one could ever become immortal, why would there even be such a thing as cultivating immortality? His composure was still insufficient. He needed to work harder.
After calming himself, Xu Ziqing could ask naturally, “Brother Yun, for the Wuling Immortal Sect to carry this name, it must produce immortals generation after generation. But if six generations without an immortal cause a sect to fall one rank, then what must a sect accomplish to rise one rank?”
As soon as he sent the question, Xu Ziqing felt his friend’s faint gaze sweep across his spiritual sense, making him feel slightly chilled.
Then Yun Lie said, “For a second-rank sect to rise to first rank, three people must ascend in each of three consecutive generations. Only then may its rank be raised.”
Three immortals every ten thousand years. Even in a great world filled with geniuses, that must be extraordinarily difficult. Xu Ziqing sighed inwardly and thought only that once he took a master in the future, he would need to cultivate even more diligently.
The exchange with Yun Lie took only an instant. Xu Ziqing looked back at Diao Zimo and Luo Hou and smiled gently. “Fellow Daoist Diao is widely informed. I know far less.”
Diao Zimo sighed. “Since Fellow Daoist Xu has such ambition, I can only wish you success in advance. With your talent, entering an Immortal Sect should not be difficult.”
Seeing that Diao Zimo and Luo Hou were envious but not jealous, Xu Ziqing’s favorable impression of them deepened. He said, “Since the Wuling Immortal Sect is so powerful, why don’t the two of you try your luck as well? In my view, your aptitudes are excellent. You may not necessarily be refused.”
He already regarded the Wuling Immortal Sect as his future sect and naturally hoped it would gain more capable people and more outstanding talents who might someday become immortals. To Xu Ziqing, although Diao Zimo and Luo Hou did not possess single spiritual roots, they still had excellent aptitude, only somewhat below his own. Their temperaments were also extremely good, in many ways better than those with talent but unstable states of mind.
Diao Zimo laughed. “I thank Fellow Daoist Xu for your kindness. But in an Immortal Sect, geniuses and monstrous talents are countless. Dual-spiritual-root cultivators like us are only fireflies beneath the moon, giving off a little insignificant light. I’m afraid we wouldn’t even find a way through the gate.”
Xu Ziqing frowned slightly at such self-deprecation. “Fellow Daoist Diao endured countless dangers and hardships before successfully establishing your foundation. Now that you’ve succeeded, why have you become timid instead? If a cultivator has no spirit to advance boldly, then the immortal path ahead is vast and filled with thorns. Won’t you stumble sooner or later?”
Luo Hou also encouraged him. “Fellow Daoist Xu is right. Brother Diao, what harm is there in the two of us trying? If we succeed, naturally that’s excellent. If we fail, we can still turn around and join the Haotian Sect afterward.”
Diao Zimo’s expression changed several times. Finally, he struck his palm decisively. “Fine! Since when have I, Diao, ever been afraid?”