Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

Chapter 2321 - 1629: Sorrow

As for the contribution of their disciples? According to the intelligence gathered by the Spirit Soul Sect, the Tongtian Sect prefers to use such opportunities to temper its own disciples and doesn’t really need them at all.

In fact, the reason Spirit Soul Sect is so calm is because they had already sent someone with lavish gifts to pay respects to the Tongtian Sect Leader.

That’s right, they only met Li Qiankun, not Li Zhirui.

And this was exactly what Li Qiankun implied during their conversations.

"Tongtian Sect hopes that our strength will grow ever stronger, so we can provide even more fortune."

He thought for a moment, then decided to reveal a little more, saying: "This was said personally by the Upper Sect Master—it’s not something I made up to fool you."

"Is what Dao Brother says true?" The two Heavenly Immortals glanced at each other and asked.

"If you don’t believe me, you can send someone to Tongtian Sect yourselves and confirm it." he replied, a bit annoyed.

"Of course we believe you—with Dao Brother’s character, how could you deceive us?"

Having gotten the answer they wanted, they left contented.

At least, that’s how it appeared!

But after the Heavenly Immortals from Sky Snow Mountain and Bibo Mansion departed a good distance south and north from Spirit Soul Mountain, they both coincidentally changed direction, heading straight for Tongtian Sect.

"Heh!"

But the Spirit Soul Sect’s Heavenly Immortal had anticipated this long ago, letting out a cold laugh not long after their departure, and said:

"Those old ghosts talk nice enough on the surface, but I bet the moment they leave the sect’s territory, they can’t wait to rush straight to Tongtian Sect."

...

Soon enough, several Heavenly Immortals from Sky Snow Mountain and Bibo Mansion arrived at Tongtian Sect.

"Please trouble the young friend to report to Sect Leader Li Qiankun that Sky Snow Mountain and Bibo Mansion have important matters to discuss."

Though they were Heavenly Immortal cultivators, they still acted very courteously toward Tongtian Sect’s gatekeeping disciple.

No helping it—after all, he’d joined a good sect.

"Please wait a moment, elders. I will be right back." The disciple didn’t become arrogant, but gave a respectful salute before turning to fly back toward the mountain gate.

Soon, the disciple returned with an elder, personally escorting the Heavenly Immortals into the Ascension Immortal Mountain Range.

The moment they stepped inside, it felt as if they were enveloped in thick mist. But this was actually dense spiritual energy, transformed into mist—and crucially, very gentle and extremely pure!

Their own sect gates could produce spirit mist, but that was about it—not nearly as dense or heavy, and certainly not refined and softened like this.

So even as Heavenly Immortal cultivators, they were quite astonished.

This was their second time entering Ascension Mountain, and compared to their memories of Tongtian Sect, its transformation was earth-shattering.

The old days need not be mentioned, but now, calling it a paradise on earth or a celestial realm would not be exaggeration.

It was clear that Tongtian Sect’s development and growth in these years was truly astounding!

However, they didn’t look around carelessly, but restrained their gaze and followed the elder, soon meeting Li Qiankun.

"Greetings, Upper Sect Master!"

Even though Li Qiankun was merely an Earth Immortal, while they were one major realm above, the etiquette required that they bowed to him now.

"Don’t stand on ceremony."

Li Qiankun naturally wouldn’t accept their formal salute, sidestepping slightly to avoid it.

After both sides were seated, he asked directly, "May I ask what important matters bring you gentlemen here?"

Seeing their hesitant expressions, somewhat awkward, he added, "Just speak your mind freely."

"Upper Sect is merciful, neither forcibly recruiting our disciples nor demanding our spiritual objects. It’s just that we’ve been overthinking, feeling uneasy, so we specially came to pay our respects."

At this, Li Qiankun instantly understood—they’d come seeking reassurance! He felt a bit speechless inside.

Seeing that Spirit Soul Sect hadn’t sent any cultivators, he knew they’d visited Spirit Soul Sect earlier and must already know what he’d said in recent years.

But they didn’t trust Spirit Soul Sect, so they came to Ascension Mountain to verify it personally.

"You visited Spirit Soul Sect before, right? What they told you indeed echoed my own words."

As he spoke, Li Qiankun stood up and said, "If there’s nothing else, you gentlemen may return now."

"We apologize for disturbing you."

With a definite answer, the Heavenly Immortals breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing their somewhat humble attitude, Li Qiankun added a few extra words, "Don’t overthink it. Tongtian Sect isn’t the kind of Upper Sect you imagine. Just focus on strengthening your sect and increasing your fortune—that’s enough."

"We won’t disappoint Upper Sect’s expectations." They even deliberately expressed their loyalty.

Li Qiankun just nodded and gestured for them to leave.

The same elder escorted them out of Ascension Mountain.

Along the way, everyone was fairly silent, until they’d flown several thousand li, and then someone spoke.

"I never expected Tongtian Sect to be so lofty and proud—they don’t even care about our Heavenly Immortal forces."

The Heavenly Immortal who said this wore a complex expression.

There was anger at being looked down on, a bit of relief at not needing to pay anything, and an indescribable sense of sorrow.

"Still better than the Domineering Sect years ago," one Heavenly Immortal suddenly remarked.

The scene fell silent, and the atmosphere grew strange.

"Right, better than Domineering Sect at least..."

Soon after, it was time for them to part ways.

Some headed north, some south, and in a blink, all traces were gone.

——

In cultivation, years pass in a flash—two hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.

The disciples who’d once only just begun their path of cultivation had now grown.

Maybe it was because Li Zhirui taught them personally, but this batch of disciples—whether in realm, cultivation, temperament, or Dao heart—had much higher overall quality.

The one with the deepest cultivation wasn’t Li Chenyang, Golden Immortal Great Power’s reincarnation, nor Hu Yuan, the first to break through Foundation Establishment, and not Zhang Que, who was the first in Qi Cultivation.

It was Yun Ruoxue—who had always ranked near the top in cultivation, but never stood out!

Now, she had become an Individual Immortal!

The reason she was able to surpass the others wasn’t just hard work and excellent talent, but more importantly, the resilient Dao heart she forged through years of relentless trials and suffering.

Thus, Yun Ruoxue was able to overtake her fellow disciples at the final hurdle of the Mortal Realm.

Her speed—breaking through from mortal to Individual Immortal Realm in just two hundred years—created quite a stir within Tongtian Sect.

"She must be the fastest ever to break through to Individual Immortal Realm since the sect was founded, right?" A disciple from two generations prior, whose cultivation was at Integration Realm, said with a complicated look.

For juniors to surpass seniors’ cultivation speed was normal within Tongtian Sect. After all, every generation had a few who were exceptionally talented.

"Seems so—she only took two hundred and twelve years, twenty years earlier than the previous senior who took more than two hundred thirty years."

"That’s incredible!" Even as elders, they genuinely admired her.

That said—

When Yun Ruoxue broke through to Individual Immortal, Li Zhirui didn’t send her a congratulatory gift. After all, not every teacher she encountered could possibly send spiritual objects to the first disciple to break through—otherwise, it would be too easy to expose himself.

So after his disciples reached Foundation Establishment Stage, he stopped giving gifts so often.

You know, to resolve his karmic ties, he’d changed identities countless times over the years—especially since most disciples broke through Divine Transformation, he’d stopped regular lectures, only holding occasional sessions to impart Dao and answer questions to groups of disciples.

The only constant was that he was always Li Chenyang’s teacher.

After Yun Ruoxue broke through, though Li Zhirui didn’t send a gift, the sect gave her a very generous congratulatory present.

"Almost there—not long now, and I’ll finally be able to leave."

Li Zhirui’s spiritual sense swept over Li Chenyang’s dwelling, ’seeing’ him cultivating methodically, but with his dantian already at its limit.

This meant he was on the brink of breakthrough—at any moment, he could step into Individual Immortal Realm!

Once Li Chenyang broke through, Li Zhirui could finally resolve their karmic bond from years of teaching and the initial guidance into the Dao!