Chapter 63 - 63: Two Major Events
Every year, each official disciple of the Pill Sect is required to enter Medicine -Seeking Peak to gather medicinal herbs.
Any medicinal herbs obtained within Medicine-Seeking Peak become the personal property of the disciple, with no requirement to turn them over to the Pill Pavilion.
Therefore, the yearly journey to Medicine-Seeking Peak is something that the disciples of the Pill Sect eagerly look forward to.
Although it is called a peak, Medicine-Seeking Peak actually consists of four mountains.
Lesser disciples enter the first mountain, middle disciples enter the second, and top disciples enter the third.
The fourth mountain is not open; it is planted with various kinds of rare herbs and precious treasures, each plant having a lifespan of at least several hundred years, so they are not picked casually.
Besides the fourth mountain, there is actually not much difference in the herbs cultivated in the other three mountains. If you wish to find rare herbs, you have to depend on your own luck.
Some people can find a Hundred Years Spirit Mushroom on the first mountain, while others only manage to find commonplace herbs on the third mountain.
Everything depends on luck, no matter what you find, it belongs to you.
Of course, entering Medicine-Seeking Peak also comes with a certain degree of risk.
Within the three Medicine-Seeking Peaks, a number of Demon Beasts are kept. Although they are generally not very strong, there are one or two exceptionally powerful ones.
Of course, if a disciple of the Pill Sect encounters danger within Medicine-Seeking Peak, they can immediately use a Spirit Talisman they obtained beforehand. After crushing it, they will be teleported out of Medicine-Seeking Peak, but once they leave, they cannot re-enter.
Seven days prior, numerous disciples of the Pill Sect learned that Medicine-Seeking Peak was about to open, and the entire sect was filled with excitement, eagerly anticipating the upcoming herb hunting expedition.
The giving of a seven -day notice was to allow the disciples of the Pill Sect time to prepare.
After all, going into the mountain to gather herbs and dealing with the Demon Beasts requires some preparation; otherwise, encountering danger and not having time to crush the Spirit Talisman before being killed would be an absolute injustice.
When Fang Lin learned of this news, he didn’t have much expectation but was interested in touring Medicine-Seeking Peak to see if there was anything that piqued his interest.
As for preparations against the Demon Beasts, Fang Lin wasn’t worried because of his eighth level Human Origin state. He didn’t need to worry about One Transformation Demon Beasts.
Even if he faced a Demon Beast at the Ninth Level or the Great Perfection stage of the One Transformation state, he could still escape.
And as for Two-Times Transformation Demon Beasts, according to what everyone said, there were only two or three within Medicine -Seeking Peak, and they generally did not appear.
So, as long as one’s luck isn’t terribly bad, it’s almost impossible to encounter a Two-Times Transformation Beast.
In the history of the Pill Sect, the instances where a Two-Times Transformation Demon Beast appeared can be counted on one hand, and that usually occurred because some disciple accidentally stumbled upon their sleeping place.
While the Pill Sect was eagerly awaiting the opening of Medicine-Seeking Peak, the Martial Sect also had a similar grand event about to commence.
Sinking Sword Lake is a large lake with countless ancient swords hidden within its depths.
It was said that the Sinking Sword Lake was relocated here by a powerful ancestor of the Purple Mist Sect from another place, and hence, it became a crucial location of the Purple Mist Sect.
Martial Sect disciples can enter Sinking Sword Lake once a year. Depending on their luck, they can search for the ancient swords at the bottom of the lake. Each person can only retrieve one ancient sword after which they must leave
Sinking Sword Lake.
There was once a martial arts prodigy who hadn’t even entered the lake when an Ancient Treasure Sword surged out of the water and fell before him.
Another Martial Sect disciple went down to Sinking Sword Lake ten times in ten years but failed to retrieve a sword.
Finally, on his eleventh entry into the lake, he obtained a broken black sword. He had a huge stroke of luck and went on to become the Purple Mist Sect Master at that time.
Sinking Sword Lake, to the disciples of the Martial Sect, represents opportunity and the potential for a meteoric rise to success.
Of course, if your luck is insufficient, even if you see an ancient sword at the bottom of the lake, you won’t be able to obtain it.
The ancient swords have spirits and will select a Martial Artist they find suitable. Once a Martial Sect disciple tried to forcibly take an ancient sword because his realm was high enough, but he was backlashed by the ancient sword, and his meridians were injured by its sword qi.
The grand events of Sinking Sword Lake for the Martial Sect and Medicine -Seeking Peak for the Pill Sect were both set to commence seven days later. The entire Purple Mist Sect was thus shrouded in an atmosphere of excitement.
Of course, it is not easy to gain anything substantial from either Sinking Sword Lake or Medicine-Seeking Peak. Both places are fraught with competition.
If several people come across the same Spiritual Medicine plant, to whom does it belong?
If several people have their eyes on the same ancient sword, who should make the first move to try and claim it?
Competition naturally arises in these situations.
Strength is the ultimate judge within the Martial Sect, and the situation within the Pill Sect isn’t much different.
Even before the opening of Medicine-Seeking Peak, many Pill Sect disciples started to move around, forming alliances with others or attempting to attach themselves to a more powerful disciple of the Pill Sect, hoping to receive protection when entering Medicine -Seeking Peak.
In these past few days, several lesser disciples have continually visited Fang Lin, both delivering gifts and speaking sweetly to him, hoping to join him when entering Medicine -Seeking Peak.
Fang Lin understood their intentions and did not reject them, instead nodding and accepting their offers.
In an unexpected turn of events, more and more lesser disciples visited Fang Lin, looking to gain his protection.
Almost a third of all the lesser disciples had attempted to form alliances with Fang Lin.
With this many disciples, Fang Lin naturally could not continue to accept them all. If he accepted all their offers, he would have to reveal all his actions to everyone, which would be very troublesome.
As a result, Fang Lin made a statement that he would only move together with ten lesser disciples. He would not entertain anyone else.
With this, the lesser disciples who had planned to visit Fang Lin were forced to stop.
Soon, unfavorable rumors about Fang Lin began to spread.
The rumors said that Fang Lin was haughty and arrogant, that he did not value the other lesser disciples. Even those who went to pay him a visit were turned away at Fang Lin’s door.
Some lesser disciples were even driven out of the courtyard and offended by Fang Lin.
These rumors spread quickly, and with the added fuel from persons with their own agenda, Fang Lin’s reputation took a substantial hit, and those who didn’t know the truth joined in the bandwagon of criticizing him.
As for these rumors, Fang Lin couldn’t be bothered to address them. He didn’t care about his reputation, nor did he care about others’ opinions of him.
To put it simply, Fang Lin indeed didn’t consider these Pill Sect disciples. After two lifetimes, having once held the position of the Pill Sovereign, these insignificant rumors were nothing to him.
While Fang Lin didn’t pay any attention, disciples such as Xu Shangao were worried. Although these rumors wouldn’t affect Fang Lin now, the situation would be different if they kept spreading.
If they were to spread further, even untruths would seem like the truth.
By then, it would be hard to justify no matter how many times you tried to explain because people could be extremely gullible. A few days later, Medicine-Seeking Peak officially opened..