Representatives of Various Factions Attend (Part One)

Liu Yunan and Qin Jianghe pretended to know nothing about the trade of cultivation supplies and entered the imperial city once again to represent the Lingxian Sect.

Since they were attending on behalf of their sect today, the two had specifically changed into the new sect uniforms that Lin Xiao had made a few days ago.

Both wore neat and exquisite Dharma robes. Ordinary people might only think the color scheme and style were rare, fresh, and special, but it was a completely different story in the eyes of cultivators.

When the people from the other three sects saw them, they were a bit puzzled, wondering why two youths would appear at such an occasion as if they were the leaders of a faction.

The representatives capable of acting on behalf of the various sects were all elders at the Golden Core stage or higher.

With just one glance, they could sense that the clothes on the two youths were no ordinary items.

They even had a faint feeling that even with a full-force strike, they would not be able to break through the garments worn by these two.

These were high-grade Dharma robes!

To think that these two looked so young yet were already wearing high-grade Dharma robes; they wondered which sect these youths belonged to, assuming they had followed their elders to attend such an important occasion.

However, perhaps due to the effects of the Dharma robes, they surprisingly could not see through the cultivation levels of these two at all.

In comparison, the Dharma robes they were wearing—which they had scrounged from their respective superior sects in the cultivation world and could only defend against Foundation Establishment level attacks—seemed extremely inadequate...

For a moment, the representatives of the three major sects all had the urge to strip off the clothes they had specifically changed into before leaving their homes.

Being completely overshadowed by two youths, they felt it would have been better to just wear ordinary clothes.

Thoughts were just thoughts; it was impossible to actually do so.

After everyone arrived at the council hall, they took their seats under the guidance of the eunuchs.

Once all the invited guests had arrived on time and taken their seats, through the introduction of Emperor Li Zhouxuan, the people of the three major sects finally learned that these two youths were actually from the rumored Lingxian Sect, and they all felt somewhat surprised.

Regarding the series of events that had occurred at the Shangyang Sect, the Qinghe Sect and the Yunyan Cult had begun paying close attention the moment they heard the news.

The main intelligence networks within their sects were all deployed to gather information on this matter.

Unfortunately, by the time they received the news, it was still a bit too late, and they failed to gain any advantage from it.

However, this was also because, although the Shangyang Sect's mountain gate had been breached at that time, Wei Hai, the Nascent Soul cultivator who had single-handedly broken through, acted entirely out of the norm. Instead of hitting and running, he actually made himself the sect master.

Therefore, the other two sects were also somewhat hesitant; after all, the combat power of a Nascent Soul cultivator was no laughing matter.

The Yunyan Cult currently only had one Nascent Soul cultivator, and that was their cult master.

The Qinghe Sect was slightly stronger. Their sect master was a Nascent Soul cultivator, and it was said that they had a Nascent Soul patriarch in seclusion. However, no one knew how the seclusion was going, or if it was like the Shangyang Sect, where the patriarch was said to be in seclusion but had actually passed away in meditation.

What they did not know was that as soon as the Qinghe Sect heard that the old sect master of the Shangyang Sect had passed away in his seclusion cave for a long time without anyone noticing—and that if Wei Hai had not attacked the Shangyang Sect, it might still be undiscovered to this day—the Qinghe Sect Master, Han Shangyi, immediately went to check on their own patriarch's seclusion spot in person.

Only after confirming that their patriarch was fine did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Because the two sects paid close attention to the Shangyang Sect, they naturally heard about the Lingxian Sect killing Wei Hai without suffering any losses.

Therefore, although they had never heard of this Lingxian Sect before, and had not expected such a formidable new faction to suddenly emerge right under the noses of their three major sects, none of them dared to underestimate this sect, nor did they rashly go looking for trouble with them.

In any case, after the Wei Hai incident, the Shangyang Sect could be said to have completely declined.

It was said that the vast majority of the Shangyang Sect's assets had been plundered by Wei Hai, and later, following his fall, those valuables went missing. However, everyone actually knew very well that since Wei Hai was killed at the Lingxian Sect, the answer to where those valuables went was self-evident.

Without the support of wealth, for sects like theirs that already faced a shortage of cultivation resources in the mortal realm, it was tantamount to the beginning of a downward spiral to rock bottom.

Even if it was not obvious at first, and it seemed that the Shangyang Sect still had quite a few Golden Core cultivators and many Foundation Establishment elites, this was all just temporary strength on paper.

Once this group of people exhausted the sect's resources, what about their future cultivation? With such a large number of disciples to provide for, they would inevitably fail to make ends meet.

Therefore, in the eyes of the other two sects and the royal family, the current Shangyang Sect could already be removed from the ranks of the three major sects.

But did the current Shangyang Sect dare to go and demand things back from the Lingxian Sect?

Naturally, they did not dare.

On the contrary, some of their disciples, who had been miserably harmed by Wei Hai and abandoned by the Shangyang Sect's elite group of elders, were actually very grateful to the Lingxian Sect for destroying Wei Hai.

As for the newly risen Lingxian Sect, it was not located in the territories of the other two sects either. Its appearance could be considered by the other two sects as taking over the Shangyang Sect's position.

Although they could not profit from it, it indeed had no major impact on them, so there was nothing unacceptable about this outcome.

The main point was also that they could not do anything about it.

With the Lingxian Sect rising so powerfully, they did not dare to act rashly.

If they went knocking on their door only to be suppressed by the Lingxian Sect, or if their own base was ambushed by another sect in the meantime, the loss would outweigh the gain.

Moreover, based on the information they had gathered from various sources, the hints passed down from the royal family, and combined with every move the Lingxian Sect had made since its appearance, both the Qinghe Sect and the Yunyan Cult felt that this Lingxian Sect was not the type to stir up trouble.

Didn't they see that the Shangyang Sect was so close to them, yet despite being so down and out now, the Lingxian Sect had not kicked them while they were down?

From this, it could be seen that as long as they did not go looking for trouble with the Lingxian Sect, everyone could still live in peace with each other just as before.

The fact that the Qinghe Sect and the Yunyan Cult had such thoughts meant that, having survived and cultivated in the mortal realm all along, they did not have overly high ambitions or much desire to fiercely compete for dominance.

Perhaps if it were a sect decision-maker from the cultivation world looking at this, it would not be the same; they might rack their brains trying to make some moves out of the situation.

But they were not.

All along, their thoughts in the mortal realm were more focused on hoping to achieve success in their cultivation as soon as possible, and then gaining the favor of the superior sects above to head to the cultivation world and continue their path of cultivation.

Inside the council hall, Emperor Li Zhouxuan of the Pusi Country sat at the head seat. Below him, on the left and right sides, sat the respective representatives of the four sects, with the Qinghe Sect and the Yunyan Cult taking the first seats on the left and right sides respectively.

Meanwhile, the Lingxian Sect sat in the seat next to the Yunyan Cult.

Originally, the representative of the Yunyan Cult wanted to yield the first seat on the left to Liu Yunan and Qin Jianghe, but Qin Jianghe gently and politely declined.