Two Messages

After returning to the floating island, Lin Xiao finally had the time to devote himself to cultivation for two full days.

There was still no word from Liao Pantu, while Qin Jianghe had already brought back the one hundred thousand spirit stones borrowed from the Yuan family.

Lin Xiao immediately took the spirit stones to the System Mall and purchased the Spirit-Dike Tortoise Shell.

Fortunately, anything purchased from the mall was automatically stored in his private storage. Otherwise, the sheer size of the tortoise shell would have burst his little bamboo cottage.

Since he would later need to use the system’s construction synthesis function to combine the formation on the tortoise shell with the city planning blueprint, Lin Xiao did not spend as much time studying how to merge and coordinate them as he had with Changming Mountain.

Instead, he made each of the large-scale formations separately.

That was more convenient.

He was in desperate need of time to cultivate now, so he would save as much time as he could.

By the time Lin Xiao had finished creating all the formations in the Formation Hall, a month had already passed.

Yet there was still no news from Senior Liao over at Changming.

Fortunately, the other independent burial spaces within the area could still be entered, so the disciples were not prevented from paying respects to their deceased relatives.

During that month, Xiushui Town at the foot of the mountain had been completely finished. The villagers had begun purchasing New Year goods and preparing for the celebrations.

The Lingxian Sect disciples had also made phased progress in their cultivation techniques.

Most of the techniques already had disciples who could skillfully master the first, or even the second, stage, which had eased the pressure on the teaching and research group to some extent.

Qin Jianghe and Liu Yunan had further refined the various regulations concerning the establishment and subsequent management of the trade center.

They had also contacted the Li royal family and, through them, made initial contact with several relatively reliable sects.

Some were from the Kingdom of Pusi, while others came from neighboring countries.

Lin Yun, meanwhile, had successfully broken through from the peak of Foundation Establishment to the Core Formation realm a few days earlier, becoming a Core Formation cultivator.

After stabilizing his cultivation, he saw the voice transmission talisman Lin Xiao had left for him and immediately went to find his younger brother. However, Lin Xiao had once again shut himself inside the Formation Hall, so Lin Yun did not disturb him.

In any case, he knew that as soon as Lin Xiao came out, he would never miss dinner.

Thus, on the evening Lin Xiao emerged, the two brothers finally met at the dinner table.

Lin Xiao directly asked Lin Yun for his opinion there and then, which also amounted to announcing the appointment to everyone.

Naturally, Lin Yun had no reason to refuse his younger brother’s request.

The others also had no objections to Lin Xiao’s decision. Among the younger generation, Lin Yun was capable and hardworking. More importantly, he was extremely steady and dependable, making him particularly suited to managing the trade center.

The elders had no intention of competing with these juniors either. To them, watching these younger members of the sect grow step by step was more satisfying than anything else.

Once Lin Yun was confirmed as the manager of the trade center, he naturally needed to take a more active role in many of its affairs.

As a result, the discussion group consisting of Liu Yunan and Qin Jianghe became a three-person group with Lin Yun included.

Of course, the other members of the sect would also offer suggestions whenever the matter came up at the dinner table, but the three of them were primarily responsible for it.

Lin Xiao no longer involved himself in the details and was responsible only for providing technical support.

Most of the recent matters now had a general direction. Lin Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to devote himself wholeheartedly to cultivation.

That evening, he set up a spirit-gathering formation in his room and began meditating. Unexpectedly, the system notification suddenly rang out.

【Ding—Congratulations, Host. The sect facility Spirit-Infused Mountain has successfully nurtured a first-grade spirit vein. The Yao Guang Floating Island has increased by one level. After the upgrade, the floating island’s size has expanded, the concentration of spiritual energy within the island has increased, and the quality of its soil has improved. It can now provide a better growing environment for high-grade spirit plants and a superior cultivation environment for cultivators.】

【Ding—Congratulations, Host, on successfully obtaining a spirit vein produced by your own sect. The future is promising. A reward is hereby issued as encouragement. The reward has been placed in your private storage. Please check it promptly.】

Two consecutive notifications appeared, leaving Lin Xiao rather surprised.

No wonder he had suddenly felt the spiritual energy around him grow denser just moments ago. He had been about to begin cultivating, but it turned out that Spirit-Infused Mountain had nurtured a first-grade spirit vein on its own!

Thinking about it, Spirit-Infused Mountain had gone from having extremely thin spiritual energy at the beginning to being able to produce a spirit vein in just a few years.

If things continued at this rate, did that mean it could soon advance from the concentration of a first-grade spirit vein to a second-grade, third-grade, or even higher-grade spirit vein?

Perhaps one day, the Lingxian Sect would become a sacred land with spiritual energy even more abundant than that of the cultivation world!

Just thinking about it made him happy.

Happy as he was, he still had to check the reward.

Lin Xiao opened his private storage to see what the system had just issued.

This was the first reward the system had given him since its update.

Well, the reward given when Yigao broke through did not count. That reward had been for Yigao personally and should not have had anything to do with the system version. After all, it had been tied to the cultivation technique.

This time, however, things were different. He had a feeling that the rewards might have been upgraded along with the system.

Sure enough, when Lin Xiao saw the name of the newly appeared item in his private storage, his heartbeat skipped a beat.

【Heavenly Pivot Floating Island Token】

Identification Details: The Heavenly Pivot Floating Island Token can directly summon the Heavenly Pivot Floating Island and grants its holder ownership of the island. After use, the control functions for the Heavenly Pivot Floating Island will be integrated into the system’s floating island control panel. These control functions can then be copied from the system for use. Note: Control authority may be delegated, but ownership of the Heavenly Pivot Floating Island belongs solely to the Sect Master of the Lingxian Sect.

This time, it was not a fragment. It was an entire token capable of summoning a floating island!

Lin Xiao was overjoyed.

But his excitement soon turned into a headache.

To be honest, the sect was not really short on territory anymore.

There were still many mountains and valleys in North Mountain sitting empty.

Moreover, the Yao Guang Floating Island had just leveled up, and its area had expanded somewhat.

Now another floating island had appeared.

There were only one or two hundred people in the Lingxian Sect. They could never fill all that space—not even close.

So this time, Lin Xiao did not immediately summon the floating island in high spirits and begin arranging it with enthusiasm as he had before. Instead, he chose to let it gather dust in his private storage for the time being.

They could deal with it after the sect had grown larger.

Otherwise, it would look rather strange for one or two hundred people to occupy an entire mountain range and a floating island, only to receive yet another floating island on top of that. It just did not seem very proper.

With the system having announced that their sect now possessed a first-grade spirit vein and another floating island, Lin Xiao was completely satisfied. He began meditating and focused wholeheartedly on his cultivation.

Only with higher cultivation could he accomplish more of what he wanted without being forced to hold back at every turn.

In the Qinghe Sect in the southern part of the Kingdom of Pusi.

Under the relay station’s urgent delivery by fast horse, Han Weishu’s letter finally reached her father, Sect Leader Han, a month later.

In fact, the letter had arrived at Niutou Village eight days earlier.

Tong Jialiang’s letter had been personally delivered into the hands of his uncle and aunt.