Venerable Guijia

But now, Li Zhanying seemed to sense something unusual in Lingxian Sect’s actions.

Could they be planning to do something about these spies?

Suppressing the turmoil that kept surging within him, Li Zhanying resolved to handle this matter properly.

Before long, many countries and sects surrounding the Pusi Kingdom received greetings from Ancestor Li in the form of extraordinarily valuable voice transmission talismans.

Although Li Zhanying did not state in the messages that Lingxian Sect was the one seeking this information, that did not stop those sects and royal families from reaching the same conclusion he had.

Their first reaction was that someone might be planning to move against the spies planted throughout the cultivation world. From there, they naturally connected the matter to Lingxian Sect—the sect that had recently been rumored to possess a Divine Transformation cultivator.

Many of the sects and royal families that had participated in the transaction in Xiushui City were among them. Taking the lead and responding enthusiastically, they handed over the detailed information in their possession. Other sects and royal families that had yet to have much contact with Lingxian Sect also provided what they knew without the slightest hesitation.

Not only that, but they also used their own networks to spread the news to even more sects and royal families. Through this chain reaction, they obtained increasingly detailed information on the spies planted throughout the cultivation world.

One message after another was relayed by Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators from the various sects and royal families, rapidly converging in the capital of the Pusi Kingdom.

Li Zhanying conscientiously organized all these secret reports, swiftly and carefully entering them one by one into the jade slip Lin Xiao had given him.

In a secret chamber equipped with a powerful isolation barrier, located in a city of a certain country in the mortal world—

“What?! You’re saying that Venerable Zhiyu, the sect master of Heavenheart Sect, has already reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage and is preparing to break through to Divine Transformation?”

A gray-robed young man rose furiously to his feet and questioned the subordinate kneeling before him. “Haven’t I repeatedly told you to keep a close eye on him? What about Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four? Are they dead or something?!”

The subordinate answered in a trembling voice, “Reporting to Venerable, Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four have lost contact.”

“Lost contact? Don’t people make contact with them every month? How could they possibly have lost contact? Did they lose contact last month and the month before without any of you noticing?!” The young man grew even more furious at the answer and roared, “Are you saying that the Heavenheart Sect Master only reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage within the past two months? Did he start preparing to advance to Divine Transformation the moment he reached the peak? Huh?!”

This young man was Venerable Gui Jia, the person in charge of the spies Wanwantong had planted in the mortal world. His code name was Gui Jia.

His cultivation was actually not low. He had already reached the middle stage of Nascent Soul and had been managing affairs in the mortal world for nearly two hundred years.

Originally, his designation in Wanwantong had been Gui Jia. But after coming to the mortal world, he demanded that his subordinates address him as Venerable Gui Jia.

It was not that this Venerable Gui Jia, despite being a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, was especially loyal to Wanwantong—nor that he had abandoned a promising cultivation future to come to this remote, spiritual-energy-starved corner of the world and dedicate himself wholeheartedly to the organization.

The truth was that his innate aptitude had originally only been enough to carry him to the Golden Core stage. It was only through Wanwantong’s support and abundant spiritual medicines that he had been raised to his current cultivation level.

In exchange, Wanwantong naturally expected him to give his life in service to the organization.

Venerable Gui Jia was someone who craved power above all else. Thus, when Wanwantong offered him its terms, he agreed without hesitation. Later, when he was assigned to the mortal world, he bore no complaints either. He simply hoped that if he managed the mortal world without incident for the full three hundred years, he would be allowed to return to the cultivation world.

The higher-ups had promised him that if he successfully completed his duty of overseeing the mortal world, then Divine Transformation would no longer be beyond his reach once he returned.

Unfortunately, with only a little over a hundred years left before his term ended—with his departure from this barren backwater where even birds would not bother to fly nearly within sight—his subordinates had gone and caused such a disaster!

In Wanwantong, precisely monitoring the cultivation levels of the cultivators here and ensuring that none of them had any hope of reaching Divine Transformation was one of the most important parts of his entire mission.

If he failed in this regard, not only would he be unable to return, he might not even be able to preserve his current cultivation. That was why he could not help exploding in anger at this sudden breach.

The subordinate kneeling on the floor trembled violently, pressing himself so low that he was nearly flat against the ground. With his shoulders shaking, he weakly explained, “Before this, the reports Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four sent had always been normal. They never reported any unusual activity from the Heavenheart Sect and only said that everything was proceeding as usual. Then, a few days ago, when the time came for them to contact their handler again, their message never arrived. We immediately sent people to infiltrate the Heavenheart Sect and investigate, only to discover that they had not returned to their quarters for nearly a month…”

“As soon as I learned of this, I immediately dispatched more people to investigate. We even used one of Wanwantong’s special investigative treasures, but we still could not find any trace of the two of them. However, through various details, we discovered that something was wrong within the Heavenheart Sect. We used ten of the activation items provided by headquarters before finally discovering that Venerable Zhiyu was about to begin his breakthrough to Divine Transformation.”

Venerable Gui Jia listened in silence. His anger still burned fiercely, but his expression gradually darkened as he stared at the distant floor, his lips pressed tightly together. For a long while, he said nothing.

The subordinate, still prostrate on the ground, grew increasingly uneasy. When Venerable Gui Jia remained silent for so long, he cautiously raised his head a little, hoping to steal a look at the Venerable’s expression and decide whether he should offer a few more excuses.

But then Venerable Gui Jia spoke.

“Quickly order someone to send this information back to headquarters and report the matter. Remember, make absolutely certain that the report reaches the Spirit Venerables and that they personally read it.”

His tone still brimmed with anger, but he sounded considerably calmer than before.

After saying that, he added, “Send Eleven through Eighteen as well. Have them return as quickly as possible!”

The Eleven through Eighteen he referred to were eight spies who had been sent to the mortal world fifty years ago. All of them were Golden Core cultivators, and among all of Wanwantong’s spies stationed here, they were the best at managing their spiritual power efficiently to conserve it while traveling at the highest possible speed.

Generally speaking, it was extremely difficult for a peak Nascent Soul cultivator to successfully break through to the Divine Transformation stage. However, Venerable Zhiyu of the Heavenheart Sect was publicly acknowledged throughout the entire mortal world as a person of extraordinarily high aptitude. He was an existence whose talent left even Venerable Gui Jia—who had relied solely on vast quantities of resources to pile his cultivation up to its current level—green with envy.

Venerable Gui Jia knew very well that if such a powerhouse encountered no outside interference, his chances of successfully breaking through to Divine Transformation might not be low.

And although breaking through to Divine Transformation certainly would not happen quickly—the process could take as little as two or three years, or as long as five or even ten—the eight members of the Eleven through Eighteen would still need at least half a year to cross the Spirit-Severing Zone between the mortal world and the cultivation world, even traveling at their fastest speed.