After dodging several waves of monsters, Li Sheng finally made his way back to the sect just as the sun was about to set. He entered the alchemy chamber and finished using his allotted number of alchemy attempts. Moments later, he held four top-grade Body Refinement Pills in his hand, making a total of six when combined with the ones he had previously refined.
Stepping out of the alchemy chamber, Li Sheng instinctively prepared to hand the pills to his junior sister for distribution. It was only then that he remembered she was severely injured and unable to move, and his senior sister had also left the sect. Thus, he called over a disciple and instructed him to summon Liu Hongying.
A moment later, a slender figure hopped over, her energy infectious. "Master Brother, uh... what do you need me for, Master Uncle?"
"Hongying, I hear the disciples are calling you 'Senior Sister' now?" Li Sheng smiled.
Liu Hongying's bright eyes twinkled as she replied, "I joined the sect first and have the highest cultivation level. I'm grateful to all my junior brothers and sisters for their respect, so going forward..."
"Stop right there!" Li Sheng interrupted, shaking his head. "What is all this nonsense? Do you think this is a bandit stronghold? Are you going to say that if you get one bite of meat, they'll get a sip of soup too?"
Li Sheng felt a bit of a headache as he noticed how Liu Hongying seemed to have completely let loose after her senior sister's departure.
"Uh..." Liu Hongying puffed out her cheeks, looking somewhat aggrieved as she fiddled with her clothing.
"Alright, since you've proclaimed yourself Senior Sister, you must take on that responsibility. Are you confident?"
"Senior Sister has responsibilities?" Liu Hongying asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"When your mother left, she asked me to look after you. This is to help you establish your authority so that all the disciples will fully respect you!" Li Sheng's expression turned serious, emphasizing his point.
"Master Brother... you're so good to me! I will definitely work hard!" Liu Hongying, touched by his sincerity, clenched her small fists earnestly.
"Good! This bottle contains top-grade Body Refinement Pills. These crystals are infused with martial arts insights. You will be in charge of distributing resources and encouraging the disciples to train. Oh, and you'll also coordinate the disciples entering the Black Tower for cultivation. And with the crops not growing well around here, you could organize the villagers to use the spirit spring's water for irrigation. Let me think if there's anything else..."
"???"
Liu Hongying was left bewildered.
Noticing her puzzled expression, Li Sheng quickly added, "Although these tasks are tedious, they are a great opportunity to establish your authority. In time, everyone will respect you even more!"
"As the Senior Sister of Qingling Sect, you must set a good example for everyone. Do you have confidence?"
Li Sheng's voice rose.
"Yes!" Liu Hongying replied instinctively.
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"Alright, off you go. Don't forget to come to the alchemy chamber every noon to collect the pills..."
Liu Hongying left the courtyard in a daze, feeling something was amiss. When she had arrived, she was bouncing with energy; now she was lost in thought.
After sending Liu Hongying off, Li Sheng felt a sense of relief. He shifted his focus to the mysterious stone space.
"Ah~"
He was surprised to see that the information on the wall had changed, now containing only three pieces of news.
First, the ninth-ranked on the Divine Warrior List, Man Tianqing, and the eighth-ranked, Master Yin, had arrived in Lingchuan Prefecture to obtain despair-level magic crystals.
Second, the top master, Elder Tianji, had fallen. Before his demise, he left behind an eight-character admonition: "In times of great conflict, mobilize Lingchuan."
Third, many top talents had arrived at the outskirts of Lingchuan Prefecture, their intentions unclear, but speculation suggested it was related to Elder Tianji's admonition.
"Great Master..." Li Sheng's heart sank. For Qingling Sect, such a figure was nearly as dangerous as a despair-level monster. Elder Tianji seemed to have a considerable reputation, as evidenced by the many talents drawn to his admonition.
"What does 'mobilize Lingchuan' mean...? Aside from monsters, what else could there be here? Could it be related to what I saw earlier?"
After exiting the stone space, Li Sheng visited his junior sister's residence and spent some time chatting with her before leaving.
Three days later, outside the alchemy chamber, Li Sheng handed four Bone Refinement Pills to Liu Hongying. Ignoring her complaints, he sent her off and went to the spirit spring to check the panel.
**Sect Guardian Spirit Beast: Colossal Tortoise (15 minutes until gestation completion).**
"Finally coming into the world..." Looking at the half-person-high yellowish giant egg, anticipation filled his heart.
During these days, Li Sheng had instructed Liu Hongying to concentrate the pills for nine disciples. Once these nine reached saturation with pills, he would refine for the others. Getting these nine up to the fourth rank, plus himself, would perfectly meet the fifty sect points needed, just in case.
Just yesterday, all nine had reached the seventh rank in the Bone Refinement realm and began cultivating ordinary martial arts while using the top-grade Bone Refinement Pills, advancing rapidly.
Moments later, the yellow giant egg began to crack with a series of sounds. Suddenly, a turtle the size of a head crawled out and nuzzled against Li Sheng's pant leg.
"This is the Colossal Tortoise?" Li Sheng, surprised, opened the panel.
**Sect Guardian Spirit Beast: Colossal Tortoise (Juvenile, Earth Affinity, Giant Transformation, Summoning).**
Li Sheng's eyes fell on its abilities, and after a moment, a look of delight spread across his face. Although this spirit tortoise was in its juvenile phase, it was a prehistoric variant capable of unleashing master-level combat strength.
What excited him the most was its summoning ability; anyone marked by it could be summoned back to the sect from within a three-thousand-mile radius.
With this, he could leave the sect to search for his senior sister. If anything happened in the sect, his junior sister could leave him a message via the mysterious stone, allowing him to activate the summoning mark and return.
At that moment, the tortoise, seemingly left out, poked its head out, as if sniffing something. Suddenly, the tortoise expanded to over ten yards in size, enveloped in a yellow mist.
Noticing its unusual behavior, Li Sheng didn't stop it; he followed to see what it was up to.
The Colossal Tortoise moved forward, and with each massive footfall, a beam of yellow light appeared, allowing it to silently shift several hundred yards forward without making a sound, creating a sense of disorientation.
Soon, the Colossal Tortoise arrived at a broken spirit vein. Its body slowly sank, seamlessly merging with the ground.
Suddenly, the surface where the broken spirit vein lay cracked open, and a small spirit vein, about a foot thick and ten feet long, was lifted out of the ground by the tortoise, moving steadily toward Qingling Sect.
Surrounded by the yellow mist, the spirit vein remained stable, not even a speck of dirt shifting from its surface.
"Good heavens!"
Once the tortoise transported the spirit vein back to the sect's rear mountain and perfectly integrated it into the original spirit vein, Li Sheng's heart surged with joy.
He knew there were many low-grade spirit veins in the Evergreen Mountain range, and within the inner circle, there were seven mid-grade spirit veins.
If he could transport all these spirit veins back, the spiritual energy within the sect would become unimaginably dense, significantly boosting the disciples' training progress.