Chapter 39: Choosing and Organizing the Merit Pavilion

  The next day, Wang Chen woke up feeling refreshed and invigorated.

  Cultivators in the Qi Refining stage can sleep less, but prolonged lack of sleep will still make them feel weak. Therefore, Wang Chen would sleep well for a few days every now and then!

  He retracted the array method, and Wang Chen began to excavate the cave mansion. Excavating a cave mansion is not an easy task, it requires many considerations. The location of the cave mansion must have high spiritual energy density, be hidden, and its orientation must be convenient for arranging the array method, etc.

  Apart from this, the size of the cave and other things need to be considered, which can be a bit troublesome. However, Wang Chen had already asked someone in advance yesterday, and his requirements were not high, so excavating the cave was not too much trouble.

  Found a suitable location, Wang Chen stretched out his hand and a piece of stone fell off. His physical strength had already reached the level of a mid-grade artifact, and even opening up a cave didn't require an artifact.

  A wisp of fragrance, Wang Chen had already excavated his own cave mansion. The cave mansion was divided into three parts, one was the bedroom, where a simple stone bed was made, another was the cultivation room, and the last one was the spiritual beast room!

  The spirit beast room is prepared for the unhatched spirit snake.

  The entire cave was set up with three arrays, all of which were carefully selected by Wang Chen. One of them was a low-grade Spirit Gathering Array. This Spirit Gathering Array was not the same as the previous one, although they shared the same name and were both low-grade arrays, their effects differed greatly. After all, with higher cultivation, more spiritual energy could be absorbed, and the speed of the previous array could no longer meet Wang Chen's needs.

  There are two external arrays, one is the Earth Shell Turtle Spirit Array which has both defensive and breath-hiding functions, and the other is the Hundred Flowers Array which has both hallucinatory and defensive effects. However, the Hundred Flowers Array is just a simplified version of the high-level Hundred Flowers Array, and even so, its power is still quite formidable in the Qi Refining stage.

  These three arrays were all bought by Wang Chen in Hei Wu Fang City, and they are worth a lot, more than 5,000 spirit stones.

  After setting up the formation, Wang Chen took out six snake eggs from his storage bag and carefully placed them in the spiritual beast room. Underneath the snake eggs, Wang Chen padded some licorice root and arranged some water-attribute and wind-attribute spirit stones.

  After doing all this, Wang Chen thought for a moment and then put the old Jiling array in the spiritual beast room.

  After the completion, the originally dense spiritual energy slowly gathered around the snake egg. Even Wang Chen could faintly feel that the spiritual energy in the spiritual stone was being slowly absorbed.

  But what puzzled Wang Chen was that the green snake egg had a relatively strong life fluctuation, while the five white snake eggs showed very faint fluctuations, as if they were barely holding on.

  This situation Wang Chen had encountered before in the Jade Annals, generally speaking, for a demonic beast like a snake, when they lay eggs, many of them would not survive, usually less than half.

  The rest of them slowly died in their eggs and never hatched.

  But Wang Chen thought about it and couldn't find a solution, so he could only follow his fate.

  "I hope to hatch a few!" With that, Wang Chen put aside his complicated thoughts and began his daily meditation and exercise routine. After a month, Wang Chen gradually became familiar with the Luo Yun Sect.

  Every day, I sit and cultivate my internal energy, create talismans and occasionally go out to buy some things. Luo Yunzong also has a specialized market, just on a street not far from the Executive Temple. It's more like a small town than a street.

  Of course, there are also shops of the other two major sects in the market, but most of the shops are still run by high-ranking cultivators of this sect to earn the spiritual stones needed for their own cultivation. The quality of the items in these shops is relatively high, so they also attract many people, and even many loose cultivators and cultivators from immortal families come here to buy things like magical instruments and elixirs!

  This information was all seen by Wang Chen in the jade slip. While strolling through the market, Wang Chen also didn't idle around, and conveniently bought some talisman paper, cinnabar, and a few bottles of spiritual beast pills specially refined for water-attribute snakes, making preparations for the birth of the spiritual snake.

  Of course, every few days Wang Chen would also grit his teeth and cultivate the Hell Spirit Secret Technique. Each time he finished cultivating, Wang Chen almost couldn't stand upright, his body trembling uncontrollably.

  Even Wang Chen felt that the greatest effect of the Refining Hell Divine Sense Technique on himself was not the growth of his divine sense, but rather the tempering of his mind and endurance.

  This day.

  The weather was fine. After finishing his meditation in the morning, Wang Chen left the cave. Two hours later, Wang Chen arrived at the Zhishi Pavilion.

  Executive Chamber, Mission Hall.

  Wang Chen had just walked into the task shop when he found that there were not a few cultivators inside. Without stopping, Wang Chen directly headed towards the place where tasks were received. An old man with white hair, Wang Chen initially didn't pay much attention to him, but after sensing the obscure aura on the old man's body, he suddenly felt a burst of surprise.

  "It's actually a foundation-building period cultivator", Wang Chen was slightly puzzled, and after the previous cultivator left, he walked forward.

  The cultivation of Wucheng Jian's swordsmanship can be equivalent to the realm of foundation building period. Wang Chen believes in his own perceptual power!

  "Master Uncle, I pay my respects!" Wang Chen bowed his hands and saluted, his expression neither humble nor arrogant. The elder of the foundation period smiled slightly upon seeing this, "What task do you want to undertake? Speak up!"

  "The disciple has just joined the sect and wants to choose a job that takes up less time and is not troublesome!" Wang Chen said, and then handed over some spirit stones. The old man took the spirit stones, but couldn't help but look at Wang Chen with a bit more respect in his heart.

  "Acting with neither arrogance nor humility, yet understanding the timing and momentum, what a talented person!"

  "Master, at such a young age, your behavior is quite proper. As an old man, I'll give you some advice. Can you take it?" The old man said calmly, stroking his beard, waiting for Wang Chen's response.

  Wang Chen was first stunned, then delighted. At his age, he had experienced many things and naturally had many areas where he couldn't compare to others. Being able to listen to someone else's advice was a good thing.

  "Master Shu, since you're willing to teach me, I'll listen carefully and respectfully!"

  The old man nodded and began to speak.

  "The sect's task has a great impact on future cultivation relationships. If possible, try to choose those that will be helpful in the future!"

  "The way of cultivation requires courage to strive for it, the path of immortality is like sailing against the current, if you don't move forward, you'll fall back"

  "Some things shouldn't be given up on, insist on them and persevere. Although it may not seem good now, it's still beneficial for long-term cultivation!"

  ……

  The old man didn't say much, some of which Wang Chen understood, and some he didn't. For example, when choosing a sect task, one should have a long-term vision, but some were confusing, such as persistence. Wang Chen didn't quite understand. However, Wang Chen was originally a highly talented person with great insight, so he didn't take these things to heart.

  After a while, the old man had said enough and stopped.

  "As one gets older, they become more garrulous! Cough, cough!" The old man coughed twice, and Wang Chen thought of helping him forward, but was stopped by the old man waving his arm. "Nothing's wrong, nothing's wrong! All the sect's tasks are on this jade tablet. You'd better choose one quickly, or else someone else will snatch it away!"

  The old man handed the jade slip to Wang Chen and closed his eyes to meditate.

  Wang Chen took over the jade slip and examined it carefully. Previously, Wang Chen had a rough understanding of the sect's tasks and had made some mental preparations, so he directly focused his attention on some simple sect chores. For example, guarding the spiritual fields, watching the palace, and other such tasks.

  However, after taking a closer look, I found that I couldn't accept these tasks at all. The tasks of guarding the spiritual fields were mostly issued by the Golden Elixir period elders on a certain mountain peak, requiring that they must be disciples of this mountain peak, which is equivalent to giving preferential treatment to one's own sect's disciples. And the tasks of guarding important palaces required that three generations or more of relatives be disciples of the same sect, otherwise it would not rule out the possibility of being a spy from another faction!

  But this explanation is nonsense for Wang Chen. To be honest, these restrictive conditions are just convenient for a few cultivators. But then again, there's nothing wrong with that!

  After a moment, Wang Chen put down the jade slip, and the old man also opened his eyes. "Have you made your choice?" Wang Chen nodded and said, "I choose to organize the Gong Fa Pavilion's tasks!"

  "Organize the Gong Fa Ge?" The old man was slightly surprised, "Since that's the case, take this jade token with you, it might be of some use!"

  After giving a jade token, he didn't say anything else, and recorded the task of tidying up the Gongfa Pavilion on Wang Chen's identity iron token, then closed his eyes to meditate again.

  After receiving the ID card, Wang Chen bowed and left quietly.

  After Wang Chen left, the old man opened his eyes, "A fellow cultivator of the same generation as Pu Yu! I hope you won't end up like me, stuck in the foundation building stage for your whole life, hehe" The old man said with a sorrowful smile, then fell silent again.

  Gongfa Pavilion, as the name suggests, is a place where Gongfa is stored. The four essential elements of Xian cultivation are: land, companionship, wealth, and method. Land refers to having a suitable place for cultivation, with higher spiritual energy density leading to more obvious effects over time; Companionship means having teachers and friends to guide you; Wealth naturally refers to money, which is Ling Shi in the Xian world; Method refers to the Gongfa cultivated by the cultivator.

  These four elements have different focuses, but the method is relatively more important. After all, the other three are external objects, and once the method is determined, it is difficult to modify halfway.

  Gongfa Pavilion is where Luo Yunzong displays his Gongfa Yu Jian. Gongfa is a general concept, including main Gongfa, auxiliary Gongfa, various secret books and divine powers. The Gongfa of Luo Yunzong is even more comprehensive, not to mention ordinary Gongfa secret books, but also the cultivation experiences and knowledge of various predecessors are recorded and placed in the Gongfa Pavilion!

  After years of accumulation, the jade slips in the Gongfa Pavilion have piled up like several mountains. It's very troublesome for disciples who need to check the jade slips they need. Therefore, the sect has issued a task to sort out the complex jade slips.

  Two hours later, Wang Chen arrived at Gong Fa Hall.

  The Gongfa Pavilion has a foundation-building period cultivator on duty and several Qi-practicing disciples, but this guard is only for the first two floors. The third floor and above are extremely important places within the sect, and even foundation-building period cultivators cannot easily enter.

  After Wang Chen arrived, he respectfully stated his intention and was led by a Qi-refining stage senior brother to the side of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. After waiting for a while, the middle-aged Foundation Establishment cultivator finally put down the jade slip in his hand and picked up Wang Chen's identity plate, confirming the task.

  "Follow me!" The foundation period cultivator didn't say much, quickly walking towards the side door. After passing through several doors, Wang Chen arrived at a room that looked slightly empty.

  "Huh!" Wang Chen stared at the bags placed on the ground, slightly surprised. The old man saw Wang Chen's confusion and said: "The storage bags in this house contain various books and jade slips. Your task is to sort out at least a few of these storage bags within three months, only then can you be considered to have completed your task!"

  "After tidying up, put the jade slips away according to category," said the foundation-building cultivator with a gentle tone, "Of course, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me."

  Wang Chen listened carefully, then said: "Excuse me, Master, can the storage bag disciples take these items back to their own caves to sort them out?" The Foundation Establishment cultivator was taken aback for a moment before smiling and saying: "Of course you can, but although these items are not valuable, there is a huge quantity. You must at least find a Foundation Establishment executive from our sect to vouch for you!"

  Wang Chen heard this and took out the jade token that Li Shibo had given him. The Foundation Establishment cultivator saw the jade token and smiled in surprise, "I didn't think you actually had it, eh? It's actually from Li Shidi!" The Foundation Establishment cultivator's face showed a strange expression, but he still returned the jade token to Wang Chen after that, and agreed to his request.

  Wang Chen thanked his uncle's friend and then took away five storage bags without hesitation.