hooklinebooks Chapter 329 - 271: An Inauspicious Start (2)
Chapter 329 - 271: An Inauspicious Start (2)
"Sect Leader Ke, please tell me your refining requirements first."
"Ah, yes. Of course."
Ke Huairen hadn’t expected Fang Yun to be so accommodating.
Of course, just because Fang Yun was accommodating didn’t mean he could push his luck.
He was determined to give whatever compensation was appropriate.
The cost of refining a Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact for dealing with Demons would certainly be higher than that of an ordinary Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact. As Ke Huairen stated his requirements, he had already decided how much he would pay Fang Yun once the Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact was complete.
After Ke Huairen finished explaining his needs, he soon received a list.
He got a headache just looking at the required Spiritual Materials on the list.
’These Spiritual Materials really won’t be easy to gather.’
Many of these Spiritual Materials came from the territory of the Demons.
Ke Huairen thought for a moment. The number of usable Spiritual Materials in the Celestial Water Sect’s treasury was minuscule.
The difficulty in gathering the Spiritual Materials meant it would be time-consuming. He had no idea how long it would take before he could ask Fang Yun to refine the Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact designed to counter Demons.
"Elder Fang, I will go back to the Celestial Cloud Sect with you."
"Alright."
Very quickly, the two of them disappeared into the sky.
Ke Huairen’s original purpose in coming to the Celestial Cloud Sect was to ask Fang Yun to refine Foundation Establishment Pills. Even though Fang Yun was right here, he couldn’t just hand the Spirit Medicine over to him directly.
Because this had to go through the Celestial Cloud Sect’s procedures.
The Spirit Medicine in his hands had to go through the Celestial Cloud Sect’s complete process before it could reach Fang Yun.
As for the Spiritual Materials for refining the Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact, their recent chat had established this as a private commission. He just needed to find Fang Yun at the Celestial Cloud Sect after he gathered all the Spiritual Materials.
...
Demon Spirit Sect.
A room in an ancient tree.
The Demon Spirit Sect Leader was handling some matters.
"Reporting, Sect Leader."
Before he could finish his work, an old elder from the sect appeared before him.
This old-looking elder was in charge of guarding the sect’s Demon Jars.
"Elder Yan, is something the matter?" the Demon Spirit Sect Leader asked.
"Elder Yun and Elder Wei’s Demon Jars have shattered."
"What!"
The Demon Spirit Sect Leader was shocked and immediately dropped what he was doing.
These two elders were both Late-stage Foundation Establishment elders of their Demon Spirit Sect. Elder Yun Hanshan, in particular, was ranked among the strongest of the sect’s Late-stage Foundation Establishment elders.
The Demon Spirit Sect Leader had a vague recollection that Elder Yun Hanshan had told him about some plan.
Soon, he remembered.
Yun Hanshan had an operation in the Celestial Cloud Sect’s territory.
Elder Wei must have been acting together with Elder Yun Hanshan.
"Was there a long interval between the Demon Jars shattering?" the Demon Spirit Sect Leader immediately asked.
"Not long. It was only a few moments apart."
This meant the time between the two elders’ deaths was very short.
In other words, their operation in the Celestial Cloud Sect’s territory had run into major trouble. Perhaps they had encountered a Core Formation Cultivator from the Celestial Cloud Sect.
Since they hadn’t sent back any information, he couldn’t be certain. He could only speculate based on the most likely scenario.
’What an inauspicious start.’
The Demon Spirit Sect Leader sighed and shook his head.
It had only been a month since they shifted from covertly supporting the Celestial Demon Sect to operating openly, and now this happened. And these weren’t two early-stage Foundation Establishment elders; they were two at the late stage.
Of the two elders, especially Elder Yun Hanshan, she had the potential to reach Core Formation in the future.
This was a significant loss for their Demon Spirit Sect.
"I understand the situation, Elder Yan. If there is nothing else, you may leave."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
The Demon Spirit Sect Leader was once again left alone in the room. He pinched the bridge of his nose, his head throbbing.
He remembered how he had mocked the Soul Destruction Hall Master of the Celestial Demon Sect.
He had said that the Celestial Demon Sect’s operations resulted in even greater losses for themselves, costing them two Late-stage Foundation Establishment elders and one at the Peak of Foundation Establishment.
Now, only a month had passed, and they had suffered such a loss...
’Elder Yun was too impulsive.’
It was right not to let Yun Hanshan participate in the covert operations supporting the Celestial Demon Sect before.
She’d hardly been gone, yet she was so eager to prove herself that she ended up losing her life in the Celestial Cloud Sect’s territory, dragging another Late-stage Foundation Establishment elder down with her.
’We can’t be hasty in our actions against the Celestial Cloud Sect. Let’s have the Celestial Demon Sect wear them down some more first.’
The Demon Spirit Sect Leader decided to immediately circulate this news to serve as a warning to the other elders. Future operations could not be like Yun Hanshan’s, penetrating deep into Celestial Cloud Sect territory.
Although they had moved from the shadows into the open, when it came to conflict with the Celestial Cloud Sect, the Celestial Demon Sect’s was certainly much deeper than theirs.
...
Celestial Cloud Sect.
Not long after returning to the sect, Fang Yun parted ways with Ke Huairen.
They were heading to different places.
There was an error in the support mission, so upon his return, Fang Yun had to first go to Battle Peak to find Elder Feng Tianrui.
"Fang Yun, you’re back. How did the mission go?"
"Not bad," Fang Yun replied, getting straight to the point without wasting any time. "Elder Feng, there was an error in the support mission report. The target wasn’t just one Late-stage Foundation Establishment Demon, but three."
"Tell me, what were the specifics!"
Feng Tianrui spoke immediately, looking at Fang Yun with some nervousness.
It was a good thing Fang Yun was the one who took this support mission. If another Late-stage Foundation Establishment elder had taken it, the consequences could have been dire.
Fang Yun was only at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment. However, ever since he single-handedly destroyed the Vortex Cave—a Foundation Establishment Influence subsidiary to the Celestial Demon Sect—the elders of Battle Peak had treated him as a cultivator at the Peak of Foundation Establishment. In some respects, Fang Yun was even considered superior.
Fang Yun briefly recounted what had happened.
The gist was this: after he arrived and killed the first Late-stage Foundation Establishment Demon, two others who had been lying in ambush were apparently so shocked that they accidentally revealed their presence. Then he killed them too.
"So that’s how it was. They must have seen you and been in disbelief," Feng Tianrui guessed reasonably.
They had protected the information about Fang Yun very well.
To the outside world, Fang Yun was known only for his great skill in Alchemy and Artifact Refining, supposedly spending all his time within the sect practicing these crafts.
Based on the intelligence the Demons could gather, Fang Yun should have never even left the sect.
"These Demons from the Demon Spirit Sect are bolder than the Demons from the Celestial Demon Sect, daring to infiltrate our territory at a time like this."
Within the Celestial Cloud Sect’s territory, the closer one was to the Celestial Cloud Sect itself, the safer it was supposed to be.
If danger was encountered near the sect, support would arrive quickly.
In some situations, it wasn’t even out of the question for their Core Formation Supreme Elders to be dispatched.
"I’ll revise the information for the support mission. Your Contribution Points reward will also be adjusted."
"Alright."
After clarifying the matter of the support mission, Fang Yun went to the Evil Extermination Hall to convert the three Demons he had killed into Sect Contribution Points.
Setting aside the Talent Points gained from completing this support mission, the Sect Contribution Points he received alone numbered in the tens of thousands.
With a plentiful supply of Sect Contribution Points on hand, Fang Yun was also very generous when posting missions in the Task Hall.
He could generally offer a high price for the Spiritual Materials he sought.
This also sped up his collection of Spiritual Materials.
「Two days later.」
Fang Yun appeared in the Dan Cloud Pavilion and accepted a mission to refine Foundation Establishment Pills.
Fang Yun knew that this Foundation Establishment Pill refining mission was not for the sect’s own supply, but for the subsidiary Foundation Establishment Influence, the Celestial Water Sect.
When he returned with Sect Leader Ke Huairen of the Celestial Water Sect two days ago, the man had mentioned this matter.
Having more Foundation Establishment Cultivators in their subsidiary Foundation Establishment Influences was beneficial to the Celestial Cloud Sect, especially during this period.
No matter who he was refining pills for, Fang Yun would give it his all.
He had to live up to his status as an Alchemy Master and also gain as many Talent Points as possible each month.
He heard from Ke Huairen that he only had three sets of Spirit Medicine for refining Foundation Establishment Pills.
At that time, Fang Yun had looked at the Spirit Medicine and said bluntly that its quality was very average, and refining Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills would be somewhat difficult.
Refining Middle Grade ones, however, would be relatively easy.
When he heard that Fang Yun could guarantee the refining of three Middle Grade Foundation Establishment Pills, Ke Huairen was overjoyed.
With three Middle Grade Foundation Establishment Pills, the Celestial Water Sect could produce two new Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the near future. If they were lucky, it wasn’t impossible for three to emerge.