Ye Yudong was loyal and decisive.
Then, in the evening, he threw a battered and bruised Ran Boren, whose powers were sealed, in front of Yang Hong.
Seeing the azure robes soaked through with blood, Yang Hong was still somewhat surprised.
He was surprised that this fellow, who had surrendered so readily when pressured by his aura, possessed such resilience and passion.
"Very good, you have completed my trial. From now on, you are the Hall Master of the War God Hall at Qingfeng Mountain Villa."
"Thank you, Sect Master~"
Ye Yudong knelt down, excited, and kowtowed again, expressing his gratitude in a hoarse, wheezing voice.
Not only were his face bruised and swollen, but he had also lost many teeth.
"Get up!"
After motioning for him to stand aside, Yang Hong turned his attention to Ran Boren, who, despite his decent appearance, had his cultivation sealed, rendering him immobile.
Seeing Yang Hong look at him, Ran Boren felt ashamed, wishing he could burrow into a hole, but Ye Yudong had sealed him, preventing even him from closing his eyes.
Yang Hong waved his hand, lifting the seal on Ran Boren and asked, "Do you have anything to say?"
"Bang~ This disciple is inferior in skill and has nothing to say. I beg the Sect Master to punish me!"
Ran Boren knelt down, utterly ashamed, admitting his fault and prostrating himself.
He truly had no face to offer any explanation.
Ran Boren was at the second level of the Integration Realm, and had been in this stage for over ten years. Ye Yudong was at the first level of the Integration Realm, his cultivation aura still unstable, clearly having just broken through.
Although the gap in cultivation was not vast, Ran Boren was over 870 years old, having spent over 400 years in the Nascent Soul stage before breaking through.
Ye Yudong, on the other hand, was barely over 500, approaching 600, and had been in the Nascent Soul stage for less than 50 years.
With such a profound disparity in their foundations, and having lost in a fair fight, he truly had no face to offer any explanation.
"Not bad, at least you have some self-awareness. From today onwards, you will be the Deputy Hall Master of the War God Hall, primarily responsible for business. When you feel you are capable, you may apply to challenge Ye Yudong."
"Thank you, Sect Master, for your grace! Bang~"
Ran Boren kowtowed forcefully, only standing up after a long moment.
"Ye Yudong has more drive than this old man, and is more suited to managing the War God Hall. This disciple is convinced and dares not harbor any resentment."
Bang~
"Idiot!"
Hearing Ran Boren's spineless, honest attitude, Yang Hong directly slapped him away.
Cough, cough~ Cough, cough~
Ran Boren looked at Yang Hong in terror, unsure what he had said wrong this time.
Yang Hong yelled angrily:
"War God Hall, I don't demand you all be war gods, but at least you must dare to fight! What kind of appearance is this? A coward!"
Slap~ Slap~ Slap~
As he spoke, Yang Hong kicked Ran Boren around like a ball, venting his anger for a while.
"Ye Yudong!"
"This disciple is here!"
"From today onwards, add bloody combat training. Each month, all War God Hall disciples must kill at least three demonic beasts or cultivators of the same realm.
Buy demonic beasts from the Beast Taming Sect, and inquire about any bandit strongholds or demonic cultivators!
In short, War God Hall disciples must spill blood!"
"Yes! This disciple will immediately go to the Beast Taming Sect to purchase them, and inquire about bandit hideouts!"
Seeing Yang Hong beat Ran Boren half to death, Ye Yudong also felt a surge of excitement. However, Yang Hong also gave him a dose of "loving output."
Upon receiving the order, Yeutilized Ye Yudong did not have time to tend to his injuries. He quickly flew back to the War God Hall at Qingfeng Mountain, summoned a flying boat, and headed for the Yuru Plain.
"Get up. You are no longer the Deputy Hall Master of the War God Hall. Go out for training first and temper your fighting spirit. Then, you may return!"
"Yes! This disciple~ cough, cough~ obeys."
Ran Boren knew Yang Hong was speaking to him. He stood up shakily, responding to the order while coughing up blood.
Although he was covered in blood now, his robes tattered, he breathed a profound sigh of relief.
[My life is saved.]
He had not forgotten the scene of Yang Hong effortlessly killing Monk Shiyan. Yang Hong, a ninth-tier Mahayana cultivator, could kill him with a single thought.
Within Qingfeng Mountain Villa, everyone revered and feared Yang Hong. Low-level cultivators revered him more than they feared him, while high-level cultivators feared him more than they revered him.
The higher the cultivation, the more one feared death!
After beating Ran Boren, Yang Hong felt much better. He casually inspected the sect's two departments and three halls to see if any adjustments were needed.
Overall, things were fine. No one else was beaten, at most they were lectured by Yang Hong.
The entire Qingfeng Mountain Villa was developing at a rapid pace: 18 inner disciples, 471 outer disciples, 23,100 handyman disciples, and over 100,000 total laborers.
If calculated by cultivation level, there were 4 Integration Realm cultivators, 27 Nascent Soul Realm cultivators (excluding Yang Hong and his wife), 172 Nascent Soul cultivators, 68 Golden Core cultivators, 529 Foundation Establishment cultivators, and 1825 Qi Refining cultivators.
The rest of the disciples were all in the Qi Refining stage.
Overall, they were powerful, stronger than ordinary sixth-grade sects.
However, the disciple structure was severely imbalanced.
The fact that there were more Nascent Soul cultivators than Golden Core cultivators was not a situation that could occur in a normal sect, although Qingfeng Mountain Villa was not normal to begin with.
Yang Hong made some adjustments, channeling cultivation resources towards the Foundation Establishment stage disciples, hoping to quickly cultivate more Golden Core cultivators and rectify the disciple structure.
Of course, this batch of disciples was relatively easy to manage. They had achieved great success in the three areas of spiritual plants, alchemy, and spirit cooking.
Every month, spiritual herbs and pills could generate an income of 2 million spirit stones for the sect, comparable to the annual income of a seventh-grade sect.
As for spirit cooking, because Qingfeng Mountain Villa possessed the vast lands of the Lihuo Plain and abundant spiritual plant resources, all members of Qingfeng Mountain were spirit chefs. Even Qi Refining stage disciples dared not greet others if they didn't know how to prepare various spirit meals.
With spirit meals, not only did disciples' cultivation improve more rapidly, but it also saved a large amount of spiritual pills and spirit stone resources.
Moreover, influenced by Yang Hong's attitude, low-level disciples had already begun using spirit meals to hire mortals for work.
Spirit meals accelerated the cultivation of mortals, indirectly providing Qingfeng Mountain Villa with better disciples, and also improving the work efficiency of mortals, which was a good method for a virtuous cycle.
Everything in Qingfeng Mountain Villa was progressing well, almost perfectly.
What was imperfect was the external forces.
The "Boundless Buddhist Alliance" and the "Immortal Alliance" had sent Yang Hong two more invitations.
Or rather, declarations of war!
"On the eighth day of the eighth month, our alliance will send an observation team to your sect for an assessment.
The assessment will consist of five matches in each of the five cultivation realms: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Integration, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul.
Each match will be a best-of-five format.
Please prepare yourselves."
The content of the two invitations was almost identical, differing only in the sender's name.
"Sect Master, when I arrived at the Beast Taming Sect, they handed me this invitation. They said that sects that had not joined the two great alliances before yesterday would have to accept the trials of the two great alliances.
If the trials are passed, they can remain neutral and not accept the commands of the two great alliances, but if attacked, the two great alliances will not provide protection."
Ye Yudong, whose face had healed but whose speech was still wheezy, briefly explained to Yang Hong.
Yang Hong merely sneered, and the two invitations turned to dust again.
"Heh heh~ This means the two great alliances can attack us with impunity, right?
The so-called condition of neutrality is just empty talk. If you don't have strength, you should quickly choose a side!"