Chapter 412: Chapter 281: Old Xuan Sect
As soon as Tie Dan entered the pass, he was surrounded by a group of old Mystic Sect members watching him.
They gathered together, observing him from the sky, the eaves, the city battlements, staring at him from afar.
They looked, calculated, and marveled, as if they were zoo monkeys surrounding and watching humans.
After all, have you ever seen an outer disciple in the Nascent Soul Realm who can slay tens of thousands of demons with a wave of his hand? Is that common? Is that normal? Of course, they had to take a look!
However, although everyone was impressed by Tie Dan’s talent, ability, and personal combat power, no one actually came up to poach him. They just watched with interest.
The old Mystic Sect is known for following rules.
At a glance at the Nine Luminaries Light Sword circling around Tie Dan, anyone who isn’t blind would know that he is a direct disciple of the Sword Sect Yao Guang branch.
He hasn’t even entered the sect, yet he has already been taught such a secret sword. It’s as close as it gets, so who could offer a core inheritance to recruit him?
So everyone understood quite well.
This karma isn’t over, he simply can’t leave the gates of the Sword Sect, disperse, disperse.
Of course, Tie Dan was also observing them. Every time a Primordial Spirit locked onto him, he would stare back, equally awed.
The Mystic Sect is truly strong.
Currently, in Canghai Pass, including Mingzhen Taoist, there are twenty-eight Nascent Soul cultivators.
And they are all like Mr. He Lin, at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm, stuck at the threshold of Divinity Transformation, with refined Dao Breath, profound cultivation, and unfathomable depth.
In other words, they are the old Mystic Sect members who are here to compete for Demon God materials to prepare for their breakthrough to Divinity Transformation.
Yes, don’t underestimate them just because they are in the Nascent Soul realm; those who have refined their cultivation for over a thousand years can all be called the old Mystic Sect.
Currently, there are over two hundred of them in the entire Nine Borders, ready to undergo Divinity Transformation at any time, at their peak combat strength, most capable of fighting.
Indeed, some people don’t undergo Divinity Transformation because they can’t, while others don’t because they don’t want to.
You think there is a shortage of major treasures? If it was really urgent, couldn’t they borrow from the Immortal Palace? Isn’t it easy to find?
In short, it’s still about avoiding the Three Death Pass.
In terms of proper cultivation methods, to avoid alternating Heavenly Tribulations and Lifespan Tribulations, one should, of course, prepare to transform into Divinity as soon as they form a Nascent Soul and then charge forward to seek Enlightenment within a thousand years.
But the problem is, a Daoist who can attain Enlightenment within a millennium is indeed once in a millennium.
At least in this millennial calamity, those with astounding talents and amazing natural abilities may just be the Cloud Platform Chief, the top Lingxu in the world.
Thus, other ordinary Mystic Sect disciples would retreat and take a secondary approach, first delaying, suppressing, and enduring their cultivation.
After all, the Lifespan Tribulation targets the ’body,’ with intensity directly dependent on physical attributes like vitality and combat power.
Therefore, the Lifespan Tribulation at the Nascent Soul realm is much less difficult than at the Divinity Transformation realm.
So, to survive the first Lifespan Tribulation at the Nascent Soul realm, at least three Heavenly Tribulations must be endured, and after surpassing the Lifespan Tribulation, they achieve the first death pass.
However, the first three tribulations are relatively bearable, even helpful for body refinement and beneficial to physical and mental well-being.
But the latter ones become increasingly difficult, larger, and more painful, potentially causing injury, destruction, maiming, or even death.
So by the sixth tribulation at the age of two thousand and five hundred, Tie Dan has personal experience that even the mighty Wei Ji God Monarch failed the test, being obliterated on the spot, turning into ashes.
Thus, to avoid being executed by Heavenly Thunder, one must comprehend the Dao quickly before the second death pass to escape this punitive mechanism of lightning strikes.
As such, this method of suppressing realms, enduring three tribulations at the Nascent Soul, surpassing the Lifespan, and then rapidly breaking through to Divinity, contributing, acquiring Grandmaster status, claiming the Heavenly Book, and making progress, leads to an older group of Mystic Sect Qi Refiners ranging from twelve hundred to twenty-five hundred years old.
They are just called the old Mystic Sect.
What? What do you call those over two thousand five hundred?
Call them old undying, why ask...
The saying goes, the old who do not die become thieves, hiding in the mountains all day to avoid calamity and tribulation, serving no purpose, consuming the sect’s tribute and becoming a burden, such people are not few in the Mystic Sect.
"Fellow Daoist Tie, please have some tea."
As the local Guardian Master and host, Mingzhen Taoist also invited Tie Dan to take a seat, calming himself after drinking three cups of tea.
"Speaking of which... the end of this year is the Cloud Platform Competition. Is Immortal Tie planning to return to Nine Yin Mountain, to return the sword to the sect?"
After all, he’s an old Mystic Sect member over a thousand years old. When he calms down, he can naturally figure it out.
This Immortal Tie is probably a disciple sent by the Sword Sect to eradicate demons and monsters. Though it’s said the casualties were heavy and almost complete annihilation, this one seems to have narrowly escaped death, having had some strange encounter and Immortal Fate in the north, experiencing breakthrough, inheriting the true legacy of the Yao Guang Sword, and achieving great success in divine skills.
After all, we are in an Immortal World; such story protagonist-like routines are basically within everyone’s understanding, and there’s nothing non-mystical about it. Anyway, it’s just another heaven-defying Daoist.
"Exactly, I naturally intend to return to the Sword Sect to participate in the competition and formally enter the sect. However, according to the Sword Sect’s rules, I’m still lacking some merits. I wonder if the seniors have any tasks to assign to a junior like me. Please kindly instruct."
Tie Dan did not hesitate, directly asking for a task.
With the sordidness within the Inner Mountain, if they can’t kill him, they might just use excuses like insufficient contributions to the Mystic Sect to prevent him from participating in the competition.
However, fortunately, there are still more than six months left until the Cloud Platform Competition, so there’s still time to earn money.
Moreover, previously blown away by Heavenly Thunder, now Tie Dan has only a wine gourd, surprisingly without even a sword, only being able to slay demons barehandedly.