Chapter 451: Sect Master of the Nine Nether Sect, Mu Baiyi

:

The Eldest Senior Sister arrived at the Prison Peak, and the child Grand-Master was utterly dazed upon seeing two souls of the Tribulation Transcending Stage.

How much time had passed, and yet another two from the Tribulation Transcending Stage had arrived.

Calculating the time, four Tribulation Transcending cultivators had been captured within a single year; in a few more years, he would not even be able to suppress the Prison Peak anymore.

His strength was by no means weak, but it could not bear the weight of imprisoning so many Tribulation Transcending souls; no matter who took his place, they would not be able to keep it down.

"Actually, there are three of them; one was refined by me into an artifact spirit, and all three were encountered by Little Junior Brother when he went out."

The child Grand-Master's face twitched violently; this grand-disciple of his was even more capable of stirring up trouble than that boy Buyu.

He was only at the Golden Core Stage now; what would become of him in the future?

"Even after retirement, there is no peace," the child Grand-Master sighed. He had retired early and thrown the mess to Daoist Buyu and the other eight precisely because his heart was too weary.

That generation of the Dao-Querying Sect had no shortage of outstanding talents, among whom the nine most prominent were known as the Nine Sons of the Dao-Querying Sect, regarded as the hope of the sect.

Coincidentally, all nine of them were his disciples.

Back when he was the Sect Master, he spent every single day cleaning up the rotten messes these rascals stirred up.

Thanks to them, he had come to know almost all the high-level figures of the cultivation world at that time.

He had desperately cultivated to the Tribulation Transcending Stage solely for the convenience of disciplining these little brats.

Otherwise, as their master, watching these little brats make trouble while being unable to defeat them himself, would he not be vexed to death?

"If I had known, I would have swapped places with my junior brother back then; he could have come to the Prison Peak, and I would be in the Scripture Repository."

The child Grand-Master sighed as he locked away Wu Youdao and Venerable Xuanlei.

Lu Yang carried the soul of Venerable Witch-Sacrifice, swaggering through the Dao-Querying Sect in a manner that looked exceedingly begging for a beating.

Fortunately, he arrived smoothly at the Hundred Refinements Peak without being beaten up by anyone.

He happened to see Li Haoran exchanging blows with Qin Yanyan.

Qin Yanyan's body transformed into a gust of white smoke, ethereal and elusive, impossible to grasp, with talismans concealed within the smoke capable of striking Li Haoran from the shadows.

Li Haoran was not one for passive defense either; he took off the wig from the top of his head, and the wig spun rapidly, blowing the white smoke away.

Father and daughter exchanged blows, fighting inextricably.

"Rosy Mist and White Cloud Dan?" Lu Yang recognized Qin Yanyan's Golden Core; it was a first-grade Golden Core.

This kind of Golden Core could allow a cultivator to transform into rosy mist, possessing a shadow but no form, which was extremely useful whether for combat, defense, or escape.

It had not been in vain that Li Haoran accompanied his former daughter in cultivating for so long.

"The core formation is a success, congratulations, congratulations," Lu Yang said with a smile. The father and daughter also noticed Lu Yang's arrival and ceased their sparring.

"Senior Brother Lu, why have you come?" Li Haoran was still unaware of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou's trip to the Desolate Province, only feeling that he had not seen the two for a month, which felt quiet to the point of discomfort.

Being backlash-bitten by karma was hardly a glorious matter, so Meng Jingzhou naturally kept it a secret.

The disciples of the Dao-Querying Sect only knew that Qiu Jin'an had launched a sneak attack on the Dao-Querying Sect, but as for the causes and consequences, they knew absolutely nothing.

"Oh, Old Meng and I took a trip to the Desolate Province and caught a Tribulation Transcending soul; Eldest Senior Sister told me to deliver it to the Fifth Elder." Lu Yang lifted the chains in his hand, his tone as casual as if he had returned from a vacation and brought some minor local specialties for the neighbors.

Even the father and daughter, who were quickly adapting to Lu Yang's luck, did not know what to say.

Was a Tribulation Transcending soul some kind of common Chinese cabbage, to be stumbled upon just by stepping out the door?

"Master is refining artifacts at the mountaintop right now," Li Haoran pointed the way for Lu Yang.

"Alright, I will go and return shortly; I happen to have something to ask you."

Li Haoran was left completely mystified.

Lu Yang reached the mountaintop and saw the Fifth Elder contemplating deeply over a pot, his brows furrowed into a tight knot, looking intensely conflicted.

"Fifth Elder, what are you doing?"

"Isn't our Heavenly Court Sect cooperating with the Nine Sereneries Sect by relying on the automatic kebab-roasting formation? So I was wondering if I could refine a magical treasure capable of automatic stir-frying."

"Did you succeed?"

"Not quite successful, I encountered a lot of problems. For instance, the attack power of this pot is too high or something, and I don't know where the problem lies. Let's not talk about this, what are you here for... a Tribulation Transcending powerhouse's soul?!"

The Fifth Elder snapped out of his daze, and upon seeing the soul of Venerable Witch-Sacrifice in Lu Yang's hand, his eyes gleamed with a light more ecstatic than if he had seen his wife, rubbing his hands and grinning so wide his mouth reached his ears.

"Eldest Senior Sister asked me to give it to you, saying it could be used as an artifact spirit."

"So that is indeed what she meant!" The Fifth Elder took over the chains, treating it like an invaluable treasure.

With the soul of a Tribulation Transcending powerhouse, he was confident in refining a Tribulation-grade magical treasure, which was an extremely precious experience, and this process would also be of immense help in elevating his artifact-refining skills.

The Fifth Elder threw the automatic stir-frying pot aside; with an opportunity to refine a Tribulation-grade magical treasure, who would still bother researching some automatic stir-frying pot?

Lu Yang bid farewell to the Fifth Elder, who could no longer hear a single thing, walked down the mountain to find Li Haoran, and explained his purpose.

"During my trip to the Desolate Province this time, I met a person from the Nine Sereneries Sect. Take a look and see if you recognize him."

Lu Yang used his spiritual energy to conjure the illusion of the man wearing the white paper hat.

"Mu Baiyi?"

"This person is called Mu Baiyi?"

"There is no mistake, it is Mu Baiyi. In Qin Haoran's memory, he was one of the four Vice Sect Masters of the Nine Sereneries Sect, and the youngest among the four Vice Sect Masters."

"He is now the Sect Master of the Nine Sereneries Sect."

If Lu Yang had been uncertain before whether Mu Baiyi was the Sect Master, judging from the combat power Mu Baiyi displayed during the battle of Hanshui City, he was definitely the Sect Master.

"He became the Sect Master?"

Li Haoran was slightly surprised; by seniority or by cultivation base, Mu Baiyi was not particularly outstanding, and even Shi Huagu had a greater chance of becoming the Sect Master than Mu Baiyi.

"Could it be that he made some sort of promise, such as constructing Fengdu?" Li Haoran pondered. Mu Baiyi possessed no advantage in any aspect; the only possibility was that he promised to construct Fengdu after becoming the Sect Master, so that the neutral faction would lean toward Mu Baiyi's side.

"But that is not right either. The Nine Sereneries Sect is so poor that Qin Haoran was chased by creditors every day; where would they get the money to construct Fengdu?"

Li Haoran was utterly perplexed.

"Mu Baiyi is most adept at the art of clones and the art of transformation, capable of changing into men, women, the old, and the young. Mu Baiyi said that when he was young and studying in his sect, his fellow disciples were unwilling to go to the lecture hall to study, preferring to cultivate on their own. However, the elders of the lecture hall frequently called roll, so his fellow disciples asked Mu Baiyi to call out 'present' for them, not for free, but giving Mu Baiyi spirit stones."

"It just so happened that Mu Baiyi came from a poor background and lacked spirit stones, so he agreed."

"Mu Baiyi did things conscientiously; in order not to be discovered, he learned the art of clones and the art of transformation, executing these two techniques whenever roll was called."

"Then why did he not continue studying in the sect afterward, but joined the Nine Sereneries Sect instead?" Lu Yang asked curiously, "Was the matter of calling roll for others discovered by the elders, and he was expelled from the sect?"

If one could study within a proper sect, who would come out to join a demonic sect?

"That was not the case; it was just that the sect dissolved afterward."

"Dissolved?" Lu Yang became even more puzzled. Why would a perfectly fine sect dissolve?

"The sect was also quite strange. Clearly, there were many disciples coming to the lecture hall to study, and the attendance rate was one hundred percent, yet the year-end evaluations were an utter mess, with Mu Baiyi being the only one with prominent grades."

"The sect felt that they were incapable of teaching people and did not want to ruin the disciples' futures, so they dissolved."

Lu Yang: "..."