A life of clearness

Chapter 74: The Master
"You have already reached the fifth level of Qi training. Your speed is only faster than those with similar resources as you." Rong Qing and Yun Nong stood beside the lake at the bottom of the valley. The two figures, one tall and one short, were reflected in the lake, looking very harmonious. "When it comes to cultivation, remember to be modest and prudent."

"Yunnong understands." There was a fear that was hard to conceal in the pair of almond-shaped eyes on her pretty face.

How can I not be afraid?
Just two hours ago, Mr. Yu flew down from the sky and walked into the Banri Tower as if no one was around, attracting all the Baishi Temple disciples in the valley who had not yet entered the dead-end retreat to gather.

The first thing she did was announce the deaths of Yun Tong and Ling Fu.

The registered disciples were immediately in an uproar. Yun Nong was as flustered as everyone else when she heard the news. Yun Tong and Ling Fu were the two strongest people in Baishi Temple, and they were also the only two Jindan-stage cultivators. Jindan-stage might not be considered a big deal in Cangliuzhou City, but outside the city, the two Jindan cultivators could still protect the peace in this valley.

In a trance, Yun Nong saw that Uncle Feng Cong and Master Shan Xing had bitter but not shocked expressions on their faces, and suddenly she understood where the vague feeling of impending storm in the valley came from some time ago.

The second thing was that Rong Qing announced that he would be the new abbot of Baishi Temple.

"If you are dissatisfied, you can challenge me, only today." Rong Qing looked around, and all the disciples dared not look her in the eye. "And as the master of the temple, I will be going to the opening ceremony soon, which means that there will be no Jindan cultivators in the valley for the next three years. Therefore, I allow registered disciples, and those who want to leave today can leave on their own."

"Why do you allow the registered disciples to leave?" Feng Cong asked solemnly. But on the surface, he did not dare to be disrespectful to Rong Qing. "If we let them leave, I wonder what specific requirements the temple master has."

"The old and the new are replaced. I won't keep those whose hearts are not here." Rong Qing glanced at Feng Cong. "Besides, it doesn't cost much to train registered disciples. Just let them pack up their things and leave. If the disciple of Master Yuntong wants to leave, then the price he has to pay will be huge."

Feng Cong heard the implication in Rong Qing's words and was extremely angry. But even so, he had to endure the unhappiness. After hesitating for a while, he mustered up the courage to ask: "Master Yu, can you tell me how my master died?"

"This is a long story, why don't we go upstairs and talk while we walk?" Rong Qing looked at Shan Xing, "What do you think?"

Shan Xing concealed the deep thought in his eyes, bowed and saluted, "I obey the order of the master."

Seeing the three most powerful disciples slowly walking up the stairs, the group of registered disciples who were originally trembling with fear occasionally looked at each other and quietly retreated from the crowd.

Yun Nong looked at these people coldly, without any expression. She had no foundation in Cangliuzhou and could only rely on Baishi Temple. The little princess, who was originally spoiled and lived in luxury, had learned to read people's expressions even though she had become Shan Xing's disciple. Although the valley was small in scale, the interpersonal relationships were quite complicated.

She had no next home, so with her Qi training level, she would be dead if she walked out of the valley. Therefore, even though Baishi Temple seemed to be in jeopardy, Yun Nong still wanted to gamble. She bet that Baishi Temple could pass this test.

On the other side, Rong Qing walked in front and climbed to the top floor of Banri Building. Feng Cong and Shan Xing followed behind her, watching her casually brush away the protective restrictions between the floors.

"You two are Yun Tong's direct disciples. It is reasonable for me to tell you in detail what happened at that time." However, there are some things, especially those about Concubine Ji, that Rong Qing will naturally not let them know, so she only talked about how Yun Tong was killed with a sword in the mirror table and ended it.

"I am the enemy who killed your master. But from the perspective of Baishi Temple, I am also your master. So, today is a special case and you are allowed to leave on your own. You two, I hope you don't leave. If you want to leave, I said it will cost you a lot." Rong Qing walked to the top floor, walked to the window, and opened it. "Today is a special case, you can think about it carefully."

Banri Tower was originally located above the valley. Rong Qing looked down from the top floor and had a clear view of almost the entire valley.

About half an hour later, a registered disciple of the Qi Refining Stage flew up on his sword first. Noticing Rong Qing's gaze, he bowed three times in the direction of Rong Qing, looking very young, to show his loyalty to Baishi Temple. Then he flew outwards on his sword at a faster speed until he completely left the valley and disappeared.

Seeing the first person leave smoothly, Rong Qing and the others did not try to stop him. The few people who were just watching also flew away on their swords. Yun Nong saw clearly that they were the ones who exchanged glances first.

And this time, most of them went. Those who had not originally thought of this, seeing that the Baishi Temple was doomed, hurried to the small building where they lived to pack up their things.

It's not surprising that they made such a decision.

Two Jindan stage cultivators were just guarding a small valley outside Cangliuzhou City. Now there is only one Jindan stage cultivator left, and she will go to participate in the opening of the sky in a few days. Let's not talk about whether a Jindan cultivator can successfully get a quota. Even if she didn't get it and came back safely, so what? Without a Jindan cultivator, there are many similar forces outside the valley who want to occupy this place. If she gets the quota and leaves for three years, there will only be two foundation-building cultivators in this valley, which is equivalent to the dissolution of this sect.

It would have been fine if Rong Qing hadn't announced the news of Yun Tong and Ling Fu's death, just like Feng Cong and Shan Xing did, to maintain a brief peace. But now that she has announced it, I'm afraid all the surrounding forces will know about it. Since ancient times, when a wall falls, everyone pushes it down, and there are many sects that want to take advantage of the situation...

The people in the square left one by one. Even Yun Nong herself began to waver. She regretted why she had arrived at Cangliuzhou so late and had not been able to leave the valley until now, let alone get to know the surrounding sects.

"You're not leaving?" Yun Nong looked at a senior brother who was five steps away from her. As soon as she asked this question, she actually figured out the answer. Although this senior brother entered the sect much earlier than her, his cultivation was lower than hers.

It was because he had five-element spiritual roots, and even his spiritual roots were of extremely low quality, so he could barely practice. If he left Baishi Temple, other sects would not want him. In Baishi Temple, although he was the least valued, he could at least get some basic resources. Yun Nong thought of this and looked nervously at the top floor of Banri Building. There, Mr. Yu, who she once knew but now was a stranger to her, was lazily leaning against the window, and he didn't care about the registered disciples leaving one by one.

Yun Nong secretly thought that if Baishi Temple was really disbanded, then she should stay close to her master. After all, her own aptitude was not particularly bad, so even if Shan Xing took her to switch to another sect, she would not be left behind.

Seeing the figures flying away on swords one by one, Feng Cong finally stopped being silent and couldn't help but say, "Master Yu, are you just going to let them go like this? If this goes on, I'm afraid there will be no successors in Baishi Temple. And among the group that just left, some of them have average spiritual roots, but their aptitude for cultivation is not bad."

Rong Qing looked at him strangely, "Aren't you the successor disciples of Baishi Temple? What are you worried about?" She chuckled, "The current Baishi Temple is just a small boat, and it wants to sail on the sea. I was thinking about how to let the extra people leave, but you were thinking about how to keep them."

Shan Xing, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke up after a flash of glance, "Master Yu, you seem to be certain that my two brothers will stay."

"I'm not sure." Rong Qing shook her head. "I didn't ask you to stay, but it would be beneficial for both of us if you stayed. To be honest, I am the abbot of Baishi Temple. As long as I am here, Baishi Temple will exist. As for the disciples, I let them go, naturally to make way for new people in the future."

The number of names that can be recorded in the Baishi Temple roster is not unlimited. Names like Yun Tong and Ling Fu have completely disappeared. As those registered disciples left, the names on the roster disappeared one by one. This was not done by Rong Qing, but the Baishi Temple seemed to have its own intelligence to eliminate those names! For this reason alone, Rong Qing must pay attention to this roster. And the names on this roster must also have some mysterious aspects that need to be explored.

"Who is he?" Rong Qing pointed at a tall man beside Yun Nong. This man had ordinary facial features, but when they were put together, he looked handsome.

"His name is Lin Tian. He started practicing Qi at the same year as me and is now at the second level of Qi training." Shan Xing replied.

Rong Qing said softly. In fact, she saw Lin Tian's name on the list, but she didn't know it from other people's perspective, so she had to ask.

"Is he sure he's not leaving?"

"He won't leave." Shan Xing looked at the unknown person in the temple. With such talent and cultivation, even if his fellow disciples wanted to bully him, it would be difficult. "He has very poor talent and five spiritual roots. Even if he wants to leave, other sects will not accept him. And... he can't fly with a flying weapon."

"That's it..."

Rong Qing checked the roster. The originally long list of names now only had five, which made her feel much clearer.

Yu Rong, Feng Cong, Shan Xing, Yun Nong, Lin Tian.

One is Jindan, two are foundation-building, and two are Qi training.

These are all the people and strengths in Baishi Temple now.

At this time, Shanxing took a deep breath and said, "Shanxing is willing to stay and accept Master Yu as the abbot, and the hatred of killing my master will be resolved. But!" He looked at Rong Qing firmly, "I still feel very uneasy. The abbot must not want to leave and be swallowed up by other sects. I wonder what the abbot thinks about this. Although Shanxing is weak, he is willing to lend a helping hand to the abbot."

Rong Qing knew that although Feng Cong hadn't spoken, his meaning was the same as Shan Xing's. She had to take action to win the trust of the remaining four people. And this action was something she would have done even if they didn't mention it...

"I'll be back in half an hour." Her words were very calm, but they rang clearly in the ears of the four people.

Rong Qing jumped out of the window at an extremely fast speed and disappeared from the four people's sight almost instantly.

How is she going to do it!!

This thought occurred to the four people at the same time. However, now they could only wait silently.

No matter how everyone's emotions fluctuated during this half hour, half an hour later, a white figure really fell from the sky.

"I got the chance to establish my authority at the right time." Rong Qing slapped the storage bag, and a corpse fell heavily to the ground in front of the five people.

"Master of Jingyin Valley!" Feng Cong and Shan Xing gasped. "You actually killed him."

"That's right. Originally, I only wanted to go to the surrounding sects and challenge the sect masters one by one, so that they would be afraid. Unexpectedly, most of the disciples who left on their own went to Jingyin Valley. Moreover, the master of Jingyin Valley is really a man of swift and decisive character." Rong Qing sighed a little, lowered her eyes and looked at the bearded middle-aged man. It seemed that she could also see his hot temper from his face. However, the man still maintained the disbelief and fear before his death, and died with his eyes open. "As soon as he learned that such a thing happened in Baishi Temple, as a Nascent Soul cultivator, he was more anxious than anyone else. He hurried here with those registered disciples, fearing that he would have to give others a share of soup if he was late."

Yun Nong looked at the faint smile on Rong Qing's face and felt that the Mr. Yu in front of her was extremely unfamiliar.

Yun Nong didn't know what Rong Qing was happy about. Rong Qing was happy that she had almost fulfilled all the conditions she agreed to with the Floating Word Book. This meant that she would talk to the Floating Word Book again and get more information.

"There was a Jindan cultivator with him, so I killed him as well. Let the four registered disciples go, they will help us spread the news to all the surrounding areas."

“Jingyin Valley has the greatest influence in this area, because the valley master is a Nascent Soul True Lord, even if he is only in the early stage. There were also four Jindan cultivators in the valley. Now there are only three left. Not to mention their internal strife, I’m afraid other powerful sects will all go and stir up trouble.” Feng Cong understood that the danger of Baishi Temple was resolved... From its appearance to its end, it took less than two hours.

"However, the temple master actually killed two high-level cultivators, especially a Yuanying Zhenjun."

"Can't they kill me?" Rong Qing said with a smile, "After they knew I was the temple master, they took the initiative to attack me, and showed no mercy."

"Cangliuzhou does not have a rule that prohibits killing people. It's just... after all, it's still under the control of the Inspector."

"So, he raised you all like rabbits." Rong Qing said softly. In the North, there are many sects, and frictions and disputes are endless. There are even more life-threatening cultivators, and the extremely dangerous secret realm quotas are fought for. Even if Cangliuzhou is blessed by nature and the qualifications of the cultivators there are generally very high, it has long been a consensus that it cannot compete with the cultivators from other continents in terms of Kaitian quotas.

Feng Cong was silent for a moment after hearing this, and finally he sighed inwardly and bowed deeply to Rong Qing, "From now on, Feng Cong will follow the orders of the master and obey your orders."

Feng Cong and Shan Xing now understood Rong Qing's thoughts. She no longer managed Baishi Temple as a sect, and she let go of the disciples. Feng Cong, Shan Xing, Yun Nong, and Lin Tian seemed to be disciples of Baishi Temple, but in fact, they were Rong Qing's subordinates. If the subordinates were not qualified, they would be eliminated and replaced by new people soon.

Feng Cong, Shan Xing and Yun Tong have some feelings for each other, but they are not deep. In the face of practical interests, they can clearly distinguish what they want.

(End of this chapter)