The Sect Leader's Token

Leaving Taoyuan range and passing through Yangliu Bay halfway down the road, he couldn't help but think back on what had happened a few months earlier. A wave of emotion welled up in him.

Lu Zi'an, Pinggu, and theXishan Hermit. One was about to reach Foundation Establishment, one was at the fifth level of Qi Refinement, and one at the eighth. After decades of hard work on the path of cultivation, all of them fell short at the final hurdle and turned into nothing more than a pile of dirt. Was that simply their fate?

Then what about his own?

Suddenly, the Quze acupoint on the Hand Faint Yin (Pericardium) Meridian started to throb violently. Liu Xiaolou felt a rush of both excitement and urgency.

Excitement, because the five spirit stones he'd used to refine the formation disk hadn't gone to waste after all. The spiritual energy within them had, at least in part, been converted into true qi, giving a significant boost to his efforts at breaking through the Quze acupoint.

Urgency, because he needed to find a quiet, safe place right away to make the breakthrough, or risk being interrupted.

The closest option was, of course, Pinggu's old residence. Liu Xiaolou rushed over without delay, vaulted over the wall, and entered the courtyard. The place had been abandoned for months and was now overgrown with weeds.

He picked a room at random, stepped inside, took a spirit stone in hand, and began converting its spiritual energy into true qi. Sitting cross-legged, he focused on breaking through the Quze acupoint.

Days passed like this. Then, in a certain moment, the Quze acupoint could no longer withstand the repeated impact of his true qi. It was finally breached. The flow of true qi surged through and pooled in the acupoint's primordial pool.

Of the nine major acupoints on the Pericardium Meridian, three had now been opened. It had taken half a year in total. It's a fairly fast pace, all things considered. The main reason, really, was that he'd come into a few small windfalls over the past year, and within the Sanxuan Sect, he alone had full access to the spirit stones.

Of course, his own modest achievements couldn't compare to the disciples from prestigious sects. Those people never had to worry about spiritual energy; they cultivate right next to spirit springs, and their Qi Refinement levels shot up like nothing. That kind of life was just out of reach.

Still, among rogue cultivators, being eighteen, well... nineteen now, and already at the third level of Qi Refinement, that was nothing to scoff at. He was definitely one of the rising talents. Even Wei Hongqing had been only nineteen when he'd entered the third layer Qi Refinement. By that measure, Liu Xiaolou was already six months ahead.

Feeling pretty good, he stretched his legs with a short stroll around the courtyard. He remembered how rushed things had been that day. When he'd first come here, he'd only searched the place to look for people, not for valuables. Now that he had time, maybe he could dig up something useful.

Sure enough, after rummaging through the drawers and cabinets, he found a hidden compartment in the headboard. Inside was a small wooden box containing a few small silver ingots; a bit over twenty taels by the look of it. Not bad at all. A nice little windfall.

Besides the silver, there was also a thick stack of letters. Thirteen in total, all written by Lu Zi'an to Pinggu. Flipping through them casually, Liu Xiaolou saw that they spanned more than three years.

The early letters were full of teasing and crude jokes, mostly focused on bedroom talk. It was pretty clear that, at least in the beginning, Lu Zi'an had gotten involved with Pinggu mostly out of lust. Maybe with a bit of curiosity thrown in for flavor.

By the middle batch of letters, the tone had gradually shifted into something more normal. Lu Zi'an wrote about helping Pinggu out of a few tricky situations, often peppering his words with a bit of self-praise. Pinggu's replies weren't in the box, but judging by the way Lu Zi'an wrote, they were probably full of gratitude; enough to give him a solid sense of pride and accomplishment.

Over time, Lu Zi'an also began to share more about the major events happening in his own life. In the last few letters, he told Pinggu that Mount Tianmu was about to begin selecting new inner sect disciples, and that he had a strong shot at making it in. If he succeeded, he'd be awarded a Foundation Establishment Pill and officially step into the ranks of Foundation Establishment cultivators. He went on about everything he'd achieve once that happened.

But in the second-to-last letter, the tone changed. Lu Zi'an sounded uneasy. He wrote that among the outer sect disciples, his cultivation level was among the highest, and he had originally been the frontrunner for selection. But in recent months, a series of small incidents had caused his standing to plummet in the eyes of the elders. The sect's attention had shifted toward another candidate . A female disciple named Lu Yanshi. He suspected that she was behind the whole string of mishaps.

In the final letter, Lu Zi'an launched into a furious rant. He called Lu Yanshi ruthless and shameless, saying she was as venomous as a black widow spider. And not just metaphorically, either. According to him, she truly lived up to the name and must have been one of those creatures in a past life.

He didn't stop there. He said the "widow Lu" was skilled in seduction and sexual arts. And he accused her of using her looks to entertain others, seducing sect elders and fellow disciples alike to build her network of influence. He even claimed she kept a gang of thugs and pretty-boy lackeys outside the sect, using them like servants in her own private court.

At the end of the final letter, Lu Zi'an wrote that he planned to take Pinggu far away — a journey of a thousand li — to start a new life together. He told her not to worry. He claimed to know the rough location of an ancient immortal's cave dwelling hidden somewhere in the land of Bashu, and he intended to take her there to explore it. From then on, they would walk the path of cultivation side by side, rising together into the clouds.

After reading all this, Liu Xiaolou couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion. He truly hadn't expected the theft of the Foundation Establishment Pill at Mount Tianmu to have come about because of something like this.

He thought for a moment, then carefully put the letters back in the wooden box, planning to hand them over to Wei Hongqing at some point. Better to let him read them for himself.

Lu Zi'an had described quite a few people and events at Mount Tianmu from his own perspective. Wei Hongqing had aligned himself with the Lu clan there, though Liu Xiaolou wasn't sure whether he'd managed to become an outer sect disciple like he'd hoped. In any case, having a better understanding of the sect's internal affairs could only be a good thing for him.

There were still a few slabs of cured meat hanging from a beam in the kitchen. Liu Xiaolou, not one to stand on ceremony, helped himself and filled his belly.

As he ate, he thought of the gift Lord Xingde had given him. After uncovering such a private piece of history, his curiosity had been fully stirred. He could no longer resist. Breaking his promise, he finally opened the wooden box.

Inside were just two items. The first was a Daoist manual, written on thick, rough mulberry bark paper. Its title was The Thousandfold Formulas. It detailed the eighteen categories of materials used in refining formation disks. For each category, the book described several key materials in detail, then gave examples of others with similar properties that could serve as substitutes.

The manual clearly wasn't a recent copy. And certainly not something written in the past few months. It looked like it had some age to it.

Beneath The Thousandfold Formulas lay a wooden token carved from rosewood. On the front were three characters: Command of the Purple Pole Sect. The back bore a passage of sect doctrine, inscribed by the sect's founding patriarch, Shen Wulu:

"Without studying the scriptures, relying only on external tools, how can one attain the Dao?

The Dao resides in people. To follow it, one must stay true to the One and not waver.

Those who fixate only on tools are like people who live their whole lives indoors, never stepping outside.

How could they possibly see the path?"

It seemed meant to remind later disciples that cultivation couldn't rely solely on tools and artifacts; the core teachings and scriptures were just as essential.

A secret manual of the Purple Pole Sect, and a sect master's command token... what was the meaning behind this?

Thinking back on the months he'd spent interacting with Lord Xingde and remembering every little moment of guidance Lord Xingde had given him during the refining of the formation disk, Liu Xiaolou began to understand. This was a passing of the torch. Lord Xingde meant to hand down the legacy of the Purple Pole Sect to him.

Liu Xiaolou took out his own command token from the Sanxuan Sect and placed it next to the one from the Purple Pole Sect. The two tokens looked quite similar: old, worn with age, and clearly carrying the weight of time. He turned them over in his hands, rubbing the surfaces, and couldn't help but let out a wry smile.

Given that he'd saved Lord Xingde's life, this gesture wasn't exactly over the top. But still... he was already the sect master of the Sanxuan Sect. Now he was supposed to take on the role of sect master of the Purple Pole Sect as well? What even was this situation?

Then, a sudden thought struck him: if Lord Xingde was willing to give up his sect master's seat, why hadn't he let Liu Xiaolou stay at Xingde Temple?

The realization hit him like lightning. Lord Xingde was leaving. No, not just leaving; he was running.

Why would he be running?

Of course.... he was eloping!