Beyond the Sky Above Chapter 10

Becoming an inner disciple has always been the dream of the outer peak disciples. For example, when Grace He was accepted, she could only stay in the outer peak because of her not-so-good aptitude. This made her very unconvinced, and she practiced hard, determined to prove herself.

The Jinghai Sect is now in a period of transition. Its strength was not strong to begin with. Ever since the death of elder Weng Hua eight years ago, there has not been a Jindan-stage cultivator in the sect to take over, resulting in the embarrassing situation of having only two elders under the sect leader.

As for the inner disciples, except for Lu Yanping who advanced to the late stage of foundation building, the rest are mostly lingering in the early and middle stages of foundation building. For example, Ye Yunjing, the head of the outer peak, has remained in the intermediate stage of foundation building and his hope is slim.

In this situation, injecting new blood into the sect becomes a top priority.

In addition to recruiting as many new disciples as possible from outside every year, Zou Jingyuan also promoted a group of former outer peak disciples. Oscar Huang and others were among them. Since Zhou Yin was already at the seventh level of Qi Refining before his retreat and was very calm in the face of difficulties, he naturally became an inner peak disciple.

Grace He enthusiastically introduced all this to him, and said happily: "That's good now. Our Jinghai Sect will have more and more disciples, and one day we will be able to become one of the major sects. I heard that there will be a tasting conference in ten years, and then all the major sects in the world will gather to learn from each other. Ah Yin, you work so hard, maybe then you can make a name for yourself and become famous in the mainland."

"Time waits for no one."

"What?" Grace He was stunned.

"If a sect does not have a Nascent Soul cultivator for a long time, it will slowly decline. Even if there are many new disciples, it will be of no use. No matter how talented these people are, they can never become high-level cultivators all at once."

Grace He rarely heard him talk so much, but she was a very smart person. After hearing what he said, she thought about it and said in surprise: "You mean, Jinghai Sect will sooner or later... It's not that bad, the head and the two elders are now in the late Jindan stage, only one step away from Yuanying."

"The further you progress in your cultivation, the harder it is to move forward."

As for Zou Jingyuan and the other two elders of Jinghai Sect whom he met, they were all at the end of their Jindan stage and had failed in the promotion several times. It would be difficult for them to make any breakthrough unless a miracle happened.

Grace He sighed softly: "But we are disciples of Jinghai School after all. If the skin is gone, where will the hair be attached?"

Zhou Yin did not answer this question because he was also thinking.

The foundation-building stage might be a good thing to show off in the Jinghai Sect, but if you were to do it outside, you would be lost in the vast sea of people. There are tens of thousands of cultivators in this world, not to mention the foundation-building stage, and even those who have already formed a pill are countless. Even someone like Zhou Yin, who had come all the way from a casual cultivator in his previous life, had to admit that unless he had nowhere else to go, being able to cultivate under a large sect was a safe and stable way.

Although the Jinghai Sect is in decline, it still has a lot of assets, including spiritual stones, magic weapons, and disciples. These are all resources that many other sects want to take for themselves. Once Zou Jingyuan fails in his attempt to break through and dies, the sect will be leaderless and it will be easy for others to take advantage of the situation.

Zhou Yin suddenly discovered that this unexpected development was a huge deviation from his original idea.

He originally planned to find an inconspicuous small sect to practice in peace and quiet without being disturbed by too many external disputes. However, who knew that the situation would be completely changed five thousand years later. The dynasties on the continent were torn apart, the winner was the king and the loser was the bandit. Since cultivators possessed more powerful strength than mortals, many naked human desires no longer needed to be concealed. Small sects were not necessarily safe, but could be even more dangerous.

Zou Jingyuan only wanted to see Zhou Yin, so Grace He accompanied him to the outside of the headmaster's study and stopped.

"You can go in by yourself. The master is waiting for you inside."

This was not the first time Zhou Yin had been to the Inner Peak, but he had never been to the headmaster's study. Everywhere he looked, he saw lush greenery outside the house, with beautiful trees and flowers growing around the study. In fact, these plants formed a hidden barrier, so that no matter what happened inside, no matter how loud the sound was, it would not be easily transmitted.

Lu Yanping was also there. Zou Jingyuan was telling him about some daily affairs of the sect. When he saw Zhou Yin coming in, he was surprised at first and then happy. He immediately said with a smile: "You have already established your foundation? Very good, very good!"

He had expected that Zhou Yin would have made considerable gains after eight years of seclusion, but Zhou Yin's performance was still beyond his expectations.

Lu Yanping was also very surprised. He did not expect that Zhou Yin, an outer disciple with ordinary qualifications, had gone from an ordinary person with no foundation to breaking through Qi Refining and successfully building a foundation in just over a decade.

Zhou Yin said: "If it weren't for the Peiyuan Pill and the Spirit Stone given by the Sect Leader, I wouldn't have been able to build my foundation so quickly."

Zou Jingyuan waved his hand and asked him to sit down in a friendly manner: "Since you have entered the inner sect, you can call me Master like Yanping from now on. There is no need to be polite. Pills can only serve as icing on the cake. If you rely on pills blindly, it will certainly work for a while, but the foundation will become weaker and it will be easy to be counterattacked. Now I see that your cultivation is solid and your spiritual energy is pure. It is obvious that you have gained enlightenment and reached a certain level. You naturally broke through. There is no need to be too modest!"

After affirming Zhou Yin's progress, Zou Jingyuan was worried that he would become complacent, and said: "But you can't slack off because of this. You must know that the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold. Don't say that your talent is average. Even if you are gifted, if you are not willing to work hard, you will be mediocre in the end. You came at the right time today. I have something to say to you."

Lu Yanping heard the hidden meaning of his master's words and became serious.

"Anyang was destroyed and annexed by Dongyue. Although our Jinghai Sect is a sect of immortal cultivation and does not involve worldly affairs, it is inevitable that it will be affected. Besides, within the sect, Yanping, Zhou Yin, you two have never traveled far since you joined the sect, so it is inevitable that you are sitting in a well and looking at the world. Now, the world's largest sect, Shangxuan Sect, has thirteen Yuanying cultivators alone, not to mention the seven peaks below, and there are dozens of Jindan cultivators. There are also 10 Yuanying cultivators in Tianyan Sect and Qinggu Sect. Even the Jinting Sect, which is in Anyang with us, has two Yuanying cultivators. Therefore, others will be afraid and dare not offend easily. Although my Jinghai Sect has a long history, it has lost its talents. Now it is not even as good as a third-rate sect. Once I fall..."

"Master!" Lu Yanping interrupted hastily without paying attention to etiquette, and knelt on the ground with a plop. "Master, please don't say such ominous words!"

"Get up. Although our Jinghai Sect is small, our disciples will not act like such nagging daughters!" Zou Jingyuan was not as kind as usual, and his tone was a little harsh. After Lu Yanping stood up, he continued: "What I just said was not alarmist. You should all know that for all immortal cultivators, the life span of the ninth level of Qi Refining is 200 years, the life span of the peak of Foundation Building is 400 years, and the life span of the late stage of Core Formation is at most 500 years. Depending on the depth of cultivation, even if there is a discrepancy between these numbers, it is only about ten years. My life span is now 495 years. I have been busy managing the sect these years, and I have long given up cultivation. In the remaining five years of life, there is no hope of advancing to the next level."

Lu Yanping was horrified when he heard this and could not help but look up. He found that his master's face was indeed much more haggard than before, with more white hair on his temples and even the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes could not be concealed. When a cultivator reaches a certain level of cultivation, unless encountering an unexpected change, his appearance will remain unchanged until his death. But in such a short period of time, Zou Jingyuan's appearance has changed so much, which is obviously not a good sign.

"Master..."

Zou Jingyuan ignored him and continued to say to the two of them: "Once I die, the remaining two elders will have many conflicts with each other. Once one of them becomes the head of Jinghai Sword Sect, the other will definitely not accept it. At that time, our sect will have internal strife. So after thinking about it, I plan to let Yanping take over the position of head."

"Master!" Lu Yanping was shocked. He was smooth by nature and good at dealing with the elders in the sect and his fellow junior brothers and sisters. He was able to get along with everyone and was very popular. But he never expected that his master would pass the position of the sect leader to him who was only in the late stage of foundation building when there was an elder in the Jindan stage in the sect.

Zhou Yin stood there, listening indifferently, neither speaking nor expressing his opinion, as if it had nothing to do with him.

The battle with the Qinggu Sect members made Zou Jingyuan notice Zhou Yin for the first time, but what satisfied Zou Jingyuan the most was his calm response to the monster incident.

After Weng Hua's death, there were only two elders left in the sect, but Zou Jingyuan was not close to them. This time, he insisted on having Lu Yanping take over as the head of the sect, which made the two elders even more displeased. Although they had not yet reached the point of falling out with each other in person, Zou Jingyuan knew very well that once he was gone, with Lu Yanping's cultivation level in the late foundation building stage, it would be difficult for him to suppress the two elders with the cultivation level of the Jindan stage.

In order to make his beloved disciple capable enough to compete with the two elders, he had to discover talents among the rising stars of Jinghai School so that they could assist Lu Yanping.

Zou Jingyuan had explained the interests involved to Lu Yanping long before Zhou Yin came in. Lu Yanping understood it immediately and realized his master's painstaking efforts.

He asked Lu Yanping to leave first, and then he said to Zhou Yin: "I have seen your performance over the years and I am very satisfied. In Jinghai Sword Sect, your brothers and sisters may have higher cultivation than you, but no one is as cautious and sharp as you. Are you willing to assist Yanping and revitalize Jinghai Sword Sect?"

As early as when he let him in and said those words, Zhou Yin understood his intention, but he did not express his loyalty with fear and gratitude. Hearing this, he said: "I joined the Jinghai Sword Sect, and it was you who provided me with Peiyuan Pills and Spirit Stones to help me build my foundation. This kindness must be repaid."

Zou Jingyuan sighed and said with a bitter smile: "Zhou Yin, I am not asking for repayment. The Jinghai Sect is in a difficult situation right now. For the sake of the overall situation, I have to make such arrangements. I know that you are devoted to cultivation and don't like to get involved in these things, but you are also responsible for the rise and fall of the sect. As long as you work hard for the sect, you will not have to worry about the spiritual stones and Peiyuan Pills you need for future cultivation. When Yanping takes over the important task, according to your qualifications, it is not impossible for you to become an elder of our sect."

He looked at Zhou Yin and couldn't help feeling a little regretful. If Zhou Yin could have been trained since childhood, perhaps his cultivation would have been more than what it is now. But now time is pressing and he has no time to do these things.