Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

"Mr. Lin, I'll ask just one question, will you exchange it or not?"

After finishing his words, Zhao Sheng stood as if he would leave the moment the answer was no.

The lame old man's face changed between shades of dark and light for a while before he finally gritted his teeth and squeezed out a word, "Exchange!"

Before the echo of his voice had faded, he immediately emphasized, "But you must swear an oath that the Corpse Control Technique and the Resurrection Skill can only be cultivated by you alone and not be disclosed to anyone else."

"Agreed," Zhao Sheng answered briskly.

Moments later, Zhao Sheng left the Charity Estate in high spirits, completely ignoring the gloomy expression on the lame old man's face behind him.

Three days later, in an Earth Fire Room of the Hundred Refinement Workshop, within the inner city of Pocket World City.

Zhao Sheng was fully focused, his hands continuously forming the Sacrificial Formulas, as streaks of spirit light flew from his hands into the Spirit Fire Gourd two yards away.

At this moment, the Spirit Fire Gourd was bobbing up and down in a mass of cyan Earth Fire, with faint purple flames emerging from the mouth of the gourd,n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

As the Sacrificial Fire Technique was infused, wisps of cyan Earth Fire were constantly being absorbed into the Spirit Fire Gourd and gradually transformed into a pale purple Spiritual Fire.

After three hours, the cyan Earth Fire suddenly weakened rapidly and quickly fell back into the Earth Fire Eye below.

At that moment, the Spirit Fire Gourd was surrounded by a faint purple spiritual light, and above its mouth appeared a flame tiger the size of a thumb, extremely lively and vivid.

Zhao Sheng reached out and summoned the Spirit Fire Gourd back into his hand.

Looking at the very spiritual Tiger Spirit, Zhao Sheng nodded in satisfaction and then stored the Spirit Gourd back into his Storage Bag.

After Cultivators tame Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire, because it loses the environment it relies on to survive, the Spiritual Fire will gradually lose its spirituality over time.

In order to maintain the spirituality of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire, Cultivators have created many methods over thousands of years, and the Sacrificial Fire Technique is one of them.

Zhao Sheng stood up and left the Earth Fire Room, then directly returned to the Golden Talisman Pavilion of the Treasure Talisman Pavilion after leaving the Hundred Refinement Workshop.

As soon as he entered the shop's door, the female servant Xiao Huan came forward to greet him and said in a low voice, "Shopkeeper, Senior Wei from the Origin Return Sect has come again; he is waiting for you in the back courtyard parlor."

Zhao Sheng frowned slightly, waved his hand, and calmly said, "I understand, go on with your work!"

After speaking, Zhao Sheng turned and walked toward the back courtyard.

The Golden Talisman Pavilion was not large; it only took a few steps to go from the front hall to the back courtyard.

Zhao Sheng soon walked into the back courtyard parlor and saw his "old friend" Wei Youquan.

Compared to ten years ago, Wei Youquan looked like a different person. Not only had he become much younger, but his demeanor was also majestic, with a confident and proud look between his brows, completely devoid of the timid and shrunken appearance of the previous years.

What Zhao Sheng found most astonishing was that Wei Youquan had reached the Foundation Establishment phase.

Ten years ago, Wei Youquan's cultivation was only at the Sixth Level of Qi Refining.

In just a short ten years, he had successively passed through the seventh, eighth, and ninth levels of Qi Refining, and then advanced to Foundation Establishment in one breath.

This was considered a miracle to any Cultivator!

Therefore, the Origin Return Sect intentionally sent Wei Youquan to Pocket World City and entrusted him with heavy responsibilities, clearly treating him as a "walking advertisement."

According to what he had seen and heard over the past few years, Wei Youquan truly lived up to expectations, and he performed his duties quite exceptionally.

"Haha, Brother Wei! How come you have the time to visit me today? You are a very busy man!" Zhao Sheng greeted him cheerfully as soon as he entered the door.

"Brother Zhao, I won't hide it from you, I don't come to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing! I'm here today specifically to deliver an invitation," Wei Youquan stood up and said with a smile, giving Zhao Sheng a cupped hands salute.

"Oh, what kind of invitation? Enough to prompt Dean Wei himself to deliver it personally?" Zhao Sheng walked into the living room, his face expressing confusion.

"Our sect will soon have a Golden Core Master grace Pocket World City with his presence. He specifically requested Brother Zhao to attend a cultivation gathering."

As he spoke, Wei Youquan waved his long sleeve, and a light red invitation inscribed with a mountain peak fluttered out of his cuff, gently flying into Zhao Sheng's hands.

Zhao Sheng opened the invitation, read through its contents, his expression changed slightly, but quickly returned to a smile, "It's an honor to be invited by a True Immortal. I will most certainly arrive at the Spirit Essence Institute on time in three days."

"Well, with that settled, I will not disturb Brother Zhao any longer. Farewell!"

Saying this, Wei Youquan cupped one fist in the other hand and began to walk away.

"Brother Wei, why the rush to leave? Let's chat a bit more; I recently acquired a jar of two-hundred-year-old Drunken Spring Breeze. Today, let's not stop until we're thoroughly inebriated!"

Zhao Sheng couldn't let Wei Youquan leave just like that. He needed to probe and figure out why a Golden Core Master would invite him to a cultivation gathering without any apparent reason.

Upon hearing about the two-hundred-year-old Drunken Spring Breeze, Wei Youquan abruptly stopped in his tracks, saliva flooding his mouth.

He had a vast array of pleasures in his life, but his love for liquor was unmatched. The mention from Zhao Sheng immediately tempted his inner alcoholic worm.

But... thinking of the True Immortal's orders, Wei Youquan regretfully swallowed, turned back, and laughed heartily, "Haha, Brother Zhao is too kind! But I'm incredibly busy today; another day then! I will definitely come by another time. You must keep that jar of Drunken Spring Breeze for me."

With a thought, Zhao Sheng immediately pulled out a human-head-sized Jade White Wine Jar from his Storage Bag and placed it into Wei Youquan's hands.

"If that's the case, I'll give this jar of Drunken Spring Breeze to Brother Wei. I ask for nothing more than for you to speak favorably of me in front of the True Immortal."

Upon hearing this, Wei Youquan immediately knew there was a hidden message in Zhao Sheng's words, and quickly slapped his chest to assure, "Brother Zhao, rest assured! The True Immortal inviting you is a good thing, certainly not bad."

You all?

Hearing this, Zhao Sheng seized the moment to ask, "Besides me, which other Taoists have been invited?"

Realizing his slip of the tongue, Wei Youquan laughed it off, "Brother Zhao, no need to ask further; you will know once you're there."

After Wei Youquan left, Zhao Sheng remained alone in the living room, his gaze flickering uncertainly, contemplating deeply.

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Three days passed in a blink of an eye,

Just after the third quarter of the Chen hour, Zhao Sheng, dressed in a blue Daoist robe, stepped out of the Golden Talisman Pavilion and headed towards Jinggu Square in the inner city.

The Spirit Essence Institute, one of the three lower institutes set up by the Origin Return Sect in Pocket World City, was located in Jinggu Square on the eastern side of the inner city. It wasn't small in size and consisted of a complex of courtyard buildings.

A quarter of an hour later, Zhao Sheng arrived at the Spirit Essence Institute. After explaining his purpose to the gatekeeping disciple and showing the invitation, he was quickly invited inside.

Passing through three layers of courtyards, Zhao Sheng noticed many disciples dressed in red robes; in just a few steps, he encountered more than a hundred of them.

Zhao Sheng was inwardly shocked; just a lower institute like the Spirit Essence Institute had so many people.

The vast number of disciples and the rapid expansion of the Origin Return Sect's influence was evident from this alone!

"There's a problem, there must be a big problem!... Why would the foremost powers such as Vast Sect, Purple Sun Sect, and others allow the Origin Return Sect to expand their influence unchecked?

Pocket World City is clearly the backyard garden for the top ten powers, so why would they tolerate the Origin Return Sect infringing on their interests?"

As Zhao Sheng harbored these doubts, he was quickly led into a spacious and elegant hall.

Upon entering, taking one glance, Zhao Sheng was momentarily stunned.