Chapter 199
Chen Jingzhai remained expressionless. That was not his first time hearing something like that.
His fate tied to the clan did not mean anything to him.
He was still the Master-Uncle recognized by the clan and its disciple.
Moreover, he was already a qualified cultivator when he cut off his ties with the mortal world, created techniques, and even slain a lord after leaving the mountain.
As a qualified cultivator, it was natural for him to focus on his personal gain first.
All he needed to know was that the clan was not an obstacle for him.
In the meantime, Chu Jingsong and Jiang Lin were making weird noises.
Even though they had yet to fully understand what it meant to have one’s fate tied to the clan, admiration flickered in their eyes.
That was the difference between Luo Sheng Sword School and the other clans.
To be more precise, that was the difference between inland clans and the Eastern Ocean clans.
Disciples of inland clans had strong ties with their clans. That was vastly different from the Eastern Ocean clans with disciples scattering all around the place.
Suddenly, Chen Jingzhai thought of Ling Wuque. If it were in the past, he would have gone to find his friend.
However, the urge was nowhere to be found now.
He believed that everyone had their own fate and that nothing good would come out of forcing something.
Besides, if Chen Jingzhai were to show up, Ling Wuque could end up being bullied by his fellow disciples.
Since he had now cut off his mortal ties, he thought it was also time to sever his ties with Ling Wuque.
“Master-Uncle, are we still going to Cresent Moon Bay?” asked Jiang Lin.
“No.” Chen Jingzhai smiled. “Let’s head back to Luo Sheng Sword School.”
“I don’t think I should head back first.” Jiang Lin bitterly grinned. “The Battle of Dragon is what I need now.”
“Me too.” Chu Jingsong nodded. “I don’t want to miss it either.”
Chen Jingzhai frowned a little. He turned to look at Sage Meng and Sage Zhang.
“One needs to gather their Golden Core to challenge the Woods Ocean Ancient Path,” said Su Qinghuang. “They should stay here. The Battle of Dragon is a good chance for them to gather their core.”
Chu Jingsong had also reached the Complete Foundation Plane and was now preparing to gather his core. It would have cost a lot of time in the past to achieve that, but now, all he needed was to participate in the Battle of Dragon.
“This is something every disciple looks forward to.” Sage Meng smiled. “The Battle of Dragon is a rare occurrence. It is the best choice for disciples in the Foundation Establishment Plane.”
“What did the disciples do in the past when there was no Battle of Dragon?” asked Chen Jingzhai.
“They wandered around the world,” explained Sage Zhang. “They would gain experience and rewards that can be exchanged for magic treasures from their peaks. They would get the chance to head to the Woods Ocean Ancient Path once they got their hands on a magic treasure.”
“Then, what good can come from the Battle of Dragon?”
“Well, it’s not like it’s a secret.” Sage Meng pondered for a moment. “The Pulao Kingdom once thought of heading down the Path of Dynasty Fate. Although they failed, they still obtained one of the path’s unique characteristics. Take the Battle of Dragon for example. Once the hidden dragon manages to climb to the top and become a real dragon, the fate gathered at that moment will enforce our cultivations.”
“Enforce our cultivation?” Chen Jingzhai raised a brow.
“That’s right.” Sage Zhang nodded. “Once the true dragon rewards us, we will get a boost through fate. Disciples who received that will have a high chance of gathering their core once they returned to their peak and go into Seclusion Training.”
“At least 70%,” Sage Meng added, “There were fights for the position of the ruler in the past as well. However, this one is the biggest of them all. Naturally, fate is denser this time. They have a 100% chance of gathering their cores after this.”
“I see. This really is a rare chance.” Chen Jingzhai sighed.
No Foundation Establishment Plane disciple would let go of the chance of gathering their core.
Chen Jingzhai would also have stayed and joined them if he had not chosen to walk the Path of Technique Creation.
There were certain risks when a cultivator tried to ascend to the next plane. Thus, if there were a chance to mitigate those risks, they would have taken it without any hesitation.
No ordinary person would bet on their luck when there was a sure-win method.
“Then, let’s split up at Donglai County.” Chen Jingzhai smiled. “I have to check up on Zhang Kui anyway. He should be loaded by now from selling his puppets.”
Chu Jingsong and Jiang Lin nodded, but none of them were smiling.
They would have joined their Master-Uncle on the Woods Ocean Ancient Path if they could.
It was not only because they wanted to follow him but also because challenging the path was the way to prove that they were geniuses like Zeng Wangbei.
Now, they could only participate in the Battle of Dragon. There was a big difference between them.
Chen Jingzhai ignored his two disciple nephews and headed to the lower floor with Su Qinghuang.
He asked the boatman puppet to dive into the water and moved toward Pulao Kingdom at full speed.
The tower ship’s core had been refined by Chen Jingzhai with a completely new method.
He had added a lot of Grade 3 and 4 ingredients, making the ship an Advanced Grade 3 treasure ship now.
Once its sentience had gathered, Chen Jingzhai would be able to further enhance it with his Innate Qi.
Being able to create magic treasures while still in the Complete Foundation Plane was Chen Jingzhai’s biggest reward.
Although he still could not use the Extreme Star Path Refinement Technique, he had gathered a lot of resources and item alchemy methods.
Reprocessing the tower ship would no longer be a challenge for him.
Being able to enhance the ship to an Advanced Grade 3 ship proved that Chen Jingzhai had a deep understanding of item alchemy.
The appearance of the ship had changed as well. A lot of areas were different from before. However, that was not the only thing that had changed.
The ship’s speed had already reached the maximum speed a magic treasure ship could travel at.
Three days later, they finally arrived near the State of Qiong.
After cruising past the islands, the ship slowly emerged from the water.
After another hour, it started to ascend into the air.
Sage Meng and Sage Zhang took Jiang Lin and Chu Jingsong with them and left.
While still holding Su Qinghuang’s hand, Chen Jingzhai steered the ship toward Eastern Sun City.
He parked the ship above the clouds. The couple transformed into rays of light and descended into the city.
When they arrived at the Puppet Workshop, they found a lot of disciples and Golden Core Sages from Puppet Hall gathering there.
Chen Jingzhai was disappointed to learn that Zhang Kui was not there.
Even Sage Qing Mu had already left for another city to open another workshop.
Now, the puppets of Puppet Hall had deeply influenced every corner of Pulao Kingdom.
A few of the nobles had even started using puppets as their travel means.
Due to that, a lot of disciples had chosen to join the Puppet Hall in the past two years. Meanwhile, older disciples had gone to mortal cities for training.
While Chen Jingzhai was in the Eastern Ocean for the past two years, Puppet Workshops had spread like wildfire in the kingdom.
However, that caused a lot of fights and disputes.
In the end, Gu Hongzi had to go down from the mountain, armed, to put an end to it.
The presence of a Spirt Plane cultivator was enough to shut everyone up and get rid of every trouble caused by the success of Puppet Hall.
Naturally. people would try to benefit from the success.
If Luo Sheng Sword School had not interfered, Puppet Hall would have to bear all the responsibilities.
That would greatly affect the Puppet Workshops. The clan did not wish for such a thing to happen. Fortunately, the rogue cultivator in the Eastern Ocean had caused a huge mess, becoming a good excuse for Gu Hongzi to come down.
Although that was all just Chen Jingzhai’s guess, the probability of it being true was close to 100%.
After leaving a message for Zhang Kui through the workshop, Chen Jingzhai returned to the tower ship with Su Qinghuang.
The ship slowly moved toward the predetermined destination.
