Chapter 569: Lecture at the Spirit Plant Sect

“The Ascension Tribulation… has the Ascension Tribulation ultimately lost after all…” Bai Hongtu fell to his knees with a thud, his lips trembling as if he’d lost his mind, tears deliberately controlled to fall in large drops.

That was the Ascension Tribulation, the heavenly trial that cultivators spoke of with fear and dread. How could it be so utterly powerless before Jiang Li?

This isn’t real, this can’t be real.

“Enough, stop acting.” Yu Yin lightly kicked Bai Hongtu.

“Oh.” Bai Hongtu stood up, completely different from how he was moments before.

Immortal Elder Changcun rubbed his forehead. This precious disciple of his disciple was truly consistent – whatever personality he had as a child remained unchanged as an adult. No, he’d actually become even worse.

“Did Jiang Li corrupt Bai Hongtu, or did Bai Hongtu corrupt Jiang Li?”

Immortal Elder Changcun felt that Yu Yin was truly remarkable, able to maintain normal behavior despite being influenced by both Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu.

She could truly be described as emerging unstained from mud and remaining unadorned after washing in clear water.

The Unity Stage cultivators came forward to offer congratulations, while the Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivators showed no intention of approaching.

The Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivators all knew that Jiang Li was stronger than the Heavenly Dao itself, so passing the Ascension Tribulation posed no difficulty for him – there was nothing to celebrate.

“Congratulations, Human Sovereign Jiang, on passing your sixteenth Ascension Tribulation. The Immortal Elder just mentioned that this tribulation resembled the one Dao Ancestor faced when proving the Primordial Chaos and Limitlessness position. Yet Human Sovereign Jiang passed it unscathed – truly admirable.”

The Unity Stage cultivators had limited perspective and couldn’t tell that the dozen or so shadowy figures fighting Jiang Li were Golden Immortal Stage beings. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be reacting like this.

Golden Immortal Stage beings were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns even in the Immortal Realm. No matter how much these Unity Stage cultivators understood about the Immortal Realm or had ancestors who became immortals, they couldn’t possibly recognize Golden Immortal Stage beings at first sight.

“Not at all, I merely used the time Bai Hongtu spent resting for cultivation, which is how I achieved today’s accomplishments.” Jiang Li was very modest.

Everyone fell silent for a moment. In their memories, Jiang Li had never been idle while Bai Hongtu was messing around. When exactly had Jiang Li cultivated?

But considering Bai Hongtu’s face, everyone didn’t dwell too much on this topic.

“Human Sovereign has the makings of Dao Ancestor! If you could find an opportunity to ascend to the Immortal Realm, you might become the second Dao Ancestor.”

“Hahaha, Senior Zhang Sen, you jest. I don’t have such great ability to ascend to the Immortal Realm. Staying in the Nine Provinces suits me just fine.”

Senior Zhang Sen was taken aback. Last time after Human Sovereign Jiang passed the Ascension Tribulation, he kept saying he couldn’t go to the Immortal Realm. Why was he suddenly uninterested in ascending this time?

“That’s for the best, that’s for the best.” Senior Zhang Sen felt inexplicably relieved for some reason.

Perhaps deep down, he felt that the Nine Provinces couldn’t do without Jiang Li.

Seeing the aged Senior Zhang Sen, Jiang Li remembered that after his fifteenth Ascension Tribulation, he had promised to go to Senior Zhang Sen’s sect to give a lecture, but was delayed by the sudden appearance of the system. Later, he became busy with various matters and never made it to Senior Zhang Sen’s sect.

Senior Zhang Sen was the Grand Elder of the Spirit Plant Sect and had provided much assistance during Jiang Li’s growth.

During the process of healing the Immortal Peach Tree, without Senior Zhang Sen’s guidance, Jiang Li would have taken many more wrong paths.

“Why not seize the day? I once promised Senior Zhang Sen that I would come to the Spirit Plant Sect to teach, but I’ve been tied up with affairs and couldn’t find the opportunity. How about this – I’ll stay overnight at the Spirit Plant Sect and give a lecture tomorrow. What do you think?”

Senior Zhang Sen was stunned, then overjoyed, quickly agreeing and saying “good” three times in a row.

Everyone knew that as long as Jiang Li wasn’t teaching about how to break through to the Mahayana Stage, he was the best teacher.

“As for the lecture content, let’s settle on how to form the Golden Core and how to shatter the core to form the Nascent Soul.”

The Core Formation Stage was the watershed between low-level and mid-level cultivators. Cultivating well during the Core Formation Stage and building a solid foundation meant that forming the Nascent Soul wouldn’t require much effort, and with some effort, Spirit Transformation wouldn’t be difficult either.

Upon hearing that Jiang Li was going to teach at the Spirit Plant Sect, others couldn’t sit still either, all expressing that they wanted Zhang Sen to save them a spot so they could also attend the lecture at the Spirit Plant Sect.

“You’re all at the Unity Stage – what use is listening to how to form the Golden Core?” Zhang Sen felt a toothache. These guys really had too much free time.

“Core formation is the foundation of cultivation. Perhaps we’ve taken the wrong path without realizing it – this is a perfect opportunity to verify our foundations.”

“If we made mistakes in core formation, we can share those wrong experiences with the younger generation so they can learn from our mistakes.”

“I have gallstones – why can’t I attend the lecture?”

“Patriarch Bai Hongtu, saying you have gallstones is going too far, isn’t it?”

“Just tell us if you’ll let us attend the lecture or not.”

“Yes.” Zhang Sen agreed immediately.

Their Spirit Plant Sect was financially prosperous, with the sect having expanded to double its original size, all because of the Spirit Plant Formation that Bai Hongtu created. No matter who couldn’t attend, Bai Hongtu couldn’t be excluded.

…

“Have you heard? A great expert is coming to teach under our Spirit Plant Sect’s great banyan tree tomorrow. The lecture content is related to the Core Formation Stage.”

“Really? Which great expert?”

“I heard it’s Human Sovereign Jiang.”

“A recorded lecture?”

“In person. The banners are already being put up.” As the Spirit Plant Sect disciple spoke, he was packing his things.

A disciple who was reviewing his lessons asked in confusion: “Isn’t the lecture tomorrow? It’s already evening – what are you going to do?”

“Secure a spot. If we go late, we’ll have to sit in the back.”

Although when Jiang Li taught, sitting in the front middle or back had the same effect, who wouldn’t want to be closer to Jiang Li?

“Aren’t you going to review your lessons? The Teaching Elder will check tomorrow.”

“What’s there to check? When I came over, I saw him running toward the great banyan tree himself.”

That person put down his textbook and hurried to the great banyan tree.

From a distance, the Spirit Plant Sect looked like an undeveloped primeval forest, with tree roots intertwined and various rare spirit plants that could be found here.

At the Spirit Plant Sect, one particularly important thing to note was not to approach unfamiliar spirit plants.

Some spirit plants had automatic defense functions – they would hang people up without hesitation. There was once a newly recruited guest elder who was hung on a tree by a spirit plant for three days and three nights, his spiritual energy sealed and his mouth covered. It was only when the disciples went to class and found their teacher missing that they discovered this unlucky guest elder.

The largest spirit plant in the Spirit Plant Sect was an old banyan tree. The banyan tree reached for the sky, blocking out the sun and sky, with old roots arching out of the ground to form small stools.

This was where the Spirit Plant Sect often held meetings.

When the two disciples arrived, they found that the first two rows were already filled with people – all renowned figures and powerful leaders from various places.

Their Teaching Elder sat respectfully in the third row.

“Is this necessary?” The two were astonished. They had thought their competitors for seats would be fellow disciples, but reality turned out to be great experts from everywhere.

“Do great experts also follow the first-come-first-served rule?” They had thought the sect would give special treatment to these great experts.

The cultivators who had been visiting Mount Thundercloud heard the news and rushed to the Spirit Plant Sect immediately, reacting faster than even Zhang Sen.

The two sat next to the Teaching Elder, listening to the conversations of the great experts in the first two rows.

When Unity Stage cultivators gathered together, even their casual chatter could benefit them greatly.

When the conversations reached high points, the Unity Stage cultivators would even demonstrate, causing exclamations of amazement from the Spirit Plant Sect disciples.

Unity Stage cultivators rarely gathered together. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, they all displayed their cultivation gains, not caring whether the Spirit Plant Sect disciples saw or learned from them.

In fact, it would be best if they could see – the Unity Stage cultivators didn’t have strong sectarian prejudices.

The two disciples noticed that there were two empty seats in the very center of the first row. One had a gourd placed on it, while the other had a vicious curse talisman that read “Whoever sits here is a little dog.”

“That’s the spots reserved by Empress Yu Yin and Patriarch Bai Hongtu. I heard they’re touring the Spirit Plant Sect with Human Sovereign Jiang.” The Teaching Elder explained to the two.

“Elder, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“If Patriarch Bai Hongtu sits in his own seat, does the curse still work?”