Chapter 216  : The True Rules of Azure Mountain

The System Space.

“Andy, summarize Chen Tianxiao’s confession, as well as Qi Mei’s confession from the last time and send me an e-mail, I want to go through it later,” ordered Fang Ning.

Anderson stopped drawing his plans before he answered, “I already sent it to you an hour ago.”

Fang Ning nodded his head, as expected of an exemplary worker that always thought of their boss first.

He pondered for a moment before he retrieved the ancient “Bodhi Flower Formation” scroll, which he then passed to Anderson.

Fang Ning hesitated for a moment before he said, “This is an advanced formation gifted by the Bodhisattva Spirit King, see if you’re able to blend it into the current design. If you succeed, all those powerful demons that will willingly walk right into the trap in the future should be easier to deal with…”

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Anderson gave the scroll a once-over, it was covered in intricate and complex patterns, which made Anderson quite intimidated. With their knowledge and expertise, Anderson knew immediately just what a challenge this thing would pose…

Not everybody was like Sir System, which possessed principles and settings that would enable it to immediately learn anything it wanted to. All that was left was the matter of time and expending experience points…

He thought to himself, (This is the third time…)

(The “arena”, defenses against Area of Effect abilities, and this formation. If there’s any more to add, please tell me everything now…)

Anderson answered in a forcibly calm tone, “As you wish, Your Excellency.”

Fang Ning still felt that he was an excellent boss; after pondering briefly, he stole a Soul-Strengthening Pill from the System’s warehouse and passed it to Anderson.

“Seeing as how you’ve been pulling all-nighters a lot recently, it must have been quite hard on you. Eat this pill, give yourself a lift and continue working so that you can properly build this arcane space. When you’re done, you’ll be using this space too.”

Anderson relaxed upon hearing Fang Ning’s words, and immediately replied, “Thank you for your generosity, Your Excellency. I’ll give my all in fulfilling your wishes.”

Fang Ning nodded his head in satisfaction, Anderson really was an exemplary worker.

He returned to the System Cyber Café and logged into his e-mail; sure enough, the confessions really were sent to him from Anderson.

People from Azure Mountain were popping up one after another, so Fang Ning had no choice but to really dig into the details of other parties. Sir System would never look at the big picture anyway; all it knew was cultivation, farming monsters, expending experience points…

The both of them were core disciples of Azure Mountain and they were both at the peak of Pond-level too. Chen Tianxiao stood at the 11th rank, Qi Mei followed at 12th.

Qi Mei’s elder sister and elder brother-in-law were part of the Four Great Second Generation Disciples too; the information provided was more than enough, even more than the information provided by the spies of the Truth Department. If Ren Ruofeng were to see this, it would be like obtaining a treasure for him.

However, getting them to work undercover would not be easy. Shang Qingshan had an amazing ability called “Precognitive Divination” which allowed him to look into the past and the future, rendering him completely unpredictable.

Fang Ning felt anger bubble in him as he read this part of the confessions; isn’t this practically cheating? Even Sir System isn’t so awesome yet…

No, Sir System might just be more awesome than him…

Once he came to this realization, Fang Ning’s anger subsided immediately and he regained his calm mood. He continued to read the confessions in a collected and unruffled manner.

Shang Qingshan himself was an enigma and his disciples could only grasp his abilities from what they were allowed to see. Other than Precognitive Divination, nobody else has ever seen him show what he was truly made of; his four disciples were more than enough to handle everything.

The six Lake-level powerhouses, the Four Great Second Generation Disciples, the Chief Disciple of three generations Gu Buwei, and the last one is the celestial guardian beast of this mountain, the Celestial Swine Demon.

Three generations of disciples that are a total of 735 people, with first 365 core disciples all being Pond-level. There was no need to think of entering the top 365 unless you were of at least Pond-level.

Unlike the Land of Heritage, where the monsters would give birth to Inner Demons once they reached Pond-level, an arcane realm like Azure Mountain would never have a problem like this.

A grand tournament inter-sect happened once every two years. The grand tournament itself was basically a competition that allowed everyone to show off their skills and abilities, it was pretty obvious. However, the psychological battles before the tournament was a thousand times more interesting than any historical drama…

The rules within the sect were extremely strict; disciples could only compete at the grant tournament and were not allowed to compete amongst themselves before that. Anybody that breaks this rule is punished with the sealing of the vital channels in the body and being reduced to nothing more than servants. Shang Qingshan’s “Precognitive Divination” was able to predict everything. With the presence of such an inhibiting force, nobody dared to take the risk and take advantage of the loophole.

In order to maintain their ranks, a lot of different tactics were used during the psychological battles. Some relied on hard work and lots of practice, some relied on seeking connections with the powerhouses, some relied on scheming, some relied on acting cute and defenseless, some relied on relations… These were all tactics that were long used by other cultivation sects.

Azure Mountain also boasted a new tactic; their sect established their own system to proceed from the basics to the advanced to the supreme levels of martial arts, which was truly a path of harmonious Yin and Yang that lead to the peak of their training.

Just as Fang Ning finished reading this part of the confessions, Sir System interrupted, “Host, I’ve realized just how amazing their training is. Since they were both able to confess the method of joining their sect, why not let me expend a bit of experience points to theorize a complete version of it? Then I’ll find a cultivation companion to practice cultivation with you, which I believe will greatly increase efficiency. I’ve realized that you need someone to watch over you, otherwise…”

Fang Ning felt like vomiting blood upon hearing what the System said; sure enough, one would have to keep their distance if one wanted to make best friends, being too close would only bring hurt… His own weaknesses were constantly witnessed by Sir System daily; now that it knew him like the back of its hand, there was no use in procrastinating anymore.

Fang Ning immediately rejected, “You’re right, but you’re no good of a teacher. I haven’t completed cultivating my ‘Dragonization Ability’, yet you want to give me another task?”

The System retorted, “What a waste, I shouldn’t have let you start on ‘Dragonization Ability’ first since it hasn’t proved to be useful at all…”

Fang Ning ignored him and continued reading.

Shang Qingshan’s Four Great Disciples were two pairs of married couples. Both pairs were responsible for passing a set of martial arts; one set was martial arts of the Yin Attribute while the other set was of the Yang Attribute 1 . Both sets complemented each other during cultivation, so progress would be as fast as lightning and the power it held would be beyond measure.

The disciples under them naturally trained in pairs made up of one male and female; of course this was entirely different from another set of martial arts that should not be described. Both parties were involved purely in a relationship of cultivation companions; something akin to the relationship the Insect Mother and Bodhisattva Spirit King had when he was cultivating the Spiritual Insect Reincarnation Technique…

A good cultivation companion would not be affected by any negative changes in body or mind during cultivation training, their progress would instead improve greatly too; however, it would be quite challenging, since cultivation in isolation would usually last at least a few days…

The other cultivation resources weren’t lacking at all; Azure Mountain had used a mountain’s worth of power to scour the entirety of China to secure the resources. What they truly lacked were true powerhouses, which was a common occurrence no matter the era, since irreplaceability is commonplace amongst powerhouses.

Which was why the competition for the role of cultivation competitions was extremely harsh; if one didn’t do their homework properly before the grand tournament, it would only result in a great loss after.

Three days before the grand tournament, everybody else end their daily cultivation training as their strengths would be set in stone. What was most important at this stage was

Everybody had to predetermine their future wife or husband of two years based on their own martial strength…

Wrong, wrong, it would be predetermining their cultivation companion. Whoever that did not dare give it their all to save face might fall behind everyone during cultivation training in the upcoming two years. Once you fall behind, catching up to everyone was like a pipe dream. The martial arts their sect practiced was a system with its own steps, and cultivation waited for no man.

They could either cultivate a Cultivation Base as strong as Gu Buwei’s, or they would have to have a great support like Qi Mei, then they would not have fear about being calculated against, nor would they have to worry about their cultivation companion being snatched away…

If they had no support and they were just not strong enough, these weaklings would have no choice but to be proactive or be forced to give up their cultivation companion…

If they did not do so, they would naturally be the target of trouble during the grand tournament. They would only end up like the pair of Spirit Kings that were swapped out by Chen Tianxiao.

They were a couple during their lifetimes. After they died and became Spirit Kings, they had not changed at all and still stuck to each other like glue. During the grand tournament, they were “accidentally” knocked out by someone that continued to attack them; thankfully, Gu Buwei’s mistress Qi Hui had interrupted the battle and extended a helping hand.

However, they weren’t lucky enough to escape unscathed. Although Qi Hui was a powerhouse of Lake-level, she was naïve and easily bluffed, otherwise Qi Mei would never have developed such a bratty personality. Before she could look after the pair of Spirit Kings for long, she was dragged away by Qi Mei with the excuse of wanting to play and spend time together. In the end, they both ended up in Chen Tianxiao’s hands and were used as important items to trade for Spirit King Bao Lidao.

They were now Banner Masters for the Association of Spirit Kings’ Spirit Summoning Banner, which meant that they had achieved the best outcomes for themselves under the conduct of Bodhisattva Spirit King.

Right after he finished reading this part of the confessions, Fang Ning suddenly thought of something; when he had defeated Chen Tianxiao, Elder Gui Er had wanted to speak but was stopped by Bodhisattva Spirit King. It probably had something to do with Spirit King Bao Lidao.

Fang Ning immediately asked, “Sir System, that treasure Chen Tianxiao had on him, have you looted it?”

The System set down a pair of criminals at the entrance of a security agency before it answered, “But of course. Including the 43 pieces that belonged to Qi Mei, I now have a total of 50 high-quality treasures from Azure Mountain.

“Most of them are used for survival; the best one would be that piece of Mixed-Vitality Heavenly Sphere, second best would be that Jade Treasure Bottle. However, I have no way to fix the Heavenly Sphere, and I’ve tried asking it to no avail. It isn’t a bad thing, so we can’t have Anderson interrogate it. Why don’t you help me fool it into answering?”

Fang Ning was speechless. “We’ll leave this matter for later. In Chen Tianxiao’s confession, he mentioned that he had already passed that Spirit King Bao Lidao to Gu Buwei as the first achievement of their apprenticing task. Could you confirm whether or not what he said is true? Is Spirit King Bao Lidao still hidden away in one of his treasures? You know that Bodhisattva Spirit King’s Spirit Summoning Banner needs Spirit King Bao Lidao to complete it.”

The System spoke, “Of course not. If that fellow was still around, I would have set him free long ago. The System Prison can’t imprison the innocent.”

Fang Ning nodded his head in response. It seemed that Bodhisattva Spirit King thought the same thing, he must have assumed that the Venerable Dragon God would never imprison a Spirit King. Since he was not set free, that means he isn’t here, which was why he had stopped Gui Er from saying anything offensive.

When they were eradicating the Insect Demon, Bodhisattva Spirit King had mentioned that he only needed three more for his Spirit Summoning Banner. Bao Lidao and the newly-traded Spirit King couple fit that number perfectly.

Chen Tianxiao had said that the Spirit Summoning Banner could summon every spirit under the sky, and was extremely powerful. Having a strong ally was naturally a good thing, so there was no point for Sir System to keep Spirit King Bao Lidao.

The Association of Spirit Kings had not only helped in the capture of Chen Tianxiao by acting accordingly, they had also helped defeat the enemy without directly harming him and had even gifted Fang Ning with an incredible and powerful formation. If they really had Spirit King Bao Lidao with them, they were obligated to return him to them.

Favors owed should always be returned, yet it wasn’t something the System particularly cared about. It had long thrown away its image, but Fang Ning had more to worry about.

He immediately spoke, “That Spirit King Bao Lidao’s yellow indicator should be quite clear in your memory, he isn’t very powerful and he’s a wandering spirit to boot, so I bet that he doesn’t know any powerful or hidden magic. The System Map should show his location, so tell me where he is.”

The System answered, “Oh, he’s with that Shen Xingchen. They’re somewhere in the Midwest, near Yong City and they seem to be looking for somebody.”

Fang Ning pondered quietly for a bit before he came to a realization, “That fellow that wanted us to take him in as a disciple has also joined the Azure Mountain too? He’s merely running errands with that Spirit King for Gu Buwei then.”

The System asked, “Shen Xingchen’s so weak, yet he’s bringing around a Basin-level Spirit King, won’t something bad happen to them? Why can’t Gu Buwei ask somebody else from the mountain?”

Fang Ning explained, “I just went through the information; Shang Qingshan and the director of the Truth Department both took a Heavenly Oath a few years back. The Azure Mountain realm belongs to Shang Qingshan, so the Truth Department are not allowed to attack. However, not more than two people from Azure Mountain are allowed to leave the mountain at the same time, nor are they allowed make contact with other powerful organizations. Qi Mei and Chen Tianxiao were both defeated by us, and Gu Buwei isn’t as shameless as you, he would never dare ask for more people…”

“What’s the use of dignity? Mr Rich Boss, your reminder came at the perfect timing. I’ll keep a close eye on this pair of yellow dots; if they step even slightly out of line, I’ll fly over to capture them immediately, giving Gu Buwei no choice but to ask for more people from Azure Mountain… He would never be able to handle things on his own.”

Fang Ning was speechless once again. “You’re too cruel, Sir System, you’re just thinking of making Azure Mountain a Boss Instance Dungeon!”

“Hmm, what a fitting example, Host…”

Fang Ning spoke in a resigned tone, “Thank you for the compliment, Sir System, but don’t you go overboard.”

“Not to worry, even if Shang Qingshan himself were to descend the mountain himself. At this current moment in this current place, there’s nothing he can do about us.”

Fang Ning sighed in awe, “You really are domineering…”

“Of course, I’ll have you know that I have about four billion experience points to be expended…”

“Of course you do.”

…

Yong City, China.

Shen Xingchen was currently pumped up and full of himself; he had a top-tier Grade B Spirit King with him and Azure Mountain behind his back. His heart was practically overflowing with pride.

However, he was still cautious, since Azure Mountain probably wasn’t invincible, or they would have long expanded their influence over China.

He had spent these past two days following Gu Buwei; after he had finished memorizing the rules of the sect, he was sent to look for disciples, but he wasn’t sent forth aimlessly.

He had witnessed the true power of Gu Buwei’s “Divining by the Clouds”; as long as someone with true potential had appeared at a place before, he would know immediately, unless they were purposely hiding themselves.

He was at Yong City now together with Spirit King Bao Lidao to look for a couple with high potential to bring with them to the mountain.

He had heard from Gu Buwei that the couple were way more powerful than he was; even Spirit King Bao Lidao couldn’t begin to compare with them. However, he harbored no jealousy, instead he was jeering at them on the inside.

He already knew the real rules of the mountain, so he had confidence that he would make a name for himself.

Bao Lidao Spirit King was also in high spirits.

After he was brought to Gu Buwei by Chen Tianxiao, he had found out about Azure Mountain’s rules slightly earlier than Shen Xingchen.

He had relaxed and once again had expectations for Azure Mountain.

He wasn’t a person that was loyal to emotions. Wasn’t it just a battle for a cultivation companion? He’s already a spirit, so why should he care? What was most important now was becoming a Grade A powerhouse so that he wouldn’t be bullied or be ordered around like a dog.