Chapter 239 | The Elders of the Inner Sect

Chapter 239: 239 | The Elders of the Inner Sect

Elder Liu turned eagerly as the stone doors open and for a brief instant, even her composed eyes widened in pleasant surprise.

Walking out side by side from the warm crimson mist of the inner sanctum were Lin Tian and Instructor Qing.

Around Lin Tian’s tall body coiled the deep, unmistakable spiritual pressure of the Core Formation Realm.

Under the cover of his Abyssal Shadow Veil, the outer edges of his core carried the exact faint, sluggish weight that Elder Bai’s illusion array had projected upward through the mountain rock—making him appear to any outside observer as a newly ascended Early Core cultivator whose foundation had absorbed the Corpse-Marrow Stagnation Ash.

And half a step to his left, walking with her back straight Instructor Qing radiated a scorching, razor-sharp Early Core Formation aura of her own!

More than her realm, as a woman who knew Lin Tian’s touch down to her bones, Elder Liu took one look at the radiant, rosy bloom on Qing’s cheeks, the liquid warmth lingering at the corners of her dark eyes, and the subtle change in the way Qing’s shoulder brushed naturally against Lin Tian’s arm.

A knowing, complex light flickered through Elder Liu’s dark eyes before her lips curved into a soft, teasing smile.

"It seems the Earth-Fire vein was quite lively last night," Elder Liu murmured in a low voice that only the four of them could hear. "Not only did both of you condense your Golden Cores in a single night, even Junior Sister Qing’s five-year winter has melted into spring."

Hearing the unmistakable teasing in Elder Liu’s tone, a hot flush crept up Qing’s neck to the tips of her ears.

For five years she had stood before the Elders as an unbending iron blade; being seen through at a single glance on the very morning she had become Lin Tian’s woman made her fingers tighten shyly around her sword scabbard, though she held her chin high and did not step away from Lin Tian’s side.

Beside them, Elder Bai swept her clear, analytical gaze over both of their auras and gave a slight nod of approval.

"Your Qi matches the my formation down to the last thread, Lin Tian," Elder Bai said quietly. "When the breakthrough tremor reached the peaks, Sect Master Hong sent a deacon down to summon us directly to the Grand Council Hall on the Main Peak."

"He couldn’t even wait until noon to inspect his handiwork," Lin Tian said with a calm, cold smile. "Then let us not keep the Sect Master waiting."

High atop the Main Peak, the towering bronze doors of the Grand Council Hall stood open to the morning clouds.

Inside, Sect Master Hong sat upon the elevated dragon-cloud throne, dressed in his ceremonial robes of crimson and gold.

Below stood the First Elder alongside six senior council elders and a dozen high-ranking inner deacons.

Even before the footsteps reached the outer courtyard, Sect Master Hong’s face wore a warm, benevolent smile, his fingers lightly tapping the jade armrest of his throne.

Once Corpse-Marrow Stagnation Ash fuses into a Golden Core, not even a Tier-4 Peak Alchemist can scrape it out without shattering the core itself, Hong Xuan thought with quiet satisfaction. Wait until his meridians begin stiffening two years from now—he will have to beg this Sect Master on his knees for every drop of soothing elixir just to stay alive.

"They have arrived!" the herald deacon announced at the threshold.

Every eye in the Grand Council Hall turned toward the entrance as four figures stepped across the white jade threshold against the morning sunlight.

Elder Liu and Elder Bai walked in on the flanks.

And between them walked Lin Tian—alongside Instructor Qing!

"Greetings to the Sect Master and the Council Elders," Lin Tian’s calm voice echoed clearly through the pillared hall as he and Qing stepped forward without bowing their knees, offering only the level, equal fist-salute of the Core Formation Realm.

At the exact same moment, both Lin Tian and Qing released a wave of their Early Core Formation spiritual pressure across the hall!

WUUUUUM—!

Across the hall, the murmurs of the deacons cut off abruptly.

The First Elder took half a step forward, his old eyes widening in stunned disbelief as his gaze snapped past Lin Tian and locked onto the crimson-robed woman standing beside him.

"Two... two Core Formation?!" the First Elder blurted out, his voice cracking across the silent hall. "Lin Tian broke through to the Core Formation Realm—and Chief Instructor Qing condensed a Golden Core on the exact same night?!"

High on the dragon-cloud throne, the benevolent smile on Sect Master Hong’s face froze for a fraction of a heartbeat.

His fingers stopped tapping the jade armrest.

Instantly, Hong Xuan’s powerful Peak Core Divine Sense swept down from the dais like an invisible tide, brushing first across Lin Tian’s Dantian and then crashing against Instructor Qing’s aura!

When his sense touched Lin Tian, Hong Xuan felt the expected Early Core Qi tinged with that faint, dormant sluggishness in the lower pathways.

Yet the instant his sense brushed against Instructor Qing, a jolt of genuine shock ran through Hong Xuan’s mind!

The Fire-Poison—the Scorched-Vein Crimson Dew he had personally fed her five years ago after her northern border injury to keep the fiercest blade of the Martial Arts Peak trapped forever in the Foundation Establishment Realm—was completely gone!

Not a single trace of poisoned stagnation remained inside her meridians; in its place burned a fierce, blazing Early Core of pure Valkyrie fire!

How is this possible?! a dark thunderclap echoed behind Hong Xuan’s smiling mask. First Liu Ying’s toxicity vanished and now Qing’s poison has been wiped clean overnight?! Moreover, how did she condense a Golden Core without my knowledge?!

Before Hong Xuan could voice a probing question, Elder Liu stepped half a pace forward, her expression radiant with the proud dignity of the Alchemy Peak Master.

"Sect Master should congratulate our Crimson Nimbus Sect twice over today," Elder Liu said smoothly, her voice carrying across the hall. "I opened my private Earth-Fire furnace yesterday and refined a pair of Tier-3 Peak-Grade Nine-Revolution Core Condensing Pills."

A loud gasp of astonishment echoed from the six council elders.

"A pair of Nine-Revolution Core Condensing Pills?!"

"Because Junior Sister Qing’s foundation had already accumulated at the peak for five full years," Elder Liu continued without missing a beat, "the medicinal baptism of a Nine-Revolution Pill combined with the pure Earth-Fire resonance in the outer chamber finally burned through her old border bottleneck, allowing her to step into the Core Formation Realm alongside Lin Tian!"

Hearing the words Nine-Revolution Core Condensing Pill, the suspicion narrowing Sect Master Hong’s eyes slowly receded into cold calculation.

So it was the thousand-year herbs from that collapsing secret realm, Hong Xuan reasoned inwardly, forcing the muscles of his face to relax back into a grand, paternal smile. Even if Qing escaped her poison and reached Early Core, Lin Tian’s Golden Core has already swallowed my Corpse-Marrow Stagnation Ash. As long as the sharpest blade is on my leash, an extra Early Core Elder changes nothing.

"Magnificent! Truly the blessing of our founding ancestors!" Sect Master Hong stood up from the dragon-cloud throne and laughed warmly, applauding with his own hands. "Two new Core Formation pillars born on the same dawn! Even looking across the twelve northern sects, who can match the rising momentum of our Crimson Nimbus Sect?"

The First Elder and the other council elders hurriedly echoed the praise, though the First Elder’s eyes flickered uneasily as he counted the figures standing at the center of the floor.

With Elder Liu, Elder Bai, Lin Tian, and Instructor Qing all standing in the Core Formation Realm, Alchemy Peak, Array Peak, and Martial Arts Peak were now bound together in an iron bloc of four Core Elders!

"By the ancestral decree of our Crimson Nimbus Sect," Sect Master Hong announced in a resonant voice, gesturing to the chief ritual deacon beside the dais, "any disciple or instructor who condenses a Golden Core and ascends to the Core Formation Realm is automatically inducted into the Elder Council!"

Two ritual deacons stepped forward holding golden trays draped in red silk.

Upon each tray rested a folded set of Crimson-Gold Elder Robes embroidered with silver cloud-dragons, alongside a heavy, palm-sized Core Formation Elder Seal cast from Tier-4 Purple-Gold Spirit Iron.

"From this day forth," Sect Master Hong declared as Lin Tian and Qing stepped up to take the heavy Purple-Gold Seals into their hands, "Chief Instructor Qing is promoted to Elder Qing, presiding as Martial Elder of the Martial Arts Peak! And First Seat Lin Tian—for winning the northern championship, securing three spirit-stone veins, and ascending to the Core Formation Realm as a Tier-4 Low-Grade Artifact Refiner—is hereby named Elder Lin, Elder of the Artifact Pavilion and sitting member of the Inner Council!"

"Greetings to Elder Lin! Greetings to Elder Qing!"

All the deacons in the Grand Council Hall bowed deeply to the waist at once.

As Lin Tian’s fingers closed around the cool, Elder Seal, he felt the dense Tier-4 authority array built into the metal respond immediately to his Golden Core essence.

With this seal in his palm, every restricted hall, every peak barrier, and the deepest ledgers inside the Inner Sect Resource Hall were now legally open to his hand.

***

Hong Xuan thinks his poison is working, but the Sovereign holds the key. Guess how long his fake smile will last. Drop your Power Stones and Golden Tickets.