Chapter 696: The Status of Qianmu Temple

Liu Shuang looked up, a little surprised. “Let me see.”

The disciple seemed to let out a sigh of relief and hurried forward to hand over the bamboo slip.

Liu Shuang put down her documents and took the bamboo slip. As she began to read, the disciple quietly withdrew from the hall.

After reading the urgent report, Liu Shuang sighed. ‘This must be a Third Realm Cultivator whose lifespan was about to end. He was probably disposed of by the Earth Cave Sect to make way for a promising Second Realm Cultivator.’

She had no time to dwell on the matter. After tossing the urgent report into the nearby brazier, she went back to reading the documents on her desk.

「A quarter of an hour later.」

A streak of light flashed beside her desk, and Yuan Zheng Taoist himself appeared.

“You keep working. I’ll explain as you do…”

Yuan Zheng spoke quickly. “I just organized a gathering. Wenhai of the Pingdong Sect wants to get involved in the Earth Cave Sect’s internal conflict to vie for a spot in the Third Realm. He has asked us for help.”

Liu Shuang looked up. “He asked for help through the gathering?”

She had known about this gathering since she advanced to the Third Realm and even held a seat, but she rarely participated. Yuan Zheng usually presided over it.

“That was the right way to do it. The Pingdong Sect can be considered part of the Earth Cave Sect’s orthodox lineage. If they asked Qianmu Temple for help directly to fight for a Third Realm spot, it would be truly disgraceful.”

Yuan Zheng helped clarify her line of thought.

Liu Shuang nodded in agreement, then said, “Have the members of the gathering give him their full support. Qianmu Temple can provide whatever he needs.”

Wenhai’s advancement to the Third Realm would be beneficial to Qianmu Temple, with no downside.

“Alright, I’ll go take care of it.”

Yuan Zheng was gone by the time his voice faded. Just as he left, another disciple walked in from outside. The collar of his Daoist robe bore a three-ring mark, identifying him as an Internal Affairs Disciple. The rings were a conspicuous gold—only the Internal Affairs Disciples who handled paperwork for Qianmu Temple would be so high-profile.

He stood in the center of the hall, clasped his fist, and reported, “Reporting to the Dean, Senior Brother Guan Qi, who is in charge of guiding new recruits outside the Old Ancestor’s Dao Field, came to me half an hour ago and took all the new Internal Affairs Disciples we had just selected.”

“Was it Master’s order?”

“He didn’t say so explicitly.”

“Alright, don’t worry about it. Just select some more disciples.”

“Yes!”

Having received his orders, the Internal Affairs Disciple immediately bowed and left.

After the Internal Affairs Disciple departed, Liu Shuang looked up toward Qianmu Mountain. ‘Master is becoming more and more mysterious, doing things I can’t comprehend.’

These fleeting thoughts only flickered through her mind for a moment before she returned her gaze to the documents in her hands.

「Mountain Peak Dojo.」

Wang Ping was studying the metal sphere he had received from Chongxing Taoist.

He had already refined it, but with his current ability, he could only activate a small part of the transfer network inside. If he tried to delve any deeper, his consciousness would be suppressed. This was likely because his current strength was not yet a match for the Fourth Realm True Spirit within the sphere.

This thing was actually a Magical Artifact for observing outer space. It utilized the spatial movement ability of a Taiyan Cultivator’s Transfer Talisman, combined with certain techniques of a True Monarch. Of course, the most critical component was the Fourth Realm True Spirit inside it.

Furthermore, when used with the Pocket World Mirror, it could theoretically transfer Wang Ping to any location the sphere had marked. It was also worth noting that Wang Ping had recently replaced the Transfer Talisman inside the Pocket World Mirror. Now, not only could he use the mirror to transfer himself, but he could also create a Transfer Space of a certain size, allowing him to move freely within its confines.

With his current strength, Wang Ping could instantly deploy a Transfer Space nearly a thousand kilometers wide. Combined with a Taiyan Cultivator’s ability to conceal their aura, this gave him many more options in a fight.

As for the size of the transfer network the metal sphere could currently deploy, it was pathetically small—it couldn’t even reach the moon. Its greatest value was as an escape tool.

‘I still need to raise my cultivation first…’

Wang Ping put away the metal sphere and watched Yu Lian and the Calico Cat playing nearby. The Calico Cat was using a kind of spatial-jumping Magic to blink around, trying to catch an Ice Arrow controlled by Yu Lian. One moment it would leap onto a Spirit Wood Tree, the next it would be dashing across the Spirit Grassland.

Yu Lian was overjoyed, and the Calico Cat was happy too. She didn’t seem to realize that Yu Lian was teasing her.

After he watched for a while, an Entering Cultivator responsible for guiding disciples outside the Mountain Peak Dojo walked in. He respectfully clasped his fist and said, “Reporting to the Old Ancestor, the Internal Affairs Disciples you requested have been selected.”

Hearing this, Wang Ping looked at the Guiding Disciple standing respectfully nearby. The man wore a standard-issue, narrow-sleeved blue Daoist robe. He was a bit short, but he had an honest face and a righteous air about him.

“What was your name again?”

“Replying to the Old Ancestor, this disciple is named Guan Qi.”

Upon hearing the name, Wang Ping took a file from his storage bag. It was the case file for a missing Star God. A task assigned by True Monarch Yuan Wu was something that had to be done.

The file in his hand concerned what he considered the simplest of the cases. The missing Star God, named Venerable Wei, had disappeared from his own Dao Field on the Western Continent. Other than the faint aura of a Taiyin Evil Cultivator, nothing else had been left at the scene.

Among all the Fourth Realm Star Gods who had vanished so far, this was the only case with any clues. The others had all disappeared without a trace, leaving no starting point for an investigation. Wang Ping held out no real hope for this case either; he was just going through the motions for appearances’ sake.

Wang Ping took out a bamboo slip inscribed with dozens of addresses. These were outposts his puppets had already established on the Western Continent. He tossed the bamboo slip, and it landed accurately in the hands of the Guiding Disciple, Guan Qi.