Chapter 484: Centennial Grand Festival? Some Otherworld Version of the Five Mountain Sword Sects

The buzz surrounding Qi Suian’s candy shop, after an initial surge, quickly died down.

After all, the shop had a Token given by the Peak Master in person, and he had even praised the sugar figurines himself. This caused foot traffic to skyrocket.

Meanwhile, the stonemasons next door were hard at work.

Qi Suian would pop over for a look each day, but he didn’t offer any guidance on their work.

The stonemasons Shi Hanwen had found were genuinely skilled. Qi Suian had provided them with the blueprints and a sugar figurine model; they could handle the rest on their own.

In truth, they could have finished the job without Qi Suian at all. Their craftsmanship was excellent, and their efficiency was high.

Qi Suian had never underestimated the bond between the stonemasons and their nine generations of kin.

The sects were no saints; they were far more ruthless than the Royal Family.

After all, when the Royal Family exterminated a person’s entire clan, they still had to worry about their reputation. Consequently, such events were rare in history.

The sects, however, had no need to concern themselves with such things. They killed without hesitation and feared no repercussions to their reputation.

And so, the days passed, one after another. Then, Qi Suian saw Zuo Fan, who had just returned.

"Uncle, one Yanghuang Zhenren sugar figurine, please," Zuo Fan said, rushing up to Qi Suian to get his candy.

Qi Suian sized up Zuo Fan for a moment before handing one over.

He didn’t know what mission Zuo Fan had been on, but a month had passed since he’d left.

It looked like he’d been through a lot. His skin was darker, and he seemed a fair bit sturdier.

There was the faint trace of an injury on him, though it was almost fully healed. It seemed his mission had been anything but easy.

’Why am I even observing him? There’s no need. He’s just an ordinary person.’

’Our only connection is that he buys candy from me. Plenty of people buy my candy; I can’t go around monitoring all of them.’

’That would be utterly meaningless.’

"Here you go. Was your mission successful?" Qi Suian asked, his gaze peripherally flicking to the spot between Zuo Fan’s eyebrows.

A faint point of Yang-attribute power had appeared between Zuo Fan’s brows—some kind of high-quality Extraordinary Energy Source.

He didn’t know where the young man had acquired it, but Qi Suian was certain Zuo Fan himself was unaware of his true condition.

Of course, Qi Suian wasn’t concerned with things born of fortuitous encounters or destiny. What he had noticed was that this Yang attribute seemed to contain a kind of fortune, something like a fragment of a protagonist’s halo.

Moreover, this fortune was beginning to flourish. If it were to be completed, Zuo Fan could become a protagonist.

In Qi Suian’s eyes, however, this "completion" looked more like some form of inheritance.

Therefore, if Qi Suian were to investigate further, he could probably uncover more.

But the current Qi Suian had little desire to take the initiative. ’I should solve my own problems first.’

As for Zuo Fan, he would just observe for now. It would be great if something came of it, but it didn’t matter if nothing did.

He had no intention of killing Zuo Fan to plunder his protagonist’s halo. For one, it was incomplete, and for another, he no longer needed it.

At his current level of power, even a fully enhanced protagonist’s halo would be of negligible help to him.

At the cosmic tier, the protagonist’s halo was just one of the countless laws within his being. Its influence on him was practically nonexistent.

Still, for a protagonist to suddenly appear beside him... he suspected it wasn’t a coincidence, but rather a mutual attraction between their halos.

Qi Suian had suppressed the effects of his own protagonist’s halo, but only the parts that attracted fortuitous encounters and trouble. The other functions were still active.

"It went pretty smoothly. I even learned the Great Blazing Flame Sword Qi!" Zuo Fan said with a wide grin.

The Great Blazing Flame Sword Qi was an upgraded version of the Blazing Flame Sword Qi, boasting greater power and range at the cost of higher energy consumption.

"That’s impressive. Are you close to finishing your apprenticeship then?" Qi Suian asked.

"Not yet. The Steward has to lead us on five missions, and I need to get an overall evaluation of at least C-rank."

"On this mission, I got a B-rank!" Zuo Fan said, his tone full of pride.

"I’m surprised. You’re finally not at the bottom of the class," Qi Suian teased.

The ranks were A, B, C, and D. Completing a mission earned a C-rank; a D-rank meant failure.

Generally, most apprentices graduated without issue. Only a small minority were sent back.

"Heh, of course! I’m going to be the Sect Leader of the Yanghuang Sect one day!" Zuo Fan declared, blurting out his seemingly comical yet ambitious oath.

"Give me three more sugar figurines. I’m going to meet up with my Steward and teammates. I want to bring them some too."

"I’m sure they’ll love your candy, Uncle." Zuo Fan picked out three more, paid, and left without another word.

After watching him leave, Qi Suian murmured to himself, "’He’s the only one. His teammates aren’t protagonists or even supporting characters.’"

"’If they don’t part ways with him, they’re as good as dead.’"

He’d been a protagonist before, so he understood one thing: a protagonist’s rapid rise is always accompanied by chaos.

After all, the current situation was relatively stable. For someone like Zuo Fan, without chaos, he would have already reached his upper limit.

There would be no possibility of further advancement.

The saying "turbulent times create heroes" holds a great deal of truth. As for heroes creating the times, the prerequisite is that you must already be a hero to do so.

Very few ordinary people can pull that off.

"Master Tang, the statue is finished. Would you like to come have a look?" a stonemason asked, stepping into Qi Suian’s shop while it was empty.

Qi Suian simply nodded and replied, "Alright."

He went next door to see the statue. It was, admittedly, a striking likeness—like a scaled-up version of his sugar figurine.

Still, there was a considerable gap between it and Qi Suian’s own work.

But that was to be expected. After all, the man was just an ordinary person. How could he possibly perfectly replicate a sugar figurine that Qi Suian had crafted so effortlessly?

The difference in their power was immense and insurmountable.

"It’s nothing compared to your craftsmanship, Master Tang, but we did our absolute best," the head Stonemason said. "We were hoping you might offer us some pointers."

"I wouldn’t call it ’pointers,’ but I can give you some suggestions." Qi Suian pointed out a few flaws and briefly explained what was needed to fix them.

As for the other minor issues, they weren’t obvious, so Qi Suian didn’t bother mentioning them.

It was only because he was free of pressure these days that his mood was good; otherwise, he would have simply ignored them.

"Thank you for your guidance, Master Tang!" Hearing Qi Suian’s explanation, the stonemasons had a moment of sudden enlightenment.

With just a few simple modifications, the overall look changed immediately.

Qi Suian didn’t actually understand art, but he did understand disciplines like geometry, mathematics, and aesthetics. He could use a purely scientific approach to analyze and improve the work.

After talking with them further, Qi Suian learned that this group of stonemasons had a rather impressive background. They were all from Red Sun Peak, the main peak of the Yanghuang Sect.

In other words, they were Imperial Craftsmen, which explained their high level of skill.

"I heard the Sect Leader plans to use the upcoming centennial grand ceremony as an opportunity to form a Spirit Master Alliance."

"He wants to bring all the sects under the banner of the Celestial Spirit Alliance for unified management, so they won’t be so disorganized."

"It will not only improve the lives of the common people but also allow for the smoother development of Spiritual Techniques."

The Stonemason continued to chatter on, sharing rumors from Red Sun Peak.

Hearing this, Qi Suian found it a bit odd. ’Isn’t that just Zuo Lengchan’s old playbook? A fine idea, but I doubt it will be so easy to implement.’

The Yanghuang Sect was indeed the greatest sect in the world, but there were still eight other sects of comparable renown.

They might be a notch below, but if the Yanghuang Sect had to take on all eight at once, their chances of success would be slim.

The nine great sects were the ones who truly decided the course of events. The remaining minor sects had little to no say, so they didn’t need to be considered.

"That... the Sect Leader is certainly ambitious, but the other eight sects won’t just go along with it, will they?" Qi Suian asked, playing along.

He already had his own suspicions. It was likely that the Yanghuang Sect Leader had an ace up his sleeve, which was why he dared to entertain such an idea.

But he couldn’t let it show too obviously.

This Stonemason clearly knew a great deal, and seemed to be feeding him information. A casual question might yield something useful.

Besides, he appeared idle anyway. These minor affairs wouldn’t divert too much of his energy or attention.

The vast majority of his focus was on researching techniques, sorting through universal laws, and adapting to his own power. As such, he paid little attention to the outside world.

There was no one on this planet who could harm him. He only needed to maintain a basic level of vigilance.

"That’s a given, but our Sect Leader is also... COUGH, COUGH. I’ve said too much, I’ve said too much." The head Stonemason suddenly realized he was talking too freely.

Seeing him stop, Qi Suian wasn’t annoyed. He just said slowly, "Tsk. Why are you hiding it from me?"

"Even a stonemason like you knows about it. It must have already spread far and wide."

"It’s only because I don’t get out much. Otherwise, I would’ve found out on my own by now."

"Don’t be so secretive. It’s not a big deal to talk about it."

At Qi Suian’s words, the head Stonemason fell silent. What he said made a lot of sense. If a simple stone-cutter like him knew, who else wouldn’t?

"Alright... rumor has it that our Sect Leader has mastered one of the legendary Spiritual Techniques of Yanghuang Zhenren, the Nine Yang True Flame Red Dragon Technique."

"And he’s also formed a pact with the Yang Flame Spirit from the Red Flame Spirit Realm."

"With the aid of this one technique and one spirit, the other eight great sects are no match for him at all."

The Stonemason rattled off the various pieces of intel.

Qi Suian had heard of the Nine Yang True Flame Red Dragon Technique, but he hadn’t paid it any mind.

As for the Red Flame Spirit Realm, it was a small dimension attached to the planet, inhabited by Yang- and fire-based elemental life forms.

Different spirit realms were home to different types of elemental beings, which could aid Spirit Masters by enhancing the power of their Spiritual Techniques or assisting in combat.

The Yang Flame Spirit was the most powerful elemental being in the Red Flame Spirit Realm, and it was also exceptionally compatible with the Spiritual Techniques of the Yanghuang Sect.

The success of the pact was likely due to the current Yanghuang Sect Leader having mastered the Nine Yang True Flame Red Dragon Technique.