Chapter 212 The Current State of the Golden Light Pavilion

For a time, the Nirvana Realm experts who originally planned to send their sect elders to bid decided, after careful consideration, to come on their own. Even those who were unable to come themselves would send their clones.

The number of people in Canglong City and the surrounding cities is also increasing.

·

On this day, Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan nestled together, looking at the mirror in their hands with somewhat strange expressions.

Wu Shaogan's fingers gently stroked the mirror surface, and with a firm touch of his fingertips, he pointed to a name.

The red lettering indicates it's ranked second on the malicious list.

Ning Shengbin.

This is none other than the Ning family patriarch in the late Nirvana stage of the Golden Light Pavilion!

That is, Ning Xuran's biological grandfather.

Ning Xuran remains at the top of the list.

·

Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan have been busy lately and haven't had time to look in the mirror often, so they don't know exactly when they climbed up the list—at least half a month ago, the name didn't even exist.

Moreover, both of their mirrors have this name on them.

So, what happened?

Zhong Cai pondered for a moment and said, "Could it be because Master didn't send an invitation to the Golden Light Pavilion?"

Wu Shaogan thought for a moment and said, "Not necessarily. Master Sang's invitation was sent to various states more than a month ago. Even if the location of Jin Guang Pavilion is far away, it shouldn't have taken this long to arrive. Moreover, given Jin Guang Pavilion's practices, it's understandable that they didn't send an invitation."

Zhong Cai thought for a moment: "Perhaps it's a combination of several things? The various rumors in the Golden Light Pavilion should have fermented to a certain extent by now? Haven't the other Nirvana cultivators already done a lot of dirty tricks to disgust the Golden Light Pavilion? We also got some information about Kui Yi's movements from Dao Bing."

Wu Shao chuckled dryly: "That's true."

Whatever the reason, it doesn't matter to either of them. Just because the other person's reason is reasonable, does that mean they should ignore the malice and be considerate of the other person?

Are you kidding me!

All they need to know is that now they have to be wary of another Elder Ning.

Zhong Cai sneered: "Anyway, we don't need to be afraid. Our two masters have given us so many level eight puppets, we can hold on for a while. Our ancient city's defenses are also sufficient. Master Jiang and Grandmaster Jiang have both achieved Nirvana, and Master is still an level eight Pill Emperor... If that Ancestor Ning wants to do anything to us, he'd better be prepared to lose his life!"

Wu Shaogan gently patted Zhong Cai's head and smiled, "Cai is right."

In the current situation, Zhong Cai is likely being blamed for igniting the conflict, while Wu Shaogan is being blamed for being Zhong Cai's Daoist partner. However, Zhong Cai has not apologized, and Wu Shaogan feels that the two are one and that it is only natural.

Anyway, no matter what happens, they will face it together.

·

Moreover, neither of them really had any worries about this matter.

Not to mention the overt protective measures, the two of them now wear other level-eight defensive devices that can be activated on their own when they go out. With so many layers of protection, it's as if they're protecting every single hair on their head.

If something still goes wrong... then it can only be Tongtian who has to step in.

That's not a problem.

Zhong Cai believed that no Tongtian would risk offending his master, a future ninth-level alchemist, to deal with him and Lao Wu.

The benefits that a mere member of the Ning family could offer after Nirvana are nowhere near comparable to those of his master!

Moreover, with his master around, both Grandmaster Jiang and Master Jiang have a chance to become Tongtian in the future!

·

Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan were right; the atmosphere in Jin Guang Pavilion was indeed somber.

Firstly, the internal dispute that ultimately led to the decision not to apologize to King Sangdan with generous gifts had already caused dissatisfaction among many people.

It was only because the Ning family faction insisted, and several of their properties were targeted by other major powers, that the Golden Light Pavilion lost face. In the end, it was the Ning family faction that persuaded some neutral factions not to compromise.

Inside the Golden Light Pavilion, from the elders to the disciples, there was a lot of discussion and heated debate. However, because the Ning family faction acted in a low-key manner and even shared some benefits, the public opinion gradually calmed down.

Moreover, the culprit, Ning Xuran, was said to have been imprisoned by the Ning family faction, and for a long time no one had seen Ning Xuran appear so ostentatiously anywhere in the Golden Light Pavilion.

They have been punished in a way.

Furthermore, those who wanted to criticize Ning Xuran only echoed her sentiments and did not object. Even members of the Ning family faction did not use the incident as an excuse to speak up for Ning Xuran... This also appeased the anger of some of the Golden Light Pavilion disciples.

However……

Then, more external forces started to make underhanded moves.

It didn't cause Jin Guangge too much loss, but it was still annoying from time to time. It always lost some small but significant benefits. Even if it didn't cause any serious damage, it was always "besieged on all sides", which was very annoying. Moreover, whenever it wanted to protect its interests and minimize losses, it had to put in much more effort than before, which was really overwhelming!

Some disciples were unaware of this, but gradually many disciples also received the news.

The reason why it was so difficult for them to complete their tasks and manage the businesses for the Golden Light Pavilion, and why their income was disproportionate to their efforts, was because that King Sangdan had spoken up and invited a bunch of powerful Nirvana Realm experts from various forces to cause trouble for the Golden Light Pavilion!

Which of those who have attained Nirvana doesn't have a bunch of disciples, grand-disciples, children, and descendants? They don't even need to do anything themselves; they just need to give orders, and a whole bunch of forces will be causing them trouble!

How could the efficiency not be high?

It's as if they all planned it together; the industries that cause the congestion, the timing of the congestion, and the scope of the congestion are all different!

Everyone in Jin Guang Ge felt aggrieved.

The Ning family's generous concessions to save face and gain support initially silenced some people, but as time went on and the Golden Pavilion suffered more and more minor "minor wounds," various voices began to emerge again.

When interests are harmed, the Ning family faction is usually pushed to bear the brunt. The Ning family's high-ranking members are relatively fine, at most they are subjected to a few sarcastic remarks, but in private... the Ning family members have their own means of protection, while those who are not Ning family members and are dependent on them suffer more.

Over time, some couldn't take it anymore and gave up after considering their willingness to join the Ning family, while those who had already joined tried every means to leave.

The once-powerful Ning family faction is already showing signs of decline.

At least, when some disciples with superior aptitude want to become apprentices, very few are willing to choose the Ning family faction anymore.

·

Then, King Sang Dan, together with his disciples who had become fifth-level Dan Kings, held a small gathering of Dan Kings.

As an eighth-level power, Jin Guang Ge would normally receive a large number of invitations, but now there isn't a single one.

Their meaning is very clear: since your Golden Light Pavilion disciple attacked such a young fifth-level Dan King disciple and still refuses to apologize, they will despise and reject you, and will refuse to receive anyone from your Golden Light Pavilion.

Is there a problem with this?

That's fine.

Is this frustrating?

This is so frustrating!

Some elders of the Golden Light Pavilion, in particular, wanted to seek help from friends they had made in other factions to see if they could go together. However, those friends were also unable to help—because the Pill King Gathering wasn't just for those with invitations; those with invitations could be given better seats as a sign of invitation and welcome.

If they don't send you an invitation, it means they don't welcome you. Moreover, they've already given a hint that anyone from the Golden Light Pavilion will be refused entry, even if they arrive at the door.

If the elders of the Golden Light Pavilion really want to bid on the pills, they can only send ordinary disciples below the Spirit Transformation stage—after all, many people aren't famous, so they might be able to try and sneak in. But would such disciples dare to help the elders bid on precious pills? Even if they won the bid, they wouldn't be able to take them away; they'd probably be intercepted and killed on the way!

Later, some well-informed elders also vaguely learned from forces that were on good terms with the Azure Dragon Academy that King Sangdan had leaked a few words that the master and disciple would release a large number of top-grade pills!

Wouldn't that mean that many top-grade seventh-level pills would also appear?

There should be many high-quality items at level eight...

That master and apprentice had been preparing meticulously for several years!

The elders, who were already unhappy, began to complain even more within the pavilion.

In the past, they might have just rolled their eyes at the elders of the Ning family, but now they would openly mock them.

The Ning family faction was also very agitated; who would want to be targeted like this all the time?

That's fucking enough!

But given the decision made long ago, and the current outcome, we can only accept it.

As a result, many members of the Ning family simply went into seclusion.

As for feeling restless and unable to concentrate on cultivation... well, if you lock yourself up, why can't that be called "seclusion"?

·

To make matters worse, one of the Jin Guang Ge branch pavilions was recently destroyed!

Fortunately, the disciples inside escaped in time, and what destroyed the pavilion was only the aftershock of the battle, so there were no major personnel losses—or rather, no major losses, only that the lower and middle levels suffered no losses.

That was a puppet that had fled here, and closely chasing after it was a Nirvana clone who cultivated evil ways!

The puppet did not actually make a move, but the evil avatar, in order to block the puppet's movements, would occasionally attack buildings and people, creating chaos. Fortunately, the puppet always moved to open spaces, leaving a lot of room, which allowed some of the city's powerful figures to provide timely support and enabled the city's formations to function smoothly.

While this evil avatar caused trouble in the city, it didn't cause too much damage. However, when it reached the Golden Light Pavilion branch, the Spirit Transformation Elder who was stationed there had no choice but to show himself to stop it. But he was also hit by the aftershocks and was seriously injured!

The prestige of the Golden Light Pavilion has been greatly diminished.

That elder was from the Ning family faction. He had volunteered to guard the branch to avoid the constant disdain within the Golden Light Pavilion, but ended up almost losing his life...

The resources spent on healing in the future will be indispensable.

It would be best to take top-grade healing pills—but unfortunately, the King of Mulberry Pills, who is said to be very good at producing top-grade ones, is now not accepting orders from the Golden Light Pavilion at all, especially from the Ning family faction; there's no way he'll accept them!

The internal turmoil grew even louder, and life became even more difficult for the Ning family faction.

Even because of the destruction of the branch pavilion, many accusations were pinned on the seriously injured elder, causing the Ning family faction to bleed money again to rebuild the branch pavilion and to provide financial compensation to some cultivators who were injured but did not die.

·

The reason why the Ning family patriarch and Ning Shengbin harbored such malice towards Zhong Cai was indeed due to the accumulation of time.

This was the source of great trouble for the Ning family, and he was naturally extremely annoyed by it. He wanted to get rid of the source, and his malice naturally emerged.

But just as Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan thought, malice does not mean that they will take action immediately—even if the Ning family patriarch is a Nirvana Realm expert, with more wealth and power, there are more things to consider.

The Ning family patriarch wanted to get rid of the trouble, but he held back and didn't resolve it.

·

In the main hall of the Golden Light Pavilion.

Qi Zishan said angrily, "Uncle-Master, look at what the Ning family has done to our Golden Light Pavilion!"

Sitting in front of her was a middle-aged man with a gentle appearance and dull eyes, who seemed like a very peaceful person. But if you looked closely, you would find that a glint of shrewdness would occasionally flash in his eyes.

This middle-aged man is the head of the Golden Light Pavilion.

He was actually Qi Zishan's martial uncle, and he doted on her quite a bit.

Now, the middle-aged man showed a hint of helplessness and said, "The Ning family's influence in the pavilion has been greatly weakened. Although it is difficult now, in the long run, it will be beneficial to the entire Golden Light Pavilion."

Qi Zishan's face turned grim: "That's true, but we've also suffered a great loss! King Sangdan is so hostile to us, and I think he has a great chance of advancing to the ninth level in the future. Are we really going to keep offending him like this?"

·

The reason why the Pavilion Master ultimately agreed to the Ning family's approach during the previous internal dispute within the Golden Light Pavilion was actually to take this opportunity to make it difficult for the Ning family to survive within the Pavilion.

Ning Shengbin, that old bastard, has lived too long. Relying on his earlier attainment of the late Nirvana stage, he has acted arrogantly and domineeringly within the pavilion for many years, which has fostered his domineering nature and intolerance of disobedience.

Ning Xuran was Ning Shengbin's favorite grandson, so even if Ning Xuran made a mistake, Ning Shengbin would protect him—he felt that this was how he saved face. So what if the other party was an eighth-level Pill King? He wasn't afraid!

Because of the Ning family faction's practices, the cultivation environment within the Golden Light Pavilion is not developing healthily. In the Pavilion Master's view, this needs to be corrected as soon as possible, at least within his lifetime, to minimize potential problems.

However, the Ning family faction has too deep a foundation within the entire Golden Light Pavilion, and there are many powerful figures among them. It is still quite attractive to smaller forces for their allegiance and to the pride and darlings of others.

After Sang Yunchu issued the call, the Pavilion Master's first reaction was naturally to offer a generous apology and expel the other factions.

But soon, he realized that this was an opportunity.

Although Jin Guang Pavilion will indeed have a tough time for a while, as long as it can shake the foundation of the Ning family faction and prevent the disciples with great potential from blindly trusting and prioritizing the Ning family faction because of its abundant resources, the situation can be changed over time.

At the same time, the Pavilion Master himself is also in the late Nirvana stage. In terms of top-level martial arts, he is no less than the Ning family faction. He has also managed a considerable faction's influence. If the Ning family's influence weakens, he can mobilize other factions to develop, and he does not need to worry about the Ning family causing trouble.

·

Qi Zishan's problem is something the Pavilion Master has been considering.

Although he was prepared and knew that the Golden Light Pavilion would lose face in public, those Nirvana cultivators were perhaps too eager to please King Sangdan, and the things they did... left the Pavilion Master frustrated.

The influence of an eighth-level Pill King is even greater than the Pavilion Master estimated!

The pavilion master sighed and said solemnly, "I obtained a level nine rare herb in my early years."

Qi Zishan was taken aback and exclaimed, "Sect Master, you don't mean to say that after the Ning family's arrogance is suppressed, you will give this precious medicine to King Sangdan as an apology, do you?"

The pavilion master nodded: "That's what I mean."

Qi Zishan became a little conflicted.

The Pavilion Master smiled and said, "It is true that I am trying to suppress the Ning family's arrogance now, but it is also to let King Sangdan vent his anger a few more times. When the time is right, I will give him the generous gifts he deserves, and King Sangdan will probably not hold it against me anymore."

Qi Zishan pursed her lips: "Through these events, I have some feeling... perhaps, even if the Pavilion Master sends the precious medicine and King Sangdan accepts it, he still won't forgive the Ning family faction in the end."

If it were Qi Zishan, she wouldn't forgive her either.

The Pavilion Master smiled gently: "Just forgive the Golden Light Pavilion in general."

This "roughly" means that the Ning family faction can be excluded...

·

Due to various factors, Jin Guang Pavilion is slowly accepting the "retribution" caused by the Ning family faction.

But it is indeed too far away. Even though some nearby forces have been disturbed, they can't disturb the Azure Dragon Academy no matter what.

After Jiang Chongguang's Nirvana, he collected all of his father's medicinal herbs and gave them to Sang Yunchu. Sang Yunchu found many usable herbs among them and simply continued to refine some pills.

Thus, a few "duplicate items" were added to the auction – the top-grade level eight pills that he could refine.

Zhong Cai did not leave his house, but continued to refine elixirs.

Wu Shaogan, on the other hand, put in some effort to memorize all the various pills that he needed to introduce, just waiting for the day he would become an auctioneer.

During this time, Wu Dongxiao knew it was inappropriate to bother his two uncles, so he did not visit them for advice.

Fortunately, his senior brother still honed his skills alongside him.

Unfortunately... it wasn't that he himself was unlucky, but rather that his master, Wan Tianfeng, had entered seclusion at a crucial juncture and hadn't emerged until the auction began, meaning he was likely to miss it.

·

The day of the Pill King's Small Gathering finally arrived.

The area inside and outside Canglong City was packed with various rare beasts and flying magical artifacts, so much so that there was hardly any open space to be seen.

Meanwhile, in the windows and on the rooftops of buildings on both sides of the street, there were many cultivators standing or sitting—each of them preparing, watching the flow of people, ready to set off at any time.

Countless cultivators arrived at a garden on the east side of the street and quickly poured into the garden.

The garden was like a gluttonous beast with its mouth wide open; no matter how many people went in, it always seemed empty, as if it could accommodate as many people as it could cram in.

The layers upon layers of flying magical artifacts that hovered high in the sky have now all disappeared.

Immediately afterwards, the cultivators who were originally inside the mystical artifacts descended, ranging from three or five to a large group.

These cultivators once again disappeared into the garden.

·

Zhong Cai, Wu Shaogan, Sang Yunchu, and Jiang Chongguang stood in the pavilion of the auction house palace.

At this moment, the master and his disciples swept out with their spiritual senses, and everywhere they could see were densely packed cultivators, making it almost dizzying.

Zhong Cai's lips twitched: "Master, you are so tempting!"

Sang Yunchu sighed, gently patted Zhong Cai's head, and said softly, "What kind of wording is this?"

Zhong Cai gestured with his hands and feet: "I just mean that Master's alchemy is very attractive."

Sang Yunchu didn't say much, just smiled and said, "The Pill King's Gathering has never had any entry requirements, so it's normal that there are more people here."

Zhong Cai didn't say much either, but he knew very well that if his master hadn't reached level eight, there wouldn't have been nearly as many people.

·

That being said, the large number of people was something we were prepared for; it's just that seeing the actual crowds now has stirred up some emotions.

Jiang Chongguang had emerged from seclusion half a month ago. Thanks to the three top-grade Xianyun Pills, his cultivation level stabilized quickly, and his strength also improved considerably.

After he came out, Jiang Chongguang, having promised to help take care of Dan Wang Xiaohui, simply stayed at Sang Yunchu's residence.

Jiang Chongguang will act together with Sang Yunchu once the Danwang Small Meeting begins.

While Sang Yunchu and Zhong Cai were busy preparing the pills, Jiang Chongguang made a special trip to Canglong City and the surrounding cities to roughly determine how many powerful figures were going to the auction and what level of strength they had reached.

After making a basic assessment, Jiang Chongguang secretly felt that even if he were to undergo Nirvana, his abilities alone might not be enough, so he simply went to his father again and invited him to come and keep order.

Since Jiang Yun had already emerged from seclusion and her only son had made the request—and he was an eighth-level Pill Emperor highly regarded by the academy—she naturally agreed.

At the same time, Jiang Chongguang released his level eight puppet, and Jiang Yun's clone was also brought out.

When arranging the "bodyguard" force for the Pill King's small meeting, Wu Shaogan also got involved, releasing the two mid-grade level eight puppets he had obtained. Zhong Cai noticed this and did the same.

Seeing this, Sang Yunchu also took out his own.

Thus, there are now a total of six level-eight puppets, as well as Jiang Yun's clone.

These guarded the seven directions within the auction venue.

The last position was personally guarded by Jiang Yun, who also oversaw the other protective forces.

In this way, the entire auction venue can be considered safe and secure.

Jiang Chongguang himself will stay by Sang Yunchu and Zhong Cai's side to protect them from any possible external malice.

At the same time, Sang Yunchu also applied to the academy for a defensive array.

The academy really cared about Sang Yunchu's safety, so the dean personally brought out a level nine defensive array plate!

This array was a gift from the state lord to the dean, and it contains the state lord's protective power.

Thus, a new layer of protection was added to the auction venue—a very robust layer of protection.

·

The level of security at the entire venue was truly terrifying.

One after another, many cultivators entered the garden...

Those cultivators of average strength probably only vaguely felt that this place was very safe, but couldn't discern much.

The terrifyingly powerful Nirvana Realm experts entered silently, and with just a glance, they could see through all the defenses and sense the powerful protective force contained within!

At this moment, even those with stable minds will be shaken, though mostly moved by the experience. The few who have undergone Nirvana, though harboring ulterior motives, quickly suppress their agitation.