Chapter 527: Changing the First Step in the Eastern Wilderness

After Chen Mobai finished explaining the principles of the Two-Phase Art, Yue Zutao excitedly stood up, muttering to himself repeatedly.

"So that's it, so that's it..."

The Longevity Tree Fruits required a set of three to be fully effective; Yue Zutao would never have realized this in his life if Chen Mobai hadn't explained it.

Furthermore, the method to break the Longevity Tree Fruit's limitation on cultivation realms was surprisingly the Two-Phase Art, a discovery that made Yue Zutao marvel at the wisdom of ancient cultivators.

However, the excited Yue Zutao quickly thought of a crucial problem and calmed down.

"Pills for extending life are too precious. Despite years of diligent collection, I've only managed to recover about twenty years of my lifespan. If I were to consume a complete set of Longevity Tree Fruits, I might very well age rapidly."

In the Tianhe Realm, elixirs were incredibly precious, with those related to lifespan being the most valuable.

Over the years, Yue Zutao had consumed one type of life-extending elixir from the sect, along with two others collected from outside sources, but he still hadn't fully compensated for the forty years of lost lifespan.

If this problem wasn't resolved, even if a full set of Longevity Tree Fruits were placed before him, he wouldn't dare to consume them.

Chen Mobai: "I've considered your situation thoroughly, combining it with the Everlasting Sect's heritage, and have come up with three strategies: a superior, a moderate, and an inferior one."

Upon hearing this, Yue Zutao found Patriarch Chen before him even more unfathomable. His attitude grew more respectful, and he first inquired about the superior strategy.

Chen Mobai: "The Art of Longevity, one of the Everlasting Sect's twenty-four great arts, was, I surmise, created by predecessors specifically for consuming the Longevity Tree Fruits. If you can master it, lifespan will be a minor issue."

Yue Zutao: "The Art of Longevity!? But then I would also need to cultivate the Longevity Dao Body, and I don't have enough Longevity Tree Sap."

At this point, Yue Zutao remembered Chu Zuoshu telling him that Junior Sister Gu Yan had presented Patriarch Chen with a method for refining Longevity Tree Sap, and he couldn't help but look up with anticipation.

Chen Mobai: "Although combining the Scripture of Eternal Youth and the Longevity Dao Body theoretically allows one to master the Art of Longevity, it requires cultivating the Longevity Dao Body to great perfection, something even I cannot achieve."

In other words, both the Scripture of Eternal Youth and the Longevity Dao Body would need to reach the Nascent Soul realm, and even then, whether they could truly merge to form the Art of Longevity is merely a conjecture.

These were originally split by True Monarch Yiyuan and later found by Patriarch Hunyuan in a secret realm within the Giant Wood Ridge.

As for why True Monarch Yiyuan did this, it is said to be because the cultivation requirements for the Art of Longevity were too stringent for later generations to achieve.

Since Chen Mobai himself did not possess the Art of Longevity, he had no way of knowing how exactly stringent those requirements were.

"Then what about the moderate strategy? Please instruct me, Sect Master!"

Yue Zutao humbly picked up the teapot and refilled Chen Mobai's cup.

"The moderate strategy is to discard the Scripture of Eternal Youth, which would naturally remove the restrictive force. When you discard your cultivation, I will have Zeng Wolong refine some pills to ensure your survival. With your talent and the sect's resources, it would be easy to re-cultivate back to the Foundation Establishment stage, but forming a Golden Core would be virtually impossible."

Upon hearing this, Yue Zutao's face showed a conflicted expression. After a moment of hesitation, a faint desire to form a Golden Core remained in his heart. He decided to face his true feelings and shook his head, asking Chen Mobai about the inferior strategy.

"Then there's only one path left to take, no matter how difficult."

After taking a sip of the Snow Needle Immortal Bud tea, Chen Mobai began to explain the final, inferior strategy.

"While you collect life-extending elixirs, keep an eye on who in the sect obtains Longevity Tree Fruits from the Divine Tree Secret Realm. Once everything is ready, begin by consuming the Medium and Large Fruits, then attempt to form a Golden Core. Use the Two-Phase Art to rotate and absorb the longevity spiritual power, thereby breaking the Longevity Tree Fruit's restriction."

"That's the only way then!"

Hearing this, Yue Zutao sighed, but a trace of unprecedented hope appeared in his previously dim eyes.

Compared to his previous resignation, he now at least saw true light.

Although it was very faint, it illuminated the path to higher realms.

Chen Mobai: "However, there's still one more problem here; I wonder if you've noticed it."

Yue Zutao: "Please enlighten me, Sect Master."

Chen Mobai: "The Two-Phase Art rotates according to the Five Elements. This means that if you need to dissipate the longevity spiritual power, you must cultivate a Fire-attributed cultivation method. However, your Fire spiritual root is considerably inferior."

Chen Mobai had once measured Yue Zutao's spiritual roots with a spirit-testing instrument, revealing true dual-attribute spiritual roots.

Among them, his Wood spiritual root was 57, which was outstanding; his Water spiritual root was 27, which was acceptable; but his Fire spiritual root, though ranking third, was only 12.

If he were to use the Two-Phase Art, even if Yue Zutao managed to cultivate a Fire-attributed method to the perfected Foundation Establishment stage, succeeding in forming a Golden Core with such an inferior spiritual root would be virtually impossible.

"This... then what exactly should I do?"

After hearing this, Yue Zutao was completely at a loss.

"The restriction is only on the longevity spiritual power. You don't need to cultivate the Two-Phase Art with the hope of forming a Golden Core; merely nullifying the Longevity Tree Fruit's effect counts as success."

"Therefore, you can consume pills without hesitation to boost your Fire-attributed cultivation method. After the two-phase rotation, you can then use a cultivation dispersal method to convert the Fire spiritual power into Earth spiritual power."

"Then, you'll go through the entire cycle following the Five Elements' mutual generation sequence. After the final transformation, all impurities and elixir toxins will be eliminated, leaving only the purest Wood spiritual power. You can then use this to re-cultivate the Scripture of Eternal Youth and attempt to form a Golden Core."

After Chen Mobai finished speaking, a faint flash of insight appeared in Yue Zutao's mind. He thought of the Five Elements Sect's supreme art, and his expression couldn't help but change dramatically.

"Isn't this the Primordial Dao Fruit!?"

The Five Elements revolve, returning to one Primordial essence—that's the theory.

However, the Divine Wood Sect had no inheritance for the specific cultivation method!

"The Primordial Dao Fruit requires cultivating all Five Element methods to their extreme and fully grasping their true essence. Only then, when the Five Elements finally merge, is it possible to achieve Primordial True Qi. You don't need to go that far; you merely need to follow the process of transforming the Five Element essence. It's much simpler."

As the Five Elements Sect's supreme art, the Primordial Dao Fruit was not directly taught to Zhou Shengqing, but he often heard Patriarch Hunyuan expound on its principles during his cultivation.

Later, when the sect split, Zhou Shengqing compiled these principles into a booklet. His original intention was to give future generations of the sect some understanding of the Primordial Dao Fruit, so that if a truly gifted individual from the Five Elements Sect ever mastered it, they would at least have some knowledge and a way to deal with it.

After Chen Mobai formed his Golden Core, all of the Divine Wood Sect's inheritances were opened to him, naturally including this booklet.

The Five Elements Cultivation Dispersal and Re-cultivation method he devised for Yue Zutao, compared to the Primordial Dao Fruit, was like solving a math problem where the former was directly applying a formula to get the answer, while the latter required deriving the formula from scratch and then calculating.

The difference was like heaven and earth!

"In that case, will my lifespan be insufficient!?"

After listening, Yue Zutao also felt that the comprehensive strategy Chen Mobai had devised for him was the best, but he still had some concerns.

"After consuming a complete set of Longevity Tree Fruits, the bottlenecks in your Dantian and Qi Sea will be broken. This means that as long as you have enough pills and spiritual energy, you can easily cultivate any Five Element method to the perfected Foundation Establishment stage. Although the Five Elements' mutual generation process will consume a lot of your time, according to my estimation, your remaining lifespan should just barely be enough."

Chen Mobai's understanding of Five Element cultivation methods far surpassed anyone in the Divine Wood Sect. After all, his foundation was the Five Elements cultivation, and he had listened to all of Venerable Qingping's video courses on the Five Elements cultivation, from Qi Cultivation to Nascent Soul, over a dozen times from start to finish.

"Many thanks for your guidance, Sect Master, for this immense kindness that has given me a new lease on life. Should you have any commands, I would not dare to disobey!"

After hearing this, Yue Zutao stood up and bowed deeply to Chen Mobai with the utmost respect.

"You have diligently guarded Beiyuan City in Yan Country for over a decade, and you fought alongside me on the front lines during the two great battles at Shaking Mountain Peak. It can be said that, apart from me, your contributions to the sect are unparalleled. As the current Sect Master, I naturally will not mistreat any deserving individual."

Chen Mobai's words filled Yue Zutao with the impulse that a scholar would die for his confidant, and at the same time, allowed the ambition that had been suppressed in his heart for decades to resurface.

When he had previously resigned himself to his fate, he thought his mental state had reached a high level, allowing him to calmly watch the clouds roll by, indifferent to gain or loss.

But now, upon seeing the hope of breaking free from the restriction and ascending to higher realms, Yue Zutao realized that his true self was still deeply unwilling to give up!

It must be remembered that he was once the top true disciple, hailed as a genius with the potential to form a Golden Core!

If he hadn't consumed the Longevity Tree Fruit, and if not for Chen Mobai, he would undoubtedly have been the third-generation Sect Master of the Divine Wood Sect after Chu Zuoshu.

Individuals like Hong He, Zhou Wangshen, and E Yun would have been no match for him!

The confidence and pride within Yue Zutao's heart began to re-emerge at this moment.

With a new goal, his entire demeanor transformed.

Chen Mobai then discussed the matter of the inner cabinet with him, a crucial lesson he had learned during his studies at the Heaven Mending Dao Academy: those in power require an auxiliary body fully dedicated to executing their will.

Yue Zutao, being exceptionally intelligent and seasoned in affairs, quickly understood the inner cabinet's role.

"Sect Master, I suggest inviting former Sect Master Meng into the inner cabinet as well. Among the sect's Three Halls and Twelve Departments, he commands great respect, and the inner cabinet shouldn't be composed solely of young people."

Chen Mobai found this reasonable, but he wondered if Meng Hong would be willing.

After all, Meng Hong had already retired, with no hope of forming a Golden Core, and enjoyed a very happy life fishing and playing chess daily. The inner cabinet was bound to clash with the Divine Wood Sect's traditions in the future, and Chen Mobai preferred not to involve him.

"We can let him join initially as a nominal member, with Junior Brother Muyuan handling the actual affairs. I believe former Sect Master Meng would be agreeable to that."

Yue Zutao's words made Chen Mobai nod. Muyuan's talent was also outstanding, and with proper guidance, he would at least be no less capable than Meng Hong or Chu Zuoshu.

The two discussed for a while longer, and Chen Mobai briefly revealed the reforms he intended to implement in the Divine Wood Sect, and even across the entire Eastern Barrens.

Even with Yue Zutao's intelligence, hearing this made his scalp tingle.

However, this was quickly followed by an urge to witness and participate in Chen Mobai's efforts to change the Eastern Barrens and lead the tide of history.

Such grand endeavors would not be for the mediocre.

"Junior Brother Xi Jinghuo has good talent and has always been extremely trusting of you, Sect Master; he could be a candidate for the inner cabinet."

Yue Zutao suggested another name, and Chen Mobai nodded, entrusting him with the matters concerning the inner cabinet.

Chen Mobai had initially intended to include Yu Lian, but then reconsidered. Yu Lian's personality was somewhat gloomy, and Chen Mobai also needed a sharp sword operating in the shadows. He decided it would be better to observe and temper Yu Lian a bit longer.

After the six country guardians were confirmed, Chen Mobai, in his capacity as Sect Master, issued supplementary provisions to the first decree of the new policies.

Guardians in each country could establish smaller versions of the Three Halls and Twelve Departments within their territories. These departments would be under the guardian's command within their respective territories, and the guardian could select their heads, but this required reporting to the sect for approval and record.

Furthermore, these smaller Three Halls and Twelve Departments would need to report to the sect's main Three Halls and Twelve Departments annually and be subject to supervision.

If a conflict arose between a guardian's orders and those of a higher department, the matter would be submitted to the Divine Wood Hall for resolution by him, the Sect Master, or the inner cabinet.

Chen Mobai slightly modified the immortal sect's system and implemented it within the Divine Wood Sect.

This ensured that all parties' powers were subject to supervision and restraint, while also attempting to provide guardians with more capable subordinates.

As a member of the Zhou family, Zhou Wangshen's connections were immediately apparent. He directly recruited three Foundation Establishment cultivators within the sect to serve as heads of the smaller Three Halls in Xiao Country. Many true disciples were also willing to follow him and take on roles in the remaining Twelve Departments.

Although E Yun had many friends, only Yuan Chiye, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, was willing to follow him to Yan Country.

After all, news of Xuan Shu rebuilding the Southern Xuan Sect in Baose Mountain had spread. While Yan Country was the easiest place to gain merit, it was also the most dangerous among the six countries guarded by the sect.

Should the Divine Wood Sect and the Southern Xuan Sect go to war, the Divine Wood Sect disciples stationed there would be in the greatest danger.

As a supporter of E Yun, Chen Mobai naturally couldn't let him be inferior to Zhou Wangshen. He used his connections to inquire with Qi Rui and Yu Lian.

Both were Chen Mobai's direct subordinates, and upon hearing the request, they unhesitatingly expressed their willingness to accompany E Yun to Yan Country.

This way, the Foundation Establishment stage leaders for the three smaller halls in Yan Country were assembled.

It was similar for Hong He; three Foundation Establishment cultivators were arranged from the Hall of Punishing Evil to accompany him to Yu Country.

Hong He had actually intended to refuse. His reason for choosing the furthest Yu Country was not fear of war, but rather his disinclination to participate in the competition for the Sect Master position.

However, competition within the sect was unavoidable. What Zhou Wangshen and E Yun had, Hong He also needed to have.

In contrast, the other three guardians who had resigned as vice-heads of the Twelve Departments faced a more awkward situation, with only one or two Foundation Establishment cultivators willing to follow them.

However, in recruiting Qi Cultivation stage cultivators, they were much more efficient, as many true disciples were originally their subordinates.

"Once matters here at the sect conclude, I will also lead a tour of your territories and visit the other sects in the Eastern Barrens. I hope your achievements will satisfy me."

Chen Mobai said this as he bade farewell to the six guardians in his capacity as Sect Master.

"Matters here at the sect" naturally referred to Zhou Shengqing's formation of his Nascent Soul.

Following that would be a visit to the Five Elements Sect, primarily to investigate the Guiyuan Sect in Ming Country, where his junior disciple had gone missing.