Chapter 603: Wealth and Virtue Together

Hearing Grandma Ming’s words, Chen Mobai couldn’t help but beam with joy.

He had been wondering how to acquire a wisp of innate earth spirit essence from the Immortal Sect for Zhuo Ming before her Nine-Blade Dharma Body reached completion. To his surprise, the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue solved the problem so easily.

As expected of the prototype of the Longevity Sect’s supreme treasure, it possessed such immense power immediately after its formation.

At that moment, Grandma Ming said something that diverged from her previous understanding. "It's strange. In the past, even if someone in the sect successfully cultivated the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue, they could only capture the Qi of Creation after refining the artifact to the fourth stage…"

The Qi of Creation was exceptionally precious, having settled deep within the vast earth for countless years. If refined with spiritual power during core formation to cultivate earth elemental true qi, it could yield innate mystical effects and profound creative power.

Consequently, in ancient times, the easily accessible innate qi near the surface had largely been extracted and refined by cultivators.

By Grandma Ming’s time, the Qi of Creation had become exceedingly scarce. Even earth elemental cultivators of the Longevity Sect, utilizing the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue, might spend several years without being able to find a single wisp to refine.

"Perhaps my disciple is simply lucky," Chen Mobai mused for a moment.

Grandma Ming also nodded upon hearing this.

It was indeed incredibly fortunate for North Abyss Mountain to possess even a single wisp of the Qi of Creation.

As time passed, the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue continuously refined the purest spiritual energy from North Abyss Mountain, channeling it into Zhuo Ming’s body. The shimmering glow on her skin, however, gradually began to fade, indicating that she had completely refined the Qi of Creation.

"Thank you, Master, for guarding me!"

Finally, Zhuo Ming opened her eyes. She flew out of the cauldron and gracefully bowed to Chen Mobai.

"How does your body feel? Is there anything unusual?"

As he spoke, Chen Mobai had Zhuo Ming extend her hand. After taking her pulse, he had her transmit a wisp of spiritual power to him.

Metal 3, Wood 22, Water 23, Fire 9, Earth 60.

Compared to the last time she consumed the Immortal Peach Fruit, Zhuo Ming’s Earth Spirit Root had increased by another 8 points!

The Qi of Creation was indeed wondrous. Despite consuming numerous treasures to enhance spirit roots in the Eastern Desolation, Chen Mobai had never encountered anything that could provide such a significant boost.

He only wondered if subsequent refinement of the Qi of Creation would yield such an astonishing increase.

"Master, it seems my Earth Mother Art has reached completion!"

Zhuo Ming sensed her earth spiritual energy, then, with a mix of hesitation and disbelief, uttered words that profoundly shocked Chen Mobai.

Subsequently, under his astonished gaze, Zhuo Ming held out her hands, and a black, faintly glowing current of qi surged from her palms.

This dark, ethereal glow seemed to possess the vitality to nourish all things. When it gently fell upon the earth, patches of vibrant green sprouts instantly broke through the soil.

In mere moments, Chen Mobai watched as the previously barren peak of North Abyss Mountain, stripped bare by property development, instantly transformed. After Zhuo Ming's wisp of Mother Qi of All Things descended, verdant grass carpeted the ground, and vibrant, blossoming flowers of every hue—gold, red, white, purple, and more—burst forth.

This was a sign that the Earth Mother Art had been cultivated to its highest realm, completely condensing the Mother Qi of All Things.

This perfected Mother Qi of All Things was on par with the Longevity True Qi.

Theoretically, Zhuo Ming should only have achieved this level upon reaching the perfected Core Formation stage, after integrating countless essences of spiritual earth.

Yet, today, by leveraging that wisp of Qi of Creation refined by the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue, she had leapfrogged directly to the completion of the Mother Qi of All Things.

Having reached this stage, Zhuo Ming’s Earth Mother Art was also considered complete, as this cultivation method was relatively simple, primarily focusing on enhancing the Mother Qi of All Things and breaking through cultivation realms.

However, for cultivators, breaking through realms might be the most difficult part.

But for Chen Mobai, this was actually the best outcome.

Because he had already arranged Zhuo Ming’s path to breakthrough.

Furthermore, the perfected Mother Qi of All Things shared a remarkable similarity with the Myriad Transformation Thunderwater. With this, Zhuo Ming would certainly be able to develop the third-tier spiritual rice once she returned to Giantwood Ridge.

"Hahaha, excellent, excellent!"

Chen Mobai grew increasingly pleased with Zhuo Ming, laughing heartily as he instructed her to retrieve the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue into her body.

"Master, this cauldron is all thanks to you. I certainly couldn’t have refined it on my own."

After happily retrieving the cauldron, Zhuo Ming thanked Chen Mobai again.

"Try to control this cauldron, then use your Myriad Things' Affinity divine ability to see if it can empower the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue."

Chen Mobai suspected that the newly formed Cauldron of All Things' Virtue was able to capture the Qi of Creation possibly because Zhuo Ming possessed Myriad Things' Affinity.

This divine ability, which she had acquired during her enlightenment upon establishing her foundation, allowed her to embody the earth and communicate with all things.

If the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue could also utilize Zhuo Ming’s divine ability, then the vast expanse of the earth would essentially be laid bare, without defenses.

According to Grandma Ming, Longevity Sect disciples cultivating earth elemental arts had to expend immense effort just to ascertain if a particular mountain range contained the Qi of Creation.

After all, the shallow Qi of Creation on the surface had long been depleted by ancient cultivators, with most of the remaining supply hidden in the earth's deepest reaches, places even Nascent Soul cultivators' divine senses couldn't penetrate.

The Longevity Sect had also invited high-level geomancers for dowsing and locating resources, but even they couldn’t guarantee success. Sometimes, high-level Longevity Sect cultivators would follow a geomancer’s directions, expending vast amounts of energy to descend thousands of meters using earth-burrowing techniques, only to often find nothing.

Only by elevating the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue to the fourth stage—when its owner would typically be at the perfected Core Formation or Nascent Soul realm—could its refined earth elemental true qi, due to its close resemblance to the Qi of Creation, enable the cauldron to sense and alert its master if the Qi of Creation was nearby, using the true qi as a sample.

"Master, it seems possible!"

Zhuo Ming closed her eyes and attempted it. Indeed, while controlling the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue, her personal fated artifact, her Myriad Things' Affinity ability could be shared with it.

"That makes sense then!"

Zhuo Ming’s Myriad Things' Affinity divine ability allowed her to directly commune with earth veins, knowing everything about the land she stood upon. She had, in fact, just completed this step before integrating the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue.

The wisp of Qi of Creation contained deep within the earth veins of North Abyss City was, at the very moment the cauldron was formed, discovered, captured, and extracted.

It was like gaining X-ray vision when gambling on void mystery boxes.

As long as Zhuo Ming was willing to work a little harder, traveling throughout every part of the Eastern Desolation and communing with various earth veins, she could extract all the Qi of Creation using the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue.

The most challenging step for other cultivators was, for Zhuo Ming, as simple as retrieving something from home, because the doors were completely open to her.

Chen Mobai then told Zhuo Ming that, because of his participation, the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue was considered a shared fated artifact for both master and disciple.

Zhuo Ming, however, was completely unconcerned. To her, everything she possessed was bestowed by Chen Mobai; even if her master took it all away, she would consider it natural.

"Your master will refine another fated artifact for you in the future. Think about what you might need."

Chen Mobai said. Zhuo Ming, not one to refuse additional treasures, immediately nodded happily.

As the master and disciple prepared to descend the mountain, they found that most of the Spiritwood Sect’s Foundation Establishment cultivators from North Abyss City were already waiting for them halfway down the slope.

Clearly, the commotion from the Cauldron of All Things' Virtue refining the Qi of Creation had startled everyone. Although they had great faith in Chen Mobai, they had all come anyway.

After the group returned to the main hall of North Abyss City, E Yun proactively reported the matter concerning Wang Juyuan and Han Zhiling to Chen Mobai.

"Hmm, how do you intend to resolve this matter?"

Chen Mobai asked. It was Jiang Zongheng who stepped forward to answer, stating his opinion that this was an opportune moment to establish rules.

"Zongheng, your master is greatly pleased to see you possess such resolve. This deserves commendation, and I hope you can always maintain this unwavering conviction as you continue on your path. However, your consideration of the matter isn’t entirely comprehensive. There’s another potential consequence of this incident; I wonder if you’ve taken that into account."

Jiang Zongheng shook his head, then asked Chen Mobai for guidance.

"No matter how meticulously rules are formulated, there will always be loopholes, and even conflicts between different rules. The world is never short of clever individuals. If we conduct everything strictly by the book, what happens when someone discovers a loophole and demands resources even more valuable than Foundation Establishment Pills from our sect? How should we respond then?"

"If we aim to establish virtue and uphold integrity, we should tolerate this instance, provide the resources, and then immediately fix the loophole."

Chen Mobai nodded after listening, then shook his head, agreeing with Jiang Zongheng’s viewpoint but not his proposed action.

"Rules must not become shackles that bind us!"

"There’s an old saying: 'A noble person can be exploited through their adherence to principles.' If we conduct everything strictly by the rules, the world will see many individuals specifically seeking loopholes in our sect’s regulations to gain advantages."

"These are petty individuals. To prevent such occurrences while establishing rules, we must recall another saying: 'Petty people fear might, not virtue.'"

"Therefore, rules must be established, Han Tingfeng’s debt must be repaid, but Wang Juyuan’s objective must not be allowed to succeed."

"Only by upholding both might and virtue can there be true order and prosperity in the world."

"And this might must come before virtue!"

After Chen Mobai finished speaking, Jiang Zongheng fell into deep thought.

Chen Mobai still valued this disciple highly. After all, it was rare to find someone who developed such noble thoughts while growing up in a place like the Eastern Desolation.

However, due to his environment, Jiang Zongheng’s current way of thinking was still quite immature, even feeling somewhat misguided in his own process of understanding.

This was mainly due to Chen Mobai. Although he had sown seeds of thought after accepting Jiang Zongheng as a disciple, their meetings had been few, leading to a lack of proper guidance.

"Thank you for your guidance, Master!"

After receiving Chen Mobai’s guidance, Jiang Zongheng realized the naiveté of his own thoughts. At the same time, he also perceived the vast disparity between his philosophical understanding and his master’s, filling his heart with even greater awe and respect.

"E Yun, handle this matter as I’ve instructed, but be flexible in your methods."

After Chen Mobai spoke, E Yun, who had also been deeply immersed in thought and understanding, instantly snapped out of it. He bowed respectfully and withdrew.

The next day, Wang Juyuan and Han Zhiling, the siblings, were summoned.

Han Ronglu mortgaged his third-tier cave mansion and obtained a loan of one hundred thousand spirit stones from the Spiritwood Sect. He then immediately settled Wang Juyuan’s and others’ debts on the spot.

Wang Juyuan didn’t want spirit stones at all, but the contract he signed with Han Tingfeng specified spirit stones.

Under E Yun’s icy gaze, Wang Juyuan could only leave, crestfallen, with the spirit stones.

His desperate struggle for Foundation Establishment ultimately proved to be an illusory dream.

He even offended the Spiritwood Sect and was expelled from his family.

The next day, many people came to his Flowing Pills Pavilion.

They were all suppliers he had delayed paying for medicinal ingredients. Previously, due to the Wang family’s influence, they had been willing to wait.

After his failure to seize the Foundation Establishment Pill by relying on rules, everyone knew he had offended the Spiritwood Sect.

Moreover, the Wang family had now publicly announced his expulsion from the family.

"Please give me a few more days…"

"Hmph, the contract’s deadline passed a month ago. We must act according to the rules. If you don’t repay today, then come with me to the Spiritwood Sect and use your shop’s deposit as repayment."

Heaven’s justice is clear, and retribution is swift and satisfying.

Even if he used all the spirit stones obtained from the Han family to repay his debts, Wang Juyuan still had a deficit of three thousand spirit stones.

He wanted to borrow money, but all his former friends refused to see him.

Ultimately, because he couldn’t produce enough spirit stones, E Yun coldly reclaimed his shop, and both of his cave mansions were taken and put up for auction.

Yet, it was still not enough to cover the debt. According to the Spiritwood Sect’s rules, he was to be detained and sent to mine.

How could Wang Juyuan, a dignified son of an aristocratic family, be willing to do such a thing? So, on a dark and windy night, he escaped from North Abyss City.

He returned to his family, but was stopped at the entrance of the clan territory.

The clan elder, with an enraged expression, told Wang Juyuan that many of the family’s businesses had been affected by his actions, and the channels painstakingly established with the Spiritwood Sect had all been seized by the Hua family.

Wang Juyuan wanted to see his parents, but the clan elder directly drove him out of the clan territory.

Having nowhere left to go, he had just left the family’s territory and was standing by a lake, contemplating his future.

Just as he was preparing to go to the Southern Profound Sect, a streak of spiritual light descended from the sky.

Being able to fly, it was naturally a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

He was also very familiar with the arriving person; it was the Wang family’s ancestor, Wang Xuanming.

"Greetings, Old…"

Wang Juyuan was still wondering if the ancestor had some mission for him when a flash of sword light lit up, filling his vision.

Amidst the bloody light, his head had already been severed by the flying sword.