Volume 1, Chapter 407 – Spreading the Dao

Shi Lan lowered her head and swept her gaze over the corpse of the Heaven Demon before her, then raised a hand and stored it in her storage bracelet. Within her sea of consciousness, her primordial spirit was dim and depleted.

At the instant the Black Domain unfolded at the end, it had placed an extremely heavy burden upon her. In order to suppress the golden-winged roc’s manifestation, it had nearly drained her primordial spirit dry.

Though it had lasted only for a brief instant, it had been exceedingly dangerous.

Tianbai noticed the weary look on Shi Lan’s face and carefully helped her into the carriage, urging the heavenly horses to descend toward Yunyan Star.

…

Half an hour later, the heavenly horses came to a stop on one of Tianyan Sect’s spiritual peaks. Li Canglan was waiting there with several of Tianyan Sect’s senior members.

Shi Lan had already sent word ahead, telling Li Canglan to keep her return to the sect confidential, so not many people had been alerted.

Now that he had a massive sect of a hundred thousand disciples under his command, Li Canglan carried a few more traces of an authority figure than before.

“Greetings, Sect Master.”

On seeing Shi Lan, Li Canglan bowed respectfully. Lin Lang and the others behind him followed suit, their eyes lowered, not daring to look around carelessly.

Shi Lan had already changed into a brand-new set of robes. Aside from her complexion being a little pale, she looked no different than usual.

Of the people who had come, aside from Li Canglan and Lin Lang, the rest were only at the Core Formation Realm. In such a short time, it had still been hard for these backbone members to make any tremendous leaps in cultivation.

Lin Lang, however, had made great progress again and had overtaken the others, stepping into the mid-stage Spirit Infant Realm. His cultivation speed was astonishing, as if he had been born close to the Dao.

“Would the Sect Master like to rest first?”

Li Canglan sensed something and did not rush to report on the sect’s recent affairs.

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Shi Lan gave a slight nod and took out the corpse of the golden-winged roc.

The enormous corpse hit the ground and made the entire mountain peak shudder violently.

Even if Shi Lan absorbed this golden-winged roc herself, the increase to her blood and qi would not be very great. It would be better to leave it for the disciples in the sect whose cultivation was still relatively low.

A Heaven Demon was a treasure from head to toe. Its body could be used to forge Dao weapons, and even its ordinary feathers could be used to refine magic treasures.

Li Canglan glanced at the Heaven Demon’s corpse and did not look again. He casually gave an order for someone to lead away the several heavenly horses covered in wounds and settle them properly, then turned and said,

“The Sect Master’s residence was just completed last month. Please come with me.”

…

After passing several spiritual peaks, Shi Lan saw her residence on a summit not far from the main peak.

The residence Li Canglan had ordered disciples to build for her stretched over more than a thousand zhang in length and width. The jade-colored palace walls glowed with a soft light, and the glazed jade tiles flashed with seven-colored brilliance beneath the sun, making the entire palace shine.

Rather than a residence, it felt more like an estate. White jade paved the ground, carved with rare beasts, immortal flowers, and spiritual herbs. Night-luminescent pearls were set into the ceiling, one every ten paces, like a sky full of stars. It was luxury and nobility brought to their utmost.

Its only regret was that it lacked a bit of human warmth.

Li Canglan knew that Shi Lan disliked noise and bustle, so throughout the entire palace, he had arranged only a little over a dozen maidservants to clean and keep the place functioning at a basic level.

“Sect Master, please rest and recover your spirit first. If you need anything, just summon me.”

After escorting Shi Lan here, Li Canglan took his leave, hurrying off to deal with the valuable body of the Heaven Demon.

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…

“Haa…”

Wrapped in the warm spiritual spring, Shi Lan could not help letting out a long breath. The slight swelling pain in her sea of consciousness gradually eased.

Tianbai floated on the surface of the water not far away, her face submerged beneath it as she blew out a stream of bubbles.

This pool of spiritual spring water covered a radius of several dozen zhang. A spring source had been moved here from elsewhere, rich in spiritual qi, and the faint drifting steam made Shi Lan reluctant to rise for a long time.

The injuries on her body had already recovered completely, without leaving even the slightest scar. Her skin was smooth as jade. But she had still lost a considerable amount of blood and qi, and would need time to recuperate.

After catching her breath, Shi Lan rose from the pool. The spiritual spring water slid down her body without leaving so much as a trace.

Tianbai, who had been blowing bubbles, suddenly lifted her head, rose, steamed away the moisture from her body, got dressed, and hurried after her.

Shi Lan draped a light robe over herself and walked out of the bath chamber. The maidservants outside had already lit incense and were waiting.

After presenting her robes and helping Shi Lan dress properly, one of the maidservants stepped forward and led her to the main hall. A meal had already been laid out there, neither too much nor too little: eighteen dishes in all, each stewed from the flesh of fierce beasts supplemented with spiritual materials, nourishing yin and strengthening yang.

Shi Lan was deficient in blood and qi and needed nourishment, and these dishes happened to stir her appetite.

Tianbai sat at the table and swallowed. Somewhat unaccustomed to it, she picked up a pair of chopsticks, moved them a few times, then stopped and quietly pushed the dishes toward Shi Lan.

Shi Lan smiled and shook her head slightly, not exposing her. After taking a few bites from each dish, she stood up and walked toward the outside of the hall.

“I have something to discuss with Li Canglan. You don’t need to come. Finish these.”

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This sort of life was indeed comfortable, but for a cultivator, it was a little too easy and indulgent.

…

Once he received the summons, Li Canglan appeared before Shi Lan in less than half a quarter-hour.

“Has anything important happened in the sect recently?”

“Everything is normal.”

Li Canglan shook his head slightly.

“We have not continued recruiting disciples recently. The mountain gate will now only be opened once every three years.”

“And cultivation resources?”

“We are already able to support ourselves. Overall, there is still a surplus. We have established a sect treasury to organize and store everything. This is last month’s inventory.”

Li Canglan stepped forward and handed over a jade token. Shi Lan swept it with her divine sense and understood it at once.

In such a short time, this treasury had already begun to take shape, with quite abundant reserves. She no longer needed to worry about cultivation resources. Li Canglan had clearly poured a great deal of effort into this.

“I will remember your contribution.”

“You honor me too much, Sect Master. It was only my duty. I would not dare claim merit.”

Li Canglan lowered his head slightly. Everything he had came from Shi Lan, and he had remembered that from beginning to end.

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“For the sect’s future development, do you have a plan in mind?”

At Shi Lan’s question, Li Canglan’s eyes brightened slightly, and his back straightened a little more.

“What we need to do right now is strengthen the ties between the disciples within the sect and increase the sect’s prestige and cohesion.”

“Once the sect’s cohesion has increased, even after these disciples leave the mountain gate, they will still retain some attachment to our Tianyan Sect in the future.”

“Especially those disciples from clans. Tianyan Sect will also prioritize selecting disciples from among those clans. Given enough time, those clans will all become outer forces affiliated with Tianyan Sect.”

This was assimilation as subtle as spring rain moistening all things.

Shi Lan leaned against the throne, lightly tapping the armrest with her finger. After a moment, she said slowly,

“In that case, the sect will inevitably become filled with clan-based ties. Once members of certain clans gain real authority, it will be very easy for factionalism and private dealings to emerge, using the sect’s power to seek benefits for their own clans. Have you considered that?”

“I have.”

Li Canglan nodded.

“Do you have a way to deal with it?”

“Among the disciples the sect has recruited, many have backgrounds that cannot be investigated clearly, but a great portion of them are definitely the children of great clans. That cannot be avoided. As long as we recruit disciples on Yunyan Star, the sect will never be able to compete with those great clans.”

At this point, Li Canglan lowered his voice slightly.

“So I would like to ask, Sect Master, whether there is any other method of crossing between worlds, so that we might go to other stars, or even other worlds, to spread the Dao and recruit disciples.”