Chapter 161: Fake Pill


    Even Meng Zhang, who was immersed in closed-door cultivation, was rmed by a series of major events happening outside. He couldn''t understand how the news about Twin Sess Valley secretly cultivating Gold Core Daoist Masters, which should have been the highest secret of the valley, had leaked and be widely known.


    In the past, there were faint rumors about this matter spreading, and even the spies of the Flying Swan Sect had gathered some clues. Meng Zhang had also obtained some information from Li Nu, a spy of the Flying Swan Sect.


    However, the news that was originally circting within a small circle suddenly spread on arge scale.


    The Flying Swan Sect was not in a hurry to take action against Twin Sess Valley; instead, they nned to observe and witness Twin Sess Valley''s sess or failure. If Twin Sess Valley cultivators really started forming the core, Flying Swan Sect would naturally intervene to stop it.


    After this news spread, not only was Twin Sess Valley in a difficult situation, but even the Flying Swan Sect could no longer remain silent.


    As the ruler of the Endless Sea of Sand, although it was never explicitly stated, all forces knew that the Flying Swan Sect would never allow other forces to cultivate Gold Core Daoist Masters.


    Now that Twin Sess Valley had revealed signs of doing so, if the Flying Swan Sect did nothing, it would be seen as condoning such behavior and would damage its own prestige.


    The recent actions of the Flying Swan Sect, though directed at Twin Sess Valley, also affected Taiyi Sect, which was a vassal force of Twin Sess Valley.


    The fall of Singing Sand City had a significant impact on Taiyi Sect. It not only lost the meager ie from the grocery store but also lost a channel for procuring resources.


    Originally, the secretly mined scarlet copper ore was sold to the Earthfire Sect. However, in the current situation, Earthfire Sect had to temporarily suspend its trade with Taiyi Sect due to the orders from the Flying Swan Sect.


    Taiyi Sect, being a vassal force of Twin Sess Valley, was also blocked. Its disciples could not pass through the blockade lines of the major forces to go to Singing Sand City and Firewell Market.


    The Flying Swan Sect thought it through carefully and was worried that Twin Sess Valley might use the name of its vassal force to conduct external resource trading. Therefore, all caravans of Twin Sess Valley''s vassal forces were not allowed to pass through the blockade lines.


    Taiyi Sect had stable trade with Lao Bulu, but due to the orders of the Flying Swan Sect, Lao Bulu temporarily stopped buying the white hidden earth ore mined by Taiyi Sect.


    The situation was not too bad as Taiyi Sect already had a certain degree of self-sufficiency. The annual harvest of spirit grain could barely meet the needs of its disciples. The alchemical trade with Shi Weiming had only changed location and was not greatly affected.


    Although Taiyi Sect lost the ie from selling scarlet copper ore, Twin Sess Valley had been purchasing white hidden earth ore at market price. After Lao Bulu stopped buying, Twin Sess Valley continued purchasing all the white hidden earth ore and urged Taiyi Sect to invest more manpower to increase the mining volume.


    As long as Taiyi Sect could maintain its current state, Meng Zhang wasn''t too worried. What he needed to do now was to build the Foundation as soon as possible. With the strength of the Foundation Building stage, he would have a stronger ability to cope with the uing major changes.


    While the situation around Twin Sess Valley was changing tumultuously, there were also hidden currents and schemes within the valley.


    On this day, in the main hall of Twin Sess Valley, almost all the elders were gathered for an elder assembly to decide the next steps for the sect.


    Twin Sess Valley was currently in the eye of the storm, facing a critical moment. A single misstep could lead to the destruction of the sect.


    Xiao Haisheng, who should have been sitting at the top position as the Twin Sess Valley Sect Master, voluntarily gave up his seat during this elder assembly.


    Having served as the Twin Sess Valley Sect Master for many years, Xiao Haisheng held significant authority. Moreover, with his Foundation Buildingte stage cultivation base, he could be considered a formidable expert throughout the Endless Sea of Sand. The Flying Swan Sect, with only three Gold Core Daoist Masters, had to treat Xiao Haisheng with great respect.


    Not to mention other matters, with Xiao Haisheng alone, he could suppress the neighboring forces like Liu Family, Forest Spring Watch, and Green Bamboo Mountain.


    However, the elder sitting at the top position today, Xiao Fengyan, held an even higher status.


    Xiao Fengyan was Xiao Haisheng''s paternal uncle and also a False Core cultivator. A False Core cultivator was someone who hadpleted Foundation Building but couldn''t form a true Core using normal means, so they had to resort to unconventional methods to create a False Core.


    While False Core cultivators were inferior to genuine Gold Core cultivators in both strength and lifespan, they had an overwhelming advantage over Foundation Buildingpletion cultivators.


    A False Core cultivator could live for around three hundred years, while a Gold Core cultivator had a lifespan of at least five hundred years. Moreover, the strength of a False Core cultivator was higher than that of a Foundation Buildingpletion cultivator, but they were still no match for a true Gold Core cultivator.


    The true trump card of Twin Sess Valley was not the rumored Ten Foundation Building technique but rather the False Core cultivator, Xiao Fengyan.


    Over a hundred years ago, Twin Sess Valley had identally obtained an inner core of a Third Rank demonic beast. Using this inner core as the main ingredient, they could refine a Foundation Building Pill.


    However, the then Twin Sess Valley Sect Master had a different idea.


    Firstly, Twin Sess Valley was already capable of refining Lesser Foundation Building Pills. Although the efficacy was far from that of a genuine Foundation Building Pill, and the sess rate of disciples achieving Foundation Building was not high, having Lesser Foundation Building Pills reduced the urgency for Foundation Building Pills.


    Secondly, the Sect Master realized that having a few more Foundation Building stage cultivators in Twin Sess Valley wouldn''t fundamentally enhance the sect''s strength and foundation. Simrly, a few more Foundation Building Pill cultivators or a few less Foundation Buildingpletion cultivators wouldn''t affect the survival of Twin Sess Valley.


    However, having a False Core cultivator could y a decisive role in critical situations.


    Thus, Twin Sess Valley contacted an expert from the Jiuqu League and spent a great price to refine the Third Rank demonic beast inner core into a pill that a cultivator could use. After Xiao Fengyanpleted Foundation Building, knowing that he had no hope of forming a true Core, he voluntarily assimted the pill and became a False Core cultivator.


    For years, Twin Sess Valley had been publicly disclosing that the once renowned disciple, Xiao Fengyan, had died during meditation due to his depleted lifespan. In reality, Xiao Fengyan was hiding within the sect and only revealed himself during crucial moments. Only the Foundation Building stage elders within the sect were aware of Xiao Fengyan''s existence.


    Now, with Twin Sess Valley convening an elder assembly that concerned the life and death of the sect, Xiao Fengyan naturally wouldn''t be absent.


    Among the attendees, there was also an elder named Shan Feiyu, who was not sitting with the other elders but was sitting alone on one side. Shan Feiyu was the most talented disciple epted into Twin Sess Valley since its establishment and the sole candidate the sect was preparing to cultivate into a Gold Core Daoist Master.


    After years of dedicated nurturing and costly resource investment, this rtively unknown genius had alreadypleted Foundation Building, with only one step away from the Gold Core stage. However, this one step was a tremendous obstacle that stumped the vast majority of Foundation Buildingpletion cultivators, and very few could cross it.


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