Saint Emperor Devourer of Heaven

Before long, the servant returned with Steward Zhuang, then turned and left.

"Protector Zhou, Zhuang Zimeng requests an audience."

Steward Zhuang stood before the entrance to the small world and bowed slightly.

"Come in."

Protector Zhou's voice echoed from within.

At the same time, a vortex appeared in the middle of the sealing light screen at the entrance to the small world.

Steward Zhuang passed through the vortex and arrived in a land of blue skies and white clouds.

It wasn't large, the environment resembling a mountain valley, surrounded by mountain walls on all sides, but the environment was excellent, with lush trees, babbling mountain springs, and the air filled with the fragrance of flowers.

In the middle of the valley stood a towering welcoming pine, and Protector Zhou sat cross-legged on a large bluestone beneath the ancient pine.

"Judging by your expression, Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian don't seem to have encountered trouble, but rather some joyous occasion?"

Protector Zhou saw a hint of restrained excitement in Steward Zhuang's eyes.

"Protector, it's not just a joyous occasion, it's a tremendous joyous occasion!"

Hearing Protector Zhou say this, Steward Zhuang could no longer restrain himself, his face full of excitement, almost bursting into a smile.

"What exactly happened that has you so excited? I'm rather curious."

Protector Zhou also became interested.

He understood Steward Zhuang, who was usually a rather steady person.

After all, he was a steward of the Dao Academy, his duty to impart Dao and teach, so he couldn't have a frivolous personality, otherwise how could he teach students?

"A couple of days ago, Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian found Steward Li, seeking a mission execution order.

Old Li gave it to them at the time, instructing them not to take on missions above three stars, to choose mission areas not far from the Imperial City, and even lent them a magical weapon, a battle sword, in case they encountered people from the Yi family and needed a means to protect themselves.

Who would have thought that they didn't follow Old Li's instructions.

Protector, can you guess what kind of mission they accepted?"

"A three-star difficulty mission, and more than one?"

Protector Zhou wasn't very surprised; three-star missions could be resolved by those in the Everlasting Realm.

Although Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian were rogue cultivators, they were different from other rogue cultivators; they were special, after all, they had stayed in the Great Tomb for ten thousand years and escaped unscathed.

So, to say that they could complete a three-star difficulty mission didn't seem so unbelievable.

"They did indeed accept three-star missions; the two of them accepted a total of four three-star difficulty missions.

But that's not the reason I'm so excited!

Besides the three-star missions, they also accepted a four-star difficulty mission!

Not only did they accept it, but they also completed it successfully!

They completed all the missions in just one short day!

It's simply unbelievable!"

"What?"

Protector Zhou's body jolted violently, his eyes filled with shock.

"Are you sure they completed the four-star difficulty mission based on their strength, and didn't just happen to encounter some special circumstance and get lucky?"

Protector Zhou felt it was very unbelievable.

To say they completed a three-star difficulty mission was already within his maximum estimate of their capabilities.

But four-star difficulty was a completely different level.

Four stars corresponded to the strength of the Undying Realm.

Undying and Everlasting were different major realms, with a difference of a hundred and eight thousand miles.

One Undying could sweep away thousands of Everlasting!

The suppression of the major realm barrier wasn't just talk; it was truly unbreakable, unshakable, difficult to even penetrate the defense.

Unless it was the peak of the Everlasting Realm, with a sufficient number, perhaps they could contend with the Undying.

But what realm were Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian in?

They were only in the Legendary Realm now!

Legendary and Undying were separated by two whole major realms, across two major realm barriers!

This gap was already immeasurable, with absolutely no chance.

Even if the evil spirit in the Undying Realm was on its last breath, people in the Legendary Realm couldn't get close, let alone kill it; it was like a fantasy.

"One four-star mission could be said to be a coincidence, but two four-star missions can't be a coincidence.

Not only did they complete two four-star difficulty missions, but one of the four-star missions was extremely difficult, requiring the late or even peak stage of the Undying Realm to complete!

"This… it's really unbelievable…"

Protector Zhou was filled with shock.

"Protector, these are their mission tokens; take a look and you'll know."

Steward Zhuang took out the two mission tokens and placed them in front of Protector Zhou.

Protector Zhou restrained the excitement in his heart, and his palm swept across the two tokens from a distance.

Instantly, the mission completion information within the tokens flooded his mind, causing his heart and mind to tremble greatly, his expression becoming dazed.

"Also, Yuan Chu told Steward Li that he and Su Qingqian were actually not in the Legendary Realm, but had already reached the Everlasting Realm long ago, and used a special secret method to hide their realm in order to keep a low profile.

Even more shocking is that Yuan Chu is a dual cultivator of talisman and martial arts!

His talisman Dao attainments are quite profound!

This time, they dealt with the evil spirit in the Undying Realm by using talisman Dao to borrow the earth vein dragon energy to assist martial arts divine powers, successfully resolving the evil spirit!"

"Everlasting Realm, dual cultivation of talisman and martial arts…

I already knew about his understanding of talisman Dao.

I just never expected that they could kill two evil spirits in the Undying Realm!

Even with the Everlasting Realm supplemented by talisman Dao techniques, killing evil spirits in the Undying Realm is a quite heaven-defying achievement!"

Protector Zhou returned the tokens to Steward Zhuang, his body trembling slightly with excitement.

"Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian have given us too much surprise, especially Yuan Chu!"

Protector Zhou stood up and suddenly laughed three times, "Yuan Chu's potential is far stronger than I imagined!

In this case, as long as he grows smoothly, if he can obtain great opportunities in the future, and catch up to Hua Feiyu's realm, there is really a glimmer of hope to contend with him!

At that time, even if he is not as good as Hua Feiyu, if his talent and opportunities are slightly inferior, it doesn't matter.

The Sect Leader can abandon Hua Feiyu and choose Yuan Chu instead.

In that way, the Sect Leader can abandon his long-standing concerns, rectify the Sect's style, and reorganize the internal power structure of the Sect!"

"Yes, in the future, there may be a glimmer of hope to compete with Hua Feiyu.

Although the hope is not great, at least there is hope, unlike in the past when hope was completely invisible.

As the Protector said, even if he is a little worse than Hua Feiyu, at least there is no need to place the Sect's future expectations on Hua Feiyu, so as not to be kidnapped by him.

Protector, do you want to inform the Sect Leader about this as soon as possible?"

"No!"

Hearing this, Protector Zhou shook his head decisively, "Although the Sect Leader has long seen the situation clearly, there are still points of entanglement in his heart.

Hua Feiyu is, after all, his personal disciple, the most proud disciple personally cultivated by the Sect Leader.

Deep down in the Sect Leader's heart, in his subconscious, I'm afraid he still has a glimmer of fantasy about Hua Feiyu.

Furthermore, although Yuan Chu's performance is heaven-defying, with astonishing potential.

But his current realm is too low after all, only the Everlasting Realm, compared to the true disciples above the Creation Realm, the gap is too great.

Not to mention that Hua Feiyu, who was already at the peak of the Chaotic Realm many years ago, is probably already stepping into the Primordial Realm now.

He once obtained a peerless opportunity, possessing the entire Emperor's Treasury inheritance!

Therefore, his growth rate is very amazing.

Although the higher the cultivation realm, the slower the breakthrough speed, his cultivation is much faster than others.

When Yuan Chu doesn't show the talent to catch up with the true disciples in terms of realm, the Sect Leader will not bet his treasure on him.

After all, potential is potential, no matter how amazing it is, it must grow up.

In this era, we cannot have enough time to let geniuses grow slowly as in the past.

This era not only needs the potential in terms of growth strength, but also the talent in terms of cultivation speed, both are indispensable!"

"Protector is right, the Sect Leader's thoughts are indeed elusive.

By the way, Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian have offended the Yi family, and the feud between them and the Yi family is probably unresolvable.

With the Yi family's style, I'm afraid they won't let it go.

In addition, someone from the Yi family is employed in our Sect.

I'm afraid they will let those who are employed in the Sect trip up Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian in the future, creating opportunities for them; we must guard against this."

"Don't worry, I will guarantee the safety of Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian.

Let them fight with the Yi family, it can also accumulate some experience."

"But according to the current situation, I'm afraid that more than just the Yi family will target them in the future.

They were originally rogue cultivators, and suddenly joined the Sect, and I personally took them to register.

It has already caused many aristocratic disciples to feel imbalanced and harbor hostility towards them.

In the future, as long as those people find an opportunity, they will definitely target them.

With Yuan Chu's character, he will definitely not swallow his anger, and will definitely launch a counterattack, thus offending a large number of powerful families in the Nine Dragons Dynasty."

"Heh, let them be offended then.

These powerful families in the Nine Dragons Dynasty are used to being domineering and strong on weekdays, always relying on their aristocratic status, arrogant and unruly.

Yuan Chu has a sense of propriety, otherwise it would be difficult for them to live to this day as rogue cultivators.

In the future, no matter how he counterattacks the people of the powerful families, don't stop him, just provide help when they need it."

"Okay."

"By the way, how long is it until the Immortal Treasure Pavilion's auction?"

Steward Zhuang was slightly stunned, not knowing why the Protector suddenly mentioned the Immortal Treasure Pavilion's auction, but he still truthfully said: "Calculating the time, it should be about twenty days away.

Protector, are you going to participate in the auction?"

"Go and see if there are any rare resources suitable for Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian to use.

I still have some savings, although not much, as long as they are not particularly rare, and there are not many people competing for them, there is still a chance to win them."

"Protector, I have a lot of savings here…"

"No need."

Before Protector Zhuang could finish speaking, Protector Zhou interrupted him, "You've been saving for so many years, just waiting for an opportunity.

Your money is untouchable; it's your future hope!

Surely you don't want to be stuck at your current level forever, do you?"

"I… honestly, I've long given up hope.

With the sect in its current state, the conflicts ahead will be incredibly intense.

Whether those of us in the Dao Academy can survive is uncertain."

Protector Zhuang sighed. His despair wasn't about solving his own problems, but about the sect's situation, which might not allow him to live that long.

"Perhaps it's not as serious as you think.

Besides, you should just stay in the Dao Academy, teaching and lecturing, helping Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian where appropriate, and avoid getting involved in other matters.

Even if we lose in the future, Hua Feiyu might not necessarily take your lives.

Don't overthink it.

Wait here for a moment."

Protector Zhou turned and walked towards the mountain wall. With a wave of his hand, Dao patterns appeared on the wall, revealing a stone door.

He opened the stone door and walked inside. It was a small stone chamber.

The stone chamber contained many shelves, upon which were placed various boxes sealed with Dao patterns. The walls were adorned with several Immortal Dao artifacts.

He examined the Immortal Dao artifacts, items he had obtained during his past training.

He wondered what techniques Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian cultivated and what weapons would be suitable for them.

With a sweep of his sleeve, all the weapons on the wall flew into his sleeve.

Then, he approached a shelf.

Upon it was a box with exquisite Dao patterns.

He took it down, opened the box, and a burst of emerald green light radiated out, accompanied by pure Primordial Qi.

Inside was a bottle of emerald green liquid, crystal clear and seemingly extraordinary.

He took out the bottle of liquid, placed the wooden box back, and walked out of the stone chamber.

"Let's go to Yuan Chu's place.

Oh, right, after leaving my peak, quickly go to the mission management office and help them collect the mission rewards.

They can't claim this four-star mission; otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable."

"Understood."

Deacon Zhuang replied, then noticed the item in his hand, his eyes widening in surprise, "Protector, is that Second-Grade Hundred Herb Immortal Liquid in your hand?"

"Indeed, it is. I hadn't used it all those years ago, so I've kept it stored away.

Now it comes in handy, best used on Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian."

"That Hundred Herb Immortal Liquid… how difficult was it for you to win it back then."

"So what? I can't just leave it gathering dust in the treasure vault."

"That's true."

Deacon Zhuang smiled.

The Hundred Herb Immortal Liquid was an essence extracted from hundreds of rare Immortal herbs, blended using a special secret recipe.

Using this Immortal liquid, the speed of refinement is a hundred times that of ordinary resources, which can help cultivators below the Immortal Realm quickly break through their cultivation.

The Second-Grade Hundred Herb Immortal Liquid corresponds to the Eternal Realm, which is perfect for Yuan Chu and Su Qingqian.

"Unfortunately, there's not much left.

With their talent and pure Immortal power, the amount of resources they need will inevitably be much greater than ordinary cultivators.

This half-bottle of Hundred Herb Immortal Liquid will probably only allow each of them to improve by one or two minor realms.

I still need to find a way to get them other special resources.

Otherwise, with such a huge gap in their cultivation, how can they catch up with the disciples of the inner sect."

"But special resources related to improving cultivation are extremely rare.

It's extremely difficult to find them outside.

If we go to places like the Immortal Treasure Pavilion to buy them, we'll inevitably have to bid, with many people competing, making the prices exorbitant.

We don't have that kind of wealth."

"Alas."

Protector Zhou shook his head and sighed. In recent years, he had been busy for the sect, to the point of not having time to earn wealth.

Money was originally meaningless to cultivators.

But since the advent of the Heavenly Dao Bank, everything has changed.

Heavenly Dao Coins are the only hard currency in the entire Mixed Origin Great World.

It is not only used in the mortal world, but also in the cultivation world.

"We'll talk about it later. Go and collect the mission rewards now, and we'll meet in front of the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall."

After Protector Zhou finished speaking, he left without waiting for Deacon Zhuang's response.