Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 658 375 Influence_2

Just like the Venerable of the Qianye Temple from Shushan Sect, who once dared to obstruct Li Shiming, he was also the disciple of a Nascent Soul Ancestor. If it wasnʼt for the warning issued by the Fan Ancestor at the time, perhaps Li Shiming might have been captured by Qianye Temple as well.

There were many such incidents, and they appeared trivial, but when such trivial matters accumulated, they were enough to influence his reputation within the large sects.

Li Yuan Ba didnʼt understand these behind-the-scenes events; he just responded to the messages from the concerned Righteous Path Golden Core Elders.

He also learned from Ying Hou that the Righteous Path was negotiating with Senluo Sect, and Jieshan Mountain Pass was in a state of complete suspension.

After he was captured, Senluo Sect stopped all transactions, even though this affected Senluo Sect as well, but Old Demon Luʼs wrath was evident, and the sect also needed to make corresponding responses.

Li Yuan Ba didnʼt want to inquire about these matters anymore; this capture made him feel that his own strength was still too weak.

He had sufficient cultivation resources and treasures like Ten Thousand Sword Peak that could aid his Sword Intent enhancement at the Golden Core Stage; what he needed to do now was simply to keep enhancing his strength.

He needed to take advantage of the time when Qianye Temple was weakened to increase his strength to a self-sufficient level.

This was not an impossible task; even in the best-case scenario, it would take at least a hundred years for Qianye Temple to produce another Venerable.

With over a century, given Li Yuanbaʼs cultivation speed, although he didnʼt dare to guarantee that he could advance to the Nascent Soul stage, it was still certain he could reach the status of a Great Elder.

Li Yuanba bid farewell to Jiang Pu and the other three Golden Core Elders, returning to the Jieshan City Guardian Mansion.

Although he had been captured by Qianye Temple, it hadnʼt affected Jieshan City; the city remained just as he had left it.

The matter of his capture had alarmed at least the Golden Core cultivators; those in Jieshan City were not yet at the level to be privy to the high-level news.

Upon his return, he immediately applied for partial authority over the Jieshan Formation.

In the past, he hadnʼt paid much attention to the authority over the Jieshan Formation; after all, he could easily enter and exit the formation.

But after this incident, he realized he had underestimated his own security situation.

His application was swiftly approved; the authority over the Jieshan Formation he requested was not the control authority but the sharing of the formationʼs detection authority.

A Nascent Soul Ancestor could potentially use a secret technique to conceal their realm, thus deceiving the formation.

If a Nascent Soul Ancestor wanted to forcefully pass through the formation, unless they possessed the ability of an Array Master and had computational analytical capabilities as formidable as Shimingʼs, they could only tear open the formation with overwhelming force, like Old Demon Lu did.

If they forced their way through the formation, their secret technique for hiding their realm would no longer function, and the formation would detect the Nascent Soul Ancestor.

What Li Yuan Ba needed was this functionality, to detect the appearance of a Nascent Soul Ancestor at Jieshan Mountain Pass as early as possible. With the distance from Jieshan Mountain Pass to Jieshan City, wearing the mind-enhancing headband and using ”Step by Step Lotus,” he would have enough time to escape.

Even if Venerable Huike used ”Within an Inch, a World Apart,” he was confident that he could escape considering the distance.

The impact of Li Yuanbaʼs capture lasted for half a month, causing great losses to all factions.

It wasnʼt until Qianye Temple took the initiative to propose a series of compensation plans to Senluo Sect and provided compensation to the impacted Shushan Sect and Thousand Illusion Sect, that the incident was somewhat resolved.

However, the subsequent far-reaching impact of this event did not end with the reopening of Jieshan Mountain Pass.

As for the events that had occurred in Qianye Temple, the spy networks of the various sects did not grasp the details, only knowing that Venerable Huijing fell under the influence of inner demons and fought a great battle with Venerable Huike, after which Old Demon Lu joined the fight and injured Venerable Huijing.

Subsequently, there were no further reports on the whereabouts of Venerable Huijing, and the major sects believed he was recovering from his injuries and combating his inner demons within Qianye Temple.

According to Old Demon Lu, even if Venerable Huijingʼs injuries healed, his strength would have decreased significantly, no longer on par with Old Demon Luʼs combat power.

Half a month later, in Qianye Temple, Venerable Huike sat inside the Bodhi Hall.

The Bodhi Hall had suffered damage from Venerable Huijingʼs destruction, and multiple parts of the outer wall were broken, yet these damages did not affect the Buddha statues on the walls.

At the damaged spots on the wall, the Buddha statues seemed to be covered by a layer of luminescent film, filling in the breaches.

Venerable Huike looked helplessly at the damage to Bodhi Hall, and although the true meaning manifested in the form of the Buddha statue was unaffected, the resources needed to repair Bodhi Hall were still immensely consumed.

Of course, compared to the matter of Venerable Huijing, the repair of Bodhi Hall was not considered a major issue.

After ending the confrontation with Old Demon Lu, Venerable Huike returned to the temple, only to find that Venerable Huijing was missing.

It was only after investigating that he learned Li Yuanba had left with the body of Venerable Huijing.

Venerable Huike did not believe that Li Yuanba could do much with the body of Venerable Huijing, let alone after the return of Venerable Huijingʼs Nascent Soul to his body.

News from the Senluo Sect indicated that Li Yuanba had been taken back to their sect by Old Demon Lu.

Venerable Huike now suspected that Old Demon Lu had found the injured Venerable Huijing and taken him back to the Senluo Sect, which was definitely not what he wanted to see.

However, from the current intelligence, it seemed that Old Demon Lu probably hadnʼt discovered Venerable Huijing; otherwise, with Old Demon Luʼs temperament, he would not have kept it a secret.

What reassured Venerable Huike the most was that Venerable Huijing was still alive; on the security restrictions of Venerable Huijingʼs cave dwelling at Qianye Temple, there remained a spirit seal of Venerable Huijing.

If Venerable Huijing had fallen, the spirit seal would not vanish immediately, but it would at least fade gradually.

Half a month had passed, and the spirit seal had not changed at all, indicating that Venerable Huijing was alive and well.

”Amitabha!” A Buddhaʼs name echoed in Bodhi Hall, as an old monk entered.

”Venerable Huikong, I have disturbed your cultivation!” Venerable Huike hurriedly stepped forward to greet him in reverence.

”What has happened to Junior Brother Huijing?” Venerable Huikong asked in a grave voice.

He was not satisfied with Venerable Huike; it had been his turn to look after Qianye Temple, and yet he had allowed so many troubles to arise in the temple.

Of course, Venerable Huijing was even stronger than Venerable Huike, but it was during his battle with inner demons in the temple that Venerable Huijing encountered problems; Venerable Huike had not dealt with it in time and had even allowed Old Demon Lu to come knocking at their door.

Though he did not voice his blame, his attitude said it all.

”Huijing was affected by inner demons and severely wounded four monks who were reciting the monkʼs intentions. I wanted to hold him off in the Thirty-Three Heavens, but who knew that Old Demon Lu would come and injure Huijing. Afterward, Huijing disappeared.

However, Huijing is still alive, just whereabouts unknown. At present, I donʼt know his condition; his injuries that day were severe, he did not have spirit pills for healing with him, and he was under the siege of inner demons!” Venerable Huike reported without concealment.

To him, Venerable Huikong was like an elder, as he had received guidance from Venerable Huikong in his youth.

”Activate all the spies, start the secret agents in all the major sects; we must find out the whereabouts of Junior Brother Huijing. Until then, I will not enter seclusion again but will deal with this matter together with you!” Venerable Huikong ordered solemnly.

”Yes, Elder Brother!” Venerable Huike bowed in response.

”Additionally, initiate the succession planning and begin to assess all Great Arhats!” Venerable Huikong continued to instruct.

Venerable Huike was taken aback as he had not expected Venerable Huikong to have such plans.

This implied that Venerable Huikong was not optimistic about Venerable Huijingʼs situation, believing the chances of Venerable Huijingʼs return to Qianye Temple to be very slim.

Although Venerable Huikong had not cultivated any Divine Skills, his long practice of Divine Soul Skill had given him an intuition about many things.

This kind of intuition was common among cultivators, but his was more sensitive and accurate.

”Could it be that Huijing is...?” Venerable Huike didnʼt finish his sentence; he had spent hundreds of years with Venerable Huijing, and the thought of Venerable Huijing never being able to return was immensely difficult for him to accept, even as a monk.

”In my intuition, Junior Brother Huijing is extremely far from Qianye Temple, he might even no longer be in this world!” Venerable Huikong said with a strange look in his eyes and a heavy voice.

Even though he trusted his intuition a great deal, the situation of Venerable Huijing within the intuition still puzzled him greatly.