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According to A Classic on An Insight into Nature, “A perfected man has a hollow inside, which allows them to integrate into the Great Dao and become part of Nature itself. They are omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-proficient.”

The term “perfected man” had been used since the ancient time. Although the meaning might have changed slightly, the essence remained the same: badass!

In the Taoist community, the title signified a supreme state, whereas in the secular world, “perfected man” was often granted to great masters by the imperial court.

For instance, Yinzi, Wenzi, Liezi, Zhuangzi, Zhang Sanfeng, Wang Chongyang, and An Qisheng had all been granted the title “perfected man” once. Hence, Gu Yu felt abashed to be addressed as such at the very beginning of this letter—who was he to be raised to the same status as all those ancient sages?

What was more interesting, though, was the way they chose to communicate with him this time. Instead of using any of the modern means, they switched to the old-school greeting letter.

It showed respect, but at the same time, expressed a detached politeness.

The contents of the two letters were pretty much the same: Mu Kun of the BIMAUP and Shi Yunlai of the monastery had both arrived at Bai Town, and both wanted to have an audience with Gu Yu.

They had to send a request, for the manor on the northern slope had been hidden in the formation together with the talisman paper workshop. Phoenix Mountain did not have a reception venue at the moment; they were going to build a few houses on the square outside the mountain gate specially for that purpose.

Why they wanted to meet him was obvious—they had questions about the lecture, only that the authorities wanted to know his purpose, while the monastery wanted to know about the content.

Gu Yu folded the letters and put them back into the envelopes, then told Li Dong, “Tell them both that the great change is upon us all, and I’m willing to offer my humble effort.”

“Just that?” asked Li Dong surprisingly.

“Just that.”

“No problem. I’ll tell them that right away.”

Li Dong bowed at him, then activated the Rising Manual that he still need much practice in and staggered down the mountain.

Once they received Gu Yu’s reply, Mu Kun and Shi Yunlai brought the news back to their own people, who reacted very differently.

The government immediately called for an urgent meeting, attended by leading officials of all key departments, just to study the intentions behind this move. Frankly speaking, ever since the two sides began their cooperation, they had never truly been friends. The relationship was tainted by all sorts of exchanges of interests and distrust of each other.

Initially, the authorities needed Old Gu for the development of Tianzhu Mountain and to explore the new world.

When the monastery was set up, the importance of Phoenix Mountain dropped, but the calamity of Huo Zhou broke out at that moment, and the government needed the couple’s help. Their relationship had been going south ever since, and they even exchanged fire on Changbai Mountain.

The result of that incident was that not only did Old Gu annihilate the official force, he also demonstrated his capability by decapitating a man from a distance away. That was the first time the authorities realized how unmatchable Taoist skills could be in actual combat by using surprise attacks on individuals (i.e. their bosses).

After that, the problem on the international front became the priority, and the authorities needed Phoenix Mountain once more. After taking a trip abroad, Old Gu successfully upgraded himself.

It got the old man worried even back then. A Human Immortal would be a double-edged blade to the country. As long as the government could not control him, they had to take precautions against him.

Therefore, when the news arrived, talking about Phoenix Mountain running lectures and recruiting pupils, some of the officials’ first reaction was: that man was going to accumulate weapons and build himself an army now???

They were actually not the only ones thinking that way. The old man, on the other hand, led a faction that stood on Gu Yu’s side who all agreed that Gu Yu and Jiang Xiaozhai were too smart to do something that suicidal.

The vision the authorities had of this new world with the recovered spiritual essence—or the blueprint of the the new country, if you like, was as followed:

First of all, the government would have control of the cultivators.

Secondly, the cultivators would live peacefully with the ordinary people.

Thirdly, cultivation would integrate with the development of the society, bringing the productivity to a new level.

The first one was essential, for the authorities needed more cultivators, but at the same time, they had to make sure that the latter would not become too capable and too ambitious…

After a heated discussion and thanks to the old man and those with him, the bosses decided to trust Phoenix Mountain on this. Of course, they would definitely use this opportunity to send a few of their own people in.

On the other side, the atmosphere in the monastery was much more relaxed.

The relationship between cultivators was far less complicated than that with the government. The thirty-five members of Qiyun grasped the meaning of Gu Yu’s words right away.

Provident as he always was, Lu Yuanqing only considered it for a few seconds before announcing his decision. “Since they have expressed their goodwill, we are more than happy to help. Send our reply: at the beginning of the month of Gao, the entire monastery will be there to attend the lecture.”

***

Shengtian, the Zeng Family house.

Over twenty people had gathered in the grand villa. Aside from the key members of the Zeng Family, there were also those from the Lei and Yuan Families. As the most senior members, Granny Zeng, Old Man Lei, and Old Man Yuan were sitting in the middle of the room, lecturing the youngsters.

Zeng Yuewei stood quietly behind Granny Zeng, the expression on her face hard to read.

Back then, as one of the first people to do business with Gu Yu, she could have taken advantage of that favorable position and build something out of it. However, she did not think much of the man then, and had wasted that opportunity. Now that five years had passed, they were worlds apart.

Zeng Yuewei was over thirty years old now, and got married last year—paired up for the need of the family business. Never had she imagined that the good-looking young man from five years ago would have risen so high that he was beyond her reach even if she stood on a mountain.

She couldn’t blame Gu Yu for forgetting the old affection, for there was none to begin with. A few years back, when the three families helped Phoenix Mountain with the construction work, Gu Yu had thanked them with plenty of spiritual incense and spiritual medicine; he owed them nothing.

While she stood there occupied by all her thoughts, the three elders had finished their lecture. Old Man Yuan glanced around the room and sighed. “We’ll carry it out as planned, then… Ke’er! Lingshan! Xiao Xiao!”

Three children over ten years old stepped out at his call. They were two boys and a girl, and stood out from the rest of the kids. Not only were their eyes exceptionally clear, there was also a brightness about them.

As early as two years ago, they had asked the old priest of the Taiqing Palace to examine the bone structures of all their children. In the younger generation of all three families, these three children were the best. Even the old priest was impressed, and tried to take them in as pupils of Taiqing Palace. But the three families had their own plans.

Ever since then, things like the spiritual rice and spiritual tea of the families went to the three first. They then made a huge donation to the Taiqing Palace in exchange for a basic free-hand boxing manual.

That was how disparity was created—still talking about losing at the starting line? Try losing before you were even born!

“We’re sending you three as candidates. If you make it in, keep it in mind that we three families are in it together. We are bound together for better or worse. Therefore, out there, you must work hard as a team and help each other out.”

“Yes!”

***

Diannan, the Tao Family.

Inside the high walls of the three-story white house, the atmosphere was in stark contrast to that in the Zeng Family. The internal strife had greatly reduced the size of the family, and right now, there were only six people living here: Tao Yu, his wife, Uncle Tao, Aunt Tao, and Tao Yu’s two cousins.

Ever since they began to work for Phoenix Mountain, they had spared no efforts in fulfilling their tasks. Every six months, they would send a batch of jade stones to Phoenix Mountain, which was what the formation plates were made from. In that sense, they had made a great contribution to the mountain.

Other than that, following Gu Yu’s instructions, Tao Yu had been looking out for mines everywhere. A few days ago, he finally discovered an unusual mountain that could have a mutated jade mine beneath it.

He could not confirm the finding, and had to ask Phoenix Mountain to send someone over. The reply was that the person would arrive in a few days and was a patriarch of some sort, and very badass!

That matter aside, the Tao Family was also talking about the recruitment of pupils.

“The master has promised that as long as we have a newborn baby with the right endowment, the mountain will take them in… Sigh, too bad we only have a few people in the family. Xiao Yu, you two have to work on it.” Uncle Tao sighed.

“It’s not like we can just make a baby at our will…” Tao Yu did not know how to respond to that. Ever since his uncle recovered from that evil spirit, he seemed to have lost all ambition. He had transferred all his control over the company to Tao Yu, and spent his days caring for family affairs only.

Then, Tao Yu switched the subject. “The master did make that promise, but this is different. Since the recruitment is public, I think Xiao Tong and Xiao Yi can have a go.”

“Um, all right. But they’re still too young, and I don’t trust the others. How about you take them there yourself?” said Uncle Tao.

“Sure. We’ll leave as soon as we settle the matter with the mine.” Tao Yu nodded.

Both kids were teenagers, and were over the moon at the suggestion of becoming a pupil of the mountain.

All in all, the Tao Family was much more relaxed that those three families. Not only did they have a closer relationship with the mountain, they also had a jade plate given by Perfected Man Gu himself, meaning they could ask to see Gu Yu any time.

***

Wula Province, a secret chamber.

Wrapped in a piece of white veil, Yu Lanzhu lay lazily in bed, her perfect body half hidden by the cloth. Her fingers were the color of scallion, and her lips looked as if they had been tinted with vermilion; her delicate feet reminded one of the peach flowers in the spring.

She was in an excellent mood. With half the Heishui Province and a small portion of Wula Province buried under snow, the calamity was widespread. However, to Shamanism, it was a perfect time to attract believers.

The Northeastern Shamanism had a strange cultivation path. They had to practice with the spirit of a beast first, then move onto refining themselves. After that, they had to attract believers and set up worship halls to absorb the power of faith so that they could gradually strengthen their minds.

It started off as an unorthodox practice, but would transform into an orthodox one at the later stage—they had to help the people to accumulate enough merits to atone for their sins, or they would be hit by thunder tribulations.

She had now completely fused with the spirit of the white fox, and could change easily between the two forms. Starting from Da’an Village of Sanping, she had secretly developed a great number of believers among the poverty-stricken common folk.

Yu Lanzhu was a smart woman. She knew that “home-protecting fairy” was a taboo to the government, so to her believers, she was the White Fairy, and the white fox was her pet. She introduced herself as a cultivator that had been living deep inside the mountains for years and had made some achievements. Because she couldn’t bear to watch the common people’s suffering, she had come out to offer her help.

One should not underestimate the intelligence of the common people, but one should not overestimate it, either.

There were people that had fallen for scams like “I am Qianlong Emperor. Please lend me a couple of million dollars so that I can open the secret deposit of treasures of the Qing Dynasty”, let alone an actual fairy that was helping them.

Hence, Yu Lanzhu was very happy. What made her even happier, though, was that she’d finally found a way into Phoenix Mountain.

“Are you sure she’s safe to send in?” she asked Nalan.

“The best disguise is when she herself doesn’t know she is in a disguise.” With her poker face, Nanlan said in a cold voice, “Seven years old, female, born in Xiaoheyan Village, and knows nothing about us. She is mediocre in her endowments and a loner. She will neither stand out nor be too unnoticeable. A relative of hers works in the government, and will encourage her to go.”

“Hm, that’ll do. Anyway, it’s not like she’s gonna do anything. She’ll only be there to have a look.” Yu Lanzhu pondered for a moment and suddenly made an alluring smile. “Teehee. To tell you the truth, I’m very interested in that Mr. Gu.”

***

Guizhou Province, Zhijin.

Half of Guizhou was taken over by calamities now. Plants grew wildly, rivers brimmed over their banks, and poisonous insects and miasmas spread out uncontrollably. As a result, the residents were evacuated in large numbers.

However, Zhijin was an exception.

Probably the Golden Toad Sky-swallowing Formation had suppressed the rampaging spiritual essence—apart from that bird disaster, nothing unusual happened to the county. The government had planned to expand the county into a city of a considerable size and build roads so that they could safeguard the land of Guizhou.

Right now, inside the old house of the You Family, You Yu was packing quietly.

His face was emotionless, and his movements slow. Despite the slight unwillingness and confusion in his eyes, he kept putting things into his suitcase. As one of the people to have experienced the collapse of Fish Mountain at the scene, he had been summoned and interrogated multiple times even when the incident had passed. He had also become a celebrity of his village.

Some envied him, some were jealous, but most chose to taunt and jeer at him.

You Yu was not like other kids. Anyone else that had been given a promise by both Phoenix Mountain and the monastery would be over the moon, but not him. He actually considered the two offers carefully for a long time.

It wasn’t until he heard the news about Phoenix Mountain that he finally made his decision.

“Xiao… Xiao Yu…” After he finished packing and turned around carrying his suitcase, he realized his parents had been standing behind him for a long time. Tears were welling up in their eyes.

“…”

You Yu winced a little, then knelt down abruptly, banging his forehead three times on the floor. He then rose to his feet and walked out without a word.

***

Just like so, with the joint connivance of the two major cultivation groups, the news swept across the country at a lightning speed before making its way into the neighboring countries.

Goryeo, Nippon, Siem, Malaya, and Tsar on the north were all going to send people through diplomatic arrangements to attend the event, and take the opportunity to examine the overall strength of the country.