Please, Young Master, Slay the Demon!
Chapter 386 - 70 I am taking over his shift 【Request for Monthly Ticket!】_1

Chapter 386: Chapter 70 I am taking over his shift 【Request for Monthly Ticket!】_1

Having settled matters with Dan Lingzi, Chu Liang promptly headed to Bao Dan Hall.

He had previously arranged for several shops to open branches in Red Cotton Peak, but there had been no progress despite the passing days. Naturally, he needed to inquire about the situation.

However, upon meeting the familiar Elder Sun, the latter had a troubled expression on his face.

"Young Hero Chu, Shu Mountain is so far away, getting there from Taotie City...it’s too difficult," he said slowly.

Chu Liang fell silent at this.

Based on the conversation, the issue of the distance to Shu Mountain had already been discussed between the parties, so there should be no problem.

The point Elder Sun was really trying to make was probably the latter half of his sentence.

Getting there from Taotie City was too difficult.

Could there be some obstacles?

Seeing Elder Sun’s evasive demeanor, Chu Liang didn’t ask further and decided to take his leave. There were several other shops that had agreed to the arrangement earlier, which he went to visit next.

As expected, all the shops had backed out.

Although those in charge remained tight-lipped about the reason behind this, nothing could stop Chu Liang from finding out. After a few indirect probes, he eventually found a name.

Huyan Bin.

This was the name of the young master of Taotie City.

Chu Liang had heard about him before. Despite his young age, he was quite capable and had already taken over many of the city’s affairs.

Unexpectedly, he was now meddling with Shu Mountain.

Rationally speaking, the marketplace about to be established on Red Cotton Peak shared a similar function to Taotie City.

However, most people didn’t think the two would be competitors.

Just like now, with Chu Liang and Sword Saint Eight Elder Li being competitors; the huge gap between them made that notion seem ludicrous.

If Huyan Bin was suppressing the development of Red Cotton Peak at this stage, it either meant they had a personal grudge or his foresight was so superb he could see Shu Mountain would inevitably become a contender in the future.

Chu Liang might not even have that much confidence in Red Cotton Peak.

But if the young master was trying to strangle a potential competitor in the cradle, this would indeed be the best time to do it. Taotie City’s market was an ocean, while Red Cotton Peak was still a small pond. If he declared that anyone who went to Red Cotton Peak could forget about developing in Taotie City, anyone would know what choice to make.

After all, businessmen are profit-seeking.

Chu Liang pondered for a moment, realizing this was an unavoidable hurdle. He decided to seek a meeting with the young master.

The Castellan Residence in Taotie City was not hard to find; it was the grandest mansion in the city.

Therefore, Chu Liang went to the Castellan Residence alone, announced his sect and name, and requested a meeting with the young master.

After the gatekeeper reported this, an elegant maid immediately led him to a waiting room. She told him to wait there, promising that the young master would meet with him as soon as he had a moment.

There were already two people in the waiting room, a middle-aged man with a distressed expression and a white-haired old man, both of them fairly silent.

Chu Liang quietly took a seat behind them and waited for about half an hour, but no one came to notify anyone about their meeting.

He stood up, confused, and looked around.

The middle-aged man said, "Don’t bother waiting, no one is going to see you."

Chu Liang turned to look at him. "Isn’t it my turn after you two?" he asked.

"After us..." the middle-aged man gave a bitter smile. "Well, then you have a long wait ahead. I’ve been waiting here for seven days."

"Eh?" Chu Liang was somewhat surprised and turned to look at the old man.

The old man slowly looked up, cleared his throat and said, "Let me put it this way, a year before I was born my father started waiting in line here, I am just picking up his shift."

Chu Liang: "?"

...

Then Chu Liang understood that this waiting room was a tool to discourage visitors.

Even if a Demon God had started waiting here since not being imprisoned in the Demon Suppression Tower, it would not get a chance to meet the young master of Taotie City.

He immediately stood up to leave.

Although he couldn’t think of a way to oppose Huyan Bin for the time being, he wasn’t at the point where he needed the latter’s grace to flourish.

But even so, it’s overly domineering not to afford any chance of negotiation, even to those you’re crushing.

Still, this is just a commercial competition after all. I can’t directly involve my teacher, because doing so would change its nature, and nobody would want to cooperate with Shu Mountain in the future.

I’ve been thinking hard, and it may have something to do with Taotie City’s potential hostility towards Shu Mountain, especially now that it’s a sensitive time... The Immortal Conference is approaching.

Thunder Fortress and Taotie City have both grown distasteful of Shu Mountain over the years.

In their opinion, Shu Mountain is an outdated Immortal Sect that has been living off its past glory.

The heroic act of suppressing the Demon God and saving the Mortal Realm is indeed admirable, but you have been the Leader of the Righteous Path for over two thousand years—that’s long enough.

The Demon Suppression Tower is gone—this indicates that you should step down.

If you don’t obstruct anyone’s path, you can peacefully continue as a small, respected Immortal Sect. Occupying the high position without merit will eventually exhaust the respect you have for your ancestors.

The Nine Heavens Immortal Sect’s position isn’t just symbolic of hollow glory, but it also carries considerable influence within the Nine States.

A lot of privileged occasions, top resources, and allocations are only available to the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect. It’s only when they’re slightly worse that it falls to the Ten Earth Sects.

Over the years, the rapid development of Thunder Fortress and Taotie City has been quite impressive. There is no space left for them to ascend, so they covet this position with strong ambitions.

In reality, they are very close.

When the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands were established, the various Immortal Sects worked together with the Imperial Court to create a constitution.

The constitution includes a clause stating if the Nine Heavens Immortal Sect falls out of the top ten positions in five consecutive Immortal Conferences, they have to step down from Nine Heavens. If the Ten Earth Sects are out of the top twenty for five consecutive conferences, they would have to leave the Ten Earths.

In the end, the world of Immortal Cultivation is a survival of the fittest—the law of the jungle. It can’t tolerate the lazing around.

This constitution isn’t exactly strict, as the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands should be continuously powerful, and the top ten is a good standard considering the possibility of some lower Sect rising to power in a particular year.

There may be some bias in determining the Sect’s position based on the competition among the young disciples. For instance, an Immortal Sect may have powerful elders but weak disciples.

But stretching over a full span of sixty years, if there are no outstanding disciples born during this extended period of time, it’s appropriate to conclude the decline of a Sect.

This too urges the elders of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands to pay more attention to nurturing their young disciples to avoid the selfish fostering of only high-ranking disciples, dismissing the lower ones as the Demon Sect does.

Shu Mountain has fallen out of the top ten in four consecutive conferences.

The last time Shu Mountain shined at the Immortal Conference was when the generation of Jiang Tiankuo, Daoist Yan, and Empress Feng represented the Sect. They punched through the Nine Heavens and kicked through the Ten Earths, sweeping all the challenges to stand at the top, shining brightly as the last glory of Shu Mountain.

After their time, Shu Mountain hasn’t had any notable talents.

So now, barring the few Peak Masters left in Shu Mountain and new disciples like Chu Liang, there are almost no young talents left.

The Immortal Conference this time is extremely crucial.

There are rumors in the Immortal Cultivation World that this year’s Immortal Conference will be fiercely contested.

In previous years, a talented disciple who’s in the Fifth Stage was considered a top expert at the Immortal Conference.

But this year, it seems that many exceptional talents have broken through the Fifth Stage ahead of time. At least in terms of stage, there’s much more bulk than previous years.

"Ah."

Sitting on the back of the Golden Fur Beast, Chu Liang also sighed.

This world is too tumultuous.

I too need to hurry up and advance further, instead of always relying on challenging those in the realm above me to win.

Actually, my cultivation speed this year has been unparalleled within the Nine States. It’s just a shame that my starting point was too low. Even though I’ve been progressing rapidly, I’m still only in the late stage of the Golden Core Realm and there’s still a bit to go before reaching the peak of the Fourth Realm.

Fortunately, there’s still time.

When I got back to Shu Mountain, it was already late at night. I’ve been running around a lot recently, so I’ve decided to spend some time to get rooted in Silver Sword Peak.

Starting from tomorrow onward, I’ll be an idle person—tending to flowers, planting fruits, and fighting the Wine Jar Demon. I’ll face towards Shu Mountain and live peacefully.

But first thing the next morning, an "unexpected guest" came looking for me.

"Hey, hey, hey!" The visitor arrived with a hearty laugh, landing outside the wooden cabin.

When Chu Liang pushed open the door and looked out, unsurprisingly, it was Lin Bei with his thick brows and big eyes.

"What’s up?" he asked.

"Brother, I’m about to have a breakthrough soon. I’m about to start creating my External Elixir." Lin Bei said with a proud smile. "I came here to ask for your help."