Qiu Hongxin: “I held back a bit during the duel to drag it out, and then threw him a few pointers at the end.”
“After we finished, because the fight lasted a while, it saved my junior brother's face. And since I gave him some pointers, his combat skills actually improved. Naturally, he was completely won over.”
“Seeing this, the other managers respected me a lot more too.”
Fu Zian: “What! You can do that?!”
Shao Yuqi: “Junior Brother Fu, comparison really is the thief of joy!”
Shao Xingwen: “With Junior Brother Fu's arrogance setting the stage first, Junior Brother Qiu's actions made him look exactly like an Abode Master should.”
Tao Zishi: “Senior Brother Fu, are you a sword cultivator?”
Fu Zian: “No, I'm an artifact cultivator.”
Tao Zishi: “Ah, alright. I thought only sword cultivators could be so blunt.”
Ling Hanbai: “Let me dispel this rumor. Sword cultivators are normal cultivators too. Please don't look at us with prejudice.”
Jiang Yao: “Just to add, Junior Brother Fu's actions are purely a result of his unique personality. It has nothing to do with his path of cultivation or his status as an artifact cultivator.”
Fu Zian: “Hahaha, I also think my personality is quite unique. Senior Brother Jiang, great minds think alike!”
Gu Ningyun: “...My silence is deafening.”
Zhu Zhengqing: “Honestly, even though the External Sect disciples all have multi-spirit root aptitudes, we might not actually beat them when it comes to real combat experience.”
“I'm currently at Qi Refining level twelve, and after sparring with them all afternoon, I actually learned quite a lot.”
Ding Mu: “That's for sure. We've only been cultivating for a little over eight years, and we've only spent a year or two traveling and gaining experience.”
“Leaving aside the fact that most External Sect disciples are much older than us, some of those managers are even three or four generations older than us.”
“Just look at their daily lives—they're constantly going out on missions and fighting for their lives. Of course their combat experience is richer than ours.”
Shao Xingwen: “No wonder they weren't convinced. In terms of age, we're just kids to them. And in terms of presence, how can we compare to people who live on the edge every day?”
“I don't mean we lack presence, but our aura is far too gentle compared to theirs. We don't have that fierce, bloodthirsty edge.”
Zhu Zhengqing: “Indeed. No wonder the Governing Peak had us become Abode Masters instead of Pavilion Masters.”
“They're already highly skeptical of us as Abode Masters. If we were made Pavilion Masters, the External Sect disciples would probably lose their minds.”
“If things really got out of hand, I might not even be able to keep them in line.”
Ding Mu: “Yeah. At the end of the day, the cultivation world speaks with strength. It's not about who has the higher rank.”
“Of course, if you don't have enough strength, winning them over with your wits works too.”
Shao Xingwen: “Having only strength and no brains doesn't work. Just look at Junior Brother Fu's example.”
Fu Zian: “??”
Shao Xingwen: “And having only brains with no strength doesn't work either. Look at Junior Brother Qiu's example. If he didn't have the strength to back it up, those managers definitely wouldn't treat him like that.”
Qiu Hongxin: “True. I've only been at the abode for a day, but I already noticed that the atmosphere in the External Sect is completely different from the floating peaks.”
“In the External Sect, they believe in a simple and brutal rule: whoever has the harder fist is the boss.”
“Just fight on the platform. If you can beat them, they'll respect you.”
“Using minor tricks is fine, but only if you have the strength to back it up.”
“Only when you have strength will they take you seriously.”
“At that point, using a bit of strategy will truly win them over.”
Si Puyu: “Actually, it's the same on the floating peaks. It's just that the External Sect is more direct, while the floating peaks are a bit more subtle.”
Fu Mingzhi: “No, it's only because we don't hold positions on the floating peaks that we find it subtle.”
“Just think about it. If Senior Sister Chanxi weren't a Nascent Soul True Monarch but had a cultivation level similar to ours, would you respect and follow her as much as you do now?”
Qiu Hongxin: “!!! Okay, put that way, I get it.”
Gu Ningyun quietly watched the messages in the group, and a certain feeling sprouted in her heart once more.
The fact that the handyman disciples dared to show their dissatisfaction proved that the atmosphere in the Xiaoyao Sect was truly wholesome.
Formal disciples wouldn't use their status to oppress handyman disciples, and handyman disciples wouldn't feel inferior just because of their status and aptitude.
Both sides had backbone. What they wanted was a fair and square fight. If you beat them, they'd respect you and willingly work under you.
But if you lost—regardless of whether you were a formal disciple or not—how could you have the right to manage them when you couldn't even beat your subordinates?
As she was thinking, someone patted her on the shoulder.
Turning around, she met Wen Xuan's bright, shining eyes.
This look was off. It was the exact same look she had whenever they talked about body refining.
Wen Xuan was definitely up to something!
“What is it?” she asked after a brief pause.
Wen Xuan's voice was filled with excitement. “Ningyun, they said the External Sect disciples have rich combat experience and that we can learn a lot from them. Once we have some free time, let's go spar with them too!”
She knew it! That was exactly what Wen Xuan was plotting.
“Xuan, the External Sect disciples are all in the Qi Refining stage. If we go spar with them, do you think they'll see it as a spar? They'll think we're just looking for trouble.”
“Are you silly, Ningyun? We can suppress our cultivation!”
“We want to spar with them to improve ourselves. Suppressing our cultivation might teach us a few things, but since we can't go all out and push ourselves to our limits, it won't help us much.”
Actually, reading the chat messages had made Gu Ningyun a little tempted too. It was just that the gap in cultivation between them and the External Sect disciples was too wide. They couldn't just challenge them to a fight on the platform like the Abode Masters did.
She stroked her chin. “Multi-spirit root disciples aren't only found in the External Sect. Let me think.”
“Oh, right!”
Wen Xuan slammed her right fist into her left palm. “The other twenty outer peaks! The Pavilion Masters of those peaks are all in the Foundation Establishment stage, and they're all multi-spirit root cultivators who got promoted to the inner sect from the External Sect. We can spar with them!”
“Their cultivation is either similar to ours or higher.”
“For them to reach the Foundation Establishment stage with multi-spirit root aptitudes and climb all the way from the External Sect to the inner sect, they must have gone through a lot. Their combat experience must be incredibly rich!”
“If we spar with them, not only do we not need to suppress our cultivation, but we might even have to give it our all just to survive a few moves. These Pavilion Masters are the absolute best opponents for us!”
“Wait, wait, wait. Let me think.”
Gu Ningyun pressed down on Wen Xuan's hand, trying to pull back her racing thoughts.
Gu Ningyun was used to being cautious; she always preferred to think ten steps ahead for every step she took.
Wen Xuan's idea was good, but she felt like something was slightly off.
The Xiaoyao Sect encouraged disciples to spar and duel, which was why fighting platforms were set up on both the floating peaks and the External Sect.
Xiaoyao disciples often went to the platforms to fight and improve their strength.
Sparring was a very normal thing among cultivators.
However, based on what she and Wen Xuan wanted, they definitely expected to gain something from sparring with these multi-spirit root cultivators.
To break through their limits and improve in battle, a couple of spars wouldn't be enough. They would need long-term, frequent combat.
The head and deputy Pavilion Masters of the twenty outer peaks only added up to 480 people.
Rate on N.U.
