After a bit of small talk, Fang Qingyuan followed Jiang Kui to the summit of Yuanling Mountain. The three small, thatched cottages that had once stood there remained largely unchanged.

Although it had only been about a decade, both of them felt a sense of nostalgia, a feeling that while the place was the same, the people were not. They entered Jiang Kui’s courtyard and sat down. With a wave of her hand, Jiang Kui produced all sorts of delicacies from her storage bag and laid them out on the round courtyard table.

"Senior Brother Qingyuan? You’re finally back."

Zhang Yuan hurried over from the adjacent courtyard. He had just finished meditating when a servant informed him that Fang Qingyuan had returned. Without even taking a moment to tidy up, he rushed over.

Zhang Yuan didn’t look much different than before, but the downcast air that used to cling to him had largely dissipated. Thanks to reaching Foundation Establishment, Zhang Yuan actually looked a bit younger now than he did during his Qi Cultivation days.

The three of them sat around the table and began to enjoy the spread of food. The scene reminded Fang Qingyuan of that New Year’s Eve at Tianshan Villa, when they had all gathered around a table to eat hotpot together.

"Senior Brother, are you leaving again this time?"

Zhang Yuan asked about Fang Qingyuan’s plans while sipping some crisp wine. Fang Qingyuan thought for a moment and decided to be direct.

"The Music Master wants me to leave the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect and establish a new sect in a newly opened Land Realm. I’m short on people right now, so I came to ask if you’d be willing to go with me."

Jiang Kui froze, her movements halting. She said in surprise,

"A new sect... Lechuan is really making a grand move."

’Establishing a new sect was like creating a new, self-funded government department in a modern city from his past life. Although it didn’t require funding from higher-ups, the status and position it represented were clear. It was enough to make countless Loose Cultivators fight to the death for a spot.’

And now, Fang Qingyuan had done nothing and was being handed the charter for a new sect. Lechuan was being incredibly generous.

"The Music Master has accumulated a great deal of pioneering merit points over the years. He has no interest in the cultivation resources offered by the Great Zhou Academy. Only the prospect of establishing a new sect was enough to tempt him."

Jiang Kui glanced at Zhang Yuan, not immediately refusing. As the master of a mountain, even with her close relationship with Fang Qingyuan, she couldn’t just abandon the foundation she had spent decades building based on a single sentence from him.

Zhang Yuan pondered for a few moments before asking the crucial question:

"Without your identity from the Beast Taming Sect, you’ll be struggling in a newly opened Land Realm. Other sects will no longer be wary of your status. White Mountain is so chaotic. Are you confident you can handle it?"

Fang Qingyuan sighed.

"You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Since I’m choosing to break free from the constraints of the Beast Taming Sect, I naturally have to accept the risks. I can’t expect to have all the good things in the world."

"The place I plan to settle in doesn’t have any Golden Core Sects nearby. It’s not in a prime location within the new Land Realm, so the competition won’t be as intense as you might think."

The location Lechuan offered Fang Qingyuan, while one of the hundred-plus Tier Three Spirit Lands in the new territory, was not in a particularly good spot. It was the kind of place that Golden Core Cultivators would look down on, yet Foundation Establishment Loose Cultivators couldn’t hope to obtain.

Moreover, Lechuan had already made inquiries. If Fang Qingyuan were to go there, most of his neighbors would be families who had migrated from Qi Yun and were supposedly easy to get along with.

The war of expansion had resulted in the conquest of a million square kilometers of territory, which included over a hundred Tier Three Spirit Lands. The sole Tier Four Spirit Land was Silver Elephant Mountain, home to the Ancient Wild Elephant.

A Divinity Transformation Ancient Beast should, by rights, occupy a Tier Five Spirit Land. However, this type of ancient beast has an immense lifespan, and its cultivation base might not increase for thousands of years. Therefore, a Tier Four Spirit Land was sufficient for its daily needs to maintain its cultivation.

Only when a Divinity Transformation Ancient Beast needed to break through to the next realm would it consider challenging another ancient beast to seize a higher-grade Spirit Land.

All one hundred twenty or thirty Tier Three Spirit Lands were to be awarded. However, there weren’t even twenty Golden Core Clans willing to relocate to the new territory. Consequently, the vast majority of lower-grade Tier Three Spirit Lands were left for the Foundation Establishment-level Cultivator Clans.

In other Land Realms, Foundation Establishment Cultivators couldn’t even dream of getting a Tier Three Spirit Land. Even in the Qi Yun Territory, some Golden Core Clans were forced to squeeze onto Tier Two Spirit Lands.

This was one of the benefits offered by the Great Zhou Academy. If they wanted to attract Cultivators to the harsh frontier Land Realms, the compensation had to be improved.

After hearing Fang Qingyuan’s explanation, Jiang Kui asked another question:

"You’re just going to throw away an identity you’ve had for decades. Don’t you feel it’s a pity?"

Fang Qingyuan smiled freely.

"I’m just a disciple from a branch sect, not a Zongshan Disciple with their illustrious status. My position is awkward right now. Even if I stay in the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect, there’s no place for me. I might as well strike out on my own and build something for myself. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll even be able to return to the sect."

’In Fang Qingyuan’s mind, he was essentially leaving the payroll of the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect to start his own company. And if his sect grew large enough in the future, it wasn’t impossible that he could merge back into the Beast Taming Sect.’

It was just like the relationship between the Nanchu Sect and the Qi Yun Sect. The Nanchu Sect had branched off from the Qi Yun Chu Family. In name, Nanchu was an independent sect, but everyone in the outside world knew that if you wanted to make a move against Nanchu, you’d have to deal with the Qi Yun Chu Family as well.

Back then, Chu Hongshang had also relied on her merits from the war of expansion to single-handedly establish the Nanchu Sect on the border between the Southern Border and White Mountain. In essence, what Fang Qingyuan was doing this time was no different from what Chu Hongshang had done.

The only difference was that Fang Qingyuan’s cultivation and status were a world away from Chu Hongshang’s.

Hearing all this, Jiang Kui formed a general understanding of the matter in her mind. ’Lechuan participated in the war of expansion and accumulated a lot of merit points. For him, exchanging those points for cultivation materials from the Great Zhou Academy would be a complete waste; the resources from the academy aren’t as good or as affordable as those from the Beast Taming General Mountain. So, he wants to exchange them for the right to establish a new sect.’

’But Lechuan doesn’t want to leave the Beast Taming Sect himself to become the master of this new sect. He must have many concerns. So, after thinking it over, he settled on his closed-door disciple, Fang Qingyuan.’

’In any case, Fang Qingyuan doesn’t have a suitable position in the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect right now anyway. So why not send him out to give it a try? If he succeeds, he could even become a future asset to the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect.’

’The White Mountain Beast Taming Sect is in an awkward position and can’t expand. Lechuan himself still has two hundred years of life left, so there’s naturally no room for Fang Qingyuan to shine.’

’But should I abandon Yuanling Mountain to follow Fang Qingyuan deep into White Mountain, to that newly opened, unstable, and unfamiliar place?’

For a moment, Jiang Kui was deeply hesitant, and an unspoken silence fell over the scene.

Zhang Yuan also remained silent. He himself wouldn’t mind going anywhere, but Yuanling Mountain couldn’t do without him right now.

Seeing this, Fang Qingyuan began to understand. No matter how poorly Zhao E Lian had behaved, as long as it wasn’t a matter of life and death, leaving one’s home was difficult. Not everyone had the courage to abandon a foundation they had spent half their life building.

So, Fang Qingyuan didn’t bring up the topic again. The simple, impromptu feast ended with the guests taking their leave.

「Five days later」

Fang Qingyuan, who had rushed back with all speed, found Lechuan and said,

"I am willing to relinquish my status as a disciple of the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect. I ask Master to help me plan for the new sect."