The Celestial Cloud Sect, a sect established by Spirit Refiners, had the Celestial Demon Sect as its most bitter enemy, not their Demon Spirit Sect.

Compared to the Celestial Demon Sect, the Demon Spirit Sect didn’t need to be in such a hurry.

Therefore, his reaction was calm.

"Sect Leader Luo, the analysis from your Demon Spirit Sect’s Artifact Refining Elder was wrong. That’s not how it is."

Jiang Yingtian shook his head and immediately launched into a fabrication.

"We’ve already investigated the specifics. Fang Yun of the Celestial Cloud Sect didn’t start by refining a Lower-Grade Spiritual Artifact to counter us. At first, he only refined a Magical Artifact; he only managed to refine the Lower-Grade Spiritual Artifact recently."

"Is that really true?"

"Of course it’s true. Sect Leader Luo, do you think I need to lie to you? These are the findings from our Celestial Demon Sect’s investigation. If you don’t believe me, you can send your Demon Spirit Sect’s Elders to look into it themselves."

Seeing the Demon Spirit Sect Leader lost in thought, Jiang Yingtian decided to strike while the iron was hot.

"Think about it, how much time has passed? Fang Yun of the Celestial Cloud Sect has already refined a Lower-Grade Spiritual Artifact to counter us. If we let him continue, it might not be long before he can refine Middle-Grade and even Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifacts against us."

"If your Demon Spirit Sect just stands by and watches, you’ll be in for a world of hurt later. That’s all I have to say. Sect Leader Luo, think it over carefully."

With that, Jiang Yingtian fell silent and began to sip the tea on the table, acting as if the Demon Spirit Sect Leader’s acceptance or refusal was of no concern to him—as if this was a matter that only concerned the Demon Spirit Sect.

"If it’s really as you say, Fellow Daoist Jiang, our Demon Spirit Sect certainly won’t sit back and await its doom. Let’s do this: once we’ve resolved our issues with the Ghost-Controlling Sect, we will increase the scale of our covert support to you."

"This time, the scale of our covert support will be much greater than before."

Finally, the Demon Spirit Sect Leader added.

Jiang Yingtian did not respond immediately.

This wasn’t the outcome he wanted.

He had lied to the Demon Spirit Sect Leader about Fang Yun’s situation precisely because he wanted the Demon Spirit Sect to move from covert support to open opposition. This would give the Celestial Cloud Sect more to worry about, allowing his Celestial Demon Sect to act more freely.

"Covert support will make it difficult to achieve your desired outcome," Jiang Yingtian said.

"And how would you know what outcome we desire, Fellow Daoist Jiang?"

The Demon Spirit Sect Leader asked with a smile. He was only half-convinced by Jiang Yingtian’s words. He was preparing for both possibilities, but for now, secretly increasing their support was the best course of action.

Anything more was out of the question.

After all, the circumstances surrounding their Demon Spirit Sect were very different from those of the Celestial Demon Sect.

"Have the goals of our two great sects diverged?"

"Some are the same, and some are not."

"Fine." Seeing the Demon Spirit Sect Leader’s firm stance, Jiang Yingtian didn’t press the issue. After all, it was his Celestial Demon Sect that needed the Demon Spirit Sect’s assistance. "Whatever Sect Leader Luo says, goes."

"Fellow Daoist Jiang, once we increase our covert support, your Celestial Demon Sect can’t afford to be sloppy. If my information is correct, of your sect’s subordinate Foundation Establishment Influences, one exists in name only, and the other has been completely wiped out. Meanwhile, not a single one of the Celestial Cloud Sect’s subordinate influences has fallen."

To them, these subordinate Foundation Establishment Influences were merely cannon fodder, and losing them was no great matter.

But the Celestial Demon Sect’s track record was currently quite abysmal.

By bringing this up, the Demon Spirit Sect Leader was also, in a way, mocking the Celestial Demon Sect.

"You don’t actually expect those Foundation Establishment Influences to be the ones to take down the Celestial Cloud Sect, do you?" the Spirit Destruction Hall Master said dismissively. "If we had to rely on them, the Celestial Cloud Sect would never be defeated."

"And yet, not a single one of the Celestial Cloud Sect’s subordinate influences has fallen."

"Once we truly destroy the Celestial Cloud Sect, these Foundation Establishment Influences run by Spirit Refiners won’t survive. You can rest assured of that, Sect Leader Luo."

The Demon Spirit Sect Leader just smiled and didn’t waste any more breath on the subject.

After all that talk, Jiang Yingtian was still avoiding the question he had asked directly.

...

「Spring gave way to autumn.」

Three full years had passed since Fang Yun upgraded all of his Life Talents to seven stars.

Fang Yun was now thirty-seven years old.

At this moment, inside his dwelling, Fang Yun had just finished refining and absorbing an Upper-Grade Spirit Ascension Pill.

A Fire Lotus slowly blossomed within his Qi Sea.

As Fang Yun observed the state of his Qi Sea with his inner vision, he couldn’t help but utter three words.

"The first one."

According to the Foundation Establishment Technique, the Nine Fire Lotus Technique, a Fire Lotus would form in his Qi Sea for every ten percent of Spiritual Power he accumulated.

Right now, the Spiritual Power in Fang Yun’s Qi Sea had reached twenty percent of its total capacity.

If he accumulated another five percent, he would reach the peak of the initial Foundation Establishment stage.

’It’s been thirteen years and eight months since I reached Foundation Establishment. This cultivation speed is decent.’

Fang Yun’s initial goal had been to reach the middle stage of Foundation Establishment within twenty-five years of his breakthrough.

He still had over eleven years left, which was undoubtedly more than enough time.

At his current pace, he calculated that he could probably break through to the middle Foundation Establishment stage in another seven years.

The three Upper-Grade Cyan Clarity Pills he needed for the breakthrough were prepared long ago.

After finishing his cultivation session, Fang Yun rose and prepared to practice alchemy.

Thanks to his superb alchemy skills, he had refined so many Upper-Grade Cyan Clarity Pills that there were no longer any Elders in the sect stuck at the peak of the initial Foundation Establishment stage.

The initial-stage Foundation Establishment Elders all knew to diligently accumulate Sect Contribution Points and Spirit Stones. They would need all their savings when they finally reached the peak of the initial stage.

A single batch of Cyan Clarity Pills yielded only three pills. The more Upper-Grade pills he refined, the fewer pills of other grades were produced.

A peculiar situation had even occurred once in the Dan Cloud Pavilion.

An Elder with Three Spirit Roots at the peak of the initial Foundation Establishment stage wanted to purchase three Middle-Grade Cyan Clarity Pills, only to find there were only two left in stock. In the end, he had no choice but to buy the more expensive Upper-Grade pills.

For a Cultivator with Three Spirit Roots, three Middle-Grade Cyan Clarity Pills were more than enough to break through from the peak initial stage to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment. However, breaking through from the peak middle stage to the late stage using Purple Essence Pills would be a different story.

At that point, three Middle-Grade Purple Essence Pills wouldn’t be quite enough; for a more stable breakthrough, a single Upper-Grade Purple Essence Pill would be far better.

「Two days later.」

Fang Yun turned in his latest alchemy assignment. As was usually the case, it was a task for refining Spirit Ascension Pills.

After leaving the Dan Cloud Pavilion, he decided to stop by and see Song Qiaoqiao.

He would visit Song Qiaoqiao every three or four times he came to Dan Cloud Peak to submit his alchemy assignments.

However, Song Qiaoqiao still visited him on Artifact Casting Peak more often than he visited her.

In the eyes of the other Elders, the two were already Tao Companions, lacking only the formal approval of a Supreme Elder.

Two months ago, Song Qiaoqiao had smoothly broken through to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, using a single Middle-Grade Cyan Clarity Pill to aid her.

For a Cultivator with Dual Spirit Roots, even a Lower-Grade pill would have been sufficient for the breakthrough, let alone a Middle-Grade one.

Given Song Qiaoqiao’s status and background, she could have afforded to purchase a Cyan Clarity Pill to aid her breakthrough even in the past. An ordinary Elder with Dual Spirit Roots wouldn’t be able to; they could, at most, exchange their points for a Lower-Grade Cyan Clarity Pill.

"In seclusion, refining pills."

The blue stone beside the rock door of Song Qiaoqiao’s dwelling glowed faintly.

This indicated that she was currently inside, refining pills.

When they were together, they mostly discussed matters of alchemy.

Due to the gap in their Alchemy Talent, it was usually Song Qiaoqiao asking the questions and Fang Yun providing the answers.

Thanks to these exchanges, Song Qiaoqiao’s alchemy skills had improved rapidly. Now, aside from Fang Yun himself, she was the one who accepted the most Second-Tier pill refining tasks in the sect.

Since Song Qiaoqiao was in the middle of alchemy, Fang Yun didn’t linger.

Just as Fang Yun was about to leave,

A ray of spiritual light materialized before him.

It was a message from Bai Qinying.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Fang Yun accepted the message.

’A support mission!’

Whenever a support mission came from Battle Peak, Bai Qinying would notify him.

This was the second time she had notified him. Unlike the first time, this message didn’t contain specific details about the mission; instead, it required him to go to Battle Peak immediately.

Fang Yun knew this was a consequence of his actions from the last time.