Elder Sun couldn’t help but softly say: “Thirty thousand years ago, after the battle with the Heavenly God Sect, our losses were too great. Even though thirty thousand years had passed, we were still unable to recover.”
The other elders were softly sighing as well. The Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect’s decline was a foregone conclusion after that battle.
For that battle, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect could be said to have exerted their entire strength in order to protect the Cleansing Incense Ancient Kingdom. After the fight, from grand elders to the ordinary disciples, eight or nine parts died in that battle. In the end, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect was forced to return to their sect’s ground.
Before the battle, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect had countless masters and many Virtuous Paragons, but only one part survived the battle.
Even though there were a few powerful grand elders, elders, and protectors surviving, they were only extending their last breaths. The fight that year was too tragic! Even the surviving grand elders were gravely wounded, and they could only rely on Fate Pills and Life Medicines to prolong their lives. After they came back, they immediately went into isolated cultivation; they had no way of coming into being again.
That moment, these surviving grand elders and elders, with the exception of the sect facing extinction, would not come into being again because their personal situations were not very optimistic!
In reality, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect not only lost the majority of their disciples, but they also emptied a large amount of treasures and spirit medicines of the sect.
During that battle to protect the Ancient Kingdom, the sect threw out many Life Treasures, immortal items, and they even wasted many physique pastes, Life Medicines, and Fate Pills. During the actual battle, countless disciples applied these medicines because, facing a grim overarching situation, they threw away caution to retaliate against the Heavenly God Sect.
They emptied the sect’s treasure vault, and they could now only present a few treasures and spirit medicines. The was essentially the same as not having any — extremely hard to watch.
The talented disciples within the sect all died on the battlefield that year as well. This brought about the loss of the Emperor merit laws of the sect. Even with their large quantities of Virtuous Paragon and Heavenly King merit laws; unfortunately, their future disciples could only rely on themselves. Many of them went on the wrong Dao path, or a long winded path, and, without the support of Life Treasures and Spirit Medicines, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect became worse and worse as the days passed.
At the same time, the Heavenly God Sect established the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom. The recruitment for disciples at the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect became even more difficult. Any disciple with some modicum of innate aptitude didn’t want to join the sect.
Hearing the elders recalling the situation, Li Qiye could understand that it was not easy for the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect to survive that year, let alone rise up again!
“If our Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect wants to rise, we must let go. For the younger generation, after passing the examination with promising potential, let them cultivate Virtuous Paragon and Heavenly King merit laws. If we want to overcome this ordeal, we must groom a new generation of disciples. Even though Virtuous Paragon and Heavenly King merit laws are wondrous, we still have to let go. It would be sufficient to only hold Emperor merit laws in our hands.” In the end, Li Qiye came up with this proposal.
After the decline, because they lost their Emperor merit laws, the only complete Emperor merit law was the Kun Peng’s Six Variants; thus, they were extremely strict with Virtuous Paragon and Heavenly King merit laws. Under normal circumstances, the ordinary disciples, without one hundred, no, several hundred years of examination, would not be taught these laws!
However, to the disciples, they missed out on the best cultivation period, and, without wise masters to teach them, their cultivation was dragged even slower!
The Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect was without an alternative course of action. The lack of Emperor merit laws made it so these Virtuous Paragon and Heavenly King merit laws were the most prized internal secrets of the sect. If they were revealed to the outside, then it would be an even greater blow to the sect.
“Emperor merit laws, we will get them back again.”
Li Qiye's words managed to persuade the five elders.
Regarding Li Qiye’s suggestion, the five elders ultimately unanimously agreed. Currently, the sect’s only road was to rise up. Without rising up, then being destroyed by the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom and Heavenly God Sect was only a matter of time.
Wanting to rise up meant great changes. Otherwise, with the current conservative rules, saying they want to rise would only be empty words.
The moment the sect decided to reform themselves, at the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom, a piece of news was spread. Old Ox Country, the Nine Saint Demon Gate went on an expedition to meet the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom! The Nine Saint Demon Gate’s Demon King Lun Ri personally met with the Mortal King.
This news brought about many large waves of commotion. Not long before this, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect had just executed Dong Shenglong and Lie Zhen Hou as well as destroying the Mortal King’s will. At this moment, the descendant and princess of Old Ox Country were present. Now Demon King Lun Ri was visiting the Mortal King? This was too much of a coincidence, ah!
No one knew the content of the two king’s meeting, but, after Demon King Lun Ri’s departure, the royal city of the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom released news that the conflict of Lie Zhen Hou and Dong Shenglong with the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect was only a personal matter.
The Heavenly God Sect did not use an official method to announce this news; they instead used a secret channel, and it was still enough to say everything clearly.
Hearing this rumor, many of the sects within the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom couldn’t help but glance at each other. They realized that the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect had successfully joined with the Nine Saint Demon Gate.
At this moment, many people understood why the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect dared to provoke the Heavenly God Sect; it was because they had the backing of the Nine Saint Demon Gate! Otherwise, with the declining state of their sect, where would they find the power to challenge the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom?
“The Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect and the Nine Saint Demon Gate collaborating; I’m afraid they would still not flip the waves or winds.” A sect master couldn’t help but say: “Imagine that year; the Progenitor of the Nine Saint Demon Gate was the number one personal general of Immortal Emperor Min Ren, ah! The Nine Saint Demon Gate used to be under the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect. Even though the Nine Saint Demon Gate is powerful now and the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect is declining, these two still worked together for hundreds of thousands of years.”
“Water in the distance cannot extinguish the close fire.” Someone else also said: “Even if they work together, the Nine Saint Demon Gate is too far from the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect. With how weak they are, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect will be destroyed sooner or later.”
This news set out many waves in the Heavenly Jewel Kingdom. The majority of sects were loudly clamoring with others regarding the new development.
As one of the main characters, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect, led by Li Qiye, was unconcerned about the news.
In reality, in the beginning, when the five elders heard this message, they were quite surprised. The Nine Saint Demon Gate supporting them — this was completely outside of their expectations. However, seeing Li Qiye’s calm demeanor, they understood that the support of the Nine Saint Demon Gate was not for them; it was for Li Qiye.
Inside the sect, Li Qiye, with the support of the five elders, began to aggressively reform the sect. He began by giving merit laws to new disciples. After examinations, the disciples with talents were given Virtuous Paragon and Heavenly King merit laws regardless of whether it was a Life law, Fate merit, or Physique technique…
In order to groom a group of disciples with potential, Li Qiye could be said to personally wield the blade as he selected his disciples. The distribution of the merit laws were all planned by him. His actions were to create a new central power for the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect, and this new group of central power would be the future hope of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect.
He divided this central power into four parts. The second generation, including sectional leaders and protectors, were led by Protector Mo. Li Qiye chose Protector Mo because he was a loyal follower. He also valued Protector Mo’s calm and steady cultivation. The third generation that had been formally accepted into the sect would be led by Qu Daoli. Qu Daoli was initially a disciple in the Scripture Library, but Li Qiye especially singled him out.
Li Qiye had his own reasons for choosing Qu Daoli. Qu Daoli had some fame and respect within the third generation disciples. Moreover, his talents were not bad. However, the most important thing was that Qu Daoli was prudent; as long as he could be refined and groomed, he would definitely become a grand character.
As for another part, it was the three hundred disciples of the Cleansing Jade Peak. This was a group personally groomed by Li Qiye. They were demonically trained under him, and this group would be led by Xu Pei.
Finally, the last part was the disciples who have not formally joined the sect. They would become the reserve force, and they were also the hope of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect in the future.
Initially, Li Qiye wanted Nan Huairen to lead these reserve disciples, but this brat was too smart. He willingly chose to stay by Li Qiye’s side to be a personal servant, and he even quit his envoy position.
If it was anyone else, they would not make the same choice. One has to know that leading a few thousand disciples that have not formally joined the sect would be akin to having the same power comparable to a protector. Plus, Nan Huairen was a disciple with the qualifications to learn the Violet Yang Ten Sun Merit Law. If he could wait a few more years and practice hard, he could even become the youngest protector of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect!
However, Nan Huairen didn’t choose such an option. He resigned from all positions and chose to stay by Li Qiye as a servant without any status! This decision might seem idiotic, but in fact, it was the most intelligent choice!
Li Qiye personally taught the Dao to the disciples with potential and strong willpower. Under the influence of Li Qiye’s aggressive reformation, sectional leaders, protectors, and even the elders of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect were all practicing their cultivations even more.