Grandmasters held a transcendent status.
If the Flying Flower Sword Sect didn't encounter any problems, preventing Song Feiqiong from being distracted by other matters, it would not only help the imperial court but also earn the goodwill of Song Feiqiong.
He pondered the situation at the time.
Of the words he spoke, the ones who were moved were the two elders who were emotionally affected, while the other elder and Lu Wan showed little emotional fluctuation.
While they were undoubtedly deep and scheming, more importantly, they also saw the problem.
But at this time, trying to change the mindset of the entire sect and stop the disciples who couldn't wait to join the imperial court would make him an enemy of all the disciples of the Flying Flower Sword Sect.
If it couldn't be reversed, then the Flying Flower Sword Sect would suffer.
Behind the prosperity and bustle of Jade Capital lies brutal competition; those martial arts experts who commit crimes wouldn't care whether the Flying Flower Sword Sect had a Grandmaster or not.
Any expert in the Town Guard Division had a Grandmaster behind them.
If the disciples of the Flying Flower Sword Sect entered the Town Guard Division, they would be easy targets, and countless would be lost.
Chu Zhiyuan put aside these utilitarian thoughts and asked, "Lord Gao, is the Hou Tu Sect under the jurisdiction of our Zongwu Division?"
"Yes, it is under the jurisdiction of our Zongwu Division," Gao Lingfeng's face darkened, and he sneered, "These sects rely on having many believers and are very arrogant."
"What other sects are there?"
"In our Jade Capital, there are eighteen major sects. The Hou Tu Sect is one of them, along with the Chengxin Sect, Xuan Si Sect, Yuanguang Sect, Zhenyi Sect, Tianqin Sect, and so on. Not to mention the Worry-Free Sect and the Joyless Sect, which stretch across the Great Jing Dynasty, they are not so obedient to the imperial court."
"Do they harbor resentment towards the imperial court?"
"This humble one believes they do."
"Why?"
"Hmph, they don't want the imperial court to interfere, don't want the imperial court to manage them so strictly… Heh, how is that possible! If the imperial court doesn't manage them, they can turn our Great Jing into a mess!"
"Wanting more power is inevitable," Chu Zhiyuan nodded slightly.
Expansion is the fundamental attribute of sects and organizations, and they prefer disorderly expansion.
"I think the imperial court is managing them too loosely, indulging them too much!" Gao Lingfeng sneered, "If this continues, they will inevitably become too powerful to control!"
Chu Zhiyuan shook his head.
Strict control by the imperial court is indeed convenient, but it is not conducive to the prosperity of the world.
Binding the top sects to the same boat is the best way, as is the case with the Four Great Sects.
Of course, the strength of the imperial court must be guaranteed at all times, and with the Four Great Heavens and Four Great Secret Lands, no sect can shake the imperial court.
With this confidence, the Emperor can be so lenient.
"What is the strength of the Flying Flower Sword Sect?" Chu Zhiyuan asked, "How many Grandmasters and how many Xiantian experts are there?"
"According to what this subordinate has investigated, there are a total of three Grandmasters: the Sect Leader, Elder Lu, and an Elder Emeritus. There are thirteen Xiantian experts, one of whom is a genius, while the rest are mediocre and cannot be cultivated."
The Flying Flower Sword Sect's luck is still good; every generation has a genius. The previous generation had the current Sect Leader and Song Feiqiong, the generation before that had Lu Wan, and Lu Wan will be the next Sect Leader. This generation also has a genius, which can ensure that the Flying Flower Sword Sect will not completely decline.
Of course, if the Flying Flower Sword Sect had bad luck, Song Feiqiong, this Grandmaster, wouldn't have appeared. It truly is a blessing of fate.
"Cannot be cultivated…" Chu Zhiyuan pondered.
Gao Lingfeng said, "This subordinate believes that even with the elixirs of the Heavenly Treasure Division, they will not be able to achieve the Grandmaster realm."
Becoming a Grandmaster is difficult; talent alone is not enough. One must also have sufficient comprehension, otherwise, no matter how desperately one cultivates, it will be useless.
There are many Grandmasters in Jade Capital because it gathers eighty to ninety percent of the Grandmasters of the entire Great Jing Dynasty.
Those Grandmasters who are not in Jade Capital are either indifferent, knowing they have no hope, or have completely despaired and left Jade Capital.
Gao Lingfeng continued, "If the Flying Flower Sword Sect wants to rise, they can only wait for the next generation to recruit more geniuses. But to catch up with the Four Great Sects, this subordinate believes that it is probably forever impossible."
The strength of the Four Great Sects lies not only in the genius of their disciples but also in the strength of their cultivation methods, which are rare in the world.
The Flying Flower Sword Sect is different.
Chu Zhiyuan shook his head and smiled, "You underestimate Grandmasters too much."
He had read the martial arts notes of a Grandmaster and knew how profound and deep Grandmasters were. After Song Feiqiong became a Grandmaster, if she had the intention, the martial arts of the Flying Flower Sword Sect could leap to the top level.
"By the way, after returning, give me a file on the Hou Tu Sect, as well as the Flying Flower Sword Sect."
"Yes."
— —
Ministry of Rites, Zongwu Division
As a Yuanwailang, Chu Zhiyuan had his own independent room.
The bright morning sunlight shone through the window onto a red-lacquered, carved desk, illuminating two stacks of files on the desk.
One stack was the files of the Flying Flower Sword Sect and the Hou Tu Sect.
Dressed in a scarlet robe, Chu Zhiyuan picked them up and flipped through them, reading ten lines at a glance.
The duty of the Zongwu Division is to coordinate yin and yang and maintain the stability of the martial world.
Disturbances and chaos in the martial world are the dereliction of duty of the Zongwu Division. If it can quell the disturbances, it is a special merit, and the rank will be determined according to the size of the merit, often above the ninth rank.
If the Town Guard Division is a sword, subduing demons and acting as the black face, then the Zongwu Division acts as the red face.
The two divisions, one suppressing and one appeasing, jointly maintain the stability of the martial world.
The Town Guard Division is not subordinate to the Ministry of Rites but is directly responsible to the Emperor, while the Zongwu Division belongs to the Ministry of Rites, and its power is naturally weakened a lot.
Chu Zhiyuan felt that this also contained wonderful ideas.
The Town Guard Division subdues demons with force, and the Zongwu Division suppresses people with power. The two are not subordinate to each other, which can minimize the resistance and hostility of the martial arts sects.
The intelligence collected by the Town Guard Division will be transferred here.
The duty of the Zongwu Division is to analyze the dynamics and trends of the various sects in the martial world through this intelligence and adjust them in a timely manner to avoid disturbances.
Chu Zhiyuan flipped through these files and shook his head.
The Hou Tu Sect is a newly established sect after the founding of the Great Jing Dynasty. Over the past thousand years, it has become increasingly prosperous and has now developed to a scale of thousands of people.
These thousands of people are believers, not including those followers.
The main altar of the Hou Tu Sect is not in Jade Capital, but there is a Hou Tu Hall in Jade Capital, and there are branch halls in other places.
The doctrine of the Hou Tu Sect is that the earth is the mother of all things and the ultimate destination of man. If one can merge with the earth, then after death, one can transform into mountains and rocks, into forests and trees, into mountains, rivers, and streams, and need not be reborn as a human being to suffer the pain of the world.
The Hou Tu Sect worships the Earth Lord. Through asceticism, one can establish a connection with the earth through the Earth Lord and obtain power from the earth.
As a member of the Hou Tu Sect, one can bear all kinds of pain in the world. All pain is soil, making oneself heavier and closer to the earth.
Chu Zhiyuan recalled the situation of Elder Zhu Yishan when he flipped through the files.
It was a pity that he didn't touch Zhu Yishan at the time and failed to grasp his mental method.
He was extremely curious about how the Hou Tu Sect could mobilize the power of the earth, which might be of great benefit to his Earth Element Art.
After reading the two stacks of files, he left the yamen and went to Tongtian Pavilion.
— —
Night was like water.
Chu Zhiyuan sat quietly on the bed, his plain white robe slowly flattening from its bulging state.
Only nine floors remained of the Twelve Jade Towers. Breaking through the third floor meant reaching the fourth floor of the Xiantian realm.
Every time he broke through a floor, his true energy became deeper and purer.
His sword-like eyebrows were tightly locked, and he showed no joy.
The Jade Lock Golden Barrier Art was powerful, and with the support of the Earth Element Art, the impact on the Jade Tower was like a broken bamboo, truly advancing a thousand miles a day.
This speed of advancement was enough to crush the geniuses of the world.
But his realm was still too low. The fourth floor of the Xiantian realm was still too weak. Only by reaching the Grandmaster realm could he protect himself without worry. He couldn't wait to step into the Grandmaster realm in one step.
Unfortunately, this was wishful thinking.
More importantly, he discovered a problem.
The true energy became deeper and purer, but the strengthening of the meridians could not keep up with the speed of the true energy's enhancement, causing the meridians to bear increasing pressure.
Originally, he could condense twelve Dragon Binding Cords, but now condensing ten was already unbearable.
And the Jade Tower became more solid and difficult to break through the further he went.
The first two Jade Towers were broken with one blow, but the third Jade Tower required more than a dozen impacts to barely break open.
Ultimately, what was now hindering the speed of advancement was the meridians.
The Dragon Transformation Art was already one of the world's top body refining methods, but the progress of body refining still couldn't keep up.
Did he need to use spiritual medicines like the Small Marrow Cleansing Pill to speed up the progress of body refining?
Were there any other faster methods?
He decided to go to the Mingwu Hall again to look for them.
Also, the Audit Department was too slow. He didn't know what rank of merit he could get for helping the Town Guard Division these two times.
… …
He put aside his helplessness, picked up the gold-inlaid jade beside him, stared at it with his mind until he was mentally exhausted, and fell asleep.
The next morning, he got up early.
First, he went to the Mingwu Hall and practiced with Chu Zhiting, Chu Zhichuan, and Chu Mingxuan for a morning. When the time came, he went to the Ministry of Rites to report for duty. After reporting for duty, he went to the Tongtian Pavilion after looking at the files on his desk.
This was the trajectory of a day's life.
When he returned to the palace for lunch at noon, he suddenly saw a Hou Tu Hall.
He hadn't paid attention to it before, but after noticing the Hou Tu Sect, he was surprised to find that the Hou Tu Hall was actually on the side of a bustling avenue.
