Central Plains, Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge.
Snow drifted down, nearly dyeing the Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge a vast expanse of white, with only the tall flowers adding occasional splashes of color across this canvas.
The flowers of Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge did not wither from cold, nor did they change with the seasons.
Gently brushing aside the heavy snow on the ground, one could still see flowers in bloom.
Time sometimes slipped by in a flash. It had been quite a while since Chu Xingchen returned from the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect—nearly half a year, by careful reckoning.
From arriving at Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge to prepare for establishing a sect, by careful count, three heavy snowfalls had passed.
Yet Chu Xingchen was mostly away. This was the first time he had truly seen the heavy snow of Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge.
Bai Xuanling's advice to Chu Xingchen regarding this so-called Child of Destiny was essentially—don't bother with all that flashy investigating.
With your current cultivation, focus on training first. Matters further up can be handed to the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect, or the Tiangyan Sect can handle them.
Even a divine dragon carrying the mandate of heaven took decades after its emergence before showing any real promise—and that was after the great tribulation had already begun.
Your great tribulation hasn't even started yet. Rather than idling about wasting time, you'd be better off cultivating with all your might.
Investigating things and offending people—Chu Xingchen should avoid doing that as much as possible right now. If it must be done, it's a matter for later.
At least the great tribulation hasn't begun, and having the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect making preparations in advance could push the tribulation back even further.
Chu Xingchen felt that Bai Xuanling's reasoning was quite sound.
And so he launched his grand cultivation plan—urging those disciples of his to stop slacking off and start cultivating already.
If you don't improve, how can your master improve? And if your master doesn't improve, how will we handle the great tribulation?
Though Chu Xingchen hadn't directly told his disciples about the great tribulation, he had rarely taken it upon himself to urge them to cultivate with single-minded devotion.
After all, whether it was Chen Baiqing or Li Xingtian, or even Lin Luoyu, they were all experts at bitter cultivation, extremely patient by nature.
That snake, in particular, had practically become a clone of Li Xingtian—as long as there were spirit stones, it would barely move from its cultivation spot.
Its progress was quite impressive, though.
Chu Xingchen sometimes had to go knock on the door just to check whether the snake had actually kicked the bucket.
As for Cui Hao—even though the system didn't acknowledge him—Chu Xingchen had still given him a push. After all, if a great tribulation truly came, having higher cultivation would at least provide some safety margin.
Cui Hao could be a bit cheeky at times, but when it came to serious matters, he never acted recklessly.
Especially when Chu Xingchen gave him earnest instructions, he carried them out quite reliably.
He could be considered a warm little coat—at the very least, he genuinely listened and had settled his temper into cultivation.
Chu Xingchen naturally cared about Cui Hao.
Cui Hao was currently the only disciple who had reached Foundation Establishment yet still hadn't obtained a divine ability.
He knew full well that his fellow disciples all had divine abilities, and they had all received theirs upon breaking through to Foundation Establishment.
He knew all of this, but Cui Hao never asked about it, nor did he feel Chu Xingchen was showing favoritism.
After all, Cui Hao truly believed from the bottom of his heart that his master was not that kind of person. Besides, his master treated him exceedingly well.
What his master ought to give would come in time. After all, even when given the Heaven-Burning Refined Gold Great Dao Heart Method, Cui Hao had still practiced the Spirit Nourishing Art for quite a long while first.
Good things were never worth worrying about being late—as long as they came.
When Chu Xingchen had a moment of leisure, he was actually pondering this very matter...
Though it wasn't urgent, he couldn't wait until the critical moment to make preparations.
Divine abilities truly required some innate talent, and the more they matched one's temperament and spiritual root, the better.
The most important thing was that there was no beginner version of divine abilities.
Anything bearing the words "divine ability" was cutting-edge stuff—an expansion from the pinnacle of a single extreme.
This sort of thing couldn't be cobbled together haphazardly... but borrowing some good ideas was always worthwhile.
It could also provide inspiration for revising divine abilities. After all, there had already been eighteen revisions of the cultivation method—no rule said there couldn't be nineteen revisions of a divine ability.
And conveniently!
The Xuanqing Heavenly Sect, as the former number one sect in the world, naturally had a foundation far thicker than other sects.
After all, that enormous sphere of mortal destiny was still sitting inside the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect.
They did possess an abundance of complex and diverse divine abilities.
Chu Xingchen had only tentatively asked whether there were suitable divine abilities available and whether he could borrow some for study.
He had expected the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect to deliberate for a while, but their response came swiftly—directly sending over several divine ability manuals according to his request.
And from the look of things... they weren't copies, but originals.
The Xuanqing Heavenly Sect's sincerity was indeed quite genuine.
However, divine abilities were divine abilities for a reason—when he actually tried to learn them, he discovered—they were genuinely difficult.
His eldest disciple's [Immortal Cultivation Genius] trait really wasn't an exaggeration.
While Chu Xingchen was pondering, he made another small request to the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect—could they custom-create a divine ability for him?
This time, the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect's response was delayed somewhat.
Just as Chu Xingchen was about to assume they would politely decline, he received their answer—yes, but it would take time.
Wait? That was hardly a problem.
With the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect being such a massive sect with so many top-tier cultivators, even a divine ability they threw together haphazardly would likely be more reliable than anything Chu Xingchen could write himself.
So Chu Xingchen promptly submitted his requirements—craft it to match the state of mind of "My Heart Knows No Doubt," ideally with extensibility, allowing for upgrades and adjustments based on individual circumstances.
The Xuanqing Heavenly Sect replied quickly this time, their phrasing rather diplomatic, but the gist could be summarized as—this isn't a wishing well.
Though they expressed refusal, the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect indicated they would do their best to fulfill the request.
Chu Xingchen had expected it to take several years of careful refinement, but in only about half a year, the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect delivered the custom divine ability.
At this very moment, the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect's tailor-made divine ability for Cui Hao sat on Chu Xingchen's desk.
Cui Hao was truly blessed—the entire Xuanqing Heavenly Sect was now serving him.
But before handing it over, Chu Xingchen naturally needed to examine it first, to see if there were any issues.
After all, Cui Hao had little experience. If this divine ability had some brain-dead flaw, and cultivating it turned him into a vegetable or something, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
He'd probably just cultivate it blindly and be done with it.
The divine ability sent by the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect was no longer the book format provided by the system, but an upgraded jade slip system.
One only needed to probe it with divine consciousness to read its contents.
It even included illustrations with virtual imagery—demonstrating the movements on one side while explaining the flow of spiritual energy on the other.
Sure enough, when it came to cultivation, newer was always better. Tossing someone a book that left them clouded in confusion truly belonged in the dustbin of history.
At the very least, Chu Xingchen understood this divine ability without any obstacles.
But the more he understood... the more Chu Xingchen felt that this thing... somehow shared a similar philosophy with his [Heaven-Burning Refined Gold Great Dao Heart Method].
How was it so... all-embracing?
One could only say the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect had truly absorbed his elite philosophy.
Forget stuffing "My Heart Knows No Doubt" in there—even adding "Will Remember Every Grudge" wouldn't be a problem.
And for the sake of so-called extensibility, this divine ability had even taken a rather extreme approach.
This manual didn't practice the sword, nor did it wield weapons—it was pure, straightforward fist fighting.
Say what you will, fist fighting was indeed highly extensible. After all, mastering fist techniques and then transitioning to any other weapon-based divine ability came with bonus experience.
But fist-based divine abilities had one glaring flaw—no divine weapon enhancement, or rather, extremely few compatible weapons.
Chu Xingchen looked around and felt this issue wasn't really a big deal.
If worst came to worst... he would just forge one for his beloved disciple.
Besides, it wasn't like this couldn't be revised!
Cultivate it! Cultivate first and talk later. It wasn't going to cause any harm anyway.
Having made up his mind, Chu Xingchen rose decisively and walked toward the entrance of the great hall.
"Cui, my disciple! Your master has brought you something good."
...
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