Make the Immortal Sect Great Again

Wang Ping ultimately chose Faji's corpse.

After all, aside from Jing Lang—who hadn't even left behind ashes—Faji was the only Qi Refining practitioner with a True Person backing him. That alone placed him a head above the rest.

This was especially relevant for the Taiping Sutra's settlement, which judged a corpse based on its life experiences. From that angle, Faji's past was undoubtedly richer than those of the other cultivators, making the chance of yielding a scripture scroll much higher. As for the rest, Wang Ping didn't plan on using them at all.

He could, of course, settle all six Qi Refining practitioners into scripture scrolls.

The Heavenly Craft Cave Abode held an ocean of spiritual materials. Finding six Heaven-Nourished Divine Radiance-grade items capable of generating blank scripture scrolls wouldn't be difficult.

But doing so would be a massive waste.

'Because the number of scripture scrolls isn't infinite.'

Killing these six Qi Refining practitioners was only the beginning of his long cultivation journey. In the future, he would face Qi Refining practitioners with higher cultivation bases, perhaps even True Persons and True Monarchs.

If he settled these six Qi Refining practitioners into scripture scrolls now, he would lose six opportunities to process much stronger corpses once his own cultivation improved.

'I'll save them for now.'

'If I truly run into an insurmountable dead end and lack a suitable scripture scroll to counter it, I can test my luck by drawing from these corpses then.'

Having made up his mind, Wang Ping stored the other corpses away.

Urged by his consciousness, the mighty power of the Taiping Sutra descended from the unseen void, seizing Faji's corpse like a giant hand.

It was refined in an instant!

A second later, Wang Ping's consciousness entered the Taiping Sutra. Entirely new words were slowly condensing upon the towering ancient tome.

[Scroll Nine: Forsaken by Men]

[The King overlooked their enduring merits, thus they were finally forsaken in the wilderness.]

[Create an avatar to sever unneeded dharma power, Divine Powers, destiny forms, and even profound intent phenomena from the main body, transferring them for the avatar to bear.]

"Heh heh..."

Wang Ping couldn't help but narrow his eyes. This scripture scroll somewhat exceeded his expectations, yet upon closer thought, it made perfect sense.

"Sunset clouds have no fixed form; they exist by borrowing the sun. When the sun hangs in the sky, rosy clouds are born. If Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang is the sun, then Faji was his scattered afterglow, the rainbow clouds. As a True Person's pawn, Faji completely depended on Danyang. The issue, however, lies in the name of this scripture scroll."

[Forsaken by Men].

As the name implied, it meant being abandoned. Applying this to Faji's experiences, did it mean Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang had ruthlessly discarded him in the end?

"That seems about right."

After all, even at the absolute final moment, Danyang had shown zero intention of intervening to save him. The True Person had sat back and watched Faji fight to the death.

To be honest, this didn't quite match the "Never Loses Out True Person" in Wang Ping's impression. Even in the eyes of lofty True Persons, Qi Refining practitioners were vital pawns that couldn't be easily thrown away. Unexpectedly losing one would be considered a loss.

And with Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang's style, how could he possibly allow himself to suffer a loss?

'Unless...'

Wang Ping's brows slowly furrowed. 'Unless Faji's death allowed Danyang to earn even more from somewhere else.'

Where could that be?

Wang Ping didn't have a clue, so he tossed the thought to the back of his mind. Instead, he urged this newly acquired scripture scroll forward to test its might.

Immediately, his consciousness returned to reality.

He watched as the scripture scroll's radiance fell upon him from the unseen void. Bit by bit, an illusory silhouette peeled away from his body.

A moment later, the silhouette turned solid.

It was a cultivator whose appearance was identical to his own. However, its qi, fate, and the karma weighing upon it were immensely different.

Within the avatar's sea of consciousness, four vibrant streams of light shone brightly. They were the Life-Stealing Thief, Time-Stealing Thief, Object-Stealing Thief, and the Void Joy Non-Dual Guardian Consort Talisman. After inspecting his own sea of consciousness, Wang Ping had determined these were the only hidden risks remaining on his person.

Therefore, he hadn't hesitated to sever them.

Under the effects of [Forsaken by Men], the severing was absolute. His main body had completely lost all related abilities, transferring them entirely to the avatar.

Wang Ping didn't mind this at all.

As things stood, he didn't need them anyway. From the Five Thieves Stealing Heaven Method, he only retained the Merit-Stealing Thief to protect his sea of consciousness.

Everything else was severed.

He had even higher expectations for this avatar. Unlike the vast majority of avatar methods, the clone forged by [Forsaken by Men] was extremely independent.

It could even cultivate an entirely separate path of qi!

'For all intents and purposes, this is almost like an avatar refined by a True Person.'

'Given enough time, if my main body and avatar can both cultivate to the True Person realm simultaneously, wouldn't I be able to directly assault the True Monarch Pinnacle Station the instant I break through?'

Hiss!

For a moment, Wang Ping couldn't help but indulge in his fantasies, feeling light-headed with euphoria. It took a long while before he settled his nerves and put the avatar away.

'No rush.'

'I still don't have a clear idea for my future path of the Dao, and my cultivation is far from sufficient. Until then, keeping this avatar as it is will suffice.'

He believed that only when he officially reached Qi Refining, came into true contact with the Immortal Gate, entered the vast world of Cosmic Deep Space, and further improved his Dao attainment, would he be able to map out a perfect Dao path for the avatar... Of course, before then, this avatar still possessed a few other special utilities.

'For example, taking the blame for me.'

By using [Forsaken by Men], he could sever troublesome karma and dump it onto the avatar, leaving his main body to continue living freely and unfettered.

Take the killing of the six Qi Refining practitioners, for instance.

With such heavy karma, even if he did absolutely nothing from now on, people would still deduce his whereabouts and keep a deadly eye on him. This would heavily impact the concealing intent of his water qi.

However, things were different now.

As long as he transferred this karma to the avatar and let it hold the fort in the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode, even if a True Monarch came knocking, they would only deduce that he was in secluded cultivation.

'Perfect timing. Next, I'll be heading to the Grave Star Sand Sea.'

'With this avatar bearing the brunt of that troublesome karma, no one will be able to deduce my movements. This will make it much easier for me to act.'

'And in the future, if I do any bad deeds, I can just pin them all on the avatar. Nobody will be able to trace the karma back to me.'

The more Wang Ping thought about it, the more satisfied he became.

He tinkered with his avatar a few more times before sending it off to find a random quiet room within the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode to enter secluded cultivation.

Soon after, he summoned forth a Yin Soul.

He couldn't help it. The gains from entrapping and killing the six Qi Refining practitioners were simply too massive. It was practically a mountain of gold—the deeper he dug, the more benefits he found.

The one he summoned this time was Tao Shaobo's Yin Soul.

An Earth Yin Metal Qi Refining practitioner.

Wang Ping cycled his profound arts, illuminating the soul's sentience, and then ordered, "Fellow Daoist Tao, give it a try. Can you still open the Hundred Treasures Abundant Granary?"

Tao Shaobo's Yin Soul: "..."

Having regained his sentience, he naturally understood Wang Ping's intentions in an instant. If he were still alive, he would have preferred death to submission and absolutely refused.

However, right now, he was already an honorable member of the water qi lineage.

"I humbly request the Hundred Treasures Abundant Granary to open its doors!"

The dharma incantation rang out. Brilliant streaks of jeweled radiance instantly rose from the top of Tao Shaobo's head, constructing a gateway that slowly rumbled open.

Wang Ping couldn't wait to look inside. The resulting wave of spiritual light crashing against his face nearly blinded him. Over a hundred Spiritual Treasures were arranged in neat rows, with a massive ocean of Magical Treasures and spiritual materials piled beneath them. This was the Hundred Treasures Abundant Granary, the immensely deep foundation the Divine Weapon Courtyard had accumulated to this day!

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Wang Ping rubbed his hands together, urging Tao Shaobo's Yin Soul. "Take one out! Yes, yes, yes, that Spiritual Treasure right there at the front. Don't worry, I just want to take a look..."

Tao Shaobo's Yin Soul honestly did as told.

However, just when Wang Ping thought the Divine Weapon Courtyard's Hundred Treasures Abundant Granary would be entirely open to him—allowing him to thoroughly live a life of Spiritual Treasure freedom—

"Clang!"

A soft ring echoed in front of the gateway to the Hundred Treasures Abundant Granary. Tao Shaobo's Yin Soul looked utterly stunned; his outstretched hand had been blocked right outside the granary doors.

Then, Wang Ping saw it.

The gateway to the Hundred Treasures Abundant Granary seemed to have sensed something. Streams of profound energy surfaced, manifesting into a line of talismanic script:

[Water qi and Brahma Cultivators are not allowed inside.]

Wang Ping: "???"

Wang Ping began trembling with anger, instantly realizing the reason. 'Someone has already done this! A predecessor from the water qi lineage has already done this!'

Using a Yin Soul that cultivated Earth Yin Metal to sneak into the Hundred Treasures Abundant Granary for a massive looting spree—a water qi cultivator before him had definitely pulled something similar.

Otherwise, why would the Divine Weapon Courtyard have taken precautions against it?

Not to mention blatantly sticking a 'Water qi and Brahma Cultivators are not allowed inside' warning sign right on the door. It clearly showed just how infuriated the Divine Weapon Courtyard was over the matter.

This was only because the water qi lineage was strong enough that the Divine Weapon Courtyard didn't wish to offend them too deeply.

Otherwise, replacing the words 'Brahma Cultivators' with 'dogs' wouldn't have been out of the question.

"You trash!"

Thinking of this, Wang Ping immediately hurled a string of curses at that nameless water qi predecessor. It wasn't that he felt this kind of behavior was abhorrent or ruinous to immortal virtues.

The main issue was, it was fine to do it—with such a super mountain of treasures sitting right in front of them, not taking action meant lacking a water qi mindset. But how could they have let the Divine Weapon Courtyard discover their tracks? There was no technical skill involved at all! It was obvious their water qi mindset wasn't profound enough!

Pah! What a disgrace!

Most importantly, that predecessor's incompetence had cut off the path for outstanding descendants, making it impossible for him to make a killing in the Hundred Treasures Abundant Granary!

The predecessor enjoyed the shade, got their fill, and then chopped the tree down, leaving their descendants to roast in the sun.

Was there any justice left in this world?

Dammit all, don't let me find out who it was!

Right as Wang Ping was muttering curses under his breath, his avatar in secluded cultivation suddenly felt a sensation. It was You Xuexin sending a message through the protector wisdom consort talisman.

"...Kunyun wants to see me?"

Wang Ping's head snapped up.

This was truly... fantastic!