Chapter 93: Gentleman Club
"What’s the situation?" Zhao Mingfeng asked.
Three years had passed since Yan Ping left the Celestial Dragon Sect. Many things have happened since.
Wordlessly, Lizi pulled out a small bamboo carrier from her sleeve and handed it to the sect master. Gu Ying was training with Anji for her daily lessons instead of Mingfeng after a year. The busy sect leader could no longer afford to take time off from his duties and handed his lessons with his youngest daughter over to the trusted bodyguard. Anji was a quick learner and was busy mastering the techniques her teacher had left her instead. She also paid more attention to basic martial arts movements than any specific style, something that even some outer disciples could teach. There was no need for Mingfeng to personally oversee the rest of Anji’s education.
Although the doting father lamented his lack of family time, he had more pressing issues to handle. His oldest son had founded a new shadow organisation with Hong Nian Niang and Zhang Mou. Lizi and Gu Ying were his communication bridges between the busy trio. The shadow organisation known as the Gentleman Club were busy investigating the mysterious spell-weaving traitor from the Mystical Qilin Sect. At the same time, they were Zhang Mou was busy overseeing the Rainbow Alliance’s new business ventures in Chang’an. Hong Nian Niang started a few brothels in the capital run by her harem of husbands that proved successful in the two years since she started. The leader of the Vermillion Bird Sect was busy building ties with government officials to investigate the complicated relationship between the demon cultivators and the imperial palace. Nobody was able to contact Liu Guiya since she entered the court as a royal concubine, not even her talented niece Liu Yanxia. Hence, many matters were still shrouded in mystery.
The information scroll was sent by Mingshen, who was writing to inform his father about a newly discovered demon worshipper’s soul-farming operations. Slightly more than a year ago, Bai Dajin left the Celestial Dragon Sect to start solo hunting demon cult members and exterminating their nests. Yihao had finally reached the Solid Core foundation. The wandering pugilist left a set of martial arts for Yihao before he left, and Mingfeng permitted his youngest son to use the deep cultivation chambers when Yihao requested to enter solitary isolated cultivation. His determination to advance from the Solid Core to the Enlightened Core convinced Mingfeng to let his son try. Unlike before, Yihao grew up to be a capable young man under Bai Dajin’s guidance. He was no longer as rash as before, but his chivalrous attitude remained.
On the other hand, due to the absence of two sons in the sect, Ruiting took it upon herself to assist her father on the field. She had finally completed her basic successor training and offered to lead the subjugation squad on behalf of her father. Zhao Wanting thought it was a great opportunity to let her eldest daughter experience the world and convinced Mingfeng to give Ruiting the chance to lead the small demon eradication squad. The squad was in charge of discreet operations and comprised members from various sects in the Rainbow Alliance. She worked closely with her brother’s information to damage the logistic operations of their enemies while Bai Dajin destroyed major soul-farming operations.
So far, the operations have been going well. Mingshen reported the latest victory, where Ruiting led a small group of the demon subjugation squad to intercept a caravan of kidnapped children. The fewer sacrifices the demon cultivators could get, the better for the Rainbow Alliance. Although they could not save everyone, they did their best to thwart the demon cult’s attempts as much as possible. The survivors were either offered employment or relocation whenever possible by the closest Rainbow Alliance Sect in the region. If there were orphans, these children were given a choice to enrol in a martial school or offered employment by the Gentleman Club’s multiple new business ventures.
In a reply to Mingshen, Zhao Mingfeng praised his children’s efforts. Children grew up very quickly. Even Anji managed to cultivate until she achieved the Strengthened Core. It was a tedious and difficult process. Everyone in the sect knew how hard the youngest princess worked. Gu Ying and Lizi were eyewitnesses to how many hours Anji put in. Thankfully, her efforts paid off. Yan Ping explained to Mingfeng that Anji’s Celestial Root foundation would become Anji’s curse and blessing. While Anji was able to gain faster spiritual enlightenment and insights into energy flow due to her superior understanding, her body would take much longer to keep up with her spiritual and mental maturity.
True to the blind prophet’s prediction, a year after Yan Ping returned to her sect, she sent Anji another book for Anji’s self-studying. The little genius completed studying the intermediate spell-weaving techniques and reported it to her shifu using pigeon courier services. In reply, Yan Ping sent her successor a new book about advanced spells and array techniques. Anji took her time reading through the new book and focused more on developing her weak martial arts foundation. Although Anji was able to do most chores, as demonstrated by the servants in the Celestial Dragon Sect, she was still unsatisfied with the efficiency. Lizi watched her young mistress design many different types of spells and arrays to simplify chores in the sect. While some spells were beneficial, encouraging more outer disciples to work as part-time servants for extra pocket money, Anji did not always succeed.
In between Anji’s training and useful inventions, Mingfeng witnessed his youngest daughter’s dream come true. When Anji expressed her interest in becoming an herbalist, he did not expect her to achieve it within a year.
Two years after gaining the ability to cultivate, Anji was the first person to artificially nurture a regular plant into a spiritual plant. The potted persimmon plant that Anji nurtured carefully ended up becoming the first known artificially cultivated spiritual plant. Anji explained her methods for imbuing energy into the persimmon plant to encourage its evolution. However, even Yan Ping wrote back to declare the method was too complex to test. Few cultivators had Anji’s ability to master complex energy circulation. There were some theories about how Anji’s special Celestial Root allowed her to perform such miracles. However, nobody could confirm it.