Chapter 665- Azure Sect will Provide Jade Booty
The hall was silent.
Elder Biyu — the slender, sharp-faced woman — spoke first. Her voice was precise, clipped, carrying the aristocratic refinement of a woman who had spent her life in the halls of power.
"Physical intimacy," she repeated. "You are telling us that this individual — this ’ancestor’ — engages in carnal relations with mortal women, and through this act, elevates their cultivation to Core Formation?"
"That is what the reports say, Elder Biyu," the informant said. "The evidence is visible. Pillars of golden light have appeared across the eastern sky for the past three days. Each pillar carries the energy signature of a Core Formation breakthrough. I have counted seventeen. My colleagues in the field have counted more."
"Seventeen Core Formation breakthroughs in three days," Elder Hanlin said, his old voice trembling. His white beard quivered. "In the eastern lowlands. Among mortal women. Through carnal acts. This is — this defies every principle of cultivation. Every law. Every tradition."
"It is vulgar," Elder Suwen said, her round face flushed. Her kind eyes were wide with shock. "It is base. It is the opposite of everything orthodox cultivation represents. We refine our qi through meditation, through discipline, through purity of body and mind. This — this ancestor — uses the basest of physical acts. It is profane."
"The question is not whether it is profane," Elder Tianqing said, his young voice carrying an edge of urgency. "The question is what it means. If a being can elevate mortals to Core Formation through physical intimacy, then the entire structure of cultivation — the entire hierarchy of power in the lower realms — is threatened. Any mortal woman can become Core Formation. Any village can produce cultivators. The sects’ monopoly on power — our authority, our legitimacy — is undermined."
Elder Biyu’s sharp eyes narrowed. "What do we know of this ancestor? His cultivation? His origins? His sect affiliation?"
"Unknown," the informant said. "No sect affiliation has been identified. His cultivation base could not be measured by the Foundation Establishment cultivators who attempted to sense it. Their description was — and I quote — ’as though one attempted to measure the ocean with a teacup.’ The aura radiating from this individual was beyond their ability to categorize."
The hall was silent again. The weight of the statement settled over the elders like a stone slab.
Jin Wuchen — the sect leader — had not spoken. His enormous frame remained motionless in his chair, his dark eyes fixed on the informant, his square jaw set. His cultivation base — peak Golden Core — hummed in his dantian, the golden core spinning with a steady, powerful rhythm. He was processing. Calculating.
Finally, he spoke.
His voice was deep. Resonant. The voice of a man whose authority had been forged through four decades of cultivation, combat, and leadership. It filled the hall like a drum.
"What you are describing," he said, "is not merely a disruption. It is an invasion. A being from a higher realm — an ancestor, as they call him — has descended to the lower realms and is operating with impunity in the eastern territories. He is not adhering to our laws. He is not respecting our traditions. He is not acknowledging the authority of the established sects."
He paused. His dark eyes swept the elders.
"And he is producing Core Formation cultivators at a rate that, if unchecked, will fundamentally alter the balance of power in this world within a month."
Elder Biyu nodded. "The implications are severe. If the mortal population learns that Core Formation can be achieved through — through coupling with this ancestor — the social order will collapse. Every village will send their women to find him. Every mortal will abandon orthodox cultivation. The sects will be rendered irrelevant."
"There is another implication," Jin Wuchen said, his deep voice carrying a new weight. "One that concerns me more."
He stood. His enormous frame rose from the chair, his formal robes settling around his massive body. He walked to the window — a tall, arched opening that looked out over the mountain range. The clouds below were tinged with a faint golden glow — the residual light from the distant breakthroughs, visible even from this height.
"A higher world is pressing upon this lower one," he said. "This ancestor — whoever he is, whatever he is — is a manifestation of that pressure. He is not the first. He will not be the last. The upper realms have always looked upon the lower realms as — as resources. As territories to be exploited. As populations to be subjugated."
He turned from the window. His dark eyes found the elders.
"This ancestor is elevating women. Creating cultivators. Building a power base. In the Plum Blossom Sect region. If he succeeds — if he transforms enough mortals into Core Formation cultivators — he will have an army. An army loyal to him. An army that owes its power to him, not to the established sects. Not to us."
Elder Hanlin’s white beard trembled. "Sect Leader, are you suggesting that the Azure Cloud Sect should — should intervene?"
"I am suggesting," Jin Wuchen said, his deep voice heavy, "that we cannot afford to ignore this. The lower realms are divided. The sects are fragmented. We compete with each other for resources, for territory, for face. But this — this is a threat to all of us. To every sect. To the very structure of our world."
He paused. His dark eyes moved from the elders to the doorway. To the corridor that led to the inner court. To the place where his daughter resided.
"There is another matter," he said. His voice was quieter now. Personal. "If this ancestor is producing cultivators through — through the joining of his essence with mortal women — then his power is tied to the act itself. To the transfer of his qi through physical union. This means his method is not indiscriminate. It requires a being of his caliber. It requires his personal involvement."
Elder Biyu’s sharp eyes narrowed. "You are suggesting that we — that the Azure Cloud Sect should —"
"I am suggesting," Jin Wuchen said, "that if this ancestor seeks to build a power base through the joining of essences, then we should offer him something better than village women. Something that would align his interests with ours."
The hall was deathly silent.
"Sect Leader," Elder Suwen whispered, her kind face pale. "You cannot mean —"
Jin Wuchen’s dark eyes hardened. His square jaw tightened. His enormous frame straightened.
"I have a daughter," he said. "Jin Yuhan. The Jade Pearl of the Azure Cloud Sect. Her cultivation is at Core Formation, late stage. Her bloodline carries the Azure Dragon Marrow — a rare spiritual constitution that makes her cultivation potential extraordinary. She is the most talented cultivator of her generation in the central region."
He paused. The weight of what he was about to say pressed down on every elder.
"If this ancestor is to be engaged with," Jin Wuchen said, "then I will engage him through my daughter. An engagement. A formal arrangement. The Azure Cloud Sect’s Jade Pearl, offered to the ancestor, in exchange for his alignment with our sect."
The silence that followed was not the silence of agreement. It was the silence of shock.
Elder Biyu recovered first. "Sect Leader — your daughter — the Jade Pearl — you would offer her to this — this vulgar being who couples with village women?"
"I would offer her to secure the future of this sect," Jin Wuchen said. His voice was iron. "And this world. If this ancestor is building an army, I would rather he build it with my daughter at his side than with a hundred well-drawers and fishermen’s wives."