After arranging for Shen Yue and Xue Jin to deal with the Ling Tian Sect, Li Qingqiu no longer worried about the matter.
Even if Ling Tian Sect still had a successor of a Martial World Myth, before this they already did not dare to contend with Qingxiao Sect. What's more, Li Qingqiu had now reached the Awakening Spirit Realm, so Ling Tian Sect could no longer pose any threat to Qingxiao Sect.
Li Qingqiu spent three days wandering around the sect, visiting each hall and conducting inspections. After finalizing all affairs, he finally turned his attention to the Dao Lineage panel.
Two Fortune Opportunity chances could now be opened.
That night, Li Qingqiu sat cross-legged in his cave dwelling and activated a Fortune Opportunity.
[Claim Fortune Opportunity Reward]
[Activate Fortune Opportunity]
[Detecting Fortune Opportunity]
[Fortune Opportunity detected. A Spirit Copper Mountain Range has been discovered. Accept Fortune Opportunity guidance?]
Not bad. Another cultivation resource. Although he did not yet know what spirit copper was used for, the prompt clearly said "mountain range," which meant the reserves were massive.
Li Qingqiu immediately chose to accept. His consciousness was pulled into an illusory dream.
After a full half hour passed, Li Qingqiu opened his eyes, joy evident on his face.
That Spirit Copper Mountain Range was far larger than he had imagined. It stretched for hundreds of miles, and the entire mountain body was filled with spirit copper.
As expected of a Fortune Opportunity unlocked at the Awakening Spirit Realm. Truly impressive. Li Qingqiu had a strong feeling that spirit copper was suitable for forging artifacts and arrays.
In a good mood, he decided to first take people to the Spirit Copper Mountain Range the next day, then open the second Fortune Opportunity.
The moon set and the sun rose.
Early the next morning, Li Qingqiu began selecting troops. He had Yuan Qi take a list to summon a batch of disciples.
These disciples came from various halls, all with high loyalty. The reason for spreading the selection across halls was to create checks and balance.
Just because disciples were loyal to him did not mean there would be no internal strife.
The Spirit Copper Mountain Range was enormous. He could not allow a single hall to monopolize it.
Thus, he directly selected two hundred disciples. When they went down the mountain, it was an eye-catching procession that drew attention everywhere. Even the hall masters came to ask where he was going.
Li Qingqiu only said they would find out later.
The Spirit Copper Mountain Range was located in Southern Chu Prefecture. This trip would be about one thousand miles. This was only the first batch of disciples. Later, he would also dispatch large numbers of menial disciples and registered disciples to mine the ore.
The current Qingxiao Sect could already act openly and boldly. There was no fear of other forces discovering this.
Within this first batch, Li Qingqiu had arranged two cultivators at Nurturing Essence Realm fifth layer and ten at Nurturing Essence Realm fourth layer. This was enough to handle mundane troubles. The one leading the team was none other than True Person Qingxiao.
True Person Qingxiao was currently only at Nurturing Essence Realm second layer, but his status alone was enough to hold the fort.
After seven days of travel, Li Qingqiu and his group finally arrived at the Spirit Copper Mountain Range.
Southern Chu Prefecture was filled with endless mountains and dense forests, like a vast green ocean stretching as far as the eye could see. The Spirit Copper Mountain Range was just one among countless mountain ranges and looked no different from the others. However, when Li Qingqiu dug spirit copper out of the soil and it saw daylight, it immediately released spiritual energy, shocking the disciples.
"So there really is a treasure!"
"As expected of the Sect Master. He truly has immortals appearing in his dreams."
"That's nonsense. Isn't it more likely that the Sect Master's cultivation is so high that he sensed a hidden spiritual treasure here?"
"Hey? That actually makes a lot of sense."
The disciples stood in the forest, discussing animatedly.
Li Qingqiu pulled True Person Qingxiao, Wu Man'er, and Li Yang aside and instructed them on the importance of the Spirit Copper Mountain Range.
Wu Man'er and Li Yang were both at Nurturing Essence Realm fifth layer. With their outstanding combat talent, their real strength could rival Nurturing Essence Realm sixth layer.
Li Yang had only recently broken through to Nurturing Essence Realm fifth layer. It was rare for Li Qingqiu to assign him an external mission, so he was extremely excited. He patted his chest repeatedly, promising not to disappoint Li Qingqiu.
When Li Qingqiu said that the entire mountain range was filled with spirit copper, True Person Qingxiao and Li Yang stopped joking around. Their expressions turned serious.
"This number of people might not be enough," True Person Qingxiao frowned.
"Don't worry. Aside from us, no other force knows about the Spirit Copper Mountain Range. You only need to start mining from one location and dispatch a group of disciples to patrol. I will send more disciples later," Li Qingqiu reassured them.
Hearing this, True Person Qingxiao and Li Yang felt at ease.
Relying on just two hundred people to mine an entire mountain range would take who knows how many years.
Li Qingqiu did not stay long. After handing full authority to True Person Qingxiao, he left with peace of mind.
He returned alone to Qingxiao Sect, taking only one hour.
He summoned the hall masters to gather at Lingxiao Courtyard and revealed the existence of the Spirit Copper Mountain Range. All the hall masters' eyes immediately lit up.
As Qingxiao Sect continued to develop, their focus had gradually shifted from mundane affairs to cultivation matters. Compared to ordinary gold and silver, they cared far more about spirit stones and artifact-forging materials.
"This mountain range is very long. Emptying it will take many years, so I need a transportation route. Who will be responsible for this?" Li Qingqiu scanned the crowd and asked.
Zhang Yuchun, Yang Jueding, Zhu Yan, and Cheng Canghai all volunteered to take on the task.
Li Dongyue, Li Sijin, and Chai Yunshang did not care much.
After some thought, Li Qingqiu decided to give Yang Jueding a chance. This made Yang Jueding extremely excited.
Although Zhang Yuchun, Zhu Yan, and Cheng Canghai felt disappointed, they did not show it. They all congratulated Yang Jueding and promised that if he needed help, he could come to them at any time.
Each hall master had cultivated their own team, with capable people under them, all waiting for a chance to prove themselves.
After finalizing this matter, Li Qingqiu announced the meeting over and returned to his cave dwelling to continue cultivating.
He had just discovered the Spirit Copper Mountain Range, and immediately after that, another Fortune Opportunity had appeared. Li Qingqiu felt this was not appropriate. Moreover, the transportation route and mining roster for the Spirit Copper Mountain Range still needed time to be finalized, so he did not continue opening Fortune Opportunities.
…
Autumn passed and winter arrived, and the once-a-year flying snow swept in again.
Early in the morning, Li Qingqiu stood on the mountain peak and looked down below. Even though snow filled the sky, his eyesight could still see very far.
After fifteen days of discussion, the sect decided to dispatch five hundred registered disciples and two thousand menial disciples to the Spirit Copper Mountain Range. This was not a small number. Yet even after sending so many disciples down the mountain, Qingxiao Mountain and Ziyang Peak were still lively.
Last night, Zhang Yuchun reported to him that the number of officially registered disciples in the sect had already exceeded eight thousand, while menial disciples had surpassed ten thousand.
Among them, the number of inner disciples who had reached Nurturing Essence Realm first layer exceeded two thousand.
This number greatly satisfied Li Qingqiu. It meant that Qingxiao Sect already had two thousand cultivators.
And this was still without Qingxiao Sect fully opening recruitment.
Zhang Yuchun had previously suggested that they could recruit more menial disciples, but the number of registered disciples still needed to be controlled. After all, the sect distributed spirit stone resources. If they expanded recklessly and exhausted spirit stones, trouble would inevitably follow. After careful consideration, Li Qingqiu agreed with his opinion.
As Li Qingqiu was thinking, he suddenly sensed two auras of Nurturing Essence Realm fourth layer coming from halfway up the mountain. They were sparring and exchanging techniques.
One of them was the familiar Yang Xuan, the one with the fate title [Human Dao Patriarch].
This generation of disciples reached Nurturing Essence Realm third layer faster than the disciples from the early days of the sect. However, going from third to fourth layer was a threshold that was very hard to cross.
It was a bottleneck that was difficult to break even by pouring in resources. It required a certain level of talent.
From Li Qingqiu's observations, as long as one's cultivation aptitude was not Extremely Low, they could be considered to have some talent for cultivation.
Many disciples had been martial arts geniuses before ascending the mountain, yet became Mediocre after starting cultivation.
There were also many disciples who had been weak and sickly before ascending the mountain, but after cultivating, displayed extraordinary talent.
'There are many geniuses, but top-tier combat power like Ning'er, Third Junior Brother, and Shen Yue is still far too rare,' Li Qingqiu thought silently.
If this were ten years ago, Nurturing Essence Realm fourth layer would have been enough to support Qingxiao Sect. But now, Nurturing Essence Realm fourth layer no longer caught Li Qingqiu's eye. He needed people to reach Nurturing Essence Realm seventh layer.
After Xue Jin stepped into Nurturing Essence Realm fifth layer, he had been unable to enter the sixth layer for a long time. This made Li Qingqiu feel regretful.
At present, the sect lacked power at Nurturing Essence Realm sixth layer. This entire layer was completely vacant.
While admiring the magnificent scenery of the mountains and rivers, Li Qingqiu pondered the situation of the sect's disciples.
He planned to select someone from the non–Sect Master faction disciples and cultivate them into a figure comparable to Xue Jin.
After much thought, Li Qingqiu decided to cultivate Lu Qing from the Law Enforcement Hall.
Lu Qing possessed Fair cultivation aptitude and Excellent comprehension. He had once taken fifth place in the combat tournament. He was also considered an early disciple with early fame.
Li Qingqiu had met Lu Qing before. He was steady in character and looked very reliable. Chai Yunshang had also said that Lu Qing was a talent worth molding and had not committed any mistakes so far.
Although the sect already had special cultivation plans that removed restrictions on time spent cultivating in blessed lands for selected disciples, the results were not very obvious. After all, those disciples had already grown to a certain extent.
So Li Qingqiu planned to give Lu Qing another push.
He intended to request a batch of spirit qi pills from the Cultivation Hall and bestow them on Lu Qing.
Once he decided, he acted immediately. Li Qingqiu turned around and went down the mountain.
Time passed quickly.
The sun set in the west, and evening arrived.
Chai Yunshang led a male disciple out of Lingxiao Courtyard. This man was Lu Qing. He had a tall posture, handsome features, and an elegant temperament. Although he lacked Xue Jin's killing aura, he gave off a very steady and reliable impression.
At this moment, Lu Qing felt somewhat dazed.
When he thought about the Sect Master's expectations of him and the tilt of resources toward him, his heart found it hard to stay calm.
The two walked down to the stone steps. Chai Yunshang suddenly stopped, turned to look at Lu Qing, and said, "Actually, I was very resistant to this matter and felt it went against fairness. But the Sect Master is right. The sect needs people to grow strong. Remember, your responsibility from now on is not only as a Law Enforcement Hall disciple. You must also put the sect's overall interests first."
Lu Qing snapped back to his senses, took a deep breath, and said, "Hall Master, please rest assured. I will definitely not disappoint the Sect Master or you."
Chai Yunshang nodded and continued forward.
Lu Qing followed closely behind.
Behind them, Yuan Qi walked out of Lingxiao Courtyard. He had just witnessed Li Qingqiu's promise to Lu Qing, which left him with mixed feelings.
He was not jealous of Lu Qing. He simply felt that as Lu Qing rose, it would squeeze the resources available to his younger brother, Yuan Li.
He felt some regret in his heart. Yuan Li was still too young. He would need at least six more years of growth before being entrusted with heavy responsibilities.
He shook his head and stopped thinking about it. Perhaps six years later, Yuan Li would obtain even better cultivation resources. There was no need to worry about the future now.
He quickened his pace down the mountain, preparing to find that beauty. Recently, he had been considering one thing—whether he should live separately from Yuan Li.