Chapter 545 - 379: Potential List (Part 2)
Chapter 545: Chapter 379: Potential List (Part 2)
The news was related to their Celestial Cloud Sect.
The Demon Nascent Soul Influence, the Black Dragon Hall, had taken some targeted actions against the Purple Mist Sect.
The reason was simple: the Celestial Cloud Sect’s annihilation of the Celestial Demon Sect had led the Black Dragon Hall to mistakenly believe they had only succeeded with powerful support from the Purple Mist Sect.
In reality, both they and the Purple Mist Sect knew the truth of the matter.
The Black Dragon Hall’s misconception was within Fang Yun’s expectations. He had deduced this outcome from his sect’s influence in the Qionglin Domain.
The Black Dragon Hall’s targeted actions against the Purple Mist Sect weren’t very significant, which was related to the bond between the Celestial Demon Sect and the Black Dragon Hall.
Core Formation Influences and Nascent Soul Influences rarely had a subordinate relationship. Therefore, if a Core Formation Influence wanted help from a Nascent Soul Influence, it all came down to their relationship.
Generally speaking, the closer a Core Formation Influence was to a Nascent Soul Influence’s Earth Realm, the better their relationship.
This was true more than eighty percent of the time.
The Celestial Demon Sect was quite far from the Black Dragon Hall, and their relationship was average at best. As a result, the Black Dragon Hall’s actions against the Purple Mist Sect were nothing special.
Fang Yun knew he had benefited from his geographical position, as well as from certain historical advantages.
This advantage couldn’t really be called an advantage unless it could actually be used. Historically, the Celestial Demon Sect had always been the dominant power, so they never had to go out of their way to curry favor with the Black Dragon Hall.
If the Celestial Cloud Sect had been dominant a few times in the past and suppressed the Celestial Demon Sect, it wouldn’t have been so easy to annihilate them now.
All of this had been within Fang Yun’s calculations when he was planning against the Celestial Demon Sect.
That was why he hadn’t proceeded with the final step of his plan when the Black Dragon Hall Elder was acting as Guardian in the Celestial Demon Sect. The relationship between the Celestial Demon Sect and the Black Dragon Hall might have been average, but one of the Black Dragon Hall’s own Elders was a completely different matter. If they had annihilated the Celestial Demon Sect under those circumstances, they would have faced immense difficulties in occupying and stabilizing the Celestial Demon Sect’s Earth Realm afterward.
That was a matter between the Purple Mist Sect and the Black Dragon Hall.
As for the Celestial Cloud Sect itself, the biggest task in recent months had undoubtedly been to reform the ideology of the mortals in the Original Celestial Demon Sect’s Earth Realm.
They promoted the idea that cultivating Spiritual Power was the orthodox path and that transplanting the bloodline of a Demon Beast would not affect one’s personality.
Judging from the results of the past few months, this endeavor had been quite successful.
Their subordinate Foundation Establishment Influences and indirectly affiliated Qi Refining Influences had contributed greatly, mobilizing a lot of manpower for the task.
In another three or four years, the number of Outer Sect disciples the sect accepted would likely double.
The Celestial Demon Sect’s Earth Realm was larger than the Celestial Cloud Sect’s, and it also had a larger population.
With more people came more children with testable Spirit Roots. With more children possessing Spirit Roots, the number of those with Three Spirit Roots or more would also increase.
After a rapid increase in the sect’s cultivators, another ten or twenty years of development might bring about a qualitative change.
On a newly opened one-mu Tier Three Top-Grade Spirit Field.
Fang Yun’s figure had already appeared there.
Today was the day to plant the Tier Three Top-Grade Spirit Medicine, the White Dew Flower.
Song Qiaoqiao, who had returned from the Purple Mist Sect, had brought back a book on the techniques for planting the White Dew Flower. Fang Yun was already mostly familiar with its contents.
For a one-mu Tier Three Top-Grade Spirit Field, the most reasonable planting density for White Dew Flowers was thirty stalks. Planting them too densely would cause many problems, such as the Spiritual Qi being insufficient to meet the flowers’ growth requirements. All of this would greatly increase the difficulty of cultivating them.
The Purple Mist Sect cultivated a large number of White Dew Flowers.
The reason was that the White Dew Flower was not only the main Spirit Medicine for refining the Tier Three pill, the White Dew Jade Spirit Pill, but it was also a supplementary Spirit Medicine used in many Tier Four pills.
After a series of actions from Fang Yun, the White Dew Flower seeds were all settled into their most comfortable positions.
"Done."
Spirit Medicines below the Third Tier all had growth periods of under one hundred years.
Tier Three and Tier Four Spirit Medicines were known as hundred-year Spirit Medicines, though their growth periods didn’t always reach the triple digits.
Those that could be called Thousand-Year Spirit Medicines were at least Tier Five Spirit Medicines.
The Tier Three Top-Grade Spirit Medicine, the White Dew Flower, took at least one hundred and fifty-eight years from planting to maturity.
One hundred and fifty-eight years from now...
Fang Yun thought for a moment. By that time, he would be in the Late-stage Core Formation at the very least.
Right now, he was approaching the peak of the Early-stage Core Formation. By his comprehensive calculations, it would take him about thirty years to reach it.
He was just over 150 years old now. A Core Formation cultivator in their middle stage before the age of two hundred was considered quite young.
According to common knowledge, to have a chance at breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage, one had to reach the Late-stage Core Formation before the age of three hundred. Only then could one break through to the Peak of Core Formation and have a shot at the Nascent Soul Stage.
’Now that I’ve started caring for the White Dew Flowers, I’ll need to plan my time even more carefully.’
The higher the tier of a Spirit Medicine, the longer its growth period. They didn’t need to be tended to as frequently as Low Tier Spirit Medicines, but the care they required had to be much more meticulous.
This need for meticulous care was what made it difficult for cultivators with low Planting Talent. Not only was the tending period long, but problems could easily arise, which in serious cases could cause the Spirit Medicine to wither and die.
Fang Yun’s Planting Talent was already Nine-star, and he was in the Core Formation Stage himself. With all his accumulated experience, caring for a Third Tier Spirit Medicine was as easy for him as eating and drinking. Moreover, he accumulated experience at an exceptionally fast rate.
After leaving the Tier Three Top-Grade Spirit Field, Fang Yun didn’t return to his cave residence. Instead, he went to the place where the Sect Leader handled administrative affairs.
The matters here were not urgent.
When he had the time, Fang Yun would come and handle them all at once.
If a matter were urgent, it would be presented to him immediately.
Fang Yun sat down and looked at the information on the desk that required his review.
The first thing he opened was the "Potential List."
This "Potential List" was something Fang Yun had specifically arranged for the Elders to create after he became Sect Leader.
This so-called "potential" didn’t refer to Spirit Root Talent or cultivation talent, but rather to one’s potential in the Hundred Skills of Cultivation and the achievements they might attain in the future.
This information was collected by the Elders and compiled for him.
The information collected was almost exclusively about Inner Sect Disciples.
Duan Lingxiao: Water, Fire, and Wood Three Spirit Roots. At the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, can already perfectly refine Qi Nourishing Pills. Refined a Middle Grade Qi Enhancement Pill on his tenth attempt...
Shen Ling: Gold, Wood, and Water Three Spirit Roots. At the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, has a success rate as high as eighty percent in drawing basic five-element talismans. Her success rate for the Diamond-hard Talisman has reached thirty percent...
Wu Qianqiu: Water and Earth Dual Spirit Roots, Qi Refining Eighth Layer cultivation. Learned to perform preliminary Spirit Vein surveys within five years. Currently has experience adjusting the nodes of a Tier One Lower Grade Spirit Vein...
...
...
Fang Yun didn’t just read this information to stay informed. He also added his own evaluations.
His evaluations were the result of comprehensive consideration.
"Priority Nurturing," "Standard Nurturing," and "Continue Monitoring."
These were the three evaluations he gave. If a disciple met the standard for "Priority Nurturing," the Elders would give them special attention. "Standard Nurturing" meant they would receive some extra care.
"Continue Monitoring" meant just keeping an eye on them. If a disciple appeared on the list three consecutive times and still only received a "Continue Monitoring" evaluation, the Elders would not allow their name to be submitted again.
Above "Priority Nurturing," there was actually an even higher level, but those Inner Sect Disciples had almost all been taken as personal disciples by the Elders. Since they were already being nurtured with an Elder’s full effort, there was no need for him, the Sect Leader, to evaluate them or provide help to make their path in the sect smoother.
Fang Yun gave out many "Standard Nurturing" evaluations, but very few "Priority Nurturing" ones.
To receive a "Priority Nurturing" evaluation, besides having good talent in the Hundred Skills of Cultivation, a disciple’s personal effort was a crucial metric in Fang Yun’s eyes.
He didn’t expect the disciples to be like him during his own discipleship, but they had to reach at least seventy percent of his standard to qualify for a "Priority Nurturing" evaluation.
When did they join the sect?
What was their Spirit Root Talent?
What was the current progress of their Cultivation Realm?
What connections did they have within the sect?
The combination of these four pieces of information was the standard by which Fang Yun judged a disciple’s level of effort.
As for obtaining fortunate encounters while out on missions, those Inner Sect Disciples were generally from Battle Peak, and their talent in the Hundred Skills of Cultivation was typically average.