Chương 72: 1.72 Factions

"You're Ji Ning, right? The one who took a master from Alchemy Peak?"

"Yes," Ning nodded. The young man's eyes narrowed.

"Then why are you here?" Ning tilted his head.

"... Because I was invited?"

"No, I mean you have no right to be at this gathering and sit among us," the man said bluntly. Ning glanced at him. He looked younger than most of the others present, though Ning doubted the wisdom of judging a cultivator's age by appearance alone. Still, this particular brand of disruptive behavior did suggest someone on the younger side. The moment such a wrench was thrown into the harmonious atmosphere, everyone's attention shifted toward them. Sui Feng, who had invited Ning, was the first to speak.

"Brother Lao San, as far as I know, Junior Brother is a spiritual farmer. I even heard he already obtained the Spiritual Farmer Certificate and used spiritual farming techniques to place well in the outer sect competition. I'm not sure what you're talking about." Though Sui Feng was usually boisterous, his tone was stern now. Partly because he wanted to build a relationship with his clearly talented new neighbor.

But also because declaring Ning unqualified to be here implicitly suggested that his own judgment was flawed. Simply put, it affected his face. And face was something that had to be protected.

"I know exactly what I'm talking about," Lao San said.

"In fact, that is precisely why I'm saying he doesn't belong here. Despite being praised by Elder Ying and clearly being marked as a promising seed for high-level spiritual farming, he went and apprenticed under an alchemist. He no longer belongs to our lineage." Hearing this, Ning narrowed his eyes slightly. So this guy was trying to isolate him. Or make him into a public enemy. It was quite interesting to encounter something like this so suddenly.

"I see what you mean," Ning said, his thoughts moving rapidly. Lao San blinked, clearly not expecting that as an opening.

"You're saying that by apprenticing under Master Ling Xin, I've stepped outside the farming lineage. That, regardless of my certificate or my techniques, I've already made a choice about where my loyalty lies, and that choice disqualifies me from being considered one of yours." Ning paused.

"Is that accurate?"

"... Yes," Lao San said, slightly thrown off by hearing his own argument summarized back to him.

"Alright." Ning nodded slowly and set down his chopsticks.

"First, the facts. My Spiritual Farmer Certificate was issued by the Spiritual Farming Hall. It is a formal credential, not an informal acknowledgment. The techniques I purchased today from the Spiritual Farming Hall required that certificate as a prerequisite, which means the hall itself considers me a valid member of this discipline. If the institution that issues the lineage credentials considers me qualified, then on what basis does the argument that I don't belong hold?"

Lao San opened his mouth, but Ning continued before he could respond.

"Second, the lineage itself. Spiritual farming is one of the hundred professions of this sect. It is not a closed clan art or a blood inheritance. The lineage you're describing is one of practice, knowledge, and contribution, not exclusive apprenticeship. My master is an alchemist. She did not teach me how to plant Frozen Breath Grain. She did not teach me the Withering and Flourishing Technique. She did not teach me how to distinguish Violetspirit Thistle from Bluespirit Thistle under examination conditions."

He looked at Lao San evenly.

"I learned those things the same way you did. Through this hall, through its library, through its assessments." The table fell silent. While Ning did not possess the legendary ability to turn enemies into friends with nothing but a speech, he was still more than capable of stating facts. In a verbal confrontation, what cut deepest was often the truth. And facts that could not be denied had a way of overturning the entire basis of an argument. Of course, lengthy reasoning alone might not have the desired effect.

But Ning still had an ace up his sleeve.

"Third," Ning said, "my being an alchemist should be helpful to all of you, not harmful, since I can assist with pills and related matters. At least, I would not rip you off. I am lucky enough to be able to become a good alchemist." Benefits. As long as he could benefit someone in some way, Ning naturally didn't worry about getting isolated or anything. Culivation was the way of taking pills, so being a prospective alchemist, Ning was quite confident about benefiting others.

Plus, this situation could also be used to advertise his future products. As expected, at those words, the eyes of the surrounding people lit up.

"Junior Brother Ning is right."

"Lao San, you've gone too far." Lao San was rendered speechless at suddenly seeing the peanut gallery get rowdy at once. His reasoning had been refuted too cleanly, and if he continued speaking now, he would only paint himself as the villain. Faced with that, Lao San could only grit his teeth and lash out another way.

"You... do you dare challenge me in spiritual farming combat? If I win, you have to leave. Do you have the guts?"

"No?" Ning answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Brother, you're at the late stage of Qi Condensation and much older than I am. How is that fair? Are you just trying to use this chance to bully me?"

"Exactly. Don't be shameless, Lao San," Sui Feng added in support. From beginning to end, Sui Feng had gradually discovered that his new neighbor was rather frightening in his own way, able to argue so eloquently in his own defense. Sui Feng was becoming increasingly satisfied with him. At least, this proved he was well versed social matters, unlike most geniuses.

As an ordinary man, what Sui Feng feared the most were the people who did not talk about the societal rules, since that was one of the only things protecting the 'weak'.

"Y-you..." Lao San was speechless yet again. Ning had no intention of following the cliché of fighting this man for three hundred rounds, only to be hounded later by whatever backer Lao San might have. At the end of the day, the grudge had already been created. It would be foolish to go along with Lao San's plan and engage in a duel.

"Enough. This gathering is not for fighting. Everyone, calm down." Old Fang finally spoke, ending the argument once and for all. At that, Lao San could only look away with a sneer. Ning also nodded. Soon, the gathering came to a close, largely because of the interruption. At the same time, Sui Feng spoke quietly to Ning.

"Junior Brother, don't mind this gathering. It's not usually like this. It's just that Lao San is... rather passionate."

"Passionate?" Ning asked.

"Can you tell me why he was so opposed to me?" This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Well, it's because Lao San follows Elder Liu Yue, the foremost genius of our Spiritual Farming Hall. Lao San is just one of his followers. And you, someone praised by Elder Ying and possessing talent comparable to Liu Yue's, chose another profession instead. That likely offended him." As he spoke, Sui Feng leaned closer and lowered his voice.

"Of course, the main reason seems to be your master. Your master and Liu Yue are both at the late stage of Foundation Building, and within the inner sect, the factions led by these core disciples are all competing for the resources needed to reach the next stage. So Lao San may also be trying to weaken your position. You may not have heard of this before, but factional disputes like this are common in the inner sect." He paused, then added, "Of course, all of this stays in the shadows, so keep quiet about it."

Ning nodded.

"Thank you for the guidance, Brother Sui Feng. I understand." This was a favor from Sui Feng, after all. While Ning could have found out these things eventually, learning them early was always useful.

"Still... factional disputes and the like?" Ning narrowed his eyes.

"Truly troublesome."...

"So that's what happened, Senior Sister." Ning finished recounting the gathering to Ling Yinran.

"Will there be any trouble for Master?" Ling Yinran simply shook her head.

"You don't have to worry about such things, Junior Brother. You're still only at the mid stage, focus on your cultivation first." She paused, then added with the flat certainty of someone who meant every word, "That doesn't mean you should just stand there and get bullied, of course. If anything happens, call me. I'll settle it." Her eyes were cold as she spoke. Strictly speaking, the trouble Ning had encountered had originated because of her aunt.

While it was a disciple's duty to protect their master's honor and assist in their progress, it was not yet time for her junior brother to step forward for such matters, not while she was still around.

"I see," Ning said, nodding. That would certainly be useful. What he dreaded most was encountering those brain-dead cultivators with powerful backgrounds who caused trouble for others simply because they could. His senior sister's offer was, therefore, greatly appreciated.

"Thank you, Senior Sister." He then turned his attention toward the open field. The puppet stood waiting at the center, motionless and patient in the way that only things without a heartbeat could be. It was constructed from hundred-tempered iron, dense and dark, with inscription lines running along both arms like veins pressed beneath the surface. Its proportions roughly resembled a human's, except for the joints, elongated and segmented, built for range and leverage rather than natural movement.

It looked quite bizarre, but after so many years in this world, Ning's tolerance for strange things had reached a very high level.

"Alright," Ning said.

"Shall we proceed to the next experiment?" Ling Yinran sighed, though the curiosity beneath it was difficult to conceal.

"I still don't know where you get these ideas." That was fair. At first, she had simply been humoring her junior, but now she was genuinely intrigued. The first experiment had been the storage bag weapon retrieval concept. The premise: during mid-battle, could one use a storage bag to snatch an opponent's weapon directly out of their grip? The answer, as it turned out, was mostly no. Activating a storage bag required a brief but real lapse in attention, fatal in actual combat.

More importantly, any weapon of meaningful quality was blood-contracted or spiritually bound to its owner, making it impossible for another bag to absorb it. Clothing, however, had produced different results. Spiritual garments below a certain tier did not require blood identification or formal binding. Which meant that, in principle, one could use a storage bag to steal someone's clothes mid-battle. The practical implications of this discovery had given Ling Yinran pause.

On one hand: useful in almost every situation. An attack that would guarantee the social death of any opponent. On the other hand: stripping an opponent mid-fight would likely create a lifelong enemy out of sheer humiliation, which was arguably worse than losing the fight. She had spent approximately ten minutes unable to decide whether her junior brother was a tactical genius or a menace.

She eventually concluded that he was probably both, which was either reassuring or deeply concerning depending on how one looked at it. This experiment, at least, appeared to have a more straightforward and legitimate application.

"Today's experiment," Ning said, turning to face the puppet, "is to determine whether a storage bag can absorb an incoming attack at the precise moment of impact, essentially using it as a single-use survival tool." Ling Yinran considered this.

"It would certainly destroy the bag," she said slowly, "but the question is whether the absorption would neutralize the attack entirely, or only partially." She tilted her head.

"If it works even partially, a storage bag becomes a one-time emergency defense against an otherwise fatal blow."

"Exactly," Ning said.

"For the Qi Condensation stage, where trump cards are both scarce and essential, even a single-use survival mechanism has significant value." Ling Yinran nodded thoughtfully. For most people, sacrificing a storage bag, an expensive and practical tool, just to absorb a single attack would seem absurd. But the logic held. A trump card didn't need to be reusable. It just needed to work once, at the right moment.

"Alright," she said, extending her spiritual threads toward the puppet.

"I'll handle the timing and bag deployment through the puppet. You provide the attack." The threads connected, thin and luminous, disappearing into the puppet's iron frame. Its head turned slightly, a small, almost imperceptible movement, but enough to confirm that Ling Yinran's consciousness was fully seated inside it. Ning glanced at her with mild appreciation. A puppet master. Of all the hundred professions, it was quite rare.

The ceiling was extraordinarily high; a skilled puppet master at the mid to late stages could function as a one-person army, deploying multiple constructs simultaneously while remaining personally protected. But the entry requirements were equally demanding: precise control of spiritual qi, a strong and flexible consciousness, creativity in both construction and combat application, and resources that made Ning's cultivation expenses look modest by comparison. What surprised him most was her choice.

Ling Yinran had an aunt who was a master alchemist; the path had practically been laid out for her. But instead of following that straightforward route, she had chosen puppetry. Ning had noticed a pattern. Su Fan, despite carrying a talisman inheritance and coming from the prestigious Su Talisman Family, had turned to alchemy. Now Ling Yinran had done something similar. It seemed to be a growing trend.

"Ready whenever you are," Ling Yinran said, her voice monotone and heavy, as if it came from the puppet itself.

"Understood." Ning turned to Fenghuang, perched nearby in his usual posture of relaxed superiority.

"Flame Spiral Arrow," he said simply. Fenghuang tilted his head, then opened his beak. White flame emerged steadily, a controlled, concentrated flow that gathered at the tip of Ning's prepared arrow. The white flame was Fenghuang's innate ability, and precise flame control was as natural to a White Flame Raven as breathing. Attaching it to an external object required almost no effort; it simply adhered, wrapping around the arrowhead in a tight, spiraling coil.

The Flame Spiral Arrow was Ning's own creation, a variation of the standard Spiral Arrow technique, enhanced with Fenghuang's white flame. On its own, the Spiral Arrow relied on penetrating rotation. With the white flame added, the heat compressed inward along the spiral's axis, focusing rather than dispersing. The resulting attack carried the threat level of a late-stage Qi Condensation strike, from a mid-stage archer and a contracted beast. Ning drew, adjusted his aim, and released.

The arrow crossed the field in an instant with a sharp, compressed hiss, the white flame leaving a faint afterimage in its wake. The puppet moved. Ling Yinran's timing was precise. At the last possible moment, the storage bag opened toward the incoming arrow. The formation inside activated on contact, the absorption array flaring to life. The impact was not silent.

A dull, resonant crack rang out, the sound of a formation straining against something it was never designed to contain, followed by a sharp pop as the storage bag collapsed inward. The arrow reappeared outside, its tip slightly charred. The storage bag was gone, reduced to fragments of formation paper and a faint scent of burnt spiritual material, but it had successfully stopped the attack. Ning lowered his bow. Ling Yinran withdrew her consciousness from the puppet and examined the result.

"Successful absorption," she said.

"It seems to be quite effective." She crouched to inspect the remnants.

"The formation overloaded instantly rather than gradually, which is why the bag was completely destroyed. But the attack was fully contained." She looked up.

"If a cultivator had been holding that bag and activated it at the right moment, they would have survived."

"With restrictions," Ning said.

"With restrictions," she agreed.

"The timing window is extremely narrow, too early and the attack passes around it, too late and the formation fails to engage. And you lose the bag and everything inside it." She paused.

"It also likely only works up to a certain threshold. Against a Foundation Establishment attack, I doubt the bag would survive long enough to complete the absorption."

"Within Qi Condensation, though, this is a legitimate trump card," Ning said with satisfaction.

"Yes." Ling Yinran nodded, unconcerned by the loss of the storage bag. The cost of the experiment was simply the cost of the experiment. Ning was already his experiment log in his notebook.

"I think that's sufficient for today," he said.

"Yes." Ling Yinran dusted off her hands and glanced at him.

"I'll admit, when you first brought these ideas to me, I expected them to go nowhere."

"Most of them did go nowhere," Ning pointed out.

"The clothing one went somewhere very strange," she said.

"The clothing one produced an unexpected result," Ning replied calmly. Ling Yinran laughed.

"Alright, I won't argue with you. Anyway, I have somewhere to be. Goodbye, Junior Brother. Call me if you run into trouble."

"Yes, thank you." Ning smiled and nodded. As a late-stage cultivator in the inner sect, Ling Yinran's schedule was naturally not leisurely, be it cultivation or honing her puppet skills. As for why Ling Yinran had agreed to participate despite her valuable time, Ning suspected it stemmed from the guilt she felt over attacking him indiscriminately when they first met. Though he had brushed it off at the time, he could tell she still felt somewhat ashamed.

So he used these opportunities to ease that awkwardness, while also satisfying his own curiosity. A win-win situation.

"... Now that I think about it from another perspective, doesn't this look like I'm using her guilt to achieve my goals?" Ning paused, then nodded to himself.

"It must just be my imagination." There was no way he would do something like manipulate people to get what he wanted. That was the behavior of final bosses and the like. He was, at most, a background character. There was no way he would end up becoming some hidden mastermind of the entire world… right?... Thanks for reading~