Reigning Supreme in countless worlds With Beast taming

Although Qin Feng felt it was somewhat inexplicable for this fellow to suddenly release its Dragon Power and show off its presence here, it was, after all, his own Spiritual Beast. At this moment, seeing that it was being targeted by other Spiritual Beasts, he couldn't just ignore it.

So, while he patted the White Dragon's antler-like horns to signal it to land, he bowed in all four directions and said, "My White Dragon has only joined the Sect a few years ago, and is still somewhat unclear on the rules of the Sect. I will certainly discipline it properly later on. I hope you all will not take this matter too seriously."

"Hehe... It's just a trivial matter; it doesn't count for much. Indeed, it's been a long time since such a joke has occurred in the Sect," said Yu Hualong, who was the first to break the silence. As a True Disciple from his lineage, Qin Feng naturally needed a way out, and Yu Hualong promptly smoothed things over, "I recall the last time was a thousand years ago. Back then, Junior Brother Shentu had tamed a Fierce Beast from who knows where. It was just as clueless about the way things were, even trying to intimidate the other Spiritual Beasts. As a result, it was frightened into a complete mess by the roar of Senior Brother Xue's White Tiger Spirit Beast."

"Hahaha..."

Upon hearing this, the group of Elders burst into laughter.

Especially the older Elders, each of whom had considerable strength and deep Cultivation; otherwise, they wouldn't have lived from a thousand years ago until now. Their laughter was hearty, the sound booming through the void and carrying who knows how far away.

Then, a short and plump elder riding on the back of a Six-Toothed Red-Eyed Pig Demon turned curiously to a burly middle-aged man nearby and asked, "Junior Brother Shentu, it's been hundreds of years since we've seen your Spiritual Beast. Don't tell me you hid it away because it embarrassed you?"

As he spoke, the Six-Toothed Red-Eyed Pig Demon beneath him also turned its blood-red eyes in the same direction.

Clearly, the Pig Demon also remembered the incident when that Spiritual Beast had tried to show off at the Mountain Gate a thousand years ago. With a snort from its mouth, it deliberately took a few steps in that direction to show that it, too, had once intimidated that Spiritual Beast.

This Six-Toothed Red-Eyed Pig Demon was also an exotic Demon Beast, with white sharp tusks as sharp as spears, a body as large as a Giant Elephant, immense strength, and skin and bones as tough as metal, nearly invulnerable to Divine Weapons. It was incredibly fierce.

As it approached, the Spiritual Beast under Shentu Ye grew a bit restless, shifting its body uneasily. The Pig Demon's strength far eclipsed its own, and its ferocious aura upon drawing near instinctively made it feel uncomfortable.

Shentu Ye soothed his Spiritual Beast with a touch and sighed, "Back then, I accidentally subdued a Fierce Beast on the Ancient Battlefield. That fellow's War Power was decent, but its brain was not so useful. A few hundred years ago, when we were disputing territory with Taiyi Mountain, it once fought Duan Shuilou and, on account of its overconfidence in its Physical Body, it was killed by the guy. That almost ruined my big plans."

"So that was the case. No wonder I haven't seen it summoned for so long."

The short and plump elder laughed heartily and patted his Six-Toothed Red-Eyed Pig Demon, descending towards the ground and saying, "Fellows, let's hurry into the hall. Let's not keep the Sect Master waiting."

"Brother is right."

The group of Elders descended to the ground one after another and proceeded toward the Mountain Gate's Grand Hall. No one cared about the incident that had just occurred.

"You, in the future, be sure to thoroughly memorize the Sect's rules," Qin Feng said as he jumped down from the White Dragon's head, patting the scale armor beside its nose, "Also, socialize more with the other Spiritual Beasts, get a clear understanding of the unspoken rules within the Mountain Gate, and don't cause any more trouble!"

"At your command, my master."

The White Dragon still retained its old habit of speaking as if it were a noble from that world.

Qin Feng didn't mind. After giving his instructions, he followed the other Elders into the Grand Hall.

Behind him, the White Dragon glanced at the Jiao Dragon not far away, feeling intimidated, and it began to move its body, wanting to put more distance between them. The Jiao Dragon's enormous eyes glared, "Where are you sneaking off to? Come here, let this old dragon tell you about the rules of the Mountain Gate. Hmph, if it weren't for the fact that you're a Spiritual Beast from the Spiritual Snake Lineage, I wouldn't bother with a clueless junior like you."

The White Dragon was reluctant to leave, but fearing that the Jiao Dragon, whose body was thrice its size, would get angry, reluctantly made its way over.

The Cultivators inside the great hall paid no mind to these spiritual beasts outside, for with their restraint, they would hardly engage in fierce combat.

"Greetings, Sect Master."

When the last arriving Elder entered the hall and had paid his respects to Gu Wuxi, he went to sit on the side.

By this time, the hall had already gathered two or three hundred people, apart from those fighting in otherworlds and those Elders stationed across various locations to exterminate Demon Cultivators, almost everyone had arrived.

Apart from the Elders, there were also a few True Disciples like Qin Feng.

However, not all were present, as the True Disciple from the Creation Lineage, Lianxing, was still in another world and not at the Sect, leaving only eight in attendance now.

Among these eight, Qin Feng's aura was the most concealed, Li Miaozhen's the sharpest, and Gu Wumou's the most ethereal.

The rest were comparatively much weaker.

Although Qi Wushang exuded a fierce and violent aura, he had not yet grasped the arcane of the law, so in the eyes of the Elders, he was not really of any consequence.

Qin Feng glanced at Gu Wumou; this was the first time he, or indeed any of the True Disciples from the other lineages, had seen Gu Wumou.

The other person he had not yet seen was Lianxing from the Creation Lineage, who, according to Li Miaozhen, was not worth meeting — just another person with two eyes and a mouth, no different from the ordinary person.

Gu Wumou's name bore some similarity to that of the Sect Master's, but there was not the slightest blood relation between them, coming from different families, with nearly two thousand years difference in age.

This person looked somewhat odd, with a tortoise-shape and crane-like posture, slender limbs, delicate neck, and a small head atop; yet, against all odds, he sported a pair of large, attention-grabbing ears, and half-open, half-closed eyes, his face listless, bearing a drowsy appearance.

This made Qin Feng wonder if this guy really was Elder Gu Qinghan's brother?

Thinking of the transcendently elegant Gu Qinghan and then looking at Gu Wumou's appearance, the contrast was too great.

Perhaps sensing Qin Feng's gaze, Gu Wumou turned his long neck to look over at Qin Feng and cracked a smile, then quickly returned to his previous demeanor.

Qin Feng was taken aback and immediately dropped any trace of underestimation.

It seemed that this Senior Brother, the first among the nine lineages to secure the title of True Disciple, was indeed no ordinary individual!

The other True Disciples did not notice anything amiss, but Qin Feng, with his extremely sharp senses, immediately detected something peculiar.

Daoist energy was brimming around Gu Wumou, with the law hidden within, poised but unreleased, as if he was accumulating power to cultivate some special Cultivation Technique.

True Disciples of the Beast Taming Sect were only selected after the Ancient Great Tribulation.

With disciples suffering grave losses during the Ancient Great Tribulation, the higher echelons of the Sect had no time to consider choosing any True Disciples, because even if they were chosen, they could be slain by external enemies within a matter of days.

True Disciples were not only the face of a Sect but, in receiving a large allocation of Sect resources and substantial support from their masters, also bore much heavier responsibilities. Consequently, when confronting external enemies, they could not avoid combat, leading to greater casualties.

If the disciple who served as the face of the Sect was often killed, it would have been too much of a blow to the disciples at the bottom of the Sect. Hence, during the Ancient Great Tribulation, the Beast Taming Sect did not select any True Disciples.

Moreover, as the Beast Taming Sect was a newly emerging sect during the Great Tribulation, there weren't many Cultivation Technique inheritances to speak of. After all, the entire sect could cultivate the "Ten Thousand Beasts Origin Scripture" handed down by the founding Ancestor, and there was no possibility of its loss.

It wasn't until after the Great Tribulation had passed that the Sect recuperated and got back on track and began to follow the example of other Sects with Ancient Inheritances, starting to select True Disciples for itself.

At first, the selection occurred once every three hundred years because, right after the Great Tribulation, the Biluo Great World was left scarred and severely damaged. Talents were scarce, and even the Heavenly Dao was recuperating and, naturally, couldn't afford to expend energy to produce many talents. On the contrary, because too many talents were born during the Great Tribulation, the Heavenly Dao was in a weakened state.

Therefore, cultivators who could advance to the Purple Mansion Realm within two to three hundred years were already considered quite talented at that time. Additionally, the Beast Taming Sect didn't have ample resources to support further cultivation. Even if True Disciples could have advanced to Purple Mansion Realm sooner, they would delay until after three hundred years to select the next generation so that the resources could keep pace.

At that time, Cultivators generally found cultivation somewhat arduous. It was mostly dependent on one's nature and the ability to understand the Dao. Rarely could someone rely solely on talent to dominate and lead their generation. If, by chance, an exceedingly gifted individual arose, their fame would immediately spread far and wide, inciting envy in other Sects.

This process continued for nearly twenty to thirty thousand years until the Heavenly Dao gradually regained some of its Primordial Qi. The Cultivation World started to see a resurgence of prosperity and a return to normal circumstances. Talents began to emerge more frequently from all corners of the world.

As the Beast Taming Sect's territory expanded, they could select more excellent Disciples from a wider area. Therefore, they could also choose more talented individuals for focused cultivation. Moreover, the Sect's resources were not as tight as before. True Disciples were advancing at a considerable pace. Continuing to allow them to hold the title of True Disciple for three hundred years was simply untenable, so the duration was reduced to two hundred years.

In fact, even by the standards of today's Cultivation World, it is still considered exceptional to cultivate to the Purple Mansion Realm within two hundred years, signifying both exemplary talent and virtue.

Considering the five hundred-year lifespan of Golden Core Cultivators, two hundred years is still young.

And so, this practice continued until five hundred years ago.

It was then that the Cultivation World suddenly underwent a change.

Several of the major figures of the Cultivation World suddenly summoned the old ancestors of various Sects to discuss a strategy to expand their influence, venture into the Void, and plunder the resources of the Ten Thousand Worlds to replenish the Biluo Origin.

From that moment on, changes began to unfold within the Cultivation World.

Not only did the number of geniuses start to increase, but Sects also began to accelerate their expansion.

Their first step wasn't towards the Outer Domains, but within the inner Five Domains.

After all, they knew little about the Outer Regions at that time. They needed to dispatch some beings to explore the Void, understand the power distribution of this Star Domain, as well as the strength comparisons. Then they also had to consult those adept at predicting Heavenly Secrets to forecast the likelihood of victory in the event Biluo participating in a war with the worlds of this Star Domain and the extent to which they could succeed.

Though such general predictions were exceedingly vague, they provided the Great Powers with some preliminary estimates to prepare in advance should any significant trouble arise.

It would take numerous discussions among the Sects from across the Five Domains to arrive at concrete decisions.

Thus, their first step was expansion within the world.

As large Sects would be spearheading the expeditions, small-to-medium-sized Sects generally lacked the ability to venture out on their own. Therefore, during this period, the large Sects kept expanding their areas of influence, shrinking the once-neutral spaces.

The Chu Kingdom, from which Qin Feng originally hailed, has now become a contested territory jockeyed over by the Beast Taming Sect, Taiyi Mountain, and Danxia Sect.

The Chu Kingdom was previously a buffer zone that insulated these Sects from one another, especially between the Beast Taming Sect and Taiyi Mountain. Since when could these two ever coexist peacefully?

It won't be an understatement to say that it was rare for these two families to share a market with their properties, to mine the same city's veins, and to divide the resources without starting a war upon meeting.

As a result of the suppression by those top-level bosses, coupled with the compromises of various forces, the current situation was finally formed.

Qin Feng's ancestor from the Qin Family had merely followed the Sect's orders to establish a cultivator family in Chu Kingdom to preserve the bloodline inheritance, all for the purpose of occupying as much territory as possible.

Likewise, after Taiyi Mountain discovered a small mining vein on the outskirts of Qifeng Mountain, they also sent a disciple to establish the Huang Family, aimed at contending with the Beast Taming Sect.

As territories expanded and resources grew increasingly abundant, coupled with the Beast Taming Sect's aggressive recruitment of disciples over the centuries, the Outer Sect could maintain hundreds of thousands of disciples each year for the Inner Sect to select from.

As more and more talents emerged, accumulated through a mass of resources, and with the Sect's strong support, true disciples could often advance to the Purple Mansion Realm within decades, and the whole cultivation world was gradually recovering a fraction of its ancient glory.

At this time, the Supreme Elders of the Beast Taming Sect discussed and concluded that leaving the position of true disciples vacant for so long wasn't ideal. Given that the Sect had enough resources to keep up with the consumption, they simply shortened the duration to select true disciples to every hundred years instead of leaving it idle for longer.

This was precisely why Qin Feng and his generation of young people had the opportunity to rise to power; otherwise, waiting another hundred years, they would not have had such chances.

Indeed, the Beast Taming Sect's strategy proved correct. Over the years, they continued to expand their recruitment of Outer Disciples and discovered more and more extraordinarily talented individuals. In Qin Feng's generation, with campaigns against foreign realms and the plundering of the Red Flame Demon Realm, the overall Qi fortune of the Beast Taming Sect also soared enormously.

Not only did they gain more resources to cultivate the Sect's cultivators, but these true disciples were also formidable. With only a few years of cultivation, they had already shown the momentum to advance to the Purple Mansion Realm—a feat that would have been unimaginable during the period tens of thousands of years ago when the entire cultivation world was in decline.

"Has everyone arrived?"

The Sect Master glanced around both sides and slowly nodded.

"Sect Master, may I ask what is the purpose of this gathering?"

The short, chubby Elder who rode the Six-Toothed Red-Eyed Pig Demon spoke up, "Is there a change of events in the Otherworld Battlefield that requires our assistance?"

"Indeed, Sect Master, you usually don't summon so many of us at once. It must be something major that has occurred. Just give the command if you need us to fight; I, old Yuan, will not hesitate."

The other Elders also turned their attention to the Sect Master.

Some of the more impatient ones even began asking questions, ready to march into battle.

"Hehe, no need to be anxious, my friends."

Gu Wuxi let out a light chuckle, "This assembly is not because of any adverse situations in the Otherworld Battlefield, but rather for an exciting event."

"An exciting event?"

The crowd looked perplexed at Gu Wuxi.

"May I know what this auspicious event is that warrants the Sect Master to gather all of us and announce it with such grandeur?"

Gu Wuxi said with a smile, "Wouldn't it be considered a significant event when emissaries from various major Sects of the Five Domains go to the Central Region for the Alliance meeting?"