Chapter 488: The Foundation-Casting Ceremony

Neither gold nor iron—no one could tell what material the drumstick was made of, not even Lin Dong himself.
The harder the Ruyi Stool could be made, the stronger its owner was. With Lin Dong’s current strength at the seventh level of the Heart Reversal Phase, the unremarkable drumstick in his hand had already reached the level of an eighth-tier spiritual artifact. As for its material, it was unique even in the Great Han Kingdom.
Clutching the drumstick tightly, Lin Dong scanned the faces of those present before fixing his gaze on an old man with a pale face and no beard.
The old man’s name was Mi Yuchang; he was the sixth elder of the Ancient Fortune Sect and considered the most intelligent person in the Great Empty Mountain. As for his strength… The Ancient Fortune Sect ranked mid-to-low among the twenty-one sects, and with his intelligence being the best in the Great Empty Mountain, he could only be the sixth elder—his strength was naturally not very high.
At the second level of the Heart Reversal Phase, his strength was just enough to qualify him as an elder in a moderately strong sect.
Facing Lin Dong’s gaze, Mi Yuchang showed no signs of nervousness. He boldly leaped forward and stood before Lin Dong. He understood that though the Imperial Heaven Sect had peculiar ways of doing things, their foundation-casting ceremony followed established traditions.
As long as he followed the rules, he would be safe.
According to the ceremony’s rules, the sect establishing the new sect must prepare a drum. The size of the drum depended on how advanced the sect wanted to become. Based on how far the drum’s sound could reach, invitations would be sent to sects within that range for a banquet.
If those who attended agreed to recognize the new sect, they would sit down and watch the sect’s founder strike the drum a hundred times. If everyone got along well, the new sect would be officially recognized.
If they refused, they wouldn’t sit down. Then, when the founder or the strongest member of the new sect started striking the drum, others would intervene—usually in one-on-one fights. One would be defeated before another could take their place. The new sect could also send people in rotation.
Several or even dozens of sects might engage in a series of fights against a newly established sect. It might seem like the new sect was at a disadvantage, but in reality, these fights were merely tests. As long as the new sect fought desperately, the others wouldn’t go all out. Even if they were one or two realms stronger, the new sect would still win.
In short, these drum-beating battles during the ceremony were just arenas for the major sects to test the strength of the new sect. If there were no past grudges, they generally wouldn’t deliberately send their top elders to fight in such battles.

If the new sect is strong, let it be established—after all, their interests don’t conflict much, and any issues can be dealt with later. There’s no need to suffer heavy losses now and crush them in the bud. If the new sect is weak, then it’s another matter. If you truly lack self-awareness and try to establish a small sect in a place filled with powerful sects, once it grows strong enough, they’ll just destroy it and feast on it.

As long as one understands the rules of establishing a sect, even if it’s a newly founded sect, fighting to the death should only be done when one can control their spiritual techniques skillfully. There’s rarely even bloodshed—true restraint is key. Even in the face of a sect like Yu Tian Sect, which no one wants to see established, no one would kill during the founding ceremony. If fighting is inevitable, it must wait until after the feast they’ve prepared with effort.

“Elder, please give me your guidance!”

Lin Dong bowed to Mi Yuchang, then swung his right arm backward with force. The drumstick in his hand, carrying a gust of wind, pierced through the layers of mist atop the mountain and struck the center of the giant tree trunk.

Boom…

A thunderous sound erupted, shaking the entire mountain top—the tables and chairs rattled, and the wooden house trembled.

Mi Yuchang opened his palm, and a green spiritual sword appeared silently in his hand. With a light tap of his toes, like a dragonfly skimming water, he glided toward Lin Dong unhurriedly.

The spiritual sword moved like a snake or a rainbow, fast at times, slow at others, with intricate and unpredictable patterns, making it impossible to tell which direction the strike was aimed at.

“Great! Truly worthy of the Green Snake Dance of Gu Fu Sect. Elder Mi has reached mastery in this technique.”

A few exclamations of admiration burst from the crowd. Naturally, these came from sect elders who were on good terms with Gu Fu Sect. Most others showed silent disdain. In terms of strength, Gu Fu Sect ranked mid-to-lower among the twenty-one sects. Mi Yuchang had become the sixth elder thanks to his cunning; with his actual strength, nine out of ten people present could defeat him.

Bang!

Though Lin Dong spoke politely, his actions were anything but courteous. Mi Yuchang struck first—everyone knew it was just a formality. Not only were they not evenly matched, but Mi Yuchang was several levels above him.

If they were truly courteous, Mi Yuchang would draw his weapon and exchange a dozen or twenty moves before admitting defeat and stepping back. Retiring during a founding ceremony wasn’t a disgrace, even for a sect master.

But Lin Dong remained motionless, allowing the spiritual sword to strike his body directly.

If they were evenly matched, that would be extreme courtesy. A five-level difference meant contempt.

And that was exactly Lin Dong’s intention—he wanted to show dominance in a way that made others too angry to speak out.

With a crisp sound, Mi Yuchang was flung backward instantly, flying over twenty meters before his body regained balance and he stood firm after twisting his waist. Had it not been for that sword strike, he hadn’t used much spiritual energy, but the rebound force from Lin Dong’s energy barrier was enough to cause him some internal injuries.

No matter how resourceful Mi Yuchang was, he was now at a loss. To fight would only result in being sent flying again, bringing even more shame. To refuse would mean admitting defeat after just one move… It wasn’t shameful to admit defeat during the sect establishment ceremony, but doing so after just one strike was another matter.

“Elder, please!” Lin Dong calmly raised his drumstick, adopting a defensive stance, his attitude and expression as if nothing had happened just moments ago.

This was no longer mere contempt—it was mockery.

If it were anyone else, knowing the huge gap in strength, they would surely be unable to tolerate such humiliation and would at least swing their sword a few times to vent their anger. But Mi Yuchang put his blue spiritual sword back into his storage ring and bowed to Lin Dong politely, saying, “Young master, your strength is extraordinary. I admit defeat.”

“Elder, it’s just that your energy is insufficient. You didn’t sleep well yesterday, did you?” Lin Dong smiled as he took out a snow-white fruit from the mobile cabinet and tossed it lightly toward Mi Yuchang.

Mi Yuchang instinctively reached out to catch it. Instantly, extreme cold spread from the fruit to his palm, making him exclaim in surprise, “Snow Condensation Fruit?”

“I remember this fruit can cure insufficient energy. I hope Elder won’t mind,” Lin Dong said earnestly, nodding.

On the mountaintop, silence reigned. No one could figure out what Lin Dong was up to, not even the clever Mi Yuchang.

He spoke politely but showed no respect in his actions, yet later tossed over a fruit to help with sleep issues.

What sleep could a martial artist have? Let alone insufficient sleep?

Moreover, this Snow Condensation Fruit wasn’t some fruit for treating sleep problems—it was a fifth-tier spiritual fruit used to aid cultivation. Just one such fruit could help a martial artist at the first level of the Mind Realm advance to the second level within a month. Although its effect might not seem significant, for a highly skilled disciple, it could shorten the time needed to reach the next stage.

“Since that’s the case, I won’t be polite anymore.” Unable to understand Lin Dong’s intentions, Mi Yuchang stopped trying to figure it out and simply put the Snow Condensation Fruit into his storage ring. Though his resentment and anger hadn’t faded, he developed a strange sense of goodwill toward Lin Dong’s generosity.

Such a fruit, if taken when reaching the second stage of the Heart Reversal Phase, is sufficient to leap straight to the third stage. This leap requires over a decade of effort. Mi Yuchang had originally given up on ever reaching the third stage of the Heart Reversal Phase in his lifetime, but now he had this desire again.

The crowd began to stir. They were the elders and sect leaders of various sects, all elite disciples who had been heavily trained in their youth and had consumed many spiritual materials and pills to aid in cultivation. The leaders of two major sects had even taken pills of the seventh or eighth level for cultivation support.

But this Snow Condensation Fruit had fallen from the sky, and its rank was not too low, offering some benefit even to these elders and sect leaders. It would be false to say they weren’t envious.

Lin Dong swung his right arm backward once more, and the sound of thunder roared once again, echoing for thousands of miles without ceasing.

“Is there any other elder willing to teach me?” Lin Dong asked loudly.

“I shall test the young master’s strength,” said an elder. According to the unspoken plan, it should have been one of the leaders of the two major sects to step forward and teach Lin Dong a lesson, to see if the Imperial Heaven Sect had any peak-level experts. However, an elder at the fourth stage of the Heart Reversal Phase disrupted the plan by leaping in front of Lin Dong.

Undoubtedly, he wanted to see if he could also obtain a Snow Condensation Fruit by feigning ignorance due to lack of sleep. Although acting foolish for the sake of the fruit somewhat undermined his dignity, it paled in comparison to the need to enhance his strength. Besides, with Mi Yuchang as an example, the elder believed others would follow suit—losing a bit of dignity together wasn’t such a big deal.

“Please, elder!”

As before, Lin Dong remained polite in words but not in action, knocking the other man away with a single strike.

This ended up stirring even more people’s interest. Lin Dong once again took advantage of the other man’s lack of sleep and casually tossed out another Snow Condensation Fruit.

The plans of the twenty-one sects were shattered without a fight. Although the sect leaders, proud of their status, refused to bend for a mere fruit, the elders were eager to try and rushed at Lin Dong one after another.

Fortunately, though this sudden situation disrupted their plans, it only delayed them. Whether from a practical or personal standpoint, none of the sect leaders spoke out to stop it. In their view, it was sufficient for the leaders of the two major sects to step in after Lin Dong defeated all the elders.

The leaders of these two major sects were both at the ninth level of the Heart Reversal Phase, with one of them having remained at this level for over thirty years. Although they lacked any special opportunities and could never reach the ranks of peak warriors in their lifetime, they were still among the greatest among those at the Heart Reversal Phase. At each level of the Heart Reversal Phase, there is a huge gap. Even with a ninth-tier spiritual weapon throughout the body, the chances of defeating a warrior at the ninth level of the Heart Reversal Phase are extremely low. Not to mention there was also someone who had reached the ninth level after thirty years.