Chapter 16: Three Points

The gathering of the leaders of Tongzhou Hall and its outcomes had a significant impact within the hall as well.
In the following decade, all the artifact-forging tasks assigned to Tongzhou Hall, including those related to immortals below the Human Soul Immortal level, were handled by Juehuo Peak. Generally, Tongzhou Hall received around 100,000 artifact-forging tasks over ten years, of which 60,000 were at the Human Soul Immortal level.
Thus, just one peak—Juehuo Peak—accounted for 60% of these tasks.
Undoubtedly, the remaining seventeen peaks would receive very few tasks, affecting the task points their disciples could earn in the future, especially those who were Human Soul Immortals.
Without points, one could not enter the cultivation space to train, meaning the main purpose of joining Tongzhou Hall would be lost.
“Juehuo Peak has taken most of the tasks. How will we get any artifact-forging tasks in the future? Without tasks, there are no points. How long will it take us to accumulate enough points to enter the cultivation space?”
Such complaints echoed throughout the seventeen artifact-forging peaks of Tongzhou Hall, with many disciples expressing dissatisfaction.
The leaders of the seventeen peaks then issued a strict order: all disciples who discussed task allocation would be expelled from Tongzhou Hall.
The complaints ceased immediately.
The seventeen leaders naturally had no time to explain things to these disciples one by one. They couldn’t bring up Hall Master Yun Zhouzi either, so they had no choice but to use force. Moreover, since these disciples’ identity cards already bore the mark of Tongzhou Hall when they joined, being expelled would result in the word “expelled” being added to their cards, preventing them from joining any other faction in the future.
As a result, all discussions about task allocation remained hidden in the hearts of the disciples of the seventeen peaks.
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Meanwhile, Juehuo Peak was in full swing. In addition to handling the assigned artifact-forging tasks, they also had to prepare for the Human Soul Immortal-level tasks to be assigned over the next decade.
The disciples of Juehuo Peak were overjoyed because more tasks meant more points, allowing them to enter the cultivation space earlier.
Strength was everything. Thinking about soon having enough points to enter the cultivation space, the disciples of Juehuo Peak were full of enthusiasm.
Inside the Peak Leader’s Pavilion, only Zhen Nantian and Huo Zun were present.
“Fatty, I was cultivating peacefully at Tingfeng Residence. Why did you insist on bringing me here? What’s the matter?” Huo Zun said reproachfully as he sat in the chair.
It had been less than a month since Huo Zun returned to Tingfeng Residence to cultivate when Zhen Nantian summoned him.

Zhen Nantian sat on a chair, forcing a smile as he looked at Fire Lord, speaking obsequiously, “Fire Lord, since you’ve managed to develop such a method as ‘pre-setting arrays,’ I’m sure your expertise in arrays must be extremely high. Fire Lord, the crafting tasks that various factions have requested from us at Zhongzhou Hall come with very strange requirements. You’ve also seen all the arrays in our Juehuo Peak. To be honest, our arrays simply can’t meet all those requirements. So…”

Custom immortal artifacts have various demands—some require sharpness, some demand mind-control capabilities, others need elaborate magic effects… With such diverse requirements, corresponding arrays are needed.

Upon hearing this, Fire Lord immediately understood that Zhen Nantian wanted him to research arrays.

“I don’t understand arrays!” Fire Lord replied straightaway.

Hearing this, Zhen Nantian’s fat face twisted into an ugly mask. He was now in a difficult situation. At the peak leaders’ meeting, he had boasted that he would take on all of Renpo Xian’s crafting tasks. But now, he realized that Juehuo Peak’s arrays were still not comprehensive enough, and some of the crafting task requirements were extremely unreasonable, leaving him with no solution.

At the same time, Zhen Nantian knew that Juehuo Peak had taken away the crafting task shares from the other seventeen peaks, so seeking their help now would be useless. Thus, he placed his last hope on Qu Yi.

“Fire Lord, the difficulties I’m facing now are all caused by you. You can’t just stand by and do nothing!” Zhen Nantian rushed up to Fire Lord, roaring in anger.

Fire Lord pushed Zhen Nantian away with a hand and said lightly, “If you die, so be it. I won’t feel sad.”

Hearing this, Zhen Nantian was on the verge of tears. He felt completely under Fire Lord’s control, as if he had already been manipulated by him.

“Fire Lord, you can’t do this. Just help me research arrays, and I’ll agree to any condition you ask,” Zhen Nantian said, suppressing his anger and forcing a smile as he pleaded with Fire Lord.

Upon hearing this, Fire Lord’s eyes lit up—this was exactly what he wanted to hear.

“Fatty, as the peak leader, you must have a lot of points. I’ll be straight with you—give me half of the points in your identity card, and I’ll help you research arrays,” Fire Lord said with a smile, showing no embarrassment at all.

Zhen Nantian immediately sat on the ground, his face pale from fear.

By now, Zhen Nantian had reached the rank of Upper Rank Renpo Xian, and he could no longer progress further in his cultivation space. Therefore, Fire Lord naturally thought he could take Zhen Nantian’s points.

“Fire Lord, you’re truly too greedy. Do you know that the points of us peak masters have actually been converted into Origin Stone points? This is so that we can bid for useful treasures at future auctions in the Fire Glow Merchant Alliance, thereby advancing to Earth Soul Immortal. That’s why we peak masters never need to use points at all,” Zhen Nantian stood up immediately and roared.

“Then give me half of the Origin Stones,” Fire Lord said, still smiling.

Zhen Nantian was completely stunned, staring at Fire Lord in silence, unable to utter a word. He finally realized just how ruthless Fire Lord could be when things got difficult.

“Fire Lord, you might not know how much Origin Energy is needed for a person to advance from Soul Immortal to Earth Soul Immortal. Do you really have the heart to destroy my hope of advancing? I know you’re not such a cruel person,” Zhen Nantian pleaded again with a forced smile.

Fire Lord smiled faintly, knowing it would be difficult to obtain Origin Stones from Zhen Nantian. But his intention in deliberately making things hard for Zhen Nantian wasn’t to get the Origin Stones—Fire Lord had plenty of those. He had already experienced the benefits of the cultivation space, and after cultivating at Listening Wind Residence for a month, he found the progress there too slow. Thus, he wanted to enter the cultivation space again.

However, when Fire Lord last entered the cultivation space, he had already used up all the Origin Stones in his identity card. So, he needed an excuse so that he wouldn’t arouse suspicion when entering again. Undoubtedly, making Zhen Nantian hand over points or Origin Stones would dispel anyone’s doubts.

After hearing Zhen Nantian’s words, Fire Lord fell silent for a moment before suddenly saying, “Fatty, do you know where Tongzhou Hall got this cultivation space? How many Origin Stones are needed to acquire one?”

At this point, realizing he couldn’t get Origin Stones from Zhen Nantian, Fire Lord decided to buy one himself.

Hearing Fire Lord’s words, Zhen Nantian knew his Origin Stones were safe, but hearing that Fire Lord wanted to buy a cultivation space scared him again.

“Fire Lord, forget about getting a cultivation space. There are several conditions that you can’t meet. First, it must be a sect, and that sect must have over a hundred disciples at the Immortal level. Second, in the entire Fire Glow Star Region, only the Fire Glow Merchant Alliance sells cultivation spaces, and the buyer must be at the Earth Immortal level. Third, even the lowest-tier cultivation space requires 100 million Origin Stones, which are not even available on the market. With these three conditions, you shouldn’t waste any more time thinking about it,” said Zhen Nantian with some emotion.

After hearing this, Fire Lord was also surprised. The fact that only a sect could purchase a cultivation space immediately ruled out his chances of getting one.

“It seems I need to work hard to earn points if I want to enter our Tongzhou Hall’s cultivation space again,” sighed Fire Lord.

Hearing this, Zhen Nantian’s troubled expression finally turned into a smile.

“Fire Lord, you’ve finally understood. How about this: help me study formations, and I’ll double your points in the future. What do you say?” Zhen Nantian thought he had offered a very tempting deal.

Fire Lord looked at Zhen Nantian for a long time before saying lightly, “Fat guy, aren’t you planning to give me points for the ‘Formation Pre-setting Method’ I provided? Every immortal artifact crafted by the Extreme Fire Peak should give me points—don’t you understand?”

Zhen Nantian was confused again. If it were true as Fire Lord said, with one point per immortal artifact, Fire Lord could earn 60,000 points in ten years, enough for 6,000 days in a cultivation space. But now, Fire Lord seemed to want more than one point per artifact.

“Fire Lord, you’re really ruthless. You’ll become the richest person on the Extreme Fire Peak. As its leader, I won’t be as wealthy as you anymore,” said Zhen Nantian, sitting down on a chair with a worried expression.

“Enough, Fat Guy. Decide now—how many points do you plan to give me per immortal artifact? I’ll decide whether to help you study formations based on your attitude,” said Fire Lord, ignoring Zhen Nantian’s complaints.

Zhen Nantian closed his eyes, tapping his fingers on the armrest of the chair. After a while, he opened his eyes and said, “Three points—no more. The disciples of the Extreme Fire Peak have always suffered with me. Now that they finally have a chance to turn things around, I can’t let them stay poor.”

Indeed, the former disciples of the Extreme Fire Peak had few artifact-crafting tasks, so they earned very few points.

Upon hearing this, Fire Lord nodded and smiled, saying, “Fat guy, you’re really cunning—using all these disciples to put me in trouble. Never mind, I agree. Three points for each immortal artifact is fine. I’ll spend a year helping you study the formation magic, and after that, I’ll enter my cultivation space to train until I reach the level of a Six-Star Soul Immortal.”
Zhen Nantian laughed heartily, finally feeling relieved. The last major obstacle in the Juehuo Peak’s artifact-making mission had been solved.
Just then, a voice came from outside the peak master’s pavilion: “Peak master, someone from the Zhu family has come to order a batch of immortal artifacts.”
It was Lin Po, who had fought against Fire Lord—now he had been assigned the task of receiving guests.
Hearing that the Zhu family had arrived, Fire Lord couldn’t help but think of someone, and a smile appeared on his lips.