Chapter 3648: Returning to the Sect

However, neither the Wayless Immortal Exalt nor the Nun of Golden Jade were aware of a figure hidden in the sea of stars ten thousand kilometres away, watching them from afar.

It was obviously Jian Chen.

Jian Chen had equipped the Divine Armour of Heavenflight. All of his presence and traces had been erased. He seemed to have escaped from the surroundings, no longer present in the world.

Covered by both the mask from the Illusionary Daemon race and the Divine Armour of Heavenflight, even certain Ninth Heavenly Layer Immortal Exalts would struggle to see through his disguise, let alone the Wayless Immortal Exalt and the Nun of Golden Jade.

At this moment, Jian Chen’s expression changed slightly. He discovered a fleck of skin that was even smaller than dust in the surrounding space.

The fleck of skin originated from when Jian Chen was struck by the lightning talisman. It had almost been burned to ash.

“I’ve been careless. I didn’t clean up the battlefield, so I’ve ended up leaving behind some traces. However, I had no time to check closely given how much of a pinch I was in.” Jian Chen secretly raised his guard. He had already realised that it would be extremely likely for the Immortal Feather sect to find information on him through this fleck of skin.

“However, if the Immortal Feather sect was actually capable of such things, then it would be useless even if I left this place spotless. After all, I had shed blood several times when I contended for the position of the Thousand Immortal General. If the Immortal Feather sect wanted to, they could collect my blood very easily.”

“Looks like I need to be cautious about the Immortal Feather sect’s secret techniques from today onwards.” Jian Chen secretly warned himself.

Suddenly, he remembered the Space Ring that he had removed from the great elder of the Immortal Feather sect.

“I can’t expose the Space Ring of the Immortal Feather sect either. Whatever, I better just place it inside the Primeval Divine Hall. With the Primeval Divine Hall isolating its presence, even if the Space Ring contains something like imprints, they won’t be of any use.” With a thought, Jian Chen silently placed the Space Ring into the Primeval Divine Hall.

He did not stay for much longer. Under the cover of the mask and the armour, he swaggered past the Wayless Immortal Exalt and flew off into the distance.

Before long, Jian Chen returned to the Reverent Observance Heaven. He shed the Divine Armour of Heavenflight in a remote place and changed his presence with the Illusionary Daemon race’s mask before making his way towards the Sword Region of Violet Heavens.

After entering the Sword Region of Violet Heavens, Jian Chen changed his appearance back to how it was before and erased his presence, silently returning to the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens.

After being gone for a thousand years, the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens had changed substantially. The territory of the sect had expanded by several times, having absorbed the territory that was occupied by the Immortal Sect of Sword Control, the Immortal Sect of Three Yang, the Immortal Sect of Scarlet Sunset, and the Immortal Sect of Azure Foxes.

Now, the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens had been divided into five regions. The territory occupied by the four organisations before had all been turned into major courtyards, while the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens in the centre had turned into the central region.

The colossal Energy-gathering Divine Mountain appeared over the main peak of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens. Many Nine-heavenly Xuan Immortals worked together to power it, unleashing its effects to constantly draw over spiritual Qi.

In the past, under the pressure from the four organisations, there were strict time limitations placed on the usage of the Energy-gathering Divine Mountain. They could only activate it once a year. Once the people who activated the Energy-gathering Divine Mountain became exhausted, that would be it.

With the Energy-gathering Divine Mountain being a high quality god artifact, it obviously exhausted the cultivation of those who powered it at an extremely terrifying rate. As a result, each activation could only last for two or three measly days at their limit.

The spiritual Qi they absorbed during those two or three days would sustain the sect’s cultivation for the entire year, so many disciples of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens would end up in the sorry situation where they did not even have spiritual Qi.

But now, the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens could power the Energy-gathering Divine Mountain freely. They were no longer limited by any organisations.

“The spiritual Qi in the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens is already extremely abundant. It’s several dozen times the levels of the past.”

“The number of disciples has grown as well. It has almost reached three hundred thousand.”

“There’s clearly more Nine-heavenly Xuan Immortals as well. There are actually over five hundred of them, but these people all seem to be auxiliaries recruited externally for powering the Energy-gathering Divine Mountain.”

“As for Immortal Monarchs…”

As soon as he returned to the sect, Jian Chen sensed the numerous changes that had occurred. Perhaps because of the Immortal Devouring Orchid’s presence or perhaps because of some other reasons, no accidents had happened to the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens over the past millennia. Everything had been peaceful.

At this moment, on the main peak of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens, the two Immortal Monarchs, elder Nong and Chen Shifang, were engaged with several dozen core disciples in an intense discussion within the Divine Hall of Violet Heavens.

After a thousand years, elder Nong and Chen Shifang maintained their original cultivations, but many new Nine-heavenly Xuan Immortal core disciples had emerged. There were forty of them in total now.

“Our Sword Sect of Violet Heavens may have senior daemon orchid watching over us, but we can’t rely on him for everything. Once we encounter any powerful enemies and senior daemon orchid is caught up in battle, we’ll struggle to fend them off with our strength. As a result, I think we should consider upgrading the sect formation.”

“The strength of the sect formation is utterly crucial to a sect. It also represents the dignity of a sect. I also agree that we should set up a stronger protective formation.”

“Upgrading the sect’s formation requires a tremendous amount of resources, but right now, we’re completely capable of producing that.”

“I disagree. If we want to set up a protective formation that can stop Ninth Heavenly Layer Immortal Emperors, it’ll probably cost us all of our resources to barely achieve that.”

……

…

The several dozen core disciples of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens carried out an intense discussion over upgrading the sect formation. Some people agreed, while others objected. They debated for a very long time, but they never reached a conclusion.

As for elder Nong and Chen Shifang who sat at the front, they both kept their mouths shut. It was quite obvious from their hesitant gazes that they struggled to make a decision as well.

“Enough. Let’s not discuss this for now. We’ll let the sect master make the decision once he returns,” said elder Nong. Setting up such a high quality formation would take an extremely great number of resources. Even he was not bold enough to make the decision without checking with the sect master.

“But elder Nong, the sect master has already been gone for a thousand years. If the sect master never returns, doesn’t that mean we’ll never resolve this matter?” a Nine-heavenly Xuan Immortal core disciple said.

“Yeah, elder Nong, elder Chen. None of us know when the sect master will return. We don’t even know if the sect master will end up returning. Why don’t we deal with this matter instead? After all, it has to do with the safety of the sect. We can’t afford to be negligent with this.”

“Imagine this, everyone. If we have a powerful formation that can stop Ninth Heavenly Layer Immortal Emperors while having senior daemon orchid, wouldn’t our Sword Sect of Violet Heavens become impervious?”

The core disciples began another round of debate, but gradually, the voices of objection visibly decreased.

Elder Nong and Chen Shifang were slightly swayed as well. The current protective formation of the sect could only stop early Immortal Emperors. The Great Spatial Sword Formation and the stone golem could only stop early Immortal Emperors as well. If they encountered mid or late Immortal Emperors, they would be powerless.

As a result, it would be a lie if they said they were not interested in spending their resources to strengthen the protective formation to the point where it could stop Ninth Heavenly Layer Immortal Emperors.

However, the cost was far too great, so they did not have the courage to make this decision by themselves.

“There is no need to upgrade the sect formation. Keep it as it is.”

At this moment, a calm voice rang out in the Divine Hall of Violet Heavens. Jian Chen silently appeared in the divine hall.

“Sect master!” Elder Nong and Chen Shifang immediately became overjoyed. They stood up in a hurry and bowed towards Jian Chen.