Seeing the long-bearded old man cut off the communication, Elder Lu put away the jade token and fell into deep thought.
"What does Mr. Fang mean by this?"
"First, I asked Zhang Yuhe about his cultivation level, and then he said that I would be shocked when I saw it."
"Has that kid already broken through to the realm of Nascent Soul?"
"Impossible."
Of course, he was deeply impressed by Zhang Yuhe, the disciple who had taken a token and joined the inner sect.
After all, it had been nearly 100,000 years since the Dao Sheng Sect issued those tokens, and the other tokens had long since been recovered.
The last token had not been moved for many years, and he had thought it might have been lost.
When Zhang Yuhe presented the token, Lu Mingfang was surprised.
But what surprised him wasn't Zhang Yuhe—it was that the last token could still be found.
He hadn't paid much attention to Zhang Yuhe. A young man in his twenties, still in the Qi refining stage, must have very ordinary qualifications. What was there to pay attention to?
Anyway, according to the sect's rules, anyone holding a token, regardless of their talent, qualifications, or origin, could be admitted to the inner sect as long as they weren't affiliated with the demon clan.
Since Zhang Yuhe could present the token, Lu Mingfang could simply follow the rules.
Lu Mingfang, a deacon elder of the Daosheng Sect, was responsible for managing disciples within the sect. He had dealt with many such matters before and thought there was no room for error.
Elder Fang's sudden mention of Zhang Yuhe was puzzling.
"Did I really make a mistake? Could this boy be a genius in cultivation?"
"Forget it. I'll just go and take a look. It's a good time to arrange his duties."
Lu Mingfang stood up, transformed into a stream of light, and flew toward Galaxy Peak.
Galaxy Peak
Zhang Yuhe was practicing the Heavenly Flying Immortal Technique. Although his understanding was off the charts and he could grasp concepts at a glance, knowing and mastering them were two different things. For a life-saving technique like the Tianhuang Flying Immortal Technique, the more practice, the better.
Suddenly, he frowned and stopped practicing.
"Why are there still people looking for me?"
Zhang Yuhe felt a strange presence as someone tapped the formation outside.
He had been in Daosheng Sect for hundreds of years, yet didn't know many people. No one should be looking for him.
Zhang Yuhe took out the jade token and activated the formation of Galaxy Peak. He saw Lu Mingfang hovering outside the peak.
Seeing this, Zhang Yuhe immediately flew over and greeted respectfully.
"Disciple Zhang Yuhe has met Elder Lu."
He recognized the elder who had introduced him, and Zhang Yuhe could roughly guess Lu Mingfang's purpose. He was probably going to assign him a guard duty.
To be honest, Zhang Yuhe had no interest in going out on guard duty.
Although you could earn twice as many merits for guarding compared to practicing within the sect, and it was a good opportunity to represent the Daosheng Sect, it wasn't appealing to him. Guarding would interfere with his cultivation.
Staying in the sect was far better. You didn't have to worry about anything, and no one disturbed you. Moreover, Daosheng Sect was rich in spiritual energy—truly a holy land for cultivation.
On guard duty, you wouldn't have such a good cultivation environment and might have to deal with local troubles. It was very annoying.
However, he had no choice. This was the rule of Daosheng Sect.
Inner disciples took turns guarding every hundred years, and they had to follow the rule whether they wanted to or not.
He enjoyed the comfortable cultivation environment provided by Daosheng Sect, so he had to accept the corresponding responsibilities. Those unwilling to take responsibility wouldn't fare well, no matter where they were.
A hundred years later, when Lu Mingfang saw Zhang Yuhe again, he could hardly believe his eyes.
"Late stage of divine transformation? How is this possible?"
He sensed the aura emanating from Zhang Yuhe once more.
"It is indeed the late stage of divine transformation."
"Did I misjudge him earlier? This boy wasn't in the Qi refining stage—he had already established his foundation, or even reached the Golden Core realm?"
Thinking this, Lu Mingfang shook his head. He couldn't have been wrong before.
It was impossible for a disciple in the Qi refining stage to hide his aura from such a master.
So here's the question: this kid is in the late stage of divine transformation, which means he used only a hundred years to go from the Qi Refining Stage to the late stage of divine transformation.
Such cultivation speed exceeded his imagination.
Lu Mingfang opened his mouth but didn't know where to start. After a long pause, he finally asked.
"Have you really reached the late stage of divine transformation?"
"Yes, I've been practicing hard every day and made some progress by chance."
Zhang Yuhe answered carefully. He, too, felt his cultivation speed was too fast and worried that the old monsters of Daosheng Sect might catch wind of it and dissect him for research.
If not for the fact that he was a player and could be resurrected after death, he wouldn't dare show up in front of these old monsters.
Maybe after he had exchanged for the skills, he would find a remote place to cultivate until he became invincible, then finally step out into the world.
"Not bad."
Hearing Zhang Yuhe's answer, Lu Mingfang nodded in approval.
Before coming here, he had checked Zhang Yuhe's background and found that this kid hadn't left the sect since joining, except for the time he received the skills. He hadn't even left the mountain where he resided.
Even an old monster like Lu Mingfang, who had practiced for tens of thousands of years, couldn't match his dedication to seclusion and hard cultivation.
With such character, why worry about him failing to cultivate immortality?
Of course, the more important factor was the kid's talent, which might be quite remarkable. Perhaps he had some extraordinary spirit or potential.
It's just that when Zhang Yuhe first joined, Lu Mingfang hadn't tested his talent. Now that he was established, it wasn't easy to ask.
Seeing that Lu Mingfang didn't press the issue, Zhang Yuhe couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
In the immortal cultivation world, everyone had their own secrets, and even close relationships didn't compel anyone to ask too many questions.
Lu Mingfang looked at Zhang Yuhe with approval and spoke in a soft tone.
"Every hundred years, inner disciples must take up guard duty. You know this, right?"
"I know."
Zhang Yuhe nodded to acknowledge his understanding.
"Since you've reached the late stage of divine transformation, assigning you to a guard post will be easy. The guardian disciple of Yunzhong Mansion in Hezhou is about to break through. He applied to return to the sect for retreat last month. You'll be assigned to guard Yunzhong Mansion."
"Okay."
Zhang Yuhe nodded. The location didn't matter to him; he wasn't familiar with any place.
However, it was worth noting that Yunzhong Mansion was where he had entered Yufantian.
As the saying goes, you should return to where you came from. The world works in mysterious ways.
"Give me your identity jade card."
Zhang Yuhe hurriedly handed over his jade card.
Lu Mingfang took the jade card, performed a hand gesture, and pointed at it.
The jade card changed instantly. The front now read "Daoist Saint, Yinhe Peak, Zhang Yuhe," and the back, which had previously been blank, now displayed "Yunzhong Mansion Guardian."