Chapter 158: Everlasting Fairy’s Golden Finger
Sending someone like her to fight the Five Elements Sect would be like bullying grandchildren; no wonder the Five Elements Sect wasn’t convinced.
Lu Yang thought to himself, Immortal, please stop boasting. Ying Tian Immortal is qualified to be your opponent, and so is the Nonuple Immortal. With all your abilities, how did you die in the first place?
Everlasting Fairy was enjoying the feeling of being a sect leader and didn’t notice the expression in Lu Yang’s spiritual space.
She tried to ease everyone’s mood: “They say the Five Great Immortal Sects are as close as one’s hands and feet. I think we shouldn’t treat the Five Elements Sect like this.” (TL Note: The idiom 情同手足 means that the relationship is like hands and feet, and they cannot be separated for a day. It suggests a deep friendship, like brothers)
The second elder sneered: “Yes, we are the hand, and the Five Elements Sect is the foot. Hands and feet don’t intersect, so where does the camaraderie come from?”
Everlasting Fairy quietly asked the sixth elder, Feng Ya: “Does the second elder have any conflict with the Five Elements Sect?”
The sixth elder, a spectral figure present, had no need to breathe or use thoughts to communicate.
After thinking for a moment, the sixth elder felt this was something that shouldn’t be discussed but saw no reason to hide it from the acting sect master: “When the second elder was young, he fell in love with a woman named Shangguan Yu and even confessed to her, but she directly rejected his feelings.”“The second elder also discovered Shangguan Yu speaking intimately with Qiu Jin’an, looking like they were planning a lifetime together.”
Qiu Jin’an is the current sect leader of the Five Elements Sect.
“Since then, the second elder has found the Five Elements Sect displeasing to the eye.”
Everlasting Fairy frowned, recognizing the difficulty in handling such matters.
She cleared her throat and said: “After all, we are the hosts, and the Five Elements Sect are our guests. We should still maintain the necessary protocols and procedures when dealing with the Five Elements Sect.”
“I’ve drafted a simple event plan and will need the elders’ cooperation.”
“The welcome ceremony will be held at the Martial Arts Square, where there’s ample space and it’s close to our mountain peak.”
The core area of the Dao Seeking Sect consists of nine mountain peaks: one for the sect leader and eight for the elders. Arranged like a lotus, with the center being the most bustling and lively, featuring taverns, bookstores, clothing stores, and other large shops for disciples to relax and entertain themselves, as well as trial grounds and puppet fields for physical training. Among these, the Martial Arts Square occupies the largest area.
The Martial Arts Square is often used for disciple sparring; the entire platform is refined and durable, hard to destroy, enveloped in multiple layers of formations to prevent damage from intense collisions, and capable of self-repair if damaged. The formations also ensure that the sparring does not affect bystanders, making it a perfect venue.
“The fourth elder, you’re the most meticulous and have some understanding of formations. Could you check the Martial Arts Square’s formation for any flaws or weaknesses, to see if it can withstand continuous high-intensity impacts?”
“Okay.”
“After the speeches from both sides conclude, it will be around noon, a good time to bond over a meal. I’ve come across an immortal’s manual that records methods of preparing food, a rarity in this world. I’ll take this opportunity to showcase it in front of the Five Elements Sect.”
Everlasting Fairy volunteered for the cooking task.
“Then comes the competition part. I initially plan to divide it into four categories based on cultivation levels: Foundation Establishment Stage, Golden Core Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, and Spirit Transformation Stage.”
Everlasting Fairy’s division was quite reasonable, preventing a situation where Yun Zhi overwhelmingly defeats everyone.
“Eldest elder, with the increase in patronage to places like the tavern during the Five Elements Sect’s visit, there might be instances of price gouging. Please arrange for someone to patrol these areas to prevent such incidents.”
“Also, some disciples like gambling and might take this opportunity to set up underground gambling dens. The eldest elder also needs to pay attention to this matter; close them if necessary and administer punishments as needed.”
“Third elder, with the large influx of people during the exchange, conflicts are inevitable. You’ll need to assign disciples to maintain order at the venue.”
“Fifth elder, you’re tasked with crafting four tablets that can live stream the events happening at the Martial Arts Square, allowing everyone to watch.”
The elders nodded, finding Everlasting Fairy’s arrangements reasonable and thorough.
Everlasting Fairy’s tasks were well organized, thanks to her all-night effort—mainly in convincing Lu Yang to lend a hand.
Lu Yang had no choice but to act as the acting sect master’s external brain, offering advice and strategies.
Lu Yang truly was Yellow Bean’s golden finger, providing help at critical moments. (TL Note: Since I didn’t explain it previously, golden fingers are basically cheat-like abilities the protagonists of novels have which give them an advantage, typically in cultivation or whatever the power system of the novel is. Normally the immortal in their spiritual space is the golden finger for the protagonist in regular novels but here, our protagonist is the golden finger for the immortal living in his spiritual space)
Everlasting Fairy continued assigning tasks: “Seventh elder, you should prepare some more pills, mainly those for saving lives, healing wounds, and detoxification.”
The seventh elder hesitated before nodding: “Of course, that’s possible. However, the disciples usually exercise restraint during sparring and won’t go for the kill, so these kinds of pills might not be necessary.”
Everlasting Fairy thought about it and then asked Lu Yang in the spiritual space: “Why did you have him prepare these pills?”
“Fear of food poisoning.”
Everlasting Fairy uttered an “oh,” then left the spiritual space and began to say to the seventh elder: “Fear of food poi… wait a minute…”
Everlasting Fairy realized what was happening, glared at Lu Yang in the spiritual space, and Lu Yang innocently shrugged.
“After the exchange between the disciples ends, according to the plan, the Undying Sect will launch a sneak attack on us.”
The elders were startled. What did she mean “according to the plan, the Undying Sect will launch a sneak attack”? Wasn’t the plan hers?
Everlasting Fairy seriously said: “We have planted a mole within the Undying Sect, someone of high rank, who has learned part of the Undying Sect’s plan.”
Lu Yang thought, indeed, the mole has infiltrated deep into their ranks.
“Reliable information indicates that this time the Undying Sect will deploy two vice sect leaders and five high-ranking officials.”
The vice sect leaders of the Undying Sect are at the Unity Stage, but without immortal treasures, they wouldn’t be able to make much of an impact at the Dao Seeking Sect.
The Dao Seeking Sect’s Unity Stage isn’t limited to the sect leader and the eight elders.
Dao Seeking Sect’s Nine refers to the most outstanding nine people of that generation within the Dao Seeking Sect, not that there were only nine people in that generation.
The others are either out on missions, guarding treasures within the Dao Seeking Sect, unwilling to work and in a semi-retired state, and rarely make public appearances.
“When the time comes, I’ll arrange for people to monitor the Undying Sect’s movements. If someone shouts ‘attack,’ we’ll all act together and capture the Undying Sect’s members. Don’t be too harsh; try to take them alive if possible,” Everlasting Fairy concluded.
…
After the meeting, the elders set off to carry out their assigned tasks.
Lu Yang, with the event plan in hand, left the Dao Seeking Sect to find Tang Yunsheng again.
“Tang Inspector, I’ve brought the Dao Seeking Sect’s event plan. These are all public information, easily obtained.”
Tang Yunsheng was overjoyed, but after reviewing the event plan, he was puzzled.
“Why does this match the event plan I imagined?”
“It shows how accurate your calculations were!”
Tang Yunsheng didn’t think much of it, considering it a coincidence.
Lu Yang continued: “I think we should have a signal when we act, like the vice sect leader shouting ‘attack,’ and then everyone moves together, catching the Dao Seeking Sect off guard!”
Tang Yunsheng nodded, agreeing with Lu Yang’s suggestion.