Chapter 2256: Chapter 2258: This Is as Far as I Can Help You
After Elder Duan Liang stated his purpose, he saw that the two of them didn’t react much, so he said, "We can talk about what you’re expecting first."
Feng Jun glanced at Yi Jue, signaling for her to speak first.
Yi Jue, however, said, "I only fulfilled a wish. To me, what reward I get isn’t that important. For Mountain Master Feng to take the initiative to raise the matter of rewards doesn’t seem very appropriate either... so I’ll trouble Elder Duan Liang to first explain how the Taixu plan handles rewards."
Everyone knows that the one who names a price first is always on the passive side, and she was very clear that Feng Jun lacked knowledge in this kind of matter.
Yi Jue wasn’t trying to fleece the Taixu Sect; she just didn’t want Feng Jun to suffer too great a loss. In fact, forget Feng Jun—she herself, a former disciple of the Taixu Sect, wasn’t very clear on the going rates for rewards, because she’d never paid attention to such things before.
Elder Duan Liang really did have nerve. He didn’t stall; after a brief moment of pondering, he spoke. "Two options. First, the Taixu Sect acknowledges the contribution that you, Yi Jue, and you, Feng Jun, have made... and permits the two of you to pass on the Technique under your own line. Taixu will not pursue it."
"The terms are too poor," Yi Jue said without the slightest hesitation. "Just ’our own line’... that’s not enough. Tell us the second option."
"Own line" was a very subtle term, not defined very strictly. Roughly speaking, for example, if someone in the Spirit Plant branch wanted to learn this Technique, they would have to be under Yi Jue’s tutelage. Disciples under Elder Yu Teng or Elder Kumu’s faction would not be allowed to cultivate this Technique.
In the Spirit Plant branch, Yi Jue was known as a complete homebody, and her standards were exceedingly high—at five hundred years old and at Nascent Soul Peak, there were far too few disciples who could catch her eye, so she had very few disciples under her.
Of course, disciples under other people, if they weren’t afraid of being held accountable, could also secretly cultivate this Technique, but if it spread any further, they would have to consider the reaction of the Taixu Sect.
Ultimately, this constraint from the Taixu Sect was aimed at the entire Spirit Plant branch, and it was a way of emphasizing ownership—this Technique did not belong to the Spirit Plant branch; others could not cultivate it. Only those under Yi Jue were allowed to cultivate it.
Could the Taixu Sect really keep track of every disciple of the Spirit Plant branch? That wasn’t at all certain. It was just that with such a restriction in place, aside from Yi Jue’s disciples, others in the Spirit Plant branch could not aboveboard learn and use "Binding Qi into Gang."
In other words, if the Taixu Sect didn’t want to pursue it, everyone could muddle through, but if the Technique spread wider and wider, the Taixu Sect then had standing to impose constraints on the Spirit Plant branch—the degree of latitude here was entirely in Taixu’s hands; one could say they could advance and retreat at will, sending and receiving as they pleased.
For Feng Jun, this wasn’t that big of a problem. In any case, this "line" of his "Sect" all followed him; if he wanted to pass it down, he would, and as long as no one falsely claimed to be from other branches of his Sect, it wouldn’t be an issue.
Yi Jue, however, was very dissatisfied with this condition. When it came down to it, she felt that the Taixu Sect’s terms showed far too little sincerity.
So many seniors in Taixu had been unable to solve this problem and had even been suppressed by the Yuangang branch. Now we helped you solve it, and tests have proven that it’s far stronger than Yuangang’s Technique, yet you only give us a limited transmission right?
So she wanted the second solution, but essentially, she was clearly expressing her dissatisfaction.
"As for the second..." Elder Duan Liang also clearly hesitated for a moment before answering in a deep voice, "One thousand upper-grade spirit stones for a buyout, or five hundred upper-grade spirit stones for shared rights, but every cultivator of your side’s forces who cultivates it must pay ten upper-grade spirit stones."
Yi Jue knew Feng Jun wasn’t familiar with these concepts, so she explained.
One thousand upper-grade spirit stones for a buyout was easy to understand; it was literally what it sounded like—a one-time payment. Other than Yi Jue and Feng Jun themselves, only Disciples of Taixu would be allowed to cultivate this Technique.
For shared rights, Feng Jun and Yi Jue would receive a share of five hundred upper-grade spirit stones, but every cultivator from the Spirit Plant branch or White Pebble Beach who wanted to cultivate this Technique would have to pay the Taixu Sect ten upper-grade spirit stones.
This option sounded a bit more troublesome and somewhat harder to verify, but among major powers on the Tianqin Plane, this kind of arrangement was very common, and the process was extremely convenient. Cultivators who wanted to cultivate Binding Qi into Gang would make a special trip to Taixu, pay ten upper-grade spirit stones, and then receive a brand imprint.
It was somewhat similar to patent licensing... Feng Jun made his assessment internally.
He was still a bit dissatisfied with this proposal, though, so he glanced at Yi Jue. "Our derivation is essentially a complete remolding of this Technique, yet Taixu seems to have only provided a fragment. Yuangang has similar fragments as well, so this claim to rights is a bit..."
Before Yi Jue could answer, Elder Duan Liang cut in crisply, "Taixu didn’t only provide a fragment. We also have the Technique our Sect derived. Although your improvements are more incisive, they were made on the basis of our Sect’s Technique, so this counts as secondary development."
This reasoning was not bad either. The derivation by Feng Jun and Yi Jue really had been based on the Taixu Sect’s Technique. Otherwise, with only a broken shard, to fully derive an entire Technique—there was no way that could be done in just a few years.
Granted, the Taixu Sect had made many errors and even serious deviations in their derivation process, but there was no question that they had at least first identified the direction of the Technique. That contribution could not simply be erased.
Don’t be fooled by how High-Rank Practitioners on the Tianqin Plane rarely haggle; Elder Duan Liang’s handling of such matters was highly professional, and in a matter of this scale, there was no way he wouldn’t scrutinize every point.
When he finished speaking, Yi Jue spoke up again. "You can’t calculate it like that. The Technique we’ve improved has even reached the level of ’Void Thunderspawn.’ That’s a Void Annihilation Technique that enhances one’s ability to protect oneself in the Void. True Immortal Jing Quan can testify to this."
Elder Duan Liang glanced at Jing Quan when he heard this. "Is that so?"
Jing Quan had come along just to show his face, to signal that he took Sect affairs seriously. Elder Duan Liang was naturally happy to see it—he’d been planning to go through the motions here, then hurry to find Moli another female cultivator with a Spatial Physique so he could continue recovering in the Void.
But since Yi Jue said so, he couldn’t deny it. He nodded. "I tested it once in the Void. It can indeed spawn Thunder."
In fact, when Elder Duan Liang first received the improved Technique, he’d already noticed this trait, so he wasn’t particularly surprised. He pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly. "I certainly trust what Jing Quan says, but I still have one question..."
"Jing Quan, have you ever cultivated the old version of Gathering Qi into Yuangang?"
"I haven’t." True Immortal Jing Quan shook his head very straightforwardly. "That Technique... is inconvenient to use, and I’m not good at deduction."
Everyone understood what "inconvenient to use" meant. If you cast it and happened to run into a Yuangang Sect disciple, that would be... awkward.
Elder Duan Liang understood as well, so he nodded. "So whether the old version of Gathering Qi into Yuangang can spawn Thunder in the Void is also hard to say."
Yi Jue was a bit displeased. "Elder Duan Liang, that’s bordering on sophistry..."
She didn’t continue, but she didn’t need to. The old version had been in use for many years, yet none of its users ever thought Gathering Qi into Yuangang could spawn Thunder in the Void—that fact alone said enough.
There must have been cultivators who had practiced Gathering Qi into Yuangang and entered the Void, yet there was no feedback about anything like this. Isn’t that enough?
That said, Elder Duan Liang’s words did have a certain logic—just because no one reported it, can you prove it doesn’t exist?
So all Yi Jue could say was that he was quibbling. She couldn’t claim his logic was absolutely invalid; at the end of the day, it merely went against common sense.
In any case, compared to logic, cultivators put more weight on common sense. Elder Duan Liang didn’t bother arguing the finer points. He straightened his expression and said solemnly,
"So on this point, we still need to verify further. If you accept either of the two proposals I raised, you can choose one. Once this is confirmed in the future, we can still add to the reward..."
"If you don’t accept my proposals, then the reward will have to be postponed. We’ll wait until it’s confirmed that the old version does not possess the effect of Void Thunderspawn, and then we’ll adjust the corresponding reward... And in the meantime, I sincerely suggest that the two of you do not pass this Technique on to others yet."
This demand... couldn’t really be called excessive. Especially for Feng Jun—among his people, only Liu Yiyi had reached the Dustless Stage, and she had a Profound Yin Constitution, so she wasn’t suitable for cultivating Void Thunderspawn.
For quite a while going forward, the only ones under him who could charge into the Dustless Stage would be Zhang Caixin, Yu Qingzhu, and Yun Buyao. Among these three female cultivators, Yu Qingzhu with her Profound Yin Constitution could be ignored, and Zhang Caixin with her Pure Water Constitution was also not very suitable for cultivating Gathering Qi into Yuangang.
Only Yun Buyao had an Innate Pure Gold Attribute and could cultivate Gathering Qi into Yuangang.
So for Feng Jun, this condition really didn’t matter much. It was just that this kind of sophistic logic left him mildly uncomfortable.
Yi Jue, however, gave a cold laugh. "Elder Duan Liang, putting it like that is no fun at all. If you want Mountain Master Feng to take the Disciples of Taixu into the Void, just say so. Going round and round like this only makes it easy for people to look down on you!"
Elder Duan Liang was in charge of compiling and transmitting all of Taixu Sect’s Cultivation Techniques; his position was far more important than that of an ordinary Elder. Yet he was being reprimanded by a junior a thousand years younger than himself—one could imagine his mood.
But unexpectedly, he didn’t get angry. Without a ripple on his face, he said, "If Mountain Master Feng is willing to help by taking the Disciples of Taixu into the Void to complete the testing as soon as possible, we would be very much looking forward to it."
If some disciple of Taixu were present right now—well, there was still True Immortal Wu Xiu here. Seeing the always famously strict Elder Duan Liang, known for his unfeeling severity, take this attitude, he couldn’t help blinking several times in a row.
Is this still the Elder of Cultivation Technique I know?
True Immortal Jing Quan, a Nascent Soul Middle Phase, understood a bit more of the inside story. Elder Duan Liang had always maintained an image of iron-faced impartiality—but that was just the surface. The Sect’s transmission of Cultivation Techniques required sufficient authority and severity; otherwise, where would its rules lie?
In reality, the stricter a place’s rules, the better it understands how to be flexible. Elder Duan Liang understood this especially well. He was someone who could execute, and many of his outward appearances were just that—appearances.
Feng Jun blinked and thought, nice move—you’re forcing me to volunteer to take you all into the Void?
What he didn’t notice was Yi Jue’s eyes flicking lightly at Elder Duan Liang from the corner: Elder, this is as far as I can help you.
