Splitting the Heavens

Chapter 1190: Three Deputy Patriarchs

...

After sending away Shang Xia’s clone that handed her the hammer, Yun Jing stared at the hammer and fell deep into thought.

Other than the hammer Shang Xia’s clone brought over, there was also a strange pouch-like spatial artifact that was different from the Spatial Pouches experts of the Spirit Luxuriant World usually used.

After looking at them for some time, she called over a member of the Yun Clan who had been standing outside and instructed, “Call the other deputy patriarchs over. I have something I wish to discuss!”

Acknowledging the order respectfully, the Yun Clansman was about to leave when Yun Jing stopped him again.

After some hesitation, she added, “If Deputy Patriarch Shang is still in seclusion, there’s no need to disturb him.”

She waved to dismiss him before getting others to prepare some tea.

It didn’t take long before Liu Zhiyuan arrived. Ji Wenlong came right after.

A moment later, the Yun Clansman who left earlier to carry out her order returned. “Deputy Patriarch Shang is in seclusion and I didn’t dare to disturb...”

“I got it.” Yun Jing expected as much and waved again to dismiss him.

Ji Wenlong chuckled before sighing softly, “Fourth Brother’s desire to grow strong still burns bright in him. It’s a lot stronger than mine...”

“Haha! He’s more talented than us when it comes to cultivating in the first place. Otherwise, why would the patriarch intentionally nurture him back then? If anything, we should be happy for him.” Yun Jing laughed.

Ji Wenlong nodded with a smile on his face, but there was still a slight sense of depression he couldn’t shake.

Compared to Shang Bo, who could still grow stronger, those present knew that they had already reached the limits of their cultivation.

Liu Zhiyuan also sighed, “That might be the case, but the rift between the third and fourth element of the Martial Dipper Realm is just too wide! If we ignore those 2 monsters... It has been slightly more than 10 years since our world ascended. We have abundant cultivation resources and dense heaven and earth qi. We even have an Elysium in our Tongyou Institution! The difference between us and our past selves before the world ascension is massive. We produced thousands of cultivators, but only Ge Qingzhu and Sun Haiwei managed to take that step...”

Even though he sounded like he was lamenting the fact that cultivation was difficult, when they read between the lines, they could tell that Liu Zhiyuan had some intentions of criticizing Shang Bo for wasting the institution’s resources while not making much progress...

Since Shang Bo was the only deputy patriarch left of the 4, and with the others stuck in their current cultivation realm, only Liu Zhiyuan knew if his grumbling earlier was because of his jealousy and indignance he wasn’t as talented.

Yun Jing and Ji Wenlong normally wouldn’t care about Liu Zhiyuan’s way of thinking. Instead, Ji Wenlong immediately looked at the items placed on the tablet.

His gaze paused slightly on the hammer before he asked, “So... Why did you call us over?”

“Little Shang’s clone sent these stuff over not too long ago.” Yun Jing explained while pointing to the treasures on the table.

Ji Wenlong was slightly taken aback and he gasped, “He came back?! When did he arrive?”

Unlike Ji Wenlong, Liu Zhiyuan’s expression turned a little unnatural as his body trembled slightly.

Yun Jing continued, “He has probably been back for some time now. He and the patriarch have always been moving around sneakily. If they don’t wish for anyone to discover their tracks, will there be anyone in the institution who can catch them?”

Ji Wenlong let out a huge sigh. “It’s good that he’s back. According to the reports from the Heavenly Star Palace, they discovered a massive battle happening between high-level experts in the void around the Spirit Abundance World. The great powers have been pressuring Little Shang to head over to check it out... Heh, is every other True Immortal in our Spirit Luxuriant World dead? They’re always getting experts from our institution to check out matters happening in the vast sea of stars!”

Yun Jing simply chuckled without saying more.

Liu Zhiyuan snorted inwardly. There are only 10 True Immortals in our Spirit Luxuriant World... With 5 of them being Elysium True Immortals, they can’t go anyway. Of the 5 Free True Immortals, 3 of them are first tier True Immortals. Only Kou Chongxue and Shang Xia are third tier True Immortals, and they stand high above the rest. If we don’t send them over to check things out, who else are we supposed to send?

Also... Those 2 monsters weren’t fools. Every time they headed out to check out matters on behalf of the Spirit Luxuriant World, the other True Immortals would have to give up a lot of benefits. Every time they discovered anything good out there, they would also obtain it on behalf of the Tongyou Institution before sharing the leftovers.

Otherwise... How could the Tongyou Institution soar to the position of the strongest great power of the Spirit Luxuriant World in just a few dozen years, standing high above those factions that had close to a thousand years of heritage?

That was right! Even though the Tongyou Institution couldn’t be compared to the other great powers in terms of cultivators all the way up to the Martial Dipper Realm, they had 2 freaks at the third tier of the Martial Void Realm! Moreover, both of them were Free True Immortals and could leave the Spirit Luxuriant World at will! Both of them led the Spirit Luxuriant World on many expeditions in the vast sea of stars, and a majority of experts had already recognized the Tongyou Institution as the strongest faction!

Of course... Liu Zhiyuan wouldn’t dare to say what he had just thought out loud. He would even agree with Ji Wenlong when he was raging at the other great powers. After all, that was the only politically correct answer in the Tongyou Institution and even though he was a scheming bastard, he wouldn’t fumble when it came to important matters like agreeing with Ji Wenlong about matters like that.

Yun Jing coughed softly before bringing them back on track. “With the reappearance of Star Origin City, Patriarch Kou brought back news about the Star Origin Guards before rushing off to the Spirit Faith World. Now, Little Shang returned and chose to enter seclusion so suddenly... Don’t you guys think that they seem to be pressured by something?”

Liu Zhiyuan sighed helplessly, “But... They refuse to say anything anyway, what can we do? Ever since they entered the Martial Void Realm, they no longer seem to care about internal matters regarding the institution!”

Yun Jing chuckled in response, “At the end of the day, the Martial Void Realm is completely out of our reach. There are things only they have the qualifications to know and if we’re not strong enough, learning about things like that will only harm us.”

Ji Wenlong and Liu Zhiyuan fell deep into their thoughts.

In recent years, they interacted with Kou Chongxue and Shang Xia a lot less than before. Most of the time, they would only be interacting with their clones. Things those clones said were also usually very cryptic and profound, leaving them a little clueless.

However, with their understanding of Shang Xia and Kou Chongxue, neither was the type to act all high and mighty while showing condescension. As such, Yun Jing’s explanation made the most sense.

She quickly pointed at the items on the table and continued, “We might be able to deduce what is happening from these items...”

Glancing at the weapon and pouch, Liu Zhiyuan was the first to ask, “Where did they come from anyway? Could the little hammer be a divine weapon?”

“It is actually a divine artifact. Moreover, it should be a divine hammer that is used for forging.” Yun Jing explained.

“Forging? That means it’s used to craft artifacts!” Liu Zhiyuan’s eyes lit up and he sounded a lot more eager than before. “Should this artifact be granted to the Weapons Hall for the time being?”

Ji Wenlong shot him a glance from the corner of his eye and growled, “I’m afraid the Weapons Hall doesn't have the qualifications to use a treasure like this.”

The Tongyou Institution had many Divisions, and the Weapons Hall was one of the many halls under one of them. Speaking of which, the situation regarding the Weapons Hall was a little awkward at the moment.

In recent years, along with the abrupt rise of the Tongyou Institution, the Talisman Hall and Formation Hall grew rapidly. Even though the Medicine Hall was able to progress at a rapid pace. Kou Chongxue kindly invited a rank five Alchemy Grandmaster to take charge of it, and he basically gave it a massive boost. Even the Stargazing Hall which had been prepared in secret managed to establish its foundations in the institution.

The only problem was the Weapons Hall. Originally, the institution had high hopes for it. They received a lot of resources and support, but they never produced satisfactory results.

Even crafting a high-grade artifact was a little difficult for them, and the entire process would keep everyone on edge. Whenever anyone in the institution wanted to craft a good weapon, they would rather request one from the Hundred Weapons Mill. They wouldn’t even bother giving the Weapons Hall a chance to craft their weapon.

If not for the fact that the institution didn’t wish to see the Weapons Hall crumble, they wouldn’t have provided a bunch of resources even when they knew it would go to waste. All they required was for the Weapons Hall to maintain some level of production. Otherwise, everyone in the Tongyou Institution would have long given up on them.