"These are the selection requirements that I and several of my fellow apprentices and sisters set. Please review them, uncles."
Xu Chunniang felt a little uncomfortable, "Uncle Yue, you can just call me as you always did."
"Rituals cannot be abolished."
Yue Lingzheng refused with a serious face, "As the leader of a sect, I must lead by example."
Xu Chunniang could not persuade him any further. She took the jade slip handed to her by Master Yue, scanned it with her spiritual sense, and reviewed all the procedures.
The selection of new disciples is divided into three stages.
In addition to spiritual talent, the disciples' character and understanding will also be tested, which is much stricter than before.
If one's character and understanding are not up to standard, no matter how talented one is, he or she may not be accepted.
In order to save resources, the sect has a new rule that all new Qi training practitioners can only enter the outer sect.
"It is also a helpless move to make this arrangement."
Yue Lingzheng explained, "Although there are eight spiritual veins in the sect, the root cause of the disappearance of spiritual energy cannot be solved, and these spiritual veins will eventually become smaller and smaller."
In the absence of sufficient spiritual energy, accepting too many new disciples would actually hinder the development of the sect.
Sheng Qingjun sighed and shook his head, "Each generation is really getting worse than the previous one. Is the Dharma Ending Age really coming?"
"Perhaps."
Yue Ling was smiling bitterly and shaking his head, as if he suddenly thought of something, and he looked at Xu Chunniang.
"Uncle Xu has returned from overseas cultivation. I wonder if the spiritual energy overseas has decreased?"
"During the years I've been overseas, I haven't noticed any changes in my spiritual energy."
"Perhaps it's because the overseas land is vast and rich, so the loss of spiritual energy won't have much impact for a while."
Xu Chunniang hesitated to speak and finally did not express her guess.
She felt that it was not the end of the Dharma era that was approaching, but that there were other reasons that caused the change in spiritual energy.
"If you two uncles have nothing else to do, you can come and watch the election the day after tomorrow. If there are any good candidates you like, you can accept them as registered disciples first."
Sheng Qingjun looked gloomy, "I don't want to accept a disciple, so I won't join in the fun."
Xu Chunniang also shook her head and said, "I was planning to go to the Sutra Library to check some things, but I don't have any plans for the time being."
"All right."
Even though he was rejected by both of them, Yue Lingzheng was not disappointed.
The time of a Nascent Soul cultivator is extremely precious, so naturally he will not spend too much energy on these trivial matters.
After Yue Lingzheng left, Sheng Qingjun looked at Xu Chunniang.
"You went to the library to find out why the spiritual energy disappeared?"
"good."
Xu Chunniang nodded. She could clearly feel that the spiritual energy between heaven and earth was about one tenth less than eighty years ago.
If this continues, the strength of the entire Northwest Continent's cultivation world will become increasingly weaker.
In the end, even breaking through the Nascent Soul stage became impossible.
Sheng Qingjun sighed inwardly, "What if I say that this matter has no result?"
"Everything has a cause and an effect. This matter concerns you, me, all my fellow disciples, and even the entire cultivation world of the Northwest Continent. How can we sit back and do nothing?"
Seeing the stubbornness in her eyes, Sheng Qingjun knew that she couldn't stop this.
"Forget it, just follow me."
Although Xu Chunniang was a little confused, she still followed what she was told and followed Sheng Qingjun towards an inconspicuous barren mountain.
"During the years when the evil cultivators occupied Xiaoyao Sect, many mountains and hills were destroyed by them, but this Bugui Mountain, even every blade of grass and every tree is well preserved."
Sheng Qingjun did not use any escape techniques, but instead stepped down to the barren mountain called the Mountain of No Return.
"Do you know what is so special about this mountain?"
Xu Chunniang's spiritual sense quickly swept across the Bugui Mountain and she shook her head in confusion.
There is not a single spiritual energy on this mountain, and there is nothing special about it.
Sheng Qingjun smiled slightly, "It's no wonder you can't see it, I didn't take it seriously when I first came here.
But this Bugui Mountain is the burial place of all the Nascent Soul cultivators of Xiaoyao Sect.”
Xu Chunniang was slightly startled and scanned the Bugui Mountain with her spiritual sense, but she did not see even a grave or a tombstone.
"Don't look for it. If there really was a tomb and a tombstone, wouldn't it have been dug out by those evil cultivators long ago?"
Sheng Qingjun smiled calmly, "Although cultivators of my generation have cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage and become the ancestors in the eyes of others, if we cannot break through to the Spiritual Transformation stage, our thousand-year journey will always be in vain."
As she spoke, she walked to a tree, took out a jar of spirit wine, opened it, and poured out all the spirit wine in the jar.
“All cultivators who can break through to the Spiritual Transformation Stage are blessed with great opportunities and great luck, but the loss of spiritual energy makes it even more difficult for cultivators to achieve Spiritual Transformation.
Back then, my master consulted countless ancient books and even went deep into the Hundred Thousand Mountains to try to find the reason why the spiritual energy kept disappearing. "
"Hundred Thousand Mountains?"
Sheng Qingjun came back to her senses and explained.
“When you left the sect, you were only at the foundation-building stage, so it’s normal that you don’t know this.
The Shiwan Mountains are located in the Western Regions. If we continue westwards past the Wuliang Mountains, it would take us three to five months to get there even if we were to hurry at full speed."
After listening to her story about the mystery of the Shiwanda Mountains, Xu Chunniang had some guesses in her mind.
The answer is most likely hidden in the endless mountains of the Western Regions.
"Did your master find the reason back then?"
Sheng Qingjun shook his head, "I don't know, because our master left and never came back.
This tree was planted by me personally, and the tomb of my master is under this tree."
Sheng Qingjun stroked the thick tree trunk, with a look of reminiscence in his eyes.
“Back then, there were five Nascent Soul cultivators who traveled together to the Shiwan Mountains.
One is to explore and gain experience, to find all kinds of rare treasures, and the other is to try to see if I can find the reason why the spiritual energy disappears."
Xu Chunniang vaguely guessed the ending.
"Did they... fail?"
Sheng Qingjun nodded, with a look of sadness in her eyes.
"Yes, out of the five Nascent Soul cultivators, only one came back alive."
Since then, the Ten Thousand Mountains have become an unspoken taboo in the world of cultivation, and no one dares to set foot there easily.
Xu Chunniang was silent for a long time and then thanked him.
"Thank you, Grandmaster, for telling me this. Otherwise, if I were to look through the ancient books in the Sutra Library alone, I would never know how long it would take me to find them."
Sheng Qingjun frowned slightly, "After hearing so much, do you still want to go?"
"Master, which one do you think is more dangerous, the Hundred Thousand Mountains or the Dead Sea?"
“It’s very dangerous. Even if you successfully cross the Dead Sea, you may not be able to get out of the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
The Yuanying senior who had managed to escape with his life said that there was a very evil creature in the mountain. "
"But Master, I want to find out the reason why the spiritual energy disappeared, and it's also for my own sake."
Xu Chunniang said frankly, "With the current richness of spiritual energy in the sect, it will take thirty to fifty years of hard practice to improve one level of cultivation."
"You are still young and have plenty of time to practice. It is better to progress a little slower than to take risks."
Sheng Qingjun still disagreed with her idea. After all, a Nascent Soul cultivator had a lifespan of a thousand years. Even if he practiced hard for hundreds of years, it would be pretty good as long as he could break through to the late Nascent Soul stage.
"But has Master ever thought that perhaps after a few hundred years, the spiritual energy will completely disappear?"