Immortal Ice Flower

Jack's subordinates had been searching everywhere for immortal materials. By this point, the leaders of other countries had at least some idea of the changes that were happening. Some even managed to break through the energy-gathering stage by luck. There were no other organized forces specifically looking for immortal plants and materials, so Jack had no competition when searching for them.

Still, that didn't prevent him from sending spies to all other newly formed semi-immortal forces. He found five, three of which were in the republic. Four had only a single first-stage energy-gathering stage cultivator; one had a third-stage energy-gathering cultivator.

He planned on absorbing them into his sect; if they didn't accept, he would just kill them off.

He wouldn't allow other immortal forces that don't obey him to exist in his backyard. By this point, he considered this entire continent his backyard.

He wasn't really arrogant to think like that; even now, he is unmatched. His only issues were the sheer size of the continent and the fact that there were no other core formation cultivators in his sect.

He had to create many branches of his sect in the future, as it's difficult to rule a land too far away.

Of course, for Divine soul cultivators, even the entire continent is not difficult to cross, but reaching the divine soul is far away. Physical distance will remain an obstacle for the foreseeable future.

…

Ten years passed.

A young woman with red hair and red pupils knocked on a door.

"Come in!" someone answered.

Faith opened the door and went in. She is now over twenty years old; her looks are ordinary. However, maybe because of her mana, even though she is not 'beautiful' as most define the word, most still get attracted to her when they see her. She is like a red light in the darkness; no matter where she went, mortals would instinctively look at and stare at her.

She is at the peak of the energy-gathering stage; her quick cultivation speed is due to Jack's help.

She has been stuck at this stage for three years.

Breaking through energy gathering was quite easy for Jack, but it was also risky; if anything went wrong, he would have died.

Faith was also a peak talent, so rationally, she would have had a good chance of reaching core formation; the main reason she was stuck for years was that Jack didn't have an immortal ice flower. Breaking through with close-to-perfect quality would be much more difficult and risky without an ice flower.

Fortunately, Jack's subordinates found an ice flower in the eastern federation a while ago; now, she could finally break through.

She would not be alone; Jack would also help her.

After entering the room, she looked around; the room was covered in a complicated formation.

If it were before, Jack wouldn't have dared to let her breakthrough in the middle of the capital. Now, however, Jack is a core formation cultivator with a pure core; how could the breakthrough of an energy-gathering state be beyond his power? Even if things went wrong and Faith exploded, it still couldn't harm him or the city.

"Master, I am ready!" said Faith solemnly. She had been concentrating and readying herself for days.

Nodding, Jack said, "Let's do it!" He snapped his fingers and activated the formation.

Over 1,000 big energy stones began emitting energy, increasing the concentration.

After a while, energy crystals began to form. Jack started picking the purest crystals for Faith; he didn't have anyone to help when he was breaking through, but she had him to help.

After harvesting enough crystals, Jack stopped the formation and looked at Faith; her entire body was red, in sync with her hair and pupils.

"Here you go!" He handed over the batch of pure energy crystals.

Faith took them and started absorbing them. She had already practiced this thousands of times; it was not difficult for her.

After a few minutes, she absorbed the necessary amount, and then Jack handed her the immortal ice flower.

She smashed the flower into where her dantian was. After the cold energy reached her dantian, it began consolidating her core.

She successfully broke through the core formation without any complications!

It should not be surprising that it was so easy for her; Jack taught her and prepared her for everything; it was basically guaranteed that she would succeed. Having a master who takes care of you is very helpful.

Jack began dismantling the formation, crushing the remaining energy crystals, producing rank 2 black soil, etc.

After a few hours, Faith finally opened her eyes.

"Master, I finally succeeded!" She was proud of herself. Ten other students were also at the Energy gathering stage; she always had a sense of competition; she wanted to be the first.

Fortunately, she succeeded with her master's help; it can be said that she cheated. But it was her master's help, so nobody could complain.

"Congratulations! From today onward, you are the sect master of Heaven's Way Sect!" Jack announced.

"But how can I dare? My master is alive and well; why should I take over the position?" she asked.

"The sect master position is not suitable for me! I'll take over the position of the first supreme elder and advise you on important matters. Even you yourself cannot spend too much time on unimportant matters, otherwise, your cultivation would be hindered. Your tenure as the sect master is only until we find a more suitable candidate; after that, you also become an elder, most likely the 3rd supreme elder," said Jack.

Now, knowing that her master was not doing her a favor and, in fact, was dumping the chores on her, she nodded and obediently accepted.

"With your talent combined with our sect's resources, you'll most likely reach stage two of core formation in five years," Jack commented.

Reaching stage nine of core formation usually takes around 100 years for talented people; untalented people most likely die before reaching the peak of core formation.

Jack wasn't worried about Faith betraying him; he had already invented a technique called Blood Cage. With it, he could suppress any of his disciples who tried to betray him; the two preconditions were easy to fulfill.

First, the target must drink a considerable quantity of the master's blood for a prolonged time; he secretly fed his blood to all of his disciples already.

Second, the master must have a higher cultivation base than the target; Jack is in the 4th stage of core formation, which is higher than Faith's.

If his cultivation falls below Faith's, she might notice the Blood Cage spell on her body and even use the spell he cast to control him. The role of master and servant can actually change if the master falls behind the servant; evil techniques such as Blood Cage always have drawbacks.

Jack would never allow her to get ahead of him in cultivation; he would kill her before that. Still, Jack's cultivation speed is quick; it's predicted that Faith will never get ahead.

There is a remote chance that she finds a rare treasure in the forest, suddenly breaks through several small realms, and gets ahead of him, but this possibility is too remote.

Sometimes, one must take a little risk. Jack cannot wait for himself to reach Nascent Soul; after all, it might take over 100 years, and by then, Faith would long be dead.

Jack knows for a fact that he would not remain the only core formation cultivator. There are already those in the 7th stage of energy gathering in the republic who cultivate independently.

Jack doesn't even know about the Far West and barbarians. The Far East may already have those in the 10th stage of energy gathering. In this world, if he doesn't take risks, the other forces will leave him behind. Not having strong subordinates means no good immortal resources; the reason Jack managed to reach the fourth stage of core formation so quickly was that so many people were bringing him all kinds of resources.

She is loyal and would probably stay loyal to him even if she knew Jack had planned an evil spell on her.

Besides Faith, Jack still has Mike, Lucy, Gabriel, and Raphael. Michael has already reached core formation and is in the 2nd stage.

Lucy, Gabriel, and Raphael are in the 10th stage of energy gathering, though not yet at the peak; they still have to cultivate for a few years to prepare for core formation.

"Master, is it time for us to annex barbarians?" she thought; Jack had already shared part of his plans with Faith.

"Yeah, but first, cultivate here in this room for a few months; consolidate your cultivation before anything," he said.

Her cultivation is still not entirely consolidated. She nodded and closed her eyes; Jack quickly left the room, trying not to disturb her.

...

The news spread and many of Jack's disciples felt disappointed. Everyone wanted to be the one who made their teacher proud, so they were all trying to reach core formation before the others.

Still, even though they were a bit envious, they were still kind to each other; they all sent kind letters of congratulations and gifts to her. For now, she was cultivating, so she didn't tread or receive anything; when she came out, though, she would be surprised.

As the supreme elder, Jack prepared a few plans for the sect's future. He plans on opening a branch sect in the far west; the next person who breaks through core formation would become the leader of the branch sect there.

Thinking of this, he wished for them to find an immortal ice flower sooner, to produce perfect cores with the least danger; the only way he currently has is with the immortal ice flower. There are other ways to get a high-quality core, but his standards are high; 'only' high quality is not enough; he wants his students to all be near-perfect.

Other forces would take a long time to realize the importance of the core's quality. This is Jack's strong point; his subordinate's chance of Nascent Soul would be much higher with near-perfect cores.

But it really cannot be helped; the immortal ice flower cannot be planted; it randomly appears in cold places. Jack has sent tens of thousands of subordinates to look, but even after over a decade, he only managed to find three; he used one and gave one to Mike and another to Faith. 

He may have to lower his standard if things go on like this.

His hope is to explore the Far West, a vast and cold land where he may discover ice flowers. The easiest way to do that is to annex barbarians. He didn't plan on killing barbarians; He was evil but not bloodthirsty. He would take them under his wings one way or another and use them to explore for resources.

"I must find an easier way to produce near-perfect cores!" he thought.

He could very quickly invent a new method using his knowledge from outside the world, but that would decimate the Dao collection; he must find a way to use this world's knowledge alone.

"Too hard! Let's put it aside for now," he thought, stopping to waste his brain cells. He had already thought about this exact issue for months and failed.

...

Faith came out of closed-door cultivation and began preparing for her first travel far into the West.

But first, she started reading letters and looking through the gifts with a warm and happy smile.