Wei Zhao nodded and went straight to Xin Yijie to make the request. Xin Yijie agreed on the spot—as the disciple-uncle leading the expedition, he had that much privilege. Besides, the little island was reserved solely for the Northern Island Cangwu Sect and would not affect the other Ancient Sects; and since Wei Zhao himself could supply the spirit jade the teleportation required, it was nothing more than a word and a favor done at no cost. There was no reason to make difficulties.

Wei Zhao immediately teleported out and called Wu Chengtian and the others, telling them all to set off together. Once they reached the Shennongjia Mountains, he would go fetch them in person. Soon the whole crowd had gathered on the little island.

"Worthy of our Grand-Uncle-Master—to think you could find so many Heaven-Rank Great Perfection experts in the secular world! This disciple is in awe!" Xin Yijie was utterly dumbstruck at the sight of Wu Chengtian and the rest in all their formidable array. He said to himself that it was a good thing Wei Zhao was a god of wealth in his own right; otherwise, if he had to supply the spirit jade for teleporting all these people himself, he would have been bankrupt!

Wei Zhao chuckled. If he told the man that he had single-handedly raised every one of them to their present strength, this cheap grand-disciple of his would surely pop his eyes right out of his head.

Once the shock passed, Xin Yijie was overjoyed. Though Wei Zhao had not said outright that all these people were to join the Northern Island Cangwu Sect, anyone among them who succeeded in breaking through to Foundation Establishment and joined the Ancient Alliance would unquestionably be one of the Northern Island Cangwu Sect's own.

With Wei Zhao's connection standing there for all to see, Xin Yijie even secretly speculated that they were cultivating the Qingyun Pingxin Manual. Given all that, could they possibly take up with any other Ancient Sect?

The most important item on any secular-world training expedition was recruiting disciples. To see a whole batch of prodigies with extraordinary aptitude about to fall into his hands—to Xin Yijie these were all merits delivered to his doorstep. His standing and treatment in the Northern Island Cangwu Sect would rise at least a notch. This Grand-Uncle-Master who had appeared out of nowhere was simply his lucky star!

Of all those facing Wu Chengtian and the others' arrival, the most nervous was Leng Leng. For some inexplicable reason she had the feeling of an ugly daughter-in-law meeting her parents-in-law. After all, in Wei Zhao's little circle, she was an outsider through and through.

But once Wu Chengtian and the others crowded around her, calling her "sister-in-law" one after another, her face flushed crimson—yet deep down she felt considerably reassured. Since she had already decided to be with Wei Zhao, she had to fit properly into this little circle; otherwise, in the end, she would remain an outsider.

"Leader, this place is fine enough, but it's a pity there's no house to shelter us from wind and rain. It'd be bad if the weather turned," Wu Chengtian said, stroking his chin.

"True. Since we've all come over anyway, and there's nothing else to do, why not just build a seaside house for fun?" Kang Xiaobo stepped up and suggested.

The rest of the Yubing crowd chimed in to agree. They were, after all, a band of Heaven-Rank Great Perfection experts; getting them to build a proper house would be a tall order, but knocking together a little wooden hut to keep off wind and rain was child's play.

"All right, then I'll leave it to you," Wei Zhao said with a nod. If it were only themselves, it would not matter, but the key was that Mengyao and the others had been brought along too—he could hardly leave the unconscious women out in the wind and sun. So long as the huts were built beside the spirit eye, they would absorb ample spiritual energy all the same.

Wu Chengtian and the others answered and promptly threw themselves into the work with great enthusiasm. One group went to fell trees for timber, another stayed to pound the foundations, while Qiu Lingshan and the other women gathered in a circle to design the blueprints—even Leng Leng was dragged into the discussion. The scene was lively indeed.

Xin Yijie watched this spectacle with his jaw hanging open. These people had hardly come to cultivate—they had plainly come to play!

"You're actually building houses? Grand-Uncle-Master, do you mean to settle here for good?" Xin Yijie said, caught between laughter and tears.

"Is that allowed?" Wei Zhao's eyes lit up. This place had abundant spiritual energy, beautiful surroundings, and was cut off from the world—its conditions were uniquely favorable. If he really could turn it into a base of operations, it would be a rare and excellent choice.

"In principle there's nothing to forbid it. Unique as this place is, it belongs neither to the Ancient Alliance nor to the secular world—properly speaking, it's ownerless land. Only, once the Ancient Passage closes, you truly would be cut off from the world," Xin Yijie said.

On every side stretched boundless sea; the only place one could actually move about was this tiny archipelago, whose islands together covered no more than a few dozen square kilometers. Its one advantage was abundant spiritual energy—fine for the occasional secluded breakthrough, but once the Ancient Passage closed and cut it off from the world, living here would drive anyone mad.

"Then what does it take to open the Ancient Passage?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Two conditions. First, a great deal of spirit jade—activating the Ancient Passage requires at least three hundred pieces. Second, one must pass through the natural prohibition between the Ancient Little Jianghu and the secular world. That prohibition has cycles of strength and weakness, reaching its lowest point once every thousand years; only then can one pass safely and harmlessly. At other times passage isn't entirely impossible, but it is very dangerous," Xin Yijie answered truthfully.

"A prohibition? I didn't sense any powerful prohibition when we came in," Wei Zhao said, puzzled.

"There is much Grand-Uncle-Master does not know. That prohibition also requires spiritual energy to sustain it. Here on the secular side the spiritual energy is so thin that even if a prohibition once existed, it collapsed long ago. But on the Ancient Little Jianghu side it still stands, and that Ancient Passage teleportation formation lies within the prohibition's range of coverage—so entry and exit are both affected," Xin Yijie said.

"So as long as one doesn't go to the Ancient Little Jianghu, the formation on this side isn't affected?" Wei Zhao said, his spirits lifting.

"That... that does seem to be the case. But keeping the formation on this side active also takes a great deal of spirit jade—even if not three hundred, two hundred at the very least, and it only holds for a time. After a year it must be replaced," Xin Yijie said with a shake of his head. To say nothing of himself, two hundred pieces of spirit jade was no small sum even for the entire Northern Island Cangwu Sect—and this was not even permanent; at the very most it would last a single year.

"Oh, that's no problem," Wei Zhao said, not regarding spirit jade as anything of consequence at all. To him, any problem that could be solved with spirit jade was no problem. Never mind a paltry two hundred pieces—if he could swipe a spirit jade card, twenty thousand would be a drop in the bucket.

"..." Xin Yijie was speechless. He knew his Grand-Uncle-Master was rolling in wealth, but he had never imagined it went this far—several hundred pieces of spirit jade treated as nothing at all. Was the man some old landed miser?! (To be continued.)