Yang Guangfu nodded. "The Dang Family of the Dharma Transmission Hall has always belonged to the Sect Leader Faction. The Zhou Family commands the Law Enforcement Team, the Fanx Family controls the Miscellaneous Affairs Department, and we, the Yang Family, control the Resources Department.
"Friction between the departments due to infighting and conflicting interests is a common occurrence.
"But what outsiders don’t know is that the four great families of the Sect are actually on excellent terms, not at all like it appears within the Sect."
Zhang Deming was slightly stunned to hear this. He raised an eyebrow and said, "The Celestial Spirit Secret Realm?"
Yang Guangfu nodded. "Before coming of age, most of the Core Disciples from the direct lineages of the four families live in the Secret Realm.
"What’s more, the four families live together there, and many disciples grow up playing together since childhood.
"For Cultivators, those first bonds of friendship are especially precious.
"That’s why many disciples from these families, after leaving the Secret Realm and starting to build their careers in the Inner Sect, might seem to be fighting fiercely on behalf of their departments, but they always know where the line is.
"It’s not uncommon, especially for those from the Direct Lineages who came from the Secret Realm, for some to even find amusement in their public squabbles.
"The two ruling Ancestors of the Miscellaneous Affairs Department and the Resources Department are the best examples of this.
"It’s because of all this that the Resources Department and the Miscellaneous Affairs Department maintain their current tacit understanding. After all, many of them have been this way with each other since they were children in the Secret Realm."
A wave of realization washed over Zhang Deming. ’No wonder,’ he thought. ’Even though their departments are rivals, their top leaders act like that.’
Yang Guangfu paused for a moment before continuing, "Ten thousand years ago, when the practice of Spirit Nurturing first emerged, the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land underwent several thousand years of rapid growth, eventually establishing its suspended Grotto Heaven and building up its Holy Land.
"After all sorts of overt and covert struggles, the Hongmeng and Spirit Mountain Holy Lands acknowledged its existence. The Hongmeng Cultivation Realm gained another great Holy Land, and the three have stood like a Three-Legged Tripod ever since.
"Spirit Mountain manages three Blessed Lands, and Hongmeng has four. The Spirit Nurturing Holy Land originally only had its own, but because it rose so quickly, it created an opening and propped up the Hundred Spirits Grotto Heaven to fill it.
"However, the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land went from its inception to suspending its Grotto Heaven in less than ten thousand years. Its development was too fast, and it was lacking in many areas, especially in its foundational depth.
"Within its entire jurisdiction, only the Holy Land Grotto Heaven itself had sufficient power. In fact, because the Spirit Nurturing Masters had developed in secret for several thousand years, their strength even surpassed that of the Spirit Mountain Holy Land; otherwise, the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land would never have been able to rise so high.
"But the Holy Land’s own power was definitely not enough to govern one-third of Hongmeng. After all, Hongmeng is simply too vast.
"Furthermore, during the years of the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land’s rapid ascent, no matter how well they hid the secrets of the Spirit Nurturing Masters, many high-level figures found out. Even the basic Spirit Nurturing Technique was no longer a secret among the top echelons.
"Therefore, a thousand years ago, once the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land had sorted out its own affairs and had a free hand, it began to deal with its jurisdiction.
"The Hongmeng Cultivation Realm is filled with Noble Families. A family that hasn’t existed for at least ten thousand years can’t even be called a Noble Family, which is why they are so deeply entrenched.
"Although the Three Great Holy Lands had acknowledged each other and the power structure at the top had shifted, the local powers were difficult to change for these very reasons.
"After several fruitless attempts, the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land played its trump card: advanced studies within the Holy Land.
"Any Noble Sect within its jurisdiction that met the requirements could send disciples to the Holy Land for advanced studies to learn the Spirit Nurturing Technique.
"From then on, Low-Level Spirit Nurturers began to appear in the Four-Nine Upper Sects. And because of this massive benefit and the great shift of the era, the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land’s control over its jurisdiction went from a difficult march to an unstoppable force.
"After all, Spirit Nurturing Masters were all the rage back then. An entire Holy Land had risen to prominence because of a single profession in less than ten thousand years, and even the combined power of the Spirit Mountain and Hongmeng Holy Lands couldn’t stop it.
"You can imagine how desirable Spirit Nurturing Masters were in the eyes of the Upper Sects at the time.
"Using such a beneficial exchange to gain control of a jurisdiction and change the boss overhead was simply all too easy.
"Our Celestial Spirit Sect is subordinate to the Hundred Spirits Grotto Heaven, making us part of the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land’s direct line of influence. Therefore, when the advanced training first began one to two thousand years ago, we had spots."
"And those spots..."
"Even though the Sect belongs to everyone... some resources are definitely subject to favoritism.
"In the very beginning, our Sect managed to fight for only four spots, so naturally, they fell to the four families.
"Because it was the first training session, the Holy Land wanted to see results quickly, so they required the participants to be Duality Disciples.
"At that level, Low-Level Cultivators find it easiest to comprehend the Spirit Nurturing Technique. After all, the technique has a Tier Four difficulty, and a very peculiar one at that.
"At that time, the one who went from the Dang Family was the current Supreme Elder, Ancestor Dang Xiangjun. From the Fanx Family, it was Ancestor Fanx Yunfei. From our Yang Family, it was Ancestor Yang Yichu, and as for the Zhou Family... they chose Ancestor Zhou Qiaoru.
"The four of them also happened to be from the same generation, and they were on excellent terms. A little too excellent, in fact...
"Ancestors Dang Xiangjun and Fanx Yunfei both fell in love with Ancestor Zhou Qiaoru.
"A lot happened in between. During their studies at the Holy Land, there were some accidents... and, well, some soap opera-level drama.
"Anyway, the end result was that Ancestor Yichu perished, body and soul; Ancestor Fanx Yunfei was stuck at the Three Talents stage for life; and Ancestor Dang emerged the winner, becoming the current Supreme Elder despite never becoming a Spirit Nurturing Master.
"As for Ancestor Zhou Qiaoru, she vanished without a trace and became a mystery. At least, there’s not a single shred of information about her in the records I’ve seen.
"However, after the two Ancestors returned, they almost never mentioned the events at the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land again.
"Ancestor Dang seemed to feel guilty and spent the next thousand years constantly trying to find a solution for Ancestor Fanx. But Ancestor Fanx just hid himself away in the Wu Earth Secret Realm, spending all his days growing Spirit Medicine for the Sect, and hasn’t set foot outside the Secret Realm in a thousand years.