He got thoroughly exploited down to every cell in his body for decades. His parents had died during that time period due to the strains the art had on their bodies, leaving their son to continue on the family's job.

That dark alchemy organization got attacked and destroyed at some point by another competitor and as luck would have it, that founder survived and became one of the spoils of war.

For the next twenty or so years, that founder bounced from organization to organization as those organizations either got attacked or a natural calamity befell them, leaving that founder as the only survivor.

Yang Qing, when he read that story, wondered to himself if that founder had good luck or was a harbinger of bad luck. From what he could deduce, the only reason that founder survived was the high regeneration afforded by his special physique, zero combat sense which made him overlooked most of the time, and the greed of cultivators who saw him as a walking source of wealth.

That vicious cycle went on for quite some time till by some luck when he had enough of the cauldron life and he decided to make his escape. During his escape, he stumbled into a mysterious grotto belonging to some ancient sect.

In there he found the bright pearl, an object whose origins and ranks are unknown. But what is known from the records Yang Qing read, the founder went into that grotto a late-stage Foundation establishment cultivator and came out as someone half-step into the domain realm.

Yang Qing, in his curiosity after reading the story of the Bright pearl founder, had consulted some of the seniors of the Order on how something like that could happen. The founder had leaped two major cultivation realms within a short period. The gap between the foundation realm and the peak of the palace realm wasn't just two realms, the implication of the gap was far above that which made Yang Qing curious about what kind of artifact that pearl was.

The seniors had a few guesses. One of them was it was a coincidence of factors where if one was missing, things would have turned out differently.

They hypothesized that his years as a human alchemy cauldron coupled with his special physique helped him gain insight into a Dao suited his physique. The longer he was in that situation, the deeper his understanding became. The repetitive experiments were nothing more than fuel for his understanding of his dao. They guessed the dao he cultivated may have had some ties to vitality which was a common occurrence to those who had wood element physiques. He also had enormous volumes of energy stored in his body from all the precious herbs used on him to cultivate the potions.

His physique and the repetitive torture as a human alchemy cauldron were one part of the equation and the other was the mysterious grotto he stumbled into.

When he stumbled into the mysterious grotto, the bright pearl he got may have been a natural treasure that helped him refine all the energy stored in his body as it improved it thus adding to his understanding of the Dao. The transformation catapulted him into a half-step into the domain realm.

That assumption seemed plausible to Yang Qing since Chief Song of the craftsmanship division was a prime example.

He was at the late stage of core formation but his understanding of his Dao was more profound than even Yang Qing's by miles.

The day that he decides he has enough free time to break through, most at the Order have strong confidence he would bypass the palace realm and directly reach the domain realm. As for which stage he would reach, they couldn't tell, but the general consensus was, he could reach the middle stage. His understanding of his Dao was just that deep.

They thus made the assumption the founder of the Bright pearl sect may have had the same similarities as Chief Song and the only areas there was a disparity was, Chief Song could break through any time he wished to but the founder needed a few opportunities for the equation to be complete. One of them being, a decent cultivation art to help him maximize the use of the energy in his body with the other being a safe place to safely break through.

The Mysterious grotto provided both, in the form of the bright pearl and whatever else the founder harvested in there.

With his newfound strength, the founder of the Bright pearl sect did what any man of principle would do, he repaid all the debts he was owed, nothing more nothing less.

Yang Qing remembered how hot-blooded he had felt when he read that part, he could picture himself in that position, slapping people and the landscapes they were in, into oblivion. After all the debts were settled, he formed the Bright pearl sect and in less than a thousand years he had broken through to the soul formation realm elevating the sect into a rank 1 sect making it one of the youngest rank 1 sect to date since it has been in existence for only 12,000 years.

However, despite its shallow foundations as a rank 1 sect, it is still widely respected because of its founder. Who knows how much progress he has made in the past 10,000 years since he broke through to the Soul formation realm?

Both the sect and the founder barely have any visible footprint around the continent, adding more mystery to the sect and its founder, especially when it comes to their power.

....

In regard to the Clear river sword sect, Yang Qing thought even if someone lucky like the founder of the Bright pearl sect showed up, would they remain in a dying sect such as the Clear river sword sect where they may not have as much belonging to it as Wang Yi or will they move on to greener pastures or decide to do as the founder of the Bright pearl did and start their own legacy.

The chances of the former happening were slimmer compared to the rest.

But rather than assume he decided to confirm a few things. Luck can't be deduced but loyalty could.

"Sect master Wang Yi, do you have anyone to entrust the sect to?" Yang Qing hesitantly asked.

Sect Master Wang Yi got stunned by the question that it took him a few seconds to process it before he could respond.

"For a time there I did try to find suitable successors but I failed each time. It's difficult to find someone talented enough and has the heart to carry the burden of reviving the sect. Finding someone who fulfilled the latter criteria proved difficult since they didn't know the Clear sword river sect in its prime. Getting them motivated to pursue something they have never known was hard. All they know is the Clear sword river sect of now, a rundown sect in some mountain that has only two red-grade cultivation arts to its name and a talentless sect master."

One could hear the bitterness and self-mockery in his tone.

"The few survivors I arrived at this place with, either died or gave up with time till I was the only one left.

Knowing my talent, I thought finding talents was the best route but with nothing suitable to offer, those I could get were mostly at my level, and even they didn't see much prospect in the sect and just deserted.

About 20 years ago I gave up and decided to take up the mantle myself using some forbidden cultivation arts.

The state you found me was because of that. I can't believe I'm so untalented to even fail in forbidden arts," Wang Yi said as he chuckled in embarrassment.

Weren't forbidden arts shortcuts for talentless hacks to gain quick results with minimal effort at a certain price? He couldn't understand how he failed at something that had zero requirements on talents. Even if he always knew his talents were bad, he didn't think it was to that extent.

"The few people around are just strugglers with nowhere to go who I let into the sect. To them, this is just a free lodge."It was at this moment that something clicked in Yang Qing's mind, he had overlooked it in his somber mood created by the prospect of sending the Clear sword river sect into oblivion.

He hurriedly took out his communication talisman and called a friend of his in the admissions division.

"Yuanli can you check something for me?"

"Qing, you're always asking for something, you still owe me from last time.

I still haven't seen that ancient scroll with 1000 face-changing techniques you promised me,"

" I'll give it to you when I come back, I'll even let you use my chambers for a week,"

" The chambers that were downgraded to the point I'll have to use my own spirit stones to charge them up? No thanks,"

"I'll charge them myself, besides I'll be moving to a new one once I move to the palace courts. How about I let you use that one for a week," said Yang Qing through his teeth.

"Deal, you better not welch Qing?"

"I won't,"

"So, what did you want?"

" Can you check the last quota records of the Clear sword river sect for the past 12 years?

What cultivation bases did the students who came, leave with, along with their age and also the last entrant when did he or she finish their training? Thanks,"

"Give me a second... Right here it is...12 years that should be 4, there was

Chu Qingwu, cultivation base at the eighth stage of qi refinement 47 years old.

Zhi Lang, also in the eighth stage of qi refinement, 58 years old.

Xian Lu, the fourth stage of qi refinement, 49 years old. That one got kicked out in his first year.

The last one is Li Feng, eleventh stage of qi refinement realm, 31 years old. He finished four months ago."

"Thanks, Luanli," Yang Qing said as he cut off the communication.

"Sect master Wang Yi, what happened to those four people?" Yang Qing asked as his brows scrunched up.

Discounting the last person and the one that got expelled, either of the first two would have had a chance of stepping into the foundation realm by now.

The grim state of the sect had made him overlook those people.

For the past 200 years even though things were bad, they were still a ranked sect, thanks to Wang Yi's presence. What happened to those who came in via the sect's quotas in the past 200 years?