To tame such a great supernatural power born of heaven and earth, one must pay a price.
From the outside, Lu Xuan's entire body began to turn bright red, as if he were being roasted. The next second, something even more outrageous happened. Lu Xuan's body burst into flames.
Without any flammable material, a flame appeared out of thin air. It was the spiritual energy surrounding Lu Xuan ignited by the True Fire of the Sun. This thing is that domineering; it specifically targets and burns spiritual objects.
Fortunately, Lu Xuan had made preparations beforehand. One of the surrounding formations was passively activated. An isolation formation appeared in the cave, completely severing the connection between the cave and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth outside.
Others go into seclusion for fear of insufficient spiritual energy. But Lu Xuan needs to actively isolate himself from spiritual energy, otherwise the True Fire of the Sun might burn down the surrounding area and even the entire cave.
The spiritual energy within the cave was quickly burned away. The pain on Lu Xuan's face became even more pronounced. But at the same time, a faint, indistinct phantom began to appear around him.
It could be vaguely seen that it was a spirit bird exuding boundless majesty. The spirit bird lazily stretched its back, then raised its head and cried out to the sky.
No sound seemed to emanate from it. This was because the cry was far too far from Lu Xuan's world. However, an invisible pressure still permeated the entire human realm.
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Chapter 490 Fishing in Troubled Waters
An unknown amount of time passed, long enough that the slight disturbance caused by the Hidden Immortal Sect had been submerged once more. Lu Xuan finally opened his eyes again. For a fleeting moment, a crimson light flashed in his eyes, as if some kind of red flame was burning within them. But the next second, the flame extinguished, and everything returned to normal. Lu Xuan appeared almost unchanged.
But when he emerged from his secluded cave, everyone in the Hidden Immortal Sect still knew that Lu Xuan had succeeded. Because in their hearts, Lu Xuan had never failed.
"What's the situation in Tiannan now?" Lu Xuan asked.
"The six major sects of the demonic path have launched their attack. Numerous towns in the south and northwest of the land, as well as small and medium-sized sects, have fallen. However, the seven major sects of the south have also reacted, assembling their forces to meet the attack head-on. But they seem to have failed to see through the disguise of Spirit Beast Mountain. Therefore, they are almost certain to lose this battle."
"Defeat is inevitable! But defeat is not a good thing either. Give them a little hint, but don't let them lose too badly. If the situation is one-sided, we won't have a chance to fish in troubled waters."
The cultivation world in the mortal realm is exceptionally mature, yet also incredibly cruel. Neither the righteous nor the demonic paths show the slightest mercy. The only difference is that the righteous path doesn't openly use living people for sacrifice or to cultivate demonic arts and evil techniques. But the demonic path in this world is truly demonic.
They readily massacre entire mortal cities, practicing evil arts or crafting magical artifacts. They also hunt down other cultivators to enhance their own supernatural powers or simply kill and plunder. Of course, in terms of killing and plundering, the righteous and evil factions are actually quite evenly matched.
Lu Xuan didn't have any particular preference for any of the cultivation sects. In the original novel, almost all the sects prioritized their own interests. He even remembered a major climax in the original story, the Kunwu Mountain episode. Everyone knew that Kunwu Mountain sealed away an ancient giant demon. But no one showed the slightest concern about it.
Every cultivator was thinking, "I'll grab the benefits first. We'll all share the burden of the troubles later." Even if the crisis was enough to wipe out the entire cultivation world, nobody cared.
Many people believe that the mortal world is the cruelest and most realistic of all cultivation worlds. Lu Xuan largely agrees with this. Cultivators in this world have selfishness ingrained in their very bones.
...........
The Ghost Spirit Sect was attacked. And it was an attack from the rear. But what's even more terrifying is that they had absolutely no information about the attackers.
"Reporting to the Sect Master, there has been no news. No one survived. There were no witnesses. The team seemed to have vanished into thin air. However, based on the life tablets of some core disciples, we know that they were killed instantly, without any chance of fighting back."
An elder of the Ghost Spirit Sect listened to the report with a blank expression, but inwardly he was frantically warning himself. The vanished team was a group that had been transporting and plundering resources from various sects, large and small.
Along their journey, they wiped out countless small families and sects. Most of these families and sects that managed to establish themselves possessed one or two prized cultivation techniques, supernatural abilities, or magical treasures with extraordinary effects. They took what belonged to others and made it their own. This is how large sects accumulated their power.
After all, the demonic forces' offensive is aimed at acquiring more resources. Therefore, even though it's the rear area, each of these escort teams has at least two Golden Core cultivators stationed there.
The only way to annihilate these people without them even reacting is for a Nascent Soul cultivator to intervene. But the strange thing is, the Nascent Soul cultivators from all the major sects in Tiannan are clearly all facing them head-on. The Demonic Path has a register of every single Nascent Soul cultivator from these sects. After all, they've been planning this for over a thousand years; they've already gathered all this information.
"Could it be a rogue cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage who has infiltrated our rear?"
This elder was also at the Nascent Soul stage. Moreover, cultivators of the demonic path are known for their skill in combat. However, he showed no intention of personally searching for the murderer. The reason he took on the task of escorting supplies from the rear was because he didn't want to fight anyone. Yes, you think all members of the demonic sect are brave and aggressive? Wrong. This man was a typical bully who preyed on the weak. Of course, he considered this a form of caution.
This elder never fights any Nascent Soul stage cultivators. He only targets and crushes those below the Nascent Soul stage. That's right, he only bullies the weak, not his fellow cultivators...
Knowing that the murderer was most likely a Nascent Soul cultivator, he immediately made up his mind: he would rather die than stand up for himself. After all, he was a Nascent Soul cultivator; the sect wouldn't punish him severely. The goods were lost, so be it; as long as he himself didn't lose anything, that was enough. And so, life went on.
“Master, those demonic cultivators don’t seem to be searching for us on a large scale.”
"That's understandable; most of their forces are focused on positive actions. But why aren't there a single Nascent Soul cultivator?" Lu Xuan was equally bewildered. After his successful sneak attack, he had set up three interconnected traps, waiting for the Nascent Soul cultivators to pursue him.
As it turned out, nothing happened at all. This made him feel like he'd punched a pillow, leaving him thoroughly annoyed. He was even planning to try out his new supernatural ability. Why was his opponent so immune to his taunts?
"Fine, if they don't want to come, they don't have to. What did we gain?"
"A good haul. We have over 300,000 low-grade spirit stones, 40 mid-grade spirit stones, and one high-grade spirit stone."
There's nothing that can be done about it. High-grade spirit stones are not something that ordinary small sects can afford to play with. Having even one is already considered good.
"Besides these, there are over seventy different cultivation techniques and secret arts, and over a hundred magical artifacts, but no magic treasures. I guess they were divided up by higher-level cultivators."
"None of that matters. There are so many ancient books."
"Not many. So far, we've only found some ancient records of strange tales and events. Very few actually record ancient cryptic texts. Qi Yunxiao is currently organizing these documents. Detailed data will only be available after the organization is complete."
Well, after his wife became Hongxiu's disciple, Qi Yunxiao shamelessly joined the Hidden Immortal Sect. However, his talent was mediocre, and no one in the Hidden Immortal Sect took notice of him. Hongxiu simply assigned him to be in charge of the literature.
Lu Xuan, pay close attention to inheritance. This is the greatest weakness of cultivators in the mortal world. Apart from a very few elders and sect leaders who have accompanied their sects for hundreds or thousands of years, most cultivators have a very weak concept of inheritance. Various sects are destroyed without warning. They only care about what they want and abandon the rest.
They wouldn't want them to abandon even such important knowledge as the Five Elements Spiritual Roots. The momentous events at Kunwu Mountain that impacted the entire human realm—could future generations forget what was sealed within...?
But Lu Xuan was different. Wherever he went, he would first organize the macro-level history of world evolution. Then he would delve into it, refining the details as much as possible. To survive in this world, one must first understand it. Most cultivators don't go far because they don't understand the world they live in.
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Chapter 491 Han Paopao's First Appearance
Most cultivators in this world are solely focused on cultivation. No one attempts to understand the secrets of ancient times, or even the barbaric era. As a result, they can only blindly rush forward. Moreover, many think that they can let those who know the ropes take the blame while they reap the benefits. The selfishness and self-interest of cultivators have reached almost the extreme.
For cultivators, selfishness isn't necessarily wrong. After all, cultivators are naturally self-centered. Because cultivation is about pursuing one's own path. However, as long as one cultivates in this world, one must bear the corresponding responsibilities; otherwise, if the world is doomed, what kind of immortality are you cultivating?
Unfortunately, these principles cannot be explained. Even if you did, no one would listen. They would secretly curse you as a pedantic saint. In the entire cultivation world, apart from a few old guys at the Nascent Soul stage who secretly uphold some rules, the rest are all troublemakers.