Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

After exploring villages, farmland, and sects along the Sorcerers’ River for half a month, Li Yao finally developed a profound understanding as to why Han Yuantai said that the Great Qian Dynasty was not a real country.

The foreign person coveting the south from the northern prairies was not wrong. Compared to a modern country such as the Star Glory Federation, the so-called ‘Great Qian’ was merely a geological concept. Its court did not possess the power of a real country at all.

As the helpless replacements, the beggar-thy-neighbor Cultivation sects were more like small countries.

Li Yao could never forget the hateful eyes of the losing side in the fight between two sects caused by a cow as they were picking up the dead bodies of their side.

If Ghost Qin’s people suddenly showed up in front of the sect, Li Yao had no doubt that it would absolutely join Ghost Qin without any hesitation as a self-willing vassal in order to destroy the hostile sect.

As for the Great Qian Dynasty?

Screw it!

Li Yao felt helpless.

It shouldn’t be like this. Cultivation shouldn’t be like this.

The high and mighty ancient Cultivators who were killing each other were wrong. The peasants attached to them, due to a combination of ignorance, greed, cunningness, kindness, and innocence, were wrong. The Cultivation sect was wrong. The court of the Great Qian Dynasty was wrong, too!

Including Ghost Qin of the Dark Cloud Prairies, everybody was wrong. Greatly wrong!

But how was he going to point it out, awaken them, and change everything on his own?

Li Yao could not forget the hungry, wistful children outside of the temple of Cultivators.

Li Yao could not forget the deformed bodies of the Cultivators after he dug them out of the stomach of the demon beast.

Li Yao could not forget the scene where two Cultivation sects were fighting in the sky, and the ordinary people affiliated to them were also fighting each other, blowing out one another’s guts and brains with their sickles and hoes. He could not forget the eyes of the losing side, which resembled wounded wolves.

He did not think too much of the world in the beginning and simply regarded it as a ‘mercenary camp’ of the Star Glory Federation.

However, the half month of travelling made the flames in his heart burn brighter and brighter.

He could not wait to go to the Purple Pole Sword Sect and craft a batch of components as soon as possible so that he could establish the super large beacons and set them to a standby state where they could be activated at any time.

He could not save the entire Ancient Sages Sector on his own.

But with the power of the entire Star Glory Federation, they certainly could!

Ignite the fire that would illuminate the entire universe and save all human compatriots who were still sinking and struggling in darkness!

It was the significance of the Star Glory Federation, and it was the greatest reliance for them to fight until the end against the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance confidently!

After arriving in River Town, the largest city along that stretch of the Sorcerers’ River, Ling Lanyin finally managed to communicate with the headquarters of the Purple Pole Sword Sect through a branch of the sect there.

The news that she received in the branch, however, startled Ling Lanyin and amazed Li Yao!

“The Purple Pole Sword Sect is going to convene the Dragon Spring Meeting, which is usually held once every five years, ahead of schedule. All the great heroes of the world will be invited to appreciate their swords and relevant arts!

“The Dragon Spring Meeting to be held will be the largest one in the past hundred years. Not only will the newly produced marvelous weapons be exhibited, almost a hundred confidential, primeval weapons will also be open to visitors. It will be a great gala that all the sword Cultivators in the world will not hesitate to join!

“What is even more shocking is that, during the Dragon Spring Meeting, ‘Sword Maniac’ Yan Liren and ‘Master Righteous One’ Qi Zhongdao, two of the Three Saints of the Great Qian Dynasty, will have an unprecedented summit confrontation!

“It is said that my senior uncle has finally finished polishing the unparalleled primeval sword after thirty years. He finally has a chance to compete with the Heaven Flipping Seal, Qi Zhongdao’s core magical equipment!”

After explaining everything to Li Yao, Ling Lanyin was entirely dumbfounded. She mumbled to herself, “What do we do? What do we do? Master Righteous One and my senior uncle are both pillars of the Great Qian Dynasty. But they are going to fight. They are going to fight…”

It took Li Yao a long time to figure out what happened.

The Purple Pole Sword Sect was the largest sect of sword Cultivators in the Great Qian Dynasty. Forging and selling swords was an important business of the sect. Before, a Dragon Spring Meeting had been held every couple of years, where the blades produced in recent years would be displayed. All the other sects were welcome to come and purchase them.

In the term of modern Cultivation civilization, it was some sort of ‘product release meeting’ or ‘annual special sale’.

‘Iron Saint’ Qi Zhongdao, one of the Three Saints, was an immeasurably extraordinary person!

The Purple Pole Sword Sect was the largest sect of sword Cultivators.

The Grand Mystery Sect, in comparison, was the largest sect in the Great Qian Dynasty, or rather, in the entire Ancient Sages Sector!

‘Master Righteous One’ Qi Zhongdao was the grand leader of the Grand Mystery Sect!

He had been the counsellor of the Great Qian Dynasty for three generations. No matter who sat on the throne, and even during the days when Wang Xi seized power, his position was utterly unshakable. He was almost the leader of all the Cultivators in the Great Qian Dynasty.

For the disorganized Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty, Qi Zhongdao was the only one who could sustain the ostensible harmony and basic order!

Although the man was powerful and had a high Cultivation, he had never been the subject of any scandals. He was well respected for his frugalness and asceticism. Also, when he was handling the conflicts of other sects, he always ruled reasonably and unbiasedly. He truly deserved his name 1 !

He had been given the nickname ‘Iron God’ because he was as tough and selfless as iron.

However, if anybody disobeyed Qi Zhongdao’s rulings, they would understand the other meaning of ‘Iron Saint’, which was that he was indestructible and unstoppable!

His core magical equipment, the Heaven Flipping Seal, was known as the most tyrannical treasure of the Ancient Sages Sector, able to crush anybody that dared to compete with it!

‘Iron Saint’ Qi Zhongdao, leader of the Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty, was to have a fight with ‘Sword Maniac’ Yan Liren, the strongest sword Cultivator of the Great Qian Dynasty?

It was indeed a piece of stunning news.

No wonder Ling Lanyin was shocked.

However, for Li Yao, the competition between the two ‘top ten’ experts was within his expectations and nothing to be surprised at.

By his estimation, this was how the whole thing developed.

A few years ago, when the Lead Eunuch Wang Xi was still in power, the Purple Pole Sword Sect, as the greatest conglomerate of weapon business in the Great Qian Dynasty, secured quite a few fat orders due to the personal connection between the leader of the sect and Wang Xi. It also monopolized the project to change the gear of all the troops of the Great Qian Dynasty. Although it profited greatly, the other weapon corporations and interest groups were certainly not happy.

After Wang Xi’s fall, naturally, the other interest groups came back and demanded compensation.

Not only were they forcing the Purple Pole Sword Sect to give up all the orders, it would be even better if the Purple Pole Sword Sect’s original market was open to them. The most satisfactory result would certainly be that the Purple Pole Sword Sect was eliminated and its market and body were split by them.

Claiming that the Purple Pole Sword Sect was the eunuch’s conspirator was only step one.

Through their connections in the court, they ordered the Ling family, a family affiliated to the Purple Pole Sword Sect, to carry out the mission of ‘appeasing the Southland of Sorcerers’. That was step two.

The mission was obviously extremely difficult to accomplish. Should it fail, the Ling family would be a start point to dissect the entire Purple Pole Sword Sect!

However, the Purple Pole Sword Sect was certainly not so easy to deal with, either.

As the largest weapon conglomerate of the Great Qian Dynasty, it had a super elite force of soldiers. How could it wait to be butchered?

Even though the ‘Thunderous Straight Swordsman’ was killed, there were still six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, of whom ‘Sword Maniac’ Yan Liren was a super expert who could be the strongest Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator of the Great Qian Dynasty!

Seeing that the court had assigned such an illogical mission to their vassal family, the Cultivators of the Purple Pole Sword Sect knew what was going on.

Therefore, the Purple Pole Sword Sect announced the Dragon Spring Meeting ahead of schedule as a counterattack. They were demonstrating the marvelous weapons and the primeval treasures that the sect had accumulated for hundreds of years to the world.

Was it really a ‘production release meeting’ or an ‘annual special sale’?

It was a blatant demonstration of power, almost like someone half-naked shouting, “Come on. The Purple Pole Sword Sect has so many disciples and so many extraordinary weapons. Whoever intends to steal my orders or break into my headquarters is welcome to try, as long as you are prepared to be killed!”

However, the other major sects in the Great Qian Dynasty were obviously determined to chop something, preferably a piece of meat, off the Purple Pole Sword Sect.

Even ‘Iron Saint’ Qi Zhongdao, the grand leader of the largest sect in the world who was acknowledged as the leader of all Cultivators, had been invited to have a summit confrontation with ‘Sword Maniac’ Yan Liren.

The meaning was obvious, too. ‘I might as well have a try!’

This is very exciting! Li Yao could not help but feel his mouth was dry in his excitement.

The competitions in the Dragon Spring Meeting would decide the fate of the Purple Pole Sword Sect, the largest sword sect of the Great Qian Dynasty, and even alter the general picture of the Ancient Sages Sector.

‘Iron Saint’ Qi Zhongdao and ‘Sword Maniac’ Yan Liren would certainly try their best. It was not going to be a restrained exchange of skills.

I’m told that, except for the two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators who went missing mysteriously a hundred years ago, Qi Zhongdao and Yan Liren are basically the representatives of the top combat ability of the Ancient Sages Sector. By observing the fight of the two unparalleled experts, I will be able to evaluate the average level of the top warriors of the Ancient Sages Sector!

Also, the Heaven Flipping Seal, Qi Zhongdao’s core magical equipment, and the marvelous sword that Yan Liren has recently polished are both claimed to be ‘primeval treasures’. Does their ‘primeval’ mean the same as the ‘primeval’ in the outside world? I’m going to observe it more carefully!

Also, all the big shots in the Great Qian Dynasty must’ve joined the Dragon Spring Meeting. This is the best opportunity for Master Spiritual Vulture to announce his grand entrance!

Now is better than later. Let’s go to the Dragon Spring Meeting now!