Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

After saying that, Qi Zhongdao suddenly beamed with brutality and declared, “If you wish to earn your fame in the Great Qian Dynasty, Master Spiritual Vulture, we will certainly not stop you. However, if you are going to break the rules that everyone lives by, all the Cultivators in the world will beat you until you are dead. Even the Purple Pole Sword Sect won’t be able to shelter you. I will also spare nothing and will not rest until you are crucified!

“You can take your time and consider whether or not to accept the ‘rules’!”

It was the first confrontation between Li Yao and Qi Zhongdao, which made Li Yao understand why Dan Fengzi, the leader of the Purple Pole Sword Sect and Yan Liren’s senior brother, reminded Yan Liren time and time again that he must not kill Qi Zhongdao.

He also understood why the leader of all the Cultivators was still Qi Zhongdao but not and never Yan Liren, even if the latter’s combat ability was slightly higher than the former’s.

After three months, Qi Zhongdao was even darker and thinner, and his face had no expression the whole time. Rust seemed to have grown on the iron shell that covered his face.

“A febrile typhoon is here.”

After Li Yao and Yan Liren were seated, Qi Zhongdao went to the topic without greeting them at all.

Li Yao had heard of such typhoons before—they were a super natural disaster.

Different from the Heaven’s Origin Sector, the Ancient Sages Sector had been locked for a hundred thousand years. The spiritual energy had nowhere to escape. So, its density here was much higher than that of the outside world.

The overabundant spiritual energy had some side effects other than making it convenient for the Cultivators’ training.

As far as Li Yao knew, there were at least two major disadvantages.

Firstly, because of the overly-abundant spiritual energy that nurtured all the creatures in the world, the animals and plants in the Ancient Sages Sector were much larger than their counterparts in a regular world. They were also more prone to mutations and could turn into demon beasts or demonic plants more easily. Some of them were quite brutal, posing a threat to ordinary people and low-level Cultivators.

Most of the mountains in the Ancient Sages Sector were surrounded by the most overwhelming primitive forests nurtured by spiritual energy. The forests where there was no sunlight all year long were frequented by all kinds of terrible monsters that could never be annihilated.

For some of the most infamously dangerous areas, even the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators did not dare march into them alone.

That was the reason the local Cultivation sects thrived. However, it was also the objective reason for the sects growing into independent kingdoms and an effective central government never really being established.

Because the states and the prefectures in the world were all blocked by the dangerous zones, the court, which supervised everything from the capital city, could not reach the local areas!

The second disadvantage would be the natural disasters.

The more abundant the spiritual energy was, the fiercer the reactions and the more unsteady the force fields of the entire Ancient Sages Sector.

Their manifestations within the atmosphere and above the crust were shocking, extreme weather conditions. The super natural disasters, which contained such furious spiritual energy that even the Cultivators had to step back in fear, were anything but unusual.

In the Heaven’s Origin Sector, the rarely-seen thunderstorms or sandstorms on the Grand Desolate Plateau were just common weather phenomena in the Ancient Sages Sector.

Even landslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, and other natural disasters of a low intensity could escalate into super natural disasters instantly if the furious spiritual energy that they carried caused a resonance!

A febrile typhoon, on the other hand, was one of the most dreadful natural disasters in the Ancient Sages Sector.

It had originally been a superstorm generated on the tropical oceans. However, while it was marching toward the continent, it had mixed with the ‘gales’ that wandered below the atmosphere and contained tremendous violent spiritual energy. As a result, it would evolve into the highly destructive febrile typhoon!

According to the nature of the spiritual energy mixed, the febrile typhoons would show different characteristics.

Some of the most freezing febrile typhoons, after landing, would turn everything in their path into a snowy world. All the creatures would be frozen.

Some of the febrile typhoons that contained the power of thunder were like a bunch of lightning dragons rolling on the ground. Whatever they caught would be electrified into ash!

However, most of the febrile typhoons were still related to the spiritual energy of the fire class. Such febrile typhoons were flowing flames that left a scorching inferno wherever they reached. Even if the victims of the disaster survived, the crops in the farmland would certainly be destroyed.

The term ‘febrile typhoon’ meant ‘the wind that could burn anything’ in the first place.

If it was just that, the febrile typhoon was still far from a ‘super natural disaster’.

The most dreadful thing about the febrile typhoon was that there was no telling what mysteries the electromagnetic fields inside the febrile typhoons had, but the creatures killed miserably by the febrile typhoons, and even the dead bodies that were swept over by the febrile typhoons after they died, could mutate and become the most hideous ghouls!

According to the information that Li Yao had collected on his way on the Sorcerers’ River, it was an overstatement that Han Yuantai blamed the rise of the White Lotus Cult entirely on the ‘Jade Crystal Pellets’ the other day.

The Jade Crystal Pellets were certainly part of the reason, but the most important reason that the White Lotus Cult was never annihilated was that the febrile typhoons would make the dead walk again and turn the remaining souls into deadly ghouls every time that they passed by.

Whenever the White Lotus Cult was dwindling away, it was not unusual for a febrile typhoon to pass by and transform countless poor peasants into ghouls who would become available soldiers of the White Lotus Cult again.

“The febrile typhoon of this year is particularly rough. Three days ago, a febrile typhoon landed and savaged the southeast, causing grievous damage. On top of that, in ten days, another febrile typhoon of a larger scale will probably march northward, very close to the southeast shoreline. If it slightly deviates from the trajectory and lands again, there is going to be a catastrophe!”

Qi Zhongdao explained the situation in the southeast to the people of the Purple Pole Sword Sect. “To make matters worse, the two febrile typhoons happened to arrive at a time when the Sorcerers’ River is in the middle of the spring flood season!

“The water level is high, and the wind is strong. The flood of the Sorcerers’ River has been unusually large in recent decades. Should the dams collapse, and the Sorcerers’ River changes its course, it is very possible that a large area will be flooded!

“Too many people will lose their homes or be killed in the flood. Their remaining souls will not disperse so quickly. When the febrile typhoons blow at them, they will very likely turn into the most brutal ghouls. If an army of a million ghouls tramples on the prosperous land in the southeast, the place will be hopelessly ruined!

“Naturally, ‘Mother White Lotus’ Wan Mingzhu will not let go of such a heavenly opportunity. According to the message that the Grand Mystery Sect has received, Wan Mingzhu’s ghost shadows have appeared near East Peace County. It is very possible that she will lead thousands of ghouls to attack East Peace County!”

The news cast the people of the Purple Pole Sword Sect into silence.

Even Li Yao’s eyelids were twitching.

East Peace County was a famous city in the southeast of the Great Qian Dynasty. Although it was not nearly as large as Divine Capital, it was even more prosperous and flamboyant. For thousands of years, it had always been an important town for training in the southeast. Dozens of Cultivation sects had headquartered near East Peace County.

If East Peace County was attacked by the White Lotus Cult’s ghoul army, even if it was nothing but a bluff or a gesture, it would be a shocking piece of news. The Heaven Battering Army in the northwest would certainly be boosted by the stimulation, and Ghost Qin’s people in the Dark Cloud Prairies would be more ambitious than ever!

“The thirty-three sects near East Peace County have sent out a call for help, hoping that the fellow Cultivators everywhere can give them a hand to save East Peace County from the looming catastrophe!”

“As of now, Master Bitter Cicada of the Stupa Temple has already moved to the southeast to appease the deceased. It is said that Fellow Cultivator Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar is also wandering around the homeless peasants to calm everyone down and cope with the natural disaster together!”

Li Yao’s interest was suddenly aroused.

If a rank of ‘top ten experts of the Ancient Sages Sector’ was made, Master Bitter Cicada of the Stupa Temple and Ba Xiaoyu the ‘Beggar’ were certainly the two that he admired most.

In the three thousand Sectors, religions and schools whose grand wish was ‘universal salvation’ were not rare. In the Ancient Sages Sector, such a lineage was known as the Stupa Temple.

Master Bitter Cicada of the Stupa Temple was a truly wise and awakened Cultivator. Although his capabilities were on par with the Three Saints and Four Rapscallions, he was never involved in the conflicts in the world of Cultivators but focused his full attention on dealing with natural disasters.

Wherever there was a natural disaster, there was Master Bitter Cicada. He provided food and water, mollified the deceased, and pacified the living. His prestige was unparalleled among the ordinary folks.

Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar was the same.

His main focus was not to provide food for the victims but to deal with the officials, nobles, and Cultivation sects that earned a great fortune immorally during the natural disaster. He often humiliated the shameless officials and Cultivators in the most hilarious ways.

Even according to the standard of the modern Cultivation civilization, the two seniors could be called real Cultivators.

Li Yao had long meant to get in touch with them, but he had never found a chance.

‘Mother White Lotus’ Wan Mingzhu was also an important person—or rather, an important ghost—on Li Yao’s observation list. Li Yao would like to witness the charm of the ‘mother of all ghosts’ with his own eyes!

“One third of the training resources of the Great Qian Dynasty are yielded from the southeast. Nobody will benefit if the place is destroyed!”

Staring at Yan Liren and Li Yao, Qi Zhongdao said, “I believe that your sect is well aware of the interests in the region and will send reinforcements!

“However, if we set our target as ‘resist the natural disaster and dispel the ghoul army’ as we did in the past, it will not solve the problem from the source!

“‘Mother White Lotus’ Wan Mingzhu is the source of the riot. The ghouls will come back again as long as Wan Mingzhu is not eliminated!

“Therefore, I’m hoping that we can work together to remove the White Lotus Cult and execute Wan Mingzhu!”

“It’s not going to be easy to kill Wan Mingzhu!” Dan Fengzi, leader of the Purple Pole Sword Sect, suddenly remarked. “Wan Mingzhu is a top ten expert. She is also an unpredictable ghost without a real entity who can be attached to anyone alive.

“It is not easy to catch her, much less kill her!”

It was not an excuse but a well-grounded concern.

For those at the level of Li Yao, Yan Liren, or Qi Zhongdao, it was one thing to ‘defeat’ them, and it was another thing to ‘kill’ them. The latter was ten times more difficult than the former!

Li Yao and Qi Zhongdao could not defeat Yan Liren, but if they were determined to run away, with their life-saving skills and tools, it would be almost impossible for Yan Liren to kill them.

The two of them were still living people with bodies of flesh and blood; Wan Mingzhu, on the other hand, was just an unpredictable ghost. So, it would only be more difficult to execute her.