Clan Cultivation: Starting with Building an Island Immortal City

54: A promising start but a disappointing finish, a deeper mystery“Good! How refreshing!”

In a corner of the teahouse, Li Yinglong suddenly opened his eyes, a brilliant light bursting forth from them, as if countless sword shadows and halberd gleams had abruptly receded.

He couldn’t help but let out a low cry of exhilaration, a surge of heroic spirit stirring within his chest, hard to quell.

This review of a secret history from a thousand years ago felt like drinking nectar, leaving him feeling utterly invigorated and unable to contain himself.

The records in the Jade Slip concerning the “Heavenly Army’s Eastern Expedition,” though only a few words, each word carried immense weight, containing a majestic heavenly might and a killing aura that had not diminished over thousands of years!

When his spiritual consciousness immersed itself within, it was as if he had Transmigrated through the river of time, personally witnessing that epochal war that determined the fate of the East Sea:

The Heavenly Soldiers of the Kaiyuan Heavenly Dynasty and the Cultivators of the East Sea gathered by the Three Immortals Sect, banners obscuring the sky, ships stretching for a thousand miles, majestically marched eastward!

Sword light tore through the East Sea mist, Magic Treasures bombarded the Thousand Island Demonic Domain, and the spiritual light of spells violently clashed with the evil arts of the Wo Clan and the strange Divine Abilities of the Blood Curse Sea Clan, causing heaven and earth to change color!

The three island masters, granted the title of “Sea-Pacifying Demon-Subduing Heavenly Envoys,” wielded the divinely bestowed “Sword of Retribution for Every Scale,” and wherever their sword light pointed, evil demons retreated, and all spells turned to naught!

The Cultivators of the Divine Land worked together with one heart to cleanse the demonic miasma, solely to protect the common people and clear the sea borders!

Three days! Just three days!

With a thunderous momentum, they swept through, uprooting the Wo Clan and the demonic “Blood Curse Sea Clan” they had created, who had ravaged the East Sea and accumulated countless blood debts, burning their lairs and executing their chief culprits!

What boundless ambition and what fierce desire for vengeance must the ancestors of a thousand years ago have possessed!

If he had been born in that era, if he could have wielded a sword to accomplish such a glorious feat, what would death matter?!

This surge of heroic passion, transcending time and space, churned within his heart.

Li Yinglong felt as if he could sense the joy and heroism in the hearts of those Cultivators who participated in the war back then—a tremendous sense of accomplishment from acting on behalf of Heaven and purifying the world, enough to make one’s heart surge.

He wished he could have personally participated, fighting alongside the ancient sages to slay the evil demons!

This was completely different from the feeling of scheming and calculating gains and losses in the business world in his previous life; this was a purer, more direct clash of power and belief, truly the act of a great man!

His thoughts at that moment completely flew back to the East Sea battlefield of thousands of years ago, his heart filled with yearning.

However, this exhilarating sense of victory did not last too long.

His spiritual consciousness eagerly flipped to the back, wanting to see more details about this great war, wanting to see how the Three Immortals Sect governed the East Sea after their triumphant return, how the Divine Land Cultivators divided the spoils of war, and how that land polluted by the evil marrow of the planet was ultimately dealt with... This was even more captivating than reading the most exciting fiction!

But the subsequent record was like a basin of ice water poured over his head, instantly waking him from his blood-boiling fantasy, and a chill suddenly ran down his spine.

Following the triumphant report of “The East Sea is Pacified,” was a shorter, yet more solemn, subsequent record:

[The Wo Clan suffered a crushing defeat, at the end of their rope. The six saintly bandit chiefs, at the very moment of their execution, used their remaining evil power to activate the planet’s tragic Vein buried deep in the seabed. The star-corpse shattered, polluting the vast ocean, and thousands of miles of the East Sea instantly turned into a dead zone! The Cultivators of the Three Immortals Sect, to protect all living beings and preserve the allied army, sacrificed the entire Sect’s Foundation, laid down an ancient Seal, and merged their bodies with the Dao, eternally suppressing the filth at the bottom of the waves. However, the Immortal Sect has been untraceable ever since, and the Spiritual Veins of the East Sea also withered, ultimately becoming a Spirit-Severing Land!]

Just a few dozen words, yet the amount of information exploded, impacting Li Yinglong’s understanding!

“What?!”

Li Yinglong’s brows instantly furrowed, his heart filled with shock and doubt.

What the hell kind of record is this? A strong start and a weak finish!

It was like a web novel author writing a thrilling opening, only to have the next chapter completely fall flat!

This feeling was not only bizarre but also as uncomfortable as having swallowed a fly.

First, there was the glorious military achievement of conquering a nation and sweeping through in three days, followed immediately by the complete annihilation of the meritorious main force and the thorough deterioration of the entire East Sea’s environment?

This transition was too abrupt, too illogical!

Although the six saints of the Wo Clan were indeed fierce and stubborn, they should have been completely suppressed in front of the Heavenly Dynasty’s army and the main force of the Three Immortals Sect. How could they still cause such a massive commotion before dying?

It even required the entire Three Immortals Sect to “use the full power of the Sect” to Seal it?

And the Three Immortals Sect... even “disappeared without a trace” because of this?

A colossal Immortal Sect that had dominated the East Sea for a thousand years and had just achieved unparalleledMerits, simply vanished without a sound?

And in doing so, turned the entire East Sea into a “Spirit-Severing Land” with sparse Spiritual Qi?

This was completely unreasonable!

Li Yinglong’s first reaction was disbelief.

This was definitely not an accident; it was more like... an informed person, under extreme haste, perhaps even under immense pressure and taboo, forcibly leaving behind vague and incomplete information!

His business acumen and his experience from two lives immediately told him that there must be a hidden truth behind this!

This was a typical “Spring and Autumn Brushwork”!

It only stated the result, but completely omitted the most crucial process and reasons.

How did the six saints of the Wo Clan activate the planet’s fragments? What exactly were those planetary fragments, to possess such terrifying power to pollute the entire East Sea?

How exactly did the Three Immortals Sect “use the full power of the Sect” to Seal it? Why did the allied army need to “retreat”? What did they encounter at the time?

Most importantly, was the Three Immortals Sect completely annihilated, or... were they trapped somewhere? Or did they encounter other unknown circumstances?

Of all this, the Jade Slip said not a word.

Even an organization renowned for its intelligence, like the Thousand Mechanisms Hundred Know Sect, only had this much recorded, with no further in-depth details.

What did this mean?

It meant that either what happened at the time was too terrifying or too bizarre, exceeding the scope of the recorder’s comprehension;

Or there was a power strong enough to influence the Thousand Mechanisms Hundred Know Sect, which deliberately covered up and erased most of the truth afterwards!

Whichever possibility it was, it pointed to one conclusion:

The waters behind this were unfathomably deep!

Far beyond what he, at his current level, could easily touch.

Li Yinglong slowly withdrew his spiritual consciousness from the Jade Slip, his fingers unconsciously caressing the smooth surface of the warm Jade Slip, his brows deeply furrowed, falling into a prolonged silence.

The excitement and hot-bloodedness from when he was just reviewing had long since cooled, replaced by a heavy solemnity and a deeper curiosity.

This review indeed brought great rewards.

He finally understood the fundamental reason why Linhai City and even the entire East Sea coast had become a “Spirit-Severing Land,” learned about the earth-shattering upheaval that occurred thousands of years ago, and solved the biggest mystery in his heart.

But what followed were more, deeper mysteries.

It was as if he had stepped from one foggy area into a larger, deeper foggy forest.

The truth of history, like something hidden behind layers of curtains, only revealed the tip of the iceberg to him, yet it was already enough to be breathtaking.

This did not make him shrink back; instead, it further stimulated his desire to uncover the truth.

This concerned the Foundation of his Li Family, the future of this land, and even the possibly left-behind... unsolved mysteries of the mysteriously vanished Three Immortals Sect.

Just as his mind was immersed in myriad thoughts, trying to glean more clues from this limited information—

“Thump, thump, thump!”

From the direction of the teahouse’s wooden staircase, a sudden rapid and heavy sound of footsteps echoed!

These footsteps were reckless, breaking the teahouse’s original leisurely tranquility, appearing exceptionally abrupt.

Li Yinglong and Lin Xiaowan were startled almost simultaneously and looked in the direction of the sound.

At the stairwell, a tall and burly figure suddenly rushed up; it was Yan Gang, the brother of the brother and sister!

At this moment, his face was flushed, his breathing rapid, his forehead and temples covered in sweat, and his eyes were full of anxiety, completely unlike his usual steady and honest demeanor!

As soon as he came upstairs, his gaze swept across the teahouse hall like a hawk, instantly settling on the corner where Li Yinglong and Little Wan were.

When he saw that they were indeed still there, a visible surge of immense joy burst forth on Yan Gang’s face!

He didn’t even bother to catch his breath, completely ignoring the surprised glances from other customers in the teahouse, and took large strides, rushing towards Li Yinglong’s table!

Li Yinglong’s heart suddenly sank.

Judging by Yan Gang’s appearance, it was certainly no trivial matter.

The brother and sister’s trip was to find the life-saving ice soul spirit ginseng, and now he had returned, so flustered... Li Yinglong instinctively realized that Aya and Yan Gang were probably in trouble!