The First Immortal of Destiny

”After my Master and I entered the Heaven Patrolling Zone, he found a Ghost Cultivation Method for me. Only by switching to this method did I manage to survive in this ghoulish form!

”Thereafter, while earning resources and cultivating, my Master and I investigated ways to cross the perilous Western Sea. Simultaneously, we gathered considerable information on the various factions within the Heaven Patrolling Zone, intending to present this intelligence to our sect upon our eventual return to the Red Flame Zone.

”Eventually, however, our activities attracted unwanted attention, ultimately alerting the Heaven Patrolling Temple...”

The Heaven Patrolling Temple was the paramount, transcendent power in the Heaven Patrolling Zone. Any cultivator emerging from the Temple was a Golden Core Realm expert. Furthermore, it controlled the entire Zone, which contained hundreds of immortal sects comparable to the Riverside Sect.

However, Yuan Jing and Yu Yan, neither of whom had reached Core Formation, were quickly captured during the Heaven Patrolling Temple’s search.

Fortunately, the Heaven Patrolling Temple did not execute them immediately.

It turned out that after the cataclysmic changes in the world, the Heaven Patrolling Zone had also suffered immense impact. A large number of powerful beings from the Outer Zone, forbidden lands, and evil spirits had descended upon it, though the situation was not as severe as in the Red Flame Zone.

According to Yu Yan, the Four-eyed Giant, who had ’accidentally’ injured Shen Mo, also appeared from the Western Sea of the Heaven Patrolling Zone and traversed the entire Zone.

It trampled and injured countless creatures in this Zone, yet the Heaven Patrolling Temple was powerless against it. They could only observe from a distance, watching as it continued eastward, entered the Eastern Sea of the Heaven Patrolling Zone, and eventually vanished without a trace.

Within the Heaven Patrolling Zone, several major immortal sects, each comparable to the Riverside Sect, suffered devastating losses as a result. Two of these sects had all their people and livestock perish, completely severing their cultivation lineages. Countless other minor sects and Xiu Xian Forces were also toppled.

Faced with these earth-shattering changes, two opposing viewpoints emerged among the various factions of the Heaven Patrolling Zone or, more specifically, within the Heaven Patrolling Temple.

One faction, the conservatives, advocated adhering to the practices that had been in place for over a thousand years.

They proposed to defend their native Zone and use all their power to expel external forces, including creatures from the Outer Zone, forbidden lands, and the like. If that proved impossible, they would wage war to exterminate them completely.

The other faction, the reformists, argued that the great changes in the world were unstoppable. They believed the Heaven Patrolling Zone could no longer remain as isolated and impregnable as before.

They advocated establishing contact with benevolent or neutral factions among the Outer Zone creatures, and even with cultivators from other zones, to collectively address these global shifts.

These two factions within the Heaven Patrolling Temple were deadlocked in their arguments, neither able to convince the other.

Under these circumstances, Yuan Jing and Yu Yan managed to keep their lives.

Subsequently, driven by the reformist faction within the Heaven Patrolling Temple, an envoy was dispatched. Accompanied by Yu Yan, they navigated the spatial turbulence of the Western Sea, journeyed westward across the outer reaches of the Immortal Burial Sea, and reached the Red Flame Zone to attempt contact with the cultivation world of the Red Flame Country.

As for Peak Master Yuan Jing of Bright Moon Peak, he remained ’under house arrest’ at the Heaven Patrolling Temple and did not return to the sect with this envoy.

”Currently, the Heaven Patrolling Temple’s envoy and their magic ship are anchored in the coastal waters, waiting for us to send someone to establish contact.”

After Yu Yan finished relaying his account to Shen Mo via voice transmission, Yuan Heming stroked his white beard and said slowly, ”We’ve summoned you, Junior Brother Shen, to seek your opinion. Let’s discuss this and formulate a plan.

”After all, you have been to that Zone before and have had dealings with the Heaven Patrolling Temple!”

A thoughtful expression appeared in Shen Mo’s eyes.

From Yu Yan’s description, he had gleaned several crucial pieces of information.

Firstly, the cataclysmic change that occurred years ago had not only affected the Red Flame Zone but had also impacted the Heaven Patrolling Zone, despite it being tens of thousands of miles away.

However, whether due to the Red Flame Zone’s unique location or some other reason, the impact on the Heaven Patrolling Zone was significantly less severe.

The territory of the Heaven Patrolling Zone is hundreds, even thousands, of times larger than the Red Flame Country. Yet, the number of forbidden lands that descended upon it was less than half of those in the Red Flame Zone. This disparity gave the conservative faction of the Heaven Patrolling Temple the confidence to advocate for expelling external forces.

Secondly, the Heaven Patrolling Temple’s surveillance over its Zone had significantly weakened compared to before.

Years ago, when Shen Mo was hunted by cultivators from a Daoist temple, a middle-aged Daoist had been able to pinpoint his location almost constantly. This forced Shen Mo to exhaust numerous strategies just to gain a moment’s respite.

In contrast, Yu Yan and his Master, whose abilities were not significantly greater than Shen Mo’s at that time, had managed to evade the Heaven Patrolling Temple’s search for nearly half a year, hiding all over, before finally being captured.

This could have been due to failing communication methods, leading to poor coordination among the Heaven Patrolling Temple’s cultivators.

Alternatively, the Heaven Patrolling Temple’s surveillance capabilities might have been compromised by the global upheaval, rendering them unable to monitor outsiders as meticulously as before.

After a moment of contemplation, Shen Mo shared his views with the two patriarchs, Sect Master Yuan Qingshi, and the others present.

He did not oppose contacting the Heaven Patrolling Temple, but he harbored no great hopes for it either.

Only factions of comparable strength could interact on an equal footing. However, the power wielded by the Heaven Patrolling Temple was tens, even hundreds, of times greater than that of the entire cultivation world of the Red Flame Country.

Regardless of what each side sought or the intentions behind their contact, it was unlikely that the cultivation world of the Red Flame Country, including the Riverside Sect and the other Five Great Sects, would gain any significant advantages from such interactions.

However, more specific conclusions would have to wait until after contact was made.

「More than half a month later.」

High-ranking members from the Seven Stars Altar, Ghost Corpse School, Heaven Sword Sect, Profound Moon School, and other cultivation forces of various sizes, all having received notice from the Riverside Sect, gathered at Chong’a Mountain.

Numbering over six hundred, they boarded the Heaven Patrolling Tower ship, meticulously constructed by Shen Mo with Formations and Prohibitions. They then set course for Sea State, preparing to meet and negotiate with the visiting envoy from the Heaven Patrolling Temple.

However, Shen Mo was not part of this delegation. Instead, he was piloting the Bronze Phoenix Cart, speeding towards the outer reaches of the Immortal Burial Sea.

After several years of arduous cultivation on Chong’a Mountain, he had reached the threshold of the middle-stage Golden Core Realm. He vaguely sensed that, given his past accumulation, he would face a prolonged bottleneck upon truly entering the middle-stage.

Once he advanced to the middle-stage Golden Core Realm, the Riverside Sect’s cultivation methods, foundational resources, and the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in its Treasure Hall would no longer suffice to support his cultivation progress at its previous pace.

Therefore, he needed to venture out and seek other fortuitous opportunities.

The Heaven Patrolling Zone, with its vast territory and abundance of major immortal sects, was undoubtedly an excellent destination.

Now that the Heaven Patrolling Temple’s control over the Zone was no longer as stringent as before, Shen Mo had more room to maneuver.

Besides advancing his cultivation level, Shen Mo also wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the situation in the Heaven Patrolling Zone. He aimed to see if this Zone, like the Wando Archipelago, could serve as a potential relocation site for the Riverside Sect.

After all, although the Red Flame Zone was currently relatively peaceful, the broader environment was fragile. There was no telling when the Protectors of the forbidden lands might stir up trouble again, potentially reigniting a massive war among the various powers.

Although Human Cultivators were numerous, they lacked any existence at the Heavenly Monarch level. In such a conflict, even the Five Great Sects could not avoid becoming collateral damage.

Therefore, planning for rainy days ahead was crucial.

During the demonic calamity of the past, the Heaven Patrolling Zone had been the Riverside Sect’s optimal choice for relocating the entire sect, while the Wando Archipelago was merely a last resort. However, at that time, thick domain barriers at the world’s extremities made such a move difficult to execute.

Now, since the Heaven Patrolling Temple could dispatch an envoy through the Immortal Burial Sea, it proved this route was indeed feasible.

This old plan was now being revisited by the Riverside Sect.