Forty millenniums of cul.., p.891
Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 891
The man from the north, however, was quite calm. He was even studying the shackle on his body with great interest instead of appreciating the lotus flowers inside the pond next to him.
What a finely-made piece of magical equipment. It is even more delicate than the shackles used in the prisons in the capital city. All my acupoints and critical veins have been locked, and I cannot break free from it however hard I try!
I'm afraid that even the strongest expert will have to beg for mercy after they are caged by such magical equipment!
There are also the unpredictable venomous needles and the sharp blade made of mica that was ten times thinner and barely perceivable!
All the weapons are the most vicious magical equipment!
Master Spiritual Vulture is not much stronger than me in terms of spiritual energy reserve, but he waited deep inside the fiery pit for the best opportunity to launch thunderous attacks with all his marvelous weapons.
His patience and determination are even a hundred times scarier than his needles, blades, and shackle!
The purpose of my mission to the south is to recruit the greatest heroes in the world. If such a distinguished man works for Cloud Qin, he will certainly be a great help for our cause!
While Han Yuantai was pondering, he suddenly felt that the lotus flowers in the pond were shivering, and his heart was aching too as if it had been stung by needles.
He raised his head, only to discover that the black-haired, green-robed, young-looking Master Spiritual Vulture was standing right before him!
The birthmark on the unparalleled brutal man's face had been restricted to a green spot at the center of his eyebrow again, making his face more 'agreeable' than before.
However, for Han Yuantai, who had experienced his cruelness in person, the agreeable face was even more terrifying than an angry one.
Holding back his horror, Han Yuantai suddenly laughed aloud and said, "You are finally here, Master!"
Li Yao showed no expression.
But he added 0.5 points for Ghost Qin in his heart.
He had intentionally ignored Ghost Qin and Great Qian for two hours and observed the reactions of the two sides.
The Ghost Qin Knights and Han Baling's right hand had behaved quite calmly. Even if they were merely pretending, they looked rather tough and showed barely any vulnerability on the surface.
On the Great Qian Dynasty's side, however, everybody was sighing in panic. Even the father and the daughter of the Ling family failed to respond to the crisis satisfactorily.
In the meantime, when Han Yuantai saw him, the guy was still able to laugh confidently despite the unease in his heart, which alone would be evident enough that the guy deserved to be a notable man in the north.
Li Yao looked at the shackle on Han Yuantai's body.
The shackle had been made with the ancient refining techniques in the Hundred Smelting Clan based on the mechanism of the Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle. It was tailor-made for the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators of this Sector.
The fact that Han Yuantai was talking and laughing elegantly despite the shackle made Li Yao think more highly of him.
Li Yao rolled his eyes and said creepily, "You seem delighted to see me, Fellow Cultivator Han. Why? Are you not scared that I'm here to kill you?"
"You must be joking, Master Spiritual Vulture. If you wanted me dead, you would've killed me in the morning instead of waiting until now!"
Han Yuantai put on a brilliant smile despite the blood on his face and said confidently, "Master Spiritual Vulture, you were already a great expert in the Southland of Sorcerers a hundred years ago. However, the ignorant people often considered you a bloodthirsty and temperamental guy and are terrified of you. They couldn't have been more wrong!"
"Oh?" Li Yao eyed Han Yuantai up and down and chuckled, "Are they not? I did kill a lot of people in the past!"
"Of course they are wrong!" Han Yuantai said solemnly. "Those that you killed in the past were all associated with your enemy. If they were not eliminated, they would have caused more trouble later. It was all about removing any potential threats and definitely not slaughtering the innocent!
"After you killed those people, Master, you immediately stopped and announced your threat to the Cultivators in the Southland of Sorcerers, stating your boundary and your retaliation methods. As a result, you lived in peace for decades without being disturbed by anyone.
"During those decades, as long as nobody harmed your interests, you never killed anyone again!
"It is obvious that you are a wise, prudent man who knows when to attack and when to retreat. You are certainly not the impetuous, bloodthirsty barbarian that others think you to be!
"What happened this morning is yet more evidence. Although you savaged and killed Master Black Moon in the cruelest way, it was only because of your grudge in the past. As for the visitors from Cloud Qin, although you seemed to be beating us heavily at that time, you didn't actually kill any of us!
"It is obvious that everything is within your control, and you want much more than to seek vengeance!"
"Hehe!" Li Yao sniffed angrily. Green brilliance suddenly shot out of his dark eyes and swirled around Han Yuantai's neck like a sharp blade.
He was like an old monster who intended to kill the guy that had seen through his secret.
Han Yuantai felt that somebody was stinging his back, and he almost grunted when Li Yao glanced at him.
However, he knew that he could not give in to such an old monster—he had to raise the opponent's curiosity one way or another.
Making up his mind, he laughed dryly. "I almost forgot. I must congratulate you on behalf of my brother Han Baling, the regent of Cloud Qin! You must've experienced a lot of fortuitous incidents during your decades of seclusion. After such a long period of training, you have finally soared into the sky as one of the top experts in the world!
"With your amazing Cultivation, a minor Master Black Moon is truly nothing worth mentioning. You are more than capable of competing with the great heroes of the world in the sky of the royal palace in the capital city in the central plateaus right now, Master!"
Li Yao did not even bother to lift his eyes. He sneered, "Of course. Master Black Moon was just in the beginning level of the Nascent Soul Stage and meant nothing to me. What I want to do most right now is go to the central plateaus and see what the emperor's throne looks like in the royal palace, or go to the Dark Cloud Prairies and see what a hot woman Ha Baling's wife is. Haha. Hahahaha!"
With a hint of fury flashing inside his eyes, Han Yuantai stood straight despite the shackles and replied toughly, "Master, you may be one of the top twenty experts in the world with your incredible abilities. However, even the strongest expert has his limits. Fighting a nation, a people, or the unstoppable fate on your own is just a suicidal endeavor!"
"You are truly not scared of death!" Li Yao narrowed his eyes and blew Han Yuantai away into the mud heavily.
Han Yuantai struggled to his feet from the mud and burst into laughter. "I shall die without regret for the great cause of Cloud Qin!"
Chapter 1367: Ancient Cultivator's Vision |
Li Yao's killing intent was soaring. He glared at Han Yuantai coldly as if his eyes were steel sabers.
Han Yuantai gritted his teeth so hard that they were cracking. He craned his neck and stared back at Li Yao. He was overwhelmed by the brilliance in Li Yao's eyes and almost turned his head away to dodge it, but he persisted to the end with the fire in his chest!
Around them, the lotus flowers in the pond were shivering and withering rapidly.
The fish and shrimps were jumping on the surface of the pond, only to be floating on the surface dead soon, as if it were not a pond but a pot that they were staying in.
Right when Han Yuantai was about to collapse, the intimidating killing intent around Li Yao was suddenly gone, as if it had never appeared.
He smiled casually. "Very brave!"
Han Yuantai took a deep breath in relief. The tough man from the north and the well-respected Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator in the Dark Cloud Prairies almost burst into tears in front of the unpredictable old monster!
At this moment, his legs were finally shaking beyond his control. Not even having the time to wipe off the sweat on his forehead, he breathed heavily before he managed a smile. "You are flattering me, Master. I noticed just now that I underestimated your level after all. With your Cultivation today, it is possible that you are one of the top ten experts, and you are capable of fighting a nation with just yourself and your sword!"
"Forget it. We are all smart guys here. Let's put it more straightforwardly." Li Yao waved his hands and said, "For a Cultivator, especially those in the Nascent Soul Stage such as us, to progress, wealth, residence, arts, and partners are indispensable factors. We will consume astronomical resources on a daily basis, which can only be covered by a fixed base and a huge population!
"Fighting a nation with one's own might be possible if the purpose is short-time sabotage, but it is absolutely impossible to compete with the nation for long!
"Hehe. I don't need you to point out that the Southland of Sorcerers is too remote and ragged. Although the despicable pests are everywhere, Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures are extremely rare here!
"Also, this place has been quite desolate since ancient times. No powerful sects have ever been headquartered here. Therefore, it is very difficult to find a residence or relic below the ground!
"In such a rough environment, it is already the limit for the Cultivators in the Southland of Sorcerers to advance into the beginning level of the Nascent Soul Stage with peculiar arts. Although I have reached the level that I'm in right now because of other fortuitous incidents, not even in my wildest dreams will I be able to push further and touch the mysterious Divinity Transformation Stage!
"If we get to the bottom of it, the Southland of Sorcerers is too small a pond even for a tortoise. How can a high-level Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator be distinguished in such a place?
"To break into higher levels, I must have a higher population, more prosperous land, and more residences and relics. How can I not understand such simple logic?
"However…"
Li Yao suddenly sneered.
"You can give me such things, but the Great Qian Dynasty can, too! With my level, techniques, and magical equipment today after sixty years of hard training, I will be a well-respected guest and elder wherever I go, won't I?
"I don't know, nor am I interested in, what Master Black Moon was thinking, but why do I have to abandon the prosperous Great Qian Dynasty for your Cloud Qin?
"It's true that the Dark Cloud Prairies are boundless and that quite a few powerful dynasties have emerged in the past tens of thousands of years. There must be quite a few relics and secret treasures below the ground.
"However, your population is too small. As a result, there are few Cultivators and famous sects.
"I'm told that your regent Ha Baling is now carrying out his reform, annihilating all the sects!
"Haha, in the entire Dark Cloud Prairies, there is not a single sect. Isn't it a joke?
"In comparison, the Great Qian Dynasty is prosperous and has a long history. The hundred or so noble sects can be traced back to a thousand years ago or even earlier to the previous dynasties. There are as many experts as raindrops in the sky. The Cultivation arts and classics are too many to be counted!
"Of the three hundred Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators in the world, the Great Qian Dynasty boasts more than two hundred!
"I'm told that you had a minor victory against the Great Qian Dynasty last year, and your vanguard almost reached the capital. What was the result? Did you not hurry to run away after plundering the resources? Were you bold enough to stay and fight against the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty the hard way?
"Hehe. Master Black Moon may have been bewildered by your fancy talk, but your bullsh*t is not going to persuade me to run errands for you so easily!
"Han Yuantai, do not think that I dare not kill you. You are merely in the middle level of the Nascent Soul Stage, nothing more than a bug in my eyes. If I want to crush you, I will crush you. Does it really matter?
"I kept you alive because I want to see what you can say to encourage me to get on your boat!
"Come on. I've been training in seclusion for sixty years. Now that I'm out again, it's true that I'm not familiar with the situation of the world. Just try your best to enchant me. Tell me why Ghost Qin of the Dark Cloud Prairies is qualified to challenge the Great Qian Dynasty!
"Hehe. You are free to brag about Ghost Qin however you want because I will not be able to tell whether it is true or false at all. But in case you forget, I have two Core Formation Stage Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty in my hands, too. Later, after I cross-check what you say, I will know exactly who is speaking the truth!
"If I find that you lied to me…"
Li Yao chuckled creepily again.
Han Yuantai shuddered deeply, feeling that the coldest wind blowing through his bones. His every joint seemed to have been stabbed with dozens of rusted nails, which made him feel sour and unable to move at all.
"Master, your eyes are too keen. I do not dare say anything false!"
Taking a long breath, Han Yuantai was about to give a long speech, when Li Yao waved his hands and declared gravely, "Just abandon your rhetoric. Isn't it exhausting to talk in such a way all day long? I'm a barbarian from the wilderness, and I don't understand your empty words. So, just tell me in the most candid way where Ghost Qin is strong, the Great Qian Dynasty is weak, and why the Cultivators of the Dark Cloud Prairies are confident in competing with the Great Qian Dynasty, which boasts a thousand sects large and small and countless Cultivators, when you do not have a single sect!"
Han Yuantai took a long breath. He suddenly raised his neck and burst into laughter. He did not stop for a long time.
Unsatisfied, Li Yao said gloomily, "Speak now. If you continue being pretentious, I'll pluck all your teeth from your wretched mouth!"
Han Yuantai knew that the man was brutal enough to do what he had promised. He immediately stopped laughing and said solemnly, "You've mentioned many times that the Great Qian Dynasty boasts a lot of sects and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, Master. Do you believe that the more sects and Cultivators, the stronger a nation will be?"
"You are stating the obvious." Li Yao rolled his eyes, amused. "Is that not the case?"
"Of course not!" Han Yuantai replied resolutely. "Although it is what the hundred dynasties in the Ancient Sages Sector believed, the people of Cloud Qin are going exactly the opposite way. We believe that sects are the cancer of a nation. The more sects and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, the weaker a nation will be!
"Right now, the Great Qian Dynasty has 3,725 sects large and small and 221 experts in the Nascent Soul Stage, but they are a sign of the Great Qian Dynasty's doom instead of the foundation of its prosperity!"
"The more sects there are, the weaker a nation will be. That's a fresh idea!" Li Yao laughed and said lazily, "Do you care to explain it?"
Han Yuantai struggled to his feet, but clattering noises were echoing from his body because his excitement triggered the barrier.
Finally, Han Yuantai grunted in pain.
Li Yao curled his right little finger and snapped it. Then, the shackle suddenly broke off from Han Yuantai's body and condensed into a skeleton vulture again. It hovered above Han Yuantai's head and flew back to Li Yao.
Li Yao extended his arm, allowing the skeleton vulture to land on his arm. Then after a shake, he stored the shackle in his Cosmos Ring.
Disbelief beamed out of Han Yuantai's face. "I'm told that there's an amazing artifact in the ancient times named 'Deity Tying Rope'. The barrier of yours must be similar to the Deity Tying Rope, Master!"
"I didn't remove the shackle to hear your cr*p."
Calming himself down, Han Yuantai immediately focused his attention on the topic. "The idea that the more sects there are, the weaker a nation will be seems absurd. However, it will make sense when you give it enough thought!
"A powerful and unified court is mandatory for any nation to grow strong. As the saying goes, there can never be two suns in the sky, and there can never be two monarchs on the earth. When the decrees from the emperor are carried out, the local prefectures will be stable, and the folks will live in peace. It is the everlasting law of history!
"But the Cultivation sects, especially the 'noble sects' that have existed for thousands of years and boast unparalleled influence in the local area with their Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, seriously undermine the authority of the court and the emperor!
"When decrees are issued from different leaders, and when internal strife never ends, to the extent that the local people of an area only know a certain sect, a certain noble family, and a certain Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator but not the court and the emperor, how will such a nation not decline and perish?
"For the hundreds of dynasties in the Ancient Sages Sector in the past tens of thousands of years, no matter how peaceful, prosperous, and unstoppable they were in their heyday, they were corrupted by the 'cancer' eventually and came to their doom!
"The cancer of the dynasties is untreatable. How can the Great Qian Dynasty survive it today?
"Master Spiritual Vulture, you asked me just now on what basis Cloud Qin is fighting the entire Great Qian Dynasty.
"Hehe. If the Great Qian Dynasty was truly a solidary, gapless nation, we would stand absolutely no chance!
"But in fact, the so-called 'Great Qian Dynasty' is not a real nation at all. It is just a puppet and an empty shell, enshrined by the Cultivation sects that each have their own interests!
"There is no 'Great Qian' at all. There are only countless sects that are essentially loose sand below the fake title!
"The Great Qian Dynasty is a seemingly ferocious beast whose internal organs have in fact been emptied by the maggots and rats. What is left is but the skin on the surface now. After a tiny puff of air, it will fall apart and collapse!
