Cultivation Starts with Rejuvenation

The night was as dark as ink.

The clamor of the celebration had finally dispersed completely.

The immense protective light-shield of Feihong Immortal City rippled with subtle waves that ordinary people could hardly perceive, in the brief interval when the hours of Zi and Chou shifted.

Three strands of extremely concealed Escape Light slipped out of the city in that gap, heading straight toward the northeast.

They were Xiaoqiao, Qin Chuan, and Zhang Zhiwei.

They did not ride any conspicuous Flying Spiritual Artifact, but flew by relying on their own Magical Power; their speed was not fast, and they appeared particularly cautious.

Almost at the same time they left the city.

A Vermilion Toad flashed past from the shadows of Li Ji’an’s Dao Field and plunged straight into the earth below.

Li Ji’an and Ning Sujin stood side by side on the highest pavilion of the Dao Field.

The window lattice was slightly open, and the night wind drifted in.

Their auras were both as calm as still water.

Li Ji’an’s mind stirred slightly; through the Spirit Beast contract, he established clear vision and shared Sensing with Gugu, who was stealthily burrowing deep underground.

To the northeast, at the border between Feihong State and the adjacent ”Canglin State.”

There lay a barren mountain range stretching for hundreds of li, where Spiritual Qi was thin; it was called ”Blackstone Ridge,” a no-man’s land at the junction of the two states, and one of the perilous routes leading toward the Celestial Cyan Domain.

”They really chose Blackstone Ridge.”

Li Ji’an’s voice sounded in Ning Sujin’s Sea of Consciousness.

Within Blackstone Ridge there was an abandoned mine pit, where Spiritual Qi was thin and could interfere with Communication Talismans.

Ning Sujin nodded slightly.

”We should set off.”

Their figures blurred, then dispersed within the pavilion like wisps of blue smoke.

When they appeared again, they were already a hundred li outside the city, and, borrowing the cover of night and terrain, they quietly flew toward Blackstone Ridge.

They did not get too close; instead, they stopped behind a leeward cliff face from which they could overlook the mine pit area and which was convenient for Concealment.

Through the shared contract, Gugu’s Sensing came through clearly.

...

Blackstone Ridge, at the edge of the abandoned mine pit.

Dong Cheng sat cross-legged on a half-collapsed pile of ore, eyes closed in meditation.

Zhao Zhiye and Dan Chenzi stood a little anxiously downwind, their Divine Sense sweeping the surroundings from time to time.

”Elder Dong, that Chang’an True Man... is he truly not secretly escorting them?”

In the end Zhao Zhiye could not quite rest easy, and asked in a low voice.

Dong Cheng did not even lift his eyelids; his voice carried a trace of cold mockery.

”Li Ping’an? A mere Core Formation Middle Stage, relying on his status as a Business Alliance Tributor, and he really thinks himself someone important?”

”If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll stay curled up inside the Immortal City today, and still be able to preserve some face.”

”If he truly dares to come along without knowing life from death...”

He slowly opened his eyes, a fierce gleam flashing in his gaze.

”Out in these desolate mountains where Tribulation Cultivators roam, a Commerce Association Tributor dying or two is the most normal thing.”

”Even if that Tong Yaoyao learns of it afterward, what can she do?”

”Could it be that her Commerce Association would dare come to my Xuanqing Immortal Sect’s mountain gate to demand justice for a dead man?”

”What’s more, with this stunt by the Holy Beast Mountain Immortal Envoy this time, I’m afraid he’ll be scared into not daring to leave the Immortal City for several years at least.”

Hearing this, Zhao Zhiye felt somewhat reassured.

Thinking about it, that was true.

A colossal existence of the Central Ten Domains, and a Commerce Association from a single eastern domain.

Their scale and deterrent power were simply not on the same level.

Yet.

Just as his mind relaxed a little.

A sudden change burst forth!

An extremely faint numbness spread without warning from his Dantian, yet it made his True Pill suddenly quiver in fright!

When his Magical Power circulated, it instantly turned sluggish!

”Not good!”

Zhao Zhiye’s face changed drastically, and he cried out in shock.

Almost at the same instant.

Dong Cheng, atop the pile of ore above, also snapped his eyes wide open.

His Cultivation was deep, and his Sensing was keener.

At the very moment the numbness came, he perceived an invisible and intangible yet extremely insidious, Deceitful toxicity that had quietly seeped through his Protective Spiritual Light and into his meridians!

”Poison?!”

Dong Cheng was both shocked and enraged.

The vast Magical Power of a Late Period Core Formation surged out around him with a roar, as he tried to force the poison out.

Yet the toxicity clung like a bone-deep canker; it entangled itself so deeply that, although his thick Magical Power temporarily suppressed it so it could not kill him instantly, it still caused his Magical Power to flow less smoothly, his strength greatly diminished.

He, a堂堂 Late-stage Core Formation Ascendant, had actually been poisoned so unconsciously!

”Who is it?!”

He shouted harshly, his powerful Divine Sense sweeping out like a storm, instantly locking onto the source of the toxic force—

In the shadows of the mine pit, behind a pile of rubble.

A black-robed figure slowly stood up, a habitual sinister smile on his face.

It was Xu Xiaochun.

”Tsk, worthy indeed of a Late-stage Core Formation Ascendant.”

”This ’Tier Three Corrupting God Powder’ of mine took quite some effort to refine. An ordinary Core Formation Middle Stage, if unprepared, would likely lose his life.”

”You actually forced it down by brute strength.”

Xu Xiaochun’s tone carried regret, but his eyes were as cold as a viper’s.

”A little poisonous wretch from Medicine God Valley!”

Dong Cheng recognized his background at a glance, and his fury burned hotter.

”Courting death!”

Though he was poisoned and his strength impaired, the thick Magical Power and Realm of an Upper True Pill were still there.

He raised his hand, sending forth an extremely condensed giant azure palm, accompanied by a rumbling Wind and Thunder sound, and slammed it viciously down toward Xu Xiaochun!

This strike was enough to severely wound or even annihilate an ordinary Core Formation Middle Stage!

Xu Xiaochun’s face turned pale as he rapidly retreated, while several streams of toxic smoke of different colors flew out from his sleeve, attempting to block the blow.

But the gap in Realm was too great.

The toxic smoke was easily swept aside by the giant palm; the palm wind had already sealed the space around him.

It looked as though he was about to be slapped into pulp.

”Zheng——!”

A clear, ringing sword cry tore through the night sky!

A sword light blazing like a scorching sun erupted from behind another stretch of ruined wall!

The Sword Qi was pure and inexorable, carrying a resolve to cut through all things, and thrust straight at the side of the giant palm Dong Cheng had sent forth!

Zou Qi had made his move!

The sword light and the giant palm collided head-on!

Boom!

Violent shockwaves exploded, sweeping the surrounding rubble and dust up into the air.

Zou Qi let out a muffled groan as he, together with his sword, was blasted backward; a trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.