Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Below the Bronze Censer Peak, more and more Cultivators from the smaller sects had gathered.

As time went by, they grew more and more curious about the result of the ongoing ‘summit confrontation’.

For Cultivators at the level of Qi Zhongdao and Yan Liren, the outcome of their fight would often be decided in one moment. It was impossible for them to maul each other for an hour without a winner like two mobsters on the street.

But that seemed to be what was happening.

The low-level Cultivators could only hear the astonishing sounds on the Bronze Censer Peak and see the spectacular views where the mountains were chopped by the sword auras, the clouds were churned by spiritual energy, and all kinds of variegated brightness were soaring toward the sky.

When they thought that the battle was over, new noises erupted before they were replaced by dead silence. They waited and waited, yet there seemed to be no end!

All the Cultivators were waiting so earnestly that they almost hated that their souls could not leave their body to see what was going on there.

Of course, that was impossible. The entire Bronze Censer Peak had been surrounded by barriers. Not just the outsiders, even the empyreal soldiers responsible for security did not know the result!

After waiting for a long time without any new message, as if an invisible behemoth had swallowed everyone on the Bronze Censer Peak, everyone at the bottom of the mountain grew rowdy.

“What’s going on? Why have the Sword Maniac and Master Righteous One fought for such a long time? This doesn’t seem like their style!”

“Who do you think is the winner, the Sword Maniac or Master Righteous One? Who is the well-deserved ‘best’ in the Dragon Spring Meeting?”

“The Sword Maniac is best known for his fast sword. If he is the winner, it shouldn’t have taken so long, right?”

“Did anything unexpected happen on the Bronze Censer Peak? Is it possible that Yan Liren or Qi Zhongdao were killed by the opponent, and the Purple Pole Sword Sect waged a war upon the other five major sects?”

“Is—is—is it really possible?”

“Then, how do you explain the fulminations and the surging spiritual energy there? Look. The clouds in the sky are galloping like stallions. It is a sign that the spiritual energy has been activated to the maximum! Who else except for super experts such as Yan Liren or Qi Zhongdao can unleash such intimidating flames of spiritual energy?”

The yells and shouts spread like wildfire. Not only were the thousands of Cultivators from the smaller sects ill at ease, even the empyreal swordsmen of the Purple Pole Sword Sect were apparently less confident than before despite their faked calmness.

They did not expect the battle to drag on to such a point. What exactly happened on the Bronze Censer Peak? Was it Yan Liren who won, or was it Qi Zhongdao? Or…

Every empyreal swordsman’s hands were sweating while they clenched their swords.

Just when the raucous scene was almost out of control, a dull gong noise finally echoed on the top of the Bronze Censer Peaker. The barriers that surrounded the mountain ebbed like colorful tides.

The elders of the six major sects slowly descended on their lotus jade discs.

“The result is out!”

“What happened? What happened? Did the Sword Maniac overwhelm Master Righteous One, or did Master Righteous One eclipse the Sword Maniac?”

An elder of the Purple Pole Sword Sect stepped out of the crowd. He flew above the thousands of Cultivators on the lotus jade disc before glancing at the messy crowd with a half-smile and declared, “The result of the sword test between Elder Yan of our sect and Master Righteous One of the Grand Mystery Sect is now out! Master Righteous One’s Heaven Flipping Seal deserves to be known as the ultimate treasure in the world. It has suppressed all three primeval swords that our sect recently produced. The Purple Pole Sword Sect has lost the competition!”

“Ah!”

“Lost. Yan Liren lost! The Purple Pole Sword Sect lost!”

“Heaven Flipping Seal! Heaven Flipping Seal, the best treasure of the Ancient Sages Sector! To think that it has destroyed three primeval swords in a row! How amazing!”

“It seems that the Purple Pole Sword Sect suffered such a crushing defeat that they were not able to fight back at all. Otherwise, why would their elder be admitting it so frankly without any whitewashing?”

“This is good!”

Many of the smaller sects had followed the five major sects there because they intended to split the leftovers after the five major sects claimed the trophies.

Now that the Grand Mystery Sect was on the winning side, they were naturally simmering with delight. The greed in their eyes was obvious!

The few Cultivators who were not bemused by their voracity, however, felt that something was off.

They noticed that the leadership of the five major sects who were slowly landing all had weird expressions. There was not the joy of victory at all but certain uncanny embarrassment.

The elders and the managers of the Grand Mystery Sect, in particular, had faces as dark as the bottom of a pot. They did not look confident and ambitious at all.

“What’s going on? Didn’t Master Righteous One win? Why does it seem that the five major sects have lost?”

The elder of the Purple Pole Sword Sect caught the reactions of all the Cultivators from the smaller sects. With a feigned smile, he said, “There are also three things that we would like to inform you of!

“Firstly, our sect and the Grand Mystery Sect have just reached a deal. We will provide three thousand ‘Moon Wave Swords’ made of Moon Wave Steel in five years. For the deal, we will join hands with the Grand Mystery Sect to develop Violet Moon Mountain, which has abundant reserves of Moon Wave Steel!

“Violet Moon Mountain is remote, with dense forests and animals. We are going to need a lot of hands. If any fellow Cultivators here are interested in the business, you are welcome to cooperate with us!”

“What!”

His announcement dumbfounded all the Cultivators who were planning to loot the burning house.

Moon Wave Steel was nothing rare. Moon Wave Swords were low-level flying swords that were usually distributed to the newly-recruited disciples.

For the super sects such as the Purple Pole Sword Sect and the Grand Mystery Sect, the business of three thousand Moon Wave Swords should be insufficient to fill the gap of their teeth!

At such a moment, the public announcement of such an insignificant deal and the claim that the two sects would develop the Moon Wave Steel reserves together were just a gesture suggesting that the Purple Pole Sword Sect had reached a secret deal, or at least laid the groundwork for the deal, with the five major sects led by the Grand Mystery Sect!

But how was it possible?

Since a thousand sects had come to threaten Hundred Blade Mountain under the lead of the five major sects, the situation was highly unfavorable for the Purple Pole Sword Sect. After Yan Liren, the top expert of the sect, had failed, they should have been like meat on a chopping block waiting to be butchered!

How did the two parties reach a deal so fast? The smaller sects did not even have time to enjoy the leftovers!

Also, judging from the casualness and the smile of the elder of the Purple Pole Sword Sect, the deal that they had reached was even more advantageous for the Purple Pole Sword Sect.

What exactly had happened up there?

The low-level Cultivators could not figure it out at all, and they scratched their head as hard as they could!

“Secondly…”

The elder of the Purple Pole Sword Sect dragged his tone and said unhurriedly, “According to the news that we have just received from the Southland of Sorcerers, Ling Shoujing, the Appeasing Ambassador of the Fifth Prefecture of the South Land of Sorcerers, has fortunately accomplished his mission. With the enlightenment of Master Spiritual Vulture, a local senior, he has pronounced Huo Wuji as the Chieftain of Southwest, banished the disobedient rogues including Huo Wuji, and executed Master Black Moon who was shameless enough to rebel. Even Han Yuantai, Lord of Behemothic Eagle from Ghost Qin, was heavily wounded and kicked back to his own hometown!

“In half a month, the chaos in the Southland of Sorcerers has been addressed!”

It was another piece of explosive news.

Everybody knew that the Ling family, a vassal family to the Purple Pole Sword Sect, had been asked to fix the mess in the southwest.

It was also not a secret that the Purple Pole Sword Sect, to cope with the pressures from everywhere, could not dispatch too many Nascent Soul Stage experts to support the Ling family.

Ling Shoujing, on the other hand, was just a Core Formation Stage Cultivator. Few people were optimistic about his mission to the Southland of Sorcerers.

But as it happened, even guys as brutal as Master Black Moon and Han Yuantai had been suppressed?

Ling Shoujing certainly did not have such capabilities.

Many people located the most critical name from the whole announcement quickly.

Master Spiritual Vulture!

As they expected, the elder of the Purple Pole Sword Sect went on. “Thirdly, our sect has recently hired a new visiting elder. His name is Master Spiritual Vulture, a man who has been renowned in the Southland of Sorcerers for a hundred years!

“Not only does Master Spiritual Vulture boast an immense Cultivation that has arrived at the peak, he is also an extraordinary specialist in sword forging, which happens to be the specialty of this sect!

“In order for more Cultivators to appreciate Master Spiritual Vulture’s demeanor, we have just decided that the Dragon Spring Meeting this year will be specially extended by one day. Master Spiritual Vulture will hold a lecture that covers the mysteries of the secret arts from Great Zhou on forging and refining! If you are not in a hurry to go home, Fellow Cultivators, I strongly suggest that you do not miss it!”

The elder of the Purple Pole Sword Sect’s words raised rounds of whispers each louder than the last among the thousands of low-level Cultivators.

“Master Spiritual Vulture? Wasn’t he a barbarian Cultivator who disappeared decades ago? I recall that his senior brother Master Black Moon…”

“Watch your mouth! I’m told that he is an old monster who is brutal, petty, and blatant!”

“How did the Purple Pole Sword Sect invite such an old monster?”

“Were the anomalies on the Bronze Censer Peak related to him? Is he the key to everything?”

“The secret arts from Great Zhou? What Great Zhou? Hiss… Is it the Great Zhou Dynasty from ninety thousand years ago?”

Every mouth was shouting the name of ‘Master Spiritual Vulture’. Every pair of suspicious eyes was gazing at the Bronze Censer Peak, trying to find any traces of the barbarian from the unpredictable mist and clouds!

In the middle of the doubts, sighs, and exclamations, the name of ‘Master Spiritual Vulture’ was spreading over the entire Hundred Blade Mountain like an unstoppable storm with the Bronze Censer Peak as the center. In less than an hour, it had been learned by all the Cultivators who went to participate in the Dragon Spring Meeting.

It would not be long before the name was spread to every corner of the Ancient Sages Sector!