Longevity: Comprehending the Heart Method

In the Liuyun Mountain Range, Liu Hongye and Du Huating hovered in the air, watching the distant behemoth dominate the battlefield. The two exchanged a look, sharing a wry smile.

They had originally assumed that even if the Song Clan managed to slay the Great Demon, they would suffer heavy losses in the process. Part of their reasoning for offering such a generous reward for the Song Clan’s aid was the hope of further draining their strength.

But who could have imagined they had hidden their strength so deeply, revealing a Quasi-Celestial Ship.

Its terrifying offensive power sent a chill down the spine of even Liu Hongye, a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection Cultivator.

”The Song Clan’s depths are truly unfathomable,” Liu Hongye murmured. ’I need to reconsider the Sect’s relationship with them.’

Though they had been on the defensive for the entire battle, their losses were no less than the Song Clan’s. On the Martial Spirit Sect’s side, Qiu Wenwu—the former Young Clan Leader of the Qiu Clan, who had only recently broken through to Foundation Establishment—had fallen. Li Siyang and Li Tiancheng were gravely wounded.

Over a hundred disciples had perished.

By comparison, the Liuyun Sect’s losses were even heavier.

Their Sect Protection Array was based on the original Tier Three Low-Grade Array from Liuyun Marketplace. However, due to the insufficient skill of their Array Masters, they could never fully control it, and it was nearly breached during the battle.

They lost two Foundation Establishment Cultivators, and casualties among their disciples exceeded three hundred.

However, the two fallen Foundation Establishment Cultivators were both from Grand Elder Xia Aii’s faction, while all three of the Liu Clan’s Foundation Establishment Cultivators remained unharmed.

Because of this, Liu Hongye seized the opportunity to reclaim most of the Sect’s authority. Grand Elder Xia Aii was completely sidelined. Thus, despite the Sect’s heavy losses, Liu Hongye emerged as the battle’s biggest winner.

The unusual implications of all this were thought-provoking.

But as they say, history is written by the victors. The truth is often unimportant.

Du Huating’s expression darkened as he overheard Liu Hongye’s murmur. Chang Wudao had been in seclusion for many years with no sign of emerging. No one knew what stage his cultivation had reached.

’If Song Xianming is the first to break through and become a Purple Mansion Cultivator,’ he thought, ’then with that Quasi-Celestial Ship and that killing machine, Song Changsheng... the Martial Spirit Sect will be in grave danger!’

Du Huating knew he couldn’t just wait to be destroyed. As his mind raced, he resolved to find an ally for his Sect...

In just a few days, the Silver Moon Demon Wolves of the Liuyun Mountain Range were dealt a devastating blow. Xia Yunxue and the others returned triumphant, laden with spoils.

Not only did they bring back the 150,000 Spirit Stones’ worth of promised supplies, but they also returned with a massive quantity of plundered Demon Beast Materials. The materials alone were worth at least 200,000 Spirit Stones, meaning the Song Clan would not have to worry about cultivation resources for several years to come.

In contrast, their ”allies,” the Martial Spirit Sect and the Liuyun Sect—truly brothers in misfortune—would have to tighten their belts to continue their development.

As the ancients said, for every measure of supplies taken from the enemy, you save twenty of your own.

The Song Clan had become the battle’s greatest victor!

Meanwhile, thanks to Song Changsheng’s deliberate efforts to fan the flames, news that the Song Clan had slain a Great Demon and annihilated the Silver Moon Grey Wolf clan spread rapidly through the surrounding provinces.

Almost overnight, the Song Clan’s fame skyrocketed.

Defeating a Purple Mansion-level opponent was one thing, but slaying one was another concept entirely.

This was all the more impressive given that the Silver Moon Grey Wolf had awakened its Innate Divine Techniques, making its power far greater than that of an ordinary Tier Three Low-Grade Great Demon.

A feat of this magnitude was rare even in the entire Southwest Region. For the first time in a century, the Song Clan had appeared on the radar of the major Purple Mansion Influences.

But Song Changsheng’s goal wasn’t merely to bring fame to his clan. He immediately followed this up by announcing that the Song Clan would be holding an auction...

Bian Province had once been a prosperous land; otherwise, it could never have supported a behemoth like Luoxia City.

Besides Luoxia City, the province had been home to seven Foundation Establishment Influences and dozens of Qi Refining Families. But due to the Silver Moon Demon Wolves’ rampage, five of the seven Foundation Establishment Influences were annihilated. The Qi Refining Families fared even worse—fewer than one in ten survived.

The strength of the Human Race in Bian Province had suffered a devastating blow.

When news that the Song Clan had slain the Great Demon reached Bian Province, the first reaction of the cultivators who had survived the fangs of the Demon Wolves was utter disbelief, followed by uncontrollable wailing.

They had suffered a crushing defeat in this war.

But no matter how heartbroken they were, life had to go on.

Some chose to start over, gritting their teeth to protect their ancestral heritage.

Many more, however, were reduced to the status of Loose Cultivators, as powerful opportunists seized their Spirit Mountains and Spiritual Veins.

For a cultivator, the importance of a Spiritual Vein was self-evident. Without one, they could only rely on Spirit Stones for their cultivation.

Even if they still had savings, those reserves would inevitably be depleted.

Therefore, any cultivator with a modicum of strength was trying to find a way to acquire a Spiritual Vein and establish a new foundation for themselves.

But Spiritual Veins were finite. In Bian Province, the remaining ones had either been occupied by powerful Loose Cultivators, destroyed during the fighting, or seized by the two surviving Foundation Establishment Influences.

The only way to get a Spiritual Vein was to take it by force. But if you could rob someone else, someone else could just as easily rob you. After all, order had completely broken down in Bian Province.

It was at this time, as these people were feeling lost and without direction, that news of the Song Clan’s upcoming auction reached Bian Province...

”Fellow Daoist Zhang, what are your thoughts on this Song Clan auction?” On a Spirit Mountain of breathtaking beauty, an old man with an ethereal bearing held a piece of beast skin paper as he addressed the middle-aged man brewing tea across from him.

The middle-aged man was adding tea leaves to a pot heating over a small stove. He watched the pine-needle-like leaves dance and tumble in the boiling Spiritual Water before finally looking up at the old man. ”Oh? How curious,” he said. ”With the Song Clan’s centuries of history, I imagine they’ll have some remarkable treasures to offer.”