Watching the Mountain

Chapter 420: Chapter 218: Qianxue

Zhang Zhentian had been waiting the entire time, worried about Li Daoyi. As for Chen Chang’an, he was the one the Sect had officially left behind on guard duty, a post he would hold until the Hidden Dao Era Millennium. As compensation, the Sect had given him a Spirit Fruit capable of extending a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator’s lifespan by fifteen hundred years.

This was a treasure the Sect had obtained from a Secret Realm before the world itself fell ill, making it exceptionally precious.

In terms of the Nascent Soul Stage experts who remained, the Profound Pure Sect’s strength was still formidable, but this only represented their top-tier combat power.

In reality, the Sect’s strength had been in constant decline since the beginning of the Hidden Dao Era.

By now, the number of disciples in the Sect had fallen to less than twenty thousand, and their overall Cultivation was also much lower.

After the New Domains and Secret Realms appeared, the Sect had expanded several times. At its peak, the number of disciples had exceeded two hundred thousand.

Now, the number of disciples was merely a tenth of what it had been at its peak, and more than half of them had been recruited in the last three hundred years.

This was largely thanks to the reputation of members of the Eight Heroes of Profound Pure, such as Qing Ma, Zhu Mei, Lan Juhua, and Li Shaobai, which made recruiting new disciples much smoother. Otherwise, the numbers might have been even lower.

However, even this number could not be maintained indefinitely. In the years to come, as the current disciples aged, the Sect’s population would shrink further. Maintaining a few thousand disciples would be the ideal scenario; if things went poorly, the number could be even smaller.

Time slowly ticked by, and there was still no activity from the Overseas Archipelago that Li Daoyi had been so worried about.

When the seven hundredth year of the Hidden Dao Era arrived, Zhang Zhentian was no longer willing to wait. Under the watchful eyes of Xu Ran and the others, he entered the Dust-covered state.

Then came the eight hundredth year, the nine hundredth, and all the way to the one thousandth year of the Hidden Dao Era. Everything remained calm and peaceful.

Xu Ran found Li Daoyi. After a moment of silence, Li Daoyi said, ”I will wait until the last day of this year. If there is still no activity, I will enter the Dust-covered state.”

Hearing this, Xu Ran said no more and silently turned to leave.

Meanwhile, in the vast, empty hall of the rebuilt Jade Radiance Immortal Sect, Luo Qianxue was all alone.

Her elbows rested on the cold stone table as her fingertips kneaded her throbbing temples. She felt completely drained of strength.

A disciple’s words from moments ago still echoed in her ears: ”The one in the Sect trying to break through to the Core Formation Stage... failed again.”

”Failed again?” Luo Qianxue murmured to herself, her voice thick with exhaustion and a hint of numbness.

The sigh seemed to exhaust her last ounce of hope.

She had already lost count of how many times this had happened.

In the four hundredth year of the Hidden Dao Era, when news arrived that Chu Lingxiao had reached the Nascent Soul Realm, the two most promising late-stage Purple Mansion Cultivators in her sect had both attempted to form a Golden Core. Both had failed.

Back then, she had been utterly disheartened, ready to abandon the Sect and enter the Dust-covered state.

But just then, another late-stage Purple Mansion disciple had emerged.

A sliver of hope made her stay. She decided to wait a little longer, to give the Sect another chance, and... ’to give myself a chance to catch up to Li Daoyi and Chu Lingxiao.’

She was unwilling to be left so far behind.

However, a century of waiting only resulted in another failure.

She gritted her teeth and held on. One after another, three more late-stage Purple Mansion Cultivators appeared in the Sect.

’Three more chances!’

She poured nearly all her energy into training them and into her own Cultivation, hoping that just one would succeed in their Core Formation. That would grant her release, allowing her to peacefully pursue higher Realms like her old companions.

’But what was the result?’

Time and again, hope was kindled only to be extinguished. Each failure was like another massive stone piled onto her already exhausted shoulders.

Once, the Jade Radiance Immortal Sect had been so glorious that Golden Core Cultivators were merely its backbone.

’And now?’

Even nurturing a single ordinary Golden Core Disciple had become an impossible luxury.

As for her own Cultivation, now in the Hidden Dao Era Millennium, she had only managed to crawl from the Golden Core Early Stage to the late stage. There was still no hope of breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage.

She, who had once been ahead, could now barely even see the backs of Li Daoyi and Chu Lingxiao.

She sat there numbly, her vacant gaze fixed on the gloomy, gray sky outside the hall.

After holding on for so long, after struggling for so long, it had all come to nothing.

The Sect had no successor, and her own path in cultivation was bleak.

Her unwillingness to accept defeat was ultimately no match for cold, hard reality.

”Forget it...” she said to herself, her voice so soft it was barely audible. ”It’s time to let go.”

She took a deep breath, preparing to summon her disciples and announce the decision she had put off for centuries: she was giving up, and she would enter the Dust-covered state.

As for the future fate of the Sect, she truly no longer had the strength to care.

However, just as she was about to call for someone, the hall doors were thrown open with a BANG.

A disciple scrambled inside, his face deathly pale, his voice warped by extreme terror:

”Sect Leader, it’s terrible! The... the coast! A huge number of people have suddenly appeared at the coast, swarming everywhere! And... and there are countless warships!”