Cultivating To Immortality

Chapter 751: Man in Straw Raincoat

Chapter 229: Descending Immortal Pass, The Straw-Cloaked Guest

Xin’an Prefecture, outside Ying City, the Chu Capital.

Boyang Mountain.

Song Yan, following Wang Ke’s directions, manipulated the Red Dust Dipper and landed at a certain spot in the mountains. Afterwards, the group disembarked from the flying boat.

The agreement with this employer was about to end, and he would soon receive the last portion of Luo Zhen Vine, making Xiao Song’s mood excellent.

He looked at Wang Ke and casually asked, "Now that you’ve reached the Chu Capital, what are your plans?"

The protective Restriction on his body had been destroyed, and if he wasn’t protected, he would likely encounter an accident.

"The protective Restriction was destroyed by that Yuan Zhen. According to Sect rules, my travels must end early, and I must return to the Central Region to report the situation."

"How will you get back?"

The Central Region was still very far from Chu Region.

Wang Ke chuckled, revealing a white chess piece in his palm.

The white piece shattered with a bang, and spiritual light transformed into a section of withered vine with a golden luster.

"That, I’m afraid, I cannot disclose." Wang Ke handed over the Spirit Medicine, his tone relaxed, showing no signs of apprehension.

"I must thank Daoist Song for escorting me this time. If we have the chance to meet again in the future, we must share a drink."

A chance to meet again?

Heh heh, perhaps.

During this journey, Song Yan occasionally encountered familiar faces because Chu Region was only so big.

Among them, some were even people he knew the location of, and he actively sought them out to meet.

But outside Chu Region, let alone the Central Region, even in the surrounding Nine Southern Nations, in such a vast sea of people, where would there be any chance of meeting again?

It might be possible, but the probability was simply too low.

However, Song Yan also knew that the other party was merely being polite and didn’t take it to heart.

"Certainly."

He accepted the Luo Zhen Vine and bowed.

Wang Ke and Song Yan’s group parted ways here.

After separating, he walked slowly northward through the mountains of Boyang Mountain. His steps were unhurried, yet his speed was incredibly fast.

He arrived at a deep valley.

"It’s a good thing Senior Brother Meng left a Teleportation Formation here when he traveled through Chu Region before, otherwise, flying all the way back to the Central Region would take me until the year of the monkey and horse."

"Senior Brother Meng truly had foresight."

Wang Ke chuckled, seemingly in a good mood.

Although he told Song Yan that he was returning to the Sect early, Chu Region was actually his last stop in the Nine Southern Nations.

"It’s a pity that the chess manual’s golden page isn’t one of the ancient games, otherwise, this trip would truly be Perfection."

He was in a great mood.

So good, in fact, that he allowed the three unknown Cultivators trailing him to enter the valley with him.

From the moment he parted ways with Song Yan and the others, Wang Ke had sensed the presence of the three.

Actually, they weren’t entirely strangers, because the one leading them was one of the evil Cultivators who had targeted him a few months ago.

He hadn’t expected them to wait until now.

"They really have patience."

These three were at the Realm of Qi Refining Perfection and two at Level 9 Qi Refining, while he, on the surface, was just a Mortal with no magical power... It seemed these individuals had a very steady approach and were very experienced.

Wang Ke stopped by a pond. Before he could make a move, three streaks of spiritual light flashed simultaneously in the valley.

Three Spiritual Artifacts and three Spells shot towards Wang Ke, moving incredibly fast.

It was only at this moment that the three trailing figures revealed themselves, attacking from different directions.

Six streaks of spiritual light simultaneously engulfed Wang Ke’s body.

The rapid movement of the three figures then slowed, seemingly surprised that it was so easy.

"Heh heh, I didn’t expect this person to really just be a Mortal."

"That shouldn’t be... I saw him take out a qiankun bag before. Perhaps he encountered some mishap and lost his Cultivation?"

"There’s such a good thing in this world."

"What are you saying? Big Brother, quickly take his qiankun bag."

The last person’s eyes were somewhat fervent: "I saw it before, that qiankun bag of his looks extraordinary."

The green-robed man leading them nodded and stepped forward.

However, at this very moment, an unexpected change occurred.

Wang Ke’s dismembered corpse suddenly shattered, turning into five or six chess pieces that fell to the ground.

"Not good! This person..."

How could the green-robed man’s experience be anything but rich? He immediately knew he had fallen into a trap.

At the same time, beneath his feet, specks of spiritual light suddenly converged, forming several crisscrossing black lines.

It was as if it were a crisscrossing phantom of a part of a huge chessboard.

Along with the crisscrossing black lines, three white chess pieces also converged, forming to the green-robed man’s left, right, and behind him.

"Place a piece."

A voice came from somewhere in the valley. Before the words finished, a white chess piece suddenly dropped.

Clack.

The white piece landed in front of the green-robed man, and an inexplicable sense of crisis surged in his heart.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

"Capture a piece."

Amidst the terrified expressions of the other two, whose eyes were about to burst, all the Spiritual Qi in the green-robed man’s body, including his protective Spiritual Qi, began to rapidly dissipate outwards.

His face visibly withered, and in almost an instant, he had lost all signs of life.

And those rapidly dissipating Spiritual Qi converged towards a certain spot in the valley.

The other two looked towards a common tree, beneath which Wang Ke was sitting cross-legged.

The Spiritual Qi drawn from the green-robed Cultivator’s body now re-converged in his hand, only, it had transformed into a black chess piece.

"Foundation... Foundation Establishment Realm!?"

A single chess piece instantly killed a Cultivator at Qi Refining Perfection.

By now, how could these two not understand what Realm the other party was in?

"Senior! Let..."

Clack, clack.

Almost instantly, the phantom of chess board star positions also appeared beneath their feet.

Two black pieces fell simultaneously, their sound like rain on bluestone. The two didn’t even let out a scream before all their spiritual power and life force were drawn away, transforming them into chess pieces.

"I’m about to leave Chu Region, so this can be considered eliminating evil for the Cultivators here."

The phantoms dissipated.

"Hmm..." He extended his palm, holding three chess pieces: one black, two white. "This way, it doesn’t break the Sect’s rules either."

Wang Ke didn’t even glance at the three people’s qiankun bags.

He stood up and continued walking deeper into the valley.

He walked for another moment.

At the end of the valley, beneath a waterfall, Wang Ke finally found the Teleportation Formation array pattern carved by his Senior Brother back then.

He unceremoniously sat on the ground, directly sweeping away the moss and dust covering the array pattern with his hand.

Then, with a lift of his palm, eight chess pieces floated up one by one, slowly circling and moving in the air.

Until a certain moment, they suddenly dropped, landing on the Teleportation Formation array pattern.

The eight chess pieces transformed into spiritual light the moment they landed, merging into the Formation.

Profound fluctuations slowly emanated. After an unknown number of years, this Teleportation Formation was finally about to welcome its second user.

Wang Ke walked forward unhurriedly, as profound black and white lights rose.

He suddenly turned his head, glancing in the direction of the Chu Capital.

"Song Yan... Song Yesheng."

Before the light swallowed his figure, he let out a low chuckle.

"How interesting."

...After parting ways with Wang Ke, Song Yan took Xiao Ju and Xiao He and headed northeast.

"Yan Yan, where are we going?"

Xiao He’s eyes sparkled. Clearly, she wanted to see the legendary Chu Capital and asked this question on purpose.

"Look."

Song Yan pointed casually. On the distant horizon, a winding, continuous grey-black city wall appeared.

Under the sunlight, the pass looked quite ancient, like the spine of some ancient creature.

"Senior Song, what is that place?" Xiao Ju asked.

"Descending Immortal Pass."

The maps and information obtained from the Cave Abyss Sect could not cover all the markets and Cultivator gathering places in Chu Region.

After all, some Loose Cultivator gathering places were small in scale, perhaps established overnight under the leadership of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Or perhaps, overnight, their backing perished, and the group scattered.

But most of the larger, more historically significant markets would naturally be marked.

For example, the one before them, one of the largest Loose Cultivator gathering places in Chu Region.

"Descending Immortal Pass."

A "city" where Cultivators gathered.

On one hand, Song Yan was planning to find a market to prepare everything needed for Foundation Establishment as much as possible, then focus on accumulating Cultivation and return to the Sect to establish his Dao Foundation.

The scale of Descending Immortal Pass was unmatched in Chu Region.

On the other hand, this journey was about traveling thousands of miles and seeing the world’s affairs.

He had never seen such a grand sight. Since he was already here, gaining some experience was certainly good... *Clap*.

"Esteemed audience, please listen quietly. Today’s gavel does not strike for secrets of the Immortal Dynasty, nor does it speak of inner court intrigues for now."

"Let us speak of the origin of our Chu Region’s first Immortal City, Descending Immortal Pass."

With a clap of the storyteller’s block, his folding fan gently swayed.

"It is said that thousands of years ago, an evil Dragon appeared in the water veins of Chu Region, coming from who knows where... Ah, this esteemed listener has vast experience."

"Indeed, back then, the Mortal world was still called ’Former Chu’."

"Although this evil Dragon’s origin was unknown, its strength was not simple."

"Its body was black and red, like black jade stained with blood. Its eyes were like stars, its dark scales like thorns. With a breath, a hundred miles of clouds would churn, and mountains would crumble."

"It was truly formidable..."

"A Fourth-Tier Great Demon!"

The audience below, hearing this, gasped collectively.

"You, esteemed sirs, are all insightful and well-connected Immortal Dao talents. You must know that a Fourth-Tier Great Demon represents the strength of the Nascent Soul Realm!"

"How to resolve this Fourth-Tier demonic calamity? Does our Chu Region currently have any Nascent Soul Seniors?" The storyteller asked and answered himself: "No."

"Did we have any Nascent Soul Realm Seniors in the Former Chu era a thousand years ago?"

"Please allow me to tell you slowly."

He left them in suspense.

"This evil Dragon beast wreaked havoc on the Mortal world during the lunar eclipse. The common people in the eighteen prefectures downstream of the Chu River, seeing the black moon in the sky and blood-red light at night, knew that the calamity of the Dragon drinking from the river was upon them."

"Do you know how rampant it was?"

"At that time, our Chu Region Cultivation World was not yet in the current Six Major Sects configuration."

"Among the Six Major Sects of that time, there was a Sect named Ziyuan Sect."

"This name, though perhaps obscure now, if I mention another name, perhaps you all will have heard of it."

"That would be True Person Qing Yan, the youngest Core Formation Cultivator recorded in Chu Region’s history."

"He entered seclusion to Breakthrough at one hundred and twenty-six years old, endured three years, and achieved the Golden Core Dao at one hundred and twenty-nine years old. He came from the Ziyuan Sect."

"Let’s say, on that day, the entire Ziyuan Immortal Sect, from top to bottom, as usual, held a Spirit Offering Ceremony to worship their ancestors, widely opened their gates, and recruited disciples."

"Who would have thought that the evil Dragon would overturn rivers and seas, striking from the sky? Its thousand-zhang Dragon tail swept across the Sect gate. Instantly, the immortal mountain cracked, and the Sect collapsed."

"It was pitiful that those Mortal immortal sprouts, who had just been recruited into the Sect and had just glimpsed the Great Dao of Immortals, were swept up by the demonic wind, turning into fluttering blood droplets in mid-air, and perished."

"The Cultivators of the Ziyuan Sect rushed forward one after another. The contemporary Sect Leader, risking all his Cultivation and true essence, summoned three bolts of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning, but it had no effect whatsoever."

"That beast yawned and spewed a cloud of foul-smelling poisonous mist. Within a hundred miles, all vegetation withered."

"The Ziyuan Sect, in a single day, saw all its disciples die, and its Sect Leader perished. One of the Six Major Sects thus vanished from the Mortal world."

The storyteller’s folding fan suddenly opened, revealing a picture of a Dragon in the clouds.

"As the saying goes, if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold; if the rabbit dies, the fox grieves."

"The Ziyuan Sect was inexplicably annihilated. How could others still harbor illusions? This evil Dragon was certainly not coming with good intentions."

"It was also thanks to this evil Dragon that all the Cultivators in Chu Region at that time united, including the other five major Sects who were still vying for Spiritual Veins, vowing to drive this evil Dragon out of Chu Region."

"All the Golden Core Realm Cultivators of the five major Sects, both openly and secretly, plus the Golden Core Old Ancestors of other ordinary Sects, and the Loose Cultivator masters of that time..."

"Thirty-nine Golden Core Realm Cultivators gathered from across the nation! Truly, swords gleamed and Treasure Artifacts bristled."

"The Profound Origin Sect Leader of that time, Daoist Xuan Ming, held the Seven Treasures Demon Suppressing Pagoda, its seven-colored profound light soaring to the heavens; the Zhongmiao Sect Leader brought out the Yin and Yang Treasure Mirror, inverting mountains and rivers, dimming the sun and moon..."

"All the Seniors were like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each displaying their Divine Abilities."

"But alas..."

"That evil Dragon was, after all, a Fourth-Tier Great Demon. Ordinary Dao Spells were useless, and common Spiritual Artifacts and Spiritual Treasures would shatter upon contact."

"The most perilous was Great Master Duguan, the former abbot of Huadu Temple. Wielding the Demon Subduing Staff, he charged ahead, aiming directly for the evil Dragon’s eyes."

"Esteemed sirs, what kind of might did Great Master Duguan’s Vajra Wrathful Dharma Body possess?"

"That was a Buddhist profound art Cultivated for over one hundred and eighty years, yet it was half-rotted by the evil Dragon’s casual spewing of poisonous breath, severely damaging his Origin Qi."

At this point, the entire audience fell silent.

He paused for a moment.

"Just as Chu Region, its four provinces and thirteen prefectures, was filled with lamentation, and all the immortal families felt despair..."

"One morning, in the thin mist, a small boat was suddenly seen drifting from the heart of the river."

"On the bow sat alone an old man in a straw cloak, wearing a bamboo hat, with a wine gourd hanging from his waist."

"To speak of this old man’s appearance, it was truly ordinary, unbothered by dust, unbothered by river water, completely like a Mortal fisherman."

"How strange."

"Unexpectedly, when the evil Dragon saw this person, it actually reacted as if facing a formidable enemy. Its thousand-zhang demonic body soared into the sky, the river churned with hundreds of muddy waves, and a torrential downpour fell within a ten-mile radius."

The storyteller’s pace quickened.

"The old man casually tossed out a fishing basket. In that instant, the fishing basket flew into the sky, transforming into a boundless Formation."

"In a flash, thousands of mirages rose from the river surface, the Eight Gates and Dun Jia suppressed all directions, and the Nine Palaces’ positions revealed phantom sword lights, making it impossible for the evil Dragon to defend both its head and tail!"

"The most extraordinary part was yet to come. Seeing the evil Dragon trapped within the boundless Formation, thrashing left and right like a turtle in a jar, the old man flicked a Medicinal Pill from his fingertip, and his sword-finger slashed across."

"That immortal Medicinal Pill was not much larger than an ordinary one, yet all the immortal families showed expressions of shock."

"Only to see the immortal Medicinal Pill suddenly transform into a streak of sword light, its sharp edge undeniable, heading straight for the evil Dragon’s brow!"

Clap.

The storyteller’s block fell heavily.

"To know what happens next, listen to the next installment."