October 23, 2023 Author: Wen Chaogong
In the Southern Wasteland Immortal Cultivation World.
The stream murmured gently, the forest lush and verdant.
Boom!
A piece of green stone suddenly moved, revealing a cellar underneath.
Fang Xi held the Golden Jiao Sword in one hand and a talisman in the other, cautiously poking his head out.
Seeing that everything outside was normal, with not much change compared to when he left, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"I've finally returned here."
He took a deep breath, intoxicated by the spiritual energy of the Southern Wasteland Immortal Cultivation World.
"It's all up to me now... If it were another Four-Step Martial Master, even if they could successfully break through under the siege of experts and the army of the Three Elements City, they would probably end up being surrounded and killed alive."
"Fortunately, I've obtained everything I needed."
"Breaking through the True Gang Martial Saint level, equivalent to the Threefold Body Refining Cultivator in the Immortal Dao, comparable to a late-stage Qi Refining expert!"
"Even though the chaos near Qingzhu Mountain Market hasn't ended, it's enough for self-preservation."
Fang Xi had escaped from Qingzhu Mountain Market initially because he was afraid of the chaos.
Now, he was somewhat eager to try his luck, after all, chaos was the best ladder.
"No, I still need to be careful."
"Now, the most important thing is to find people and understand the current situation!"
Fang Xi looked at the sky, identified a direction, and swiftly departed using his body technique.
...
The Kingdom of Yue.
Jiahe City.
This was the closest mortal city to Qingzhu Mountain.
In the best restaurant in the city - Tianxian Building.
Tianxian Building was located in the center of the city, a prime location, built elegantly.
Especially the top floor, which was always only open to distinguished guests.
As for who these distinguished guests were, even the waiters inside might not be clear.
"Grandpa, it is said that even the City Lord must show respect to the owner behind Tianxian Building. Who could that be?"
On the second-highest floor of Tianxian Building, in a private room with the door open, a gorgeously dressed and gentle girl was curiously asking her grandfather beside her.
"Hehe, you've asked the right person..." The old man chuckled, stroking his beard, and finally, after the girl's repeated requests, he lowered his voice, "Those who can make the City Lord bow and scrape naturally are only those Immortal Masters..."
"Immortal Masters?" The girl's eyes lit up immediately upon hearing this, looking around as if trying to find the entrance to the top floor.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the entrance to the top floor was not here.
At this moment, accompanied by footsteps, a young man in green arrived on this floor, looking around.
Then, as if he had found the right direction, he walked towards a wooden wall.
Hanging on the wooden wall was a painting of an ancient lady.
"This is it..." Fang Xi muttered to himself and walked in.
Ripple!
A burst of light appeared, and he disappeared into the light.
Having studied "The Basics of Formation Dao," Fang Xi naturally recognized that this was a small restriction meant to block ordinary people, but it was completely ineffective against Cultivators.
"Grandpa..."
Watching his disappearing figure, the girl tugged at her grandfather.
The old man's eyes were also somewhat dazed, not even noticing the spilled drink on himself, before turning to his granddaughter and saying, "Yunyun, you're lucky. That young man in green is probably an Immortal Master..."
"An Immortal Master?" The girl's eyes were full of envy upon hearing this!
...
Beyond the restriction was a wooden staircase.
Step by step, Fang Xi ascended the stairs to the top floor of Tianxian Building.
The place was elegantly and intricately decorated, with every item perhaps being hard to find in the mortal world. The view was also extremely broad, overlooking the entire Jiahe City.
However, there were few seats, and at this moment, only a few people were seated.
"Hehe... This friend, I am Ge Hongdan, honored to be the owner of Tianxian Building!"
A chubby man dressed like an ordinary merchant smiled and greeted, "This building is open to all Cultivators, feel free to stay and enjoy all the mortal goods, everything is free."
"Thank you for your generosity!"
Fang Xi returned the gesture.
Ge Hongdan laughed heartily, "I just like making friends... To be honest, it's also thanks to the support of the Eighth Prince of Yue. I don't know where our friend comes from, would you like to be a guest in the secular world? As long as you are willing to come to the royal mansion, I can't say about Spirit Stones, but all the mortal luxuries, whether it's gold, silver, jewels, beautiful women, mansions, antique horses... we have it all!"
"Thank you for your kind offer, but I am still young and wish to continue struggling on the path of cultivation."
Fang Xi politely declined, promising, "When I grow old or lose heart in the future, I will definitely come here, please accommodate me then."
"Haha, of course, of course." Ge Hongdan didn't insist. He had seen many young Cultivators like him, each one proud and arrogant. The elderly Cultivators after the age of sixty were his real targets.
For the elderly Cultivators who had no hope of Foundation Establishment and wanted to establish a family in the mortal world or continue their bloodline, the best way was to seek refuge with the powerful, where they could enjoy wealth and luxury.
"Very good, just as rumored, all weaklings." Fang Xi glanced around and found that except for Ge Hongdan, who had the strength of the Mid Qi Refining stage, most of the other guests were around the Early Qi Refining stage.
In other words, he could easily handle everyone here, feeling relieved.
After some thought, he found a seat by the window and began to enjoy the view outside.
The Cultivators on this floor were either sipping spirit wine from gourds, tasting delicacies, or chatting.
After waiting for half an hour, Fang Xi heard a newcomer from the next table mention the information he was interested in:
"Ah... Another Corpse Refiner appeared near Jiahe City. I teamed up with Old Song to kill it, but Old Song accidentally got poisoned... I had to buy a detoxifying elixir, which cost me half a Spirit Stone. Damn Corpse Refiner!"
A young man at the Third Qi Refining stage took a sip of wine, full of complaints, "Even if the Situ family was wiped out, they caused a lot of harm!"
"Excuse me, friend."
Fang Xi's interest was piqued upon hearing this and he walked over.
"Please, this friend." Fang Xi sat down casually and asked the question he was most concerned about.
"Before this, I was fully focused on cultivation for two years. I just heard you mention the destruction of the Situ family. Can you tell me more about it?"
Fang Xi sat down casually and asked.
"So that's it."
Chen Mo relaxed a bit upon seeing Fang Xi approaching, "The Situ family and the Hongye Valley were notorious for their wrongdoings and were ordered to be exterminated by the Xuantian Sect... It happened two years ago."
"Oh? Can you tell me more about the specifics? Which forces were involved?" Fang Xi continued to inquire.
Chen Mo was somewhat surprised, but this information was public, and no one cared about it, "The ones who took action were the Baiqiao Qi family, the Qingye Xu family, the Tianfu Shen family, the Huangfeng Long family, and the Song family... When they were exterminating the Hongye Valley and the Qingzhu Mountain Market, everything went smoothly until they reached the Situ family's main base, the Blackwater Pond, where they suffered heavy losses!"
"What kind of heavy losses?" Fang Xi showed an interested expression.
"Well... The Situ family was known for being ruthless and tyrannical. Later, we learned that they were a demonic force. Their ancestor was the infamous demonic cultivator 'Situ Jiu' from a neighboring country, who was skilled in the art of refining corpses... The spiritual veins at Blackwater Pond were not abundant, and there was also poisonous miasma, but the only commendable thing was the presence of a Yin vein, which could be used as a place to nourish corpses... The Situ family deliberately chose their ancestral land there, planning meticulously!"
"On that day, when the Cultivator army arrived at the Situ family, the Situ family fought back with coffins. Thousands of coffins came out of the gates, and countless buried ancestors' corpses rose from the coffins, slaughtering the Cultivator army...
Tsk tsk, it is said that the Situ family had a family rule that all Cultivators of the clan must be buried in the corpse-nourishing land after death, becoming the foundation of the family. This time, when they emerged, they really scared the attacking Cultivators.
It is said that there were five or six flying zombies at the Foundation Establishment stage, and the leader even reached the late Foundation Establishment stage!"
"However, the Xuantian Sect sent Cultivators to supervise the battle. In the end, the family Cultivators set up the 'Heavenly Fire Divine Flame Formation' after months of attack, barely breaking through the Situ family. But the most elite part of the Situ family had already escaped and turned into demonic cultivators, wreaking havoc...
The Cultivation families that attacked suffered heavy losses. Baiqiao Qi family lost an elder at the Foundation Establishment stage, the Tianfu Shen family's Foundation Establishment Cultivators were wiped out and downgraded to Qi Refining families, and later, they were also exterminated by the remnants of the Situ family, suffering heavy losses..."
"On the other hand, the Blackwater Pond where the Situ family was located, although there are still scattered remnants of corpse-refining at the Qi Refining level, and it has been looted once, it has become a favorite exploration site for the independent Cultivators in the recent period..."
Chen Mo finished speaking, feeling a bit dry in the mouth, taking a sip of tea.
"So convoluted!" Fang Xi was also somewhat shocked upon hearing this.
He didn't expect the Situ family's desperate struggle and counterattack to be so decisive and brutal!
"However, the Situ family hasn't been completely wiped out. Some of their clan members escaped, right? I wonder if Situ Qingqing is still around? But even if she is, she's probably been turned into a demonic cultivator..." Fang Xi felt that the final battle was very suspicious, most likely due to the methods of the Xuantian Sect, causing both sides to suffer losses, with the fisherman benefiting in the end.
But there were many clever people in the Cultivation world, and everyone could see it, but couldn't say it.
After all, the Xuantian Sect had a Nascent Soul Ancestor!
"I wonder how Qingzhu Mountain Market fared later?" Fang Xi thought for a moment and asked the question he cared about the most.
"I know about this." Ge Hongdan walked over and smiled, "Qingzhu Mountain Market was originally controlled by the Situ family, but later it was broken through by the Long family... However, the Long family suffered heavy losses in the subsequent attack on Blackwater Pond and had to give up most of the benefits. The once Qingzhu Mountain changed hands several times, experiencing a period of chaos, with robbers everywhere, looting and killing, and most of the goods being fake... This led to most of the nearby Cultivators fleeing."
"Later, a few powerful independent Cultivators at the Great Qi Refining stage couldn't bear to see this and formed an alliance called the 'Qingzhu Society,' taking over the management of the market. After several clean-ups and crackdowns on robbers, they barely stabilized the market, but it was limited. They could only ensure that there were no fights within the market, and anything outside the market was not their concern... However, in doing so, it has become a rare fencing ground in the Yue Kingdom's Cultivation world, gaining some reputation."
"A black market in the Cultivation world?" Fang Xi muttered to himself, finally understanding.
(End of this chapter)