Chapter 155: Xie Yunling, the Man to Whom a Big Secret of the World Was Revealed
Dark clouds gradually covered the sky.
Lu Fan was sitting in the Thousand Blades Chair with that golden light still in his hand.
He did not burn that golden light. He had his own plan to dispose of it.
Relying on the Phoenix Feather Sword’s power, Lu Fan extracted a lot of information out of the golden light.
“The golden light is from a Mid Level Martial World. They have cultivators there too. Their leveling system has Qi Condensation Realm, which is similar to the Qi Core Realm I created, and Foundation Building Realm, like Internal Organs, and Golden Elixir Realm, which is above Foundation Building…”
Lu Fan frowned. The true body of the golden light was a person in Golden Elixir Realm.
This golden light had planned to devour the energy of the world where Lu Fan was through the world’s Origin to enhance the true body’s strength and realize a breakthrough from Golden Elixir.
But Lu Fan sabotaged its plan.
Lu Fan looked as if he only had the strength of Qi Condensation Realm, but in fact, he could be compared to a freak in Golden Elixir Realm.
As regards to this, Lu Fan was helpless too.
After all, all he could do was refine Qi.
“Taking in the energy of the world’s Origin…”
Lu Fan was looking at the golden light. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
Since the Spiritual Sense duplicate of this Lord of the Plain could take in the energy of the world’s Origin, Lu Fan wondered whether he could take in the energy of that Mid Level Martial World through this Origin to accelerate the evolution and enhancement of this world.
It was a bold idea.
When this idea had come into his mind, Lu Fan was not overcautious. He started to arrange things with the rough plan in his head.
By the rail…
A pleasing wind blew by, stirring Lu Fan’s hair.
He waved his hand casually. Suddenly, Beiluo Lake split in the middle, and the water seemed to have been evenly cut. Water cascaded on both sides like a ma.s.sive waterfall.
Then Lu Fan flicked his fingers. A chain made of Spirit Qi instantly appeared and held the golden light in place and fell to the bottom of the lake.
In this way, the Spiritual Sense duplicate of the Lord of the Plane from this Mid Level Martial World was suppressed by Lu Fan.
On the island…
The others were all puzzled. They had no idea what Lu Fan had put in the bottom of the lake, but they vaguely heard that thing screaming and crying.
To most of them, it seemed Lu Fan’s methods had become more mysterious and spookier.
Gazing at the water surface where peace had been restored, Xie Yunling realized he knew nothing about Lu Fan’s strength at all.
When the four philosophers fought Lu Fan together, Young Master Lu did no go all out at all.
The Thousand Blades Chair moved forward without making any noise.
Lu Fan, in white clothes, came downstairs from the second floor of White Jade City Pavilion. He came straight up to Xie Yunling.
“Young Master.”
Xie Yunling cupped his hands.
He knew he was still alive because Lu Fan had pulled his punches.
If Lu Fan had been impatient when Xie Yunling was being controlled, then he might have disappeared from the world.
Lu Fan did not speak. He was just looking at the glistening water surface.
Xie Yunling stood behind him quietly. Their clothes were blowing, while the peach blossoms and chrysanthemums on the island gently swayed with the wind.
Some birds were startled and then chirped loudly.
“Young Master… What on earth was that?” Xie Yunling asked as he looked at Lu Fan’s back.
“That barbarian… No, it absolutely wasn’t a barbarian. Something possessed that barbarian the same way it possessed me,” Xie Yunling exclaimed.
His eyes were sparkling.
Lu Fan nodded.
“Exactly. That barbarian had been dead for days. He was possessed,” Lu Fan said while cupping one hand around his chin and stroking the wool blanket with the other hand.
“You are lucky that you are still alive. But your soul was injured when you were being possessed. Just stay on the island for a few days to recover,” Lu Fan explained.
“Yes.”
Xie Yunling hesitated, but he nodded in the end.
“You must be very curious about what that thing was, aren’t you?”
“It’s normal to be curious. I didn’t want to tell anyone, but since you were possessed, I don’t want to keep it from you. I can erase your memory, but that isn’t necessary.”
“Daoist School is Daoist Pavilion under White Jade City’s command now. Some things… You’ll know and face them sooner or later…”
Lu Fan’s voice sounded a little plain.
However, Xie Yunling’s heart sank and then beat faster.
Looking at the s.h.i.+ning golden sunlight and the glistening water surface, he saw through the Dragon Gate and watched for a short while the long-drawn-out battle in the central palace.
He said slowly, “You know the Secret Realm of the Hidden Dragon Ridge?”
Xie Yunling was stunned. He nodded. “Yes. Sansi got the ancient Qi Refiner’s cultivation method Spirit Transmission Sword Transcript from there. He achieved the cultivator’s Qi Core Realm smoothly thanks to that.”
“Ancient Qi Refiner…” Lu Fan sounded he was smiling.
“I suppose you know there had been no Spirit Qi or cultivators in the Great Zhou Dynasty in the past hundred years or so… However, lately, since the opening of the Secret Realm of the Hidden Dragon Ridge, a great number of cultivators have appeared.”
“This is all caused by the rejuvenation of Spirit Qi,” Lu Fan said.
He raised his hand and clutched in the air. The next second, the transparent Spirit Qi in the air turned pale blue.
Xie Yunling was dumbfounded. He saw pale blue lights flying in the sky and travelling between the lake’s surface, the island, and the Dragon Gate.
It was so beautiful that it looked like a mysterious painting.
“There is Spirit Qi in the world. You just can’t see it. As Spirit Qi is rejuvenated, the Spirit Qi in the world will become richer and richer. Every corner will be filled with Spirit Qi one day.”
“Like in the ancient times,” Lu Fan said slowly.
His recount deeply attracted Xie Yunling.
“From the Secret Realm of the Hidden Dragon Ridge to the eight Dragon Gates, they are all related to the glorious ancient times. They could be secret treasures from the ancient times…”
“In that age, Qi Core cultivators were as plentiful as blackberries. Internal Organs cultivators were everywhere. In fact, Internal Organs Realm was only the start of cultivation. Ancient Sovereigns even cast all restraints aside boldly and vied with heaven in stature,” Lu Fan narrated while tapping his fingers on the armrest of the wheelchair.
“However, have you ever wondered how come such a glorious age ended?”
“How come there was no more Spirit Qi or cultivators?” Lu Fan asked.
Xie Yunling, whose thoughts had flown to the ancient times, was awestruck.
He suddenly turned pale.
“Young Master… Was it because of the thing that possessed me?”
Lu Fan nodded.
“The thing that possessed you could be called Alien Evil Spirit.”
“When Spirit Qi had begun to rejuvenate, such Alien Evil Spirits are like cats that have smelled the existence of fish. They are going to devour the energy of this world, which could spell the end of this age.”
“Just like what they did to the glorious ancient times,” Lu Fan said.
Xie Yunling trembled. He felt a deep secret of the world had been revealed to him.
He completely believed Lu Fan, because the latter had no reason to lie to him.
And Lu Fan didn’t necessarily need to lie to him at all.
“This Evil Spirit is just the start. More Evil Spirits will befall this world in the future… Rejuvenation means opportunities, but there are also irresistible and unexpected crises.”
Lu Fan leaned on the back of the wheelchair.
“I started White Jade City for a simple reason. I don’t want to conquer the world. All I want is to lead cultivators all over the world to fight back those Alien Evil Spirits, defend everything we want to defend, and protect our homes when Spirit Qi is rejuvenating.”
“I don’t want the darkness that ruined the ancient times to engulf this unfortunate world. I don’t want what happened to the ancient times to repeat,” Lu Fan said slowly.
He sounded heavy, almost somewhat grim.
Xie Yunling was totally shocked. Alien Evil Spirits… He had never imagined there were Evil Spirits beyond this world!
The glorious age of ancient Qi Refiners ended this way?
Xie Yunling looked at Lu Fan, who was sitting in the wheelchair, from behind. Under the evening glow, his shadow lengthened.
Xie Yunling had thought White Jade City had wild ambitions, that they intended to unify the Jianghu and the court.
However…
Not until then did Xie Yunling realize his vision was too narrow.
Neither the Jianghu nor the court was a big deal for the Young Master.
Young Master started White Jade City to deal with those Alien Evil Spirits and protect the world.
Xie Yunling felt like this was a heavy blow for him.
The philosophers of the Hundred Schools all thought they had seen the essence of the world and seen through the falsehood.
They first renounced the world and then went back into the world. They meddled in the Jianghu and the court, trying to influence the trend of the world.
Not until then did Xie Yunling realize the philosophers of the Hundred Schools, including him, had set a low bar.
At least, compared to White Jade City…
Their bar was too low.
Lu Fan did not pay more attention to Xie Yunling. He only told the latter these things to explain the whole thing of the Spiritual Sense duplicate of the Lord of the Plain and justify the wanderers’ appearance in three months…
To echo his lie of the rejuvenation of Spirit Qi.
Of course, the main purpose was to give these people some pressure and motivation. This world still needed to grow.
Lu Fan raised his hand.
Lu Fan s.h.i.+fted his consciousness. He drew the trigrams on the Dao Impartment Platform into reality.
He started to draw a formation.
Standing behind Lu Fan, Xie Yunling was astonished.
He watched as Lu Fan created mysterious and profound trigrams with Spirit Qi one by one. These trigrams showed up out of nowhere and started to a.s.semble.
Waves started to form on the lake’s surface…
As if characters were being carved on the surface of the lake.
A giant circular formation has covered the lake.
Xie Yunling was completely shocked. Was Young Master deploying a formation?
Lu Fan was deploying a formation indeed.
The Spiritual Sense duplicate of that Lord of the Plane could take in energy from this world to devour the world’s Origin.
In the same way, Lu Fan could use that Spiritual Sense duplicate as the communicator between the two worlds. He would create a formation to let this world take in the energy of that Mid Level Martial World and create the world’s Origin, namely, the Natural Law.
In this way, it would be much faster for Wuhuang Continent to become a Mid Level or even a High Level Martial World.
Xie Yunling stood there.
He was amazed…
Because he had gained some insights from Lu Fan’s formation. He felt he was in a new world.
The formation was finished very soon. Creating it almost consumed all of Lu Fan’s Soul Strength.
Lu Fan raised his hand to pat the lake’s surface gently.
The formation instantly sank to the bottom of the lake.
Like a net, it blanketed that golden light.
The golden light, sealed at the bottom of the lake, was twisting, feeling incredible.
This man was too ambitious!
It was late in the night.
Lu Fan went back to the second floor of the pavilion after finis.h.i.+ng with the formation.
He started to set a chess composition on the chessboard to recover his Soul Strength and his energy.
Taking in the Origin of another world was a big and ambitious undertaking. At least, it was impossible to take in the energy necessary for the creation of the Origin at the very beginning. It would take time. It was a long process that needed to be taken slowly.
Lu Fan might be able to start creating the Natural Law when the Origin had taken shape.
******
On the s.p.a.cious plain, armored hors.e.m.e.n were advancing. The clip-clops of horses trotting were deafening.
On horseback, Jiang Li was advancing. His silver armor was s.h.i.+ning under the moonlight.
He was followed by ten-odd Black Dragon Guards and 10,000 troops from the capital city of Great Zhou.
This was the maximum number of soldiers he could take away from the capital city of Great Zhou.
In the distance…
There was a big army stationed before a magnificent canyon.
Tents were densely packed.
Jiang Li pulled the reins. His horse stood on its hind legs and then put its forelegs down hard on the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
“a hundred thousand troops from South County…”
Looking at the ma.s.sive army, Jiang Li put on a serious face, as if this military camp was a chasm for a dragon to hide or a cave for tigers to have their lair.
Jiang Li believed Tang Xiansheng was a man with wild ambitions. He was definitely not as simple as he looked.
A hundred thousand troops were a big investment. Why would he offer them to Great Zhou for nothing?
Why would that be a free gift?
Yuwen Xiu thought he could swallow this big meat.
But Jiang Li was not that confident.
Looking back at the 10,000 troops behind him and Chi Lian in armor…
Jiang Li nodded slightly. Then he hit the road again on horseback. On the plain during the night, they were like an unstoppable arrow flying forward to join the South County Army.
******
North County.
Wentian Peak, Tai Mountains.
It was an extremely dangerous area. The North County Army was stationed at the periphery of Tai Mountains.
Tantai Xuan, in armor, was sitting in the seat of honor. He squinted involuntarily while reading the letter in his hand.
“South County sent their army. Great Zhou sent a commander. They are to undertake a punitive expedition to the north…”
“They are going to grab this Dragon Gate before North County could train any cultivators in it!”
Tantai Xuan smiled coldly at the secret letter by the burning torch flames.
Scrambling for Dragon Gates was like scrambling for the power of the world.
Tantai Xuan had finally gotten over the setback in the Dragon Gate at Buzhou Peak. Since he had found the Dragon Gate at Wentian Peak, why would he give it up so easily?
“Giant, what do you think?”
In the tent…
Mo Beike was drinking tea.
Mo Ju was waving his feather fan with a half smile.
“Don’t worry, Mayor. It’s not so bad as you’ve imagined,” Mo Beike said, smiling.
After returning from Beiluo City, just like Kong Xiu, Mo Beike also seemed much older. He seemed more lethargic.
Maybe it was because their era had ended. It was inevitable to feel a little sad.
“The South County Army is undertaking a punitive expedition to the north, but it’s hard to say who will be suppressed in the end,” Mo Beike said after taking a sip of the tea.
“Mo Ju, what do you think?”
Mo Ju waved his fan with a smile.
“It’s mainly thanks to Jiang Li that the Great Zhou Dynasty is in a stable situation… Great Zhou’s soldiers won’t be in high morale unless it’s Jiang Li leading the army.”
“Tang Xiansheng sent a hundred thousand troops to the north. He claimed this was to suppress us, North County. It was certainly a sincere move, and Yuwen Xiu definitely wouldn’t miss the opportunity. A hundred thousand troops… If North County can be eliminated or if they can grab the Dragon Gate in Tai Mountains, then Yuwen Xiu’s burden will be hugely reduced. Of course, he would go for it.”
“It’s fair to say the Young Emperor Yuwen Xiu has grown a lot. At least he has gained the leaders.h.i.+p skills…”
“He commanded Jiang Li to leave the capital city. He did that because he has faith in the defense of the capital city.”
“Jiang Li is indeed the best person to lead the army. This is a right and bold decision.”
“However…”
Mo Ju waved his feather fan lightly. His eyes were sparkling.
The tent was full of the torches’ fumes.
Tantai Xuan gave Mo Ju an interested look, signaling him to go on. “However what?”
Mo Ju looked at Tantai Xuan. He grew serious. “However, Tang Xiansheng also recommended Jiang Li to be the commander of the troop…”
“Tang Xiansheng is a cunning person. He couldn’t have given such a piece of advice out of good intention.”
“Jiang Li is in danger…”
There was apprehension in Mo Beike’s turbid eyes. He put his teacup down to clap his hands.
The torches were fuming.
The cold moonlight spilled on the ground.
A man on a horse came slowly from the south.
Like a ghost in the night, wearing a black robe and a hood, he went into the North County Amry’s camp.