Chapter 477 Visitors from the Mountain
Indeed, the Nangong family would soon meet its downfall.
One day later, even before the forces, sects, and empires that the Nangong family had offended got around to punish them, the gate of the Nangong family was broken by a mysterious man enveloped in a purple glow.
Sword light flashed, and blood splashed everywhere.
There was no end to the slaughter. The inside and outside of the manor were filled with miserable howls.
The millennium-old family resorted to all their means and resources. All sorts of tactical deployments were activated. And countless Nangong family disciples rushed out to fight off the enemy like moths flying to the fire. Nevertheless, all that could hardly resist the slender figure covered in purple brilliance.
Fiery flames blazed.
The raging fire that shot to the sky devoured everything in the thousand-year-old family.
“Who? Who are you?”
In the end, Nangong Chunliang was the only one still breathing. His hair was in disarray and his body was covered in wounds. Roaring angrily, he propped himself up with his broken sword like a wild beast that was on the brink of death.
Staring at the purple figure that was closing in on him from the flames, terror and wrath spread on his face.
Within an hour, everyone in his family was dead. All the Nangong family members were ma.s.sacred, and not even a chicken was spared. Even though they tried to fight back, it was of no use, for the strength and ruthlessness of the opponent were beyond imagination.
The killer did not speak, and the purple light around his body glimmered.
“It’s you?” Nangong Chunliang’s pupils contracted abruptly. When he saw that face hiding behind the purple light, his face showed disbelief.
A sword light flashed.
And the head of the master of the millennium-old family soared into the air.
At the last moment of his life, Nangong Chunliang could not believe that the murderer who slaughtered the entire Nangong family turned out to be that man.
How nice to stay alive!
Unfortunately, he no longer had it as an option.
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Li Mu was standing in front of the cliff behind Knife Hut, looking out at the cloud-shrouded Taibai Mountain. His back was straight, and his white robes were fluttering in the wind, which gave him a sense of detachment.
In the past two years, he had been secluding himself for improving his broadsword art and had gained great achievement in his martial arts. His appearance had also changed greatly.
He had already grown to six feet and two inches in height, rising by a large margin. His figure was slender, with broad shoulders and a fine waist. His body shape was perfect. Every inch of his body was perfectly proportional. His short hair had also grown long, which had been draped in his back and tied up by a white hairband. Every strand of his hair was flowing with a faint light, as though a stream of water of a black waterfall.
After two years of cultivation, the power of the five kinds of Qi in the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures had been fully fulfilled.
In the martial art system of that world, those who could cultivate the Three Flowers above the Head were Natural Experts, and those who could cultivate the Qi of the five organs were Celestial Beings.
Then, those above Celestial Beings were Sages.
Sages were also cultivators of natural qi. By gathering the Three Flowers over Head, as well as collecting the five kinds of Qi in mind, one could reach the Sage Realm.
A year and a half ago, Li Mu already mastered the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures and entered the Sage Realm.
By now, his cultivation was already in the Great Sage Realm.
In the past, when he was still in the Celestial Being Realm, he was already able to go against the flow and fight against those in the Sage Realm.
Nowadays, Li Mu, who had entered the Great Sage Realm, already integrated all the five kinds of qi in his body and turned them into a breath of Primeval Qi. Thus, he could totally look down on any expert in the Void-breaking Realm. Only when he fought against experts in the Soldier Realm in the outer s.p.a.ce could he feel a little strained. As for whether he could triumph, it would only be known after a real battle.
Days ago, he infused a wisp of his Broadsword Qi into a jade medallion and asked the lanky servant to send it to Nangong Yu. Part of the reason for that was he wanted to verify the insights he obtained in the past two years.
Nangong Yu had claimed to be the number one cultivator in the Void-breaking Realm on the Divine Land. Yet, even he had no way to withstand the wisp of broadsword light and was killed in an instant.
That result was quite disappointing to Li Mu.
Because it proved that no one else in that world could match him.
After he came out of his closed-door training, he began to ponder over some issues in the past few days. When he perused the whole set of extraterrestrial martial arts books that Qing Feng had categorized for him, he found out that the various ways of martial arts practice eventually reached the same destination.
In that world, if one practiced natural qi arts and reached the Great Sage Realm, he would be able to cultivate a breath of the Primeval Qi. While the cultivators in the outer s.p.a.ce paid particular attention to the twelve stages of Qi-refining, the qi they could finally cultivate was also the Primeval Qi.
The Xiantian Skill the old faker taught him was a Breathing Skill and also a method of cultivating qi.
Qi was the source of all powers.
Now, Li Mu had already proceeded to the fourth tier of the Xiantian Skill. That breath of Primeval Qi was running in his body along the route of Xiantian Skill at all hours to nourish his corporeal body. And he had also taken the “Zhenwu Boxing” to a higher level as he had completed the practice of the seventh style, “Shattering Thousands of Stars”. Thus, the strength of his corporeal body was already matchless throughout the history of that world.
“It’s time to step into the universe.”
“The old faker said that if I were to step into the universe and return to Earth within 20 years, I would be able to save Earth. But it only took me four and a half years to reach that point.”
Li Mu was very satisfied with his progress.
When Li Mu first came to this planet, he was only a 14-year-old teenager. But now, he almost reached 19. Four years had pa.s.sed, and the changes that had happened to him were simply earth-shaking.
But how would he return to Earth and change its fate after stepping into the universe?
That was the question Li Mu was brooding on.
Fortunately, he was not completely in the dark.
In the personal objects of the extraterrestrial cultivators Li Mu had killed in the Tomb of the G.o.d of Sin, aside from various kinds of resources, treasures, and cultivation books, there were also many files and historical records, which accounted very clearly about the power division and force distribution of the Brilliance Immortal Star Region at least.
With the help of the file system Qing Feng created, everything was clear at a glance.
In the universe, the largest kind of territory was the galaxy. Then, according to different directions and regions, the galaxy could be divided into several Star Areas. Each Star Area was still quite vast and wide, housing countless stars. Large Star Areas could be further divided into various Star Regions, which held tens of thousands of stars.
For example, the Brilliance Immortal Star Region where the Divine Land was located was one of the Star Regions in the Ziwei Star Zone. There were a total of 3,100 stars in the Brilliance Immortal Galaxy. Its vastness was beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
There were hundreds of sects and forces in the Brilliance Immortal Star Region, big or small.
Some of the big sects occupied one or several planets and ruled countless living creatures. They were strong, rich in resources, and had great potential. None of the forces in the Divine Land could compare with them.
Of course, not each of the thousands of planets in the Brilliance Immortal Star Region was inhabited by living creatures. Some were dead planets, wasted planets, and mining planets. The law of Divine Way was not suitable for living creatures to live there. Only powerful cultivators could survive on those bleak planets.
As for cultivators below the 12th tier of the Qi-refining realm, they were not even considered as the mainstream, not even in the Worm Realm yet. They could only cultivate on their mother planet, or use the Interstellar Transmitting Array to travel to another planet.
And planets were also divided into different grades.
First-cla.s.s stars were full of Spiritual Qi, rich in resources, and offered the best conditions for cultivation, while the ninth-cla.s.s stars were the least desirable.
A top sect in the Brilliance Immortal Star Region, such as the Heavenly Devil Sect, occupied three first-cla.s.s stars. As for the Hun Yuan Sect, they only had one second-cla.s.s star as their base star, which was far inferior to what the Heavenly Devil Sect had.
The planet that Li Mu was on was not even a ninth-cla.s.s planet. It was just a little better than a wasted one, so it might be considered as a near-ninth-cla.s.s star.
Nonetheless, what could be predicted was that with the “flow” of the Spiritual Qi on that planet, it would not take too long, a.s.sumably 50 years at most, to become a ninth-cla.s.s star.
When that time came, there would be another round of fierce compet.i.tions.
For the sects in the universe, even though some planets below the ninth cla.s.s had creatures living and cultivating on it and already fostered some civilization, those stars were still worthless to fight for it.
This time, if it weren’t because the Tomb of the G.o.d of Sin landed on that planet, no cultivators from the outer s.p.a.ce would descend on it at all.
Of course, what Li Mu had not noted yet was that there was something peculiar about that planet.
It was not normal for the experts in the Soldier Realm to be suppressed so miserably after descending to that planet. There would not be such a thing on any other ninth-cla.s.s planet.
“The Brilliance Immortal Star Region holds several thousand planets. Both to Earth or the Divine Land, it is already an unimaginably huge planet. But to Ziwei Star Zone, it’s just a drop of water in the ocean. And the vast Ziwei Star Field is actually a small part of the Milky Way Galaxy… The universe is so vast that it’s really breath-taking.”
Standing on the edge of the cliff, Li Mu couldn’t help sighing with emotion.
His heart thumped with fits of excitement, and hot blood was coursing down his veins.
He now had such a spectacular and boundless world to adventure in. Was there anything more exciting and thrilling for an ambitious man than that?
The sound of footsteps came from behind him.
“Master, I’ve brought him here.”
The hawk nose, along with Jiang Qingluan, who had been locked up in the dungeon under the Knife Hut for two-and-a-half years, came to a place 10 meters behind Li Mu.
Li Mu slowly turned around and motioned the hawk nose to retreat. Then, he looked at Jiang Qingluan and said, “I need to know everything about that ancient Path and the organization comprised of black-clothed men in this world. Here you go. Tell me everything you know.”
In the Western Qin Empire.
Chang’an City.
The twilight was misty, but it was still hard to conceal the bustling scene of the old city.
Since the Emperor Qingping ascended the throne, he adopted benevolent policies and returned wealth to the ma.s.ses. The people of the Western Qin Empire had gradually come out of grief for the wars, and the city had also restored some prosperous scenes of the past.
Chang’an province, owing to the governance of Li Gang, the Secular Sword Whiz, and the awe-inspiring Taibai City, was the only province that been touched by the fire of war. Therefore, it soon became the most prosperous place in the Western Qin Empire.
After the coronation of Emperor Qingping was held, Li Gang was one of the first Commander of Border-provinces who stood up to support Emperor Qingping. Over the years, he had been holding firmly to his position, and his prestige had kept increasing. Of the Four Great Legends that rose to power since that imperial examinations, only two were still alive, and Li Gang was one of them.
The officials and servants of the Chang’an government began to notice that His Lords.h.i.+p seemed to age very fast in the past few years. He already had silver hair and there were more wrinkles on his face.
A little bird told them that His Lords.h.i.+p’s relation with his family members had grown tense. Two years ago, his wife left Chang’an province with her son, Li Xiong. By now, no one knew the whereabouts of them. The folks in Chang’an also started gossiping about it.
Those years, the folks had told and retold the stories about the magistrate of Chang’an and Li Mu the G.o.d of Broadswords so many times that there were now numerous versions of the stories. Those tales had spread not only among common people in Chang’an, but also the entire Western Qin. Even people on the whole Divine Land were discussing those tales on different occasions. Sometimes, they even got drawn into fierce arguments for dissents on the details.
And the most intriguing thing was undoubtedly what kind of ending the father and son would lead to.
One day, Li Gang was a little tired after dealing with government affairs.
He returned to his mansion from the office. As soon as he crossed the gate, a guard happened to come out.
When the guard saw Li Gang, he came over with a strange look on his face and bowed. “Your honor, there are guests in our house. Mr. Zheng has taken them to your honor’s main hall. He just asked me to notify your honor, but your honor is already back.”
“Really?” Li Gang was a little surprised.
Zheng Cunjian was a very measured man. Generally speaking, he rarely brought visitors into the main hall without permission.
So, Li Gang asked casually, “Where did the guests come from?”
The guard hedged, “From the mountain.”
In Chang’an City, “the mountain” referred to only one place— the Taibai Mountain.
“Which one from the mountain?” Li Gang’s heart shuddered as he realized what was going on.
The guard bowed again and said, “There are several of them, but I recognize none of them. All I know is that Mr. Zheng calls one of them, a young man with short black hair, as master.”