Chapter 2379: Past Events of Changfeng Valley

In addition, such ultra-long-distance transmission as now is limited to light pieces of paper; even a slightly heavier stone cannot be sent over.

Obviously, the wool of the great square pot is not so easy to shear.

But He Lingchuan is not in a hurry either. Now the laws of heaven and earth are changing rapidly; who knows when the great square pot might loosen its mouth?

He Lingchuan opened the first letter delivered by Du Shan.

The slip was only two fingers wide, but when unfolded it was as large as the opening page of a newspaper that He Lingchuan had read in another world, densely filled with tiny characters.

This is a document about the Earth Mother.

After He Lingchuan heard from Shuangye that the Heavenly Demon went to seek the "Yangguan Dao," he ordered people to search for related materials. But because it was too ancient, it took quite some time, and Liu Qingdao even used his own connections in Lingshan before he managed to dig up some things from Lingshan.

These materials had originally been piled in a neglected corner of the Lingshan Buddhist Canon Pavilion, gathering dust. Only with the Earth Mother's manifestation did they get a chance to see the light of day again.

Du Shan then organized them into documents and sent them all to He Lingchuan.

The Earth Mother was originally the mountain-guarding spirit beast of the ancient great sect "Changfeng Valley."

This great sect flourished as early as eight thousand years ago, that is, long before the Heavenly Demon invaded the human world. Later immortals and the Xian Sect could use convenient storage spaces, all thanks to Changfeng Valley's initial invention. It was most skilled in constructing various spatial spells, even the concept of "cave dwelling" was proposed by it; before that, immortals cultivated in deep mountains and valleys, and only the fortunate could encounter natural small worlds.

Changfeng Valley's contribution to the world of cultivation is so great that it deserved to prosper for a time.

At the peak of Changfeng Valley, the entire sect had 170,000 members, and the number of disciples could rank among the top three in the contemporary world; its sect's base was on a mountain with towering trees, beautiful scenery everywhere, and a grand immortal aura.

Its territory was also very vast, comparable to one-fifth of today's Lake Baikal. For a sect, such a territory is truly excessively large, and it ruled over a population of tens of millions.

To support a sect with the strength of tens of millions, Changfeng Valley's material abundance needs no further explanation.

Occupying the best feng shui treasure land and enjoying the best resources, Changfeng Valley's disciples were also outstanding, repeatedly producing extraordinary talents, and they pushed the sect's momentum to a boiling point.

Although the human world is vast, even the wild demons and scattered immortals in the primordial wilderness had heard of Changfeng Valley's name.

However, Changfeng Valley in ancient times was a paradox: although it contributed greatly to the world of cultivation, it was constantly criticized in the cultivation world—

Its reputation was poor.

Its disciples walking the world were notorious for being opportunistic and scheming, stopping at nothing.

In the great competitions between Xian Sects, Changfeng Valley's disciples, in order to win rankings and rewards, could bribe and cheat, could strike secretly from behind against opponents, with no psychological burden. If such competitions resulted in deaths, about two or three out of ten were inseparable from Changfeng Valley.

Not to mention when heavenly materials and earthly treasures manifest in the world—if Changfeng Valley learned of it, tsk tsk...

Whether Xian Sect disciples or wandering cultivators roaming the human world, upon encountering Changfeng Valley's disciples, they had to keep several more eyes open; avoidance was the best strategy. Because the cultivation world had seen dozens of inhumane and horrifying major cases before and after, so heinous that even the fiercest demons would glance sideways, and the masterminds behind them all pointed directly to Changfeng Valley's disciples.

Despite all kinds of criticism from outside, Changfeng Valley scoffed at them, for it was strong enough.

Cultivating immortality, cultivating immortality—how should immortality be cultivated? By casually finding a mountain forest, digging a hole, and squatting in it? Don't joke—every spiritually charged mountain peak in this human world has long been taken!

Not contending, not seizing—what immortality are you cultivating?

This idea applies not only externally but also internally.

Changfeng Valley promotes "the capable are honored," encourages competition among its disciples, and gives graded incentives.

Only the strongest, most enterprising, most intelligent, and most promising disciples receive the sect's best resources, most beautiful dao partners, strongest magical artifacts, most effective pills, and cave dwellings richest in spiritual energy...

Slightly inferior, and treatment plummets a thousandfold.

Even slightly worse, and treatment plummets ten thousandfold.

Between the top and near-top, the enjoyed treatment and resources are already as different as heaven and abyss.

Those who are not enterprising, lack talent, or have bad luck will layer by layer slide down, finally being assigned to do the coarsest menial labor, never hoping to turn over in this life; if luck is even worse, they might one day mysteriously disappear.

Not only among disciples, but even among elders, between peaks, and between palace gates, the same mutual contention applies.

The strong devour all, while the weak have nothing.

Since competition is fierce, it is inevitable that someone will have crooked thoughts and use improper means. After all, breaking through one's own limit is hard, but breaking through one's lower limit is relatively much easier.

When one person's method proves effective and profitable, hundreds or thousands will follow suit, doing it more and more excessively, more and more outrageously.

Changfeng Valley's disciples are not merely burying their heads in cultivation; they also rack their brains to harm others for self-benefit.

What is called "I alone am honored"? It means that except for myself, everyone else is pigs and dogs, lowly breeds, tools—can be used, spat upon, sold, without the slightest psychological burden.

The strong can only be surpassed by me; the weak can only be trampled by me.

When Changfeng Valley noticed something was amiss, its disciples, aside from improving cultivation, had no enthusiasm for other matters, including Changfeng Valley itself; interpersonal relations were utilitarian and cold, and the sect's internal strife atmosphere had become entrenched, hard to reverse.

Other Xian Sects secretly scolded Changfeng Valley's followers for cultivating the "beastly path"—only cultivating techniques, not virtue—and yet it was no wonder that Changfeng Valley relied on this method to gradually climb to the peak.

The disciples cultivated by this method were indeed outstanding among the outstanding, each excelling.

Once, three great sects joined forces to jointly seek revenge against it, each of them then renowned, shaking the entire cultivation world.

The result? They returned with clipped wings, suffering heavy casualties, and in those several battles, hundreds of immortals fell.

However, Changfeng Valley itself also suffered a pyrrhic victory; in the great battle, its vital energy was greatly injured, its core strength lost, especially in the later stages, when disciples began to flee in large numbers, unwilling to share life and death with the sect.

Fortunately, the opponents could not hold on and retreated.

But this great battle became the turning point of Changfeng Valley's fortune; afterward, the sect declined day by day, and the high-level exhausted all methods but could not reverse the decline.

Formerly prosperous, never to be seen again.

After some years, internal strife in Changfeng Valley intensified further, and due to the sect leader's death, it split into three factions.

These three factions vied with each other, developing love-hate entanglements in basket after basket, impossible to finish in days and nights.

Finally, one faction used the Earth Mother to eliminate the enemies of the other two factions, thus ending this prolonged sectarian split.

But it had not yet had time to rejoice when it encountered the Earth Mother's backlash. This mountain-guarding spirit beast, having long been immersed in Changfeng Valley's influence, had probably been corrupted as well; eating its former masters caused no psychological burden, and it even loudly proclaimed "truly fragrant."