Chapter 623: What Is Your Purpose in Coming Here?

The lands of the Three Kingdoms should be safe enough.

It's too remote—no Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun would linger long here. Second and third-tier resources are nearly useless to a Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun, and not every faction possesses the immortal-dao industry capable of synthesizing high-tier resources.

Still, better not take risks if one can avoid them.

Jiang Ding's main body continued flying toward the Spiritless Desert. He would pick a random spot, then burrow deep underground—even a Soul Transformation Canghai Tianjun would have no hope of finding him.

Communication with the outside world would be carried out through strictly encrypted teleportation arrays.

This is not the end.

After some years had passed, he would leave this place; those lying in wait were destined for disappointment.

Another Jiang Ding, meanwhile, was a handsome youth in blue robes, a long sword at his waist, concealing nothing, walking step by step toward Master Tushan Xiancheng.

Not long after.

"Long time no see."

Jiang Ding gazed at the immortal city before him, a faint look of absent-mindedness crossing his face.

There are many immortal-gate cities, and many North Plain immortal cities too—many far grander and more splendid than the one before him—but when it came to the city that held the deepest place in his heart, it was still this one.

Every blade of grass, every tree, every brick and tile here had been built and brought into being under his watchful eye.

He passed through more than ten kilometers and arrived beneath the immortal city.

Cultivators bustled about all around—Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators alike—and from time to time people cast greedy, fat-sheep gazes at this entirely unfamiliar young face.

After much hesitation, they still did not make a move, turning instead to seek other targets that looked easier to take.

The elderly, children, the disabled, those traveling alone through the wilds.

In the eyes of many seasoned cultivators, these represented danger.

Jiang Ding paid no heed to the greed of the surrounding cultivators. His divine sense swept across dozens of kilometers in every direction, making a simple assessment.

"Public order has deteriorated sharply—people are killing and robbing for treasure within ten kilometers of the immortal city, this close in."

"There are many demonic cultivators. Swallowing souls and refining treasures in broad daylight, using cultivator flesh and blood to forge magic artifacts—such things are commonplace, and bystanders take it as a matter of course… This is a city very friendly to demonic cultivators."

Jiang Ding thought.

Decades had passed; nearly all the Qi Refining cultivators around had been replaced by a new generation, not a single one he remembered.

Foundation Establishment cultivators, on the other hand, included some familiar faces—recorded in the database of his sea of consciousness—while others were entirely unknown, presumably outsiders or newly risen from among the Qi Refining cultivators.

Still, no matter who it was, none showed any reaction upon seeing him. They had not known him back then either; he had merely passed through the range of their divine sense.

Decades had passed; this city no longer looked as it once had. Much had changed, and no one would remember a person irrelevant to their own lives.

He fell in line behind the Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators, waiting to enter the city.

On the city walls hung heads of every description—Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Jin Dan cultivators alike—each face twisted in fury, smeared with blood. All were cultivators who had violated the laws of General General Heishi Tushan Xiancheng, slain and displayed as a warning.

Jiang Ding's gaze lingered on one face for a moment, and he fell into reminiscence.

This head seemed to belong to someone called Li Li Mingda?

A cultivator at the peak of Foundation Establishment, who had once brought him from the jianghu of the Yue Kingdom into the Xiang Qiyu Sect, and who had also stood watch over a spirit mine together with him—there was a measure of old acquaintance between them.

Counting the years, he was also approaching the two-hundred-and-fifty-year life limit—the very time when one should look back over a life and peacefully enjoy one's twilight years.

Now, however, he had been slain, his head hung upon the city wall, his soul imprisoned within it, tormented day and night by demonic fire until, decades later, it scattered into oblivion.

Jiang Ding sighed.

"Anyone who captures or slays remnants of the Xiang Qiyu Sect or the Xuetudian shall be heavily rewarded and granted a Master Tushan Xiancheng VIP token!"

"If remnants of the two sects turn themselves in, their crimes shall be pardoned, and the immortal city will employ them in important positions."

At the city gate,

a Foundation Establishment cultivator with stubbly whiskers called out in a loud voice, fixing every passing cultivator with a fierce, menacing stare.

Anyone caught by that gaze gave an involuntary shudder, hastily putting on respectful, fawning expressions, bowing their heads, not daring to resist in the slightest.

"It seems something has happened recently that has put those in power here on edge."

Jiang Ding swept his divine sense outward and gleaned information from the transmitted messages of many cultivators.

"Old Demon Qinghuo has struck the immortal city's third-tier spirit mine again."

A Foundation Establishment cultivator transmitted to his companion in terror: "At the spirit mine, every single General Heishi cultivator and every cultivator the immortal city sent to garrison it was wiped out—burned to ash."

"Sigh, ever since the two old city lords departed, the immortal city has fallen into much chaos, and the hidden remnants of the two sects have grown active again."

"When will it ever end? No matter which side gains the upper hand, it's us loose cultivators who die…"

"That dog-of-a-bureaucrat Ghost-Head Xu San—the day the General Heishi masters no longer have use for you, this one will surely…"

The transmitted voices of many cultivators were as plainly audible as idle chatter on a street.

"Old Demon Qinghuo…"

Jiang Ding Zi murmured.

This world has never lacked for outstanding talents.

So long as the soil remains, as time flows on, a steady stream of high-tier cultivators will be born, beginning like beasts to seek out their own hunting grounds—especially so after General General Heishi drew large numbers of cultivators away from Master Tushan Xiancheng to take part in the strife between legitimate and bastard heirs.

Among the many cultivators with lowered heads, the blue-robed youth with a calm expression stood out especially.

Many of those lowered-head cultivators glanced sideways at him with barely concealed glee, privately considering where best to dodge should trouble arise, so as not to let blood splash onto themselves.

"Who are you?"

"You're not some remnant of the Xiang Qiyu Sect, are you? Seize him—"

The stubble-whiskered cultivator, known by the title Ghost-Head Xu San, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, fixed the blue-robed youth before him with a cold, fierce stare, about to order his men to seize him and casually pin some crime on him to throw him into the black dungeon.

Suddenly, a jolt shot through his heart—utterly cold.

It was as if a rabbit had come face to face with a fierce tiger; his mind went blank, his body and soul instinctively stiffened, frozen through with cold, unable to move a muscle.

This instinct was so overwhelming that it overrode reason itself.

"Seize him!"

Ghost-Headed Xu San came to his senses, let out a furious roar, and two pairs of iron-arm-like ghost hands stretched out and lengthened, snatching a Qi Refining Layer 1 cultivator in front of the blue-robed youth. He demanded harshly, "Are you a remnant of the Xiang Qiyu Sect?"

This Qi Refining Layer 1 cultivator was in his twenties or thirties, dressed entirely like a wandering knight-errant — clearly a greenhorn who had stumbled upon some Gong Fa encounter in some mortal world of jianghu and come here seeking immortal fate.

"Imm… Immortal Master,"

The knight-errant's face went deathly pale, and he stammered, "I-I'm not a remnant of the Xiang Qiyu Sect, I really am not…"

Under the oppressive pressure of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, his mind went completely blank. All the heroic ambitions of the past, all the bloody fights in jianghu — he forgot every last bit of them. His body kept trembling, and a damp stain was faintly spreading on his trouser leg.

"Not?"

"Good that you're not."

Ghost-Headed Xu San's expression eased. In a kindly tone he said, "Since you're not, then allow me to offer you my apologies, little friend. This is compensation for you — please don't take offense."

He produced a storage bag and stuffed it into the young knight-errant's arms.

The dozen or so subordinates around him, who had been about to seize the criminal, froze in place.

The loose cultivators queued to enter the city were equally dumbfounded, suspecting they were hallucinating. How could Ghost-Headed Xu San have turned into such a good man? Not only apologizing, but even giving them spirit stones?

"This honored sir,"

Soon, it was Jiang Ding's turn in the queue. Ghost-Headed Xu San kowtowed to the ground and said deferentially, "Is this your first time coming to Tushan Xiancheng? May I ask your name? What business brings you here?"

Without waiting for an answer, he explained with an apologetic smile.

"No need for a real name — just make one up will do. Same with your purpose, just say anything; we just need something for my men to write down. Once we record your aura, you can enter the city. There's no entry fee, and you may stay as long as you like."

"If you find it troublesome, my men can write it all down for you."

The surrounding cultivators' eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets.

Each of them was frantically thinking within their Sea of Consciousness — whose descendant could this great personage be, that this fellow would grovel so abjectly?

Gradually, the Qi Refining cultivators were still all right, but some of the elderly Foundation Establishment cultivators gave a violent start. An expression of absolute horror rose on their faces; their scalps went numb, their bodies began to tremble, and they wished they could sprout eight legs on the spot and flee far, far away from here.

"Hello, I'm not 'honored sir.'"

"I'm only sixteen this year."

Jiang Ding registered according to the regulations and said softly, "My name is Master Tushan."

"The purpose of my coming here is to kill every Jin Dan cultivator of General General Heishi, and to kill every demonic cultivator who uses human beings as cultivation material."

"That's all, nothing more."

Complete

(End of chapter)