Chapter 178: Dialogue with Li Jian (Please Subscribe)

"It's only been a little over two years, yet your strength has undergone such obvious changes. You truly are a piece of unpolished jade abandoned by the Immortal Sect—ah, no, I should say, were you finally sifted out and found after all? That hateful, loathsome Immortal Sect; in the end, we simply cannot escape its palm..."

Seeing Du En, Li Jian could not help but feel a sense of emotion, clearly having sensed his changes.

Was the Breath-Concealing Technique ineffective?

Du En merely judged the situation silently, his expression remaining calm. He stopped when he reached a suitable distance of fifty zhang, and only then did he speak: "I actually have some things I want to ask you."

"Oh?"

The current Li Jian did not seem quite as manic. Upon hearing this, he only turned around slowly without standing up: "To be honest, I am a bit surprised, because you actually managed to keep your cool and cultivate and temper yourself here. You should know, among the noble figures of the Immortal Sect, more and more people suspect that you are either dead or a true mole."

"Then, in the past, the gravediggers changed so quickly—could it have been because of the Grudge-Fiends?"

"It's not a reason like the Grudge-Fiends influencing or breeding them... The escapees?"

Du En seemed to avoid this topic. Determining that this fellow was now basically answering every question asked, he asked directly: "Regarding the previous chaos of the evil cultivators, the more I ponder it, the more it feels like it started with a roar but ended with a whimper. So, was it you directing things from the shadows that made it end up in such an indecisive state?"

"The reason is actually very simple. The High Lord will summon them; basically, they are all lucky enough to run eight hundred li, cross the border, come over here, and then degenerate into those evil things. How about it? Are you quite surprised?"

Facing such words, Du En did not pay them any mind, so he shifted the topic, using it as a probe to start from a different angle: "You actually came over alone. Is it because you are too confident, or is there some other reason?"

"That won't do. The Immortal Sect doesn't care about such casualties, but the people who arrive later won't be like they are now, with early-stage Golden Core and Foundation Establishment perfection leading the team. It will only be Nascent Soul stage, or perhaps Spirit Severing stage."

Du En pondered slightly and said: "Perhaps it is because before you, no Grudge-Fiends had ever been born, so the Immortal Sect kept improving their cultivation methods until they could successfully give birth to the first one in your time."

Regarding this inquiry, Li Jian spread his hands, looking quite nonchalant: "I don't know, I want to know too."

"However, what exceeded my expectations at the time was that Xue Song was actually killed by you, and then the High Lord actually followed you around. What exactly is special about you that made Him guard the outside of the wasteland for an entire night?"

"There is no surprise, only the thought that it is indeed so." Facing Li Jian's counter-question, Du En shook his head slightly and replied thus.

Li Jian talked about the Graveyard Wasteland, his desire to talk even greater, and his words simply did not stop: "And speaking of this, a strange point arises again. I have only seen one High Lord here, yet the wasteland has clearly existed for over a thousand years. According to what you just said, there are clearly new High Lords already largely formed inside."

"I am not clear on this either, because when I was a gravedigger, it was already a situation of high-frequency personnel changes. I can only say that the land seems to have a curse; except for you and me, and now counting your bunch of fellows, no one can live that long."

"Yes, yes, yes. People like us, if we want to achieve something or gain something, we only have the choice to take risks. Haha, I even regret wanting to kill you before. Of course, I still have to kill you now."

"You must think that even if the base number is quite large, there won't be many who can walk eight hundred li. Even if they cross the border, there are still you outpost guards. In fact, when patrolling, you must have never seen any living ones; at most, you saw scattered remains in the mountain forests."

Then, Du En fell directly into silence, judging that there was no need to continue the conversation, and had already begun to brew an offensive.

Li Jian nodded, smiling as he confirmed: "Right, it is them. Basically, every year there are nearly a thousand escapees. They will trek over mountains and rivers, walk eight hundred li to the south, and arrive outside the border."

Du En avoided answering this, only finding one point strange: "If the wasteland is a place that breeds Grudge-Fiends, why would the Grudge-Fiends have an antagonistic relationship with it? Could it be that the unformed new Grudge-Fiends inside have a competitive relationship with the already-formed old Grudge-Fiends, just like those male demonic beasts of the same rank, same species, and same gender?"

Only then did he sigh, appearing somewhat helpless: "So what if it is like that? As long as I provoke that fellow Xue Song's interest in you, he will stay behind of his own accord to deal with you, this good 'bait'."

"Even if I had returned to the team before, it would have had no practical significance. Moreover, if one does not want to drift with the tide and parry passively, one can only take a few risks."

"Originally, I didn't think too much either, as long as Xue Song didn't attack the city. Because if he went to attack the city, he would die one hundred percent. Before dying, he would one hundred percent call upon the High Lord, and the High Lord would have a fifty percent probability of responding and manifesting. After entering the city, he would kill at least fifty percent of the people inside."

Speaking of this, watching Du En silently slow down his offensive attitude and appearing as if he could be talked to, Li Jian's eyes were strange, scrutinizing him carefully.

"You mean that the gravediggers, as living beings, their inexplicable deaths—or rather, being used as living feed—is also a part of the cultivation process? But because the situation has changed after me, by your generation, the method has iterated and living feed is no longer needed, so as long as one is sharp and doesn't encounter other accidents, one can survive?"

"You and I are a hundred years apart. If it takes another few decades for a new High Lord to successfully crawl out, then there should be at least several here now, but there aren't. What do you think is the reason?"

"In this way, I will be unable to intervene, and I will lose the current window of opportunity."

"Hehe, not a single expression. You really are quite cold-blooded."

While replying, Du En suddenly thought of this possibility.

"Isn't it because you are holding our High Lord back at the wasteland?"

Li Jian feigned such a counter-question.

Li Jian's performance of answering every question clearly showed his mental state was not normal either, so next, he gave an irrelevant answer and asked back: "Speaking of which, how do you think the filth and the many evil things here came to be?"

"You ask this? That's a bit like asking what you already know. However, I usually can't get along with those other guys. Right now, they are going crazy, and even the evil things have been attracted over. I don't want to get involved, so I could only come over by myself."

"I think it would be like this. Not to mention my side, Wei Ming and Lao Ning and the others are unremarkable, but from the time I left until now, it has been several years, yet they have not been harmed for no reason again. Clearly, the curse you mentioned no longer exists."

"..."

(End of chapter)