Chapter 497: Above the First Rank

"My Lord, this is the list of cultivators in the lower realm."

A Mountain-Suppressing Envoy handed a thick booklet to Li Rui.

One thousand three hundred and seventy-one.

This was the list of cultivators in the lower realm that the Mountain-Seeking Division had collected so far.

Li Rui flipped through it.

Wu De's name was not there.

Clearly, that Daoist friend Wu had excellent hiding skills, so he had not been discovered yet.

The matter of three thousand cultivators descending to the lower realm did not cause too much of a stir in Great Yu.

It was not that everything was peaceful.

It was just that they had all been suppressed in the shadows.

In places unknown, the thirty-two military towns of Great Yu had already fought countless battles with batches of cultivators.

And an extremely important part of this was to figure out the situation of those cultivators.

The entire court was in motion.

The efficiency was naturally extremely high.

Most of the cultivators who had descended to the lower realm and were in Great Yu had already been discovered, and those not within Great Yu's borders were also being searched for.

For this matter.

The Mountain-Seeking Division had been busy from top to bottom for more than half a year.

The results were quite good.

Li Rui flipped through them one by one.

The courtyard of the Mountain-Seeking Division was very quiet; apart from some sounds in the backyard, there was almost no other movement.

Because only he, the Peace-Maintaining Commandant, and a few talisman masters remained on guard.

Everyone else, including Commander Yang Bing, and almost all officials of the Mountain-Seeking Division, had gone out to execute missions.

Many of those cultivators from the Immortal Cultivation World harbored contempt.

Massacres of villages and even cities had occurred.

Regarding those cultivators who acted beyond the boundaries, the attitude of the Great Yu court was very firm.

Execute them all!

The Emperor had already announced this to the world.

The decisiveness and cruelty of the methods greatly shocked those cultivators.

An emperor who rose from the Immortal Calamity, how could he be soft-hearted?

Li Rui was flipping through the booklet in his hand.

A sound of light footsteps rang out.

He looked up.

And saw Gu Gu Changsheng looking at him with a smile: "Brother Li, it has been quite a few days since we last met. I just returned today, and passing by the Mountain-Seeking Division, I thought I would come to see you."

Li Rui: "It has indeed been a long time."

Ever since that night.

Gu Gu Changsheng and Marquis Duke Dingyuan had left the capital.

Running around everywhere.

Many of the cultivators who could descend to the lower realm were at the Qi Condensation Realm.

Over a thousand experts of the Upper Three Ranks.

The impact on Great Yu could be imagined.

Some Heavenly Phenomenon demon cultivators naturally required First-Rank experts like Gu Gu Changsheng and Marquis Duke Dingyuan to step in and intimidate them.

It was heard that Marquis Duke Dingyuan had single-handedly suppressed seven Heavenly Phenomenon cultivators in the south, and even fought a fierce battle with a First-Rank cultivator, finally chasing him for thirty thousand miles and forcing that cultivator into the South Sea, never daring to step into Great Yu again.

He had fought his way to a resounding reputation.

It also let the world know that Marquis Duke Dingyuan, also a Marquis, was not a bit inferior to that Marquis Annan.

Although Gu Gu Changsheng did not achieve the feat of shaking the world like Marquis Duke Dingyuan.

But there was no need to think.

The number of cultivators who died at his hands would certainly not be small.

It was just that Gu Gu Changsheng's nature was more low-key.

Gu Gu Changsheng's gaze fell on the thick booklet in Li Rui's hand.

"Fortunately, I am not the one presiding over the next World Martial Evaluation, otherwise it would definitely give people a headache."

Li Rui was speechless.

Indeed.

Three thousand cultivators descended to the lower realm.

Just the First-Rank ones Li Rui knew of numbered ten, among whom there was no lack of existences at the Heavenly Phenomenon Realm, and as for Qi Condensation, there were even more.

The World Martial Evaluation was indeed difficult to judge.

Gu Gu Changsheng looked at the Mountain-Seeking Division and could not help but sigh: "Our Chief Councilor Zhang is truly admirable."

Li Rui nodded, deeply agreeing.

If it weren't for Chief Councilor Zhang pushing aside all objections to establish the Dao Academy and vigorously recommending cultivators to serve as officials in the court, Great Yu might already be in turmoil today.

It was clear that he had been preparing for today long ago.

He truly had the great ability to mend the heavens.

Today, Great Yu's foundation was terrifyingly deep.

The thirty-two military towns had countless experts; it was precisely by relying on these assets accumulated by Chief Councilor Zhang that Great Yu did not fall into chaos.

Compared to the Wu Kingdom.

It was much more composed.

Gu Gu Changsheng: "Brother Li, I came here this time for one matter."

"Recently, the Armillary Sphere at the Imperial Observatory has often had anomalies. I have deduced it many times; someone is secretly stealing the national fortune."

Stealing national fortune.

Li Rui's eyes narrowed.

As the Peace-Maintaining Commandant, monitoring the world's fortune was his duty, and this was a major matter concerning the nation.

Gu Gu Changsheng laughed: "Brother Li, you can keep an eye out to see which little thief wants to steal the rice."

"Very well."

Li Rui nodded.

Afterward, Gu Gu Changsheng chatted with him for a long while about his experiences during this period before leaving.

In a remote jungle in Great Yu.

A slightly chubby figure was walking leisurely.

"Fortunately, Daoist Wu is sharp-witted; these natives are truly fierce."

That person was Wu De.

Unlike other cultivators.

He did not act arrogantly the moment he arrived, treating the natives of this realm as ants.

On the contrary, he feared them like tigers.

Once he landed, the first thing he did was find a place with no one around to hide.

Of course.

He did not completely isolate himself from the world, but secretly figured out the situation of this small cave-heaven.

He even knew that quite a few fellow Daoists had been suppressed by the natives and died.

Looking at it now.

His decision was extremely wise.

And he vaguely felt that this realm should be hiding a great secret.

That was a Dao Lord who made a move!

Ordinary small cave-heavens do not have such treatment.

Thinking of this, Wu De could not help but rub his hands in excitement.

"The old Daoist calculated for me, saying that I, Daoist Wu, am born with noble aura, rich in wealth and treasures; that fortune looks like it has a connection with me."

He chuckled.

For some reason.

A figure suddenly appeared in his mind.

Zhu Ping.

"Daoist friend Zhu, wait until I, Daoist Wu, return, and we will settle the score."

Wu De had already made up his mind.

He must break through to the Purple Mansion Realm in this realm, and then find a way to return to the Immortal Cultivation World.

By then.

He would definitely find a way to get back at that Daoist friend Zhu.

Don't bully the young because they are poor.

Although one cannot determine age by appearance in the Immortal Cultivation World, there are elders who only deserve to be called juniors, and children who are revered as ancestors.

But one can roughly guess from that Daoist friend Zhu's cultivation and appearance.

At least three hundred years old.

By comparison, he is much younger.

If he could obtain the fortune of this realm, surpassing him would be easy.

Thinking of this.

Wu De could not wait to meet that Daoist friend Zhu again.

"The world is going downhill; they are just losers who want to take shortcuts. Compared to them, those demon cultivators are righteous."

"If the Dao Lord were still here, he would definitely kill these scumbags completely."

Within the Grand Void Dojo.

The artifact spirit, a little old man, was furious and cursing.

He had already learned from Li Rui.

That tens of thousands of years had passed since the era of Dao Lord Master Wanshou, and now a large number of cultivators from the Immortal Cultivation World were descending to Li Rui's small cave-heaven.

The artifact spirit, the little old man, was so angry he could not speak.

Dao Lord Master Wanshou himself rose from a small cave-heaven, so he hated such things the most.

He had even followed Dao Lord Master Wanshou to protect quite a few small cave-heavens back then.

As for Li Rui hiding these things before.

The artifact spirit, the little old man, did not think much of it.

Only those in the same situation can understand each other.

He knew too well how cautious a cultivator who walked out of a small cave-heaven had to be, so as not to fall into becoming a vessel for those old monsters to possess.

According to Dao Lord Master Wanshou.

There are not that many bad people in the Immortal Cultivation World, but you cannot bet on your luck being good enough to never run into them.

So if Li Rui had mindlessly spilled everything the moment they met, he would have looked down on him even more.

"Dao Lord..."

The artifact spirit, the little old man, suddenly stopped.

Thinking that tens of thousands of years had passed, even he felt uncertain about whether his master, Dao Lord Master Wanshou, still existed.

Li Rui blinked and asked curiously:

"Senior, what do you mean by taking shortcuts?"

Hearing this, the artifact spirit, the little old man, said indignantly: "These guys just couldn't compete in the Great Dao struggle, so they thought of coming down to snatch the fortune of the cave-heaven."

"They couldn't compete in the Immortal Cultivation World, so they had to come down. If they aren't pathetic, what are they?"

"True Great Dao prodigies, who would descend to the lower realm?"

Listening to the artifact spirit, the little old man, Li Rui narrowed his eyes slightly.

'Exiled Immortal.'

Looking at it now, this character 'exiled' was not chosen casually.

Exiled, meaning to be demoted.

Those cultivators in the lower realm, although far from being as pathetic as the artifact spirit, the little old man, described, with countless experts among them, were not the most outstanding batch in the Immortal Cultivation World.

Li Rui also understood a little.

Simply put.

It was that the competition in the Immortal Cultivation World was too great, especially for First-Rank cultivators.

They simply could not compete in the Great Dao struggle.

But the Golden Court Cave-Heaven was completely different; there were no existences above the First Rank, it was a blue ocean.

Those cultivators who were originally suppressed by the Great Dao struggle and had no chance to step into a higher realm came to this realm.

The possibility of breaking through would be much greater.

Of course, after these foreign cultivators broke through, they would in turn become a great mountain on the heads of the local cultivators.

That was why those cultivators squeezed their heads to descend to the lower realm.

It was all to plunder the Great Dao fortune within the cave-heaven.

Li Rui was thoughtful.

"Above the First Rank..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 498 =====