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.

There was no name for Wu De.

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, Great Yu's thirty-two military towns had already fought countless battles with batches of cultivators.

And one extremely important link was to figure out the situation of those cultivators.

The entire court was in motion.

The efficiency was naturally extremely high.

The cultivators in the lower realm who were in Great Yu had already been discovered for the most part, 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 over 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-Establishing Commandant, and a few talisman masters remained on duty.

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

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

Slaughtering villages, and even slaughtering cities, had occurred.

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

Execute them all!

The Emperor had already proclaimed this to the world.

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

How could an emperor who rose from the Immortal Calamity be soft-hearted?

Li Rui was flipping through the booklet in his hand.

A burst of light footsteps sounded.

Looking up.

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

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

Since that night.

Gu Changsheng and Marquis Dingyuan had left the capital.

Running around everywhere.

Many of the cultivators who could descend to the lower realm were at the Profound Connection realm.

Over a thousand experts of the Upper Three Ranks.

The impact on Great Yu could be imagined.

Some demonic cultivators at the Heavenly Phenomenon realm naturally required First-Rank experts like Gu Changsheng and Marquis Dingyuan to take action and deter them.

It was heard that Marquis Dingyuan had personally suppressed seven Heavenly Phenomenon cultivators in Jiangnan, and even fought a fierce battle with a First-Rank cultivator, finally chasing them for thirty thousand miles and forcing that cultivator into the South Sea, not daring to step into Great Yu for half a step.

He had fought his way to a resounding reputation.

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

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

But there was no need to think.

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

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

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

"Fortunately, it is not me who will preside over the next World Martial Evaluation, otherwise it would certainly give one 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 Profound Connection, there were even more.

The World Martial Evaluation was indeed difficult to judge.

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

Li Rui nodded, deeply agreeing.

If it weren't for Chief Councilor Zhang overcoming all opposition to establish the Dao Academy and vigorously recommending cultivators to serve as officials in the court, Great Yu might have already been in a precarious state today.

Clearly, he had been preparing for today long ago.

Truly a great talent for mending the heavens.

Now, 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 great chaos.

Compared to the Wu Kingdom.

It was much more composed.

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

"Recently, the Armillary Sphere in the Imperial Observatory has often had strange movements; I have deduced many times that someone is secretly stealing the national fortune."

Stealing the national fortune.

Li Rui's eyes narrowed.

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

Gu Changsheng chuckled: "Li Laoge can keep an eye out and see which little thief wants to steal the rice."

"Very well."

Li Rui nodded.

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

In a forest in Great Yu where human traces were rare.

A slightly chubby figure was walking leisurely.

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

That person was none other than Wu De.

Unlike other cultivators.

He did not look down on others or treat the natives of this realm as ants the moment he arrived.

On the contrary, he feared them like tigers.

Upon landing, 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 quietly figured out the situation of this small cave-heaven for the most part.

He even knew that quite a few Daoist friends had been suppressed by the natives and had 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 taking action!

Ordinary small cave-heavens did not have such treatment.

Thinking of this, Wu De couldn't help but rub his hands excitedly.

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

He chuckled.

For some reason.

A figure suddenly appeared in his mind.

Zhu Ping.

"Daoist friend Zhu, wait until Daoist Wu returns, then we shall settle the account."

Wu De had already made up his mind.

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

At that time.

He must get back at that Daoist friend Zhu.

Don't bully the young for being poor, right?

Although cultivators cannot determine age just by looking at their appearance, there are old men who only deserve to be called juniors, and there are children who are revered as ancestors.

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

At least three hundred years old.

By comparison, wasn't he much younger?

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

Thinking of this.

Wu De couldn't 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 demonic cultivators are benevolent and righteous."

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

Within the Grand Void Arena.

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

He had already learned from Li Rui.

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

The artifact spirit, the little old man, was so angry he couldn't help himself.

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

Back then, he even followed Dao Lord Wanshou to protect quite a few small cave-heavens.

As for Li Rui hiding these things before.

The artifact spirit, the little old man, didn't 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 in order not to fall into becoming a vessel for those old monsters to possess.

According to Dao Lord Wanshou's words.

The Immortal Cultivation World didn't have that many bad people, but you couldn't bet on your luck being good enough to never run into one.

So if Li Rui had mindlessly poured out 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 Wanshou, still existed.

Li Rui blinked and asked curiously:

"Senior, what did you mean by taking shortcuts just now?"

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

"They couldn't compete in the Immortal Cultivation World, so they had no choice but to come down; if they aren't pathetic wretches, what are they?"

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

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

'Exiled Immortal.'

Now it seemed, this 'exiled' character was not chosen casually.

'Exiled' meant to be demoted.

Those cultivators in the lower realm, although far from being as pathetic as the artifact spirit, the little old man said, 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 couldn't compete in the Great Dao struggle.

But the Jin Ting Cave-Heaven was completely different; there were no existences above the First Rank at all, it was completely a blue ocean.

Those cultivators who originally had no chance to step into a higher realm because of the Great Dao struggle suppression came to this realm.

The possibility of breaking through could be much greater.

Of course, after these foreign cultivators broke through, they would in turn become a great mountain over 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 in his heart.

"Above the First Rank..."

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