Chapter 406: Dao Ting (Requesting Monthly Votes)

A small town.

A winding river flowed through the town's center, and the main road was paved with blue stone slabs.

In the misty drizzle, a night watchman struck a bronze gong as he walked the streets, calling out: "The Liyang Dao Ting's annual Spirit Sensing Ceremony is about to begin! If your child has a spiritual root, they can be admitted to the academy—food and lodging free, and someday become a lofty immortal master… Bring your ten-year-old children to the town's threshing ground immediately—latecomers will not be accepted!"

On the threshing ground, children waited under the watch of their parents, their faces tense as they stared at an old man with white beard and hair, feeling their bones.

"No spiritual root."

The old man appeared ethereal and transcendent, but in truth he was merely a Qi Condensation-stage cultivator who couldn't even afford to use a Spirit Sensing Talisman—he performed the technique slowly himself.

As soon as he spoke, the little girl opposite burst into tears.

He had seen this scene countless times; his expression remained unmoved. "Next."

"No spiritual root!"

"No spiritual root!"

"No spiritual root!"

…

In the cultivation world, spiritual root potential was rarer than one in ten thousand.

The old man, indifferent, took a breath and continued his technique.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, he looked at a sturdy little boy before him—fine multicolored light flickered from the child's crown, extremely short in length.

"Low-grade mixed spiritual root… eligible for the academy."

The old man nodded and announced it aloud.

"Thank you, Immortal Master! Thank you, Immortal Master!"

A peasant couple embraced their son, bowing repeatedly in gratitude.

"Heh… no need to thank me—it's the Dao Ting's rule."

The old immortal shook his head and gestured to the scribe beside him: "Your family has produced a spiritual sprout—exempt from three years of taxes. Next!"

For some reason, his eyes held a flicker of pity as he watched the boy's back, as if seeing his own past self…

…

"The unification of the cultivation world has truly extended its tentacles into every corner…"

High above.

Fang Xing sat upon the clouds, calmly observing all that unfolded below: "The Liyang Palace rules the Liyang cultivation world, establishing academies in every mortal town, hunting for spiritual sprouts—all spiritual veins under the Dao Ting's control… there's little room left for lone cultivators here."

The so-called Liyang Dao Ting was in fact the outer gate of the Liyang Palace.

"What a splendid scene of prosperity."

Qiong Xianzi, witnessing this, felt a touch of envy.

"A cultivation golden age? Hmph…"

Fang Xing suddenly sneered.

His spiritual sense far surpassed Qiong Xianzi's in both range and precision—he saw far more.

At that moment, several jade slips flickered through the void and landed in Fang Xing's hand; he casually tossed them to Qiong Xianzi: "These are the so-called entrance cultivation methods of the academy—take a look."

Qiong Xianzi sent her spiritual sense into the jade slips and nodded lightly: "Grass and Tree Scripture, Mingwang Technique… indeed crude. Hmm?"

"You see it now, don't you? These techniques are crude, but their later stages conceal malice—they're designed specifically for drug slaves and mine laborers."

Fang Xing shook his head with a smile: "Cultivation, cultivation—yet in the end, they never even brush against Foundation Establishment, and might even shorten their lifespan, using their own essence to nurture spiritual herbs…"

"This… if one's spiritual potential is too low, they may never hope for Foundation Establishment—this is all they can do."

Qiong Xianzi replied weakly.

After all, the lower ranks of Piaomiao Immortal Palace also had similar cultivators—though not so bluntly, and with additional compensation.

But under the Dao Ting's rule now, there was clearly no such compensation.

After all, they had no external enemies and no need to care for public criticism.

Even if the lower cultivators rioted, the high-stage cultivators could simply move mountains and reverse rivers to crush them.

"Children with superior spiritual potential might still have a chance to join the Liyang Palace…"

No sooner had Qiong Xianzi spoken than Fang Xing took her and flew into a major city.

"Within the academy below, there are indeed a few promising talents—at least upper-grade spiritual roots."

Fang Xing sneered: "They're learning soldier cultivation methods—there are hidden traps within. Once triggered, the meridians snap and the cultivator dies. And the techniques are far too crude—they'll never even dream of Golden Core, let alone Nascent Soul."

"This… don't they fear their sect's lineage will be lost?"

Qiong Xianzi asked in surprise.

"You can guess the truth easily—it's all about family clans and aristocratic factions. In the Liyang Palace, the blood descendants of high-stage cultivators number in the trillions—they can pick the best from the best. As for advancement from the outer gate of the Liyang Dao Ting, it's not just rare—it's narrowing to nothing."

Fang Xing shook his head: "They can only keep producing Huashen cultivators by plundering the entire cultivation world's resources—but reaching Lianxu and ascending to immortality? Forget it."

In this regard, he knew perfectly well—he had soul-searched the Beggar Immortal Lord.

The Liyang Palace now was gilded outside, rotten within. Perhaps… this was the decay of a world without enemies?

"So… it's really like this?" Qiong Xianzi found it hard to believe.

"Is it not natural for a cultivation world obsessed with resources to end up monopolized?" Fang Xing smiled. "I know that within the Liyang Palace, power rotates among four clans: Hua, Li, Sun, and Qian. There are also the Alchemy Cauldron Line, the Sword Sun Line, and others—all forming cliques, recruiting only their own. All spiritual veins in the Liyang cultivation world belong to the Liyang Palace—those who resist are killed. All cultivation techniques are forbidden—anyone who teaches outside the academy is executed!"

In such a world, lower cultivators were inevitably desperate—yet their power came from within themselves.

As long as the Liyang Palace produced Huashen masters generation after generation, the lower cultivators could never rebel.

Even the most outstanding spiritual sprouts, training in soldier techniques, could only reach Golden Core at best—how could they fight a Huashen?

This rule had lasted tens of thousands of years—and one could imagine it continuing for hundreds of thousands, even millions of years, as long as no external force intervened.

"Even funnier: originally, this cultivation world was ruled by the Dragon King Court, where humans were treated like livestock. Back then, the Liyang Palace was humanity's savior—after six hundred generations of struggle, they overthrew the Dragon King Court and rendered great service to humanity."

Fang Xing sighed silently: "But now, it's all completely rotten."

"Aren't you here now to sweep away the corruption? Do you plan to spread your teachings here?" Qiong Xianzi asked with a playful smile, her eyes sparkling.

"No. After I plunder this Liyang cultivation world, I can just give it to your Piaomiao Immortal Palace."

Fang Xing said coolly.

In his heart, he added: 'Consider it a tip…'

"Then this humble woman thanks you in advance," the Piaomiao Mistress smiled sweetly. "But how do you plan to act?"

"Such a rotten force—even with a sixth-rank array—is like a corpse in a tomb. With the Beggar Immortal Lord dead, their top power has collapsed—there's bound to be infighting."

Fang Xing sneered.

…

The Liyang Palace's mountain gate stood on 'Mount Dayang'.

It was a towering, endless mountain range stretching for thousands of li—said to be the ancestral vein of the Liyang cultivation world.

"Such dense spiritual energy… the core must be high-grade sixth-rank."

Fang Xing, standing before the thousand-li mountain range, sighed.

"Truly… a waste of heaven's bounty."

Qiong Xianzi echoed the sentiment.

"Heh… has internal strife already begun?"

Fang Xing's spiritual sense sensed the turbulent flow of heavenly spiritual energy and spoke suddenly.

"Huh? They've already started fighting?"

Qiong Xianzi's eyes lit up.

'It seems the peace below was just an illusion… of course—these are the outermost branches. No matter how the elders above fight, it barely affects them… the drug slaves remain drug slaves, the mine laborers stay mine laborers, the soldiers remain soldiers…'

Fang Xing mentally scoffed, then formed a hand seal—a hazy glow enveloped the two, and their forms vanished.

When they reached the summit, they saw a vast expanse of magnificent palaces stretching for hundreds of li.

At that moment, a thousand-zhang-long black dragon rampaged wildly within the Liyang Palace.

"Huh? Why isn't the mountain protection array activated?"

Qiong Xianzi immediately sensed something wrong.

"It's been sabotaged from within… clearly, internal strife has begun."

Fang Xing shook his head, watching the four Huashen-level cultivators locked in battle.

One was, of course, the black dragon; the other three Huashen masters were split into two factions.

One, dressed in wide robes and a tall crown with an ancient face, was allied with the Huashen dragon, fighting the other two Huashen masters.

'The Liyang Palace currently has four Huashen cultivators.'

'Only Hua Clan's Beggar Immortal Lord reached late Huashen—the rest are all early Huashen, from the Li, Sun, and Qian clans… this was already the peak of the Liyang Palace's power.'

'I didn't expect the demonic race in this cultivation world could still rebound—this generation produced a fifth-rank dragon… and a Sun Clan Huashen actually invited the wolf inside.'

In an instant, Fang Xing understood the situation—and internally mocked himself:

'I was too cautious… I assumed the Liyang Palace, as a holy sect, still had deep reserves, and feared I might stumble.'

'I never imagined they'd already torn each other apart before I even arrived—worse, they even brought in outside enemies.'

'Even the most critical—?'

In truth, after soul-searching the Beggar Immortal Lord, Fang Xing knew more about the Liyang Palace than these three Huashen masters possibly could.

He even knew the full truth of the palace's foundational array—the Nine Dragons Carrying the Sun Array.

He could have slipped in unseen, assassinated each Huashen master one by one, and seized full control.

That had been his original plan—but he hadn't expected the enemy to be even more foolish than he imagined.

The news of the sect's ancestral elder and strongest combatant's death spread, but instead of uniting against outsiders, they began infighting.

Even... they brought in demonic clan forces to intervene!

Whether that fifth-rank black dragon was a spirit pet was easy to determine.

Moreover, Fang Xing could sense that this dragon was stronger than the three Nascent Soul masters, yet deliberately concealed its power—intending to let the three human Nascent Soul masters cripple each other.

'Given this, if I hadn't come... the Liyang Palace cultivators might have been overturned, and even the Liyang Immortal Realm could fall into demonic hands?'

No extra update today

(End of chapter)