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Chapter 336: The Golden Age of Immortality Cultivators?

Regardless, that's why Feng Chaoyang's hostility toward Chu Liang vanished like smoke in thin air and turned into admiration. If Feng Chaoyang gained anything, it was a deep understanding of the idiom "Actions speak louder than words."[1]

Meanwhile, Luo Xiaoyong reflected deeply on his temper. He wondered if he had been too bad-tempered lately and decided to be kinder to people in the future. Despite that, he and Feng Chaoyang had forged a friendship they would never have formed if they hadn't fought.

The most unfortunate of the four of them was Li Shiyi. The young lady hadn't gotten injured, but she was the only one who had left in tears.

Li Shiyi had been cultivating in the Endless Sword Sect all her life. She had great talent and a high level of cultivation for her age, but she hadn't experienced much of the outside world. This rare outing had left her a little traumatized.

On the way back to their sect, Li Shiyi kept asking her great-grandfather, “Why are there no friendly relationships in the martial world, just fighting and killing?”

Chu Liang's biggest change was that he now had the Phoenix Sheep's Fruit of Life and a bunch of Phoenix-Spirit Fire Seeds in his pocket. It could be said that he had a bountiful harvest.

Without taking into consideration their mental growth, Chu Liang was the only winner out of the four youths who had gone to the hidden realm.

By the time Chu Liang returned to Silver Sword Peak, the sky was already dark. He didn't go anywhere else; he just went straight back to his cabin to sleep.

The next morning, he decided to visit the Berry Wonderland.

As soon as Chu Liang stepped outside, he ran into Wen Yulong, who had come looking for him.

Wen Yulong said with a smile, "Senior Brother Chu, I heard you were back, so I came to find you first thing in the morning. Eh, where are you going?"

Chu Liang replied, "I'm going to the fruit garden."

"Oh. I'm here to tell you that I got the information you were seeking in Taotie City."

Wen Yulong was quite familiar with Taotie City, so Chu Liang had asked Wen Yulong to enquire around on his behalf.

"Oh?" Chu Liang uttered. He quickly asked, "Information for which thing?"

"Both of them," Wen Yulong replied. "The alchemist is willing to meet you, and the Pavilion of Celestial Fate has gathered information on the Human-Faced Xiao."

"Great!" Chu Liang clapped his hands happily. "I'll check on the fruit garden and then set off for Taotie City."

After receiving the good news, Chu Liang walked cheerfully toward the Berry Wonderland. Even from afar, he could already see that it was bustling with people.

Just after interest in the tale about Madam Bai faded, the tale about Meng Jiangnu took its place and captured the public's interest. In the world of immortality cultivators, the craze for the Golden Vein Berries did not die down; instead, it intensified. There seemed to be an unending stream of people that were curious about the berries.

This was partly thanks to the Berry Wonderland's visitors spreading the word about it, providing a second round of advertising for free.

The Golden-Furred Hou and the Baize youngling were running around the fruit garden. They weren't fulfilling their duties as the Berry Wonderland's security guards. Instead, they were just having fun playing. Yet, that was precisely what made the visitors fond of them.

The game they played with the flying disc even drew in some visiting cultivators, and more and more people joined in. From the perspective of the two spirit beasts, they were just happy to have more people to play with.

Once the news about the Mount Shu Sect's celestial beast Baize being on the brink of ascension spread through the world of immortality cultivators, the Baize youngling drew even more attention than before.

This spirit beast might just become the son of a ninth-realm Hallowed One in the future! Now, people could have it fetch a flying disc for them for only several dozen sword coins. Who could resist going there to have a go?

When Di Nufeng was free, she would patrol the Berry Wonderland and glare at any visitor who seemed like they might stir up trouble. Just one glance from her made them shiver in fear! Di Nufeng looked just like a mob boss watching over her territory.

Chu Liang had initially asked Di Nufeng to only check in if there was trouble. After all, it wasn't difficult for a seventh-realm Eminent One to keep an eye on a place on the other side of the mountain peak.

However, once Di Nufeng learned about the revenue the Berry Wonderland was bringing in, she paid it way more attention than Chu Liang had expected. It seemed that she intended to rely on this fruit garden to fund her retirement.

Meanwhile, Liu Xiaoyu'er, an ordinary person—no, an ordinary fish demon, had become a rising star on Mount Shu with tremendous speed. The number of people seeking her blessings was increasing constantly.

Visitors who wanted to meet with Liu Xiaoyu'er now had to queue for more than an hour, and even then, they could only have a brief conversation to request for a few blessings.

Liu Xiaoyu'er's main business consisted of giving blessings and selling small safety talismans she had blessed. Yet, it seemed like she was attracting fans as well, much like the disciples of the South Melody Conservatory.

Aside from these two idle members of Silver Sword Peak, the other members of Chu Liang's business team did not spend a lot of time in the fruit garden even though they very much wanted to.

Lin Bei, for one, loved being a tour guide, and he was extremely good at it. In fact, if there were a competition for it, he would be a gold-medalist tour guide. In the early days of the Berry Wonderland, he had pretty much lived in the fruit garden. By working there, he could earn good money and even meet female cultivators from all over the nine provinces and four seas.

However, after observing Lin Bei do that for a few days, Chu Liang felt that a proper cultivator couldn't do that as their main job. So, he asked Shang Ziliang to bring in a group of senior and junior brothers from Cloud Horizon Peak to work in shifts at the Berry Wonderland with the existing team of people working there. That way, all of them would only need to work seven days a month and could spend the rest of the time cultivating, training, and doing missions to increase their strength.

Working at the Berry Wonderland meant they could have fun, interact with many female cultivators, and earn dozens of times more than what they'd get from doing missions in the same amount of time. Everyone jumped at the opportunity to work there. Nonetheless, Chu Liang's strict rule meant they could sadly only work seven days a month.

At first, the disciples of Cloud Horizon Peak had been hesitant to take up the offer, but once the first batch of disciples returned from working at the fruit garden and revealed their earnings, everyone else eagerly signed up.

Di Nufeng had gone to Cloud Horizon Peak with her disciple just a few months ago to extort Shang Shuwen. Never in his wildest dreams would Shang Shuwen have even imagined that all of the disciples from his peak would now be working for Silver Sword Peak.

The twists and turns of life sure were strange and unpredictable.

...

After inspecting the fruit garden, Chu Liang returned to his cabin and saw a message from Heaven-Reaching Peak. The sect leader wanted to see him.

Chu Liang immediately set off for Heaven-Reaching Peak. He guessed that the sect leader was probably going to give him a response to what they had last discussed.

Upon arriving at Boundless Palace, Chu Liang found the sect leader's room as serene and impressive as ever. Venerable Wen Yuan was already sitting there.

Seeing Chu Liang walk in, Venerable Wen Yuan asked, "I heard you encountered some danger in the Phoenix Sheep Hidden Realm?"

Chu Liang had yet to report about the incident at the Phoenix Sheep Hidden Realm. That meant Venerable Wen Yuan had likely heard about it from one of the other sects.

"Yes, there was some danger."

Chu Liang then told Venerable Wen Yuan about the sudden appearance of the seventh-realm Eminent One.

Venerable Wen Yuan listened attentively and then nodded. "The seventh-realm cultivator you encountered is probably Huo Tianya, a disowned disciple of the Fog-Hidden Mountain of Immortals."

"The Fog-Hidden Mountain of Immortals..." Chu Liang muttered.

The nine provinces and four seas were vast, but... seventh-realm Eminent Ones weren't as common as cabbages; they didn't just pop up everywhere. Anyone at such a high level of cultivation would certainly be fairly well known, so it was unsurprising that Venerable Wen Yuan could identify the Eminent One that Chu Liang mentioned.

The Endless Sword Sect was probably leading the investigation. After all, their Supreme Elder had been absolutely furious when he left the hidden realm. He'd vowed that he would grind the person who had frightened his great-granddaughter into dust.

"He was Enlightened Jiuyi's disciple. Back then, he slaughtered dozens of righteous cultivators to seize a treasure. He used extremely vile methods, so much so that Fog-Hidden Mountain of Immortals was pressured into driving him out of the sect. He has since been on the wanted list of all righteous sects across the nine provinces for dozens of decades," Venerable Wen Yuan said frankly.

Chu Liang couldn't help but gulp in shock.

The world of immortality cultivators acknowledged the law of the jungle, that the weak were prey to the strong. So, it was normal for cultivators to get a bit rough when they fought over treasures. Occasionally, there were even major cases involving deaths.

However, slaughtering dozens of people for a treasure... and doing it with methods so vile that the Fog-Hidden Mountain of Immortals had been forced to drive the disciple out of the sect... That just shows how heinous that disciple's actions had been.

Some might say that the Fog-Hidden Mountain of Immortals had shielded that disciple by merely driving him out. However, for a criminal disciple who had incited public outrage, getting driven out of a sect meant he would no longer be under their protection.

It was the sect's declaration that the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten could go after him however they liked. They needn't hold back out of respect for the Fog-Hidden Mountain of Immortals.

Nine out of ten disciples driven out of their sects like this would get murdered. As for the one remaining disciple, they would escape because they were extraordinarily skilled.

"As for his purpose behind capturing the Phoenix Sheep, it was probably to force the Phoenix King to emerge," Venerable Wen Yuan muttered as he pondered. "This is similar to what happened with Baize. Someone is deliberately trying to disturb these beings while they are on the brink of ascension. There's probably someone plotting behind the scenes.

"Lu Chengqiu was supported by the Celestial Charm Sect. Considering the similar circumstances, it's likely that Huo Tianya has also joined the Celestial Charm Sect."

Chu Liang nodded.

The Eminent One in question had said that he shared a common origin with the Celestial King Sect. He had probably been referring to the Celestial Charm Sect.

Venerable Wen Yuan continued, "Thinking about it now, there have been celestial beasts reaching the gateway of the ninth realm in succession. It seems the demon god has truly fallen."

In eras when the supreme ninth-realm being was still alive and thriving in the world, no beings would be able to be on the brink of ascension to the ninth realm. Even if the ninth-realm Hallowed One were weakened like how the demon god had been suppressed for several thousand years, there still wouldn't be any beings on the brink of ascension.

However, during the past few hundred years, beings on the brink of ascension had appeared one after another. This could be taken as indication that the previous Hallowed One had died. The cultivators of the world could only thrive when the spiritual energy that a ninth-realm Hallowed One had accumulated returned to the heavens and the earth. It would be much easier for the eighth-realm Eminent Ones to achieve enlightenment, and cultivators in all the lower realms would rise in level as well.

When the demon god emerged in the past, the Mount Shu Sect had been able to gather seven Eminent Ones at the Heavenly Origin Realm to join the battle against the demon god. Now, the Mount Shu Sect only had two eighth-realm cultivators, and that was including Baize.

The Mount Shu Sect wasn't the only one affected. As long as the one being at the ninth realm was still alive, all immortal sects would be limited to the eighth realm.

If the demon god had truly fallen, then the mortal realm's cultivation world should soon usher in a golden age[2].

Naturally, the Mount Shu Sect hoped it was true. After all, if the demon god returned, his first target of revenge would undoubtedly be the Mount Shu Sect.

Chu Liang just listened quietly. He wasn't aware of the details of such matters, nor did he have the status to discuss them with Venerable Wen Yuan.

After a while, Venerable Wen Yuan said to him, "As for the proposals you presented previously, I discussed them with the sect's elders, and we have come to a conclusion."

Chu Liang's eyes lit up.

1. The original line translates directly to "If you can do it, say less crap." Aptly put. ☜

2. A period when they would flourish and achieve great things. ☜