Chapter 215: Azure Dragon Domain, Land of Demons and Devils
Inside the mountain cave.
Zhao Zhen lay on the ground, staring blankly at the cave wall.
His injuries were far more severe than Jiang Zhaoxia’s.
His internal organs had suffered devastating damage, large areas of flesh within his body were torn apart.
When Qiao Dingbei had examined his injuries earlier, he had been terrified, utterly unable to understand how Zhao Zhen was still alive.
Zhao Zhen did not wallow in self-pity.
Instead, he was replaying his battle with Ancestor Su Xing in his mind, searching for a way to directly kill Ancestor Su Xing head-on.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps.
He immediately became alert.
Qiao Dingbei had only left a few hours ago, and he worried that someone else might have wandered into this place.
“Yo, Zhao Zhen, how did you end up in such a miserable state?”
A teasing voice rang out.
Before Zhao Zhen even saw who it was, he let out a sigh of relief, because the voice was very familiar to him.
Sword God Shen Yue!
The two of them often discussed martial arts back in the sect, and their relationship had been fairly good.
Moreover, Zhao Zhen knew how strong Shen Yue was.
If Ancestor Su Xing still had helpers, or if the Xuanji Sect attacked, Shen Yue would be able to handle it.
He looked toward the cave passage and soon saw the figures of Shen Yue, Xu Ning, and Qiao Dingbei.
When he saw that Xu Ning had also come, Zhao Zhen finally relaxed completely.
Xu Ning walked to his side, frowned tightly, and asked, “How did you get yourself into such a state?”
Although she rarely interacted with her junior brothers, their relationship still existed.
Seeing Zhao Zhen injured like this, her gaze turned icy.
“I encountered an immortal cultivator. I was no match for him at all,” Zhao Zhen said bluntly.
Shen Yue said, “On the way here, we already heard Qiao Dingbei explain it. I’ll go check on that kid Jiang first.”
After saying that, he walked toward the inner cave passage.
Xu Ning looked at Zhao Zhen and asked, “I’m asking you—why did you injure yourself like this? Since you weren’t your opponent, why risk your life?”
Zhao Zhen clenched his teeth and said, “I’m not a coward. Even if I couldn’t win, I still had to fight. And I couldn’t just watch Uncle-Master Jiang die for my sake…”
“At least you have some awareness. If Uncle-Master Jiang had died, your guilt would have been far greater. Remember this: we are fellow disciples. If anything happens, you must discuss it with me, with Master. Do not be blindly confident, lest you implicate others. We cannot even die for ourselves, because doing so would betray Master and the sect’s nurturing.”
Xu Ning spoke seriously.
She paused, then added, “Our lives no longer belong solely to ourselves. You must understand this clearly.”
Zhao Zhen took a deep breath and said, “I’ll remember. When I return, I’ll apologize to Master. From now on, I will hide nothing. I am no longer Zhao Zhen of the Zhao Clan, but Zhao Zhen of the Clear Sky Sect.”
Xu Ning looked at him deeply, raised her hand, and pointed toward Zhao Zhen’s chest, transmitting vital energy through the air to heal him.
Zhao Zhen clearly felt the pain inside his body lessen.
He looked gratefully at his senior sister.
He had always thought that Senior Sister was cold and difficult to approach.
Only today did he realize that she was cold on the outside but warm-hearted within.
“You are not alone. You still have Master, you still have me, you still have your other junior brothers, and you still have the entire Clear Sky Sect accompanying you,” Xu Ning suddenly said.
Zhao Zhen’s heart was struck all at once.
His eyes immediately turned red, and he hurriedly closed them.
He was, after all, only a fifteen-year-old youth.
Even though he tried hard to convince himself that his relationship with his mother had not been close, the moment he thought of her tragic death, his heart became panicked.
Who could truly sever familial bonds? Moreover, the reason he and his mother had not been together was not because she had abandoned him, but because of his father’s arrangements, sending them to different places to live in peace.
Xu Ning no longer comforted him, but her thoughts drifted into the past.
She thought of the scene of her father dying before her eyes, of those days of wandering and hardship.
Those experiences felt as though they belonged to a previous lifetime.
On the other side.
Shen Yue arrived before the Divine Art Wall and discovered Jiang Zhaoxia standing motionless, his gaze fixed tightly on the wall.
“He is accepting a legacy,” Chu Jing spoke up to remind him.
Shen Yue nodded.
He had already noticed this, which was why he had not spoken to disturb him.
He turned to look at the Divine Art Wall, curious about what kind of divine art was recorded within it.
Chu Jing controlled the Tianhong Sword to fly in front of Shen Yue and said, “Since you’ve all arrived, I’ll head back first. I need to personally report the situation to the Sect Master.”
“Go ahead. With Xu Ning and me here, no one will be able to harm the two of them,” Shen Yue said softly.
Chu Jing nodded, turned around, and left with the Tianhong Sword.
The cave chamber then fell into silence.
Shen Yue glanced at Jiang Zhaoxia, curiosity showing on his face.
What kind of legacy had this kid obtained?
He was not afraid of being surpassed by Jiang Zhaoxia.
He was simply curious about such fortuitous encounters.
……
By the time May arrived, the matter of Jiang Zhaoxia and Zhao Zhen being injured had not spread within the Clear Sky Sect.
The disciples were still busy, and the sect continued to develop according to plan.
On this day, at noon.
Inside the cave dwelling.
Chu Jing floated before Li Qingqiu, glancing at him from time to time.
At this moment, Li Qingqiu was searching through Ancestor Su Xing’s soul memories.
Chu Jing was also very curious about Ancestor Su Xing’s background, but unfortunately, he was a ghost and could not use the Soul Restraining Curse.
At most, he could trap Ancestor Su Xing inside the Tianhong Sword.
Ancestor Su Xing had actually lived for two hundred years.
Before being injured, his experiences were extremely rich.
Through him, Li Qingqiu glimpsed the place from which he came.
After searching for a full two hours, Li Qingqiu finally opened his eyes.
“Master, how was it? Does he have an immortal cultivation sect backing him?” Chu Jing asked urgently.
After becoming Lord Jing, Chu Jing cared even more about the Clear Sky Sect and began to truly put himself in its position when thinking about matters.
Li Qingqiu replied, “He once joined an immortal cultivation sect, but he had already left long ago. He is a rogue cultivator. Together with three friends, he came to the land of the Nine Provinces to search for the inheritance of the Supreme Sword Alliance. He was betrayed by his friends and nearly died, then hid in Tianxuan Mountain for several decades.”
Hearing this, Chu Jing let out a sigh of relief.
He had been afraid that this matter would draw in even more enemies.
He had already become a ghost cultivator and still hoped to rely on Li Qingqiu to ascend as an immortal, so he naturally did not want the Clear Sky Sect to be destroyed.
“So that means immortal cultivation sects truly exist? Where are they?” Chu Jing asked next.
Li Qingqiu said, “Very far away. Heading west, you must cross the vast and boundless Western Desert and traverse mountain after mountain. The place he came from is called the Azure Dragon Domain. The Azure Dragon Domain is even larger than the land of the Nine Provinces. That is the true land of immortal cultivation. Immortal cultivation sects are everywhere. Compared to them, the Clear Sky Sect hardly counts as anything.”
Upon hearing this, Chu Jing frowned again.
The abundance of immortal cultivation sects meant that immortal cultivation in the Azure Dragon Domain had already reached a flourishing stage, at the very least not like the Clear Sky Sect, which was still in an exploratory phase.
Li Qingqiu continued, “There’s no need to worry too much. In the eyes of the cultivators of the Azure Dragon Domain, the land of the Nine Provinces is unimaginably distant. The so-called inheritance of the Supreme Sword Alliance is merely a vague legend to them. The reason Ancestor Su Xing and the other three came here was not only to search for the inheritance, but also because they were being hunted by enemies. For now, it seems unlikely that the Clear Sky Sect will encounter immortal cultivation sects from the Azure Dragon Domain. Compared to the spiritual energy of the Azure Dragon Domain, our land is a barren wasteland, and moreover…”
“And moreover what?” Chu Jing pressed.
“And moreover, north of the land of the Nine Provinces lies the land of demons and devils. Thus, the sects of the Azure Dragon Domain will not covet this place. Any resources that exist in the land of the Nine Provinces also exist in the Azure Dragon Domain.”
“Land of demons and devils? Could it be that the disappearance of immortal cultivators from this land was because of the demon-devil lands? Could the calamity spoken of in the legends of the Great Yan Dynasty also be related to the demons and devils in the north?”
Chu Jing asked rapidly, growing more and more nervous as he spoke.
He thought of the posture of the Qi Clan Ancient God.
Although the Ancient God had been forcefully suppressed by Li Qingqiu, he could not deny the Ancient God’s power.
If there truly existed many demons and devils as terrifying as the Ancient God in the north, then the land of the Nine Provinces would become dangerous.
“Very likely. This may also be the reason why the Northern Barbarians have always coveted the land of the Nine Provinces. The demon legends among the Northern Barbarians are real.”
Li Qingqiu said calmly.
Through Ancestor Su Xing’s memories, he had obtained both good news and bad news.
The good news was that there were temporarily no immortal cultivation sects that could threaten them.
The bad news was that they might encounter attacks from demons and devils.
However, Li Qingqiu was not flustered.
Even before this, he had already speculated about the many possible reasons for the disappearance of immortal cultivators, and this outcome was also within his expectations.
The only remaining suspense was how far the demon-devil lands were from the Nine Provinces, and how strong the demons and devils actually were.
Ancestor Su Xing had only just entered the Spirit Perception Realm, yet even an existence like him yearned for the Supreme Sword Alliance.
This showed that the Supreme Sword Alliance had once produced cultivators even stronger than the Spirit Perception Realm.
If such a powerful immortal cultivation sect had been destroyed, Li Qingqiu believed that the current Clear Sky Sect would certainly be unable to withstand an invasion from the demon-devil lands.
“Then in his memories, does he have any understanding of the demon-devil lands?” Chu Jing thought for a moment and asked.
Li Qingqiu shook his head and said, “He had only heard of it and does not understand it. No matter what, the north must indeed be guarded against.”
He stood up, took out the Soul Refining Banner, and then moved Ancestor Su Xing’s soul out of the Tianhong Sword.
Ancestor Su Xing looked at Li Qingqiu in terror and said in a trembling voice, “You… you actually dared to search my soul…”
His gaze was drawn to the Soul Refining Banner in Li Qingqiu’s hand, and his eyes suddenly widened.
“Demonic cultivator… you are a demonic cultivator…”
Ancestor Su Xing’s ghostly body trembled in fear, utterly terrified.
Li Qingqiu could not be bothered to pay attention to him and directly threw him into the Soul Refining Banner.
This man raised poisonous creatures and yet dared to call him a demonic cultivator?
The reason Li Qingqiu did not directly annihilate Ancestor Su Xing was because he wanted to squeeze out the remainder of Ancestor Su Xing’s value.
Ancestor Su Xing would never receive the same treatment as Chu Jing.
“Pass word to the hall masters. Have them come to Lingxiao Courtyard to discuss matters this evening,” Li Qingqiu instructed Chu Jing.
Chu Jing accepted the order.
He condensed his soul body, then put on Lord Jing’s garments.
Li Qingqiu watched him leave, feeling rather emotional in his heart.
He had the feeling that he was about to leave the novice stage.
Before this, he had been most afraid of encountering immortal cultivation sects, which was why he had driven the Clear Sky Sect to develop rapidly.
Even though Zhang Yuchun, Li Dongyue, and the others wanted him to slow down, he had refused to listen.
Although the Azure Dragon Domain was very far from the Clear Sky Sect, since the Azure Dragon Domain existed, they would eventually encounter it in the future.
Not only the Azure Dragon Domain, but also the demon-devil lands in the north were hidden dangers.
Li Qingqiu even suspected that immortal cultivation sects also existed overseas in the south.
After all, the two immortal cultivators who had taken Bai Zhi to cultivate had flown toward the southern seas.
Perhaps this was the world of immortal cultivators, only that the immortal cultivation civilization of the Nine Provinces had declined.
Li Qingqiu felt both pressure and fighting spirit.
This made him think of the farming-and-conquest games he had played in his previous life—working hard to manage, farming and developing.
When his territory became strong enough, expansion would be inevitable!
Of course, the Clear Sky Sect was not yet at the stage of expansion.
In Li Qingqiu’s mind, a series of hundred-year plans had already formed.