Chapter 564: Discussing Ancient History Over Warm Wine
"Attack on the cultivation world..."
Sima Changkong's eyes narrowed slightly, as though recalling a memory.
After a moment, he spoke. "Nowadays, cultivators who remember that event mostly dismiss it as a farce. But the scale of the minor worlds coalition’s army was far from a joke.
"Otherwise, why would even the perpetually hostile Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council have been forced to unite?"
A faint glint passed through Li Fan's eyes. He leaned in, his tone carefully vague. "Unite? Just to deal with the minor worlds coalition? Fellow Daoist Sima, are you certain you're not mistaken? Those minor worlds were said to be filled with exiled mortals. How could cultivators struggle against such ants? And we had Eternal Heavenly Venerables on our side. How could such people win a battle against us?"
Sima Changkong was not offended by Li Fan's open skepticism.
He simply smiled, flicked a finger, and sent a drop of blood into the air.
The droplet hung there like a living thing, then writhed and stretched outward in every direction, spreading into a canvas woven from blood mist.
Upon it, one heart-stopping scene after another took shape.
On one side stood the cultivators of the Xuanhuang World. On the other were beings who could soar through the sky and burrow through the earth, clearly no mere mortals. Their methods of combat varied wildly, yet they fought the cultivators to a standstill.
Some relied on their physical bodies alone, taking flying swords and Dao Technique strikes head-on, closing the distance and tearing cultivators apart with bare hands.
Others kept their distance, guiding streams of strange energy down from the heavens that locked onto cultivators for precise strikes.
There were even more bizarre ones like drifting transparent-white human skins. They weaved through the heart of the battlefield. Wherever they found someone gravely wounded, they would press themselves fully over the body.
Those who had lain motionless at the edge of death would stir back to life. Even those missing limbs would regrow their lost appendages and regain their combat strength.
Li Fan watched the shifting scenes within the blood curtain, his expression slowly hardening.
"Where were our Xuanhuang World's high-level cultivators? Did the Dao Unity and Eternal Life powerhouses just stand by while this happened?" There was an edge of indignation in his voice.
Sima Changkong shook his head. "No, no. They had opponents of their own.
"Our ancestors, limited by their cultivation, couldn't witness those battles between the true powerhouses firsthand. But by all accounts, our Xuanhuang World suffered grievous losses as well."
He sighed. "So much so that for the past five hundred years, neither side has been willing to reignite the conflict. Both have been focused on recovery."
Li Fan couldn't conceal his surprise. "That powerful? These people... were they truly from the minor worlds?"
"Yes and no." Sima Changkong gestured for the beastkin mermaid to refill their cups before continuing. "They were pawns, controlled by another. The true mastermind was someone else entirely."
Li Fan straightened slightly, his interest sharpened. "What do you mean?"
"Their origins seem to trace back to just after the ancient calamity descended. My ancestors recorded no specifics. Yet from fragmented post-war interrogations, it became clear that they were a group of people who had... 'left and then returned.'"
A trace of puzzlement crossed Sima Changkong's face as he spoke.
"Not only did the Dao Unity cultivators of the Xuanhuang World who fought them call them traitors, even cultivators who had no idea who they were would be seized by overwhelming hatred the moment they laid eyes on them. During the battles, heavenly thunderbolts even descended from the sky to strike them down.
"It seems the entire Xuanhuang World despised them."
Left and returned... traitors... Li Fan fell into thought.
Placing Sima Changkong's account alongside what he had witnessed in Senior Sister Zhao's illusion, certain conjectures began to take shape in his mind.
When the Exclusivity of Techniques, the Immortal-Mortal Miasma, and a host of other calamities descended at once, the Ten Immortal Dao Sects had initially planned to unite and face the crisis together. But the situation deteriorated too quickly. Each sect was consumed by its own survival, with nothing left to offer the others.
When disaster struck, their fates diverged. Some vanished entirely from the river of history, destroyed by slaughter among their own disciples. Others sealed their gates, withdrew from the world, and clung to existence. But there were those, like the Southern Abyss Demonic Beast Mountain and the Heavenly Sword Sect, who simply fled the Xuanhuang World.
As Sovereign Primus said, individuals within a group all have their own wishes. Without an absolute leader, there can be no single will.
It's only natural that cultivators made different choices.
Perhaps these people took something with them when they fled. Something that turned even the Xuanhuang World itself against them. As for why they chose to return, I can't say. But to come back safely from the Immortal Ruins and their crushing pull, their strength must be formidable indeed.
His thoughts settled. He brought his gaze back to Sima Changkong, eyes burning even more intensely.
Truly worthy of being a historian of the cultivation world.
Regarding the many events forgotten across the past few thousand years of Xuanhuang World history, one could find most of the answers here with Sima Changkong.
After returning from Tianling Province, and to avoid being caught in the war, Li Fan had come to Sima Changkong's undersea crystal cave dwelling.
Drawing on his previous avatar's familiarity with the man, and bolstered by his own vast knowledge and easy command of obscure secrets, he had quickly won the historian's favor. The two had fallen into a comfortable rhythm of drinking and discussing the past, spending their days in the pleasant company of history.
To keep outsiders at bay and to extract more information from Sima Changkong, Li Fan had taken the initiative to propose setting up concealment and protective arrays around the crystal cave dwelling.
Seeing such enthusiasm, Sima Changkong had been delighted, and had come to regard Li Fan as someone genuinely worth befriending.
Their bond had only deepened since.
"Peace is temporary. War is the eternal subject of history." Sima Changkong, who had been quiet for some time, sighed and set down his cup before he had even raised it to his lips, his mood deflated.
"Fellow Daoist, why do you say that—" Li Fan stopped. "Has the war between the Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council officially begun?"
Sima Changkong nodded, his expression grave. "Who knows how many cultivators will lose their lives on the battlefield?"
"Such is the natural order of heaven and earth. We are not Eternal Heavenly Venerables. What could we do to resist it? Drink, drink." Li Fan poured him another cup and offered what comfort he could.
"You speak the truth, Fellow Daoist." Sima Changkong downed it in one gulp, swallowing both the fine wine and his melancholy.
Li Fan steered the conversation elsewhere.
***
Time moved like a swift current. Before long, a full year had passed.
The war between the Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council had reached a fever pitch, yet Li Fan had settled completely into Sima Changkong's residence. For that entire year, he had not stepped beyond its gates even once.