Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: First Hearing of the Dao-Seizing War
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“Gather!”
Inside the cave mansion, as the Heaven Mending Peak Master intoned a Dao sound, his mana surged wildly. “Chen Xin’an”’s soul, which had been on the verge of complete dispersal, finally stabilized once more.
“Am I... still alive? Father?”
The Heaven Mending Peak Master gazed mildly at Chen Xin’an, who was gradually regaining awareness. He smiled faintly.
“I knew my son wasn’t some mediocre sort.”
Clearly, while reassembling Chen Xin’an’s soul, the Heaven Mending Peak Master had already divined the chain of causality. With Liu Xin stripped of the divine talisman’s protection, the past events could no longer be concealed. Yet the banner spirit Chen Xin’an had borrowed his original body’s karma and carried the divine talisman with him, perfectly masking the heavenly secrets.
In the end, the Heaven Mending Peak Master detected nothing amiss.
In his divination, the sequence of events was that Chen Xin’an had been schemed against by the Innate Daoist, reduced to a banner spirit under Liu Xin’s control, only to cleverly turn the tables and kill him.
“No matter what, I’m just glad you’re safe.”
The Heaven Mending Peak Master sighed with emotion.
The banner spirit Chen Xin’an put on a moved expression on the surface, but his heart remained utterly unmoved.
‘Sorry, Father.’
‘I belong to the young master now.’
The Heaven Mending Peak Master cradled Chen Xin’an’s soul and took a single step back to the peak of Heaven Mending Peak. He then molded a body from clay and carefully placed the soul inside.
“Rest easy. This is only temporary. You were plotted against by that Innate Daoist, which is how this happened. With me here, as long as you recuperate for a dozen years or so, you’ll recover your peak cultivation. I can even remake a fleshly body for you. Given time, you’ll still have a shot at Foundation Establishment!”
The Heaven Mending Peak Master explained patiently.
Evidently, he mistook Chen Xin’an’s silence for dejection after his fall from grace and took the initiative to console him. At first glance, his paternal affection overflowed.
Chen Xin’an mumbled vague agreement, but in his mind, he recalled Lu Yang’s mission.
“Father, in my current state... can I really still attempt Foundation Establishment?”
Chen Xin’an looked up, his face showing just the right touch of despondency.
“Of course!”
The Heaven Mending Peak Master smiled faintly upon hearing this.
“I have a Foundation Establishment treasure called Creation Jade Mud. I plan to use it to remake your body.”
“With that, you’ll have at least a ten percent chance at innate Foundation Establishment.”
“Then, if you cultivate the Heavenly Silkworm Secret: Severing Thoughts to See the Self, paired with third-grade true qi from the Heaven Mending True Scripture, your odds of succeeding at Foundation Establishment will rise to thirty percent.”
All rather ordinary methods.
Chen Xin’an had been repeatedly refined by Lu Yang and was utterly devoted to him now. At this moment, he only cared about whether he could scout out the Primal Saint Sect’s rare resources for his young master.
“Thirty percent... Isn’t that a bit low?”
Chen Xin’an sighed.
“Father, I don’t want to gamble on just thirty percent odds. If possible, I’d like more certainty before attempting Foundation Establishment.”
“Oh?”
The Heaven Mending Peak Master paused, then revealed a pleased expression and nodded.
“Good. How could I blame you for thinking that way? There are other ways to boost your odds, of course. I recall a True Lord emerging from seclusion recently and issuing orders to reignite the great Orthodox-Demonic War.”
“The great Orthodox-Demonic War?”
Chen Xin’an blinked in surprise.
Lu Yang’s divine sense within him overheard the exchange and grew equally curious.
What did the great Orthodox-Demonic War have to do with breaking through to Foundation Establishment?
Seeing Chen Xin’an’s puzzled look, the Heaven Mending Peak Master chuckled.
“It’s normal you wouldn’t know. You grew up in the Heaven-Connecting Cloud Sea, and as my son, you wouldn’t have access to such matters.”
“Do you think we’d spill blood with Jiangnan just for the sake of it?”
Chen Xin’an instinctively replied, “Because Orthodox and Demonic can’t coexist?”
“That’s nonsense!”
The Heaven Mending Peak Master shook his head.
“Jiangnan and Jiangbei both follow the ‘Path of Form Transformation and Ascension.’ They just have different styles. Orthodox and Demonic is merely a label.”
“Would you fight to the death over a mere label?”
Here, the Heaven Mending Peak Master pointed upward.
“What’s called the great Orthodox-Demonic War is truly the True Lords vying for dominance, contesting the various lineages’ Dao traditions!”
“If our Primal Saint Sect wins and pushes into Jiangnan by an inch, the True Lords’ karmic positions will extend into Jiangnan, strengthening their cultivation by that much. If the Sword Pavilion wins and breaches Jiangbei, our True Lords’ karmic positions will weaken instead. Rather than an Orthodox-Demonic War, it’s more accurately a Dao-Seizing War!”
“To that end, most of our sect’s Perfected Beings are stationed across Jiangnan.”
“Even Qi Refining disciples—Heaven-Connecting Cloud Sea is just for raising new recruits. The true battlegrounds of the Dao-Seizing War are where the real survival of the fittest happens!”
“That’s where most of our Primal Saint Sect Perfected Beings came from.”
“The karmic effects of victory or defeat in the Dao-Seizing War benefit not just the True Lords, but us lower cultivators sheltered under them as well.”
“Among those benefits are opportunities to boost one’s Foundation Establishment odds.”
“For instance, that junior from Yin Shan crushed the competition in the Dao-Seizing War a dozen years ago, helping his True Lord seize the Ten Thousand Men Pit in Jiangnan—that’s how he broke through.”
Yet at the end, the Heaven Mending Peak Master shook his head again.
“That said, the battlefield is far too dangerous—practically nine deaths to one life. With me here, you don’t really need to take such risks. Worst case, I’ll think of a way to beg a Foundation Establishment Pill from the True Lords for you.”
With that, the Heaven Mending Peak Master patted Chen Xin’an’s shoulder.
“In any case, what you need to do now is rest well and recover quickly. I’m waiting for the day you reach Foundation Establishment and inherit my mantle.”
As his words fell, the Heaven Mending Peak Master smiled faintly.
His smile was kindly and warm, like an old farmer full of anticipation, waiting for his seed to sprout, flower... and finally bear fruit.
Inside a cave mansion on Heaven Mending Peak.
Lu Yang reviewed the intelligence he’d just overheard through Chen Xin’an, his face thoughtful.
“The Orthodox-Demonic Dao-Seizing War... a contest over Dao lineages... opportunities for Foundation Establishment...”
This news resolved a long-standing puzzle for him.
He’d always thought the Primal Saint Sect had too few disciples.
Take Heaven Mending Peak, for example.
Most were early or mid Qi Refining disciples. Late Qi Refining was already rare, and Qi Refining Great Circle was like seeing the dragon’s head but never its tail.
That didn’t add up.
With such low breakthrough odds to Foundation Establishment, they’d need vast numbers of Qi Refining Great Circle cultivators to brute-force enough Perfected Beings.
In theory, late Qi Refining and Great Circle cultivators shouldn’t be so scarce.
But in reality, they weren’t.
It seemed the sect did have plenty of disciples—they just weren’t in Heaven-Connecting Cloud Sea. They were on the front lines of the great Orthodox-Demonic War!
“So Heaven-Connecting Cloud Sea is really the rear base.”
“Any Qi Refining Great Circle still hanging around here are basically people like Luo Wuya or Chen Xin’an, with a Perfected Being as backing—no need to fight on the battlefield.”
The more Lu Yang thought, the brighter his eyes grew.
“The Dao-Seizing War must have True Lords personally overseeing it. They wouldn’t allow something as blatant as Foundation Establishment cultivators bullying Qi Refiners!”
“In other words, the Dragon-Subduing Arhat wouldn’t dare show up.”
“If I can break through on the Orthodox-Demonic battlefield, that’d be the safest bet!”
Compared to the Dragon-Subduing Arhat, those Qi Refining cultivators on the Orthodox-Demonic battlefield were nothing. If I can’t beat a Foundation Establishment cultivator, surely I can handle you lot?
“Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix!”
Looking back on his past foes—what a lineup of monsters!
Listener Ghost Ancestor, a reincarnated Foundation Establishment cultivator; Heaven Mending Peak Master, mid Foundation Establishment but half-crippled; Dragon-Subduing Arhat, mid Foundation Establishment in peak form. Each more absurd than the last!
“I got arrogant. Too arrogant!”
At this thought, Lu Yang reflected deeply, pained but resolute.
“Truth is, I’ve never been one for direct combat. Downward compatibility with superior cultivation—fighting above my level—that’s what I’m best at.”
Lu Yang’s gaze hardened as he resolved to follow his true nature.
Time to return to the newbie village and show off!
(End of chapter)