Chapter 296
Chapter 296
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: Unknown
Chapter Title: Secrets of the Ten Thousand Men Pit
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A Great Realm Heaven with fruition positions!
Before the Cloud Family Ancestor even finished speaking, Lu Yang already understood the importance of the Jiangnan Ten Thousand Men Pit. After all, a single Great Realm Heaven was equivalent to a brand-new second-grade true technique!
"Perfected Being Demon-Quelling is the third elder of our Sword Pavilion. He reached late Foundation Establishment long ago, at the level of a great perfected being, and has already begun plotting for fruition positions. However, the Great Realm Heavens under Sword Pavilion's control mostly can't meet his requirements with their second-grade true techniques—except for this newly emerged one, which suits him perfectly."
"That's why he's taking the lead this time."
"And if there's no surprise, the Demon Sect hasn't noticed anything off about the Ten Thousand Men Pit yet, so Perfected Being Demon-Quelling plans to strike first."
Under the Cloud Family Ancestor's explanation, Lu Yang quickly learned the secret of the Ten Thousand Men Pit.
To understand this matter, one had to trace it back to the pit's predecessor: the minor Realm Heaven that various True Lords had seized as a battlefield for seizing the Dao.
That minor Realm Heaven's origins were far from simple.
Though it didn't even have a Foundation Establishment cultivator and was only fit as a battlefield for Qi Refining disciples, it was an affiliate of another Great Realm Heaven.
It was named the Profound Spirit Realm.
The predecessor of the Jiangnan Ten Thousand Men Pit was called the Fallen Mortal Realm. Typically, cultivators from the Fallen Mortal Realm would ascend to the Profound Spirit Realm upon reaching their peak.
But after being seized and turned into a Dao-seizing battlefield, the Fallen Mortal Realm lost contact with the Profound Spirit Realm. A day or two might not matter, but after ten or twenty years, the cultivators of the Profound Spirit Realm noticed something was wrong and sent someone down to investigate.
That's when they walked right into the trap.
The cultivator from the Profound Spirit Realm wasn't weak, at the Foundation Establishment level—though the Profound Spirit Realm didn't call it Foundation Establishment, but Human Immortal instead.
Unfortunately, that Human Immortal's luck wasn't great.
That day, Sword Pavilion's Perfected Being Demon-Quelling happened to pass by. When the other party saw him and tried to search his soul, he was effortlessly suppressed and captured by Perfected Being Demon-Quelling.
Thus, the Profound Spirit Realm could no longer stay hidden.
"According to that captive, the Profound Spirit Realm is a superior Great Realm, a dwelling of immortals and gods, with five ranks of immortals encircling the Heavenly Court, each managing their duties."
"The five ranks of immortals: Heavenly, Earthly, Human, Divine, and Ghost."
"Ascending cultivators from the lower realm have their fleshly bodies shattered, but their souls receive baptism, becoming Ghost Immortals. Granted a fief, they shepherd a region as Divine Immortals."
"Only upon accumulating merit to completion, reshaping their fleshly bodies with incense and wish-power, do they return to the human path as Human Immortals."
"They traverse the three mountains, pass through the five sacred peaks, dwelling in the world without governing it as Earthly Immortals."
"With merit in the Dao and deeds on earth, they receive the heavenly writ and enter the Heavenly Court to govern and order the world as Heavenly Immortals."
As for what lay above Heavenly Immortal, that Human Immortal hadn't revealed—but Lu Yang could roughly guess the corresponding realm even without being told.
'Eight or nine out of ten, it's True Lord!'
Lu Yang pondered inwardly. No wonder a mere Jiangnan Ten Thousand Men Pit could alarm the True Lords of both Sword Pavilion and the Saint Sect. The value of the Profound Spirit Realm was self-evident.
After all, it was still a Great Realm Heaven with fruition positions—a feast for True Lords. Even leftover soup would satiate a Foundation Establishment perfected being. It was just that at this previous point in time, his cultivation had been too low. Forget participating; even learning the specifics had been difficult.
With that thought, Lu Yang's mind immediately became active.
'A Great Realm Heaven! If I can ride this wave in and plunder freely, it would greatly accelerate the nurturing of my Immortal Spirit Body!'
But how to get in?
Lu Yang's eyes darted, and he quickly had an idea:
'I can't show my face in Sword Pavilion yet, so going in directly won't work. If Sword Pavilion's path is blocked... I can go through the Saint Sect!'
'As long as I tell the Saint Sect about the Ten Thousand Men Pit's secret in advance and send it to Perfected Chongguang, once their True Lord verifies my information, I'll have a connection with the Saint Sect. Then I can say... I'm a Saint Sect perfected being who reincarnated and infiltrated Sword Pavilion, unwilling to reveal my name!'
Though I'm in Sword Pavilion, I've always been a Saint Sect man!
More importantly, Perfected Chongguang from his previous life had told Lu Yang how to contact him. The specially made flying letter spirit book was guaranteed to reach his hands directly.
Just this alone should be enough to win Perfected Chongguang's trust.
'That's the plan!'
With resolve, Lu Yang acted at once. Only after igniting the prepared flying letter spirit book with mana and watching it turn into a streak of spiritual light soaring into the firmament did he exhale deeply.
At the same time, Yun Miaozhen, who had been kneeling under the desk cultivating for a long time, wiped her mouth and crawled out. Her late Qi Refining cultivation had clearly advanced further.
Next, Lu Yang's expression turned solemn.
Since he planned to claim a share in the Ten Thousand Men Pit incident, he couldn't dawdle with improving his strength anymore. He needed to speed things up.
'At the very least, recover to mid Foundation Establishment before the action!'
With that, Lu Yang looked toward the Cloud Family Ancestor, Yun Miaozhen, and Perfected Xiuxin:
"Is there any way to get more Geng Metal spirit items?"
The three exchanged glances.
Then Perfected Xiuxin said softly:
"In reply to Master, it's actually not difficult... Just find a few more factions colluding with the Jiangbei Demon Sect."
"You can find them?"
"I can arrange it."
The Cloud Family Ancestor thought for a moment before saying:
"As long as this subordinate spreads the word that we're conducting a thorough investigation of demonic paths, the sects and factions nearby will inevitably panic."
"Under that pretext, we should squeeze quite a bit of spirit items from each one."
Lu Yang: "..."
"Won't this be a bit too high-profile?" Lu Yang hesitated—not out of reluctance, but worry that it might draw Sword Pavilion's attention.
After all, extorting subordinate sects like this didn't seem very righteous.
But the next moment, the Cloud Family Ancestor looked over in surprise:
"Master, what's high-profile about it? It's just routine business."
"Huh?"
Stunned, Lu Yang prompted an explanation from the Cloud Family Ancestor:
"In Jiangnan, Sword Pavilion allowed these factions to develop without obstruction—that's the karma they owe us. Settling it now is doing them a favor, completing them. What's there to make a fuss about?"
You call this settling karma?
Lu Yang was speechless. In Jiangbei, even Saint Sect perfected beings called this robbery—or "hitting the autumn breeze" if being polite. He never imagined it could be framed this way.
Righteousness is something else.
With the Cloud Family Ancestor's explanation, Lu Yang fully understood. In Jiangnan, most factions developing needed ties to Jiangbei.
Everyone knew open trade made money easily.
These factions might not collude with the Saint Sect, but they'd definitely trade with Jiangbei, transporting goods to accumulate that first pot of gold for their growth.
But by Sword Pavilion's standards, that was colluding with demonic paths.
Sword Pavilion usually turned a blind eye, but when needed, they'd bring it up to settle the karma.
This was Sword Pavilion's old playbook: deliberately let local factions grow, growth meant Jiangbei ties, ties meant demonic collusion. Ignore it until they're fattened up, then slaughter—while staying pristine themselves, ever the righteous leader.
Sword Pavilion disciples just focused on sword practice.
Pills, treasures, talismans? Like Hidden Sword Mountain Villa, Sword Pavilion handed them to affiliates to handle.
Others stockpiled grain; he stockpiled guns. Their homes were his granaries.
This was even more exaggerated than the Saint Sect. Saint Sect perfected beings only robbed when broke; Sword Pavilion was straight-up draining Jiangnan's blood.
And they did it beautifully.
Exterminating demons, upholding the Dao—grand justice. No one could find fault.
Fully grasping Sword Pavilion's control mechanism over all Jiangnan, Lu Yang couldn't help sighing:
"What a bunch of sword seeds, damn it."
Looks like I need to properly reform and develop Sword Pavilion, bring it back to true righteousness!