Cultivation Starting from Full Talent

Chapter 117: Chapter 115: Liu Siyuan

Upon hearing the news of Huang Chengyan’s demise in battle, Ning Daoran was startled.

He first met Martial Uncle Huang at Wind Stopping Tower.

It has to be said that Martial Uncle Huang’s character was rather commendable, belonging to that sort who had a clear sense of justice and responsibility.

The death of such a person was a loss for the Sect.

Outside the Heavenly Gang Hundred Fierce Formation, everywhere was filled with the light of magic, talismans, and magical artifacts; the assault of the Demon Path had not weakened in the slightest.

As a Foundation Establishment Elder, Ning Daoran was so preoccupied with defending the array every day that he had no time to attend to anything else.

After the fall of the Yellow Dragon Square, he simply had no strength to worry about the well-being of those acquaintances in the Square.

Chen Ping’er of Qingfu Square, Wen Ru of the Wen Family’s Refining Workshop, the ordinary Zhou Qi, and Zhong Yan – the fate of these old acquaintances all seemed to turn into driftwood on the water in an instant, beyond his control.

The war between Righteous and Demon lasted an entire year.

By the late spring of the following year, the major Sects of the Qingzhou True Path finally saw a turning point.

It was said that after the obliteration of the Sea Burning Sect, an Inner Sect Elder who had managed to escape went to Kuizhou to lobby, and finally managed to persuade the first-class Jiuyun Sect of Kuizhou!

Though the Jiuyun Sect was a first-class Sect like the Chaotic Sect and Sea Burning Sect, their Supreme Elder Jiuyun Shangren was a late-stage Golden Core cultivator!

The significance of a late-stage Golden Core cultivator can well be imagined!

Therefore, under the leadership of Jiuyun Shangren, the Jiuyun Sect dispatched a large number of cultivators to head west.

Their target was not to rescue the Chaotic Sect, Star Moon Pavilion, and other Sects, but to directly attack and enter the Sea Burning Sect, which was once the premier Sect in old Qingzhou and had been occupied by the Demon Path!

A great battle broke out in the Sea Burning Sect, lasting for over a month.

In the end, Jiuyun Shangren defeated the Soul-devouring Demon, Ouyang Po, and other mid-stage Golden Core Demon Cultivators, reclaiming the Sea Burning Sect from the Demon Path forces!

After that, the Demon Sects such as the Soul Devouring Sect and Heavenly Slaughter Sect felt powerless to engulf Qingzhou completely, so they all retreated, returning to their own territories in the northeast.

However, what nobody expected was that the true intention of the Jiuyun Sect was not to save the Qingzhou True Path.

After Jiuyun Shangren found the old Monster Tian Hai who had been imprisoned in the underground grotto, he audaciously put the ancestor of the Sea Burning Sect under arrest again and placed some kind of secret curse on him.

Under multiple threats, old Monster Tian Hai finally swallowed the humiliation and bowed his head, acknowledging the Sea Burning Sect’s inclusion into Jiuyun Sect, becoming a Lower Sect!

With that, everything of the Sea Burning Sect belonged to the Jiuyun Sect.

Not only did the Jiuyun Sect seize the two spirit stone mines of the Sea Burning Sect, they even exterminated a large number of top cultivators from the Soul Devouring Sect, taking over the spirit stone mine that the Soul Devouring Sect held control of in one fell swoop.

From then on, the Jiuyun Sect transformed into a super first-class Sect across Qingzhou and Kuizhou!

Let’s not discuss the schemes of the Jiuyun Sect in Qingzhou for the time being, but Jiuyun Sect’s march southward and their defeat of the Soul Devouring Sect and Heavenly Slaughter Sect indeed effectively dissolved the encirclement of Qingzhou.

Following the tide-like withdrawal of the Demon Path forces, the Chaotic Sect finally shut down the array and emerged from the Mountain Gate.

Ning Daoran, Lin Sheng, and Lin Zhuojun were dispatched with more than a hundred disciples from the Chaotic Sect to reclaim the Yellow Dragon Square.

Their Speed was very fast; otherwise, once the influence of the Jiuyun Sect moved south, it would really be difficult to say who the Yellow Dragon Square would belong to.

“Shua, shua, shua—”

After three tunneling lights, three Foundation Establishment cultivators arrived at the Yellow Dragon Square.

The grand array below the Yellow Dragon Square had been destroyed, the Square looted, and everywhere laid the ruins of buildings and burned Spirit fields, prompting sighs of regret.

“Be careful, there might be remaining Demon Cultivators,” advised Ning Daoran.

“Mhm.”

Lin Sheng and Lin Zhuojun nodded in unison.

The three began to scout around, and after sweeping the entire Yellow Dragon Square with their Divine Senses, they found they had worried unnecessarily; all the Demon Cultivators had already left.

Those who survived remained in the Square.

In front of a dilapidated tile-roofed house,

Ning Daoran froze.

The inside of the tile-roofed house had been severely burned, and a female skeleton had been charred down to the white bones; the broken magical artifacts and talismans in the cabinet had long been pillaged.

Zhong Yan, killed in her home.

“Ao ao—”

Big Stupid Deer gently nudged Ning Daoran’s shoulder, sensing his current sorrow.

“I’m fine.”

Ning Daoran did not say much, only saluted towards the remains of Zhong Yan, saying, “Fellow Daoist Zhong, may you have a peaceful journey. If you happen to have a low-grade Spirit Root in the next life, don’t cultivate again — living an ordinary life as a mortal isn’t such a bad alternative.”

He and Big Stupid Deer buried Zhong Yan’s skeleton in the wastelands behind the Spirit field, leaving on the gravestone “Erected by friend Ning Daoran.”

Then, they went to Qingfu Square.

Qingfu Square had been leveled to the ground by a great fire, and as for Chen Ping’er… she was nowhere to be found.

When he arrived at the Wen Family’s Refining Workshop, only the courtyard walls remained, and the whereabouts of Wen Zichen and his daughter Wen Ru were unknown.

Among the ashes lay charred bones.

Ning Daoran did not know who it was; perhaps it was a worker from the workshop.

He felt extremely saddened and did not perform a Soul Search.

Returning to Qiongbi Peak.

The Demon Path attack on the mountain left it barren, without even a blade of grass spared.

Qiongbi Peak alone was an exception; although the Spirit fields of Huang Shan, Qin Xiang, and others had been destroyed and the buildings burned, they could at least be rebuilt.

With people around and the Spirit land intact, these were not problems; at most, they were just missing one year of harvest.

Only Ning Daoran’s Courtyard No. 77 in the Spiritual Field was left completely undamaged.

Just outside the courtyard gate and beside the fish pond, lay several bodies of Demon Cultivators, one of which was even the corpse of an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

There was no other reason, as Ning Daoran had set up two Second-Order Middle Grade Blood Transformation Soul Chasing Arrays at home.

One to protect the courtyard, the other to protect the fish pond.

Besides, he had left behind a Class A Paperfolk to guard this place, controlling two Blood Transformation Soul Chasing Arrays. Killing an Early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon Cultivator with a Class A Paperfolk wasn’t too difficult.

Regrettably, the dozen or so acres of Purple Jade Spirit Rice planted outside had been plundered, and a year’s worth of hard work had yielded no grain.

Ning Daoran didn’t take it too hard, the few acres of Purple Jade Spirit Rice within the Spirit Garden Cave Heaven were harvested once every two or three days.

He even had a few Second-class Paperfolk tending the Purple Jade Spirit Rice in the Spirit Garden Cave Heaven. All that was consumed was the mana within the Paperfolk, and when that was exhausted, he simply replenished it.

The main selling points were convenience, speed, and being environmentally friendly.

…

Half a year later.

Reconstruction at Yellow Dragon Square had begun.

Various Cultivation Families around the Yellow Dragon Mountain Range, as well as the Chaotic Sect, put up a large amount of Spirit Stones and recruited manpower to rebuild the shops.

With money, things were easy to handle, and the new Yellow Dragon Square was swiftly re-established.

Loose Cultivators who used to mingle in Yellow Dragon Square also began to gather, and before long, Yellow Dragon Square became bustling again.

Ning Daoran returned to Yellow Dragon Square with Big Stupid Deer, hoping to encounter some old friends.

Unfortunately, Qingfu Square was no longer open.

Affected by the chaos in Qingzhou, the headquarters of Qingfu Square in Central State had decided to give up on its branch in Qingzhou.

After the last severe losses, they were too frightened to continue.

On the foundation where Wen Family’s Refining Workshop used to be, a “Carefree Sword Casting Shop” had been rebuilt.

The owner of the shop was a handsome young man with a Ninth Grade Spirit Root, in the Early Stage of Qi Refining. His hammering technique was so crude that even cultivators in the Qi Refining Middle Stage despised the Magic Swords he forged.

A stark contrast to the previous Wen Family’s Refining Workshop.

“Sir, is that you?”

Just then, a rather old voice sounded from behind.

Ning Daoran turned around and saw a green-clothed elder with streaks of white in his hair. He looked like someone who did manual labor.

His eyes lit up. It was Zhou Qi; he hadn’t died.

“Zhou Qi!”

Ning Daoran expressed with joy, “You survived the calamity of the Demon Path?”

“Well, I…”

Zhou Qi said, “The great wars in the Cultivation World don’t really affect us commoners much. That day… a Demon Cultivator came to my home, all I had to do was to serve him food and drink…”

“All is well then.” Ning Daoran nodded.

“Sir, are you here… looking for someone from the Wen family?”

“Yes, do you know where the people from the Wen family have gone?”

“I know a little.”

Zhou Qi said, “The Demon Cultivator who stayed in my house was one of those who attacked Wen Family’s Refining Workshop. I heard them saying that the head of Wen Family’s Refining Workshop, Wen Zichen, was resilient but was eventually killed.

As for Miss Wen Ru, the lady of the house… She was gravely injured but was later rescued by someone. I heard that the one who saved her seemed to be from some Huanhua Valley… the Liu family.”

“Huanhua Valley’s Liu family?”

Ning Daoran frowned slightly and said, “Got it, Zhou Qi, the information you provided is very useful. Here’s something for your trouble…”

With that, he took out a small gold ingot.

Zhou Qi’s eyes blazed with excitement as he quickly knelt: “Thank you for the reward, sir.”

Watching Zhou Qi kneel, Ning Daoran scanned him with his Divine Sense and realized that Zhou Qi didn’t have much lifespan left, about ten years or so.

This would likely be the last time he rewarded him.

…

A few days later.

Ning Daoran still decided to make a trip to Huanhua Valley.

It wasn’t that he had any particular feelings for Wen Ru, but as an old friend, he felt obliged to check on her current situation in Huanhua Valley.

Moreover, Wen Ru had some knowledge in Artifact Refining and Arrays worth learning from.

Before his Core Formation, Ning Daoran might have to personally refine a Flying Sword using the Ten-thousand-year-old Silver Moon Bamboo and Ten-thousand-year-old Golden Silk Bamboo. Having some guidance or insights from Wen Ru could make the process smoother.

“Old Lu.”

He raised his eyebrows slightly, “I’ve heard that Miss Wen was rescued by someone from Huanhua Valley. How about we make a trip there and meet with Miss Wen to close this chapter of fate?”

“Ooh ooh~~”

Big Stupid Deer shook its tail, showing no objection.

So, Ning Daoran went to the Inner Sect Hall and exchanged Sect contributions for a Jade Scroll branded with a map of Qingzhou. Then he took Big Stupid Deer and turned into a tunneling light towards Huanhua Valley.

It was midday.

A beautiful forest valley appeared amid the mountains.

This place was Huanhua Valley, which sat atop a Second Order Lower Grade Spirit Vein and was occupied by the Liu family of the Cultivation World.

Reportedly, the old Family Head of the Liu family was a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment, while the new Family Head was at the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment.

A household with two Foundation Establishments, such strength granted the Liu family great prestige in the surrounding regions.

…

After revealing his identity as a Foundation Establishment Elder of the Chaotic Sect, the current Family Head of the Liu family hurried over.

He was a young man dressed in a Confucian robe with a scholarly air, named Liu Siyuan, at the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment.

“Liu has the honor to meet Fellow Daoist Ning. May I know the purpose of your visit?”

“I have an old friend by the name of Wen Ru, previously the daughter of Wen Zichen from Wen Family’s Refining Workshop. Is Miss Wen here by any chance?”

“Ah?”

Liu Siyuan was slightly stunned, “May I ask what business Daoist… has with my wife?”