"This Li Rulong... his cultivation grows thicker and more profound by the day. Could he be on the verge of breaking through to late-stage Dao Foundation? How is he advancing so quickly?"
"Could transforming into the demon race bring such benefits? No, that cannot be right. He now cultivates the [Bi Moon] path, and with the Azure Bird Tribe sweeping southward and sowing chaos across the land, it perfectly matches the [Bi Moon] imagery... his rapid progress in attainment makes sense after all..."
Fang Qing chatted casually with Qingling while secretly observing Li Rulong, unable to hide a trace of envy in his heart.
Qingling, for her part, was rather curious how Fang Qing had suddenly risen to become the foremost among the Five Bright Ones.
Unfortunately, Fang Qing kept steering the conversation elsewhere, leaving the woman inwardly frustrated. She possessed a Dao Foundation ability to peer into the hearts of others, yet when used against this particular Bright One it always felt as if she were staring at flowers through mist.
After several more rounds of verbal sparring, Princess Qingling finally lost patience and spoke directly. "My Azure Bird Tribe is marching south while your White Bone Dao advances eastward. The timing is perfect, and we can watch each other's backs. This is a mutually beneficial alliance."
"Princess, your kindness is deeply appreciated. This poor monk will certainly report it to my master. However, the master is currently in secluded cultivation, so we cannot overstep our bounds..."
Fang Qing had no desire to get involved in the brutal immortal cultivation war and continued to deflect with polite excuses.
"Very well..."
A long moment later, Qingling rose to her feet. She took Li Rulong with her, left Wusheng Temple, and transformed into a streak of flowing light that vanished into the distance.
Whoosh!
The strong wind howled.
"Li Rulong, do you know that person?"
Qingling stood with her hands behind her back as if admiring the scenery, then suddenly spoke.
"Indeed... that Fang Shui was once a martial arts grandmaster. We knew each other in the mortal world and stepped onto the immortal path together... Who could have guessed the twists of fate would bring us face to face again." Li Rulong hid nothing and recounted his entire history with Fang Qing. Then he asked with some confusion, "The highest cultivation in the White Bone Dao is merely Dao Foundation perfection. Is it truly useful to the princess?"
"Hehe... you do not understand the terror of the Esoteric Hidden-Treasury lineage."
Qingling's expression grew solemn. "That Sangji has seized your old friend's perfect fate and is most likely in seclusion comprehending the Purple Mansion path. The day he emerges, he will become a Dharma King! At that time, every single person you saw today will be promoted to Consecrated Sons and Consecrated Consorts... In a more exaggerated sense, the White Bone Dao could soon possess six Purple Mansion experts! Hah... even including Cloud Grazing Cliff, it is uncertain whether all of Ancient Shu could gather six Purple Mansion cultivators right now..."
"How can the Esoteric Hidden-Treasury Domain be so powerful?"
Li Rulong's pupils contracted sharply. He knew full well the terror of Purple Mansion cultivators.
He had never imagined Fang Shui would encounter such fortune, and a mix of envy and jealousy stirred in his heart.
At that moment, Qingling's voice, clear and pleasant as silver bells, drifted into his ear. "You... would you like to become a Purple Mansion cultivator?"
After seeing off Princess Qingling and her group, Fang Qing did not return to seclusion. Instead he turned to Miaoshui. "We are advancing eastward while the demon race marches south... we are practically treating Cloud Grazing Cliff as if it were already dead. Is that really safe?"
Although he could not fully grasp the intricacies of Purple Mansion scheming, he knew Cloud Grazing Cliff had only lost a group of subordinate and affiliated Purple Mansion forces in the previous clash.
Their true direct-line experts should still be intact.
The Azure Bird Tribe's urgency was barely concealed, as if the one on the [Di Earth] path had already fallen.
"Of course it is not entirely without risk... but the demon race and we are different. We only seek incense faith and destiny qi... with the White Bone Dao's current strength, even thoroughly controlling Xituo Commandery would be difficult. Only after the master advances can we advance eastward with ease."
Miaoshui smiled. "The demon race, however, wants far more..."
Her smile gradually stiffened as she continued. "I once heard the master say that each of the eight divisions of Descending Phoenix Mountain has a Purple Mansion great demon behind it. The Azure Bird Division is currently the strongest, and the great demon backing it has probably already reached the peak of Purple Mansion..."
"You do not think that Purple Mansion great demon is attempting to break through, and that this entire affair is merely to fulfill some ritual or gather qi, blood, and resources in order to attain the Golden Rank, do you?"
Fang Qing looked at Miaoshui with suspicion. "In the eight thousand five hundred years since recent antiquity, no one has ever succeeded in attaining the Dao... would any demon be foolish enough to try?"
"To enlighten the Bright One, although no one has attained the fruition of Buddha or Bodhisattva since recent antiquity, attempts to charge toward the Golden Rank have never ceased!" Miaoshui answered gravely.
"Never ceased? Attaining the Dao means death upon failure, yet people still try?"
Fang Qing laughed in disbelief, then a chill ran through his heart as he recalled the great terror of heaven and earth he had once witnessed.
'Only those above the Golden Rank can command Purple Mansion cultivators.'
'In this vast world, are all those who seek the Golden Rank driven by an iron will to pursue the Dao, or are they being forced? Or perhaps both?'
Raising Purple Mansion cultivators and attempting to attain the Dao to reach the Golden Rank might be a way to test whether anyone truly existed above the Golden Rank, or to gauge the state of those Golden-rank lords.
The moment this thought arose, Fang Qing dared not speak further.
He feared that some great terror would suddenly descend and annihilate him...
Inside a secret chamber.
Sangji watched as Fang Qing set up another layer of arrays inside his own formation and immediately understood that the discussion was about to touch upon critical matters.
"Sangji... the Azure Bird Division has sent people to make contact."
Fang Qing recounted everything that had happened recently and waited to hear Sangji’s thoughts.
After all, how could Miaoshui Wisdom Consort possibly know as much as Sangji?
“This… the Azure Bird Tribe is not focusing on consolidating Beixuan Commandery but instead wants to expand their gains. It does carry the air of someone willing to pay any price.”
Sangji speculated, “The fact that they sent someone to contact us may not mean they truly wish to ally with the White Bone Dao. It could simply be a show for the Esoteric Hidden-Treasury Domain. If the various Dharma Kings are interested, they will naturally add their own weight to the matter.”
“Oh? And what is your view?”
Fang Qing sat cross-legged, his expression dark and unreadable.
“The peak Purple Mansion great demon of the Azure Bird Tribe cultivates the [Bi Moon] path… [Bi Moon] governs chaos and turmoil across the world. To attain this Golden Rank, great upheaval is required. That much makes sense.”
Sangji continued, “However, merely sowing chaos in Ancient Shu feels somewhat insufficient and rather forced… perhaps it is nothing more than a smokescreen. A peak Purple Mansion great demon possesses thoughts as deep as the sea. Whether it is stirring turmoil in Ancient Shu or reaching out to the White Bone Dao, these may all be surface-level deceptions meant to conceal their true purpose.”
“As for anything deeper… this humble monk does not cultivate the [Bi Moon] path, so I cannot see it clearly…”
Fang Qing nodded. “Very well… by the way, has there truly been no one who succeeded in attaining the Golden Rank since recent antiquity?”
“None!”
Sangji pressed his palms together. “This humble monk once ascended the Great Snow Mountain and studied at the Great Sun Wheel Turning Temple, where I read the Great Treasury Scripture… that text records every cultivator who has attempted to attain the Golden Rank since recent antiquity times. Attaining the Golden Rank causes heaven and earth to resonate and the Great Dao to sing in unison. Such an event cannot be hidden. Yet not a single one achieved the status of Immortal Dao as True Lord, nor anyone who became a Living Buddha, or a Demon Saint…”
“Eight thousand years of seeking the Dao. How many heroes, tyrants, and villains have died along the way?”
Fang Qing felt the heavy weight of history pressing down on him and let out a soft sigh.
A new thought occurred to him and he asked, “What about the intervals? Were the numbers of Golden Rank seekers the same across every period in those eight thousand years?”
“This…”
Sangji recalled for a moment. As a Dao Foundation cultivator his spiritual sense was powerful, and in only a few breaths he calculated the answer. His expression changed instantly. “Venerable One truly sees through the workings of heaven. Before the four-thousand-year mark of recent ancient antiquity, roughly one peak Purple Mansion cultivator met the conditions and attempted to attain the Golden Rank every two or three hundred years…”
“After the four-thousand-year mark, one appeared every one or two hundred years.”
“In the past thousand years, news of someone attempting to prove the Dao has become almost routine… and the last attempt was only a few decades ago…” Sangji’s eyes widened as he spoke.
“Have the high monks of the Esoteric Hidden-Treasury Domain received Buddhist decrees more and more frequently in the last thousand years?”
Fang Qing looked at Sangji, who nodded with difficulty.
“With guidance from existences above the Golden Rank, their cultivation naturally advances by leaps and bounds…”
Fang Qing murmured to himself, a vague sense of urgency rising in his heart. ‘Judging by this trend… the existences above the Golden Rank are gradually recovering, which is why they are making more attempts to test the waters?’
He waved his hand, dismissing Sangji, then sat cross-legged once more and quietly sorted through his own thoughts.
‘If I wish to live freely in this world and keep climbing higher, I still cannot avoid studying the ancient records…’
He did not even dare write anything down and could only list the points in his mind:
‘The history of this world can roughly be divided into three antiquity: Primordial, Ancient, and Recent…’
‘In the Primordial antiquity, the attainment of Dao fruition were still dim and unclear… ultimately the twelve figures—Great Sun, Metal, Fire, and others, were the first to successfully ascend to the Golden Rank, seizing the authority of the twelve [Year Arbiters]…”
‘Then came the Ancient antiquity, when the Taiyin, Water, Wood, Earth, and other paths each produced Golden Rank powerhouses. True Lords walked the earth, clashing and falling… the Great Sage Bi Moon Crow of the demon race even slew two [Year Arbiters] in succession…’
‘By the Recent antiquity, after the last [Fang Sun] True Lord attained the Dao, many True Lords either fell into heavy-injury slumber or withdrew from the world… only in the last thousand years have they gradually become active again. Most likely because several thousand years of rest have allowed their injuries to slowly heal?’
‘Yet the conclusions I have drawn contain many errors… and many things remain difficult to explain.’
‘For example, in the Ancient antiquity, since [Bi Moon] devoured [Tail Fire] and [Kang Metal]… why have the [Year Arbiter] positions not changed? Could it be that once the positions were fixed in the primordial antiquity, they could never be altered again?’
‘And after attaining the Golden Rank, how does one continue cultivating?’
Fang Qing shook his head and laughed silently at himself. ‘I am overthinking again… for now I should focus on becoming a [Ji Water] Purple Mansion cultivator first…’
‘However… the increasing activity of existences above the Golden Rank in the last thousand years is not a good sign, especially for those of us below who still wish to attain the Golden Rank.’
‘What about the Lord of the Charnel Grounds? Why does his condition seem so poor by comparison?’
‘In short… I cannot afford to be careless. I must remain cautious! If I assume the True Lords of this world rarely act and decide to act recklessly… I will only end up courting death!’
‘After all, although my divination arts have been infallible in the Minor Huan Sea, in this broken place there are many who can calculate fate, and they cannot read the existences above the Golden Rank at all… placing too much faith in divination results will only lead me into a dead end.’
The memory of the scene inside the Yanbo Blessed Land still made Fang Qing’s heart tremble with lingering fear.
Yet right after, he thought of that slovenly Daoist.
Through Sangji he now knew the man’s Daoist title was San Ji and that he cultivated the [Stomach Earth] path. He had inherited the Kitchen Lord lineage but was not affiliated with the demon race’s Purple Mansion forces. Instead he was a lone rogue cultivator.
‘I wonder who ultimately obtained that wisp of Kitchen Lord divinity from the blessed land last time?’