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Chapter 312 The Night Watch of Fate

"Disciples of the five major immortal sects have already consumed the fruits of the relics, and their cultivation levels have improved rapidly without any abnormalities or corruption."

"However, the different immortal sects have different methods of consuming it. Some refine it into a medicinal liquid and consume it, while others refine it into pills, and still others absorb it after it is incorporated into their blood and qi."

"In addition, the Tianchi ruins on the west side of the Yongzhou Shanhaige Taoist temple have been opened."

"One of the five main branches of the Dao Seeking Sect is heading to Broken Soul Mountain."

"The Heavenly Sword Peak has recently been filled with the aura of the Boundless Realm, which suggests that some cultivators at higher realms have already tasted the fruits of this cultivation."

On a drizzly spring day, the sky was shrouded in dark clouds, making the surroundings gloomy and obscuring the sunlight.

Ji You was sitting in a teahouse in a county town called Wangyue in the southeast of Qingzhou, holding the message from the young appraiser in his hand and examining it carefully.

Since Dan Zong left, he had been traveling straight to this place, and then kept watch near the Great Wilderness Forest for a long time, confirming that there were indeed people coming and going in the ruins.

However, the Immortal Sect acted meticulously, sealing off the area around the Great Wilderness Forest. They even used secret methods to cut off the surging torrents of the Mist River, preventing him from entering the ruins to explore the truth for a long time.

However, the aura of breakthroughs often emanated from the forest, confirming to Ji You that someone had already consumed the fruit.

After all, for cultivators in the Azure Cloud Realm, it's really hard for them to resist using "immortal items" that can improve their cultivation level.

Yan Shuyi's letter completely confirmed his idea.

Even without the assistance of alchemists, they still began to experiment and even researched various methods of consuming relic fruits.

It sounds really high-end: to be absorbed into the body's blood and qi.

After reading the letter, Ji You asked the waiter to bring paper and pen, and wrote back to Yan Shuyi amidst the faint rumble of thunder.

"Two battles have broken out in the Great Wilderness Forest, with the two main branches of the Dao Seeking Sect facing each other with swords drawn. It seems that, like your Spirit Sword Mountain, they are not united internally. At this moment, their desires have been amplified by the so-called immortal opportunities, and conflicts are gradually arising. This is a cause for celebration."

"In addition, the number of people coming and going in the forest has been decreasing in recent days, especially since almost all the experts above the Yingtian Realm have left. I think this place must have been hollowed out, which may be the reason why the Mountain and Sea Pavilion opened the ruins in front of its own door."

"It's good that no evil species were found in the forest. I will go to Yongzhou to take a look later."

"Qiu Ru doesn't like cultivation and is greedy for food. Keep a close eye on her for me and don't spoil her too much."

After finishing the letter, Ji You put it into his sleeve and then drank all the water in the teapot.

Currently, the fruits within the ruins seem to truly be a great blessing bestowed upon humanity by the Heavenly Dao, much like the favor bestowed upon humans by the Heavenly Dao, a sentiment often expressed by cultivators.

The existence of Dao Fruits within ruins and the appearance of immortal opportunities in places where people are devoured is itself a problem.

However, for Ji You, if this predestined affinity truly wouldn't lead to disaster, wouldn't leave the world littered with corpses, and wouldn't bring calamity to Fengzhou, he really wouldn't want to get involved in such a trivial matter.

Ji You pondered for a long time, then got up and walked towards the teahouse, deciding to go to Tianchi again.

As he stood up, the sixteen bamboo chopsticks arranged in a row on the table suddenly fell with a "thud," as if all their support had been removed, and they scattered on the wooden table.

The spiritual energy that had previously gathered in the chopsticks lost its direction and instantly began to swirl, scattering the uneaten food and drink on the table in all directions.

After a few breaths, the spiritual energy gradually dissipated, and everything returned to calm.

The waiter in the teahouse had never seen this strange thing before. He stared at it for a long time before trying to get closer to clean it.

Three days later, the temperature gradually rose, and wildflowers bloomed all over the hillside.

Ji You flew to Yongzhou and, under the cover of night, headed to Tianchi, which was not far from Shanhaige.

Located in a warm wind zone, this place has a ring-shaped mountain in the middle. The rainwater that accumulates over the years has formed a huge lake on the sunken mountaintop, which looks magnificent from a distance, hence the name.

The Tianchi Ruins are located in a desolate, dense forest to its southeast, and are even larger than the Great Wilderness Forest.

There is only one immortal sect in Yongzhou: Shanhaige. Although it is not written in the Qingyun Immortal Rules, according to the unspoken understanding of the world, Shanhaige is the true master of Yongzhou.

Therefore, unlike the Great Wilderness Forest where all the immortal sects gathered, the Tianchi Ruins were surrounded only by disciples of the Mountain and Sea Pavilion, with no other immortal sects, and the defenses were even tighter than those in the Great Wilderness Forest.

However, the fact that there is only one company does not mean there is no competition.

As soon as Ji You concealed his aura and disappeared into the forest, he saw the constant flashing of swords and the flow of spiritual energy.

"Second Young Master, we belong to the same sect. Why have you suddenly launched this attack?"

“Father has entrusted me with handling this matter entirely, so I am not sure why Huo Xingzhong arranged for you to come here.”

In the dark forest, a man dressed in a magnificent robe, with a handsome face and cold, clear eyes, slowly spoke.

Upon hearing this, the person asking the question looked up and said, "The eldest young master is the next leader of our Mountain and Sea Pavilion, and he has the right to handle sect affairs. The second young master is being so aggressive; doesn't he seem a bit presumptuous?"

"Don't try to pressure me with this. My elder brother is merely trying to wield the sacred artifact; he is not yet the sect leader."

"you……"

The man in fine clothes looked up at him and said, "After the relics are taken out, I will naturally send them all to the pavilion. Please go back and tell my elder brother to take good care of the artifacts and not waste his mind on worldly things."

Ji You watched this scene from the side and found it quite interesting.

The inheritance model of Qingyun Tianxia is destined to result in the disordered reproduction and dispersion of bloodlines. For example, if the sect leader of a celestial sect has three sons, then these three sons will become the three main lineages for the next hundred years.

For a vast immortal sect, three main branches may not seem like many, but within the sect, there are also their predecessors and even their great-great ...

In normal times, everyone would sit in the deep mountains, competing in terms of skill and talent, and whoever was better would win, so there wouldn't be much friction.

But now that the Immortal's Destiny has appeared in the ruins, it seems to have given everyone a cheat option, which will naturally arouse countless desires.

When Ji You used to read some literary works, he often saw stories of wealthy families having only one son for three or five generations, and he always felt that they must have committed too many sins to be able to have a son.

But when he put himself in that situation, he realized that the sole succession was entirely for the purpose of consolidating power.

Otherwise, even if it's just about dividing the family, a top-tier family will inevitably break up within three generations.

Even if the immortal sect has a sacred artifact to suppress it, if the division of the family fails, the internal strife will quickly deplete the family's fortune.

During his time in the Great Wilderness Forest, Ji You did not discover the specific details of the ruins, but he did learn a lot of gossip and thus remembered some people.

For example, the third young master of the Daoist Sect, and the second young master of the Mountain and Sea Pavilion in front of us.

The third young master of the Dao Seeking Sect is named Shang Xijie. His talent is no less than that of his elder brother Shang Xiyao, and he has always been eager to seize the right of succession.

The fight in the Great Wilderness Forest was because Shang Xijie suddenly intervened. At that time, many members of the Dao Seeking Sect were shouting for the Third Young Master.

Moreover, according to Ji You's observation, these three young masters have quite a few supporters behind them, and they all seem to want to turn their lives around by taking advantage of the immortal opportunities in these ruins.

After all, although the Dao Asking Sect had just announced that Shang Xiyao would be in charge of the artifact, it had not yet succeeded. For the Third Young Master, it was not entirely impossible to rely on the Immortal's Fate.

As for Huo Xingyun, the second young master of Shan Hai Ge, his situation is similar to that of Shang Xijie of the Dao Wen Zong.

Huo Xingyun was a half-brother of Huo Xingzhong, the personal disciple of Shan Hai Ge, but ever since Huo Xingzhong became a personal disciple, Huo Xingyun had always harbored resentment.

In the past, no matter how unwilling he was, he would only have been filled with powerless rage, but the immortal destiny of the ruins gave him a glimmer of hope.

It's like a struggle for the throne; everyone will try their best to increase their advantage, even if the risks are unknown.

Even if they ultimately fail to control the sacred artifact, they can still avoid the reckoning during the succession process by increasing their stakes before the power shift.

The standoff lasted for a long time in the dark mountain forest, until finally the men arranged by Huo Xingzhong temporarily withdrew.

They belong to the same clan after all, so it's impossible for them to actually fight to the death in the open.

Ji You watched the group leave, then turned her gaze back to Huo Xingyun.

He had only recently entered the Yingtian Realm, and his aura was gradually stabilizing; perhaps it was because he had consumed the Vermilion Fruit.

If he hadn't eaten, he would indeed be considered a prodigy, which explains why there was a hint of desire for power in his eyes.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but recall Huo Hong, the illegitimate son of the Shan Hai Pavilion who had lost both legs in the Dongping Mountains.

This person disappeared without a trace after leaving the Dongping Mountains, presumably becoming a victim of power struggles...

He's different. His family doesn't have any inheritance to pass down, so it's likely that whoever's child inherits their things.

While he was pondering, Ji You suddenly came to his senses.

In the dark mountain forest, a surging divine thought was rushing towards this place.

Seeing this, Ji You instantly broke off several tree branches that were blocking his way, and at the same time quickly concealed the golden light in his eyes before leaping off the cliff.

However, the divine thought relentlessly pursued it, hurtling along the mountain ridge.

hum!
The mountains and forests trembled, and all the trees rustled.

An aged figure emerged from the night, his hair and beard as white as snow, his robes fluttering in the wind, like a soaring eagle. With a sudden jerk of his arms, his large, wrinkled hands slammed down from the sky.

The immense palm force, carrying a blinding beam of light, crashed down on the foot of the mountain like a celestial river pouring forth.

In an instant, dust and sand shot into the sky like an angry dragon, soil and rocks flew everywhere, and ear-piercing explosions awakened the entire night.

However, after the dust settled, the old man couldn't help but frown.

The location he photographed only contained a few broken tree branches and a spirit stone shattered by the force of the energy, with no trace of human presence, which puzzled him.

He clearly sensed a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy just now, and chased after him with the Boundless Realm's movement technique that ignores distance, so how could he not find the person?

The old man glanced at the broken branches, then at the surrounding trees, his brow furrowing even more deeply. The broken branches and the surrounding trees were clearly not of the same species.

Just then, Huo Xingyun, dressed in brocade robes, stepped through the air and landed beside the elder as his robes fluttered in the wind.

"Uncle, what happened?"

"I sensed a presence just now, as if someone had been spying outside the forest, but when I arrived, I found no one there."

Upon hearing this, Huo Xingyun frowned deeply, his cold gaze sweeping around the room: "It must be one of Huo Xingzhong's men again."

Upon hearing this, the old man looked at Huo Xingyun and said, "The eldest young master is taking over the sacred artifact and doesn't have the time to arrange things so meticulously. The person who came is probably the fifth young master's man."

"What can he do?"

"Second Young Master, don't underestimate Fifth Young Master. None of you brothers are simple."

The old man's name was Huo Shun. He was a key figure in the previous generation of the Mountain and Sea Pavilion. He bet on Huo Xingyun among the Five Masters of the Mountain and Sea Pavilion and was also his protector.

When the sect leader announced that Huo Xingzhong would take over the sacred artifact, they thought the matter was settled. However, the sudden appearance of a divine opportunity at the ruins rekindled their hopes, so they were among the first to send people to the Great Wilderness Forest.

After pondering for a while, Huo Xingyun suddenly asked, "Uncle, what brings you to Tianchi Mountain so late at night?"

"The second batch of raw liquid has been refined."

"How much was left?"

"Fifty percent, we told the sect it was thirty percent, and the remaining fifty percent was given to the sect."

Huo Xingyun nodded after hearing this, and then, led by Huo Shun, rushed back to the sect.

Before long, countless people obtained a jade bottle on Elder Peak to the right of the Mountain and Sea Pavilion.

The jade bottle was filled with fiery light and emitted countless alluring celestial rays. Just by opening the bottle and taking a sniff, one could feel a vast and powerful celestial force.

In the still of the night, Ji You, who had escaped capture from Wujiangjing, arrived at a mountain in the southeast. He sat cross-legged, setting himself on fire while gazing at the distant, cloud-shrouded Shanhai Peak, which resembled a colossal beast that swallowed the sky.

He overheard some of Huo Shun and Huo Xingyun's conversation and learned that the Mountain and Sea Pavilion processed those relic fruits by refining them into liquid, so he had been observing the reaction.

In the silent night sky, all was quiet except for the chirping of insects and birds, and everything seemed peaceful.

As he read, he suddenly remembered the Night's Watch story, and his brow furrowed.

To be honest, he's on night watch now, as if it were his destiny.

Perhaps because he had read too many literary works about "my fate is in my own hands" before his transmigration, he didn't actually believe in fatalism, but now he felt more and more like the Night's Watchman.

But that's just his personality.

After seeing the tree branch his sister had broken off by the riverbank that day, he insisted on seeing everything with his own eyes, afraid of missing anything.

As the night wore on, Ji You gradually began to feel sleepy.

He had been traveling for the past few days, going from Danshan to Qingzhou, and then from Qingzhou to Yongzhou. Even cultivators, who don't need to sleep often, would get tired.

However, just as he was about to close his eyes, a mysterious light suddenly appeared among the peaks in the sea of ​​clouds, instantly dispelling his drowsiness.

Before long, another beam of light appeared, followed by a third, a fourth, a fifth... and finally fifteen beams of light shot into the sky together, causing the surrounding winds and clouds to surge and the grass and leaves to fly wildly.

Sure enough, no one can resist the allure of a chance encounter with immortals, especially once they've obtained one.

Ji You rose from the wild grass, gazed into the distance, then concealed his aura and leaped down the mountain.

The aura surging across the mountain was indeed that of someone breaking through to a higher realm; there was nothing strange about it.

It can be confirmed that he was once a Daoist cultivator.

He gracefully descended to the foot of the mountain and sat atop the water tower in the small town at the foot of the mountain, waiting until dawn.

The fifteen beams of light lasted all night before disappearing one by one. There was no sound in the mountains, and no evil spirits appeared in the town below. Everything was different from what he had worried about.

Is it really a divine destiny bestowed by Heaven?

Ji You sat quietly on the water tower, silently reciting something to himself.

As far as the Mountain and Sea Pavilion is concerned, two batches of relics have already been salvaged. One batch came from the Great Wilderness Forest, and each of the major immortal sects has a few in hand.

After this batch of fruits came out, they were originally intended to be refined by alchemists. However, according to Yan Shuyi's message, after the plan failed, the Immortal Sect selected a branch disciple within the sect to test the fruits on humans.

Including last night, many people waited until late at night to take the fruit juice, which was ultimately due to caution.

After all, given what happened at Qiling, no one would easily believe that it was a good outcome.

But the facts now seem to prove that it was indeed a true predestined connection with the gods.

As Ji You pondered, he suddenly noticed countless soaring sounds rising from the Mountain and Sea Pavilion. Figures hovered above the void, weaving through the dazzling light, and descending towards the Heavenly Pool.

"The fruit is no different, but those who consume it experience a tremendous improvement. It seems that they are truly favored by Heaven."

"If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have been so cautious in the first place. I even went to the Pill Sect unnecessarily, losing one of my Boundless Realm elders."

"Continue to explore deeper, but be cautious. Do not leak the news to anyone, not even within the sect."

Temperatures continue to rise across the sky, and the seedlings in the fields are already beginning to sprout.

Ji You had been keeping an eye on Shan Hai Ge for a long time when he received another letter from the young appraiser.

Just as he saw that morning, after testing the fruit on humans and extracting and refining it in various ways, all the major immortal sects have confirmed that the fruit is no different from the others.

The Dao Seeking Sect, the Chen Clan, and the Xuan Yuan Immortal Mansion have all secretly opened the ruins in their respective jurisdictions.

This news caused Ji You to frown deeply.

Honestly, I could accept it even if there were rumors that someone ate the fruit and turned into an evil being, but the problem is there isn't.

So how exactly did the Bu family acquire the ability to transform into evil beings?

Could it be that what they ate wasn't the fruit from the ruins?

Ji You held Yan Shuyi's message for a long time, then took out another letter from the Heavenly Academy from her sleeve and gently unfolded it.

The Heavenly Way Gathering is held once every five years, and there is another grand gathering in between, called the Immortal Tour Gathering.

And inside this letter was the invitation to the Immortals' Gathering.

Ji You originally did not plan to go, because the Immortal Tour would not allow him to enter the Holy Land of the Sages again, only the Heavenly Dao Sacrifice.

Legend has it that when immortals guide the way, on the day of the human race's sacrifice to the heavens, those who participate in the heavenly ritual will send their souls into the heavens, resonate with the heavenly way, and receive enlightenment and inheritance under the starry sky.

But he had no way to break through to the next level, so naturally he avoided it like the plague.

But after seeing Yan Shuyi's message, he still decided to join in the fun.

He certainly wouldn't participate, because with his current combat strength, if he participated as a Transcendent Realm cultivator, he would truly be unable to control himself.

Moreover, after learning that the Night Watchers' legacy might have been severed by the Immortal Sect, he was indeed afraid that someone might see something in him.

His reason for going was to see with his own eyes those who had consumed the Relic Fruit.

Misfortune always leaves a trace; it's impossible for it to be hidden so perfectly unless it's truly a matter of chance.

Then he had nothing to say, gave up the investigation, focused on his cultivation, outlived the old man, and led Fengzhou to prosperity.

While pondering, Ji You suddenly turned her head and looked at the mountain stream not far away.

Perhaps to prevent Huo Xingzhong's secret inspection, Huo Xingyun strengthened the blockade around the Tianchi Ruins, and even Yingtian and Wujiang made appearances.

He had been concealing his aura to a state of calm and stillness for the past few days, but he was still being followed.

Upon thinking of this, Ji You soared into the air, his fiery aura swaying and rising into the sky, his entire being like a rising sun soaring into the heavens.

Just then, the forest below suddenly exploded, and Huo Shun rose from the ground, holding a massive amount of lightning in his hand and soaring into the sky, his palms striking down fiercely as if wielding a bolt of tribulation lightning.

But the next instant, he was struck hard with a palm, the lightning was shattered, and the enormous force directly caused his blood and qi to surge, revealing a look of surprise in his eyes.

The disciples who followed couldn't help but look up at the void, and saw that a powerful body had smashed a shimmering horizontal line across the sky, stretching for ten miles.

"Huo Xingzhong?!"

Hearing the commotion, Huo Xingyun arrived through the air, his brow furrowed as he looked at the figure.

In his opinion, only Huo Xingzhong or other disciples of immortal sects could barely manage to exchange blows with a man of such youthful appearance who could fight against someone of the Boundless Realm.

Before he could finish speaking, Huo Shun immediately shook his head grimly: "It wasn't him."

"If it's not him, then who is it?"

"Ji You of Tianshu Academy".

"..."

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