Cultivating Immortality: Starting from Ferrying Passengers

Chapter 216 The Great and Small Wars

Deep within the great river lies an underground water vein, about a thousand feet below the surface. At this moment, a two-zhang-long (approximately 6.6 meters) armored, scaled spirit turtle is rapidly following this underground water vein, continuously moving towards the dark cave ahead.

The area ahead is fraught with hidden currents and branching paths, making it impossible for ordinary cultivators to find their way.

But for Tuoyuan, it felt as comfortable as returning to its lair. It only needed to follow its instincts to find a clear path out.

On Tuoyuan's back, Fang Jingxuan sat cross-legged peacefully, no matter how Tuoyuan turned over, he seemed to be rooted to the spot and did not move an inch.

Fang Jingxuan closed his eyes, not paying attention to his surroundings; Tuoyuan took care of all of this.

At this moment, Fang Jingxuan was fleeing towards the border of the wilderness. The pursuers sent by the Kuai family had tried to ambush him several times before when he was underground, but Fang Jingxuan managed to shake them off in time by relying on Tuoyuan and his innate talent, the precognitive perception of "Sudden Inspiration".

It must be said that the power of the Kuai family is extraordinary. They actually managed to gather cultivators from the Lian Shui Alliance, as well as a cultivator with supernatural abilities who could divine their location, and were able to get ahead of them at a certain distance.

However, when it comes to the geographical advantage of the underground waters, their own cultivation of the "Mysterious Abyss True Explanation" is in no way inferior to that of the cultivators of the Lian Shui Alliance, so they did not gain any advantage.

So for the past two days, Fang Jingxuan has been leading a group of pursuing cultivators, constantly engaging in a battle of wits and courage, creating quite a stir.

Fortunately, Kuai Tong of the Kuai family was not present, and Kuai Wuliang did not have the face to ask a Golden Core cultivator from the Lian Shui Alliance to personally intervene. Otherwise, Fang Jingxuan knew that things would have been terrible.

Fang Jingxuan is now leaping forward through underground waters and dark river caves, having traveled approximately ten thousand miles.

The long, uninterrupted journey, with its frequent detours, made Fang Jingxuan's overall journey even longer, causing immense suffering for the pursuers behind him.

Especially those four Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Lian Shui Alliance, who were trying to keep a close watch on Fang Jingxuan's trail in the underground waters, were almost at their breaking point.

On the contrary, this is nothing to Tuoyuan. As long as Fang Jingxuan needs it, it can travel like this for half a month without resting at all.

In a short while, another thirty miles had passed. Fang Jingxuan could sense that the spiritual energy from the water veins ahead had suddenly become somewhat rough.

The spiritual energy needed by cultivators is like the water needed by the human body; the taste and quality of water vary from place to place.

The wood elemental vein is refreshing, the earth elemental vein is rich and profound, while the spiritual energy in front is rugged and unrefined.

Upon sensing this, Fang Jingxuan's face lit up with joy; they had arrived at the desolate border.

Considering that many dangerous spirit beasts might be lurking in the underground currents of the desolate region, Fang Jingxuan signaled Tuoyuan to float upwards and arrive at the great river.

This great river originates in some wild place, flows all the way to the sea, and passes through part of the Changbai Mountain region.

In this cultivation world, there are still large, untamed areas that have not been occupied by human cultivators and remain a paradise for ferocious beasts and ancient monsters.

Every few hundred or thousand years, when human cultivators multiply and the population increases to a certain extent, the original land can no longer accommodate them, so they organize themselves to launch wars to open up these wild lands.

This war of opening up was divided into a large-scale opening up and a small-scale opening up. The so-called large-scale opening up was led by Nascent Soul cultivators, with Core Formation cultivators as the backbone and Golden Core cultivators as the main force, along with hundreds of thousands of human Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators, who fiercely tore off a large piece of territory.

It is at least the size of the entire Baishan region, after which seven or eight Nascent Soul sects and hundreds of millions of mortals can be moved here to live, recuperate, and rest.

The smaller battles, however, are led by Nascent Soul cultivators and are much larger in scale. The ancient beasts they deal with are also at the Nascent Soul level.

Such pioneering wars can be spontaneously organized within one or two hundred years, without the need for Nascent Soul cultivators to intervene. As long as one feels that their strength is sufficient, they can start fighting.

Currently, this wild land borders the territory of the White Mountain, and the last major war of development ended here.

This battle expanded the territory of Baishan by more than half. It took place three thousand years ago, and since then, there has been peace until now. Fang Jingxuan arrived at the edge of the wilderness and, without stopping, signaled Tuoyuan to continue deeper inside.

After thousands of years of exploration by human cultivators, this area, spanning thousands of miles on the edge of the wilderness, is generally not considered a particularly dangerous place.

For greater safety, Fang Jingxuan decided to take a risk and continue deeper into the area. This way, the Foundation Establishment cultivators pursuing him would not dare to continue their relentless pursuit.

At least the cultivators from the Water Alliance are unnecessary, and Fang Jingxuan cannot guarantee the safety of the Kuai family cultivators.

Perhaps it was the aura emanating from Tuoyuan that made the Foundation Establishment beasts entrenched throughout the river think it was not to be trifled with.

Or perhaps the Tuoyuan Abyss concealed Fang Jingxuan's aura as a human cultivator, which is why Fang Jingxuan did not encounter any ferocious beasts that jumped out to cause trouble on his journey.

It wasn't until a day later, when Fang Jingxuan, led by Tuoyuan, ventured deep into the wilderness, four thousand miles into the wild, that he cautiously stopped.

This distance is truly wild and untamed; human cultivators from the outside world would generally not come here to hunt.

Apart from cultivators like Fang Jingxuan who came here out of necessity to escape their enemies, the outer three thousand miles are the activity area for human cultivators.

At this time, three days had passed since Fang Jingxuan fled from the Kuai family. Fang Jingxuan had traveled nearly 30,000 li before finally arriving at this place.

Fang Jingxuan probed his soul into the Spirit Control Bag and found that his six bones had been initially restored, and the life-saving Rainbow Transformation Light Escape had also been restored to four uses.

Sensing this situation, Fang Jingxuan's confidence increased. However, in this kind of place, the most urgent task was to find a place to stay before considering other matters.

Thinking of this, Fang Jingxuan signaled Tuoyuan to follow his instincts and find a place with abundant water spiritual energy to use as a temporary place to stay.

Before Tuoyuan could find such a place, Fang Jingxuan was suddenly startled. He turned around and saw Kuai Wuliang's face, which was ashen and twisted with pleasure.

Only then did the dark talisman in front of Kuai Wuliang's body slowly turn to ashes.

It was this talisman that prevented Fang Jingxuan from sensing Kuai Wuliang's arrival in time. It was only when Kuai Wuliang was right next to Fang Jingxuan that he could no longer conceal it, prompting his "spur of the moment" to issue a warning.

"You've really made me search high and low, Fang Jingxuan. I'd give up my life for the Kuai family. Now, return the Green Gourd Sword Vine, and I promise to turn around and leave without a second thought. Otherwise, I'd rather die than not kill you."

Looking at Kuai Wuliang's resolute face, Fang Jingxuan realized that he had underestimated the importance of the Green Gourd Sword Vine to the Kuai family. For this spiritual plant, Kuai Wuliang, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, was even willing to risk his life.

At this moment, Kuai Wuliang unleashed a strong killing intent. When a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator is determined to fight to the death, this sense of threat only made Fang Jingxuan tremble with fear.

Fang Jingxuan understood that Kuai Wuliang truly thought this way, and he was probably not the only Kuai family cultivator with this idea. At this moment, Kuai Wuliang was holding him back, and there should be other cultivators rushing to his side.

Is it really necessary to go to such lengths over this Green Gourd Sword Vine?

Fang Jingxuan hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should just return it. He really didn't want to have a life-or-death battle with Kuai Wuliang, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator who also came from a Golden Core faction.

Seeing Fang Jingxuan hesitate, Kuai Wuliang breathed a sigh of relief. If he could, he wouldn't want to risk his life either.

However, just as Kuai Wuliang was about to continue speaking and persuade Fang Jingxuan, a black shadow flashed by, and the next moment, Kuai Wuliang's expression froze completely.

A faint smell of blood reached Fang Jingxuan's nostrils. In his eyes, Kuai Wuliang's skull had been violently opened, revealing red and white substances.

A black crow perched above him, perched on his skull, and began pecking at this rare delicacy.

(End of this chapter)