Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 514 Divine Court
"Finally out!"

A fierce wind swept through, carrying sand and gravel, plunging the world into darkness.

Li Xiangming stowed the flying boat and slowly landed on the sand dune, his green robe fluttering in the wind.

It must be said that the Purple Shade Cave was somewhat beyond his expectations.

An ordinary small secret realm would be considered good if it spanned a thousand miles. The Purple Shade Cave was not only a world unto itself, with the changing of the sun and moon and diverse climates, but its land was also vast and boundless. He had been traveling for two full days and was still trapped in the boundless desert.

But Li Xiangming was not anxious. As a subspace that had been severed, the Purple Yin Cave, no matter how large, could not compare with the main plane.

Sure enough, he eventually crossed the Gobi Desert and arrived at the oasis before him.

The oasis is long and narrow, like a jade belt lying peacefully on the earth.

Li Xiangming hesitated for a moment, then strode forward—having finally entered the Purple Yin Cave, he naturally didn't want to leave empty-handed.

After walking for a while, the howling of the sandstorm behind them suddenly subsided, and Li Xiangming became even more careful in his movements.

The concentration of spiritual energy in the oasis is several times higher than that in the desert, almost reaching the level of the outside world. If there are still cultivators remaining in the Purple Yin Cave, they will most likely choose to cultivate in seclusion here.

Even without cultivators, demonic beasts still love territories rich in spiritual energy.

The further you go in, the quieter it becomes.

There wasn't a single person in sight, not a single noteworthy movement, and not a sound. The entire oasis was deathly silent, except for the sparse shrubs and herbs.

Li Xiangming couldn't help but start to doubt himself. Could this place just be an ordinary oasis in Ziyin Cave?

Suddenly, he stopped and his gaze fell on a dark stone tablet.

"The Divine Court?"

Li Xiangming was startled and quickly stepped forward to examine him.

"In the first year of Xuanchang, the Su family was granted a place of ancestral prosperity by imperial grace. In the sixth year, a shrine was built, and sacrifices were made to the sacred tree to bless the Su family with ten thousand years of happiness... This stele is hereby erected!"

The inscription contains many details about some special events that occurred during the construction of the Divine Court by the Su family in the sixth year of Xuanchang.

Li Xiangming was engrossed in reading it. He had never heard of the term "Xuanchang" before; it must have been a reign title chosen by the Su family themselves.

As for the Su family, they are undoubtedly descendants of the Su family's Nascent Soul cultivators.

The ancestral homeland...

The Su family believed that Ziyin Cave was their ancestral home, but this is still controversial.

Although Nascent Soul cultivators possess great supernatural powers, they are far from capable of refining a realistic small world like the Purple Yin Cave. The Su family's Nascent Soul cultivators most likely inherited the legacy of their predecessors.

This area is vast, and its geography and climate are almost identical to those of the real world.

That is why the Nascent Soul cultivator of the Su family moved his clansmen to the secret realm, intending to protect them for generations to come.

But things didn't go as planned!
Judging from the endless desert outside the oasis, this idea has clearly failed.

The civilization built by the Su family was destroyed for unknown reasons, and even the so-called divine court was extremely desolate.

Perhaps this is the impermanence of life?

Li Xiangming couldn't help but think of himself. Monkey Valley was originally just a settlement for the beast-catching huts, with no plans for major development at all. Unexpectedly, it prospered in just a few years, attracting thousands of demon-hunting cultivators.

But when he tried his best to protect Monkey Valley, it was all in vain.

Is there really such a thing as destiny?

Li Xiangming looked up at the blazing sun high above him.

After a long pause, he slowly exhaled.

He acknowledged that the evil green robe and the Enlightenment Spring had given him a brighter path, a blessing from Heaven.

However, both the backlash from the evil Green Robe and the covetousness of the Green Cloud Fairy had put him on the brink of death.

If all of this was predetermined.

Since good and evil are intertwined in the will of Heaven, what should be fought for must still be fought for.

Continuing forward, Li Xiangming gradually came across the ruins of the Su clan civilization.

This appears to be a city, with its majestic city gates and mottled stone bricks bearing the marks of time. The three large characters "Heaven-sent City" on the high-hanging redwood plaque seem to still be telling the story of its past glory.

There were no city walls around the city gate, and from Li Xiangming's perspective, he could easily see the dense cluster of buildings in the city.

"It is very well preserved."

Li Xiangming stepped into the city, feeling both moved and surprised.

Tianci City doesn't resemble a ruin at all. Although it looks somewhat ancient, the vast majority of the buildings are intact, showing no signs of having suffered any misfortune.

After wandering around for a while, Li Xiangming's doubts deepened.

Judging from the size of the city, it must have housed at least several hundred thousand people.

But there's not a single person here!
"Caw!" A short, sharp cry of a crow rang out.

Li Xiangming looked up instantly and saw a black crow landing on a stone sculpture not far away.

The stone sculpture resembles a hunched old servant, his head almost drooping to his feet, as if he were kneeling in worship.

For some reason, Li Xiangming felt a sense of unease and moved away.

His movements seemed to startle the crows, which fluttered and took flight.

Li Xiangming glanced over instinctively, then his gaze shifted downwards, and suddenly his hair stood on end!
The stone sculpture had somehow changed its position, and even its head was slightly raised, as if it were poised to pounce.

"Li Xiangming!"

Just then, a low voice was heard.

Li Xiangming was startled again and turned around abruptly, just in time to see a tall, middle-aged man approaching – it was Liu Xiongyu.

Liu Xiong Yu frowned: "I've been waiting for you here for two days, why are you delaying like this?"

Li Xiangming placed his left hand on the storage bag, took a step back, and did not answer.

Liu Xiongyu immediately stopped and looked around.

"boom!"

The ground cracked open, and a hand suddenly reached out from under Liu Xiongyu's feet, grabbing his ankle tightly.

"interesting."

Liu Xiong Yu sneered. Before he could exert any force with his palm, his entire body turned into black smoke and dissipated with the wind. Only a lit fire talisman floated lightly to the ground.

"Oh!"

The explosion was deafening, and it also created layers of turbid air waves.

Li Xiangming covered his mouth and nose and stepped back, but his gaze remained fixed on the thick smoke and dust.

In the blink of an eye, a gust of wind swept by, dispersing the thick smoke, and Liu Xiong Yu had returned to his original spot without anyone noticing.

The hunchbacked stone sculpture, which had just crawled out of the deep pit, was struck on the back by Liu Xiong Yu and sank heavily into the ground with a crisp cracking sound.

"What kind of monster is this?"

Seeing that the crisis had passed, Li Xiangming landed nearby and inquired.

Liu Xiong Yu shook his head: "When I came here, there was nothing here. I must have come with you."

As soon as he finished speaking, a violent tremor came from the ground, as if an earth dragon were turning over.

Li Xiangming and Liu Xiongyu frowned simultaneously, their bodies rising from the ground and hovering in mid-air.

The hunchbacked stone sculpture suddenly jumped out of the originally dilapidated pit. With a powerful shake, the broken stone skin on its body peeled off in a rustling sound, revealing blood vessels that writhed like earthworms without skin covering them, and muscles that gleamed with a bloody dark light, a shocking sight.

"I look down on you."

Liu Xiong Yu's gaze turned serious. The hunchbacked monster's magical power was not conspicuous, but after taking a hit from him, it was still full of energy and could not be regarded as ordinary.

He immediately stretched out his palm, and a small black whirlwind slowly took shape.

The hunchbacked monster was completely unaware and pounced forward, only to be swept up by the expanding black whirlwind in an instant, trapped in mid-air and howling incessantly.

Li Xiangming could clearly see that under the onslaught of the black wind, the hunchbacked monster's flesh and blood surged like boiling water, gradually dissolving until, in a short moment, it was nothing but bare white bones.

As the last wisp of black wind dissipated, the white bones gently fell and scattered on the ground.

Li Xiangming was greatly shocked. He had seen many Foundation Establishment cultivators, and each of them had their own unique skills.

For example, Li Xiangren's Ling Shu Golden Light Array and Li Xiangyu's Flying Flame Wheel.

The Green Cloud Fairy's endless water magic and the Faceless Man's integrated offensive and defensive combat style are both extremely impressive.

Liu Xiongyu was an anomaly among these people.

It's not that Liu Xiong Yu's methods weren't distinctive enough, but rather that this guy's wind escape technique and the spells that carried black smoke and mist were completely beyond his comprehension.

"It appears to be a human puppet that has been created."

Liu Xiongyu landed on the ground, his brows furrowed.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangming couldn't help but scrutinize the skeleton. This hunched monster was actually a human puppet just like Nie Rong.

He took a few steps closer and suddenly discovered that a rusty hairpin was stuck in a section of fractured bone.

"This is."

Before he could see clearly, the broken bone flew into Liu Xiong Yu's hand with a "whoosh".

Liu Xiongyu pulled out his hairpin, his lips trembling slightly.

(End of this chapter)