Clan Cultivation: My Intelligence Updated Daily

No matter when or where, Cola Novels is your most loyal reading companion.

"Sir, you're too kind!"

After returning the stones, Zhang Lingyu pretended to turn and leave. Just as he had expected, this True Lord Yunhe would not let him leave so easily.

The old man clung tightly to his clothes, feigning a pitiful state, and choked out, "Young man, I haven't eaten for three days. If you have pity on me, could you please treat me to a meal?"

"Young man, this old man looks like he's always trying to scam people out of food and drinks. Don't fall for his tricks!"

"Yes, don't treat money like it's nothing." A passerby saw this and immediately stepped forward to advise him.

This young master looks like he comes from a wealthy family. Even if he's not short of money, he shouldn't just give it away to a complete stranger, right?

Moreover, he was a rogue and a scoundrel.

"this..."

Zhang Lingyu pretended to be hesitant, but still took out a few copper coins from his sleeve and handed them to the old man, saying with a wry smile, "Since that's the case, I'll go all the way and treat you to a meal, old man."

After handing over the money, he pretended to turn around and leave, but as expected, he was stopped again.

"Young man, I am deeply grateful for your kindness. Please come in with me for a drink!"

When the pedestrians saw the old man's shamelessness, they also started cursing him.

It is said that he was not satisfied with the money he had received, and he must have wanted to keep it for himself, and make this young master pay for the meal again.

Zhang Lingyu refused and was about to leave when he was grabbed by the wrist and dragged into the restaurant, where he was "forced" to have a drink with him.

With this easy target in mind, the servant stopped trying to stop him and cheerfully served him good wine and meat, giving him a meaningful smile before leaving.

It was as if they were laughing at him for being a fool.

Inside the restaurant, Yunhe Zhenjun was half-squatting on a chair, holding a chicken leg in one hand and putting it into his mouth, while holding a wine cup in the other. He ate and drank, and at one point, he choked so much that his face turned red, looking exactly like a reincarnated starving ghost.

At this moment, Zhang Lingyu's smile vanished, replaced by a grim expression. He probed, "Old man, you don't seem to be from Yingchuan County. May I ask where you've come from?"

If he had previously pretended to treat the old man as an ordinary person, now he had to treat him as an extraordinary one.

How could a Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator be dragged into a restaurant by a mere mortal old man without being able to fight back?

Even a fool could see the problem.

"A place very, very far away, on the other side of the sea, you've probably heard of it..."

"Zhongzhou."

Yunhe Zhenjun narrowed his eyes to slits, and the previously noisy sounds around him suddenly disappeared. All people and things seemed to disappear quickly away from them like a revolving lantern, leaving only boundless darkness and the two figures of the old and the young.

"Is this the power of a Nascent Soul True Monarch...? I can't even muster a single ounce of magic power."

Zhang Lingyu's face was filled with terror, and this was not an act; it was the genuine fear of a subordinate facing a superior.

He stood there stunned for a moment, then immediately bowed and said with a wry smile, "Junior Zhang Lingyu greets Senior...May I ask if Senior is a Nascent Soul cultivator?"

"That's right, you guessed correctly."

"May I ask what brings you here today, senior?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? As a cultivator and the head of a family, why aren't you in seclusion on your sacred mountain, striving to achieve the Core Formation stage as soon as possible? Why did you choose to come here?"

At this moment, True Lord Yunhe was no longer the ragged beggar. He was dressed in a white robe, with a full head of white hair and beard, looking every bit the dignified immortal.

The old man looked down at Zhang Lingyu with his aura completely unreserved, as if he would immediately kill him if he said anything wrong or found anything suspicious.

Even if one is a Nascent Soul cultivator and the other is a Foundation Establishment cultivator, one should still go all out against someone who appears outside of one's deductions.

"this..."

Zhang Lingyu's back was already soaked with cold sweat. He pretended to hesitate for a moment before finally speaking the words he had prepared: "To tell you the truth, senior, there is a place not far from here called Xiaohe Village, which is the predecessor of this place."

"Decades ago, a strange thing happened. All the mortals in the village were eaten by ghosts. At that time, I was still a Qi Refining cultivator. I was ordered by my family to come and investigate. As a result, I found a cave in the back mountain. There were three ghosts running rampant inside. Although I killed them, I did not investigate them in detail and left."

"After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, the younger generation felt increasingly uneasy. Xiaohe Village was clearly not a place where Yin energy gathered, so why would ghosts be born there? Therefore, we joined forces with the elders of our family to explore further..."

As he spoke, his face contorted with fear, and he stammered:

"Upon further exploration, we discovered a hidden realm beneath the cavern. Not only was the yin energy dense there, but three Foundation Establishment ghosts had also been born there. After we joined forces to kill them, we found a yin-attribute Golden Core spiritual object in the area. After harvesting it, we continued exploring, and unexpectedly..."

"It seems you've already seen that thing." Upon hearing this, True Monarch Yunhe understood most of it and sighed softly.

"Indeed, I saw a bronze door underground, with a small crack open, as if it connected to the Netherworld. Endless Yin energy surged out from it. Only then did I understand how this place where Yin energy gathers was formed, and how the Yin-attribute Golden Core spiritual object was born from it."

Zhang Lingyu continued in a low voice:

"When we saw it, we were terrified and dared not reveal the situation. But we thought that once the bronze gate was opened, a great calamity would probably occur. So we moved all the mortals of Xiaohe Village away, set up an array outside, and designated that place as a forbidden area, not allowing anyone to enter or leave."

"I come here to check every now and then, but I never expected to run into you here this time... If I have offended you, please forgive me."

"Every word I have said is true. I hope you will see through my words, senior. I am not afraid even if you use the Heart-Testing Talisman."

Although everything before was false, it was all stated with absolute certainty, without a single falsehood.

Yunhe Zhenjun was slightly moved. Ever since Zhang Lingyu told him about the bronze gate, his wariness of this junior had decreased considerably.

With his Nascent Soul cultivator's divine sense, he could naturally detect that the mountain in the distance was surrounded by a concealment formation.

Although it's only at the third tier, it's clear that it's already the best among Foundation Establishment families.

He secretly calculated, but still couldn't figure it out. He nodded to himself, "It seems this isn't a scheme against me. It's fate that I met this boy here."

Opportunities and fates are unpredictable; they may just appear out of nowhere.

Just like today.

True Monarch Yunhe's expression quickly softened. He lifted Zhang Lingyu up and said with a forced smile:

"Young friend, there's no need to be so nervous. I've come here precisely for that bronze gate. According to my divination, we shouldn't have met. Now that we have, it's natural that I'm a little wary."

"Now that the misunderstanding is cleared up, welcome to the fantasy continent of Xianxia novels. The entrance is here: I have also come to understand one thing: meeting is fate. How can fate be calculated by cultivators? It seems that my knowledge of heavenly secrets is still insufficient."

"I see."

Zhang Lingyu smiled and said:

"It is my good fortune to be able to form a bond with you, senior. As the one who governs a prefecture, I am responsible for the people under my jurisdiction. When I saw you playing around with the world just now, I thought you were just an ordinary person in distress, so I offered my help."

"However, after you dragged me into the restaurant, I realized something was wrong. How could a mortal possibly move a cultivator like me? I was just thinking of testing him... If I offended you in any way, please forgive me."

"Young friend, you jest. This is only human nature. In truth, I am the one who is in the wrong. After all, when you enter the host's house, shouldn't you at least greet them first?"

"You flatter me, senior!"

"Come, have a drink first. Since the host has come to visit, I should treat him well. In a little while, you will come with me to take a look at that bronze door."

As they laughed and joked, the darkness faded, and the various crowds and noises in the restaurant reappeared before their eyes, completely unaware of them, as if they had never disappeared. Yunhe Zhenjun also transformed back into the old beggar, continuing to eat meat and drink wine with gusto.

Zhang Lingyu was still in a daze and exclaimed in a low voice, "Senior, you have such great supernatural powers. May I ask your name?"

"My Daoist name is Yunhe. As I mentioned before, I come from Zhongzhou and am a disciple of the Tianyan Sect. As for the methods I used just now... they are not worth mentioning."

The old man smiled, pointed to the food on the table, and continued, "Aren't you going to eat? Otherwise, it would be a waste to have such a big table of food."

"I'm not hungry, please eat as much as you like, senior."

"You said it yourself, so don't blame me for not leaving any for you."

Yunhe Zhenjun narrowed his eyes to slits and quickly stuffed all the food on the table into his stomach, while also filling his wine gourd.

After Zhang Lingyu paid the bill, she patted her belly and swaggered out of the restaurant. The surrounding crowd secretly sneered at this scene, never expecting that a noble family would actually have such a sucker.

"Get out of here!"

In an alley outside the restaurant, Yunhe Zhenjun suddenly grabbed Zhang Lingyu's arm, and the two of them vanished from the spot in a flash.

The latter felt dizzy and disoriented; even with his own divine sense, which was already at the Golden Core level, he could not detect anything.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a huge cavern, filled with eerie energy, and in front of him was the massive ancient bronze door.

The old man beside him stopped laughing and looked at the bronze door in front of him with a serious expression, as if he wanted to see the world behind it through the crack in the door.

After a long silence, he asked, "Young Lingyu, how big was the gap when you first saw this bronze door many years ago?"

"Replying to your question, senior, the size of the gap has not changed at all!"

"Is that so..." These words made True Monarch Yunhe breathe a sigh of relief. His tense expression relaxed instantly, and he unconsciously began to stroke his beard. To be honest, he was really afraid that the other party would say that the gap had widened considerably.

"May I ask, Senior Yunhe, what exactly is this bronze door?"

Zhang Lingyu cautiously probed, "And behind this gap... could it really connect to the Netherworld, or some other place?"

"Your cultivation level is too low. Knowing too much is not good for you. But I can tell you that this bronze door is indeed as you think. It is a door that connects to a certain place. It was opened by an ancient great master. Besides your Yingchuan County, there are many other places in the Five Continents and Four Seas."

After a moment of contemplation, True Monarch Yunhe continued:

"Once this bronze door is opened to a certain extent, what is inside will escape. At that time, your Yingchuan County will be destroyed in an instant, and the entire cultivation world will be plunged into endless war. The formations you set up outside will be completely useless."

"Then... senior, did you come here to destroy this gate?" Zhang Lingyu asked.

"You brat, confined to this tiny Zhao Kingdom, are ignorant of the vastness of the world and the breadth of supernatural powers. You think that Nascent Soul cultivators are all-powerful beings who can reach the heavens and the earth, but in reality, what were we worth in ancient times?"

The old man chuckled twice, his thoughts seemingly drifting back to ancient times, and explained:

"The cultivation world today is divided into five continents and four seas. Don't be fooled by its current vast territory; in ancient times, it was only less than one-tenth of that. Most of the land was sunk into the sea, and some was separated and sent to outer space... What is left for us now is a broken world."

"In ancient times, there were constant wars, either against cultivators from outside or internal conflicts, which caused the territory to be fragmented. This gate was opened by powerful beings from outside the region at a certain time to serve as a passage to invade our realm. It took a lot of effort to deal with these passages. Some of them were destroyed, and the rest, like this place, were sealed."

"I see." Zhang Lingyu was greatly shocked by such a great ancient secret and was unable to digest it for a while.

The old man ignored him and continued:

"According to the ancient alliance between cultivators, each of these sealed passages must be guarded by a force to prevent alien races from making a comeback. My Tianyan Sect is responsible for this place."

After speaking, he suddenly covered his mouth, as if he had let something slip.

"Heh, it seems none of you take the ancient covenant seriously. Otherwise, how could there be signs of the passage opening?"

Zhang Lingyu sneered inwardly. If a force is to be responsible for guarding a place, it must send a large number of disciples to guard it, and even have a Nascent Soul cultivator stationed there for a long time in order to achieve the purpose of guarding it.

The family has been established in Yingchuan County for hundreds of years, and only today has a single person come to check on them. Most likely, this person is not even stationed here.

He could guess some of the reasons. Perhaps the alchemists of ancient times could still abide by the covenant, but as time went by, people's hearts slowly changed, and with no sign of the bronze gate opening, they became complacent.

The Tianyan Sect is located in the Central Continent. To send people here, the sect must activate the intercontinental teleportation array. Each activation consumes a large amount of resources and leaves the sect with a considerable lack of combat power.

Furthermore, the spiritual energy here is scarce, far less comfortable than in the Central Continent. Coupled with the inability to move around for a long time, it naturally becomes a thankless and arduous task with no reward.

Calling it exile wouldn't be an exaggeration.

Sure enough, the old man looked embarrassed after he finished speaking, and coughed twice. He felt like he had just exposed his own family's shameful secrets, but he was not a decision-maker in the sect, so what could he do?

Besides, aren't the other sects in Central Continent the same way?

"Lingyu, to tell you the truth, the reason we went to the trouble of crossing continents to investigate is because there have been unusual events in other regions. Our sect was worried that there might be problems here as well, so we sent me here. Although there have been some unusual events here, fortunately, the problem is not serious."

With a serious expression, True Monarch Yunhe continued:

"I am about to use a secret technique of my sect to try and close the gates of this place. You should step back!"

......

......