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Everyone focused on healing their injuries after that short talk. Xia Qianqian was a second-rate medicine cultivator, so they flocked to her like chicks to a mother hen as a matter of course. Considering their health condition and less-than-stellar environment, she could be the worst medicine cultivator in the world, and they still would have cherished her like gold.
Three days later, the group finally recovered enough to return to the surface. It was time.
Lu Ye led the way just like last time. They were able to make it all the way to the collapsed well without any problem. It took a while to move the rocks out of the way, but they cleared a path eventually.
A moment later, Lu Ye flew out of the well and squinted at the glaring sunlight for a bit. After living in darkness for so long, he almost felt like he was reborn. The others wore happy expressions as well.
The group wasn’t too wary because they had already asked their acquaintances about the situation on the surface a few days ago. They knew that the Spirit Beasts showed no signs of devolving back into insanity, and that the crisis plaguing the Myriad Beasts Domain was truly resolved. Naturally, there wasn’t much to be wary about.
“Young Master! Great Elder!” A familiar voice entered his ears. Lu Ye turned around and saw the cultivators of the Myriad Beasts Sect.
Three days ago, the group had split up into two teams in order to handle the situation. Lu Ye’s group was responsible for ending the threat, while the old woman’s group was responsible for leading some of the Spirit Beasts away.
He had not heard from them for the past three days. It would seem that they had been waiting for them to resurface all this time.
Ironically, Lu Ye still had no idea who the old woman was in the Myriad Beasts Sect. She had to be someone important though. She was a Ninth-Order Cloud River Realm cultivator after all.
After exchanging pleasantries for a bit, the Great Elder said, “Now that the crisis is resolved, it is time to go home, Young Master. Let us rebuild the Myriad Beasts Sect to what it was before!”
The old woman and the rest of the Myriad Beasts Sect cultivators urged as well, “Please come back with us to restore the Myriad Beasts Sect, Young Master!”
Honestly, Lu Ye had almost forgotten about his identity in this world. But of course, he couldn’t possibly comply with their request. Forget that this Cultivation World probably wasn’t real, he was ultimately a Jiu Zhou cultivator.
He turned to Pang Dahai for help, but the fat man immediately looked away and pretended to admire the scenery. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to help Lu Ye, but because he did not have any useful experience to share. He had never received such an important identity from the Heavens when entering a Hidden Realm like this, much less been pleaded by a native to stay and restore their sect. How would that even work?
In the end, Lu Ye had no choice but to say, “Please return to the sect first, everyone. I promise I will come home as soon as my friends and I are done with our business.”
The Great Elder immediately offered, “I’ll come with you.”
But Lu Ye hurriedly waved him off, “It’s fine, Great Elder. Please head back with the others.”
The Great Elder wanted to argue, but he changed his mind after the old woman shot him a look. “Very well. Do be careful, Young Master.”
He then looked at Xia Qianqian and Kitty Shen and ordered coldly, “You two best keep the Young Master safe. You will answer to me if even a hair on his person is harmed, understand?”
The two women reluctantly responded, “Yes, Great Elder!”
The Great Elder fussed over Lu Ye a while longer before he finally joined the Myriad Beasts Sect group and left. It wasn’t long before they disappeared into the horizon.
Lu Ye looked troubled as he asked, “Will they wait for me forever if I do not return to the Myriad Beasts Sect?”
Pang Dahai chuckled. “Don’t worry. The Heavens will know what to do!”
Suddenly, Lu Ye felt a sudden pain behind his head. He turned around and saw Xia Qianqian holding a hair between her fingers. She had obviously plucked it from his head earlier.
“What the heck are you doing?”
Xia Qianqian harrumphed. “Oh my Heavens, you lost a hair, Young Master! Grow it back now, or the Great Elder will surely put us through the mill!”
The Great Elder’s rebuke had annoyed her. That was why she had purposely plucked a hair from Lu Ye’s head.
Lu Ye could not even be bothered to respond to her childish action.
“Let’s go,” Zhou Hai beckoned before bringing out his flying sword. He then leaped on the sword and flew in the direction of Bilandia at high speed.
Everyone else followed closely behind him.
They didn’t encounter any trouble on the way just like when they first came to the Black Tortoise Sect. Unfortunately, the same could be said for the damage that had already been done to the world. Still, this was not the end, but a new beginning.
Lu Ye did not know if this Cultivation World had already been destroyed in the past. He did not know if Xia Qianqian was right about their experience in this Hidden Realm being an extremely realistic reenactment of the past either.
He could only say that it felt real to him.
The Spirit Beasts had withdrawn and returned to normal. Bilandia had been saved from destruction. The humanity of the Myriad Beasts Domain had survived, and there were even people waiting for him to “come home” and restore their sect to their former glory.
They were about midway to Bilandia when Lu Ye asked suddenly, “Theoretically speaking, it should be possible to stay here forever, right?”
“Theoretically? Sure. Have you ever seen anyone choosing to stay permanently in the Spirit Creek Battlefield though?” Xia Qianqian countered next to him.
To cultivate was to go forward constantly; to climb ever higher to reach that elusive peak. While it was inevitable that they would go through experiences they would remember for a lifetime—some cultivators might even choose to retire because of those experiences—what kind of cultivator would choose to linger in a Hidden Realm for a lifetime?
Take Lu Ye for example. At first glance, it seemed like joining the Myriad Beasts Sect cultivators and rebuilding the sect was a good choice. If nothing else, he was guaranteed a life of comfort, fame and glory… or was he?
The Myriad Beasts Domain used to be dominated by Beast Tamers until the insectoids came and destroyed most of them. In fact, the entire Cultivation World except Bilandia was practically destroyed.
Now that the crisis was resolved, Bilandia had transformed from the final bastion of humanity to the only pillar left in the Myriad Beasts Domain. Naturally, they weren’t going to allow the Beast Tamers to return to power, if only to prevent history from repeating himself.
Even if that wasn’t the case, Lu Ye had a feeling that the ruler of Bilandia, Liu Wuzhai, wasn’t going to let things go. He had only met the man once, but he could already tell that he was a power-hungry, bigoted bastard. Not only that, he was easily the biggest winner of this insectoid attack, and he didn’t even need to lift a finger to reap the rewards. Right now, he was indubitably the new ruler of this Cultivation World.
If he really chose to stay in the Myriad Beasts Domain, chances were he and the Myriad Beasts Sect would be hunted like rats throughout the world. At the very least, the Myriad Beasts Sect was facing an uphill battle.
The group descended on a plot of land five kilometers away from Bilandia. They did not go further because they weren’t sure what Bilandia thought of them at the moment.
They might have saved the world, but they had also abandoned their posts at a critical moment. From Bilandia’s perspective, they would be in the right to call them deserters.
Plus, who would believe that they were the ones who solved the root of the problem and saved the world, not to mention that the only person in Bilandia who knew about their plan was the city lord himself, Liu Wuzhai?
If they went in without thinking, there was a high chance they would be attacked on sight. That could only end poorly for them.
Everyone in the group silently stared at Lu Ye. It was clear they wanted him to infiltrate the city. Their group had two ghost cultivators at the beginning, but one had become separated from them while they were escaping Bilandia, and another had died in the insectoid nest.
Since Lu Ye was the only one left who could emulate a ghost cultivator’s abilities, of course it was up to him to infiltrate the city.
Not one to shrink from his responsibilities, Lu Ye said easily, “Give me a moment.”
A while later, Lu Ye stopped in front of the city gate. No one stopped him because he was invisible right now. While staring at the dozen of familiar faces on the notice board, he thought calmly to himself, [I knew it. Bilandia really put a bounty on our heads.]
In fact, the portraits of every Myriad Beast Sect cultivator including himself was hung at the most conspicuous spot. He could be wrong, but he had a feeling that Bilandia might not have put a bounty on their heads if the Myriad Beasts Sect wasn’t part of the desertion. The situation was pretty desperate. But since they were, of course Liu Wuzhai wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass. The old bastard wanted them as far away from his city as possible. He would be even happier if they were all dead.
Unfortunately, this meant that flying into the city wasn’t an option. Bilandia’s cultivators were sure to attack them if they tried. They would have to walk through the city gates.
[Hopefully, the others carried some Concealment Talisman Papers with them.]
Many parts of the city were damaged or ruined, and it had only been three days since the assault had ended. It was unlikely that Bilandia’s cultivators had already reestablished their protective wards, so slipping into the city using Concealment Talisman Papers now was still an option. It wouldn’t be when Bilandia had restored all of its wards.
Lu Ye messaged Xia Qianqian and told her about the situation. The spell cultivator quickly replied asking him to find the Divine Opportunity Column first.
Lu Ye was going to do so even if she hadn’t said so. The Divine Opportunity Column was their ticket back to the Cloud River Battlefield after all. However, Xia Qianqian did not ask him to procure some Concealment Talisman Papers for the group, probably because they already had them or something similar. Practically every cultivator would prepare a number of useful talismans no matter what cultivation level they were at. It was better to be safe than sorry after all.
Lu Ye carefully made his way across the city after slipping through the entrance. Since he was invisible, he had to dodge an incoming pedestrian from time to time.
[I wonder where the Divine Opportunity Column is? I hope I don’t have to explore the whole city to find it…]
He was still thinking when he heard a pedestrian saying, “Are you heading back, Fellow Cultivator Sun?”
Another person answered, “Yeah. I mean, I survived this Hidden Realm and even earned some Battle Points at the end of it. I’m going to exchange them for some Amulets and hopefully improve my cultivation to the next minor realm.”
“You have my congratulations.”
“What about you, Fellow Cultivator Yu?”
The cultivator named Yu said, “I’m going to stay just a little longer.”
The cultivator named Sun asked in puzzlement, “The crisis is resolved, and killing the Spirit Beasts doesn’t yield Battle Points anymore. What could possibly entice you to remain in this Hidden Realm?”
The cultivator named Yun chuckled. “To tell you the truth, I’m also a Beast Tamer.”
The cultivator named Sun let out an “ah” of realization. “I see! You’re hoping to acquire their secret art.”
“It won’t be easy though. Most of the Beast Taming sects in Myriad Beasts Domain are destroyed. It will not be easy to find them.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I wish you the best, fellow cultivator.”
The two of them conversed a little while longer before finally parting ways.
Lu Ye stopped in his tracks and thought for a few seconds. When the cultivator named Yu passed by his location, he said, “You may find what you need if you travel to the headquarters of the Myriad Beasts Sect, fellow cultivator.”
“Who is it?” The cultivator named Yun turned toward the source of the voice in surprise, but of course he saw no one at all.
After advising Fellow Cultivator Yun, Lu Ye immediately raced after Fellow Cultivator Sun until he caught up with him. It was because Fellow Cultivator Sun was heading back to the Cloud River Battlefield, meaning that he must know where the Divine Opportunity Column was.
Unfortunately for the Great Elder and the other Myriad Beasts Sect cultivators, they were probably never going to see him again. Still, the Way of Beast Taming of this world should not decline into obscurity or even extinction just because of one crisis. As long as the Myriad Beasts Sect and the remnants of the Beast Taming sects were still alive, they should be able to keep the Way of Beast Taming alive. If nothing else, the cultivators of Jiu Zhou will be able to visit this Hidden Realm to study the essence of Beast Taming and bring it back to Jiu Zhou.
He spent the next period of time following Fellow Cultivator Sun all the way to the quartermaster department. He immediately saw the Divine Opportunity Column when he entered the main hall.
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This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.