Translator: Jon
Editor: Silavin
In the deepest part of Grandeur Academy, a green-robed man was holding a book with one hand and a fishing rod with the other in a leisurely manner while in front of a hut.
The Imperial Sect had Li Sa, Vajra Temple had Fa Hua, and Grandeur Academy had Liu Tianyi.
These three people were the oldest in the entire Soaring Dragon Boundary. Unlike how frail and old Li Sa and Fa Hua were, Liu Tianyi looked like he was in his forties at first glance. There was no doubt he looked much younger than the other two.
It wasn’t that he was good at taking care of his skin; it was just that his cultivation technique was different.
It required one to be righteous and carefree to learn Grandeur Academy’s cultivation technique. Liu Tianyi was more unfettered than the other two, and he was young at heart. That was why he didn’t look old.
Certainly, it had something to do with his mastery of the Way of Grandeur. This kind of mastery had nothing to do with his cultivation. It was the mastery of his state of mind.
The fish suddenly sank into the water as Liu Tianyi felt a pull from the fishing rod. However, he didn’t make a move at all. Instead, he looked in the north.
His calmness disappeared and was replaced by seriousness and bewilderment.
As a breeze whisked through his figure, he disappeared the next moment. At the same time, his fishing rod plunged into the water.
In the sky, a ray of light was seen charging towards the north.
Liu Tianyi and Fa Hua realised something almost simultaneously, though that realisation came three days after Li Sa passed away.
Although that realisation had dawned upon Li Sa first, it didn’t mean he was more powerful than the other two. It was just that before one’s death, he could see and sense something that others couldn’t.
All three of them were the longest-living cultivators in Soaring Dragon Boundary, so they bore a part of this world’s luck. Even though they were unable to improve their cultivation, they could vaguely sense the transformation in this world.
The injured cultivator, Huang Liang from the Imperial Sect, Fa Hua from Vajra Temple, Liu Tianyi from Grandeur Academy, and Lu Ye and Ye Liuli were heading north at the same time. It seemed that something major was about to happen.
…
The territory of Soaring Dragon Boundary wasn’t big. At the very least, it was much smaller than Jiu Zhou.
It only took Lu Ye, Ye Liuli, and Yi Yi one day to leave Feng Zhou and enter Jia Zhou, and it took them another day to move past Gan Zhou and reach Xue Zhou.
Despite its name, Xue Zhou wasn’t covered in snow all year round. However, since it was located in the north, its weather was chilly most of the time.
Anyway, the temperature changes didn’t matter to cultivators.
Lu Ye was relieved that Ye Liuli’s chronic illness didn’t strike her for the past few days. With that said, her illness wouldn’t break out frequently. Sometimes, it would only happen every few months. If she was lucky, the illness would only seize her every few years. Therefore, they should have ample time.
After spending the night in the wilderness, they continued their journey in the morning and soon arrived at Xue Zhou.
The Valley of Medicine was located in Xue Zhou, and it wasn’t far away from their current location. Lu Ye estimated that it would only take them one day to arrive at their destination.
At this point, they were able to see the Heavenly Gully in the distance.
When Lu Ye entered this world, he received some information about the Heavenly Gully. Therefore, he was curious about the Heavenly Gully, which had been around for eight hundred years.
According to the cultivators in Soaring Dragon Boundary, the predicament they faced was largely due to the Heavenly Gully’s appearance. Although its existence didn’t seem to have any influence on the Boundary, it had the power to silently weaken the cultivators over the generations by lowering the limit of their cultivation.
Lu Ye didn’t know the reason behind it, but he had a feeling that he would have to eventually deal with the Heavenly Gully during his trip here.
When he looked up, he saw a huge mark hovering in the sky as though it had been torn apart.
It also looked like a dark centipede in the sky. The cracks around the Heavenly Gully were like its feet.
“Lu Ye,” Yi Yi called out all of a sudden. “Don’t you find the Heavenly Gully familiar?”
Certainly, Lu Ye shared the same sentiment. He looked meditatively at Ye Liuli, who was sound asleep in Yi Yi’s embrace.
The Heavenly Gully in the sky indeed looked familiar because it was identical to the birthmark on Ye Liuli’s back. Even the location and number of the centipede’s legs were the same.
The only difference was one was colossal while the other was just a birthmark.
Certainly, it wasn’t a coincidence.
It would’ve been fine if it were just a coincidence. The crux of the problem was that as they neared the north, Ye Liuli’s condition deteriorated. Although she was a Cloud River Realm Master, she was sleepy most of the time. She spent half a day sleeping every day.
That was apparently not normal.
Although Lu Ye had only briefly looked at Ye Liuli’s birthmark, he would never forget about it, given his eyesight and memory.
Was it merely a coincidence?
If it wasn’t a coincidence, what was the association between her birthmark and the Heavenly Gully?
Lu Ye was puzzled.
Although it had only been a short time since he arrived at Soaring Dragon Boundary, he felt that this world was full of secrets. Moreover, he had a premonition that a calamity was just around the corner.
This sense of danger intensified as he moved forward.
Suddenly, he felt some fluctuations of Spiritual Power coming from a particular direction. He turned around and saw a ray of light flickering around a ship-like artifact. The person kept attacking the ship with his Spirit Artifact, but his attacks were blocked by the cultivators in the vessel.
The ray of light exuded the aura of a Ninth-Order Master. However, this person must be badly injured as his breathing was unstable.
Therefore, even though the cultivators on the ship were weaker, there was nothing much this person could do.
However, he never retreated. He continued attacking the ship while yelling, “You bastards from Heavenly Gully Cult! How dare you do such a horrible thing! You’ll be destroyed!”
Suddenly, the person coughed violently and sprayed out a mouthful of blood as though he was about to pass away.
[Heavenly Gully Cult?]
As Lu Ye recalled it, some information about the great force came to mind. They seemed to be some paranoid cultivators who were determined to find out the secrets behind the Heavenly Gully, which they believed was the only way out for the cultivators in Soaring Dragon Boundary.
Everyone in this world had a bad impression of the Heavenly Gully Cult. However, since they had many powerful cultivators and stayed in Xue Zhou most of the time, the ordinary cultivators could hardly come into contact with them.
As such, Lu Ye didn’t expect to come across them here.
He usually wasn’t willing to interfere in the conflicts between cultivators. After all, he had no idea who was right or wrong in any conflict. If he rashly made a move, he would invite trouble to himself.
Just as he was ready to leave, he caught sight of the cabin where there was a window. The area seemed to be the bottom of the ship. Through the window, he could see many people gathering in the same place.
He was shocked to find that those people were all commoners who had never cultivated before. They appeared afraid and despondent. Many of them were injured.
Commoners usually wouldn’t be dragged into the conflicts between cultivators. It was the case in Soaring Dragon Boundary and Jiu Zhou.
Anyway, many cultivators were once commoners. Without the commoners, there would never be cultivators.
In Jiu Zhou, many commoners lived in the territories of the major Sects. They were responsible for protecting the commoners in their respective territories because if they wanted to thrive for generations to come, they had to select some talented people from the commoners and train them.
The commoners in the ship looked like they’d been kidnapped. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have looked so terrified.
As Lu Ye recalled what the injured Ninth-Order Master had said, he soon realised what was going on.
[What are those from Heavenly Gully Cult up to?]
It was immoral to kidnap the commoners. Their foundation was in Xue Zhou, but for some reason, they had snatched so many commoners away. If word got out, the three hegemons would join forces and destroy them.
Such an incident had happened before. In the past, there was an evil Sect whose members went berserk and slaughtered the commoners. It prompted the three hegemons to make a move, and the evil Sect was destroyed overnight.
Regardless of what the cultivators on the ship were doing, they were apparently up to no good. The injured Ninth-Order Master must’ve come across them and wanted to interfere. However, he couldn’t achieve his goal due to his injury.
“Stay right here,” Lu Ye told Yi Yi before he leapt from the Spirit Boat and charged towards that direction.
He would’ve stayed out of it if it were just a conflict between cultivators. However, since commoners had been dragged into the matter, he couldn’t turn a blind eye to it.
Back then, he was saved by the Grand Sky Coalition from the hands of Evil Moon Valley. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have achieved all this.
In the blink of an eye, he reached a spot that was only three kilometres away from the battlefield.
The injured cultivator noticed his presence and turned to look at him with vigilance. He was in a terrible state. Otherwise, he would’ve shattered the ship’s protection long ago.
Someone appeared suddenly at this point, and it wasn’t certain if he was from Heavenly Gully Cult. After all, this place was their territory.
When the person realised Lu Ye was only a Sixth-Order Master, he became at ease.
Lu Ye approached the injured cultivator while the latter kept his guard up. The cultivator was relieved that Lu Ye didn’t show any hostility. Instead, he got in the ship’s way and stared fixedly at the vessel.
[He’s a friend, not a foe.]
The injured cultivator came to this conclusion, after which he shouted, “Little Brother, those from Heavenly Gully Cult have captured a lot of commoners for some reason. They seem to be sending these people to the north. Why don’t we join forces and shatter their protection to save the commoners?”
“Sure,” Lu Ye replied and unsheathed his Inviolable Saber before wielding it.
Seeing that, the Ninth-Order Master said, “There’s a Defensive Ward around the ship. Don’t waste any energy. We have to join…”
Before he even finished his words, Lu Ye had made a move and caused the light screen around the ship to shake violently. It was like a stone being dropped into a still lake as ripples were formed.
The injured cultivator was shocked. He was a Ninth-Order Master, after all. Although he wasn’t able to fully activate his power, there was no way he was inferior to a Sixth-Order Master. However, he had made several moves, but none of them was as powerful.
Moreover, he could see that Lu Ye’s move wasn’t that mighty, so it wasn’t supposed to inflict such immense damage.