Chapter 479: This Encounter Came Too Quickly
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
Wang Lu suddenly felt that his worldview was on the verge of collapsing.
Since his debut, Wang Lu had always been well-informed. Although it wasn't long since his cultivation base reached Jindan Stage, his vision had far surpassed many Yuanying Stage and even Deity Stage cultivators.
The Golden King of Western Continent, who had reached the realm beyond Holy One, and had set foot on the path of Godhood, was talking and laughing merrily with Wang Lu. The gatekeeper of the group of immortal tombs, the ancient Sword Demon, who had opened the path to immortality for the cultivators of a region, Wang Lu had bravely fought a battle of wits with him. And going back to the demon world to solve the dark tide crisis with his own wisdom and strength. Wang Lu's experience had far surpassed the vast majority of cultivators on Nine Regions.
However, it was true that the world was full of wonders. The sages had said that there were always people or things that would make your worldview collapse. Right now, Wang Lu finally realized this truth.
Listening to the conversation of a group of cultivators that were walking kilometers away from him, Wang Lu suddenly felt that his imagination seemed insufficient.
Lu Li? Golden generation? Savage land?
If there were only one of those three, it might be just a coincidence. But for those three to be uttered in the same sentence… Regardless of what, there was only one conclusion.
The management trainee program of Spirit Sword Sect!
This thing went back around two hundred years ago.
At that time, Spirit Sword Sect was in its darkest period since its establishment. During this period, it was repeatedly recommended by the members of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals to lower its rank and expel it from the Five Uniques. While the number of votes for Spirit Sword Sect was still higher than the number that was against it, considering the extraordinary merits of Spirit Sword Sect since it was established and at two thousand years ago during the second great war of immortals and demons, the difference in the number of votes was getting closer and closer.
However, as the saying goes, when something went into extreme, it would swing back. Since then, Spirit Sword Sect seemed to have been favored by the heaven, fortuitous event came at them one after the other. The first was, several of their great elders broke through their cultivation base bottlenecks and became the giants in immortal cultivation, which thoroughly consolidated their potential as one of the Five Uniques of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals. At the same time, their talented youth came in abundance. Among which, some even had such amazing talents that the Heavenly Sword Hall Elders even praised them as having 'unprecedented aptitude since ancient time'.
They were called the golden generation of Spirit Sword Sect and were placed with high hopes by the sect. Whether Spirit Sword Sect could catch up to the others within the Five Uniques, the key lied in the development of this golden generation. After all, the potential for the Elder generation would stop here, as they didn't have unlimited lifespan. Whether Spirit Sword Sect could go further, it would still depend on the performance of the younger generation.
In order to allow the golden generation to display their talent, the Elders of Spirit Sword Sect made extraordinary painstaking efforts. They devoted all their efforts to this group of cultivators, and at the same time, they wanted them to grow as soon as possible. After all, prior to this, Spirit Sword Sect had been suppressed for far too long.
However, this urgent feeling finally went into the extreme and resulted in a reverse effect. It was one hundred and fifty years ago. At that time, the sect's lead disciple had reached Jindan Stage, and the cultivation base of the several of his Junior Brothers and Sisters had also reached Peak Xudan Stage, half step away from Jindan Stage, and moreover, their real strength was far more than that of ordinary Jindan. At that time, the sect's Elder radically proposed the Management Trainee Program, hoping to stimulate these disciples to grow further.
The so called Management Trainee Program was to release this golden generation into the Savage Land, opening up the territory that had not been reached by civilization and establishing the power of Spirit Sword Sect. Each disciple would assume responsibility for an important task - to be in charge of an area.
This was precisely the first point of the ambitious grand strategy of the Elders of Spirit Sword Sect. At that time, the number of people in Spirit Sword Sect had been declining, their resource poor, and their wealth accumulation and sphere of influence were even inferior to some middle rank sects. This issue could only be solved by the sudden advancement of several talented disciples in the road of immortal cultivation. After all, no matter how high a person's cultivation base was, it was only an individual matter as it could not benefit the sect. Therefore, the Elders of Spirit Sword Sect formulated the one hundred year strategy. The first point was the Management Trainee Program. The Elders planned to make the golden generation to be able to assume the sole responsibility of an important task within twenty years. And when they were called back from the Savage Land, they could turn toward the development of Nine Regions. After that, backed by the pioneer from the savage land, Spirit Sword Sect could collect resources heartily. In one hundred years, Spirit Sword Sect would completely control the Blue River Region and spread their power to the rest of the eight regions. If everything goes well, Spirit Sword Sect could even rival that of Shengjing Sect. If not, at the very least, it could rid of the sect of its present predicament.
The Elders of Spirit Sword Sect had painstakingly poured their effort into this one-hundred-year-plan. Having repressed their innermost feelings in witnessing the decline of Spirit Sword Sect, they longed for their sect to rise. But this time, it seemed like they had to begrudgingly admit that their strategy was too radical.
Putting their Five Uniques' hope in the hands of a group of young cultivators who had only cultivated for a maximum of fifty to sixty years is like pulling up seedlings to help them grow. Even if the golden generation were to repeatedly create miracles and continue refreshing the people's expectation of them, it did not mean that they could do anything. In fact, a large part of them had already overdrafted their potential.
When the sect excessively overdrafted its disciple, their house of card would collapse.
Wang Lu had never understood its specific process, but he at least knew that during the Management Trainee Program, the golden generation of Spirit Sword Sect was nearly annihilated. Over a hundred genius disciples fell, leaving only the current ten Heavenly Sword Hall Elders. Among which, one person even lived in permanent seclusion, and had never been seen so far.
What was even more tragic was that, despite his Master and Uncles never mentioning it, there was one very obvious phenomenon: the other sects, from Shengjing Sect to low rank sects, all had what they called Senior Elders. Only Spirit Sword Sect did not have it. Daoist Master Feng Yin who had been cultivating for two hundred years was the most senior among the current Elders.
In other words, the fall of the golden generation, was also accompanied by the then Spirit Sword Sect's group of Elders.
More than one hundred years ago, the tragic disaster that Spirit Sword Sect encountered in the Savage Land so far had been a mystery to Wang Lu. All these years, whether it was from within the sect or from the external source like the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, Wang Lu's inquiry achieved nothing. Later on, he lost his interest in continuing to explore. After all, it was a tragedy that his sect's Elders did not want to mention, why would he try to open the old wound?
Unexpectedly, although he had given up in trying to uncover the mystery, it actually presented itself in front of him. That group of cultivators who were talking kilometers away from him was the golden generation of Spirit Sword Sect!
In other words, the transfer failure of Spirit Sword Heavenly Talisman actually sent him back to more than one hundred years ago? Had he just travelled back in time?
No… This was a big matter, so he had to carefully confirm it. After all, the more ridiculous something was, the more he needed to be cautious. Wang Lu thus closed his eyes and concentrated, carefully listening to the dialogue.
——
"In short, Lu Li, since we have come to the Savage Land, we need to have a determination to forge ahead, you must not waste your own talent."
"Big Brother, your talent is overflowing, but I am just a mere mortal."
"Hahaha, Junior Brother Lu Li, you're being mischievous again. As a member of the first group of disciples, there's basically no qualitative gap in talent and perception between us, so put away those overflowing and mere mortal words. You only probably lack two things. The first one is focus. You have too many distractions. You want to learn about talisman. You want to learn about array. You want to learn about treasure making. Everything, as long as our Elders can teach, you want to learn all. Even if your perception is amazing, because you have these many distractions in your immortal cultivation, you won't be able to keep up with me. Secondly, you do not have enough confidence. Because you have many distractions, your cultivation speed is less than that of the other Junior Brothers and Sisters. This makes you feel ashamed of your inferiority, so much that you don't even want to try to fix it and be more infatuated to other various trainings and skills, trying to restore the balance with this. But the more you do this, the slower your cultivation training is, until the present…"
"What the... Big Brother, spare me this once, okay? I was just making a polite excuse, yet you incessantly expose my sore pain? Is this how you are like as the Big Brother?"
"Oh? Do you really mind it? It should be okay since your crush Junior Sister Mu Ying is fortunately in another team so she can't hear those words."
"Holy cow, Lu Li actually has a crush on Mu Ying? This is big news!"
"Big Brother!"
"What? I also can't say anything about your crush? But that day I saw you and Yi Yun getting drunk and singing loudly about it, so I thought that you already don't care about it."
"Hey, Lu Li, you actually drunk and sang together with Senior Sister Yi Yun!"
"Big Brother!"
"All right, I won't say anything anymore. Don't be angry, I just want to encourage you. It's rare for us all to be put together into one group and for at least ten more years we have to be constantly together, and rise to the challenge of this Savage Land, so we have to muster up our energy and cheer up!"
"Big Brother, rest assured, right now I'm very motivated. I can't wait to be able to reach Yuanying Stage immediately!"
"Oh? But, the foundation of your Xudan Stage is still unstable… Although being motivated is good, why are you so anxious to reach Yuanying Stage?"
"Because only by achieving Yuanying Stage can I beat you, Jindan Stage scum!"
"Junior Brother, here we go again, you're being unruly. With your divided attention, you will always be distracted by the breadth of your knowledge, so even if you reach Yuanying Stage, you won't be able to beat me…"
"Ahh! I'm going to cut you into pieces right now!"
——
"Mm, correct, they should be people of Spirit Sword Sect."
Five kilometers away, Wang Lu gently nodded and confirmed his conjecture.
Although from this group of eight people, he didn't recognize anyone beside Lu Li, their style of dialogue, in addition to Spirit Sword Sect, cannot be imitated by other sects.
Moreover, the Elder Lu Li that Wang Lu knew was an expert of Peak Yuanying Stage, but the present Elder Lu Li was merely a Xudan Stage. Other than the possibility that this old man excessively indulged himself in sexual pleasure which led to a significant drop in cultivation base, the only other explanation was that Wang Lu had indeed jumped back through time in the past.
"Ha! I finally traveled back through time, and it's more than one hundred years at that… A pity, there's no bonus hack for this time travel thing."
Wang Lu sighed and then prepared to leave the place.
Junior Uncle Lu Li and his companion were traveling fast, and their goal was exactly in the direction in which he stood. And Wang Lu didn't intend to meet with them so soon. This time travel thing was too bizarre, and it's principle could not be completely resolved. Wang Lu didn't want something to go wrong if temporal disorder were to happen.
In the stories about time travel that he knew, there were no shortage of examples where when the time traveller get in touch with their predecessor, their predecessor thus disappeared. This would lead to a great change in history, or something even worse.
If because of this reason, Elder Lu Li disappeared, he would be guilty of great sin.
However, just as Wang Lu stood up, a curious voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Excuse me, what did you mean by saying time travel 1 ?"
Turning his head, he saw a handsome young cultivator dressed in a red and white robe eighty to ninety percent similar in style to that of him, curiously standing there.
Wang Lu was inwardly startled, because it was the same voice that he had just heard.
It was the lead disciple of Spirit Sword Sect who was just traveling five kilometers away!
This encounter was a bit too quick.