Chapter 332 - 304: Complex Situation

Chapter 332: Chapter 304: Complex Situation

Back on the Flying Boat, lost in thought and about to depart, he suddenly paused. His gaze swept around before abruptly focusing on a nearby mountain peak.

’Just now, for a split second... did I sense Spiritual Qi gathering?’

His Divine Sense flowed out like a beam of light, focusing on that mountain peak in an instant.

To his surprise, on this mundane mountain peak, there was a rather exquisite isolation Restriction, cutting off a small patch of forest from the outside world.

Chu Mu raised an eyebrow, a little curious.

’In a backwater place like this, with such thin Spiritual Qi... is there a Cultivator in secluded Cultivation?’

In Jingmen City, he had heard of such things quite often.

The Cultivation Immortal Realm was vast and boundless, its Cultivators countless. There were always those who preferred to avoid chaos.

With the Cultivation Immortal Realm now in turmoil, there were undoubtedly many who wished to avoid being drawn into the conflict.

As far as he knew, quite a few Cultivators had gone into hiding in the mortal world to escape the chaos, cultivating in seclusion and ignoring worldly affairs.

With just a glance, Chu Mu didn’t pay it much more attention. With a slight thought, the Flying Boat, hovering in the clouds, began to move slowly.

Its speed was not fast; it was more like it was aimlessly drifting.

What Chu Mu failed to notice was that as his Flying Boat departed, within the forest patch sealed by the Restriction, a woman in practical attire was peering through the barrier, her eyes fixed on the distant vessel.

It seemed the Flying Boat in its Concealment state had not escaped the woman’s eyes.

"Sister... Sister Ning, what’s... what’s going on outside?"

From a thatched hut in the mountain forest, a weak voice sounded intermittently.

"A Cultivator was passing by. They probably didn’t notice us..."

...

Chu Mu was unaware of the conversation in the forest. He returned to the cabin, sat cross-legged, and, as usual, continued to repair the wounds in his body.

Although his injuries were severe, to him, they were merely a hassle.

For the Divine Soul Injury, he had the Soul Cleansing Pill and the daily tempering of his Divine Soul with Sword Intent.

As for his physical injuries, although he had no specialized healing Pills, he practiced Dharma and Body Cultivation. His Qi Blood was vigorous, so healing was just a matter of time.

With the current situation in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, he wasn’t in a hurry.

After the battle of Jingmen, the situation in the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World had changed drastically.

The resulting impact would surely last for a very, very long time.

In the wake of this, during the process of order collapsing and being rebuilt, the Cultivation Immortal Realm would inevitably descend into extreme chaos.

It was good to recuperate quietly and lie low for a while.

His thoughts shifted, and his attention slowly focused on his physical injuries.

As Magical Power circulated, Spiritual Qi slowly gathered. The Flying Boat, in its Concealment state, drifted aimlessly across the sky like a mobile Cave Mansion.

The rolling mountain ranges, with the passage of time, changed from lush and green to bleak and desolate under wind and snow.

Then, with the return of life in early spring, they became lush and green once more.

Time flew by. Nearly a full year passed quietly as the Flying Boat slowly journeyed onward.

...

Ji Family Castle was located Northeast of the Nanshan Mountain Range, within a mountain range called Ancient Ridge.

The castle was built into the mountainside. Besides its towering walls, countless buildings stretching across the mountains within the castle were also clearly visible.

Having stored the Flying Boat in his Storage Ring and with Wangcai having changed its form, Chu Mu stood at the foot of the mountain, his gaze flickering as he looked up at the towering ancient castle.

He had heard of the Ancient Ridge Ji Family before and had made some inquiries.

The reason he knew about this Cultivation Immortal Clan was that the Ancient Ridge Ji Family was quite similar to the former Jade Emperor Sun Family.

The Ji Family’s ancestor, just like the Sun Family’s, had married the daughter of a Nascent Soul Great Power. It was because of this connection that the Ancient Ridge Ji Family came to exist.

Otherwise, with Ancient Ridge bordering Nanshan, it was tantamount to being right beside the Nanshan Li Family’s bed; how could they allow another to slumber there?

After the Righteous Alliance was established, Ancient Ridge was located in its heartland, neighboring the East Lake Xie Family. Tucked away in a corner, its presence was practically nil.

But with the disastrous defeat at Jingmen, the loss of East Lake, and the Righteous Alliance being forcibly split in two, the Ancient Ridge Ji Family’s quiet corner had obviously become anything but ordinary.

Over the past year, Ancient Ridge’s importance to the Righteous Alliance had skyrocketed, effectively becoming another Jingmen City for the Alliance—a bridgehead to hold back the Longevity Sect.

Normally, this would seem logical, a natural evolution of the situation after the Battle of Jingmen.

But clearly, the mundane theories of geography and terrain were completely inapplicable to this war in the Cultivation Immortal Realm.

After all, in the Battle of Jingmen, the Righteous Alliance lost several Nascent Soul Great Powers. Logically, their top-tier Combat Power should have been completely thrown off balance.

In the Cultivation Immortal Realm, a complete imbalance of top-tier Combat Power should be equivalent to annihilation.

Yet, according to the information he had gathered, ever since the disastrous defeat at Jingmen, the Righteous Alliance, though split in two, had not been wiped out by the Longevity Sect like leaves in an autumn wind.

Instead, a strange stalemate had formed once again.

What had happened in the interim was unknown.

But that seemed to be the reality of the situation.

The fact that the Ancient Ridge Ji Family Castle, which bordered East Lake, could still exist today seemed to be the best proof of this.

He briefly checked his body. After more than a year, his injuries had all completely healed.

After a moment of contemplation, he walked toward the ancient castle.

In the same vein as the old Jingmen, the patrol and guard system, the Array Prohibition layout—everything gave Chu Mu an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

The city was bustling. Large swathes of mundane architecture remained, and one could even see many ordinary mortals.

Many ordinary mortals could be seen bustling about in the shops along the street; some shopkeepers were even mortals themselves.

It seemed like a strange sight, but in Ji Family Castle, it was quite common.

As far as he knew, the Ji Family had been established not long ago, only for a little over two hundred years. Their population was still sparse, with the entire Clan numbering only a few hundred thousand people in total.

With this population base, there were at most a few thousand people with Spirit Roots, and of those few thousand, ninety-nine percent were bound to have inferior aptitude.

Given such a short history and a small population, the Ji Family was naturally still in a stage of unrestricted procreation. Under the influence of kinship and blood ties, the boundary between immortal and mortal had not yet become too distinct.

The cohabitation of immortals and mortals was also normal.

Once the Ji Family had existed for longer, after several hundred years, the population base would expand, and the bonds of blood and kinship would naturally fade with each passing generation.

What would follow, clearly, would be just like those other Clans with long-standing legacies: the line between immortal and mortal would become insurmountable.

Walking down the street, conversations about the Battle of Jingmen could still be heard.

He casually walked into a tavern by the street. From what he knew, such establishments were usually the favorite gathering places for Low Tier Cultivators.

In a place like this, any little disturbance would quickly become the talk of the town.

At this time of great change, he had been in seclusion healing for a year. Now that he needed to gather information, this tavern was clearly the best place to start...

...