Chapter 91 - 73: Immortal Cultivation Secret Manual
Chapter 91: Chapter 73: Immortal Cultivation Secret Manual
Lin Kong replayed the image of the flying sword in his mind. The patterns on its hilt, the gemstone—they all seemed vaguely familiar.
After thinking carefully, he suddenly remembered: that sword was the personal sidearm of one of Lord Li Hua’s retainers.
’This Lord Li Hua is no simple man,’ Lin Kong thought. ’His territory has Spiritual Qi, and he even has a Sword Immortal by his side. Could his domain be following a cultivation path?’
’I need to tell my main body this news right away.’
Lin Kong quickly contacted his main body to pass on this major discovery.
He wasn’t panicking anymore. The giant zombie’s head had been pierced by the flying sword, and it had collapsed stiffly to the ground, its body and spirit extinguished. The overflowing Death Energy almost made Rose burst from over-feasting.
With it gone, the other zombies were nothing to worry about.
There was no need to worry about the remaining large zombies, either.
The heroes accompanying the lords had all sprung into action. Under their combined assault, the hero-tier large zombies, with their massive bodies presenting numerous targets, were quickly overwhelmed by a barrage of attacks. It wasn’t long before they were all dead.
It was a pity. These large zombies never even had a chance to unleash their terrifying strength and vitality. In a legion battle, they would have been excellent siege-breakers.
Seeing that the immediate danger was gone, Yuan Xiaobo couldn’t resist the itch to fight and ran onto the battlefield to beat up some Armored Zombies, just to get his fix.
-----------------
In a distant territory, Lin Yu was studying in a classroom at the Jade Sanctuary. He was no longer the only student there.
The Druid Temple had trained quite a few Junior-tier Druids. Although they had stepped into the Extraordinary realm, their power was still low and not of much use to the territory, so most had come to the Jade Sanctuary for advanced studies.
It was a rare chance to experience a school-like atmosphere in the territory again, so Lin Yu happily joined them as a transfer student.
"Main body, main body, I have a major discovery! A major discovery!"
Lin Kong’s voice transmitted through their spiritual connection.
"What is it?"
"I’ve found a lord who seems to have a Sword Immortal hero. Main body, do you want to go have a chat?"
"What? Where did you find him?"
"It’s the territory we ran into today. We discovered the presence of Spiritual Energy there, and the lord has a hero who seems to be a Sword Immortal—at least legendary-grade."
"Let me tell you..."
Lin Kong described the battle he had witnessed that day in detail.
’Taking a head from a thousand miles away... To think there are lords following a cultivation path. I really shouldn’t underestimate anyone in this world.’
After hearing his clone’s report, Lin Yu felt like his eyes had been opened. According to the information he’d gathered before the lord competition, all lords were supposed to be on the technology path. The Empire itself followed the technology path, and by following it, there were no bottlenecks until one reached the Empire’s level of advancement.
Even the lord specialization major at the university taught how to use the Empire’s technology to raise a territory’s tech level, how to develop the territory as quickly as possible (after unlocking the Technology Tree in the third stage), and how to use the Empire’s existing scientific knowledge to empower one’s domain.
(PS: Lin Yu didn’t major in the lord specialization at university because his family was initially against him becoming a lord.)
It wasn’t until he became a lord himself that he discovered not everyone followed the technology path. Talent and the initial Territory Core one drew had a huge influence. It was just that for most lords, unless they had a massive advantage otherwise, the technology path was simply more cost-effective.
Even so, he never expected someone’s territory to be on a cultivation path. He had plenty of demons in his own territory, and it was only by a recent stroke of luck that they had obtained a breathing cultivation technique—and a very basic one at that.
Furthermore, this world had no cultivation culture. Novels and movies were full of things like superpowers, but as far as he knew, the concept of "cultivation" simply didn’t exist.
Lin Yu asked his teacher for a leave of absence and eagerly went to contact Lord Li Hua.
Lin Yu (Private Message): "Lord Li Hua, I hear you have a Sword Immortal?"
Li Hua (Private Message): "I knew this would happen..."
Li Hua (Private Message): "Wait, how do you know it’s a Sword Immortal?" (Retracted)
Li Hua (Private Message): "What’s up?"
Li Hua (Private Message): "Let me be clear, it’s just a skill one of my heroes has. It can’t be taught."
Lin Yu (Private Message): "Oh, come on. I saw your retracted message. I don’t believe for a second you don’t have a Cultivation Technique."
Li Hua (Private Message): "I really don’t. I just got lucky with a random Hero Scroll and pulled this hero, whose class happened to be Sword Immortal. That’s why I was surprised."
Lin Yu (Private Message): "Your territory has Spiritual Qi, which allows for cultivation. You have a Sword Tower, and it’s full of Cultivators whose profession is Sword Immortal."
Lin Yu decided to bluff, laying out all his deductions.
Then, there was silence from Li Hua’s end.
Lin Yu (Private Message): "???"
Lin Yu (Private Message): "Lord Li Hua, you there?"
...
After a long while, Li Hua finally replied.
Li Hua (Private Message): "How do you know all that? I just double-checked, and no one from my territory has leaked any information. Your exploration team definitely didn’t get near any classified areas. You can’t have deduced all this just from seeing a flying sword, can you?"
Lin Yu (Private Message): "Hehehe, guess?"
Li Hua (Private Message): "Then we have nothing to talk about. Goodbye."
Lin Yu (Private Message): "Wait, I’ll talk!"
Lin Yu (Private Message): "I guessed!"
Li Hua (Private Message): "Impossible. How could you guess something as obscure as cultivation? Who are you kidding?!"
Lin Yu (Private Message): "Alright, fine. It’s mainly because my territory has something similar."
Li Hua (Private Message): "What?"
Lin Yu (Private Message): "Don’t ask so many questions. I already answered you, didn’t I? Now hurry up and tell me, do you have a Cultivation Technique for Sword Immortals or not?"
Li Hua (Private Message): "If you don’t tell me, I won’t tell you."
Lin Yu (Private Message): "Hey... how can you be like this? My exploration team members said you were hospitable and very friendly. Why are you acting like a scoundrel now?"
Li Hua (Private Message): "So what? In any case, if you don’t talk, I won’t either."
Lin Yu (Private Message): "..."
Lin Yu (Private Message): "If I tell you, will you tell me?"
Li Hua (Private Message): "I’m famous for being a man of my word. As long as you tell me, I’ll tell you."
Lin Yu (Private Message): "Fine. My territory has demons."
Li Hua (Private Message): "Demons? What’s that?..."
Li Hua paused for a few dozen seconds, then another message came through.
Li Hua (Private Message): "Holy crap, humans and demons can’t coexist! Doesn’t that make us mortal enemies?"
Lin Yu (Private Message): "What kind of nonsense are you talking about? My demons don’t harm people, and our territories aren’t at war. Why would we be mortal enemies?"
Li Hua (Private Message): "My Li Li’an says that one of a Sword Immortal’s duties is to slay demons. Since you have demons, wouldn’t my Sword Immortal have to go slay your demons?"
Lin Yu (Private Message): "...You’re talking about evil-doing demons. My demons are at home, minding their own business, cultivating and farming. Why would you want to slay them?"
Li Hua (Private Message): "That’s true... Okay, I’ll talk. My territory does have a Cultivation Technique called the ’Star Technique,’ but it can only be used by those of the Spirit Cultivator class, people who use Spiritual Energy."
Lin Yu (Private Message): "For sale?"
Li Hua (Private Message): "Not for sale!"
Lin Yu (Private Message): "For trade?"
Li Hua (Private Message): "What do you have to trade?"
Lin Yu (Private Message): "How about this: I’ll have my subordinate talk to you. His name is Lin Kong, he’s in the exploration team I sent. He has my full authority to negotiate. You two can discuss the details in person."
...
Meanwhile, after receiving the message from Lin Yu, Lin Kong took Lin Yan and Mirus to find Li Hua.
Rose and the other members remained on the battlefield. Since the battlefield was chaotic and the more threatening zombie heroes had already been killed, Rose moved near the Great Graveyard and began to happily absorb the residual Death Energy within.
With any luck, after he finished absorbing it all, he would reach level 20 and become the highest-leveled member of the team.
"Greetings, Lord Li Hua. I am Lin Kong. Lord Lin Yu sent me to discuss..."
Before Lin Kong could finish, he was cut off.
"I know you. You were the one who handled communications this morning, right?" Li Hua said with a wave of his hand.
Lin Kong glanced at the other lords standing around and understood.
"Yes! I’m currently serving as the team’s diplomat, responsible for external communications."
Li Hua pointed to a small, thin figure on the battlefield who was whacking zombies with a stick. "Is that the demon from your territory over there?"
Lin Kong nodded. "Yes, he’s our team captain."
"Oh? Then why are you the one talking to me? And not your captain?"
"Perhaps because he doesn’t quite understand our human etiquette."
Li Hua nodded, accepting this explanation. Then he pointed to Rose, who was surrounded by team members. "Is that Tree-man also a demon?"
"No, he’s just a special unit type, not yet a demon."
Li Hua grew thoughtful and asked no more questions.
At that moment, a nearby lord asked curiously, "What’s a demon?"
"It’s nothing, just a profession in our territory," Lin Kong replied, then turned to Li Hua. "Lord Li, it’s getting a bit late today. Could we trouble you to let us stay in your territory for the night?"
Li Hua glanced at the bright sun still high in the sky, then nodded in agreement.
After that, the group stopped chatting frequently, instead focusing on the battlefield and directing their troops to encircle and destroy the zombies.
After the zombies were wiped out, the Priests entered the battlefield to purify the Death Energy, only to discover with astonishment that the ground, which should have been saturated with death, was now brimming with vibrant life. It didn’t look like a place that had been occupied by zombies at all.
"My lord, the battlefield has been purified!" a Priest came to report.
"So quickly?!" The lords were stunned. This was far faster than they had anticipated. Toward the end of the battle, they had been on guard for the zombies to level up and grow stronger, but nothing of the sort had happened. The zombies’ strength had remained the same from beginning to end.
Just then, Rose, who had been standing by the Great Graveyard, also stood up and walked toward Lin Kong, accompanied by Yuan Xiaobo and the other team members.
Li Hua looked at Rose, then back at Lin Kong. "It was you?"
Lin Kong nodded.
Following this, a lord walked up to the Great Graveyard and dismantled it. The resulting building fragments were directly distributed to the various lords by the system, and a golden light scattered and fell upon each of their heads.
The lords checked their points on the leaderboard, looked over their newly acquired building fragments and treasure chest fragments, and then, satisfied, led their troops back to their respective homes.
(PS: When a Great Graveyard is conquered by multiple people, only one golden Calamity Treasure Chest is generated. To allow the lords to receive spoils commensurate with their contributions, the golden treasure chest is broken down into golden treasure chest fragments. One hundred fragments are needed to synthesize a golden Calamity Treasure Chest.)