Chapter 298 - 278: There’s Something to This Sun Long

Chapter 298: Chapter 278: There’s Something to This Sun Long

Jiang Xu felt a chill deep in his heart—a revulsion for the twisted nature of humanity and the abuse of power.

Compared to the familiar Dinghai State, the lines between mortals and Cultivators there were relatively clear, and the lives and freedoms of mortals were respected.

Furthermore, a strict set of rules restrained Cultivators from arbitrarily interfering with the lives of mortals, and wantonly killing them was strictly forbidden.

In stark contrast, the twisted ecosystem revealed on Greed Wolf Island and the six other islands controlled by the Seven Stars Association was enough to leave Jiang Xu speechless.

As someone who had stepped onto the path of Cultivation from the life of a mortal, he was especially sensitive to this kind of behavior—disregarding the lives of mortals and using them as sacrifices to strengthen a Cultivation Clan’s power.

He knew well the hardships of being a mortal at the bottom of society, and he had also deeply experienced the cruelty of the Cultivation World.

Although he was now a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and no longer at the very bottom of the Cultivation Realm, he was still unable to change this appalling situation, leaving Jiang Xu feeling powerless and helpless.

He understood that with his power alone, it was nearly impossible to completely change the status quo when facing such a massive power and its intricate web of interests.

Let alone the Seven Stars Association, Jiang Xu couldn’t even handle a single Foundation Establishment Great Perfection Cultivator sent from any random Cultivation Clan.

Faced with the Seven Stars Association’s system, Jiang Xu could only curse it in his heart, sigh, and then carry on as before.

No longer dwelling on it, Jiang Xu observed the other Cultivators standing around in groups of two and three, chatting. They clearly knew one another.

To be able to represent their clans in this kind of competition, their strength and status were naturally quite high.

Though these people, conscious of their status, did not approach Jiang Xu to berate him,

they all conspicuously avoided his position.

It seemed his current identity as Liang Fan was still an object of contempt to those around him.

He could sense that half of the Cultivators had pointed in his direction while chatting.

The focus of the other half of the Cultivators was concentrated on a scholarly-looking Cultivator who seemed entirely unremarkable.

This Cultivator’s Cultivation was only at the Qi Cultivation Late Stage, yet he had drawn the gazes of many.

Jiang Xu used his Spiritual Eye Technique to observe this Cultivator carefully and discovered that the state of the Dantian within his body was highly unusual.

A normal Dantian would radiate fluctuations of Magical Power outward.

These Magical Power fluctuations were related to the characteristics of the Cultivation Technique a Cultivator practiced, the strength of their Cultivation, and the attribute of the technique.

For example, Jiang Xu was currently in the Youxian Sea.

In a place like this, with its vast water vapor and concentrated Water Attribute Spiritual Qi, it was only natural that the greatest number of Cultivators would possess a Water Attribute Spirit Root.

Most Cultivators in the Youxian Sea practiced Water Attribute Techniques.

Therefore, under the observation of Jiang Xu’s Spiritual Eye, their Dantians presented a faint, hazy blue fluctuation, like the deep blue ripples rising from the ocean’s depths, symbolizing the flow of Water Attribute Magical Power.

To Jiang Xu’s eyes, their Dantians simply appeared as a hazy, pale blue fluctuation.

But with this Cultivator, Jiang Xu could feel that his Dantian seemed to be wrapped up, preventing all the fluctuations that should have been radiating from it from escaping.

This Cultivator, however, was completely different. His Dantian was as if tightly bound by an invisible force, all its Magical Power fluctuations firmly locked within, unable to overflow naturally like everyone else’s.

Combining this strange phenomenon with the whispers of the others, Jiang Xu knew that this must be Sun Long, the one whose Cultivation had run into problems.

Jiang Xu focused his gaze, studying him intently, but he still couldn’t figure out what had caused such a problem.

Looking at the man again, his expression was as calm as still water, showing neither joy nor sorrow. He was simply immersed in a state of meditative rest with his eyes closed.

His hands, however, were constantly tracing something in the air.

At first, Jiang Xu didn’t pay much attention to this action, assuming it was just a habit from his training.

But while carefully probing the abnormality in his Dantian, Jiang Xu’s gaze was gradually drawn to Sun Long’s unique hand gestures.

Sun Long’s fingers were like an invisible brush, sketching strange, ever-changing glyphs in the air.

These patterns were not random; on the contrary, they contained a profound Taoist rhythm.

Unconsciously, Jiang Xu was drawn in by this power. His mind followed the rise and fall of every gesture, becoming immersed in that mystical state.

Time slipped by quietly. Half an incense stick’s worth of time passed before Jiang Xu snapped back to his senses as if waking from a dream.

In truth, he hadn’t broken free from this deep state of comprehension on his own; it was because Sun Long’s hand gestures had undergone a distinct change.

The previous, continuous stream of glyphs instantly shifted to another style, the two forms opposing yet echoing each other.

It was this stark contrast that jolted Jiang Xu from his immersion.

’Truly extraordinary.’

A light of disbelief flickered in Jiang Xu’s eyes as he marveled inwardly.

Under his gaze, Sun Long’s seemingly ordinary movements actually contained a universe of profundity, enacting the creation and destruction of dozens of types of Magic within a single gesture.

Those problems with Magic that had long troubled Jiang Xu, reflected in the light of Sun Long’s movements, flickered like points of phosphorescence, one by one revealing their inner structures and connections.

Jiang Xu had an epiphany. The answers to numerous long-standing problems and obscure essentials of Magic that had troubled him daily now came to him one after another.