Chapter 414 - 411: Great Wild Marsh (Part 2)

Chapter 414: Chapter 411: Great Wild Marsh (Part 2)

The Cultivation Families in the Great Wild Marsh competed with one another, encroaching upon and annexing each other, but it had been a long time since a tragedy like the complete annihilation of a Clan had occurred.

It was said that the few Core Formation Powers had all dispatched representatives to investigate the Mi Clan Territory.

The Great Wild Marsh was a closed-off environment, almost like a secluded paradise where even Foundation Establishment Cultivators could reign as local powerhouses.

But before true High-Tier Cultivators, they were no more than weeds, easily plucked and discarded.

The three of them sighed at the thought, wading through the water in silence.

Their greatest goal had been to become Foundation Establishment Cultivators, yet now they realized that even that was nothing special.

The entire Mi Family had been so fragile before that passing expert.

The Huang Family wasn’t much stronger than the Mi Family. If some reckless junior were to provoke a powerhouse from the outside world, their fate would be no better.

For the three of them, who had grown up in the Great Wild Marsh without ever leaving its waters, the impact of this event was immense.

...

’Two whole months. If I hadn’t taken a wrong turn, I could have been here several days sooner.’

Bai Zichen skewered a white-bodied fish with silver fins and a flat head on a straight branch. After gutting it, he blasted it with a ball of fire, roasting it instantly.

The flesh contained a trace of Spiritual Qi and was sweet, tender, and smooth. It could barely be called a Spirit Fish.

But the taste was merely average, making him a little nostalgic for his third disciple, Huo Feiyan.

Huo Feiyan’s cooking skills were impeccable. Back then, at Ten Thousand Immortals Creek, she would catch Spirit Fish from the Spiritual Spring every day to prepare delicacies for him as a sign of her filial respect.

’I traveled here via Sword Control. Even if an ordinary Nascent Soul True Monarch’s Tunneling Speed is a notch faster than mine, the gap wouldn’t be that large. An average Core Formation True Man, however, would genuinely need a year or more to get here. Weaker ones might even be stopped halfway. No wonder so few Cultivators travel between domains.’

The fastest route from the Northern Domain to the Eastern Domain was blocked by a continuous chain of volcanoes, where Celestial Fire would often descend and flatten entire mountaintops.

Then, the accumulation of lava from volcanic eruptions would form new hills.

The merchant caravans that frequently traveled between the two domains said that taking this path was a gamble on whether your luck was good enough to avoid a Celestial Fire strike.

Only in extremely urgent situations would caravans risk taking this route.

Under normal circumstances, they would rather spend half as much time again to take a safer path.

Bai Zichen found a few caravans, used Spirit Stones to pave the way for information, and after learning the secrets of the route, he resolutely plunged into the "Path of Celestial Fire," said to be exclusively for Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

Sure enough, on the third day, he encountered an eruption of Celestial Fire. A ball of flame crashed a hundred zhang in front of him, and the resulting heatwave instantly vaporized all surrounding objects.

He watched as a fire lizard was swept up by the heatwave. Its body exploded, its flesh and blood vaporizing, leaving only a brownish bloodstain on the ground.

He activated his newly perfected Five Crystal Glaze Body. His skin turned red-hot, like refined iron pulled from a furnace, but he only felt a slight dryness in his mouth and throat.

Other than that, he suffered no injuries.

Relying on his Five Crystal Glaze Body, he moved across the volcanoes as if on flat ground. As long as the Celestial Fire didn’t land directly on his head, he could ignore it.

Three days later, he burst out of the volcanic region and officially entered the territory of the Eastern Domain.

From there, he flew nonstop until he finally reached his destination: the Great Wild Marsh.

He hadn’t expected that only a few days after entering the Great Wild Marsh, while he was still searching for the location mentioned in the Jade Scroll for gathering Purple Qi, some reckless local Cultivators would come looking to extort him.

Perhaps his act of casually tossing over a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone after getting a satisfactory answer while asking for directions had exposed his wealth. Two Foundation Establishment Cultivators had come to his door, claiming this area belonged to their Mi Family and that his act of gathering water with Magic had infringed upon their Clan’s interests.

They demanded an apology and a compensation of fifty Mid-Grade Spirit Stones before he would be allowed to leave.

Bai Zichen sighed. Feeling the raw, undisguised greed in the eyes of the Mi Family Cultivators, he thought, ’It seems the general conduct in the Eastern Domain is no better.’

Of course, it was also because he had just arrived in the Eastern Domain and wanted to keep a low profile, so he had only revealed an Early-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivation.

Knowing full well that they wouldn’t stop even if he gave them the Spirit Stones, he simply killed the two Mi Family Foundation Establishment Cultivators and their nearby clansmen—who were about to set up some kind of Array—with a single sword strike, granting himself some peace and quiet.

’A Cultivation level that’s too low just invites trouble. I’d better reveal a Core Formation Realm aura. Otherwise, I’ll be too busy dealing with trivial matters and idle people.’

Bai Zichen had never practiced a specialized Concealing Breath Technique, but with his astonishing control over his physical body, it wasn’t difficult to make his aura appear to be at the Early-Stage Core Formation.

Unless a Nascent Soul True Monarch were to inspect him in person, no one else could possibly see his true Realm.

’Fighting isn’t a big deal. When I have to act, I will. Anyway, I’ve changed my appearance, and being so far away in the Eastern Domain, no one will connect me to the Bai Zichen of the Northern Domain...’

Using the Celestial Illusion Bracelet to conceal his physical changes, the reflection on the water’s surface now showed a Cultivator of medium height with strong, sharp, and well-defined features.

He couldn’t be called exceptionally handsome, but his transcendent temperament was the type that left a deep impression at first glance.

Furthermore, after entering the Great Wild Marsh, Bai Zichen had been very careful to switch the Flying Sword he controlled to the Great Sun Celestial Furnace Sword, which he had never used in the past.

This way, even if a Cultivator had just returned from the Northern Domain, they wouldn’t be able to recognize the man before them as the Bai Zichen who was currently famous throughout the Cultivation Realm.

He had even gone so far as to change his swordsmanship habits since arriving in the Great Wild Marsh.

He abandoned techniques like One Sword Breaks Ten Thousand Laws and even Refining Sword into Silk, switching to a wide, sweeping Sword Path that was more than enough for the Great Wild Marsh, where the strongest were only Mid-Stage Core Formation Cultivators.

He took two more bites of the Spirit Fish in his hand, then his expression flickered as he glanced at the reeds to his left, which were twice the height of a man.

Half an hour later, three Qi Refining Disciples finally clambered up from the reed bed, panting and covered in mud.

As they looked up, they saw an unfamiliar Cultivator sitting by the Huang Family’s fish pond, with two half-eaten roasted fish discarded at his feet.

One of the Huang Family clansmen was about to start cursing but was grabbed by Huang Tingguang, who shot him a fierce glare to stop him.

"A disciple of the Huang Family pays his respects to Senior. Are our Clan’s Silver Thread Fish to your liking?"

Huang Tingguang’s back was soaked with sweat. The young Cultivator with the strong features was sitting there without any regard for his image, a corner of his Daoist Robe even dipping into the water, but Huang Tingguang was worldly enough not to mistake this man for an ordinary Cultivator.

At a glance, the man looked like a common mortal with no Cultivation whatsoever.

But this could either mean he truly had no Cultivation, or that the difference in their Cultivation was so vast that Huang Tingguang couldn’t even begin to perceive it.

At the very least, he never got this feeling of gazing up at an insurmountable mountain from the Foundation Establishment Clan elders. This was like seeing an infinite, starry sky whose boundaries were simultaneously expanding and collapsing.

He had only experienced a similar vision two years ago when he accompanied a Clan elder to pay respects to the abbess of Shuiyue Nunnery. It was like facing a great river, the oncoming tide nearly making it difficult for him to breathe.

’A Core Formation True Man! Only a Core Formation True Man could provoke such a reaction in me!’

Huang Tingguang’s heart was pounding in his throat. He didn’t even notice that his voice had gone shrill.

He had a talent that he had never mentioned to anyone: when facing a supreme expert, he would get a strange feeling and see things that others couldn’t.

When he was a child and had just achieved Qi Introduction, he had seen snowflakes falling from the Shen Family’s Core Formation Ancestor, who had come to discuss matters. A chilling cold froze him into a two-day stupor, during which he developed a high fever. His clansmen all thought he wouldn’t wake up.

As he grew up, Huang Tingguang gradually came to realize that this might be a kind of Spiritual Eye talent.

Unfortunately, it was useless for his Cultivation and didn’t help increase his strength, so he had always kept it a secret.

Connecting this to the fact that the Mi Family had just offended a mysterious outside Cultivator and was nearly annihilated by a single sword strike...

...the identity of the Core Formation True Man before him was practically screaming at him. How could Huang Tingguang not be nervous and afraid?

"Tastes bland..." Bai Zichen said. "Let me ask you, is there a place nearby where grim winds blow at night, but Purple Qi shines down at dawn?"

The Jade Scroll had only pointed out a suitable Cultivation location for the Cave Profound Disaster Relief and Demon Extermination Scripture, but it hadn’t marked a specific position.

’It was likely passed down only by word of mouth among the Du Family Cultivators.’

Bai Zichen had no desire to spend every dawn checking for descending Purple Qi. If his luck was bad, he could waste several months on this task alone.