novelraw Chapter 289 : Picking on the Weak
Chapter 289 : Picking on the Weak
Master! Truly impressive!
Chu Sang was so excited she almost applauded on the spot.
This way, this power could be perfectly combined with the Demon-Locking Pagoda, allowing more disciples to break through in a short time... Cultivating dozens of Divine Transformation stage cultivators at once might not be just a fantasy!
Seeing her reaction, Immortal Chanyu shook her head with a smile, mercilessly pouring cold water on her excitement, "Things aren't as simple as you imagine. I did successfully convert the divine power into spiritual energy using techniques, but breaking through because of this isn't so easy. Spiritual energy may be endless, but those who can truly achieve the great dao are still few and far between. It still depends on you all."
She waved her hand, producing a green scroll that hovered in the air and slowly unfurled, revealing a landscape painting. "After several failures, I collaborated with the Phantom Sound Sect Leader to transform the Divine Decree into a trial ground. I've already notified the major sects and families in the cultivation world about this. I believe that soon, various powers will select their most promising young talents and send them to the trial ground for tempering."
The outstanding youths of the cultivation world would be the hope for breaking the current impasse.
Half a month later, Lingqing Sect experienced a rare bustle. Sect Leaders from other immortal sects and patriarchs of major families all gathered, bringing their carefully selected elite disciples.
These disciples were geniuses cultivated with all the resources their families could muster, mostly designated as the next generation of family leaders. Usually well-protected by their clans and rarely seen by outsiders, they were all brought to Lingqing Sect this time.
At a glance, they were all quite young, generally in their twenties, with some teenage boys as young as their teens. Their cultivation levels were mostly above the Golden Core stage. Compared to the typical hundred-year-old Golden Core stage cultivators in the cultivation world, they were much younger.
The faces of these youths all bore varying degrees of arrogance, filled with determination to succeed in the upcoming trials.
Watching from afar, Chu Sang couldn't help but marvel that the entire cultivation world had truly brought out all its hidden talents—gathered in the hall were two to three hundred youths, each with extremely high strength and talent. Even during the sect's grand competition years ago, she hadn't seen so many young prodigies.
The disciples were all very quiet, with little conversation among themselves. After entering the trial ground, they buried themselves in hard work, each more diligent than the last.
The trial ground wasn't much different from a secret realm. The Phantom Sound Sect Leader and elders used illusion techniques to weave spiritual energy into the scenery and objects of the trial ground. The demon beasts and traps in the venue were all virtual, basically not causing fatal harm to the disciples. The disciples used these dangerous situations to repeatedly break through bottlenecks and challenge their limits.
However, the trials were mainly aimed at Golden Core and Nascent Soul stage cultivators, offering little help to someone at the peak of late Divine Transformation stage like her. For Chu Sang to break through now, the most difficult hurdle was the heavenly lightning tribulation, not spiritual energy.
She came along this time just to accompany the group. If any unexpected situations occurred in the trial ground, she could help remedy them.
She lingered at the back of the group, slightly focusing her attention on the Xuanyuan family disciples not far away.
This time, the Xuanyuan family disciples coming to the trial ground were unexpectedly quiet, much more well-behaved than she had imagined.
She came specially this time, largely to keep an eye on the Xuanyuan family disciples.
After all, the Xuanyuan family was one of the top families in the cultivation world, and currently the most powerful sword cultivation family, almost on par with the Eight Great Immortal Sects. Although their disciples couldn't compare to those of the Sword of Ten Thousand Sect and Tianyan Sect, the two major sword cultivation sects, they were no less than second-tier sword cultivation sects in the cultivation world.
This time, the Xuanyuan family alone sent eight disciples to the trial ground, almost as many as the Nine Great Sects. This was enough to show the Xuanyuan family's current influence in the cultivation world.
She had seen the Xuanyuan family patriarch in the sect's main hall, almost no different from what she saw in the Divine Decree illusion. His face was full of ambition. The downfall of the Mo family years ago was planned jointly by him and several clan elders, even bribing a highly influential demon lord from the demon race at the time. Such bold cunning bred extreme greed.
Even though the Xuanyuan family had already become the top sword cultivation family in the cultivation world, it was far from satisfying his ambition.
Seeing how arrogant even the minor disciples of the Xuanyuan family were, perhaps what the Xuanyuan family wanted was the entire cultivation world.
As long as they could destroy and swallow other powers, only one dominant force would remain in the cultivation world.
Now that the trial ground had gathered the outstanding youths from various major sects and families, these people would become the undisputed leaders of the cultivation world in a few years or decades. The Xuanyuan family, with their wolfish ambitions, wouldn't waste this opportunity. Yet they were being so well-behaved now? It was so well-behaved that it seemed... strange...
Chu Sang narrowed her eyes, her face thoughtful, then turned her gaze to Mo Qingchen, who was leading a group of Tianyan Sect disciples not far away. She couldn't help but mutter to herself: This isn't right.
What were these Xuanyuan family people up to?
How could they resist taking action?
"Chu Sang."
At some point, Mo Qingchen had come to stand in front of her, calling her name coolly.
She looked up at him, startled. Mo Qingchen had never been one to talk much, but Chu Sang knew what he wanted to ask. She had heard that during the month and more she was away, he had gone to Lingqing Sect more than once to ask about her, and even tried to venture into the ghost realm alone.
Chu Sang felt that without Qin Xixue, Mo Qingchen was quite normal, a person with a conscience. There was no need to compare the "him" from the original story with the current him.
She turned her eyes, thinking of something, and straightened up, extending her hand to him in an inviting gesture.
"I happen to have something I'd like your help with. Do you want to see a good show?"
"?"
He blinked, slightly confused. "What good show?"
"Help me with something in a bit."
"Mm, tell me."
⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱
"Everyone be careful, spread out and avoid it. This Crack Rain Beast is extremely troublesome! Concentrate your attacks on its head!"
There were several hundred disciples who came to the trial ground. The relationships between the various sects and families were not all the same, so they didn't walk together. The map was very large, and the exploration time was long. Most walked in pairs or groups of three.
Chu Sang didn't walk with the Lingqing Sect disciples. She hid her identity and followed a group of inconspicuous family disciples.
The group came to a wetland swamp and encountered an extremely troublesome high-level demon beast. The beast's attacks were extremely dense and powerful. Someone ordered the team to split up to disperse its firepower.
The beast's offensive power was strong, but its defense was somewhat weak. After three days and nights of round-the-clock battles, the beast was finally exhausted. At the last moment, they were just one step away from subduing it!
At this critical moment, the Xuanyuan family disciples, who had been quiet all along, suddenly stepped forward and interfered, trying to seize control of the team. This caused the beast that was about to be captured to escape, and the team lost a big prey.
"What are you Xuanyuan family people doing, barging in at this time? If it wasn't for your mid-way disruption, we would have had this Crack Rain Beast already!" the female disciple leading the team shouted.
The others were also furious, not understanding why the Xuanyuan family people had sabotaged them midway. What were they trying to do?
The Xuanyuan family disciples sneered, "If you couldn't hold onto the prey, it's because you're incompetent. Don't push everything onto our Xuanyuan family!"
"That beast was at the Divine Transformation stage. There are so many Golden Core stage cultivators in your team, and barely any at the Nascent Soul stage. How dare you try to capture a Divine Transformation stage beast?"
"If we hadn't risked our lives to save you just now, forget about catching the beast, you might have lost your lives here!"
The disciples from other families were shaking with anger. "You... you're just twisting the facts!"
A Xuanyuan family disciple stepped forward and patted her shoulder, speaking in a sarcastic tone, "Look at you all. It's been several days, and you haven't caught any decent beasts. You even let a early Divine Transformation stage beast that you barely encountered escape. You're far behind the progress of other teams. You'll only bring shame to your families when you go back. Why not follow us Xuanyuan family instead?"
Other Xuanyuan family disciples chimed in like echoes,
"That's right, don't forget who the number one sword cultivation family in the cultivation world is! Following us is the best choice for you small families!"
"A bunch of second-rate and third-rate families huddling together for warmth, what use is that? You might as well join our Xuanyuan family. You might even get some leftovers!"
"Who knows how long we'll have to stay in this wretched place? If you people don't find a powerful backer, something unexpected might happen... By then, there won't be anyone to protect you."
This last statement carried a somewhat threatening tone. The faces of the disciples on the other side all looked extremely unpleasant, but they dared not voice their anger.
The spots for the trial ground were limited, with most given to the stronger sects and families. But a small portion was also left for disciples from these second and third-tier families as an opportunity. For small families, having one or two disciples selected for the trial ground was like their ancestors burning high-quality incense. The disciples also wanted to use this chance to win glory for their families. If they offended the big families at this time and became enemies with the Xuanyuan family, it would be like adding frost to snow for these already struggling small families.
The rat's tail finally couldn't be hidden. Chu Sang, who had been observing from a tree, spat out the grass root in her mouth and straightened up. The Xuanyuan family was quite good at picking on the weak. After parting ways with the sect teams, they targeted these disciples from second and third-tier families, wanting to assimilate these leaderless small family disciples as their support in dealing with the sect disciples.
What a beautiful plan.
Chu Sang couldn't stand by anymore. She jumped down from the tree, facing the suddenly changed, suspicious gazes of the Xuanyuan family disciples. She said with a smile, "A few days not seeing you, and the Xuanyuan family disciples are still as shameless as ever. You can even say such nonsense. This truly lives up to your family's excellent tradition passed down through generations. It's truly nauseating."
"You-who are you? How dare you interfere in our Xuanyuan family's affairs? Don't you know our Xuanyuan family is..." That disciple, red-faced from being scolded, gritted his teeth and shouted angrily.
"I know, I know. The Xuanyuan family is the most powerful sword cultivation family in the cultivation world, the best of the four great sword cultivation families. I've heard it so much my ears are growing calluses. After so many years, can't you change your lines?"
Chu Sang tilted her head and picked her ear, then smiled at them again. "How about I give you a new opening line—"
"The best of the four great sword cultivation families, how did this 'best' come about? By using underhanded means to eliminate the strongest opponent, the Mo family, back then. Isn't the Xuanyuan family now rightfully the 'best'!"