Chapter 151 - A Journey of a Thousand Miles

At the beginning of the new year, a piece of news shocked the world.After centuries of dormancy, the Heretical Bone Path revived, opening the Netherworld Pass in the Maple Forest City Region of Qinghe County, Zhuang Country, causing a myriad of ghosts to roam in broad daylight.

They used the Wusheng Formation to sacrifice the entire city and refine it into Bone True Dan.

This pill, known as “Resurrection from the Yellow Springs,” could nurture Bone Path disciples, achieving peak combat power, and thereby summon the Bone Demon God into the world.

Dong Ah, the head of the Taoist Sect in Maple Forest City, became aware of this matter, thwarted the Bone Path’s conspiracy, and joined forces with Zhuang Country’s Prime Minister Du Ruhui.

They snatched the Bone True Dan from under the nose of the Bone Demon God and presented it to Emperor Zhuang!

Only then did the world learn that Emperor Zhuang, who had been in seclusion for many years under the guise of cultivation, was, in fact, healing from injuries.

When the new emperor of Zhuang Country took the throne, Emperor Zhuang Gaoxian, who was filled with enthusiasm for governance, gradually strengthened the nation.

Yong Country repeatedly provoked them, again and again, encroaching on their borders.

This should have been old news, as the disputes between Zhuang and Yong Countries had never ceased since the founding of Zhuang Country.

Even the border residents had grown accustomed to such matters.

Of course, Zhuang Country always suffered the most.

But what no one expected was that Zhuang Gaoxian, who was incredibly brave and strategic, crushed the imperial throne in the great hall and personally led an expedition to wage war against Yong Country with the might of a smaller nation—and achieved a great victory!

He personally killed the Great General who guarded Yong Country’s borders.

This battle made him famous throughout the world.

This one battle earned more than a decade of peace for the Zhuang-Yong border territories.

After the war, Zhuang Gaoxian immediately announced his retreat, and everyone assumed he was aiming to break through to a realm above “God Arrives.”

The Zhuang Court kept this secret tightly guarded, so much so that no one knew he had been healing from injuries all these years.

The reason this news is now known to the world is, of course, because it is no longer an issue.

Having consumed the Bone True Dan, Zhuang Gaoxian’s injuries were not only completely healed, but he also achieved the Dongzhen realm!

From then on, he could be regarded as a True Person of this era!

At that time, Zhuang Country was at war with Mo Country to the south, and with Great General Huangfu Duanming absent, Zhuang Country suffered the loss of three cities.

However, after breaking through, Zhuang Gaoxian personally arrived on the battlefield, effortlessly killed Mo Country’s leading General, and, with the might of the Dongzhen realm, forced Mo Country to cede ten cities.

The nation’s prestige was greatly boosted.

That year, Zhuang Gaoxian changed the era name to “Great Stability.” Surrounding countries started to revamp their military forces, solely because of the ambition revealed by this new era name.

And the former head of Maple Forest City’s Taoist Sect, Dong Ah, who established such a great achievement, had already been promoted to the Deputy Prime Minister of Zhuang Country, becoming the left and right arm of Prime Minister Du Ruhui.

With great power in hand, he was in charge of criminal affairs.

His position was even above that of the head of the Procuratorate.

From once being rejected at the political center’s doorstep to now rising abruptly, he became one of the most influential officials in the Zhuang Court.

Dong Ah’s deeds also inspired many.

By the time Jiang Wang heard this news, he had already left Yun Country and traveled a very long way.

Then, he was silently drinking in a foreign tavern.

Though drinking, his main focus was on eavesdropping on the conversations of people coming and going in the tavern, to roughly grasp the situation of the world.

He heard people discussing Zhuang Country with great excitement, and some even expressed their desire to go there in search of opportunities.

Jiang Wang felt no pride—instead, he felt a chill all over his body.

The news was a mixture of truth and lies, such as the opening of the Netherworld Pass and the daytime roaming of countless ghosts—that was an old story from Xiaolin Town.

As for Dong Ah defeating the conspiracy of the Bone Path…

it was clearly Jiang Wang who uncovered the Bone Path’s conspiracy, reported it to Dong Ah, and risked his life to save his homeland.

Instead, Dong Ah took advantage of the situation to sacrifice the innumerable lives of the entire city region to snatch the Bone True Dan for his own rise to power.

Prime Minister Du Ruhui, Great General Huangfu Duanming, and even Emperor Zhuang Gaoxian, were all accomplices.

Now they won fame and the reverence of the world, but who still remembers the countless innocent souls from the Maple Forest City Region?

At first, one city was annihilated, three cities were lost.

After that, while retaking the three cities, they also annexed ten more.

It seemed like a huge profit, with Emperor Zhuang appearing wise and invincible, and the Zhuang ministers appearing resourceful and decisive.

But are gains and losses merely a simple matter of arithmetic?

What about those innocently lost lives, those nationals who trusted their country, their court, their sovereign—how innocent were they?

Who remembers their so-called “sacrifice”?

“Teacher, do you really want to go back to Xin’an City so much?”

Jiang Wang stood up and returned to his guest room.

After a while, the waiter came to clean the table, but all he found was a pile of finely ground porcelain powder.

Taixu Illusion Realm, Dongzhen Mountain Blessed Land.

Jiang Wang quietly waited for a while, before he received the slightly chubby paper crane from Zhen Wudi.

He unfolded the letter which read: “The seventh day of the third month.

Linhai County of Qi Country.”

The information was exceptionally concise and clear because during this period, Zhen Wudi had been forced by his family to cultivate frenetically.

Even drinking a cup of water had to be scheduled, leaving him hardly any free time to spare.

For Jiang Wang at this moment, he had things he must do, as well as firm goals and plans.

He would make those who should bear the responsibility for Fenglin City’s upheaval pay the price!

But all of this was predicated on strength.

The first thing Jiang Wang thought of was the Heavenly Abode Secret Land mentioned by Zhen Wudi,

After leaving the Maple Forest City Region, he had sent a letter to Zhen Wudi, expressing his desire to participate in that exploration of the Heavenly Abode Secret Land and inquiring if there were still places available.

Zhen Wudi readily agreed, and today he sent the letter to inform him that the opening time for this period’s Heavenly Abode Secret Land had been set.

He must arrive in Linhai County of Qi Country before the seventh day of the third month.

He still didn’t know the specific details of the Heavenly Abode Secret Land, but if it was valued by someone of Zhen Wudi’s background, it must have unimaginable gains.

Of course, the dangers would not be few.

This was also why Jiang Wang first sent Jiang Anan to Lingxiao Pavilion.

Qi Country was one of the powerful countries of the era, located near the Eastern Sea.

To travel from Yun Country to Qi Country, one must pass through seventeen countries and three Sect-owned territories.

In this great era, numerous powers rose throughout the world, and the structures of authority were not all the same.

There were countries like Zhuang Country that revered the Taoist Sect as the state religion, and there were neutral countries like Yun Country that existed in attachment to Lingxiao Pavilion.

Some countries were tolerant and inclusive, where the major Sects within competed with each other.

Some had a powerful government, controlling all Sects within, issuing commands and prohibitions.

And some lands did not establish a country; those powerful Sects were as sovereign as countries themselves…

Traveling the ten-thousand-mile journey from Yun Country to Qi Country, the local customs were bound to differ greatly.

Ye Qingyu had given him a Yun He, for his location was not fixed, and the Yun He could find its master through their innate connection.

However, it did not possess the ability to search for others across the world.

Hence, he had to actively write letters to Anan, and Anan would reply upon receiving them.

Jiang Wang would record the local scenery at each place he reached, sharing it in his letters with Anan and Ye Qingyu.

Anan, in turn, would talk about her life at Lingxiao Pavilion.

Only the further he traveled, the slower the Yun He became at returning with letters.

Jiang Wang did not rush on his journey; instead, he cultivated and experienced the ways of the world.

By now, he had honed sufficiently and no longer needed to suppress his cultivation realm.

His first established Small Zhoutian was of the sun, the moon, and the stars; it represented love and ideals.

Reaching this place now, he had built up his second Small Zhoutian.

It was of mountains and rivers, the path beneath his feet, the changes of time, the scenery along the way.

His third Small Zhoutian, he began to contemplate his own being.

Thinking about the path he had walked, the people he had seen, the experiences he had had.

He had to ask himself why he was here and where he was headed.

For Jiang Wang, this was his journey, as well as his cultivation.

He must participate in the Heavenly Abode Secret Land in his most complete state.

Not long after exiting the Taixu Illusion Realm, Jiang Wang suddenly felt the entire room, perhaps even the ground itself, seemed to sway.

Then he heard, thump!

thump!

thump!

A deep and distant muffled sound.

He finally confirmed that it was not an illusion.

Because with that sound, the entire room, no, the entire ground, was faintly trembling.

Jiang Wang leaped out of the window and soared up to the inn’s rooftop, and then he saw:

A vast turtle-shaped behemoth raising its head and stepping forward, one step at a time, shaking the entire earth with each step.

How big was this creature?

Its thick, sturdy, yet short legs alone were taller than the city walls of the town where Jiang Wang was.

And atop its shell, Jiang Wang saw…

Pavilions and towers, bustling with people…

A huge city!