Chapter 36: Chapter 36: The Ancient Catastrophe_1

Translator: 549690339

Zhenyi Manor.

Among the twenty-three Manors of Leizhou, nine are the most prosperous, and Zhenyi Manor is one of them.

Qingzhou’s terrain takes the shape of a key, conveniently separating Leizhou from Huozhou. Luzhou is also not adjacent to Huozhou, and is situated in another direction from Qingzhou.

Zhenyi Manor borders Qingzhou and is one of the three Manors connecting Leizhou to Qingzhou. Entering Qingzhou from Zhenyi Manor and continuing forward, crossing Qingzhou will lead to Luzhou.

In Zhenyi City, the sixth floor private room of a top-grade restaurant,

Han Li, clothed in a moon-white brocade robe, stood with hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the bustling cityscape from the window. After a long while, he heaved a lingering sigh.

Stepping onto the path of cultivation marked the beginning of transcendence. Upon breaking through to the Innate Realm, one’s lifespan doubled, a barrier between mortals and immortality erected.

The cultivators in the first three realms still mixed with the Mortal World, having great need for worldly wealth, but once they stepped into the Innate Realm, none of that mattered anymore.

Upon reaching the Innate Realm, one naturally no longer needed food, with daily absorption of Spiritual Energy sufficing for survival. They interfaced with the Cultivation Realm, using resources like Spirit Stones, and rarely interacted with the Mortal World.

Reaching the Pihai Realm and beyond, they truly severed ties, no longer concerning themselves with the Mortal World as their attention turned solely to the matters of the Cultivation Realm.

“To vie for a life span of two hundred years, upon looking back, one has already become an Immortal!” Han Li murmured to himself.

Now, as a Great Master at the peak of the Gang Yuan Realm, his life expectancy neared eight hundred years, which to mortals, he was indeed an Immortal. “I wonder if there really are Immortals in this world?”

Han Li suddenly looked towards the heavens, his eyes shimmering with a trace of longing.

In his past life, he had read numerous fantasy cultivation novels where Immortals usually lived in the Immortal Realm—a world superior to the one he resided in, often requiring one to transcend calamities and ascend to become an Immortal.

However, those fantasy novels were merely mortal fantasies, and Han Li wouldn’t take them as references for his world. Employing them verbatim would lead to significant losses, especially since those “references” lacked foundation.

Over the years, Han Li had come to understand more and more about this world, yet he still didn’t know if there truly were Immortals. Only occasionally would there be records in miscellaneous books mentioning their existence before ancient times.

Legends say that countless eons ago, the Cultivation Realm was at its peak of glory, with Immortals descending to the world from time to time and powerful beings emerging one after another. Heroes and geniuses were everywhere, and there were hundreds of blessed lands occupied by those above the Divine Yuan Realm.

Suddenly one day, a Divine Sword fell from the sky, triggering a great calamity with countless casualties, thus bringing an end to the Ancient Era, and the Cultivation Realm began to decline.

After ancient times, Qian Yuan Divine Province was turbulent for a hundred thousand years, eventually forming a structure of eight territories and two seas, and only after another thirty thousand years did it become the era it is now.

In today’s Cultivation Realm, it seems greatly declined; one doesn’t even find

Immortals or great beings above the Divine Yuan Realm, not to mention

Emperor Wu of the True Martial Realm or Emperor Wu of the Divine Yuan Realm. They might be lurking in seclusion, devoted to their close-door cultivation.

“Huh-”

Exhaling deeply, Han Li’s gaze shifted to another direction in Zhenyi City, where stood a grand, expansive manor—the Cui Manor.

Thinking back on the information he had purchased these days, a faint smile appeared on Han Li’s face.

In Zhenyi Manor, there are twenty-four Great Masters of the Gang Yuan Realm. Fourteen are in the five major Sects in Zhenyi Manor, one in seclusion in a county town, and the remaining nine are in Zhenyi City.

Among them, four are affiliated with the Da Qian Empire, with two more on amicable terms with the Da Qian Empire.

If any conflict arises, the Da Qian Empire will surely not just watch, and other Great Masters, wary of the Da Qian Empire, may choose not to provide support.

Cui Pingyu, who hails from the Hehuan Sect, is still a Core Disciple there. He arrived in Zhenyi City fifty years ago to develop, and it was likely in accordance with the orders of the Hehuan Sect.

The Hehuan Sect is one of the Four Sects of Leizhou and is also a branch of the Yinyang Sect, one of the Eight Great Forces of the Xuan Domain, which is an open secret to those above the Pihai Realm.

The Yinyang Sect had always coveted the Daqian Empire, skulking around and causing friction in the shadows, yet no one had officially torn off their masks of civility.

The Yinyang Sect wanted the Da Jing Empire and the Kurong Sect to act as vanguards, to reap the benefits behind the scenes; the Daqian Empire was constantly in conflict with the Da Jing Empire, and also had to face the pressure from the Kurong Sect, so they didn’t want to easily break with the Yinyang Sect.

Otherwise, the Hehuan Sect would not have been able to develop in Leizhou, and would have been finished off by the Daqian Empire long ago.

Even so, the Daqian Empire was always limiting the infiltration of the Yinyang Sect, imposing various restrictions on the Hehuan Sect, with the most crucial one being to prevent the tentacles of the Yinyang Sect from leaving Leizhou.

The Hehuan Sect’s headquarters in Qingyun Manor, located adjacent to the

Yinyang Sect’s area, was closely monitored by the Protector General of

Leizhou, making it difficult for the Hehuan Sect to expand. Thus, they considered starting anew elsewhere.

Han Li withdrew his gaze, his smile even wider as he said to himself, “There is no deviation, the plan can be implemented now.”

He had arrived in Zhenyi City two days ago. Having entered in disguise, he had been observing and investigating to ensure there were no additional obstacles to the plan.

At night, the Cui Manor.

Underneath the brilliant lights, Cui Pingyu was drinking glass after glass of wine, feeling somewhat irritable.

“Bang!”

He carelessly smashed a wine glass onto the floor, grabbed two beautiful maids at his side and headed into the inner chambers.

The two maids wore expressions of terror yet dared not resist. Soon, suggestive sounds emanated from within.

An hour later, Cui Pingyu emerged, sat by the wine table, but the two beautiful maids were nowhere to be seen.

“When will these days come to an end?” After venting his frustrations, Cui Pingyu’s irritation subsided a bit, and he couldn’t help but complain.

Originally, he was a once-renowned genius within the Hehuan Sect, breaking through to the Gang Yuan Realm before the age of two hundred—he was spirited and had promising prospects.

When the sect decided to establish a new base, Cui Pingyu confidently took on the task and came to Zhenyi Manor on his own to develop it.

He needed to build a force in Zhenyi City and then infiltrateHuozhou with all his might. The task was heavy, the resistance great, but the reward was substantial; once successful, his chances of advancing to the God Refining Realm in the future would increase significantly.

However, after arriving in Zhenyi City, Cui Pingyu realized he had been too naive. Ten years in, he felt the chance of completing his mission was very slim.

The restrictions on him here were more than tenfold compared to those in Qingyun Manor, both overt and covert, and after fifty years of effort, he didn’t have any substantial achievements. His subordinates were nothing more than a few insignificant characters, nowhere near enough to complete the task assigned by the sect.

For forty years, Cui Pingyu had been stubbornly persevering, unwilling to accept that he had wasted so much time with little to show for it.

When he first arrived at Zhenyi City he was already at the fourth level of the

Gang Yuan Realm, but fifty years later, he had only reached the seventh level. Had he stayed in the sect all this time, he would have advanced to the ninth level of the Gang Yuan Realm by now.

Without completing his mission, returning to the sect might even result in punishment. Naturally, Cui Pingyu was not in a good mood, but he also didn’t want to waste any more time; to continue staying in Zhenyi City was just squandering it.

A few days ago, when he went out to clear his mind, he coincidentally encountered Lin Yiyin, saw through her disguise, and was taken by her beauty. He immediately captured and brought her back.

Cui Pingyu did not care for those women of beauty and grace he had taken over the years, having had countless already. But Lin Yiyin was different: her looks and temperament were supreme grade, the most breathtaking he had seen in fifty years.

That’s why he planned to formally take Lin Yiyin as his concubine and then exhaust her charm before moving on.

“I wonder when that Pihai Realm sister of hers will come to save her?” Cui

Pingyu thought, bored..