I have Immortality In The Cultivation World

Red Cloud Island.

Five Spirits Sect branch.

Wan Bao's venture started disastrously; his deception led to being ostracized by the Eastern Sea sects both openly and covertly, and with the urgent crisis of the Righteous and Demon paths' war, he had intended to return to the Nine Continents first.

"After the destruction of the Demon path, the Eastern Sea sects will either submit or be annihilated," he said.

Following the news of Feng Yang's death, Wan Bao stayed behind.

Since learning that advancing to Nascent Soul was hopeless, Wan Bao had committed all of his thoughts to managing the sect so that the Five Spirits Sect's legacy would last for thousands of years, and the reputation of its founding patriarch would be passed down as well.

He summoned the real-persons of the Five Spirits Sect's branch and ordered them to target the Earth Fire Palace, including but not limited to competing for disciples and resources.

"First provoke minor frictions, and once resentment deepens, find an opportunity to have someone from the other side injure or kill our sect's disciple, and we'll have a righteous reason to mobilize against the Earth Fire Palace for revenge!", he instructed.

Wan Bao was well aware of the importance of acting with a just cause, especially since the Five Spirits Sect did not have the absolute power to rule over the Eastern Sea, and must exercise both kindness and strictness.

A real-person voiced concerns, "Sect Master, as it stands, we're being shunned by our peers in the Eastern Sea. They turn a cold eye on us, not to mention having discussions or meals together. Would targeting the Earth Fire Palace not provoke a united front against us?"

"No matter! They won't bother with the Earth Fire Palace. They'd rather divide and devour it after Tang Xuan's death," said Wan Bao, waving his hand dismissively.

"Once we devour the tough bone that is the Earth Fire Palace, other sects will naturally submit out of fear. Cultivators... hmph, they understand best how to chase benefits and avoid harm!", he added with a cold voice.

After centuries of cultivation, Wan Bao had long seen through the true nature of cultivators:

Each one claims to be "human", but had long placed themselves in the realm of "immortals", selfish, cowardly cherishing life, boundlessly greedy – nothing more than vile creatures that lord themselves above others!

...

Months later.

Zhou Yi was in closed-door cultivation when he received a request for an audience from Yuan Qi. He waved his hand and deactivated the formation and prohibition.

"Come in."

"Greetings to Elder Tang." Experience new stories on mvl

After bowing respectfully, Yuan Qi spoke with a solemn expression, "Yesterday, Real-person Wei was patrolling the islands under our jurisdiction and discovered cultivators practicing forbidden arts and blood sacrifices on the common people. Upon investigation, traces of ghostly energy were found, likely left by scouts of the Ghost King Sect."

"So they have finally come!" Zhou Yi said, his brows slightly creasing, having expected that killing Huo Yan with the Netherworld Curse would only buy some time.

With the Blood Moon Demon Monarch killed at the Earth Fire Palace, the Nascent Soul ancestors of the Ghost King Sect surely couldn't be kept in the dark, and whether for infiltration or revenge, they were bound to send someone to the Eastern Sea.

"Elder, it's not just the Ghost King Sect," Yuan Qi reported. "In recent months, the Five Spirits Sect has been acting frequently in the nearby sea areas, deliberately targeting our disciples, leading to several conflicts. They ignored warnings, patrolled the islands under our jurisdiction, and took away many youths with Spirit Roots."

Facing the Ghost King Sect's retaliatory strikes and the Five Spirits Sect's pressure, Yuan Qi felt the sect was in danger of being shaken to its foundation and possibly on the brink of collapse.

Zhou Yi asked, "Were there any casualties among the disciples?"

Yuan Qi's face twitched, and he spoke with a strange tone, "The disciples are all adept in the Art of Concealment and escape, so there have been no casualties. Instead, several disciples from the Five Spirits Sect have fallen into traps. Should the Elder decide whether to release or detain them?"

"Detain them for a while," Zhou Yi decided.

To Zhou Yi, the Five Spirits Sect was but a minor irritation. Now with the Netherworld Curse in hand, what are a mere hundred and eighty years of lifespan? One casting of the spell can send them to their deaths!

"How shall we fundamentally resolve the issue with the Ghost King Sect?" he pondered.

"The Ghost King Sect's heritage is even more ancient than that of the Dan Ding Sect, possessing the Sect-Defending Supreme Treasure Hell Diagram as well as the backing of a legendary Heavenly Monarch. Not to mention someone with just a Golden Core like myself, even Nascent Soul ancestors would have to retreat three feet!" Yuan Qi replied.

"A millennium-old sect's foundation can only be countered by a child of destiny..." Zhou Yi mused, a thought stirring in his heart as he took a letter and a jade hairpin out of his storage bag.

"Fortunately, there is a fellow daoist in this world, tough of fate, adept at causing trouble, and blessed by destiny!"

"It's time to ask Daoist Xiao to pay a visit to the Ghost King Sect. With his knack for blowing up wherever he goes, even if he can't annihilate them completely, he will certainly occupy the Ghost King Sect's efforts, leaving them no strength to meddle in the Eastern Sea," Zhou Yi reflected, his mind set on a plan.

He instructed Yuan Qi, "I shall make a trip to the Nine Continents myself, call upon friends, and claim outwardly that it's for secluded cultivation!"

"As you command."

Yuan Qi heaved a sigh of relief, given that Elder Tang hailed from a great sect, he surely could summon fellow Daoists to resist the Five Spirits Sect.

...

Cloud Continent.

Da Qian.

The city of Qingyun Mansion.

Decades ago, it was once the capital of Chu State, and back then, the Royal Family led the people to surrender and were conferred the title of King of Chu by Da Qian.

The Qingyun Mansion and the surrounding counties were all lands granted to the King of Chu, and in the blink of an eye, one hundred and fifty years had passed. As Da Qian's rule became increasingly secure, the Imperial Court repeatedly cut back the power of the regional kings and marquesses.

Intimidated by the Da Qian Imperial Clan or the Dan Ding Sect, the King of Chu gradually degenerated into an ordinary cultivator family, with no chance of restoring the nation.

Zhou Yi left the Drunken Dreams Tower, and looking at the bustling crowd on the streets that no longer spoke with the accent of Chu, they all spoke the official language of Da Qian.

"The winds and clouds change, fortunes rise and fall, who could have thought that a mere banished family could one day unite the Cloud Continent!"

"After the celebration, it's time to attend to serious matters."

Not long after.

In a bookstore named Top Scholar Hall, Zhou Yi purchased two ancient texts from six hundred and seventy years ago at a high price and turned into a fleeing beam of light to another city.

Over the course of a month, he traveled through large and small cities on the Cloud Continent and collected hundreds of ancient texts.

The fleeing light settled on a desolate mountain near the Dan Ding Sect, where he opened a cave residence and set up formations, then opened the envelope left by Xiao Tiezhu.

——My benefactor, I was cheated in the Marketplace...

Zhou Yi randomly pulled out an ancient book, his Divine Sense sweeping over it, and from the ninth page, he found the character "Benefactor." Mana permeated the paper, extracting the ink from it and then placing it onto blank paper of the same year.

"Let alone distinguishing with just the eyes, even if carbon-14 dating were used, this would still be a letter from six hundred years ago!"

Zhou Yi searched for the text, creating a letter with the same content, and then placed the Jade Hairpin into the envelope: "It doesn't matter that the handwriting differs from Daoist Xiao's, for the writings come from all over the Cloud Continent. As long as the breath is erased, even if the immortals were to descend, they couldn't figure out who created it."

Since the original letter had been carried on his person for hundreds of years, he feared that some secret technique of tracing causality might be at play, so in the future, he could only hide in the depths of the Eastern Sea.

"Next is to quietly wait for the opportune moment!"

As he spoke, he brought out a divination cup and cast a Minor Extent Heaven technique to divine.

Auspicious sign!

The next day was also an auspicious sign.

And on the third day, it was still an auspicious sign.

Zhou Yi waited calmly, the heart of a youth of over eight hundred years old already tranquil to the extreme.

...

Dan Ding Sect.

Divine Fire Peak.

Xuan Xiao Dao Palace.

Xiao Tiezhu had a deep frown, pondering over strategies to break the deadlock.

The four orthodox sects joined forces to eradicate demons, waging spell battles and slaughter for over a hundred years now, and while the four Demon Sects seemed to have suffered devastating losses, in reality, they only lost the Spirit Veins outside their headquarters.

Now, the four Demon Sects, holed up in their headquarters and relying on the heritage accumulated over thousands of years, have resisted the orthodox alliance for decades, unable to be conquered.

In contrast, now and then, old Demon Ancestors stealthily venture out, seeking opportunities to assassinate the Orthodox True Monarchs, and once their identity is exposed, they immediately hide back in their base.

The Demon Sects' plan is simple, to wait until a few hundred years later when all Nascent Souls in the world have perished, the four Demon Sects with their Sect-Defending Supreme Treasures will naturally no longer fear the orthodoxy.

"Initial success gives courage, then comes fatigue, and finally, exhaustion!"

Xiao Tiezhu sighed, "If we drag on like this, without the Demon Path counterattacking, the orthodox alliance itself will fall apart and start to disband and divide the spoils."

Alas, the main bases of the Demon Sects were heavily fortified with Formations, personally overseen by Nascent Soul Ancestors, and guarded by the powerful Sect-Defending Supreme Treasures, making it near impossible to breach from the outside.

The orthodoxy tried to persuade and convert the Demon Path True Monarchs, but those were old demons with a long history of evil deeds, preferring death over believing in orthodox cultivators!

Of course, what the orthodoxy really planned was to utilize them and then find an excuse to eliminate them.

Some lesser demons, seeing the decline of the Demon Path, did think about defecting, but their low cultivation and insignificant power made the orthodoxy uninterested in them.