Lower Realm Cultivator Hunting Alliance
"Let's meet again at a different place in ten days!"
"OK!"
After escaping the encirclement of a hundred Nascent Soul cultivators, Lin Shi, Ye Ruxue, and the other ten Nascent Soul cultivators from the Dream Heaven Minor World, and recovering their spiritual power, they quickly separated and headed to the nearby Yuan Shu Realm city to gather information. They agreed to meet again in ten days.
Lin Shi chose a direction and headed towards a nearby city. The spiritual energy in the Yuan Shu Realm was far more concentrated than that in the Meng Tian Small World. Even though Lin Shi was only in the Yuan Shu Realm, she felt spiritual energy rushing into her body, quickly restoring her spiritual power to the early stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.
Using concealment and stealth techniques, and also employing a concealment artifact for added security, Lin Shi flew to the gate of a nearby city. He cautiously probed the gate with his divine sense, discovering that the cities of the Yuan Shu Realm weren't significantly different from those of the Meng Tian Small World, both inhabited by mortals and cultivators. However, the Yuan Shu Realm, being a middle world, had far greater city sizes, a larger population of mortals, and more cultivators than the Meng Tian Small World. Mortals in the Yuan Shu Realm also lived in independent villages and towns, not entirely intermingling with cultivators.
Unlike cultivators in the Dream Heaven Small World who ascend to the Upper Realm upon reaching the Nascent Soul stage, cultivators in the Yuan Shu Realm only ascend to the corresponding Great World, the Hong Chuan Realm, upon reaching the Void Refining stage. Therefore, the Yuan Shu Realm contains cultivators at all stages, including Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Deity Transformation, in addition to mortals. Most cultivators from the Yuan Shu Realm who venture outside are low-level cultivators, while higher-level cultivators such as those in the Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation stages are not so common as to be ubiquitous.
Lin Shi didn't actually see any Nascent Soul stage cultivators in the city; she only vaguely sensed the auras of some high-level cultivators, so she kept her distance. As a Nascent Soul stage cultivator who ascended from the lower realm, her cultivation was quite good. In the Yuan Shu Realm, as long as she didn't provoke Nascent Soul stage cultivators, disciples of major sects, or groups of Nascent Soul stage cultivators, she would be basically in no danger. Realizing this, Lin Shi dispelled her concealment and hiding spells, went to the nearest city to register her identity, filled in the name "Dream Heaven Sect" under the affiliated sect section, and then obtained her city-wide cultivator identity badge.
The first city Lin Shi visited in the Yuan Shu Realm was called Xuan Tian City. Xuan Tian City was generally characterized by its gray walls and black tiles. The city walls were towering and imposing, with guards patrolling every few steps. The walls were rectangular, with solid corner platforms protruding from the walls at each of the four corners. The walls were estimated to be 15-20 meters high, wide at the top, and wide at the bottom, forming a closed rectangle. Standing at the foot of the walls and looking up, the tall, thick walls were covered with densely packed attack formations, seemingly capable of withstanding any attack or spying from any cultivator.
At each gate of Xuantian City, cultivators stood guard, registering the identities of mortals and cultivators entering and leaving the city. At the south gate of Xuantian City, the five cultivators registering were all only at the Foundation Establishment stage. Seeing that Lin Shi's cultivation was much higher than theirs, they respectfully invited her into the small registration room. After seeing Lin Shi fill in the name "Mengtian Sect," they couldn't help but steal a glance at her. Lin Shi's face was shrouded in a hazy spiritual energy, obscuring her features, but her expression was gentle and her aura powerful. The guards and the registering cultivators couldn't help but wonder if she was a reclusive disciple of a major sect.
After Lin Shi entered Xuantian City, she went to the nearest spirit beast trading company and used spirit stones to buy a tall and mighty riding beast. She then adorned it with a collar bearing the illegible yet flamboyant characters "Dream Heaven Sect," and swaggered around Xuantian City. After completing her tour, Lin Shi found the largest inn in the city and settled in for the night.
For the next ten days, Lin Shi carefully gathered information throughout the city. She also secretly found three merchant guilds that acted as informants, overhearing a plethora of secrets about the various sects in Xuan Tian City, including which sect elders had entanglements with which outer sect cultivators or inner sect disciples, and which high-level cultivators had feuds with whom. Lin Shi found the information eye-opening, but still felt it was worthwhile, so she gave the guilds a large amount of spirit stones before leisurely returning to her inn.
The Yuan Shu Realm has twenty-three major cities. Each city has countless sects and cultivation families, as well as countless independent cultivators and mortals. The interpersonal relationships within are intricate and complex.
In the past few days, while staying at the inn, Lin Shi would occasionally hear the chatter and boasting of scions of powerful cultivation families coming from the private rooms downstairs. From these various discussions, Lin Shi learned that a group of Nascent Soul cultivators in the Yuan Shu Realm, nearing the end of their lifespans but with no hope of advancing further, had formed a hunting alliance. They specifically guarded the exits from various small worlds leading to the Yuan Shu Realm, hunting down newly ascended Nascent Soul cultivators from lower realms.
"I heard that all the Nascent Soul cultivators who ascended from the Dream Heaven Small World escaped the encirclement!" A young man from a powerful cultivation family was discussing this with his childhood friend in a private room.
"It seems that the enemy had exactly ten Nascent Soul stage cultivators who ascended this time. With more people, they were able to break through. If only one or two cultivators had ascended to the Yuan Shu Realm, they would probably have been killed on the spot!" another person replied.
"That's a real pity!" the third person said with regret.
“That’s true. When cultivators from the lower realms ascend to the Yuan Shu Realm, they just plunder our already scarce cultivation resources. It would be better to just kill them outright, let their bodies perish and their souls dissipate, and they can even transform into spiritual energy to be given to our Yuan Shu Realm.”
"In the past, many cultivators have ascended from small worlds at the same time, but it's rare for all of them to escape. What's the reason this time? Have another batch of Nascent Soul stage cultivators from the Lower Realm Hunting Alliance died?"
"It shouldn't be. We haven't heard any news of Nascent Soul stage cultivators from the Lower Realm Cultivator Hunting Alliance dying yet. It's probably because the Dream Heaven Small World is a bit special. After all, thousands of years ago, they were still a Great World. In the past, our Void Refinement stage cultivators from the Yuan Shu Realm had to ascend to the Dream Heaven Realm first, then advance to the Mahayana stage, and finally ascend to the Middle Heaven Realm."
"Haha, that's true. Maybe the Dream Heaven Small World still has some secret magical artifacts and spells that are not passed down to outsiders. It's just that the wheel of fortune turns and the Dream Heaven Small World has fallen to its current state."
"Indeed, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. Things are unpredictable. I heard that the Dream Heaven Small World was reduced from a Great World to a Small World because the various sects and cultivators fought so fiercely that almost all the cultivators died. Heaven punished them, and that's why it became like this."
"The path of cultivation is inherently a process of fighting against people and against the heavens. There are only so many cultivation resources, and it will be difficult to distribute them if there are too many cultivators. Very few cultivators actually ascend to the Middle Heaven Realm. With your and my cultivation aptitude, the probability of ascending to the Hongchuan Realm is low, so there's no need to worry about the Yuanshu Realm following in the footsteps of the Mengtian Realm one day."
"That's true. It's none of our business, so we'll just watch the show. It'll be interesting when the cultivators who ascended from the lower realms can't stand it anymore and unite to counter-encircle and annihilate the Nascent Soul stage cultivators of the Lower Realm Cultivator Hunting Alliance."
"Haha, I hope we can live to see that day come! Come on, let's not talk about it anymore, let's drink first. After we finish drinking, let's go see if there are any beautiful cultivators we can pick up and trick back into our family or sect."
"Hahaha, good! Here, I'll drink it all, you guys can do whatever you want!"
...
On the day of the ten-day agreement, Lin Shi sold his riding beast back to the Spirit Beast Trading Company and arrived on time at the temporary meeting place agreed upon by the ten cultivators who had ascended from the Dream Heaven Small World. It was located to the east of the forest where they had escaped ten days earlier. The forest was full of lush trees, but there weren't many plants under the trees, so it didn't seem like an easy place to set up an ambush.
Lin Shi arrived at the scene almost simultaneously with the other nine cultivators. There were ten Nascent Soul stage cultivators: four female and six male. Among the female cultivators, besides Lin Shi and Ye Ruxue, the other two were sisters from the same cultivation family and sect. The male cultivators all came from different sects.
After exchanging the information they had gathered, the ten Nascent Soul cultivators who had ascended from the Dream Heaven Realm said with hatred, "These cultivators from the Yuan Shu Realm, with their own lifespans nearing their end and no opportunity to improve their cultivation or advance further, resort to evil deeds and murdering young cultivators from lower realms who have ascended. They are truly despicable! Next time I see those lower realm cultivators hunting down Nascent Soul cultivators from the Alliance, I will definitely kill them one by one!"
“Then we need to cultivate diligently first. Once our cultivation level has improved, we can investigate the identities of those Nascent Soul stage cultivators from the Lower Realm Hunter Alliance, making sure they don’t have any major sects or powerful immortal cultivation families behind them, and then find an opportunity to kill them.” A male cultivator immediately echoed Yan Hezhi, but he was clearly cautious and rational.
“Yes, improving our cultivation is the top priority! The Yuan Shu Realm is quite different from the Meng Tian Small World; there are many more large sects and powerful cultivation families here. If we want to take revenge, we need to be fully prepared beforehand, so as not to be hunted down by the entire sect or powerful family,” the twin cultivators said.
"Yes, we'll talk about it later. There's no rush to get revenge."
"What are your plans for the future?"
"Find a secluded mountain forest to cultivate and improve your cultivation, or find a major sect to affiliate with and become a guest elder."
"That's what I'm planning too."
"Me too."
"I'm probably about the same. I'll think about it for a few more days before making a final decision."
“We both have communication stones. If anything comes up, we can contact each other then. After all, we come from the same Dream Heaven Small World, so our relationship is definitely better than with the new fellow Daoists we met in the Yuan Shu Realm.”
"Okay," everyone agreed.
Lin Shi exchanged the information he had gathered with the other nine people on the spot, and then each cultivator basically understood the general situation of the Yuan Shu Realm. Some cultivators considered finding a secluded mountain peak to cultivate in seclusion, while others considered finding a suitable major cultivation sect to become a guest elder. Lin Shi thought both were acceptable, but said that they still needed to consider it further before making a final decision.
In the end, of the ten cultivators, except for the two sisters who decided to continue traveling together, the other eight went their separate ways.
Lin Shi was alone again. She decided to spend a few days traveling around the major cities of the Yuan Shu Realm to gather more information before deciding on her next course of action.
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