Chapter 113: The Soul-Severing Taoist

Page (1/3)

Even if one became a wicked cultivator and ambushed travelers along the road, so long as no one discovered it, one could still muddle through and continue living as an ordinary cultivator.

After crossing a vast stretch of land without incident, He Song found himself gazing upon many sights entirely different from those he had seen while traveling underground.

At this, He Song could not help but sigh.

Even if one possessed sufficient strength, one still could not remain underground forever.

To do so would mean missing out on too many wondrous sights.

After climbing over a mountain, He Song stood against the mountain wind and gazed into the distance beyond the ridge.

Almost in an instant, his eyes widened, his gaze locking firmly onto a vast city in the distance.

A colossal city!

A truly colossal city!

Qingyuan Immortal City was built entirely from enormous blue stones. Its walls stretched across an unknown number of miles, their blue expanse resembling a great azure dragon spanning the four directions.

“Qingyuan Immortal City is, as its name suggests, built entirely from a kind of blue stone. It is extraordinarily sturdy.”

Beside him, seeing He Song lost in astonishment, Wei Fan offered an explanation at just the right moment.

Yet even though he had visited Qingyuan Immortal City many times, Wei Fan still felt a profound shock welling up from the depths of his heart whenever he gazed upon it from afar.

This was a true immortal city.

A true gathering place for cultivators.

It was nothing like an immortal market, which existed merely to facilitate trade among the cultivators in the surrounding area.

“Come on. Old Meng must be getting anxious.”

After taking one last look at the magnificent Qingyuan Immortal City in the distance, the astonishment in He Song’s eyes quickly faded. Instead, he urged Wei Fan onward.

Wei Fan nodded, and together they sped toward Qingyuan Immortal City.

Cultivators traveled exceedingly swiftly.

Before long, the two of them arrived at one of the city gates.

After each paying a spirit stone as the entrance fee, He Song, led by Wei Fan, finally entered Qingyuan Immortal City.

They did not linger or wander through the city.

Instead, they quickly followed the address Meng Guan had given them and found his residence in Qingyuan Immortal City.

Meng Guan lived in the western part of the city, in a quiet little courtyard.

Unlike the endless flow of people on the main streets, the area surrounding this courtyard was exceptionally tranquil.

Few cultivators could be seen moving about among the neighboring residences.

There were, however, quite a number of mortals walking back and forth.

He Song was slightly surprised at first, but after remembering that Qingyuan Immortal City was inhabited by both mortals and cultivators, he understood.

Cultivators could not possibly handle every task themselves. Recruiting mortals to attend to their daily needs was only natural.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

Mortals, rarely seen in immortal markets in the past, were abundant here.

The two of them arrived together outside the small courtyard where Meng Guan lived.

They knocked.

Soon, hurried footsteps sounded from within.

A moment later, an old man with a ruddy complexion, white hair, and white brows opened the courtyard gate. His face brightened with delight as he invited them inside.

The old man was Meng Guan.

After ushering He Song and Wei Fan into the courtyard and personally brewing them a pot of tea, the joy on Meng Guan’s face still had not faded.

“You two have kept me waiting. I have been looking forward to your arrival day and night, and at last, the two of you have come.”

As he spoke, Meng Guan rose and cupped his hands toward them.

He Song and Wei Fan hurriedly returned the salute.

The three of them then exchanged a flurry of pleasantries.

Afterward, the atmosphere between them grew considerably more lively.

Only then did Meng Guan begin telling He Song and Wei Fan about everything that had happened to him over the years.

Fourteen years earlier, Meng Guan had emerged from the Red Spirit Gold Mine and returned to Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market, asking Wei Fan to accompany him to Qingyuan Immortal City to purchase a breakthrough pill.

After that, he had broken through to the late stage of Energy Refinement.

From then on, Meng Guan had settled in Qingyuan Immortal City and begun frantically gathering cultivation resources.

However, breaking through from the seventh level of Energy Refinement to the ninth level in a mere fourteen years, with a five-element spiritual root, was fraught with difficulty.

At first, Meng Guan had still possessed some confidence.

But as time passed, after six years had gone by and he finally succeeded in reaching the eighth level of Energy Refinement, most of that confidence had vanished.

There was no other reason.

The amount of spiritual power that had to be accumulated during the late stage of Energy Refinement was simply immense.

Even though he had worked himself to the bone, whenever he accepted assignments in Qingyuan Immortal City that could earn him abundant cultivation resources, he deliberately chose the most dangerous missions—so long as their rewards were sufficiently generous.

Yet he still found himself desperately short of resources.

And being desperately short of cultivation resources meant that his chances of reaching the perfection stage of Energy Refinement before the age of sixty had fallen dramatically.

Still, he had decided long ago to stake his life on carving out a path forward. He knew that he had no way back.

Rather than give up just like that, he might as well continue to gamble on his chances. Even if he ultimately perished and his cultivation vanished, he would have no regrets.

Thus, after realizing this, Meng Guan worked even harder.

One dangerous assignment after another fell into his hands. With his courage, meticulousness, and considerable strength, he completed each of them to perfection.

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

As cultivation resources continually came into his possession, his experience in spell combat and battle improved enormously.

Six years to advance from the seventh level of Energy Refinement to the eighth level.

That speed of cultivation was already extremely rapid.

But it was still not enough!

If he continued at that pace, Meng Guan’s chances of reaching the perfection stage of Energy Refinement before the age of sixty would be infinitesimally close to zero.

Even so, Meng Guan did not choose to give up.

Though he himself felt that his path ahead had already been severed, and that his bold declarations from before had been nothing more than an unrealistic dream, he would not surrender before the very end—not before he turned sixty.

Thus, he struggled through one dangerous mission after another, and more than three years passed.

One day, news suddenly spread throughout the entire immortal city that the city’s enforcement corps was recruiting rogue cultivators.

Some believed that the enforcement corps had suffered too many casualties and wanted to recruit rogue cultivators as cannon fodder.

Others believed that wicked cultivators outside the city had become too rampant, and that the enforcement corps intended to expand its ranks and wipe them all out.

Still others had their own theories.

But in Meng Guan’s eyes at the time, the treatment offered by the city’s enforcement corps was extraordinarily generous.

After joining, one could receive a substantial monthly stipend in spirit stones. Moreover, anything seized after killing wicked cultivators would belong entirely to the individual; the city would take not the slightest portion.

Such generous terms set Meng Guan’s heart ablaze, and he went to sign up at once.

He wanted to reach the perfection stage of Energy Refinement before turning sixty and gain a chance to set foot on the Foundation Establishment path.

He had already put his life on the line. Did he really need to worry about whether he would die?

Besides, after struggling through countless crises for so many years, his experience in spell combat and battle was extraordinarily rich, and his own strength was by no means weak.

Joining the city’s enforcement corps seemed to be an opportunity.

With that thought in mind, Meng Guan entered the city’s enforcement corps without hesitation and successfully became one of its members.

By then, he had already remained at the eighth level of Energy Refinement for more than three years, with only a few years left before he turned sixty.

Perhaps it was because of the wealth of experience he had accumulated over the preceding years.

Perhaps it was because of the fearless momentum in his heart.

Or perhaps it was because he was both bold and careful, while possessing exceptionally formidable combat strength.

After joining the city’s enforcement corps, Meng Guan quickly flourished.

From that point onward, Meng Guan became renowned for his skill with the great saber. Whenever he fought wicked cultivators, he was ferocious beyond compare. His ruthless and sinister handling of the Soul-Severing Saber caused countless wicked cultivators to flee at the mere mention of his name.

The title of Soul-Severing Daoist also grew increasingly famous throughout Qingyuan Immortal City.

End of Chapter

Page (3/3)