"This Mulberry Tree was planted by my late wife and three days after our wedding. Now, it stands tall and proud..."
After the cleaning, dusk had settled. Wang Wenzhen walked out of his humble abode and, seeing the solitary, lush Mulberry Tree standing verdant and upright in the courtyard, couldn’t help but feel a wave of emotion.
He had lost his mother at a young age, and his family was impoverished, so his father had remained a widower, never remarrying. Though his father studied literature, he repeatedly failed the imperial examinations. Later, his father passed away prematurely. Wang Wenzhen observed a few years of mourning, cutting firewood to support the household. At seventeen, through a matchmaker, he married Zhou Qiaoniang.
Zhou Qiaoniang was renowned throughout the nearby villages for her virtue. After marrying him, she asked him to transplant a Mulberry Tree from the mountain to their ho, so they could raise silkworms and weave cloth to support his studies.
Standing outside the house, old scenes soon floated before Wang Wenzhen’s eyes: Qiaoniang picking mulberries, him reading under the eaves, the two of them exchanging smiles.
"Enough, enough..." he thought. "The past is past."
Wang Wenzhen sighed and shook his head. He gently touched the Mulberry Tree. When he saw the mottled moonlight filtering through its canopy onto his robes, he was montarily stunned. Looking up, he realized night had already fallen deeply. He had stood there from afternoon until night, for several hours.
"Old Master, it’s ti to rest," the housekeeper said, walking over and draping an outer robe over Wang Wenzhen’s shoulder.
The moonlight, like a silken veil, poured into the Wang Family’s old house, bathing everything in a silvery luminescence.
From the dense canopy of the Mulberry Tree in the courtyard corner, a youth in a green robe erged. He resembled an illusory soul, yet under the moonlight, he appeared remarkably solid.
Listening to these Wang Family servants and neighbors, Wang Wenzhen is now a high official. I should ask him about this place... Xu Xing’s soul drifted towards the inner room where Wang Wenzhen was resting.
In his previous life, he had explored the Emperor Jin World. He knew that although there was a separation between immortal and mortal beings in the Emperor Jin World, it hadn’t reached the state of Fengxi Country, where immortals and mortals completely avoided interfering with each other. If immortals and mortals did interact, then even a remote place like this should have more than a scarce few legends about Immortals. Yet, all he found were unsubstantiated rumors. Furthermore, the Emperor Jin World possessed a tradition of Qi and blood martial arts that ordinary people could also cultivate. It shouldn’t be that everyone he encountered was rely a common mortal.
In the courtyard, over a dozen robust n in blue clothes, long knives at their waists, patrolled with lanterns, but none could detect Xu Xing’s presence.
"Wang Wenzhen..." Xu Xing thought, then projected his voice. "I ask you, what place is this? Are there Warriors and Ghost Immortals in the Capital City?"
Xu Xing waved his sleeve robe, first setting up a sound insulation array in the inner room to block the senses of the patrolling family servants. Then, he cast a srizing spell to question Wang Wenzhen.
With his Cultivation Realm, using a Soul Searching technique would have been faster. But he wasn’t so ruthless, murderous Demon Repair. Sixty years ago, Wang Wenzhen had transplanted him from the mountain to the Wang Family estate. Although that act was unintentional and had cost him his mulberry leaves, he had been moved to this place with Spiritual Veins, so he owed Wang Wenzhen a small debt of gratitude. It wasn’t necessary to repay it, but if he were to harm him, then his years of cultivating the Dao would have been for naught.
"There are Warriors, capable of leaping over rooftops and walls, each a match for ten n, but... there are no such Qi and blood Warriors as the Immortal describes..." Wang Wenzhen replied. Although his mind was hazy, he still possessed basic reasoning. He swayed as he rose and bowed to Xu Xing, this "Immortal." "As for Ghost Immortals, I, Wang, have never heard of them."
Warriors, but no Ghost Immortals? Xu Xing frowned. It was understandable that Shangjiang Village, being a remote backwater, might be ignorant of extraordinary powers. However, the Dali Dynasty, where Wang Wenzhen resided, boasted a territory four to five tis the size of his own Fengxi Country; it was no small kingdom. How could there be no Warriors or Ghost Immortals within its borders? Moreover, Wang Wenzhen’s official position hadn’t been low. Although he had now petitioned to retire, he had once been the Minister of Works, a Third Rank official.
"Regarding the matter the Immortal ntioned, I, Wang, might have a conjecture," Wang Wenzhen offered. "According to historical records, a thousand years ago, a great change occurred in the Li Dynasty—a natural disaster."
He then recounted what he knew. In the Dali Dynasty, he was considered an important figure among the civil officials. When Historians compiled history, they couldn’t bypass high-ranking officials of the six ministries like him. Besides providing historical materials from their respective departnts, these officials also had to review the drafts for additions and corrections.
"Four thousand one hundred and thirty years ago, on that day, teors carrying Heavenly Fire descended upon the Li Dynasty, causing a great disaster. Half the Capital City was burned, and the number of people killed or injured was beyond count."
"Moreover, this fire was incredibly difficult to extinguish. It consud countless rivers, and the Li Dynasty was transford into a scorched wasteland."
"Fortunately, an Immortal saved the world. He held a Three-legged bronze round cauldron, which he used to gather the teors and extinguish the Heavenly Fire."
"However, this account is too absurd," Wang Wenzhen said, stroking his three wisps of beard. "I ordered the Historians to delete this record to prevent it from misleading the world."
This was a matter of considerable pride for him; he had engaged in heated debate with the assembled scholars at a court assembly, compelling the Historians to and this record. After all, the Sage taught not to speak of anomalies, feats of strength, disorders, or spirits. To record such outlandish tales in the annals of history would only mislead future generations.
Immortals... A Three-legged Round Cauldron... Xu Xing pondered. He speculated that this celestial calamity might have been what eradicated extraordinary powers from the Dali Dynasty. But... even after such a heavenly disaster, even if all the Warriors and Ghost Immortals had perished, their legacies shouldn’t have been completely severed, leaving not a single one behind. Unless... there was a problem with the Spiritual Energy, and this place had beco a land devoid of it... A bold conjecture ford in his mind, and the more he considered it, the more he felt it had to be the truth.
Back in the Bloodline World, he and King Li Hong of Chu had nearly wiped out an entire generation of top-tier Cultivators. Yet, when he later departed the Bloodline World for the Emperor Jin World, new experts had still managed to rise. Ultimately, as long as the soil remains fertile, sothing will eventually grow, even if it’s just weeds or practitioners of the Left Path... This only happens in a land devoid of Spiritual Energy!
Then... what about the Wang Family’s Spiritual Veins...? Xu Xing activated his Divine Eye, peering at the Spiritual Veins beneath the ground, tracing their qi pathways.
Soon, he noticed sothing peculiar. These qi pathways extended downwards from the Green Mountain near Shangjiang Village. The deeper into the mountain forest they went, the more nurous they beca. At the foot of the mountain, however, these pathways were almost non-existent.
Yet, the Wang Family seed to have experienced so Great Fortune; several qi pathways converged here, drawing Spiritual Power to this spot and forming a small Spiritual Vein.
Qi pathways are not Spiritual Veins themselves. Qi pathways channel spiritual impetus, and where they intersect, a Spiritual Vein might fortuitously co into being.
Immortals reside in the mountains, not in the Mortal World. These vast mountains must conceal the last vestiges of this land’s legacy... Xu Xing instantly ford a hypothesis.
"Are there any more records about the Immortal who saved the world with the cauldron?" he asked Wang Wenzhen again. If his deductions were correct, the concentration of Spiritual Veins within these overlapping mountain ranges was inextricably linked to that ancient celestial disaster.
"Yes, yes, there are records..." Wang Wenzhen struggled to recall. "It’s rumored that this Wu Yi Mountain Range was ford from that Immortal’s bronze cauldron. Back then, there were no such imnse mountains, and this place was called Xinglong Prefecture..."
Four thousand years... Xu Xing’s gaze pierced through the door and window, settling on the distant, overlapping peaks of the Wu Yi Mountain Range.
This mountain range didn’t look as if it could have ford in a re four thousand years. Four thousand years, while a long ti, wasn’t enough for such drastic geological transformations—unless that Immortal possessed truly supre Magic Power. The more absurd it seed, the closer it might be to the truth. While Xu Xing didn’t fully believe the tale of the Immortal and the cauldron, he didn’t entirely dismiss the possibility either.
"At a court assembly, Historian Liu once ntioned that so predecessors claid to have seen a mural in a cave within the Wu Yi Mountain Range, a painting that depicted the events of that celestial disaster," Wang Wenzhen added. "However, Historian Liu himself didn’t know the cave’s location. It was likely just baseless talk."
A cave mural... Xu Xing decided he would venture into the mountains later to investigate the truth.
In his previous life, when he parted ways with Shi Yuyan, he had learned from her about so of the major powers in the Emperor Jin World. That world was largely governed by various Divine Houses. For instance, the Black Mountain Sect in Yinshui County was subordinate to the Divine Shepherd Si Family, and the Divine Shepherd Si Family, in turn, was a power within the Qiming Divine Mansion. It was indeed peculiar that the Li Dynasty was not ruled by any Divine House.
Seeing Wang Wenzhen struggle to recall anything further for a long mont, Xu Xing understood that this was likely the extent of the old man’s knowledge. No need for him to strain his mory any longer.
With a wave of his sleeve, Xu Xing dispelled the srizing spell on Wang Wenzhen. He then separated a sliver of his own consciousness, transforming it into pure Divine Soul Power, and sent it into Wang Wenzhen’s Niwan Palace. Nourished by this pure spiritual essence, Wang Wenzhen would likely live for at least another ten or twenty years.
Having done all this, Xu Xing passed effortlessly through the wall and returned to the Mulberry Tree to continue his secluded cultivation. After more than fifty years of practice, he had reached the late stage of the Elixir Mark Realm and was now just one step away from the Approaching Yang Realm.
It feels like... soone ca to see ? Was it a dream? No, it must have been a nightmare, Wang Wenzhen thought, suddenly waking up on his bed from a deep sleep. I’m getting old... He touched his forehead and found it slick with cold sweat, further convincing himself he’d had another nightmare.
He remained completely unaware that the spirit of the Mulberry Tree in his courtyard had just paid him a visit.
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