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Crackling.
Inside the giant cauldron, a blazing fire continued to burn. The Immortal Statue wooden sculpture was being consud by the flas, the wood turning black, cracking, and crumbling. The sorrowful expression on the Immortal Statue’s face gradually twisted, then disappeared.
On the stone steps in front of the main hall of the Taoist temple, Qiao Mu and Wang Songhe faced each other across the steps, their gazes eting in the air without sparking anything, just quietly spreading.
Since Qiao Mu arrived in Heyang City, everything he saw was old, including the people, just wearing a slightly fresher coat, with no significant changes happening, like in the Xuantian Temple or with the forr Sheriff Qian.
Wang Songhe, whom he t today, finally gave him a sense of everything being different.
Qiao Mu turned around, pointing to the main hall of the Taoist temple behind him.
"You said just now that being an official is useless, and you want to do sothing practical…."
"Is this what you call a practical matter?"
South King neither agreed nor disagreed, but continued speaking:
"No matter if you are in the city or in the woods, there are always limits."
"Wang Songhe, who turned to banditry, spent decades building a secluded village in Southeast Province and Nan Province, thinking of himself as a mighty bandit, but in reality, he was limited in his power."
"Unlike Wang, who was known as the South King." The South King turned around to look at the soldiers standing quietly at the entrance of the Taoist temple behind him.
He ca with over a thousand soldiers, their horses thundering as they arrived, their presence truly remarkable.
The soldiers did not follow the South King into the temple, instead they surrounded it, their imposing presence causing the curious onlookers on the wooden platform in front of the temple to retreat, too afraid to co close.
"As a court official, one can’t bring peace to the nation, only uphold one’s reputation; as a bandit, one can’t help the people, only help a few thousand flee to the mountains."
"But as the South King, in just a few months, one can sweep through a province, establish a new nation, and eliminate the problems in Nan Province…"
Qiao Mu interrupted him, "You may have built your new nation, but have you truly eradicated the Xuantian Sect in Nan Province?"
"In your youth, you criticized the inhumane, as you grew older, you understood the inhumane, and eventually, you beca inhumane yourself, didn’t you?"
South King fell silent for a mont and then said:
"I, Wang Songhe, am just a simple mortal, weak and powerless, not as skilled in martial arts as the mbers of the Qiao family, who are like talented warriors that thrive easily like wild grass in the spring breeze."
"If we are like ants compared to the Immortal Gate, then we mortals are like ants challenging a tree. How can we even think about challenging a mountain?"
"Are you planning to join the Immortal Gate because of your lack of strength? I heard that just two years ago, when you were still a bandit, your cultivation in the immortal path was not even at the Foundation Building stage. But now… have you already ford your Golden Core?" Qiao Mu’s expression turned cold.
"Cultivating in the immortal path takes ti. In just two years, you have advanced past the Foundation Building stage. It seems that you, South King, are not just an ordinary person."
"Even if I was in the past, I am not the sa now."
Qi Refining, Foundation Building, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation.
After the decline of spiritual energy, even with the Incense Symbol of Divine Fire, Soul Transformation is already the limit for mortals.
Qiao Mu was not very knowledgeable about the immortal path, but having killed many cultivators, he could vaguely judge that South King was probably at the Golden Core stage now.
But his aura at the Golden Core Stage was unstable, worse than any Golden Core cultivator Qiao Mu had killed before, likely just reaching the Core Formation stage.
Even so, Wang Songhe’s cultivation progress was already extrely remarkable, almost abnormal.
A normal Golden Core cultivator might need to cultivate and accumulate for hundreds of years, while those with exceptional talent and spiritual roots could achieve it in a few decades.
However, for Wang Songhe to reach Core Formation in just two years was quite exceptional.
In Qiao Mu’s words, he implied that this South King had received trendous benefits from the Xuantian Sect, suggesting that the sect had invested a lot to rapidly advance his cultivation.
Wang Songhe said, "In this troubled world, with my limited strength, I can only seek alternative paths."
"Given my talent, without external help, I would have struggled to even reach the Foundation Building stage through solitary cultivation."
"The path to immortality is as daunting as moving a mountain, not achievable in just one or two generations. Even soone like Qiao Pifu in the past perished before crossing the threshold of this gate."
"The path I seek is a balance, a way for both to coexist."
"Compromise, coexistence? Are you talking about a way for immortals and mortals to coexist?" Qiao Mu raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly." Wang Songhe looked towards the entrance of the Taoist temple.
The heavily ard soldiers had already sealed off the periter of the Taoist temple. Inside, there were only Qiao Mu and Wang Songhe facing each other quietly, along with a wooden statue burning in the fire.
Wang Songhe continued, "Immortal Gate seeks the worship of mortals, not the chaos of a world where people’s lives are as insignificant as grass; the establishnt of the South King and the Earthly Immortal Kingdom were born out of this principle."
"So, the conflicts between immortals and mortals are not irreconcilable."
"As long as the common people believe in the immortals of the Xuantian Sect, worship gods and immortals, and have a large number of devout followers, as long as this condition is t, for Immortal Gate, everything else is secondary."
"They care about worship, not the joys and sorrows of the people."
"If I beco the South King, I can be a bridge between immortals and mortals, pushing towards a prosperous era."
"But the price I have to pay…" South King looked towards the Taoist temple in front of him.
"These are the temples in the small and big cities."
"Do you call this a price?" said Qiao Mu.
"South King recruited Hua strength master Qiao Jinyin, using the fa accumulated by the Qiao family, holding up the banner, recruiting local brave volunteers to join the army, actually deceiving the world… Is this also a price?"
"In the past two years, in the capital city, cultivator Mingyue allowed spiritual beasts to openly eat people on the streets, such so-called ‘Inhuman Disaster’ will also exist in Nan Province just like this temple. Is this also a price?"
South King was silent at first, then spoke.
"In the past, without , Inhuman Disaster occurred frequently in Nan Province; But from now on…"
Qiao Mu smiled, took out a King Qin Sword from the storage bag.
"The younger generation Qiao Sen in the clan used to ntion you to , now it seems, it’s nothing more than this."
"A thousand words, grand talks, isn’t it all about surrendering first, then seeking peace in the world?"
"You still want to speak, but I’m tired of listening, let
speak instead!"
As Wang Songhe was about to stay silent and listen closely.
Suddenly, Qiao Mu raised his fist with a powerful energy, the strong force burst out, and a direct punch ca towards:
"We martial artists have always spoken with our fists!"
The intense energy suddenly soared into the sky, bypassing Wang Songhe and heading straight for the clouds.
With a crisp sound, a vivid golden light shattered between the clouds, and then an old Taoist with a long fan, looking disheveled, fell from the clouds, with his protective robe showing several cracks.
Elder Yaoyang was not skilled in magical combat, and Qiao Mu could sense his surveillance, taking him by surprise.
"Hmm?" Elder Yaoyang’s face changed slightly, about to say sothing, but then he saw Qiao Mu stepping on emptiness, speeding towards him like an arrow.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The fierce punches hit Elder Yaoyang hard, tearing his robes and making him bleed. A big hand grabbed him and pushed him into a burning pot in an instant.
"Young man, let’s talk–" Elder Yaoyang was standing in the fire, looking serious.
Between a few punches from Qiao Mu, Elder Yaoyang’s protective robes were shattered, making him feel the real threat of death. He quickly said:
"Behind
is the Immortal Gate Xuantian Sect, with many cultivators. If you kill , what good would it do?"
"The Immortal Gate has many cultivators. If you kill Chiyang, who is at the Golden Core Stage, I will co for you. And if you kill , there will be even stronger ones, like the Soul Changing Taoist Lord."
"Do you really want to challenge the mighty Immortal Gate to see who has more people?"
Qiao Mu then punched Elder Yaoyang’s head, scratched his chin, and seed to consider sothing.
"Your proposal sounds interesting."
Elder Yaoyang: ?
He frowned tightly and stopped trying to talk to Qiao Mu. Instead, he turned his head to South King beside him and said with a mix of surprise and anger:
"South King, he is a brainless and crude martial artist, but you are not."
"He is heading towards a dead end, don’t you understand? Even if you are colluding together, you will never escape from the Xuantian Sect’s grasp."
Hearing this made Elder Yaoyang angry.
He didn’t co this ti to fight, but to find out about Qiao Pianxin’s background and see if there was any connection to the Yunxiao Sect Leader.
But South King didn’t act as he had said.
This person is deceitful; his words didn’t show any intention of probing into the Qiao family mber’s background, instead, they angered Qiao Pianxin.
"We didn’t collude together," South King said:
"Mr. Qiao is sharp-eyed and noticed Elder Yaoyang’s hidden intentions, so he took action."
"If I hadn’t noticed, and you beat
to death, what would you do?" Qiao Mu spoke.
He thought to himself that he actually couldn’t tell if Wang Songhe was telling the truth or not, his words seed partly true and partly false.
There was a Nascent Soul Elder with not very high cultivation hiding behind, so just try to fight a bit first.
South King calmly said, "If you beat
to death, then so be it."
"Without a mber of the Qiao family causing a disruption, I would ultimately be at the rcy of others. In the future, I would probably just end up as a tool in the hands of inhuman, dying early would be a good thing."
South King stepped forward, quietly watching the struggling Elder Yaoyang inside the giant cauldron, and reminded Qiao Mu:
"Elder Yaoyang is one of the Nascent Soul Elders of the Xuantian Sect, but his expertise is not in martial arts, but in alchemy."
"Are you saying that this old guy has many spiritual dicines on him?" Qiao Mu’s eyes lit up imdiately, getting very interested.
Old guy, explode with energy!
"The elixir does exist, but it may not be exactly what Mr. Qiao had in mind," said South King calmly.
"This elixir, it’s far away yet right in front of us."
As he spoke, a faint bitter smile slowly appeared on his lips.
"I am a dicine Man under Elder Yaoyang, specializing in human-shaped herbs."
"Cultivating pills in two years is not the right path," explained Wang Songhe.
"In today’s world, without external help, I know that I cannot reach the Foundation Building Stage through pill cultivation with my own abilities."
"Therefore, I attempted to join the Immortal Gate in the first place, seeking to inherit the Xuantian Sect’s Taoism to advance further."
Wang Songhe’s expression darkened slightly as he ntioned this.
At that ti, he was just a foundation building cultivator, even considered a rogue cultivator, attempting to seize the Taoism inheritance of the Immortal Gate was like trying to pull out tiger’s teeth, extrely risky.
Then he crashed.
"The cultivation thod given to
by Elder Yaoyang was initially fast in progress, but it was not a true Dao thod, it was actually the practice of a dicine Man."
"The cultivation thod of a dicine Man may progress rapidly, but the foundation is unstable. At most, one can only cultivate up to the level of Golden Core, unable to achieve immortality, having only a superficial realm. Lifelong hardships in cultivation are essentially for the benefit of others."
Even ordinary dicine n’s cultivation does not progress to that extent.
It’s just that Wang Songhe had exceptional talent and spiritual roots, combined with his position as the South King, he could be considered as one who received undue favoritism, not a true Golden Core cultivator.
Qiao Mu listened quietly as he was over a thousand years old and was not easily swayed by words. At that mont, he asked:
"What about the strength of the Qiao family’s Huas and Master Qiao Jinyin’s matter?"
"Indeed, it was intentional on my part," Wang Songhe said.
"Back then, as the ‘South King’, I was actually a puppet manipulated by the Xuantian Sect. I couldn’t make military decisions, as an Immortal Gate cultivator was in charge, not to ntion eting Mr. Qiao."
"I heard from my old friends that Mr. Qiao Pianxin appeared in Yan City of Nan Province, so I ca up with this plan…"
Wang Songhe had dealings with a mber of the Qiao family in the past, so he knew how the Qiao family mber operated.
Whether acting as a respected guest in front of Qiao Jinyin, or talking boldly in the Taoist temple, Wang Songhe deliberately used provocative words to anger and attract Qiao Pianxin into action, after understanding the temperant of the Qiao family mber.
If Qiao Pianxin intervened and Wang Songhe survived, everyone would be happy.
If he were to be killed on the spot, it wouldn’t be a bad thing for him as a dicine Man.
"Wang Songhe," Elder Yaoyang in the fire called out.
"This person is a stubborn martial artist, but do you really want to walk down a dangerous path?"
"The sophistication of the Immortal Path prohibition is beyond your imagination. Do you truly believe that a re mortal martial artist can save you with just a punch?"
"Since you have committed such a heinous act, not only will you not find redemption, but you may also seek death in vain. It’s not as simple as dying and disappearing…"
"Elder Yaoyang, your heart is troubled," Wang Songhe stood next to the flas, looking down at him.
"Immortal cultivators seek longevity and immortality throughout their lives, so you, who know you are close to death, have beco confused in your mind and speak without restraint."
"But I am different from you." Wang Songhe squinted his eyes, a nostalgic look in them.
"I only practice magic, not the immortal path."
"What use is longevity to ? Why not live a short life?"
Qiao Mu was slightly surprised.
His mories were still fresh in his mind, and he instantly recalled the words Wang Songhe had spoken when they first t in the mountains two years ago.
Two years had passed in the blink of an eye, and now seeing the old friend in the familiar place, it seed like only the outer appearance had changed, while the inside remained the sa.
Things change, but people remain the sa.
Wang Songhe looked serious:
"Mr. Qiao, your martial arts skills are impressive, but Elder Yaoyang is a powerful cultivator and not easily hard even without protective clothing."
"Let
add so fire today."
He chanted a spell and a ball of red fire floated into the giant cauldron, touching Elder Yaoyang’s unprotected body.
Crackling sounds filled the air.
The fire in the cauldron suddenly grew intense, blazing brightly.
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