Cultivating Immortality, Starting from Childhood Sweethearts

Ch. 522

"The scholars of White Deer Academy… you've certainly got quite the temper."A woman's voice drifted out from within the ruins, soft and alluring, laced with coquettish charm.

Xiao Mochi looked over coldly, his grip tightening on the Collection of Heavenly Questions in his hand.

A sinister aura seeped from her entire body. She was dressed scantily, large swaths of her snow-white, delicate skin exposed—one glance was enough to tell she was a disciple of the demonic sects.

"Clang!"

The Lord of Black Hawk City knocked aside Lu Xiaoliu's sword with a flick of his hand and flew to the woman's side, his voice low and grim.

"Why did you come out?"

The woman covered her mouth and giggled, her soft chest bouncing slightly as she did.

"They've already stormed right into the City Lord's own home~ What, did my lord truly think you could keep it hidden?"

She looked them over, smiling lazily.

"Worthy of being teachers of White Deer Academy—truly extraordinary."

With both hands resting lightly on the thigh revealed beneath the slit of her skirt, she dipped into a graceful curtsy.

"Rouge Sect Master—Gu Yun—pays her respects to you all."

Wang Shenghan's expression turned icy as he demanded,

"White Deer Academy heard Black Hawk City was in peril, and specially dispatched us here to aid Black Hawk City against the Rouge Sect. Yet here the Rouge Sect Master is, inside the City Lord's Mansion. City Lord Fang—do you not intend to explain yourself?"

The other cultivators of Black Hawk City also stared at their own city lord, their expressions tangled with shock and conflict.

No matter what… they couldn't believe it.

Their city lord—colluding with the Rouge Sect… trying to refine the entire Black Hawk City?!

"HAHAHA!"

The Lord of Black Hawk City threw his head back and laughed.

"Since you've already found out, this old man won't bother pretending anymore.

That's right—I have been working with the Rouge Sect. These past few days, it's all been nothing but acting!

I've been stuck in the late Nascent Soul realm for far, far too long. I couldn't step into the Upper Three Realms… until the Rouge Sect Master came to me.

If we use the blood sacrifice of the whole city, and add a few Nascent Soul disciples of White Deer Academy—filled with righteous qi—to neutralize the resentment…

Then taking all of Black Hawk City as the furnace…

We can refine a Heavenly Soul Pill!"

His laughter grew sharper.

"The Rouge Sect and I will refine two Heavenly Soul Pills—one for me, one for the Rouge Sect Master. A win-win outcome.

As for my son falling in love with a woman from the Rouge Sect—of course that was all fake.

But somehow, that brat discovered my plan.

Discovering it would've been one thing.

Yet that brat actually tried to stop me! So I beat him into a grievous injury. He's locked away in the dungeon as we speak."

Nan Wenmo gripped her sword so tightly her knuckles whitened, her voice shaking with fury.

"You've truly lost your mind, haven't you? Tens of thousands of citizens in this city—how can you bear it?! The Fang Clan has cultivated and protected Black Hawk City for generations. After what you've done today, how will you face your ancestors in the heavens?!"

"How will I face them? HAHAHAHAHA!"

Fang Ran roared with laughter.

"Didn't expect a little girl like you—a Nascent Soul cultivator, no less—to still be this naïve.

In this world, strength is everything!

Once I reach the Jade Purity realm, I can build a city several times larger than Black Hawk City with ease! What's this tiny Black Hawk City worth?

Besides…

Little girl…

To cultivators like us, these mortals are no different from chickens and ducks we raise.

The only difference is, the profit they bring me is far higher than livestock. Everything they create, all their worth—it all feeds my cultivation.

And right now, this old man is short on 'money.'

So I'm selling off every last chicken and duck to cash in. That's all.

And don't bother worrying about the people of Black Hawk City just yet.

You four… are going to become this old man's pills, too."

"Heh. Then just try it!" Nan Wenmo's gaze sharpened as she swung her sword down.

Confucian sages righteous qi fused with her sword aura, forming a colossal blade.

"Hmph! In Black Hawk City, your strength isn't enough to impress anyone. And after these past days… you've already burned through a good deal of spiritual energy, haven't you?"

Fang Ran's voice turned frigid.

Breaking formations consumed spiritual power—the higher the formation, the more it drained.

Even though the Soul-Extinguishing Formation hadn't fully activated yet, the delay didn't matter.

Worst case, they'd fight it out.

They had wasted so much energy—he was confident he could kill them.

In Fang Ran's hand was a stone lion no bigger than a palm.

He formed a hand seal and chanted.

Black Hawk City's formation activated.

From within the tiny lion, an enormous golden spirit lion burst forth.

"ROOOAR!"

The golden lion bellowed, and Nan Wenmo's sword shadow shattered instantly.

"Disciples of Black Hawk City, heed my command! Kill the four of them!" Fang Ran ordered loudly. "Do not fear—each of you are disciples of Black Hawk City. Stand with me, and you shall become the founding disciples of the Black Hawk Sect in the future!"

Many disciples hesitated… but quickly, most made their choice, moving to stand behind the city lord.

Men die for wealth; birds die for food.

The city lord held the advantage now—if they didn't stand with him, they would only die.

Poisoned sleeve-arrows shot from within their robes, tearing through the morning mist.

Lu Xiaoliu stepped in front of the other three. The words "Thrice I reflect upon myself" on his azure robe flared brilliantly—his fabric whipping like a living scroll, wrapping up every poisoned arrow.

"Return!" Lu Xiaoliu snapped his robe outward.

The arrows whirled back toward their senders, each shaft now wrapped in a faint ink-black hue.

"Treating human lives like weeds… you deserve death!"

Xiao Mochi flicked his hand upward. The Collection of Heavenly Questions floated in midair.

Pages flipped—

and thirty-six golden characters for "Execute" (诛) flew out.

They slammed into the ground and formed a trapping array. Two Black Hawk disciples tried to slip into the shadows—

but golden vines erupted around their feet, binding them in place.

Wang Shenghan drew his own life-bound treasure.

At the tip of his wolf-hair brush, frost crystals gathered. He dipped it into the ink pool of his inkstone, drawing out a chilling radiance, his shout striking like spring thunder:

"Annihilate!"

The ink-character transformed into an ice spike and pierced straight through a demonic cultivator's chest.

Nan Wenmo… wasn't truly a swordswoman to begin with.

What she excelled at was painting.

She revealed her own life-bound treasure—

a scroll titled "Fishing Alone on a Cold River."

Snow drifted within the painting. An old fisherman in a bamboo hat sat by the riverbank.

The scroll trembled violently.

Several koi burst from the painted waters, flying into reality.

Rouge Sect Master Gu Yun tapped lightly onto the back of one koi with the tip of her foot.

The koi shattered instantly, dissolving into splashes of ink-water that rained down from the sky.

"Go on."

Gu Yun spread her hands. Two crimson silks shot out, wrapping around Nan Wenmo's wrists.

"Little sister's painted soul… big sister will be taking it."

Inside the painting, the fisherman's rod suddenly snapped.

The entire scroll began to fade.

"How dare you!"

Wang Shenghan flung his inkstone. Ink condensed midair into the character "Sincerity" (诚).

The moment Gu Yun's red silks touched the ink-character, blue flames burst to life.

The painted koi seized the opening and leapt free from the paper, their tails slapping—

three streams of water-arrows shot out.

More than twenty Rouge Sect disciples stopped hiding at last, surging into the battlefield.

Nan Wenmo bit her fingertip and pressed a blood seal into the corner of her painting.

"Awaken!"

The cold river surged into monstrous waves, dragging three approaching Rouge Sect women straight into the painting.

Fang Ran's black robe suddenly ballooned like bat wings, seven shadows lunging at Xiao Mochi from different directions.

The Collection of Heavenly Questions flipped on its own to the chapter "War."

Phantom bamboo slips formed into a shield array—

sparks exploded as shadowy claws raked across them.

Lu Xiaoliu's azure robe suddenly left his body, spinning through the air. Its sashes became green serpents snapping toward Fang Ran's throat—

only to be crushed brutally in Fang Ran's eagle-claw grip.

Xiao Mochi's group locked into formation, back-to-back.

Wang Shenghan's inkstone exploded into black lotus blossoms, forming a barrier within ten zhang.

Seven Black Hawk disciples suddenly burst from the ground's shadows, chain-blades weaving into a net of steel.

Nan Wenmo's painting sent out eighteen ink-swallow birds. Their beaks hammered at the chain-blades in a storm of crisp, rapid clinks.

Gu Yun's red silks suddenly split into hundreds of venomous serpents, their tongues spewing pink poisonous mist.

Lu Xiaoliu tore off the hem of his robe and tossed it into the sky.

The cloth unfurled into a "Vigilance in Solitude" (慎独) barrier.

The poison mist struck it—and crystallized into amber, dropping harmlessly to the ground.

Wang Shenghan seized the moment and swept his brush through the air, writing the character:

"Wind" (风).

A violent gale rose instantly, sweeping the poison mist back into the demonic ranks.

Fang Ran slammed both palms to the ground.

The shadows of the earth surged upward, forming a colossal shadow-eagle that shot into the heavens.

The Collection of Heavenly Questions erupted with golden light, pages flashing with the sacred phrase:

"The Master does not speak of the strange, the violent, the disorderly, or the supernatural."

Golden characters collided with the shadow-eagle—

blinding light detonated across the battlefield.

Nan Wenmo suddenly spread her painting fully across the ground.

Ink-black riverwater flooded outward, washing over the battlefield.

The moment Gu Yun's red silk touched the water—

the fisherman's hook within the painting pierced through space itself, snaring her collarbone.

"Enter the painting!"