The Transmigrator's Cultivation - Chapter 432

Even though the seven cultivators had all reached at least the Nascent Soul stage, with the couple among them being at the Divine Transformation stage with strong abilities and numerous protective magical treasures, they were still almost forced into a deadly situation when they were besieged by several mid-level demons.

This was because many Immortal Dao techniques are ineffective against demons.

Their earlier battle against the demons clearly demonstrated this.

When it came to their abilities, only the strongest offensive techniques were useful, but such abilities consumed a great deal of true essence. After casting just two or three, their true essence would be nearly depleted, and even if they managed to use them, it would leave the cultivators pale and exhausted, unable to sustain themselves. Thus, their abilities were not of much use overall.

On the other hand, shen cultivators, who practiced the Yang Spirit path, were naturally more effective against demons. When the sun was high, its golden light not only strengthened them but also weakened demons—even though the weakening effect wasn’t immense, it accumulated over time and had an impact.

Additionally, each time their Yang Spirit avatars bit into the demons, they inflicted real damage. In the end, it became a contest of who had the superior skills, ensuring that they could at least break through the demons’ defenses.

Among all cultivators, unless one practiced a particularly rare technique with inherently high offensive power—sometimes even tailored to counter demons—their effectiveness against demons was limited. The exception was sword cultivators. Once their sword soul was refined, they could naturally harm demons, putting them on par with shen cultivators in this regard.

However, while the Yang Spirit could wound demons, the severity of the injury depended on the strength of the Yang Spirit. Similarly, a sword cultivator’s sword soul could also cut through a demon’s body, but the extent of the damage was determined by the refinement level of the sword soul. The same applied to cultivators with unique techniques.

In essence, when cultivators came to the Nine Void Battlefield to train, it was to experience the danger of life-and-death situations, improving their understanding of cultivation while honing their skills and willpower to develop stronger offensive abilities. Those who survived were, without a doubt, among the best, and naturally saw great improvement.

Moreover, their mental state would become more stable through such arduous challenges.

As they walked and talked, Zeng Zhidao and his wife were open and honest with Yun Lie.

They even shared their past experiences.

As expected, most people from the lower realms had arrived because of the Sword God Token.

The couple had sworn an oath to become dual cultivation partners in the lower realms many years ago. They had grown up together and shared deep affection. Later, they both entered the Immortal Dao. Zeng Zhidao had a younger brother and sister, Zeng Zhiyuan and Zeng Wanwan, while Hong Ni had a younger brother named Hong Chao. All five of them were exceptionally talented and highly valued by both their sects and their families, truly the pride of their generation. Aside from necessary training, they had never faced many hardships.

The Sword God Token was obtained by Hong Chao and Zeng Wanwan, both sword cultivators, during a trip to practice swordsmanship together.

Afterward, Hong Chao somehow became the owner of the Sword God Token and activated it. Upon learning about the Sword Spirit Tower, he informed his older brother and sister-in-law. Zeng Zhidao and Hong Ni, who had been stuck at a bottleneck for years, naturally decided to join them, and the group traveled together to the Nine Void Realm.

After many years, the five obtained the War God Token. However, Zeng Wanwan and Hong Chao were so focused on sword training that they decided to stay behind, leaving the other three to head to the Nine Void Battlefield. The three of them hadn’t anticipated just how dangerous the battlefield would be. Fortunately, the two Divine Transformation cultivators had enough experience to survive, and over the years they had gradually adjusted. Along the way, they recruited a few companions and continued their adventures together.

Although their group of seven wasn’t large, they had learned to adapt. They carefully saved spirit stones to exchange for a Void Break Mirror and, through cautious efforts, avoided any catastrophic disasters. This time, their luck had simply run out, and they were surrounded, but meeting Yun Lie meant they weren’t completely out of luck.

After finishing, Zeng Zhidao glanced at Yun Lie and saw that his expression remained unchanged, without any visible reaction. Smiling faintly, he decided not to say more.

He had already done his best; if he could gain even a little goodwill from this sword cultivator, it would be enough. Even if there was no closeness, as long as Yun Lie didn’t find them annoying, that would be acceptable. Judging by Yun Lie’s current demeanor, though there wasn’t any sign of closeness, there was also no indication of annoyance.

Yun Lie indeed didn’t feel any irritation. He also wanted to gather some information from these people, and since they seemed upright, they were preferable to those with devious intentions. If he needed to stay with them for a while, he didn’t mind cooperating with them.

Soon, they saw a group gathered outside a military camp, which Zeng Zhidao had mentioned earlier.

This was not one of the major corps, but rather a small corps of around 10,000 to 20,000 people, with some local fame. As a result, many individuals either couldn’t or didn’t want to join the corps, forming their own teams and camping nearby.

Zeng Zhidao’s group was just a small, insignificant team among them.

Zeng Zhidao, acting as though it was no big deal, invited Yun Lie to stay temporarily at their camp. Yun Lie gave a slight nod and agreed.

Everyone in this gathering area had claimed a small plot of land to settle on. Like others, Zeng Zhidao’s group had pitched their tents there.

Yun Lie observed that the land near a small stone hill was relatively flat, with several array flags planted, marking a small formation to signal that others should not enter.

Chunyu Jing, the woman in the group, raised her hand and cast a few spells to withdraw the flags. Instantly, several tents appeared on the empty ground, connected to each other. However, each tent was quite small, suggesting that the space they occupied was also very limited.

After some discussion, the group tidied up one tent and offered it to Yun Lie for his stay, while the rest squeezed into the remaining three tents.

The scene looked rather harsh.

Zeng Zhidao gave a bitter smile and said, “Daoist Yun, I hope you won’t find this too unworthy.”

It was, indeed, a bit embarrassing. A Divine Transformation cultivator like Zeng Zhidao, who had once been held in high regard, and treated like a star, wouldn’t have been so overly warm and ingratiating to a talented sword cultivator like Yun Lie had they met in the lower realms. Even when on training missions in the lower realms, Zeng Zhidao would never have stayed in such a pitifully small tent, nor would he have been so cautious, to the point of not daring to add even one extra tent.

The other cultivators also gave bitter smiles. Even though they knew the living arrangements weren’t ideal, they still extended the invitation. Now that Yun Lie had accepted, they couldn’t help but anxiously watch his expression, wondering if he would show any disdain or contempt.

Yun Lie said, “It’s fine. As long as I have a place to meditate.” During his early years of traveling after leaving the mountain, he had endured countless hardships. Though he had always remained steadfast, he had faced even worse conditions than this, so he had no particular feelings about it. Moreover, with his emotions frozen, he rarely felt anything at all, and certainly not now.

Seeing this, the other cultivators sighed in relief.

Zeng Zhidao smiled, about to speak.

But just at that moment, a sharp, piercing beam of light suddenly shot toward them with deadly precision, as though it intended to pierce right through someone!

Hong Ni, who had been keeping an eye on her husband, noticed it immediately. Her lips parted, and she spat out a Spirit Snake Spike, shattering the incoming beam in an instant!

She sharply rebuked, “How dare you!”

Everyone turned to look and saw a shen cultivator. Though his features were not unattractive, his excessive obesity made him somewhat repulsive. It was he who had launched the previous attack. He was not alone, however, as four or five other cultivators were standing behind him, all seemingly under his command.

Zeng Zhidao’s expression darkened as he said, “Zhu Wu, it’s you again!”

Hong Ni’s pretty face turned cold. “Shameless scoundrel! You were beaten into disgrace just a few days ago, and now you dare show up to make a fool of yourself?”

Zhu Wu sneered, “You lot are now nothing but a bunch of weaklings. What can you possibly do to me? Hand over this campsite, and give me Jing’er and Mengxiang as concubines, and I might spare you. Otherwise… next time, you won’t be so lucky, and none of you will escape with your lives!”

Everyone was shocked. “It was you who lured those three mid-level demonic beasts?”

Wang Qingshan’s face changed. “Impossible! How could you have that kind of power?”

Zhu Wu, full of pride, boasted, “All I had to do was send a few of my subordinates to follow you on your journey, and with the help of the Void Mirror and a special lure, I led the demonic beasts straight to you. How was it? Not a small ordeal, was it?”

When the beasts surrounded them, those who had been following Zhu Wu quickly fled, knowing that once the demonic beasts dealt with Zeng Zhidao’s group, they wouldn’t benefit from sticking around.

By all accounts, Zeng Zhidao and his group should have died. Though they managed to escape, they were badly wounded and lost much of their strength and ability to defend themselves.

Hearing Zhu Wu’s words, Zeng Zhidao and the others clenched their teeth in anger.

Hong Ni steadied herself and coldly responded, “We were indeed careless and allowed you to take advantage of the situation. But don’t forget, this is a military camp, and anyone under its protection is forbidden from fighting near the area. While you may have a cousin in the army, even he can’t cover up such blatant murder!”

Chunyu Jing, pale-faced, chimed in, “You already broke the rules with your sneak attack earlier. If you dare act again, even at the cost of my life, I’ll make sure everyone knows what you did. You won’t gain a thing from it!”

Zhu Wu was furious, but he knew she was right. With a vicious glare, he spat, “Fine, fine, fine! We’ll see what happens in the future!” He then glanced at Yun Lie, saying, “Newcomer, don’t waste your sword skills with this group of nobodies. If you’re interested, I can have my cousin bring you into the military camp. Think it over. My door is always open to you!” With that, he turned and strode off.

Once Zhu Wu left, the atmosphere grew heavy.

Zeng Zhidao’s group looked increasingly grim. Zhu Wu was only at the lower level of the Gathering Origin realm and wasn’t particularly strong. However, his Yang Spirit was formidable, and being a shen cultivator with a powerful backer, he was able to bully them to this extent.

How pitiful that they, once revered and respected, now had to deal with such a vicious, petty man!

Zeng Zhiyuan glanced at Yun Lie, a bit worried.

Would this sword cultivator be swayed by Zhu Wu’s words and decide to join the military?

Zeng Zhidao, however, didn’t consider that possibility. Instead, he awkwardly said, “Daoist Yun, forgive us for making a spectacle of ourselves.”

Yun Lie remained expressionless and asked, “Who is he?”

Zeng Zhidao paused, then sighed and shook his head. “Zhu Wu is nothing but a scoundrel riding on the fame of his cousin. He’s not worth mentioning. His behavior stems from his anger when we refused to let him take Jing’er and Mengxiang as concubines several months ago. Humiliated, he’s been harassing us ever since.” At this, his frustration was palpable, as though something was stuck in his throat.

Translator: Lynn

Translations are not 100% correct. Please let me know if there are typos/mistakes in the chapter.

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