Heaven Pillar Mountain Herb Gatherer

A day earlier, the Wang Family's mortal enemy, the Golden Core Zhou Family, had suddenly found Fragrant Swallow Valley and sealed several dozen Wang Family members inside the valley.

To ensure that not a single Wang Family remnant escaped, the Zhou Family had actually dispatched three Foundation Establishment cultivators and a squad of Qi Refining Late Stage clansmen.

There was no need to hold out any hope. The Wang Family was doomed this time.

At the end of the Thousand Mile Talisman, it was further written that Zhao Sheng's family should flee as soon as possible, lest Zhou Family members come for the Zhao Family and cut the grass at the roots.

The Wang Family had moved to Ganzhou more than sixty years ago and had remained safe all this time. Why had the Zhou Family come knocking precisely now?

Amid his shock and fury, Zhao Sheng was deeply puzzled. Wang Yuqi did not know why either.

He quickly guessed one possibility. "Could it be because of that Foundation Establishment Pill?"

Over the past dozen years, the Wang Family's annual income had increased dramatically thanks to Perfume, leaving them with three to four hundred spirit stones in surplus each year.

Wang Zonghai was already nearing ninety. If he did not achieve Foundation Establishment soon, he had only a few years left to live.

Thus, half a year ago, the Wang Family unanimously decided that even if they had to gamble their entire fortune, they would let Wang Zonghai attempt Foundation Establishment.

Over the past half year, besides selling off their ancestral property, the Wang Family had also forcibly dragged their son-in-law Zhao Sheng into seven or eight profitless ventures.

A month ago, the Wang Family had spared no expense, spending over twenty thousand spirit stones to finally auction off an Inferior Foundation Establishment Pill.

Zhao Sheng had guessed correctly. This calamity had indeed originated with the Foundation Establishment Pill, but it was only an indirect factor. The final ancestral spirit artifact the Wang Family had sold—the Crimson Dragon Sword—was the most direct cause of this extermination disaster.

The Crimson Dragon Sword had been the spirit artifact most often used by the Wang Family ancestor during his Foundation Establishment days.

Because the Crimson Dragon Sword had appeared in a Liang Kingdom Market, a Foundation Establishment clansman of the Zhou Family had happened to see it at an auction. Only then had they realized that the Wang Family remnants were hiding in the Liang Kingdom.

The Wang Family's Ancestral Land lay in the Great Yong Dynasty of the Sky Desolate Region. They had once been a Golden Core family, and their family ancestor had been mortal enemies with the Golden Core Ancestor of the neighboring Zhou Family.

Therefore, after the Wang Family ancestor passed away, the wall fell and everyone pushed it. Under the Zhou Family ancestor's lead in the siege, the Wang Family's grand formation was ultimately breached, and nearly the entire clan was wiped out.

Wang Zonghai and the others were the last branch of the Wang Family to escape.

"Husband, what do we do?" Wang Yuqi was at her wits' end, utterly without an opinion of her own.

"Don't panic! I'll handle everything."

The Wang Family could not be saved. What mattered most now was preserving the lives of his entire family as much as possible.

Zhao Sheng now faced an exceptionally difficult choice. He had eight children. The eldest, Zhao Chenggong, was sixteen, while the youngest, Zhao Chengle, had only just passed one year old.

Moreover, the Nanyang Zhao Family had over a thousand clansmen.

The Nanyang Zhao Family should not be in much danger. A mere group of mortals was likely beneath the Zhou Family's notice, and they might not necessarily slaughter them.

But the Zhou Family would not spare his own family, because the Cultivation World had always upheld the tradition of cutting the grass at the roots.

"Great Yong Zhou Family! For the blood debt of this lifetime's shattered home and scattered family, Zhao will repay you tenfold. Even if I cannot do it in this life, there will be another life, and another after that. One day, I will make your Zhou Family repay blood with blood."

With that thought, Zhao Sheng gritted his teeth and made a cruel decision.

To raise their chances of survival as much as possible, the couple would take only Zhao Chengle with them as they fled. The other seven children would be entrusted to close clansmen and sent fleeing in different directions.

Once he had made his choice, Zhao Sheng did not hesitate. He immediately found the family head, Zhao Hexing, and told him that the Wang Family had been destroyed and that his own family needed to flee at once.

Upon learning this, Zhao Hexing's expression changed drastically, and he stood frozen on the spot.

Zhao Sheng had no time to delay. Regardless of Zhao Hexing's reaction, he explained his plan again.

His decades as family head had not been for nothing. Zhao Hexing quickly calmed down and, with thunderous decisiveness, summoned seven of the most trusted members of the direct branch. Within a quarter of an hour, all arrangements had been made.

Two hours later, Zhao Sheng watched in heartbreaking grief as carriage after carriage carrying children departed separately toward the Unknown Land.

For safety's sake, no one in the entire Zhao Family knew where they were ultimately fleeing to—not even Zhao Sheng.

As they fled, each of the seven children carried a family token, so they could recognize one another in the future.

Zhao Sheng did not know whether he would ever see his children again in his lifetime.

"Wife, stop looking. We have to go!"

Zhao Sheng put the eighth child into a sleeping bag and tied him securely to his back, then forcibly pulled Wang Yuqi, who was staring blankly into the distance, onto two Thousand Mile Divine Steeds.

"Take care!"

Zhao Sheng looked back at Zhao Hexing, whose hair had suddenly turned completely white, and nodded gravely.

Giddyup! Giddyup!

The two Thousand Mile Divine Steeds snorted excitedly. Their hooves beat in rapid succession, and their powerful bodies shot away like flying arrows.

After Zhao Sheng's family vanished far beyond the horizon, Zhao Hexing suddenly burst into tears.

During the Summer Season, Heaven Pillar Mountain towered into the clouds. Its mountain walls were lush and green, with Strange Vines and Trees and unnamed herbs and plants covering nearly every corner.

Zhao Sheng stood at the edge of a cliff and gazed into the distance. Before him lay a vast expanse of clouds and mist, so boundless that the cliff's edge could not be seen. Gang winds surged from all directions, howling like raging waves crashing against the shore. Clouds churned and mist rolled, battering the rock walls again and again, as though they would sweep the sheer cliffs into the depths of that endless sea of clouds.

Looking left and right from where he stood, the mountain walls on both sides stretched out an unknown distance, as though they had no end.

Though this stretch of sheer wall covered no small area and contained several cliffside hollows, within Heaven Pillar Mountain—with a cross-sectional circumference of several thousand li and a height so great its summit could not be seen—it was merely an exceedingly tiny, remote corner. Herb Gatherers rarely came here.

"Heaven Pillar Mountain, Heaven Pillar Mountain... have you truly pierced the heavens? When the endless clouds and mist disperse one day, will I be able to see your true form?"

It was a perfectly ordinary thought. Nearly every Heaven Pillar Mountain Herb Gatherer felt a similar impulse.

Over the years, Zhao Sheng had traveled back and forth along the Boundless Mountain Wall thousands, even tens of thousands of times. Whether the weather was clear or overcast, he had never once seen the sea of clouds above his head or beneath his feet disperse.

Heaven Pillar Mountain was an extremely famous place in the Cultivation World, known as the axis of heaven and the center of the world. At the same time, it was also a paradise for Rogue Cultivators.

Twenty-three years ago, Zhao Sheng's family of three had fled to the vicinity of Heaven Pillar Mountain and settled here in seclusion under assumed names.

To save up cultivation resources for the eighth child, Zhao Sheng soon became one of the hundreds of thousands of Herb Gatherers on Heaven Pillar Mountain. Every day, he busily gathered all kinds of spirit herbs in exchange for cultivation resources such as spirit stones and spell talismans.

Heaven Pillar Mountain held countless spirit herbs. The most famous among them were Purple Qi Ganoderma and Moon Dew.

Moon Dew was too mysterious, appearing only above thirty li on Heaven Pillar Mountain. That place was too high and perilous; those below the Foundation Establishment realm could not reach it.

So, leaving Moon Dew aside, let us speak only of Purple Qi Ganoderma.

Purple Qi Ganoderma was divided into four grades according to its age: white, azure, scarlet, and purple.

Those under a hundred years old were White Ganoderma; those over a hundred but under five hundred years old were Azure Ganoderma. Ganoderma over five hundred years old was scarlet as fire, while ganoderma over a thousand years old carried a purple hue. That was also the origin of the name Purple Qi Ganoderma.

It was famous because Scarlet Fire Ganoderma over five hundred years old was a main ingredient in refining Foundation Establishment Pills, while Purple Qi Ganoderma over a thousand years old was one of the main ingredients of Core Formation Pills.

Those two points alone showed just how sought-after Purple Qi Ganoderma was in the Cultivation World!