Herb Gatherer of Heaven Pillar Mountain

A day earlier, the Zhou Family, the mortal enemies of the Wang Family and a Golden Core lineage, had suddenly found Fragrant Swallow Valley and trapped the several dozen members of the Wang Family inside.

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 hope to speak of. The Wang Family could not escape this calamity.

The end of the Thousand Mile Talisman also said that Zhao Sheng's family should flee as soon as possible, lest the Zhou Family come looking for the Zhao Family to cut the grass and dig out the roots.

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

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

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

Over the past dozen years, the Wang Family's annual earnings had risen dramatically thanks to the income from perfume, leaving them with a surplus of three to four hundred spirit stones each year.

And Wang Zonghai was already nearing ninety. If he did not achieve Foundation Establishment soon, he did not have many years left to live.

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

So over the past half year, aside from selling off their ancestral property, the Wang Family had dragged their son-in-law Zhao Sheng into seven or eight profitless deals.

A month ago, the Wang Family had made a ruthless investment, spending more than twenty thousand spirit stones to finally buy an Inferior Foundation Establishment Pill at auction.

Zhao Sheng had guessed correctly. This disaster had indeed originated from 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 calamity that had wiped out the lineage.

The Crimson Dragon Sword had been one of the spirit artifacts most often used by the Wang Family ancestor during his Foundation Establishment stage.

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 he realized that the Wang Family remnants were hiding in the Liang Kingdom.

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

Thus, after the Wang Family ancestor passed away, the wall fell and everyone pushed. Under the Zhou Family ancestor's leadership, the Wang Family's grand protective formation was ultimately breached, and nearly the entire lineage was slaughtered.

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

"Husband, what should we do?" Wang Yuqi was at her wits' end, completely without an idea.

"Don't panic! I'm here."

The Wang Family was beyond saving. The most important thing now was to preserve 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 turned one.

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

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

But the Zhou Family would not spare his family, because the Cultivation World had always followed the tradition of cutting the grass and digging out the roots.

"Great Yong Zhou Family! Zhao will repay the blood debt of this shattered home and scattered family tenfold. Even if I cannot do it in this life, there will be the next life, and the life after that. One day, I will make your Zhou Family pay blood for blood."

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

To increase their chances of survival as much as possible, the couple would take only Zhao Chengle and flee. The other seven children would be entrusted to close relatives and separated as much as possible while fleeing.

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

Upon hearing 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 as well.

His decades as family head had not been for nothing. Zhao Hexing quickly calmed down and, with swift and decisive efficiency, gathered seven of the most trusted members of the main branch. In less than a quarter of an hour, he had arranged everything.

Two hours later, Zhao Sheng watched with a face full of grief as carriages carrying the children departed separately toward the Unknown Land.

For safety's sake, no one in the entire Zhao Family knew the final destination of the escape, not even Zhao Sheng.

When they fled, each of the seven children carried a piece of family keepsake, 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 his eighth child into a sleeping bag and tied him securely to his back. Then he forcefully 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.

"Hyah! Hyah!"

The two Thousand Mile Divine Steeds excitedly snorted, their hooves striking in rapid succession as their agile bodies shot away like flying arrows.

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

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

Zhao Sheng stood at the edge of a precipice, gazing as far as he could. Beneath his feet stretched boundless clouds, while above him there was no end in sight. From every direction, the wind surged and howled like the roar of ocean tides, shoving clouds and squeezing mist as it battered the rock wall below, seeming ready to sweep anyone atop the cliff into that limitless sea of clouds.

Looking around from where he stood, the mountain walls on both sides stretched outward for an unknown distance, as though they would never end.

Though this stretch of sheer cliff was not small and even contained depressions among the precipices, within Heaven Pillar Mountain—with a cross-sectional circumference of several thousand li and a height whose summit could not be seen—it was merely an extremely tiny, remote corner. Herb Gatherers rarely visited this place.

"Heaven Pillar Mountain, Heaven Pillar Mountain... Have you truly pierced the heavens? I wonder, one day, when the endless Cloud Sea Heavenly Barrier disperses, will I be able to see the full shape of this mountain?"

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

Over the years, Zhao Sheng had gone back and forth along the Boundless Mountain Wall thousands upon tens of thousands of times. During that time, regardless of whether the weather was clear or overcast, he had never 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 central 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 fled to the vicinity of Heaven Pillar Mountain and settled there in seclusion, concealing their identities.

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

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

Moon Dew was too mysterious, appearing only above an altitude of thirty li on Heaven Pillar Mountain. That place was too high and too perilous; none below the Foundation Establishment realm could reach it.

So Moon Dew need not be mentioned. Let it be 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, while 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 sheen. That was also where Purple Qi Ganoderma got its name.

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

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