46 Martial Artists and Cultivators

Ye Qin was astonished.

This yellow orb was actually a ghost?

Immortals and ghosts were things that only existed in the legends told by the village elders of Ping Province. Ye Qin had never believed in ghosts or deities. However, after the many strange occurrences of this past year—the appearance of a Purple Mansion within his body and his long stay in the endless void—he no longer held much resistance toward the various claims regarding ghosts and gods.

"Old ghost, keep on laughing. Let's see how long you can keep that up!"

Ye Qin gritted his teeth in hatred, upgrading Nan Tianba from an "old thief" to an "old ghost." No matter how eloquently Nan Tianba spoke, trying to trick him into producing more White Glow, he remained unmoved. He simply sat cross-legged within the light barrier with his eyes closed, refusing to let the White Glow appear and benefit this old ghost for nothing.

With his weak strength at the second level of Qi Refining and his lack of knowledge regarding any spells, he was helpless against this old ghost at the fourth level of Qi Refining.

But the old ghost could not break the light barrier of the Life Primordial Spirit Stele, so it was equally helpless against him.

Nan Tianba wanted to consume the White Glow to increase his cultivation, but he could no longer deceive Ye Qin, and he was burning with anxiety.

He was now certain that Ye Qin was indeed the master of this Floating Island and could control those mysterious White Glows. This discovery made him both furious and jealous, filled with immense frustration, yet he had no way to act.

"I only regret that this old man arrived a step too late. If I had arrived earlier and been the first to enter the light barrier of this Floating Island, letting the great stele recognize me as its master, perhaps this mysterious Floating Island would be mine. My cultivation progress would then be a thousand miles a day. It would not have been impossible to break through the mid-stage of Qi Refining—the fifth or sixth levels—and reach the high-stage of the Qi Refining realm within my lifetime. What a pity!"

When his physical body was destroyed, he was forty years old, having just reached the fifth level of the Qi Refining realm. Afterward, he wasted twenty years in the Cyan Jade Pendant, dissipating a vast amount of primordial energy and lifespan, which caused his cultivation to plummet to the fourth level of Qi Refining. Casting a fireball spell on this Floating Island had consumed even more of his primordial energy, and now he could barely maintain the fourth level of Qi Refining.

He had already lived for sixty years, and he feared his remaining lifespan was not much. He had thought he would never have hope of returning to the fifth level of Qi Refining in this life, but he had not expected to discover that he could cultivate within this Floating Island without a physical body. The temptation was immense.

As soon as Nan Tianba thought of this, the frantic obsession in his heart erupted uncontrollably, and his jealousy toward Ye Qin increased by a few notches. "Kid, what exactly do you want in order to let those White Glows come out again? Speak! As long as you state your conditions, this old man will agree to them."

Ye Qin closed his eyes and remained silent, ignoring him completely.

Nan Tianba flew back and forth in mid-air, anxious and desperate, using every possible persuasion, even stooping so low as to beg and plead.

But Ye Qin had made up his mind—if he couldn't get any benefits from this old ghost, the old ghost wouldn't get a single bit of benefit from him either. He had learned his lesson once about using his hard-earned primordial energy to benefit this old ghost, and he would absolutely never try it a second time.

Nan Tianba fell into despair.

Drifting on the Floating Island was incredibly boring.

The old ghost hadn't spoken to anyone in twenty years. Having finally encountered someone he could talk to, he couldn't hold his tongue. He couldn't help but start rambling, telling Ye Qin about cultivators, his own clan—the Nan Clan—as well as the gangs of Ping Province and the situation in the entire Wu Kingdom, just to pass the time and alleviate his loneliness.

Ye Qin simply listened silently without responding. From the old ghost's words, he gradually came to understand some basic common knowledge.

For instance, the difference between martial artists and cultivators.

Martial artists and cultivators were two completely different things. Although they lived on the same continent, the two rarely had much interaction.

Martial artists cultivated internal true energy and roamed the secular world; the old ghost referred to them as "secular mortals." They usually formed gangs, recruited members, and banded together to dominate regions in secular towns, with the ultimate pursuit of mastering peerless martial arts.

Cultivators, on the other hand, cultivated immortal primordial energy. Initially, there were only rogue cultivators. These rogue cultivators would marry and have offspring, passing down cultivation techniques within their families, which eventually led to the formation of cultivation clans.

Because cultivators pursued the path of longevity—extending their years, refining essence and energy, building foundations, forming golden cores, and ascending to immortality—cultivation clans usually lived in seclusion and did not involve themselves in the world. They rarely participated in the secular affairs of the martial world, only making contact with secular mortals when they had a need.

To cultivate, one needed to be born with the Five Elements Spiritual Root. People in this world possessing the Five Elements Spiritual Root were one in ten thousand. Those who could actually step onto the path of cultivation were even fewer.

The Wu Kingdom was a small nation. The population of cultivation clans within its various provinces was often very small—sometimes only one or two people, and at most, a dozen or so. However, their strength was exceptionally formidable.

A cultivator at the early stage of Qi Refining (levels one to three), as long as they mastered low-level spells, could ignore the peerless experts of the martial world. If a mid-stage cultivator at the fourth to sixth level of Qi Refining appeared, they could slaughter all the martial artists in an entire province. Cultivators at the high stage of Qi Refining (levels seven to nine) would not even deign to appear in the secular world; it was considered beneath their status.

However, there were inevitably intricate connections between cultivators, cultivation clans, and martial artists.

This was because the process of cultivation required the consumption of massive amounts of wealth, spirit stones, spirit herbs, and spirit objects to assist in their practice. These spirit herbs and spirit stones were scattered across countless mountains and forests, making them extremely difficult to find.

Cultivators felt they didn't even have enough time to cultivate, so how could they be willing to spend vast amounts of time searching for spirit objects in treacherous mountains and wild waters? They could only control secular gangs from behind the scenes, using the hands of these gangs and their massive numbers of martial artists—employing thousands or tens of thousands of people—to search for the rare spirit herbs and spirit stones hidden in the deep mountains and old forests.

Therefore, even though cultivators lived in seclusion, they still maintained contact with secular martial artists.

The Nan Clan was one such cultivation clan within the Ping Province of the Wu Kingdom. There were as many as four adult cultivators in the clan and one minor cultivator. It could be called a prosperous cultivation clan, dominating the entire ten-thousand-mile region of Ping Province and controlling the top ten gangs of Ping Province from behind the scenes.

However, the influence of the Nan Clan was limited to Ping Province; it was not necessarily considered very strong in the context of the entire Wu Kingdom.

As the patriarch of the Nan Clan, Nan Tianba possessed the rare single Earth Spiritual Root. His cultivation speed was extremely fast, and he had stepped into the fifth level of the realm in his prime at forty years old, becoming the most powerful patriarch in the history of the Nan Clan.

After entering the fifth level of Qi Refining, Nan Tianba's ambition expanded rapidly. He led the three adult cultivators of the Nan Clan to expand into the neighboring Ding Province, attempting to enlarge the Nan Clan's territory and obtain more spirit stones and spirit wood resources.

Ding Province was the territory of the Feng Clan, whose strength had been roughly equal to the Nan Clan's for the past hundred years. But Nan Tianba never imagined that the Feng Clan had also produced a rare cultivation expert in recent years who had already reached the sixth level of Qi Refining, far more powerful than the Nan Clan.

The result was without suspense: Nan Tianba was killed on the spot by the patriarch of the Feng Clan. His physical body was destroyed, and only his primordial spirit escaped. His cultivation plummeted, dropping from the fifth level of Qi Refining straight back to the fourth. He had luckily sealed himself within a Cyan Jade Pendant, which kept his primordial spirit from dissipating and turned him into a ghost.

The remaining members of the Nan Clan were either killed or fled.

Nan Tianba had spent twenty years in the Cyan Jade Pendant. His primordial spirit's energy had been constantly dissipating, and his cultivation continued to fall. He feared that in another year or two, he would drop back to the third level of Qi Refining.

After twenty years, Nan Tianba himself was unsure if the Nan Clan still existed; most likely, they had met a tragic end at the hands of the Feng Clan. Thus, when he muttered about these past events to himself, he didn't have many reservations.

Sigh, the brothers in the book reviews are firing with too much intensity—machine guns, grenade launchers, and bombers. Baili really can't handle it. I'll add an extra chapter tonight to speed up the plot, and I'll finish this part of Nan Tianba's storyline within today.

Please vote!