Night.
The Iron Ox Tribe had been bustling for a long while, but at last it fell silent as the drunken people drifted off to sleep.
Since they had decided to migrate, the men of the tribe slaughtered all the old and weak Wild Oxen.
The people of the Iron Ox Tribe had not enjoyed such a hearty feast of meat in a long time. Zhuzi was even gnawing on a roasted ox leg almost as tall as he was, and he still wouldn't let go even after falling asleep.
Zhou Hao left the felt tent and headed toward a distant stream beneath the moonlight.
On the Great Wild Plains, the tribespeople were all very hospitable.
The leader, Iron Ox, was especially generous. After learning that Zhou Hao had no tribe, he invited him to stay and even gave him a dozen or so Wild Oxen.
But when Zhou Hao asked about the cultivation methods for pursuing immortality—the thing he most wanted to know—everyone shook their heads.
Only the larger tribes had cultivation methods for pursuing immortality. How could a small tribe like the Iron Ox Tribe, which had only been established a few years ago, possibly have one?
In the entire tribe, only the leader, Iron Ox, had cultivated a simplified Qi Refining method. He'd been rewarded with it for his service as a guard for the Liu Clan.
But he'd sworn a poisonous oath never to pass it on!
On the Great Wild Plains, men and women alike valued their oaths above all else.
He couldn't even teach it to his son, Iron Pillar, let alone Zhou Hao.
Aside from Iron Ox, there was one other person who knew a Qi Refining method: Xiangcao, who had rescued Zhou Hao. It was said that a young lady of the Liu Clan's direct line had taught it to her.
But Xiangcao had also sworn a poisonous oath...
Finding a small mound of earth, Zhou Hao simply lay down on it.
Gazing at the enormous moon hanging in the sky and listening to the murmuring stream, his restless heart gradually settled.
"Zhou Hao, Zhou Hao. You've followed your master in cultivating the Dao for so many years. So what if you don't have a cultivation method for pursuing immortality for the moment?"
"Now that you know immortality cultivation truly exists in this world, you've made it through all these years. What's a little longer?"
At least today hadn't been a wasted effort. He'd learned more about cultivation from Iron Ox and Xiangcao.
Xiangcao, in particular, had learned much more than Iron Ox while serving the young lady of the Liu Clan's direct line.
In this world, the path of cultivation had several distinct realms.
First: Post-Heaven, with a lifespan of a hundred years.
Second: Xiantian, with a lifespan of two hundred years.
Third: Purple Mansion, with a lifespan of five hundred years.
The Post-Heaven realm was the realm of ordinary people. The tribe's ordinary warriors, for example, had no cultivation methods, yet by tempering their bodies, they could still fight monsters.
The strongest among them, like the leader, Iron Ox, had cultivated a Qi Refining method and possessed inner strength. They, too, belonged to the Post-Heaven realm, though they were considered to be at its peak.
Above the Post-Heaven realm was Xiantian.
Through cultivating a method, ordinary mortals could transform their bodies until they resembled Xiantian Lifeforms born of Heaven and Earth. That was the Xiantian realm.
Becoming a Xiantian Lifeform was extremely difficult. Even with a cultivation method, it meant defying Heaven's will, so fewer than one in ten thousand succeeded.
And Xiantian Lifeforms were only the foundation of the path to immortality.
Above them was the Purple Mansion realm. Only then could one be considered a true cultivator, worthy of being called a cultivator.
Purple Mansion Cultivators could wield all kinds of wondrous magical treasures, craft complex puppets, control poisonous insects and monsters, set up grand arrays, and enjoy lifespans several times longer than ordinary people...
In short, even among the five great hegemonic powers of the Great Wild Plains, a Purple Mansion Cultivator stood at the very pinnacle.
As for what realms lay above the Purple Mansion realm, neither Iron Ox nor Xiangcao knew. They only knew there had to be more—and perhaps even immortals and fiends.
Many ancient legends among the tribes spoke of immortals and fiends appearing.
"Looks like I'll have to go to Jade Dragon City to find a cultivation method."
Zhou Hao yearned for Jade Dragon City just as much as everyone else did.
It was a genuine immortal cultivation sect, after all. How could it possibly lack cultivation methods?
"It's time for my evening practice."
Feeling that his mind had finally grown still, returning to its placid, undisturbed state, Zhou Hao sat cross-legged and began silently reciting the Yellow Court Scripture with his eyes closed.
His master, True Person Daoyi, was a genuine Daoist priest, complete with an ordination certificate.
Zhou Hao wasn't a Daoist priest, but he'd followed his master since childhood. Silently reciting the Yellow Court Scripture for his morning and evening practice had long since become a habit.
Moreover, the Yellow Court Scripture was a Daoist classic on inner alchemy, health cultivation, and immortality cultivation. It contained a method of inner visualization.
According to his master, True Person Daoyi, frequent visualization could strengthen the soul.
Once the soul grew stronger, the body could become more robust, too. And if one cultivated to a high enough level, all kinds of wondrous phenomena would even appear.
Zhou Hao had never witnessed any wondrous phenomena. At most, he'd seen his master, True Person Daoyi, live past a hundred without growing senile.
But ever since he'd begun practicing the Visualization Technique under his master, Zhou Hao's memory had steadily improved. He could even divide his attention between two things, and his ability to remember anything he'd seen at a glance was genuine.
"Before the Supreme Clarity, the Purple Rosy Emperor; the Lord of the Jade Dawn of the Great Way. Idly dwelling in the Jewel Pearl Palace, composing seven-word verses; dispersing and transforming the Five Forms, becoming myriad deities. This is the Inner Chapter of the Yellow Court; the heart of the zither plays thrice, and the embryo immortal dances. Nine energies shine bright, emerging between the heavens; the divine canopy and child give rise to purple mist. This is called the Jade Book, which one may study with care; recite it ten thousand times, and ascend to the Third Heaven. A thousand calamities vanish, a hundred illnesses are cured; one need not fear the ferocity of tigers and wolves, and may also cast off old age and prolong life..."
As he silently recited the verses, Zhou Hao's mind grew ever more ethereal.
In his visualization, the many acupoints within his body seemed to transform into deities filling the heavens. The five most important organ deities—the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—also manifested, becoming clouds of five-colored light that spread throughout his body.
Daoist visualization and mindful contemplation treated the imagined as real. It was like an ordinary person imagining a plum in their mouth and finding saliva filling it—an illusion, and nothing more.
Yet these illusions could provoke all kinds of reactions in the soul and even the body, thereby strengthening the soul through cultivation.
Zhou Hao continued visualizing as he sat for the time it took to burn a stick of incense. Gradually, he entered the proper state.
In his visualization, an old man with white hair and a white beard appeared, holding a feather fan.
The clouds of five-colored light became a Daoist robe draped over the old man's shoulders. It was none other than the Supreme Clarity Moral Heavenly Venerable, one of the three highest gods of Daoism.
Zhou Hao had practiced this Visualization Technique—which his master claimed was his own secret inheritance—for more than a decade. Naturally, he already knew this would happen.
He continued to guard his original mind and devote himself wholeheartedly to the visualization. Coordinating with the breathing and exhalations of his body, he imagined the radiance emanating from the Supreme Clarity Moral Heavenly Venerable enveloping him from head to toe...
As time passed, the Visualization Technique—which had shown no unusual effects in over a decade—suddenly changed today.
Boom~~~
Zhou Hao felt as if every pore on his body had suddenly opened. A warm, vibrant force was drawn into him, nourishing every inch of flesh and blood.
"So comfortable."
It was like a man dying of thirst in the desert suddenly being granted a life-giving downpour. The feeling of ease and satisfaction was so overwhelming that Zhou Hao nearly groaned aloud.
But years of cultivation had taught him to quiet his mind and keep his emotions in check. No matter how he felt, he remained unmoving as a mountain!
Outside.
Around the mound where Zhou Hao sat cross-legged, the tall wild grass suddenly began to sway and rustle, as if stirred by a breeze.
The misty moisture above the stream also swirled toward him.
Strands of light slowly gathered around Zhou Hao as he sat cross-legged, and a soft, lustrous glow gradually spread from his entire body.
"What's that?"
Beneath the moonlight, Xiangcao was approaching from afar.
She'd seen that Zhou Hao had been downhearted all evening and knew it was because of the cultivation method.
Then she'd heard he'd left the felt tent. Thinking it over, she still couldn't help worrying, so she'd come looking for him.
"And he said he didn't know a Qi Refining method! To draw in so much of Heaven and Earth's power, his method must be better than mine." From a distance, Xiangcao saw Zhou Hao sitting cross-legged, clearly cultivating.
"He wouldn't tell the truth... Bad man!"
Two thousand six hundred li from the Iron Ox Tribe, a city built of enormous stone blocks stood on the Great Wild Plains.
This was Motai City, the stronghold of the Black Hand Tribe.
On the Great Wild Plains, a tribe of fifty thousand people counted as an extra-large tribe.
Ordinarily, such an extra-large tribe would be suppressed and attacked by the other hegemonic powers, lest it threaten their own rule.
But the Black Hand Tribe had not only weathered all kinds of attacks; it had also built a city, displaying a vague air of becoming the next hegemonic tribe. They had managed all this because of their leader, Motai Xiao.
It was worth noting that even the leaders of ordinary tribes had no surnames. Motai Xiao hadn't had one before, either—Black Hand had been his given name.
In the largest manor at the center of the city.
"Father."
A fair-skinned, rather handsome young man entered the hall and addressed the old man resting with his eyes closed. "Why did you call me here? I've just caught a pair of Seven-Colored Sparrows. I was about to take them to little sister Qianxue..."
Smack! The old man suddenly slammed his hand against the armrest.
Black light flashed. The stone chair, carved from a single piece of bluestone, silently crumbled into dust.
"I told you not to go see Qianxue again!"
The old man's face was icy, his eyes filled with boundless malice.
Even though the young man was the old man's own son, his father's anger still made his legs go weak with fear.
"I only wanted to give little sister Qianxue a pair of little sparrows. It's not like I was going to do anything else," the young man muttered, trying to suppress his fear.
"What else would you do?" the old man sneered. "I've spent sixteen years raising Qianxue, and tomorrow I'm sending her to the Fire Worship Sect Main Altar. If you ruin my grand plans... Motai Jie, I'll kill you with my own hands!"
"Yes, Father." Motai Jie didn't dare say another word.
He knew his father was capable of it.
Back then, his elder brother had quarreled with a young member of the Liu Clan, one of the five great hegemonic powers of the Great Wild Plains, and even wounded one of their direct-line members. His father, Motai Xiao, had sent the man's head to them without hesitation.
That had been the year the Black Hand Tribe had just finished building Motai City.
"If you like women, there are plenty in the tribe," Motai Xiao said, looking coldly at Motai Jie. "If you shouldn't set your heart on someone, then don't let the slightest thought of it enter your head! If you understand that, you're a son of mine, Motai Xiao. If you don't..."
"Your son understands. I won't dare do it again," Motai Jie said hastily.
"Leave," Motai Xiao sneered.
"Yes." Motai Jie bowed respectfully.
In the spacious courtyard outside the hall, a huge black Night Owl stood in a tree.
Once Motai Jie had left the courtyard, the Night Owl flew down from the tree and landed by the entrance.
Whoosh~~~~
The enormous Night Owl suddenly dissolved into black mist, which then coalesced into a black-haired, middle-aged man.
"Night Shadow, go guard Qianxue's courtyard. No one is allowed near it—not even Motai Jie."
Motai Xiao's icy voice rang out from inside the hall. "Kill anyone who disobeys!"
"Yes, Master." The black-haired man nodded. His whole body dissolved into black mist again, transforming back into the enormous Night Owl from before.
With a flap of its wings, the Night Owl shot into the sky, then vanished into the darkness.
Inside the hall, the old man sat alone in thought.
"Anyone who stands in my way... I'll kill them, even if they're my parents or my own child!"
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