Li Ling wanted to use this opportunity to examine the Ghost Soul Sect's commonly taught cultivation methods. It was no passing whim.
To create his own Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art, the soul-related Jade Scroll the Old Ancestor had given him was far from enough. He also needed to draw on the strengths of many schools and advance his own cultivation to a higher realm.
His Innate Soul Anomaly gave him an almost instinctive intuition and special soul abilities. This laid a solid foundation for forging his Dao Path.
But one enormous obstacle stood before him: he lived in the mortal world. He still lacked a complete understanding of what the true cultivation world was like, or what great cultivators were capable of. His knowledge was actually quite shallow.
Among those who laughed and talked with him were great scholars; among those who came and went, not one was unlettered...
Applied to the cultivation world, it ought to be great powers who laughed and talked with him, with not a single mortal among those who came and went. Only then would he be worthy of forging a Dao Path.
Yet in reality, he had spent all his time knocking around the Mystic Xin Kingdom's Royal City. Among everyone he had met, there were barely even a handful of cultivators.
His wife, the Ninth Princess, had once gone to an Immortal Sect's grotto-heaven blessed land for further training, gaining the title of formal disciple through her descent from the Old Ancestor.
But the fact that she had been sent back to the mortal world so early made it clear that her aptitude was truly mediocre. She would spend her whole life striving for Foundation Establishment; reaching it through a stroke of luck would make her life complete.
Senior Brother Zhu frequently traveled between the mortal world and the Skycloud Sect, and they were on fairly good terms. But he was only a steward, likewise making successful Foundation Establishment his lifelong goal.
The Royal City Office, City Patrol Guards, and Unusual Events Bureau did have several Attendants, but they were all low-ranking Qi Refining disciples, not even True Disciples.
Senior Lu was a genuine True Disciple and Foundation Establishment cultivator, but Li Ling had only met him a few times. Why should he help him?
The Old Ancestor was the highest-level channel currently available to him, but he had to exchange merits for help, and even that channel could not provide everything.
And that was it!
The cultivation world he had encountered so far was just that small. After all, only a few months ago, he had still been a mortal, fretting over his aptitude with its complete set of spirit roots.
Lin Rouniang volunteered, "Compiling these things won't be difficult. Our Ghost Soul Sect and the Corpse Immortal Sect already had plans to spread our teachings across the Mystic Continent. Some general methods are readily available, though I don't know whether you would consider them worthwhile."
Li Ling said, "You needn't worry about that. Bring everything you can get your hands on."
Lin Rouniang said, "Once I've compiled them, how should I conduct the exchange with you? In a dream?"
Li Ling said, "Don't you have a hideout in Sourcewater Township? Leave them in the bedroom. I'll come and collect them myself."
Although myths and legends included stories of imparting teachings through dreams, he wanted none of that.
With something tangible to hold them, he could at least check whether they were genuine.
Lin Rouniang trembled when she heard this, her feelings growing rather complicated.
This damned place... no, the entire Mystic Continent-I can't stay here any longer!
Li Ling told her, "You have one day to prepare. The same time tomorrow. Remember to go to sleep on time."
Lin Rouniang lowered her eyes and obediently agreed, "Yes."
The next day, Li Ling entered the dream again, still using the nightmare-suppression method to sense Lin Rouniang's presence.
Lin Rouniang did not dare provoke him. She obediently appeared in the dream and said as soon as they met, "Senior, everything is ready."
Li Ling sent a portion of his awareness into the Divine Kingdom, used the Great Lin River God's authority to transport himself to Lin Rouniang's bedroom, and took the box left in plain sight.
Before leaving, he made a point of sniffing the air. Good-there was no scent of a plot.
Plots and ambushes had a scent too: a foul, stifling smell of mold and dust. Li Ling had told Lin Rouniang to leave the things in her room not to frighten her, but to inspect them up close and leave no opening to exploit.
For now, however, he had no way to do anything to her in reality. He was not strong enough and could only pose as a tiger to devour a pig. The moment he acted, his bluff would be exposed.
After collecting the items, Li Ling delivered them to Barren Mountain, then returned to his own body and told Lin Rouniang, who was waiting in the dream, "I've taken the items. You were clever enough not to tamper with them."
Lin Rouniang wore a veil in the dream, hiding her expression. With her eyes still lowered, she said, "As long as you're satisfied, Senior."
Li Ling said, "Now that you've proved your sincerity, you can tell me the plan. But before that, I want to hear the whole story, from beginning to end."
Lin Rouniang's beautiful eyes flickered. Isn't this common knowledge? Right, he's doing it deliberately. He certainly has plenty of tricks!
She immediately began recounting everything in full.
First, she explained the Great Lin River God's origins. Unlike the Ninth Princess's account, in her version, the evil flood dragon had already established ties with the Ghost Soul Sect and was preparing to join as a powerful rogue cultivator, becoming an Attendant elder.
The Skycloud Sect had not been as powerful then as it was now, but it had the support of a long-established major sect. How could it stand by and watch the dragon join the enemy camp?
The two sides fought a fierce battle here, provoking the wrath of heaven and the resentment of men. The aftershocks killed vast numbers of civilians.
The flood dragon was eventually slain. The righteous experts took the treasures from its body and went into seclusion to cultivate.
But some loose ends remained. The Skycloud Sect devised a grand plan to divide the land into kingdoms and bestow blessings upon the common people, carrying it out for ten thousand years.
This was the origin of later mortal kingdoms such as the Mystic Xin Kingdom and the Zhu Yuan Kingdom.
Once the dragon vein had no master, all its spiritual essence and vitality returned to the land. Though less concentrated than in grotto-heaven blessed lands, it still made the land spiritually rich and its people exceptional. Over ten thousand years, countless natural treasures and outstanding talents had emerged.
All of these were divided among the Skycloud Sect and the other sects of the Mystic Continent, greatly strengthening their foundations.
Dragon soul fruit was one such Superior Spirit Material. It contained the laws of heaven and earth through which dragons controlled the water element, and the waters of this region could produce a crop every few decades.
Lin Rouniang might be planning to use it to cultivate the blood river. She had not told Li Ling the specifics, but he had guessed as much himself.
Against this backdrop, the Ghost Soul Sect refused to accept defeat and continued its struggle. Over time, a tradition actually formed: this region became a training ground, with disciples sent here to compete in sixty-year cycles.
Talents, treasures, corpses, souls, dragon soul fruit...
Only mortals made choices. Cultivators wanted it all!
The competition had once been intensely brutal. Both sides even sent True Disciple-level disciples to contend with one another. But over the past few thousand years, the spiritual essence released by the dragon vein had stabilized, and the regret and resentment of the Ghost Soul Sect's leadership had gradually subsided. Only then had things quieted down.
Mortals knew nothing of the reason. They only knew that the Great Lin River had always been difficult to manage, periodically erupting into floods.
Yet this was also some of the rare fertile land on the entire Mystic Continent. The rich fields along both banks alone could feed the whole kingdom. No one could bear to abandon its population and land.
"When immortals fight, mortals suffer?"
After hearing this account, Li Ling could not help feeling an inexplicable tangle of emotions.
To be born among the Mortal People and live in the mortal world was truly tragic.
Lin Rouniang said, "We've been preparing for this for a long time. The water essence we've accumulated is enough to unleash a flood disaster seen only once in five hundred years!"
"Our group is responsible for the river basin in the Mystic Xin Kingdom. Within Xu Xin, the Great Lin River is also called the Shimmering River. Xuansin Royal City and all the towns and villages along its banks fall within its reach. Once we set things in motion, at least ten million people will be affected."
"We'll be able to harvest a million lives directly, but that will only be the first wave."
"A great disaster is inevitably followed by a great plague. That will be the second wave, and its death toll will be no smaller than that of the disaster itself."
"Next comes the famine caused by missing the harvest. That will be our third opportunity to reap lives."
"After famine, war is inevitable. We've already contacted regional lords and powerful local magnates in many places, gathering arms and armor for them and training elite troops. They'll sweep the refugees into rebellions, letting us reap another wave."
"You could even say that this is our true ultimate objective-the opportunity that offers the greatest gains!"
"We know a True Person of the Skycloud Sect is stationed in this kingdom, so replacing the dynasty is impossible. Even if we did replace it, we couldn't govern it. But this will allow us to claim shares of the dragon aura and enjoy the protection of divine stations comparable to earth immortals."
"Dragons and serpents rise from the wilds. Nurturing more petty kings will let us establish ties with the local lands, making it easier to lie low and launch uprisings in the future. That, in turn, will prepare the way for the next round of plans."
As he listened to Lin Rouniang calmly describe these so-called plans, Li Ling's emotions churned, refusing to settle for a long time.
These cultivators planned far ahead. Their schemes were tightly interlocked, each link connected to the next. But in the end, they had only one central objective: chaos.
They wanted to plunge the entire Mortal People kingdom, and even the human world, into unrest, slaughter, and war.
Out of hundreds of millions of people, at least tens of millions would perish. What a frenzied feast that would be for the Corpse Immortal Sect and Ghost Soul Sect!
Moreover, this was only one kingdom. According to Lin Rouniang, several other groups would do the same in the other kingdoms through which the Great Lin River flowed.
Seeing Li Ling remain silent, Lin Rouniang could not fathom his thoughts for the moment. She continued, "The Skycloud Sect are our old opponents. They long ago used the Mystic Xin Kingdom's attack on the Zhu Yuan Kingdom as an opportunity to stockpile military provisions, arms, and armor, concealing troops on the frontier. They're simply waiting for domestic unrest before sending them back to slaughter their way home. That's only to be expected."
"Cultivators who rashly interfere in major mortal affairs become entangled in karma. The circumstances are turbulent and tangled; you could say that the more you do, the more mistakes you make. They can only establish rules and send disciples undergoing training to act on their behalf."
"Those disciples have spent a long time among mortals and do understand quite a few things. But however well they manage the military chiefs and powerful magnates, ordinary people still need to eat. Once disaster and war strike, they'll be stretched so thin that pulling at one part exposes another. They'll likewise find it hard to resist the broader tide."
"And this time, we've also mobilized rogue cultivators from the wilds, enticing them with cultivation methods and Spirit Materials to risk their lives for us. When the time comes, there will be people to deal with those disciples."
"But in my opinion, the righteous experts probably aren't that simple either. They're also using this opportunity to select talent and gather momentum."
"Whenever great disasters strike, who knows how many brilliant talents rise with the tide and gain fortuitous opportunities? Their prospects are so good that even I feel jealous. The existing earth veins and sources of Spirit Materials also undergo repeated changes, offering opportunities to redistribute them. In the end, the experts can emerge to clean up the wreckage, earning merit, good fortune, and heaven's protection. That brings them another few decades of recuperation and growth."
Li Ling was briefly taken aback, then sank into thought. Recuperation and growth, merit...
But Lin Rouniang's next words quickly jolted him awake.
"Matron has already contacted the sect. We've decided to launch ahead of schedule."
Li Ling's heart lurched. Ahead of schedule?
Lin Rouniang said, "Lately, the Unusual Events Bureau has been pressing harder and harder, repeatedly obstructing our operations. And now an unfamiliar expert such as yourself has appeared, Senior. We fear that delay might bring unforeseen changes..."
Li Ling asked, "When have you decided to move it up to?"
Lin Rouniang said, "The middle of the eighth month, just over ten days from now."
"Over these next ten-odd days, torrential rain will fall day after day throughout the river basin, raising the water level. All the hidden disciples will emerge and begin hunting civilians and creating demons and monsters. After that, cities will be submerged and fertile fields destroyed."
"Even if we fail to achieve that objective, launching before the autumn harvest has other advantages. Doing it before the harvest serves different purposes from doing it afterward..."
Li Ling was profoundly shaken.
Although he had not grown up in a farming family, he knew that the autumn harvest generally fell around the eighth month of the lunar calendar. Its timing affected grain yields and prices for the period that followed.
It had little effect on cultivators, but for the Mortal People, it was a matter of utmost importance to their livelihood.
After finishing her explanation and seeing that the other party still made no response, Lin Rouniang could not help asking cautiously, "Senior, I've told you everything I should. Can you return my dream spirit now?"
Li Ling said coldly, "You still think you can get your dream spirit back? Dream on."
Lin Rouniang trembled. "You're a great cultivator of the righteous path, yet you would go back on your word? Haven't you heard that cultivators honor their promises? Mortals fear the consequences, but I fear the causes..."
Li Ling cut her off icily. "You've been indulging in wishful thinking from start to finish. I never agreed to return your dream spirit."
Lin Rouniang's almond-shaped eyes widened in disbelief.
Li Ling continued, "And even if I really did go back on my word, so what? It would still be better than you evil cultivators of the Demonic Path, slaughtering innocent people."
Lin Rouniang said, "I, Lin Rouniang, consider myself kindhearted. I've never harmed a single cultivator in my life. Does that still make me unforgivably evil in the eyes of your righteous path?"
Li Ling gave a cold chuckle, not even bothering to argue with her.
As the void remained silent, Lin Rouniang's confidence began to waver, and her ominous premonition grew stronger and stronger.
This dream seemed to be becoming increasingly terrifying.
No! Lin Rouniang's heart suddenly jolted. Spiritual light shone all around her, blazing like a deity's radiance. The blood river that had appeared before also coiled around her body like a long dragon.
But in an instant, a force of divine sense so powerful that words could not describe it shattered her dharma form.
Amid the splashing blood, countless skeletal remains and wronged souls wailed. With them came excruciating pain, as though her body were being torn into pieces.
Lin Rouniang endured the pain and tried to flee the dream, but another powerful force closed in around her in an instant.
She felt herself seized by an invisible giant hand.
Lin Rouniang gritted her teeth. A small blade appeared in her hand, and she stabbed it into the void before her.
Agony shot through Li Ling's arm, as though someone had driven a blade into it.
But that only kindled his fury. The immense force tightened its grip, crushing Lin Rouniang's entire body into pulp within moments.
"What was that just now? The magical artifact, the Jade-Cleaving Blade, or some hidden trump-card treasure I haven't uncovered?"
After a brief moment of consideration, Li Ling gathered the scattered blood, skeletal remains, and wronged souls, condensing them into a blood pearl once again.