Swan Mountain, also known as "Crane Mountain," had originally been nothing more than an unremarkable, low earthen slope outside Hanyang Prefecture.
Legend had it that several hundred years ago, an immortal had passed by on a white crane and built a thatched hut here, cultivating in seclusion for two years.
After the immortal departed on his crane, the slope grew ten feet taller each day, eventually becoming the towering mountain of a thousand fathoms it was today, its crags precipitous and its rocks jagged.
Qi Refining cultivators who had opened their Origin Gate and condensed their Brain Spirit already possessed keen senses and could perceive the slightest details.
Moreover, Jiang Yi cultivated the overarching Qi Refining principles of Refining the Ancestral Origin, and had long since transformed himself into the image of an "ancestor," giving him an even subtler grasp of changes in Spiritual Qi and Spirit Chance.
He had barely reached the foot of Swan Mountain on his Yin Horse when a bloody stench struck him in the face. Bloody light hung thick as syrup, and Sha Qi steamed and surged, as though he had stepped into an asura slaughterfield piled with mass graves.
"And even this hasn't brought down a few strikes from [Thunder Pivot]?"
Jiang Yi's mouth twitched. He had already learned from Jiang Shang's messages that, over these past few years, the Huang Household and Wang Household had sent at least a thousand blood-food offerings to the Nether Spring Sect. The common people used as living livestock were even more numerous than could be counted.
"[Thunder Pivot] does indeed embody the Great Dao's 'authority over life and death' and 'upholding righteousness and crushing evil,' but it generally only targets Foundation Establishment cultivators who must undergo the 'Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations.' Qi Refining cultivators aren't worth