Chapter 227: Chapter 141: Betrayal, the Cultivators’ Backup Plan

“Since we’re making enemies of the Cultivators, we must first disrupt the integrity of their arrays…”

“Therefore, I propose that every sect commit a certain number of disciples to Soul-Breaking Mountain each year to slay the Evil Spirits there!”

“This will not only temper their Martial Dao and increase their cultivation, but it will also leave the Cultivators’ portals with nowhere to hide, allowing us to monitor them at all times!”

“Of course, that alone isn’t enough!”

“If the Cultivators could leave one portal on Soul-Breaking Mountain, I suspect they could have left others. We must mobilize our forces to search meticulously, find every backdoor and hidden plot the Cultivators have left in our world, and eliminate them.”

In the Li Yang Martial World, the Martial Dao flourished.

Most Martial Artists had courage; they were not cowards who shied away from a fight.

Of course, it takes all sorts to make a world. Among them were plenty of treacherous individuals who played both sides.

As long as they kept to themselves and caused no trouble, they would be left alone. But if they dared to stir up chaos, Li Chang’an would show them the meaning of thunderous, divine wrath.

…

From that day forward, in addition to their own cultivation, the martial world had several new objectives.

The first objective was to conquer Soul-Breaking Mountain!

Soul-Breaking Mountain was home to a great number of Evil Spirits. These spirits roamed the fog-shrouded peaks, not only were they elusive and unpredictable, but they were also quite powerful. The average Martial Artist was simply no match for them.

Fortunately, the Martial Artists of today were not the same as those of the past.

After practicing the `Martial Scripture` created by Li Chang’an, Martial Artists had mastered the power of their vitality and spirit. As long as they were careful, they could hold their own against the Evil Spirits.

The second matter was to scour the entire Li Yang Continent, and even lands overseas, for regions similar to Soul-Breaking Mountain, searching for any traces the Cultivators might have left behind.

In the past, regions like Soul-Breaking Mountain were largely desolate and uninhabited.

But now, spurred on by Li Chang’an’s incentives of Gold, Cultivation Techniques, and fame, many Martial Artists abandoned their comfortable lives. They formed exploration teams and roamed through all sorts of dangerous regions.

…

Hard work pays off. After three years, the first objective was accomplished.

The gateway on Soul-Breaking Mountain had been completely cleared.

When the fighting first began, the Evil Spirits used their eerie and bizarre abilities to catch the many Martial Artists exploring the mountain completely off guard.

However, as powerful as the Evil Spirits were, they were not truly living creatures. Once the Martial Artists had thoroughly studied them, dealing with them became progressively easier.

Once the Evil Spirits were wiped out, the first three layers of the array on Soul-Breaking Mountain became ineffective.

The Martial Artists found many ancient Spiritual Medicines on Soul-Breaking Mountain. Some even dug up numerous Spiritual Essences from deep underground, each rich with Energy.

The herbs, needless to say, could be refined into Elixirs.

Many of these herbs were top-quality specimens of species that were already extinct in the outside world.

The Spiritual Essences, meanwhile, were orbs of pure Energy.

Consuming a pure Spiritual Essence could instantly advance a Martial Artist’s Cultivation by several years, or even more than a decade.

The purer the Spiritual Essence, the greater the boost to one’s Cultivation.

Such things were rarely seen in the outside world, but on Soul-Breaking Mountain, they were everywhere. In all likelihood, they were the catalysts the Cultivators used to spawn the Evil Spirits and sustain the array.

The Martial Artists were overjoyed.

They had originally thought their only reward for pioneering the region would be the bounties from the Major Sects and Li Chang’an. They never expected to receive such an unexpected windfall.

The first objective was complete.

Progress on the second objective was also surprisingly good.

Based on the wide-ranging surveys of the exploration teams, another three or four portals left by the Cultivators were found on the Li Yang Continent and on some deserted islands overseas.

These gateways were similarly guarded by arrays.

The moment these locations were revealed, Li Chang’an didn’t even need to issue a call to arms. Martial Artists from all over the Li Yang Martial World swarmed in to clear them out.

It couldn’t be helped; the arrays set up by the Cultivators were filled with treasures.

Not only could they rapidly hone their combat skills, but if they were lucky, they could even acquire supreme Divine Objects to boost their Cultivation.

In truth, when word first spread of the Cultivators’ existence, the martial world had been thrown into a state of turmoil.

But through Li Chang’an’s careful guidance, he successfully steered the Martial Artists onto the righteous path of increasing their strength to solve the problem. For a time, the entire Jianghu was bustling with unprecedented activity.

Many were even rubbing their hands in anticipation, eager to see a Cultivator in the flesh.

…

Of course, even in this flourishing environment, there were still elements of discord.

To be honest, the existence of Cultivators was not a complete mystery to those sects with truly ancient legacies.

The Demon Sect had only been founded three hundred years ago.

Therefore, Leng Yanran was completely unaware of the Cultivators’ existence.

But the Buddhist Sect and the Taoist Sect had legacies stretching back thousands of years. To say they were completely ignorant of the Cultivators’ existence would be pure bullshit.

But since no one had ever brought it into the open, the two great sects had simply feigned ignorance.

But now that the matter of the Cultivators had been brought into the open, some of the fish hiding beneath the surface began to panic.

Before Li Chang’an’s arrival, the Buddhist, Demon, and Taoist Sects were the three strongest powers in the world.

But in terms of ancient lineage, the combined history of the Three Great Sects couldn’t compare to that of two other Sects: Cyan Gate Mountain and the Iron Back Sect.

In recent years, while busy with his own Cultivation, perfecting the `Martial Scripture`, and teaching his arts, Li Chang’an had never taken his eyes off those two Sects.

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