Chapter 250: Changes and News

After passing through Yinsha Forest, the path ahead became remarkably smooth.

Flying through the air on his sword, Chen Luo gazed down at the rugged mountain path below. Before long, he arrived at the very spot where he had first encountered Ning Chenye when he first entered the demonic cultivation realm. However, he didn’t linger. As the mountain path gradually disappeared, it transitioned into a yellow sand plain, and the temperature began to rise.

The malevolent energy characteristic of demonic cultivators dissipated from the air, leaving behind a harmonious and balanced atmosphere.

Soon, Chen Luo spotted a distant checkpoint below, guarded by numerous soldiers. Within the checkpoint, he sensed the presence of a cultivator at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. Having explored the demonic cultivation realm, Chen Luo now understood the purpose of this checkpoint - it served as a collection and exchange point for resources from the demonic cultivation realm. Relying on these Qi Refining realm cultivators for actual defense was clearly impractical.

After passing through the checkpoint, Chen Luo gradually slowed his pace and descended from the sky.

Below lay Shan City.

This was where he had bid farewell to Elder An and several tribulation cultivators. This very place marked the first step in his journey to wealth and prosperity.

Returning to Shan City once more, Chen Luo couldn’t help but feel a sense of reflection.

The impact he had made in the past had long since faded into obscurity as time passed. Twenty years was no short span for ordinary people - enough time for them to forget many things.

Chen Luo found an inn and ate some food.

Shan City was very remote, with only one cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining living there. This person resided in the most luxurious Garrison, likely being the cultivator guarding this place. Chen Luo paid him no heed, casually eating the mountain city’s food. After reaching Foundation Establishment, he hadn’t eaten mortal food for a long time. For Foundation Establishment cultivators, absorbing spiritual energy was fundamental; grains and miscellaneous foods held no meaning.

Everyone in this city is an ordinary mortal.

A thought emerged in the Demonseed Sect Leader’s mind. This was the Demonseed Sect Leader’s perspective. From the moment he embarked on the cultivation path, he had never returned to the mortal world. In his view, ordinary people with their fleeting lives were like ants, lacking even the chance to enter the Dao, akin to autumn cicadas.

This was the perspective of most cultivators.

It wasn’t that they were cold-hearted, but rather they didn’t want to waste time on ordinary people. After spending decades nurturing someone only to find they had died during a single seclusion period, such experiences naturally hardened their hearts.

The meal tasted utterly bland.

He had originally thought returning to his hometown would bring back memories, but now it seemed many things had changed without him noticing.

Chen Luo tossed two silver pieces onto the table and strode out of the inn.

His footsteps blurred into motion, each step covering vast distances as if compressing the earth itself.

Three steps carried him beyond the city walls.

This time, Chen Luo didn’t linger. He mounted his sword and soared toward the Divine Wind Territory.

Five days later, a weathered Chen Luo alighted before Shan City. This was his shixiong Hu Qiudao’s hometown - the place where he’d retreated during the God Lake Immortal Sect’s great calamity. It was here he first encountered corpse cultivation, and where he’d made friends like Zhu Jie, the Loose Cultivators Union’s steward, and Dry Corpse Daoist from the Corpse-Raising Sect.

Later, he’d joined forces with Dry Corpse Daoist to travel to Guoshan County, where they’d obtained the primary ingredient for Foundation Establishment Pills - the Spirit Condensing Grass.

Entering the city, Chen Luo headed straight for the Loose Cultivators Union. He still possessed their guest token, and they’d be better informed about regional events than the Hu Clan during these past twenty years.

In a bamboo courtyard, a pavilion stood by a bubbling kettle. Delicate teaware warmed over charcoal as green leaves danced in the pot, their fragrance rising from the water’s surface.

A rough hand reached out to lift the teapot lid.

The aroma of tea mingled with steam, drifting through the air. The brewer took a deep breath, letting the fragrance permeate his senses.

This was an elderly man nearing sixty. His weathered face bore deep wrinkles, his beard streaked with silver, and his clothes were simple and unadorned. As the tea’s fragrance filled his chest, the old man closed his eyes, completely immersed in the moment.

“This is the flavor,” he murmured. “Only pre-rain spirit tea can brew such a taste.”

The old man lifted the teapot, filling six cups in front of him. He first swirled the tea to coat the cups, then poured the liquid into a separate vessel to refresh with new brew.

This ritual, called washing the tea, was a practice reserved for true tea connoisseurs.

When the second infusion filled the cups with pale green liquid, the old man lifted his teacup. Before he could take a sip, a stranger entered.

The old man’s brow furrowed instinctively. He disliked interruptions while drinking his tea, but before he could speak, the newcomer sat across from him. He picked up the prepared tea, took a sip, then addressed the old man.

“Prepare a report on recent events in the seven kingdoms, along with information about the three sects.”

Chen Luo set down his teacup and placed the Loose Cultivators Union’s token on the table.

He didn’t waste time, going straight to the Loose Cultivators Union’s representative in Shan City. When he’d entered the city earlier, he’d scanned it with divine sense. This old man was the most powerful cultivator in Shan City, at the peak of the tenth layer of Qi Refining. Asking him about problems was definitely the right choice.

“Visiting dignitary token? Your token seems…”

The old man suppressed his displeasure as he picked up the token on the table. But before he could finish speaking, the aura from the man across from him suddenly erupted. An overwhelming pressure far beyond his understanding crushed down, annihilating every emotion in his heart.

A Foundation Establishment expert!

The old man’s heart jolted. He sprang to his feet, his face transforming into one of reverence.

“Is there a problem?”

“No! This junior will prepare immediately.”

A Foundation Establishment expert had come to Shan City, yet he’d heard no wind of it. Could the union’s plans have been exposed? Where had this Foundation Establishment cultivator come from? Why was there no record of him in the union? He’d immediately spoken of the seven kingdoms and three sects. Could he be some old monster who’d emerged from seclusion?

Full of questions, the old man hastily withdrew.

Chen Luo sat in the pavilion, his divine sense following the old man’s departure. After leaving the courtyard, the old man first went to the nearby hidden post. This place had been a hidden post since Zhu Jie was still in charge, and it hadn’t changed in all these years.

After delivering the message to the hidden sentinel, the old man retrieved the information Chen Luo had requested and hurried back.

Inside the tea pavilion, Chen Luo finished reading the jade slip. The contents matched his expectations—little had changed in the three sects over the past two decades. The patriarch of the God Lake Immortal Sect remained as dominant as ever, with Core Formation experts ensuring the sect’s stability as immovable as Mount Tai.

There had been some changes among the main peak lords. The Pharmaceutical King Peak and Beastmaster Peak had new elders, while the remaining main peaks also saw generational shifts. During these two decades, the sect had produced another Foundation Establishment expert—a new Foundation Establishment cultivator who was a disciple of Divine Lake Peak.

The Corpse-Raising Sect and Nine Poisons Valley had also gained new elders, though Chen Luo hadn’t heard of any of these names. Beyond the three sects, the subordinate countries had undergone significant changes, such as the passing of old emperors and the ascension of new ones. Chen Luo skimmed through these details quickly.

“Where’s Zhu Jie?” Chen Luo suddenly asked, setting down the jade slip.

“Senior, do you know Elder Zhu Jie?”

The old man was taken aback at first, but then his face lit up with delight.

He was a member of Zhu Jie’s faction, so hearing that Chen Luo knew her put him at ease. At least this wasn’t an enemy.

“Elder?”

A smile appeared on Chen Luo’s face. It seemed Zhu Jie had successfully reached Foundation Establishment. The Foundation Establishment Pill he had prepared for her before leaving had worked.

“Elder Zhu Jie succeeded in her breakthrough eighteen years ago and is now one of our Loose Cultivators Union’s elders.”

“Five years ago, Elder Zhu Jie went to the Corpse-Raising Sect’s territory. There was some trouble there that required a Foundation Establishment cultivator to maintain the situation.”

As the old man spoke, a sudden realization struck him.

He finally remembered Chen Luo’s identity.

That twenty-year-old guest token Elder Zhu Jie had specifically mentioned to him. The Loose Cultivators Union was desperately short of alchemists. The main reason Elder Zhu Jie had achieved so much was because she’d been lucky enough to meet a master alchemist who could refine Foundation Establishment Pills.

At the thought of Foundation Establishment Pills, the old man’s voice began to tremble.

“Are you Pill Master Chen, Senior?”

“Yes.”

Chen Luo nodded. He could tell what the man wanted to ask next, but he had no intention of wasting his time concocting Foundation Establishment Pills for him. Instead, he casually produced a second-rank Pill and tossed it over as compensation for answering his question.

Then, like a streak of light, he departed the courtyard.

“What a missed opportunity!!” The old man pounded his chest in frustration, staring at the spot where Chen Luo had vanished. “A Pill Master capable of creating Foundation Establishment Pills! I let my chance to ascend to the heavens slip through my fingers!”

After leaving the bamboo grove courtyard, Chen Luo first visited the Hu family residence.

Unfortunately, Hu Qiudao wasn’t home. His son, a handsome young man with strikingly similar features to his father, was managing the household affairs. The young man possessed a mid-grade three-attribute spirit root, showing promise to remain on the mountain.

Chen Luo didn’t reveal himself. With Hu Qiudao absent, he had no interest in engaging with these juniors.

Next, Chen Luo traveled to Mass Grave Hill outside the city.

This place had once been the hermitage of his old friend, the Dry Corpse Daoist. Now it lay abandoned, the malevolent energy that had been nurtured by the Daoist’s presence gradually dissipating. The site had truly become a desolate graveyard, its air thick with the cries of crows and the stench of decay.

Clang!

Chen Luo approached the tomb where the Dry Corpse Daoist had favored sleeping. He lifted the stone casket’s lid. The coffin lay empty - whether the Daoist had departed or never returned remained unclear.

Recalling the curse that had plagued his friend, Chen Luo doubted the Daoist had survived. For a Qi Refining cultivator, the power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator was insurmountable. Had it not been for his master Void Sage’s intervention, Chen Luo himself might never have escaped that predicament so easily.

“Since I’m passing through, I might as well visit Guoshan County.”

He’d been cursed in Guoshan County during his weakness. Now that he’d grown stronger, it was time for retribution.

A streak of light flashed as Chen Luo steered his flying sword toward Guoshan County. With the Silver Carapace Corpse King in his possession, he felt certain of his success.