22: The real world of cultivation

"Mmm, mmm, ugh!!"

Huo Li nodded frantically, fearing that if he was a step too slow, he would be decapitated by a sword.

He believed that the ruthless man in front of him would definitely do it.

Usually pampered and treated as a noble Immortal, when had he ever encountered such a situation?

Although his cultivation had been crippled, he still didn't want to die.

Anyway, he was just a Qi Refining Cultivator; at most, he could live for eighty or a hundred years, which was no different from a Mortal.

"Name."

"Huo... Huo Li."

"Identity."

"Disciple of the State Preceptors Mansion."

"That's it?"

Yu Xuzi raised an eyebrow.

If he was just an ordinary person, then he wouldn't have to worry about other Cultivators investigating afterwards.

"That's it! I'm... I'm just an ordinary Disciple, I don't have any deep background within the Sect."

Huo Li wanted to cry but had no tears, shaking his head repeatedly.

The pain in his abdominal Dantian made him grit his teeth and grimace from time to time; he breathed deeply and continuously, his body trembling violently.

"What happened to the State Preceptors Mansion?"

"I don't know... I ran too fast, and I didn't see what happened later with my own eyes, but the gap was too large. The State Preceptors Mansion has likely been destroyed by now."

"Who destroyed it?"

"The Hunyuan Sect!!!"

At the mention of this, Huo Li couldn't help but grit his teeth in hatred.

Yu Xuzi nodded slightly, his mind filled with many thoughts.

As expected, it was a power from outside the Yu Kingdom.

The Hunyuan Sect was also within his guesses.

It seemed that Ding Qing's death by sneak attack earlier was also their doing.

He continued to ask: "Why did the Hunyuan Sect destroy you so easily? Does the State Preceptors Mansion, with a Legacy of hundreds of years, not even have this much foundation?"

Hearing this, Huo Li's face showed a look of jealousy and hatred as he said: "The Hunyuan Sect was already the most powerful Sect within ten thousand miles. Plus, those scoundrels had no sense of honor. First, they colluded with the Yellow Heaven Cult to ambush our State Preceptors Mansion's current Eldest Senior Brother, and then they surrounded and killed Elder Wang, who was at the Late Stage Qi Refining, in the outside world."

"Finally, their Sect Master personally led dozens of Hunyuan Sect Disciples to arrive. How could our State Preceptors Mansion possibly win!!!"

Yu Xuzi narrowed his eyes and questioned: "Just because two Late Stage Qi Refining Cultivators were killed, your State Preceptors Mansion couldn't hold on?"

It was a cultivation power that had guarded the Yu Kingdom for hundreds of years; was it actually so weak?

Hearing these words, Huo Li suddenly began to cough violently, secretly feeling a bit of disdain for the person in front of him.

A mountain Loose Cultivator is just a mountain Loose Cultivator!

He didn't even look at how low his own cultivation was, yet he dared to look down on Late Stage Qi Refining Cultivators.

"This Fellow Daoist must be from a Loose Cultivator background and has only recently become a Cultivator, so you don't yet understand the situation of our Yu Kingdom's cultivation world."

Huo Li said with a bitter smile: "The current cultivation world is not like the ancient times. The age of decadence has arrived, the Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence is fading day by day, and resources like Spirit Medicines and Spirit Stones are also becoming increasingly scarce."

"For us Cultivators, to put it nicely, we are Immortals; to put it bluntly... we are just a group of poor wretches whose path forward has been severed, struggling to survive."

"Late Stage Qi Refining is already the dream of countless Cultivators in the cultivation world!"

"Our State Preceptors Mansion has dominated the Yu Kingdom for hundreds of years, and now, besides the State Preceptor who is at Peak Qi Refining, we only have three Late Stage Qi Refining Cultivators."

These words made Yu Xuzi frown deeply.

The cultivation level of this world was actually so weak?

Previously, the concentration of Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence in the Mortal world was very low, and Cultivators were extremely rare. He had originally thought it was because he hadn't entered the cultivation world yet.

Or perhaps it was because the Yu Kingdom was located in a remote area, not at all in the core territory of the cultivation world.

But now it seemed he had overthought it.

"What about Dao Foundation Cultivators?"

"Never seen one."

"Not even in the Hunyuan Sect?"

"At least not within ten thousand miles of our Yu Kingdom. I've heard that only near the Kang Country in the center of the cultivation world are there Dao Foundation Ancestors."

Dao Foundation... Ancestor?

The current cultivation world was indeed weak enough.

"Where is the Kang Country?"

"I've heard it's in the center of the continent, to the northeast of the Yu Kingdom, but I've never been there either."

"How far is it?"

"I estimate it's about twenty or thirty thousand miles; it's very far. I also heard the Eldest Senior Brother and the others mention it."

"Is that Kang Country's cultivation world very powerful?"

"Mmm, mmm!!"

Huo Li nodded frantically.

Compared to the Yu Kingdom, that was indeed the case.

"Tell me, how strong?"

"The Kang Country has an Immortal Master!"

"An Immortal Master? A Dao Foundation Cultivator?"

Yu Xuzi subconsciously thought it was another case of those Dao Foundation or even Qi Refining Cultivators arrogantly claiming the title of Immortal Master.

Just like that True Man Huang Tian.

"No, no, no, it's a real Xuantai True Person!"

Hearing this, Yu Xuzi's expression immediately turned solemn, and he sat up.

A real Xuantai True Person was an existence with powerful Divine Abilities and a Lifespan of six hundred years!

Even in the ancient times when cultivation flourished, they wouldn't be considered low-level Cultivators.

"How many are there?"

"Just one!"

"..."

Yu Xuzi looked at him suspiciously: "Are you sure?"

"That's right. The Eldest Senior Brother only returned from the Kang Country Assembly this year. That Immortal Master is celebrating his five-hundredth birthday this year, and in these five hundred years, no new Immortal Master has been born."

"Five hundred... birthday."

The Lifespan of a Xuantai True Person is generally around six hundred years.

But that's the ideal situation.

In reality, due to internal injuries from regular combat, insufficient foundation, sparse Spiritual Essence, and various other reasons combined, a typical Immortal Master usually doesn't live to six hundred.

Dying of old age at over five hundred is the normal situation.

This also meant that the only Xuantai True Person in the world... was likely about to pass away.

The day he passes away would mark the moment when Xuantai True Persons no longer exist in the cultivation world!

"age of decadence! age of decadence!"

This was the age of decadence!

Perhaps in a few hundred or a few thousand years, even Dao Foundation Cultivators or Qi Refining Cultivators would no longer exist.

Watching the cultivation world fall step by step into the Mortal realm—one could imagine how desperate these Cultivators would be!

Fortunately, Yu Xuzi didn't need to worry about it.

When his cultivation reached Peak Qi Refining or the Dao Foundation Realm and he could progress no further, he would just use the Myriad Heavens Star Disk to run away.

The age of decadence had nothing to do with him!

"Tell me everything you know about the State Preceptors Mansion, the Hunyuan Sect, the Kang Country, and all other matters of the cultivation world, one by one."

Huo Li endured the intense pain and cautiously spoke to test him: "Fellow Daoist, if I speak, can you grant me a way to live?"

Yu Xuzi said with a half-smile: "Bargaining with me?"

In the next instant, a flicker of fire suddenly appeared in the cave.

"No, no, no~"

Huo Li cursed inwardly, "I'll talk, I'll talk!"

"..."

Over the next hour, Huo Li told him everything he knew about the current situation and common knowledge of the cultivation world, including the Legacy history and Cultivation Techniques of the State Preceptors Mansion.

Although Yu Xuzi didn't know how much of it was true or false, he had memorized it all and would have ways to verify it in the future.

"Fellow Daoist, I've told you everything I know. Could you—"

Yu Xuzi waved his hand to interrupt him, the shrunk yu king sword dancing in the air before him.

"Do you recognize this sword?"

"No... I don't!"

Huo Li's eyes flickered for a moment, and he quickly denied it, followed by a flattering remark: "This sword is peerlessly sharp; Fellow Daoist has such a great Opportunity..."

"Whoosh—!!!"

Along with the sound of breaking air, a bloody hole suddenly appeared in Huo Li's forehead.

The light in his eyes faded, his body slumped powerlessly to the ground, and his aura was completely extinguished.

"Look at you, why did you lie to me?"

Yu Xuzi put away the yu king sword and then began to loot the body.

If Huo Li hadn't lied... it would mean he knew the yu king sword was in Yu Xuzi's hands, which meant he could not be allowed to live even more.

Huo Li was even poorer than the Hunyuan Sect Disciple from before, not even having a Magical Artifact; he didn't even spare a glance at that crack-covered semi-magical artifact.

Dozens of breaths later, as orange-yellow flames ignited in the cave, Yu Xuzi's figure vanished without a trace.