271: The anomaly of the Peach Blossom Sect

Artifact Refining Hall.

"You're talking about Senior Sister Yun Xian! Although she is usually quite cold, she treats me very well. If Daocheng can become her Disciple, there will definitely be no problem!"

An Yunxi focused on controlling the flames to refine a piece of Ore, not paying much attention to what Liu Xuan said.

"Senior Sister Yun Xian is the Third Senior Sister of our Southern Branch and has a Late Golden Core Stage cultivation. Her natal spirit beast is a Perfected Golden Core Stage crane, and she is one of the Sect's few Nascent Soul seeds."

Under the reflection of the firelight, An Yunxi's flushed little Face showed a trace of confusion. "Senior Sister Yun Xian Cultivates the Path of Ruthlessness and has never taken in any Disciples. Why would she take a liking to Daocheng?"

An Yunxi had lived at White Crane Lake for several years and had seen many of Liu Xuan's children; their talent was all quite average.

How high were Senior Sister Yun Xian's standards? With so many Genius Disciples in the Southern Branch, she hadn't taken a liking to a single one after all these years. How could she have taken a liking to that brat Daocheng?

"Because Daocheng contracted the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Black Crystal Bee Queen as his natal spirit beast!" Liu Xuan explained.

"The Black Crystal Bee Queen?"

An Yunxi's hand movements paused. "Isn't that your natal spirit insect?"

"This... actually, the Black Crystal Bee Queen only feels close to me because of a life-saving grace and is willing to listen to me; it has never had a contractual bond with me."

"Last time you gave me the Heavenly Scripture of Beast Taming, I let Daocheng Cultivate the introduction, and then I helped him contract the Black Crystal Bee Queen as his natal spirit beast."

"Pfft~"

The Materials in the Artifact Refining furnace lost control and were burned to ashes by the flames. An Yunxi stared blankly at Liu Xuan.

"Are you telling the truth?"

Liu Xuan nodded, looking her in the eyes with a sincere gaze. "When have I ever lied to you?"

"Daocheng only has Qi Refining early-stage cultivation, how could he contract a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Black Crystal Bee Queen?!!"

An Yunxi felt that this matter was simply too absurd!

That was a Spirit Beast! One of the hardest Yao Beasts to control. How did Liu Xuan manage to do it?

Even if the contract was successful, wasn't he afraid of a backlash? With such a large gap in cultivation, the Black Crystal Bee Queen only needed a single thought to kill the Qi Refining early-stage Daocheng.

Dashan's temperament was gentle. After she contracted it as her natal spirit beast with her father's help back then, she hadn't left home either, just for fear that Dashan would one day succumb to its beastly nature and backlash against its master.

It wasn't until her cultivation broke through to Foundation Establishment, reaching the same major Realm as Dashan, that she was able to go out and travel.

"The Black Crystal Bee Queen watched Daocheng grow up. Perhaps they are fated!"

"That won't do either!" An Yunxi said anxiously. "What if there is a backlash? Aren't you afraid it will hurt Daocheng?"

Liu Xuan looked indifferent. "Everyone has their own Opportunity. Soaring into the sky is his ability, and dying from a backlash is his fate; one cannot blame others!"

An Yunxi stared blankly at Liu Xuan, a strange expression gradually appearing on her little Face. On Liu Xuan's Face, she seemed to see the shadow of her father.

For such a unique spirit insect like the Black Crystal Bees, Liu Xuan could clearly have contracted it as his own natal spirit insect, but he still took the risk to give it to his child.

This paternal love was so similar to the love her father had for her, perhaps even surpassing it.

"Next time I see Senior Sister Yun Xian, I will ask for you. For the sake of my... my father and sister's Face, she will take good care of Daocheng!"

This was exactly what Liu Xuan wanted. "Senior Sister, you are truly too kind! Your great kindness cannot be repaid. If you don't mind, Junior Brother is willing to offer himself to you!"

Offer himself? This was the first time An Yunxi had heard such a saying, and it took her a while to react.

"Go away, if you talk nonsense again, I..."

"Don't mind it, Senior Sister, I was just joking. Let's continue talking about Artifact Refining."

...

A few days later.

On the Peach Blossom Sect's border battlefield, the Yao Race had no intention of counterattacking and stopped upon reaching the border of the three Sects.

Experts from both sides stopped fighting one after another, and the Peach Blossom Sect's border returned to the situation where low-level Cultivators and the Yao Race consumed each other.

Countless cannon fodder died on the battlefield every day, yet Feiyu City had a large number of Yao Beast corpses, damaged Magical Artifacts from Cultivators, and various special spiritual Materials... transported back every day.

Liu Xuan lay under the phoenix tree, looking through various intelligence reports. He had an inexplicable feeling that in this war, the Beast Taming Sect and the Azure Profound Sect didn't care at all about how many low-level Cultivators died.

Especially the Beast Taming Sect; the lower levels didn't even have military pay. If they didn't go to the battlefield to risk their lives, they couldn't even afford to eat, forcing them to fight the Yao Race and seize territory and resources.

Perhaps they themselves were also a part of the resources...

During this time, Liu Xuan had learned a lot about Soul Transformation Sects through An Yunxi and some Junior Sisters from the Beast Taming Sect.

The Human Race and the Yao Race had been at war for many years in the Cultivation World. Since the ancient times, Human Race Sects had held an absolute advantage, constantly encroaching on the Yao Race's territory.

After Human Race Sects occupied the Yao Race's territory, they would enter a stage of rapid development, and the number of Cultivators would increase.

As development saturated and resources were occupied by Cultivators with high cultivation, middle and low-level Cultivators lost their value and had few opportunities for advancement.

If there were no Yao Race, the Sects would increase the difficulty of cultivation for low-level Cultivators, reduce the number of low-level Cultivators, and gradually reach a balance.

But there was still a large amount of Yao Race territory, so there was no need to do that. When development reached a certain level, they could start a war of conquest against the Yao Race, which could both give low-level Cultivators opportunities for advancement and plunder more resources from the Yao Race.

Large-scale wars like the Beast Taming Sect attacking the Endless Great Mountain Demon Court happened on average every few hundred to few thousand years.

Analyzing historical records, Liu Xuan guessed that it was highly likely that a new Soul Transformation big shot had broken through at the Beast Taming Sect's Main Mountain, or was about to break through.

'The Beast Taming Sect is determined to win. The current cannon fodder war is just the beginning, and it will inevitably become more and more tragic later on.'

'Foundation Establishment Ancestors, Golden Core True Persons, and even Nascent Soul True Lords, as long as they want to obtain advancement resources in the war, will also enter the fray one after another.'

'The Yao Race are not wild beasts; they cannot be willing to wait for death. In order to survive, they will fight back desperately.'

Although the Human Race had held an absolute advantage and expanded continuously since ancient times, not every war of conquest went smoothly; there were examples where the Yao Race won and counterattacked to wipe out Human Race Sects.

The trends of the world change in an instant; there is never such a thing as a guaranteed victory!

"Speaking of which, why did the Yao Race stop fighting when they reached the border? Is it because they don't dare to drag the three Nascent Soul Sects into the water, or is it some other reason?"

This time, the Yao Race's sudden counterattack clearly had the strength to break into the three Sects' territory and, taking advantage of the fact that the Beast Taming Sect's reinforcements hadn't arrived, fight the Azure Profound Sect first.

The Endless Great Mountain Demon Court's strength was not weak. If they could defeat the Azure Profound Sect in advance, it should be considered a rare glimmer of hope.

Opening another intelligence report, Liu Xuan became even more confused. The Cloud Top Sect and the Chongming Sect had both suffered varying degrees of invasion by the Yao Race army, but only the part of the Yao Race bordering the Peach Blossom Sect had stopped one after another.

'Is the Peach Blossom Demon Lord trying to be neutral? Or is she still holding onto the thought of defecting to the Human Race?'