Chapter 473: Three Great Lists
The gray-robed swordsman looked away and sighed.?Even if that really was him, in the flourishing cultivation world of the Great Xia… I’m afraid he’ll fade into obscurity too.
Were Su Yi here, he’d recognize the man at a glance: this was none other than Qiu Hengkong.
The Grand High Elder of the Wheel of the Moon Sect and the top sword cultivator in the Great Wei!
A group of young men and women were drinking and eating in a restaurant’s private dining room.
One of them, a man in gold, turned to look at Qiu Hengkong and ordered with a pompous smirk, “Junior Apprentice Brother Qiu, what are you looking at? Hurry up and fill our glasses!”
“Yes,” said Qiu Hengkong in a low voice. He hurriedly approached the table, picked up the jar of wine, lowered his head, and refilled everyone’s cups.
As if he were a servant.
“Junior Apprentice Brother Qiu, you should sit down too,” whispered the young woman seated at the head of the table; she couldn’t bear to watch any more of this.
She was dressed in purple, with skin as fair and lustrous as snow. Her forehead had a birthmark shaped like a golden lotus leaf. Her eyes were slightly slanted, like those of a phoenix, and she had eyebrows like distant mountains. Despite her youth, when she looked around the room, she had an imposing air and a majestic, noble presence.
Qiu Hengkong was a bit surprised.
The young woman’s name was Jiang Li.
She was a direct-line descendent of the Jiang Family, one of the Great Xia’s three great clans.
Only three years had passed since she joined the Fulcrum of Heaven Sword Sect, but she was already the inner sect sword chief and a core disciple!
From a young age, she’d inherited the legacy of the Jiang Family, the Jade Phoenix World Burning Sutra, and she cultivated the Dao Charm of Phoenix Jade True Fire, which was all but unmatched in this world.
That, combined with her city-toppling good looks, made her famous. She was the Phoenix Jade Fairy of the Great Xia’s younger generation.
In the Fulcrum of Heaven Sword Sect, Jiang Li’s status and reputation were comparable to the younger generation sword chief of the entire sect, Yu Wenshu.
Qiu Hengkong wouldn’t have guessed that a chosen daughter of heaven like Jiang Li would concern herself with a bottom-tier, insignificant outer sect disciple like him. A warm current rose within his heart.
But before he could say anything, the golden-robed man laughed. “Senior Apprentice Sister Jiang, when we left the sect, Junior Apprentice Brother Qiu said he’d take responsibility for all chores and trivial affairs upon himself, no exceptions.”
He then looked at Qiu Hengkong. “Besides, Junior Apprentice Brother Qiu is perfectly happy to pour our drinks. No one is deliberately ordering him around. Isn’t that right, Junior Apprentice Brother Qiu?”
A sense of humiliation difficult to describe in words rose in Qiu Hengkong’s heart, but he nonetheless nodded seriously. “That’s right.”
The golden-robed man was called Tao Yunchi. He was an inner sect disciple of the Fulcrum of Heaven Sword Sect. His family background was extraordinary too; he was a direct-line descendent of a faction of cultivators.
His rank, status, and cultivation were all far beyond Qiu Hengkong.
In truth, every single young man and woman in attendance had impressive origins. Each was loftier and nobler than the one before; they were among the most dazzling members of the Fulcrum of Heaven Sword Sect’s younger generation.
Of them, the Phoenix Jade Fairy Jiang Li was the most extraordinary, and she had the highest status.
However, the golden-robed Tao Yunchi was second only to her.
As for Qiu Hengkong? He’d only joined the sect as an outer sect disciple a month ago. His status was far beneath everyone else in attendance.
Even his cultivation was far inferior!
In the Great Wei, he was the strongest sword cultivator around, the Grand High Elder of the Wheel of the Moon Sect.
But in the Great Xia…
He was just another unassuming outer sect disciple of the Fulcrum of Heaven Sword Sect, that’s all.
However, Qiu Hengkong was already quite satisfied with this.
The Great Xia was the hegemon of the Azure Continent, and its cultivation factions flourished.?Any random faction of cultivators in any one of the Great Xia’s thirteen provinces could thoroughly dominate a backwater place like the Great Wei.
Here, valiant elites and geniuses were as numerous as carp in the river. There were too many to count, and each was excellent in their own way.
When he first arrived in the Great Xia, learning the situation shattered his pride and confidence into nothingness.?It was then that he understood on a visceral level just how flourishing the Great Xia and its cultivation world were!
By comparison, the Great Wei was nothing but the boonies.
Qiu Hengkong often mocked himself over this, saying “In the past, I was nothing but a frog in a well. I really thought that the little stretch of sky I saw represented the full extent of the heavens. How pathetic and ridiculous….”
However, Qiu Hengkong’s Dao Heart was resolute. Despite the enormous blow to his confidence, his extraordinary spirit and determination carried him through numerous trials. In the end, he was fortunate enough to join the Fulcrum of Heaven Sword Sect to continue his cultivation.
It didn’t matter that his status was the lowest of the low or that he was an outer sect disciple no one cared about. His position was still enough to instill envy in the world’s ordinary cultivators!
When she saw Qiu Hengkong lower his head in submission, Jiang Li inwardly shook her head, but she didn’t say anything.
The rules of the Fulcrum of Heaven Sword Sect were strict, with a rigid hierarchy.
In the eyes of most inner sect disciples, outer sect disciples really were little different from servants they could order about as they pleased.
Insisting that Qiu Hengkong sit down to eat and drink with them would be little different from putting him on a spit and roasting him over the flame; it would make everyone else in attendance displeased with him.
Tao Yunchi suddenly said, “I heard that the Great Xia’s imperial family gathered numerous prominent members of the world of cultivation and dispatched the Darkspirit Guards stationed throughout the empire. They’re working on assembling three lists of names.
“The three lists are called the List of Ancient Monsters, the List of Modern Geniuses, and the List of Otherworld Possessed.?The first two lists include geniuses from all over the Azure Continent who’ve cropped up within the past decade, both monsters of the ancient era and geniuses of the present day.
“The List of Otherworld Possessed is different; it’s more like a bounty list. Anyone on it is a public enemy of the Great Xia’s cultivation world. Anyone who kills someone on the list will receive a generous reward from the Great Xia’s imperial family.”
The group couldn’t help but look intrigued.
The List of Ancient Monsters!
The List of Modern Geniuses!
The List of Otherworld Possessed!
The targets of the three lists were obvious from their names.
One listed monsters of the ancient era, geniuses who survived the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness. One was for those elites who’d cropped up in the past decade, geniuses of the present day. And one was for the Possessed, otherworlders who’d stolen locals' bodies to invade the Azure Continent!
Someone said gravely, “Both the geniuses of the ancient era and the geniuses of the present day are cultivators of the Azure Continent. However, the Possessed undoubtedly came to the Azure Continent with ulterior motives. If the imperial family is compiling a list of their names, it’s obvious that they want to urge the world’s cultivators to target the otherworlders.”
“Those of other worlds cannot be trusted. They say that when the Radiant Epoch descends, cultivators from other worlds will invade en masse. When the time comes, I wonder what will become of the world?” someone else?sighed.
“No need to worry about that. What is the Radiant Epoch? It’s a change in heaven and earth, an eruption of spiritual energy. Every cultivator beneath the heavens will have hope of seeing their cultivation soar. At the same time, as monsters of the ancient era appear and otherworlders invade, the long-stagnant order of this world will inevitably fall apart. Following a period of bloodshed and upheaval, a new world order shall take its place,” someone said somberly.
He continued, “There’s no way to avoid it, so until the Radiant Epoch is upon us, all we have to do is prepare thoroughly and wait!”
As the group drank and conversed, Qiu Hengkong listened in. His heart swelled with emotion; he was eager for the Radiant Epoch to begin.
He was well aware that with his talent, if he wanted firm footing in the Fulcrum of Heaven Sword Sect, he’d have to get there step by step, and it would take an unknowable amount of time.
Even crueler, no matter how hard he worked, it was likely that generation after generation of geniuses would trample him underfoot.
Someone like him had almost no hope of becoming strong quickly, not unless he encountered a stroke of fortune as grand as the heavens themselves.
Qiu Hengkong saw the impending Radiant Epoch as a chance to change his destiny!
It was then that Jiang Li said, “To the best of my knowledge, the three lists that the Great Xia’s imperial family has compiled shall be released to the public in two weeks, exactly one month before the curtains open on the Orchid Terrace Dharma Assembly.”
Having said this, she rose from her chair and headed outside. “It’s getting late, so we should be on our way.”
Tao Yunchi and the others hurriedly rose and followed her.
Qiu Hengkong followed at the tail end of the party, like an overlooked servant.
……
The radiant moon shone overhead, and the sky was flecked with stars.
Su Yi and his companions traversed the vast wilderness on foot.
The scenery they saw along the way was indeed different than during the day. It was lonelier, emptier, and wilder.
Birds, beasts, mountain ghosts, and nature spirits were the most active at night.
Ordinary people simply wouldn’t dare pass through the mountain forests at a time like this.
Naturally, Su Yi and his companions were no ordinary people.
The yao qi emanating from his companions alone was enough to effortlessly intimidate the skulking ghosts along the way; none of them dared draw near.
“Repress your auras,” Su Yi ordered out of nowhere. It seemed that he had sensed something.
As he spoke, he gazed into the distant mountains. There, he saw a place enveloped in layers of dark?cloud?and permeated with dense, ghostly energy.
Someone who wasn’t sensing carefully most likely wouldn’t have discovered it.
“Come on, let’s have a look.” Su Yi’s interest was piqued.
The group shot forward, streaking toward the distant mountains. Before long, the outline of a city appeared within their field of view.
The city was small, only about ten thousand feet in diameter, and built amidst the mountains. Lamps illuminated its streets, and it was lively and bustling. However, layers of dark?cloud?hovered overhead, surging with baleful energy.
“This looks like a city of ghosts!?” exclaimed Yuan Heng.
For such an extraordinarily lively city to appear in the middle of the boundless mountain wilderness was naturally unusual. That, combined with the baleful mists and ghostly energy above it, meant that anyone who saw it would realize how dangerous it was!
“Now this?is a true ghost market.” Su Yi’s eyes shone. He could tell at a glance that the “city” was merely an illusion projected over the ruins.
And those gathered there? All of them were ghosts. They were currently carrying out all manner of transactions.
The city might have looked bustling and prosperous, but beneath the light of day, both the city itself and the ghosts inhabiting it would scatter in all directions.
Compared to Little Ghost City Fengdu’s underground ghost market, a place like this was naturally far?worthier?of the title “ghost market.”
“I wonder what those apparitions are selling? Come on, let’s go have a look! Remember; don’t reveal your aura. Otherwise, you’ll alarm the ghosts,” Su Yi ordered with great interest, then led the way toward the city.
This late?at night,?they’d encountered?a ghost?market so colorful?and strange. It would be a waste not to visit.
Yuan Heng and Bai Wenqing hurried after him.
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