Cultivation Starts with Rejuvenation

Chapter 574: Chapter 11: Return to the Desert (Part 2)

Five junior cultivators at the early Qi cultivation stage were in pursuit of a father and son duo.

The father was in his thirties, and the son was in his teens.

The father was covered in wounds, mostly from wind blade cuts, while the son was unscathed but nearly exhausted.

What caught Li Ji’an’s attention was that both the father and son were using a martial arts technique.

Moreover, it was clearly similar to the technique he had created in his third lifetime, blending the strengths of the Hundred Schools of Martial Arts within the Immortal Dynasty.

There was no trace of spiritual energy emanating from the father, and the son was barely in the Qi Cultivation Introduction stage.

"Scram!" Li Ji’an lightly tapped the ground with his Coiled Dragon Staff, flipping the pursuers behind the father and son.

The father and son paused in shock upon witnessing this.

With a simple tap, the seemingly formidable figures in their eyes were sent flying several yards.

After a moment of daze, they immediately kowtowed to Li Ji’an in gratitude, "Thank you, senior, for your lifesaving grace. Thank you, senior!"

It was evident that the elder before them was the legendary high-level expert, as described in stories.

The father and son were both astonished and delighted.

"Stand up and speak," Li Ji’an said calmly.

"Yes, yes." They hastily stood up, though still bent at nearly ninety degrees.

"Where do you come from?" Li Ji’an asked directly.

"We..." The father was about to mention their dwelling but then quickly changed his words, "Reporting to senior, we come from within the Sandstorm Forbidden Land."

"Oh? Tell me more," Li Ji’an raised an eyebrow, showing interest.

A cycle ago, Li Ji’an had visited the Immortal Dynasty and made remarkable changes to the Forbidden Land according to his will, revealing the truth of the place to the residents.

He allowed the inhabitants to have a realistic understanding but left choices to them, merely pointing the way.

He anticipated the inhabitants would make their own decisions.

Those with ambition would not settle for mediocrity, overcoming countless hardships in pursuit of another life form.

Meanwhile, the naturally cautious ones could find their joy within the Forbidden Land.

This, he believed, was the fairest approach.

"Might I invite senior to my humble tavern? I assure you, I will say all that I know without reservation."

Li Ji’an nodded in agreement.

Before long, Li Ji’an followed the father and son to the outskirts of the United Marketplace.

The walls of the once United Marketplace had long crumbled, and many mortals had gathered around the outskirts.

The father and son’s small tavern was at the very edge of these outskirts.

The spiritual energy in this place was already quite thin, but comparatively better than the former mortal gathering area.

At this moment, the inside of the small tavern had been smashed to pieces, with several wine jars shattered on the ground, spilling mortal brewed wine unique to the Immortal Dynasty all over.

The father and son, seeing their tavern in such a state, wiped their tears quickly, cleaned up a barely usable table, and fetched an intact wine jar from behind the counter.

"Senior, please try our humble forbidden land’s inferior wine." They respectfully filled a bowl for Li Ji’an, then stepped back quickly.

Li Ji’an nodded at the mortal wine and drank it in one go.

"Speak, how did you arrive here?"

"Two decades ago, I came to this place with hundreds of like-minded individuals from the Forbidden Land. In the end, only thirteen of us arrived safely..."

The middle-aged man immediately recounted his experiences in detail.

Since Li Ji’an transformed the Forbidden Land a cycle ago, martial arts had rapidly developed, and everyone knew the Forbidden Land was just a tiny corner of this world.

They were also aware that cultivation truly existed in this world.

Thus, over the following decades, martial arts advanced quickly, with countless aspirants embarking on the journey to change their fate annually.

After decades of relentless attempts, aided by the route map through the sandstorm area left by Li Ji’an, people from the Forbidden Land finally began to emerge, arriving at the desert of the Celestial Cyan Domain.

However, those arriving here, like the man before them, often went from hope to despair, placing their hopes on future generations, only to fall into despair again.

The middle-aged man set a lofty goal at seventeen or eighteen, and with his martial arts cultivation and adventurous spirit, finally reached this land.

Like Li Ji’an in his fourth lifetime, he had inferior spirit roots, making him nearly incompatible with the Dao path.

Moreover, their timing was unfortunate, coinciding with turmoil in the domain, a period where demon and evil cultivators ran amok.

Many, after enduring numerous hardships to reach this place, were immediately beheaded for glancing at a demon cultivator.

Forget about cultivation; survival was uncertain.

When Li Ji’an and Zhao Shuyao arrived, the domain was at least peaceful, with kind-hearted people like Chen Zhaohu providing guidance, and the Eight Great Clans recruiting, offering a sliver of hope for cultivation.

After the middle-aged man’s despair, he pinned his hopes on the next generation, marrying a mortal woman here and having offspring.

He thought that being born here, his child would not have spirit roots eroded by the forbidden land.

However, although his son did have spirit roots, possessing them did not equate to having the spiritual talent for cultivation.

Cultivation techniques, dao fields, pill medicine... challenges were everywhere.

Now he could only rely on this small tavern to accumulate spiritual talent for his son, hoping his son could achieve the cultivation dream he could not.

Regrettably, with demon and evil cultivators exterminating the Yan Family and other cultivation clans, the desert had become a no-man’s land, yet some loose cultivators from other places who fled here and a few local cultivators were adept at establishing factions, dividing territories, and exploiting mortals as much as possible.

The middle-aged man’s tavern failed to pay the territorial tax in time and was made an example of.

"Any regrets?" Li Ji’an asked calmly after hearing the middle-aged man’s story.

The middle-aged man was immediately stunned, his eyes gradually getting misty.

Moments later, he lowered his head with a helpless sigh, "Regret!"

"But, if given another chance, I believe I would still do the same!" he then added.

"And I actually had a chance to regret, which is now. If I want to return to the forbidden land for a mortal life, I can go back; having walked the forbidden path once, the dangers would reduce greatly. But having seen further landscapes, I am unwilling to return without at least one more venture."

"Have some people from the Forbidden Land gone back?" Li Ji’an further inquired.

"Yes! But almost all eventually come out again," the middle-aged man affirmed.

"Come, join me for a drink," Li Ji’an asked him to drink along quietly instead of pressing further.

As the middle-aged man drank more, he became more talkative.

During this, he mentioned the Source Supplement Pill Li Ji’an provided to desert orphans in his past life, lamenting that he didn’t come here earlier.

If they had that Source Supplement Pill, even those from the forbidden land among the mortals could restore their spirit roots and start the cultivation path.

But in his past life, the Source Supplement Pill was supplied under the Yan Family’s name, which the middle-aged man esteemed highly.

He also spoke of Fairy Yan Qingwan, the foremost fairy of the desert, spreading legends widely.

She was termed the most beautiful under the heavens, possessing a heart of kindness, high cultivation prowess, deep background, and with numerous suitors.

If Fairy Yan were here, the desert wouldn’t be in such chaos.

Hearing this, Li Ji’an felt comforted.

Even after Yan Qingwan’s death, having such a renowned legacy was akin to existing in another form.

Meanwhile, his divine sense had already enveloped a group hiding not far off in a corner.

The leader was controlling a small beast to sense Li Ji’an’s aura.

"Are you sure there’s no Foundation Establishment aura?" The leader, with a pale, beardless face, floated as he walked, possessing a Qi Cultivation 9th Layer cultivation.

Practitioners at the Qi Cultivation stage only had spiritual sense level divine souls and couldn’t project outward sensing, thus relying on spirit pets to detect whether an opponent had a Foundation Establishment aura.

And the earlier report mentioned only that the elder flipped them over.

He was now almost certain of the opponent’s strength.

"Hmph, daring to meddle without Foundation Establishment capabilities? Go!" The leader snorted coldly, leading the Fierce Tiger Gang with his men forward.

As they neared, they heard the middle-aged man praising Yan Qingwan to the fullest.

"What a pity, Heaven envies beauty. Otherwise, I’d let her experience my dual cultivation secret technique!" the Fierce Tiger Gang leader sighed, shaking his head as he approached.

He first glanced at the father and son, then fixed his gaze on Li Ji’an.

"Old..."

"Swish!" But before he could finish, a whistling sound pierced the air, and he was suddenly decapitated.

Soon after, before others could react in shock, a gale swept through.

All members of the Fierce Tiger Gang were beheaded, dying with eyes wide open.

Li Ji’an’s cultivation goal wasn’t merely for longevity but for freedom.

While he still lacked the strength to act freely before top powers, he had no qualms dealing with these people, possessing both compassion and a thunderous manner.