Dual Cultivation: Gathering SSS-Rank Wives in the Cultivation World

Chapter 709: Chapter 709- Town’s Welcome

The ships cast shadows over the Jade Mountain.

Not one ship. Not ten. The entire fleet, hundreds of vessels, their hulls blocking the sun, their formation arrays humming with condensed spiritual qi, descended upon the mountain’s eastern ridge. The sails, bearing the insignia of four great sects, snapped in the wind.

The spiritual pressure of ten thousand cultivators pressed down on the earth below, the weight bending the spirit-grass flat, cracking the stone pathways, sending the mountain’s wildlife fleeing in every direction.

The town of Qinghe was thirty li from the Jade Mountain. The townspeople had felt the fleet pass overhead an hour ago. The shadows had darkened their streets, their homes, their markets. Children had cried. Dogs had howled. The town guards, a modest force of fifty Foundation Establishment cultivators, had stood at their posts with white faces and trembling hands.

Now, the fleet had landed.

The eastern ridge of the Jade Mountain, a wide plateau of flat stone that had once been a meditation ground for Azure Cloud Sect elders, was covered. Ships rested on the stone, their hulls touching, their anchors driven into the rock. Between the ships, soldiers moved. Thousands of them. Core Formation cultivators in sect armor, their weapons sheathed, their faces set, their spiritual energies suppressed by discipline and formation protocols. They moved in columns, in rows, in precise military formations that spoke of training, of hierarchy, of a force designed for war.

The plateau, which could hold perhaps two thousand people comfortably, was overcrowded. Soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder. The edges of the ridge were lined with perimeter guards, their spiritual senses extended outward, scanning for threats. The sky above the plateau was occupied by hovering scouts, Core Formation cultivators on flying swords, their eyes on the horizon.

At the base of the mountain, where the plateau met the road that led to Qinghe, a barrier had been erected. Not a physical barrier. A formation array, the diagrams carved into the stone, the spiritual energy visible as a shimmering wall of golden qi. The barrier extended across the entire width of the mountain’s base, blocking access from the road.

Beyond the barrier, the town’s delegation waited.

Mayor Chen Hu stood at the front. He was a short man, round, with a face that had been shaped by decades of smiling at people he didn’t like and nodding at decisions he disagreed with. His robes were formal, the dark blue and gold of Qinghe’s civic office. His cultivation was modest, Foundation Establishment early stage, the kind of power that let him live longer than a mortal but offered no real combat capability. His hat was slightly askew. His hands, clasped before him, were sweating.

Behind him stood the town elders. Six of them, their ages ranging from fifty to eighty, their cultivation bases varying from Foundation Establishment to peak Foundation Establishment. They wore the formal robes of their respective guilds. The alchemist guild, the blacksmith guild, the merchant guild, the formation guild, the beast taming guild, and the healing guild. Each elder represented a facet of Qinghe’s economy. Each elder was terrified.

Behind the elders stood the academy representatives. Seven headmasters and headmistresses from the seven academies in the region. The Crimson Peak Academy, the Jade River Academy, the Blazing Sword Academy, the Iron Mountain Academy, the Lotus Pavilion Academy, the Cloud Forest Academy, and the Starfall Academy.

Madam Yueying stood among them.

Her thick body, the formal headmistress’s robes pulling across her chest and hips, was rigid. Her dark eyes, usually composed, usually commanding, were wide. Her hands, clasped before her, were white. Sweat ran down her temples, the beads visible against her pale skin. Her breathing was shallow. Rapid. The breathing of a woman whose heart was pounding so hard she could feel it in her throat.

’Ten thousand cultivators. Four great sects. The entire fleet. They’re all here. On our mountain. In our town.’

’Why?’

The answer was in the ground. In the burn mark. In the purple scar that had appeared on the plateau three nights ago, the night Lau had transformed. The night the void demon had materialized and killed four Core Formation cultivators. The night her son had revealed what he was.

’They’re here because of him. Because of what he did. Because of the energy. The forbidden technique. The same energy that I felt from my office. The same energy that split the sky. The same energy that the entire region detected.’

’They found the source. They tracked it here. To our mountain. To my academy. To my son.’

Her dark eyes scanned the barrier. The soldiers beyond. The ships. The thousands of cultivators. The four great sect leaders, standing at the base of the main ship, their formal robes marking their rank.

’If they find him. If they learn what he is. If they discover that the headmistress’s son, the boy who sits in the back of the class, the boy who never cultivates, the boy who is nobody, is the source of a forbidden demonic technique that split the sky...’

’They’ll kill him. They’ll kill him and call it righteous. They’ll execute a boy for being chosen by something he didn’t choose. And I’ll have to watch. And I won’t be able to stop them. Peak Golden Core against ten thousand cultivators and four peak Golden Core sect leaders. I’d last three seconds.’

Her chest heaved. The robes, the dark blue fabric straining against her breasts, pulled tighter. The buttons, already stressed by her thick frame, groaned. Sweat ran down her neck, into her collar, between her breasts.

The mayor stepped forward. His round face was composed into the smile he used for official functions. The smile that said "I am in charge here" even when he very much was not.

"Greetings!" he called out. His voice carried across the formation barrier. "I am Mayor Chen Hu of Qinghe! We welcome the honored sects to our humble town! How may we be of service?"

A Core Formation soldier, standing at the barrier’s edge, looked at him. The man’s face was blank. Expressionless. The face of a soldier following orders.

"Stand aside," the soldier said.

The mayor’s smile faltered. "I beg your pardon? We are the official delegation of Qinghe. We have come to greet the honored..."

"Stand aside," the soldier repeated. His voice was flat. Uninflected. "You are not permitted beyond this point."

Mayor Chen Hu’s round face went white. The smile died. The official demeanor, the civic pride, the authority of his office, crumbled. He stepped back. His hands, still clasped, were shaking.

The town elders, behind him, exchanged glances. Their faces were pale. The academy heads, behind the elders, were similarly stricken.

Madam Yueying’s dark eyes were fixed on the main ship. On the ramp that extended from its hull to the plateau. On the figures that emerged.

Jin Wuchen came first. The Azure Cloud Sect leader’s enormous frame, his formal jade-green and white robes, his dark eyes, swept the area. He stood at the base of the ramp, his hands behind his back, his peak Golden Core energy cycling. Behind him, the four elders of his sect emerged. Biyu, Hanlin, Suwen, Tianqing. Their faces were carefully neutral.

Then the other sect leaders. Wang Deyu, his portly frame in blue robes, his small eyes scanning. Han Tianxiao, his scarred face in crimson, his thick neck tense. And Madam Fengyan, her thick body in dark red and gold, her beautiful face composed, her dark eyes cold.

The mayor, from beyond the barrier, called out again. "Sect Leaders! Welcome! We are honored by your presence! If there is anything we can..."