Chapter 124: Chapter 122: Northern Plains?
Standing in this strange new world, Jiang Jichen felt as if he had returned to the primeval Barbaric Wilderness. The air was filled with a primordial aura.
’Where in the world is this place? Little Skeleton was teleported to the Undead Realm, Jiang Ling’Er was sent to the legendary Dragon Realm... and me? Was I really sent to the Barbaric Wilderness?’
If a place like this Ancient Plains still existed in the Mortal World, it could only be in the Northern Plains, one of the Five Domains!
The thought of being teleported to the Northern Plains made Jiang Jichen’s scalp tingle with dread.
The Southern Continent and the Northern Plains were complete opposites. If this was true, who knew how many years it would take for him to return to Cyan Moon City in the Celestial Pearl Country?
Jiang Jichen stared blankly ahead.
From the top of this high peak, he could see the vast Ancient Plains stretching out before him, dotted with Heaven-Reaching Giant Peaks, Spirit Lakes, Ancient Forests, and swamps scattered about like stars on a chessboard.
The group that had been attacking moments ago also stopped. All eyes fell upon the youth who had suddenly appeared.
The peak was wide, with dense Spiritual Qi. Strange flowers and exotic herbs grew from the cracks in the rocks, and there was even a Spiritual Spring flowing through a stone ravine. It was truly a treasure trove of a place, perfectly suited for cultivation and the growth of Spirit Medicine.
A spiritual land like this was never lacking in precious Spirit Medicine.
At this moment, a dozen or so people were scattered around, appearing to be between their twenties and thirties. Their cultivation wasn’t very high, ranging from the Innate Second Realm to the Innate Third Realm.
Not far from Jiang Jichen stood a petite, exquisitely beautiful young woman dressed in tight-fitting black clothes. She held a Spirit Sword, standing by a gushing Spiritual Spring.
Jiang Jichen, meanwhile, was standing on the other side of the gushing spring.
Seeing the youth who had suddenly appeared beside her, the girl in black tensed up, watching Jiang Jichen warily. However, she noticed he wasn’t paying attention to her, nor did he glance at the Spirit Flower by her feet. Instead, he was staring blankly ahead.
’Doesn’t he know how dangerous his situation is right now?’
’Surrounded by these people, I’ll be lucky to escape with my life today. But if I can’t get the Thousand-Petaled Flower, the Thousand Poisons afflicting Grandpa, the Clan Leader, can’t be cured, and he could die at any moment. Are the heavens determined to destroy my Hua Family?’
In that instant, these thoughts flashed through the mind of the girl in black, Hua Xiaoling.
The people surrounding them had been in a fierce battle with the girl in black just moments ago, on the verge of capturing and killing her, when a youth suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"Could the Refining Illusion Realm have opened? Is he one of those talented experts who teleported in for training?"
"How is that possible? The Illusion Realm’s refinement trial doesn’t open for another month. There’s no way they could get in. He must be a helper that Hua Xiaoling called for."
"A trash helper at the Innate First Realm? How is that any different from coming here to die!"
...
The surrounding people discussed amongst themselves.
However, after confirming the youth’s cultivation, they all revealed looks of disdain and promptly ignored his presence.
These people all wore the same family attire, clearly a team from the same clan. The leader was a young man with a sinister gaze.
He stared coldly at the suddenly-appeared Jiang Jichen and Hua Xiaoling, then said, "Hua Xiaoling, if you give up the Thousand-Petaled Flower and leave on your own, I’ll spare you today—for the sake of the fact that I still want to marry you and play with you for a while!"
The Thousand-Petaled Flower was growing by the edge of the Spiritual Spring, looking as if it was on the verge of blooming but not quite there yet.
The *Flower and Grass Scripture* states: The Thousand-Petaled Flower, one petal a year, blooms after a millennium—a Holy Medicine for detoxification!
The Thousand-Petaled Flower at Hua Xiaoling’s feet already had a full thousand petals, but it seemed it was still a short while away from true maturity and its millennial bloom.
This was the life-saving medicine for the Hua Family. Hua Xiaoling would never give it up, even if it cost her life. She responded resolutely, "I discovered this Thousand-Petaled Flower first and have been guarding it for half a month. It belongs to me! I will never give it to you. If you want the Thousand-Petaled Flower, you’ll have to step over my dead body!"
The lead youth, Lin Qiu, was the Second Young Master of the Lin Family. He spoke with a sinister and perverted tone, "With your looks, even if you become a corpse, I’d still like you very much!"
Hua Xiaoling’s face instantly turned deathly pale. She had long heard that Lin Qiu had a fetish for corpses; it seemed the rumors were true.
At that moment, a wave of despair washed over her.
She had left the city in search of the Thousand-Petaled Flower, but all the Hua Family disciples accompanying her had perished—either devoured by ferocious Ancient Beasts or slain by Hunters. She alone had finally found this place after great difficulty and had guarded it for days. Just as the Thousand-Petaled Flower was about to bloom and hope was within her grasp, Lin Qiu and a group of his family disciples had appeared at this most critical moment.
’Were all my efforts for nothing? Am I doomed to die and be defiled?’
The thought that even after death, her body would be desecrated by that pervert Lin Qiu sent a chill down Hua Xiaoling’s spine.
As Lin Qiu and Hua Xiaoling were speaking, Jiang Jichen finally snapped out of his daze.
’No matter where I’ve ended up, the first thing to do is figure out what’s going on,’ Jiang Jichen thought to himself.
And although he had been spacing out, he had heard every single word of their conversation.
When he heard them mention the Refining Illusion Realm, it seemed this might not be the Northern Plains after all!
A flicker of hope finally ignited in Jiang Jichen. He decided to ask the pretty girl beside him, Hua Xiaoling, about the situation.
As for Lin Qiu and his group, they were clearly a bunch of thugs accustomed to robbery and murder—definitely no good-doers.
Besides, that Lin Qiu was so perverted; if the opportunity arose, Jiang Jichen wouldn’t mind killing him offhand.
Even without looking, a single sweep of his Divine Sense was enough for him to clearly perceive the Realm Cultivation of everyone present.
After checking, Jiang Jichen felt that their cultivation was, on the whole, a level higher than their peers in the Celestial Pearl Country.
But logically, in a world with such incredibly dense nature’s spiritual energy and abundant cultivation resources, it made no sense for their cultivation to be so low.
In a Small Country like Celestial Pearl, the cultivation of most Cultivators was far lower than those from Upper-level Cultivation Powers. This was partly due to issues with Talent Bloodlines, but the main reason was the scarcity of cultivation resources.
However, Jiang Jichen soon sensed a faint sealing and suppressive power within their bodies. It was this power that prevented their cultivation from accelerating.
This sealing and suppressive power was very familiar to Jiang Jichen—it was precisely the suppressive power of the world itself!
As a Body Refiner, Jiang Jichen was exceptionally sensitive to this.
’This world is strange. It even has a worldly suppression on Spirit Cultivators, but I don’t seem to be affected at all!’
Jiang Jichen found it strange but didn’t dwell on it.
Among those people, the lead youth’s cultivation wasn’t weak; he was at the Middle Realm of the Innate Third Layer. Among the others were seven Cultivators at the Innate Third Realm, while the girl in black was only at the Initial Stage of Innate Three Realms. Compared to them, her strength wasn’t on the same level at all.
As for Jiang Jichen himself, he was accustomed to hiding his cultivation. He was currently only showing the level of Innate First Realm Perfect Realm. Thus, in these people’s eyes, he was indeed as weak as trash. No wonder they had completely ignored him.
At this moment, Lin Qiu had just finished speaking. He was sadistically enjoying Hua Xiaoling’s expression of terror and helplessness, his twisted mind finding a small measure of satisfaction.
However, a voice interrupted his enjoyment. The boy he had been ignoring turned to Hua Xiaoling and asked, "Excuse me, could you tell me where this place is?"
