Chapter 141 - 127: 2.5 Years Later, Part 3
Many families and sects that lacked deep foundations were plundered empty. Tens, even hundreds, of Cultivators were slaughtered in a single day, and their mortal kin were not spared.
Meanwhile, the Shandu Wei Family was under a fierce siege at Shandu Mountain, led by Lu Shiluo, Elder Green Robe, and Nankun of the Li Huo Alliance. The Wei Family was too preoccupied to help, forced to watch as the White Mountain Loose Cultivators besieged their vassal families.
Later, Wei Xuan made a ruthless decision. He used a Late-stage Golden Core Spiritual Flood Dragon as bait, forcing it to violently self-destruct. The explosion instantly killed Lu Shiluo and Nankun and frightened away Elder Green Robe. Wei Xuan then descended the mountain and, with his sword alone, slaughtered several hundred White Mountain Loose Cultivators still running rampant within Shandu’s borders, finally resolving the crisis.
This time, the Wei Family had won, but it was a pyrrhic victory. They had lost their Late-stage Golden Core Spiritual Flood Dragon, leaving Wei Xuan as their sole pillar of strength. With so many of their vassals destroyed, the Wei Family had lost all the grand ambition it possessed when Wei Tong first arrived in White Mountain.
But Wei Xuan was, after all, a resourceful and formidable man. Lu Shiluo’s death was far from the end. Wei Xuan used the Lu Family’s main mountain as a bargaining chip to ally with Elder Green Robe. Together, they orchestrated a scheme that wiped out the rest of the Lu Family. Now, capitalizing on the Luo Family Master’s continued absence, he has begun propping up a branch of the Luo clan to challenge the main lineage.
The Lu Family was now a thing of the past, and the Luo Family was locked in a fierce internal struggle. Through these series of maneuvers, Wei Xuan had somehow managed to restore the Wei Family to an air of burgeoning prosperity.
These upheavals in White Mountain left Fang Qingyuan feeling dizzy. He would emerge from a single session of secluded cultivation only to find the entire situation there had changed dramatically. After this happened a few times, Fang Qingyuan lost the desire to keep up with it all.
Over the past two and a half years, production at the Crimson Iron Ore mine had been stable. His share amounted to nearly thirty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones. With this many Spirit Stones, Fang Qingyuan didn’t lack for cultivation resources, and his interest in earning money as a traveling merchant naturally faded.
The battle in the Sea of Death a few years ago still haunted Fang Qingyuan, and he didn’t dare wander near there again. The Chaotic Star Sea was too chaotic, and other places were too far away. After much consideration, Fang Qingyuan decided to just lie low in Yuanling Mountain. He resolved not to leave until he reached Foundation Establishment.
However, before reaching Foundation Establishment, Fang Qingyuan faced an important choice that required careful consideration. His current Earth Rank Technique offered two different methods for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
The first method was relatively simple: achieve Foundation Establishment directly using the Wood Spirit Dragon Form. The other four spirits could be cultivated later. However, without the complete cycle of the Five Elements, the foundation of the Wood Spirit Dragon Form would be insufficient. His combat prowess after breaking through would be no better than any other Foundation Establishment Cultivator.
The second method, of course, was the path all past Nascent Soul Cultivators had taken. It involved forming all five spirits first, and only after they had completed a full cycle would one attempt Foundation Establishment. A cultivator who broke through this way would possess immense combat prowess, able to fight three or four others of the same realm.
But this path was far more difficult. For one, all of the user’s Five Elements Spirit Roots needed to be of Top-grade Spirit Root quality. It also required significantly more resources and took much longer. The technique’s manual explicitly stated it was unsuitable for cultivators with shallow pockets or subpar aptitude.
Just as Fang Qingyuan was weighing which method to choose for his Foundation Establishment, an earth-shattering event occurred at Red Camp, three hundred li away.
Shen Wulei stared at the tide of demon beasts surging toward him, his face a mask of horror. But when several massive Golden Core Demon Beasts appeared among them, his horror twisted into utter despair.