Chapter 64: Immortal Sect Enters The World
In the 8th month of the 30th year of the Shu Tian Calendar, Donghua Commandery, a major town once garrisoned by the Wu Family Army on the northern route. Wu Family Army officers here were gathering new recruits. Batches of ragged young and strong men entered the military camp, gazing eagerly at the army captains and officers, hoping to be taken in.
However, the captains impartially led the soldiers to various testing points, which included height measurements as well as long jump pits.
Some soldiers who were not recruited hurriedly knelt down, begging for another chance. If Xuan Chong saw such a scene, he would think of online videos from his previous life about South Asian recruitment. Oh, that was the situation in a country with high stability but also high hunger.
Da Yao is now the same. In the North, as the great tribulation becomes more turbulent, the Imperial Court has issued a decree to impose additional taxes on the many still-peaceful prefectures in the South. This fierce tax increase will produce thousands of ruined households in the southern prefectures and counties. These self-farming peasants who abandon their fields under the taxes have no choice in these chaotic times but to become servants in noble families. However, in recent years, noble families everywhere have become saturated, so only the Wu Family Army’s military camp is still recruiting people.
In this great disaster, the southern merchants transported a lot of grain to Donghua Commandery, and porridge sheds were set up inside the Wu Family Army’s military camp.
If a recruit was selected, he could go in to drink porridge. Oh, not only that, he could also bring four family members in together. Of course, the southern merchants did not take them in for free; the whole family had to be registered as slaves and assigned to the southern reclamation group.
In this bustling military camp, Wu Hanluan was in his military tent reading the Imperial Court’s courier report. At this moment, he was paying attention to one piece of news: the Imperial Court had dispatched a commandery prince to oversee military affairs in Ji Prefecture, Donghua Commandery, and other places.
“What exactly is the Imperial Court’s intention?” Wu Hanluan once again missed the times when Wu Fei was by his side giving him advice.
Just then, Wu Hanluan had received a family letter yesterday, which contained some “complaints” from the clan elders.
After Wu Hanluan finished reading the letter: Oh, to marry a noble lady from a great clan in the Central Plains, hmm, ambitious. Since that’s the case, let’s wait and see for now.
Wu Hanluan now “spoiled” Wu Fei because in these chaotic times, who wouldn’t covet a accomplished disciple from a military family! Wu Fei had the qualification to make demands.
The Wu Family was a military family for generations, with strict family rules and precepts demanding absolute obedience from disciples! There were those broken by clubs, but none spoiled. Even so, not all clan disciples achieved success. They still needed to gain experience in the ranks under veteran generals, strategize on the big picture, and face sabers in battle.
Even so, to truly stand on one’s own, one needed a share of spirituality, and Wu Fei happened to have such talent.
At this moment, the Imperial Court intended to directly form an army, but without generals, no matter how many soldiers were recruited, they would just be a rabble.
Ever since Prince Zhou and other imperial family disciples made a big showing at the Northern Border two years ago, the Imperial Court no longer dared to let them casually step forward to strategize. At most, they would command generals.
For example, the Prince of Langya now sent by the Imperial Court to Donghua Commandery seemed to be placing a superior above Wu Hanluan, but he would absolutely not interfere with the northern military camp in Donghua Commandery.
Wu Hanluan had roughly learned the situation from his inside line in Changcheng: this Prince of Langya was sent by Emperor Shu to investigate southern finances and taxes, and of course, this involved exploiting the contradiction between the Wu Family Army and the Ji Prefecture noble families.
Because the prefect of Ji Prefecture was the maternal relative of Emperor Shu’s current empress and was deeply rooted locally. Emperor Shu needed a thug to move against Ji Prefecture.
In this chaotic situation, how should the Wu Family plan? That was why Wu Hanluan wanted Wu Fei by his side to offer strategies.
At this time, the curtain was lifted, and Wu Hengyu walked in. He said, “Father Commander, the senior brothers from Qinghua Sect are waiting outside the camp.”
Wu Hanluan stood up: “They’ve arrived? Quickly invite them in.”
…Spiritual Evil divider…
Outside the camp, Qinghua Sect had sent down five cultivators, three men and two women, all immortal figures. But only they themselves knew what the revered immortal sects outside were facing now.
One of the senior brothers suddenly looked toward the north of the military tent, and the junior sister beside him asked, “Senior Brother, what’s wrong?”
Senior Brother: “There seems to be someone in the North!”
Everyone activated their spiritual eye supernatural power, but due to the overwhelming killing intent in the military camp, they couldn’t pinpoint the exact target. Instead, their spiritual eyes were irritated, and tears streamed down.
The killing intent in the army could enhance magic power, but it was not beneficial for cultivators to circulate energy. If cultivators lacked corresponding avert evil items, prolonged exposure to killing intent would cause disharmony in their blood energy, essence, spiritual sense.
…On the other side, orthodox and heterodox cannot coexist.…
In the military camp, Wu Hanluan saw a paper luan on the table, along with the waist token of the camp’s original strategist.
Xian Daoren’s voice came from the paper luan: “General, I have matters in my sect and cannot bid farewell in person.”
Wu Hanluan paused, then said to the paper luan: “Mister, you are too polite. Over these years, my army has relied heavily on you. Recently, I’ve been busy with military affairs and failed to consider your situation. I hope you understand. After you finish your matters, I hope you can come to my Wu Family. I will prepare simple wine to express my gratitude.”
The paper luan nodded slightly, indicating it remembered the commander’s appreciation and would surely return after the sect’s affairs were settled.
By rights, the army was not a place where one could “come and go as they please.” Xian Daoren’s departure without notice could be considered desertion in the strictest sense, but in this remote conversation, neither side mentioned it. Wu Hanluan even humbled himself, admitting his own oversight.
These days, after multiple sects in the North suffered the evil moon great tribulation, the rift between orthodox sects and heterodox paths had deepened exceptionally.
With the five Qinghua Sect disciples coming together to visit, for Xian Daoren of the heterodox path, hmm, his magic was of the same nature as the currently most rampant blue evil moon in heaven. To avoid conflict, he naturally withdrew.
In a sense, Xian Daoren had done Wu Hanluan a favor. If two factions of masters fought in the army, as the army lord, suppressing one side would offend the other. If he helped neither, the damage to military discipline would be far greater than Xian Daoren’s unannounced departure.
……
In the military camp, Wu Hanluan met these five outstanding disciples of Qinghua Sect. Their main cultivation arts happened to be metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. The five were Bai Renfeng, Qing Lin , Han Jiangxue , Zhu Yanming, and Huang Yao. They were all third generation disciples.
Qing Lin followed her senior brother Bai Renfeng deep into the military camp. As the killing intent rose another level, she suddenly felt her magic power mobilization mixed with impurities. She couldn’t help saying to her senior brother, “The army is too fierce and murderous.”
Bai Renfeng: “Military strategist heavy ground is like this. Guard your aura carefully and don’t be as unrestrained as in the mountains. These soldiers may seem to have no magic power, but they are all warriors. A predecessor once said of his cultivated supernatural power: Shaking a mountain is easy, shaking an army is hard. Our sword qi can split a ten-thousand-jin boulder with one strike in the wilderness. But in the army, it weakens by ninety percent, and clashing with generals’ weapons will damage spiritual artifacts immediately.”
Zhu Yanming: “Then isn’t it no different from having no magic power? What’s the point of us coming to the army?”
At that moment, a voice came: “Once you receive the military waist tokens, your magic and supernatural powers will no longer be suppressed. Of course, when facing enemy armies, you still need to be careful of their military momentum.”
Wu Hengyu revealed his figure, while Huang Yao beside him cupped his hands slightly and said, “Thank you, Senior Brother, for leading us into the camp.”
Ten breaths later, they paid respects to Wu Hanluan, who was very welcoming of these immortal sect disciples’ allegiance and quickly gave them waist tokens.
……
Outside the military camp, Xian Daoren watched another paper luan burn to ash. He glanced at those dull-witted orthodox sect disciples and revealed a mocking smile. With a flick of his large sleeve, he headed north. He wanted to ignite more beacons.
As he walked, he sang: “What the masses hate is close to the Dao. To dwell is to be in a good place; the heart is a good abyss; giving is good faith; governing is good order; affairs are good ability; movement is good timing. Only because it is not pure (perfected), it has no blame.” The singing was eerie, like laughter mixed with sorrow.
Xian Daoren was now very satisfied with the performance of the orthodox sects in the Central Plains. These immortals who devoured sun and moon in the mountains, cultivating unaware of the passage of time, finally knew fear!
The standard of great chaos under heaven is: dim court above, bandits rising in the countryside below.
In the disorder of human dao, demons will appear, but more terrifying than demons are the kings, marquises, generals, and ministers. These local great clans, officials, and generals who have fallen to the evil path occupy high positions in human dao. Their resources often mean plundering more and enjoying more, and they are precisely those capable of offering sacrifices to ghosts and spirits. Meanwhile, the common people are displaced, without rice to eat—how could they have offerings? Instead, they are used as sacrificial offerings by these evildoers.
Xian Daoren’s third eye was like a search engine, scouring the Da Yao land for various “strange events.” In the past few days here with Wu Hanluan, he had been extremely frustrated.
One story after another entered Xian Daoren’s eyes.
1: Six days later, the Mountain God 800 li away and the River Earl 600 li away were polluted while absorbing wish power, turning into evil gods, and began demanding young boys and girls from the villagers under their protection—Xian Daoren: Interesting, interesting.
2: One month later, in the North Mang Mountains, the Mountain Lord became obsessed with blood food—Xian Daoren: This greedy ghost. He drew his pen tip across the tiger’s brow, helping the tiger awaken the talent to recruit vengeful ghosts.
3: A raccoon demon seeking enfeoffment would appear in Liu Yao Mountain—Xian Daoren pondered for a moment and decided to play a prank on the innocent raccoon demon, sending a drunkard to enfeoff him instead of the scholar she was waiting for.
4: Half a year later, in that unprosperous fishing village to the east, some old bachelors would encounter a female ghost demon who “accidentally” let them carry her home—Xian Daoren added a few strokes, making the female ghost accelerate into a malicious ghost.
……
These bizarre events that would soon happen in the future, Xian Daoren began to massively induce them as if he had cheats enabled.
He acted without restraint, signifying that the Heaven and Earth calamity had begun.
In the past Great Cheng, all human realm disorders in Da Yao over ten thousand years were still controllable and did not threaten this heaven and earth. They belonged to calamities.
But this time today was different; the Evil Moon appeared in the sky. Because of the massive resentment on the ground now connecting to the world in that moon up there. Demons proliferated on the ground, no longer producing native monsters, but directly causing mountains and rivers to collapse.
…The Imperial Court side was temporarily unable to cope…
Several months ago, after a batch of mountain ranges like Aotian Ridge directly collapsed, when the Evil Moon appeared in the sky, the sky observers of various sects all discovered that corresponding mountains had appeared on the Evil Moon.
Although Military Strategist formations could blast open sect gates, Confucian scholars could make Mountain Gods no longer favoritism-protect sects by raising their pens, and Legalists could make sect gate formations reveal their meridians directly through thousand-word edicts, making them solvable.
But in past Xi Ren Realm calamities, major sects could still seal their gates to block those rampant rogue cultivators. Then dispatch true cultivators to warn nearby Military Lords and marquises who did not cultivate virtue to follow the Way of Heaven. This was actually warning that after human realm disorder, all sides should not drag their own sects into it.—This head-hugging defensive posture allowed Immortal Sects to avoid a great deal.
After someone like Xian Daoren entered the world, the contemporary evil calamity could no longer be solved by various Immortal Sects hugging their heads in defense.
Soon a special Evil Path would prevail: sacrificing living beings, destroying earth veins, and raising sects to acquire power.
Ironically, places that could nurture immortals who split mountains and cracked stones, due to active energy, were the first to be hit by the Evil Moon’s mountain-shifting and sea-overturning. The grand formations and prohibitions of various sects’ gates failed, and massive spiritual energy overflowed into the Human Realm like a flood.
Xian Daoren smirked evilly: Only by dragging these sect cultivators into this under heaven chaos could “Way of Heaven disorder” advance further.
…Human fireworks shift to Immortal Family grandeur…
On Qinghua Mountain, the sect’s first-generation disciples, that is, those Elders with thousand-year lifespans, were observing under heaven with magic tools. In their magic tool observations, the under heaven spiritual veins were now unstable. After a breach appeared in the North, spiritual energy in various mountains was declining. Of course, in the starry sky they divined, the three destroyed Spiritual Mountains in the Central Plains had their wreckage floating in the sky in an unimaginable state; the main meridians had been swallowed by the Evil Moon, and the remaining wreckage was still bit by bit turning into meteors falling into the Evil Moon.
Although all Spiritual Mountains suffered great tribulations, it did not mean the Xi Ren Realm was spiritually exhausted; on the contrary, spiritual energy in the inner regions of Da Yao Human World was rising, just mixed together. Extremely impure, and polluted by the unknown Evil Moon in the sky.
This spiritual energy mixed with pollution caused beasts in mountains and forests to mutate into monsters, either growing larger in size or able to speak human words. And those originally living in populated areas, commoners who could not survive due to exorbitant taxes, also mutated into monsters at their last breath; some gnawed trees and grew rat incisors, while others ate vegetables and grew fangs.
All of this was developing toward the state of outer Da Yao savage wilderness, and the Southern Border was such savage wilderness, where the human race was polluted into a hundred races.
The foremost of under heaven Spiritual Mountains, Jieqiong Mountain’s primary seal, the big shots of various sects were now sitting in the clouds communicating; on the white jade registers in their hands were scenes of batches of world-entering disciples cooperating with other families.
A white-haired Elder sighed: “Legalists also collapsed, all edicts now only effective within great cities.”
Note: Legalist inspecting Censors manage the Six Gates and Correction Department during the day. At night, they command Night Watchmen and Demon Extermination Department. When Legalists are strong, these departments can reach into villages and towns; even Daoist Sect true cultivators encountering demons here hand them over to Night Watchmen and Demon Extermination Department. Of course, in Imperial Court rosters, Legalists have not only people but also local City Gods.
Then another palace-dressed female cultivator sighed: “Currently, the Confucian School has lost its world-leveling vast righteousness; each family academy treasures its own broom, Confucian scholars all focus on self-preservation.”
These highly respected Sect Masters now all avoided mentioning “Military Strategists,” but their hand calculations all included Military Strategists.
At the time of moral collapse and edict breakdown, Military Strategists were the key to under heaven stability, so various sects unanimously sent disciples to the famous Military Strategist families under heaven. To put it this way: When each family’s spiritual veins are collapsing, as long as Military Strategists are stationed at a corresponding Yao Calculation point, at least a radius of hundreds of li can be suppressed and stabilized.
But conversely, if Military Strategists conflict with each other, the killing intent fluctuations could cause mountains and rivers hundreds of li away to collapse even more severely.
In past ten-thousand-year calamities, Military Strategist ferocity only caused droughts, floods, and other disasters within the Human Realm. Today with the Evil Moon above, the great tribulation level is raised a notch; what Military Strategist war ferocity decides is no longer Human Realm peace—heaven’s way is also implicated.
On the immortal-qi drifting clouds, each family’s hypocritical Daoist Sects now avoid mentioning Military Strategists, not ignoring them but because they have become the primary threat targets of “Military war ferocity”; these Immortal Sects dare not speak rashly.
Similar to how 21st-century great powers do not casually discuss nuclear weapons. But in practice, no one treats nukes as nonexistent.
On these many immortal great powers’ under heaven spiritual network Feng Shui, the Southern Border domain currently inconspicuous but specially marked, because the Evil Sect situated there is now being hard-pressed by Da Yao Military Strategists.
…Perspective shifts to the North…
On Fengcheng’s beacon tower, Pu E came to the military camp, where Zhao Cheng was in full armor. On the sand table were Da Yao Northern various passes. Zhao Cheng had already mustered troops and generals, poised to strike.
Pu E had obviously come to explain the current under heaven situation to Zhao Cheng.
However, Zhao Cheng was unconcerned: “The people’s hopes, why not let my army sweep southward?”
Pu E: “I trust the General, but a hundred battles a hundred victories, defeat Yao Guotai! But with human hearts fluctuating, all things turning evil, my army marching south will encounter many demons.”
Zhao Cheng glanced at her, with ten-tenths certainty: “When momentum is formed, all can be swept; when weak, all become disasters.”
In Zhao Cheng’s eyes, Guotai wanting to replace Da Yao was this strategic window. As for mountains and rivers collapsing, the longer it dragged, the harder it became. Right now, mountains and rivers collapsing in turmoil, but mostly concentrated in famous mountains and great rivers far from populated areas, harm to commoners still controllable.
Zhao Cheng looked at Pu E, the firelight in the camp’s copper basin flickering, but Pu E shook her head, not approving.
As Pu E left, Zhao Cheng suddenly drew his sword in the military tent, slashing at the copper basin, extinguishing the fire inside.
Zhao Cheng said angrily: “When decisiveness is needed but not taken, how can great affairs be plotted!”
