Chapter 7: Journey to the Immortal City

In the Golden Radiant Immortal City, at the Nine Tripods Merchants’ Alliance.

“Aunt Yao, thinking about that heartless man again?” Though more than thirty years had passed, Tong Yaoyao remained youthful and radiant; even her temperament, shaped by a life of ease and uninterrupted comfort, had not changed much, save for a greater composure before outsiders.

At the sound, Zhao Shuyao remained calm. She did not hide the letter in her hand, leaving it just as it was.

“How can you be so reckless with your words? Aunt Yao is already an old woman. I was merely recalling an old friend.” At seventy-three, Zhao Shuyao spoke with composed ease, and with her kind smile there was something faintly reminiscent of a scholar’s twilight years.

Tong Yaoyao stepped forward and knelt half-squatting before her, smoothing the hair at her temples where a few silver strands had appeared. Her voice carried a trace of disappointment. “Aunt Yao, a few years ago you could have had a Youth-Preserving Elixir…”

Zhao Shuyao gently drew her into an embrace. “Silly child. Aunt Yao has no magical power, and my blood and vitality have already begun to decline. A Youth-Preserving Elixir cannot make one young again; it would only delay the aging by a few years. There is no need.”

Tong Yaoyao sighed, as if she wished to speak but held back. After a moment, her gaze suddenly hardened. “Aunt Yao, this time I will definitely help you win the demon core needed to break through to the second stage of body cultivation!”

At those words, a glimmer of hope surfaced on Zhao Shuyao’s face.

She had been stuck at the peak of the first stage of body cultivation for twenty years. The reason she had given up the Youth-Preserving Elixir earlier had been precisely because she wanted to seize the chance to advance to the second stage.

Once she reached the second stage, she would have some confidence in investigating that family which kept blood slaves, and there might even be a chance for revenge. At the very least, even if all else failed, she could tear a piece of flesh from them with her dying hands and feel a little more at peace. Otherwise, she truly might die with regret.

Though her blood and vitality had now waned, she still had a chance to make one more push for the second stage. If she waited a few more years and her vitality declined further, then even with a demon core, there might no longer be any hope.

“Hum—” Just then, the talisman in her bosom trembled faintly.

Zhao Shuyao took it out.

The message from Zhang Tiezhu made her face change in an instant.

“Almost top-grade!”

“How... how could this be?”

The talent of a spirit root bearing nineteen strands of spiritual essence left Zhao Shuyao utterly stunned.

Tong Yaoyao was likewise quite surprised. “That fellow’s son actually has such excellent spirit roots? Didn’t he only have two strands?”

“What kind of Dao companion did Brother Li find, exactly?” Sixteen years ago, when she learned that Li Ji’an had been expelled from the Yan clan, Zhao Shuyao had even sighed over the unpredictability of fate. She had tried to contact him afterward, but to no avail.

Back then, Zhang Tiezhu had also told her the reason Li Ji’an had been driven out of the clan.

That had made her rather want to meet that eldest young lady of the Yan family.

Yet seven years ago, news of Li Fan’s return to the clan had stirred up a strange feeling in her heart.

She had not expected Li Ji’an to find a Dao companion so quickly after leaving the Yan family, and by calculation, their child had already been conceived that very year.

This had stirred to life once more the faint grievance that had long since settled in her heart.

She had once believed that Li Ji’an had been wholly devoted to the immortal path and thus refused her forty years ago. She had never imagined...

Fortunately, she was old now, and such emotions faded in the blink of an eye.

Over these past seven years, she had often asked Zhang Tiezhu about Li Fan, and in her heart she had already come to regard him as the closest junior in this world.

After all, he was Brother Li’s child.

The five of them had come to this world with no kin and no ties; to one another, they were the closest people they had.

They had also discussed with Zhang Tiezhu and Dong Jiangling the possibility of offering him support.

However, all three of them had not held out much hope, after all Li Ji’an’s spirit-root aptitude had been the worst among the five of them.

But now... Li Fan’s spirit root filled Zhao Shuyao not only with disbelief, but with renewed hope as well.

With such aptitude, so long as resources were provided, foundation establishment was all but certain, and perhaps... even Core Formation was not beyond hope.

More importantly, over the past few years Zhang Tiezhu had probed the matter and learned that Li Fan actually knew of the Celestial Bestowal Dynasty and of the family that kept blood slaves. He had even said that he had taken his father’s instruction to heart: if he ever had the strength, he would surely avenge those senior forebears who had been deceived and brought here from the Celestial Bestowal Dynasty over the past century.

“Yaoyao, Aunt Yao has never asked you for anything. This time, Aunt Yao asks you...” After some time, Zhao Shuyao made her decision.

She decided to give up the resources that might have allowed her to break through to the second stage of body cultivation, in exchange for Yaoyao’s support of Li Fan!

At the same time, she also desperately wanted to see Brother Li’s son.

Three days later, another unexpected message stirred her heart anew.

“The young lady has taken Little Fan to participate in the Azure Cloud Sect trial!”

“The eldest young lady of the Yan family is coming too?” The instant she received the news, Zhao Shuyao was first thrilled at the prospect of finally seeing Brother Li’s descendant, then again uneasy at the thought of meeting that eldest young lady of the Yan family, the one Brother Li had sought but could not obtain.

After all, she was already a Foundation Establishment patriarch, and her status and position were extraordinary.

Upon learning the news, Tong Yaoyao stood firmly behind Zhao Shuyao.

“Aunt Yao, there is no need to fear her. Have you forgotten? Yaoyao is also a Foundation Establishment cultivator!”

----------

When Yan Qingwan formed her foundation more than ten years ago, the clan had quietly escorted her to the Golden Radiant Immortal City, and she had remained there for four years afterward, so she was no stranger to the city.

And now, with her foundation thoroughly stabilized, she could go anywhere within the entire Azure Heavens Domain.

Once foundation was achieved, the Dao base was initially established. Its power and magic could not be compared with the Qi Refining stage. Unless there was a deadly blood feud, no one wished to offend such a person, and not even a Core Formation True Person would target them without cause.

On this day, Yan Qingwan piloted a flying vessel, carrying Li Ji’an toward the Golden Radiant Immortal City.

“Fan’er, do you resent Aunt for sending you out of the clan?” Standing on the flying vessel, Yan Qingwan looked at Li Ji’an beside her, who had already grown half a head taller than she was, and asked softly.

Li Ji’an wore a smile, gratitude overflowing in his eyes. “Aunt, I’m no longer a child. How could I not understand your painstaking intentions? Whether or not I enter the sect through this trial, I will remember this kindness forever!”

“Fan’er is indeed clever! You need not feel any pressure on the way to the Azure Cloud Sect. Just do your best; Aunt will always stand behind you.” Yan Qingwan looked at Li Ji’an indulgently, her smile graceful and bright.

The journey to the Golden Radiant Immortal City was one hundred thousand li. Along the way, most of the land was spiritually barren, and with the Yan clan’s flying vessel, it would take nearly four months.

Yan Qingwan would occasionally sit in meditation to refine and replenish her magical power.

Because Li Ji’an was about to take part in the sect trial, he had not been taught the Yan family’s top-grade technique, the Blazing Dragon Art. In this world, once one had begun cultivating a primary technique, it was almost impossible to cultivate another, for discarding one’s skill and starting over would inevitably consume one’s potential.

Most of his time on the flying vessel was spent condensing his blood and vitality.

At the same time, he compared it to the flying vessel used by the immortal envoy who had received him more than forty years ago. That vessel was one grade higher still than the Yan family’s, which indirectly confirmed the information Zhao Shuyao had obtained back then: the family that kept blood slaves was very likely one of the five great families.

“Fellow Daoist Yan, long time no see!” On this day, just after they left the barren domain of the Dragonfall Ridge, a flying vessel pursued them from behind.

Yan Qingwan swept it with her divine sense, and her gaze turned colder. She immediately stood at the bow and fixed her eyes on an old acquaintance aboard the vessel behind them.

“Fellow Daoist Zheng, this is truly presumptuous of you. Are you not afraid of provoking a serious conflict?”

“Hahaha, Fellow Daoist Yan is joking. Who in the world does not know that the Zheng and Yan families have been on friendly terms for nine generations, closely linked as one? Among the eight great families of the wasteland, ours are the closest of all. How could there be any talk of conflict?” Zheng Tianxiang laughed heartily and took the initiative to withdraw his magical power.

He had formed his foundation three years earlier than Yan Qingwan. Unfortunately, after successfully establishing his foundation, he had been somewhat careless. Before his foundation had even stabilized, he had hastened back to his clan, only to be intercepted and slain along the way by two rogue Foundation Establishment cultivators. Though his clan’s Foundation Establishment cultivators protected him and spared his life, even after years of nourishment and recovery, his prospects for further advancement had been cut off.

The Zheng family had long suspected that this had been caused by a bounty placed in the black markets by one of the other seven families of the wasteland, but they had no proof.

Over these years, the Zheng family had remained hidden, and yet today they had appeared on their own.

“Fellow Daoist Zheng has cultivated diligently for many years. Your power has indeed improved further.” Yan Qingwan sneered, implicitly mocking him for being even thicker-skinned than before.

Zheng Tianxiang paid it no mind. “Fellow Daoist Yan flatters me. I have come today solely to continue the friendship between our two families.”

Without waiting for Yan Qingwan to respond, he produced a storage pouch. “Today I only just learned that your nephew has a spirit root nearing top-grade, and that he is headed to a sect. I hurried here especially to offer a congratulatory gift. Please accept it.”

Yan Qingwan ignored Zheng Tianxiang and instead looked at Li Ji’an beside her.

“Haha, young friend, I am Zheng Tianxiang. I once shared a close friendship with your father as well, so I can be considered an old acquaintance. What a joyous occasion indeed.” Seeing that Yan Qingwan remained silent, Zheng Tianxiang turned to Li Ji’an.

What a close friendship indeed, Li Ji’an thought with inward amusement.

Back then, Zheng Tianxiang had repeatedly tried to lure him out of the market town, and his intentions were plain enough. This had already been noted in Li Ji’an’s little ledger.

“Ah, and your father’s old mentor, Master Mo the alchemist, has also entrusted me to bring you a gift. He once promised your father that he would care for you.” As he spoke, Zheng Tianxiang took out another bottle of pills.

At this point, even Yan Qingwan smiled.

“Fan’er, since Fellow Daoist Zheng is so generous, you may as well accept it.”

As she finished speaking, she gestured with one hand and drew the items from Zheng Tianxiang’s grasp.

Seeing this, Zheng Tianxiang no longer delayed. He cupped his hands in farewell to Yan Qingwan. “Hahaha, excellent. The Zheng family’s sincerity is beyond doubt. I hope Fellow Daoist Yan can set aside the past, and I also wish the young friend success in the sect examination. Farewell.”

Yan Qingwan carefully inspected the contents with her divine sense and confirmed that the pouch indeed contained two hundred spirit stones, while the bottle of mid-tier spirit-restoring pills was also without issue. She immediately cast a somewhat suspicious glance at Zheng Tianxiang’s departing figure.

“Could it be that he truly wants to befriend the Yan family?”

Li Ji’an’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The Zheng family was likely about to make a move.

Alliance of the Left and Right.