Blood Moon City, Free Heart Inn.
Liang watched the five men disappear into the crowd outside the window and chuckled.
"Perhaps my plan is a little ruthless, but compared to what the ten great sects have done over the years, it's nothing."
He remained seated for a while before getting up and leaving the inn.
The streets of Blood Moon City were as chaotic as ever. Dark mist drifted between the buildings, and the dense Yin Qi that filled the city made the atmosphere uncomfortable for anyone unfamiliar with the place. Ghost cultivators, devil cultivators, and rogue cultivators moved through the crowds, each minding their own business.
Liang walked through the streets with his hands behind his back.
"The spiritual qi here is getting worse by the day."
He shook his head. There was little he could do about it, so he continued wandering until a nearby conversation caught his attention.
"Have you heard about the person the Heavenly Conqueror Sect is looking for?" a young cultivator asked excitedly.
Liang approached them with a faint smile.
"Who are they looking for?"
The young cultivator looked at him in surprise.
"You don't know? Their wanted notice has already spread across all ten great cities!"
He paused before continuing.
"His name is Ling Tian. The Heavenly Conqueror Sect has issued a warrant for his capture."
Liang raised an eyebrow.
This caught his interest. The Heavenly Conqueror Sect had ruled over the cultivation world for twenty thousand years, and it rarely made such a public move without a good reason.
"Do you know what he did?" Liang asked.
The young man shrugged.
"Nobody knows for sure. Some say he stole something valuable from the sect, while others believe he offended their leader. There's also a rumor that he possesses a special cultivation technique that the sect wants to obtain."
According to the young cultivator, Ling Tian was a rising star known for his exceptional swordsmanship and mastery of thunder.
Liang listened for a while before deciding to investigate the matter himself. His plan was already underway, and he had nothing urgent to attend to at the moment.
He soon arrived at a strange building standing in a secluded corner of the city.
The moment he approached, he felt the sinister aura surrounding it. The building looked ordinary from the outside, but the atmosphere around it was enough to discourage most people from entering.
Liang pushed open the door and walked inside.
Shelves covered the walls, filled with ancient books, scrolls, and parchments. A few candles provided the only light, illuminating the dusty floor and the countless documents scattered throughout the building.
He glanced around before speaking impatiently.
"Come out, old woman. I don't have time for this nonsense."
As soon as the words left his mouth, a terrifying killing intent filled the room.
Liang's expression remained unchanged, but his body tensed instinctively. The shadows around him grew darker, spreading across the walls as though something hidden within them were preparing to devour him.
A cold voice rang out.
"You dare to behave so arrogantly in my domain? Who do you think you are?"
Liang cleared his throat.
"It's me, old woman. Liang Yifei."
The killing intent disappeared.
For a moment, the building fell silent.
"Liang Yifei?"
A woman's figure emerged from the shadows.
She had long black hair that fell down her back, delicate features, and a pair of brown eyes that carried a strange depth. Her appearance suggested that she was in her twenties, and there was little about her that matched the sinister atmosphere of the building.
Liang stared at her for a moment.
"Mi Ling?"
The woman laughed.
"What's wrong, old thing? Surprised to see me looking like this? Did you think you were the only one who could preserve your youth?"
Liang ignored her teasing and got straight to the point.
"Have you heard about what's happening outside?"
Before she could answer, he continued.
"The Heavenly Conqueror Sect has never been this open about its affairs. For the past twenty thousand years, they've always dealt with their problems in secret. Something must have happened."
Mi Ling's expression became serious.
"I know what you're thinking, and you're right. That boy discovered their secret."
Liang fell silent briefly.
"The spiritual qi has been declining everywhere. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out what was happening."
He shook his head.
"Unfortunately, it's already too late."
Mi Ling nodded.
"Indeed. Once the truth comes out, the ten great sects will have the entire cultivation world against them. A war on a scale we've never seen before might be inevitable."
Liang laughed.
"That won't happen."
He turned toward the door, but stopped after taking a few steps.
"By the way, congratulations on reaching the Spirit Severing Realm."
Mi Ling froze.
She had been careful to conceal her breakthrough, yet Liang had seen through it without any difficulty. What made it even more surprising was that he was still only at the Nascent Soul Realm.
Before she could ask how he had discovered it, Liang had already left.
Mi Ling watched the doorway for a moment before her figure disappeared into the shadows.
---
Free Heart Inn.
Liang returned to his usual seat by the window and rested his chin on one hand.
After thinking for a while, he chuckled.
"A war? That's impossible. Their downfall is much closer than they think."
His gaze shifted toward the city square, where a towering statue of the Heavenly Conqueror stood. The sight of it inspired reverence in the surrounding cultivators, just as similar statues did in the other nine great cities.
Liang looked at it with disdain.
"You deceived the entire world, old man. The Dragon Earth Vein existed long before you were born."
The truth was that the earth vein had been discovered long before the Heavenly Conqueror appeared. The ancient factions of that era had known about it, but they had forbidden anyone from establishing a city on its mountains.
There was a reason for that decision.
The Dragon Earth Vein was connected to every other earth vein in the world. Any disturbance to it would affect the flow of spiritual qi throughout the entire realm.
However, after the Heavenly Conqueror reached the peak of his power, he ignored those restrictions and established a massive formation across the entire vein.
His purpose was simple. He intended to gather spiritual qi from across the world and use it to help him break through to the Void Transformation Realm.
Naturally, many factions opposed him.
But the Heavenly Conqueror was too powerful to stop. Some even believed that his battle strength had already reached the level of a true Void Transformation cultivator.
Those who stood against him were annihilated.
According to an ancient cultivator's estimation, nearly half of the world's spiritual qi had disappeared after the Heavenly Conqueror ascended. As a result, the highest cultivation realm that cultivators could reach during that era had fallen to Spirit Severing.
The consequences had not ended there.
After his departure, the surviving powerful factions moved their bases to the ten mountains of the Dragon Earth Vein. Over time, their settlements developed into the ten great cities that dominated the cultivation world.
Yet the formation continued to affect the flow of spiritual qi.
Most cultivators had no idea what was happening, but Liang could feel the change clearly.
The cultivation limit had fallen once again.
The Nascent Soul Realm had become the highest realm anyone could reach.
Thinking about this, Liang recalled Mi Ling's breakthrough.
He had never figured out the exact nature of her special physique, but there was no doubt about her talent. In all his six hundred years of cultivation, he had never encountered anyone quite like her.
She had reached the Nascent Soul Realm at only fifty years old. Such a speed was almost unheard of, even among the most talented cultivators.
Yet she had remained trapped in that realm for six hundred years.
Liang found it rather amusing.
Just then, he felt a faint pull coming from somewhere far away.
He paused.
Something was calling to him.
A sinister smile slowly spread across his face as he reached into his spatial ring and took out a small, unusual mirror.