Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 374: Envious Li Haoran

Incarceration Peak served as the Dao-Seeking Sect’s dedicated penitentiary, housing primarily wicked archaic cultivators.

Beneath Incarceration Peak, each cage contained an archaic Fusion cultivator who commanded the wind and clouds in the past. Now, they were reduced to prisoners, milked for every last shred of their worth.

The imperial court and four other immortal sects maintained similar facilities to restrain these archaic cultivators from doing evil.

Within the cages, listless souls slumped against walls, their gazes hollow. Sensing someone coming, their eyes ignited with malicious glints, hoping to intimidate the visitor. This was their only form of entertainment here.

However, upon recognizing Yun Zhi, their complexions blanched. They scrambled to the corners and suppressed their auras while trembling, desperately minimizing their presence lest they attract her attention.

Numerous vacant cages in Incarceration Peak bore inscriptions at their upper-right corners: Wilderness-Breaking True Lord, Mount Tai True Lord, Mystic Spirit Mad Devil, Stillness-Returning True Person... In the past eras, these names alone could drain color from people’s faces and cause them to shake like sieves.

But nowadays, Yun Zhi had fused them into magical artifacts to be refined as artifact spirits. Should they make her upset, they would be the unlucky ones next in line.

When Yun Zhi removed the Calamity Venerable Lord’s seal, he swept his gaze across his surroundings, instantly realizing the place was specially designed to incarcerate them.

He was slightly startled. No wonder some individuals who should have awakened remain unreachable despite my attempts to contact them. So it’s because they have been locked up here all along.

This Great Xia proves more intractable than I had imagined...

Suddenly, he noticed an adjacent cell, its top-right corner labeled “Blood Devil Venerable Lord.”

Having seen portraits of the Calamity Venerable Lord, the Blood Devil Venerable Lord recognized this senior of his who predated him by several thousand years.

The Calamity Venerable Lord roared. “Blood Devil! You luck-begotten trash! How is a mere Basic Transcendent Tribulation Stage qualified to lay claim to the imperial preceptor position?!”

Despite both of us being at the Basic Transcendent Tribulation Stage, I was the imperial preceptor’s subordinate, while Blood Devil could become the imperial preceptor. The disparity is too big.

After awakening from his slumber, he learned of Great Yu’s history and the Blood Devil Venerable Lord’s existence.

The Blood Devil Venerable Lord supported a trash to become the Yu emperor out of his selfish motives and manipulated the emperor to plunder countless benefits. To pander to the influential ancestral clans back then, he enacted measures to strengthen them, accelerating the Great Yu’s destruction.

When Great Yu collapsed and the world was in turmoil, those same ancestral clans vied for dominion, and the Blood Devil Venerable Lord was the root of it all.

I refuse to acknowledge such trash as an imperial preceptor!

The Blood Devil Venerable Lord was not afraid of him, smirking through his tirade. “Senior Calamity, your words were too harsh. With the position of imperial preceptor available, even if I hadn’t taken the role, someone else would have. How could you call this luck?”

“If the Imperial Preceptor were to know you’re here, he would definitely kill you!”

“I'll wait and see then.”

“Lass Yun, another captive?” A childlike voice echoed as a white-haired child materialized, scrutinizing the Calamity Venerable Lord.

The Calamity Venerable Lord started. He hadn’t detected how the other party had appeared.

“A fragmented soul burning lifespan—quite ruthless toward himself, huh? He was formerly at the Transcendent Tribulation Stage?”

“Yes. Calamity Venerable Lord, a Transcendent Tribulation cultivator from the early Great Yu era,” Yun Zhi replied.

The white-haired child chuckled in recognition. “Ah, it’s him. His reputation precedes him.

“You have captured two Transcendent Tribulation Stages within half a year. It looks like some people are growing impatient.”

Yun Zhi displayed a rare hesitation, embarrassed to voice the truth.

I have never apprehended Transcendent Tribulation cultivators in the past, yet I’ve suddenly caught two within half a year. I don’t think it’s because some people are growing impatient, but rather an issue with luck.

The first time, the lead came from Buyi Town, and the second time, Lu Yang had bumped into it directly.

The only constant between the two events was the presence of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

Considering that Lu Yang had resurrected the Everlasting Immortal Fairy, it’s hard to say whether forces in the shadows are growing impatient or Lu Yang is simply fated with high-level cultivators.

“Grand-Shifu, I’ll use some methods on him first.”

“Go on. Hope it’ll yield fruitful results this time.” The white-haired child tittered, filled with satisfaction for this talented junior.

The Blood Devil Venerable Lord’s period of activity was too late in the era, rendering him mostly useless for intelligence. But it was different for the Calamity Venerable Lord. He was a cultivator from the early Great Yu era, active during the second imperial preceptor’s reign—he was bound to be privy to many matters.

“Although those nine embarrassments cause endless trouble for me, at least Old Nine took in a great disciple.” The white-haired child’s voice faded away.

Replaced by the Calamity Venerable Lord’s blood-curdling shrieks.

“You haven’t even questioned me yet! Why the immediate violence?”

~~~

On his way to Hundred Refinements Peak, Lu Yang encountered Li Haoran halfway up the mountain, who was reveling in domestic bliss with his ex-daughter Qin Yanyan.

Qin Yanyan was still at the Advanced Foundation Establishment Stage, likely undecided about how she should form her golden core.

Li Haoran greeted warmly, “Senior Brother Lu, you’re back? When Senior Brother Meng invited me to some Qing Province Grand Ceremony a few days ago, I couldn’t join you due to some obligations. Were you there?”

“Absolutely! You missed out, Junior Brother Li. The grand ceremony was extremely lively. I acquired an immortal’s flying sword from a roadside stall! Too bad it was damaged by two half-immortal experts.”

Li Haoran and Qin Yanyan inhaled a cold breath of air. From Lu Yang’s concise description, they could easily conjure images of the cataclysmic battle.

“After that, Old Meng and I even participated in the youth tournament and personally took to the arena, pointing out the flaws in their cultivation and highlighting the gulf between them and us. Especially the first and second place, they were moved to tears of gratitude for us and vowed to redouble their efforts in cultivation upon returning.

“Guide them in their cultivation, huh...” Li Haoran imagined himself sitting at the judges’ platform and pointing out the flaws in other people’s cultivation. The thought of it thrilled him.

“The Moon Laurel Immortal Palace, Five-Elements Sect, and the Prison Suppression Sect sent participants too, but their performance at the judges’ platform was far less outstanding than ours.

“Though we were offered substantial rewards for our guidance, we virtuously declined them all.

“Unfortunately, the grand ceremony was interrupted halfway by attacks from two archaic Fusion cultivators and one Transcendent Tribulation cultivator. The Transcendent Tribulation cultivator was so powerful that the moment he appeared, despair gripped us. We thought we were going to die, but thankfully, Big Senior Sister came to the rescue.”

Li Haoran’s envy swelled. Immortal’s flying sword, guiding others’ cultivation, Big Senior Sister’s grand battle with an archaic Transcendent Tribulation cultivator...everything sounds packed with stories.

It’s a pity I had to help Qin Yanyan form her golden core and couldn’t go.

“Senior Brother Lu, what brings you to Hundred Refinements Peak?”

“I’m here to look for Fifth Elder. Is he around?” Lu Yang hadn’t forgotten the royalties for his flying carriage.

Li Haoran pointed to the mountain summit veiled in mist. “There, he’s right at the peak. Senior Sister Tao also went to look for him just now, though I’m not sure what it was about.”

“I’ll take my leave then. Goodbye.”

Snapping back from her reverie painted by Lu Yang’s astonishing account of events, she turned to ask her ex-dad. “Does he always encounter so many things when he goes out? Last time, it was the Nine-Netherworlds Creed, and this time, it’s an archaic Transcendent Tribulation cultivator?”

Li Haoran replied, “It’s far more than that; you have no idea! Senior Brother Lu has a ‘trouble magnet’ constitution. Before the Nine-Netherworlds Creed, he had run into the Everlasting Creed—all because he went to deal with a Foundation Establishment tiger demon.

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