Chapter 33: The Domains of the Western Wilderness
Chapter 33: Chapter 33: The Domains of the Western Wilderness
According to the Evergreen Hermit’s records in the *Evergreen Chronicles*.
The Western Wilderness was a vast region shaped roughly like a horizontal shuttle.
The westernmost point of the shuttle delved deep into the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, and its very tip was Fenglan Immortal City, where Li Ping was located.
The Evergreen Hermit wrote in his book that when he first reached the Immortal City, he had wanted to venture deeper into the Cloud Mist Mountain Range to investigate what lay at its end.
However, after venturing tens of thousands of miles into the Cloud Mist Mountain Range and sensing the oppressive auras of more than one Demon King, each comparable to a Core Formation Cultivator...
...he discovered his curiosity wasn’t as strong as he had imagined, and so he chose to turn back.
Later, by consulting records left by cultivators of a bygone era, the Evergreen Hermit learned that Core Formation Cultivators had already explored the Cloud Mist Mountain Range long ago.
That particular Core Formation Cultivator had ventured nearly a million miles into the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, yet as far as the eye could see, there were still only endless, boundless mountains.
Eventually, with his supplies nearly depleted, he was forced to turn back.
Based on this, the Evergreen Hermit concluded that the Cloud Mist Mountain Range was far vaster than the Western Wilderness. Perhaps only a Nascent Soul Cultivator could truly explore its full extent.
To the south of the Western Wilderness lay a forbidden, dead land, completely devoid of any life.
Legend told that during Ancient Times, cultivators with Great Divine Abilities had engaged in Magical Combat there. All life in the region was annihilated by the aftershocks, turned to mere dust.
Countless years had passed, yet the lingering power from their battle still prevented any life from surviving there.
Initially, the Evergreen Hermit believed the story of Magical Combat was merely a baseless rumor spread by ignorant mortals. He reasoned that for the aftershocks of a battle to extinguish all life over such a vast area was a feat impossible even for the legendary Divinity Transformation Cultivators.
To verify this, after making thorough preparations, he decided to enter this vast, dead land himself, determined to discover why no life could survive there.
He discovered the reason with surprising ease.
The reason, however, left him utterly horrified. The entire dead land was saturated with a destructive aura, one that grew more terrifying the deeper he ventured.
Any mortal who came into contact with this destructive aura would have their life force drained in an instant, resulting in immediate death.
Even he, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, dared not proceed after taking fewer than a hundred steps.
The Evergreen Hermit’s commentary on the matter was: ’Legends are not without their basis.’
...
To the east of the Western Wilderness, at the other tip of the shuttle, lay several kingdoms that were the territory of Demon Cultivators.
The Evergreen Hermit was a man who cherished his life, so for his own safety, he never traveled to these kingdoms. However, in his *Evergreen Chronicles*, he recorded a great deal of information he had painstakingly gathered.
Based on the information he had collected, the Evergreen Hermit vaguely suspected that the Demon Cultivators were not a native power of the Western Wilderness’s Cultivation Realm. Instead, they seemed to have come from the outside world, having crossed the endless Vast Sea Desert to the east.
He suspected that beyond these Demon Cultivators, there existed another Cultivation Realm, one even more vast than the Western Wilderness.
As for why these Demon Cultivators had entered the Western Wilderness in such large numbers, it seemed they were fleeing from something.
Finally, the Evergreen Hermit expressed his concern about the Demon Cultivators’ invasion of the Western Wilderness.
He believed that if the various kingdoms of the Western Wilderness did not unite to face the Demon Dao invasion soon, the entire Western Wilderness would eventually fall under the rule of Demon Cultivators.
To prove his point, he even cited an example.
Over a hundred years ago, the Demon Dao’s Blood Shadow Sect invaded the Jiuche Kingdom. The other kingdoms of the Western Wilderness simply stood by and watched. In the end, the Celestial Profound Sect, which had originally ruled the Jiuche Kingdom, was annihilated, and the Blood Shadow Sect took control of the kingdom.
...
Reading this, Li Ping’s expression faltered. ’So it’s true,’ he thought, ’there really is a larger Cultivation Realm outside the Western Wilderness.’
’Perhaps that Cultivation Realm beyond the Vast Sea Desert to the east has an environment that can produce Nascent Soul Cultivators, or even Divinity Transformation Cultivators!’
’The Western Wilderness’s Cultivation Realm doesn’t even have a single Tier Four Spirit Vein. After I break through to the Core Formation Stage, I’ll probably have no choice but to travel to that other Cultivation Realm to pursue higher stages of the Immortal Dao.’
’It’s a pity. Communication between the two Cultivation Realms has been cut off by those suspected foreign Demon Cultivators and the Vast Sea Desert. Otherwise, I could learn more about that other realm.’ At this, Li Ping couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
’Since I’m determined to be a Gou Cultivator, I certainly won’t be rushing off to some unfamiliar place.’
’If I ever do decide to set out for that other Cultivation Realm in the future, I’ll definitely need to gather much more information beforehand.’
Snapping out of his shock at the revelation of another Cultivation Realm beyond the Western Wilderness, Li Ping’s attention returned to the example the Evergreen Hermit had provided.
’The Evergreen Hermit lived over a hundred years ago. And the event he described happened more than a hundred years before his time. That means the Blood Shadow Sect destroyed the Celestial Profound Sect more than two hundred years ago.’ Li Ping’s expression grew thoughtful. ’According to the records, Fenglan Immortal City was also established around that same time, wasn’t it?’
Vaguely, Li Ping sensed something.
There seemed to be some connection between the destruction of the Celestial Profound Sect and the founding of Fenglan Immortal City.
However, he had too little information. He had a few theories, but no way to confirm them.
Shaking his head, Li Ping continued reading the *Evergreen Chronicles*.
The Evergreen Hermit had spent the most time in the kingdoms of Liang and Yan, located in the Northern Realm of the Western Wilderness.
These two kingdoms formed the border between the Western Wilderness’s Cultivation Realm and the Extreme North Grassland. The grassland to the north was home to numerous tribes of the Tuluo People.
The soil of the Grassland was poor, and it was severely lacking in cultivation resources such as Spirit Stones and Spiritual Materials. As a result, the tribes of the Tuluo People would periodically gather under the command of their cultivators to raid the south, leading to major wars with the two kingdoms.
When war broke out, beacon fires would light up along the tens of thousands of miles of the kingdoms’ shared border.
Cultivator fought cultivator, and mortal fought mortal. These conflicts would often rage for decades before subsiding.
...
The Evergreen Hermit’s account of the Tuluo People was quite surprising to Li Ping.
He had originally assumed the relationship between the Tuluo People and the people of the Western Wilderness was akin to that of ancient nomadic and agrarian societies—different lifestyles, but ultimately the same race.
However, that was not the case.
To study the Tuluo People, the Evergreen Hermit had spent half his life in those two kingdoms, collecting and reading a vast amount of material originating from the Tuluo People themselves.
According to the Tuluo records, their people were lifeforms conceived at the world’s dawn. Humans, on the other hand, were born much later, suddenly emerging naked from the soil one morning at daybreak.
Therefore, the Tuluo People and the Human Race of the Western Wilderness were, in fact, two entirely different peoples.
Furthermore, Tuluo legend claimed that during Ancient Times, the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth was abundant, and precious Spiritual Materials could be found everywhere.
Back then, cultivators didn’t need to rely on Spirit Veins for their cultivation, because the Spiritual Mechanism anywhere in the world was denser than that of even the best Spirit Veins today.
Later, a great cataclysm changed the world, and the Cultivation Realm slowly evolved into its present state.
...
Li Ping found it hard to accept the idea that ’humans suddenly emerged from the soil one day.’
However, he was inclined to believe the claim that the Cultivation Realm’s environment had declined since the great cataclysm.
’Perhaps those Cultivation Techniques I saw back in the Wang family’s Secret Skill Pavilion were the very ones practiced by cultivators during Ancient Times.’
’But now that the world has changed, those techniques have been abandoned by cultivators, rendered useless.’