Chapter 1356: Ascended Cultivators
When they heard Zhao Wugui, all the cultivators raised no objections.
Zhao Wugui and Cultivator Wen took a glance at each other and promptly walked to the large stone table in the middle of the hall.
The nearby cultivators promptly stood up and respectfully opened a few seats for them.
The two nodded and they promptly took two of the seats.
After the two Spatial Tempering cultivators sat down, they began the trade meeting without a hitch.
Han Li used Myriad Year Profound Jade to trade for several rare talismans.
As of current, his attainments in talismans were at a crucial point. Although these talismans didn’t have any silver runes, they were still quite distinct. He may experience some insight from them under careful studying.
With all trading finished, everyone began to speak a bit about their cultivation insights or their unique experiences with secret techniques.
Although almost everyone spoke in simple or vague terms and a few spoke in detail, any crucial points were deliberately omitted. Those that were interested wouldn’t urge them on but send them a voice transmission afterwards. The two would then conduct an exchange for their own techniques or insights.
The two Spatial Tempering cultivators paid no mind to this.
Having recently delved into the Dao of Talismans, Han Li merely spoke of a few shallow areas of his understanding.
However, it was clear there weren’t many ascended cultivators in the hall that were interested in talismans. They didn’t particularly pay much attention to him.
But when Cultivator Wen and Zhao Wugui heard Han Li mention something related to silver rune talismans, a trace of astonishment briefly appeared on their faces.
Although there were many high-grade cultivators that comprehended silver runes, it would be incredibly difficult to study talismans without direct instruction.
After the group of cultivators finished speaking of their experiences, there were a few people that impatiently raised a few difficulties they experienced in their cultivation to Zhao Wugui and Cultivator Wen.
However, Cultivator Wen only offered a few brief words in response and faintly smiled. As for Zhao Wugui, he gave them a few words in voice transmission.
Whether they nodded or shook their head, the cultivators immediately sat back down and asked nothing else.
These newly ascended cultivators more or less experienced difficulties in their cultivation. Apart from Han Li, all of them were unwilling to abandon the opportunity.
Furthermore, Han Li was cultivating the dual body magic cultivation art, the Provenance True Devil Arts. Although there were areas he didn’t understand, no one had cultivated it before, so he was disinclined to ask questions about it. He simply sat at the side.
Two hours later, everyone finished speaking and they began to trade their information to them for medicine pills.
With this, all one would expect from an ordinary meeting was finished.
At that moment, Cultivator Wen sighed and he slowly stood up.
“Alright, since we’ve finished all minor affairs, we’ve brought a few orders from Elder Lei Luo. Listen well.”
The other cultivators felt their hearts tremble and their faces turned grave.
Deep Heaven City had five human elders. Master Lei Luo and Monk Jin Yue were two of them.
The two were Body Integration cultivators of profound ability and were both ascended cultivators. However, Jin Yue didn’t bother with external affairs and spent most of his time in secluded cultivation. Master Lei Luo became the leader of the city’s ascended cultivators as a result. He had an unrivaled prestige amongst ascended cultivators.
However, Han Li had yet to see either in person ever since he’s arrived at the city. He’s seen the other three human elders during their lectures at the Deep Heaven Hall.
Zhao Wugui’s cold voice sounded through the hall. “Elder Lei Luo gave a command not long before. He’s finally acquired some concrete information. Within ten years, Deep Heaven City will most likely be besieged by various foreign tribes. There is a slight possibility it will be an attack by three or more foreign tribes. Although the odds are next to nothing, there is a slight chance that there will be a repeat of the Hundred Tribe War.”
Although many in the hall already anticipated what Zhao Wugui had said, their hearts still sank upon hearing them. Most even turned pale when they heard the mention of the Hundred Tribe War.
Although it had only been about a hundred years since these cultivators ascended from a lower realm, they were still familiar with the legends of the ancient war.
It was a threat that nearly resulted in the extinction of humans and demons.
According to the last war, the fighting took ten thousand years to finish and was cruel beyond imagination.
Sitting in the corner of the room and having spoken little this entire time, Han Li let out a long sigh and wryly smiled.
It appeared these circumstances were far worse than he expected. He’d have to think of a plan to save himself.
Otherwise, if a large war was about to erupt, a Body Integration stage cultivator would have difficulty surviving, let alone a trifling Deity Transformation cultivator.
A barefoot man stood up with a salute and respectfully asked, “Why did Senior tell this information to low cultivation people like us? Wouldn’t this secret information leak?”
Zhao Wugui coldly said, “Fellow Daoists, you all cultivated in lower realms with sparse spiritual Qi until you reached this stage. You prevailed against every difficulty to ascend to the spirit realm. Your wisdom is unordinary. So I will make it clear. In these coming years, all ascended cultivators holding positions as dark azure guards will be placed in important positions. If a dangerous matter appears, the panel of elders will choose us to first deal with it. Although an ascended cultivator joins us every several years, most of the high-grade cultivators that died for Deep Heaven City were ascended cultivators like us. In truth, the number of ascended cultivators doesn’t even amount to a tenth of the total number of high-grade cultivators in the city. The cultivators native to the spirit realm hold safer positions. Over the past few years, you should’ve come to realize this. A few of you should’ve carried out orders for extremely dangerous missions. You might now know this, but your current status is a result of the solidarity of ascended cultivators and the painstaking effort of Elder Lei Luo. Before Monk Jin Yue and Elder Lei Luo entered the panel of elders, it is said that the treatment of ascended cultivators like us was even worse. A small half of ascended cultivators would often perish in the line of duty.”
All of the cultivators wore stiff expressions upon hearing this.
All the cultivators felt these worse to be true. Over recent years, they personally witnessed how ascended cultivators were often assigned to extremely dangerous missions where death was likely.
If this weren’t the case, there would be more of their number in the hall.
Han Li remained expressionless.
Ever since he became a dark azure guard, he was assigned to the Floating Dawn Swamp and other dangerous areas. And of the squads accompanying him, most of their leaders would also be ascended cultivators.
He long felt suspicion over this.
As a result, when Zhao Wugui sought him out to participate in this meeting, he readily agreed.
As for the native cultivators, he was able to sense a trace of fear they felt towards ascended cultivators. Otherwise, when Old Eccentric Ming and the others failed to acquire the treasure from his spirit land, they wouldn’t have left so easily. All the more reason to accept the invitation, when a pillar of support came to find him.
Of course, after he joined these meetings, no other matters sought him out and no different missions were forced on his small squad. Naturally, this was also because the Floating Dawn swamp was already a dangerous area.
Cultivator Wen then said, “The reason why we’re telling you this information is that Elder Lei Luo wishes to provide an opportunity to preserve the strength of ascended cultivators before he undergoes greater tribulation.”
A woman in azure palace robes and a headscarf felt a spark of joy and said, “Does Senior mean that Elder Lei Luo has a method for us to leave Deep Heaven City and avoid the war?”
A cold light glinted from Zhao Wugui’s eyes and he solemnly said, “The attack on the city is related to the survival of the human race as a whole. We may have some conflict with the other cultivators, but we cannot be negligent in our duty against the foreign tribes. If one dares to flee the city and abandon their duties against the foreign tribes, the enforcement squad won’t come to find you. We will personally execute you.”
All cultivators in the hall were startled on the hall.
The palace-robed woman was still brave. After some hesitation, she asked, “Then what did Senior mean?”
Cultivator Wen chuckled, “Fellow Daoists, don’t misunderstand. Elder Lei Luo definitely won’t evade his duties. But he also doesn’t wish for all of us, the ascended cultivators, to die off either. As such, after some consideration, we’ve finally come up with a way to preserve our numbers. Although this method is quite dangerous, we’ve gathered you here to tell you about it. You may choose to participate in this plan.”
Discussion quickly spread through the hall and the cultivators couldn't help but look at each other in dismay.
Han Li frowned and narrowed his eyes.
One of them slowly asked, “Before we make a choice, can Senior explain the plan?”
Zhao Wugui coldly smiled, “It’s quite simple. Recently, Elder Lei Luo issued comparatively longer term assignments with heavy merits. These missions are extremely dangerous, so native cultivators won’t likely accept them. But if you complete these assignments, you will acquire great merits and justifiably avoid the war. If the war doesn’t happen, you can return to Deep Heaven City. If your cultivation isn’t enough and war does break out, you’ll be far from the war and preserve your life as one of our ascended cultivators. Hehe, let’s get the ugly talk out of the way first. According to our plans, those on assignments will have a fifty percent chance of survival. Whether or not you will accept them will be entirely up to you. After all, there will only be two choices when the foreign tribes attack. You can carry out the assignment or most likely die in the war. If you try to avoid both and flee the city, you should know what will happen next.”