Chapter 361: Boundless Sea, Mulan People

"So, the State of Yue is truly in a chaotic state right now!" Han Li suddenly remarked.

This unexpected comment left the other four feeling that Han Li was profound and enigmatic; they could only offer awkward, strained smiles.

"Please continue your conversation, fellow Daoists! I'm going to explore other areas," Han Li said amicably as he stood up.

"Of course, Senior!"

"Farewell, Senior!"

The four promptly and respectfully watched Han Li depart.

Han Li casually waved his hand, then motioned to Qu Hun, who had been waiting outside, and headed towards the other stone pavilions.

Two hours later, Han Li stood in a corner of the mountain peak, deep in thought.

He had spent the past two hours inquiring about the State of Yue's cultivation world from several different groups of cultivators. The consensus was that the State of Yue could only be described as utterly chaotic.

In this situation, he now had two paths to choose from.

The first option was to use a spiritual artifact to fly far away from the State of Yue and neighboring states, seeking a new, suitable location to continue his cultivation.

The second was to somehow repair the ancient teleportation array and gamble on where it might send him. Such an incredibly valuable ancient array wouldn't have been built underground without a purpose; it surely led to an extremely remote destination.

At first glance, the first option certainly appeared to be the safer choice.

However, upon closer consideration, Han Li realized this decision was not ideal either. To the east and west of the State of Yue lay the Tianluo State, the Demonic Dao's stronghold, and the Fengdu State, home to the Righteous Dao Alliance. This meant he could only travel north or south.

Fleeing north through the Yuanwu State, he would encounter over a dozen smaller and medium-sized nations. However, it was clear their cultivation worlds could not withstand attacks from either the Demonic Dao or the Righteous Dao Alliance. Some of these nations had already aligned themselves with the two major powers, serving as puppets and engaging in prolonged internal conflicts. Otherwise, with limited shared borders between Tianluo and Fengdu, large-scale conflicts would not have been possible before. These nations could become battlegrounds for the Demonic Dao and the Righteous Dao Alliance at any moment, so Han Li certainly couldn't remain there.

If he risked traveling through several of these nations and continued further north, he would reach the extreme northern reaches of the Tiannan region, encountering the "Boundless Sea," a place so vast it was rumored even immortals struggled to cross. This sea was not only incredibly murky and boundless, but also rarely supported marine life. The few fish species that did survive were extraordinarily fierce, comparable in power to high-level land demonic beasts. Even Core Formation cultivators would be in extreme peril if they fell into its waters.

Attempting to fly across this sea was an even greater delusion! This was because a highly accomplished individual, whose cultivation had reached the Nascent Soul stage, was once intensely curious about what lay beyond this sea. Despite thorough preparations, he flew along its expanse for over a year, yet all he saw was endless water, with not a single patch of land in sight. By then, his supply of medicinal pills and spirit stones was severely depleted. Under such circumstances, the esteemed individual was forced to return, empty-handed and disheartened. Otherwise, without a means of replenishing his spiritual energy, even a Nascent Soul cultivator would have been stranded and perished at sea. Han Li, of course, had no fanciful notions of attempting to cross this sea.

This meant he could only consider heading south. To the south of the State of Yue, beyond five or six nations including the Zijin State, lay a closely-knit alliance known as the "Nine-State Alliance," comprising nine countries of various sizes. This alliance was established primarily under the guidance of the cultivation worlds of the nine states. Its primary purpose was to counter a powerful and fanatical adversary: an invading army formed by "mages" of the Mulan Tribe.

To understand the Mulan Tribe and their mages, one must first consider the Mulan Great Grassland, which borders the Nine States, and the Mulan people who inhabit it. The Mulan people are distinctly different from the Yan people of the State of Yue, Yuanwu State, and other regions. They are a purely nomadic people, renowned for their formidable martial spirit and fondness for weapons. They are organized into thousands of tribes of varying sizes across the Mulan Grassland. These tribes vary in size, from those with only hundreds of thousands of members to others boasting tens of millions.

Within these nomadic tribes, cultivators also existed. However, the Mulan people did not refer to them as cultivators but respectfully called them "mages." Generally, these mages were not significantly different from ordinary cultivators; their cultivation realm divisions and fundamental techniques were all very similar. The sole distinction from outside cultivators was that these mages, prior to forming their Golden Core, did not emphasize external items like magical artifacts or talismans. Instead, they perfected the Five Elements Dao arts, even integrating them with indigenous secret techniques from the grasslands to develop more potent and unusual new spells. This formed the Mulan people's unique magical system, which they called "Spirit Arts." With these incredibly potent "Spirit Arts," Mulan mages could even contend with cultivators of the same rank and often gain a slight advantage.

As the number of Mulan "mages" grew, their need for spiritual ley lines and spirit stones dramatically increased, eventually outstripping the resources available for normal cultivation. After all, the Mulan Grassland was a region extremely poor in cultivation resources. Therefore, at some unknown point, the Mulan mages turned their attention to the Nine States, which possessed richer spiritual energy and more abundant resources. They began frequently invading these nations to seize spiritual ley lines, spirit mines, and other vital resources that cultivators held dear. The cultivation worlds of the Nine States, however, were unwilling to cede these resources to what they perceived as "wild cultivators." A bloody and fierce magical conflict thoroughly erupted.

Initially, all nine states resisted independently, but they were soundly defeated by the unified Mulan allied army, even losing a significant portion of their territory and resources. Realizing the formidable strength of their adversary, the Nine-State cultivation worlds quickly learned their lesson and formed the "Nine-State Alliance." They began frequently employing stratagems and other covert methods, gradually defeating the Mulan mages and reclaiming their occupied lands. However, the Mulan mages, having just experienced victory, were naturally unwilling to cease their efforts. In the countless years that followed, they remained locked in an unending conflict with the Nine-State cultivation worlds. The animosity between the two sides deepened with the escalating death toll, eventually affecting the secular world and turning the Yan and Mulan peoples into hereditary enemies.

Presently, while the Mulan people dare not set foot within the Nine States' borders, no Yan people survive within a hundred *li* of the Mulan Grassland. As for the actual population of the Mulan Tribe, no one truly knows. The Mulan Grassland is simply too vast, and the Mulan tribes involved in conflicts with the Nine-State Alliance represent only a small fraction of its total population. While the Mulan Grassland does not possess the unfathomable depth of the Black Demon Sea, the Mulan people have passed down a saying that it would take a tribe five full years to complete a nomadic journey from one end of the grassland to the other. At the opposite end live the Mulan people's true hereditary enemies, the "Tutu people." These nomadic people, however, refer to this immense grassland as the "Tianlan Grassland," as they have venerated the legendary "Tianlan Beast" as their guardian deity for generations. As both are nomadic peoples inhabiting the same grassland, a fierce, life-or-death rivalry naturally developed between them without any specific external reason. For this reason, the warriors and cultivators of both races have engaged in battle for countless generations. In any case, every hundred years, both sides would undoubtedly engage in a major battle in the very center of the grassland. Millions of mortal warriors would clash on the ground, while thousands of cultivators would contend in the sky. Naturally, the battles in the sky ultimately determined the victor.

Han Li had gathered all this information from various ancient texts and rumors. Furthermore, it was said that at the far end of the Mulan Grassland lay an incredibly vast empire, rumored to be so immense that the entire Tiannan region combined was less than one-tenth its size. Han Li found such a rumor truly difficult to believe. He simply couldn't fathom the scale of a nation ten times larger than the entire Tiannan region!

Naturally, these musings had no direct relevance to Han Li's current plans; they were merely random thoughts that surfaced in his mind. After dismissing these miscellaneous thoughts, he still concluded, after careful consideration, that the Six Sects would not remain in nearby nations after their retreat, but would surely reroute to the Nine-State Alliance. Given the ongoing conflicts between the Nine-State cultivation world and the Mulan mages—minor skirmishes every few years and major wars every decade—they would undoubtedly welcome the Six Sects as a significant reinforcement. Naturally, which of the Nine States they would settle in and what kind of spiritual ley lines they would secure would depend entirely on the Six Sects' capabilities. From this perspective, unless he rejoined the Yellow Maple Valley sect and continued to serve as cannon fodder, heading south in the Tiannan region was definitely not an option either.

While he had long understood these issues, reviewing them now still gave him a severe headache. It seemed his only recourse was to first repair the ancient teleportation array. If successfully restored, he could then decide whether to actually use it for teleportation. At worst, if the destination proved unsatisfactory, he could simply teleport back. Of course, this venture would certainly involve some risk, Han Li thought with a bitter smile.