Chapter 357: Wanli Baifang Lingxiao City

An Xianjing's gaze, initially calm, gradually darkened as she read Jiang Xin's blood letter.

The Vice Palace Master of Tianli Palace chuckled, "Sui Sect's rebellion... I've never considered that possibility before."

"Well, now you can!"

An Xianjing tossed the blood letter away, and a violent surge of spiritual energy vibrated throughout the hall.

Old Ancestor Sheng grew cautious, whispering, "Is the Palace Master going to believe a mere child?"

"See for yourselves!" An Xianjing declared. "Look at the 'good deeds' your Sui Sect has done. Jiang Xin exposed your ten great crimes. And after he exposed them, he died!"

Old Ancestor Sheng was stunned, feeling completely overwhelmed as if by a surprise attack. While he hesitated whether to retrieve the letter, the Vice Palace Master of Tianli Palace was quicker, using spiritual energy to draw the blood letter into his hand.

He read aloud, "In the presence of the Heavenly Venerate Daozu, Jiang Xin, Elder of Fuzhou, respectfully submits this blood letter... Hiss! Was this written by Jiang Xin before he died?"

He froze.

Old Ancestor Sheng's face had already changed. "It must be a forgery," he declared.

"Do you think we can't even tell what's real and what's fake?" came the retort. "The blood, the handwriting, the very essence of the words—all can be examined in minute detail."

The Vice Palace Master of Tianli Palace gave a slight shake of his hand and a soft huff, then continued reading: "Yang Shenjing of the Sui Sect has been entirely domineering. Within little more than a month of entering Cloud Heaven Immortal Realm, he used Luan Tai as his personal weapon, leaking sacred sect secrets that led to the tragic deaths of dozens of masters within the sect. Through this combination of external pressure and internal coercion, he secretly absorbed all of the sacred sect's forces in Lingxiao City and the four major passes into his own control. The situation in other states offers a glimpse of this widespread influence."

The two Palace Masters of Kurong Palace showed signs of concern, casting suspicious and chilling glances at Old Ancestor Sheng.

The Vice Palace Master of Tianli Palace continued, "It is rumored that the Second Palace Master, that vile servant Xian Min, bestowed the Thousand Longevity Limitless Pill upon Yang Shenjing, with the intention of cultivating him into a transcendent. This old fellow Shenjing, though from a retainer family, ravenously consumed the main Jiuli clan to grow in power. Now, having once again pledged allegiance to Xian Min, the Sui Sect faces a magnificent future, with millions of sects seemingly within reach. They will undoubtedly devour the sacred sect to serve their new master."

Old Ancestor Sheng instantly flew into a rage. Had the blood letter not been in the Vice Palace Master's hand, he would have attacked and killed him on the spot. "Slander! It's fake... This blood letter must be a forgery, written after Jiang Xin's death using his blood and mimicking his handwriting!"

The Vice Palace Master of Kurong Palace interjected, "According to the news your Sui Sect reported, Jiang Xin's identity was exposed, and Yao Qian was forced to silence him, leading to his death in the Attendant Hall prison. No matter how powerful the Fourth Divine Son is, could he be a match for Yao Qian? Could he possibly access the corpse and write a blood letter right under Yao Qian's nose?"

The Vice Palace Master of Tianli Palace continued reading, "Crime number one: Selling disabled Daoren to the Three Islands barbarians, to be used as mounts and beast fodder."

After he finished reading, Old Ancestor Sheng's face was utterly ashen, primarily because seven or eight out of ten of the accusations within were true.

It was clear the blood letter was genuine. But... how could such a blunder have occurred?

Without waiting for Old Ancestor Sheng to explain, the Vice Palace Master of Tianli Palace, who had previously seemed to be cooperating with him, instantly turned his back. He rose to his feet, his expression grim. "Oh, this is truly excellent," he sneered. "Your Sui Sect can never be satisfied. The sacred sect has secretly given you so much support, yet you are still so insatiable."

"Did you truly believe your actions were seamless?" he continued. "I've received countless secret reports for a long time now. I've only kept them suppressed because your usefulness outweighed your wrongdoings."

"What are Daoren to you?" he demanded. "Mere tools to be exploited? Food for feeding exotic beasts? You have truly wronged the sacred sect beyond measure... Just wait. When Daozu emerges from seclusion, I'd like to see how your Sui Sect manages to climb to the position of a million sects."

The Palace Master of Kurong Palace took the blood letter to examine its authenticity.

The Vice Palace Master of Kurong Palace stated, "I had already sensed something strange! Secret reports claimed that all the sacred sect's properties in Nanyan Pass were destroyed by the Attendant Hall and the General's Mansion. How is it that when the news reached you, it was all blamed on the Jiuli Hidden Sect?"

Yao Qingxuan had grasped the general sequence of events but still couldn't fathom how Li Weiyi had managed to make Jiang Xin write the blood letter. It was an exquisitely subtle maneuver.

She had to begin her counterattack. "You led Li Songgu to Nanyan Pass, didn't you?" she challenged. "Was I the bait, or was it my eldest disciple?"

"You... Yao Qingxuan..."

Old Ancestor Sheng was furious beyond words. "And all of you... you've all been completely fooled by that wet-behind-the-ears brat..."

"The blood letter is real; it must have been written by Jiang Xin before his death." The Palace Master of Kurong Palace's eyes were sinister, his killing intent utterly undisguised.

The revelations in the blood letter had crossed the line for all Daoren.

The vast majority of Daoren already held significant prejudice against humans, a prejudice that extended not only to Yao Qingxuan but also to Yang Shenjing and Old Ancestor Sheng.

Yao Qingxuan pulled out a thick stack of items from her spatial pouch. "Over the past decade or so," she announced, "I, this Venerable One, have also collected a substantial amount of evidence of your Sui Sect's crimes. All you Palace Masters, please take a look."

After An Xianjing finished reading the second blood letter, she sighed, her gaze settling on Tuobabuto. "You were pursued as soon as you left the main altar?" she asked.

Tuobabuto nodded. "The moment I got the blood letter," he explained, "my first thought was to rush to Daozu Temple and use the spatial teleportation array to return to the main altar. But I was ambushed and nearly died. There was no other option but to run for thousands of miles to reach the entrance of the underground immortal mansion."

Elder Xu burst out cursing, "Damn it, this is utterly outrageous! You die if you leave, you die if you return—how on earth can anyone survive?"

"Did you all hear that?" Yao Qingxuan stated. "Information about entering and leaving the main altar has long been controlled by others. What we're allowed to know is entirely up to them. Why did Qi Xiao go to Qiuzhou? Like Tuobabuto, he couldn't return directly and had to use the underground immortal mansion. Tuobabuto, is the Fourth Divine Son truly dead?"

Tuobabuto shook his head, his heart aching. "I don't know... The city gates of Nanyan Pass were sealed. I heard that Yao Shaoqing of Luan Tai, the General's Mansion, and the Jiang family had all joined forces against him. He couldn't escape, so he has most likely met with misfortune."

Yao Qingxuan walked to An Xianjing's side and looked at Li Weiyi's blood letter. "If my disciple truly meets with misfortune," she declared, "I will have Yao Qian's life. At that point, I won't care if he's a member of the sacred sect or not. I will make sure the Sui Sect, every single one of them, pays the ultimate price."

"He wrote to me; he was asking for my help," An Xianjing said.

"It's too dangerous; you can't go," Yao Qingxuan insisted. "Let me, his master, make this trip! It's absolutely audacious of him to compare the Daoist sect to a cult. If he's still alive, I'll certainly give him a good talking-to."

The Vice Palace Master of Tianli Palace looked at Tuobabuto and smiled. "You have a tenacious spirit. Fortunately, you managed to escape back, otherwise the Sui Sect would have deceived everyone again. Are you interested in becoming my disciple?"

Tuobabuto replied, "In this life, Tuobabuto will never betray Venerable Nan or Nanqing Palace."

The Palace Master of Kurong Palace stood up. "The Sui Sect is formidable, posing a great threat and having widespread influence. This matter requires careful long-term deliberation. Elder Qiu, there must be many secrets in your mind, correct? We just don't know if Yang Shenjing planted a death spirit fire within you. Take him away!"

Cloud Heaven Immortal Realm was a plateau that rose three thousand zhang directly from the earth, with no gentle slopes, only sheer cliffs and precipices.

From a distance, it resembled a flattened divine mountain or a colossal stone platform suspended between heaven and earth.

Its origin was unknown, but it had existed since ancient times.

From Nanyan Pass, ascending along the Xushan Heavenly Vein led directly to the entrance of Cloud Heaven Immortal Realm: the magnificent and grand South Heaven Gate.

The South Heaven Gate was as vast as a celestial curtain, with gateposts like towering peaks, forged from thousand-refined cloud-patterned iron. Two guardian beasts, "Panlong," resembling pythons yet with serpentine dragon features, over two hundred meters long, coiled around the gate, their scales like metal.

After a brief inspection, the Taishi family's entourage formally entered Cloud Heaven Immortal Realm, which lay above a sea of clouds.

An abundance of spiritual energy immediately enveloped them.

Along the wide celestial road, spacious enough for ten exotic beast carriages to drive abreast, spiritual lakes and hills dotted the landscape. Exotic beasts and rare birds roamed freely, and ancient structures shrouded in shimmering arrays of light were often visible.

Seeing Li Weiyi constantly gazing outside, Taishi Bai smiled and asked, "First time in Cloud Heaven Immortal Realm? Have you noticed anything special?"

"The spiritual energy is incredibly dense!" Li Weiyi exclaimed. "The entire Cloud Heaven Immortal Realm seems to be a Dao Domain."

"Look at the soil on the ground," Taishi Bai instructed.

"Spiritual soil? Is all the soil in Cloud Heaven Immortal Realm spiritual soil?"

Li Weiyi was genuinely stunned.

The soil on both sides of the celestial road was indeed a faint tri-color.

Taishi Bai chuckled. "In extremely ancient times, Cloud Heaven Immortal Realm was indeed entirely spiritual soil, with vast amounts of immortal soil in its central regions—a true realm where immortals descended. Its very descent dispersed the surrounding specter realms of the deceased, forming the vibrant world we now inhabit and rely on for survival."

"However, much of its spiritual essence has long since dissipated, leaving it with only one or two tenths of its original spiritual soil potency."

"That's still incredibly impressive," Li Weiyi remarked. "Whoever can occupy Cloud Heaven Immortal Realm would have inexhaustible resources and the best cultivation environment in the world."

"Indeed," Taishi Bai affirmed. "Cloud Heaven Immortal Realm's three thousand li of fertile land operates at a significantly higher plane level than Lingxiao's twenty-eight states. The strength and stability of materials here are several times greater than those below, and many minerals are unique to this world."

Li Weiyi mused to himself, *No wonder whoever becomes the master of Cloud Heaven Immortal Realm feels like a celestial being, transcending the mortal world.*

Streams several zhang wide appeared on both sides of the celestial road, their waters murmuring and spiritual mist drifting. In the distance, Lingxiao City, enveloped in the four-colored glow of immortal soil, was already visible.

The city walls were majestic, constructed from "Glazed Spiritualized Stone," a material unique to the immortal realm.

Ten thousand dragons, cast from a certain metal, formed the Grand Ten Thousand Dragon Wall Array on the south city wall.

The convoy traveled along the increasingly wide Spiritual Stream Celestial Road, entering the city. A bustling, incredibly prosperous, and lively scene unfolded before Li Weiyi's eyes.

Taishi Bai smiled. "Zuo Ning, do you know Lingxiao City's most significant characteristic?"

"What?" Li Weiyi asked.

"Safety!" Taishi Bai replied. "Its extreme security has fostered unparalleled prosperity here from ancient times to the present. Unlike other provincial cities, where a transcendent's destructive acts can lead to countless casualties."

"Is martial combat forbidden in Lingxiao City, then?" Li Weiyi wondered.

Taishi Bai waved his hand. "Lingxiao City is divided into a hundred districts, covering ten thousand 'li'. Each district houses a hundred thousand people... After the Xiaotian Order, the city's population sharply declined, but it now far exceeds that number again."

"Each district and each 'li' has independent arrays, mutually isolating them. Should a battle erupt, the arrays instantly activate, minimizing the impact."

"Furthermore, beneath the city lie thirty-six earth vein networks, each district has a boundary-suppressing stele, and above, there's the Grand Array of Nine Heavens Beyond the Clouds. All three can absorb energy dissipated from battles. Even if you were a Dao Seed realm martial cultivator, you couldn't hope to cause much destruction within the city."

"Beyond the residential blocks and districts, the city also encompasses four spiritual streams, numerous scenic and historical sites, six ancient imperial estates, the Thundercloud Heavenly God Mansion, and countless transcendent mansions and gardens, all within its boundaries. The entire Lingxiao City spans hundreds of li."

"When we have some leisure," he added, "I'll take you and Xiangcen on a tour. I guarantee it will be an eye-opening experience."

Li Weiyi was more interested in the main business. He asked, "What exactly is the situation at the Taichang Temple? What can we spiritualists do?"