Chapter 369

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Chapter 369: Magic Defeats Magic

Zhongzhou, Tianxian City

Gu Hengbo looked up at the person in front of him, a stranger with a unfamiliar face and aura. He couldn’t recall ever seeing this person before. He shook his head at Lin Jiang and asked. What’s the point of this thing called alcohol? It’s meant to make people drunk. Why bother drinking if you don’t want to get drunk?

"There are many ways to get drunk, through happiness or surprises. Why must you choose sadness?"

"It’s none of your business. If you want to offer me a drink, go ahead. If not, then get lost."

Gu Hengbo became very angry. He hated being lectured, and he had heard it countless times over the past few hundred years.

"Even the esteemed Chief Alchemist of the Danxia Sect has fallen into such a miserable state. It’s truly pitiful."

"Stop being so long-winded or I’ll cut you."

"Gu Hengbo, you…"

Just as Lin Jiang was about to say something, he heard a voice in his ear, saying, "Taoist friend, don’t argue with my Martial Uncle. He really knows how to harm people."

Lin Jiang turned around and saw a man looking at him. Gu Hengbo glanced over as well, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to be left alone, continuing to drink from his jug.

"How did this esteemed Taoist friend end up like this?"

"Ah, it’s also an unfortunate event for my Gu family. This generation’s Martial Uncle wasted the potential of the only two geniuses we had. There was once a Martial Uncle named Gu Pingbo, who got deeply involved in the former Divine Kingdom. He wasted his life energy and abandoned the path, dying outside. As for this Gu Hengbo, he was overflowing with talent, and the sect had great expectations for him.

But he fell in love with the daughter of the Yun State’s Lin family. Over a thousand years ago, the daughter of the Lin family was trapped in the North State. My Martial Uncle risked his life to rescue her and was severely injured in the process. However, the daughter of the Lin family disappeared, and it’s not known whether she’s alive or dead."

My Martial Uncle looked for the daughter of the Lin family for hundreds of years, but still couldn’t find her whereabouts. After gradually giving up, he returned to the sect, but from then on, he was in a state of decline, spending his days in drunkenness.

The man said that there were still some things he had not mentioned. That is, Gu Hengbo had also been abandoned by the sect and the family. Gu Hengbo’s deep affection, which is admirable for ordinary people, is not the same for a sect and a family.

For a sect and a family, deep affection can be a very obvious weakness. Also, because Gu Hengbo’s cultivation for hundreds of years in search of Lin Die had made no progress, the sect and the family gave up on him, stopped nurturing him, and let him fend for himself.

"A person with deep affection, sigh."

Lin Jiang also sighed, feeling guilty. Gu Hengbo’s outcome had reasons influenced by him. If he hadn’t misled Gu Hengbo into being submissive, perhaps this wouldn’t have happened.

"Yes, we also admire Martial Uncle’s deep affection."

"Is there any news about the daughter of the Lin family?"

"No, it’s been over a thousand years. She’s probably passed away."

"The cultivation world is so big, how can there be no news? There should be life and death."

"That’s not true. Martial Uncle Gu has been to Yun State several times, and he always says that person’s Soul Lamp will never be extinguished. They’ve tried multiple secret methods to find them, but it hasn’t worked."

"Doesn’t Danxia Sect have the Tongtian Mirror?"

"The Tongtian Mirror is a precious treasure of our sect. It can’t be used casually."

The person shook his head. The Tongtian Mirror is not an ordinary treasure. When the cultivators from Tianxuan Sect came to borrow it, they had to pay a considerable price. It can’t be used just like that.

Lin Jiang thought about it. Gu Hengbo’s identity probably couldn’t be found using the Tongtian Mirror yet.

Lin Jiang said thank you and went back to drink with Gu Hengbo, this is where he owes Gu Hengbo.

Lin Jiang drank two barrels of the thirty barrels of alcohol, the rest went into Gu Hengbo’s belly. Lin Jiang was very doubtful how he could fit so much in his stomach without using magic to transform it.

"Gu Hengbo, if you want to find Lin Die, you should go search for the Tongtian Mirror. Only with the Tongtian Mirror can you find her, instead of giving up here."

Lin Jiang paid for the alcohol, the thirty barrels cost him over a million spirit stones. Before leaving, Lin Jiang sent a message to Gu Hengbo, not knowing if Gu Hengbo heard it.

After leaving Tianxian City, Lin Jiang thought about going to find Lin Die but ultimately decided not to. If Gu Hengbo couldn’t find her after several centuries, how could he?

In the world, many things are not influenced by human will. In the end, he just doesn’t have that ability.

·······

After Yang Luo released the method for refining spiritual treasures, there were significant changes in the cultivation world. The major powers remained the same, but the smaller ones were reshuffled. Many weaker sects and families have been destroyed, while new ones have emerged.

And the most direct result was that the cultivation world saw the appearance of many magical treasures. The power of these magical treasures was naturally much stronger than ordinary treasures, causing the strength of many experts to multiply. Even the modes of battle between experts changed.

The chaos in the cultivation world wouldn’t last for long, because everyone needed a stable environment to improve their cultivation. This was true even for the Qing State and the Yun State.

The Qing State and the Yun State had been hostile to each other for over a thousand years, but it wasn’t constant fighting. They had periods of peace, and even now, both sides were almost unable to fight. The intervals between the battles grew longer and longer.

Lin Jiang had traveled in the Qing State for many years. Honestly, if he put aside his identity as part of the Lin family, he didn’t hold any grudges against the four major families of the Qing State. Since their appearance, they were no different from ordinary sect families. They had done the same evil deeds as other forces, and they had fulfilled their responsibilities.

Lin Jiang made his way to Shenmu City because he calculated the timing correctly – there would be a large celebration there.

The major cities in the central region had planned it out. Every hundred years, each major city would have its own celebration, avoiding overlapping with other cities’ celebrations in order to maximize their benefits.

Lin Jiang had spent a long time in Shenmu City and knew that its celebration was grand. He came specifically to purchase some things.

Lin Jiang had gathered ten bottles of spiritual liquid to nourish the magical treasures before going into seclusion, and he had already used them up. This time, he decided to buy more and upgrade his own treasured treasure to the level of a spiritual treasure.

"The price of the spiritual liquid material has indeed decreased a lot, although it is higher than before, let’s consider it as inflation."

Lin Jiang purchased several sets of materials, and the price has decreased a lot compared to when he speculated. However, Lin Jiang believes that this Internal and External Refining Method is still unaffordable for most people.

Lin Jiang counted his assets and realized that he was almost becoming poor. After being in seclusion for five hundred years, he had spent most of his money, only having a small amount of spiritual medicine and magical talismans left.

"The most expensive things I have are the Purple Origin Taoist Fruit and the Golden Origin Stone. I should sell them, sell them!"

Lin Jiang looked at the things he found in the storage bag. The Purple Origin Taoist Fruit was a sapling he brought from the Five Elements Sect. After being cultivated for over a thousand years, it had matured. The Golden Origin Stone, on the other hand, was something Lin Jiang tricked Yang Luo to obtain. It is very rare, and in the previous few attempts, the price couldn’t be agreed upon.

Lin Jiang entrusted the items to a trading company and also participated in some auctions. With Lin Jiang’s current cultivation level, he was eligible to attend most of the advanced auctions.

"Someone actually brought a special item to sell."

Lin Jiang looked at the list of items for sale and quickly noticed that there were several valuable things, even though they were considered to be of low quality. Were these special items so common now?

"This Taoist friend must have been in seclusion for a long time."

"Thank you, Taoist friend. You are right. I just finished a hundred-year seclusion."

Suddenly, someone nearby interrupted, and Lin Jiang started talking to him.

"No wonder all these special items are here for the Holy Heavenly Sect. They are planning to sell them at a high price."

"Oh, has the Holy Heavenly Sect been continuously acquiring special items?"

"Yes, the Holy Heavenly Sect never lets any valuable special items slip away. We can’t compete with them. They have bought everything."

"So, the higher-ups in the Holy Heavenly Sect must have a special item each, right?"

"It’s strange to say, but they have collected at least ten spiritual treasures, in addition to the ones they made themselves. They have a total of twenty, but it’s unclear why they don’t have one each or what they’re using them for."

"Could it be that they have money and nowhere to spend it?"

"Haha, we think the same way. If the taoist friend wants spiritual treasures, they should get them from other sources. We can’t compete with them at the auction."

"Thank you, taoist friend. I’ll just take a look. I can’t afford to buy them anyway."

Lin Jiang nodded. These spiritual treasures are not paid for with spirit stones, but are exchanged for other items. He didn’t have anything else valuable to trade, so he couldn’t afford them.

Also, if he had the money, it would be better to buy more spiritual elixirs and refine his own special magic weapon.

The auction ended quickly, and several spiritual treasures were bought by people from the Holy Heavenly Sect. Lin Jiang experienced for the first time what it meant to be extravagantly wealthy, as the other major sects were completely helpless in competing with them.

In Shenmu City, Lin Jiang earnestly inquired about the history of the Holy Heavenly Sect over the past centuries. In that time, the number of Void Achieving members increased from three to six, and there was an additional member in the Tao Achieving level. Initially, Lin Jiang thought it was Yang Luo, but to his surprise, it was Yun Hua, the man who was once the leader of the Spiritual Moon Sect and Xu Mingyue’s partner. He had no idea how Yang Luo managed to bring him back, instantly propelling the Holy Heavenly Sect to the top of the cultivation world’s major sects.

Yang Luo herself is also a Void Achieving cultivator and a master in Pill, Talisman, Item, and Formation. She is famous in the cultivation world as a versatile hexagonal warrior. There is nothing she doesn’t know.

As for the Soul Changing and Nascent Soul layers, they have a large number of disciples. The overall strength of the Holy Heavenly Sect is now not weaker than the Shenmu Sect or the Danxia Sect, which have inherited for tens of thousands of years.

"Most of the new experts in the Holy Heavenly Sect were discovered and promoted by Yang Luo. Yang Luo’s talent for recognizing people is now highly regarded. Should I use a magical spell to fight back?"

Lin Jiang noticed a detail in the news. Many of the newly promoted experts in the Holy Heavenly Sect were discovered and promoted by Yang Luo. These people have immense potential, which suddenly gave Lin Jiang a new inspiration to deal with Yang Luo.