Tao and Heaven

Chapter 228 Becoming Her Admiration
The inner city is divided into three sections: upper, middle and lower. The upper and lower sections are mainly residences and shops, the middle section is the city lord's mansion and numerous small compartments specially used for spiritual practice and retreat, which are called caves.

Rather than being a city lord’s mansion, it is more like an alternative sect. The city lord’s mansion is the mountain gate.

However, Gu Wen felt that it was closer to a company, because the imperial guards of Taiyi City could join or leave at will, and their remuneration was based solely on their cultivation level, which was an employment relationship.

Gu Wen walked along the wall of the City Lord's Mansion and could see densely packed caves on the opposite side of the road, with house numbers A, B, C, and D.

Ding is a small earthen mound with just a door and a cushion. It can only accommodate one person, who cannot even stretch out his hands. Usually, a monk in the Qi training stage sits cross-legged inside.

C is a bit bigger, and its appearance has become a house, but because it is only three or four square meters, it looks like a small roadside temple, mostly where monks who are building their foundations or sensing the world sit.

Room B is already the size of an ordinary citizen's house, with enough space for a bed and chairs. A quick exploration revealed that it belonged to Jindan and Yuanying cultivators.

A has an additional small courtyard where the monks in the Spirit Severing Stage live.

The hierarchy is strict, from robes to residences, everything is divided according to the level of cultivation, and those with higher cultivation can receive all-round preferential treatment.

The lower-level monks can only sit cross-legged on a small mound where they can't even stretch their hands. Perhaps for them, this small mound is not a permanent place to live, while the monks who are building their foundation may struggle for their entire lives to get a place to live on.

Jindan is considered to be an advanced level, but he is just an ordinary person in the practice, and Yuanying is just a rich farmer.

The one who truly holds power is the True Lord, whose cultivation level has started from the Return to Void stage and is at the peak of the Mahayana stage.

There is a higher mountain above the True Lord, that is the Heavenly Lord who controls the gate of immortality and lives in the secular world. Facing the Dao realm above the Mahayana, or even the Semi-Immortal who has entered the path of becoming an immortal, they are like ants.

Gu Wen walked to the end of the City Lord's Mansion. The originally towering city wall on one side suddenly opened up, and on the right was a bamboo forest that was in stark contrast to the narrow and crowded caves.

The forest was dense and green, and every bamboo had a jade-like luster, swaying in the breeze.

The formation emits wisps of firefly-like light all the time, making outsiders dare not get close.

Gu Wen walked in and used the Feihong Order to activate the formation. Along the path, pavilions, lakes, gardens, and attics could be seen.

More luxurious than Liangjie City.

At the door, a middle-aged man was standing. He was wearing a robe with golden cloud patterns and had the cultivation level of the fusion stage.

Hearing the footsteps, he turned around, his majestic eyes reflected on his ordinary face, and he froze instantly.

Gu Wen looked at him and asked, "You look familiar. Have we met somewhere before?"

He seemed to have seen the middle-aged man in front of him somewhere, but he couldn't tell where. With Gu Wen's current level of Taoism, his memory was not likely to be wrong, and the only possibility was that they had met once.

The other party's facial features have changed over the past eight hundred years.

"Ren Ranking No. 25, Kuang Zhili, was once in the Luodu Restaurant with you, and together you kept the True Lord and the powerful outside."

Kuang Zhili took three steps forward, bowed and slowly bent down, his throat rolling with excitement that could hardly be suppressed.

"Now, Lord of Taiyi City, congratulations on your arrival."

Gu Wen stepped forward to help him up, somewhat unaccustomed to the other party's respect, and said, "Although cultivators are honored by their cultivation level, since we are of the same generation, there is no need to perform grand formalities."

"No, yes, yes, the survival of our clan may depend on you."

Kuang Zhili bent down stubbornly, bowed again, and said: "In the great battle between humans and demons, the Immortal Qingcang was injured, and the Demon Ancestor regained twelve statues. The Heavenly Lords in the world are exhausted, and only a few can become immortals. Even the Sword Lord who wields the Immortal Sword can only fight two at most."

"You no longer have the might of trampling down twelve demon ancestors by yourself. I thought you had died in the land of immortality."

Having said this, the middle-aged man was already choking up.

The human race is now in a precarious situation, declining day by day, and the battle between humans and demons ended in a draw. Some discerning people can see that Immortal Qingcang is not as good as he was in his first life.

At that time, the human race could invade Jianmu and no longer have the strength to compete with them as before.

Now the mayors of all the major cities have more or less connections with Dao Sect. They are also supporters of Qing Cang Immortal and promote the Immortal's will. On the contrary, they are those who are labeled as evil cultivators, or the hidden sects that stay out of the matter.

Whenever talking about heroes, some would mention the Sword Immortal of Zhejian Mountain, the Red Sky Master who traveled across the world for 8,000 miles, or the Three Immortals of Dao Sect, but as long as they were people of that era, they could always do without one person.

They might have been friends, enemies, or strangers back then. But after that group of young geniuses became the pillars of the human race, facing the surging Jianmu Demon Sea, they all had one thought.

"If you were here, you would be able to lead our tribe to step on Jianmu again."

Kuang Zhili leaned forward again, his emotions were so excited that they were a little out of control, and he did not look like a powerful True Lord at all.

Gu Wen swallowed back the humble words that were about to come out of his mouth, helped him up again, and said, "I will."

Others could not understand his loneliness for eight hundred years, and he himself could not understand how exhausted this young genius from eight hundred years ago, now a True Lord of the human race, was after hundreds of years of war between humans and demons.

People suffer differently, but they share the same aspirations.

After Kuang Zhili calmed down, he stated his purpose: "I received a message from Dao Zong, saying that a distinguished guest would stay in this villa left behind by the goddess. I already had guesses then, but when I saw you, I couldn't control myself and was a little disrespectful, hahahaha." Dao Zong already knew that I was out.

Gu Wen grasped the key point and asked, "Did Dao Zong say anything else?"

"There is a letter."

Kuang Zhili handed a piece of topaz to Gu Wen, and the topaz turned into a piece of paper in his hand. Only Gu Wen could see the words on it.

[Traitor, you are expelled from the sect! ]

The last word "了" was distorted, and Gu Wen could tell that his master was very angry.

He felt that he should go back slowly, otherwise he would get beaten.

Kuang Zhili asked, "Do you want to return to Dao Sect now? Taiyi City has a Tianzi flying shuttle that can fly a million miles in one breath. But I would like to ask you to stay for a few days. Taiyi City has encountered some troubles recently."

"The attack from those evil cultivators before?"

"Yes, due to the emergency situation at that time, more than 300 immortal boats rushed into the city for safety. The immortal boats have not been strictly inspected, and now it happens to be the Tianxuan Conference. I am afraid that those evil cultivators are plotting something bad."

"Have you reported to other sects?"

"Yes, several True Lords have come here temporarily, but if you are here, everything will be fine."

"I will stay here and wait for the Tianxuan Conference to end, but during this time just pretend that I don't exist."

Gu Wen nodded in agreement. Kuang Zhili was overjoyed and said, "In that case, I will not bother you any more."

Afterwards, Kuang Zhili turned into a streak of light and left. In fact, he also wanted to spend more time with Gu Wen and ask him for advice, which would benefit him a lot.

But it wasn't a good idea to be too enthusiastic since they had just met for the first time. He also felt his scalp tingling at the thought that there might be many evil cultivators with ulterior motives lurking in the city.

Now is the Tianxuan Conference, a time when geniuses from all factions gather together.

The decoration inside the house is also not luxurious. Its location and area itself are an ultimate luxury.

There was also a letter on the table, as if it had been prepared long ago, or perhaps she had anticipated this day.

[Tianxuan Conference, once every hundred years, a thousand years is not too late]

"A thousand years is not too late, but your names will not be on the Tianxuan Conference a thousand years later."

Gu Wen smiled gently and put the letter in his arms.

When his palm touched the jade pendant, the cat jumped out, sniffed it, and said with round eyes full of vigilance: "Master, Master, it smells like Yu Hua."

Apart from the Immortal, the person it was most impressed with was Yu Hua. However, unlike its attachment to Gu Wen, the heirloom was very wary of Yu Hua.

Because she was taking away the immortal's love for her!
Gu Wen asked, "It's been eight hundred years, can you still smell it?"

Heirloom held his head high, landed on the table and took a few steps.

"It's only eight hundred years. Even if it's been a thousand years, a cat can smell it."

The next day, the City Lord's Mansion moved out four different Qiankun passages, each of which connected to a secret realm.

There is no need to register for the Tianxuan Conference. Those under the age of 1,200 will enter Gate A, those under the age of 800 will enter Gate B, those under the age of 400 will enter Gate C, and those under the age of 100 will enter Gate D.

In the end, each of the four sects will select a hundred people to participate in the real Tianxuan Conference.

The new generation of geniuses gathered together, and there were also thousand-year-old masters, or several hundred-year-old strong men. Some entered the B and C gates based on their age, while others entered the A gate regardless of their age.

Anyone who has never participated in the Tianxuan Conference and is under 1,200 years old can participate. There is no age difference, and those who can usually get to the top of the list are all over 1,000 years old.

The original intention of the Tianxuan Conference is "When you feel that you are the most powerful at a certain moment, you can go in and compete with the cultivators in the world."

Different monks, different methods, and different inheritances all have different growth periods. At the same time, it also teaches young people a truth: there is no fairness in reality. Some people have more advantages than you. If you don't have enough confidence, just lie dormant.

Gu Wenbuyi, holding a bamboo sword, stepped into the Jiamen.

This time he was not doing it for the so-called number one in the world, not for the title of being unrivaled in the world, not for testing himself, not for fame, not for profit, not for himself.

A thousand years ago, she was ranked 500th and admired the geniuses on the list.

A thousand years later, maybe I can become the person she longs for.

(End of this chapter)