Vampire Cultivation Notes

Chapter 216 Dao Soldiers

"Why do we still need to see the True Lord before leaving?"

Li Jieqing suddenly asked, as if this question had just come to mind.

"Fellow Daoist, you don't know, without the power of the Golden Core, how could you have guided me back from the Outer Heavens?" Chunyu Ju thought to himself. Not to mention that you are remnants of the Blood Heart Sect, how can we let you go without investigating you?

Li Jieqing was unwilling to enter the spiritual artifact space.

The danger of leaving the outer heavens is secondary.

Firstly, the spirit artifact space is not a cave heaven and cannot be compatible with each other, so one must leave one's own storage spirit artifact outside when entering the spirit artifact space—this is also the reason why Fairy Shecai left her spirit artifact jade bracelet in the mountain back then, which was then taken advantage of by Li Jieqing.

Moreover, once inside the magical artifact space, one's external perception is restricted, and one's life and death are no longer in one's own hands.

Li Jieqing never even ventures into his own spiritual artifact space, for fear that someone might cover the entrance from the outside, let alone someone else's.

This journey to the Blood Heart Cave was just like entering a world where one is no longer in control of one's own destiny.

Secondly, there's Chunyu Ju's statement that a Golden Core True Monarch was actually waiting outside.

This is something you can't think about too much; it's terrifying to even think about.

"If I don't enter your magical artifact, is there any way to survive in this Blood Heart Cave?" Li Jieqing asked again.

I've already said that the outcome of Blood Heart Cave is extremely dangerous!

Regardless of his inner thoughts, Chunyu Ju maintained a composed expression and replied, "Since we've come this far, I won't hide it from you, fellow Daoist. When the Blood Heart Cave Heaven was carried to its highest point by the Extinction Bird, it was used as a stepping stone for further ascent, inevitably causing it to lose control and plummet. Subsequently, the Blood Heart Cave Heaven began to disintegrate and split in the Outer Heavens, and completely dissolved upon crashing into the mortal world."

Chunyu Ju pondered for a moment, then said, "If we want to leave when the Blood Heart Cave Heaven falls, we must first withstand its collapse. The collapse will impact the Outer Heaven. The Outer Heaven itself will be unharmed, but any cultivator inside the cave, even one at the Foundation Establishment stage, will surely die if they fall into it. The only way is to hide among the fragments of the Blood Heart Cave Heaven and escape the impact. Then, before the Blood Heart Cave Heaven crashes into the mortal world and dissipates, we must leave immediately and emerge from the intersection of the Outer Heaven and the mortal world—this method is extremely difficult."

The more Chunyu Ju talked about it, the more unreliable it seemed. It might be theoretically possible, but not practically.

Even if you do manage to fall into the real world, you don't know where in the vast land of China you've fallen into, and whether you're truly safe.

Chunyu Ju said, "I know you Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Cave Heaven have doubts, but you must not be careless about life and death. Please introduce me to the Emperor of the Imperial Court. I have already considered it and am willing to swear an oath to cooperate with the Imperial Court, seeking only opportunities and harboring no ill intentions!"

This guy is really afraid of death—he definitely has potential.

Li Jieqing glanced at it with his divine sense, but did not answer; instead, he fell into thought.

That's great. It's all thanks to the elder's extensive knowledge that we have an alternative plan for escaping.

All we have to do is hide among the shattered fragments of the Blood Heart Cave and fall into the world of cultivation together.

I just don't know if he can withstand the collapse of Blood Heart Cave.

After thinking for a long time, Li Jieqing shook his head. No matter what, for him, enduring the final scene of Blood Heart Cave Heaven and then falling back into the cultivation world was safer than facing a Golden Core True Monarch directly.

"Fellow Daoist!"

"Think it over!"

When Chunyu Ju saw Li Jieqing shaking his head, he became very anxious.

"Master Chunyu." Li Jieqing noticed this scene, smiled slightly, cupped his hands and said, "What Master Chunyu said is indeed reasonable. I will go to the court to petition for Master Chunyu's life."

Chunyu Ju's words saved his own life.

Li Jieqing has decided to keep him alive for the time being to see how things develop, so as to avoid having to ask the Eastern Court for an explanation after secretly killing him and causing trouble.

As for having a grudge against the Ruyi Sect, that's a joke. It's Qi Zhen who has the grudge. If it weren't for the circumstances, Li Jieqing would have long thought of joining the sect if he couldn't win and becoming a glorious member of the upper sect.

Cultivating immortality is nothing to be ashamed of.

As they approached the cell, the lingering murderous aura finally dissipated.

At this moment, Chunyu Ju finally relaxed; he had been so frightened that he was scared out of his wits.

"Fellow Daoist, please wait patiently. I, Chunyu, await your good news!"

Inside the cell, several chains pierced Chunyu Ju's collarbone, and eight bronze mirrors reflected his soul, making it difficult for him to move. However, seeing Li Jieqing leave, he still struggled to move his body to see him off.

Actually, he entered the Blood Heart Cave Heaven to find the sect's disciples, Bao Zhang and Bao Wu.

Bao Wu, in particular, is a member of the Yang family within the sect, and has a considerable background.

However, Chunyu Ju hasn't mentioned this matter at all. Judging from the skillful way the cultivators from the cave immediately took care of him upon meeting, he knew that the two missing disciples must have caused something big, and mentioning it would only make things worse.

Since Bao Wu and Bao Zhang have already caused him considerable harm, let's not take his life as well.

"What is Your Majesty doing here?"

Li Jieqing found the top of the rebuilt Imperial Observatory Tower and bowed slightly.

The middle-aged man standing on the rooftop platform came to his senses. It was none other than Shan Quan, who had seized the throne of the Eastern Lands, and he was dressed in plain clothes at the moment.

"I once studied under the Grand Preceptor of the Imperial Observatory, so he is considered an old friend of the Imperial Observatory."

Dan Quan sighed slightly, it was a pity that the former Imperial Observatory had been completely destroyed, and now it was just a new site built from the ruins.

Even if the earthen and stone restrictions are completely restored, it will never have the original charm of the Imperial Observatory.

"I am also an old man from the Imperial Observatory. I studied the remaining texts of the Crimson Kun Visualization Method back then because of the Grand Preceptor of Liang —"

Li Jieqing flicked his wide sleeves and arrived at the edge of Sendai, where they looked down upon the capital together.

From the perspective of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's divine sense, this ancient city, where immortals and mortals coexist for a thousand years, presents a completely different scene. It is filled with restrictions of all sizes, ruins, and ancient houses, with spiritual energy constantly rising and dissipating from the city.

Compared to the Seven Immortal Cities, this Eastern Capital City is more like a city of immortals.

Unfortunately, this strategically important place, which has been in existence for thousands of years, will soon perish.

"I wonder how well Lord Ning Rong is studying the remaining chapters of the Crimson Kun Visualization Method?"

"Disaster."

Li Jieqing was not faking it, but said sincerely: "The visualization method is special, it only uses the divine sense, and it is completely unlike the methods of cultivating qi in the immortal path. There is no past cultivation experience to draw on, so my progress has been very small so far."

"If one could learn another technique that can be applied to other areas, that would be much better," Li Jieqing said meaningfully.

Over the years, he has tasted the blood essence of many species, but all of them fall within the scope of tempering the body with the blood essence of demonic beasts and nourishing the magical power with the blood essence of cultivators.

He improved his body cultivation to the second level and his magic power cultivation to the peak of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

However, his spiritual awareness has not improved much.

Creating one's own method of spiritual visualization is too difficult, and I dare not even try to practice the visualization methods of the Ruyi Sect, so I'm stuck here.

It's a pity that Shan Daliang died before he could compile the Crimson Kun Visualization Method; otherwise, it would have been good to have a reference.

"I've been very busy lately and haven't had many chances to talk with Duke Ningrong since he returned to the capital. Please forgive me," Shan Quan suddenly said.

"Your Majesty is busy with countless affairs of state, it is only right."

"Oh----"

Dan Quan chuckled to himself, thinking how familiar he was with the phrase, wondering where Ning Ronggong had learned it from.

After chatting for a while, Shan Quan's expression finally became serious.

"Lord Ningrong, I know that you have been seeking the royal family's alchemy techniques, and you have made great contributions to the dynasty. You were the first to capture a great master from outside the palace, so the court should be generous in rewarding you."

"However, the Refining Spirit Technique is not easy to obtain. It was obtained by the royal family after a thousand years of searching for the Blood Heart Sect's inheritance. They paid a great price to find it. Even the branch families do not have it. Therefore, even I cannot say that it was a gift."

"Tsk!"

"—Lord Ningrong, please speak frankly if you have any complaints."

"No, I wouldn't dare."

The two sides had known each other for decades, and Shan Quan, especially considering that Li Jieqing had served under him, could only cough and pretend not to hear the displeasure.

"Great achievements must be rewarded, otherwise the tradition of mutual support among the thirteen families established at the founding of the nation will be broken."

"Lord Ningrong, the Grand Tutor died on the front lines two years ago. Would you mind taking over the position of Grand Tutor and receiving an additional rank and salary?"

"Furthermore, the Jiaxu Army will be directly transferred to your name, and your Ningrong Prefecture will be granted hereditary status—according to information from outside cultivators, these battle formations of the imperial court are worthy of being called legitimate Daoist troops, and are extremely valuable."

"Dao soldiers" are actually products of the various arts of cultivating immortality.

They arm elite cultivators with various cultivation techniques, specifically to use their numbers to overwhelm the few and for lower-level cultivators to defeat higher-level ones.

For example, when the Seven Immortals set sail and rallied hundreds of cultivators from the Immortal City to form the Ruyi Heart Net Formation to kill the Hidden Dragon Lice Demons, those hundreds of cultivators were used as Dao soldiers.

However, the Seven True Ones were very poor. Apart from distributing array flags, they didn't even have any standardized magical artifacts. Before the battle, they only practiced for a few months. They didn't have the participating cultivators take the same pills to temper their bodies, nor did they have any matching magical artifacts or inscribed array patterns on their bodies to finally form humanoid battle array nodes that resonated with magical power.

Not to mention the fact that they searched all over Xiaoxin Island and only found a few hundred late-stage Qi Refining cultivators.

In contrast, the Eastern Court was completely different; it had no shortage of resources, distributing magical artifacts and elixirs in droves. Li Jieqing's Jiaxu Army consisted of soldiers fully armored, piloting flying boats, and skillfully practicing the Greedy Wolf Formation, which, once activated, could cause trouble even for late-stage second-tier warriors.

The Eastern Court had 100,000 such troops.

The rest of the troops may not be as elite as the Jiaxu Army, but they can still easily launch battle formations to deal with ordinary second-tier monsters.

Those who can defeat the strong with the weak are called Dao soldiers, and the Eastern Court has about 100,000 Dao soldiers.

In addition, there are many cultivators in the civilian population who can be conscripted for logistics, so it can be said that the strength of the Eastern Land Court is by no means weak. It has been honed over thousands of years in dealing with the demon realm.

The cultivators from outside the region are still too early to react, but they will find out later. The official army of the Eastern Dynasty alone is a great opportunity. They can easily recruit a troop of soldiers who can be passed down through generations, which can enhance the foundation of their family or sect.

The Yu family of Ningrong Prefecture used to have its own private army, but it declined and could not hold on, so the private army disappeared.

Dan Quan has now sent another troop of Dao soldiers to Li Jieqing as a reward for his merits. After all, Li Jieqing has been a timely helper, volunteered to go to the front line to fight against the demon realm, and captured a foreign Grand Master. It would be unreasonable not to give him a generous reward.

Pity.

Li Jieqing was indifferent to this; he was merely a usurper, and one person couldn't take the Dao soldiers with him.

Besides, the sky is about to fall.