As they all took their seats in the main hall, Mo Wen looked at Huai Hongxiu and the other guests. Even without asking, he knew why they were here.
As he had expected, Huai Hongxiu spoke in a quiet tone, “Brother Mo, given the situation Yingyun City is currently in, do you have any strategies to take down the enemy?”
Huai Hongxiu had had a sleepless night. She couldn’t help thinking about Mo Wen’s origin and background. Since Mo Wen knew about that sachet, there was no doubt that he had been sent here by that senior. However, it seemed almost impossible for them to resolve the tricky situation in Yingyun City just with this young cultivator alone. Then why did that senior send only one person here? Was it because she thought that just Mo Wen was enough to defend Yingyun City?
Huai Hongxiu was filled with doubt and suspicion. She had guessed that Mo Wen’s coming here meant that he probably had some hidden technique they did not know about, so they made their way here this early in the morning to clear the air. After all, this was a matter of life and death for Yingyun City, so she did not want to act too recklessly.
“Taking down the enemy? Let me think,” Mo Wen said with a smile. What strategies could he possibly have? He had barely spent a day here in Yingyun City, so he was not sure about the overall strength of Muhong City. How could he possibly have a strategy to take them down?
“Did you not think about methods to drive out Muhong City before you came here?” Huai Hongxiu was speechless. Did this person really come just to save Yingyun City?
“I have, and I think the simplest way is to kill the Muhong City Mayor. Muhong City will no longer be a threat once they lose this Supreme Profundity Realm cultivator,” Mo Wen said after some thought.
The Immortal Cultivation world was a cruel one where a single high-level cultivator could change the fate of everyone. Their world as a whole was like a huge tree, and the lower-level cultivators depended upon the higher-level cultivators, existing beneath them, and layers upon layers of such relationships stacked up to form a hierarchy.
An individual, because of an extraordinary martial arts power they possessed, could destroy everything, so this world was not a reasonable one. Etiquettes and law… None of these meant anything in the face of power. This was a world ruled by fists, and all that mattered was how strong you were. Other than killing the Muhong City Mayor, there was no other solution that could so thoroughly resolve this crisis.
The cultivators in Yingyun City turned to look at one another. Kill the Muhong City Mayor? They would not have come here to discuss if they each had the ability to kill the Muhong City Mayor.
The real question was this—who could kill the Muhong City Mayor?
“What would we have to do to kill the Muhong City Mayor?” Huai Hongxiu laughed bitterly, feeling as though Mo Wen had said a pile of rubbish.
“I’ll kill him, then. Let me try,” Mo Wen said indifferently.
Everyone was shocked when he said that, and all of them turned to look at one another. He was going to kill the Muhong City Mayor? How could he, alone, kill a Supreme Profundity Realm cultivator? Was he serious? They had seen their fair share of confident people, but they had never come across anyone as self-assured as Mo Wen.
This young man might have managed to escape easily from the clutches of the Muhong City Mayor, but that did not mean that he had the power to face a Supreme Profundity Realm cultivator head-on and eliminate him.
Mo Wen did not intend to spend too much time here. Besides the fact that he had more important things to handle, the preliminary mission had a time limit, so there was no way he could spend a long time here to guard Yingyun City forever. Given the current situation, he had determined that the crisis would not be resolved if he did not kill the Muhong City mayor, or else he would not be able to leave at all.
In a world like this, a signed peace treaty would be nothing more than a meaningless piece of scrap paper at such times. The only way to make this right, once and for all, was to eliminate its cause and ensure the threat disappeared forever.
“Brother Mo, Supreme Profundity Realm cultivators exist at an entirely different realm than Tide Changing Realm cultivators. Cross-boundary battles like this are basically impossible to win, and you should know as much. You can’t take a risk like this.” Huai Hongxiu heaved a sigh, worry showing in her eyes. She could not shake off the feeling that this young man was not really all that he was made out to be.
The cultivators of Yingyun City, too, felt that this young man was slightly delusional. Could a person like him really help them get through this crisis? Everyone was wondering about the same thing, and the relief from the recent crisis that they had all felt a little earlier started to fade.
“Everyone, since I dared make my way here, it would mean that I have my own plan. I need some time to cultivate, so please return for now. It’s more likely that Muhong City would try to counterattack, so contact me when they do.”
Mo Wen was obviously unable to explain too much to them, electing to have them leave instead. He had not been lying when he said he needed some time to cultivate. Earlier, when he had been in seclusion in the Junior Master’s Pagoda, he had been consolidating his cultivation and strengthening his foundation for immortal cultivation, which was why he had not broken through to a higher realm. Now that his foundation was sufficiently firm, he could try to break through to the next realm.
In all honesty, to an immortal cultivator, breaking through was not much of an undertaking as long as they had enough resources, inherent skills, and luck. The real obstacle was getting trapped in a bottleneck. All cultivators had their own bottleneck that would hinder them from breaking through to the next realm. And they would be unable to progress in their cultivation even after cultivating to a certain extent. Elder Xue of Yingyun City, for example, had been around during Wise Man Huai Guang’s time, but he was still stuck in the Tide Changing Realm, and it was unlikely that he would break through to the Supreme Profundity Realm in this lifetime.
It was precisely such a bottleneck that was restricting Mo Wen’s Path of Immortal Cultivation, and he could only move forward if he broke through it. However, breaking the bottleneck was not something that could easily be achieved by the average cultivator. Not even one in ten thousand cultivators could accomplish this. As such, one could not just hope that they would be able to break the bottleneck when they were on the Path of Immortal Cultivation. Instead, they had to work on making sure their fundamentals were firm. Taking one step after the other was the only way to delay the bottleneck’s appearance and, at the same time, make it easier to overcome.
A shaky foundation would cause the bottleneck to appear sooner and make it more challenging to break. This was also why the people who were in a rush to cultivate often ended up with underwhelming results.
Mo Wen had cultivated for a long time, ceaselessly condensing his cultivation so that he could go further on his Path of Immortal Cultivation. He was not like the Three Great Kings of the ancient land, who had hundreds of thousands of experience and could break through to the great attainment of the Tide Changing Realm without worrying about a shaky foundation. He was also not like Gu Jingman, because she walked a different path than he did, and the two of them were different in nature.
In the cultivation room, Mo Wen sealed his surroundings to prevent anyone from barging in. He was prepared to break through to the next level in Yingyun City and cultivate until the Tide Changing Realm intermediary stage. To cultivators who did not have the resources, it was difficult to break through one tier, but it was much easier for Mo Wen.
With a snap of his fingers, three tiny jade bottles appeared right in front of him. These were the three Long Qing Pills he had concocted on the Path of Creation. The Long Qing Pills were profound second-level grade pills and most suitable for Tide Changing Realm cultivators to use. It could directly raise the spiritual power within the cultivator’s body.
To the average cultivator, a single Long Qing pill would allow for a Tide Changing Realm preliminary stage cultivator to be promoted directly to the pinnacle of that stage and for their spiritual power to be filled to the brim. However, Mo Wen was an immortal cultivator cultivating Yin Yang Qi, so even three Long Qing Pills might not be enough to elevate his Yin Yang Qi to the pinnacle of the Tide Changing Realm preliminary stage.
Time went by, and, after five days, Mo Wen finally absorbed all three Long Qing Pills. His cultivation was now not too far away from the pinnacle of the Tide Changing Realm preliminary stage, and consuming just one more profound level pill would be enough to raise his cultivation.
