Chapter 2: Gathering for Group Cultivation

  Although Tong Yan had said that Qianfeng Ridge was not far away, the five of them still took seven days to arrive at the outer reaches of the Qianfeng Ridge mountain range.

  "Up ahead is Qianfeng Ridge, let's take a break outside first, it's still at least a month before the baby is born." Tuo Yan and the five of them stopped on top of a large boulder, their ten eyes fixed straight ahead at the mountain range.

  "Tong Yan, it's said that the treasure of Qianfeng Ridge is extraordinary, but why haven't we seen many cultivators on the road? It's impossible that they're not tempted, right?" Fang Qing said with some puzzlement.

  Wang Ke raised his head to look forward, and in front of him was a vast expanse of mountains, with peak after peak standing upright like inverted knives inserted into the earth. The number of peaks was unknown, and on each peak, no plants could be seen, only a bare and desolate landscape presenting a deep black color.

  Occasionally, grayish-white smoke drifted from the mountain peaks, and a patch of black cloud gathered in this sky.

  The air was filled with a strong smell of sulfur, and Wang Ke also felt that the temperature here had risen significantly. The scenery covered by white snow could no longer be seen everywhere.

  "Hmph, who wouldn't be moved, it's just that we're late, most people have already gone inside and taken good positions," Tong Yan said with a hum.

  "Whoosh...whoosh..." Just as Tong Yan finished speaking, several sonic booms suddenly came from above, instantly drawing the attention of all five people.

  Wang Ke also raised his head, and saw several black shadows flying rapidly in the distance. The speed was so fast that it made one's tongue tremble. In just a blink of an eye, several sword lights arrived above their heads. At this time, Wang Ke could see clearly that they were cultivators stepping on flying swords, six people in total, wearing the same attire, and should be from the same power.

  Those few people flew over the top of Wang Ke and others, without any intention of stopping, not even glancing at them with their eyes, and went straight into Qianfeng Ridge.

  Watching several cultivators fly over his head, Wang Ke's eyes showed a yearning expression. He had also embarked on the path of immortality now, but when could he ride a sword and fly like them?

  Tong Yan and the other three also looked up at the flying cultivator, each of their eyes revealing a look of envy, until those few sword lights disappeared into the horizon, only then did they withdraw their gaze.

  "Alas, I may never be able to wield a sword and fly like them for the rest of my life." Tong Yan's expression turned somewhat melancholic as she said this.

  "Never mind, after all we are just loose cultivators without a backing. But it's not like there's no hope at all, maybe we'll still have the chance to experience what it's like to fly with our swords." Fang Qing comforted from the side, but his face didn't look good either.

  "Tong Yan, you're just one step away from reaching their level, don't be discouraged, there's still a chance." Shi Shan also began to comfort her.

  To fly with a sword, one must first enter the late stage of Nasal Qi. Tong Yan is currently in the middle stage of Nasal Qi, and although it's just one step away, it's very difficult to break through.

  "Alright, let's not talk about that for now. Inside the Thousand Peaks Ridge is a volcanic cluster, and the fire poison is severe. I have some Fire-Repellent Pills here; each of you take one and put it on your body to prevent getting poisoned by the fire later." Tong Yan composed herself, stretching out her right hand and spreading it open in front of everyone.

  "Fire Avoidance Dan" Wang Ke had never heard of this name before, he leaned in to take a closer look and saw that on Tong Yan's palm were four red beads the size of peanuts, with a faint red glow flickering on their surface.

  "Thank you, Tong Dao friend." Fang Qing took one and carefully put it in his pocket, Shi Shan and Zhou Yuan also picked one up and thanked him repeatedly. Finally, Wang Ke picked up the last one and put it in his inner pocket.

  "Alright, let's go in too!" Tong Yan jumped down from the rock and opened up her body technique, rushing into Qian Feng Ridge. Behind her, Wang Ke and the other three closely followed.

  Crossing over the mountain peaks, the sulfur smell in the air grew thicker, the temperature around them soared, and the ground was covered with dark rocks. The rocks were filled with cracks, and a faint red mist floated in the air. Wang Ke learned from Fang Qing that these were fire poisons, but with the Fire-Resistant Pellet on him, those fire poisons couldn't get close to his body.

  "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..." Another burst of air-piercing sounds came from above. Wang Ke looked up and took a glance, the cultivator stepping on sword light had already disappeared into the distance in the blink of an eye. Wang Ke didn't know if this was the tenth or hundredth wave of sword light he had seen, perhaps it was even more than that. After entering the mountain range, he saw many more cultivators.

  Following Tóng Yàn to climb up a black lone peak, the five of them stopped and looked ahead. "The place where the treasure is born is just in front of you, look!" Tóng Yàn pointed forward with her hand.

  Wang Ke lifted his head and looked in the direction that Tong Yan was pointing, behind the endless mountains, under the dark clouds of the sky, a red light floated in mid-air like a small sun.

  "What's that thing? Is the treasure inside that red light ball?" Shíshān stared with wide eyes at the distant red light ball.

  "En, it's inside that red light ball." Tong Yan nodded slightly and replied lightly, her eyes fixed on the red light ball, a hint of expectation in her beautiful eyes.

  Fang Qing, who was standing beside him, furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before speaking: "I had heard that there was a treasure in Qianfeng Ridge earlier, at first I thought it was underground, but I didn't expect it to be like this."

  "Alright, let's go first, Xiao Ke. Later on, try to stay close to us and don't get lost. There are many people ahead and their identities are mixed. You've just entered the Cultivation Realm, so be careful." Before they left, Tong Yan reminded Wang Ke once more.

  "Uh, I remember, thank you Sister Tong." Wang Ke nodded and came here, following only the four of Tong Yan. He had no interest in that treasure at all, knowing his own strength was weak, even if he got the treasure, it would probably be a disaster rather than a blessing.

  The five of them unfolded their body techniques and rushed down the mountain peak, dashing straight towards the direction of the light ball. The sound of breaking through the air grew louder and more frequent, and occasionally one or two ordinary cultivators could be seen on the road, also advancing with their own body techniques. However, basically everyone was doing their own thing and didn't interact much.

  Five people rushed forward, crossing a narrow and long mountain valley, to arrive at a vast expanse of crimson plain. The enormous crimson orb hovered above the surface of a massive lava lake in front of them. The lava lake churned with rolling waves of molten rock, sending out billows of flame that spread outward from the lake. However, even the positions closest to the lava lake had already been occupied by monks who arrived earlier.

  "These, all of these are cultivators!!" Wang Ke was shocked by the scene in front of him. At this moment, on the plain in front of him, there were cultivators gathering everywhere, some in pairs, some in groups of three or four, and at most a dozen people sitting together. On the entire scarlet plain, Wang Ke roughly estimated that there were probably several thousand people.

  "Look, we're late, all the good spots have been taken by others, let's retreat a bit." Tong Yan looked around and found that there were only some empty spaces on the periphery. So she led Wang Ke and the other three to the outer edge of the plain, where they found a relatively quiet spot.

  Tong Yanqian raised her hand, and a clean, unknown white beast skin appeared and floated to the ground. The five of them then sat down cross-legged on the beast skin.

  After sitting down, Shi Shan, Fang Qing and Zhou Yuan all closed their eyes directly to meditate, while Wang Ke curiously looked around at the surroundings. It was his first time seeing so many cultivators, and the excitement in Wang Ke's heart couldn't be calmed.

  The scarlet plain was surrounded by a circle of high mountains, and at this time, many monks had already occupied these high mountains. Some even took out flying devices to float in the air, and there were hundreds of monks floating in the air waiting. The cultivation of these people is obviously much deeper than that of the plain on the ground.

  "Tong sister, how can there be so many cultivators? Did all the cultivators from the entire Xianjin continent come?" Looking at the countless cultivators under the treasure, Wang Ke clicked his tongue in amazement, with an incredulous expression. Over the past few days, he was no longer completely ignorant and had learned that the continent he was on was called Xianjin Continent, which had been completely isolated from the outside world a long time ago.

  "The cultivators of the Xiuzhen realm are not few, how can they all come? Don't look at the crowd here, the real big powers have not appeared yet. This treasure trove appeared out of thin air ten years ago, it is said to be a treasure left behind by the immortal realm, no cultivator would not be moved." Tong Yan looked at the huge fireball in the sky and said calmly.

  Just as Tong Yan's words fell, a cyan light cloud surged from afar in the sky, and from that light cloud, waves of powerful spiritual power fluctuations were emitted, attracting the attention of many people here.

  "The people of Qingmu have arrived." Tong Yan's beautiful eyes looked over, then softly said. Wang Ke's eyes also gathered on that piece of light cloud, originally it was a group of cultivators riding on the Light Cloud Chariot, wearing green long robes, numerous in number, together they looked like a piece of green light cloud.

  Those monks were extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, they had already arrived above the plain and charged directly towards the position close to the light sphere. They all wore uniform long robes, carried long swords on their backs, and had a hint of arrogance on their faces. The leader was an old man with a black face, full of wrinkles, looking like he was about to die, slightly hunched over, without any weapons on his body but emitting an extremely sharp aura.

  This group of people marched forward, and the monks who blocked their way in mid-air all retreated to make way for them. Even the monk closest to the light sphere had no choice but to set up a teleportation array and retreat, leaving behind a large empty space.

  All he saw was the old man stretching out his hand and beckoning, a piece of blue canvas flashing into existence, followed by a flash of light, the canvas spinning around in mid-air, unfolding into a huge flying carpet in an instant.

  The old man then retracted the terrifying aura emanating from his body, waved his right hand, and flew onto the flying carpet, sitting cross-legged. The hundreds of cultivators behind him didn't say a word, all getting on the flying carpet and sitting down in an orderly manner.

  "Xiao Ke, those are all cultivators of the Qingmu Sect. The leader is the Deputy Sect Master of the Qingmu Sect, Kuroki Shinjin, a great expert in the middle stage of Jindan."

  "Is Qingmu Cong very powerful?" Seeing Tong Yan's envious and yearning gaze, Wang Ke asked.

  "It's not just powerful, our Xianjin Continent has many sects, among which the four major sects are far more powerful than others. The Qingmu Sect, Tianyun Sect, Xuemeng Sect, and Heimo Sect, among them, the Qingmu Sect is the strongest. The sect master, Qingmu Zhenren, is already a top-notch expert in the late Golden Dan period, and is the number one cultivator on the Xianjin Continent. I heard that he may soon enter the Golden Dan Great Perfection realm." Tong Yan said with a face full of admiration.

  "The First Disciple, sounds really amazing!" Wang Ke's eyes sparkled with admiration, and he couldn't help but want to meet this First Disciple.

  "You see, those monks sitting in the back may not be very old, but their cultivation is profound and far surpasses ours as scattered cultivators. This is the benefit of joining a large sect to cultivate." Tong Yan said with some envy, pointing her hand towards the monks in the back.

  "Alas, it's a pity that entering the Qingmu Sect is too difficult. They usually don't accept people with poor innate abilities, unless they have family connections. People like us with ordinary talents and no connections can't get in at all." Tong Yan sighed, her expression somewhat gloomy.

  "Haha, Kuroki old ghost, didn't expect you to arrive so early! Didn't that old guy Aoki come?" Suddenly a loud voice boomed in the plain, spreading like thunder all around.

  "Hey, it's been a while since I've seen you, Flying Swan Old Ghost. Your voice is still as loud as ever. Didn't Cloudy Fairy come with you?" Kuroki Makoto slowly opened his eyes, which were filled with wrinkles, and turned his head to look in one direction. His eyes gleamed with a blue light, and his voice spread out like waves, layer by layer, in all directions.

  In the distance, a white light rushed over, and in the white light, there was a peculiarly shaped flying car. The flying car was nearly thirty feet long, flashing with arrays of spiritual lights, and on it sat dozens of cultivators wearing white robes. At the very front of the flying car stood a handsome middle-aged man with flowing hair, looking carefree and unrestrained. The flying car stopped not far from the Qingmu Sect's camp, and the scattered cultivators in the air made way to avoid it.

  "What, the Tianyun Sect only sent this many people?" Kuroki Makoto's gaze swept across the flying cars before he furrowed his brow and asked.

  "Heh heh, we're not here to fight, just to test our luck. Why haven't the people from Blood Moon Sect and Black Magic Sect arrived yet?" The middle-aged man asked calmly as his gaze swept around.

  "It's not here yet, I don't know what these two are up to, we need to be careful, they might be plotting something behind our backs," said Kuroki Makoto with a flickering gaze.

  "Look at Xiao Ke, those are the people from Tianyun Sect. The one called Fei Hong Zhenren is also a great master in the middle of the Golden Elixir stage, and his identity is the Deputy Sect Master of Tianyun Sect."

  Wang Ke listened to Tong Yan's introduction while focusing his gaze on the middle-aged man, nodding silently and committing Tong Yan's words to memory.

  In the following time, many more monks arrived. These later-arriving monks were mostly in groups, unlike the scattered individual cultivators who came earlier. In a short period of time, the number of monks in this place doubled, with over ten thousand.

  But the Blood Moon Sect and the Black Magic Sect among the middle-aged population have never appeared, and Wang Ke already knew that the two major sects were demonic cultivation sects, with extraordinary strength.