Chapter 8: Farewell to an Old Friend

In any society, resources ultimately gather in the hands of a few. The only difference lies in who those few are, and how large a share they command.

In a world of cultivation, where resources reign supreme, this is even more true.

Among the Eight Great Clans of the Wasteland, none did not dream of dominating the land, monopolizing resources to the fullest, and thereby making their clan ever stronger.

The reason the surface had remained calm for so many years was only mutual restraint and mutual suspicion; no one possessed the strength to stand alone against the other seven.

Now the Zheng Clan had four Foundation Establishment cultivators within one house, making it the strongest by far. Yet sustaining four such cultivators already placed a tremendous burden on the clan’s own resources, so it could only vent that pressure outward.

Before Zheng Tianxiang’s potential for Core Formation was shattered, Li Ji’an had imagined that the first move might come from the weakest clan, which would choose to submit to the Zheng Clan in hopes of riding its rising power.

However, Li Ji’an had not foreseen the calamity that befell Zheng Tianxiang.

He had reason to believe this was most likely the work of the other seven great clans.

And it must have been done by those clans standing highest among them, the ones that would never willingly acknowledge the Zheng Clan as their master.

Even if Yan Zongsheng had not been the instigator, he would surely have been an active participant.

“They’re all the same,” Li Ji’an thought with a faint shake of his head.

In his previous life, while watching coldly from the side as the Prince of Yun Manor and the emperor schemed against one another in the Celestial Gift Dynasty, each fighting for power and status, he had found it all dull and petty.

Back then, he had thought only of the immortal airs of the Immortal Realm, pure and untouched by mortal dust.

In the end, it was all the same.

For that very reason, he had never held much hope that in this life he would truly enter the Azure Cloud Sect.

Across the entire Azure Cloud Prefecture, the Azure Cloud Sect monopolized vast resources.

Where there were resources, there would be countless gifted talents drawn in.

His spiritual root, close to upper-grade, made him a standout in the Wasteland, but in the eyes of the Azure Cloud Sect, it was only just good enough to cross the threshold.

His greatest hope lay instead in his temperament and comprehension.

Four months later, as he looked down from afar upon a towering city shrouded in golden light, Li Ji’an still felt a wave of shock, even though Zhao Shuyao had described it to him many times in his former life.

Its scale was ten times that of the Wasteland market town.

The runes flickering across the city-protecting formation exuded a pressure no weaker than Yan Qingwan’s late Foundation Establishment aura.

According to Zhao Shuyao’s earlier explanation, this immortal city was built in the downstream spiritual vein region of the Azure Cloud Sect’s core third-rank mid-grade vein. Though it lay several hundred li from the sect itself, and though the spiritual veins here were relatively dispersed, the most concentrated area barely approached quasi-third-rank. Yet because the site was too small to be developed into anything else, it had been transformed into the largest commercial city in Azure Cloud Prefecture, and one of the Azure Cloud Sect’s pillars of revenue.

“Fan’er, let us rest here in the immortal city for now. The Azure Cloud Sect’s annual assessment trial is still two months away, and you can take this chance to experience a true immortal city in advance,” Yan Qingwan said as she brought the flying boat down outside the city.

“Everything is at Aunt’s discretion,” Li Ji’an said readily. He had lived in the cultivation world for forty-six years, yet still did not truly understand it. He needed greater knowledge and a wider horizon; these were the foundations of everything he hoped to build in the future.

Yan Qingwan nodded, then restrained her aura to the level of a late Qi Refining cultivator. After that, she put on a veiled conical hat to hide her face, and led Li Ji’an into the city.

Watching her smooth, practiced movements, Li Ji’an nodded to himself. As expected of someone taught within a clan academy.

Unlike the joint market towns, Golden Radiance Immortal City did not charge an entrance fee. It only required one to register one’s name and imprint one’s spiritual aura.

The outer city was mainly for trade and exchange, while the inner city was chiefly for Dao grounds and cave mansions.

Yan Qingwan led Li Ji’an to a large inn in the outer city. It stretched over a hundred zhang in every direction and occupied more than a hundred mu of land.

Aside from the magnificent six-story guest rooms built of stone, even the main hall was lavish beyond compare and could seat over a hundred people at once.

Within, songs and dances were in full swing, with fragrant wine floating along carved streams.

“Listen more, look more, speak less, do less,” Yan Qingwan said as she found a corner seat and sat down. Along the way she continued to instruct him, teaching him the matters and taboos one should observe when out in the world.

Li Ji’an nodded repeatedly, though his mind was already lost in the hall’s noisy bustle.

“It was terrible, utterly terrible. Who could have guessed it would turn out to be another uncanny secret realm? That Foundation Establishment elder of the Wang Clan had no power to resist at all before that ‘thing.’ No one knows whether it was a great being at the True Person level in life, or whether a divine remnant fused with uncanny laws.”

“The Sword Sect of Dao Origin Prefecture is said to be on the verge of producing a peerless genius. A heavenly spiritual root is the bare minimum; some even suspect it may be an innate metal spirit body.”

“The Endless Secret Realm of Heaven Origin Prefecture is about to open again in another twenty years. Such a pity. A secret realm like that, clearly created by an ancient sect as a welfare trial for its disciples and a test of one’s fortune, can be entered only once in a lifetime, and it will even erase your memories. Otherwise, with just a few people’s experiences, one could know exactly where the greatest opportunities lie—core-forming treasures, no less.”

...

In her previous life, the Yan Clan’s gazette had mostly contained news from Azure Cloud Prefecture, and after the pill shop reopened she had never again had the chance to read it.

But this hall was like a natural forum, gathering all manner of strange and extraordinary news from across the world and rapidly enriching Li Ji’an’s store of knowledge.

“Pardon me, could you be the Senior Yan from the Wasteland?” Just as Li Ji’an was listening in fascination, three figures arrived at their table, the one in front speaking first.

Li Ji’an suddenly looked up.

At the familiar face, now even more aged, of Zhao Shuyao, he felt a moment of dazed astonishment.

And the instant he raised his head, Zhao Shuyao’s gaze fell upon his face as well.

The same surprise flashed in her eyes.

“So alike. He looks truly so alike.”

Li Ji’an had already met Zhao Shuyao when he was eight in his previous life, so of course he remembered what he had once looked like.

Fortunately, after years of spiritual nourishment in this life, his appearance and build had already changed quite a bit from what they had been at the same age in his former life.

More importantly, Zhao Shuyao had not cultivated spiritual power; her soul was weak, and her memory was not what it once had been.

“Are you... Fan’er?” Zhao Shuyao could not help asking.

Li Ji’an did not answer at once. Instead, he looked toward Yan Qingwan.

“Who are you, and what is your purpose?” Yan Qingwan’s voice was gentle, yet carried a note of interrogation.

Zhao Shuyao slowly clasped her hands. “Please forgive my rudeness, Senior Yan. I was suddenly taken aback upon meeting the descendant of an old acquaintance. This junior is Zhao Shuyao, an old friend of Li Chang’an.”

“You are Zhao Shuyao?” Yan Qingwan said, slowly lifting her head and staring through the veil at Zhao Shuyao.

Back when she returned to the clan after forming her foundation and learned that Li Ji’an had left the clan, she had once gone to question Zhang Tiezhu, and from him she had learned of Zhao Shuyao’s existence.

At first, she had even suspected that the person Li Ji’an had once spoken of as his beloved might have been Zhao Shuyao. She had considered coming here to find Li Ji’an, but after Zhang Tiezhu told her that he had not come to look for Zhao Shuyao, she let the matter drop.

Still, in her heart there had always been a thought: she wanted to see just what sort of extraordinary woman Zhao Shuyao really was.

Now that she saw her, Yan Qingwan could only sigh inwardly.

She slowly removed her conical hat, revealing her true face.

When Zhao Shuyao’s eyes fell upon Yan Qingwan’s features, she instantly felt a surge of relief.

Too beautiful.

In the more than forty years she had spent in Golden Radiance Immortal City, she had seen countless beauties, yet Yan Qingwan would still rank among the top ten.

“Miss Zhao, please. And you two fellow Daoists as well,” Yan Qingwan said after regaining her composure. Noting that the two people behind Zhao Shuyao were both Foundation Establishment cultivators, she did not dare be presumptuous and invited them to sit.

Tong Yaoyao stepped forward with deliberate politeness, helping Zhao Shuyao sit beside Li Ji’an before she herself greeted Yan Qingwan with a clasped-fist salute. “Greetings, fellow Daoist. We are the representatives of the Nine Tripods Trading Company here in this place: Tong Yaoyao and Shi Bo.”

“We are honored to meet you, Fellow Daoist Tong, Fellow Daoist Shi,” Yan Qingwan replied with perfect courtesy, while inwardly also considering whether to cultivate a relationship with Tong Yaoyao.

Among the Eight Great Clans of the Wasteland, their greatest weakness was the lack of background and deep foundation; everything they had was won through the blood and lives of their forebears.

Because of this, their commerce had remained confined to the Wasteland region.

The Nine Tripods Trading Company, however, conducted trade across the world, and its strength was not to be underestimated. If a partnership could be established, the Yan Clan’s gains would be greatly increased.

Better still, if a strategic alliance could be forged, the Yan Clan’s standing among the Eight Great Clans of the Wasteland would rise substantially.

Over the years, not only their Yan Clan, but nearly every family in the Wasteland had been actively seeking patrons and backers.

Just as the Zheng Clan had once gone so far as to publicly break an engagement in order to build ties with the Array Dao Liu Clan.

“Fan’er, I am... I am your Aunt Yao. How are your parents?” While Yan Qingwan was exchanging courtesies with Tong Yaoyao, Zhao Shuyao studied Li Ji’an’s slightly youthful face in detail, as though she had returned to the first time she met Li Chang’an more than sixty years ago in the Immortal-Seeking Palace of the Celestial Gift Dynasty. Her voice trembled faintly.