A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality - Chapter 796
Land of Devilfall
The Heavenly South’s State of Dongyu was one of the few countries in the Heavenly South’s cultivation world that didn’t belong to the four great powers.
This wasn’t because the country was too small and lacked resources and the great powers didn’t take a fancy to it.
On the contrary, regardless of the size of the country or the abundance of cultivation resources, it was ranked in the top ten in the Heavenly South Region.
The reason why there were no powers in control of this country was entirely due to the geographical location of the State of Dongyu.
Apart from being too far away from the Nine Nations Union and having no connections, this country was actually close to the countries of the other three great powers at the same time.
As for the cultivation sects in this country, due to certain reasons in history, there were many mixed sects. There were sects of the Righteous and Devilish Dao, as well as small sects that were independent. Most importantly, there were no sects in the State of Dongyu that could suppress the other sects and become a decisive force. They were unable to represent the State of Dongyu and decide which power to side with.
As a result, the three great powers didn’t wish to give up on this country, and they naturally fought over it in secret. However, nothing came of it. In the end, they could only vaguely agree that none of the three great powers would interfere in this country’s affairs, allowing the State of Dongyu to become a neutral country.
Of course, many of the native sects of the State of Dongyu had already joined the Righteous and Devilish Dao Sects or the Heavenly Dao Alliance, thereby obtaining the secret support of the three great powers. This allowed the State of Dongyu to barely maintain a balance for over a hundred years, causing many cultivators to view it as a neutral land and settle down there. For a time, the country was extremely prosperous.
In Chang Province in the north of the State of Dongyu, there was a basin that took up almost two-thirds of Chang Province. Most of the basin was covered by dense forests. At the center of the basin was a huge mountain range that stretched for millions of kilometers. It was known as the Ten Thousand Ridges Mountain Range by the locals.
No one had truly investigated whether or not this mountain range truly had over 10,000 ridges. However, with the coverage of this mountain range, there was naturally an abundance of spirit beasts and rare medicines. However, apart from a specific time every few decades, even cultivators didn’t dare to rashly come here to pick medicines or capture spirit beasts.
The reason for this was because the Ten Thousand Ridges Mountain Range had another ferocious name that everyone in the cultivation world of the Heavenly South Region knew: the Land of Devilfall.
In a secret location in the mountain range, there was a secret valley known as Devilfall Valley in the Heavenly South Region.
This secret valley had existed since the primordial era. For a long time, countless powerful cultivators had entered the valley to search for treasures. However, after tens of thousands of years, it was still tightly covered by a mysterious bloody veil, causing people to stop in their tracks.
Of course, Devilfall Valley’s infamous reputation alone wasn’t enough to stop cultivators from mining the mountain. However, perhaps due to the influence of Devilfall Valley, the Ten Thousand Ridges Mountain Range had been sealed by a multicolored miasma for many years.
Not only was the miasma so poisonous that it killed anyone it touched, but it was also as dense as a restriction. It was nearly impossible to see one’s own hand in front of one’s face, and one would lose their sense of direction upon entering the miasma.
In such an environment, even if a cultivator were to remain unscathed from the miasma, they wouldn’t be able to harvest spirit medicines or capture spirit beasts. They would only be able to look at the treasure mountain with envy or explore a small area in the outermost area where the miasma was thin.
However, every fifty years or so, the miasma in this mountain range would dissipate. At the same time, Devilfall Valley had the fewest spatial tears and was at its most stable period. During this period of time, treasure hunters from all over the Heavenly South would make use of this short period of time to enter the mountain and search for treasures.
Of course, the mountain was so vast that even if there were many spiritual medicines and spirit beasts, only a small portion of cultivators would be able to reap the benefits. Even so, thousands of cultivators of all grades would still gather here every time.
In addition, there were a few merchants in the vicinity of the mountain that were backed by their clans. In an extremely short period of time, they would form several markets of different sizes to purchase medicines and spirit beasts from cultivators who had gained something. This would allow them to flourish for a period of time.
Over the past year, the miasma in the Ten Thousand Ridges Mountain Range had begun to thin. There were only a few months left before the miasma completely dissipated.
Suddenly, a large number of cultivators surged into the Chang Province, far greater in number than in the past. Moreover, most of them were foreign cultivators, and high-grade cultivators appeared even more frequently.
This greatly alarmed the local cultivation sects and clans. They hastily restricted their disciples from leaving the sect and sent people to investigate the reason.
After learning the result, the local cultivation factions were dumbfounded.
…
On a nameless mountain at the border of Chang Province, a Core Formation cultivator and a woman were standing side by side at the summit.
The man wore a long blue robe and appeared to be in his thirties. He was handsome and refined, while the woman wore a palace dress. Although her figure was extremely voluptuous, her appearance was quite ordinary.
The two of them appeared to be calm, but from time to time, they would raise their heads to look around with a trace of anxiety in their eyes, revealing their true emotions.
A short moment later, silver light flashed in the distance, following which a streak of silver light flew toward the small mountain.
When they saw this, the man and woman, who appeared to be husband and wife, were filled with joy.
When the silver streak of light arrived above the small mountain, it circled around to reveal a scholarly man in embroidered robes who appeared to be in his forties.
When the woman saw the large man, she sweetly smiled and asked, “Big Brother, you’ve finally arrived. How was it? Did it go smoothly? Did you obtain the token to enter the valley?”
The scholar chuckled and raised his hand, shooting two streaks of azure light at the male and female cultivators.
The man and woman hurriedly caught them. They were two bronze command medallions. On one side were the words “Devilfall” in red, and on the other side was a golden word “Token” that emitted wisps of spiritual Qi.
The female cultivator wore an excited expression, while the male cultivator frowned and wore a pensive expression.
“That’s great! With this Devilfall Medallion, we’ll be able to enter the valley and search for treasures. If we can obtain some ancient spirit medicines, the three of us might have a chance to condense our Nascent Souls!” the female cultivator couldn’t help but say with delight.
The blue-clothed male cultivator at the woman’s side sighed and said, “They actually dare to sell such a small command medallion for 30,000 spirit stones.”
The three command medallions cost as much as 100,000 spirit stones, nearly emptying all of the savings that the three of them had accumulated over the past several hundred years. This naturally caused the blue-clothed male cultivator to feel a bit of heartache.
The scholar helplessly said, “Second Brother, there is no need to lament. If it weren’t for the fact that I was sworn friends with that person and that their sect lacked manpower, they wouldn’t have given up on this opportunity to enter the valley. Even if it were 100,000 spirit stones for a command medallion, there would’ve been many people fighting for it outside. Furthermore, the Ghost Spirit Sect originally wanted to monopolize the treasures of Devilfall Valley, but under the pressure of other sects, they had no choice but to allow outsiders to enter the valley and search for treasures. Otherwise, even if you wanted to use 100,000 spirit stones to exchange for a chance to enter the valley, the Ghost Spirit Sect wouldn’t have agreed.”
When the blue-clothed cultivator heard this, he couldn’t say anything to refute him. However, he looked at the command medallion in his hand and asked with worry.
“However, is the Ghost Spirit Sect’s method of entering the valley really reliable? I heard that there are many spatial tears at the entrance of the valley. If you’re not careful, you can die without a corpse. Furthermore, the Ghost Spirit Sect’s elder actually came out of the valley alive in the past. Big Brother, do you think this is true?”
“Unless the Ghost Spirit Sect wishes to make an enemy out of the entire cultivation world of the Heavenly South Region, there will be no problems with this matter. Besides, haven’t we all heard that the Ghost Spirit Sect’s elder only managed to escape with his Nascent Soul, and his body was also buried in Devilfall Valley? This is quite reasonable,” the scholar replied without any hesitation.
When the blue-clothed man heard the scholar’s explanation, he hesitantly said, “Even if we can enter the valley, Devilfall Valley is extremely dangerous. I don’t know whether it was right or wrong for us to buy the tokens.”
“Hmph! With our aptitudes, our cultivation bases are already at the very pinnacle. If we don’t encounter any opportunities, we’ll all be reduced to a pile of bones in another 200 years, so we’ll naturally have to take the risk. Besides, I heard that the spatial tears on the outskirts of Devilfall Valley are far less dangerous than the depths of the inner valley. If we only stay at the outskirts of the valley to search for treasures and be careful, there shouldn’t be any problems,” the woman said indifferently.
“I heard that the Ghost Spirit Sect has released several hundred Devilfall Medallions in one go, and most of them have fallen into the hands of various sects. I even heard that the Moulan spell warriors will be participating as well. In other words, there will be several hundred cultivators who will be able to enter the valley with the Ghost Spirit Sect to search for treasures. With so many people going together, what are we afraid of? At most, we’ll immediately turn back if it’s truly dangerous. However, if we miss this opportunity, we’ll regret it for the rest of our lives,” the scholar said indifferently. The female cultivator beside him also nodded repeatedly as if she deeply agreed.
The blue-clothed man bitterly smiled and didn’t say anything else. “In that case, I will follow you into the valley.”
…
The same situation was happening all over Chang Province.
Half a year ago, there was a rumor that the Ghost Spirit Sect had actually obtained the method to enter Devilfall Valley. They also said that the Ghost Spirit Sect planned to hide it from other sects and monopolize the treasures in the valley.
As soon as this news spread, it immediately shook the entire cultivation world.
Because of the battle with the Moulan people, the various large sects originally wanted to recuperate. They immediately could not sit still any longer after hearing the news. They all sent people to the Ghost Spirit Sect to inquire about this matter. Even the other six Devil Dao sects also sent envoys to verify the authenticity of this matter.
The upper echelons of the Ghost Spirit Sect were naturally enraged by this, but under such great pressure, they could only bite the bullet and admit it. After all, as long as someone investigated this matter, they would be able to find some clues to the truth.
As a result, the other sects naturally requested to share the method of entering the valley. This time, the Ghost Spirit Sect was unwilling to agree no matter what.
In the end, they only reached a compromise and were willing to provide a few entry tokens to the various sects. As long as the outsiders held the tokens, when the spatial rifts in Devilfall Valley stabilized, the various sects could choose to send some people into the valley with the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators. However, they naturally had to pay some spirit stones as the ticket.
Of course, in order to quell the dissatisfaction of the vagrant cultivators, they also specially released over a hundred pieces to the vagrant cultivators and small sects.
Now that the time was approaching, Chang Province was naturally bustling with activity. Many cultivators from other countries had appeared near the Ten Thousand Ridges Mountain Range, causing the local cultivators who originally wanted to enter the mountains to become exceptionally cautious and tuck their tails between their legs.