Tempered Immortal

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“Disband?” Lin Xuan was shocked, “You can avoid the catastrophe this way? Will that Core Formation senior stay his hand?”

“Of course,” Li Hai was surprised and a little puzzled, “Could it be that you haven’t heard about the commandment of the cultivation world?”

“Commandment?” Lin Xuan shook his head, showing an embarrassed expression, and said, “I don’t like to read books, and has never heard the seniors mention it. Could junior brothers please teach me?”

Of course, that was a lie. Lin Xuan often went to the library, but it was always for research, which was books that were useful to cultivation. But about this commandment of the cultivation world, this was his first time hearing it.

Lin Xuan was good at playing the fool; Li Hai basically did not doubt him. He also really liked to talk and it was very rare for an advanced senior to ask him for advice. So playing right into Lin Xuan’s hands, he started explaining again.

The cruelness of the cultivation world was well known. In the few years that Lin Xuan has been in the valley, although he had no experience of the outside world, he kept his ears on the ground and his eyes peeled and heard a lot. There were still laws within the sect, but there were not that many rules out in the Cultivation World. Whoever has the bigger fist would be the boss, falsehood would become the truth, everything would be resolved by force.

Killing over disagreements or killing strangers for their treasures were things that happened every day. Strictly speaking, good and evil do not exist, cultivators all relied on their strength, acting on their own whims.

But nothing was absolute, and even though acts of slaughtering happened each day, there was still a limit, and this was the commandment that Li Hai was talking about.

The commandment was thus: Between sects, or in disputes between sects and rogue cultivators, no matter what kind of hatred or feud, if one side concedes defeat, then they must, as a rogue cultivator, cripple their own cultivation, or as a sect, cripple every member’s cultivation and also disband.

As long as they did this, it doesn’t matter what kind of hatred the other party had, they were not allowed to make things difficult or seek revenge on them again. Otherwise, they would become the public enemy of the entire cultivation world and hunted down until their souls were scattered.

This was the iron rule, in tens of thousands of years, no cultivator had dared to violate it.

To mortals, life and death were a big matter, but to cultivators, to lose their strength and become mortal was the greatest pain they could suffer. This was a more difficult choice than death. And since the crippling of their cultivation was irreversible, they would have no hope in practicing cultivation in the future. The party that let them off would also not have to worry about trouble or revenge.

This commandment has been upheld for tens of thousands of years. Who exactly it was that laid down this commandment, or why they laid it down, was not clear, but no one has ever disobeyed it. In fact, to ninety-nine percent of the cultivators and sects, being superior “immortals”, they would not want to go back to being mortals. It was better to have an honorable death than to live a disgraceful life, and those that would be willing to cripple their own cultivation could be counted by the fingers of one hand.

So, although the Soaring Cloud Sect was only a fourth or fifth-rate sect, after this news was spread, it still caused a sensation. Especially to the cultivators in a couple of thousands of kilometers of the surrounding area, they all acted without delay, getting ready to participate in the treasures trade fair.

“Treasures trade fair?” Lin Xuan was momentarily stunned. Are these the mid-grade techniques for the Foundation Establishment Stage that they just mentioned? Although Lin Xuan was excited and wanted to learn more about it, on his face, he did not display any expression and casually asked, “What is this treasures trade fair?”

Although they have only known each other for a short while, Lin Xuan had already seen through Li Hai’s character. This guy was one of those that could not keep anything to himself, and as long as one casually brought a point, then he would continue to talk about that point.

Unsurprisingly, the more Li Hai talked, the more excited he got. The one called Chen Feng tried many times but could not even get a word in edgewise. Seeing these two fighting to talk over each other trying to be the one to give the information, Lin Xuan secretly smiled and listened unperturbed.

The treasures trade fair, to put it bluntly, was very simple. Since the Soaring Cloud Sect was disbanding, and all the members were crippling their cultivations to become mortals, then all the techniques, spirit stones, spirit tools, talismans, and other important treasures for cultivators, were useless to them and would all be sold off.

Only this was different from normal transactions between cultivators, which used Spirit Stones as currency because this kind of special trade fair only accepted pills. There was only one reason, Spirit Stones were useless to mortals, but pills were different. The various pills of cultivators, not only could help with raising one’s cultivation, but if mortals consumed them, they could also strengthen their bodies, eliminate sickness, and prolong their lives.

Since the members of the Soaring Cloud Sect feared death and were willing to become mortals, they, of course, wanted to live a long and happy life without disease or disasters. So they wanted to exchange all the treasure that would be useless to them when they became mortal for pills. This way, not only could they enjoy the benefits over their lifetime, but they could also pass it onto future generations and ensure that their family could prosper.

There was no need to worry about bringing disaster onto themselves by having large amounts of pills and no cultivation because they would be protected by a commandment. It was normal for cultivators to kill and steal treasures as they pleased, but they cannot do so to people who crippled their own cultivation, or else they would also become a public enemy and be hunted down.

Although the Soaring Cloud Sect was weak, they still had a history of over a thousand years. They would still have some accumulated resources, techniques, Spirit Stones, talismans, various materials, and even valuable Spirit Tools.

It was said that in some areas, where there were many cultivators and sects, there were cities whose sole purpose was for the exchange of cultivation resources and treasures. But the Whirlwind Cloud Valley was situated in the Yan prefecture of Zhao Country, and in the thousands of kilometers of the surrounding area, there were only a handful of small sects. The number of rogue cultivators was also tiny. Therefore, there were no trade cities. This disbanding of the Soaring Cloud Sect and the treasures trade fair immediately attracted the nearby cultivators. It gave everyone an opportunity to not only browse the treasures of the Soaring Cloud sect but also exchange for things they needed. So naturally, it was very lively.

After gathering clear information about this, Lin Xuan was very glad. This was definitely “finding something by chance after traveling far and wide in search of it”. In this kind of trade fair, he could definitely find the Spiritual Control Art. “Excuse me, junior brother, when is this trade fair and where will it be held?”

“What? Does senior brother want to go purchase treasures?”

Li Hai looked at Lin Xuan curiously. Although the junior brother Zhao’s cultivation was extraordinary, that was only relative to his age. A Spirit Condensation stage cultivator should not have anything that could be exchanged.

“Haha, of course not,” Lin Xuan would not stupidly expose his intent, “How could this lowly one have anything to trade? I can only look on enviously. I am just curious and want to find out more, that’s all.”

This remark was very reasonable and combined with Lin Xuan’s perfect lying face, caused Li Hai and Chen Feng to have zero doubts. And once again, they gave the answers to Lin Xuan’s questions.

Translated by: James1kd2

Edited by: UnderTheMoon