Cultivation starts from devouring the Dao fruits

The cultivation level of cultivators is the foundation of everything, and yet, besides their cultivation level, the strength of cultivators also depends on magical treasures, spirit beasts, divine skills, and so on.

Previously, the spells Zhao Yu had mastered were some basic spells. With his cultivation level at the Late Golden Core Stage, he could easily defeat cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage, but against Golden Core cultivators, his spells would not be very effective.

In previous encounters with enemies, Zhao Yu would release the Red Emperor, Nine Extremes Corpse Emperor, and White Ghost Emperor to act as his main force, and he himself lacked sufficiently powerful offensive divine skills.

The Mountain Great Handprint was an extremely powerful offensive divine skill that Zhao Yu had mastered, and as Zhao Yu's strength increased, the might of this divine skill would also continue to rise.

"I have reached proficiency in the Mountain Great Handprint. When should I celebrate!"

With this thought in mind, Zhao Yu wanted to fly back to his cave mansion to celebrate with his three beloved wives.

Dang! Dang! Dang!

All of a sudden, a series of urgent bell sounds began to ring throughout Yunluo Immortal City.

"This is the urgent summons for all Golden Core cultivators to gather. Those who hear the bell must attend!"

Zhao Yu's brow furrowed slightly, and he transformed into a streak of escape light, flying toward the main peak of the Immortal City.

When Zhao Yu arrived at a spacious palace, he found that dozens of Golden Core cultivators were already standing inside.

Sitting at the principal seats of the palace were two people, one being Xuan Yun Zhenjun and the other Yunluo Immortal.

Yunluo Immortal spoke in a cold voice, "The Hanlong Empire's four sects of the Demon Path have invaded the Great Qian Empire. Aside from cultivators who are currently breaking through a Great Realm, all other cultivators must prepare for battle and carry out their missions."

Zhao Yu inwardly grumbled, "To erupt into a major war in the Cultivation World at such a time is really troublesome. I have only joined Yunluo Immortal City for three years!!"

Zhao Yu had planned to join Yunluo Immortal City, stay in the city to practice alchemy for a hundred years, use the resources of the city to upgrade either the White Ghost Emperor or the Red Emperor to Fourth Order, and then go in search of the main ingredient for the Infant Solidifying Pill, the True Cloud Grass of Creation and Destruction that is many millennia old.

In Yunluo Immortal City, there were only seeds of the Nine Mystical True Flower, but no seeds of the True Cloud Grass of Creation and Destruction. A single seed of the Nine Mystical True Flower required a contribution of twenty million to exchange, which was more difficult to obtain than the Divinity Transformation level techniques of the Mountain Sutra.

That was because almost no one could succeed in cultivating the Divinity Transformation level techniques of the Mountain Sutra; even if exchanged, they could only serve as a reference. However, if one could properly cultivate the Nine Mystical True Flower seeds, there was a real possibility of growing the millennial Nine Mystical True Flower.

The seeds of the True Cloud Grass of Creation and Destruction were not even available in Yunluo Immortal City—of course, it was also possible that Zhao Yu's Silver Elder privileges were insufficient.

Yunluo Immortal said, "This mission will be announced by the Young City Lord!"

A breathtakingly beautiful woman approached, dressed in white masculine attire, tall and slender, her clothing stretched tight by her full chest, her hair tied into a single ponytail, with skin like ice and bones like jade, her black hair cascading down like a waterfall, and her eyes sparkling like stars, looking for all the world like an extraordinarily handsome young man.

This woman in man's clothing was the Young City Lord of Yunluo Immortal City, Yun Jingxuan, and the only offspring of Xuan Yun Zhenjun and Yunluo Immortal.

Yun Jingxuan smiled slightly and said, "Elders, you may proceed to Zhuyun Hall later to receive your missions."

"Yes!"

It was only then that Xuan Yun Zhenjun and Yunluo Immortal, the two Nascent Soul cultivators, stood up and transformed into two streaks of escape light, vanishing from sight.

Yun Jingxuan left directly and entered Zhuyun Hall.

One by one, the Golden Core elders from Yunluo Immortal City went to Zhuyun Hall to receive their assignments.

It wasn't long before Zhao Yu entered Zhuyun Hall.

Yun Jingxuan said, "Elder Zhao, I have both frontline tasks and rear-guard duty tasks here. The frontline task involves going to the frontlines to battle against the cultivators from the four major Demon Sects. The rewards for frontline tasks are generous, and as long as you kill a number of Demon Path Golden Core cultivators, you can be promoted to a Gold-ranked elder.

Rear-guard duty is relatively safe, but you must refine several batches of pills every month! Which do you choose?"

Zhao Yu said, "Zhao is not skilled in magical combat, so rear-guard duty suits Zhao better."

"Then you should go to Yizhi Mountain to station yourself!"

Yun Jingxuan took out a document and handed it to Zhao Yu, who carefully looked it over, then signed his name on it, and transformed into a beam of escape light and departed.

One after another, Golden Core cultivators entered Zhuyun Hall and then left, until only Yun Jingxuan was left.

A faint light flashed, and the Yunluo fairy appeared beside Yun Jingxuan.

Yun Jingxuan bit her silver teeth and complained, "Mother, those foreign Golden Core elders are all so eager to avoid battle, and they simply can't compare with the Golden Core cultivators nurtured by our Immortal City.

That Zhao Yu is clearly a powerful cultivator at the seventh layer of the Golden Elixir stage, but he only wants to hide and station himself in the rear, which is truly infuriating!"

"Jingxuan, you are destined to inherit the Immortal City. Most of those foreign Golden Core cultivators do not possess the loyalty of those nurtured by the city. However, the development and growth of our city cannot be separated from those foreign Golden Core cultivators."

"Without those foreign Golden Core cultivators, our Immortal City would not have so many Miraculous Elixirs, Magical Treasures, and Talismans. Zhao Yu is one of the top three Alchemists in our city. It's a wise move for him to stay back and focus on pill refining. If he were to die in battle, it would be a great loss for our city," Yunluo fairy said with a heartfelt tone.

Yunluo Immortal City was thriving and prospering precisely because it had recruited many foreign Golden Core cultivators, and without them, they simply wouldn't have enough manpower to guard various resource points.

Many of those foreign Golden Core cultivators were Talisman Masters, Artifact Refiners, Array Masters, and Alchemists, who produced various talismans, spiritual artifacts, formations, and pills after joining Yunluo Immortal City, earning countless cultivation resources for the city. Read exclusive chapters at empire

Yun Jingxuan nodded slightly and said, "Daughter understands, just feeling a bit indignant. Otherwise, I wouldn't have assigned him to station at Yizhi Mountain."

The Yunluo fairy said, "Being the lord of the Immortal City is not an easy task! You still need to gain more experience! Zhao Yu is one of the three great Alchemy Grandmasters in Yunluo Immortal City; you should try to win him over. If nothing unexpected happens, he will definitely reach the Golden Core Great Perfection, and even condensing a Nascent Soul is a possibility for him."

Yun Jingxuan said solemnly, "Mother, I understand!"

Inside a cave mansion, several Golden Core cultivators were seated, including Zhao Yu.

A Golden Core cultivator named Jing Tian raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "Brother Yan, what exactly happened? How did the four major Demon Sects of the Hanlong Empire suddenly join forces to attack the Great Qian Empire? What about the Qingling Sword Sect?"

Yan Wuheng, the Store Manager of the Yunluo Commerce Guild, was also a Golden Core cultivator from Yunluo Immortal City, and naturally had access to information far beyond the other Golden Core cultivators.

Yan Wuheng said with a solemn face, "The Sword Master of Qingling Sword Sect has married the Sect Master of the Joyous Sect, one of the four major Demon Sects, and the entire Qingling Sword Sect has merged with the Joyous Sect. Only then did the four major Demon Sects join forces to invade our Great Qian Empire!"

"The Joyous Sect is so terrifying!!"

"After the Joyous Sect devoured the Qingling Sword Sect, it must have leaped to become the number one Demon Sect in the Hanlong Empire!"

"..."

All the Golden Core cultivators present had ugly expressions on their faces.

The Cultivation World of the Great Qian Empire and the Hanlong Empire have been at odds with each other, but until now, the Cultivation World and the Demon Path of the Hanlong Empire were constantly in strife.