Chapter 387: Wandering Cultivators - 387
In the middle of spring, a large caravan entered the city. Along with foreign goods and unknown items, they brought a rather big piece of news that excited the entire city.
It seemed that a traveling group of cultivators had been wandering around the world, teaching people, and they were headed towards this city.
It had to be made clear that in order for it to be said that the group was wandering around the world, it meant that they were at least void traversing cultivators, if not higher.
No void traversing cultivator had ever set foot in the city. In fact, as far as everyone knew, not even a soul formation cultivator had entered. Throughout the city's entire history, only a few nascent soul realm cultivators had entered.
The caravan said that the group of wandering cultivators would make three more stops before arriving at the city. They would arrive at the end of the spring.
Zhou Fan heard all of this from the old man. According to him, Lu Wei would also be returning to the city at that time in order to learn from the cultivators.
Time passed, and the end of spring soon came.
Every day and night, people would expectantly wait for news, until finally, a large carriage pulled by a bull entered the city. The carriage was rather ordinary with no gold or jewels adorning it. It was almost entirely wooden.
Nobody in the city even noticed that the bull pulling it was a nascent soul realm creature.
The carriage wandered around and stopped right in front of the city park. 3 ordinary looking people walked out of the carriage and walked towards a tree.
On the way, they passed by a person in the park and asked if he wanted to learn about cultivation.
A few hours later, the entire city learned of the cultivators' arrival. They sat underneath a tree and held lectures every few hours. After the lectures, they would answer any personal questions.
On the third day after their arrival, Lu Wei, the old man, and Zhou Fan left the library early in order to go and see the cultivators.
As they reached the park, they noticed that it was filled to the brim with people. All of the people were completely quiet and had sat down with their legs crossed.
Zhou Fan could tell that the 3 cultivators were buddhists at a glance, despite them having hair. It made sense now that he thought about it. Who else would go around teaching people for free.
Lu Wei, Zhou Fan, and the old man sat down at the edge of the park and listened in. Lu Wei paid the most attention, while the old man and Zhou Fan casually listened. This level of lecture could not help them that much as it was for lower level cultivators.
Although the old man could not see through the 3 cultivators' cultivations, Zhou Fan could. He was surprised. One space shattering realm cultivator, the one who was speaking, and two peak void traversing realm cultivators.
Soon, the current lecture ended. As it finished, the space shattering realm cultivator surveyed the crowd. Upon seeing Lu Wei and the old man, he spoke out.
"It seems we have some honored cultivators with us. Why don't you guys come up here." He said.
The people at the front of the group turned around. Zhou Fan saw 3 soul formation cultivators and 6 nascent soul realm cultivators.
Although nobody else could see through the old man's disguise, the space shattering cultivator could. Surprisingly, the other void traversing cultivators could not.
Lu Wei, the old man, and Zhou Fan walked past the crowd and sat near the front row. The cultivators at the front nodded and focused on asking questions.
Lu Wei, the old man, and Zhou Fan stayed silent.
Before long, the space shattering realm cultivator spoke out loud again.
"Since we have many powerful cultivators here, the next lecture will only help those at or above the nascent soul realm." He said.
Most of the people in the park got up, but around a quarter stayed anyway.
The lecture soon started, and even the old man began to focus on it. Zhou Fan was the only one not paying attention, but since he was seen as a mortal, it was not unexpected.
The lecture finished after 30 minutes, and all of the cultivators seemed to make a gain. This time, Lu Wei asked questions, while the old man stayed silent. He had only come for the sake of Lu Wei.
They stayed for a few more lectures before finally returning to the library. Lu Wei felt as if he had made a great gain, as he understood many things he had not before, and even the old man felt a bit enlightened.
The library remained closed all day and Zhou Fan sat in his room reading. From what he had heard in the lecture, everyone seemed to be over complicating cultivation.
Perhaps they were trying to help them on their path as they lacked talent, but as far as Zhou Fan knew, the only thing necessary was simply to cultivate.
Unfortunately, it seemed that others needed much more aid in the course of cultivation. This caused Zhou Fan to think a bit. He was always considering how to change cultivation, ever since he created the river of cultivation.
The lecture could be considered a way to help people understand the mortal dao, but it was also very different from that. As he had said, it was as if the cultivators were trying to alter their path in order to make it easier and faster.
Perhaps if there was another buddha, he would be able to truly help cultivators while still maintaining the original path.
Unfortunately, Zhou Fan had never seen another person like the buddha. He had even searched all of the living beings in the universe occasionally, but there was never another. Zhou Fan wondered if the buddha had a divine physique or had an innate gift.
Perhaps so, but perhaps not. Zhou Fan would just await the day that he could see through time, and maybe he would find out then.
Chapter 388: Questions - 388
Ten years passed without any interruption. Then ten more. And another ten more.
It was about at this time that Lu Wei began to become suspicious. In fact, he was less suspicious and more certain.
One day, he invited Zhou Fan and the old man into the library's basement and seriously asked them.
"Father, Uncle, are you two cultivators?" He asked seriously.
The old man sighed. It was a sigh of relief.
"It's been hard to hide it from you all these years. Let me explain it to you." The old man said.
"I was born in this city a few hundred years ago. At a young age, I began to cultivate. At that time, due to multiple events, I had already come into contact with the cultivation world, and I did not like it a single bit." The old man said.
"I had seen the cruelty and competition that others went through, a constant struggle for more and more power. I did not wish that for myself. On one side, I saw an old couple peacefully living their last days together, and on another, I saw cultivators killing endlessly for the slightest gain. Even those who are self proclaimed as righteous have killed thousands of people intentionally. Unintentionally, they have probably killed hundreds of thousands. Those were not exactly accidents, but the results of not caring." The old man explained.
"It did not take long for me to choose to hide my cultivation. Although I wanted to live a peaceful life, I must admit that I am somewhat of a hypocrite. I continued to cultivate, wanting to see how far I could go. I do not know if I have reached my limit, but here I am today." The old man finished.
Lu Wei took everything in.
"I don't blame you for hiding it from me. But I am curious, what is your cultivation?" Lu Wei asked.
"3rd level soul formation." The old man answered.
Lu Wei's jaw literally dropped. "Wow." He said after a moment.
"I know it is quite good, but don't tell anyone." The old man said jokingly.
Lu Wei nodded and turned to Zhou Fan.
"And what about you uncle? If father is that strong, then you must be as well." He said with excitement.
"My cultivation is okay." Zhou Fan said.
"What level?" Lu Wei asked.
The old man paid attention as well. He had always been curious.
"Somewhere around the levels of cultivation." Zhou Fan answered.
"But what realm?" Lu Wei asked.
"Above the 1st realm." Zhou Fan answered.
"And below the space shattering realm?" Lu Wei asked.
"Perchance." Zhou Fan said.
"You can't just say perchance, uncle." Lu Wei said.
"Alright, this is obviously a sensitive topic. Not everyone likes to share their cultivation." The old man said.
Although he was curious, he respected Zhou Fan enough to stop it there.
"I understand, father." Lu Wei said before turning to look Zhou Fan in the eye.
"One day, I will become strong enough to see your cultivation." He said seriously.
"Good luck with that." Zhou Fan chuckled.
After discovering that his father and Zhou Fan had a high cultivation base, Lu Wei felt much more relieved. He had always worried that something would happen to them, but it seemed that his worry was unnecessary.
50 years passed calmly.
Despite living in the same city without changing their appearance, nobody got suspicious of them or even mentioned cultivation.
Firstly, they were just two minor characters. Nobody would pay too much attention to librarians. Secondly, it was not uncommon for a mortal to become a Qi gathering cultivator.
It would simply be assumed that they had just barely treaded upon the path of cultivation if anyone ever noticed it.
As a whole new generation was born, the old man began to start sighing. It was different from the usual. It was a sigh mixed with a bit of relief.
"I am glad that I get to see new generations bloom with time. Perhaps some random child from this city will one day become the ruler of this world. Nothing is impossible." The old man said.
"I agree." Zhou Fan said.
If Lu Wei's innate gift could exist, then it seemed that anything was truly possible.
30 years passed quietly, before another crisis overcame the city. On a normal day, the sky suddenly seemed to turn red as a giant array covered the city.
From beyond the city walls, laughter could be heard.
"Demonic cultivators." The old man said.
From the sky, a great pressure descended.
"A soul formation realm demonic cultivator!" The old man exclaimed as his eyes widened.
A woman appeared above the city, dressed in red robes.
"I've heard legends of a… what was it again, hidden sword king? Whatever, you come out and fight me, or this city will be destroyed." The woman said.
Zhou Fan tossed the old man a piece of black cloth. The old man tied it over his face and flew into the sky. No matter what, he could not allow the city to be destroyed.
"Are there so many soul formation demonic cultivators that you can send them to die in any city?" The old man asked, attempting to stop any sort of fight before it happened.
"I like the way you talk. Take my attack!" The unreasonable woman shouted before pointing a finger at the old man.
A normal sized finger formed from blood Qi appeared and shot towards the old man at a fast speed. The old man took out a sword from his hidden spatial ring and covered it in sword Qi and air Qi.
He sliced it and a crescent formed that sliced through the finger and continued towards the woman. The woman shot out ten fingers in succession. 3 fingers were blocked before the crescent dissipated.
The old man began to rapidly slash at the woman while the woman shot countless fingers towards him.
Meanwhile, other demonic cultivators began to enter the city. The old man noticed this, and some of his attacks focused on the weaker demonic cultivators.
They were killed instantly, but this allowed the woman to pierce the old man's shoulder.
The old man, suffering from the injury, had his combat strength lowered. Without hesitation, the woman was about to kill the old man. Suddenly, she backed away at a speed she hadn't shown before.
A black hand pierced through the void and grabbed the back of her neck, ripping her spine out of her body, before disappearing.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
stone 
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