Banshee Family Training Record

Page 241

Those who can cultivate to this level are all exceptionally talented and experienced individuals.

After all, the path of cultivation becomes increasingly arduous and difficult as one progresses, allowing for the weeding out of the dross and leaving behind only the chosen ones. While Foundation Establishment cultivators might be able to accumulate resources and grit their teeth to make the necessary sacrifices, reaching the Golden Core stage truly requires a certain level of talent.

A Nascent Soul cultivator is an exceptional individual among outstanding people, and it is unlikely that they will perish easily.

In fact, most Nascent Soul cultivators end up reaching the end of their lifespan, with no hope of breaking through in this life. In the end, they sit in meditation and merge with the Dao, their cultivation dissipating into the world without leaving any trace. Those who are truly killed by others are actually very, very few.

Therefore, a Nascent Soul stage monster can generally exert influence in a region for at least a thousand or even two thousand years, which far exceeds the existence of some vassal states.

Therefore, the birth of each Nascent Soul is a momentous event for its location and the surrounding countries, and deserves the careful attention of every duke.

Under the threat of a Nascent Soul cultivator, it's perfectly normal for small families without Nascent Soul cultivators to choose to flee.

Seeing her man lost in thought, Hua Caiyan reached out and gently pinched his arm: "Sigh, Chu'an, what do you think we should do?"

"Should we flee, or flee, or flee like them?"

She asked this question with a hidden meaning, to which Yun Chu'an only gave a bitter smile: "Don't we have any other options? Like staying and fighting him to the end, maybe in a few days, this snake will be finished?"

He didn't want to leave. He had worked so hard to build this place up, and moving to a new home meant abandoning almost everything from the old place and starting all over again.

But circumstances are beyond his control, and if there really is no other way, he can only leave with regret in the end.

Seeing the regret on his face, Hua Caiyan could understand his feelings. She tiptoed and reached out to straighten his collar, then whispered to comfort him, "I know you're unwilling, but circumstances are beyond our control. When it's time to leave, it's time to leave."

"It's alright. As long as we're all together, wherever we go is our home."

Her words cheered Yun Chuan up a little, and he reached out and hugged her back.

At that moment, his expression suddenly changed, and he turned his head to look into the distance, where he saw a familiar figure walking towards him.

It is Sheng Linglong.

In fact, he had known for a long time that the princess had a certain affection for him, but the system's mission made this clear and even asked him to win her over, which made him feel somewhat embarrassed.

By doing all this, it's as if I'm some kind of scumbag who falls in love with every girl I meet.

He felt awkward, but it was his own business. Sheng Linglong's sudden arrival must mean she had something important to say. Yun Chuan temporarily released Kai Caiyan and then took the initiative to greet her: "Your Highness."

Since everyone around was a stranger, he observed all the proper etiquette. Sheng Linglong maintained the haughtiness befitting a princess, gently nodding her chin in response, and then said, "Come with me for a moment."

Yun Chuan glanced at Hua Caiyan, who knew that the princess only trusted him, so she let go of him and turned to leave.

Then, Yun Chu'an quickly followed. The two walked to a shady spot under a tree, where no one was around. Only then did she turn her head and look at Yun Chu'an: "What are you thinking?"

She got straight to the point, while Yun Chu'an was still unsure what the princess was thinking: "The Yellow Python Demon is undoubtedly an intolerable menace. How should such a Nascent Soul stage monster be dealt with?"

Sheng Linglong lowered her eyes, her gaze dim: "Actually, there's no good way to deal with it. We can only use the power of the whole country to drive it away."

Chapter 489 The Snake Demon's Trouble

“Unless they court death, Nascent Soul cultivators rarely perish prematurely, let alone be killed by others. When it comes to the real reasons for the deaths of Nascent Soul demons, they are either arrogant or have inadvertently fallen into traps set by cultivators who are a level below them. In fact, as long as they are on guard, there is almost no record of them dying.”

Sheng Linglong's words cast an even deeper shadow over Yun Chu'an's heart: "So... does the princess and the duke intend to drive him away?"

The princess of Jin looked at him, then lowered her head, gazing at the land beneath her feet. This last piece of territory was the ancestral land where the Jin state had risen to power. Her ancestors had started their dynasty here, building a vast Jin state, which had later suffered calamities and split into the three great states that existed today, along with their small kingdom.

They are already barely surviving; if they continue to back down, they will have to give up the entire Wei River.

At that time, the State of Jin was truly a shell of its former self.

Can it drive away the yellow python?

Thinking of his aging father, who now had no pillar of state left to help him, he realized that the State of Jin was now considered a small state precisely because it had only one Nascent Soul cultivator, the Duke of Jin, within its borders…

How confident are they that they can drive away this great demon?

She struggled with the decision, tormented by this matter for some time. Reason told her it was time to give up, but an inexplicable stubbornness kept urging her on.

She didn't want to admit defeat.

"I understand," she suddenly said abruptly, then added, "Chu'an, would you like to go to the capital?"

Yun Chu'an was slightly taken aback, and then heard the woman continue, "If you are willing, I can write a letter to my father. When you get there, you don't need to worry about anything. Just use your strengths, and my father will take good care of you and your family."

"Once you get there, just do business honestly and don't inquire about anything else. Don't worry, with your talent, achieving the Golden Core stage is not a problem. Once you break through, everything will be secure."

Yun Chu'an asked, "Linglong, what are you going to do?"

Sheng Linglong turned her face away.

“I want to try again,” she said. “It shouldn’t be just my state of Jin that sees this giant snake as a threat.”

Yun Chu'an understood her meaning; she probably wanted to use the help of Nascent Soul cultivators from other neighboring countries to try and drive the giant snake away.

But he immediately thought of something: if the Nascent Soul cultivators from neighboring countries were to make a move, they would surely make him leave their own territory. As for where this guy would go, they would never care.

Looking around, unless the Yellow Python Ancestor suddenly develops a great ambition and wishes to seek the Dao in a distant place, the safest place for him, with the least competition and abundant spiritual energy from water and grass, is none other than our Jin Kingdom.

Therefore, in his view, even if Sheng Linglong successfully used the opponent's strength against them, in the end, the giant snake would still have to come back.

This is something that cannot be solved.

He harbored this thought in his heart, but didn't say much about it, even though he actually wanted to stay.

After all, even if he objected, he couldn't come up with a better solution or suggestion.

He and Sheng Linglong chatted for a few more minutes before parting ways. No sooner had she left than a flash of light appeared, and Hua Caiyan leaned close to him, her large eyes wide with curiosity: "What did she say to you?"

Yun Chu'an pinched her back and said, "Didn't you listen?"

Hua Caiyan grumbled with slight dissatisfaction, "She's a Golden Core cultivator, and I'm just a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator in the mid-stage. How dare I get too close? If she sees through me, wouldn't that be asking for trouble?"

Yun Chu'an didn't linger any longer and then recounted the entire conversation they had just had to her.

After listening, the little fox's smile gradually disappeared, and she muttered to herself, "It seems that's what she was planning too. I thought she was so clever, but it turns out she still wants to stay and have a go at the Nascent Soul stage."

Now, fleeing this place is a major trend, and no one is optimistic about the future of the Jin state or the local area.

Yun Chu'an wasn't optimistic either. He took her arm and turned to walk towards home: "What do you think of the princess's suggestion?"

Hua Caiyan snapped out of her daze, frowned slightly, and then said, "Let's leave, but we shouldn't go to the capital, right?"

"Even according to the available information, the Duke of Jin is already over two thousand years old. Given the current state of Jin, how many longevity elixirs can he provide? How many more years can he live? How much longer can he continue to protect Jin?"

“Once he falls, the State of Jin will be doomed. I don’t believe that the Zhou rites can exert any strong influence over the surrounding dukes. They will definitely divide up everything within their territory. If we go to the capital now, aren’t we just offering ourselves up as food to someone else’s table?”

She said this with great concern. In reality, it wasn't because she had any foresight, but because she had been gathering information on Wei Lake all day. She had collected a whole bunch of true and false intelligence, and after analyzing it, she could easily come to a fairly accurate conclusion.

Just like now, at this very moment, she is firmly opposed to the plan to settle down in the capital of Jin.

Yun Chu'an also knew that this matter was not very reliable, so he continued, "I don't plan to go either. There are many powerful families in the capital. If we go there easily, we will not get any good results."

"What I'm thinking of is a different plan. We have more than one connection. If we work things out, it might have a surprising effect."

Hua Caiyan nodded: "That's good. Anyway, we can't possibly go head-to-head with Ancestor Huangmang."

Yun Chu'an smiled and nodded: "Indeed, I would never risk my life like that."

The two chatted idly for a while, and soon returned to Huai Mountain. However, he had barely returned, and hadn't even stopped to rest, when a small wolf demon came galloping up to him: "My lord, Diao De'er is looking for you."

Hua Caiyan was too lazy to deal with anything related to the snake demon and turned to leave. Yun Chuan'an's expression changed: "Diao De'er, what does he want with me? The Huang Mang family is reviving, didn't he move back home a long time ago?"

The little wolf demon immediately said, "I don't know, it seems he's encountered some trouble and needs your help."

Yun Chuan said, "Where is he? Take me to see him."

The little wolf demon then led the way, and Yun Chuan shrank the distance to an inch, speeding all the way.

Soon, at the foot of the small hill behind, Yun Chu'an saw the long-lost Diao De'er. This snake demon had now reached the mid-Foundation Establishment stage and his injuries had healed, but his face was filled with unconcealable anxiety.

Seeing Yun Chu'an approaching, he hurriedly went to greet him, his face beaming with smiles, unable to hide his fawning attitude: "Oh, Brother Mickey, you're finally back! I've been waiting for you for so long!"

Yun Chu'an stepped forward, grasped his hand, and shook it vigorously twice as a greeting.

After doing this, he waved away the little demon following him, then pulled him forward and asked, "What's wrong, Second Brother? I heard that our ancestor has achieved a breakthrough and attained the Golden Core. This should be a great event for everyone to celebrate, so why do you look unhappy? Have you encountered some trouble?"

Diao De'er opened his mouth, then let out an awkward laugh: "Haha, indeed, this is a joyous occasion, a joyous occasion."

He glanced around and muttered to himself, "To be honest, it's not a big deal, just a bit annoying. You know me, brother, I hate trouble, so I came here to ask you for a small favor."

Yun Chu'an's gaze became slightly unfocused: "It's easy, go ahead and say it?"

Chapter 490 The Grand Plan of Ancestor Yellow Python

Diao De'er continued, "Some time ago, wasn't it through your channels that I planned to flank the Jin people and launch a surprise attack on their strategic material warehouses to achieve a remarkable effect?"

Yun Chu'an nodded: "Yes."

Actually, this guy was cowardly. Hearing that I had some connections, he quickly came to me for help so that he could leave the front lines, which was tantamount to suicide.

"But...sigh!" He clapped his hands. "You know the final result. It's a pity we didn't find a good opportunity and didn't achieve anything!"

Yun Chu'an nodded: "Yes!"

In fact, this snake demon had been hiding in its cave all this time and had never shown its head once. How could it possibly have had the opportunity to "kill the enemy" or "make meritorious contributions"?

This was not his original intention at all.

"So now, there's a lot of gossip going around in the Ten Thousand Snake Cave." Finally, Diao De'er revealed his true predicament, "They say that my brother and I are both cowards who deserted in the face of battle, so we should be treated as deserters."

"I said no, they said we were allowed to plan our own operations, so I arranged the flanking maneuver, but it didn't work. But, oh dear, those people just don't believe me! It's driving me crazy!"

He clapped his hands, seemingly extremely annoyed: "In short, if I don't quickly produce something to prove that I've actually achieved something here, I'll be treated as a deserter by them!"

"If I lose power, Mickey brothers, the area I was in charge of, including your family, will probably be affected as well. So even if it's just for your own sake, you have to help me!"

He used this as a defense of himself, and towards the end, he was willing to use any excuse he could think of.

Yun Chu'an nodded three times: "I will help, of course I will help. Well, second brother, as long as you can prove that you were not actually running away during this time, and that you were busy with a lot of things, that's enough, right?"

Diao De'er's face lit up with joy, and he nodded repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice: "Yes, yes, yes! Ah, thank you, Brother Mickey. Actually, I was trying to exonerate you. For example, I said that your field mouse family did not flee. Those machines for making talismans are still in the cave. They were not moved. How can this be considered fleeing!"

He tried to get close to him, which made Yun Chu'an want to laugh repeatedly. Of course they moved away, but they left some broken and outdated things in the cave, too lazy to move them.

However, since he had given the Yellow Python family very few talismans, and after calculating the output, he found that it matched the remaining machines, so he naturally assumed that it was all the production capacity and all the assets of the Field Mouse family.

He suppressed a laugh, nodded, and said, "Yes, Second Brother, how about this, is that alright?"

“I have the remains of two late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators here. You can say that while hiding, although we failed to disrupt the Jin Kingdom cultivators' logistics, we managed to kill two heavily wounded retreating cultivators by chance, so we did manage to gain something.”

As he spoke, seeing Diao De'er's ecstatic expression, he finally smiled as well: "Two late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, for people of our level, such people should be considered a tremendous achievement, right?"

Diao De'er was overjoyed: "That's enough, that's enough! Actually, one is enough. We brothers are only at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. With this achievement, we can already be considered to have made great contributions!"

He rubbed his hands together, his eyes gleaming: "With such results, maybe I can participate in the next big operation as well."

Yun Chu'an's expression shifted: "What? Our ancestor is planning another major operation?"

Diao De'er snapped out of his reverie and nodded: "Yes, the ancestor has been planning a major event recently, and it's in the preparation stage. It should be launched in the next couple of days."

“I also want to get involved, but the competition for the cave dwellings has been fierce lately. I think the others are probably trying to exclude me over this small matter for the same reason, so that they can get involved themselves…”

Yun Chu'an frowned: "So, Second Brother, after all that rambling, you still haven't said what it is!"

Diao De'er gave an awkward laugh: "Actually, because of the reasons mentioned above, I don't understand it very clearly either..."

Yun Chu'an immediately showed his dissatisfaction: "No, Second Brother, you're even keeping this from your own brother?"

Seeing that he was unhappy, the snake demon immediately panicked: "No, no, no, Mickey, you misunderstood me. I really don't know what kind of plan this is. The higher-ups are being tighter than ever before."

As he said this, thinking that he would need Yun Chu'an's strong support to get out of his predicament, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind: "How about this, brother, come with me, let's go to the Ten Thousand Snake Cave together."

"Once we've used these two corpses to prove my innocence, we'll find out all the details of this matter together. What do you think?"

Yun Chu'an then suppressed his anger and chuckled inwardly, "Well... alright then, Second Brother, shall we go?"

Diao De'er nodded: "Let's go, let's go. Oh right, you haven't been to the New Ten Thousand Serpent Cave even once since it was built, have you?"

"This is a perfect opportunity to show you just how magnificent and imposing the cave dwelling built by our Nascent Soul stage ancestor truly is!"

As he spoke, he smiled, turned around and walked ahead, waving to Yun Chu'an to follow.

Yun Chu'an followed with a smile, his face full of anticipation, but his heart grew heavier and heavier.

Indeed, the strength of Nascent Soul stage cultivators is on a completely different level from that of Golden Core stage cultivators. Nascent Soul stage cultivators can even create their own small space, a unique secret realm or cave, and hide inside, making it impossible for outsiders to find them.

This is also why Nascent Soul stage monsters are hard to kill. Unless there is an absolute crushing advantage in strength, it is really difficult to kill them before they can hide in their own secret realm and then use magic to teleport away.

Behind this lies a multitude of insurmountable difficulties.

His heart was heavy, but he forced a smile and followed Diao De'er as they shrank the distance to the New Ten Thousand Snake Cave.

Along the way, he could see that the once familiar landscape had been greatly changed.