13: Eastern Wasteland Pattern

“Brother Shijing, this place is a bit strange. What are your plans next?”

Outside the Void Divine Sense Sealing Formation, three Golden Core Realm powerhouses gathered.

Looking at Immortal Severing Mountain, which was sealed off, the three of them had their own ulterior motives.

One of them, a lean and dark-skinned Cultivator with the lowest cultivation, looked at Shi Jing, who had the highest cultivation, and asked.

The Cultivator named Shi Jing frowned slightly and said, “The intensity of that Divine Sense pressure just now, if I’m not mistaken, should be the Divine Sense pressure of at least a Late Stage Nascent Soul Realm Old Monster.

Gentlemen, Heaven And Earth Treasure is good, but you need to be alive to use it.

Facing such a powerful Cultivator, if we continue to stay here, we will be courting death!”

“Oh? Then why isn’t Brother Shijing leaving this place yet?”

“Lei Ao, do you want to die?”

Hearing Lei Ao’s highly sarcastic words, Shi Jing immediately became enraged.

“Hmph, Shi Jing, you’re still a bit lacking if you want to kill me!”

Lei Ao also had a fiery temper and, seemingly relying on something, was not afraid of Shi Jing, whose cultivation was one minor Realm higher than his.

“You—”

“Gentlemen, please stop arguing. We are all Prodigies of the Eternal Leaf Dynasty, and we’ll often cross paths. Is there anything that can’t be discussed properly? I wonder if you two gentlemen have noticed that the owner of this Spirit Medicine garden might be injured?”

At this moment, the Golden Core Realm powerhouse with the lowest cultivation appropriately stepped forward to mediate, subtly pointing out the key to their conflict.

Yes, they were not fools; they had all discovered the strangeness of this place.

They had extensively harvested the Spirit Medicine here, yet the owner of the Spirit Medicine garden only used Divine Sense pressure to expel them and did not appear to kill them.

What did this mean?

The owner of the Spirit Medicine garden was very likely severely injured and found it inconvenient to appear and deal with them, or the owner of the Spirit Medicine garden had some kind of problem and was wary of the three of them?

Since they began to Cultivate, they had never seen a Nascent Soul Old Monster so generous to them.

And no matter which guess it was, they all felt that the owner of this Spirit Medicine garden was outwardly strong but inwardly weak.

This Spirit Medicine garden was worth plotting for!

Shi Jing wanted to persuade everyone to leave so that he could monopolize the benefits here. Lei Ao naturally saw through his thoughts and was angered, speaking sarcastically.

And Shi Jing, knowing that Lei Ao had seen through his thoughts, was also somewhat annoyed and, seizing the opportunity, hatched a plan to kill Lei Ao, and then deal with Wang An.

If he killed everyone here, wouldn't he be able to monopolize the benefits here again?

However, although Wang An’s cultivation was lower than both of theirs, he was by no means dumber than them, so it was naturally impossible for him to let Shi Jing and Lei Ao fight.

If Shi Jing really killed Lei Ao and then turned around to kill himself, who was two minor Realms lower in cultivation, wouldn’t that be effortless?

In a flash, the three engaged in an invisible verbal confrontation.

“Hmph, for the sake of Brother Wang An’s Face, I’ll let you off for now!”

Seeing that he couldn't use the opportunity to kill Lei Ao, Shi Jing, though unwilling, could only give up on monopolizing the benefits here.

“Shi Jing, if you want to die, just come and try.”

Lei Ao narrowed his eyes slightly, giving Shi Jing no Face at all.

Shi Jing was a member of the Shi Family, one of the Five Great Cultivation Families of the Imperial City of the Eternal Leaf Dynasty.

Lei Ao was also a member of the Lei Family, one of the Five Great Cultivation Families of the Imperial City of the Eternal Leaf Dynasty.

The two Families had a rivalry in the Imperial City.

The reason Lei Ao dared to confront Shi Jing head-on, despite being one minor Realm lower in cultivation, was not only his confidence in his own strength, believing that Shi Jing couldn't kill him, but also another reason: this place was within the territory of Thunder Dragon Royal City, and a branch of their Lei Family was one of the Three Great Cultivation Families of Thunder Dragon Royal City.

Even if Lei Ao wanted to call for reinforcements, he would be much faster than Shi Jing. The Lei Family branch in Thunder Dragon Royal City had at least one Nascent Soul Realm powerhouse of their Lei Family overseeing it.

If the two were to truly fight, Lei Ao was very confident that it wouldn't be Shi Jing killing him, but him definitely killing Shi Jing.

Of course, if Shi Jing didn't plan to attack him first, he wouldn't be foolish enough to fight the stronger opponent.

Shi Jing was a Disciple of the Fire Cloud Sect.

He was a Disciple of the Thunder Cloud Sect.

The other Golden Core Realm powerhouse named Wang An was a Disciple of the Sea Cloud Sect.

The three Great Sects had comparable strength, and they all set out from the Eastern Continent Cultivation Mission Release Center in the Imperial City to undertake their training missions.

If they truly fought and killed each other completely, it would be one thing. But if they didn't kill each other completely, once accusations and retaliation began, it would definitely be an unspeakable disaster.

The Eastern Continent was a part of the Central Continent that was isolated overseas.

The Sky Ruins Continent was divided into five continents: Central Continent, Eastern Continent, Northern Continent, Western Continent, and Southern Continent, with each continent having only one Empire.

Below the Empire were many Imperial Dynasties, and below the Imperial Dynasties were many Kingdoms.

However, in the Eastern Continent, which was isolated overseas, the Eternal Leaf Dynasty unified all the Kingdoms, and the entire Eastern Continent landmass had only one country, the Eternal Leaf Dynasty.

Below the Imperial City of the Eternal Leaf Dynasty were thirty-six Royal Cities, each with a population exceeding one hundred million. Thunder Dragon Royal City was one of them.

The structure of the Eastern Continent was as follows:

The Eternal Leaf Dynasty unified all countries, becoming the Dominator of political power across the entire Eastern Continent.

The Cloud Palace unified all Cultivation Sects, becoming the mother Sect of all Cultivation Sects across the entire Eastern Continent.

The Imperial Family of the Eternal Leaf Dynasty had strength comparable to that of the Cloud Palace.

Therefore, the Sea Cloud Sect, Thunder Cloud Sect, and Fire Cloud Sect were actually the three major affiliated Cultivation Schools under the Cloud Palace.

Strictly speaking, the Three Great Cloud Sects were considered one Family.

But clearly, the Three Great Cloud Sects only acknowledged the Cloud Palace’s dominant position, annually submitting a sum of Cultivation resources to the Cloud Palace, while privately, none of them submitted to each other, engaging in mutual schemes.

The Three Great Cloud Sects were distributed in an isosceles triangle Formation in three directions of the Eastern Continent, carving up the Cultivation Sects of the Eastern Continent under the Cloud Palace.

They did not allow a second Cultivation Sect to emerge within their sphere of influence.

This led to the fact that, under the Cloud Palace, besides the affiliated Three Great Cloud Sects, there was no fourth rising Cultivation Sect.

The Three Great Cloud Sects recruited Disciples from various cities under the Eternal Leaf Dynasty, while the Cloud Palace recruited Disciples from the Three Great Cloud Sects, or rather, the Three Great Cloud Sects recommended their Sect’s Cultivation Geniuses to the Cloud Palace.

To maintain and consolidate its ruling position in the Eastern Continent, the Imperial Family of the Eternal Leaf Dynasty also established Grand Martial Dao Academies in various Royal Cities and the Imperial City.

The Eastern Continent Cultivation Mission Release Center was an institution jointly established by the Cloud Palace and the Imperial Family, with the Three Great Cloud Sects and the Five Great Cultivation Families of the Imperial City also participating.

It was rare for anyone to dare to ambush and kill a training team that had taken on a mission here, because if they failed to kill all members of the team and were reported, facing the Subjugation of the Cloud Palace, the Imperial Family, the Three Great Cloud Sects, and the Five Great Cultivation Families of the Imperial City, there would be no place for them to hide in the entire Eastern Continent.

Even people from the Cloud Palace or the Imperial Family had to abide by the jointly established rules.

Shi Jing wanted to monopolize the Heaven And Earth Treasure in Immortal Severing Mountain, but with Lei Ao and Wang An holding him back, he was helpless.

It is worth mentioning that although Wang An was not from the Five Great Cultivation Families of the Imperial City, the Wang Family, one of the Three Great Cultivation Families of Thunder Dragon Royal City, was Wang An's own Family.

Thunder Dragon Royal City was a Royal-level city, and it was also named after the surnames of the three major Cultivation Families in the city: the Lei Family, the Long Family, and the Wang Family.

Among them, the Lei Family was a branch of the Imperial City's Lei Family and had the strongest power.

The Long Family was a Cultivation Family that rose step by step from Long Village.

The Wang Family was a local power in Thunder Dragon Royal City, with strength comparable to that of the Long Family.

The Long Family were a group of low-key yet overly united martial fanatics; they neither provoked trouble nor feared it.

Once a fight broke out, the opposing force had to be prepared for a situation where both sides would suffer heavy losses.

Therefore, even though the Long Family came from a small place, few forces dared to provoke them.

It also proved the saying:

If you’re not ruthless, you can’t stand firm!