Chapter 504:
State of Yun, Yunzhong Mountain Range
Lin Jiang took Big Shadiao and Lin Ying to a secret resting place. Before their cultivation levels drop again, Lin Jiang made them sleep.
"Brother, take care of the Lin family."
"Good."
Lin Jiang nodded, Lin Ying was still there, so he was sure to take care of the Lin family’s legacy.
"Then I’ll go."
Lin Ying nodded, then lay down in the formation. As the formation activated, Lin Ying fell into a deep sleep.
After settling Big Shadiao, Lin Jiang closed off the area and secretly left.
When Lin Jiang returned to the Lin family, Lin Dingshan was already waiting for him. Most of the senior members of the Lin family were already asleep, with only Lin Dingshan guarding the family. Apart from Lin Jiang and his siblings, Lin Dingshan was the highest-ranking senior member who chose to stay behind voluntarily.
"Sixth Patriarch, I received news that there is chaos in Zhong State."
"What kind of chaos?"
"The ancestors in Zhong State are very pessimistic. Cultivation is now a joke to them, and they have completely given up on it. That..."
"I understand, then everything became chaotic, right?"
"Yes, all the desires that were suppressed before suddenly burst out."
Lin Dingshan said, in the past, practicing immortality had a goal, many desires and conflicts were suppressed. Now, practicing immortality has become a joke, they seemed to have lost their life goals and started indulging themselves.
This indulgence, isn’t it just causing chaos? Various incidents are happening frequently, the whole Zhong State is in disarray, and Zhong State is the benchmark of the cultivation world. If Zhong State is chaotic, other sects will also be in chaos.
"Ignore them, take care of ourselves, stabilize the Lin family, the more chaotic it gets, the more stable we need to be."
Lin Jiang said, Lin Jiang actually understands them quite well, they have lived like this for thousands or even tens of thousands of years. Suddenly, all the rules of the world have changed, and they are confused, which is normal.
Perhaps it will take a few generations for them to find new life goals, adapt to the new rules of the world, such as seeking achievements and accomplishments in life, rather than just pursuing immortality.
"Yes, Sixth Patriarch."
"Let’s not talk about that, let’s talk about the Yun State..."
Lin Jiang didn’t want to talk about Zhong State, so he focused on the present. He moved a lot of sleeping people to Qing State, but it’s not very stable. So he plans to send some people to other places next. Those places may not be as good as Qing State and the people there may not live as long, but it’s a backup plan, you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket.
"Little Ying, when are you going to go to sleep?"
Lin Jiang came to Cao Ying and asked her when she would go to sleep. Cao Ying could choose where and when she wanted to go to sleep, just like Lin Ying.
Their locations are all kept secret, so even if something happens in Qing State, it won’t affect them.
"Let’s wait a bit longer. There are a lot of problems in the cultivation world right now. Human disasters are more destructive than natural disasters. If I’m not here in the Zhonghang Sect, others won’t be able to control the chaos."
Cao Ying said that most of the senior members of Zhonghang Sect have already gone to sleep. Someone needs to stay behind to keep things in order, and she is the most suitable person for that.
"You have to take care of yourself too."
"I know my place isn’t far from here, even though I’m just a regular person, I’m confident I can get there in time."
"You really need to prepare to be a mortal. I’ve been strengthening my body for over a hundred years, as you know. You need to enhance yourself too."
Lin Jiang said that after solving the Jiujie Divine Silkworm issue, he started to strengthen his body. He realized that practicing was no longer useful, so he focused on fortifying his defenses. Over the past hundred years, he spent a lot of resources and it paid off.
"My body has been strengthened by spiritual energy and is now very tough. The current level of spiritual medicine doesn’t have much effect on me."
Cao Ying, a Tao Achieving, mentioned that during her cultivation, spiritual energy has been continuously strengthening her body. Ordinary techniques and spiritual medicines don’t have much effect on her anymore.
"Since cultivation is no longer effective, I know some powerful physical cultivation techniques. You should practice them when you have time. Any practice is better than none."
"Okay, I will practice when I have time."
Cao Ying said that practicing when she’s free is good, even though she doesn’t expect to become very skilled. It’s just a way to pass the time.
"Let’s go to Yunzhong City together."
"Yunzhong City is not interesting. Come with me to enjoy the flowers. It’s the season when they bloom beautifully."
"Let’s go to other states, not sure if Flower City is still there."
"Want to go see the flower maiden?"
"Ahem, look at flowers, look at flowers."
Lin Jiang suddenly felt embarrassed, as famous as the Flower City’s flower maiden and flowers, which Lin Jiang had encountered in the past.
Lin Jiang nervously took Cao Ying to Flower City. Along the way, they saw the world becoming very chaotic. Even the bandits on the road seemed to have multiplied, but no one dared to rob them. Their aura was too intimidating for any foolish bandit to attempt to rob them.
When Lin Jiang and Cao Ying arrived, there was no grand flower festival, and Flower City wasn’t as lively. However, the flowers of Flower City were still very beautiful, and Cao Ying bought many of them.
"Don’t you feel like the cultivation world has come to a standstill now, with everyone waiting for the next realm to fall?"
"Definitely. Practicing at the Nascent Soul stage is useless, the Golden Core Period is effective, but basically no one practices anymore. Who knows if exhausting efforts to upgrade their cultivation will result in being struck back to where they started in an instant, and Qi Refining Building foundation can’t really be decided."
Lin Jiang replied, stating that all the major events in the cultivation world have come to a halt, with everyone waiting for the next realm to fall. This is one of the root causes of the chaos in the cultivation world.
After visiting Flower City, the two of them traveled to other places in He State and Liu State before returning to Yun State. Lin Jiang spent most of his time in Yun State because he arranged for his resting place to be there.
In the chaos, thirty years passed in the cultivation world, and the highest level of cultivation now only reached the Golden Core Period.
The cultivation world became even more chaotic this time. Many major sects were on the verge of collapse, and even new disciples had lost hope in cultivation. The cultivation world had entered a period of complete chaos.
"Ancestors, the Dao is no longer present, cultivation has lost its meaning. Please allow us to leave the sect."
One day, a group of disciples from Zhonghang Sect bid farewell to Cao Ying. They didn’t want to remain dormant or stay put. Instead, they decided to wander around.
"However,"
Cao Ying didn’t force them to stay and allowed them to leave. She even gave each of them a generous sum of travel expenses.
A month later, the terrifying consequences of the cultivation world falling to the Golden Core level emerged. All the spiritual veins in the cultivation world began to shrink, causing the spiritual herbs in the Spiritual Herb Gardens of major sects to wither and die due to lack of spiritual energy.
"All spiritual herbs of fourth rank and above must be harvested, and those that can be used to make pills should be refined."
Cao Ying ordered to uproot all those spiritual medicines. Even though they could have been kept alive with the Spirit Gathering Formation, it was too costly to maintain and had become pointless.
The Spiritual Farmers of Zhonghang Sect broke down in tears. Some of them had been tending to these spiritual medicines for hundreds of years, many of which were almost ready to harvest, but now they had to destroy them by their own hands.
"Abandon all the territory to the north of Yunzhong Mountain Range and bring back everything that can be brought back."
"The sect formation needs to be modified immediately..."
"Start making changes to the rules of Yunzhong City..."
Cao Ying issued a series of orders, as the spiritual veins also declined in quality. Everything had changed, the sect’s grand formation became too costly to maintain, and the faraway territories were unreachable, better to just abandon them.
Because it took them too long to travel there, even though there were teleportation arrays, they couldn’t maintain them. If the teleportation array components broke, they wouldn’t be able to fix it.
Under the control of powerful figures like Cao Ying, Zhonghang Sect managed to pass through relatively smoothly, but for many other sects where the leaders lacked authority, chaos would ensue.
Several months passed this way, Lin Jiang received a message from Ancestor Shi through a Sound Passing Talisman, instructing Lin Jiang, Cao Ying, and Lin Dingshan to visit the Five Elements Sect as it was time for Ancestor Shi’s final journey.
"Don’t be too sad. Actually, I’m lucky. The situation in the cultivation world isn’t the worst yet, so it’s good that I’m leaving now. At least I won’t see even worse things."
Beside Shi Yuntang, there were disciples from the Five Elements Sect kneeling on the ground. Shi Yuntang comforted them, feeling really lucky. Even though it’s not the worst time in the cultivation world, he had to leave. He didn’t want to see more heartbreaking things.
"Ancestor..."
"If you still want the inheritance of the Five Elements Sect, then listen to Lin Jiang. He is your ancestor in terms of seniority. If you don’t want it anymore, then it’s up to you."
"Lin Jiang, I’m about to die. Promise me to take care of the Five Elements Sect. This is my last wish."
"Ancestor Cao, please live well. You are the second Tao Achieving in our Yun State. You can live for a long, long time..."
In Shi Yuntang’s final moments, he had many things to say. He repeatedly reminded and requested things. Lin Jiang agreed to most of the requests, whether they were good intentions or not. He wanted Ancestor Shi to leave peacefully. From the perspective of the Five Elements Sect, he was definitely a respected ancestor, worthy of admiration.

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