is seat when he heard Old Grandpa Zhuo also mention the word "蠱".Old Grandpa Zhuo shook his head. "I've only heard about it but never seen one myself, so I don't know how to treat it." He then turned...Chapter 617: Observations

"Brother, come and sit here!" When Xiao Yu walked to the back, he found several young men sitting there. These people looked at him as he approached, and a man around twenty-eight or twenty-nine got up with a smile and said.

These individuals were all the descendants or juniors of those elderly people from earlier. This gathering of the Unusual Arts occurs every five years and is considered one of the largest gatherings in the country. It's the best opportunity to network with fellow practitioners, as these older generations will pass away eventually, leaving it up to their juniors to uphold the practice of the Unusual Arts within the nation.

In today’s society, heavenly and earthly primordial energy is scarce, making it even more crucial to establish connections with peers. Often, a single sentence shared during exchanges can awaken someone's insight or understanding. Furthermore, when faced with difficult situations, there will always be someone willing to help, as not everything can be handled by an individual.

Just like Grandmaster Zhang and Li Shiqing, who have been friends for nearly thirty years—meeting at one of these gatherings many years ago—when Jin Xianglin sought out Li Shiqing, the latter was unable to deal with the ghosts in the villa and thus called upon Grandmaster Zhang for assistance.

This is the benefit of having connections. When someone can't handle a situation alone, they can find help from others; if that doesn’t work, one might ask friends to introduce them to more people. With enough people involved, problems can often be resolved, considering that the great calamity affecting heaven and earth was not targeted specifically at cultivators but rather affected all ghostly entities.

Both ghosts and practitioners were impacted by this event; however, given that practitioners were the main characters back then, they suffered the most severe disasters. In contrast, the impact on ghostly entities was relatively minor. As a result, even skilled practitioners like Grandmaster Zhang and Li Shiqing found themselves at a loss when dealing with these ghosts.

Still, this was somewhat expected since the area where those ghosts resided was a place of accumulated malevolent energy from three Yin forces. By utilizing such a location, their power increased by at least double, not to mention that they had trained in this environment for several hundred years under the guidance of Thousand-Year Ghost, making them far more capable than Grandmaster Zhang and Li Shiqing.

If it weren’t so difficult to cultivate as a ghost or spirit, the difference between cultivating for several centuries and decades wouldn't be significant. Otherwise, this world would probably already be overrun by such entities!

However, these ghosts do have their innate advantages now, leading today’s practitioners to also start networking more actively. If one individual can’t handle a situation, they involve the group.

Thus, this gathering isn't just for high-level practitioners but also an excellent chance for younger individuals like them to establish connections and form smaller circles based on mutual acquaintances made here.

"Sure, thank you all!" After hearing the greeting from that person, Xiao Yu bowed slightly towards them.

"No problem. No problem. It's really hard nowadays to meet a peer who’s also a practitioner; it feels like climbing to heaven! But now we’ve finally met quite a few friends."

Upon hearing this from Xiao Yu, the others reciprocated by bowing back.

In no time at all, Xiao Yu had become well-acquainted with these people. Among them were individuals hailing from Western River, Western Hunan, and Northeast China.

The person who greeted Xiao Yu just now was a disciple from a cultivation family from Northeast China, surnamed Lu and named Lujiping. However, this person did not mention the specific background of the Lu Family. Xiao Yu also didn't ask about it since such information would be considered private for each family.

Sitting in his seat, Xiao Yu watched as these people chatted but he didn’t interrupt them. Moreover, he was quite interested in what they were talking about now because they were discussing gossip news from the world of Qimen cultivation. This kind of information was exactly what Xiao Yu lacked right now. With Zhong Kui’s memories, he had no trouble with the difficulties encountered during cultivation; however, he needed to catch up on some basic knowledge about modern Qimen cultivation.

Time slowly passed as more elders joined them until their vehicle was full. Then they left first while Wang Haichuan stayed behind because there were still many other people coming for the gathering and two more buses waiting at the back of this one.

From these people’s conversations, Xiao Yu gradually gained a general understanding of the domestic cultivation situation.

In China, most families practice cultivation in a family-based system, but there are also smaller scattered lineages, such as those from small Taoist temples or disciples passed down by high-level practitioners.

Before the great calamity of Heaven and Earth, these scattered cultivators were collectively called "freelance cultivators." However, after the calamity, in the Qimen cultivation world, freelance cultivators gradually became mainstream.

This was because during the calamity, due to their low cultivation levels, they suffered the least damage. For example, Zhong Kui's two sworn brothers survived that disaster precisely because of their low level, whereas Zhong Kui perished in it.

The ancestors and senior mentors of these people also managed to survive that calamity by chance, ensuring the continuation of their lineages. However, after the calamity, as the primordial energy of Heaven and Earth gradually thinned, these freelance cultivators began to decline.

However, they still held a place in China, while larger sects had sealed off their mountains, indicating heavy casualties. No one knew exactly what those large sects looked like now; maybe they had already perished.

Lisiqing and the old lady sitting at the front occasionally glanced back to see Xiao Yu. Seeing that he seemed fine and was listening with great interest, both of them relaxed.

After all, as an unparalleled figure in the late stage of Qi Refinement cultivation, it would be a humiliation for him to be treated casually by others now. They were worried that Xiao Yu might get angry since cultivators are typically proud, especially someone like Xiao Yu, who was already an unparalleled figure. But seeing that he didn't act haughty at all and had no airs of superiority, they secretly felt relieved.

It should be known that such a person in the late stage of Qi Refinement is extremely rare in the entire world of Qimen cultivation. Even those in the late stage were mostly over seventy or even more than ninety years old; there was not one person as young as Xiao Yu among them.

Moreover, these people in the late stage probably couldn't reach the peak of Qi Refinement for their whole lives, but that wasn’t true for Xiao Yu. At such a young age, he could already be in the late stage of Qi Refinement, and who knew if he might break through to the peak.

Although breaking through to the peak was very difficult and no one had succeeded in nearly a century, there hadn't been anyone as young as Xiao Yu achieving such a level either. Moreover, they believed that Xiao Yu likely had some secrets they didn’t know about him, which gave them hope that he might be able to break through.

When the time comes, Xiao Yu will definitely become a leader in the world of Qimen cultivation.

In fact, they didn't know that reaching the peak of Qi Refinement would be effortless for Xiao Yu since he cultivated with righteous energy rather than the Heaven and Earth Essence Energy. Even if there was no Heaven and Earth Essence Energy here at all, it wouldn’t make much difference to him because his cultivation relied on righteous energy.

After more than two hours of driving, the bus slowly arrived at a holiday resort surrounded by mountains. Xiao Yu looked out of the window towards the resort where the facilities were very high-end. Most of them were standalone small villas and the environment was extremely tranquil, nestled among the surrounding mountains.

After getting off the bus, Xiao Yu took a deep breath on the open ground. When this air entered his body, he suddenly felt something but quickly relaxed.

Although Xiao Yu didn’t cultivate with Heaven and Earth Essence Energy, his sensitivity to it wasn't low. The amount of Heaven and Earth Essence Energy in the air was much denser than what he had experienced in the deep sea.

No wonder some cultivators chose to live in remote mountain forests; this place must have a richer supply of Heaven and Earth Essence Energy.

Actually, they didn't know that people like Li Shiqing felt hopeless about breaking through because even in places with abundant Heaven and Earth Essence Energy, it was difficult for them. Moreover, their families also had high expectations on them, which is why cultivators from large families often found it tough.

Even if they wanted to cultivate in a remote mountain forest, they couldn't abandon their family responsibilities. In contrast, major families would assign someone to manage the family affairs while allowing their most senior member to focus solely on cultivation. This explains why people who reached the later stage of Qi Refinement often came from large families.

They didn’t have to worry about other matters and could build a house deep in the mountains for dedicated cultivation, hence they managed to reach the later stage of Qi Refinement despite the scarcity of Heaven and Earth Essence Energy in modern society.

If one couldn't endure hardships or lacked great determination, it would be virtually impossible to reach this level of cultivation nowadays.

"Ladies and gentlemen guests, I am Wang Yitong, the general manager of this resort. Welcome to our holiday resort! To welcome your arrival, we stopped receiving visitors ten days ago as instructed by my boss. All accommodations are now available for you to choose freely."

Not long after Xiao Yu got off the bus, a woman in her forties walked over and bowed politely.

The woman was curious about their identity since it wasn't common for big bosses like them to personally visit such places. She had been wondering who these important people were that warranted such grand treatment but couldn’t pry any information out of the boss due to his tight-lipped nature.

These past ten days, she was very curious about who her boss would be hosting. But upon seeing them now, she felt disappointed; they looked like elderly folks and it was hard for her to understand why the big boss valued them so much.

Wang Yitong led everyone into a villa complex and let Xiao Yu and others choose their own houses.

Following her instructions, they started selecting rooms. Some chose individual villas while others opted for shared ones. There was no help for it; some needed to communicate frequently whereas others required tranquility.

After all, with so many practitioners gathering here, it would be a waste to not exchange some experiences.

Xiao Yu and his group were different; they needed tranquility. If they wanted to communicate, they could do so anytime since they lived in the same city.

After Xiao Yu's group finished their lunch at the resort village, the remaining two buses arrived. As soon as these people entered, those who knew each other began exchanging greetings.

At this moment, Xiao Yu and his young friends were eating in a corner. Suddenly, another thirty or forty young people walked in, heading straight towards Xiao Yu's group’s corner.

A man around thirty on Xiao Yu’s table stood up to greet acquaintances; he had also attended the gathering last time and thus knew many of these people.

Once everyone was seated, they began engaging in animated discussions. Each table seemed like a small group, friendships and networks forming at this moment.

The current scene clearly distinguished different age groups: elders in one group, middle-aged individuals in another, and Xiao Yu’s young group separately.

While eating with the younger folks, Xiao Yu's mind was on those elderly people. He used his sharp senses to observe them keenly.

Suddenly, a thought struck him, causing his gaze to focus as he turned to look at a table where seven or eight elders were seated.

This table was the main one; while others had several guests each, this table only accommodated five people. The elder folks elsewhere would occasionally toast to these individuals.

Xiao Yu observed those five people. Their cultivation levels clearly surpassed everyone else: besides Wang Haichuan who was in mid-stage Nurturing Qi Realm, the rest were on the brink of entering late-stage Nurturing Qi Realm.

The reason for Xiao Yu’s surprise wasn’t these few individuals but rather the elder sitting next to Wang Haichuan. This elder appeared around eighty years old with white hair and beard, yet his face was rosy like that of a young person, barely showing any wrinkles. If he dyed his hair black, people might believe him to be in his fifties or sixties.

Moreover, this was the only person Xiao Yu saw who had entered late-stage Nurturing Qi Realm during this gathering. Although this elder was just at the beginning stage of late cultivation, entering that realm signified remarkable perseverance and effort.

The elder wasn’t eating but sat with his eyes closed on a chair. Though it seemed arrogant, everyone present felt it appropriate and no one showed any displeasure.

When the elder arrived earlier, they all sensed a faint pressure emanating from him, which could only be caused by late-stage Nurturing Qi Realm practitioners as per legend. They had specifically asked Wang Haichuan about this elder who confirmed he broke through to late-stage three years ago...) could even be considered as his ancestor; it’s just that Xiao Yu's identity is too mysterious to say.Although Li Shiqing didn’t know Xiao Yu’s specific background, the fact that he could immediately...