Chapter 657: Route

Chapter 657: Route

Meng Zhang's intention was clear—he indeed needed the Nine Heavens Refined Essence. Sufficient Nine Heavens Refined Essence would shorten his cultivation time and help him complete the Gold Core stage of cultivation.

In order to take some risks and help Xu Mengying with a small favor, that wouldn't be a problem. However, if the risks were too great, Xu Mengying would have to seek other alternatives.

Even if Xu Mengying didn't provide Meng Zhang with the Nine Heavens Refined Essence, the worst that could happen would be that Meng Zhang would have to spend more time in the future collecting it from the Nine Heavens.

Xu Mengying understood Meng Zhang's intention and was confident that she could move him and obtain his assistance.

"Sect Master Meng probably doesn't know that Daoist Master Smiling Lotus and Daoist Master Mountain Garden have already boarded this Cloud Boat, heading together to the Grand Crossing Cultivation Circle," Xu Mengying said, mentioning the two names to Meng Zhang.

Meng Zhang was familiar with both names. Daoist Master Smiling Lotus was the Elder of the Yellow Lotus Sect East River Branch and the actual decision-maker. He led the cultivator army in a life-and-death battle against Taiyi Sect in the past, making him an old enemy of Meng Zhang.

Though Meng Zhang hadn't seen Daoist Master Mountain Garden in person, he had heard of his reputation. Daoist Master Mountain Garden was an Elder of the Yellow Lotus Sect Mountain Branch and a trusted disciple of True Monarch Mountain Peak.

Both of them were cultivators at the Gold Core stage with profound cultivation bases and formidable strength. Even if Meng Zhang were to confront them now, he couldn't be certain of defeating them.

Taiyi Sect had always been vigilant and collected intelligence on neighboring forces, especially those they had conflicts with in the past. Xu Mengying continued, "They were ordered by their master, Yue Feng, to follow and track me with a group of cultivators until we boarded this Cloud Boat."

Though Xu Mengying's tone was calm, Meng Zhang could sense the hidden resentment in her words.

"This time, I have important matters to attend to in the Grand Crossing Cultivation Circle, and I absolutely cannot let them interfere," Xu Mengying explained. "They outnumber me, and I can't contend with them on my own or shake them off."

"I'm not asking too much of Sect Master Meng; I just hope you can help me evade their pursuit."

Having left Extreme Sword Spirit General, Meng Zhang returned to his own cabin and weighed the pros and cons repeatedly before finally making a decision. For many years, he had been limited by the shortage of Nine Heavens Refined Essence, which hindered his cultivation progress. He needed to complete the Gold Core stage as soon as possible, and even if it meant taking some risks, he was willing to accept them. As long as he could successfully break through to the Primordial Spirit stage, the threat from True Monarch Mountain Peak would no longer be a concern.

In the following days, Xu Mengying didn't immediately pay another visit, as if giving Meng Zhang enough time to contemplate.

The two Fourth Rank Cloud Boats continued to advance according to the planned route, heading straight towards the direction of the Grand Crossing Mountain Range. There was a very distant distance between the Jiuqu League and the Grand Crossing Mountain Range, and in between lay no large human cultivator forces. Instead, deserts, barren mountains, rivers, and swamps alternated, and the spiritual energy in the area was very thin.

The Grand Crossing Mountain Range was situated in the northwest direction of the Jiuqu League, close to the upper reaches of the Jiuqu River. The meandering Jiuqu River originated in the west and flowed from west to east, passing through an exceptionally vast land.

The Jiuqu League, named after the Jiuqu River, occupied the essence of the land on both sides of the river. However, its actual control area was limited to the middle and lower reaches of the river. The upper reaches of the Jiuqu River were occupied by a large and formidable aquatic race.

During the early days of the Jiuqu League's establishment, the aquatic race from the upper reaches had descended downstream and launched numerous attacks on the Jiuqu League. The ancestors of the Jiuqu League paid a heavy price to defeat the aquatic race and protect their newly established human clan force. However, due to various constraints, the Jiuqu League couldn't completely wipe out the aquatic race upstream.

After being heavily defeated by the Jiuqu League, the aquatic race didn't dare to organize large armies to attack again. Instead, they fell into a long-lasting struggle with nearby terrestrial demonic tribes and became unable to invade the Jiuqu League.

Nowadays, the control areas of the Jiuqu League and the aquatic race were close to each other, leading to occasional small-scale conflicts and battles, but there hadn't been large-scale warfare for many years.

In the vicinity of the upper reaches of the Jiuqu River, there was a continuous forest known as the Black Jade Forest, inhabited by powerful demonic beast clans. Strictly speaking, the so-called aquatic race also belonged to the demonic beast category, but they never regarded themselves as such. They considered themselves higher beings and looked down upon other demonic beasts. The aquatic race harbored deep hostility towards the demonic beast clans in the Black Jade Forest, considering them as enemies.

For many years, conflicts and large-scale battles frequently occurred between the aquatic race and the demonic beast clans in the Black Jade Forest.

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