"Immortals... Heroic Spirits..."
Li Xinri scrambled up from the ground, quickly accepting the shocking truth of it all.
Having cultivated at the Heavenly Mountain for over a century, his original intention was to find a way to seek reinforcements. Yet as his cultivation progressed, the Blood Moon cut off his path home.
Over this past century, he hadn't completely turned a deaf ear to the outside world either.
The Central Plains had stationed troops along the border of the Blood Moon, yet the Blood Moon inexplicably harbored no ambition toward the Central Plains, sweeping directly toward the Southern Frontier instead.
The martial brothers and elders on the Heavenly Mountain frequently left the mountain to eradicate demons and slay evil beings.
If he hadn't noticed the strangeness of the Heavenly Mountain over these hundred years, he might as well just go back to the village in the City of Merit and be the village guardian.
If the Old Ancestor hadn't told him to cultivate dutifully, he would have fled long ago.
Looking at it now, the Old Ancestor simply hadn't wanted to terrify him right from the start, letting him gradually come to terms with reality.
Truth be told, only the Old Ancestor back home truly recognized his 'innate talent'.
For over a hundred years, everything in the world outside the Southern Frontier appeared normal as usual, yet in his eyes, all things grew increasingly bizarre.
Regions across the realm were plunging into a hidden chaos imperceptible to ordinary people beneath a veil of peculiar tranquility.
Even with his cultivation at the Half-Step Void Refinement realm, he was unable to glimpse the full picture.
"A few years ago, I ran into an old acquaintance of our family—Wu Neng from the Department of Immortal Suppression. I recognized him, though he didn't know me.
He passed hurriedly through the Central Plains, acting alongside the elders of our Heavenly Mountain.
It was a vast grassland. Just a few days later, Commander Wu Neng left, the grassland turned into a forest, and I heard someone broke through to the Body Integration realm there."
Li Xinri sat back down in his spot.
Even the Red Dust Immortal was astonished by Li Xinri's capacity for acceptance, secretly musing that this Li Xinri must be a genius among geniuses within the Azure Cloud Li Clan, a key target nurtured by the family.
"Looking at it now, they slew an immortal. The forces of the Imperial Dynasty are secretly hunting immortals.
But that doesn't make sense either—if they are secretly hunting immortals, why indulge the Blood Moon and harm the Southern Frontier?"
The Red Dust Immortal was just about to bring up Ancestor Lan, but unexpectedly, Li Xinri was even sharper than he was.
From mere fragments of information, Li Xinri had already deduced a thing or two.
"Cultivating venomous parasites," Li Xinri slammed his wine flask onto the table.
"Those sons of bitches in the Imperial Dynasty! If cultivators in this world want to break through, they require massive amounts of heaven and earth spiritual qi and rules.
Wu Neng went to the grassland once, slew an immortal, and someone consequently broke through to Body Integration."
"They couldn't care less whether the Southern Frontier lives or dies. Back then, Crown Prince Fei Heng consumed people to break through to Body Integration, and didn't they also turn a blind eye?"
Li Xinri's face turned fierce with murderous intent.
"Let me tell you, several decades ago, Wenren Jiuyue, Perfected Qinghe, and Zhao Guang—who had gone to assist in the Western Frontier—all returned to the Imperial Capital.
I heard from some fellow Daoists roaming outside that Zhao Guang's issue of approaching lifespan exhaustion has been completely resolved."
"If you ask me, they are treating us, people of the Southern Frontier, as food for the Blood Moon. That Imperial Dynasty of theirs is treating the Blood Moon as a meat vendor!"
"!!!!!"
The Red Dust Immortal shuddered all over. Having been in the Central Plains for ten years, today's visit to the brothel had suddenly brought total enlightenment.
...
[Your descendant Li Xinri met with the Red Dust Immortal.
Li Xinri finally understood his century-long undercover stint at the Heavenly Mountain—the Old Ancestor truly possesses peerless wisdom under heaven, having surely treated him as a crucial link for the family in countering the Blood Moon, arranging for him to meet the Red Dust Immortal. Li Xinri has brought you a wealth of intelligence...]
"..."
Li Wei stared blankly at the interface for a long time.
Seeing no one around, he stroked his nose, held his head high, and murmured with absolute certainty, "As expected of young Xinri, seeing right through my painstaking intentions."
However, upon reading the intelligence obtained from the meeting between Xinri and the Red Dust Immortal, his expression darkened.
What made matters worse was that Xinri's intelligence was correct.
Such a massive crisis as the Blood Moon, and the Imperial Dynasty pretended not to see it?
Looking at it now, everyone knew. Even some ancient factions knew that the Western Frontier involved immortals.
Perhaps those who didn't know at first were gradually accepting this fact as well, going from complete ignorance to total clarity just like the Southern Frontier had.
Li Wei felt as though he could see the entire Southern Frontier being served onto a dining table.
Seated at the table were Wenren Xianyi and numerous dignitaries and nobles of the Imperial Dynasty, while those placing the Southern Frontier onto the table from all directions were free-riders reaping the benefits.
Ancestor Lan was merely the most delicious delicacy on the plate.
"Who sits at the dining table and who abstains from this feast—that is the key difference."
Li Wei murmured to himself.
He didn't know who outside the Southern Frontier could truly be trusted, nor could he even be certain what role Min Youguo—who had informed him about the immortals—played in all of this.
"What we must do now is jump off the dining table. Those who haven't taken part might well be engaged in a struggle of their own, making them our greatest potential allies."
He immediately turned his gaze toward the interface to survey the overall situation.
His primary focus rested on the children out in the world; as for the children at home, they only needed to exert every ounce of effort into cultivation to prepare for the Blood Moon.