Stars dotted the night sky, and a full moon hung in the air. The sparse vegetation of the hilly area revealed patches of frost. A cold wind swept through, creating a desolate and lonely scene.
This area seemed like a region rarely visited by people, but occasionally one or two streaks of light could be seen flying by. From time to time, low-level cultivators could be seen on the ground, mostly coming from the northeast or heading in that direction.
A streak of yellow light also headed northeast, carrying a young cultivator in black robes—Zhang Ling. After resolving the matters of the twin-tailed cat and the ghost monkey, he left his simple cave dwelling.
Three days had passed since then. He hadn't encountered any cultivators in this area for the first two days, but half a day ago, he finally met a few cultivators and inquired about his current location.
He had indeed returned to human territory. He was now in a country called the Northern Frontier Kingdom.
The Northern Frontier Kingdom was the northernmost country in the Northern Plains cultivation world, in terms of human territory. The kingdom's territory was three or four times larger than his birthplace, the Cangyun Kingdom.
It could be said that it was one of the leading countries in terms of human territory. However, the Northern Frontier Kingdom did not have any major cultivation powers. Although its territory was vast, it was sparsely populated.
This was because the northernmost part of the Northern Frontier Kingdom was a desolate ice field, the northernmost part of the entire Northern Plains cultivation world. Further north was an icy sea environment.
The Northern Frontier Kingdom also lacked good spiritual veins and was covered in ice and snow year-round, making the environment extremely harsh. It was extremely difficult for ordinary mortals to live here. In addition, the shortage of survival resources led to a small population and a low number of cultivators in the Northern Frontier Kingdom.
The entire Northern Frontier Kingdom had only three cultivation forces: a sect called Ice Cloud Valley, currently with two Nascent Soul elders.
Another sect was the Hundred Souls Sect. Most of the Hundred Souls Sect's cultivators were not natives. The main source of disciples was evil cultivators and other cultivators with complex backgrounds from nearby countries.
As for the remaining cultivation force, it was Nightglow City, a gathering place for rogue cultivators. Nightglow City was not an ordinary immortal city but one of the Twelve Immortal Cities. For this reason, it was superior to the Ice Cloud Valley and Hundred Souls Sect.
At the same time, due to its proximity to the northern ice field and other special circumstances, Nightglow City was quite prosperous, attracting many rogue cultivators.
After flying for a quarter of an hour, Zhang Ling's divine sense detected an ice and snow city standing in a wasteland about ten miles ahead.
The entire immortal city had a vast area, leaning against a ten-thousand-foot-high ice mountain, surrounding half a circle. The ground was a sheet of ice blue. Goose-feather snow was floating in the sky, making it look extremely desolate and majestic.
This was Nightglow City. Due to its special environment, Nightglow City was in darkness for nine months of the year, with sunlight visible only for a short time.
The current time was actually noon, but it was getting darker as he approached. The surrounding area of thousands of miles was in a dark environment.
The whole Nightglow City was like a giant mountain, with several huge white apes guarding the city gate. Zhang Ling suppressed his cultivation to the late Golden Core stage. After a simple inspection, he entered Nightglow City.
The buildings in the city were also quite strange, with many made of solid ice. The outside was snowy, but the city was quite quiet.
This was the first time Zhang Ling had seen such a place, and he strolled around with great interest.
There were indeed fewer cultivators in the city than in other immortal cities, but their overall cultivation level was much higher. Occasionally, one or two Golden Core cultivators could be seen.
So many powerful cultivators came here to hunt demons or search for ice-attributed materials in the ice field.
Ninety percent of these people were not cultivators from the Northern Frontier Kingdom but rogue cultivators from other places.
After wandering around for an hour, Zhang Ling entered an inn to rest. He sat on an ice bed, holding a few jade slips in his hand, checking something.
He didn't come to Nightglow City to admire the scenery. The main purpose was to gather information. After all, the recent encounters had disrupted his original cultivation plan.
He was originally in the territory of the Otherworld Demons, and it would have taken several months to return to the human territory. He didn't expect that to deal with the spirit beast, he not only encountered danger but was also inexplicably teleported here.
His next cultivation should be well planned.
The most important thing now was to find a safe place to cultivate in seclusion. At the same time, he had to collect the best-quality spirit stones he promised Lan Que. And he had to collect rare materials from time to time.
But now he was a rogue cultivator. If he collected spiritual objects everywhere, it would inevitably delay his cultivation.
So Zhang Ling planned to first study the current forces in the Northern Plains cultivation world to see if he could find a good sect to join.
He had this idea ever since he became a Nascent Soul cultivator. He had considered it in the Flowing Cloud Sea cultivation world.
It was just that he had been delayed by some things. Now he had to take care of both cultivation and collecting materials. The best of both worlds was to rely on a sect, with more people under his command to handle these things properly.
If he was just a Golden Core cultivator, this would be easy to handle. It wouldn't be difficult to join any force.
Now that he was a Nascent Soul cultivator, Zhang Ling looked down on some small forces, and large forces had a certain degree of xenophobia. Even if he could get in, there would be some troubles with intrigue and infighting.
Of course, Zhang Ling also thought about returning to the Cangyun Kingdom and returning to the Haoyuan Sect he originally belonged to. This was also a good plan.
But he didn't know the current situation of the Haoyuan Sect. After all, he had been away for two hundred years, and he was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator when he left. So he had to understand the situation first before making a decision.
The jade slips in Zhang Ling's hand were some major and minor events that had occurred in the Northern Plains cultivation world in the past hundred years, which he had collected when he was wandering around the market just now.
Soon after, he finished checking the jade slips. During the two hundred years he was away, many things had indeed happened in the Northern Plains cultivation world.
The invasion of the Otherworld Demons into the Twelve Immortal Cities didn't last long. More than ten years after he left, the Otherworld Demons were driven back.
It was said that the major tribes of the Otherworld Demons had internal strife at that time. Zhang Ling had heard a little about this situation when he was in the Otherworld Demon territory.
The Northern Plains cultivation world was calm for a while after that. But a hundred years ago, the righteous and demonic forces on the human side had several major frictions.
Even both sides lost many cultivators, and several Nascent Soul cultivators fell. It was only in the last twenty or thirty years that it had calmed down.
The human cultivators in the Northern Plains cultivation world are now roughly divided into four forces: the righteous path, the demonic path, the Twelve Immortal Cities, and the Heavenly Sea Immortal Alliance, which is composed of thirteen coastal countries.
The righteous path is a force composed of the Crimson Firmament Sect, the True Yang Gate, and seven or eight other sects, led by the Shangyun Kingdom.
Each of these forces has seven or eight or more Nascent Soul cultivators. The Crimson Firmament Sect has the greatest power, and currently has a Jade Phoenix True Person who is a late Nascent Soul cultivator.
It is said that the Jade Phoenix True Person is also a beautiful female cultivator with the spiritual root aptitude of the Golden Spiritual Root. This female True Person has just broken through to the late Nascent Soul realm in the last hundred years.
And the original leader of the righteous path was the True Yang Master of the True Yang Gate. He was also a late Nascent Soul cultivator, but he was injured after the war between the righteous and demonic paths a hundred years ago, and it is said that his lifespan is less than a hundred years. He is currently in seclusion.
The demonic path is a force united by the demonic sects such as the Luo Yun Kingdom and the Black Mountain Kingdom, including the Evil Wind Valley, the Joyful Union Sect, and the Demon Luo Sect. Currently, the Joyful Union Sect has a Hundred Flowers Young Master, known as the Hundred Flowers Old Demon, who is also in the late Nascent Soul realm.
In addition, the Demon Luo Sect also has a Red Demon Elder who is a great cultivator. Although the other demonic sects do not have late Nascent Soul cultivators, they also have a lot of heritage.
The righteous and demonic paths each have two late Nascent Soul cultivators. This is why they have temporarily stabilized.
The power of the Twelve Immortal Cities is also not small: Nightglow City, Crimson Rock City, Yellow Sand City, Azure Thunder City, Sky Curtain City (main city), Hundred Rivers City, Black Wind City, Misty Clouds City, Moon Lake City, Twin Tiger City, Golden Cloud City, and Red Sea City.
These twelve immortal cities were all built by ancient cultivators using great supernatural powers to connect the mountains to form a line of defense against the Otherworld Demons. Sky Curtain City is also guarded by a Thunder Light Loose Practitioner, who is also in the late Nascent Soul realm.
Although the Twelve Immortal Cities are a loose alliance, composed of some neutral sects and rogue cultivators near the immortal cities. The combined strength is not weaker than the righteous and demonic paths.
The last Heavenly Sea Immortal Alliance is also a loose alliance. It was because these coastal countries did not want to be affected by the war between the righteous and demonic paths a hundred years ago that they temporarily formed an alliance.
Among these countries, there are also several powerful sects, such as the Sea Origin Sect and the Giant Whale Gate. Among them, a sect called the Water Spirit Sect currently has a late Nascent Soul cultivator named Dongyangzi.
In addition, some overseas rogue cultivators also live in the outer sea on the east side, and high-level people often appear.
Beyond the outer sea is the wider Boundless Sea, which has many dangers. It is said that as long as you cross the Boundless Sea, you can find other regions of the original complete continent that split apart.
But for thousands of years, no one has ever been heard to have crossed the Boundless Sea. Even Nascent Soul cultivators will get lost in it.
In addition, there are also four late Nascent Soul cultivators on the Otherworld Demon side. And the few ice sea demon cultivators in the ice field are the current pattern of the Northern Plains cultivation world.
Although the number of late Nascent Soul cultivators is not as large as in the Flowing Cloud Sea, the number of Nascent Soul cultivators alone is much larger in the Northern Plains cultivation world.
After all, the Flowing Cloud Sea has a special area, living in the form of islands, often attacked by desolate beasts, and the number of human races is far less than here.
But then again, most of the places with spiritual veins in the Northern Plains are owned. They have been divided up by large and small forces. Even low-level spiritual veins with poor quality are occupied by rogue cultivators.
So if Zhang Ling wants to find a good place with spiritual veins to cultivate in seclusion, he can only join the major forces.
Of course, with his current cultivation in the Nascent Soul stage, plus the help of the Xuan Turtle. It is not difficult to directly seize the territory of some small and medium-sized forces.
But Zhang Ling has no intention of establishing a force at all. Secondly, using this method will attract the attention of many forces, and then he will inevitably fight with some Nascent Soul old monsters and fall into some disputes, which will only increase his troubles.
In this way, Zhang Ling stayed in Nightglow City for a few days and collected a lot of information.
On this day, Zhang Ling rarely saw sunlight in Nightglow City.
The dark sky first lit up with a little reddish light, then turned into cyan-red, and finally swirled out a purple light. The entire Nightglow City seemed to be in a purple mist, looking extremely sacred.
Basically all the cultivators opened their doors, or stood on the roof, or stood on the street, looking at this scene with piety. Some people even sat directly on the ground and started to meditate, mostly local cultivators, a large number of people.
Seeing so many cultivators acting as if they were worshiping for the first time, Zhang Ling also clicked his tongue in wonder.
This phenomenon is called the Purple Light Bath in Nightglow City. The duration is not long, only a short half-tea time.
I don't know when, a black spiritual light pillar rose from the center of the city, hundreds of feet high. It was like some kind of formation light pillar. The purple aura turned into substantial light filaments, and most of them were attracted there, gathering on the light pillar, dyeing the entire light pillar purple-black, forming a strange scene.
As the sunlight completely rose, the purple aura gradually dissipated, and the sunlight turned into thousands of golden rays and fell down, but it was just ordinary sunlight.
Those meditating cultivators also put away their exercises, and continued to do what they were supposed to do. They all looked calm and had become accustomed to it.
Zhang Ling walked on a street. In the environment surrounded by purple mist, he also keenly sensed that the purple aura contained some special spiritual power, which would be of great benefit to cultivators to absorb.
The purple aura at sunrise is originally a kind of heaven and earth vitality for cultivators. Due to the special geography of Nightglow City, the purple aura at sunrise is even more rich.
Walking through several streets, he came to the corner of the south city and saw a black building. A small number of cultivators were entering and exiting from it.
This was a palace more than ten feet high, a stone palace. Looking at the architectural style alone, it was different from the many buildings in Nightglow City. There were also two teams of more than ten Foundation Establishment cultivators patrolling back and forth, guarding it quite strictly.
The plaque of the stone palace was written with three golden ancient seal characters, Lai Xian Pavilion.
Zhang Ling was not stopped and went directly into it. He immediately saw several teleportation arrays. Some purple-robed deacon disciples were presiding over the teleportation of the cultivators.
Another purpose of his coming to Nightglow City was to use the teleportation array here to teleport to other immortal cities. Through the consideration and information he had gathered in the past few days, he had planned his next cultivation plan.
He planned to return to Misty Clouds Immortal City, return to Cangyun Kingdom, and return to Haoyuan Sect again.
Zhang Ling had already inquired about the recent situation of the Haoyuan Sect. The Haoyuan Sect originally had only one Heavenly Wind Old Ancestor who was a Nascent Soul cultivator's Supreme Elder.
But in recent years, it has developed well. Not only has the Heavenly Wind Old Ancestor advanced to the middle stage of Nascent Soul. This person even persuaded a rogue cultivator surnamed Lin to join the Haoyuan Sect. This has greatly increased the power of the Haoyuan Sect and has surpassed the other two sects in the Cangyun Kingdom.
Although Zhang Ling has not seen this Heavenly Wind Old Ancestor, it is said that he has a good character. Not only has he made friends with many cultivators, but he is also good at managing the sect.
This is in line with his choice.
