“‘The Valley of No Return’? What place is that?” Wei Tianchong asked from his seat in the Meditation Garden, the little fox in his embrace.
Surprisingly, Tang Jie and Shi Meng didn’t mock Wei Tianchong for his ignorance.
Tang Jie firmly said, “The Valley of No Return is a mission area for students.”
“So it’s just a mission area. Why are all of you so uptight about it?” Wei Tianchong chuckled.
He was at Spirit Lake now, so he now had the ability to take part in missions. Since the Valley of No Return was a mission area, it appeared to him that the second mission was meant to assess the abilities of students through missions.
“The Valley of No Return is different,” Tang Jie said. “It’s a sealed mission area.”
“‘Sealed’? Why is it sealed?” Wei Tianchong didn’t get it.
Shi Meng sighed. “Young Master, you should really study more.”
“Ah, it’s fine,” Tang Jie casually said. “The young master has a limited amount of energy, so he should focus all of it on cultivation. If there’s anything he doesn’t understand, we can just help him out. As for why it’s sealed, it has to do with the spiritual energy cycle.”
The so-called “spiritual energy cycle” referred to how, when a cultivator died and became Returned Remnants, their spiritual energy returned to the earth.
The spiritual energy cycle was precisely how the Rosecloud Domain’s spiritual energy was able to persist for tens of thousands of years, producing generation after generation of heroes.
But if one looked back on the past, they would discover that the earliest period was still very different from the present.
In Remote Antiquity, the land was untamed, civilization had not yet begun to thrive, and the various races battled against each other.
The humans of that time were all capable of cultivating. This was because spiritual energy was abundant. While spell arts were few and far between, there were no obstacles on the path of cultivation.
It was said that humans of that era didn’t even have such a thing as the Jade Gate sealing the heavens. They automatically broke through and began to absorb the essence of the world.
But over thousands of years, the number of people who could automatically achieve this feat dwindled.
The Rosecloud Domain gradually went from being a place where everyone could cultivate to having a divide between mortals and Immortals. Though cultivators shared the same heaven and earth with mortals, they lived in two different worlds.
“…The biggest reason for this is that the amount of spiritual energy in the domain has been shrinking, and it’s no longer enough to support mortals automatically being able to cultivate,” Tang Jie muttered.
“The amount of spiritual energy in the domain is shrinking?” Wei Tianchong was flabbergasted. “Is it because too many Immortal Platform Titans are breaking out of the domain and taking their spiritual energy with them?”
Tang Jie and Shi Meng exchanged a glance and shook their heads.
Shi Meng explained, “While it’s true that Immortal Platform Titans take their spiritual energy with them, the power of a single Immortal compared to a domain is like a stalk of millet in the ocean. Even tens of thousands of years of Titans breaking through the domain would only be able to take a sea’s worth of water at most, but not so much that the spiritual energy of the domain would become so thin.”
“So what’s the reason?” Wei Tianchong was confused.
“Because it’s not evenly distributed,” Tang Jie replied.
“‘Not evenly distributed’?”
“Yes, not evenly distributed…” Tang Jie solemnly said.
When a cultivator died and their Returned Remnants sank into the earth, just because spiritual energy could flow didn’t mean it would evenly distribute itself across the world.
It was like how the dryness of the air in Beijing wouldn’t have any effect on the air in Guangzhou.
Thus, after death, a cultivator’s spiritual energy could influence the land based on their strength. If a Spirit Platform Realm student like Wei Tianchong died, he wouldn’t even be able to influence the land and would simply dissipate.
But this gave lone humans a chance to extract spiritual energy from the world.
What if a cultivator chose a place to die and sealed the area so that spiritual energy couldn’t escape?
Just like the Martial Lord’s land of Returned Remnants, the sealed area would become a hidden paradise. The place would be overflowing with energy, all of the plants and trees brimming with essence. This made it the best place for cultivating!
And what if this practice were carried out over the long term?
It wasn’t like every cultivator would die in a foreign land.
There were always some people who reached the end of cultivation, found it hard to advance any further, and saw that the heavens would not give them any more time, so they decided to pick a place to die. And if this place where they died was a spiritual paradise, they would essentially be leaving the energy they had accumulated throughout their life in this place.
This was the initial meaning behind the formation of sects!
No one knew who was the first to come up with this method, but almost every major sect was established on some person’s death bed, paradises of some form or another.
These places were where most of the Rosecloud Domain’s spiritual energy was concentrated. One could say that nearly forty percent of the Rosecloud Domain’s spiritual energy was gathered in these paradises, with the rest spread throughout the world.
“Long-established history” wasn’t just a phrase in the Rosecloud Domain. It signified deep resources and the difficulty of nurturing talent. And a major sect’s resources firstly depended on the concentration of power in its paradise.
Why was it that the Five Gods Faith had gradually weakened after its major defeat despite the fact that its arts were still being passed on? It was because they had lost their paradise, and without it, they found it difficult to raise top-class experts.
What was the true significance of a True Inheritor?
Besides a powerful master, there was one other important advantage: the disciple had the privilege of entering a paradise to cultivate.
All of this was necessary to seize and divide up the resources of this world!
It was for the same reason that the Rosecloud Domain’s spiritual energy had become so thin. It wasn’t because it had lost spiritual energy. It might have lost ten percent, but at least forty percent of it had been divided up.
With only half of its spiritual energy, the Rosecloud Domain became a place where it was no longer easy to break through the shackles of the Jade Gate and the world became divided into Immortals and mortals.
Besides that, the various major sects sought to gain even more and used various methods to prevent spiritual energy from scattering so that they could use it for themselves.
One method was the Millenium Field.
The Millenium Field existed to supply sects with various kinds of plants.
Everyone knew that the older the plant was, the better.
But there were genius cultivators every year, and all of them needed thousand-year spirit plants, yet how many thousand- or ten-thousand-year spirit plants were in the world for them to use?
Let alone thousand-year, even hundred-year spirit grass was extremely rare.
As for farming, no one had that patience.
The Millenium Field ensured that the major sects would have an endless supply, and was one method sects used to ensure their longevity.
A land rich with spiritual energy would be divided into one thousand spirit fields. These would be divided by year and have various spirit plants planted in them. Every year, one field would be harvested and replanted, and the constant cycle would satisfy both the needs of the present and the future.
It was impossible for one person to do this. Only a major sect could carry out a long-term project like this.
At present, the Basking Moon Sect’s paradise, the Moonlight Pond, had 1800 spirit fields. It had an upper limit of 1800 years, and one field was harvested each year. The spirit plants raised here were used for the sect’s disciples, and the paradise served as one of the most important places in the sect.
“I see…” Wei Tianchong clicked his tongue in wonder.
An 1800-field spirit farm, set in a paradise where countless Titans had become Returned Remnants, was certain to produce incredibly valuable spirit plants.
This was the power of a major sect, the power of time, the accumulated power of countless generations. No unaffiliated cultivator could compare.
“But what does that have to do with the Valley of No Return?” Wei Tianchong didn’t quite understand.
“Moonlight Pond provides rare and precious spirit plants, and the only ones who have the privilege of enjoying those plants are at Celestial Heart or above. So what about the middle- and low-class disciples?”
Wei Tianchong’s heart thumped as he suddenly understood. Jumping up, he shouted, “So was the Valley of No Return sealed up to provide a paradise for the middle- and low-class disciples?”
“Correct.” Tang Jie and Shi Meng nodded.
“Then that’s great!” Wei Tianchong grew agitated. “There must be vast fields of spirit plants inside. Even if there aren’t any thousand-year plants, there must be quite a few hundred-year plants. If we can get them, we’ll be rich.”
“Correct,” Tang Jie and Shi Meng said in unison.
Wei Tianchong finally realized that something was off. “Your tone isn’t right. Why do you look so stressed over something so good?”
Tang Jie smiled. “Unlike the farmland of the Basking Moon Sect, the Valley of No Return isn’t about captive farming, but free-range farming.”
“‘Free-range farming’?”
“Yes. In other words, besides hundred-year plants, there are also hundred-year… fiend beasts!”
Wei Tianchong shuddered, as he finally understood why the two of them had such weird expressions.
“Hundred-year fiend beasts…” Wei Tianchong trembled. “I recall that when a fiend beast reaches a hundred years of age, even the worst one will reach Mind Opening, right?”
“Correct!” The two of them said in unison.
“Apparently, Mind Opening is comparable to the Mortal Shedding Realm, right?”
“Correct!”
“And I’ve also heard that fiend beasts are normally stronger than cultivators of the same level, right?”
“Correct!”
Wei Tianchong continued to ask, and Tang Jie and Shi Meng continued to answer, and the endless chorus of “correct” made his legs start to tremble.
He hadn’t forgotten the terror of that fiend tiger of Tiger Roar Peak.
This was an upper-grade Spirit Sensing fiend tiger that had yet to reach Mind Opening, but that was already enough to overwhelm him.
And now, he was going treasure-seeking in a valley full of Mind Opening fiend beasts.
This was no different than suicide!
Wei Tianchong jumped up and said, “I’m not going! I won’t!”
Tang Jie didn’t find Wei Tianchong’s reply strange at all. Smiling, he said, “I can understand what Young Master is feeling, but you don’t need to worry that much. While the Valley of No Return has Mind Opening fiend beasts, it’s not like they’re everywhere.”
“Bullshit! That’s a sealed ground, and if it’s sealed for one hundred years, then the entire valley should be packed with Mind Opening fiend beasts. How can there not be a lot?”
Tang Jie calmly replied, “Because the Valley of No Return was already opened ten years ago and twenty-five years ago. Those were for Mortal Shedding Realm student missions, and large numbers of fiend beasts were killed at the time. Since only ten years have passed, most of the fiend beasts inside probably haven’t reached Mind Opening.”
“I see. So you’re saying it’s being opened early?”
“You can’t say that. A free-range breeding ground like the Valley of No Return isn’t considered one of the Basking Moon Sect’s important grounds. While the cycle needs to be maintained, there’s no hard and fast rule. Thus, the Valley of No Return does not need to be sealed for a fixed one hundred years, but can be adjusted as the situation calls for it.”
“Then that’s fine.” Wei Tianchong began to count with his fingers. “Ten years… This isn’t that long of a time, so there shouldn’t be that many fiend beasts that have reached Mind Opening, right? But there should be a lot of middle-grade and upper-grade fiend beasts, which is still rather dangerous.”
“It truly is dangerous,” Tang Jie casually said, “but to think that there are no Mind Opening fiend beasts just because of that is mistaken. Although it’s almost impossible for a fiend beast to naturally grow to Mind Opening in only ten years, don’t forget that this isn’t some peaceful realm. Fiend beasts will fight each other, meaning that a savage one might appear among them before its time. Besides that, when the Valley of No Return was opened ten years ago, while the Mortal Shedding Realm students hunted down many of the fiend beasts, some of them managed to escape. The ones that escaped might not have reached one hundred years, but they would still have cultivated for a very long time, and there’s an extremely high chance that they reached Mind Opening, perhaps even the middle grade or upper grade of Mind Opening.”
Shi Meng coldly continued, “If there were a few cunning fiend beasts who reached Mind Opening but knew that they weren’t strong enough and chose to go into hiding, they could have lived through several hunts and lived for more than a hundred years. Even several hundred years isn’t impossible.”
Wei Tianchong shivered again after hearing this. “Could there even be form shifters among them?”
Tang Jie laughed. “That won’t be the case. When fiend beasts transform, the heavens and earth will experience an immense transformation that is difficult to conceal. The Basking Moon Sect also has people watching. If there were a beast that could transform, the sect would send a True Person to hunt it down. When students go on missions, there has to be a limit on the difficulty. They would never permit a Mortal Shedding student to go against a form shifter. In Tiger Roar Valley, upper-grade Spirit Sensing was the limit, and in the Valley of No Return, the limit is upper-grade Mind Opening, and there won’t be many of those.”
“Upper-grade Mind Opening… I can’t even beat an upper-grade Spirit Sensing yet!” Wei Tianchong frowned in dejection.
“That’s why, in this mission, what we need to do is think not about how to kill fiend beasts, but how to complete this mission and survive,” Tang Jie casually said.
“You have a way of getting me back alive, right?” Wei Tianchong asked, clutching Tang Jie’s arm.
“Of course. Young Master, do you still not trust me?” Tang Jie chuckled.
After hearing this, Wei Tianchong relaxed a lot.
The three of them chatted for a while, and then Tang Jie and Shi Meng departed.
The moment they were out the door, Shi Meng grabbed Tang Jie and said, “Why didn’t you tell the young master that the Valley of No Return is a sealed ground, so we can’t just go in, but have to enter through a random teleportation formation?”
A random teleportation formation meant that the person was teleported into a general area, not an exact location.
In other words, people sent into the valley would enter alone. Teams couldn’t hope to go in together.
Nan Baicheng intended to separate Tang Jie and Wei Tianchong, so how could he let them enter the valley together? He had chosen the Valley of No Return precisely because of the random teleportation formation.
Tang Jie sighed. “Right now, he has the courage to enter the Valley of No Return, but if you told him about the random teleportation, wouldn’t you scare him to death? Don’t forget that anyone who doesn’t dare to go in essentially gives up on the mission. He’s already a True Inheritor reserve. If he voluntarily gives up, that would make our previous work go to waste.”
“True,” Shi Meng sighed, stroking his chin. “Why do I feel like this mission is targeting us?”
Tang Jie raised his head back and laughed. “How could that be!? You’re overthinking it. Regardless, we can’t give up that easily. When it comes to the young master, I can actually rest a little easier. He has the puppet and the fiend fox, and I’ll also have Yiyi keep him company. With all three of them, while he might be lacking in offense, he should be able to protect himself. But I’m rather worried about you.”
He gave something to Shi Meng.
“This is…”
“Silver Cloud Needles, a decent spell weapon,” Tang Jie indifferently said. “Consider it a gift.”
With the growth of the golden ball, Tang Jie no longer needed to fire it off in the form of a needle, reducing the usefulness of the Silver Cloud Needles. Giving them to Shi Meng was perfect.
“But I don’t use needles.”
“That doesn’t matter. Just throw them out and the needle gauntlet can call them back. Even without the reinforcement of a spell, the needles pack quite the punch on their own. Right, if you have some extra money, you can buy some poison to apply onto them.”
“Isn’t using poison a little improper?”
“It’s not like I told you to use them on people. Just use them on the fiend beasts. You can choose a powerful numbing medicine to paralyze your enemies. It’d also be best if you got some protective talismans. In any case, you should take out anything that you’ve been saving.”
“Mm, if that’s the case, then I’ll accept them,” Shi Meng happily said.
This was the first time in his life he had a spell weapon to call his own, and he hadn’t expected to get it from Tang Jie. He once more felt grateful to Tang Jie.
After some thought, he said, “But I’m still a little worried about the young master.”
“Relax. An uncut gem does not sparkle. I believe that the young master can pass this trial,” Tang Jie soothed. “Right, before we enter the valley, keep a close eye on him. Don’t let him talk with anyone else, lest he hear something he shouldn’t.”
“Understood!”
In the Meditation Garden, Wei Tianchong felt his ears growing hot. He felt like something was wrong, but he didn’t understand what. Shaking his head and putting the thought aside, he went back to playing with the little fox.