My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

Wang Ping was sure the Xiao Shan Lord also knew about the intelligence Le Xin had provided. But, perhaps due to his personality, the Xiao Shan Lord almost never explained anything voluntarily.

Zi Luan might have known something, but he couldn't be sure. Xiu Yu was so engrossed in his cultivation day in and day out that he had become detached from the world; he most likely wouldn't care about these issues.

As for the others he associated with, only Jiangcun possessed the most complete inheritance from the Mystic Sect. Yet, the two had known from the moment they met that they were destined to become enemies. Then there was Guan Xi, who knew some secrets but always revealed them in bits and pieces.

"Under such a system," Yu Lian remarked to Le Xin, "once disciples of the Five Profound Sects reach the Second Realm, they all become rivals. Yet, the sects must also maintain a sufficient number of Third Realm Cultivators and prospective Second Realm candidates. This is why the Five Profound Sects require order!"

Le Xin looked at Yu Lian and cupped his hands. "You must be Fellow Daoist Yu Lian..." He greeted her politely, then continued, "Correct. The Daoist Scripture Hall exists to serve this very purpose. Before its establishment, the internal strife among the Five Profound Sects was extremely severe. The Earth Cave Sect, for instance, splintered and became mired in mutual hatred because of it."

"Currently, only your southern factions and the Northwest Tribes have preserved the original framework of the Daoist Scripture Hall, maintaining the established order of the Five Profound Sects. The Xuanmen Daoist Temples in most of the northern regions have already fallen into chaos. After this business in Shangjing City is over, even more regions will collapse. You..."

He looked at Wang Ping and said, "Your Chu Country regime will be unable to consolidate the territory it currently holds. You will soon see what it looks like when order collapses. That is why I said that no one wants to see the Xiao Shan Lord fail!"

Having said this, Le Xin stood up and cupped his hands. "This is what I came here to say. Fellow Daoist, do you now understand what to watch out for when you enter Shangjing City?"

Wang Ping also rose and returned the salute with cupped hands.

Le Xin's conversation with Wang Ping was to tell him that the Fourth Realm Cultivators would not be his enemies. The ones he truly needed to be concerned about and guard against were the Cultivators of the Same Realm waiting on the periphery to pick up scraps, and even some Second Realm Cultivators might pose a threat to him.

After Le Xin took his leave, Yu Lian said, "According to him, the Five Profound Sects evolved from the original True Spirits. If that's the case, the identities of the first True Monarchs are an obvious answer."

"The Demon Race!"

Wang Ping calmly uttered these two words.

Yu Lian landed on Wang Ping's shoulder and said, "But it's also possible that's not the case. Perhaps the Demon Race isn't the only one in this world. Have you forgotten about the Outer Realm Creatures?"

Wang Ping frowned and turned to look at the towering Golden Body Divine Statue of the Xiao Shan Lord nearby.

The topic ended there.

Sensing Wang Ping's mood, Yu Lian didn't pursue the topic any further.

After a long silence, Yu Lian gave a call and transformed into a streak of light, flying toward Moon Mountain. It seemed she was going to talk to Liu Shuang, who had already left the Chu Country army's command headquarters to focus on supervising the construction of the Qianmu Temple branch on Moon Mountain.

'Right now, a more important question weighed on Wang Ping's mind: why would Le Xin show him goodwill at this particular moment? There was no such thing as unprompted kindness in this world.'

'Was it about cooperating with the Datong Court?'

'Or was there a deeper reason?'

At this thought, Wang Ping took out a blank bamboo scroll. He inscribed his thoughts and his recent conversation with Le Xin onto the scroll using the secret code he shared with the Yu Cheng Taoist. Then, he summoned an Internal Affairs Disciple from Qianmu Temple and had him deliver the scroll to the Yu Cheng Taoist.

Afterward, Wang Ping entered a state of meditative trance.

「Three days later.」

Wang Ping received a reply from the Yu Cheng Taoist. The letter contained only one sentence: Do not enter the fray unless absolutely necessary!

These words brought sudden clarity to Wang Ping. His most important task at the moment was to complete his deal with the Xiao Shan Lord and settle their karmic bond. After that, he needed to find a way to obtain the latter half of the Cultivation Technique for advancing to the Fourth Realm and find an opportunity to break through.

'But there was a problem with this plan: the limited slots for the Fourth Realm.'

"Ah, forget it. I won't think about it anymore!"

…

「March 10th.」

In the morning, Wang Ping awoke from his meditative state. Gazing at the light on the horizon, he cast a divination trigram.

It was a Holy Trigram.

He then called out to Yu Lian, who was sleeping in the nearby grass. After a backward glance at the Xiao Shan Lord's Golden Body Divine Statue, he put away the Stone Table, stone stools, and the isolation Array before transforming into a streak of light and flying toward Moon Mountain.

As he flew out of the isolation Array, he was met with a fine, dense rain. The spring rainy season had arrived.

A moment later, Wang Ping appeared in the sky above the highlands at the southern end of Moon Mountain. Zhigong, Huaimo, Ganxing, Wu Quan, Hu Yin, and the Mountain Guards followed, landing beside him as streaks of light.

Wang Ping simply nodded to them in acknowledgment before flying toward the Central Army Camp north of Jianglin Road. The others naturally flanked him.

The rain covered most of the Jianglin Road region, growing heavier the closer they got to the Nong River. An hour later, Wang Ping saw the surging waters of the great Nong River, which split the land in two.

"What a mighty river!"

Wu Quan exclaimed in admiration.

Wang Ping looked at Huaimo and asked, "How long is this rain going to last?"

Huaimo gazed at the clouds, made a quick calculation, and replied, "It will continue for at least two more days. If we use Magic to change it, we could stop it now, but that might cause a major flood later. The laws of nature cannot be altered."

Zhigong suggested, "It doesn't have to be that complicated. We have so many Qi Cultivators. We can just have them use the 'Water Separation Technique' to part the river's waters."

Just as her voice fell, Zuo Xuan rose into the air against the rain, stopping before Wang Ping. She clasped her fist and said, "Greetings, Changqing Zhenren. Greetings, seniors."

"The heavens aren't cooperating, but the plan remains unchanged. Advance the army!"

Wang Ping ordered Zuo Xuan, his gaze fixed on the heavy mist to the north.

Zuo Xuan was about to descend and issue the orders when Wang Ping stopped her. "After you've assigned the tasks, go to Moon Mountain and find Liu Shuang. For now, you'll be stationed there. You don't need to worry about matters at the front line anymore."

"Yes!"

Zuo Xuan clasped her fist in a salute, then transformed into a streak of light and descended to the camp below.

Wang Ping then turned to Huaimo Taoist and said, "I'll have to ask you to deliver the message to Pingzhou Road, Fellow Daoist."

"Very well!"

Huaimo Taoist gave a quick salute with cupped hands and transformed into a streak of light, heading east toward Pingzhou Road.

Wang Ping glanced around, then flipped through the air and descended onto a nearby mountain peak. As his feet touched the muddy ground, dense vegetation sprouted up, covering the mire.

BOOM!

A bolt of lightning struck nearby. Yu Lian snarled at the oppressive dark clouds above.

Wang Ping deactivated the protective Array around his body, allowing the rain to fall on him. Feeling its chill, he closed his eyes. Yu Lian, meanwhile, ascended into the clouds to collect Water Spirit Qi, while the others silently watched the army camp below.

「Half an Hour later.」

With a blast of horns, the great army began to move out. First, the twenty-thousand-strong Vanguard Army marched to the edge of the Nong River, braving the rain. On a pre-built Gathering Spirit Array, several hundred Qi Cultivators worked in concert, using an Earth Vein Technique to construct a massive stone bridge over thirty feet wide. A few Water Cultivators worked at the sides, diverting the current to prevent the floodwaters from overwhelming the bridge.

The Vanguard Army crossed the great river smoothly and advanced toward the nearest county seat as planned. The Central Army, with its fifty thousand soldiers and one hundred thousand auxiliary troops, followed close behind. After crossing the river, they began constructing a fortified camp in an advantageous position, splitting their forces into two prongs to advance on two other county seats.

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