Chapter 197: CH. 197 | It’s Time to Fight Back.
With that dao dimension shielding them, they no longer had anything to fear, especially the tavern owner.
Lin Tian reassured him that the dimension he’d created was safe and virtually undetectable by other cultivators.
"There’s actually a lot going on in the cultivation world. Like the war against the Yuanmo Sect, and other sects being wiped out."
"Skip that, I already know all of it," Lin Tian said. "Has anything happened in the last two days specifically?"
"The last two days, huh? Let me think of anything recent."
"Aside from that demon tower at the black lake getting destroyed, I haven’t heard anything else."
Lin Tian let out a quiet breath, then tapped lightly on the wooden bar counter, pulling the man out of the dao dimension.
His awareness snapped back into his body, though he had no memory of what had just happened.
"Hey!"
"Quit spacing out and bring us that drink!" two cultivators in black robes barked.
The tavern owner handed over two jugs of wine to the cultivators. They walked off without so much as a glance in his direction, arrogance radiating off them.
The man let out a short sigh and shook his head at their attitude. Honestly, he missed the days before the war ever started.
Lin Tian kept an eye on them, catching bits of their conversation, information that turned out to be far more valuable than anything the tavern owner had offered.
From them, he picked up details about the Lingxian Sect’s planned counterattack, along with word of the Yuanmo Sect Leader’s fury after losing two demon towers.
"If they tell me to guard that tower next, I swear I’m not doing it!"
"You’re right. Thanks to that mysterious cultivator, our whole plan’s falling apart!"
Lin Tian noticed a clear shift in their attitude, plenty of them clearly weren’t on board with the Yuanmo Sect’s plans anymore.
Their reasons varied, some didn’t want to die, others just wanted a quiet life. Either way, they were all finding ways to dodge their assignments.
The Yuanmo Sect’s falling apart from the inside. It’s safe to say they won’t last much longer.
THUMP!
A dominant burst of spiritual energy swept across the entire city. The mortals felt a powerful gust of wind, while the cultivators felt the qi surge through their bodies.
The two black robed cultivators felt it too. They rushed out of the tavern and looked up at the sky, spotting cultivators in gray and white robes standing on the sky floor.
"The Lingxian Sect!"
Lin Tian caught what they said. His eyes narrowed, and his soul awareness immediately swept across the area.
Through his cultivator senses, he could tell the group arriving in the city was a coalition allied with the Lingxian Sect, led by a Mid Nascent Soul cultivator.
Looks like their counterattack is already underway.
The people controlling Huangtian City stepped forward to face them, fewer in number, but with at least two Nascent Soul cultivators among them.
"People from the demonic sect!"
"It’s time for you to leave this city."
"If you don’t... me and the entire Lingxian Sect Alliance will kill every last one of you!"
The Lingxian Sect Alliance? Excellent.
Let’s see what they’re actually capable of.
The tavern owner, who had no memory of Lin Tian being a cultivator, urged him to go find shelter.
Lin Tian agreed, sealing off his cultivation base and playing the part of an ordinary mortal like everyone else.
He and the others left the city to evacuate. From outside, they climbed a nearby hill and watched the two sides of cultivators clash with each other.
Powerful bursts of qi rang out, shaking the sky and tearing through the rumbling black clouds. Everyone watching could see clearly just how strong these fighters really were.
"Is... is Huangtian City going to be destroyed?"
"Given the scale of that fight, I’m afraid so," another man answered.
"Things are already hard enough, why can’t they just fight somewhere else?"
Lin Tian glanced over and noticed their unease. Mortals sat at the very bottom of the hierarchy, unable to compete with cultivators and immortals in any way.
But that also left them vulnerable, easily oppressed, easily made to suffer, easily hurt.
They didn’t cause any of this destruction. They never split mountains, never tore holes through the earth, never poisoned the seas. They’re the truest form of beings living in harmony with the laws of nature.
But whenever cultivators go to war, they’re always the first ones caught in the crossfire.
The current situation was a perfect example. They’d fled to save themselves because the city was no longer safe, unable to fight back since they had no strength of their own.
All they could do was watch, and accept whatever happened.
Lin Tian kept his eyes fixed ahead as the Lingxian Sect cultivators clashed fiercely with the Yuanmo Sect’s forces. Explosions lit up the battle, tearing through the city and setting the forest trees ablaze.
Massive fires roared through the forest outside the city, and buildings inside the city burned as well.
Black smoke rose high into the sky. Huangtian City was being torn apart by the war.
If this isn’t stopped soon, Huangtian City is going to end up just like every other ruined city across the land of Qin.
The fight raged on, and they could see the Lingxian Sect Alliance gradually gaining the upper hand. They cut down many Yuanmo Sect members and eventually seized control of the city.
Relief and joy spread across the mortals’ faces. They hurried down the hill, eager to head back into the city.
Even though the fighting had ended, the city itself was left in ruins, badly damaged. They felt happy, but also heartbroken.
Happy that the Yuanmo Sect had finally been driven out, but heartbroken because they had no money to rebuild what had been destroyed.
One of the men from the Lingxian Sect Alliance arrived, a Core Formation cultivator from the Yuntian Sect. He announced that he’d be taking charge of the city for the time being.
"Lord Governor... my tavern’s been wrecked and destroyed. Is there any way we could get funds to repair it?" the tavern owner asked.
The Core Formation cultivator turned and, to everyone’s surprise, shook his head, "I’m sorry. Resources are stretched thin because of the war. Please cover repairs with your own money for now. We’ll pay you back once the war’s over!"
"B-But we don’t have any money."
The Core Formation cultivator went quiet, clearly at a loss for what to do himself.
He could probably repair one building using his own spiritual energy, but that felt like too much of a waste, since he needed to save that energy for fighting off Yuanmo Sect forces.
Especially with spiritual energy running so thin across the entire Qin Kingdom, he had to be careful about how he spent it.
Faced with that reality, the mortals had no choice but to accept what they’d been told.
Lin Tian stepped through the crowd of mortals and came to stand in front of the Core Formation cultivator. The man’s eyes narrowed immediately.
"You... who are you?"
Without answering, Lin Tian summoned his spiritual qi orb and sent it shooting into the sky.
The man could see it clearly, the momentum behind that spiritual energy felt powerful, overwhelming, even stronger than a Nascent Soul cultivator’s.
The orb of spiritual energy burst, scattering sparks of qi across the entire area, striking every damaged building and repairing it instantly.
Collapsed buildings rose back up, standing sturdy once more. The fires died out. Walls mended themselves. The city streets cleared and turned spotless.
The mortals froze in shock. None of them had imagined that the man who’d been standing among them this whole time was actually an Immortal wielding power beyond anything they’d seen.
"Wait! You? Don’t tell me you’re—"