Chapter 553: Boiling Wine to Discuss Ancient History

"Launch a counter-attack on the cultivation world..."

Sima Changkong's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he were recalling something.

After a moment, he slowly said, "Nowadays, when this matter is brought up, cultivators mostly dismiss it as a farce. But in reality, the scale of the Small World Allied Army was far from a mere joke. Otherwise, why would even the perpetually antagonistic Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Association have had to unite?"

A faint, imperceptible glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes. He leaned forward and asked in an indistinct tone, "Unite? Just to deal with the Small World Allied Army? Fellow Daoist Sima, surely you haven't misremembered? Weren't those from these small worlds just banished mortals? How could cultivators like us struggle so much against a group of ants? Besides, we have the Eternal Venerable who dominates the world. Could they really defeat us?"

Seeing Li Fan's face full of disbelief, Sima Changkong didn't get angry. Instead, he smiled faintly, flicked his finger, and a drop of blood flew between them. The blood drop, like a living thing, hovered in the air, then writhed, extending upwards, downwards, and in all four directions. It transformed into a canvas made of blood mist. On the canvas, a series of astonishing scenes gradually appeared.

One side of the battle was clearly the cultivators of the Xuanhuang World. However, the other side could also fly and burrow, clearly not ordinary mortals either. Although their combat methods varied, they were able to fight the cultivators back and forth. Some relied solely on their physical bodies, directly resisting cultivators' flying sword attacks and magical techniques. They charged close and tore cultivators to shreds with their bare hands. Others remained in the rear, remotely controlling strange streams of energy that descended from the sky, locking onto cultivators and striking specific targets. Even more remarkably, some were not human-shaped at all, appearing only as transparent white human skins. They drifted and moved about the center of the battlefield. Whenever someone was severely wounded, they would attach themselves completely. The group who had been near death and unable to move instantly became vibrant and full of life again. Even those missing limbs could regenerate them and regain their combat strength after being attached by the white human skins.

Li Fan stared at the constantly shifting scenes in the blood curtain, his expression slowly growing solemn. "Where are our high-level cultivators of the Xuanhuang World? Are those in the Dao Integration and Eternal stages just going to watch us fight like this, completely indifferent?" Li Fan's tone was somewhat indignant.

Sima Changkong shook his head slightly. "Not so, not so. They naturally had their own opponents. Although my ancestor's cultivation was limited at the time and he couldn't personally witness the battles of the powerful, it is said that our Xuanhuang World also suffered heavy losses." Sima Changkong sighed, "To the extent that for the past five hundred years, neither side has been willing to restart hostilities. They have primarily focused on recuperation."

Li Fan couldn't help but be surprised. "That strong? Are these people really from the small worlds?"

"Yes, and no." Sima Changkong summoned a mermaid-like creature, which refilled their cups. Only then did he continue, "They are merely pawns controlled by someone else. The true mastermind is someone else entirely."

Li Fan was slightly startled, his spirits rising. "What do you mean by that?"

"Their origins seem to trace back to when the Great Ancient Calamity had just descended. However, my ancestor did not record the specifics. But based on fragmented accounts collected after the war, it's known that they appear to be a group of people who left and then returned." Sima Changkong's face showed a hint of doubt as he slowly spoke. "Not only did the Dao Integration cultivators of the Xuanhuang World who fought them call them traitors, but even those cultivators who didn't know their identities would instinctively feel immense resentment the moment they saw them. During the battles, there were even instances of lightning descending from the heavens, striking these people. They seem to be abhorred by the entire Xuanhuang World."

"Left and returned, traitors..." Hearing this, Li Fan couldn't help but fall into deep thought. From the scenes Sima Changkong described, combined with what he had witnessed earlier in Senior Sister Zhao's illusion, Li Fan couldn't help but form some conjectures.

Back then, when numerous calamities like the prohibition against co-cultivation and the Immortal-Mortal Miasma descended simultaneously, the Ten Immortal Sects initially had a plan to unite and overcome the difficulties together. However, the situation deteriorated too quickly later on, and the various sects could barely fend for themselves, let alone offer mutual aid. When disaster struck, their fates diverged. Some vanished completely from the annals of history due to their disciples' mutual slaughter. Others sealed off their sects, withdrew from the world, and barely survived. But some, like the Southern Underworld Demonic Beast Mountain and the Heavenly Sword Sect, simply chose to flee the Xuanhuang World.

"Just as Di Yi said, individuals within a group all have their own choices. Without an absolute leader, it's impossible for them to act with a single will. It's only natural that cultivators would have their own choices. Perhaps these people took something with them when they fled. So much so that even the Xuanhuang World itself harbored resentment towards them. I just don't know why they returned after leaving. But to be able to safely return from the powerful pull of the Immortal Ruins, their strength must certainly not be weak."

Li Fan's thoughts slowly settled. He turned to look at Sima Changkong, his gaze more fervent. Truly worthy of being called the chronicler of the cultivation world. For nearly a thousand years, Sima Changkong had answers to most of the sealed and forgotten events in the history of the Xuanhuang World.

After Li Fan returned from Tianling State, he came to Sima Changkong's underwater crystal cave dwelling to avoid the war's repercussions. Leveraging his previous clone's familiarity with Sima Changkong, and Li Fan's own extensive knowledge and effortless recall of many secrets, he quickly gained Sima Changkong's favor. The two would drink and chat happily every day, reminiscing about the past of the Xuanhuang World. To prevent outsiders from disturbing them and to extract more information from Sima Changkong, Li Fan even offered to help him set up concealment and defensive arrays for his crystal cave dwelling. Seeing his counterpart's warmheartedness, Sima Changkong felt even more that this person was worth befriending deeply. Their relationship thus grew increasingly harmonious.

"Peace is temporary, but war is the eternal theme of history," Sima Changkong suddenly sighed after a long silence, setting down the wine cup he had already raised, his interest waning.

"Fellow Daoist, why do you say that...?" Li Fan suddenly realized. "Has the war between the Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Association officially begun?"

Sima Changkong nodded, somewhat heavily. "I don't know how many cultivators will perish on the battlefield."

"This is the natural way of heaven and earth. We are not the Eternal Venerable; how can we resist? Drink, drink!" Li Fan proactively refilled Sima Changkong's cup and comforted him.

"You're right, Fellow Daoist," Sima Changkong said, draining his cup and swallowing both the fine wine and his emotions.

Li Fan then steered the conversation elsewhere.

Time flew by; in the blink of an eye, a year had passed. The war between the Myriad Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Association had reached a fever pitch, but Li Fan had completely settled down at Sima Changkong's residence, not leaving for a single step throughout the year.