In corners unnoticed by cultivators, male cultivators began to forcibly abduct and imprison female cultivators, turning them into tools for reproduction.
Initially, this phenomenon was confined to demon cultivators, but later, it spread to Daoist cultivators, and even Yunzhou experienced it.
At that time, all surviving Xiaoyao disciples, having forcibly overstepped their bounds as cultivators to become the array's will for the immortal array, suffered severe backlash.
The entire Xiaoyao, from the floating peaks to the External Sect, activated its sect-protecting array and entered secluded cultivation to heal and eliminate the backlash.
They were completely unaware of the external situation and powerless to intervene.”
From what Mu Chenze said, Gu Ningyun could infer the severity of the situation at the time.
It was likely that almost every female cultivator back then avoided leaving their homes, not even daring to trust those close to them.
They lived each day in fear of being abducted and used as breeding tools, never knowing a moment's peace.
Every day, countless female cultivators had their Dao hearts shattered, and countless more perished, persecuted by these wicked individuals.
“It was at this moment that the Hundred Flowers Sect's founding matriarch stepped forward.
She was one of the Body Integration experts who survived that invasion war.”
Mu Chenze said, “At that time, in Cangzhou, she emerged powerfully with the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, establishing the Hundred Flowers Sect at Ding'an Mountain in Cangzhou to shelter all persecuted female cultivators in the world.
She took the Red Lotus Karmic Fire as her sect emblem, declaring to all female cultivators that if anyone dared to persecute women, she would pursue them to the ends of the earth, take their lives with the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, burn their souls, and prevent them from even reincarnating.
With the establishment of this sect, the pronouncement of these words, and the burning of this fire, most villains were immediately suppressed, and the hearts of female cultivators were put at ease.”
Jun Luo said, “In the previous invasion war, all Mahayana cultivators, from demon beasts to human cultivators, had already sacrificed themselves, making the Body Integration stage the top combat power in the cultivation world.”
Gu Ningyun and Wen Xuan exchanged glances, their expressions changing as they looked at the big red flower, the Hundred Flowers Sect's emblem.
“The emergence of the Hundred Flowers Sect significantly improved the situation of abducted female cultivators.
However, as long as the threat of demon beasts persisted, this phenomenon could not be eradicated.
No matter how powerful this matriarch was, she was still only one person, and there were always places she couldn't reach.”
Jun Luo solemnly glanced in the direction of the Hundred Flowers Sect, then towards Xiaoyao in Yunzhou, before taking a deep breath and saying, “It wasn't until several centuries later that Xiaoyao's various peaks finally found a way to eradicate the backlash, recovering their bodies and cultivation.
They reopened their sect gates and learned of these events.
Upon hearing this, the Xiaoyao Sect Leader at the time immediately allied with the Hundred Flowers Sect and principled male cultivators from the cultivation world.
They split into two groups: one entered the demon realm, various mountain forests, and secret realms to slaughter demon beasts, killing them until they no longer dared to easily invade the territories of human cultivators and mortals.
The other group went to various black markets, underground establishments, and the demon world, uprooting the dens of these villains.
This two-pronged approach completely resolved the issue of wicked individuals persecuting women.”
“So, behind a small sect emblem, there's such a profound and weighty history.”
Jiang Yao’s voice was somewhat hoarse. “Jun Luo just said that our ancestors severely wounded the Great Horror and drove it out of our cultivation world. Could this Great Horror…”
“Watch your words!”
Jiang Yao was startled, having never seen Jun Luo so flustered.
Mu Chenze reassuringly patted Jun Luo's back and then rubbed Jiang Yao’s bald head. “Don’t panic, don’t panic. Some things are better left known only in our hearts. If spoken aloud, the heavens are listening, and so are others. Just like array's will, some powers grow stronger the more they are spoken of or thought about.”
After saying this, Mu Chenze fell silent.
The topic ended there, and none of the five brought it up again.
Gu Ningyun walked through the docks and spotted a slightly smaller spirit ship.
Unlike most spirit ships, where cultivators were mostly at the Golden Core or Nascent Soul stages, with Foundation Establishment stage as the minimum, this particular spirit ship was frequented by Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, and even a small number of Qi Refining stage cultivators.
Mu Chenze had already made a trip to a bookstore and bought a sea chart.
...
Three days later, at sea.
Based on the sea chart and observations at the docks, the five ultimately chose the small spirit ship Gu Ningyun had her eye on.
Although classified as small, this spirit ship was only about one-third smaller than the one they had initially seen.
Its sides were also carved with the emblems of four sects, indicating it belonged to Four Symbols Shipping.
It wasn't that there were no other organizations or private spirit ships at the docks.
However, perhaps because they had been in Xiaoyao for a long time and understood the power of large organizations, for this sect training expedition, Gu Ningyun and the others preferred to choose flying boats or spirit ships under the name of large organizations, feeling they would be more reliable.
The captain of their current spirit ship was a middle Golden Core stage cultivator, the first mate was an early Golden Core stage cultivator, and the sailors were at the Foundation Establishment stage.
The destination of this spirit ship's voyage was a place called the Ten Thousand Crab Sea.
Crabs were abundant there, with the largest crab species being the spider crab.
Spider crabs were rank two sea beasts, and a spider crab king could even reach rank three.
Their crab meat was succulent, and their shells were exceptionally hard, making them common materials for refining magic tools and array plates, very popular in inland regions.
Most cultivators on this ship had come for this purpose.
Along the way, the spirit ship would also pass through sea areas with low-grade sea beasts, where various marine materials like coral, seaweed, and pearls could be found, useful for refining special magic tools or pills.
The sky at sea was bluer than inland.
Gu Ningyun stood on the deck, gazing as far as she could, but beyond the reach of her divine sense and sight, there was still only deep blue water.
Blinding sunlight shone on the sea, revealing only layers of surging waves.
Beneath this relatively calm surface, who knew how deep it was, or how many sea beasts lurked within.
The sound of water from the spirit ship's movement gradually lessened; Gu Ningyun could feel the spirit ship slowing down.
Mu Chenze opened the sea chart and circled the location of the Blue Sea Coral.
The spirit ship slowly came to a halt, and a sailor shouted from the front, “We’ve arrived at the Blue Sea Coral sea area! Our spirit ship will stay here for ten days.
Fellow Daoists who need coral can disembark and explore on their own.”
Cultivators naturally have spirit energy circulating within their bodies, so for Qi Refining stage cultivators, holding their breath underwater for three to five hours was no problem.
However, to explore the deep sea, this amount of time was far from enough.
Gu Ningyun pulled out a grape-sized transparent bead from her storage bag; this bead was a rank one water-repelling pearl they had bought in Donglin City before boarding the ship.
By infusing it with spirit energy, the water-repelling pearl could form a water film around the cultivator, isolating seawater, allowing them to avoid the pressure of the seabed, breathe normally, and communicate freely.
According to the seller's experience, most Qi Refining level eight cultivators using a rank one water-repelling pearl could sustain its spirit energy for five days of activity on the seabed.
With the aid of pills like Spirit-Replenishing Pills, they could last as long as they wished.
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