Yue Lingzu sat leisurely in his open air pavilion, absorbing the power of the moon. His body was just a mass of cold blue light that gathered together into a humanoid figure. With each breathe, his body seemed to shine a tiny bit brighter.

  “Alas, the cultivation of spirits is really difficult! Who would have thought that after reincarnating for over a decade, I’d still be in the early qi refining stage! A well, at least our lifespan can be called near eternal. Maybe it’s my destiny to just sit around for centuries, waiting to advance…”

  His long hair winded down his white robe, looking like an immortal who had descended. If it wasn’t for his words, one might think he was a banished hermit.

  “At least this Crescent Moon Mountain has a higher concentration of the moon element, and it seems a small spiritual vein would form in a few years too.” He had found this mountain among the countless mountains in the High Mountains County.

  This counter was under the Southern Mountains Prefecture that was adjacent to the Myriad Mountains Region.

  At first, Lingzu was confused why this whole place had something to do with mountains, until he found that there were countless mountains in this region. Not only was the Southern Mountain Prefecture bordering the Myriad Mountains Region, the High Mountains County itself was the southernmost county of the immortal dynasty. If you jumped high enough, you would always land on another mountain.

  “Well, this mountain is actually flat compared to others in the county, but it has a large plain around it, really a unique scenery among the mountains. Just the valley that formed between the peaks would be large enough to fit a whole city in the past, not to mention the mountain was huge too.

  If this mountain was placed anywhere else, it would long have been populated. Unfortunately, it ended up being in this lost corner. Even the prefecture basically gave up on the county.

  The beast raids are really too frequent, sometimes the tribes that live in the myriad mountains’ region end up in this county too, causing disaster before they went back. It seems like the immortal dynasty has given up on the counties’ development… or rather, they haven’t found a good way to push forward the development. After all, who would be willing to give up such a large and resourceful region as the Myriad Mountains Region?

  If I remember correctly, the Evergreen Immortal Dynasty already conquered three regions… well, even if they want to conquer this fourth, not to mention the mountain tribes that would fight, there are still the other immortal dynasties, the small immortal kingdoms between, and the sects across the whole world who fight the dynasty.

  There are too many enemies, it’s no wonder they have to give up this fat piece of meat. If it wasn’t for this, who wouldn’t be tempted to participate in this? If they are fortunate, they might be the third grand duchy who walks alongside the imperial family.”

  Lingzu had a lot of time every day, his cultivation didn’t require his active thought as long as he was in a position to absorb. After such a long time, he started the habit of guessing things about all that happens around the world, making random plans, like he was playing a strategy game in his mind. Unfortunately, reality wasn’t a game, and he could only wait boredly.

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  “I wonder what those two are doing!” he smiled when he thought of the two children he adopted. Although it was a random move, he was really happy to have taken them in!

  These two mortal children seemed to be tribal members of the southern region who had lost their path, or maybe they were send out because they didn’t have a way. Regardless, Lingzu knew for sure they were tribal members because they had a special totem symbol on their forehead.

  He didn’t know the situation of the tribes in the myriad mountains, but this didn’t stop him from liking these two children who seemed to have a deep relationship with the moon.

  “Well, the immortal dynasty worships the immortals and gods, while the tribes worship celestial phenomena and natural figures. Maybe there is a moon totem tribe. If the tribe is strong enough, then the moon totem should have formed a spirit… these spirits are the closest to my spirit race, although not naturally born, they are still like distant relatives.

  Just like how humans perceive other humanoid races as part of their origin.

  I would really like to enter and find that tribe! Unfortunately, the mountains are vast and there will always be danger, it’s better not to enter before reaching higher stages.

  I do wonder though, where have those two gone to?” he was worried about those two little children. No matter what, this was still the immortal dynasties territory and Lingzu feared they might be caught accidentally.

  “Well, this is their journey and I can’t do anything about it. They should be around sixteen or so, and based on their shamanic totem symbol on their forehead, they should be direct descendants of whatever tribe they fled from. He didn’t restrict them when they said they wanted to leave.

  If it wasn’t for this, Lingzu would have kept them forever. At least he wouldn’t be so bored.

  Right then, he saw a large ship flying from afar approaching his place. Lingzu looked at it and was confused – no one would willingly come this close to the border, especially in such a grand way. Just looking at the ship, if it approached the border any further after the moon mountain, it would likely cause reactions from the beasts and hiding tribal members.

  A second later, Lingzu was even more confused – the ship came to his direction!

  “Should I hide?” he asked himself, then shook his head. As a spirit, he might be caught by cultivators to refine him into a resource or other such things, but he saw that the ship had the flag of the immortal dynasty, a green flag with a moving picture of a tree growing until it transformed into the eastern wooden dragon, standing mighty high above.

  Others might not know, but the immortal dynasty would know how much fortune they would lose by hunting spirits. After all, spirits are the children of the world, manifestations of natural phenomena. Killing them is more harm than good, so most of the time, spirits are just left alone to do what they want in the world, only foolish cultivators would attack them.

  This was why Lingzu leisurely took over the mountain. As for his fear of the myriad mountains, well, who knows if there is a blind fool out there? At least he should have the strength to defend himself before entering any dangerous region.

  Soon, the ship really slowed down above the valley between the crescent moon mountains’ peaks, approaching his pavilion at the top of the mountain.

  When they came closer, Lingzu finally saw the people on the ship – a man in turquoise-cyan clothes… and his two adopted children who wore the same clothes!

  Behind the three, there were numerous other people in the ship – as far as Lingzu could count, there were at least two hundred! He could fully see the size of the ship up close, which was as large as a three or four story building.