Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Hardly had Li Yao finished his sentence when Meng Duo and Gu Siduo, two hideous-looking barbarian Cultivators, shivered as if they were feverish. One left and the other right, they carried Li Yao aside before he exclaimed, “Dear heavens! Brother Snake Swallower, you can always kill yourself if you want to, but why do you have to involve the two of us? You are all by yourself without any dependency. But we have our villages and compatriots behind us. One moment of carelessness, and the entire tribe might be wiped out. It’s not a joke!”

Realizing that Li Yao was probably an idiot who probably did not know what fear was, the two barbarian Cultivators somewhat regretted talking to him.

But what was done could not be undone. They could only describe Master Spiritual Vulture’s backgrounds to Li Yao as vividly as they could, so that the reckless young calf would know what was best for him.

So to speak, Master Spiritual Vulture was a brutal man who was active in the Southland of Sorcerers some seventy years ago.

It was said that he was the son of Red Feather Village’s leader, which was to the west of the Southland of Sorcerers. He was supposed to inherit the leadership after his father passed away.

But as it turned out, there were quite a few ambitious fellows in Red Feather Village, who learned some evil arts from a few sorcerers from outside towns. They claimed that the giant birthmark on his forehead was an embodiment of an evil god and an ill omen.

For the safety of the village, the ‘Green Crow Evil God’ at the center of his eyebrow must be plucked out. But their sole purpose was merely to kill him.

Master Spiritual Vulture had a series of fierce battles with the enemy. He luckily escaped but went missing afterward.

In fact, he was recruited by Elder Five Despairs of the Flying Thunder Cave of the Broken Stomach Mountain as a disciple. He had a senior brother named ‘Master Black Moon’.

Since the birthmark on his forehead looked like a soaring bird, and it was the source of the vicissitudes of his life, Elder Five Despairs named him after ‘Spiritual Vulture’.

In the decades that followed, Master Spiritual Vulture and Master Black Moon had been training after Elder Five Despairs in the Flying Thunder Cave.

Later, for reasons no one knew, Elder Five Despairs died abruptly.

Rumors in the Southland of Sorcerers had it that the two of them, having learned all the necessary knowledge, were so greedy about their master’s magical equipment and techniques that they killed their master in an ambush while Elder Five Despairs were not unprepared!

After the senior brother and the junior brother split their master’s belongings, they went their separate ways. Naturally, Master Spiritual Vulture went back to the Red Feather Village for revenge.

To this moment, what he had been doing was still within the understanding of most people. It did not seem inappropriate although he minced his former enemies into pieces.

But as it turned out, Master Spiritual Vulture was a temperamental, bloodthirsty and even psychopathic person.

After he returned to the Red Feather Village, not only did he torment the few members of the tribe who framed him in the past, leading to their deaths with the most cruel methods, he had even blocked the gate of the house and butchered the hundreds of people in the village, leaving no survivors, in their party to celebrate him as the new leader.

“In the past, when they smeared that I was possessed by the evil god and were about to dig out my brains, you were all reluctant, suspicious and even taking their sides. You thought that I ought to be sacrificed for the sake of the village!

“Hehe. In my opinion, it is you who are possessed by the evil god. For the safety of the village, let me open your head and see if there’s an evil god inside!”

It was said that Master Spiritual Vulture crushed the members of his tribe’s skulls one after another while declaring as such.

Such an insane and inhuman action was appalling enough even for the uncivilized ‘strange barbarians’ who feasted on raw meat and blood.

But it was not the end of his revenge.

Although all his enemies were killed, his enemies were all disciples of certain sorcerers of other villages and only coveted his right of succession because of the sorcerers’ instigation.

Master Spiritual Vulture made a list of seven sorcerers. He massacred them as well as their whole villages. Even the animals in the villages were not left alive.

Master Spiritual Vulture’s brutality henceforth spread out to the entire Southland of Sorcerers.

His blatancy was putting everybody in the Southland of Sorcerers in panic. They were scared whenever they heard the name ‘Spiritual Vulture’. Naturally, many barbarian Cultivators intended to remove the hazard.

This was the time when Master Spiritual Vulture showed his wisdom.

The guy was strong enough after inheriting Elder Five Despairs knowledge. He had also butchered everyone in his own village. He had absolutely no weakness or anyone he cared about.

Therefore, he was coming and going unpredictably in the forests. It was difficult to keep track of him.

Besides, he understood the importance of ‘cutting the roots of weeds to stop them from growing again’ very well. His attacks were well-considered and thorough. The entire families of his enemies were slaughtered, and not a single victim survived.

The barbarian Cultivators mostly pursued after him to maintain the order and peace of the Southland of Sorcerers. They had no direct grudge with him.

He also announced to the Southland of Sorcerers about everything that happened in the past. He claimed that what he did was purely for vengeance.

Whoever came after him must note that their family and tribes might end up the same way as the eight villages including the Red Feather Village did!

However, if he were not attacked first, he would not go on a killing spree without a reason, either.

After all, he was all by himself right now and had nothing to lose. It was more than easy for him to find out who was hunting him.

While the enforcers of justice were looking for him in the forests, they might not be able to look after their villages properly. So, it would be easy for him to ‘look after’ their villages!

After such an announcement was made, the barbarians, who were ‘determined’ to remove the public hazard in their ‘indignity’, went separate ways on the spot. Who was willing to mess up with such a brutal man when there were no gains?

All in all, Master Spiritual Vulture was such an insane, vicious maniac who had massacred his own village when he went crazy!

Massacring eight villages in a row, and still swaggering in the Southland of Sorcerers, he was the unique Cultivator in the Southland of Sorcerers a hundred years ago.

Because of the betrayal of his fellows in the past, Master Spiritual Vulture was quite solitary. Later, after he grew notorious, he was always acting on his own.

He retrieved tremendous resources and Cultivation arts from the eight villages he demolished. After training for another twenty years, he was almost growing into the top expert in the Southland of Sorcerers.

Then, even fewer people dared to piss him off here. Occasionally, when he visited a certain village, all the folks in the village would be so frightened that they would offer everything he desired as if he were a deity.

Even if he appeared in front of the barbarian Cultivators blatantly, most of them could only swallow their pride and call him ‘master’ respectfully because of his formidability.

Around fifty years ago, Master Black Moon, Master Spiritual Vulture’s senior brother, sent a letter to him, stating that he had encountered a secret treasure and would like Master Spiritual Vulture to explore and capture it together with him.

Different from Master Spiritual Vulture, his senior brother Master Black Moon took the more orthodoxy career of the barbarian Cultivators.

The so-called ‘orthodoxy career’ referred to the practice that the Cultivators would look for a village after their training was complete and work as the guardians, priests or sorcerers of the tribe. Then, they would help the tribe to hunt animals, deal with demon beasts, and fight against the priests and sorcerers of the hostile tribes.

Their own living expenses and the resources that their training demanded would be covered by the tribe under their protection.

The higher their Cultivation was, the more techniques they would be able to provide, and the more flourishing the tribe would be. As a result, the position and the resources that the barbarian Cultivator had would soar, too.

If he were so capable that he could meet everyone’s needs, he would also be a ‘Great Sorcerer’ who commanded multiple tribes. He would even be able to establish his own sect and recruit disciples, raising the disciples into the priests and sorcerers of other tribes. It would be an even more splendid cause.

That was exactly Master Black Moon’s approach.

Inheriting Elder Five Despairs’ knowledge same as his junior brother did, he did an excellent job, too. When Master Spiritual Vulture became the most notorious man in the Southland of Sorcerers, his personal influence spread to dozens of tribes, too. He also made friends with a lot of Cultivators from the central plateaus. He was almost considered as a positive representative of the Cultivators in the Southland of Sorcerers.

The rumors that he betrayed and killed his master was just a minor conflict among the barbarians without valid proof in the eyes of the Cultivators from the central plateaus. It was not worth mentioning at all.

Nobody knew what was the relationship between Master Black Moon and Master Spiritual Vulture.

All in all, there was no telling what promises Master Black Moon made in the letter, but Master Spiritual Vulture went to meet him gladly.

What happened later was quite uncanny, with many different versions.

According to Master Black Moon, Master Spiritual Vulture was wounded and poisoned by demon beasts during the adventure, before he fell into an abyss and went missing.

But some of the barbarian Cultivators claimed that Master Black Moon killed his junior brother when he was unprepared just like how they ambushed Elder Five Despairs in the past!

As to exactly why Master Black Moon did that, opinions varied. Maybe, it was because such an infamous junior brother as Master Spiritual Vulture would be a great stain and burden on his growing reputation. Maybe, it was because he had been coveting half of Elder Five Despairs’ belongings which were given to Master Spiritual Vulture in the past. Maybe, it was Master Spiritual Vulture who attacked first only to be killed later… But none of the reasons mattered.

What mattered was that Master Spiritual Vulture, the notorious man that was everyone’s nightmare, finally disappeared. He hadn’t been seen for decades.

Even so, his death was not acknowledged after all. Because of his appalling brutality, nobody had the courage to gossip about Master Spiritual Vulture in daylight even today.

If, however unlikely, the guy was not dead yet, it certainly wouldn’t be a joke if such a volatile, petty maniac who had the habit of killing others’ entire village got his eyes on you.

Meng Duo and Gu Siduo were both well-renowned sorcerers in their villages. They had a lot of family members, too. They did not have any place to run to. Therefore, they were unwilling to take any unnecessary risks.

So, he truly is a brutal and notorious man!

Li Yao thought to himself. He finally figured out why Master Spiritual Vulture was hiding inside his cave for decades.