Ye Yu had no idea what it was like inside.
He was no doctor, unable to diagnose or treat illnesses.
However, any normal person in such a condition would have already died…
The fact that the white-haired youth before him was still alive proved he was no ordinary person.
Ye Yun was not surprised by this. Wu Tao's very entrance was enough to show he was not ordinary.
Based on his speculation, the person before him was clearly an immortal!
It was precisely because Ye Yun believed Wu Tao was an immortal and worth saving that he went to great lengths to rescue him.
If Wu Tao had been an ordinary person, Ye Yun would not have bothered saving him or bringing him home.
He did not want to end up like his parents, living a hard life as a common fisherman.
He wished to be like the disciples of noble clans and famous sects, able to find a legendary immortal as a master, then enter officialdom and become a person of high standing in the Great Jin Dynasty.
However, his own circumstances dictated that without a monumental opportunity, he would never achieve prominence in this life!
This was because he possessed no spiritual root, rendering him incapable of absorbing spiritual energy and embarking on the path of cultivation. Furthermore, his family was extremely poor, and he had no money to hire a spirit planter to implant an artificial spiritual root for him!
It was a vicious cycle: the poorer you were, the more you yearned for change, yet you were forever unable to change!
Unless a colossal stroke of luck or a noble benefactor appeared, the situation could not be altered!
But where was one to find such benefactors? More importantly, why would they help him without reason?
The strong only aided the strong, as there could be mutual benefit. Helping the weak yielded nothing but their gratitude!
While it was not impossible for the strong to help the weak, it was exceedingly rare.
Such acts usually occurred due to familial ties, debts of gratitude, or immense kindness!
In Ye Yun's case, helping Wu Tao was an attempt to leverage the favor of being saved to obtain an artificial spiritual root!
Returning to the main topic!
Due to a malfunction in the teleportation array, Wu Tao's ultra-long-range teleportation array had not sent him to the Nine Provinces cultivation world, but instead to a completely unfamiliar continent!
This continent was known as Zizhou!
The system of Zizhou Continent differed greatly from that of the Nine Provinces and the underground cultivation world.
Let's discuss the Nine Provinces first.
Humans were supreme, ruled by twenty orthodox and demonic major sects that dominated all opposition with their power.
Now, let's talk about the underground cultivation world.
It was a mixed populace of a hundred races, with humans residing in a corner. Though a strong race, they could only defend themselves, not conquer the world.
Finally, Zizhou Continent.
Although humans were also the masters of Zizhou Continent, dominating a vast region, the sects were no longer the dominant force…
Instead, the imperial dynasties had become the dominant power.
The primary reasons for this shift were twofold.
One reason was the emergence of a peerless genius, or rather, a miraculous existence, in the middle era of Zizhou Continent.
His name was Liu Haotian!
Liu Haotian was initially an ordinary mortal. However, through some unknown fortuitous encounter, he miraculously created the incredibly powerful immortal art of artificial spiritual roots!
After acquiring a spiritual root and the ability to cultivate, he spent several hundred years developing an even more astonishing immortal art: the art of gathering national destiny, earth destiny, and celestial destiny!
In layman's terms, it meant gathering the collective Qi of a nation for one's own use, revering the Heavenly Dao, and practicing the Immortal Dao!
He turned the ridiculous claim of mortal emperors, that they were sons of heaven, used to deceive ignorant subjects, into a tangible reality.
This immortal art was named Forge Immortal Dynasty!
Nascent Soul cultivators were not immortal, but they could live for at least ten thousand years!
However, after the Primordial, Ancient, and Upper Ancient eras, who among the world could reach the Nascent Soul stage?
While countless paths to cultivation existed, only a select few in the myriad cultivation worlds achieved the Nascent Soul stage…
The path of cultivation was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
And human lifespans were generally shorter than those of other races…
Within a limited time, breaking through barriers and advancing to higher realms was incredibly challenging.
This was because, during the process of cultivation, human lifespans were simply too short.
Qi Refining stage: a hundred years. Foundation Establishment stage: two hundred years of lifespan. Core Formation stage: only five hundred years of lifespan. Failure to reach Core Formation before five hundred meant death.
The Nascent Soul stage was slightly better, granting a thousand years of life.
After the Purple Mansion stage, lifespan increased significantly, with Nascent Soul cultivators living for over ten thousand years!
However, Forge Immortal Dynasty allowed one to gather vast amounts of destiny, and with the power of destiny, gain the recognition of heaven and earth, accelerating cultivation speed by a hundredfold!
A hundredfold cultivation speed – how terrifying was that!
At that time, Zizhou Continent was still under the dominion of sects, and the mortal world was not highly regarded.
By the time they reacted, Liu Haotian had already unified Zizhou Continent. Empowered by the destiny of the entire continent, he successfully broke through to the Nascent Soul stage!
The major sects, finally realizing the threat, launched furious counterattacks against Liu Haotian, who had already established his power, and his Great Jin Immortal Dynasty.
However, against the chosen son of destiny favored by heaven and earth, all their efforts were in vain.
These individuals were all killed by Liu Haotian, solidifying his peerless and everlasting fame!
The immortal art of Forge Immortal Dynasty allowed Liu Haotian to achieve his empire, becoming the greatest figure recorded in the history of Zizhou's cultivation world after the Primordial, Ancient, and Upper Ancient eras, hailed as the Immortal Emperor!
And the art of artificial spiritual roots enabled the immortal dynasty he created to become the first empire in history to endure for half an epoch, billions of years!
Indeed, in this era, the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty still reigned supreme over Zizhou. The entire continent remained under their rule, with sects never rising to prominence!
The cultivation world of Zizhou Continent was still jointly governed by the emperor and the noble families!
This situation arose because the art of artificial spiritual roots was truly an epoch-defining immortal art.
Originally, to enter the cultivation world, the prerequisite was to possess a spiritual root or higher innate talent, which was largely a matter of luck!
The probability of cultivators emerging from noble cultivation families was only slightly higher than from ordinary mortals.
This meant that no matter how glorious a cultivation family was, it was destined to decline and perish due to a generation of cultivators dying out, leading to a lack of successors.
Before the advent of the art of artificial spiritual roots, there were no such things as eternal cultivation families in the cultivation world…
After at most tens of thousands of years, everyone was on the same footing; neither the common folk nor the descendants of noble families held any inherent superiority.
It was precisely because of this that sects, which opened their gates widely without regard for status, could continuously rule the cultivation world!
However, the art of artificial spiritual roots changed this status quo, even altering the entire course of history.
By expending a certain amount of resources, one could transform a mere mortal family member into a cultivator capable of embarking on the path of cultivation…
This was an incredibly worthwhile endeavor for noble families.
The noble families, possessing the vast majority of resources, used the art of artificial spiritual roots to transform all their kin into cultivators!
It was like a snowball effect, entering a virtuous cycle. As long as they did not suffer extreme misfortune or major accidents, these noble families could perpetually stand at the apex, looking down upon the mortals below!
In summary, in the present Great Jin Imperial Dynasty, although the Liu royal family was not as powerful as in the era of their ancestors, they still had five Nascent Soul stage cultivators guarding them!
However, among the numerous noble families, the four great families – Wang, Li, Kong, and Qin – had banded together to restrain the Liu imperial lineage!
Each of these four great families possessed one Nascent Soul stage cultivator!
…
And the sects were not without power capable of contending with them, though they were not located on Zizhou Continent.
…
Meanwhile!
Ye Yu's heart was filled with trepidation!
After all, he knew nothing of Wu Tao's character. If Wu Tao turned out to be a ruthless demonic cultivator, Ye Yu would be in dire straits…
Wu Tao, in his youth, had once found a severely injured powerful cultivator…
Without hesitation, he sold the heavily wounded, unconscious cultivator on the black market for a large sum of spirit stones!
In Wu Tao's eyes, only tangible benefits were truly beneficial!
He never pursued ephemeral things.
…
In contrast, Ye Yu's disposition was gentler, slightly different from Wu Tao's personality, hence his different choice!
He had chosen to entrust his fate to chance.
He was gambling on what kind of person Wu Tao truly was…
If successful, the rewards would be far greater than what Wu Tao had obtained then. The downside was the potential loss of his own life and that of his sister.
…
Approximately the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he once again hoisted his simple boat and set off for other locations, intending to gather the latest news from the surrounding area.
Before leaving, he earnestly instructed his younger sister not to light any fires while he was away and to absolutely not leak any information about the blood-stained white-haired youth.
…
After rowing for a considerable distance, Ye Yu approached the area he had visited earlier.
He was astonished to find that the vicinity had become noticeably livelier.
The anomalies that had occurred during the previous period had been witnessed by many, and numerous fishermen had indeed taken action because of it.
Even individuals considered unattainable by ordinary fishermen had arrived here!
These people, upon reaching the vicinity, were aboard large ships, diligently trying to find the root cause of the anomaly that had appeared that day.