Chapter 1423 - 426: Utter Defeat

Chapter 1423: Chapter 426: Utter Defeat

Chapter 426 [Utter Defeat]

Midnight, at the peak of the southern mountain on the island.

Zhan Li gasped for breath as she climbed to the summit, her hands and face smeared with mud.

Now she possessed a mortal body, and her once superficial Celestial Human Realm cultivation had long been discarded by her own hand.

The mountains on this island were not very high, but for Zhan Li, whose physique was now that of a mortal, the climb left her nearly exhausted.

It had been several months since Zhan Li had abandoned her cultivation—after her master was imprisoned by the Elder Ancestor of the Ghost Race, and the elders of the Black Wood Tribe were slaughtered by the East Sea Sword Master, Zhan Li, once the highly esteemed Cave Maiden of the Ghost Race’s Black Wood Tribe, had already been sidelined in the latest power purge of the Black Wood Tribe.

But no matter what, her extraordinary background remained, and her father had at least aligned himself correctly, so Zhan Li retained her Cave Maiden status.

Several months ago, after kneeling before her father for three days, he finally sighed in resignation and agreed to Zhan Li’s request, bringing in two high-ranking elders of the Black Wood Tribe to act as Protectors, then dismantling her cultivation.

Thus, Zhan Li, once a prodigy among the young generation renowned in the Domain Realm, the Cave Maiden of the Ghost Race’s Black Wood Tribe, returned to a mortal body through Scattering Technique.

Even after Scattering Technique, even with the support of many elixirs provided by her father, it took Zhan Li more than two months to recover physically.

After that, she began her cultivation anew.

Yet, upon embarking on this path of rebuilding, she found it fraught with obstacles at every turn!

After Scattering Technique, her meridians were in disarray, and the Primordial Qi of this Domain Realm’s heaven and earth seemed to suddenly repel her body.

Zhan Li had shown exceptional talent from a young age, although the title of the strongest dual prodigy of her generation was somewhat exaggerated; in absolute terms of talent, she wasn’t actually as good as Gu Family’s Gu Qingyi.

But the fact that she was chosen by the former clan leader of the Ghost Race as a disciple and selected to be heavily groomed as a figurehead for the Ghost Race shows that Zhan Li’s talent was once among the top tier.

However, after Scattering Technique, her talent seemed to suddenly fail her.

For months, her path of cultivation reconstruction saw almost no progress at all!

She seemed to have lost her sense of and attraction to Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi; the cultivation techniques she had practiced and mastered for decades now failed to help her return to the stage of Primordial Qi Entering the Body.

The Ghost Race’s cultivation techniques proved ineffective, and Zhan Li even secretly tried two other sects’ techniques from the Domain Realm.

The result was despairing, as progress with other cultivation techniques was also pitiably slow.

While she could barely absorb a bit of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, the moment she relaxed, the Qi within her body would dissipate on its own.

The Yuan Qi affinity she once took pride in had vanished along with her scattered cultivation!

Her body, like a sieve full of holes, could not store any Qi at all.

Zhan Li spent months unable to even achieve the entry level of cultivation!

She couldn’t even breach the threshold of the First Realm!

She had thought Scattering and Rebuilding would be hard, but never did she predict it would be this difficult!

This was beyond merely "difficult"; it was despair!

Finally, the Decree from the Immortal Platform arrived, with news that a Saint would open an altar to impart teachings—it became the last glimmer of hope in Zhan Li’s heart!

A Saint!

Perhaps only a Saint could rescue her from her current plight!

Though the Ghost Race had their own venerable Saint Elder Ancestor, Zhan Li’s master had betrayed him and was imprisoned, leaving this rebellious disciple with no chance of seeking guidance from the Ghost Race’s Elder Ancestor.

If not for her father’s high standing in the Black Wood Tribe and his merits, she would likely have been purged long ago.

Therefore, attending the Saint’s altar teachings became Zhan Li’s sole hope!

She was now a mortal, no longer a Ghost Race Cave Maiden or a Domain Realm prodigy, wielding Divine Techniques with ease.

From the mountains of the Ghost Race, still escorted by tribal retainers sent by her father, Zhan Li left Ghost Race lands, but during the two-to-three-day sea journey, she suffered from relentless seasickness. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Upon reaching the island, with a hundred thousand cultivators converging, she, being a mere mortal, was disregarded, not having any position in the front rows but having to listen to the imparted teachings from afar.

Furthermore, with no cultivation, living as a mortal means eating and other needs; she endured the forty-nine days of teachings relying on Fasting Pills, but as a mortal, besides eating, one needs to sleep too.

Throughout the grueling forty-nine days, she gritted her teeth and endured, but every few days, she would inevitably fall asleep for a few hours during the teachings, causing nearby cultivators to gaze at her with disdain.

These grand teachings by a Saint, such a rare chance, and yet she dozes off halfway?

And she even slept that many times!

By the end of the forty-nine days of teachings, Zhan Li found that despite the boundless mysteries of the Saint’s teachings, they passed through her like wind over a mountain, leaving her with no enlightenment, not even a shift in the barrier blocking her from the path of cultivation beyond the First Realm!

Moreover, during those forty-nine days, Zhan Li, having endured as much as she could, realized the forty-nine days of raggedness and the hardships of living in the wild, had exhausted all the energy she had as a mortal.

She was completely drained!