Chapter 557: Green
Of course, it seemed not everyone shared the same sentiment.
"Put Horses to Pasture!" A thunderous roar erupted from the ground!
Just as everyone was chatting and laughing jovially, looking as if they were about to resolve thousands of years of conflict, a giant warhorse, formed purely from spirit energy, suddenly leaped out from a faintly transparent, light spirit wine cup.
The warhorse, massive as a mountain, roared as it trampled towards Nanxuan Li, who stood in the center of the crowd, utterly disregarding the harmonious atmosphere around it.
It was like a troublemaker crashing a wedding feast, desperately ruining everything.
"Duan Long, what is the meaning of this?!" The Nanxuan clan patriarch, with a powerful Divine Palm Print, firmly resisted the spirit horse's iron hooves.
He completely failed to understand why, at such a time, when they were preparing to sever all worldly attachments, someone would still make a move—and targeting his own junior, no less.
...
"Nanxuan Li, if I have a chance to return alive, you'll be the first one I kill." Duan Long, who had initiated the attack, suddenly sneered coldly.
Compared to Duan Long, who was at Divine-level Consummation, Nanxuan Li was only at Divine-level mid-stage at this moment. If they truly came to blows, he probably wouldn't last ten moves.
Yet Nanxuan Li still couldn't fathom why Duan Long would act against him, even if it meant incurring the infamy of bullying the weaker with superior power.
"I thought you only had eyes for my daughter! Who knew you'd also get together with Meiniang!"
...
...
...
Those present were instantly speechless.
The Meiniang Duan Long spoke of was one of his most beloved concubines, and precisely the birth mother of his daughter.
Nanxuan Li for a moment didn't know how to respond. In his understanding, and that of most aristocratic families, such a thing was simply no big deal.
This all stemmed from the fact that the Manghuang Realm held few concepts related to etiquette and moral principles.
Especially to preserve the purity of their bloodlines and increase the number of high-grade bloodline users, intermarriage among close relatives in major aristocratic families, and even large-scale, uninhibited orgies among the upper echelons, were commonplace.
In fact, individuals like Xu Xuanling, who insisted on loving only one person for their entire life, and if unable to possess them exclusively, would rather destroy them, were the true oddities among the aristocratic upper crust.
"Prince Duan, I truly didn't expect you to care about such matters, just like those characters in Earth's storytelling novels." The Nanxuan family head couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing this, and the force in his hand relaxed considerably.
The Ark had brought a great deal of Earth's cultural influence to the Manghuang Realm. Among the most incompatible with the local culture were the concepts of family and love from Earth, compared to that of the Great Wei Dynasty.
Bloodline supremacy was the eternal theme of this land. Whether it was polygyny or polyandry, as long as it allowed excellent bloodlines to be passed down, the Great Wei Dynasty was highly tolerant of such practices.
However, only same-sex love was not encouraged, stemming from its inability to produce new bloodline seeds.
Particularly due to the existence of transcendent powers, there were quite a few women capable of moving mountains and filling seas with a single hand. Thus, the status of men and women within the Bloodline Houses was exceptionally equal.
It was precisely this bizarre and unique logic that led to relations between men and women in the Manghuang Realm's upper echelons being largely loose. With numerous casual sexual encounters being commonplace, few people cared who cuckolded whom, because they were all constantly cuckolding each other anyway.
"Old Duan, lighten up a bit. You're one of our royal family. How can you be influenced by things from outsiders?" Duan De Huai also couldn't stand it anymore. His own imperial kinsman was actually making such a fool of himself in front of outsiders.
"But I always feel they're the ones who are right... Better I cuckold everyone under heaven, than everyone under heaven cuckold me!"
"Stop learning all those strange things. Have you been interacting too much with the people from the Ark?"
The transmigrators from the Ark, when they first arrived, had a sense of superiority, feeling they needed to enlighten a backward civilization. Many even chose to approach the upper echelons, using their advanced knowledge and culture to deal with the Manghuang Realm's elite, deceiving quite a few in the process.
It was only later, as the two civilizations interacted more, that they gradually realized many of these "outsiders" were simply using them.
...
"We are leaving now. Remember, you must not be corrupted by external cultures, otherwise, the Great Wei Dynasty will cease to be a nation and become puppets of those fellows."
Relying on the strength of the crowd, the group ultimately "set Duan Long's thoughts straight," making him realize he had been "poisoned" by heretical ideas, and that in male-female relationships, there wasn't so much to fuss about.
Bai Mo watched this little interlude from beginning to end, remaining silent throughout.
"Are you ready?"
"Let's go!"
A group of old fellows, whose combined ages tallied tens of thousands of years, at this moment, were like primary school students on a spring outing, setting off, brimming with hope. They carried the method Bai Mo had provided for mortals to ascend to Immortals, and excitedly embarked on their journey.
The violent light gradually melted and refined their external bodies, leaving behind only their bloodline primordial spirits, which represented the core of their entire existence in the bloodline path.
This scene chilled those watching to the bone.
...
"This is Ancestor... no, Xingju's presence?!" Half a second after stepping through the light portal before them, everyone sensed an incredibly familiar spiritual fluctuation.
The shadow that had enveloped them for most of their lives appeared once more.
"It's me."
"What's going on!!!"
"Is that outsider deceiving us?"
...
"I have temporarily become one of them, or rather, a part of him. Your breakthrough this time will be assisted by me."
"Are you kidding me? You blocked us for thousands of years over this, and now you, you...?!" Upon hearing this, several individuals were so agitated they couldn't even speak, even though they were already in their primordial spirit forms.
"My body has transformed into the True Spirit Path connecting the Manghuang Realm to the worlds you are about to reincarnate into. Your true spirits will first proceed to the Minglun Realm of the Nine Netherworlds, and after a rotation through the Wheel of Fate..."
Ultimately, Xingju actually never hated these youngsters whom it had watched grow up since childhood, and quite kindly began explaining some of the principles involved.
"Remember your duty." Just as Xingju was about to say more, from a place infinitely far away, yet infinitely near, Bai Mo's voice sounded, stopping its intention to reveal more secrets.
Hindered by Bai Mo, it could only regretfully say, "Good luck."
Throughout these several millennia, Xingju had continuously blocked one talented individual after another who sought to explore the realm beyond the Divine-level, only because the Source Seed Path was a dead end, and continuing down it would only give rise to another world-destroying Yuan Wu Chu.
Yet, Bai Mo had now, with great irony, placed it in this position to assist with breakthroughs.
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