Jian Wen Blessed Land.
The palace stretched deep, its halls vast beyond count. Tree canopies cast thick shade, and summer cicadas sang.
The long-sealed palace doors opened. Feathermen maids knelt along the path, paying respect to their mistress — Xia Cha.
Xia Cha's expression was grim, her mood heavy.
She had been in closed cultivation for a long time, trying every method she could think of, yet none had allowed her to advance from Fifth Transformation Gu Master to Sixth Transformation.
Every approach had been exhausted. The only path remaining before her was to purchase a Second Empty Orifice Immortal Gu of the Sixth Transformation level from Fang Yuan.
As the Grand Elder of the Xia Clan, Xia Cha had once possessed Eighth Transformation cultivation. But during the ambush battle along the River of Time, she had been captured by Fang Yuan. Though she had survived by sheer luck, her Eighth Transformation Immortal Aperture had been stripped away.
After releasing Xia Cha, Fang Yuan had seized the opportunity to sell Second Empty Orifice Gu, using another means to extort the super forces of the Southern Border.
Xia Cha had obtained a chance to cultivate anew. Like a drowning person spotting a last lifeline, she had grasped it with everything she had.
She had already rebuilt her cultivation back to the Fifth Transformation, but she was stuck at the most critical step.
Ascension to immortality!
Her countless attempts to ascend had all ended in failure.
"Sigh." Xia Cha let out a breath, finally accepting reality.
"Prepare clean water for me to wash. Also, announce that I have emerged from seclusion, and summon the Second Grand Elder and Third Grand Elder," Xia Cha instructed the featherman maid beside her.
However, a full half-hour passed and Xia Cha received neither elder in person — only a message from each, saying they had important matters to attend to and could not come.
"Those two old bastards!" Xia Cha cursed inwardly, and a chill crept over her heart.
She had known this day would come sooner or later, but when it actually arrived, she still felt a wave of cold desolation.
She had once stood at the center of power, contributing everything to the Xia Clan, settling all matters of governance with a single word. Now she was nothing but a crippled Fifth Transformation cultivator who had to watch other people's moods.
There had been a time when the Xia Clan's Second and Third Grand Elders followed Xia Cha's lead in all things. Their rise and their current positions were things Xia Cha had personally cultivated and nurtured.
"So it seems... those two old bastards are ready to set up their own households." Xia Cha gazed at the empty great hall, a long sigh rising in her heart.
There was little anger in her breast — only helplessness and bitterness.
To call them ungrateful? Not entirely accurate. In truth, Xia Cha understood the choices these Xia Clan Gu Immortals had made.
Because of her, the Xia Clan had been bled dry by Fang Yuan. Their treasury was in massive deficit. Decades of painstaking accumulation had amounted to nothing more than watching over a warehouse on Fang Yuan's behalf.
Even if Xia Cha were to rebuild her cultivation, she would have to start from the very beginning. The resources consumed over that long process would be an enormous sum.
Hand those resources to Xia Cha, or keep them for themselves?
After their initial panic and confusion, the Xia Clan's Gu Immortals had settled into an unspoken understanding with one another.
Xia Cha's title of Grand Elder had become purely nominal. Fifth Transformation cultivation simply did not qualify for the stage of Gu Immortals.
Xia Cha deliberated for a long while before finally producing a mortal Gu of information transmission, handing it to the featherman maid and asking her to deliver it to the Second Grand Elder.
By evening, the Second Grand Elder's reply once again darkened Xia Cha's mood.
"So even the Grand Elder's title has lost its value." Xia Cha gritted her teeth.
In her message, she had offered to complete a transaction with the Second Grand Elder. In this deal, she was willing to cede her title of Grand Elder and pass the position to him. He could then legitimately ascend to the highest seat of power in the Xia Clan — the price being a quantity of cultivation resources.
But the Second Grand Elder had declined, politely refusing.
Clearly, he had already reached an understanding with the Third Grand Elder. They intended to sideline Xia Cha while still letting her keep the Grand Elder title as a figurehead.
The Xia Clan's situation was different from the Ba Clan's.
Ba Shi Ba of the Ba Clan had faced the same fate as Xia Cha and had already stepped down from the position of Grand Elder, with the newly advanced Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal Ba De taking his place.
But the Xia Clan's Second and Third Grand Elders — Xia Zhao and Xia Chenyuan — possessed only Seventh Transformation cultivation, and they practiced the Earth Path.
Many years ago, when Xia Cha had first taken power, she had not yet been an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal herself. In order to consolidate control over the Xia Clan, she had personally nurtured Xia Zhao and Xia Chenyuan, using them to counterbalance the clan's old guard.
Now that Xia Cha's cultivation had fallen to the Fifth Transformation, Xia Zhao and Xia Chenyuan held great power and had developed ambitions of their own.
But by the standards of the Righteous Path, Xia Cha had shown them kindness and opportunity. They would not dare move against her openly. They would rather keep the Grand Elder title pinned on Xia Cha than risk damage to their own reputations.
Xia Cha knew her influence over the Xia Clan had already slid to a dangerous level — and it was dropping faster with each passing day!
She had to ascend to immortality as quickly as possible. Otherwise, she would truly be cast out of the Xia Clan's upper echelons entirely.
Yet she had no way to break free from this predicament, because she lacked any capital with which to negotiate or trade.
Xia Cha's situation was no isolated case — it was the norm.
The winds among the Righteous Path of the Southern Border had shifted.
The person who had played the most significant role in this was Wu Yong of the Wu Clan.
He had, on one hand, leveraged the Heavenly Court, and on the other, employed his own considerable skills to steadily raise his prestige and influence among the Righteous Path of the Southern Border.