Chapter 5068 — A Demand for an Explanation
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
In truth, almost everyone had assumed that the so-called Tai Gu Plane was in fact Cloud Terrace Island. After all, both were legendary higher planes, and their names did not clash in the slightest, so they naturally took it for granted that Cloud Terrace Island and the Tai Gu Plane were one and the same place—simply that no one had ever been there.
Yet now, ever since they received the letter Wei Zhao had sent from Cloud Terrace Island, the others might still be in the dark, but Qiu Lingshan and her circle already knew that Cloud Terrace Island and the Tai Gu Plane were two entirely different matters.
There was no Tai Gu sect of any kind on Cloud Terrace Island at all; the layout of the Five Great Cloud Terrace Islands was wholly unlike anything imagined, and there was no Five Luminaries Sect or Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect either. As for the similarly named Five Elements Chamber of Commerce, it was simply founded later by Zhang Lifeng and had nothing whatsoever to do with the Five Luminaries Sect.
As for where the legendary Tai Gu Plane actually was—or whether it existed at all—that remained an unverifiable unknown.
But today, this formidable expert who had appeared out of nowhere had suddenly declared that he came from the Tai Gu Alliance!
Qiu Lingshan's instinctive reaction was: could the Tai Gu Alliance be merely an inconspicuous corner of Cloud Terrace Island, which was why Wei Zhao had never noticed it before? After all, apart from Cloud Terrace Island, she truly could not imagine any other place harboring such a formidable expert.
"Are you from Cloud Terrace Island?" Qiu Lingshan asked at once.
"Cloud Terrace Island?" Xue Jianming was taken aback, then burst out laughing, a touch of mockery creeping unbidden onto his face. "You people of the mortal world are so ignorant. Cloud Terrace Island is nothing but a rumor distorted in the retelling—where in this world is there any Cloud Terrace Island? The Tai Gu Alliance is the Tai Gu Alliance. Do not confuse the two."
"Truly?" Qiu Lingshan's expression turned somewhat strange. Wei Zhao's letter had long since verified the existence of Cloud Terrace Island—that was beyond doubt. And yet this man claimed Cloud Terrace Island was merely a rumor distorted in the retelling. Did he truly not know, or was he deliberately feigning ignorance?
"Of course it is true. I know that the highest level in your mortal world is the Ancient Sects. Our Tai Gu Alliance, by contrast, is an independent plane that stands above the Ancient—the very pinnacle of the entire cultivation world. Cloud Terrace Island and the like are utterly baseless rumors, figments conjured from thin air by the ignorant." Xue Jianming lectured from on high.
Hearing this, Qiu Lingshan could be essentially certain that this fellow truly did not know of Cloud Terrace Island. To think that the Tai Gu Alliance and Cloud Terrace Island were two completely unrelated matters—this outcome genuinely astonished her.
"So those high-level cultivators operating out in the world now are all from your Tai Gu Alliance?" Qiu Lingshan asked, betraying nothing in her expression.
"Precisely. They are all disciples of our Tai Gu Alliance sent into the mortal world for training. As for their strength, though it counts for nothing in the Tai Gu Alliance, to your mortal world it is already a realm beyond reach. Every disciple sent out for training is a Foundation Establishment expert!" Xue Jianming said proudly.
"Foundation Establishment expert?" Qiu Lingshan had some notion of the term, but everyone else present was baffled, glancing at one another in bewilderment. What on earth was Foundation Establishment?
"Ah, I nearly forgot. Your mortal world has no concept of Foundation Establishment, so let me put it another way. Foundation Establishment is an entirely new realm above Heaven-Tier Great Perfection—what you call the Heaven Dao Realm." Xue Jianming wore the look of a city dweller regarding a country bumpkin.