Ye Qin, listening nearby as the Zhang siblings and Old Man Xia Hei discussed adventuring into the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon in October, found his ears pricked up. Wasn't the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon notoriously dangerous? Why were they pooling resources to risk such an expedition? He couldn't quite grasp the situation.

"Brother Ye, October is only about half a year away. When the time comes, why don't you join us on an adventure into the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon? You need to search for medicinal herbs for alchemy anyway, and the Canyon is precisely where many spiritual herbs grow."

Zhang Qiao realized Ye Qin hadn't officially agreed to go with them yet and quickly prompted him.

Ye Qin paused. "Why are you all so eager to venture into the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon?"

Zhang Qiao slapped her forehead lightly. "Oh, I forgot! You only arrived in Xian Yuan City these past few days; you don't know much yet. The Spirit Mist Grand Canyon is connected to the Seven Great Sects' Immortal Picking Heavenly Ranking! There's a volume here called the Ancient History of Xian Yuan City; it details the origins of Xian Yuan City and the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon. Read this, and you'll understand." She picked up an unassuming booklet from the stall and handed it to Ye Qin.

Ye Qin took the small volume. It was only ten-some thin pages of historical biography, not a large volume of content.

He flipped through it and finally began to understand some things.

Long ago, the Middle Continent was fractured by endless warfare between nations, giving rise to countless martial artists. Among these martial artists, a minuscule fraction pursued immortality as cultivators. To exchange insights and enlightenment regarding eternal life, these cultivators gradually gathered from dozens and hundreds of nations, banding together for mutual cultivation.

Initially, their goal in uniting was simple: solely focusing on cultivating immortal techniques to prolong life.

As their research deepened, these cultivators developed extremely potent magical arts. They discovered that some spiritual herbs could be used for alchemy, some ores for artifact forging. Spells drawn onto specially prepared talismans could enhance offensive power; the younglings of monstrous beasts could be subdued and tamed; profound arrays could trap and slay enemies; and some specialized in sword cultivation. Thus, cultivators gradually divided into seven major schools of thought—Alchemy, Artifact Forging, Talismans, Beast Taming, Formations, Magical Arts, and Sword Cultivators. Of course, there were other minor branches—Poison, Puppetry, Ghost Paths, Sorcery, Scrolls, etc.—which were categorized as unorthodox or deviant paths, mentioned only briefly in the book.

With these advancements, the pace of immortal cultivation finally accelerated significantly. Someone eventually broke through the Qi Refining stage, saw their lifespan greatly increase, and stepped onto the true path of immortality—the Foundation Establishment stage.

From then on, cultivators were no longer content with merely practicing foundational techniques. They eagerly hoped to utilize all manner of external resources—spirit herbs, spirit stones, demonic beast cores—through alchemy, artifact forging, and other methods, striving to increase their cultivation base and personal strength as rapidly as possible.

However, the spiritual resources in each nation were scattered and insufficient to meet their demands.

They spent countless hours finally discovering a location exceptionally dense with spiritual resources—the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon plunged thousands of feet deep, spanned dozens of miles wide, extended for a million miles long, and was perpetually shrouded in cloud and mist. The spiritual herbs growing within were virtually inexhaustible. On the high-altitude Gobi desert just two hundred miles from the canyon, they erected a magnificent city to facilitate easy material sourcing.

This city was the renowned Xian Yuan City, a cradle of cultivation history, the birthplace of countless ancient cultivators.

The nations of the Middle Continent were countless, and many similar Xian Yuan Cities existed, most established in areas rich in spiritual materials. The Xian Yuan City near the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon was merely one among many on the Middle Continent.

These cultivators practiced within Xian Yuan City and constantly journeyed to the Grand Canyon to collect raw materials.

Time flew by like running water. Over millions of years, they continuously propagated, gradually branching out and forming cultivator families. These cultivator families did not just search for resources within the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon; they ventured into surrounding nations to seek spiritual materials, seize territories, and expand their familial influence and domain.

Unfortunately, despite the abundance of spiritual resources in the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon, they could not withstand the constant plundering by cultivators over millions of years. As the number of cultivators increased, the spiritual resources sharply declined, and the state of the cultivation world began to deteriorate.

To fight over the dwindling spiritual materials, cultivators formed factions and engaged in incessant conflict.

Cultivators initially fractured into two major blocs—the Loose Cultivator Great Alliance and the Clan Great Alliance.

The loose cultivators, being weaker individually, gathered in Xian Yuan City, relying entirely on the resources from the Grand Canyon for their practice. The cultivator families, numerous and powerful, not only operated in Xian Yuan City but also dispersed across various nations to collect scattered spiritual materials.

Due to the unequal distribution of resources, mutual hostility intensified, leading to a major war almost every few hundred or thousand years.

The most brutal conflicts nearly saw the entire Xian Yuan City destroyed by the battle between Immortals.

Xian Yuan City had been rebuilt no less than dozens of times.

This situation persisted until the establishment of the immortal sects.

A segment of highly insightful cultivators with supreme innate talent, after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, voluntarily abandoned Xian Yuan City. They crossed the dozens-of-miles-wide Spirit Mist Grand Canyon and arrived on the opposite side—the Spirit Mist Mountain Range.

The Spirit Mist Mountain Range possessed even richer spiritual resources than the Grand Canyon, but it was infested with monstrous beasts, making it far more perilous.

These exceptionally gifted cultivators cleared out the monstrous beasts within the Spirit Mist Mountain Range, claimed the most desirable peaks and hidden valleys, opened their sect gates, and established their sects.

While the common loose cultivators and families were still fighting over Xian Yuan City and the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon, these newly established sects, leveraging the abundant resources of the Spirit Mist Mountain Range, experienced explosive growth in cultivation, swiftly securing an absolute position of power among all cultivators.

Under the strong mediation of the major immortal sects, the countless loose cultivators and families finally reached a truce and agreed to divide their spheres of influence.

The Loose Cultivator Alliance based itself in Xian Yuan City.

The cultivator families retreated to their territories within the various nations, no longer using Xian Yuan City as their main base.

Both sides endeavored to avoid further intense, fiery conflicts.

By the present day, revolving around Xian Yuan City near the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon, cultivators were clearly divided into three deeply intertwined forces—the Loose Cultivator Alliance, the Cultivator Families, and the Immortal Sects.

The Loose Cultivator Alliance was the weakest faction but arguably the most tenacious. Nine out of ten residents in Xian Yuan City were loose cultivators, hailing from hundreds of different nations. Currently, the Alliance had a contingent of cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage and above, with several Core Formation cultivators overseeing the overall governance of Xian Yuan City.

The Cultivator Families possessed enormous power, but because they were scattered across hundreds of nations surrounding Xian Yuan City, their strength was diffused. These families held their own stable territories, obtaining the spirit stones and herbs necessary for cultivation from their domains, occasionally coming to Xian Yuan City for trade. True immortal cultivator families usually boasted cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage or higher, with some prominent families even having Core Formation cultivators.

The final group was the Sect forces, undoubtedly the most formidable. Composed of the most talented and powerful elite cultivators, they had crossed the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon and penetrated deep into the Spirit Mist Mountain Range, occupying the finest blessed lands for cultivation there, and continuously absorbing the most gifted cultivators from the loose cultivators and families. The vast majority of Foundation Establishment and Core Formation cultivators originated within the major sects.

The reason the Zhang siblings and Old Man Xia Hei planned to venture into the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon had to do with a policy set forth by the major immortal sects.

To resolve the conflicts arising from the struggle between loose cultivators and families over spiritual resources, the major sects decided to issue a "Sect Disciple Selection Mission Edict" in Xian Yuan City annually before October. Completing the tasks listed on this edict would grant one the qualification to join a sect.

And completing the tasks on the edict invariably required a journey into the Spirit Mist Grand Canyon.