Crisp footsteps echoed through the underground palace. Frowning, Youquan hurried to the teleportation formation's central hub.
“Mount Cangwu's formations have always been well hidden. How could one suddenly activate today?”
“Who's the blind fool?”
After she descended the last step, the spacious underground palace leaped into view.
But everywhere she looked was empty—not a single person.
Youquan blinked, almost thinking her senses had misled her.
But when she saw the light fading above the teleportation formation, she understood at once.
“Someone did teleport here, and from the branch formation over in the Northern Sea at that. But where are they?”
She looked around, somewhat at a loss.
Meanwhile, in another expanse of void.
Luo Chen, who had just arrived at Mount Cangwu, was shifted over. Even though he had deliberately offered no resistance, the ability to move someone through empty space like this was by no means something ordinary methods could achieve.
With a complicated expression, Luo Chen looked at the woman standing quietly in the void.
Her figure was as tall as ever, her long legs firm and strong, and her already cold, aloof air now seemed even more ethereal.
She simply stood there quietly, her face breathtakingly beautiful, like an exiled immortal. She was clearly in this realm, yet seemed ready at any moment to ride the wind and depart.
“You really did break through to Spirit Transformation!”
Qingshuang looked at him calmly. “You've said that twice.”
Luo Chen gave a bitter smile. He had indeed said it twice.
The first had been a shocked question; the second, the helplessness after confirming it face to face. Perhaps only he himself could know all the emotions packed into those words.
Once, he had treated Qingshuang as his imagined rival, the benchmark he chased after!
When testing certain ideas or creating new killing moves, he would always instinctively wonder: how would this move fare against Qingshuang?
That was because Luo Chen had once lost to Qingshuang without being able to fight back at all. Even the Nascent Soul true persons he had looked up to—famous great cultivators—were no match for Qingshuang.
He kept striving to improve, and in the end caught up to her step by step.
From injuring her only by giving everything he had, to each side making concessions in life-and-death struggles—especially after the battle in the Buddhist land of the Western Desert, when the world began to rank the demoness Qingshuang alongside the Formless Mara—he had once felt proud of himself.
In the years since, Luo Chen's strength had risen enormously again.
Whether it was stepping into the ninth layer of Nascent Soul, or mastering the Million Baleful Soul Banner, the Blood Jade Three-Flame Fan, and even the grand completion of the Myriad Firmaments Myriad Transformations Sword Scripture—one after another, great methods capable of threatening Spirit Transformation cultivators had fallen into his grasp, making him feel he had completely surpassed Qingshuang.
Until this moment.
Qingshuang had broken through to Spirit Transformation and once again walked ahead of him.
Luo Chen sighed, and maintaining his poise, cupped his hands in salute. “Congratulations!”
But Qingshuang only looked at him calmly. “You need not belittle yourself. When you first entered the Golden Core stage, I was already in the late Nascent Soul stage.”
Luo Chen started. She had seen through his thoughts.
Was it because of the Shared Life and Death Gu?
“I have only taken one step ahead for now. Sooner or later you will catch up. After all, you have already condensed your primordial spirit, and you are only one step from Spirit Transformation, aren't you?”
Luo Chen was left speechless, then mocked himself. “It seems I was too attached to appearances.”
“You've come back from the Northern Sea?”
“Yes. I went there to handle a few things, and used Mount Cangwu's teleportation formation to save travel time.”
“You still have time to run off to the Northern Sea. Aren't you going to recover your life soul?” Qingshuang's slender brows knitted slightly, as if she could not understand how Luo Chen could be in the mood for such a trip to the Northern Sea.
Qingshuang knew the inside story of Luo Chen's incomplete life soul.
And having experienced her own breakthrough to Spirit Transformation, she understood even better how important a complete soul was for taking that next step.
Especially in Luo Chen's case: his foundation was so deep it could be called unprecedented in history. As long as his life soul was whole, taking the final step would be as natural as water flowing into a channel.
Luo Chen let out a breath of turbid air. “I have already made arrangements for that, and the day I strike will not be long now.”
At that, he looked at Qingshuang with a half-smile.
“You're so concerned about me—could it be you want to help me? Perfect. Your cultivation has just risen greatly, and you possess an incomparably powerful spatial law. Surely you could give even the older generation of Spirit Transformation masters a fight!”
Qingshuang ignored his teasing. “I've never fought one, but I expect I wouldn't do badly,” she said coolly.
“Then come help me!” Luo Chen perked up and spoke with assurance. “The Tianyuan Dao Sect is, after all, the holy land with the deepest foundation in the Shanhai Realm. On the surface only Ancestor Liancheng remains as a Spirit Transformation great power, but I fear they may still be able to bring forth other Spirit Transformation fighting strength. I have contacted a Spirit Transformation expert in the Northern Sea. With your help as well, this matter will be all but certain.”
Qingshuang shot him a cold glance. “Why should I?”
Why should Qingshuang help him?
Luo Chen was full of confidence about this question.
Why, of course, because their lives and deaths were linked!
But when the answer reached his lips and he saw Qingshuang's cold gaze, Luo Chen could not bring himself to say it.
If he used that as a threat, it would not only reveal petty conduct, but also needlessly provoke her displeasure.
Especially since the Shared Life and Death Gu Luo Chen had planted back then was only fourth-tier. For an ancient demon Qingluan who had now broken through to Spirit Transformation, it was hard to say how much restraint a fourth-tier Gu could still exert.
Luo Chen wiped the smile from his face and pondered for a moment.
After a while, he said gravely, “Helping me is not just helping me—it is helping yourselves!”
Qingshuang was cold by nature and devoted to cultivation, but that did not mean she was foolish.
“Your words are half true and half false.”
Luo Chen did not deny it. The false part was his own selfish motive; the true part was indeed consideration for Mount Cangwu.
He said slowly, “A hundred years ago, Monarch Qixia launched a powerful assault on the Central Plains, striking so hard that the land sank, the Dao Sect collapsed, and the fallen numbered in the hundreds of millions. From that moment, the two sides were bound in an indelible blood feud!”
“In the years since, the Dao Sect's great powers have not dared set foot in the Eastern Wasteland, fearing the Monarch's might. But the Monarch did not march on the Central Plains again to root them out, presumably because she was gravely wounded and lacked the strength to fight again.”
“If that were all, so be it. As time passes, the Tianyuan Dao Sect will recover, and Monarch Qixia will heal from her wounds. At worst, they would simply fight another round.”
“But from what I know, the Tianyuan Dao Sect is now setting up formations across several continents. They intend to reassemble the Central Plains and rebuild Heaven and Earth Peak. Once they complete this step, they will be able to contact the higher realm. It is even possible they will recreate the scene from all those years ago, when many great powers descended upon the Central Plains in avatar form.”
“Given the blood feud between the Tianyuan Dao Sect and your sister, Monarch Qixia, countless experts will surely cross the sea then and force their way up Mount Cangwu.”
“Qingshuang, do you want to see that happen?”
Qingshuang's expression shifted slightly, and her gently curved brows drew together.
She had never revealed her sister's circumstances to outsiders, but Luo Chen's guess was actually not far off.
After the great battle with the Heaven Refining Demon Lord a thousand years ago, she had been stranded in this realm. Monarch Qixia was gravely wounded and had no choice but to use a nirvana method.
Over a thousand years, she cultivated back to the Void Refinement realm.
But because her sister was not a native being of this realm, her Void Refinement cultivation was firmly suppressed by the laws of heaven and earth. She could not unleash its full power and could only employ Spirit Transformation-level methods.
Although she later achieved one proud victory after another—annihilating the Yuan Demon Sect, destroying the Mingyuan Sect, and grievously wounding the Tianyuan Dao Sect—she had nonetheless accumulated tremendous injuries.
In particular, the Mingyuan Sect's great cultivator Tianyuan's dying blow drew the gaze of heavenly tribulation, and the Five Elders of Tianyuan activating the Void Refinement–grade Diaohun Desolate Beast on Broken Soul Cliff dealt her sister unimaginable damage.
What Luo Chen said—“Monarch Qixia lacks the strength to fight again”—was true!
That was also why, after returning to Mount Cangwu, Qingshuang had not stepped outside the mountain gate for a hundred years and forced her way into Spirit Transformation.
She wanted to protect her sister during the period when she was weakest!
Once her sister recovered from her injuries, then no matter how vast the Shanhai Realm was, no one would be able to withstand a single blow from her!
But now the Tianyuan Dao Sect was taking a shortcut: rebuilding Heaven and Earth Peak to summon great powers from the higher realm down in avatar form.
“Can a Heaven and Earth Peak without the Star Gate do that?” Qingshuang murmured to herself.
Luo Chen caught that word. “Star Gate?”
Qingshuang gave a faint “Mm,” and a measure of confidence appeared on her face. “Yes. My sister took the Dao Sect's Star Gate. Without that spatial spirit treasure for crossing the void and traversing the cosmos, and given the distance between the Shanhai Realm and the Mystic Realm, ordinary great powers cannot descend.”
With a flick of the woman's hand, an ancient, unadorned gate shimmering with specks of starlight appeared in her palm.
Just as Luo Chen wanted a closer look, the gate vanished from Qingshuang's hand in a flash.
So that was why Monarch Qixia attacked the Central Plains back then—for this spirit treasure?
As understanding dawned on Luo Chen, bitterness rose in his heart despite himself.
If the Tianyuan Dao Sect, having lost the Star Gate, could not summon great powers from the higher realm, then Mount Cangwu was in no danger at all, and Qingshuang had no reason to lend Luo Chen her aid.
Still unwilling to give up, Luo Chen brought up a term Li Canghai had mentioned.
“Li Canghai, the great formation master of the Northern Sea, mentioned that the Tianyuan Dao Sect has laid a formation called the God-Descending Formation on Heaven and Earth Island. Do you know whether it can summon across realms?”
“God-Descending Formation?” Qingshuang looked somewhat puzzled.
So she did not know this formation either!
Luo Chen sighed, realizing it would be very hard to persuade her.
Never mind!
In the end, he would still have to rely on himself!
With a thought, Luo Chen took a step and left that void behind.
Looking around, he was inside Zhoukong Hall, with Qingshuang standing ahead of him, wearing a thoughtful expression.
Luo Chen walked toward the hall's exit. As he passed her, he said with forced lightness, “If I succeed in recovering my life soul and step into Spirit Transformation, I will take the initiative to dissolve the Shared Life and Death Gu contract. If I fail, with your current cultivation, you should be able to withstand the contract's backlash. Seen that way, your successful breakthrough to Spirit Transformation is a good thing.”
With that, he stepped out of Zhoukong Hall, his footsteps heavy.
Sometimes, seeing hope and then losing it is far harder to bear than having nothing at all.
But once outside Zhoukong Hall, Luo Chen had already adjusted his mindset. After all, from the very beginning he had not counted Qingshuang's fighting strength in his plans.
“Sister Qingshuang, it seemed someone teleported just now... Huh? Luo Chen?”
Youquan, who had hurried to Zhoukong Hall to ask Qingshuang to investigate the earlier anomaly in the teleportation formation, stopped at the hall entrance.
Understanding dawned on Youquan's face. “Luo Chen, so you were the one who came through the teleportation formation earlier!”
Luo Chen looked at her calmly. “Vice Master Youquan, shouldn't you address me as Master of Duzhen Hall—or Lord Luo Chen?”
Youquan was stunned for a moment, then pursed her lips.
She did not call him that, but she did not deny it either.
Luo Chen himself did not care about forcing her to correct how she addressed him; it was only a simple reminder.
But when he spoke the title “Master of Duzhen Hall,” Luo Chen's steps halted at the entrance of Zhoukong Hall.
“Why are you still standing here?” Youquan said beside him. Her voice was chirpy and grating—no wonder her true form was a crow.
Luo Chen ignored her. His gaze was distant as he looked down over Mount Cangwu.
Especially the great hall on the other mountain peak facing Zhoukong Hall—Duzhen Hall!
“Youquan, tell me—as Master of Duzhen Hall, my position shouldn't be just an empty title, should it?”
Youquan stared at him warily. “What are you planning?”
The corner of Luo Chen's mouth lifted. From his storage ring he took out a large seal and a white jade bamboo slip that seemed neither bamboo nor jade.
The seal was the Duzhen Seal, the symbol of authority over Duzhen Hall. With it, one could even enter the only fifth-tier cave residence within Duzhen Hall.
The bamboo slip was the Demon Cultivator Roster, which recorded every powerful demon cultivator who had submitted to Mount Cangwu!
Anyone who could be called a “demon cultivator” was definitely not a low-tier demon beast. Even a third-tier demon king did not qualify.
Only a fourth-tier demon emperor could be called a Nascent Soul demon cultivator.
A demon emperor that has taken human form walks the same path of forming a Nascent Soul as human cultivators; thus such a being is called a Nascent Soul–stage demon-race cultivator—a Nascent Soul demon cultivator.
Holding the seal in one hand and the roster in the other, Luo Chen said with a hint of cruelty, “In the name of the Master of Duzhen Hall, I should be able to command every demon cultivator on this roster, correct, Vice Master?”
Youquan frowned. “That is correct. This white jade bamboo slip was made by the Monarch herself. Every demon cultivator on the roster must obey the Master of Duzhen Hall's orders.”
At that, as if something occurred to her, she quickly added, “Except me!”
Luo Chen glanced at her, an expression of understanding on his face.
“Enough. That's already enough!”
Muttering those words, Luo Chen left Zhoukong Hall without looking back.
Three days later.
The sacred land of the feathered race, Mount Cangwu.
Standing at the entrance of Duzhen Hall, Luo Chen watched as bird after bird spread its wings and soared out from Mount Cangwu, flying deep into the Million Great Mountains.
They flew in groups of three or five. Each small team carried a task issued by the Master of Duzhen Hall: to go into the Million Great Mountains and invite the Nascent Soul demon cultivators who had submitted to Mount Cangwu to come.
On the surface, the summons was for them to come pay homage to the new Master of Duzhen Hall, but Luo Chen's purpose was certainly not limited to that.
If he wanted to deal with the Tianyuan Dao Sect, relying solely on his own connections and the Nascent Soul experts of the Eastern Wasteland would still be somewhat insufficient.
If the demon emperors of the Eastern Wasteland joined as well, it should be enough.
It would roughly amount to gathering the strength of an entire continent's experts!
With a shake of his hand, Black King landed on the ground.
Xiaobai stood respectfully beside him as well.
“You two go as well!”
“Deliver my invitations to the major sects of the Eastern Wasteland, including the Dongyang Sect.”
“Seven years from now, on Shouyang Mountain at Lingtian Pass, Luo Chen of the Dan Sect will once again convene the Dao Discourse Assembly!”
Black King respectfully accepted the order. Running errands for Luo Chen was something he had done often.
Xiaobai hesitated before asking, “What about the Luotian Sect?”
Luo Chen thought for a moment, then waved a hand. “There is no need to drag them in. This battle is too dangerous, and I do not want them involved. They should just live well in the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land.”
Xiaobai nodded and leaped onto Black King's head.
“Master, we will definitely complete the mission perfectly!”
Black King seemed somewhat displeased by Xiaobai's rude behavior, but did not dare act out in front of Luo Chen. After saying to Luo Chen, “Me too,” he carried Xiaobai down Mount Cangwu and headed for the thirty-six domains of the Eastern Wasteland.
After watching the birds fly off and the black dragon vanish into the earth, Luo Chen let out a long breath of turbid air.
He turned and entered Duzhen Hall. Holding the Duzhen Seal, he headed for that fifth-tier cave residence he had never set foot in.
Although he had not yet reached Spirit Transformation and was not prepared to break through now, he still wanted to see what the fifth-tier spirit vein that the world dreamed of actually looked like.
When the formation slowly opened before the spiritual light radiating from the Duzhen Seal, and when that vast, misty sea of spiritual energy rushed over him, Luo Chen—his eyes gleaming with brilliant golden light—finally understood why everyone who sought to break through to Spirit Transformation craved a fifth-tier spirit vein.
“So that's how it is!”
Chapter 1060