Divine Wind Astral Fiend

Luo Chen's arrival drew the attention of some in the crowd. Yet it was only some. Here on the front lines, while Golden Core Masters still held supreme authority, they were no longer elusive figures who showed their heads but never their tails. Colossal magic treasure vessels appeared outside Poyue Immortal City with regular frequency. After docking the Scarlet Flame Dragon Boat, Luo Chen did not bother handling the mundane logistics, leaving them to the Luotian Sect's Foundation Establishment True Cultivators. Accompanied by Xu Huanzhen and a dozen or so Qi Refinement disciples, he made his way into Poyue Immortal City. Before passing through the gates, Luo Chen paused. His gaze fell upon the humanoid puppet standing guard, and his eyes flickered. *A puppet comparable to an Early Foundation Establishment cultivator, yet used merely to watch the city gate!* *Has the Luoyun Sect amassed so many puppets that they can squander them like this?* Shaking his head, Luo Chen strode into Poyue Immortal City. Seen from the outside, the city's true nature had been obscured. Now that he had stepped inside, a rugged, ferocious aura washed over him all at once. The air carried a singular scent—an indescribable blend of humans, demonic beasts, soil, ore, blood, and countless other elements. If he had to choose a word for it, it would be "restless." "The immortal city is erected and the stronghold established. What comes next will inevitably be a violent push outward to conquer this untamed wilderness. My arrival couldn't have been timed better!" As Luo Chen murmured to himself, an escaping light streaked down the wide avenue, carrying a familiar face. Even from afar, the young man's delighted expression was clear to see. *Whoosh...* A gust swept past, fluttering the hem of Luo Chen's robe. Smiling, he watched the newcomer approach. The young man rushed up to Luo Chen in excitement and bowed deeply. "Yilong greets the Supreme Elder!" Luo Chen smiled faintly and waved his hand. Zeng Yilong took two steps closer. Luo Chen pressed a hand to the young man's arm, tapped several points along his spine and chest, and finally withdrew his hand in satisfaction. "Not bad. You haven't merely perfected the first realm of body refinement—your Blood River Realm foundation is also remarkably solid. Your essence and blood are vigorous, and your vital energy is surging. It seems you've already grasped some measure of explicit force." Zeng Yilong chuckled. "Master teaches well. He took me into the interior of the mountain range several times to hunt down isolated Tier 2 demonic beasts and fight them hand-to-hand. That's the only reason I've made this much progress." As Zeng Wen's surviving son, Zeng Yilong possessed decent aptitude. At one point, Luo Chen had considered taking him as an apprentice, but Wang Yuan had beaten him to it, taking the boy under his wing to inherit his martial legacy. The path Zeng Yilong walked was the same as Wang Yuan's: first reaching Foundation Establishment to extend his lifespan, then scaling the heights of martial cultivation. Unlike Wang Yuan and Luo Chen, who had groped their way forward step by step, Zeng Yilong had walked a relatively well-trodden path from the very beginning of his body refinement. He now possessed both Foundation Establishment cultivation and the Blood River Realm. In the second realm of body refinement, he had already passed through the four sub-stages: Marrow Cleansing, Tendon Changing, Viscera Refining, and Meridian Unblocking. His aperture opening had also reached initial mastery. Given his lack of combat experience, Wang Yuan had brought him along on this pioneering war so that, through struggles between life and death, he could grasp the subtle shifts of blood and vital energy. From the look of things, he had already made notable strides. After offering a few words of praise, Luo Chen retrieved a bottle from his dwindling supply of top-grade Blood Augmenting Pills and handed it over as encouragement. "Where are your master and the others?" The party from the Luotian Sect walked down the broad avenue of Poyue Immortal City. All around them, streaks of light rose and fell in rapid succession. The clamor of cultivators was deafening, and everyone seemed to be hurrying toward the same destination. Luo Chen took in the bustling scene as he asked the question. Zeng Yilong perked up. "Supreme Elder arrived right on time! Master and the seniors are currently competing for the operating rights of Poyue Immortal City's commercial shops!" "Hm?" Luo Chen's expression darkened at once. "So soon?" He was well aware of the matter concerning the shop rights in Poyue Immortal City. Once the immortal city was built, prime storefronts along the main thoroughfares were naturally worth their weight in gold. Anyone with a modicum of foresight understood that Poyue Immortal City held immense potential. Securing a prime location early on would yield unimaginable returns in the future. Even if a shop was poorly managed, transferring the deed would easily recoup the investment, if not turn a profit. Luo Chen's hurried arrival had partly been motivated by this very matter. But according to the previous schedule, it shouldn't have taken place today! Zeng Yilong scratched his head. "Word is that the other eight superior sects grew dissatisfied with the Luoyun Sect's dawdling, which was delaying the pioneering campaign. They pressured the Luoyun Sect to pick up the pace and settle the affairs of Poyue Immortal City quickly. The commercial shop rights, being the most vital piece, naturally became the top priority to resolve. Of course, that's just hearsay—I don't know the exact details either. But today is the day they determine the ownership of shops number ten through twenty on Central Avenue!" This was unlike the usual leasing of shops in immortal cities. Because Poyue Immortal City was newly built and had received contributions from all twenty-seven sects, the Luoyun Sect had released the permanent deeds to twenty prime storefronts all at once. The nine superior sects each had first pick of one shop. The remaining eleven were left for the Golden Core sects and smaller factions to contest. Yet deciding how to distribute them was a thorny problem. In the end, they had settled on the cultivation world's most standard method: a Dao discussion—or, in plain terms, a tournament of magical combat. The permanent deeds would be awarded according to the tournament rankings. The Luotian Sect alone lacked the standing to qualify, but the Luotian Alliance established by Luo Chen encompassed five Golden Core Masters, making it a force on par with a major sect that could not be overlooked. As such, Diwu Qi and the others were eager to vie for a spot. Initially, Luo Chen had not cared much. The Luotian Sect possessed its own mature business networks, so there was no need to stick its neck out and clash with major sects. Yet he also understood that Diwu Qi, Cen Qiusheng, and the others had uprooted their families and traveled far from home to carve out a living in a new domain, and they desperately needed a stable stream of revenue. In the end, he had agreed to participate. To that end, Luo Chen had brought Xu Huanzhen along, planning to expand into the demonic beast trade once they secured a storefront. Hearing that the contest had begun ahead of schedule, Luo Chen did not hesitate. "Lead the way!" Zeng Yilong nodded hastily and took flight toward their destination. Seeing how slowly he moved, Luo Chen took note of the direction, unleashed a surge of magic power to sweep up the entire party, and shot toward the western sector of the immortal city. Wherever they passed, their radiant escaping light forced other traveling cultivators to veer aside. A few moments later, Luo Chen touched down outside a massive, imposing structure. He looked up. *Yuding Dao Discussion Platform.* "The Sword Sect works fast," Luo Chen murmured. "They've already finished building the Dao Discussion Platform." He strode straight into the colosseum-like arena built from countless massive boulders. Zeng Yilong, Xu Huanzhen, and the others hurried in behind him. *** "Kill!" "Kill!" "Kill!" Even while still inside the corridor, Luo Chen's sharp senses caught the deafening roars echoing through the defensive formation. When he stepped out into the open, his pupils shrank. As far as the eye could see stretched an endless sea of people—at least a hundred thousand cultivators. Spectators stood at their seats, staring down with feverish intensity at the white-hot combat on the stage, now and then erupting into savage shouts of "Kill!" and "Beat him to death!" This was the first time in Luo Chen's life that he had seen so many cultivators gathered in one place. Even though many possessed techniques to rein in their spiritual energy fluctuations, the slight leak from each person, multiplied across such an enormous crowd, merged into an awe-inspiring presence. Taking a deep breath, Luo Chen walked toward the northern spectator stands amidst a barrage of curious divine senses probing his way. Before long, he spotted familiar faces. Fu Jiusheng, Diwu Qi, Jiang Yu, and Cen Qiusheng were all seated there. When Luo Chen appeared, all four rose together to greet him. "Fellow Daoist Luo, you've arrived." "Danchenzi, I trust you've been well." "Fellow Daoist Luo." Fu Jiusheng's lips moved. "Supreme Elder..." Luo Chen frowned and cut him off. His gaze swept over the gathering of Luotian Alliance cultivators below, noticing one person was absent. "Where is Wang Yuan?" Diwu Qi smiled. "Young friend Wang Yuan is preparing to fight. You'll see him on the Dao Discussion Platform in the next match." Luo Chen turned a grim stare on him. "You were the ones pushing hardest to seize a shop, while my Luotian Sect only came to assist. That storefront matters little to us. Why weren't your clans' juniors sent up to fight in the earlier rounds? Why was it my Luotian Sect's Scripture Transmission Hall Master? I want an explanation!" Diwu Qi froze, his expression growing somewhat awkward. Beside him, Cen Qiusheng let out a sigh. "My Cen clan's junior proved unworthy and suffered defeat in the preliminary round." Jiang Yu also spoke up. "Wind Rain Mountain Villa sent my own son, Jiang He. Unfortunately, he was gravely injured and suffered a bitter loss. As a result, Hall Master Wang Yuan is the only one left from our side." Luo Chen's face grew darker still. He had already learned the tournament format from Zeng Yilong. Each faction fielded three Foundation Establishment experts. First came paired elimination matches to determine the top eleven factions. After that, those eleven would continue fighting to establish their final rankings, which would then dictate the order in which they chose their shops. The three combatants chosen at the start were fixed and could not be replaced. In other words, if someone was gravely injured and unable to fight, the remaining members had to defeat all three opposing combatants one after another to secure victory. A single loss meant total defeat. From what Luo Chen understood, Jiang He of Wind Rain Mountain Villa was severely wounded and unfit for battle. While the Cen clan cultivator could still fight, his strength was nothing exceptional. That left Wang Yuan as the sole pillar of the Luotian Alliance's fighting force! Suppressing his displeasure, Luo Chen asked in a deep voice, "Since we've already secured a spot among the top eleven, let's forfeit the next round. Even if we can only take the worst of the eleven shops, the profits will be more than enough to share among our factions." Cen Qiusheng showed little objection to the proposal, but Diwu Qi and Jiang Yu looked displeased. "We set our sights on Shop Number Eight," Jiang Yu said. "Giving up now would be too much of a pity, wouldn't it?" Luo Chen looked at him coldly. "If your son were still capable of fighting to make it three-on-three, I wouldn't object." Jiang Yu opened his mouth, but found no words. His son was battered and broken; it pained his heart just looking at him, so how could he bear to send him back onto the platform? Diwu Qi shook his head with a chuckle. "Fellow Daoist Luo, there's really no need for this. From what I see, young friend Wang Yuan possesses immense strength. Backed by the Cen clan's junior, sweeping through three opponents in a row isn't out of the question. Besides... he's quite willing to fight!" "Oh?" Luo Chen raised an eyebrow. Fu Jiusheng leaned in and whispered, "Hall Master Wang Yuan has hit a bottleneck in his cultivation and hopes to temper himself through battle. Furthermore, Diwu Qi promised that if we secure Shop Number Eight, he will offer ten strands of Divine Wind Astral Fiend as a reward." *Divine Wind Astral Fiend!* A specialty of Fenghua Palace in the Fenghua Domain. Legend had it that Fenghua Palace was perched atop an extraordinarily high mountain peak, where astral winds howled year-round. Their Nascent Soul Perfected Persons ascended to the highest heavens to harvest materials, and Divine Wind Astral Fiend was one of those rare treasures. The moment Luo Chen heard the name, he understood why Wang Yuan had been tempted. To advance from the Blood River Realm to the third realm of body refinement—the Smelting Furnace Realm—one needed to achieve great mastery of blood and vital energy. After transforming explicit and hidden force into an internal core, one had to gather intent within that core to birth astral qi! The Divine Wind Astral Fiend was a type of astral qi born naturally between heaven and earth. If Wang Yuan could study and draw insight from it, he might well take that final step. Even so! "Aiming for Shop Number Eight means facing at least three factions—nine enemies! You certainly have great faith in Wang Yuan!" Luo Chen sneered, his smile tight and sarcastic. Once the top eleven factions had been determined, simple elimination pairings were no longer practical. The organizers from the Luoyun Sect had therefore arranged a ranking based on each faction's assessed strength. To obtain a better shop, a faction had to challenge the one ranked above them. Furthermore, they could not skip ranks; they had to fight their way up one by one. Unluckily enough, the Luotian Alliance had been judged the weakest and placed dead last! Diwu Qi shrugged. "It's not just that we believe in him—Wang Yuan has confidence in himself. You can't very well hold a subordinate back from striving, can you?" "Hmph!" Luo Chen grunted, unable to refute the point. If it had been any other cultivator of the Luotian Sect, he could have used his authority as Supreme Elder to overrule them. But Wang Yuan was an exception. Even though Luo Chen had achieved the Golden Core Realm, he still held deep respect for this man, who had been both teacher and friend. Even so, while he could not stop the fight, he could secure greater benefits for him. "If Shop Number Eight is taken, I won't interfere in how each faction runs its business. But every year, the three families must hand over ten percent of the shop's total profits to Wang Yuan!" Diwu Qi's expression shifted. "That's impossible! The Divine Wind Astral Fiend is already generous enough as a reward." Cen Qiusheng hesitated as well. "Ten percent... isn't that a bit much?" Luo Chen looked down at them with frosty detachment. "I am not haggling with you—I am announcing a decision. If you refuse, I will submit our forfeiture right now. Lest you forget, I am the leader of this alliance!" The others exchanged glances. Fu Jiusheng had quietly stepped behind Luo Chen, his silent support unmistakable. After a brief, hushed deliberation, the remaining three finally agreed to the terms. With that settled, all that remained was to watch the battles unfold. Luo Chen took his seat, his gaze piercing as he looked down at the massive elevated stage encircled by the amphitheater. Under the announcement of a Sword Sect Golden Core elder, the final round of challenge matches officially commenced. The Luotian Alliance was to challenge the tenth-ranked Huanzhu Tower. It was an assassin organization. Unlike the Jade Cauldron Domain, which strictly barred demonic forces, the other domains of the thirty-six Eastern Desolation domains drew no rigid line between orthodox and demonic factions. Unless an organization committed atrocities that provoked universal fury, they were rarely subjected to joint crusades. In such an environment, assassin outfits like Huanzhu Tower found fertile soil to thrive. Accept money, eliminate troubles. Such was the rule, whether in the mortal world or the realm of cultivation. The first to step forward for the Luotian Alliance was the Cen clan cultivator, an elderly man at the ninth level of Foundation Establishment. As the old man took the stage, Wang Yuan's figure appeared below it. At first glance, Luo Chen's eyes locked onto him. Seeing the blazing battle intent radiating from Wang Yuan, Luo Chen let out a soft sigh. *This is all I could win for you. If you lose, so be it; but if you win, the revenue from Shop Number Eight should provide tremendous aid for your future cultivation.* The path of body refinement progressed swiftly, yet it consumed resources at an alarming rate. At present, the Luotian Sect's resources were largely funneled toward Luo Chen. Ordinary Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment cultivators still enjoyed some modest benefits, but for someone at Wang Yuan's level, the share he received was far from sufficient. If he could truly win this battle, it would be a blessing for his future path. Diwu Qi's words might have been blunt, but they held truth: Luo Chen could not bar those beside him from striving on their own. While Luo Chen mused, the elderly Cen clan cultivator leaped onto the Dao Discussion Platform. "Cen Guangwei of the Luotian Alliance!" "Wu Gou, Silver-tier Assassin of Huanzhu Tower!" "Please!"