A magnificent voice echoed grandly across ten thousand li of Mount Cangwu.
Surging waves of air rolled forward, making the trunks of countless towering wutong trees sway and rustle like a surging sea.
In that moment, tens of thousands of birds fell into startled silence before scattering into flight.
When unwelcome guests arrived uninvited, an earth-shattering struggle was inevitable.
Yet Luo Chen could not witness any of it with his own eyes.
The gates of Duzhen Hall slammed shut the moment Youquan flew out.
Trapped inside Duzhen Hall, Luo Chen was firmly restrained by a ring of black qi that formed a magical prison on the ground.
He recalled the words Youquan had spoken before leaving.
Even three late Nascent Soul cultivators could not take Mount Cangwu?
A suspicion arose in Luo Chen's heart.
*Could Primordial Monarch Qixia, the Master of Tongxuan Hall, still be on Mount Cangwu?*
Yet he soon overturned that idea.
If that were truly the case, three late Nascent Soul cultivators would never have dared to attack the mountain so brazenly.
Within his perception, powerful auras began to rise one after another inside Duzhen Hall.
Those auras were immense, every single one belonging to a being at the Nascent Soul stage.
A rough estimate put their number at ten or more!
In other words, besides Youquan, Duzhen Hall housed at least ten other Nascent Soul demon cultivators!
With such a roster, coupled with the geographic advantage, they indeed possessed the capital to contend against three late Nascent Soul grand cultivators.
Unexpectedly, however...
Those auras that had just awakened quickly quieted down again.
Luo Chen was stunned.
Immediately after, an even more terrifying conjecture surfaced in his mind.
*Mount Cangwu isn't going to send Qingshuang out alone to fight three powerful foes of the same realm all by herself, are they?!*
No one was there to answer his conjecture.
Like the other two palaces, the structure of Duzhen Hall seemed shrouded beneath powerful warding restrictions; no disturbance from the outside could affect this place in the slightest.
Luo Chen had no way of divining the state of the battle outside from aftershocks.
His heart was full of urgency.
He genuinely hoped the three human grand cultivators would defeat Qingshuang and rescue him along with the cultivators trapped here before him.
As for refining Emperor's Flowing Syrup for the demons?
If nobody spoke of it, who would ever know?
Even if someone found out, he could always redeem himself by concocting more pills for the human side.
Talent was scarce everywhere.
Had Heqingzi not previously defected from the demons and even helped fight Wolf Emperor Ao Xiao, only to be accepted back into Mount Cangwu in the end, merely having a slightly harder time of it?
Luo Chen was a technical talent, so his future prospects would hardly be worse than Heqingzi's.
Yet if he truly refined the Transformation Pill for the demons...
The implications would be entirely different!
Such a pill was equivalent to distributing Nascent Soul Formation Pills wholesale to human cultivators on a massive scale.
It was a formidable weapon capable of churning out a vast number of high-end combatants for the demon race.
If an influx of demon powerhouses arose because of the Transformation Pills he concocted and brought catastrophe upon human cultivators...
Under such circumstances, even if he miraculously broke free from Youquan's grasp, once the upper echelons of the human race learned of it, Luo Chen would be skinned alive even if he avoided death.
While the rice was not yet cooked, there was still a chance to turn things around.
Of course!
Luo Chen had to face another reality: if Mount Cangwu truly lost, would Youquan simply extinguish his life in passing?
In that case, lingering in a shameful life was still better than dying!
Amid such conflicting emotions, time slowly trickled by.
Roughly half an hour later...
A gust of fierce wind blew open the great doors of Duzhen Hall.
A familiar figure flew inside.
Luo Chen froze and blurted out, "So fast?"
Yet in the next breath, his heart sank.
For Youquan to return so leisurely could only mean one outcome...
Youquan cast him a sidelong glance and casually withdrew the magic power bounding him.
"Feel free to move about on your own, as long as you do not leave Mount Cangwu."
Having said that, she hurried toward the side hall in the back.
Luo Chen walked up to the main gate, hesitated for a moment, and then stepped out of Duzhen Hall.
The moment he went outside, skyward brilliance poured down upon him, dazzling his eyes.
He blinked, looking toward the direction he remembered.
A tall, exquisitely beautiful figure still hovered in the sky. Her hair was somewhat disheveled, her eyes shut tight, and her body relaxed as if she were sensing something.
As for the surrounding land...
Beyond Mount Cangwu, the earth looked as though it had been plowed over and over again.
Everywhere lay ruined walls, shattered cliffs, and broken terrain.
Countless towering wutong trees lay severed upon the ground, burning with raging flames.
On the ground scattered golden fragments that resembled glazed crystal.
After receiving permission, a large flock of third-tier birds eagerly swooped down, furiously pecking at those golden shards.
"Is it all over?"
Luo Chen stared blankly at the slender silhouette, falling into a daze as he muttered under his breath.
Just how immense a power was required to overcome three supreme beings who stood at the pinnacle of human cultivation?
Walking his path all this way, Luo Chen considered himself never inferior to his peers, and he had frequently pulled off glorious feats of slaying those above his realm.
Yet at the end of the day...
Those opponents he had defeated by overcoming greater numbers or triumphing over superior strength either possessed insufficient magic power, lacked exquisite magical treasures, or fell short in battle experience compared to him.
All in all, they had more or less possessed weaknesses, which had allowed him to craft his illustrious record.
However, a late Nascent Soul grand cultivator was a true 'grand cultivator' in every sense of the word!
The term 'grand cultivator' had originally been custom-made for late Nascent Soul powerhouses.
Only over thousands of years of cultivators exchanging mutual flatteries had the title gradually been applied to the late stages of every cultivation realm.
Hence arose the laughable 'late Qi Refining grand cultivator,' the respectfully viewed 'late Foundation Establishment grand cultivator,' and the 'late Golden Core grand cultivator' who stood merely a step away from Nascent Soul.
Yet strictly speaking, only the late Nascent Soul stage was worthy of the title!
For in this world, where Soul Formation paragons could not easily intervene, they represented the pinnacle of combat power that walked the mortal realm!
Truly beneath only one, and above countless millions!
Every single one of them possessed profound cultivation and a multitude of trump cards. Each was an eminent figure capable of founding a sect or ruling over multiple domains.
Such beings possessed virtually no weaknesses to speak of.
In a one-on-one duel, victory or defeat might occur.
Yet capturing one alive or slaying one was almost impossible.
And in a three-on-one situation, the advantage ought to have been overwhelmingly boundless.
Even so, Qingshuang had actually won?
This sight shook Luo Chen far more profoundly than when Qingshuang had brazenly crushed five Nascent Soul Perfected Cultivators back then.
Staring at her silhouette in a daze, Luo Chen's thoughts churned, impossible to calm.
***
Several thousand li from Mount Cangwu.
Several figures stood atop a mountain peak, intently watching the water mirror before them.
Gasps of astonishment sounded from time to time.
Only after a long while did the area fall into an eerie silence.
A voice suddenly spoke up.
"Convinced now?"
The figures looked at one another before nodding in grudging acceptance.
"We are indeed inferior to Qingshuang."
"Beneath the ancient Soul Formation demons of the Eastern Desolation, she is the foremost powerhouse of the demon race. This woman truly lives up to her reputation!"
"Facing three alone, she did not fall into the slightest disadvantage. She even heavily injured one of them and shattered his three-zhang Glazed Golden Body. Her cultivation in physical strength is already approaching the verge of comprehending the laws."
After those thoroughly convinced remarks, the earlier voice rang out once more.
"Do not provoke Mount Cangwu again in the future."
"Though that land is exceptional, I promised it to Primordial Monarch Qixia a thousand years ago. Until she ascends, Mount Cangwu will always belong to her."
"Though Qixia vanished many years ago, as long as Qingshuang remains and Soul Formation experts do not intervene, she is invincible!"
The crowd fell silent.
Suddenly, someone asked in a low voice, "Sovereign, what if a human paragon takes action?"
A soft chuckle drifted through the air.
"Wouldn't that suit my desires perfectly?"
"This so-called demon race of ours has too many tribes, each acting on its own. It has been a loose sheet of sand for far too long. It truly needs an external force to help me knead it together."
"The question is, do they dare?"
***
Inside Poyue Immortal City.
Three Daoists sat cross-legged in a circle.
Every face carried a dark, gloomy expression.
"That demon's realm is equivalent to mine," Ancestor Hehuan sighed, stroking his long beard. "The worldly spiritual qi drawn by her demon power was not inferior in the slightest to the Six Qi under my command."
The *Six Imperial Yin-Yang Transformations* was an unrevealed secret technique of the Hehuan Sect. Once mastered to great attainment, it could mobilize the six qi of wind, rain, darkness, brightness, yin, and yang.
Even among the Nascent Soul realm, it was a top-tier cultivation technique combining both offense and defense.
Monk Huiping of the Tianji Zen Sect had a complexion as pale as gold foil.
He said in a deep voice, "The Zen body refinement path in which I take the greatest pride was completely suppressed beneath her True Azure Luan form. Even my three-zhang Glazed Golden Body was shattered. It will take me at least a century to repair it."
Perfected Shenyuan of the Five Elements Divine Sect was in no better mood.
"Her methods are few, yet for some reason she has comprehended the rudiments of spatial laws. Combining that with her body refinement arts makes her killing moves entirely impossible to guard against. Though she has not reached the realm of stepping outside the Three Realms, she no longer resides within the Five Elements. With the divine arts of the Five Elements that I master, I am simply no match for her."
After analyzing the situation, the three men felt a bizarre sense of despair arise within them.
How could such a figure exist in this world?
Clearly she had not cultivated for as many years as they had, yet she surpassed them in every single aspect.
"An existence of this caliber is no longer something we can handle." Ancestor Hehuan glanced at the two of them, his tone turning languid. "In any case, we have done our utmost. Leave whatever comes next to the Mingyuan Sect!"
The other two exchanged a look and tacitly nodded, accepting the proposal.
Only Perfected Shenyuan harbored a trace of reluctance as he lowered his head.
Not only had his slumber technique to prolong his lifespan been interrupted, but coming out had also failed to retrieve the five-spiritual-root cultivator who held promise for reaching the Nascent Soul stage.
If he could not refine the Primordial Fetal Dao Body, he would never have any hope of ascending to Soul Formation in this lifetime.
Once the Mingyuan Sect took action, they would never hand Luo Chen over to him.
*Must it truly end like this?*
***
A full year had passed since the three human grand cultivators descended upon Mount Cangwu, only to be stopped outside by Qingshuang alone.
Over this year, winds and clouds surged in the outside world, and the situation shifted constantly.
Both the Thirty-Six Domains of the Eastern Desolation and the Million Mountains experienced sweeping upheavals.
Only Mount Cangwu, standing at the very center of the vortex, remained serene and peaceful, as though nothing had ever transpired.
Flocks of feathered beasts still circled above, and hundreds of birds sang in unison.
It was even livelier than before.
By contrast, Youquan, the Vice Hall Master of Duzhen Hall, had developed a foul temper lately, letting out sharp screeches from time to time.
On this day.
Inside Duzhen Hall, Youquan glared at Heqingzi with an unfriendly expression.
"What did the Demon Court say?"
Heqingzi kept her head lowered, not daring to meet her gaze directly.
"Lord Ditian has recently been occupied with integrating the various demon beast tribes of the Eastern Desolation. Swamped with trivial matters, he cannot spare the energy to receive this batch of humans. He only mentioned that he hopes we will release Ao Xiao back to him."
"Ao Xiao? Hmph!"
Youquan let out a cold snort.
In that previous battle on the Tiangu Plain, Ao Xiao had been defeated, and his Nascent Soul had been captured alive by the Demon Locking Tower.
Yet he was not truly dead.
In particular, Han Zhan of the Luoyun Sect had preserved the skeletal frame of Ao Xiao's true form to refine a puppet.
As long as Ao Xiao's Nascent Soul was released and reunited with his original skeleton, a century or so of recuperation would allow him to recover seventy to eighty percent of his strength.
Moreover, Ao Xiao was a demon powerhouse who had admired the ancient demon Ditian the most in the wilderness and had been among the earliest to follow him.
Ditian naturally wished to retrieve such a general as early as possible.
"No, if he wanted Ao Xiao, he should have sent someone to liaise with us long ago. Why would two years pass without him showing his face?"
"What trick is that fellow Ditian plotting?"
Youquan sank into deep thought.
Seeing a mere Nascent Soul demon cultivator display such disrespect toward a Soul Formation stage figure like Ditian frightened Heqingzi into keeping her mouth shut.
After pondering for a while, Youquan could reach no conclusion.
Temporarily suppressing the annoyance in her heart, she inquired about another matter.
"Where is Luo Chen?"
Heqingzi pulled herself together and hurriedly replied, "He is still the same, unable to muster any enthusiasm. Over the past year, however, his cultivation has progressed somewhat, and reaching the third layer of Golden Core is just around the corner."
"I am asking about the recipe for the Transformation Pill! How is his grasp on it?"
Heqingzi shuddered. "It should be soon. I saw him entering and leaving the treasury in person recently to pick out medicinal herbs of appropriate maturity, looking quite ready to fire up the furnace."
At this point, as if remembering something, she added, "Luo Chen's hands aren't entirely clean. Aside from medicinal herbs, he also took some precious ores."
Youquan's brows furrowed, but then she waved a wing.
"Let him be. It's just a few mineral materials. It would be best if he has thought things through."
Had Luo Chen thought things through?
Some matters he had made peace with, while others had nothing to do with whether he accepted them or not.
Take Perfected Shenyuan, the Supreme Elder of the Five Elements Divine Sect!
Knowing full well that Jin Buque had perished, why had he personally visited Mount Cangwu?
He had likely come for nothing other than Luo Chen's body, endowed with five spiritual roots!
In other words, even if he returned now, his circumstances would hardly be any better.
Walking through Mount Cangwu's brightly illuminated treasury, which resembled a dragon's hoard of glittering treasures, Luo Chen strolled along at his leisure.
From time to time, his gaze drifted toward the innermost chamber.
A profound, obscure array fluctuation gently emanated from within.
He knew that was the array nexus of Mount Cangwu!
Connected to the fifth-tier earth veins below and linked to the three Tongxuan palaces above.
While forming a closed system of its own, it also connected to all corners of the Shanhai Boundary.
The only reason the Azure Luan had been able to appear out of thin air inside the White Bone Dao Palace of the Great Snow Mountain previously was thanks to the teleportation array in that very room.
"Pity I don't understand arrays. Otherwise, I could just charge in right now and use the teleportation array to make a run for it,"
Luo Chen muttered.
Yet he soon let out a self-deprecating laugh.
So what if he ran?
The teleportation arrays leading from Mount Cangwu into the Shanhai Boundary had been constructed by Primordial Monarch Qixia using Hall Master Qingshuang's spatial talents; they knew precisely where each one led!
Most importantly, with his level of array mastery, he had no way of activating a teleportation array that only a Nascent Soul powerhouse could drive.
Thus, he could only look on with envy.
Luo Chen wandered listlessly through the treasury, selecting appropriate herbs according to the pill recipe.
Just as Heqingzi had said, after a year of study, he had gained a sufficiently deep understanding of the Transformation Pill.
The pill recipes of the demon system were far simpler than those of the human race.
They followed a path of raw, crude simplicity!
The older the herbs, the better, and the sourcing of primary ingredients was brutal in the extreme.
Transform into human shape?
To transform into a human form, they directly supplemented form with form, refining the pill using the essence blood and Nascent Soul of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
There was little fastidiousness regarding secondary ingredients; the primary materials were the key.
Furthermore, although it was a fourth-tier pill, the Transformation Pill was meant for demon beasts that had just entered the third tier.
Consequently, concocting this pill was not as difficult as one might imagine.
Luo Chen had no intention of wasting achievement points to attain entry-level mastery.
Mount Cangwu was wealthy anyway, so when the time came, he would just force his way through by trial and error!
He would play the prodigal son for once, hammering it out through sheer repetition of countless failures.
And if the primary materials were squandered in the process?
That would be even better; no one could place the blame on him.
Harboring these dark thoughts, Luo Chen completed his herb selection for the day.
Just as he was about to leave the treasury, his footsteps abruptly stopped before a chest.
Channeling his magic power, he casually brushed aside the surface layers.
Beneath a bed of gemstones, a large handful of diamond-like red crystals was revealed.
"Fire Spirit Diamonds!"
"Tsk, tsk. To think I'd stumble upon so many Fire Spirit Diamonds this time, and of such fine quality, too."
Luo Chen crouched down and began carefully sorting through the Fire Spirit Diamonds.
Youquan did not care in the slightest about such third-tier mineral materials; taking them would not incur her displeasure.
It just so happened that Luo Chen's natal magical treasure still lacked a few Fire Spirit Diamonds, so taking them now cost him nothing.
Compared to earlier times when finding a single diamond was an ordeal, being able to pick and choose here felt rather surreal.
Suddenly, Luo Chen's fingers froze.
He picked up an intensely deep red Fire Spirit Diamond and raised it before his eyes.
Spiritual light flared in his eyes as he stared at the object in puzzlement.
"What is this crimson stain?"
"Is it the blood of some living creature?"
Chapter 516