“Ugh…”
After who knew how long, a low groan escaped the lips of a tattered-robed young man covered in cracked, bloodied wounds.
In the dim, shadowy gloom, Luo Chen struggled to sit up.
His head throbbed heavily, and his gaze immediately fell upon the two objects in his hands.
One was a quiet, three-inch black wooden figurine; the other was a desiccated azure feather that had lost all its luster.
Looking at these two things, Luo Chen recalled the scene from their earlier teleportation.
The moment that spatial teleportation array was activated, an overwhelming, irresistible pressure had squeezed in from all directions.
Even though he was well-versed in body refinement and possessed the formidable physique of the 3rd-tier Desolate Ancient, under that terrifying force, he had still felt as though his physical body were about to tear apart.
Fortunately, at that hairsbreadth moment, the azure feather in his hand had radiated a brilliant cyan light, completely enveloping him and Han Zhan.
Then, with a flash of cyan radiance, they had merged into the formation.
In that instant, Luo Chen saw the stars shift and the cosmos wheel; he caught glimpses of the four seas and five continents, and even countless wondrous regions across the Mountain and Sea Realm.
It was also at that moment that Luo Chen finally realized just how vast an area the teleportation array atop Mount Cangwu encompassed!
Its reach extended into nearly every major region of the Mountain and Sea Realm—a pinnacle-tier teleportation array far beyond anything he had ever understood from the ordinary teleportation arrays described in ancient records.
A teleportation array of this scale should not have existed in the Mountain and Sea Realm at all!
Because of this, he felt even greater dread toward Primordial Monarch Qixia, that ancient Soul Transformation demon who had never once shown her face.
She dwelled all alone in a tier-five sacred land of the Eastern Desolation.
A single lingering measure left behind by her had proved insurmountable to all Nascent Soul cultivators, forcing even a Soul Transformation grandmaster to beat a retreat.
And the teleportation array she had laid out was grander still.
“A figure of such transcendent magnificence… I wonder where she originally hailed from?”
For reasons unknown, Luo Chen thought back to the occasional rumors he had overheard during his stay on Mount Cangwu.
It was said that Primordial Monarch Qixia had risen a millennium ago.
Back then, she had obtained an upper-realm phoenix inheritance in the Lianxia Mountain Range, back before it was renamed the Jade Cauldron Domain.
Because of that, she had ever since used “Qixia” as her Daoist name.
Qi-xia, Qi-xia—dwelling in Lianxia.
Later, however, backed by the Mingyuan Sect, the sacred ground of the Eastern Desolation, the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect launched an opening war into the Lianxia Mountain Range. At that time, Primordial Monarch Qixia had no wish to clash with the Mingyuan Sect, and she herself sought a spiritual vein suited to her cultivation realm, so she took the initiative to withdraw and venture into the depths of the Eastern Desolation.
And thus, Heqingzi was left behind all alone to guard the Lianxia Mountain Range.
As for how Heqingzi was later subjugated by Master Yunhe while he was still in the Golden Core stage—or perhaps how she took a fancy to him—that was another story entirely.
“In that case, the legend I kept hearing back at Dahe Mill about a heavenly phoenix plunging into the Lianxia Mountain Range must be seventy or eighty percent true.”
“Otherwise, how could this realm have given rise to such a terrifying demon cultivator?”
His head felt heavy and muddled, stray thoughts swirling restlessly.
Suddenly, Luo Chen snapped to attention!
What was he doing wasting time thinking about such trivialities right now?
He tightened his grip, exerting a slight force.
*Chi…*
Crushed by the external pressure, the azure feather in his right hand crumbled into a puff of ash.
With a flick of Luo Chen’s hand, it drifted loosely across the ground.
“The power contained within it has completely dispersed.”
This feather had merely been a temporary token given to him by Youquan to enter and exit the dungeon.
Truth be told, being able to use it to momentarily activate the teleportation array as a key was already an unexpected windfall.
Now, it was completely useless.
Taking a deep breath, Luo Chen first retrieved his sole remaining bottle of supreme-grade Fanxing Pills from his storage ring. He swallowed them down without hesitation, and before even taking the time to refine their medicinal power, he pushed himself up from the ground.
Turning around, he drew the Profound Fire Sword into his grip.
Without a moment's hesitation, he slashed downward!
A corner of the exquisite, intricate teleportation array was instantly lopped off.
Luo Chen carefully stored that chipped stone corner into his storage ring.
With the array damaged like this, the enemies shouldn't be able to pursue him through it.
“Still, while the foes from Mount Cangwu can't make it across, I must remain vigilant against potential powerhouses from the White Bone Dao Palace.”
Luo Chen pursed his dry lips and quietly made his way outward.
He could not afford to sit here waiting to recover his peak condition before looking for a way out.
He had to escape before the people of the White Bone Dao Palace could react!
Treading cautiously outward, the exposed skin across his body was covered in black lines—the sign that his Yinwei Formation had been pushed to its absolute limit.
With this grandmaster-level array pushed to full mastery, even a Nascent Soul cultivator would not detect his aura unless they were actively scrutinizing the area.
One step, two steps…
Luo Chen twitched his nose, catching a salty, humid scent.
Shouldn't a nesting ground for demon pythons reek of rank fishiness?
Why was it so briny and damp?
Perplexed, he stepped completely out of the cave.
Parting the curtain of thick, tangled vines, Luo Chen stood halfway up the mountain slope, staring dumbfounded at the view outside.
Sea and sky blended into one, stretching beyond the horizon!
Ten thousand li of azure ocean rose and fell in undulating waves!
Streams of sunset glow pierced through the cloud layer at the horizon, casting a mantle of brilliant gold across the far distance.
It was dusk, the setting sun descending as weary birds returned to their nests.
Luo Chen swallowed hard, an absurd feeling welling up in his chest.
“How could the Great Snow Mountain ever look like this?”
This unfamiliar environment was hard for Luo Chen to accept for a moment.
Yet, with his extraordinary adaptability, he soon forced himself to accept his current reality.
This was definitely not the Great Snow Mountain!
Nor was it anywhere he recognized!
Looking at the terrain, he could not tell what place this was at all.
Of course, going by the descriptions of the Mountain and Sea Realm in various ancient records, there were only a handful of places that possessed such an endless, vast ocean.
The Eastern Nether Abyss, the Southern Ocean, and the Northern Sea.
The Eastern Nether Abyss was said to be perpetually shrouded in dense nether-qi and ghostly mists, plunged in pitch darkness; therefore, this place was certainly not the Eastern Nether Abyss.
That left only two possibilities: the Southern Ocean or the Northern Sea.
The Southern Ocean was fraught with bizarre gu poisons, while the Northern Sea teemed with demons and fiends—neither was a welcoming land!
Luo Chen’s expression shifted slightly. He retreated in silence, a light flick of his sleeve wiping away every trace of aura he had left outside.
Back inside the cave engraved with the teleportation array, he fell into silence.
What he could be certain of now was that a massive error had occurred during the teleportation process!
Otherwise, Han Zhan had clearly spoken of the Great Snow Mountain, so how could they have ended up in this boundless ocean?
As for the potent reserve of power Han Zhan had preserved back then, it was likely not aimed at Luo Chen at all, but rather intended to deal with the White Bone Profound Serpent of the White Bone Dao Palace on the Great Snow Mountain.
It was just that Han Zhan had never expected that even a wisp of the Nirvana Holy Fire, weakened countless times over, would not only exhaust his trump card entirely but also inflict catastrophic injuries upon him, leaving him unconscious to this very moment.
Luo Chen’s somber gaze fixed intently upon the charred, blackened wooden figurine.
A sudden flash of killing intent surfaced in his heart.
He could clearly sense Han Zhan’s current feebleness. It was a state of weakness so severe that even a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator could snuff him out.
A wisp of soul, faint to the absolute extreme, was curled inside the black wooden figurine, completely deprived of the nourishment of a sea of consciousness provided by a physical body.
His recovery would be glacially slow.
Should he kill him?
A sinister thought sprouted!
Luo Chen had witnessed the terrifying might of Nascent Soul existences far too many times.
Even the weakest early Nascent Soul cultivator was fundamentally beyond the reach of a Golden Core cultivator.
Even though the other party had only a wisp of soul left and seemed entirely unthreatening right now…
Han Zhan was most adept at soul attacks and puppet control.
Who could say whether he might unleash some bizarre, lethal strike with that single remnant soul?
Leaving such a threat by his side was by no means wise.
Killing him was the prudent path!
Luo Chen flipped his wrist, and a wisp of cyan flame curled around his fingers. The moment he struck, Han Zhan’s remnant soul would be completely wiped from the face of the earth.
As for whether he would fall back into the cycle of reincarnation, return to the netherworld, or lose any chance of rebirth entirely, that was not something Luo Chen could foresee.
A chilly, scorching heat crept closer to the black wooden figurine.
In the end, however, Luo Chen gave a gentle wave, letting the Wither-Bloom Fire disperse.
“Forget it! Forget it!”
He recalled the many kindnesses the Luoyun Sect had shown him along the path he had walked.
Whether it was his transaction with Tianxingzi during the battle of Incense Valley, or Qu Xibai, a Golden Core elder of the Luoyun Sect, taking the initiative to open the immortal city’s restrictions to aid his breakthrough when he ascended to the Golden Core stage, or even Han Zhan lending a hand beneath Qianye Peak when he was tainted by the Golden Wolf King’s demon qi…
Although Luo Chen had repaid them generously throughout these events, viewed as a whole, both sides could be said to have collaborated with sincere goodwill.
Above all!
Luo Chen recalled the scene when the spatial teleportation array was activated.
At that time, Han Zhan was already grievously injured by the Nirvana Holy Fire. He surely knew that even if the teleportation succeeded, he would be powerless and entirely at Luo Chen’s mercy.
Yet, even so, he had handed the Qingluan feather over to him.
“Do not fail me!”
Han Zhan’s low shout seemed to still echo in his ears.
Luo Chen shook his head.
“If others treat me with genuine heart, I shall repay them with sincerity!”
He extinguished the thought of killing Han Zhan.
Still, that did not mean Luo Chen would do nothing.
With a thought, he retrieved an object from his storage ring.
The Hunyuan Cauldron!
Looking upon this massive cauldron, mixed feelings of affection and trepidation surfaced in Luo Chen's eyes.
Whose life-bound magical treasure refused to listen to its own master?
However, Tianyezi had already perished. There should be no one else in this world capable of controlling this treasure. Even Han Zhan and Qingshuang, who had participated in its crafting, could not reach that level.
After all, Tianyezi was the master craftsman, and Luo Chen was the cauldron's rightful master; the others had merely contributed a formation or two.
They could never usurp the host and take over.
“The Hunyuan Cauldron inherently possesses functions such as suppression, confinement, and binding. It is perfectly suited for this purpose!”
Luo Chen sent a pulse of magic power into it, and chains immediately extended from the small gray cauldron.
Unlike the cyan chains summoned by Tianyezi, the chains Luo Chen called forth were red.
One represented wind-attribute magic power, while the other represented fire-attribute magic power.
The chains slowly coiled around the black wooden figurine and pulled it smoothly into the cauldron.
In this way, the inside and outside were completely sealed off, preventing Han Zhan from prying into Luo Chen’s affairs or launching any underhanded attacks.
Even if he awakened, without Luo Chen opening the Hunyuan Cauldron, he could only stay quietly inside.
“Once he wakes up, I’ll negotiate with him and see what he has to say!”
“If worse comes to worst, we can simply part ways and take our own roads.”
“At least it will end on good terms.”
Muttering softly to himself, Luo Chen glanced around. He then picked an arbitrary spot, sat down cross-legged, and began circulating his life-bound cultivation method.
At this moment, his cultivation realm was somewhat unstable.
He had sought out Tianyezi right after breaking through to the third layer of Golden Core, so he had barely stabilized this minor realm.
An ultra-long-distance spatial teleportation had drained an immense amount of his magic power.
Venturing into the outside world in such a state was out of the question.
Even though the ambient spiritual energy here was thin, it was still better than nothing.
The dim cave dwelling gradually quieted down, leaving only the rhythmic breathing of the tattered-robed Daoist as he inhaled and exhaled the sparse spiritual energy of this place.
…
Half a month later.
Luo Chen slowly awoke from his secluded cultivation.
First, he inspected the silent Hunyuan Cauldron, confirming that Han Zhan had yet to awaken.
Afterward, he naturally brought up his status panel.
A transparent, water-like panel rippled open before him, visible only to Luo Chen. His eyes instantly focused.
[Lifespan: 124 / 446]
[Spiritual Roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth]
[Realm: Golden Core Layer 3 (1/100), Desolate Ancient Tier Three (30/100)]
[Cultivation Methods: Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture (Adept 101/200), Convergence of Myriad Paths (Grandmaster 657/1000), Myriad Beast Scripture (15/100)]
[Spells: Tier-4: Dragon Slaying Art (Adept 175/200)
Tier-3: Innate One Qi Great Mudra (Grandmaster 810/1000), Mirror Flower, Water Moon (Great Perfection), Micromote Origin Art (Great Perfection), Life-Severing Finger (Initiate 15/100)]
[Martial Arts: Cloud-Seeking Divine Claw (Grandmaster 590/1000), Blazing Fire Miasma (Grandmaster 530/1000)]
Great Perfection Spells (Click to view details)
[Alchemy Arts: Scale Turning Hand (Grandmaster 580/1000), Crane Burning Hand (Initiate 77/100). Great Perfection Alchemy Arts (Click to view details)]
[Occupations: Tier-4 Alchemist, Tier-2 Physician
Tier-4 Pills: Shape Transformation Pill (Initiate 5/100)
Tier-3 Pills: Fanxing Pill (Great Perfection), Mingyuan Pill (Initiate 6/100)
Tier-2 Pills: Emperor Flowing Liquid (Great Perfection)
Great Perfection Pills (Click to view details)]
[Tier-1 Formation Master: Tier-3 Formations: Yinwei Formation (Great Perfection)
Tier-1 Formations: Spirit-Gathering Formation (Grandmaster 800/1000), Sharp Metal Formation (Grandmaster 750/1000), Ji-Wood Formation (Grandmaster 900/1000), Cangyuan Formation (Grandmaster 760/1000), Fire-Gathering Formation (Great Perfection), Solid Armor Formation (Grandmaster 767/1000)]
[Achievement Points: 101]
Seeing each vivid entry caused soft ripples to stir across the lake of Luo Chen’s heart.
“A third-layer Golden Core at a hundred and twenty-four years of age… even in the Eastern Desolation’s cultivation world, I would count among the foremost prodigies!”
Luo Chen could not help but sigh with emotion.
Such cultivation speed was something even true disciples of premier sects could never hope to match.
Even a Heavenly Spiritual Root cultivator like Yu Jiaolong of Mengquan Cave fell slightly short in comparison.
In truth, Luo Chen hadn’t been this fast in the beginning.
After forming his Core, it took him ten full years just to stabilize his cultivation and reach the first layer of Golden Core.
Yet, over the subsequent fourteen years—a period of cultivation that should have been far more arduous and protracted—he had broken through two minor layers in succession.
The primary reason lay in having resolved his external resource scarcity.
Whether it was the rising proficiency of his life-bound cultivation method or securing a tier-three spiritual land for sustained cultivation, both had provided immense assistance.
Above all!
He had concocted vast quantities of high-grade and supreme-grade Fanxing Pills to support his training.
Supreme-grade tier-three pills!
In the entire Eastern Desolation cultivation world, who could afford such luxury?
Luo Chen even suspected that not even Golden Core cultivators of the Mingyuan Sect enjoyed such treatment.
High-grade pills were fairly standard, but supreme-grade pills were entirely cost-ineffective—purely trading mountains of resources for time at an enormous net loss.
Luo Chen could afford to do so himself, but large sects would never lavish such extravagant investment on their disciples.
Aside from all this, his self-created *Micromote Origin Art* had also contributed tremendously.
Counting from the day it was created, he had practiced it for over thirty years.
By now, it had barely reached the realm of Great Perfection.
If he were still within the Luotian Sect, Luo Chen would likely have already transcribed an abridged version of the *Micromote Origin Art*, and it would be at least of mid-grade or even high-grade caliber!
Cultivators using it to aid Core Formation would enjoy a success rate surpassing even other top-tier Core Formation secret arts!
“Ultimately, the keys that allowed me to leap from the second layer of Golden Core to the third layer in such a short span were the supreme tier-three spiritual vein of Mount Cangwu and switching to the *Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture*!”
Exclaiming in wonder, Luo Chen remained unsettled for a long time.
Everything before that was the fruit of his own diligent labor; he could accept it with a clear conscience and immense pride!
Yet this last part was purely fortune and opportunity.
Who else had the privilege of enjoying a supreme tier-three spiritual vein?
As for the *Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture*, hailed as the progenitor of fire arts, let alone Nascent Soul premier sects, even the Soul Transformation sacred lands of the five continents might not possess it.
“Between life and death lie great terrors, but also great fortunes.”
“Falling into the hands of Mount Cangwu’s demon cultivators, I was prepared to live my whole life as a caged bird, a tool for others, yet I reaped unintended gains. Every sip and bite is predestined by heaven; karma and consequence cycle endlessly—such is the truth.”
Luo Chen pursed his lips, overcome with deep emotion.
Looking back now, those three years on Mount Cangwu still felt surreal.
It was not self-pity, but the feeling that it truly had been like a dream.
He had not suffered oppression or humiliation, nor had he been permanently confined; instead, he had gained immensely.
He had laughed and conversed with Nascent Soul demon cultivators, and had even witnessed a Soul Transformation grandmaster personally make a move.
How many Golden Core cultivators in this world had experienced such bizarre fortunes?
The more he pondered, the deeper his thoughts drifted.
Yet Luo Chen was already accustomed to cutting away tangled thoughts. Gathering his mind, he continued to browse through his status panel.
His physical cultivation had not advanced by much, increasing by merely five progress points over all these years.
If this body-refinement path of his had defined stages, it would correspond to the final stage of the early phase, ten points shy of breaking into the mid phase.
And even this progress was only achieved because the proficiency of *Convergence of Myriad Paths* had gained over a hundred points.
Luo Chen naturally knew the reasons behind his sluggish physical progress.
First, the technique was self-created; even after several simplifications, it remained overly convoluted.
Second, since leaving Tianlan Immortal City, Bai Meiling was no longer around to prepare spiritual meals for him, cutting off dietary supplementation—the simplest and most convenient auxiliary avenue.
Lastly, Luo Chen lacked pill formulas beneficial for body refinement.
Of course, if he discarded all restraints and engaged in wanton slaughter, using his origin true fire to refine the vitality of demon beasts, he might accelerate his physical progress.
However, doing that in his previous environment would have been far too conspicuous and invited endless trouble.
Thinking to this point, Luo Chen subconsciously glanced toward the Hunyuan Cauldron.
A faint thought crossed his mind.
“No rush for now. I’ll talk with him once he wakes up.”
Muttering under his breath, Luo Chen let his gaze slide downward.
In terms of spells, the tier-4 Dragon Slaying Art had reached the Adept level. He could practice it more in the future; it might yield miraculous effects.
The tier-3 Innate One Qi Great Mudra had reached the Grandmaster level, not far from Great Perfection.
This spell was extraordinarily versatile; it could be driven by any of the five elements of magic power, each with its unique effect.
However, its versatility was bound to decline in the future.
As he switched his cultivation to the *Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture*, the Golden Core within him now held purely fire-attribute magic power.
The other four elements would all be converted into fire.
Consequently, the Innate One Qi Great Mudra could only ever be executed with fire-attribute magic power.
Yet in that case, the spell would become a pure, unadulterated art of slaughter.
“Gain some, lose some. Who is to say a singular Great Mudra won't be even stronger?”
In the tier-3 column, there were also Mirror Flower, Water Moon, the Micromote Origin Art, and the Life-Severing Finger.
Through years of bitter cultivation, the former two had already reached Great Perfection, bound to grant him tremendous aid in the days to come.
As for the Life-Severing Finger, that bizarre art obtained from Li Jinhuang, Luo Chen had hardly cultivated it over all these years.
He had tested it a few times on demon beasts, but the lifespan he severed and siphoned would disperse shortly after.
At the same time, the passage of his own lifespan did not cease.
It neither increased his lifespan cap nor replaced his natural decay, making it utterly useless.
Perhaps it was only suited for a predicament like the one Li Jinhuang had faced back then!
After reviewing his spells, the remaining entries held few surprises.
His alchemy arts had gained the Crane Burning Hand, traded from Mu Yunyan of the Luoyun Sect. It was only at the Initiate level, suited for handling fire-attribute herbs, particularly when concocting Nascent Soul Formation Pills.
He had reached Initiate level in the tier-4 Shape Transformation Pill, thereby advancing his occupational status from a tier-3 alchemist to a tier-4 alchemist.
The Fanxing Pill and Emperor Flowing Liquid were both at Great Perfection.
As for formations, he remained a tier-1 formation master.
Yet a whole host of tier-1 basic formations had been cultivated to the Grandmaster or Great Perfection level.
These were diligently copied and practiced during the Xiaoyue opening war, when he was bored on the front lines beneath Qianye Peak.
Originally, he had planned to lay a foundation for crafting his life-bound magical treasure.
Who would have guessed that with Tianyezi’s “help,” all that effort would be saved?
Lastly, there were the achievement points!
With so many spells, pills, and formations reaching Great Perfection, they had yielded dozens of achievement points!
Even though he had expended ten achievement points to initiate the *Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture* along the way, he currently possessed a staggering 101 points!
This was the largest sum of achievement points Luo Chen had ever held in his life.
One could say that these achievement points provided Luo Chen with an overwhelming sense of security.
Right now, if he were handed any tier-4 spell, cultivation method, or even any tier-4 pill formula, he could initiate it directly without the slightest difficulty!
After browsing the panel, Luo Chen fell into a protracted silence.
What should he do going forward?
Though he did not know whether this place was the Southern Ocean near the Southern Border or the demon-infested Northern Sea, both were unimaginably far from the Eastern Desolation.
It was countless hundreds of millions of li away from his home, the Luotian Sect.
In the short term, returning was out of the question.
Even if he went back, he would likely be swept into the war between the Eastern Desolation demon beasts and the Mingyuan Sacred Ground.
With his early Golden Core cultivation, he wouldn't even be able to protect himself amidst such a colossal tide.
Moreover, he had committed the traitorous act of concocting pills for the demon race. If word got out, he would only implicate his Dao companion and disciples.
“Sigh…”
With a deep sigh, Luo Chen’s buoyant mood dampened.
Far from his homeland, far from those close to him, stranded in an unfamiliar territory… this ordeal almost gave him the same bewildered, adrift feeling as when he had first transmigrated.
The sect he had painstakingly nurtured, the heritage he had left behind, his Dao companion, disciples, friends, and subordinates, the tier-three spiritual vein he had claimed with his own hands…
All of it was gone.
“No!”
“They aren't dead!”
“As long as I live, there will come a day when I can return.”
Luo Chen rallied his spirits once more.
So what if he had lost a tier-three spiritual vein?
The Mountain and Sea Realm was vast. The Eastern Desolation was hardly the only place blessed with high-grade spiritual veins—could he not find one here?
With his Golden Core cultivation, as long as he didn't run into rotten luck and provoke another Nascent Soul True Cultivator, where couldn't he live comfortably?
Besides, he possessed exquisite alchemy skills!
The urgent priority was to understand his surroundings, then seek long-term development to continue his path of cultivation.
Having sorted out his emotions, Luo Chen prepared to close his status panel.
Before doing so, however, his heart stirred.
As his realm climbed higher, his horizons broadened, his lifespan increased, and the arts he mastered inevitably multiplied.
Navigating such a cluttered panel would become far too cumbersome.
Thus, with a thought, the status panel rippled gently, reorganizing into three distinct sections.
The first section displayed basic attributes, cultivation methods, spells, and martial arts.
The second section held alchemy-related arts.
The third section was dedicated to formations.
If he mastered other skills in the future, he could simply open new sections then.
Having set everything in order, Luo Chen rose calmly to his feet.
Stowing the Hunyuan Cauldron into his storage ring, he departed this secluded cave dwelling.
Stepping outside, he glanced at the vine-covered entrance.
The spiritual vein here was extremely low-grade, barely bordering tier two, and was restrained by formations so that it leaked no presence outward.
During his half-month of seclusion, Luo Chen had nearly devoured every scrap of spiritual energy here, degrading its rank to the lower tier-one level.
He had nearly severed the very foundation of the spiritual vein.
The demon cultivators of Mount Cangwu had not bothered setting up other concealment formations here either, relying solely on natural woods, vines, and boulders to form a natural illusory maze to prevent low-tier demon beasts from stumbling in by accident.
“It seems there's no need for me to take superfluous measures.”
Luo Chen smiled faintly, spiritual light glowing in his eyes as he saw through the landscape outside the mountain at a glance.
Tracing the flaws in the maze, he stepped forward stride by stride, finally leaping out over the vast ocean.
Waves crashed and surged rhythmically against the shore.
The morning sun was rising, casting its light over the boundless expanse.
Luo Chen glanced in all directions, then retrieved a high-grade flying boat and tossed it onto the water. Channelling his magic power, the vessel followed his intuition, gliding toward the southeast.
The brisk sea breeze tousled his black hair.
His robes fluttering in the wind, Luo Chen gazed toward the unknown horizon ahead, his eyes shining with brilliant clarity.
“On Mount Cangwu, I was like a bird trapped in a cage, a fish caught in a net. From this moment forth, it is a bird taking to the azure sky, a fish diving into the vast sea—never again bound by chains!”
Across the boundless ocean, a solitary skiff carried the black-robed youth away with the wind.
Chapter 523