Fierce winds swept across the boundless sea.
Suddenly, a colossal figure shot from the distance like a falling star. As he ground to a halt, the sea detonated into countless sprays of waves.
By now, the downpour had ceased, and beneath the sunlight, the splashing waves reflected vibrant rainbow hues.
Within the hazy radiance, the immense form slowly shrank. The qi armor dispersed, the wings folded inward, and billowing waves of steam pushed back the surrounding seawater.
In just a moment, as the waves crashed back into the ocean, Luo Chen returned to his original form.
Looking down at his stark-naked body, he could not help but frown.
Both the Heavenly Roc Transformation and Wang Yuan's Giant Spirit Transformation suffered from this flaw: garments were burst to shreds upon transforming.
Back when his cultivation realm was lower, his physical shift spanned only ten to twenty feet, and ordinary dharma robes could expand with him.
But now that he had advanced to late-stage Desolate Ancient Tier 3, a full transformation easily reached hundreds of feet—something none of his supreme-grade dharma robes could endure.
"Forget it. In the end, it is merely a minor annoyance."
Casting the Healing Art, he brought his bodily injuries under basic control, then donned a loose, moon-white Daoist robe.
Afterward, Luo Chen sank to the seabed and quietly waited.
With the burst of full speed he had maintained, that brief period had already carried him over a thousand li away from the Xuanyan Sea Domain.
Ordinary Tier 3 demon beasts could never catch up.
What was more, the demon beasts on Xuanyan Island were demon crabs and turtles—creatures not known for speed in the first place—and most of them were heavily wounded from the lightning tribulation.
The few Grand Demon Kings who still had the strength to pursue him, such as Jin Ao, had taken a direct hit from Luo Chen's long-gathered Qingyang Great Handprint and were already hard-pressed just to look after themselves.
As such, Luo Chen had no worry of being overtaken.
He was waiting here now to rendezvous with Han Zhan and Black King.
Their escape route had been discerned by Han Zhan through his mastery of formations—a path of survival spotted on Xuanyan Island that, aided by the Spirit-Sealing Compass's Billowing Cloud Dense Mist Array, would allow them to slip away with ease.
Furthermore, Luo Chen had bought them plenty of time.
Nothing unexpected should have happened.
After waiting for about half an incense stick's time, Luo Chen opened his eyes from his meditation, puzzled.
"Why haven't they arrived yet?"
Splash!
Luo Chen surfaced above the water, combining his spiritual vision and divine sense to peer in a certain direction, yet saw no movement whatsoever.
Strange!
The agreed-upon rendezvous point with Han Zhan was definitely right here, yet there was still no sign of them.
Luo Chen's heart sank.
"Han Zhan couldn't have forsaken our agreement for profit and run off, could he?"
If that were truly the case, Luo Chen would be deeply pained.
At this moment, every treasure in Han Zhan's possession belonged to Luo Chen.
The Ten Thousand Soul Banner, nurtured over a long time to become increasingly lethal; the Spirit-Sealing Compass, an indispensable tool for travel and dwelling; and the Demon Emperor's remnant husk snatched straight from the tiger's jaws by Black King.
Just those three items alone could not be bought for several million spirit stones in the increasingly turbulent Northern Sea cultivation world.
Especially that Demon Emperor husk—it was material from a Tier 4 Transformation Stage demon beast. Handled properly, there was no telling what peerless treasure could be forged from it.
Otherwise, Luo Chen would never have taken the risk to seize it.
Oh, right! There was also Black King!
That black-scaled python had originally possessed abysmal latent talent, but after being nurtured consecutively by Kun Jiao and Luo Chen, and especially after consuming large amounts of supreme-grade Emperor's Flowing Syrup, its extraordinary potential had finally been unearthed, promising boundless future prospects.
If Han Zhan made off with him too, Luo Chen wouldn't even have a place to cry!
Only now did Luo Chen realize that a so-called Great Dao oath was not omnipotent.
The Great Dao oath Han Zhan had sworn to him merely forbade Han Zhan from acting against Luo Chen before Luo Chen advanced to the Nascent Soul stage.
Yet the scope of the oath did not forbid Han Zhan from simply leaving on his own.
For a moment, the joy Luo Chen felt from reaping such supreme treasures began to fade.
"No, I have to go look."
Luo Chen checked his condition: more than half his magic power remained, and while his body was injured, it would not hinder him from unleashing his normal combat prowess.
If he ran into an enemy, he had ample strength to protect himself.
Heading in that direction, Luo Chen summoned a cloud of magic power, activated the Yinwei Formation, and flew silently along the sea surface.
As he flew, he kept constant watch for soul fluctuations.
Black King was his spirit beast; when enslaving him, Luo Chen had collected his soul blood, establishing a bond between them.
So long as the distance was not too vast, he could unilaterally sense the general direction.
After flying for a few minutes, the cloud suddenly halted above the sea.
Luo Chen looked toward the sky. An escape light was fleeing in flustered haste, emanating an aura as formidable as Golden Core seventh layer!
Moreover, that aura felt rather familiar.
"It's Gu Shaoshang!"
"What is he doing here? And looking like he's running for his life, no less."
Just as Luo Chen was wondering, a whirlpool formed on the waters ahead, and a massive black-scaled python surfaced. Its body was thick and stout, with a savage single horn atop its head. Setting aside its appearance and judging solely by its aura, it already possessed a formidable presence.
It was Black King!
Delighted, Luo Chen dispelled the Yinwei Formation.
Sensing him, Black King hurriedly swam over.
"Master, Black King has not failed the mission!"
As he spoke, he opened his maw and spat out a cluster of bright yellow radiance, which floated gently above them.
With just a single glance, Luo Chen felt a profound sense of ancient heaviness.
Focusing his gaze to pierce through the bright yellow light, he saw a turtle shell spinning within. Dense patterns covered its surface, coming together into neat hexagons.
Such orderly turtle-shell markings were exceedingly rare in the cultivation world, condensable only by beings of extraordinary talent.
"Is this the Demon Emperor's remnant husk—the Xuanyan Armor?"
Luo Chen reached out and beckoned, taking the turtle shell into his hand.
After examining it closely, he carefully placed it into his storage ring and looked at Black King.
"What was the deal with Gu Shaoshang?"
Black King looked a little bewildered. "I don't know either. As soon as I escaped from the undersea spring eye, I found him blocking the way outside. Senior Han had to intervene personally to scare him off."
Scared him off?
While Luo Chen was puzzled, a scale on Black King's back flipped open, and the Ten Thousand Soul Banner flew out from within.
Luo Chen caught it, and Han Zhan's voice drifted into his ears.
"That junior is no ordinary figure; he is proficient in the Dao of Formations. Likely, like us, he saw through the few hidden paths of survival on Xuanyan Island and waited by the stump on our escape route."
"Did you fight him?"
"Not at all. I am a dignified Nascent Soul Perfected Person after all—how could I stoop to trading blows with Golden Core juniors time and again? I merely released a wisp of Nascent Soul aura and frightened him away."
So that was it!
Luo Chen nodded, though a trace of doubt lingered in his mind. If he had scared the man off immediately, why were they delayed for so long?
Perhaps aware of Luo Chen's cautious nature, Han Zhan offered a few more words of explanation.
It turned out that the Ring-Headed Turtle clan was also aware of those escape routes on Xuanyan Island.
After the patriarch and first elder fell, turtle demon kings had led the surviving clansmen to evacuate, and their path was one of the evacuation routes.
To avoid colliding with them and inviting complications, Han Zhan and Black King had been forced to slow down, taking quite a while before finally escaping Xuanyan Island.
As soon as they emerged, they ran into Gu Shaoshang lying in wait, leading to the scene Luo Chen had witnessed upon arrival.
"Alright. This place is too close to Xuanyan Island. To be safe, we should leave first!" Luo Chen said.
"Are we leaving the Xuanyan Sea Domain and returning to the Flying Swallow Archipelago?" Han Zhan asked.
Luo Chen shook his head. "I need to process the batch of Tier 3 demon crab materials I obtained before heading back. If left too long, they won't be suitable for brewing the Black Emperor Paste."
As he spoke, a swirl of magic power brought the Ten Thousand Soul Banner into his hand. Han Zhan slipped inside at the right moment, handing over the Spirit-Sealing Compass as well.
Black King shrank in size, curling up beneath Luo Chen's magic cloud.
Forming an incantation gesture, the dusky magic cloud vanished into the horizon.
……
On a spiritless islet tens of thousands of li away from Xuanyan Island, a seagull perched atop the rocks.
On this day, an escape light descended upon it.
The seagull hurried to greet him. "Master, you have returned."
"You returned ahead of us. Did any outsider visit the Coral Trench cave abode?" Luo Chen asked, looking at Tianxuan.
Tianxuan shook her head hastily. "I checked—none. Even if a few low-tier sea demons wandered into the Coral Trench, they were preyed upon by the nearby blood corals. It hasn't been discovered to this day."
Luo Chen nodded. Undiscovered meant it remained relatively safe.
There was no rush to leave the Xuanyan Sea Domain; he would go there first to process the shells of the Demon King crabs.
Instructing Tianxuan to stand guard nearby and watch for external enemies, Luo Chen took Black King back down into the Coral Trench.
As soon as they reached the Coral Trench, he took out the Spirit-Sealing Compass, preparing to lay down the Billowing Cloud Dense Mist Array once more.
"You are as cautious as ever," Han Zhan said with a chuckle.
While manipulating the compass, Luo Chen replied casually, "When out and about, being cautious is always best. Otherwise, back on Tianxuan Island, I would have been rounded up completely by the Demon Spider Crab clan."
Once surrounded, breaking out would be far from easy.
In that battle on Xuanyan Island, his unstoppable charge through the blockade had succeeded because he had prepared in advance.
But if he were ambushed in his cave abode, even with his full might unleashed, escape might be nearly impossible.
And if the foes were like the Demon Spider Crabs, who excelled at perception and lockdown, escaping would be out of the question!
As he was setting it up, Han Zhan suddenly spoke, "Expand the array's range a bit."
"Hm?"
"Cover a li or so!" Han Zhan estimated.
One li was roughly a radius of five hundred meters, which was how Luo Chen generally converted it.
Though puzzled, he complied.
In an instant, empowered by magic power, radiant spiritual light cascaded from the Spirit-Sealing Compass, and previously inscribed formation patterns began spreading outward.
Water currents surged, and red mist billowed.
The blood-coral trench, already bathed in crimson glow, grew even more intensely red.
Anyone who didn't know better would think a Tier 3 blood coral had emerged here.
After Luo Chen expanded the formation's coverage, Han Zhan spoke, "Haven't you noticed something new inside your Ten Thousand Soul Banner?"
Luo Chen started.
He truly hadn't checked the thing.
Although he had personally refined this Soul Refining Banner to claim ownership, Han Zhan was the one controlling it most of the time. It practically served as Han Zhan's lodging, meaning Luo Chen was essentially providing him with room and board.
Consequently, he rarely paid much attention to the banner.
Sending his divine sense inside now, Luo Chen could not help but show astonishment.
Souls!
Countless souls!
Not only the two previous ghost kings and over a thousand ghost-general-rank souls, but also a dense swarm of low-tier souls numbering in the tens of thousands.
On top of that, there were even over a dozen Demon King remnant souls!
"What are these?" Luo Chen asked before he had even finished inspecting.
"Heh heh."
Han Zhan smiled faintly. "While monitoring the battlefield for you, I wasn't just sitting idle. Gathering a few masterless remnant souls took barely any effort at all."
Took barely any effort?
Luo Chen was momentarily speechless.
In that instant, he understood why demonic cultivators proficient in soul dao loved prowling ancient battlefields—it was all to harvest powerful souls!
Even worse, some would deliberately stir up turmoil, pulling strings behind the scenes to trigger wars of all sizes.
Even low-tier soul-refining demonic cultivators had been known to orchestrate wars within mortal kingdoms.
For no other reason than the staggering profits.
On the battlefield, the stench of blood and slaughter was overpowering.
Any soul that could survive such an environment, even as a mere remnant, was guaranteed to become a formidable weapon if nurtured well.
The tens of thousands of low-tier souls Han Zhan had collected were trivial compared to the millions of crab soldiers and generals under the five royal crab clans, but for the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, they represented a massive replenishment of fresh strength.
As for those dozen-plus Tier 3 remnant souls, as long as they devoured each other down the line, they might yield several complete Tier 3 ghost-king-level entities.
When that time came, the might of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner would multiply severalfold!
Presumably, this had been Han Zhan's intention all along!
His earlier reluctance to go all out was not only to conserve his origin essence, but also born of the dilemma that even the cleverest cook cannot make a meal without rice.
Now that the Ten Thousand Soul Banner had a solid foundation, he could execute various techniques with composure in the future.
"This is a great thing for me—gaining a sharp weapon out of nowhere, which also compensates for the loss of the Profound Fire Sword in my combat arsenal."
Delight showed on Luo Chen's brow.
Before he could praise Han Zhan, the latter suddenly remarked, "Aren't you going to look closer?"
"There's more?"
Curiosity piqued, Luo Chen extended his divine sense deeper into the soul banner.
The deeper he probed, the denser the souls became; his hasty glance earlier hadn't caught it.
Looking now, he discovered that those battle souls seemed clustered around a single place.
When Luo Chen clearly saw what was at that place, his expression changed drastically.
"This—!"
A gasp escaped his lips.
Instantly, his magic power surged, and the Soul Refining Banner swelled with the wind, expanding to its extreme limit of ninety feet.
Then, the banner's portal opened wide, and an object twenty to thirty feet wide slowly "swam" out from within.
The moment it appeared, its aura billowed outward.
Crouched at the entrance of the cave abode, Black King raised his head in shock and bewilderment.
"Master, what is that?"
Luo Chen didn't answer. Instead, he channeled his magic power as best he could to guide the entity out.
Ten feet, twenty feet, thirty feet... until it stretched to a thousand feet before revealing its full form.
It was a gigantic serpent!
A thousand-foot giant serpent!
The immense body lay winding across the Coral Trench. Though bereft of life, its residual aura still bore down, forcing the nearby blood corals to bow their slender forms as if gripped by innate dread.
Gazing upon the heavily scarred serpent body, which resembled scorched wood and charcoal, Luo Chen swallowed hard and looked toward Han Zhan.
"A Cliff Snake?"
Across Han Zhan's slightly illusory face, despite his beaming smile, a look of exhaustion was visible.
"That very same Ring-Headed Turtle who failed the tribulation. Even though he failed, he shed his shackles and attained the body of a Cliff Snake."
"This... this..."
Luo Chen marvelled repeatedly, shaking his head.
"Elder, you truly gave me one massive surprise!"
Han Zhan said wearily, "Though I cannot help you much in direct combat, a small matter like this is nothing to speak of."
This was no small matter!
The carcass of a Cliff Snake—even if its transformation was incomplete and it had failed the tribulation, it had still been a top-tier Grand Demon King at the peak of Tier 3.
If put on the market, plenty of buyers would eagerly pay a steep price.
Even kept for personal use, many of its materials would be of immense value.
Sell it? Luo Chen naturally could not bear to.
But keep it for himself?
For a moment, looking at the Cliff Snake corpse, Luo Chen felt at a loss as to how to make proper use of it.
Just as he was pondering, he felt something rubbing against his calf.
Looking down, he saw Black King nuzzling him cautiously and fawningly.
"Master, this..."
Luo Chen frowned. "This isn't something you can eat."
"Actually, he can."
Luo Chen looked up, and Han Zhan smiled.
"When I asked the little fellow to strike earlier, I promised him a few conditions, one of which was this Cliff Snake body. Just give it to him. Since the Cliff Snake failed its transformation and was struck by a heavenly tribulation amplified tens of times over, its materials aren't really of much use to you anymore."
Black King also looked at Luo Chen eagerly. "Master, when I snatched that Xuanyan Armor for you, Jin Ao and the others nearly beat me to death."
Luo Chen's expression shifted continuously as his divine sense swept in and out of the Cliff Snake's body.
After multiple inspections, he had to admit that Han Zhan had a point.
This serpent corpse, barely distinguishable from charcoal, truly had lost eighty to ninety percent of its spiritual nature. Whether he used it for alchemy or to craft artifacts and magic treasures, its efficacy would be quite mediocre.
After all, this was not a demon beast with resistance to lightning, but rather a water-attribute grand demon that innately dreaded heavenly lightning.
That such an intact corpse had been preserved at all was already a stroke of extraordinary fortune amidst catastrophe.
In comparison, his true harvests were the dozen-plus Demon King crab corpses and the Xuanyan Armor Black King had seized for him.
After weighing his options, Luo Chen withdrew his reluctant gaze.
"Fine, it's yours. Just make sure you don't slack off after eating it."
Black King hurriedly coiled his body on the ground, repeatedly bowing his head to kowtow before Luo Chen.
"Thank you, Master! In the future, this servant will bend his back to the task until dying in your service!"
Heh, this fellow's human speech was truly becoming smoother and smoother.
Yet seeing the longing in Black King's eyes, Luo Chen also recognized that this failed Cliff Snake carcass might well be another immense stroke of fortune for Black King!
If Black King grew stronger, it would also be a tremendous boon for Luo Chen as his master.
Factoring all that in, the frustration in Luo Chen's heart dissolved completely, and he gave an easy laugh.
"This trip to Xuanyan Island was truly fruitful—practically my greatest harvest to date!"
Feeling thoroughly pleased, he strode into the cave abode.
Chapter 557