Deep within the murky ocean abyss, violent tremors rumbled incessantly.
The turbid black seawater was disrupted, forming rolling waves that pushed outward in layered surges from near to far.
Tracing the currents back toward the exact center of the roaring din revealed two humanoid beings clashing at blinding speed.
One possessed the body of a man and the tail of a fish. Brandishing a long trident, his face bore a baleful aura yet was exquisitely handsome, resembling an immortal banished from the heavens.
The other bore wings upon his back and was clad in archaic black Xuan armor. As he darted to and fro across the water, he unleashed massive palm prints in rapid succession.
Surrounding them was a crimson sea of flames spanning a hundred zhang.
Within it, the Xuan-armored man repeatedly burst forth with blinding speed, shifting through the void. He cast all manner of spells with casual ease, their might surging several-fold the moment they were unleashed, pressing the merman opposite him so hard he could scarcely breathe.
Suddenly, the merman released his grip on the trident, leaving it floating at his side, and blinked at the Xuan-armored man.
A single drop of azure tear fell from his left eye.
The moment the blue tear dropped, he struck it toward the Xuan-armored man.
Having unleashed the tear, his aura plunged to an extreme low, and streams of blood even poured from his eye socket.
Facing the blue tear as if confronting a deadly nemesis, the Xuan-armored man retreated frantically while launching one azure great palm print after another.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Three strikes in succession forcefully shattered the blue tear into a shower of starlike motes.
Only then did the Xuan-armored man finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Yet in the very next instant, those drifting blue sparks flared with dazzling azure light within the sea of flames, forming a colossal bubble that completely engulfed the Xuan-armored man.
A look of triumph surfaced on the merman's face.
Without a second thought, he beckoned the blue trident back into his hand and brandished it through the open water. Several blue chains shot out from inside the bubble, darting toward the Xuan-armored man.
One could readily imagine that once struck by these blue chains, his movements would be severely hindered.
At this perilous juncture, the Xuan-armored man remained calm and unhurried. He let out a cold snort and tapped a finger against his sea of qi.
In the next instant,
an azure flame rippled across him, wrapping his entire body.
Now, within that grim fire hell, the man seemed transformed into a fiend-god shrouded in flames. Facing the blue chains flying in from all sides, he simply reached out and grabbed them with unyielding force.
A savage yank!
*Clatter!*
As if caught in an irresistible tug, the merman outside the bubble was dragged forcefully toward the man.
He struggled desperately, mobilizing his demonic power in an attempt to resist.
Yet the overbearing, turbulent magic power saturating the surrounding water sent his demonic power leaping erratically, completely beyond his control.
Before his horrified gaze, the Xuan-armored man's body flared with azure flames, incinerating the blue bubble in an instant. Stamping the void with an explosive boom, he seemed to teleport right in front of the creature.
A broad palm clamped around the merman's slender neck.
"You aren't a merman. The intelligence was wrong."
The man uttered the words coldly.
His throat pinned, the demon beast's face flushed crimson, turning savage and grotesque, stripped of all prior celestial beauty. He rasped in a hiss, "I am no human plaything! I am a jiaoren!"
A jiaoren?
That explained it.
Luo Chen gave a faint nod. No wonder his combat strength was so formidable and his demonic arts so eerie and unpredictable, forcing Luo Chen to expend immense effort—even unleashing the second form of Senluo Fire Hell he had developed over recent days—just to subdue him.
However, this was the end of the line.
He applied slight force, squeezing the jiaoren until he was nearly suffocated.
At the same time, the azure flames dancing across Luo Chen's body seemed imbued with sentience, flowing from his fingertips across the jiaoren's entire frame.
In an instant, an exotic fragrance began to permeate the dark, turbid depths of the Sunken Sea.
Luo Chen closed his eyes slightly, feeling the boundless vitality flowing into his body, so delightfully comfortable he nearly groaned.
How long had it been since he last refined a demon beast with his source true fire?
Especially this time—a Great Demon King of the late third rank!
Under the refinement of his Wither-Bloom True Fire, an endless stream of vitality merged into his body, leaving Luo Chen nearly trembling with satisfaction.
Across from him, the jiaoren, barely six or seven feet tall, shook violently. He was now reduced to skin and bones, completely devoid of his former handsome appearance.
A demonic core, glistening like a pearl, struggled continuously within his frame, yet it could not escape the incineration of the azure flame.
A soundless cry of anguish echoed from within the demon core.
"When Lord Liu of my race breaks free from the Yama Heavens, he will cast all of you into eternal ruin!"
As if deaf to the words, Luo Chen simply continued using his source true fire to consume the creature's body, sparing only a single lump of flesh.
After about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Luo Chen released his grip.
A human-shaped cinder disintegrated into drifting ash, sinking into the ocean floor.
With a wave of Luo Chen's hand, that lump of fresh flesh and the blue trident flew into his grasp, stored directly into his Mo Ring.
Only then did he finally turn around.
Facing the tumultuous surge of waters in the distance, he said calmly, "Fellow Daoist, you have watched for quite a while. Have you seen enough?"
With a massive saber gleam carving a path through the water, a burly, towering man strode out.
Luo Chen's eyes narrowed slightly. "So it is Fellow Daoist Dao Lan. Luo offers his greetings."
Greetings?
Where was the courtesy in this!
Dao Lan scoffed inwardly. Did Luo Chen truly think he could not see through the vigilance? Even the azure flames swirling around Luo Chen had not been dispersed, putting on a full display of being on guard against a formidable foe.
He did not expose the other's mindset. Instead, his gaze settled upon the undersea ridges submerged beneath the rolling, turbid black seawater.
Shattered peaks and crumbled cliffs lay where fire and water had violently clashed; the duel had gouged out an entire basin upon the seabed.
Dao Lan's pupils shrank slightly. "Demonic Lord, fine methods!"
"Oh?" Luo Chen raised an eyebrow.
The habitually taciturn Dao Lan suddenly seemed rather talkative.
"Among the demon tribes of the Northern Sea, the jiaoren are considered exceptionally formidable. In particular, upon advancing to the third rank, they awaken their innate demonic art: Tears of the Vast Sea. This art is never lightly deployed unless facing a life-or-death crisis. But once unleashed, it carries the weight of thirty thousand jin; anyone struck feels as though an entire ocean has crashed into them. Even our human Nascent Soul Perfected Persons who cultivate water-attribute arts frequently collect these Tears of the Vast Sea condensed through jiaoren arts to craft deadly trump cards. For you to neutralize that strike so easily, Demonic Lord, proves your extraordinary prowess."
*Was that the tear shed from the corner of the jiaoren's eye in his moment of desperation?*
Luo Chen fell into thought.
Suddenly, Dao Lan changed the subject.
"However, Demonic Lord Qingyang, you have gone a bit too far. Along this route, you have already snatched five of my whetstones, causing me no small amount of vexation!"
Luo Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. "Yours? That wasn't written anywhere!"
An invisible clash of qi erupted between the two.
Dao Lan looked eager to try his hand, the golden saber in his grip emitting a humming tremor.
Luo Chen's expression remained stern, the azure flames over his frame rising and surging ceaselessly.
Abruptly,
as if recalling something, Luo Chen withdrew all of his source true fire.
Seeing this, Dao Lan paused in surprise.
"Demonic Lord, you..."
"Dao Lan, do you happen to know an itinerant cultivator named Ding Yi?"
Dao Lan's expression flickered, the battle intent around him receding by a fraction.
Seeing this, Luo Chen smiled.
As expected, he had guessed right—Ding Yi's insider contact on the Three Oceans Defensive Line was Dao Lan.
Ding Yi possessed thorough intelligence on the Sunken Sea, claiming each time that he had extracted it from interrogated Yuan Demon Sect disciples.
Yet some of the subsequent intelligence clearly pertained to recent developments in recent years.
Furthermore, ordinary low-tier cultivators on the Three Oceans Defensive Line could never access such information; only garrison cultivators had any inkling of it.
Even then, they would only know fragments.
To attain the comprehensive level of Ding Yi's intelligence, only an expert permanently stationed on the Three Oceans Defensive Line could know it like the back of his hand.
Looking across the garrison cultivators of the three major lines, only Dao Lan, this battle-crazed enthusiast, would remain stationed there long-term and actively track the movements of various demon beasts.
The friend of a friend was, loosely speaking, also a friend.
In such a perilous place, there was no need to come to blows.
Shaking his head, Luo Chen walked straight toward Dao Lan.
The other tightened his grip on his saber hilt. Yet even as Luo Chen brushed past his shoulder, Dao Lan never took action, nor did he use Luo Chen as a whetstone.
As their shoulders brushed, Luo Chen murmured softly, "Rest assured, I won't touch the other Great Demon Kings for now. Those fellows are each more troublesome than the last. If you are interested, go after them yourself!"
The words still echoed in his ears, but by the time Dao Lan pondered them, the man was already far away.
Dao Lan's expression fluctuated. With his speed, pursuing Luo Chen now might allow for a battle. But recalling the other's methods—especially that bizarre aura field blanketing a hundred zhang—he lacked full confidence in victory.
"Never mind. This whetstone is too hard. It would be bad if it chipped my blade's edge. Besides, he knows Ding Yi."
Feeling his enthusiasm wane, it was hard to say whether he had been swayed by Luo Chen's parting words or genuinely harbored apprehension.
Yet in the next instant, Dao Lan abruptly realized something.
"The Scorching Flame Jagged Shark!"
***
Inside Taiping Fortress, within an ordinary second-tier cave abode.
Luo Chen reflected upon the five battles he had fought over the past few months:
the battle against the Sea-Overturning Demonic Wyrm, the Scorching Flame Jagged Shark, the Celestial Star Ox, the Blood Lantern, and finally, the Jiaoren.
The battle against the demonic wyrm had been somewhat overconfident; he had been forced to reveal his Heavenly Peng True Form to take it down.
The subsequent battles, though fraught with danger, had proceeded within expectations.
The clash with the Celestial Star Ox had been rather surprising.
That demon's magic power was ridiculously profound, defying common sense. In Luo Chen's assessment, even a ninth-layer Golden Core grand cultivator could hardly match it.
Although Senluo Fire Hell had offered a degree of suppression, it had fallen short of complete dominance.
It was precisely in that fight that Luo Chen had improvised a technique on the spot, activating his Wither-Bloom True Fire to augment his body. Combined with the amplifying effects of Senluo Fire Hell, his offensive power had multiplied!
Not only that, he had wielded sovereign-like dominance within the fire hell.
Luo Chen named this move the second form of Senluo Fire Hell—True Fire Form.
The Blood Lantern had been relatively straightforward. That demon excelled at eroding an enemy's flesh, but under the all-around protection of the Xuanchen Armor, it posed zero threat to Luo Chen.
Moreover, the Blood Lantern's soul was exceptionally fragile. Once Luo Chen realized the demon offered no value for testing his swordsmanship, he cast Mirror Flowers, Water Moon to bewilder its mind and Senluo Fire Hell to suppress its magic power, slaying it with ease.
As for the final jiaoren...
With a thought, Luo Chen retrieved that lump of flesh.
Channeling magic power into it, a heap of miscellaneous items tumbled out onto the floor with a clatter.
There were coral horns, seashells, sheer gauze, several magical tools and scripture scrolls, and even an azure spirit stone the size of a fist!
Luo Chen's eyes were instantly drawn to the spirit stone.
"Such terrifying spiritual energy density... A supreme-grade spirit stone?"
Luo Chen was astonished. Holding the blue crystal, he felt a surging water-attribute spiritual qi churning within.
Evidently, this was a water-attribute supreme-grade spirit stone.
Ordinary spirit stones, whether low-grade or high-grade, rarely possessed defined elemental attributes and remained relatively balanced.
Only supreme-grade spirit stones were divided among the five elements and yin-yang.
More accurately, when a certain attribute became overwhelmingly concentrated within a crystal deposit, it produced what was known as a supreme-grade spirit stone!
"A pity it isn't fire-attribute."
Luo Chen sighed, though he still stowed it solemnly into his Mo Ring.
This single stone alone was worth no less than a million low-grade spirit stones!
Turning his eyes back to the remaining miscellany, he felt somewhat underwhelmed.
Even so, Luo Chen patiently inspected them one by one.
"Eh? This fabric... Could it be the jiaoren shark-silk gauze woven by their kind?"
This was indeed an excellent material.
Jiaoren shark-silk gauze was exceedingly rare, possessing potent efficacy against baleful and foul substances. It had wonderful applications whether tailored into robes or fashioned into evil-warding charms.
Turning his gaze toward the magical tools and treasures, Luo Chen had not paid them much heed, but upon noticing the engraved inscriptions on them, his movements halted.
"Weapons belonging to disciples of the Yuan Demon Sect?"
He pursed his lips, a pang of sorrow welling in his chest.
Once a sacred land of Soul Formation, its sect grounds were now ruined and its legacy scattered. The weapons once used to sweep across the world had become trophies for demon beasts.
Reflecting on it now, that blue trident's tremendous power and exquisite craftsmanship clearly could not have been forged by the demon race.
That top-grade magic treasure had unmistakably belonged to a Yuan Demon Sect disciple as well.
With a sigh, Luo Chen sorted the items and stored them into his Mo Ring.
For a moment, he felt a dull weariness.
"After months of testing my blade, I have mastered the strengths and weaknesses of Senluo Fire Hell. With the aid of this art, I can defeat even the Great Demon Kings who survived the battle of the Yuan Demon Sect. Against human ninth-layer Golden Core grand cultivators, the results shouldn't differ much."
"In fact, since immortal cultivators rely far more heavily on magic power, my lethal move will prove even more effective!"
"Then what comes next..."
Luo Chen intended to make his return journey. Yet feeling the surging vitality still being digested within his body, he hesitated.
This was a rare opportunity to hunt demon beasts openly, with Taiping Fortress to retreat to in moments of crisis.
If he could use his source true fire to refine and devour a vast quantity of demon vitality, he might push his physique to the next level.
With a thought, his status panel appeared.
His gaze settled upon the cultivation realm column.
[Desolate Ancient Tier 3: 91/100]
*Barring unforeseen circumstances, at my current pace, it will take at least another decade or two to reach Great Perfection, let alone advance to Desolate Ancient Tier 4.*
*Yet if I have a massive supply of vitality to devour, that pace could accelerate dramatically.*
*And once I advance to Desolate Ancient Tier 4, a qualitative transformation may occur. That will provide an additional layer of security when exploring the ancient cultivator ruins in the Sunken Sea with Ding Yi and the others later on.*
Having once again tasted the sweetness of the vitality returned by the source true fire, Luo Chen felt a restless urge stir within him.
Suddenly,
his spiritual sense flickered. He reached toward the entrance of the cave abode, and a voice transmission talisman flew inside.
"Dao Lan?"
"Why has he come looking for me again?"
Luo Chen furrowed his brows, but fearing nothing, he strode out of the cave abode.
***
"You want the teeth of the Scorching Flame Jagged Shark?"
"Yes. They are of great use to me. I hope you can part with them, Fellow Daoist."
*Now it's "Fellow Daoist," no longer "Demonic Lord"!*
Luo Chen gave a faint chuckle, then assumed a solemn expression.
"I can trade them to you, but..."
Inside the tavern, Dao Lan looked expectant. "Whatever conditions you have, feel free to name them!"
"Simple: you are not to leak a single detail regarding my methods to Ding Yi."
Dao Lan hesitated briefly, but where his own cultivation was concerned, he agreed.
Luo Chen glanced around. "Let us change locations. This place is too cramped to bring out that monstrous shark's carcass."
Dao Lan's spirits rose.
"Follow me!"
Before long, led by Dao Lan, Luo Chen arrived at an open plaza within the fortress.
Several Foundation Establishment cultivators accompanied them.
Observing the stale, dark bloodstains upon the plaza ground, Luo Chen realized what this place was.
Dao Lan introduced it from the side. "This is one of the grounds where itinerant cultivators trade the demon beasts they hunt to the Demon Hunting Bureau, specifically used to lay out the carcasses of massive demon beasts. These individuals beside us are appraisers responsible for assessing beast tiers and relevant materials."
Under Luo Chen's gaze, the Foundation Establishment cultivators puffed out their chests.
"Rest assured, Master. We are richly experienced and have seen the carcasses of all sorts of formidable demon beasts. We will never undervalue them or cause you any loss."
*Is that so?*
Luo Chen smiled faintly. The black iron ring on his left hand flared with light.
*Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!*
Four deafening crashes sounded in succession. In the next instant, four colossal demon beast carcasses appeared on the plaza.
The demonic wyrm, the azure ox, the blood-red lantern, and the ferocious giant shark!
Beholding the four mountain-like demon carcasses, the appraisers stood dumbfounded.
Even Dao Lan, who had anticipated this to some degree, could not help but suck in a sharp breath upon seeing the spectacle in the flesh.
None of these were obscure, nameless creatures!
In particular, the Sea-Overturning Demonic Wyrm's renowned might was not a whit inferior to the Golden-Horned Silver Rhinoceros he had slain with tremendous effort earlier.
The other three were only slightly weaker.
This Demonic Lord Qingyang was truly formidable!
Back in the Sunken Sea, he had contemplated battling him; in retrospect, that had been rather reckless.
He, Dao Lan, was indeed battle-crazed, but he was no fool.
For a time, gazes filled with wariness, reverence, and even fear turned from the group toward Luo Chen.
Luo Chen acted as though he noticed nothing, merely waving his hand.
"Begin. Finish quickly—I still need to make a trip to the frontline."
Dao Lan's eyes went wide!
*Didn't you say you weren't going anymore? How can you go back on your word!*
Chapter 645