"Return, O Soul!"
The cry echoed incessantly across the vast, desolate gobi, the brown-robed Daoist's voice worn to a rasp.
The frantic ringing of a bell spread across a thousand li like a death knell beckoning souls to the underworld.
When a dragon's head materialized from the oppressive black clouds overhead, a bright gleam burst from the Daoist's eyes.
He let out a low roar.
"Raise the banner!"
Without hesitation, his two companions channeled their magic power into the long white banner before them.
In an instant, the banner unfurled, whipping the wind and clouds into a frenzy.
The dark clouds in the sky began to churn as if hauled by an unseen force.
As the skies shifted, a streak of azure light slipped away unnoticed.
Before long, Tianxuan rendezvoused with Luo Chen and his two companions, who were hurrying toward the scene.
"Master!"
"You've worked hard."
Luo Chen nodded and tapped the spirit beast bag at his waist. Tianxuan obediently dove inside.
Cave Master Moyun and Taisui could not help but glance at the pouch again.
Having a "transformed" yao cultivator run errands was infinitely more convenient than keeping an ordinary Rank 3 spirit pet.
Leaving everything else aside, the difference in intellect alone was like night and day.
After putting Tianxuan away, Luo Chen pressed forward once more, soon stopping roughly a hundred li from the gobi.
The hurried, eerie chime of the bell still rang clearly in their ears.
Their eyes quietly fixed on the distant spectacle, holding their breath and daring not make a sound.
Spiritual sense transmissions flickered between them.
"What are they doing?" Taisui asked. Though he knew much about the Land of the Fallen Demon, his knowledge was limited to this domain. In the end, he had only gained sentience within this world; his familiarity with external techniques was restricted to the memories of his body's original host, Ding Yi.
"It seems to be... a soul-beckoning ritual?" Cave Master Moyun watched for a good while before his gaze finally settled on the white banner. "Piling stones to form an altar, guiding the path with a golden bell, addressing the spirits with true words, and raising a banner to summon the soul—this was the most orthodox soul-summoning ritual of the Yuan Demon Sect back in the day, vastly superior to the shallow soul-beckoning methods used by clan scions."
Taisui was surprised. "Cave Master, you seem remarkably well-versed in this. Could it be you are skilled in this art as well?"
Cave Master Moyun shook his head. "Far from it. Years ago, when I had just earned a modest reputation in weapon refinement, I repaired a Soul Beckoning Banner for a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Yuan Demon Sect. At the time, that man and his junior brother were fighting enemies in the depths of the Demon Sea, but the junior brother met with misfortune..."
Perhaps because the ritual on the distant altar was progressing slowly, Cave Master Moyun took the opportunity to recount past events.
Luo Chen did not interrupt. Gaining a better understanding of their actions would prove useful for whatever came next.
As for soul beckoning, he was not entirely ignorant of it either.
Back in Tianlan Immortal City, a certain shop had specialized in selling something called Soul Beckoning Incense.
However, once lit, that incense could only guide souls connected by bloodline, and its efficacy was unpredictable at best; whether it could truly call back a clansman's soul was always an open question.
It was nothing like what was happening here... Luo Chen's gaze shifted to the dragon's head looming within the clouds.
"Back then, that soul-beckoning was performed merely by a Foundation Establishment disciple of the Yuan Demon Sect, and its power was mediocre. How could it compare to this, stirring up such a massive commotion?"
Cave Master Moyun sighed with emotion, turning his eyes toward the dragon-shaped soul writhing relentlessly within the dark clouds.
"This entity's soul is extraordinarily powerful. Even with its will scattered, the sheer caliber of its soul exerts immense pressure on me. I wonder what its cultivation realm was when it was alive?"
Taisui stared at it for a long while, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
The frantic search through his memories brought on a throbbing headache.
After several breaths, he suddenly muttered two words.
"Soul Formation!"
Luo Chen shuddered in shock, and Cave Master Moyun's eyes widened just as sharply.
"How is that possible? Even in death, how could the soul of a Soul Formation powerhouse be forcibly summoned by three mere Golden Core cultivators?!"
"Taisui, don't make wild claims. That soul is formidable, but how could it possibly be that terrifying?"
Taisui replied uncertainly, "It shouldn't be wrong. Though it appears to only possess the strength of the Nascent Soul realm right now, the essence of its soul is unquestionably at the Soul Formation stage. This feeling... is just like the difference between my remnant thought and my true body."
Hearing this, Luo Chen and Cave Master Moyun exchanged startled glances.
The latter, in particular, had already taken an instinctive step backward.
Noticing the subtle movement, Taisui offered comforting words: "Don't panic. This remnant soul has likely been dead for thousands, if not tens of thousands, of years; its consciousness dissipated long ago. Even this soul body appears to have been forcibly condensed by an ancient mighty figure utilizing the vast power of heaven and earth."
Seeing their skepticism, he shook his head.
"I can sense the ancient aura clinging to it. It is definitely not a creature of this era. By my estimation, it was either on the losing side of an ancient war or an entity from primordial times. The decaying stench of death on it is simply too pronounced."
"Still, an entity like this isn't something ordinary Golden Core cultivators should dare provoke."
As he reached the end of his thought, doubt surfaced on Taisui's face as well.
Cave Master Moyun halted his retreat, eyeing the three Golden Core cultivators with curiosity. "Who are they? Why did they set up an altar to summon a soul here, as if deliberately targeting this thing?"
While they were wondering, Luo Chen spoke.
"They are from the Moluo Stream."
"The Moluo Stream?"
"Hm? Demonic Lord, you recognize them?"
Luo Chen's gaze turned complex as he stared at the brown-robed Daoist on the altar, who was vigorously shaking the bell and shouting at the top of his lungs.
Wu Qi!
Master of Wushen Island.
He was also a trusted right-hand man beneath Blood Nightmare Moluo, Stream Lord of the Moluo Stream.
The last time they had met was at the Feileng City auction. Back then, Wu Qi had only been at the sixth layer of the Golden Core realm.
Seeing him again now, he had already crossed the mid Golden Core stage into the late stage, his magic power vast and robust, looking not far from the eighth layer.
As for the two beside him, Luo Chen had also crossed paths with them once before.
They were Eagle Demon and Old Monster Baibian.
Both were renowned late Golden Core great cultivators within the Moluo Stream!
After Luo Chen gave a quiet explanation, Taisui's expression changed drastically.
"If what you say is true, these three belong to the factions of Blood Nightmare Moluo, the First Stream Lord, and the Sky Splitter Stream Lord respectively. Does their presence here mean that three of the Moluo Stream's Stream Lords have entered the Land of the Fallen Demon as well?"
Cave Master Moyun came to a sudden realization. "That explains it. Blood Nightmare Moluo is a Nascent Soul True Monarch of the Yuan Demon Sect, so he would naturally possess the most orthodox soul-beckoning arts, which he then passed down to... wait, isn't Blood Nightmare Moluo a True Monarch of the Blood Sea Lineage?"
The three lineages of the Yuan Demon Sect were independent of one another, and their cultivation methods were distinctly separated.
Powerhouses of the Blood Sea Lineage typically never practiced the formidable techniques of the Soul Refining Lineage.
Yet arts like soul beckoning and soul refining obviously belonged to the Soul Refining Lineage.
Luo Chen's expression darkened, and he did not answer their questions.
At this moment, only a single thought occupied his mind.
Blood Nightmare Moluo had also come to the Land of the Fallen Demon!
He and Blood Nightmare shared a bitter grudge!
First, Luo Chen had slighted the man by refusing his recruitment, and had joined forces with Han Zhan to strike Blood Nightmare's avatar, He Yuan, with soul arts.
Blood Nightmare Moluo was by no means generous; he had subsequently ordered the Master of Baizao Mountain to hunt Luo Chen down for decades.
To a True Monarch, that might have been a casual decree.
Yet for Luo Chen, had he not possessed sufficient strength, he would have perished on the Seven Star Islands under the Master of Baizao Mountain's ambush long ago.
Luo Chen never brought up this grudge in casual conversation, but he had engraved it deeply into his heart.
Now that Wu Qi and his companions were conducting a ritual here, was Blood Nightmare Moluo present as well?
Luo Chen surveyed the surroundings. There was no sign of human presence, only boundless yellow sand and heavy, rolling black clouds.
*Senior, please conduct a search for me!*
*Understood.*
Whenever Luo Chen asked, Han Zhan complied.
Even though spiritual sense was heavily suppressed in this realm, Han Zhan specialized in spirit-refining techniques; the range of his spiritual sense still far exceeded that of any Golden Core cultivator.
After a brief search, Han Zhan's reply arrived.
*I do not see any other Nascent Soul powerhouses, but...*
Just as Luo Chen breathed a sigh of relief, his heart hitched again.
*But what?*
*An upheaval is coming to this place. Be on your guard.*
*Hm?*
Just as Luo Chen was about to speak, a deafening dragon's roar echoed from the distance.
"Look!" Cave Master Moyun cried out.
Luo Chen looked up. In the sky, the phantom of the dragon soul within the clouds had begun to thrash violently.
On the ground below, the white banner was clearly showing signs of buckling under the strain.
Right at that moment, Eagle Demon and Old Monster Baibian, who were controlling the banner, unhurriedly drew out earth-yellow diamond crystals from their storage bags.
They shattered the crystals and fed them into the white banner.
As a large quantity of crystals was tossed inside, the violent tremors of the banner gradually subsided.
Seeing those crystals, Cave Master Moyun cast a subtle glance toward Luo Chen.
Taisui was far more direct.
"Demonic Lord, when you went around collecting those crystals earlier, had you already sensed something amiss?"
"Indeed, you even specifically asked me whether the stone monsters producing these crystals were spirits personally created by the Heaven Refining Demon Lord."
"It seems you realized something was wrong a step ahead of us!"
Luo Chen's eyes narrowed slightly.
He had indeed noticed earlier that the stone monsters were different from the exotic beasts.
Those exotic beasts were incomplete, their soul bodies fragmented.
The stone monsters were also incomplete.
Yet the most fundamental difference between the two lay in the fact that the exotic beasts belonged to distinct categories and races.
The stone monsters, on the other hand, shared an identical aura origin, as if they all stemmed from a single entity.
Moreover, as Black King collected more and more of the crystals, the sense that they had a natural inclination to merge became increasingly palpable.
Now, watching Wu Qi and his companions cast in large quantities of crystals, Luo Chen had undoubtedly confirmed his hypothesis.
In fact, Wu Qi and his group had gone a step further, directly locating the primary source of that aura.
The dragon soul within the black clouds!
At present, he was in no mood to feel smug about his deduction being validated, nor did he intend to answer Taisui's questions. His full attention was fixed on their surroundings.
The upheaval Han Zhan had warned about—what kind of change was it?
*Rustle, rustle, rustle...*
Flying sand and rolling stones drifted by, seemingly as calm as usual.
Yet beneath this calm, a subtle difference emerged.
The boundary between the gobi and the sand sea had been completely swallowed by quicksand.
Waves of quicksand surged forward like a tide, creeping toward the gobi.
Its advance seemed sluggish, yet was remarkably swift in truth.
Without a deliberate reference point to compare against, one could hardly perceive its spread.
By the time the creatures here noticed, they were stunned to discover that the gobi, stretching ten thousand li across, was already surrounded by an endless sea of shifting sand!
"Something's wrong!"
Wu Qi's chanting abruptly ceased.
At that very moment, a heaven-shaking dragon's roar erupted once more from the dark clouds.
*Roar—!*
With the detonation of the roar, the gobi began to quake.
Beam after beam of earthy-yellow radiance tore away from the dragon soul, plunging into the earth.
Amid the violent shaking, the shattered fragments of stone monsters scattered across the ground clattered and snapped together, reassembling into towering stone beasts.
Paying no heed to Wu Qi and his companions, they charged straight toward the quicksand closing in from all directions.
As they ran, towering yellow sand giants rose from the quicksand sea.
In an instant, the stone monsters and the sand giants collided in battle.
Between them, there were no frantic battle cries.
Their clashes were simple and direct.
Silently and relentlessly, massive numbers of stone monsters began to crumble.
A few sand giants also collapsed, revealing their cores—tiny, diminutive mud figurines.
Deprived of the sand giants' support, these mud figurines turned exceedingly fragile; whenever a stone monster caught one, it swallowed it whole in a single bite.
The luckier ones plunged back into the yellow sand, drawing upon the boundless dunes to form new giants.
Within a certain stretch of the sand sea...
A golden sphere rolled along with the wind.
Inside the golden sphere, three figures wore terror on their faces.
Had Taisui not used his yellow gourd beforehand to release golden sand and envelop the three of them, they would likely have been buried beneath the sky-filling sand as well.
Yet under the rolling waves of sand, even Taisui began to show signs of faltering.
"That's Tianrang!"
Peering through the golden sand, Taisui caught sight of a little mud figurine appearing and perishing, prompting an involuntary cry of shock.
Immediately following that, his face paled.
"This won't do. Even Tianrang has been stirred; this quicksand sea has turned perilous. We have to leave!"
Cave Master Moyun was still reeling from the shock of the name "Tianrang," but upon hearing Taisui's words, he quickly agreed.
"Let's run!"
Having secured his companion's agreement, Taisui hesitated no longer, steering the golden sphere straight outward.
Such a massive commotion naturally drew the attention of the three Golden Core cultivators below as it soared over the gobi.
"There were other people spying on us?" Eagle Demon exclaimed.
"The quicksand sea is so barren, I thought no one would be here. To think there were others," Old Monster Baibian remarked, equally startled.
Wu Qi glanced at the sphere of golden sand, his face grim.
"Never mind them! We need to seize the stone dragon's remnant soul as quickly as possible, or we won't be able to answer to the Stream Lord!"
Eagle Demon retracted his gaze and looked back toward the dark clouds in the sky.
"But right now, the stone dragon's remnant soul is instinctively resisting entering the Soul Beckoning Banner, and a formidable enemy has attacked from outside..."
"That's good news!" Wu Qi said firmly. "Whatever is manipulating the yellow sand is the stone dragon's natural enemy. Now that the remnant soul has dispersed its power to fend off its nemesis, its main body is vastly weakened. This is our best chance to subdue it."
"Put your backs into it!"
Seeing Eagle Demon and Old Monster Baibian hesitate, Wu Qi's eyes turned cold.
"The only reason you two were able to enter the Land of the Fallen Demon and gather so many rare resources is because of Lord Blood Nightmare's aid. If you can't see this task through for him, even if Lord Blood Nightmare doesn't hold you accountable, do you think you'll dare face your respective Stream Lords without his protection once we leave?"
Eagle Demon and Old Monster Baibian looked at each other.
The First Stream Lord and Sky Splitter Stream Lord whom they had previously served were hardly merciful masters.
If Blood Nightmare Stream Lord withdrew his protection, their fate was easy to imagine.
"Listen to me! Give it everything you have to complete the mission! When the time comes, Lord Blood Nightmare will bestow upon us the Yuan Demon Sect's technique for Nascent Soul formation, giving all of us hope of reaching the grand Dao of the Nascent Soul. If we succeed, we will become the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth Stream Lords after the Moluo Stream's Twelve Stream Lords! Why should we fear the First or Sky Splitter?"
Wu Qi barked harshly.
Not only did he urge them with words, but he also led by example.
Biting the tip of his tongue, he spat a mouthful of essence blood onto the bell in his hand.
Instantly, the bell clanged violently, and the dragon soul high above shook as if struck by a heavy blow.
Seeing this, Eagle Demon and Baibian hesitated no longer. Each squeezed out essence blood to amplify the power of the Soul Beckoning Banner.
A terrifying suction force emanated from the banner, causing the dragon soul in the sky to waver unstably.
And without the dragon soul's full support, the endless waves of stone monsters began to dwindle in number.
In their place, rolling yellow sand surged in, blotting out the sky!
A rare look of ruthlessness surfaced in Wu Qi's eyes.
He was going to pull chestnuts from the fire, subduing the stone dragon's remnant soul before the sand sea closed in completely!
...
*Whoosh!*
A beam of golden light pierced through the clouds and mist.
The golden light came from a golden sphere, which was formed by golden sand spewed continuously from a gourd within.
Inside the sphere, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief.
"As expected, whatever is controlling the yellow sand isn't targeting us," Cave Master Moyun said, letting out a long breath.
Taisui looked perplexed. "Strange. That fellow Tianrang has slumbered for thousands of years. Even when Nascent Soul True Monarchs from the Yuan Demon Sect came here to explore, he stayed hidden and avoided them. Why would he show himself of his own accord this time, and cause such a massive disturbance?"
A voice of inquiry sounded beside his ear.
"Is that Tianrang?"
Taisui looked at Luo Chen and nodded slightly. "Indeed, that is Tianrang. As I mentioned before, the quicksand sea has a master, and his name is Tianrang."
A thoughtful expression appeared on Luo Chen's face.
Cave Master Moyun asked curiously, "What rank is Tianrang, exactly? Compared to your true body, who is stronger?"
Hearing this question, displeasure crossed Taisui's face.
"We are different from human cultivators and yao beasts; we are sentient spirits. Even if our realm matches that of human cultivators, our means are limited. Tianrang and I are both Rank 5 entities. It's hard to say who is stronger; it depends heavily on geographical advantage."
"In the quicksand sea, he holds the upper hand. In my former territory, I would naturally have the advantage."
"However, Tianrang is an artificial creation, a bastard breed with innate flaws. If my true body can break free, I have several ways to kill it!"
He spoke with supreme confidence, clearly disliking Cave Master Moyun comparing Tianrang to him.
In particular, his true body was a wood-attribute spirit plant, inherently counteracting earth-attribute spirits.
"Enough, let's leave it be for now. Once we retrieve the Five Elements Lotus Platform for Qingyang, we will head to the Fallen Demon Abyss to undo the restrictions on my true body."
With that, he channeled more magic power, preparing to steer the two of them out of the quicksand sea.
Yet right at that moment, Taisui turned to Luo Chen in confusion.
"Demonic Lord Qingyang, what are you doing?"
A large hand pressed against the inner wall of the golden sphere.
Azure flames flared, silently burning an opening through the sand barrier.
With a forced, hollow smile, Luo Chen said, "You two go on ahead. I'll catch up shortly!"
With that, his figure blurred, flying directly out through the opening.
Behind him, Taisui and Cave Master Moyun were left utterly stunned.
The golden sand reversed its flow, pouring back into the mouth of the gourd.
The two reappeared under the clear sky, watching Luo Chen's retreating back.
Like an arrow released from a bow, completely resolute, he plunged straight into the churning sea of quicksand.
Chapter 664