Aboard the cloud carriage, Luo Chen swept his divine sense across the jade slip, taking in the geographical layout of Shenyuan City in an instant.
When he finished reading, a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.
Many things could be deduced from surface appearances alone.
Unlike in the Northern Sea, where the Tianyuan Commerce Alliance operated with autonomy, Shenyuan City in the Eastern Desolation was kept under tight rein.
Nine surrounding immortal cities hemmed it in completely in a formation of three in front, three behind, and three to the right.
The lone gap left open led straight to the mountain gate of the Dongyang Sect.
From this alone, one could see just how deeply the Mingyuan Sect guarded against the Tianyuan Dao Sect!
To prevent the Dao Sect from infiltrating the Eastern Desolation through the commerce alliance, they had not only placed the alliance's headquarters squarely within the territory of the Dongyang Sect—the Mingyuan Sect's most trusted subordinate—but had also surrounded and constrained it in every detail.
He simply didn't know whether it had been this way from the start, or if it had become like this only after the incident involving the Alchemy Saint.
Luo Chen could not be bothered to ponder it further.
The so-called commerce alliance was merely a tool for the Tianyuan Dao Sect to gather wealth and intelligence, having nothing to do with him as a Star Gate Guest Elder.
On the contrary, he was rather pleased.
Because it was close!
With a shift of his divine sense, he transmitted his voice:
"You all go rest. I'll take control of the carriage!"
As he spoke, he took over control of the Six Imperials Flying Cloud Carriage from afar.
Boundless magic power surged into it. The carriage paused for a fraction of an instant before blazing with brilliant light, suddenly shooting forward and carving a dazzling arc across the sky.
Under his control, the carriage traveled at more than triple its previous speed, matching the full-speed flight of a late-stage Golden Core cultivator.
Even though the Dongyang Domain was far larger than some smaller cultivation domains, at this velocity, crossing half of it would take less than a single day.
Of course, if Luo Chen were flying at full power on his own, it would be faster still!
Yet with Zhang Jingqing, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and Sang Jinghe, who had formed his core not long ago, Luo Chen could not simply do as he pleased.
Besides, he had endured for two hundred years; there was no need to rush over a day or two.
While keeping part of his mind on steering the carriage, Luo Chen continued refining the Crimson Firmament Qi.
Spiritual essence naturally born of heaven and earth remained wild and unruly even after being captured.
Without the Hunyuan Cauldron's help in refining it, the loss would have been immense.
Following the techniques of the sword scripture, Luo Chen first used the Hunyuan Cauldron to purge the violent elements of the Crimson Firmament Qi. Once refined to a certain degree, he fused it into the Yuan Tu Sword.
As the Crimson Firmament Qi merged with the Yuan Tu Sword, it slowly nurtured sword qi.
In the process, Luo Chen himself was subtly affected.
His edge was keenly exposed, his aura sharp and imposing.
The reactions of Black King, Chi Zhong, and the others had already attested to these slight changes in him.
...
Ignoring the passage of sun and moon, pressing through day and night.
Beneath a vast, starry night, the Six Imperials Flying Cloud Carriage wobbled to a halt outside an immortal city.
"In the end, it's only the transport of a Golden Core sect master. Plenty extravagant, but lacking true substance. Driven at my full power, it's practically falling apart."
Luo Chen muttered a couple of complaints before stowing the carriage into his storage ring.
Tianxuan and the others approached.
"Master, it is late. Are we entering the city now?"
"Of course!"
Without hesitation, Luo Chen strode toward the city gates.
The towering black walls loomed under the starlight like a prostrate behemoth.
Step by step, Luo Chen walked up to the city gate, where cultivators were already standing watch.
"Halt, who goes—"
Luo Chen casually tossed over his Star Gate Guest Elder identity token.
Magic power unique to Luo Chen poured into it, causing it to flare with brilliant light.
This signaled that it was no forgery, but held by its rightful owner!
The cultivator blinked in surprise, then quickly reacted.
"Please wait a moment, True Person. This lowly one will open the gate for you immediately."
"Mm."
The heavy black gates slowly swung open before Luo Chen's eyes.
Meanwhile, in a cave dwelling within Shenyuan City, a cultivator caught a voice transmission talisman in surprise.
"Strange. Why would someone from the Central Plains arrive at this hour? Shouldn't their focus be on the Northern Sea and the Western Desert?"
As the talisman burned away into ash, the cultivator's brows furrowed slightly.
"Star Gate Guest Elder, Luo Chen?"
A moment later, however, his eyes lit up.
"Could he be that Desolate Hermit?"
With that thought, the man's eyes darted around, and he rose directly to his feet.
...
By the time Luo Chen reached the City Lord's Manor, someone was already waiting for him beneath the starry night.
The man wore wide robes with voluminous sleeves, his hair bound beneath a tall crown.
His smile was genial, warm like a spring breeze.
Straightening his robes, Luo Chen made a formal bow. "To disturb Fellow Daoist so late in the night is truly a breach of courtesy on Luo's part."
"Not at all. I, Gu, have nothing urgent to attend to anyway. Come, please, after you!"
Hearing the surname Gu, Luo Chen raised an eyebrow slightly.
On the way inside, the two introduced themselves.
Sure enough, this cultivator named Gu Zuokai indeed hailed from the Gu clan of the Twelve Great Houses!
The Tianyuan Commerce Alliance was divided across four continents, each staffed with four Nascent Soul elders.
However, those elders generally came from prominent aristocratic clans, with rarely any involvement from the Great Houses.
Yet here in the Eastern Desolation, the commerce alliance's Grand Elder was actually someone dispatched by the Gu clan, one of the Great Houses.
From this, one could see just how much importance the Tianyuan Dao Sect placed on the Eastern Desolation.
Luo Chen had initially spoken with great caution, but gradually found the man remarkably easy to get along with.
This ease was different from the affability he had experienced with Fu Chaosheng; rather, it felt as though the man was deliberately trying to win his friendship.
Was it because he had performed too outstandingly in the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven?
Luo Chen's guess was not far from the mark.
As Gu Zuokai looked at the young man before him, who resembled a drawn sword, he marveled inwardly.
*The clan said this man was extraordinary and worth befriending with good intentions. Seeing him today, he is even more impressive than the rumors say. If we can truly pull him over to our Gu clan, he will surely be a powerful ally!*
While he was marveling to himself, Luo Chen did not beat around the bush, asking directly about the current situation in the Eastern Desolation.
Gu Zuokai did not mince words either, recounting the Eastern Desolation's circumstances in detail.
"The beast turmoil in the Eastern Desolation has dragged on for a century now. The former thirty-six domains have long since lost their past glory.
"Today, out of the thirty-six domains, twelve have fallen completely, and three are suffering the ravages of war. The various factions that survived the front lines have gathered forward, establishing the Deathground Army with five domains—including Mu Prefecture and Fenghua Palace—as their headquarters, using the three frontline domains as a battleground for a grueling, bloody war of attrition.
"As for the Six Far Eastern Domains you inquired about, Fellow Daoist, they perished long ago!"
Hearing this, Luo Chen tightly clenched his fists beneath his sleeves.
Even though he had already known from intelligence that the Six Far Eastern Domains closest to the Million Mountains had fallen, hearing it confirmed from someone else's lips still tightened a knot in his chest.
In a deep voice, he asked, "What is this Deathground Army you speak of, Fellow Daoist?"
Gu Zuokai smiled faintly and explained the origins of the Deathground Army to Luo Chen from start to finish.
The demon beasts possessed overwhelming momentum, and the various sects across the domains were scattered, making it impossible to stand against the endless hordes in direct confrontation.
Yet cultivators were not mindless corpses; they knew how to run, and understood the principle: "Hold the people and lose the land, both people and land may be preserved; hold the land and lose the people, both people and land are lost."
Consequently, once certain they could not hold off the beasts, they fled toward the rear.
With so many fleeing, they flooded into the rear like a swarm of locusts and refugees, disrupting the major sects there.
According to the history of the Eastern Desolation, the further back a sect or power was situated, the earlier it had been founded and the deeper its foundation.
They had no intention of indulging these "refugees."
After watching twelve domains fall and three turn into battlegrounds, and to prevent themselves from meeting the same fate, the powers in the rear took concerted action to halt the fleeing cultivators' retreat.
They ordered them to make a stand at the very frontline of the human-demon war.
To that end, they cleared out five domains to serve as their wartime headquarters.
These five domains were Mu Prefecture where the Mu family resided, Fenghua Domain where Fenghua Palace sat, White Crane Domain where the White Crane Sect stood, Hundred Beasts Domain where the Hundred Beasts Sect was located, and Sword Domain where the Ten Thousand Swords Pavilion held sway.
By providing territory, providing resources, and setting rules, they integrated this vast, scattered force into a unified army of cultivators to resist the demon race.
Such was the origin of the Deathground Army.
To place oneself on death ground, only to survive!
They would either die on the human-demon battlefield or be suppressed and exterminated together by the twenty-one Nascent Soul superior sects in the rear!
Their only choice was to turn around, charge forward, carve out a clear sky, and reclaim their ancestral lands!
Having grasped the origin of this Deathground Army, a glimmer of hope rose in Luo Chen's heart.
Before the Consonance Gu's connection had vanished, he had known for certain that Sima Huiniang was alive. If they were smart enough to flee toward the rear, they had a chance of surviving.
Perhaps they were among the ranks of this Deathground Army.
Nursing this sliver of hope, Luo Chen asked, "With the war situation in the Eastern Desolation so dire, hasn't the sacred ground given any explanation or taken a stance?"
"What explanation could they give?" Gu Zuokai sneered. "Who knows how many demon beasts lurk in the Million Mountains? In earlier years, they ran that opening war, nibbling away at the demon territory step by step. While they indeed conquered a vast expanse of land, just like our people on the front lines now, the smarter and stronger demon beasts fled further back. Accumulating over thousands of years, they have grown into a tremendous force! Now the Mingyuan Sect holds back its troops, simply extending the battle line and widening the scope of the war—all at the cost of countless sects, clans, rogue cultivators, and common folk, merely to test the demon race's depths!"
Luo Chen opened his mouth, speechless. What had appeared from his perspective as inaction on the sacred ground's part was, in Gu Zuokai's eyes, a strategic probe by the Eastern Desolation's sacred ground, the Mingyuan Sect, on the grand board.
Yet when such a grand strategy fell upon an individual, upon small sects and humble clans, it meant devastating ruin!
Of course, had their positions been reversed and Luo Chen sat in that seat, he might well have done the same.
Curiously, Gu Zuokai's words betrayed considerable disdain for the "opening war"—a strategy intended to expand human territory.
Pondering it, Luo Chen soon understood.
The Tianyuan Dao Sect had never dragged its feet like that!
In ancient times, they had conquered the Central Plains in a single decisive war, purging the demonic miasma once and for all, thereby laying the groundwork for three thousand years of peace and prosperity.
The sights he had witnessed across the Central Plains—cultivators everywhere, Golden Cores as numerous as clouds, and Nascent Souls far from uncommon—were the bountiful fruits of the Tianyuan Dao Sect securing hegemony over the Central Plains in one stroke.
"Of course, the Mingyuan Sect hasn't been completely idle either. Throughout this, they occasionally redeploy the Nascent Soul sects and periodically dispatch their own disciples to the battlefield to slay beasts.
"At the very least, from a moral standpoint, one cannot fault them."
After going on at length, Gu Zuokai adopted a solemn expression.
"In my view, the Mingyuan Sect's actions are more like drawing back a fist so they can strike out with greater force later.
"Pulling back the front line is the first step; ordering the formation of the Deathground Army is the second. Next, they will likely make an even larger move!"
An even larger move?
Luo Chen fell silent.
That so-called large move was presumably having those survivors launch a counteroffensive against the demon beasts while the Mingyuan Sect dispatched its own forces to reclaim the lost territory.
Yet during that process, the Deathground Army would inevitably be thrust onto the front line, and the casualties would be unimaginable!
If Huiniang and the others were truly still alive...
Luo Chen looked up abruptly. "Is there a teleportation array in Shenyuan City?"
Gu Zuokai paused. "You're heading to the front lines?"
Luo Chen nodded.
Spreading his hands, Gu Zuokai sighed. "Then I am sorry to say that the Tianyuan Commerce Alliance is not permitted to establish teleportation arrays in the Eastern Desolation. If you wish to reach the five frontline domains, you can only borrow the Dongyang Sect's teleportation array. But at a time like this, the fee for a single teleportation is quite steep. Furthermore, under wartime conditions, ordinary people can hardly get permission..."
"Please, Fellow Daoist, lend me a hand."
As he spoke, Luo Chen handed over a jade bottle.
Gu Zuokai waved it off dismissively. "Hermit, you treat me as an outsider. Even without—"
The bottle stopper came off, and a rich, potent pill fragrance wafted out.
Gu Zuokai's expression changed slightly.
Carefully taking the jade bottle, he inspected it with his divine sense for a good while before saying in a low, earnest voice, "I shall do everything in my power!"
...
Shangyang City!
A major city directly under the Dongyang Sect, its scale was no less than that of Shenyuan City; even in the Eastern Desolation, it ranked among the top ten immortal cities!
Here stood an ultra-long-distance teleportation array leading to the White Crane Domain.
Supposedly, because the Dongyang Sect and the White Crane Sect enjoyed good relations and frequent traffic, such a two-way teleportation array could exist.
Standing outside a grand hall, Luo Chen said to Gu Zuokai, "These attendants of mine differ somewhat from ordinary people. Under present circumstances, it is not suitable for them to travel openly across the Eastern Desolation. I must trouble Fellow Daoist to dispatch people to escort them."
Gu Zuokai looked at Tianxuan and the others, unable to see anything unusual at first glance.
Yet when the black dragon pattern on the white sleeve of Luo Chen's left arm suddenly came alive, turning into a miniature dragon that leapt onto Zhang Jingqing's shoulder in a flash, Gu Zuokai's expression shifted.
In that instant, he sensed an aura at the same rank as himself!
Rumors said that Desolate Hermit had a spirit pet at the fourth-rank Demon Sovereign level—they were true after all!
Such an entity was indeed unfit to roam the Eastern Desolation in plain sight right now.
Still, for the sake of that bottle of Hongyuan Pills, he agreed to the request.
"Fellow Daoist, please go ahead. At the speed of our merchant caravans, barring any accidents, it will take them at most two or three years to reach the White Crane Domain."
"Then I thank Fellow Daoist!"
Luo Chen cupped his hands, gave Tianxuan, Black King, and the others a few parting instructions, and strode toward the heavily guarded hall.
The guarding cultivators made way, and the great doors opened.
Luo Chen stepped inside, where a Nascent Soul cultivator came forward to greet him.
"Please!"
"I've troubled you, Fellow Daoist Lu."
"Not at all. The bottles of pills that Fellow Daoist Luo offered earlier were truly exceptional. Might I ask if you have any to spare?"
"Unfortunately not. Those were the only ten bottles Luo had on hand. However, I am well-versed in the method of concocting this pill. If Fellow Daoist Lu desires more in the future, you are most welcome to seek me out!"
"Then I thank Fellow Daoist Luo in advance!"
True Person Lu was all smiles.
For Nascent Soul cultivators, external aids like pills generally held little efficacy anymore.
Yet that applied only to ordinary pills!
The ten bottles of Hongyuan Pills Luo Chen had produced as payment for the teleportation were all of mid-grade quality. Lu had sampled just one pill and had yet to finish refining it.
One could well imagine how much his magic power would grow once he refined them completely!
His bottleneck at the third layer of the Nascent Soul realm, which had trapped him for years, might very well be breached with the aid of these ten bottles of Hongyuan Pills. If he could take them continuously in the future, reaching the late-stage Nascent Soul realm was not out of the question!
After handing Luo Chen a jade token and watching him step into the teleportation array, True Person Lu personally activated the formation.
When a burst of light flared and cleared, Luo Chen's figure had vanished entirely.
True Person Lu exhaled in relief; fortunately, nothing unexpected had occurred.
Striding out of the teleportation hall, he chatted with Gu Zuokai for a short while before returning to his residence, intending to continue refining that Hongyuan Pill.
Before he could settle down, however, an attendant announced that a martial nephew requested an audience.
"Is it Chi Zhong?"
True Person Lu was somewhat curious; under normal circumstances, this martial nephew from the Mingyuan Sect would never seek him out.
Putting on no airs, he soon granted him an audience.
When Chi Zhong explained his purpose, True Person Lu showed a look of hesitation.
Had the person he personally sent off just now truly been a Star Gate Guest Elder?
No wonder Gu Zuokai had vouched for him in person.
Smiling, he said to Chi Zhong, "Rest assured, I will notify your sect of this news."
"In that case, many thanks, Martial Uncle." Chi Zhong bowed and respectfully withdrew.
After he left, True Person Lu took out a jade slip and began inscribing information into it:
"Star Gate Guest Elder, named Luo Chen."
"Early-stage Nascent Soul realm, extraordinary bearing, suspected sword cultivator."
Pausing and hesitating for a moment, True Person Lu added what he had learned:
"Capable of concocting fourth-rank mid-grade cultivation pills; suspected Grandmaster of Alchemy!"
Chapter 774