Within a secluded courtyard, a dignified middle-aged man knit his brows in deep sorrow. His gaze drifted toward an elegant bedchamber from time to time as he let out a soft sigh.
Hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the courtyard.
Before long, a young maiden came rushing in.
Her face was pleasantly plump and rounded, her skin fair with a rosy blush. At this moment, those cute, baby-fat cheeks were brimming with pleasant surprise.
"Father, I have verified it! The legendary realm of immortals truly exists! Mother can be saved!"
The middle-aged man shook his head. "Ranran, give it up. Your mother's illness has advanced beyond the power of medicines and stones. Rather than tormenting ourselves further, it is better to spend more time by her side and let her walk peacefully through these final two years."
On the maiden's chubby face, an unusual stubbornness emerged.
"I won't!"
Facing those resolute eyes, the middle-aged man showed a flicker of anger, but it gradually softened.
"Tell me the location, and I will dispatch people to seek the immortals."
The maiden broke into a smile. "Ordinary people cannot find it; I must go in person!"
***
Amidst an expanse of ice and snow, a scattered caravan struggled forward against the raging blizzard.
The pack beasts pulling the carts snorted bursts of warm steam, unable to take another step.
A retainer's shout drifted from behind: "Young Lady, we cannot go any further! Ahead lies the legendary Ice Sea of Death!"
The maiden leading the way was bundled snugly in a fluffy white coat.
Hearing those words, she waved her small hand.
"No, we must press onward! Only by crossing the Ice Sea of Death can we meet the true immortals!"
Helpless, the retainers could only obey the maiden's command and march forward.
Yet the heavy snow threatened to bury them, and the bone-chilling wind bit into their marrow. Every step was fraught with immense difficulty, and visibility grew increasingly dismal.
Though it was midday, the sky turned inexplicably dim.
Whoosh...
A gale rose without warning.
A blizzard swept toward the caravan unnoticed, scattering everyone in complete disarray.
When the martial arts grandmaster leading the party finally gathered most of the people with great difficulty, he was gripped by terror.
"Miss Xie is missing!"
***
"I will definitely find the immortals!"
"I will definitely save Mother!"
"It is just ahead, just ahead!"
The maiden trembled violently from the cold, her lips quivering as her teeth chattered incessantly.
Yet the world before her was a vast expanse of white. Where was any immortal paradise to be seen?
The maiden walked alone across the ice field, driven forward only by an unyielding obsession, yet the further she walked, the more lost she became.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of red light.
She ran toward it in a hurry. As the distance closed, the source of the red light gradually took shape before her eyes.
It was clearly a large hound whose coat blazed like a mass of fire!
Treading upon the white ice, it was exceptionally magnificent.
It stood quietly upon the frozen expanse, its golden pupils fixed upon the running maiden.
"Big doggie, do you know—ah!"
The maiden called out as she ran, but lost her footing and plunged heedlessly into an ice fissure.
Her delicate body tumbled downward.
The bone-piercing liquid all around surged to submerge her.
This was no ice field at all; it was clearly a vast lake, merely frozen over by the extreme cold.
Ignorant mortals had named it the Ice Sea of Death.
The golden-eyed red hound remained standing quietly by the lake, watching the maiden sink deeper and deeper until her figure vanished entirely.
After an unknown time...
Whoosh!
A beam of treasure light suddenly soared into the sky.
Following the light, cracking sounds echoed without pause.
A massive sheet of ice collapsed and shattered. Amidst the churning waves, an unconscious maiden frozen into a block of ice floated up from the lakebed, clutching a luminous pearl.
The golden-eyed red hound looked up at the sky and finally moved.
Treading across the waves as if walking on flat ground, it reached the maiden's side.
With a flick of its jaws, it tossed her onto its back, where the ice-encased maiden landed securely.
Without even discerning the direction, the golden-eyed red hound carried the maiden and headed straight north.
As it trotted along in solitude, waves of heat radiated from its body. The ice covering the maiden began to melt, and her eyelashes fluttered lightly, showing faint signs of regaining consciousness.
Not long after they departed, a streak of flying light descended upon the place where the treasure light had originated.
It was a beautiful woman.
Upon arriving, she plunged into the shattered frozen lake without hesitation.
A moment later, she flew back out.
A look of doubt and shock crossed her face.
"This is not right. That treasure light was clearly Grandmaster's natal magical treasure, the Canglong Orb. It vanished when Grandmaster passed away; now that it has finally resurfaced, why has it bizarrely disappeared again?"
"Could it have been taken by someone?"
At that possibility, a murderous chill appeared on her face. How could a treasure of the sect be left in outside hands!
Riding her flying sword, she shot into the sky, patrolling frantically around the frozen lake at extreme speed.
She even charged straight into the blizzard that had swept past earlier to scour the area.
No trace, no trace, still no trace!
Looking back suddenly, the woman glanced down. Across the white snow, a smear of red was trotting forward at an unhurried pace.
Thump!
The beautiful woman landed heavily. Gathering her magic power, she leveled her long sword at that crimson light.
Yet once she saw clearly, her expression softened.
A maiden was clutching a white pearl, sitting listlessly upon the large red hound.
"Big doggie, did you save me?"
"Where are you taking me?"
"I want to find the immortals. They can save my mother. Can you take me to them?"
The maiden's words sounded like sleep-talk.
Yet upon seeing the beautiful woman descend from the sky, her confusion vanished instantly.
"Are you an immortal?"
The beautiful woman walked over step by step, staring at the maiden with a strange gleam in her eyes.
"I am not an immortal, but I should be the kind of immortal you seek."
Even as she spoke, her heart began to thump wildly.
A Supreme-grade Ice Spiritual Root!
A Seven-Apertures Exquisite Body!
No wonder she could obtain Grandmaster's magical treasure by chance.
This was clearly Grandmaster blessing the sect from beyond, sending a chosen child of heaven to them!
Stepping closer, the beautiful woman reached out and stroked the maiden's plump, baby-fat cheek.
"What is your name?"
The maiden instinctively tried to speak her name, but as she opened her mouth, she froze.
"What is my name?"
"No matter, you will remember in the future. For now, I shall give you a name—let it be Canglong!"
"Canglong..."
Murmuring the name, the maiden's bewildered eyes gradually cleared.
"Are you willing to return to the sect with me? Study immortal arts, master immortal techniques—once you master them, you can save your mother!"
"Mm, I am willing!"
"Then let us go!"
"Where to?"
"To our sect!"
"What is our sect called?"
"Ice Fort!"
"Oh, then can I bring big doggie along? He saved me."
The beautiful woman looked down at the hound that resembled a blaze of fire. When meeting those golden pupils, she nodded as if bewitched.
The three figures drew further and further away into the wind and snow, eventually fading from view.
***
Hum...
Inside the ice chamber, Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes.
Tiredness lingered, yet joy dominated his expression.
After expending immense effort, he had finally succeeded in guiding Canglong into the illusion.
Initially, he had intended to awaken her within the illusion and teach her the Soul Splitting Art directly.
However, after gaining a thorough understanding of the Dust-Karma Immortal Mirror's marvelous depths, he abandoned that crude initial plan.
The illusion created by the Dust-Karma Immortal Mirror inherited the simulation and exploration ability of the Ghost-God Heart-Questioning Mirror, while also possessing the nearly lifelike hallucinatory effect of the fourth-tier mirage core.
Even the geniuses of the Tianyuan Dao Sect could use such mirage cores to perceive and comprehend law true intent.
Why, then, could this function not be used within the illusion to let Canglong's divine soul unwittingly learn the Soul Splitting Art?
Furthermore, on the outside, Luo Chen would gradually administer soul-nourishing spiritual medicines like the Nether-Passage Pill, Soul Soothing Powder, and Great Soul Pill.
In this manner, the moment she woke from her dream would be the day of grand success!
The only flaw was that this process required a guide to prevent Canglong's divine soul from sensing anything amiss and disrupting her cultivation in the illusion.
And that guide was naturally Luo Chen himself!
He possessed two major split souls that shared his thoughts and mind, and both had mastered the cultivation method of the Soul Splitting Art.
They were perfectly suited to control the Dust-Karma Immortal Mirror on his behalf while guiding Canglong's cultivation within the illusion.
"Take it as a grand dream!"
Luo Chen exhaled a breath of turbid air, then channeled a large amount of magic power into the Dust-Karma Immortal Mirror to maintain its continuous operation.
Fortunately, Canglong's realm had not reached the Nascent Soul stage, so the consumption of magic power was modest.
Nevertheless, to guard against being caught off guard by unexpected events, Luo Chen still injected enough magic power in a single breath to sustain the minimal operation of the treasure mirror for many years.
***
Leaving the ice chamber, Luo Chen meditated and rested for several days.
Restoring his magic power and adjusting his condition.
Awaiting the arrival of the great battle!
It was not baseless anxiety; the current battle situation had indeed grown increasingly fierce, just as Wang Yuan had said. No one could stay detached any longer.
One could see the portents from the casualties beginning to appear among the Nascent Soul True Persons of Lingtian Pass!
At the start of this demon upheaval, the demon race had been the main attackers.
Surging out from the Million Mountains of the Eastern Desolation and continuously conquering the grand domains of the human race, human powerhouses had fallen one after another.
That was what had forced countless cultivators to retreat again and again.
Until Lingtian Pass was built!
Relying on this mighty fortress, casualties among Nascent Soul True Persons plummeted immediately.
Not only that, but with grand formations backing them, the Nascent Soul cultivators had confidence when fighting outside the fortress—if they could not win, they could always fall back to Lingtian Pass.
Therefore, over the past decade of battles at Lingtian Pass, hardly any Nascent Soul True Persons had perished.
Instead, on the demon race's side, without formations backing them, continuous assaults on Lingtian Pass resulted in steady casualties.
Luo Chen's brilliant record was proof of the past decade's state of war.
To be honest, had it not been for the protection of the Black Tortoise Four Directions Formation and the Zhou Tian Stars Formation, he would not have dared to unleash his full might so freely.
Now, however, the stalemate was slowly unraveling!
There were simply too many high-tier powerhouses among the demon race. Even with Lingtian Pass providing support, slightly weaker Nascent Soul True Persons were still liable to perish with one moment of carelessness.
Four Commanders, thirty Demon Emperors—this force was sufficient to annihilate any Nascent Soul-tier faction in the world.
Nascent Soul True Persons beginning to suffer casualties was a very bad omen!
***
On this day, Luo Chen arrived atop the fortress wall.
Looking at the army of human cultivators continually crumbling under the onslaught of countless demon beasts across the plains outside the pass, he could not help but inhale deeply.
"Has the number of low-tier demon beasts on the western side grown this vast?"
The Nascent Soul cultivator standing beside him was none other than True Person Mu, Lord of Mu Prefecture.
With a grave expression, True Person Mu said in a deep voice, "Yes. I do not know what is going on, but while the number of high-tier demon powerhouses hasn't noticeably increased, the number of low-tier demon beasts has far exceeded our expectations. The strategic buffer zone we previously fought to secure has been steadily swallowed up under the onslaught of massive beast hordes. If this continues, within days, Lingtian Pass will fall back into being besieged."
Luo Chen furrowed his brows. "Allow me to see for myself!"
True Person Mu looked on in puzzlement.
He then saw Luo Chen form hand seals and chant an incantation right before his eyes, executing a spell.
Large swathes of cloud-mist rose into the air with the surge of Luo Chen's magic power.
As if by resonance, clouds gathered out of thin air in the sky, which had previously been stripped clear of cloud cover by the violent clashes.
After coalescing, these clouds abruptly dispersed into tiny cloud clusters, drifting off in all directions.
Like chess pieces scattered across a board.
And before Luo Chen:
"Manifest!"
A water mirror abruptly surfaced.
Upon it, the conditions across various corners of the battlefield began to appear one after another.
"What kind of spell is this? Its coverage is vast enough to observe a ten-thousand-li radius from a single corner!"
True Person Mu was thoroughly astonished.
Luo Chen smiled faintly and spoke just four words: "Cloud Chess Water Mirror!"
This spell was an original creation Luo Chen developed during his time in the Central Plains.
Its underlying principles were not profound, yet its ingenuity was rare in the world.
A low-tier Water Mirror Art, cloud patterns from basic formation arts, and even inspiration drawn from the Peach Garden chess formation laid down by that Chess Sage of the Central Plains.
It vastly compensated for a cultivator's deficient divine sense and limited eyesight, allowing one to observe sights over an immense range.
Moreover, its greatest strength was concealment!
At this moment, the clouds in the sky were like chess pieces dotting the space above the battlefield, collecting all the scenes and imprinting them onto the water mirror before Luo Chen.
The scenes from across the battlefield reflected vividly into Luo Chen's sharp eyes.
He had not realized it until looking, and what he saw startled him!
Compared to the other directions, the swarm of demon beasts in the west was merely a drop in the ocean.
To the south and north, dark, oppressive masses of demon beasts swarmed like locusts.
Outside the eastern wall, where defensive pressure was greatest, colossal siege behemoths had already begun appearing, charging fearlessly toward the ramparts.
Beyond the maximum reach of the Cloud Chess Water Mirror, countless low-tier demon beasts still surged forward in an endless stream.
How could this number be merely tens of millions?
It was likely already over a hundred million!
Luo Chen swallowed hard. "Have they gone mad? Are they throwing away the lives of low-tier demon beasts just to batter Lingtian Pass into collapse?"
True Person Mu stood beside him looking at the water mirror. This was also his first time surveying the entire battlefield from a global vantage point.
Terror and shock showed in his eyes.
"Can Lingtian Pass hold?"
There was no telling.
After all, the cultivators inside Lingtian Pass numbered merely ten million or so.
Their only reliance lay in the prearranged killing formations!
A formation was activated under the control of Tiandu Sect cultivators.
Targeting the most perilous sectors of the battle, it unleashed beams of deadly light, mowing down vast swaths of demon beasts like harvested wheat.
Immediately after, a Demon Emperor suddenly charged forward, striking at those formations from a distance of over ten li.
Seeing this, Luo Chen realized he might soon have to take action as well.
After all, they could not allow Demon Emperors to attack the formations with impunity.
Sure enough!
One day, two days...
As time slipped by, the pressure on the western sector grew increasingly intense. Many cultivators were forced to fall back and defend within the city, while massive hordes of demon beasts gathered within the ten-li zone restricted by the anti-air formation.
One killing formation after another sprang to life.
Amidst the indistinct shadows, the figures of great demons emerged on the horizon.
Meanwhile, Luo Chen's Cloud Chess Water Mirror had long since been destroyed by a sharp-sensed great demon.
"Master Alchemist, you will have to step in?" True Person Mu said.
Luo Chen's expression remained calm. "No matter. I am already accustomed to such things."
Without hesitation, he extended his divine sense toward an unfamiliar Demon Emperor who was preparing to strike at the formations.
Locking his divine sense in place, Luo Chen soared into the sky.
As if sensing the challenge, the Demon Emperor's battle-hungry eyes met Luo Chen's.
"State your name!"
"Luo Chen, Master of Alchemy!"
The tall, gaunt Demon Emperor blinked, then could not help but lick his lips.
"So you are that Demon-Slaying True Person? This emperor is Wuji, and I was just looking to test my skills against you."
As he spoke, he reached behind his back and pulled.
Squelch...
A shrill sound of tearing flesh rang out. A long sword bristling with thorns was drawn from his back.
Swish!
With a flick, the limp sword snapped straight, emitting a sickening stench of blood that made one's brow furrow.
How was this a sword?
It was clearly his own spine!
Chapter 833