"Jiuling is in danger, send aid immediately!"
Crack!
Luo Chen crushed the specially crafted voice transmission jade token in his grip, his eyes instantly narrowing.
He had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the transmission.
This kind of jade token was an artifact of his own unique design, entrusted only to those he placed great confidence in.
The last person given one had been Fairy Fenghua.
When Lingfengzi and Wang Yuan had deployed for the campaign, he had given one to each of them as well.
It was Lingfengzi who had gone to assist Sovereign Jiuling, and this distress call came directly from him.
What astonished Luo Chen was what kind of enemy could be so formidable as to push someone as powerful as Sovereign Jiuling into dire peril.
"Could it be Niugui?"
Reclaiming the territory of the Medicine King Sect had not presented an overwhelming challenge for the Nine Spirits Sect.
At the outset, only three Demon Sovereigns guarded the land.
Yet during the past year of the campaign, those three sovereigns, realizing they could not hold Sovereign Jiuling back, had called upon two additional Demon Sovereigns for reinforcement.
Those two happened to be formidable experts serving under Great Demon Sovereign Niugui.
Had the beating of the young drawn forth the old?
Should he go to the rescue?
After only a fleeting moment of contemplation, Luo Chen made his decision.
He had to save him!
This was a promise he had made to Sovereign Jiuling and Old Fu, and he could not break faith or violate his word.
Furthermore, when the Luotian Sect had launched its own campaign to establish its domain, Sovereign Jiuling had stepped forward to defeat a formidable enemy, Daoist Pengxiang, on his behalf.
Still, an adversary capable of forcing Sovereign Jiuling into a desperate struggle was bound to be no easy opponent, even if it were not Great Demon Sovereign Niugui himself.
Therefore, he had to make full preparations before setting out.
With a thought, two faint gleams of nether light drifted down from above Motian Cliff.
His two split souls returned to their seats, reuniting the three souls into one!
He stamped his foot, sending an invisible pulse deep into the earth that reached straight to the slumbering Black King.
Black King slowly opened his eyes and slithered toward Luo Chen without hesitation.
While waiting, Luo Chen raised a hand in summons.
A miniature cauldron flew whirling out from the depths of Motian Cliff's cavernous belly.
It was none other than his natal magical treasure, the Hunyuan Cauldron!
Earlier, he had relied on this very artifact to lay down a grand array isolating the cliff from outside scrutiny—a barrier that even Min Longyu had found completely impenetrable.
Finally, Luo Chen sent divine sense transmissions to summon two individuals.
The first to arrive was Bai Meiling, who had already reached the mountain earlier. Because of her Ghost Sovereign body and overabundance of yin qi, she had not dared enter the palace to visit the weakened Sima Huiniang and her newborn child.
At his call, however, she appeared immediately.
"Master, what are your orders?"
"I am about to undertake a journey. Guard Motian Cliff well in my absence, and protect Huiniang and my son."
Bai Meiling was taken aback, but she accepted the task without the slightest hesitation.
Back then, it was Master who had brought her out of the Great River ghost domain. In all these years, she had never had a chance to repay him. Guarding the young master was an absolute duty she would not shirk!
Li Yingzhang arrived shortly after, a heartfelt smile lingering on his face, seemingly from having caught a glimpse of little Lingxi.
Over the past several days, with Luo Chen's impending departure, the question of who would wield authority in the Luotian Sect had subjected Li Yingzhang to much suspicion and speculation.
Yet he had never harbored such ambitions; it was an utterly baseless grievance thrust upon him!
He held no special assumptions about Luo Chen's summons.
However, upon hearing that Luo Chen intended to leave the sect, his brow furrowed in bewilderment.
"The young master was just born. Is the Supreme Elder really departing right now?"
Luo Chen replied calmly, "I made a promise to someone; I cannot fail to go. I leave the sect's affairs in your hands."
Li Yingzhang nodded repeatedly. "That is my bounden duty."
Luo Chen glanced back toward the sleeping palace. "As for Huiniang..."
Without waiting for him to say more, Li Yingzhang answered decisively, "Rest assured, everything shall prioritize the young master and his mother. I will arrange disciples to attend to them, and the physicians of Su'e's lineage will remain at their side."
With that, Luo Chen's mind was set at ease.
Even so, he paused in thought before adding, "If petty scoundrels dare intrude, you may ask Lin Yonghua and Perfected Gu Hong nearby for assistance, or even send word to Lingtian Pass. They... will grant me that measure of face."
Li Yingzhang committed the instructions to memory, though a trace of doubt lingered in his heart.
Given the Luotian Sect's standing today, who would dare come and cause trouble?
Luo Chen knew this as well; he was merely taking every precaution.
The ground beneath his feet trembled, and a black silhouette burst through the soil, emerging at Luo Chen's feet.
Luo Chen reached down, and the shadow swiftly climbed up his arm, sinking into his left arm to conceal itself.
Before departing, Luo Chen took one last look back at the palace, a newfound tether tugging at his heart.
A speck of dust once drifting across the world had finally settled because of that tiny life, and roots had begun to grow.
The memories of his past life were growing increasingly hazy.
Yet the experiences of his present existence were growing richer and heavier.
Phoo...
Luo Chen exhaled lightly, and to Bai Meiling's soul-shivering terror, a blue-and-white flame drifted out, slowly descending into the deep core of Motian Cliff.
"Let us go!"
Luo Chen murmured. Under the deferential farewells of Bai Meiling and Li Yingzhang, he shot into the sky, transforming into a red streak of light that vanished into the distance.
***
Amidst the boundless expanse of clouds.
Luo Chen halted abruptly, and a shuttle appeared in his hand.
It was none other than the Frost Eagle Shuttle!
Channeling his dharmic power into it, the shuttle expanded to roughly a zhang in length.
Luo Chen stepped inside and released Black King.
"Take the helm!"
Black King assumed the duty without a second thought. Such arrangements had been common during their travels across the North Sea.
Either Tianxuan steered the flying boat, or he did.
Such moments usually meant Luo Chen had matters of his own to attend to.
Seeing that Black King had taken control, Luo Chen finally had a quiet moment to himself.
Sitting cross-legged inside the shuttle, he recalled the events earlier on Motian Cliff.
After his initial bewilderment, he had become certain that the unfeeling, borderline cold-blooded urge to kill his own child had never stemmed from his true heart.
It was more like a sudden impulse that, nourished by reasonable external circumstances, had progressively developed into a demonic barrier of the heart.
Had he truly committed the act, it would have inevitably become the greatest spiritual flaw of his future path to the Dao!
"So what gave rise to this demonic barrier?"
Luo Chen sank into deep contemplation.
***
The journey to the Medicine King Domain traversed multiple domains across a vast distance.
Fortunately, the Frost Eagle Shuttle was an exceptionally rare flying True Artifact, and with Black King piloting it at full throttle, its speed was blistering. The estimated arrival time was roughly three days.
Three days—could Sovereign Jiuling hold out that long?
Luo Chen had no leisure to dwell on it. Regarding the situation there, he could only take things one step at a time.
Meanwhile, he had gradually pieced together the broad reason behind the sudden demonic barrier.
"The Wither-Bloom Dao Finger!"
A day later, Luo Chen opened his eyes.
A lingering trace of dread remained etched upon his face.
For a long time, he had been prone to mental demon invasions, even falling into fixations.
This had happened back in the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages.
Yet ever since he condensed his divine sense and stepped into the Golden Core stage, such occurrences had all but vanished.
Especially after entering the Nascent Soul realm, the thick barrier of the purple mansion shielded his Nascent Soul, and his soul had grown ever stronger, making it nearly impossible for ordinary external demons to taint him.
And yet, an anomaly had arisen!
Relying on the evolution of the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire, Luo Chen had comprehended the superficial essence of the true intent of Wither-Bloom, from which he created the great divine ability known as the Wither-Bloom Dao Finger.
Initially, when he unleashed this technique, he had mostly relied on his own dharmic power.
Yet during the battle against Great Demon Sovereign Qixi, he had grasped the knack of communing with the worldly yuan qi, enabling him to draw upon heaven and earth's yuan qi for his own use much like a Soul Formation grandmaster.
In his single-clash duel against Perfected Shenyuan, he had executed this divine ability by gathering the chaotic spiritual energy of the Taihu Domain into a mighty finger strike, fighting Shenyuan to a draw.
Yet this technique was not without flaw.
When executing it, the barrier of his purple mansion opened wide, and his Nascent Soul used the true intent of Wither-Bloom to leverage the worldly yuan qi.
In that process, deprived of the purple mansion's protection, the Nascent Soul formed an overly intimate connection with heaven and earth.
Though the duration was brief and not enough to be assimilated by heaven and earth, it exerted an undeniable influence nonetheless.
The demonic impulse to kill his son had surfaced under those very conditions, without the slightest jarring transition.
"The Dao of heaven and earth accords with nature."
"My previous course of action—seeking a solution by using the descendant of my and Huiniang's bloodline to resolve the crisis of the Demonic Heart Gu—was an entirely natural, unforced progression."
"Yet in that process, the only thing omitted was the emotion of familial love, an instinct unique to living beings after reproduction."
"It was not until Lingxi's cry that I was abruptly shaken awake!"
Luo Chen let out a faint sigh and looked down silently at his fingers.
He would likely have to practice restraint in using the Wither-Bloom Dao Finger going forward.
Otherwise, with his current Nascent Soul cultivation, drawing wildly upon heaven and earth's yuan qi might leave him steadfast against assimilation by heaven and earth, but other calamities would surely follow in close succession.
At this thought, another doubt arose in Luo Chen's mind.
"Then why wasn't Shenyuan affected in such a way?"
Perfected Shenyuan was capable of manipulating worldly yuan qi!
This was by no means an unfounded claim.
During the Soul Formation battle at Mount Biyou, when the Nascent Souls fled in all directions, each of those powerhouses had exhibited their greatest capabilities. Some relied on magical treasures and True Artifacts, others executed powerful escape arts, yet only Perfected Shenyuan had calmly withdrawn from the battlefield right under the eyes of Luo Chen and Tianduzi.
He had not even suffered from the disorientation caused by chaotic yuan qi.
In the battle of the Taihu Domain, Luo Chen had relied on the Wither-Bloom Dao Finger to draw upon worldly yuan qi, whereas the azure circular art unleashed by Perfected Shenyuan had clearly drawn upon worldly yuan qi as well.
Recalling when Perfected Shenyuan had first appeared at Mount Daqing in Baili Qingchuan...
Luo Chen grew even more confident in his conjecture.
Suddenly!
Luo Chen shook his head. "No, perhaps he has already been profoundly affected!"
Rumors claimed that after the battle at Mount Cangwu, Perfected Shenyuan's temperament had drastically changed.
Yet a mere defeat in battle might dispirit someone at most; why would it cause a complete change in temperament?
That Demon Sovereign Qingshuang had no ties of kinship or grievance with Perfected Shenyuan, so there was no emotional conflict involved.
Furthermore, the decision of the three late-Nascent Soul experts to join hands against Demon Sovereign Qingshuang proved that Shenyuan, Hehuan, and Monk Huiping knew from the start they might not be her match. This indicated that there was no immense disillusionment brought on by an unyielding thirst for victory.
The sole reason that could have caused Perfected Shenyuan's temperament to shift so drastically had to be his contact with worldly yuan qi.
"In an ordinary battle, I am no match for him. But if he is truly suffering from the corrosive influence of worldly yuan qi as well, perhaps I can alter my approach to deal with him?"
Luo Chen pondered this.
Yet the thought vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving him with an amused smile.
The man had already reconciled with him; why was he still subconsciously thinking of ways to counter him?
Luo Chen rose calmly and took over control of the Frost Eagle Shuttle from Black King.
Black King was a desolate beast, after all. Unlike Luo Chen, who commanded immense dharmic power, he could not pilot the shuttle at maximum speed.
Under Luo Chen's control, the shuttle descended, plunging beneath the clouds.
The scenes below flashed past his vision in a blur, like a reel rewinding at breakneck speed.
Beasts were migrating; cultivators were taking flight and traversing the earth.
Across a battlefield left behind after a major engagement, Luo Chen even spotted someone carrying a black banner, skulking stealthily among the remnants.
Luo Chen lingered on the sight for an extra breath, already understanding what was taking place.
That person was harvesting the souls of living beings!
And it was not soul-harvesting in the conventional sense to forge soul-path magical treasures.
Its unique method was unmistakably the Soul Essence refinement technique Luo Chen had covertly leaked into Lingtian Pass years ago!
Recalling the trickle of Soul Essence that had surfaced periodically in the Lingtian Pass black market over the years, the corners of Luo Chen's lips curled slightly.
The seed he had planted with his own hands back then had now blossomed into a flower through the hands of others.
In the future, he would be able to reap the harvest and gather vast quantities of Soul Essence.
"Once this matter is concluded, I should also consider separating a third split soul to further bolster my soul foundation."
With these thoughts in mind, the time remaining before reaching the Medicine King Domain dwindled rapidly.
One day, two days.
When the third day arrived, the Frost Eagle Shuttle came to a halt atop a battered mountain peak.
With a flick of his sleeve, Luo Chen stowed the Frost Eagle Shuttle and waited in silence, his faint golden eyes locked onto the distant horizon.
A moment later, a gust of wind swept past.
Whoosh...
The wind ceased, and a figure materialized!
Lingfengzi exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Senior Brother, you arrived so quickly!"
Luo Chen pulled his gaze back and rested it upon him.
Though his aura was somewhat diminished, there were no obvious injuries on his person. As expected, his nominal junior brother possessed first-rate life-preservation skills!
He smiled faintly. "Is arriving quickly a bad thing?"
Lingfengzi shook his head vigorously. "Of course it's wonderful! If you had come any later, Sovereign Jiuling might have been refined alive."
To be refined alive sounded terrifying beyond measure.
And in Luo Chen's eyes, it was indeed the truth.
Three thousand li away, the light was hazy and the sky distorted. A grand array hung inverted over the world like an overturned porcelain bowl, blanketing the firmament so thoroughly that no living creature could approach.
Inside, a surging nine-colored torrent rolled continuously, resisting the terrifying array's refining force.
With a single glance, Luo Chen recognized that the figure within was Sovereign Jiuling.
As for the ones presiding over the array...
"Make it brief and tell me the details!"
"Right!"
Lingfengzi nodded heavily and spoke rapidly. "Within the Medicine King Domain lies a hidden pocket dimension, a forbidden area left behind before the Medicine King Sect fell. Inside it grew a rank-four extraordinary flower, merely a step away from rank five. The three Demon Sovereigns lingered here precisely to guard this flower until its maturity."
"When we arrived, they knew they were outmatched, so they deliberately leaked word to Commander Niugui's faction."
"Half a year ago, two mid-stage rank-four powerhouses under Niugui arrived as reinforcements, yet they were still no match for Sovereign Jiuling, who forced his way into the forbidden pocket dimension of the Medicine King Sect."
"A few days ago, that small pocket dimension could no longer withstand the might of the Nascent Soul battle and began to crumble. Sovereign Jiuling seized the flower and fought his way out."
"Who could have foreseen that Great Demon Sovereign Niugui had already arrived in secret? Joining hands with the four surviving Demon Sovereigns, they laid down a grand array, intending to forcefully refine Sovereign Jiuling to death!"
The explanation was brief, but it held a tremendous amount of information.
Luo Chen immediately seized upon the key phrase.
"A rank-four extraordinary flower?"
"Yes! I don't know the full details, but I heard one of the Demon Sovereigns call it by name—the Void-Accumulating Flower!"
Luo Chen's eyes lit up instantly.
The Void-Accumulating Flower had been a renowned rank-five divine flower in the Mountain Sea Realm in ancient times.
Rumor had it that this flower could grow only in chaotic, formless environments, nourishing itself on the yuan qi of void turbulence.
Once it matured to rank five, it served two extraordinary purposes.
The first was 'blooming a realm.' By relying on this flower, one could prop open a small world, making it the most coveted treasure for top sects seeking an enduring legacy through the ten-thousand-year ages.
The second was still 'blooming a realm,' yet distinct from its literal meaning. Should a cultivator consume it, they could open a second purple mansion within their body, even nurturing a second Nascent Soul from nothingness.
The Nascent Soul born of this Void-Accumulating Purple Mansion would not hinder the growth of one's natal Nascent Soul, nor would it suffer the corrosion of worldly yuan qi during cultivation, entirely eliminating the dread of the second Nascent Soul being assimilated by heaven and earth.
"No wonder the Medicine King Sect kept this flower in a hidden dimension, and an unstable, fractured pocket space at that. Once matured, it would have provided the Medicine King Sect with a foundation for ten thousand generations in the truest sense."
"No wonder Sovereign Jiuling braved such immense risk to seize it by force. With his profound dharmic power, if he claims this flower and opens a second purple mansion, he will swiftly form a second Nascent Soul, raising his chances of breaking through to the Soul Formation realm by twenty to thirty percent."
"No wonder Great Demon Sovereign Niugui returned, braving the pressure of the human counteroffensive just to secure this flower..."
Three consecutive realizations showed just how stunned Luo Chen was by this flower.
Even an ordinary plant achieving rank five would possess wondrous, unfathomable efficacy.
How much more so for a miraculous treasure of heaven and earth like the Void-Accumulating Flower!
Listening to Luo Chen's murmurs, Lingfengzi asked cautiously, "Senior Brother, have you taken a fancy to it as well?"
Luo Chen laughed heartily. "It would be a lie to say I wasn't tempted, but how could a gentleman rob someone of what they cherish? Fellow Daoist Jiuling claimed it, so it naturally belongs to him. I came today merely to honor my word and fulfill a pledge."
Hearing this, Lingfengzi held Luo Chen in even greater esteem.
Faced with a supreme treasure, he remained unmoved, still honoring his promise to a friend.
He truly lived up to the name of an Alchemy Grandmaster!
"Then what should we do now? The array laid down by Commander Niugui and the four Demon Sovereigns is exceedingly difficult to breach. Fellow Daoists Qin Baixiang, Xianhe, and I have all been utterly helpless against it."
Luo Chen smiled with composure and strode forward, his hands already beginning to weave different seal gestures.
"The demon race consists of nothing more than beasts clad in fur and scale, born of damp and egg."
"How dare they claim mastery over arrays that embody the ultimate principles of heaven and earth?"
"Watch as I shatter it with sheer force!"
Chapter 878