Rising and falling, deep and murky.
The world was draped in dim gloom, its directions impossible to discern.
Suddenly, a faint point of light flickered.
Lured by it, the spectral creatures that had lingered nearby for so long instinctively converged toward the glow.
Yet what greeted them was a flurry of sword lights erupting from fingertips.
After casually slaying these insignificant lesser ghosts, Luo Chen stepped cautiously out of the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land.
The instant he took in the outside world, he froze entirely.
He looked up at the sky, then down at the ground, struck by the profound sensation of seas turning into mulberry fields.
"Am I still in the Mingyuan Sacred Land?"
As far as the eye could see stretched an endless ocean of black water, evoking a sensation as though he had returned to the Sunken Sea.
However, unlike the crushing weight of the Sunken Sea's waters, this vast expanse of black water imparted not crushing pressure, but chaos and bewildered disorientation.
Suddenly.
Luo Chen noticed that the crimson protective barrier draped around his body was rapidly turning pitch-black, continually disintegrating.
He instinctively circulated his mana, bolstering his protective barrier.
Yet the moment a portion of that mana flowed back inward, Luo Chen cast it off with utmost decisiveness, a look of profound disgust crossing his face.
"This is the Ming Water of the Netherworld Abyss!"
The seawater of the Sunken Sea primarily possessed corrosive properties. A cultivator's protective barrier would be steadily digested and corroded, but the underlying essence of their mana remained unharmed.
Yet the Ming Water of the Netherworld Abyss was entirely different—foul, filthy, and unimaginably impure!
Once a cultivator's mana, magic treasures, or even physical flesh were tainted by it, they would be thoroughly corrupted.
The moment Luo Chen had reflexively pulled back that flagging mana, he had sensed something amiss. That mana had been utterly defiled, completely unsuitable for reclaiming.
In this place, there was not even room to replenish his mana.
Having identified the Ming Water, a startling thought suddenly surfaced in Luo Chen's mind.
"Did the Netherworld Abyss open, completely submerging the Mingyuan Sacred Land?"
No one answered him. He could only explore on his own.
Although Ming Water could corrupt mana, the extent of its contamination was limited; with Luo Chen's profound mana reserves, it was enough to hold out for some time.
He pressed forward—ten li, a hundred li, a thousand li...
Along the way, ghostly apparitions flitted into view from time to time.
Yet because Luo Chen concealed his aura and even shifted the color of his mana barrier to blend into the Netherworld Abyss, he went largely unnoticed.
Those lesser ghosts were of no consequence, and Luo Chen paid them no heed.
What truly put him on guard was a Nascent Soul-stage ghost creature he had glimpsed earlier by chance!
Rumors held that countless vicious ghosts and resentful spirits were suppressed within the Netherworld Abyss.
It was an ancient forbidden ground that had flowed for tens of millions of years long before the Mingyuan Sect had ever established itself here.
Later, following the great wars of ancient times, the Mingyuan Sect had simply dumped all the demon beast souls that were difficult to cross over into the Netherworld Abyss to save trouble.
In doing so, they not only spared themselves the effort of pacifying souls, but also heightened the threat of the Netherworld Abyss, turning it into a protective bulwark for their sect.
Now, however, the Netherworld Abyss had surged in reverse and submerged the Mingyuan Sacred Land, completely unleashing those endless ghosts.
A Nascent Soul-stage ghost was by no means an isolated anomaly.
In this boundless sea of the netherworld, there was no telling how many Nascent Soul ghosts lurked—perhaps even Soul Formation-stage ghosts existed.
Luo Chen did not dare to cross the Netherworld Abyss by force.
Once his mana was depleted to a certain extent, he hesitated briefly before swimming upward.
His ascent was swift.
Yet the very instant he broke the surface of the sea, Luo Chen halted.
Golden flames were blazing across the surface!
Luo Chen's pupils constricted, and the words slipped out: "Nirvana Holy Fire!"
***
The Alchemy Saint Blessed Land opened once more.
Luo Chen stepped back inside with a grim expression.
Black King immediately came forward to greet him. "Master, how is it outside?"
Luo Chen waved a hand dismissively. "Gone. Everything's gone."
Black King paused, confused. "What's gone?"
"The Mingyuan Sect is gone!"
Leaving those words behind, Luo Chen paid him no further attention. Walking over to the ring of fire, he gave a casual beckon, and the circle transformed into a small golden bird that flew back onto his shoulder.
Glancing at Luo Lingxi, who still sat dazed beside Ye Ruoli's corpse, Luo Chen kept his expression taut and said nothing.
This outcome was fine as well; it spared him the time of having to explain himself to the Mingyuan experts.
As for his son?
The boy merely lacked the ability to cultivate—he was no fool. In due time, he would naturally understand that under those circumstances, Luo Chen had no choice but to do what had to be done.
It was likely just the overwhelming shock of seeing someone familiar die before his eyes that made it difficult to accept for now.
Time would fade all things.
And at present, the one thing Luo Chen did not lack was time.
"So I'm trapped inside the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land..." Luo Chen murmured gloomily to himself. Leaping into the air, he chose a nearby mountain peak.
This place possessed the concentration of a Tier 4 spirit vein, its spiritual energy adequately dense to restore his mana.
After Luo Chen departed, Black King still had not entirely processed what he had heard.
The mighty Mingyuan Sect was gone?
He had intimately experienced the sect's immense power. It housed countless experts, many of whom struck deep dread into his heart.
Setting aside the three Soul Formation ancestors, merely the Valley Immortal Feng Jiang he had encountered upon entering the sect possessed more than enough strength to annihilate him.
Yet all of that was just... gone?
"What about the three ancestors?"
***
"Of the three ancestors, one fell beneath my sword, one died at the hands of Monarch Qixia, and as for the last..."
In just a few days, merely by running his cultivation technique as normal, Luo Chen's mana had fully returned to its peak.
This showed just how vastly his cultivation efficiency had improved after switching techniques.
At this moment, seated cross-legged inside a cave dwelling he had hastily carved into the mountain, the fragments of information he had previously searched from a Golden Core ghost's soul echoed in his mind.
Though chaotic, they contained useful intelligence—especially regarding the fates of the other two ancestors.
"The mighty figures of Mingyuan have fallen! We are free!"
Those words had spread from a certain Soul Formation-stage ghost. Any spirit possessing even a sliver of awareness had learned the news.
That was the true reason why the Netherworld Abyss was currently in such utter turmoil.
Without the Mingyuan Sect and without mighty figures to suppress it, this place had become a sea of pure chaos.
Yet Luo Chen still felt a surge of poignant sorrow over the fate of Ancestor Tianyuan.
He had never imagined that the elderly man, who appeared rather kindly, would actually choose to feed himself to the ghosts and shatter the Mingyuan seals, seeking mutual destruction with Monarch Qixia.
Yet the outcome seemed likely to leave Ancestor Tianyuan unable to rest in peace.
Monarch Qixia had escaped after all.
Not only that, but in the fierce battle within the Netherworld Abyss, the mighty ghost-path beings that the lesser ghost had once revered and prostrated before met dreadful ends.
Some died, some were maimed, and some fled.
Though many still lived, they were now hiding throughout the crevices of the Netherworld Abyss, licking their wounds.
"That woman is truly powerful beyond all reason!" Luo Chen sighed in amazement, then turned his thoughts to his current predicament.
Forcing a crossing through the Netherworld Abyss was utterly out of the question.
He lacked the immense mana required to traverse hundreds of thousands of li; even a Soul Formation mighty figure would likely fall short.
Meanwhile, on the sea's surface, the method Monarch Qixia had unleashed before her departure had cast boundless Nirvana Holy Fire across the waters, temporarily suppressing the malevolent ghosts.
In the short term, it would not disperse.
"Can the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire break through Monarch Qixia's Nirvana Holy Fire?" Luo Chen murmured to himself.
Within his Purple Mansion, the Wither-Bloom fire spirit seemed to sense his inquiry and transmitted a signal of dread.
"Even you can't?" Luo Chen shook his head, pondering alternative methods.
In the end, his eyes fell upon the wisp of Nirvana Holy Fire he had refined.
"If I could bolster it somewhat, could it become a useful aid?"
Under normal circumstances, Luo Chen would never have entertained such an idea.
Nurturing a source true fire could only rely on infusing it with mana over time, a slow, painstaking process of constant grinding.
Alternatively, one could seek out corresponding sustenance for the true fire to accelerate its growth.
Just like the early years when the Wither-Bloom True Fire was nurtured with burning incense in the Yan Alliance, or when Luo Chen hunted demon beasts in the Northern Sea after cultivating the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture to absorb vitality, or even when it devoured large quantities of high-grade sourceless fire.
Yet none of that would work on the Nirvana Holy Fire.
Its inherent status was far too exalted; it possessed not the slightest interest in low-grade sourceless fire.
Only something on the level of the Tier 5 Wither-Bloom Divine Fire, the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire in the Blazing Purgatory, or the Nine Refinements Beacon Fire within the Heaven Refining Cauldron could tempt its appetite.
Right now, however, Luo Chen possessed a modest asset.
With a flick of his hand, a pill appeared in his palm.
The pill was split between black and white, containing within it the polar extremes of water and fire, with the distinct rhyme of yin and yang circulating across its surface.
It was precisely the Liangyi Pill that Luo Chen had concocted during the third trial of the Alchemy Saint!
"You were originally refined with its aid; using you on it now is putting you to your best use."
Without hesitation, Luo Chen swallowed the Liangyi Pill.
Circulating his mana, he began refining the pill.
Surging waves of potent medicinal potency poured forth from the pill. Guided by his mana, they entered his Purple Mansion—not toward his Nascent Soul, but falling upon the little golden bird roosting upon the blue-and-white fire tree.
In an instant, bathed in the black-and-white hues, the little golden bird comfortably narrowed its eyes.
Seeing this, Luo Chen felt a surge of excitement.
"It works!"
All that remained was to wait until the Nirvana Holy Fire completely absorbed the medicinal potency of the Liangyi Pill, and see how much it would grow.
One day.
Two days.
Three days...
Time trickled past.
Though the medicinal power of the Liangyi Pill was vast, it should never have taken so long to absorb.
Luo Chen realized something might have gone awry.
"Where did the problem arise?"
While Luo Chen was racking his brains, an enraged intention erupted from within his Purple Mansion one day.
His Nascent Soul shuddered, opening its eyes to look.
The little golden bird had awakened at some unknown point and was lowering its head to peck at the leaves and branches of the blue fire tree beneath its feet.
The enraged intention had come precisely from the Wither-Bloom fire spirit.
Furious, the Wither-Bloom fire spirit erupted with blue and white flames, attempting to pounce and slay the little golden bird.
Undeterred, the little golden bird shifted and dodged through the barrages of blue-and-white flames despite its weaker aura, occasionally even pecking a mouthful of blue-and-white flame into its body, making its golden glow shine all the more brilliantly.
Luo Chen was stunned, sensing two distinct thoughts.
One was the shock and rage of the Wither-Bloom fire spirit; it seemed utterly unprepared for the fact that the little creature it had accommodated as a nest now wanted to devour it!
The other was the fledgling, ignorant thought born for the first time within the Nirvana fire spirit—Hungry!
"No matter how hungry you are, you can't eat the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire!"
Luo Chen grew anxious!
He could not stand by and watch the divine fire he had painstakingly nurtured for centuries be consumed by another little creature, nor could he allow two divine fires to brawl uncontrollably within his Purple Mansion.
With a thought, his mana enveloped the Nirvana fire spirit.
Regardless of how it struggled or resisted, Luo Chen first shifted it out of his Purple Mansion.
This little fellow was by far the most unruly!
Only after the two were separated did Luo Chen breathe a sigh of relief.
"You nearly tore my house down!"
Luo Chen transmitted a reprimand to each of them.
The little blue-and-white tree felt only grievance, drooping its branches and leaves in sullen silence.
The little golden bird fluttered its wings, utterly oblivious to Luo Chen's anger, chirping naively:
"Hungry!"
"Hungry!"
Luo Chen frowned as he watched. It seemed the Liangyi Pill had completely awakened the fire spirit of the Nirvana Holy Fire, vastly enhancing its spirituality.
But what was with this hunger?
As Luo Chen searched his memories for the records regarding the Liangyi Pill in Heaven Refining Demon Lord's alchemy manual, the golden fire bird fluttering in the air suddenly paused. Then, before Luo Chen's startled eyes, it flew outward.
Curious, Luo Chen followed it outside.
Moments later, he witnessed an astonishing sight.
Pacing amid the flowing magma, the golden fire bird cautiously pecked and fed upon another flame—one far more brilliant and powerful than itself.
Luo Chen swallowed hard.
That was a portion of the Nirvana Holy Fire that had seeped in earlier before the entrance to the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land had closed.
It was not abundant, scattered in various spots.
Furthermore, because Patriarch Heize had suddenly barged inside and the entrance had shut, subsequent infiltration of the Nirvana Holy Fire had been cut off.
Yet the portion that had entered earlier still lingered within the blessed land.
Luo Chen had never found the time to deal with it, nor had he known how to handle it.
Yet right now!
"Is it really fine to feed on that?"
Luo Chen hesitated.
***
"Is this Shangyou Immortal City?"
Having survived the great battle at Lingtian Pass with severe injuries to his physical body, Mount Shouyang Hermit had swiftly repaired his dharma body with the assistance of his sect.
This was his first time leaving his mountain in many years.
Yet arriving at this familiar place, the scene before his eyes left him utterly dumbfounded.
A nearby Dongyang Sect disciple hurriedly replied, "Reporting to the elder, this is indeed where Shangyou Immortal City stood. But as for why it has become like this, this disciple does not know either."
Mount Shouyang Hermit swallowed hard and looked out. The entire city lay in ruins.
Amid the crumbling walls and shattered pillars, flames surged with scorching heat.
A colossal palm print practically blanketed the entirety of Shangyou Immortal City; those broken ramparts were merely the minuscule traces left between the gaps of fingers.
"Who destroyed Shangyou Immortal City?"
"And... with a single strike!"
No one could answer him.
Yet a matter even more shocking lay just ahead.
"Elder Lu, the Grand Elder requests your presence!"
Collecting his thoughts, Mount Shouyang Hermit made his way toward the Netherworld Abyss with deep apprehension.
Upon his arrival, three senior brothers and sisters of the sect had already been standing there for a long time, all locked in silence.
At their head stood a figure clad in resplendent morning-sun robes and crowned with a rosy coronet.
It was the Grand Elder of the Dongyang Sect, a late-stage Nascent Soul grand cultivator renowned throughout the Eastern Desolation.
Before Mount Shouyang Hermit could offer his greetings, his gaze froze once again.
The waters of Mingyuan were boiling, spanning ten thousand li.
Golden flames curled and danced, dazzling and scorching.
Within the void, black dragon-snakes flickered into existence, only to vanish abruptly.
Anyone with a modicum of experience understood what those were.
Spatial rifts!
Boom!
A startling bolt of thunder crashed down, detonating across the surface of the sea and scattering countless splashes of water and sparks of flame.
High above in the heavens, dark clouds lingered endlessly, lightning flashing within them from time to time.
Jarred by this strike of thunder, the crowd seemed to awaken from a dream.
The Grand Elder of the Dongyang Sect slowly turned around, his majestic face now thoroughly gripped by terror.
"The Mingyuan Sacred Land... has been destroyed!"
Just as the others were about to ask by whom, Mount Shouyang Hermit suddenly drew out a voice transmission jade token.
An urgent voice rang from within, instantly commanding everyone's attention:
"In the Million Mountains, the demon race is stirring—it seems they are staging a comeback!"
Chapter 912