The Shen family of Jianchuan could now be called the Shen family of the Tuo River.
Flowing before their clan grounds was no longer Jianchuan, that surging, torrential river sharp as a sword, but the Tuo River—murky, turgid, and choked with silt day in and day out.
Yet all of this had been born of sheer necessity.
Under the moonlight.
Luo Chen stood by the window, sighing with emotion.
“To think that in just three short years, the outside world would undergo such drastic upheaval.”
The changes across the Eastern Desolation were beyond anyone's expectations.
That the Mingyuan Sacred Land had been submerged by the Netherworld Abyss and swarmed by endless ghosts was shocking enough.
Yet the fact that the demon beasts of the Million Mountains had returned to launch another offensive against the human cultivation world was even more unanticipated.
What was more!
Spearheading this war was none other than the sacred land of the Feather Clan—Mount Cangwu!
Led by Youquan, the deputy hall master of Duzhen Hall, an elite vanguard of three Great Demon Sovereigns—Niugui, Bi Zheng, and Juan Kuang—had gathered, driving vast hordes of low-grade demon beasts to surge into human territory.
In just a few short months, they had once again massed their forces outside the Six Far Eastern Domains.
Compared to their previous invasion, the demon race's momentum this time was not quite as overwhelming.
Yet on the human side, after more than a century of bitter warfare, their vitality had already been grievously depleted.
Above all, the sky sheltering them—the Mingyuan Sacred Land—had collapsed.
For a time, panic and dread spread everywhere.
The only unexpected factor was that the demon race's offensive was nowhere near as frenzied as before. They merely stationed their forces beyond the Six Far Eastern Domains, standing motionless as mountains.
It looked far more like deterrence than an all-out invasion.
“Mount Cangwu taking the initiative to meddle in this... could it be related to Monarch Qixia?”
Pondering the crux of the matter in light of the battle at Mingyuan, Luo Chen formed a vague hypothesis.
When Monarch Qixia departed, she had definitely not emerged entirely unscathed.
Facing three mighty experts, heavenly tribulation, earthly cataclysms, and the onslaught of hundreds of millions of ghosts, even someone forged of iron would have suffered a few scratches and bruises.
Particularly according to rumors among many ghosts, before that woman left, a tribulation cloud hovered over her head.
“So, having Mount Cangwu lead this military campaign is very likely a way to deter human powerhouses, preventing scoundrels from going to Mount Cangwu to disturb her as she overcomes her heavenly tribulation?”
Luo Chen could not be certain about this conjecture.
However, while the arrival of the Tianyuan Dao Sect in the Eastern Desolation had been unexpected, it was entirely within reason!
They had always harbored immense ambition toward the entire Mountain Sea Realm.
Deploying troops to the North Sea, scheming across the Western Desert, dispatching scouts to infiltrate the Southern Border—every move they made displayed an overweening ambition to swallow the realm whole.
Perhaps cultivators in the Eastern Desolation, being so far removed, had never felt it keenly.
Luo Chen, however, had spent time in the Central Plains. He remembered all too clearly that innate confidence and haughty superiority exuded by the cultivators of the Tianyuan Dao Sect.
What was more, the Eastern Desolation had handed them an undeniable pretext to strike.
The Dao Sect's diplomatic mission—a late-stage Nascent Soul Star Gate elder, the Chief Elder of the Eastern Desolation's Tianyuan Commerce Alliance, a clan head, and dozens of low-rank disciples—had all perished within the Mingyuan Sacred Land.
With such a monumental incident, the Tianyuan Dao Sect was bound to intervene.
Dispatching a host of formidable experts to invade the Eastern Desolation was completely justified in their eyes.
And the Dongyang Region bordering the coastline had become their first bridgehead.
Factions like the Dongyang Sect and the Jianchuan Shen family had truly run into dreadful misfortune.
The previous demon invasion had not harmed their foundation in the slightest, yet now they had been driven from their ancestral homes.
“Or perhaps it wasn't merely an unprovoked disaster?”
Luo Chen recalled what Shen Qiuhua had just recounted.
A mighty Dao Sect expert had personally descended upon the Dongyang Sect, forcing its Chief Elder into submission. The signal sent by this event was far from simple.
Everyone knew that the Dongyang Sect was a vassal of the Mingyuan Sect, its foremost lackey.
Now that Mingyuan was destroyed and the Dongyang Sect had submitted to the Tianyuan Dao Sect, did it not signify that the sky above the entire Eastern Desolation had completely changed?
“The days ahead will likely be an autumn of troubles once more.”
Just then, dark clouds masked the bright moon.
Luo Chen felt a sudden stirring of intuition.
“Could Monarch Qixia truly be that weak right now?”
Muttering to himself, his form shifted, and a single ember faded into the night sky.
***
“Elder Brother, you and I both see how weakened the Eastern Desolation is today.”
“Those Nascent Soul upper sects on the frontline were already crippled after the last great war. There is no way they can stem this tide of demon beasts on their own.”
“Under these circumstances, if the Tianyuan Dao Sect wants to secure a foothold, it will inevitably have to weather this assault.”
“And will they be willing to sacrifice their own disciples?”
“Hardly! Nine times out of ten, they will follow the Mingyuan Sect's playbook, driving other cultivators to the front as the vanguard. We are bound to be reduced to cannon fodder.”
“That is why I have been recruiting guest retainers so aggressively of late to bolster our Shen family's strength, so you won't have to take the field yourself like last time.”
Inside a quiet secret chamber, Shen Qiuhua spoke with vehement urgency.
His face flushed and his emotions ran high, laying bare his wholehearted devotion to the clan's survival.
Dressed in plain white robes without any ornamentation, Shen Qiubai remained calm. He said softly, “I understand your intentions, but are the people you recruited reliable?”
Shen Qiuhua blinked, replying instinctively, “They should be reliable, right?”
Shen Qiubai shook his head. “Take Fellow Daoist Gui Xuan from today—I cannot see through him.”
Shen Qiuhua asked, puzzled, “What is there that can't be seen through? His demeanor, down to his speech and conduct, is through and through that of a loose cultivator!”
Shen Qiubai stood up unhurriedly and walked toward the door under his younger brother's baffled gaze.
“When I say I cannot see through him, I mean his strength.”
“Just as the Tianyuan Dao Sect intends to make cannon fodder of us because our strength cannot possibly compare to theirs, for our Shen family to recruit outside guest retainers as cannon fodder, we must possess absolute dominance over them.”
“Yet that Gui Xuan outwardly reveals only an early Core Formation cultivation, and yet the sense of threat he gave me was not in the least inferior to those old Nascent Soul monsters I once saw on Shouyang Mountain at Lingtian Pass.”
“If you bring in a top-tier powerhouse like that, our Shen family is merely inviting a wolf into our midst.”
Shen Qiuhua's mouth fell open, his face filled with disbelief.
“Can a loose cultivator even reach the Nascent Soul stage?”
Shen Qiubai did not answer him. He walked over to the courtyard where Luo Chen had been lodged and knocked carefully on the door.
“Shen Clan Head Shen Qiubai has come to pay his respects to Fellow Daoist. I request an audience.”
There was no response.
Shen Qiubai pushed the doors open.
It was empty, save for the silver moonlight spilling in after the dark clouds parted.
Shen Qiuhua spread his spiritual sense, sweeping the area. “He left without saying goodbye?”
His elder brother, Shen Qiubai, breathed a sigh of relief instead.
“It is good that he left. Very good indeed!”
***
Luo Chen did not go to the Dongyang Region to catch a glimpse of the arrivals from the Tianyuan Dao Sect.
Even though the two places were very close given his flight speed, he had no such inclination.
From what he understood, the Tianyuan Dao Sect was continuously dispatching reinforcements across the vast ocean to land in the Eastern Desolation.
Such massing of troops already betrayed their intent to put down roots here.
That meant in the days ahead, friction and conflict were bound to erupt between them and the Mingyuan remnants, the various local Eastern Desolation factions, and the demon race waiting to pounce.
Right now, he had no desire whatsoever to get entangled in the affairs of these major powers.
Caught deep within their struggles, one was always at the mercy of circumstances.
Whether one was at Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, or Soul Formation, personal ties or coercion from others would inevitably force one into making reluctant choices.
By contrast, he chose to distance himself from the mortal turmoil.
On this journey, he aimed for only one thing:
To take the Luotian Sect away!
There were people there he could not abandon, and ties he could not sever. As his cultivation advanced, they had gradually become his soft underbelly.
And how could one leave a weakness exposed to the world?
Only by tucking it safely away could he act without restraint.
From the Tuo River to the Luotian Domain was a journey of a million li.
To avoid being detected, Luo Chen chose a shortcut.
He soared into the nine heavens, entering the azure empyrean.
A shuttle cloaked in dull black light shot forth like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.
Under his full urging, it took a mere month to arrive at Lingtian Pass.
It could have been even faster, given that the modified Frost Eagle Shuttle far outpaced its former speed.
The reason he had been delayed by a few days was that the empyrean held perils of its own; from time to time, creatures like the Rosy Glow Beast appeared, preventing him from flying at full throttle.
Yet once he reached Lingtian Pass, the Luotian Domain was not far off.
Luo Chen did not head straight back. Instead, he found a secluded spot to touch down, then made his way toward Lingtian Pass.
Since he planned to retreat far from the turmoil, stocking up extensively beforehand was quite necessary, as was inquiring into the Luotian Sect's current situation to avoid plunging headlong into some unforeseen peril.
Altering his appearance and aura, Luo Chen revisited the familiar grounds and entered Lingtian Pass once more.
Unlike the desolate, fallen war fortress one might have imagined following the human-demon war, this ancient bastion, after weathering glorious trials, radiated a distinctive new luster.
The thick, towering city walls were gone, left un-rebuilt in the wake of the war.
The mountains and streams within were laid bare for all to see.
Structures stood in dense clusters, with pavilions, terraces, and towers nestled between them.
On the broad avenues, carriages and horses bustled, while pedestrians moved shoulder to shoulder in a steady stream.
Hawking cries, merchant solicitations, shouts, and chatter resonated without pause.
Evidently, this war fortress had smoothly transformed into a commercial hub linking the east and west.
Every day, vast quantities of resources and treasures converged here.
Luo Chen lingered for a long while before following his memory to a shop established by a Nascent Soul upper sect.
“Fellow Daoist, you look rather unfamiliar!”
An old man waved off the maidservant and took the initiative to welcome him.
This was simply because the magical power fluctuations Luo Chen outwardly displayed were at the Core Formation stage, which was not something a mere Qi Refinement maidservant could attend to.
Luo Chen's gaze swept over the wares displayed in the shop. To him, the protective restrictions and formations were as good as nonexistent. Meanwhile, he casually offered a perfunctory reply:
“Cultivators throng Lingtian Pass like dense clouds and rain. Could Fellow Daoist truly recognize every single one?”
“This old man naturally doesn't have such all-seeing eyes, but there are few Core Formation masters I do not know.”
“Haha, I advanced to Core Formation not long ago, so it's only natural that I seem unfamiliar to you.”
“So that's how it is. May I ask what Fellow Daoist comes seeking today? Resources to stabilize the Core Formation realm? My establishment certainly has no shortage of those.”
To the shopkeeper's surprise, Luo Chen suddenly sent a voice transmission with his spiritual sense:
“Do you have Soul Essence?”
The old man froze, then said with a complicated expression, “Such things violate the natural order. We carry nothing of the sort here.”
“None at all?” Luo Chen looked at him with a faint smile, his gaze slowly shifting toward the upper floor.
This action caused the old man's expression to change drastically. A secret chamber upstairs indeed stored a large quantity of gathered Soul Essence.
“You!”
Luo Chen waved a hand. “Do not be alarmed. I am utterly mediocre in all other respects, save that my divine sense happens to be somewhat potent. I heard that Soul Essence is immensely beneficial for enhancing the foundation of the divine soul, so I wished to purchase a bit to see if I might take another step forward.”
“Is that so?” The old man was half-skeptical, his gaze sweeping over Luo Chen repeatedly.
Yet due to Luo Chen's concealment arts, he could not perceive the true cultivation, sensing only that the other man's magical power fluctuations were thoroughly unremarkable—just an ordinary early Core Formation cultivator.
Hesitating for a moment, he said, “As for Soul Essence, many can see its immense value, and many powerhouses procure it secretly. However, few possess the exact methods to utilize it, which is why it has never had a fixed valuation.”
High demand, but no fixed price?
Luo Chen mused on this. “Then how do you typically trade for it?”
“Vast sums of high-grade spirit stones, or bartering!” the old man said.
Luo Chen nodded. “In that case, I happen to have a treasure on hand that I wish to part with. I wonder if it will catch your esteemed eye.”
Curiosity flickered in the old man's eyes. What manner of item could qualify as a treasure?
“Let us speak in a quiet room,” Luo Chen said calmly, glancing across the bustling shop.
The old man naturally did not refuse, promptly leading Luo Chen to a private chamber.
Roughly half a day later, Luo Chen exited the shop, his face betraying neither satisfaction nor disappointment.
Yet the old man beamed with delight.
For their shop was about to acquire a crowning treasure.
“A True Artifact!”
He had never dreamed that Luo Chen would be so generous as to produce a True Artifact for the trade.
Although this True Artifact had been largely fouled by an unknown power, severely impairing its spirituality, as long as one was willing to invest a decade or two to purge the corruptive taint bit by bit, it could always regain a fraction of its former might.
The appraiser who had just been summoned turned the flying sword over in his hands with a puzzled look.
“This seems like the corruptive power of Ming Water?”
The old man was taken aback, then recalled the affair of the Mingyuan Sect.
“Could that man have just returned from treasure hunting over at the Netherworld Abyss?”
Just as he suspected.
The damaged True Artifact Luo Chen had parted with was indeed something he had chanced upon while crossing the Netherworld Abyss.
And not just one, but several.
Most were merely at the level of magic treasures, with damaged True Artifacts numbering only two or three.
Seeing that he had a penchant for collecting such things, the black turtle had deliberately ferried him to places where similar treasures lay.
Had Luo Chen not been in a hurry, he might have reaped an even greater harvest.
To Luo Chen, such items were utterly useless.
Even if bestowed upon disciples under his wing, the corruption by Ming Water meant that expending great effort to purge the taint and carefully refine them would be necessary.
It was far better to trade them away for what he currently needed.
“It's just that the amount of Soul Essence was rather small, and the transaction was far too cumbersome.”
With a thought, Luo Chen made his way toward certain remote corners of Lingtian Pass from his memory.
These major shops had far too many rules.
They were nowhere near as convenient as black market transactions.
While trading in the black market carried other risks, with Luo Chen's strength, they could be completely disregarded.
“Back then, the method for refining Soul Essence was also disseminated through these black markets. Now that it is time to reap the harvest, I might as well begin in the field where the seeds were sown.”
“Besides, their information network is sharper. I can use the opportunity to inquire about the situation in the Luotian Domain.”
***
Just as Luo Chen mingled within Lingtian Pass, gathering resources and ferreting out information...
Along the coast of the Dongyang Region, the Demon-Revealing Mirror, which had hung high for thousands of years, reflected a scene from afar.
A long, slender ship resembling a swordfish whale cleaved through the wind and waves, speeding toward the shore.
Shadowy figures thronged the deck beneath fluttering banners and flags.
As they drew near the coast, a young woman at the bow hurried toward a palace bearing the plaque “Kunxiao.”
“Senior Sister, we are about to reach the Eastern Desolation!”
The palace doors swung open with a rumble, and an elegant figure stepped out slowly.
She wore a moon-white silk gown patterned with rolling clouds, its sleeves traced with shifting silver threads that formed subtle orchid motifs, trailing like misty clouds with every step she took.
Her lustrous dark hair was swept into a Morning Cloud Perfumed Chignon, pinned slantwise with an ornate hairpin whose dangling ornaments swayed gently.
A few seed-pearl ornaments graced the edges of her temples, and a tender green leaf was painted at the center of her forehead, accentuating her snow-white, frost-pure skin.
Compared to the well-bred young lady of before, Fu Qinglan now bore an aloof, unapproachable nobility.
She gazed at the Eastern Desolation continent lying within reach, and then her limpid, autumn-water eyes turned toward the vast ocean behind her.
“Shi Ju should be arriving soon as well, but he must not beat me to it.”
Chapter 916