High in the sky, clouds clustered in fluffy drifts.
Suddenly, two figures shot through, scattering a vast swath of clouds and tearing an empty breach across the azure expanse.
Long after the two figures passed, residual echoes still drifted in their wake.
"Mount Mijie is one of the Southern Border's great wonders!"
"It exists half-hidden and half-revealed within the mortal realm. Only several centuries ago did someone finally discover its true entrance and stabilize it using immense methods."
"Once inside, space folds layer upon layer, as though three thousand worlds were converged within a single mountain. With the slightest lapse in attention, one can easily become lost. Furthermore, when cultivators of our Nascent Soul realm flee using escape arts, we ought to shrink the earth into inches and travel a thousand li in a single burst. Yet within Mount Mijie, one is subject to tremendous suppression, utterly unable to escape far."
"For that reason, the use of force is strictly forbidden within Mount Mijie!"
"Some say Mount Mijie was transformed from the spirit treasure of some almighty expert. Others speculate it may have formed from the carcass of an ancient desolate beast. But most believe the place was wrought by the natural creations of heaven and earth—a half-formed grotto-heaven blessed land."
A wondrous land harboring countless pocket spaces within?
Listening to this description, Luo Chen's interest was thoroughly piqued.
Could it be something like the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven?
Yet according to Cave Master Minglei, Mount Mijie's entrance itself existed within the mortal realm, so it clearly was not formed from the remains of a great desolate beast.
By that logic, it was evidently not formed from a spirit treasure either.
Could it truly be a grotto-heaven blessed land forged naturally by the hand of heaven and earth, like the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land?
"With such a marvelous place, was the sacred ground, the Gate of Life and Death, not tempted?" Luo Chen asked curiously.
Cave Master Minglei replied, "It is not that they were uninterested, but rather that before Mount Mijie appeared, the Gate of Life and Death had already sealed its mountain gates, rarely interacting with the outside world. Afterward, the place fell into the hands of a Great Cultivator named Perfected Person Songyang. After seizing Mount Mijie, he used it as a stronghold to establish the Fierce Peak Zombie Alliance."
Perfected Person Songyang. The Fierce Peak Zombie Alliance.
Luo Chen turned these names over in his mind, but what intrigued him even more was the Gate of Life and Death sealing its mountain gates and severing ties with the outside world.
Yet Cave Master Minglei had no answers regarding that matter either.
He could not even pinpoint the exact time when they had sealed their gates.
"Back then, I was merely a trifling Golden Core cultivator. How could I have had the standing to learn such classified secrets?" Cave Master Minglei said with a self-deprecating smile.
Only then did Luo Chen realize that Cave Master Minglei was not like Lingfengzi—a seasoned Nascent Soul powerhouse who had every scrap of intelligence on the local cultivation world at his fingertips.
At the end of the day, Minglei was just a rogue cultivator who had only recently achieved the Dao.
Setting strength aside, his intelligence channels alone were vastly inferior to those of Nascent Soul True Persons who had been famous for ages.
Reflecting on it, Luo Chen had been in much the same boat during his own Golden Core days.
It had been thanks to the intelligence networks of two factions—the Eastern Desolation's Luotian Sect and the Northern Sea's Myriad Immortals Association—that he had avoided remaining entirely blind to the world beyond.
"Last time, someone recommended me to the exchange gathering. Raw at first, familiar by the second—this time, I can recommend you as well."
"Is it truly that troublesome?"
"It is indeed rather bothersome. Cultivators of the Southern Border are adept at employing Gu insects that harm people unseen, and coupled with the disaster of the Demonic Heart Gu that wreaked havoc on the Southern Border years ago, many people inherently distrust outsiders. Circles of every sort are quite insular. Without an introduction from an acquaintance, even someone with heaven-defying cultivation would remain an isolated loner."
"You jest. If one truly possessed heaven-defying cultivation, why not establish one's own sect?"
"Haha, Brother Qi makes a fine point! A true powerhouse should indeed be like Perfected Person Songyang—seizing a blessed land, laying down a foundation, commanding a hundred responses with a single call, and rallying countless followers."
"Perfected Person Songyang, eh..." Luo Chen murmured in contemplation, before abruptly changing the subject. "That calamity of the Demonic Heart Gu—did Cave Master ever live through it?"
Cave Master Minglei's face shifted. Just as he was about to speak, a voice drifted up from below.
"'Is it not a delight when friends come from afar?' Since Brother Minglei is passing by my mountain gate, why not descend for a chat?"
The voice was ethereal and adrift. Though clearly rising from below, its exact source was difficult to pinpoint.
This alone showed what a formidable divine sense its speaker possessed.
However, Luo Chen merely cast a fleeting glance before withdrawing his gaze.
He turned his attention back to Cave Master Minglei. "Who is that below?"
Cave Master Minglei looked distinctly uncomfortable. In a hushed voice, he said, "He could be considered a friend. He was the one who introduced me into the Nascent Soul circle last time. His true name is unrecorded; outsiders call him the Lantern Master, and he is the leader of the Shadow Reflection Sect."
"What do you mean, 'could be considered'?" Luo Chen asked, eyeing Cave Master Minglei with a faint, knowing smile.
The other man replied helplessly, "Ever since forming my Nascent Soul, I have been eager to broaden my connections. The Lantern Master knew me from my earlier years, and for a time, I genuinely treated him as a friend. But during the Feng clan's recent assault on Wind Thunder Gorge, I sent invitations far and wide for assistance, yet received no reply from him. So the word 'friend' naturally carries far less weight now."
Luo Chen nodded in understanding, then asked, "And now?"
Cave Master Minglei pondered for a moment, then made up his mind.
"After traveling for so many days, I have expended quite a bit of magic power. We might as well head down to borrow his grounds and recover some energy. In passing... I can also ask him about his silence earlier!"
"That might not be very polite."
Luo Chen chuckled, already descending from the clouds.
Meanwhile, within a major sect where high-hung lanterns swayed and shadowy figures flickered, a sinister-looking man dressed in a bright crimson robe had just recovered from a jolt of heart-palpitating dread.
"It came again!"
"That feeling again!"
"No, it seems slightly different?"
Amidst his startled suspicion, his extended divine sense caught sight of the two figures descending from the clouds.
His heart skipped a beat. Striking several incantation seals onto himself, he moved out to receive them.
...
"Cave Master, won't you introduce this new friend of yours to me?"
From a great distance, the Lantern Master laughed aloud.
Looking rather ill at ease, Cave Master Minglei said, "Tyrant Cultivator Qi Tian, one of the thirty-six cave masters of Wind Thunder Gorge."
The Lantern Master paused in his steps, a look of surprise surfacing on his face.
Right at that moment, Luo Chen, who had his hands clasped behind his back as he took in the surrounding scenery, turned around slowly. A potent surge of blood and vitality erupted toward the heavens, transforming into a billowing beacon smoke.
This beacon smoke of blood and vitality was terrifyingly ferocious, yet it vanished the moment it was released, flashing like a night-blooming cereus.
"A body cultivator?" the Lantern Master exclaimed in surprise.
Cave Master Minglei's expression returned to normal, and he chuckled. "Indeed. Brother Qi is a body-refining cultivator. Though the path he walks differs from ours, in terms of capability, he is not in the least inferior to me."
The Lantern Master could not help but hold Luo Chen in even higher regard.
Inwardly, he was filled with praise and wonder.
Was Wind Thunder Gorge not a harsh, desolate, and unforgiving place?
How had it produced two formidable figures in succession?
No wonder that old fellow from the Feng clan had coveted Wind Thunder Gorge so much and had even sent word in advance warning him not to meddle.
Though muttering critically in his thoughts, the Lantern Master maintained an affable smile on his face.
"Come, come! Since you have arrived at my Shadow Reflection Sect, allow me to play the proper host. Please, inside!"
Cave Master Minglei remained motionless.
The Lantern Master arched a brow. "Could it be that Cave Master resents me for not stepping in to help you earlier?"
"How would I dare!"
"Sigh, it couldn't be helped. My cultivation suffered a mishap at the time, so I didn't dare act rashly. Now, seeing Cave Master safe and sound and even able to journey abroad, it is clear those troubles have all been resolved. This sect master's heart is vastly relieved as well!"
Cave Master Minglei was astonished. "A mishap in your cultivation?"
The Lantern Master waved his hand dismissively. "It is somewhat troublesome. Let us sit down before discussing it in detail!"
Cave Master Minglei hesitated, glancing at Luo Chen.
The latter said nothing, but had already taken a stride forward, heading toward the mountain gate of the Shadow Reflection Sect.
Cave Master Minglei immediately followed.
Watching this unfold, the Lantern Master fell into thoughtful reflection.
Between the two of them, was the newly emerged Tyrant Cultivator Qi Tian actually the one calling the shots?
Chapter 940