War had broken out once again in the Eastern Desolation!
This was entirely expected and came as no surprise.
After all, the demon race had massed troops outside the Six Far Eastern Domains for years. In this prolonged standoff filled with endless friction, an accidental spark that ignited an uncontrollable blaze had been bound to happen sooner or later.
What truly surprised Luo Chen was the catalyst that reignited the flames of war.
[The Great Demon Qingshuang, violent and wicked, has destroyed the Five Elements Divine Sect and slaughtered myriad cultivators, holding the mighty of the human race in utter contempt. Rallied by the wrath of the people, the Tianyuan Dao Sect has raised an army to subjugate them!]
"The Five Elements Divine Sect was destroyed by Demon Emperor Qingshuang?"
Reading this line, Luo Chen felt a momentary sense of trance.
It felt just like when he had read the intelligence in the North Sea claiming that Demon Emperor Qingshuang had wiped out the Hehuan Sect.
Yet this time was different. He knew beyond any doubt that the Five Elements Divine Sect had been brought down by his own hand and Perfected Shenyuan's.
Beside him, Marquis Ziyi scoffed, "Just take it with a grain of salt. The Zombie Alliance has vast amounts of intelligence, but we must discern truth from falsehood ourselves. Take the destruction of the Five Elements Divine Sect, for instance. Reliable sources from my Purple Blood Cult confirm that Qingshuang had nothing to do with it. It was caused by an elite powerhouse of the Eastern Desolation named Luo Chen."
"An elite powerhouse of the Eastern Desolation... Luo Chen?" Luo Chen asked tentatively.
Marquis Ziyi nodded. "Indeed. A grandmaster of the refining arts on par with Celestial Master Li. Rumor has it he had past grievances with the Five Elements Divine Sect, and after vanishing for years, he suddenly returned and laid waste to the sect."
Hearing legends about himself from someone else gave Luo Chen an awkward sensation.
It was both embarrassing and a point of pride.
Marquis Ziyi continued, "Yet though it was the work of Alchemy Grandmaster Luo Chen, very few actually witnessed him act. The Five Elements Divine Sect was one of the premier Nascent Soul upper sects in the Eastern Desolation. For so colossal a power to vanish overnight, the public demanded an explanation. The Tianyuan Dao Sect had just stepped in to take command of the Eastern Desolation and desperately needed to make an example of someone to establish their prestige. They simply dumped the blame onto the demon race, harnessed the public's fury, and launched an all-out war against the Eastern Desolation demons!"
Public fury?
Naturally, there was fury.
Nearly two centuries of war between humans and demons in the Eastern Desolation had eradicated countless sects and clans.
Peace had been hard-won, yet the demons were marching once again. Who wouldn't feel terror? Who wouldn't feel rage?
To make matters worse, Demon Emperor Qingshuang had a track record of venturing deep into human territory to raze sects to the ground.
When the Tianyuan Dao Sect made the claim, the major and minor factions across the Eastern Desolation readily believed it.
Given Qingshuang's aloof and detached nature, she certainly wouldn't bother explaining herself. But she was hardly the type to swallow an insult or back down. Resolving this matter wouldn't be easy.
Luo Chen pursed his lips and asked about the aftermath.
Marquis Ziyi shrugged. "What aftermath could there be other than a bloody battle? From what I know, faced with the Tianyuan Dao Sect's slander, Demon Emperor Qingshuang didn't offer a single word of defense, but she struck back with ruthless brutality. She not only soundly defeated Sovereign Jiuling, who had just emerged from seclusion, but also pursued him across more than a hundred thousand li, slaying a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Dongyang Sect, severely wounding a Tianyuan expert, and wiping out three major branch divisions of the Shenfu, Dongyang, and Xuhuang sects."
Saying this, he pointed at the jade slip.
"It is recorded on that jade slip as well. You can see for yourself."
"I see."
Luo Chen acknowledged, his eyes quickly scanning the text further down.
Sure enough, the jade slip documented these public events in great detail.
After reading it through, Luo Chen could only marvel that this was indeed something a woman like Qingshuang would do.
*You throw dirty water on me, and I won't bother arguing.*
*Instead, I will make the crime a reality, and don't you dare regret it.*
*You say I raze sects and exterminate clans? Then I will show you what true extermination looks like.*
It was just that his old friend, Sovereign Jiuling, had been rather unfortunate.
Ever since the battle in the Medicine King Domain, he had been in secluded cultivation to nurse his wounds.
He had finally recovered, turning misfortune into a blessing by advancing to the late Nascent Soul stage and becoming a true Great Cultivator. Yet no sooner had he emerged in high spirits than he ran straight into the most unreasonable, peerless powerhouse in the world.
He must have felt utterly helpless.
*Still, as long as he is alive, that is enough. It is even better that he wasn't gravely injured.*
The report did not state that Sovereign Jiuling had been critically wounded, only that he had been defeated by Demon Emperor Qingshuang.
Setting that aside, Luo Chen sank into deep thought.
A renewed war was entirely within reason.
Yet the side that had taken the initiative to launch the war was unexpected.
The Tianyuan Dao Sect?
Shouldn't it have been Mount Cangwu?
What Monarch Qixia had done to the Mingyuan Sect was enough to put every surviving sacred land in the Mountain Sea Realm on high alert.
To flatten a sacred land single-handedly was a feat that shook the world!
Was the Tianyuan Dao Sect not afraid of repeating that fate?
Or were they probing?
Were they testing whether Monarch Qixia still possessed the strength to replicate such an act after the apocalyptic battle at Mingyuan?
Testing whether Monarch Qixia could still take action under the suppression of the heavenly tribulation?
Putting himself in the shoes of a sacred land, Luo Chen could faintly grasp the Tianyuan Dao Sect's reasoning.
As the preeminent existence in this realm, how could they sleep peacefully knowing there was someone capable of threatening their supremacy?
A simple probe was necessary before making further moves.
Moreover, the danger of this probe was minimal.
The battlefield lay in the Eastern Desolation, and the human and material resources being spent belonged to native Eastern Desolation cultivators. It was like playing a game of chess on an external board. Even if Monarch Qixia intervened in a fit of rage to upset the game, the Tianyuan Dao Sect could withdraw amidst the chaos and remain an onlooker.
The only worry was that they might have underestimated Monarch Qixia's sheer ruthlessness.
Luo Chen sighed inward and shifted his attention to the remainder of the intelligence.
The Eastern Desolation was only one part of the report.
Below it were entries concerning major events across the North Sea, the Western Desert, and even the local Southern Border.
Among these events, Luo Chen noticed that the Tianyuan Dao Sect appeared with startling frequency.
He couldn't help but say in shock, "The Tianyuan Dao Sect is launching attacks on all fronts and spreading its forces thin. Isn't that a cardinal military taboo?"
Marquis Ziyi held a different view, speaking with longing admiration, "Is that not the grand ambition to swallow the entire world? Besides, they possess the strength, and they have met a golden opportunity unprecedented in history!"
Luo Chen parted his lips, but found himself speechless.
Marquis Ziyi was not wrong.
The Yuan Demon Sect and the Mingyuan Sect were destroyed, leaving the North Sea and the Eastern Desolation without a master. The Hanging Temple and the Gate of Life and Death had successively sealed their mountain gates, leaving the Western Desert and the Southern Border leaderless.
Under such circumstances, if the Tianyuan Dao Sect seized this opportunity, even if they suffered setbacks on one or two fronts, their overall harvest would be beyond imagination.
Most importantly, the chess pieces had already been placed!
Luo Chen shook his head, ceased paying attention to the broader geopolitical tide, and turned to information relevant to himself.
"The Demon Heart Gu Emperor has vanished for centuries without showing his face. Common rumor claims he died from the backlash of the demonic Gu."
"If he is not dead, given the heaven-defying effect of the Demonic Heart Gu accelerating cultivation, centuries of progress would certainly have propelled him into the late Nascent Soul stage, placing him among the ranks of Great Cultivators."
"For such a powerhouse to continue cultivating, he must have a matching high-tier spiritual vein."
"The high-tier spiritual veins of the Southern Border have long been charted over thousands of years, and all possess masters. Thus, if the Demon Heart Gu Emperor is still alive, he must be the master of one of these veins."
"Excluding the powerhouses of the Gate of Life and Death who remain in hiding, the Southern Border Great Cultivators occupying high-tier spiritual veins are as follows: Perfected Songyang, Granny Hongye, Old Man Zangsheng, the Luo Cult Supreme Elder, Fairy Xuanji..."
Celestial Master Li's method for tracking down the Demon Heart Gu Emperor was remarkably simple.
It was a process of elimination!
Just as mortals needed food and water to live, a Nascent Soul cultivator aiming for the Soul Transformation Dao required a high-tier spiritual vein matching their cultivation realm.
The number of high-tier spiritual veins in the Southern Border was limited, and anyone occupying one was bound to be a regional hegemon.
If the Demon Heart Gu Emperor did not want his cultivation delayed, he would inevitably be hidden among them.
This drastically narrowed down the suspects.
It was also Luo Chen's first direct glimpse into the community of Southern Border Great Cultivators.
"They are not at all inferior to the various sects of the Eastern Desolation in their prime!"
In fact, it was not merely 'not inferior,' but far surpassed them.
At the height of the Eastern Desolation's strength, there were five Great Cultivators on the surface: the Supreme Elder of the Dongyang Sect, Tianduzi of the Tiandu Sect, Monk Huiping of the Tianji Zen Sect, the Ancestor of the Hehuan Sect, and Perfected Shenyuan of the Five Elements Divine Sect.
Yet now, the Southern Border possessed a staggering eight Great Cultivators!
The Fierce Peak Zombie Alliance alone had drawn four of them into its fold.
This demonstrated that relying on Gu insects to assist cultivation in the Southern Border indeed possessed remarkable efficacy.
Yet there was an awkward dilemma: over the past two to three centuries, very few new late Nascent Soul Great Cultivators had emerged.
It was unlike the North Sea producing Moon Hermit or the Eastern Desolation producing Sovereign Jiuling as newly risen Great Cultivators.
"No wonder the Southern Border cultivators blame only the mutations of heaven and earth."
Luo Chen found a plausible reason for them, then turned his attention to the seven or eight individuals named in Celestial Master Li's report, carefully analyzing which of them could be the Demon Heart Gu Emperor.
First, Granny Hongye and Fairy Xuanji were eliminated.
Rumor held that the Demon Heart Gu Emperor was male.
Among the remaining six, Perfected Songyang could also be ruled out. The heritage of the Songshan Sect had never been broken, and Perfected Songyang had gained fame in his youth; it was impossible for someone to have secretly assumed his identity.
"The other five..."
Luo Chen's eyes narrowed slightly.
He had to admit that Cave Master Minglei's suspicion before his departure held merit.
Old Man Zangsheng was indeed very suspicious. Zangsheng Valley had scant contact with the outside world, and Old Man Zangsheng's conduct was exceedingly mysterious and eerie.
The Luo Cult Supreme Elder was also among the suspects. Ever since the internal strife of the Luo Cult back then, this Supreme Elder had remained in seclusion, never showing himself again.
It was said he had been wounded.
Yet what wound could possibly take centuries to nurse?
He had not even shown his face or displayed any concern regarding the grand campaign of the Southern Border cultivators against the Gate of Life and Death.
Beside his ear, Marquis Ziyi's puzzled voice rang out.
"Speaking of which, Fellow Daoist Qi, why are you so intent on seeking out the Demon Heart Gu Emperor?"
Luo Chen answered naturally, "I merely wish to prepare an alternative path for myself."
Marquis Ziyi looked puzzled.
Luo Chen gestured toward his own body. "Though I possess decent accomplishments in body refinement, the path of body refinement has long fallen into decline, and the road ahead is uncertain. Furthermore, a body refiner's lifespan is far shorter than that of a Nascent Soul Perfected cultivator. If I do not wish to perish with regret when my lifespan runs out, I must find a path to restart my cultivation."
Marquis Ziyi hesitated. "You wish to use the Demonic Heart Gu to transition into the Qi-refining Dao?"
"Precisely!" Luo Chen said calmly. "The principle behind the Demonic Heart Gu accelerating cultivation is orthodox refinement of essence into qi. I possess a boundless, unparalleled vitality and essence that will not disperse until the day I die. With the aid of a high-tier Demonic Heart Gu, once my body refinement reaches a dead end, I can forcibly convert this vast vitality to assault the Nascent Soul realm, thereby gaining several centuries of life."
"Th-this..." Marquis Ziyi had not expected such an answer. It was entirely reasonable, yet breathtakingly extreme.
What accomplished body refiner would ever think of executing an extreme conversion to another path?
Even if some Nascent Soul cultivators dabbled in body refinement, it was strictly a dual discipline; none would contemplate a complete, drastic transformation.
By that token, Qi Tian's determination to seek life within death was both shocking and worthy of deep respect.
"What bold ambition!"
Marquis Ziyi sighed in admiration, then advised, "Now that you possess the Hundred Poisons Body Refinement Technique, the road ahead may not be hopeless. That Demonic Heart Gu is too convenient and easily erodes the mind. Unless it is an absolute last resort, I advise you to cherish your hard-earned cultivation."
Luo Chen acknowledged, "Qi understands."
***
"Is that truly what he said?"
"Every word is true, and his expression showed no hint of deceit."
"Who would have thought that a domineering man like Qi Tian would prepare so meticulously for a rainy day?"
Inside a Gu refining chamber thick with stifling heat, Celestial Master Li turned around from before a miniature pavilion.
Looking at the oddly familiar small pavilion, Marquis Ziyi remarked, "Fear of death is only human nature. Yet having the resolve to abandon his current path and transition so drastically to another is still admirable."
Celestial Master Li chuckled softly. "I still hope that day never comes. After all, entering the Yin-Yang Remnant Realm relies heavily on Qi Tian's impenetrable physical arts."
As he spoke, he waved a hand behind him.
Several streaks of light immediately flew out from the small pavilion.
"Take these to him. I suspect his thoughts have turned so extreme only because his progress with the Hundred Poisons Body Refinement Technique has stalled."
"These are?" Marquis Ziyi looked curiously at the several sealed Gu insects.
Celestial Master Li explained, "These are three tier-four venomous Gu from my personal collection. If Qi Tian can refine them and feed them to the Hundred Poisons King Gu, it will be enough to elevate it to the fourth tier. In that way, his body refinement can advance once more."
"You are being exceedingly generous!" Marquis Ziyi took the three Gu insects with a touch of envy.
Celestial Master Li sighed. "A momentous undertaking is at hand. The Yin-Yang Remnant Realm not only holds the Gu recipe I require, but also relates to how we open the Gate of Life and Death. I cannot afford any negligence."
Marquis Ziyi nodded. "Does Qi Tian need to provide corresponding resources in exchange?"
"He is a sensible man. As long as his offer is reasonably close in value, you may accept it on my behalf."
Marquis Ziyi suddenly asked, "How is the progress on the Blood Transformation Gu I requested?"
As if anticipating the question, Celestial Master Li replied methodically, "Based on the materials you provided and the techniques from the Yuan Demon Sect's Blood Sea Lineage in the North Sea, I have already formulated a preliminary recipe. Once we enter the Yin-Yang Remnant Realm, I should be able to deliver the refined Blood Transformation Gu to you."
Marquis Ziyi felt an immediate surge of relief.
With that Blood Transformation Gu, perhaps he could emulate the powerhouses of the Yuan Demon Sect's Blood Sea Lineage and refine his own Blood God Child.
He could also rely on this method to evade the mutations of heaven and earth, gradually accumulating enough power to break through to the late Nascent Soul stage.
Before departing, he couldn't resist looking back at the miniature pavilion Celestial Master Li was manipulating.
A thought crossed his mind.
*Why does it look so much like the Fengbo Pavilion at the entrance of Mount Mijie?*
Chapter 952