Time trickled slowly by.
Upon Broken Soul Cliff, utterly devoid of life or spiritual qi, Luo Chen silently kept count of the passing years.
In the fifth year, he separated his seventh soul.
In the sixth year, the Soul Splitting Art, which he had arduously cultivated for over a century, finally reached Great Perfection. Yet he faintly sensed that even at Great Perfection, the Soul Splitting Art possessed certain deficiencies. Where exactly they lay was unknown, though it was likely tied to the gaps in Han Zhan's memories.
Luo Chen did not dwell on the matter.
He knew very well that ever since he acquired this cultivation method, the system had labeled it an incomplete version.
Furthermore, because its tier was exceedingly high, it was not something that could be naturally brought to completion simply by raising its proficiency.
To complete it, he would either have to invest a massive number of achievement points or seek out some auxiliary treasure that even Han Zhan had known nothing about.
"My goal is nine divided souls to break through the soul limitations of the Nascent Soul realm. For now, the Soul Splitting Art is enough!"
When the seventh year arrived, Luo Chen set to work without pause, throwing himself into splitting the eighth soul.
The Soul Splitting Art's principle of soul tempering stemmed from quantitative change inducing qualitative change. When the main soul could no longer be advanced, elevating numerous divided souls would propel the entire soul's growth.
Hence, the more divided souls there were, the better.
This was plainly demonstrated by Han Zhan having separated nine divided souls early on.
Had Luo Chen not been encumbered by worldly matters in his earlier years, he too would have reached that step long ago.
Still, it was not too late now!
Especially with the assistance of Soul Stones blanketing the ground, his efforts yielded twice the result with half the work.
If Han Zhan were still alive to witness him practicing the Soul Splitting Art in such a manner, his eyes would likely have burned red with envy.
Tonight.
The main soul was plump and round, and the divided souls were brimming with vitality. Even the seventh soul, split only the previous year, had been nurtured by Soul Stones over a full year to reach the mid Nascent Soul tier.
It was time to sever the eighth soul.
Guarding his mind closely, Luo Chen condensed his divine sense into a blade and began cleaving into his main soul.
However, a process that should have been routine hit an unexpected snag tonight.
A stifled cry of agony dragged on for a very long time before finally dying away.
In a daze, three days had already elapsed.
Pale-faced and mentally exhausted, Luo Chen gazed at the newly formed eighth divided soul within his sea of consciousness.
"How could this be?"
"The further it goes, the harder it gets. This contradicts what the method records."
"Could it be that this technique must be cultivated the way Han Zhan did—splitting the nine souls as early as possible?"
Luo Chen was baffled.
He did not believe the difference between the two approaches could be so vast, especially now that he had pushed the Soul Splitting Art's proficiency to Great Perfection. By all reason, it ought to have been far easier.
Even if a bottleneck were to appear, it should not have arisen at the eighth or ninth soul.
He could not figure it out!
Helpless, Luo Chen simply drew in wisps of blue smoke to restore his current weakened state.
Suddenly—
*Hum...*
A low, muffled drone sounded, reverberating without end.
The sound was faint, yet it struck directly at the depths of the soul. Baffled, Luo Chen walked out of the cave abode.
As far as the eye could see, the sky was lofty, the earth distant, and a sea of clouds churned.
That expanse of the Yellow Springs Sea was surging in a violent tumult, washing outward in rolling waves.
Witnessing this, a thought instinctively leapt into Luo Chen's mind.
*It's moving again!*
Over the past years, the Yellow Springs Sea had been comparatively calm.
According to Luo Chen's deductions, it had likely remained near the Southern Border, hidden within the Southern Ocean.
And the present commotion was somewhat reminiscent of when he had first collided with the Yellow Springs Sea.
"Where will it drift this time?" Luo Chen murmured to himself.
Yet as he murmured, his tone gradually grew solemn.
His pale face, drained from severing the eighth soul, took on an expression of uncertainty and suspicion.
His gaze shifted from Broken Soul Cliff beneath his feet to the black-stone beach that hardly seemed depleted, and finally pierced through the hazy Yellow Springs Sea toward the far distance. His lips pressed tightly together.
"Could it be...?"
A conjecture abruptly surged into his heart!
If Broken Soul Cliff and this entire Yellow Springs Sea were formed from an apex desolate beast, where did the innumerable Soul Stones come from?
Previously, he had assumed they were washed in by the Yellow Springs Sea, only to later discover they were actually washed down from Broken Soul Cliff.
Yet through day after day of pounding waves, Broken Soul Cliff showed no sign of collapse, nor had the beach of Soul Stones shrunk in the least.
Then what did the massive amount of Soul Stones he had consumed over these seven years amount to?
"Something from nothing? Impossible!"
"There must be an external source replenishing it!"
Luo Chen connected all the information regarding the forbidden ground of Broken Soul Cliff and arrived at an astonishing conclusion.
If this entity truly was a desolate beast, its preferred nourishment had to be living souls!
Moreover, not merely one or two isolated souls, but the omnipresent spirits of the dead pervading heaven and earth.
Wherever they were plentiful, it would drift of its own accord, remaining for an extended period to slowly absorb them and convert them into part of Broken Soul Cliff.
Among the five continents of the Mountain Sea Realm, the Northern Sea spanned the widest territory, and its Endless Demon Sea was constantly plagued by slaughter and warfare. Thus, Broken Soul Cliff had always lingered deep within the Demon Sea.
With the fall of the Yuan Demon Sect, the three hegemons of the Northern Sea waged war on one another, followed by the human-demon war and the Dao Sect's invasion of the Northern Sea. As the souls of the war dead multiplied, Broken Soul Cliff gradually departed the depths of the Demon Sea and drifted toward the borders of humanity.
That was how he had chanced upon it back then.
As for why Broken Soul Cliff had arrived near the Southern Ocean bordering the Southern Border, it was clearly drawn by the massive battle at the Life-and-Death Gate.
When Shenjun Youli ascended, a single strike had slain a million cultivators. An unimaginable number of fresh living souls flooded the Southern Border cultivation world, unable to disperse for a long time.
And so, Broken Soul Cliff had come.
Now, six years had passed, and the seventh year had arrived.
If no major warfare occurred in the Southern Border, Broken Soul Cliff would be nearing the end of its feast.
Its departure now meant there was inevitably a place that attracted it even more.
"Has a war erupted somewhere else, on par with the Northern Sea demon chaos or the great clash in the Southern Border?"
"Or is it about to happen—or perhaps already underway?"
Several names surfaced in Luo Chen's mind, finally settling on the one he knew best: the Eastern Desolation.
In recent years, battles had erupted continuously across the Eastern Desolation. How could the wrongful deaths number fewer than millions or tens of millions?
Furthermore, with the fall of the Mingyuan Sect, the Netherworld Abyss could no longer shield the Eastern Desolation's oceanic borders. Broken Soul Cliff might very well be heading toward the Eastern Desolation.
If that was the case...
A flicker of hope rose in Luo Chen's eyes.
He had long discovered that the ebb and flow of the Yellow Springs Sea shifted not only with day and night, but also with the passage of overall time.
The later it became, the calmer it grew.
It was just like feeding: in the beginning, it gorged itself ravenously, producing towering winds and ferocious waves.
Toward the end, once it was full, it ceased to be so violent.
And if he wished to leave, he had to take advantage of the howling winds and colossal waves when it swallowed and exhaled everything!
With this thought, Luo Chen made a quiet resolution.
"Before that day arrives, I must sever the ninth soul and make every preparation!"
***
White light flashed across the horizon.
A moment later, the muffled crash of thunder reached the ears.
Upon Mount Lanke, atop Zuowang Peak, a solitary figure stood leaning against a railing, gazing with a placid expression at the dense storm clouds gathering high in the firmament.
Hurried footsteps sounded. Before long, a figure approached the elderly man and bowed respectfully.
"Sect Master, everything is prepared!"
Mo Shouzhuo, Sect Master of the Tianyuan Dao Sect, nodded slightly, turned, and entered one of the grand halls on Zuowang Peak.
As he stepped inside the cavernous hall, four beams of light gradually illuminated the space.
Before one of the lights had even stabilized, an impatient voice rang out.
"Senior Brother, why will you not allow me to enter the Southern Border again?"
Mo Shouzhuo glanced at the hazy silhouette and said calmly, "The Life-and-Death Gate has fully assembled. Can you breach it?"
The speaker was choked into silence.
The other three lights gradually steadied, and from one of them came a gentle woman's voice.
"Junior Brother Liancheng, why the rush? Now that Youli has ascended, the Southern Border is nothing more than an ownerless land. Let it struggle on its deathbed for a few more days."
Liancheng retorted indignantly, "Without a Soul Transformation cultivator presiding over it, the Life-and-Death Gate can always be breached. It is merely a matter of spending more time."
Mo Shouzhuo countered, "Then are you not afraid of the measures Shenjun Youli left behind prior to his ascension?"
Liancheng said venomously, "He merely relied on the immense spiritual opportunity drawn during his daylight ascension to instantly defeat this seat. Now that the man is gone, what is there to fear from a few leftover tricks?"
An aged laugh sounded from the side, belonging neither to Sect Master Mo Shouzhuo nor the earlier woman.
"Little Liancheng, do not underestimate the world's heroes. Shenjun Youli's prowess is far beyond your imagination."
"Senior Brother Buxiu, there is no need to mock me," Liancheng said irritably. "In that battle at the Life-and-Death Gate, the disciples of your Zhan family also suffered heavy losses! Even Zhan Bingtao, whom you favored most to succeed your position, has yet to recover from his injuries. And Senior Brother Tan, the bones of that little girl from your Tan family have yet to be retrieved."
Zhan Buxiu's tone hitched, and he scolded, "The Southern Border was your responsibility. After causing such a massive blunder, you still have the gall to speak like this?"
Tan Fengyue, one of the Five Ancestors of Tianyuan, could not help but sigh wistfully at this moment.
"This expedition against the four continents of Mountain and Sea was originally meant to temper our juniors. That little girl died; it can only be said that her fortune was poor and she was destined for this calamity. Still, Shenjun Youli's capabilities truly surpassed imagination."
As chatter filled the hall, Mo Shouzhuo seemed to grow slightly impatient.
*Thump!*
Tapping the table with the back of his finger, he said in a deep voice, "That Shenjun Youli would strike regardless of consequences was indeed unexpected. But he has already ascended and departed this realm—that too is an indisputable fact. In the short term, it is impossible for the Life-and-Death Gate to produce another Soul Transformation powerhouse. The Southern Border falling into our Dao Sect's hands is merely a matter of time. Liancheng, exercise some patience; the day will come when you return to the Southern Border."
"Hmph!" Liancheng snorted. Though dissatisfied, he pressed no further.
In the final analysis, the Tianyuan Dao Sect had advanced smoothly on every front in their campaign across the four continents; only his side had suffered a head-on blow.
Yet he felt deeply wronged!
Who could have foreseen that Shenjun Youli, with virtually no lifespan remaining and nearing his end, would abruptly ascend and even disregard the heavenly backlash to forcefully obliterate the Dao Sect army?
Suppressing the dispute, Mo Shouzhuo began inquiring about the situation elsewhere.
"Junior Sister Chunyuan, how fare things in the Eastern Desolation?"
The gentle female voice from before spoke again, laying out the Eastern Desolation's situation clearly and methodically.
"Under the threat of the demon army, sects large and small have already submitted to us."
"Taking advantage of the war, I peered at Mount Cangwu from afar. The heavenly tribulation has indeed hung high overhead, lingering for over a decade without dispersing, terrifying to the extreme."
"Those three Fellow Daoists of Mingyuan were truly unyielding. To think they still held such a trump card before their deaths."
Mo Shouzhuo's expression relaxed slightly. "In other words, that demon phoenix truly cannot intervene?"
Ancestor Chunyuan said softly, "Indeed."
Mo Shouzhuo breathed a sigh of relief. "In that case, quicken your pace and unify the Eastern Desolation cultivation world. But remember, our Dao Sect's reach is restricted strictly to the original human territories of the Eastern Desolation. Neither the Million Mountains nor Mount Cangwu may be touched in the slightest."
Within the hall, someone voiced confusion.
"That demon phoenix is heavily injured to begin with, and now she is suppressed by a heavenly tribulation. Why be so wary of her?"
The one speaking was none other than Ancestor Liancheng.
Mo Shouzhuo waved his hand. "Junior Brother, you do not understand. The demon phoenix's original strength was above even Shenjun Youli's. Even though she is suppressed by this realm and shackled by numerous constraints, she is not someone we can provoke lightly. Had the Mingyuan Sect not suddenly perished, our Tianyuan Dao Sect would never have set foot on Eastern Desolation soil."
Ancestor Liancheng was gripped by suspicion and alarm. "If she is truly so formidable, would she not become our Dao Sect's mortal enemy?"
"She was an enemy to begin with," Mo Shouzhuo said impassively. "However, her enmity lies with the main sect. In this Mountain Sea Realm, so long as we do not provoke her, she had best not step onto the Central Plains either. Otherwise..."
A faint murderous intent surfaced in his tone.
Yet that murderous intent came quickly and vanished just as fast.
Mo Shouzhuo was about to ask about the situation in the Northern Sea when Ancestor Chunyuan spoke again.
"Senior Brother Sect Master, there are two individuals in the Eastern Desolation who might warrant some attention."
"Who?"
"First is Demon Emperor Qingshuang, who possesses the true intent of the spatial laws!"
"I know of this demon. Leave her be for now. Who is the other?"
"Luo Chen!"
"Oh?" A look of surprise crossed Mo Shouzhuo's face. "The Luo Chen who made quite a splash at the Five-Hundred-Year Competition, only to return to the Eastern Desolation and reveal the attainments of an Alchemy Grandmaster?"
Ancestor Chunyuan affirmed, "That is the boy. Originally, I only paid attention to him because of my disciple, Qinglan. But I discovered that unlike what Senior Brother judged in his early years—that he was ruined—he has instead comprehended the Fire Origin that suits him."
The moment these words fell, silence descended upon the hall.
Every person present was a Soul Transformation powerhouse, and they all remembered the competition within the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven back then.
Naturally, they had not forgotten Luo Chen, who had stolen the limelight.
At the time, though Luo Chen had unexpectedly comprehended law intent, anyone with discerning eyes could tell he had strayed onto the wrong path, leaving him with no hope of Soul Transformation in the future.
Had word of his fame as an Alchemy Grandmaster not spread repeatedly thereafter, and especially had his betrayal of the Tianyuan Dao Sect to join the Star Gate not tarnished the Dao Sect's reputation, they would not have remembered him so vividly.
Yet it had merely been a passing memory.
Now, however, Ancestor Chunyuan claimed he had comprehended another law intent—a perfectly suited Fire Origin. That was rather unexpected.
For the first time, Mo Shouzhuo frowned. "Truly?"
Ancestor Chunyuan said with certainty, "There is no mistake. I personally visited the ruins of the Five Elements Divine Sect to investigate; traces of Fire law true intent indeed lingered there. Moreover, Shi Ju went even earlier, and his perception was even deeper."
Then there could be no mistake.
The junior Shi Ju had also comprehended the Fire Origin ahead of his peers; with identical elements repelling one another, it was difficult to misjudge.
Mo Shouzhuo pondered for a moment before asking slowly, "Where is he residing now?"
"Unknown!" Ancestor Chunyuan answered, but quickly added, "I heard that a newly risen body cultivator powerhouse appeared in the Southern Border. I suspect it is Luo Chen's incarnation, as he displayed an extraordinarily formidable body refinement realm, clashing with and defeating a Great Demon Emperor!"
Ancestor Liancheng said in surprise, "Tyrant Cultivator Qi Tian?"
"Correct! Could it be Junior Brother Liancheng has met him?"
"I have not. But according to Zhan Bingtao, the Death Gate was very likely pushed open by relying on that person."
The crowd could not help but be astonished. To be able to push open the Death Gate, his body refinement attainments had to have reached an exceptionally high and profound level.
Mo Shouzhuo asked, "Where has he gone now?"
Ancestor Liancheng was struck speechless.
Mo Shouzhuo furrowed his brow. "Forget it. If he conceals his identity for a lifetime, so be it. But the moment he emerges, he will ultimately return to our Dao Sect's fold. Let us discuss other matters first! Senior Brother Zhan, how is the situation in the Northern Sea?"
Zhan Buxiu chuckled heartily. "Everything is progressing smoothly. Li Canghai is cooperating with us closely. I also exchanged moves with the Sea Emperor Whale and Great Sage Beili. Though it was merely an exchange from afar, the two demons were no match for me. The overall situation in the Northern Sea is set; the rest is just work for the juniors below."
Mo Shouzhuo's brow relaxed, and he asked about the Western Desert.
Tan Fengyue likewise delivered good news.
"The Hanging Temple still keeps its mountain gates firmly shut, giving us an excellent pretext to dispatch troops. The only uncertainty is that I only found traces of the Ancient Red Sand Scorpion. The Golden-Winged Great Peng cooperating with him has bizarrely vanished without a trace."
The demon chaos in the Western Desert was primarily led by those two.
One was the ancient demon, the Ancient Red Sand Scorpion; the other was a desolate beast, the Golden-Winged Great Peng, which had once received enlightenment from Buddhism.
Though one had bizarrely gone missing, for the Tianyuan Dao Sect, this was actually good news.
Having surveyed the state of the four continents, Mo Shouzhuo felt confident.
The Northern Sea was settled, the Southern Border was within grasp, the Eastern Desolation required only the original human cultivation realm, and troop dispatch to the Western Desert was imminent.
Fifty years had elapsed since troops were first mobilized.
To thoroughly conquer everything might require another fifty years.
Three thousand years of biding strength, a century to conquer the four continents.
After a century of conquest would follow thousands of years of governance.
Before his ascension, he might truly witness the grand spectacle of the Dao Sect unifying the Mountain Sea Realm.
A smile crept across his face. "Gentlemen, factoring in the variables, before we lay down our burdens and ascend, we might truly achieve the unification of Mountain and Sea. Let us encourage one another in this endeavor!"
Voices of agreement immediately resounded within the hall.
"Splendid!"
"Let us encourage one another!"
This communion of divine senses spanning across the continents concluded amidst laughter.
Rubbing his brow, Mo Shouzhuo left the grand hall and once more paced outside.
Breathing in the spiritual qi of Zuowang Peak, richer than ever before, the smile on his lips never faded.
Though unexpected incidents had cropped up in the campaigns across the various continents, under his central command and the exertions of his four fellow disciples, everything was developing toward a favorable outcome.
Even if there were variables, they remained within their grasp.
The great enterprise that predecessors had failed to achieve would finally be completed in his generation.
When the time came, even ascending to the Profound Realm and returning to the main sect would count as a monumental achievement.
Gazing into the distance, Mo Shouzhuo silently calculated the approximate time, yet his expression gradually darkened.
Why had that patch of dark clouds refused to disperse for so long?
"Wrong!"
"A variable that can be controlled is never a true variable!"
"The Dao Sect's great tribulation... has arrived!"
Chapter 974