Once again, the night was deep and still.
Having sat in stillness for a long time, Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes.
He rubbed the bridge of his brow, his face showing exhaustion.
Under the continuous replenishment of Soul Stones, his primary soul had remained consistently at its peak. In theory, he should have been able to keep dividing it without end.
Yet by the time he reached the eighth soul, signs of extreme difficulty had begun to surface.
He had originally hoped to press his advantage and split off a ninth soul in one burst—even if it turned out somewhat weak, he could nurture it slowly. Yet for that very reason, he had been repeatedly unable to separate that ninth soul.
There was even a premonition that once he split off the ninth soul, something exceedingly dreadful would occur.
That kind of mishap was an outcome he resolutely refused to see.
"Where exactly did things go wrong?"
Luo Chen did not dare act rashly; he trusted his intuition.
As one's cultivation realm grew higher, instinctive intuitions grew increasingly accurate, and a cultivator dared not disregard them.
He could only analyze the matter thoroughly, identify the issues, and resolve them accordingly.
"Did something go wrong while laying the foundation? Should I have followed Han Zhan's method, splitting into nine souls first and then gradually strengthening them?"
Luo Chen was skeptical of this. In terms of the robustness of his foundation, he was superior to Han Zhan.
"Or is it because I have divided my divine soul too frequently over these past ten years, leaving the primary soul unable to endure it?"
Behind great strength often lay hidden weakness; a primary soul that appeared resilient might well have been pushed past its limit for splitting.
Luo Chen was uncertain on this point, as the heaven-defying efficacy of the Soul Stones had shown no adverse side effects.
In his idle moments, he had even deliberately gathered a vast heap of Soul Stones to save for future use after leaving Broken Soul Cliff.
"Or could it be that deficiencies inherent to the Soul Splitting Art itself are preventing me from achieving complete success?"
This last supposition flashed through Luo Chen's mind only briefly.
The Soul Splitting Art did have deficiencies, but the missing portion lay in the tempering of the divine soul.
That part he had supplemented years ago with the Great Soul Pill.
Moreover, the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture he had re-cultivated inherently came with an exceptional method for tempering the divine soul, so the problem should not stem from there.
Finding no answer despite racking his brains, Luo Chen could only let out a soft sigh.
Could eight divided souls truly be his limit?
"Perhaps I am simply too greedy. In less than ten years, I achieved what takes ordinary men centuries or even millennia. I ought to be satisfied; how can I still crave perfection?"
Exhaling a mouthful of turbid breath, Luo Chen stood up straight, stepped out of the boulder cave dwelling that sheltered him from wind and rain, and paced along the mountainside.
Beneath the veil of night, without wind or waves, the Soul Island felt somewhat eerie.
Faintly, there seemed to be the weeping of ghosts and howling of wolves.
Luo Chen's expression remained as calm as ever, long accustomed to it.
He gazed into the distance, his divine sense slowly unfurling outward.
One li, two li... ten li.
"A span of ten li?"
Luo Chen gave a slight nod. Compared to the mere hundred zhang when he first arrived on the island, this change was far more than a tenfold leap.
This alone showed how immensely his divine soul's foundation had expanded!
Yet it was still not enough!
With a thought, golden light flickered in Luo Chen's eyes, his pupils abruptly turning gold.
Not only that, but origin power surged along familiar pathways into his eyes, spreading fine streaks of crimson.
Instantly, the sign of crimson eyes and golden pupils manifested once more.
Looking into the distance, he could see a full thousand li away.
Divine sense was suppressed tremendously here, and while his vision was also affected by the turbid skylight, it was comparatively far better.
Yet Luo Chen's face held little joy.
It was solely because these eyes still could not peer through the Yellow Springs Sea to reach the outside world.
"Under these conditions, safely departing the Yellow Springs Sea is far from a certainty."
"Should I take the gamble?"
Luo Chen asked himself, caught in hesitation.
In truth, the moment he posed the question, the answer was already decided.
There was not a shred of spiritual qi upon Broken Soul Cliff, leaving him unable to refine qi.
The supplies he carried could not support him in advancing his body refinement further.
Even his most hopeful path—soul refinement—had reached a bottleneck with the stalled splitting of the ninth soul.
If he stayed, he would simply grow old and die upon this desolate island.
Even with a lifespan of thousands of years, it would be of no avail.
Taking a risk and making the gamble was necessary.
And his greatest reliance, beyond his vastly strengthened divine soul, was...
Luo Chen looked inward. Within his purple mansion, that cyan-and-white fire tree had already unfurled its branches.
The Wither-Bloom Fire Spirit, previously drained to exhaustion, had awakened.
Though not yet at its peak, with the experience gained from traversing the Yellow Springs Sea before, Luo Chen believed that under his own control, escaping this time would go far more smoothly.
Suddenly!
Just as Luo Chen was focused on himself, his body swayed slightly.
Surprised, Luo Chen withdrew his divine sense. Had he lost his footing?
How could that be possible!
His gaze fell downward.
The dark, dense sand of the shore was trembling faintly.
The Soul Stones, somewhat sparse after his extensive harvesting, were also lightly hopping.
Not only that...
Luo Chen pursed his lips and looked into the distance.
For the past eight years, the surface of the Yellow Springs Sea had been utterly calm every single night, yet now it was stirring with restless agitation.
No one knew where the wind had begun, but the waves arose from the Yellow Springs.
Crash...
Beneath the night sky, the crisp sound of crashing waves traveled far.
Luo Chen watched this in astonishment, murmuring inwardly, "What is happening?"
Perhaps what he should have asked was not what was happening, but where Broken Soul Cliff had drifted during this time.
And at the break of dawn, this expanse of sea provided the answer.
Under the light of daybreak, blurry images were reflected upon the Yellow Springs Sea, which was usually completely turbid.
There was a rich cyan glow spreading from east to north at a slow yet undeniable pace. Within the reach of the cyan light, stalks of green grain swayed gently.
There were undulating terrains, as if some colossal entity were burrowing underground with tremendous commotion; wherever it passed, mountain ridges reared high, forming an image of a thousand peaks bowing in homage.
In the sky, a thousand-zhang golden peng beat its wings, cleaving black fissures through the void.
There was also a crimson behemoth, resembling a towering pavilion, charging forward from the sea. Ghostly shadows swarmed around its body, and every stride kicked up colossal waves that seemed capable of ending the world.
And far up in the boundless ninth heaven hung dense, suffocating dark clouds.
Bolts of thunder and lightning struck down intermittently, slaying the tiny figures charging toward the sky.
Within the black clouds, a graceful silhouette was faintly discernible, her true form veiled.
Four colossal beasts made landfall from the east, south, west, and north, charging toward an impossibly high mountain that bridged heaven and earth.
Within that mountain, stars glittered and a light gate stood wide open. Figures exuding terrifying auras were walking out from within, every hazy form radiating an aura of fury.
Suddenly, thunder and fire intertwined to form a destructive colossal palm, striking across the void toward the towering peak that connected heaven and earth, drawing forth a world-shaking roar from within the star-lit gate.
Crash...
A massive wave surged, smashing the reflected scene to pieces, after which it vanished completely.
Luo Chen's mouth hung open, in a rare loss of composure, as he stood frozen in place.
Only after a long while did he murmur, "Was that an illusion?"
...
"It must be an illusion!"
"Mirages have been recorded since ancient times. Many times, they invert space and time, projecting scenes from distant realms or many years ago."
"That fleeting glimpse was very likely a scene from an ancient war."
"Desolate beasts, great demons, Soul Formation mighty figures, visitors from beyond the heavens..."
Wandering along the slopes of Broken Soul Cliff, Luo Chen walked unthinkingly toward the mountain peak.
The scene he had just witnessed still echoed in his mind.
He tried continuously to convince himself it was an illusion, yet lingering indelibly in his memory was that graceful silhouette fading in and out of the dark clouds and lightning.
Thud!
Luo Chen came to a stop.
The uncertain look on his face slowly cleared.
He could not deceive himself. That noble, dignified figure was so familiar that he could not possibly have mistaken it.
Moreover, she was a figure from within the past millennium; she could not be tied to an ancient war.
The Ancient Demon Phoenix, Monarch Qixia!
"There's no mistake; it must be her. That very demeanor was revealed when she annihilated the Mingyuan Sect."
"And this time, the target has been replaced by the even stronger Tianyuan Dao Sect!"
Luo Chen swallowed hard, meticulously recalling the scene he had caught in that trance-like glimpse.
Four formidable existences comparable to Soul Formation mighty figures had landed on the Central Plains from four directions. He could directly identify the origins of two of them.
The one bathed in rich cyan light had to be Immortal Qinghe of the Eastern Desolation, who had attained the Dao from flora.
The one resembling a crimson pavilion that overturned mountains and seas was Guixianlou, the desolate beast of the Northern Sea whom he had encountered several times. Judging by the aura it displayed, it had likely broken through the fourth tier to become a fifth-tier Great Desolate Beast.
As for the other two...
The thousand-zhang golden peng—could it be the Golden-Winged Great Peng rumored to wreak havoc across the mortal world in the Western Desert?
That beast's origin was no simple matter. It possessed a potent bloodline, had once entered the Buddhist order as a guardian of the Sarira Court, and had later embezzled and fled with thirty-six sariras of eminent monks; it was exceptionally formidable.
It should be unmistakable!
Years ago, Luo Chen had focused on the Heavenly Roc Transformation, which detailed several advancement paths including the Thunder Peng, Fire Peng, and Golden Peng, so he had studied this knowledge thoroughly.
The physical traits of the Golden-Winged Great Peng were far too distinct.
As for the final beast, its figure remained unseen, concealed beneath the earth's surface.
Yet Luo Chen felt a faint sense of familiarity.
"It's the Nether Earth Dragon!"
In an instant, Luo Chen realized where that familiarity came from.
His clash with this beast felt like it happened only yesterday, having once pushed him to the brink of life and death.
Therefore, even without seeing its form, Luo Chen was certain that the entity making landfall from the south, cleaving earth veins and causing a thousand mountains to bow in homage, was definitely the Nether Earth Dragon!
Yet there was a point of doubt. When that beast first appeared, it had been nowhere near as powerful as depicted in the scene.
Particularly after the corpse of the elder Nether Earth Dragon was destroyed, the young Nether Earth Dragon that escaped had been gravely injured in its vital essence. How could it display such world-shattering might as shown in the vision?
Suddenly.
Luo Chen thought of certain ambiguous actions taken by Shenjun Youli before his ascension.
Back then, Luo Chen had asked him why he allowed the Nether Earth Dragon to leave.
Shenjun Youli had answered that the Gate of Life and Death lacked capable people and could not command the beast.
With the vast gap in their realms, Luo Chen could only take him at his word.
Yet looking at it now, the truth was likely not so simple!
"Did Monarch Qixia march upon the Central Plains because the Tianyuan Dao Sect moved into the Eastern Desolation and provoked her?"
"If it were the Mingyuan Sect, that might explain it. But where in the world is someone so unable to endure provocation that they would repeatedly destroy sacred grounds?"
"First the Yuan Demon Sect, then the Mingyuan Sect, and now the strongest sect of this realm, the Tianyuan Dao Sect!"
Luo Chen was more inclined to believe that Monarch Qixia had planned this for a long time.
This was already hinted at when she stormed the Mingyuan Sect and her very first act was to rescue Immortal Qinghe.
How immense were the foundations of a sacred ground!
When the Yuan Demon Sect fell, it sealed its sect for a century and imprisoned tens of millions of demon beasts.
Before the three patriarchs of the Mingyuan Sect perished, they spared no cost, nearly dragging Monarch Qixia down to hell alongside them.
During the calamity of the Gate of Life and Death, Shenjun Youli had obliterated a million cultivators in a single strike.
This showed that any sacred ground possessed foundations worthy of enduring for millennia!
Would Monarch Qixia dare take such tremendous risks merely over a momentary impulse?
It had to be because the captured Immortal Qinghe was of vital use to her, which was why she spared no danger to take action personally.
And where did that usefulness lie?
The answer had now surfaced.
"Was all of this done to deal with that behemoth in the Central Plains?"
Luo Chen recalled the scenes from that fleeting glimpse, growing increasingly certain of his deduction.
Gathering four Great Desolate Beasts and drawing down a boundless heavenly tribulation—none of this was a coincidence.
Under such circumstances, would the Tianyuan Dao Sect follow in the footsteps of the Yuan Demon Sect and the Mingyuan Sect?
Luo Chen pressed his lips together, his expression exceptionally grave.
In his memory of the vision, he had not seen the rumored Five Dao Sect Elders.
According to intelligence previously gathered by the Fierce Peak Zombie Alliance, the Dao Sect's five Soul Formation patriarchs each oversaw a separate battlefield, leaving only Sect Master Mo Shouzhuo to guard the Central Plains.
However, those formidable silhouettes emerging from the Star Gate atop Heaven and Earth Peak in the vision were not something Luo Chen dared underestimate.
"The Secret Records of the Mystic Realm recorded the general situation of the Tianyuan Dao Sect's main sect in the Mystic Realm. Sect Master Heavenly Origin Great Venerable is genuinely in the Body Integration stage, and the four Sacred Spirit Elders beneath him are Void Refining True Monarchs. Those at the Soul Formation stage number in the hundreds!"
"And according to Shenjun Youli, the only one in the Mountain Sea Realm capable of communicating with the Upper Realm is the Tianyuan Dao Sect."
"Facing a life-or-death calamity, asking for aid from the main sect in the Upper Realm is only natural."
"Those mighty figures comparable to Soul Formation cultivators whom I saw must be reinforcements sent down by the Tianyuan Dao Sect from the Upper Realm."
"Faced with such powerful reinforcements, can Monarch Qixia destroy the Tianyuan Dao Sect and still withdraw intact?"
"Most importantly..."
Luo Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, thoughts churning in his mind as countless ideas burst forth. He murmured to himself:
"What is her true objective?"
On the desolate Soul Island, no one could answer Luo Chen's question. There was only the formerly placid Yellow Springs Sea roaring incessantly, churning up monstrous waves.
Luo Chen attempted to piece together all the information he knew to analyze Monarch Qixia's actions.
From the Eastern Desolation to the Northern Sea, then to the Southern Border, and even the Western Desert where he had never set foot—placing all the intelligence, great and small, together, no matter how he pondered, he could not string together a coherent thread.
"In the end, my cultivation realm is simply not high enough!"
A sigh drifted out faintly.
He believed that Shenjun Youli, who had already ascended, undoubtedly knew some of the inside truth.
Perhaps the reason Shenjun Youli had been so amiable toward him was also connected to Monarch Qixia; after all, the attributes of his magic power and the Nirvana Holy Fire he carried could not be hidden from existences at the pinnacle of this realm.
If he possessed the Soul Formation realm, he might have been privy to some of these secrets.
"No matter!"
Luo Chen paused, turned around, and walked down the mountain toward his cave dwelling.
While the Yellow Springs Sea was churning, the finest opportunity to leave this Soul Island had already arrived.
It was time to make some preparations!
Chapter 975