Amidst the boundless dust and sand, two figures walked forward at a leisurely pace.
Neither of them appeared to erect a protective barrier of magic power, yet the swirling sandstorm all around seemed unable to affect them in the slightest.
"I wonder when this sandstorm we stirred up will finally subside."
Walking amidst the billowing sandstorm, Luo Chen sighed with wistful emotion.
Nascent Soul True Persons were already the supreme beings in this realm below the Soul Formation stage. As long as they refrained from battle, all remained calm; but once they clashed without restraint, the consequences were often catastrophic beyond measure.
Whether it was the former Jueling Domain or the Dieyun Domain, both had been devastated under precisely such circumstances.
Though this battle of his with Qingshuang had involved only the two of them, the final techniques each had unleashed would be difficult for even seven or eight ordinary Nascent Soul True Persons to rival.
The destruction wrought in its aftermath was equally beyond imagination.
From its genesis until now, that sandstorm had raged for nearly ten days.
Far from showing any sign of dispersing, it continued to expand, sweeping relentlessly from south to north, leaving heaven and earth steeped in a murky yellow haze of hurtling rocks and blinding sand.
Beside him, Qingshuang remained indifferent, merely frowning as she fiddled with a compass-like magic treasure in her hands.
Luo Chen glanced over and asked, "What is that?"
Without looking up, Qingshuang answered, "A Star-Fixing Plate."
"Star-Fixing Plate?" Luo Chen was taken aback. He had never heard of such a treasure. Looking at it, he saw only a hazy scattering of starlight across its surface.
Qingshuang gave a soft murmur of affirmation. "Sister forged this treasure in her leisure time. It records the transmission nodes covered by Mount Cangwu's super teleportation formation. I recall there were one or two here in the Western Desert, but with the interference from this sandstorm, as well as my own..."
Before her sentence finished, Qingshuang's willow-leaf brows twitched. Her figure began to fade, seeking to merge into the void.
Yet for some reason, the fluctuations of magic power across her body jarred discordantly with this patch of void.
With a stumble, she tumbled back out.
On the other side, Luo Chen reacted even faster. Amidst the vanishing of sparks, he had already shifted dozens of zhang aside.
Seeing this, Luo Chen frowned and raised a hand toward the void above.
"Ngh!"
With a stifled grunt, Luo Chen felt as though Mount Tai were bearing down upon him, and his hold involuntarily slackened.
Seizing the opening, Qingshuang finally flew clear of her original position.
And the very instant they departed...
Dong!
A colossal purple bowl slammed down upside down from the heavens, covering a hundred zhang across, nearly trapping both of them within.
"Eh?"
From beyond the sandstorm came a soft exclamation of surprise, seemingly astounded that the two of them had managed to evade the blow.
Immediately following, the chanting of Buddhist verses echoed from outside, turning into a towering sonic wave that dispersed the surrounding sandstorm completely.
Beneath the boundless desert sky, several hundred figures stood watching the separated man and woman, arranged in two distinct groups.
Luo Chen looked up and saw that the hundreds of people were divided clearly into two camps.
One faction was clad in plain monastic robes, holding cudgels and monk's cleavers as they closely surrounded Qingshuang.
The other wore diverse attire, sporting the standard garb of regular cultivators.
Seeing this, Luo Chen frowned slightly. Releasing his divine sense, he quickly locked onto the true leaders.
Looking across the distance, he asked, "May I ask which two fellow Daoists have laid out this formation to await us?"
A hearty voice rang out.
"Fellow Daoist, last time Zhou disrupted your great deed of slaying the demon. This time, I specially invited Master Cihai of Mount Wutai to make amends for my mistake."
Two figures descended from the sky.
One was none other than the human Nascent Soul cultivator he had briefly glimpsed earlier.
The other was a bald monk with a solemn countenance and an air of righteousness, evidently Master Cihai, whom this Nascent Soul cultivator surnamed Zhou had invited.
At that moment, the monk was reaching out to recall the giant purple bowl.
As it shrank continuously, it transformed into a purple-gold alms bowl resting upon his palm.
A pair of dharma eyes settled in puzzlement upon Luo Chen and Qingshuang, appearing quite surprised that the two would be walking together.
"I am Zhou Mingxuan, Patriarch of the Zhou family beneath Mount Wutai. This is Master Cihai, Abbot of Mount Wutai's Zhenhai Temple. May I ask fellow Daoist's name?" Zhou Mingxuan spoke in a fairly friendly manner.
Luo Chen pursed his lips. He had intended to brush them off with an alias, but recalling that he was currently showing his true countenance, he dispensed with the effort.
"Luo Chen."
Zhou Mingxuan started, wracking his mind, but failed to dredge up any powerhouse in the Western Desert who matched that name.
Master Cihai, however, inquired in startled uncertainty, "An expert from the Eastern Desolation... Alchemy Grandmaster Luo Chen?"
"Haha, I did not expect that someone as far as the Western Desert would know my humble name." Luo Chen laughed freely and nodded in acknowledgment.
As he admitted it, a look of respect emerged on Master Cihai's face.
Beside him, Zhou Mingxuan was puzzled, but Cihai's lips moved as he offered a brief explanation via voice transmission.
Luo Chen paid no heed to their exchange, nor was he surprised that they knew his background and name.
The reputations of peak Nascent Soul cultivators in this realm were rarely confined to a single continent.
Particularly among those in the same cultivation realm, illustrious figures were often closely monitored by well-informed factions.
Such were the Northern Sea's Three Great Loose Cultivators, the Central Plains' Chess Saint, the former Eastern Desolation's Alchemy Saint, Tianduzi, and so forth.
Today, Alchemy Grandmaster Luo Chen had stepped into the place once held by the Alchemy Saint.
What made him curious now was their ostentatious display.
His gaze fell upon the hundred or so monks tightly surrounding Qingshuang, and the formations they had each established.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Having learned of Luo Chen's background, Zhou Mingxuan showed even greater respect.
In a somewhat reverent tone, he said, "Earlier, I disrupted fellow Daoist's great task of slaying the demon, leaving me deeply guilt-ridden. Hence, I specially invited Master Cihai from Mount Wutai to lend a helping hand. Now, with the three of us joining forces and the Five Directions Bitter Sea Formation deployed at our flank, we can surely slay this demonic vixen!"
Luo Chen frowned and turned his gaze toward Qingshuang.
Just then, she also cast a cold look back at him.
His lips parted slightly, and after a moment's hesitation, he slowly said, "There is no need—"
Yet before he could finish, the solemn-faced Master Cihai boomed out his command:
"Disciples, form the formation! Subdue the demon and quell the evil!"
"Hah!"
Over a hundred monks answered in unison.
Instantly, shadows flickered as they formed tight concentric rings centered upon Qingshuang.
These monks were no simple figures; each possessed remarkable cultivation.
If classified by the realms of qi refiners, they were all at the Golden Core stage.
Over a hundred Golden Cores combined with a battle formation would prove difficult for an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator to parry.
Was Qingshuang an ordinary Nascent Soul?
Evidently not!
She stood proud and unyielding amidst the grand formation. Facing the torrential shadows of striking cudgels, she neither dodged nor deflected, merely sweeping her sleeve.
A boundless suction erupted without warning.
Amidst flashes of streaming light, the hundred-plus monks vanished unnervingly.
It was none other than the divine ability with which she had overwhelmed the Luoyun Sect's expansion army back then—Universe in the Sleeve!
While this technique might lack overwhelming might against peers in the same realm, against those below Nascent Soul, it was as effortless as plucking fruit: no matter how many came, she swept them all away.
In an instant, the surroundings were cleared completely.
Seeing this, Cihai's expression shifted slightly.
"What a formidable great demon! This old monk shall surely subdue you today! Behold my Sumeru Bowl!"
As he spoke, the purple-gold alms bowl appeared once more, expanding out of thin air to descend upon Qingshuang.
A might that bound space and suppressed all creation swept out in all directions.
Caught within it, Qingshuang frowned slightly, stepping back again and again.
This magic treasure was quite peculiar!
It seemed to restrict her considerably.
Moreover, though she appeared completely fine on the surface, she was actually grievously wounded, with barely ten or twenty percent of her magic power remaining, not to mention the constraints imposed on her body by the Void-Accumulating Flower.
Plagued by troubles both within and without, facing Cihai's move truly posed a thorn in her side.
"Master, I shall assist you!"
Zhou Mingxuan roared, maneuvering his flying sword to join the fray.
Faced with their pincer attack, Qingshuang grew incensed.
Unbeknownst to them, she had already donned those gloves.
As the flying sword struck, she caught it bare-handed with abrupt suddenness.
Amidst Zhou Mingxuan's utter shock, she crushed it straight into a pile of shattered fragments.
Then, with a backhand fling—
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The flying sword fragments struck against the Sumeru Bowl, ringing out with a barrage of clattering metal.
Then Qingshuang took a light step forward, appearing to no longer resist the suppressive suction of the purple-gold alms bowl. Charging directly into its embrace, she raised a hand and struck with a single punch.
Dong!
A dull, heavy echo reverberated across the wilderness.
And before everyone's horrified eyes, the Sumeru Bowl was sent tumbling backward, its surface marred by startling, eye-catching fissures.
"Pfft!"
"Ugh!"
His natal magic treasure destroyed, Zhou Mingxuan coughed up a mouthful of blood from the backlash to his core spirit.
Master Cihai, his precious artifact damaged, fared little better.
In quick succession, Qingshuang displayed her terrifying capabilities to the fullest.
Breaking the formation, shattering the treasure.
Pressing her advantage without mercy, she closed in.
A fair, slender wrist emerged from the void, smashing down toward the bald monk.
Evidently aware that his opponent was formidable, Master Cihai had already prepared himself, blanketing his body in a shroud of golden light.
Boom!
Under the blow of that punch, the golden light swayed violently.
Qingshuang's figure flashed again, shifting dozens of zhang in an instant, and planted a kick right into the caught-off-guard Zhou Mingxuan.
Though Zhou Mingxuan had also laid defensive measures in advance, they shattered piece by piece beneath the impact. His entire body hurtled downward like a ragged sack, crashing into the desert sands.
"Patriarch!"
"Brother Zhou!"
The remaining onlookers, watching this unfold in the blink of an eye, were stricken with shock and terror.
Qingshuang snorted coldly, about to strike again.
Yet a figure had already stepped in front of her.
Narrowing her eyes, Qingshuang stared at the familiar profile of his face.
"You mean to stop me?"
Luo Chen sighed. "The Western Desert is, after all, Buddhist home ground. A wanton slaughter will only hinder our subsequent movements. Let it end here!"
Qingshuang was not an unreasonable person, and her anger gradually abated.
Looking at the two men whose eyes were filled with dread, she gave a soft snort and swung her wide sleeve.
Whoosh!
Over a hundred monks tumbled out all at once like rolling gourds onto the ground, dazed and disoriented, as though entirely oblivious to what had just occurred.
"Dare follow again, and you die!"
Leaving behind those words, Qingshuang turned and walked away.
Luo Chen smiled wryly, cupped his hands in a salute toward the crowd behind him, and hurried after her.
In the wind, faint traces of their conversation drifted back:
"Your temper is growing increasingly volatile!"
"If you were besieged without cause, would you not be angry?"
"Haha, fair enough."
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the crowd looked at one another in dismay.
His face deathly pale, Zhou Mingxuan was helped up and stumbled before Cihai, who was regulating his magic power.
"Master, I... cough, cough."
Large clots of blood spilled from his mouth; his physical injuries were far graver than they appeared from the outside.
And that had been from just a single kick by Qingshuang.
He said with difficulty, "It was my carelessness. I never expected this demon to still possess such might despite her heavy wounds."
Master Cihai slowly opened his eyes, a faint anger lingering between his brows.
"It is not your fault. We had envisioned that Luo Chen would stand alongside us, yet who could have anticipated—the demon and the fiend have joined forces!"
The demon and the fiend had joined forces!
Those words carried a bone-chilling tone.
Zhou Mingxuan parted his lips, at a loss for words.
When he had seen them before, that man and demon had clearly been locked in a fight to the death. How had only a few days passed before they walked together?
Though Luo Chen had not raised a hand against them, and had even stayed her lethal strike, still...
He hesitated. "Alchemy Grandmaster Luo Chen, as you mentioned, also bears the title of Demon-Slaying True Person. He shouldn't be someone of the demonic path, should he?"
Cihai slowly rose to his feet. "The baleful aura, malevolent energy, and bloodlust clinging to him are denser than any demonic scoundrel or demon powerhouse this old monk has ever witnessed. Had he walked the path of slaying life to protect life, it might be excused. But when he travels side by side with a great demon like that cyan luan, can you say he has not fallen into the demonic path?"
Zhou Mingxuan was left speechless.
Cihai reached out to summon the purple-gold alms bowl. Looking at the sparse cracks across its surface, a trace of resentment flared in his eyes.
"They cannot escape!"
"The demonic vixen's magic power is unsteady, and she showed none of the splendor of the legendary first powerhouse below the Soul Formation stage; she is undoubtedly grievously injured."
"For such a great demon to dare cross into our borders, there is no way my Mount Wutai will permit her to rampage through our Buddhist Pure Land!"
"And that Luo Chen..."
Zhou Mingxuan hesitated. "Gathering experts to encircle and slay Qingshuang might be feasible. But Luo Chen once battled her to a standstill; if he intervenes?"
"Hmph!"
Cihai sneered coldly. "This is the Western Desert, not the Eastern Desolation! It is not his place to run rampant. If he truly chooses to collude with that demonic vixen, then he cannot blame this old monk for requesting the eminent monks of the Hanging Temple to descend the mountain."
Zhou Mingxuan started. "Hasn't the Hanging Temple closed its gates?"
Cihai glanced at him and said indifferently, "You have guarded the rear borders for too long and know nothing of the front lines. Do you think the demonic beast army led by the Ancient Red Sand Scorpion retreated from the Buddhist Pure Land because of the cultivators sent by the Tianyuan Dao Sect?"
The mountain gates of the Hanging Temple had swung wide open!
...
Yellow sands rolled as fleeting figures traversed the waste.
After parting ways with Zhou Mingxuan, Cihai, and their retinue, Luo Chen and Qingshuang quickened their pace.
The starlight upon the Star-Fixing Plate had now converged onto a single point.
"Fomu Temple is our objective. There lies a teleportation formation laid down by Sister and me back then, leading directly to Mount Cangwu."
Luo Chen was exceedingly curious.
"Primordial Monarch Qixia scattered Mount Cangwu's super teleportation formations across all four continents of the Mountain Sea Realm—what in the world was she after? Surely it wasn't just for the convenience of travel!"
Stowing the Star-Fixing Plate, Qingshuang replied coolly, "Do not ask what you should not ask."
"Heh."
Luo Chen chuckled. Though she did not answer, he could naturally infer a thing or two.
Formidable and arrogant as Primordial Monarch Qixia was, she would not make enemies of the entire world simply to annihilate every sacred land.
The reason her teleportation arrays spanned the four continents was likely to seek out certain allies.
Allies to assault the Central Plains!
The Central Plains was anchored and suppressed by the spirit treasure, the Lanke Chessboard, drawing in the spiritual opportunities of all five continents to forge the supreme blessed land for cultivation in this realm.
To break such a stronghold, even someone as mighty as Primordial Monarch Qixia could never accomplish it alone.
From the intelligence he had gathered, the four desolate beasts that had joined that assault on the Central Plains happened to originate from the Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern continents, an arrangement that subtly aligned with the geographic fate of the land.
The Tianyuan Dao Sect's forcible siphoning of the Mountain Sea Realm's spiritual opportunities to nourish the Central Plains was inherently an act defying the Heavenly Dao.
And desolate beasts were the darlings of this realm's heaven and earth.
Primordial Monarch Qixia leading the desolate beasts of the four continents to attack the Central Plains and reclaim those spiritual opportunities and fortunes—was that not, in its own way, acting in accord with Heaven's will?
Therefore, the teleportation formations spread across the four continents were surely part of her long-laid arrangements to gather helpers over the years.
Of course, there might be other considerations at play, but those were beyond what Luo Chen could deduce at present.
Gazing into the distance, he murmured, "Fomu Temple? Legend has it that the Great Peacock Wisdom King gave birth to the Buddha and was revered as the Mother of Buddhas. And the great demon peacock was born of the phoenix. Is the base you established founded upon this connection?"
Qingshuang said nothing, focusing solely on traveling.
Yet both were heavily injured, their traveling speed far slower than before.
Even as Luo Chen's magic power gradually recovered and he brought out a flying boat for travel, their pace could hardly be called swift.
Three days later, Luo Chen's flying boat was even forced to a halt.
A grand Buddhist chant drifted from the distance:
"Heaven holds the virtue of cherishing life. If Benefactor Qingshuang can lay down the butcher's blade and serve as Mount Wutai's Dharma-Protecting Spirit Venerable, your life may yet be spared."
The corner of Qingshuang's mouth curled slightly. She glanced at Luo Chen beside her, and then her killing intent surged forth with untamed vigor!
Pursing his lips, Luo Chen shook his head in helpless resignation.
Chapter 983