"Failed to advance to a chaos lifeform?"
Although Lu Changsheng was currently only at Tier Five to Godhood, he already had some understanding of chaos lifeforms.
Under normal circumstances, failing to advance to a chaos lifeform meant death.
This was also one of the key reasons why chaos lifeforms were so scarce.
It was simply too dangerous!
Once the advancement failed, death was certain.
Otherwise, given how boundless and vast the chaos was, and with so many chaos worlds, the number of powerhouses at Tier Nine to Godhood was virtually countless.
Yet chaos lifeforms were exceedingly few.
This showed just how difficult advancing to a chaos lifeform truly was.
"What happened?" Lu Changsheng asked Xing Ying directly.
Soon, his identity token vibrated once more.
Xing Ying sent a reply:
"Sister Liu Qing wants to see you."
That was the message from Xing Ying.
"See me?"
Lu Changsheng's brow furrowed slightly.
As he was pondering this, his mind stirred.
He sensed a familiar figure appearing just outside his cave dwelling.
Xing Ying!
She had actually come straight to his cave dwelling.
"Fellow Daoist Xing Ying, please come in," Lu Changsheng said as he opened the cave dwelling and invited her inside.
Xing Ying was no longer at Tier Three to Godhood; she was now at Tier Four to Godhood.
Moreover, she still retained her Prodigy rating.
Yet right now, she did not wear the high-spirited, buoyant expression of before; instead, she seemed dispirited.
"Greetings, Supreme Lu."
Xing Ying gave Lu Changsheng a complex look, but still bowed in salute.
Although they were both disciples of the Heavenly Light Holy Sect, and Xing Ying was a Prodigy herself, a Prodigy and a Supreme Prodigy were two entirely different concepts.
A Supreme Prodigy possessed authority equivalent to a chaos lifeform, which spoke volumes.
"No need to be polite, Fellow Daoist Xing Ying," Lu Changsheng waved his hand dismissively. Xing Ying sat down cross-legged.
"Tell me, what exactly happened with Liu Qing?" Lu Changsheng asked.
"Sister Liu Qing had indeed made thorough preparations back then, but in the end, she fell short. Failing to advance to a chaos lifeform normally causes one to perish on the spot. However, Sister Liu Qing is a special lifeform with astonishing regenerative powers, which allowed her to hold on for a short time—though that is all.
"After some time, Sister Liu Qing will still die."
Lu Changsheng fell silent.
Liu Qing was a special lifeform with a deep background; she even possessed a chaos supreme treasure and did not lack contribution points.
She had once been a Prodigy as well.
Even among cultivators at Tier Nine to Godhood, she had earned a Peerless rating.
For such a remarkably gifted special lifeform, having prepared everything, to still fail in advancing to a chaos lifeform showed just how difficult achieving that breakthrough truly was.
Yet on second thought, it made sense. How vast was the domain of the boundless chaos?
Besides the Hundred Flowers Domain, there were many other chaos domains.
Cultivators at Tier Nine to Godhood were countless.
Yet chaos lifeforms remained exceedingly rare.
"Sister Liu Qing wants to meet with Supreme Lu..."
Xing Ying gritted her teeth and stated the reason she had come to find Lu Changsheng.
As for why Liu Qing had not contacted Lu Changsheng directly, perhaps she was afraid he would refuse.
After all, Xing Ying was slightly closer to Lu Changsheng.
"Very well," Lu Changsheng nodded.
He and Liu Qing had fought side by side before.
What harm was there in paying her a visit?
Though Lu Changsheng also knew that Liu Qing asking to meet him was likely for their final farewell and that she surely had a request, if it was something he could not do, he could simply decline.
"Let's go now."
Lu Changsheng knew that every day that passed was one less day Liu Qing had left.
Without further hesitation, he left the cave dwelling with Xing Ying and flew toward Liu Qing's cave dwelling.
Soon, the two arrived at Liu Qing's cave dwelling.
Lu Changsheng met Liu Qing without issue.
"Hmm?"
"Fellow Daoist Liu Qing, your physical body is disintegrating..."
Lu Changsheng's expression changed slightly.
What did he see?
Liu Qing's physical body was actually collapsing and disintegrating.
The collapsing flesh was rapidly annihilating.
Furthermore, this disintegration was irreversible.
Even a powerhouse at Tier Nine to Godhood could not withstand such a collapse.
Even the so-called physical immortality was completely meaningless here.
It was equivalent to Lu Changsheng's flesh particles breaking down.
Unless one possessed a method akin to fusing a Dao Fruit with the Heaven Realm and then being resurrected by the Heaven Realm, Liu Qing was doomed to die!
Unfortunately, Liu Qing possessed no such means.
"Indeed. I failed my advancement to a chaos lifeform, and my body is disintegrating. The only reason I have survived until now is my regenerative power. Unfortunately, no matter how strong that regeneration is, it is rooted in the physical body. As my body continues to collapse, I cannot hold on for much longer..." Liu Qing said slowly.
Lu Changsheng fell silent.
He knew she was telling the truth.
Liu Qing was truly on the verge of death.
Once upon a time, Liu Qing had been high-spirited, with genuine hopes of becoming a chaos lifeform.
She had been a prominent figure in the Heavenly Light Holy Sect.
Yet what of now?
Her body was disintegrating, enveloped in deathly energy, and she could perish at any moment.
Such was cultivation.
Striving to take that next step carried the risk that all one's efforts would crumble to dust.
"Fellow Daoist Liu Qing, what is the reason you wished to see me?" Lu Changsheng asked.
Liu Qing did not have much time left, and he did not want to waste what little she had on idle chatter.
"Daoist Lu, you are a Supreme Prodigy, destined to become a chaos lifeform in the future. In asking you here, I only wish to entrust you with one matter.
"I will temporarily hand over my chaos supreme treasure, the Cloud Palace, for you to use. If one day an offspring of my family lineage manages to become a Prodigy of the Heavenly Light Holy Sect, I ask that you pass the Cloud Palace to them.
"If none of my descendants ever become a Prodigy of the Heavenly Light Holy Sect, then the Cloud Palace will belong to you permanently. Would you be willing to help with this?" Liu Qing said slowly.
Hearing this, Lu Changsheng's brow furrowed slightly.
The Cloud Palace?
This was a chaos supreme treasure, something exceedingly rare that could only be chanced upon.
Even many chaos lifeforms did not possess a chaos supreme treasure.
That alone spoke to its worth.
A single chaos supreme treasure was more valuable than an entire chaos world.
The total value of the entire Heaven Realm could not match the Cloud Palace in Liu Qing's possession.
Yet now, Liu Qing wanted to hand the Cloud Palace over to him?
This surprised Lu Changsheng greatly, and left him quite puzzled.
"Fellow Daoist Liu Qing, the Cloud Palace is a formidable chaos supreme treasure. Why not pass such a treasure to your descendants and clan members? With the immense defensive power of the Cloud Palace, which can even withstand attacks from chaos lifeforms, even if your descendants' cultivation is lacking, protecting themselves shouldn't be a problem," Lu Changsheng asked.
Liu Qing shook her head and let out a long sigh. "They cannot protect the Cloud Palace. In fact, if I truly gave the Cloud Palace to them, it would only bring disaster upon them, and might even result in the extermination of our clan...
"Only by becoming a Prodigy of the Heavenly Light Holy Sect can one keep the Cloud Palace safe.
"Besides, I trust you, Daoist Lu. Moreover, you are a Supreme Prodigy who will certainly become a chaos lifeform in the future. Given your character, if my bloodline kin fail to produce a Prodigy, you will surely look out for them to some degree. With a chaos lifeform looking after them, my descendants will at least avoid clan extinction.
"This is the last thing I can do for them..."
Lu Changsheng understood.
The chaos world Liu Qing came from did have chaos lifeforms.
However, those chaos lifeforms were not her kin.
They had no direct relation to her.
Previously, she had been a disciple of the Heavenly Light Holy Sect and a Prodigy-level figure.
Even chaos lifeforms had regarded her with respect.
Now, things were different.
Once she died, what would her clan have?
The Cloud Palace would become a scorching potato.
She could certainly offer it to a chaos lifeform, but she did not trust them.
That was why she chose to give it to Lu Changsheng.
Not only did she trust his character, but Lu Changsheng was also a Supreme Prodigy.
Even after becoming a chaos lifeform, Lu Changsheng would go far among their ranks and might not even care for the Cloud Palace by then.
If an outstanding genius arose among Liu Qing's descendants, Lu Changsheng would likely honor his promise and return the Cloud Palace to them.
As for other chaos lifeforms, Liu Qing could never be certain they would ever return the Cloud Palace to her descendants.
Thoughts raced through Lu Changsheng's mind as he weighed the pros and cons.
Soon, he reached a conclusion.
Liu Qing's condition offered him tremendous benefits.
A future promise in exchange for a chaos supreme treasure—this was an incredible boon!
Even if he had to return it to Liu Qing's descendants, that would be countless years in the future.
By then, Lu Changsheng would already be a chaos lifeform, so returning it to her descendants would hardly matter to him.
A chaos supreme treasure was simply too precious; refusing it would be foolish.
"I accept your terms, Fellow Daoist Liu," Lu Changsheng agreed.
Immediately, a faint smile appeared on Liu Qing's face.
Hum.
Soon, a delicate, miniature palace emitting a vast, holy, and majestic aura appeared in her hand.
This was the Cloud Palace!
Liu Qing gazed at the palace, a complex look in her eyes, tinged with reluctance.
"I obtained the Cloud Palace by chance in a perilous realm back then. It can withstand attacks from chaos lifeforms. Over the years, I relied on it to avert countless dangers, which allowed me to smoothly grow to Tier Nine to Godhood and even gain a chance to strive for chaos lifeform status.
"Alas, I fell short after all. No matter how powerful the Cloud Palace is, it remains an external object. It cannot aid one's personal cultivation, much less help one advance to a chaos lifeform.
"One's own cultivation is the true foundation!
"The Cloud Palace can only serve as a tool to protect your path. Fellow Daoist Lu, do not put the cart before the horse..."
With that, Liu Qing waved her hand and tossed the Cloud Palace toward Lu Changsheng.
Lu Changsheng reached out and caught it.
"I have already erased my imprint inside the Cloud Palace. Fellow Daoist Lu, you should refine it right here without delay."
Lu Changsheng nodded.
He did not stand on ceremony and began refining the Cloud Palace right before Liu Qing.
Liu Qing had wiped away her imprint, leaving the Cloud Palace masterless.
Yet even though it was masterless, refining a chaos supreme treasure still required time.
Day after day passed.
One year, three years, five years, eight years, ten years...
In the blink of an eye, ten years went by.
Whoosh.
Lu Changsheng opened his eyes.
"Done!"
It had taken a full ten years for Lu Changsheng to brand his imprint into the Cloud Palace and thoroughly refine it.
After refining it, Lu Changsheng realized he had underestimated this chaos supreme treasure.
As expected of such a treasure, it was far more formidable than he had imagined!
"I leave the Liu family in Fellow Daoist Lu's care from now on..." Liu Qing said softly.
She had held on for ten whole years, and now she could endure no longer.
Lu Changsheng watched as Liu Qing's physical body began to annihilate.
It broke apart at extreme speed; no matter how swift her regeneration was, it could not outpace the annihilation.
Sizzle.
In just a few breaths, Liu Qing's physical body completely annihilated into nothingness.
"Sister Liu Qing..."
Grief washed over Xing Ying's face.
Her relationship with Liu Qing had been very close.
Alas, Liu Qing was now gone.
Lu Changsheng said nothing, meeting the moment in silence.
Along the path of cultivation, he had witnessed far too many similar scenes.
Liu Qing was not the only one.
It was the same for countless cultivators.
In the end, those who could scale the peak were only an elite few.
Lu Changsheng returned to his cave dwelling.
Liu Qing's death amounted to little in the grand scheme of the Heavenly Light Holy Sect.
Cultivators at Tier Nine to Godhood like Liu Qing who perished after failing to break through to chaos lifeforms were virtually countless.
Failure was the norm.
Succeeding would have been the anomaly.
Upon returning to his cave dwelling, Lu Changsheng carefully combed through the information pertaining to the Cloud Palace.
The more he examined it, the more amazed he became.
It was truly worthy of being a chaos supreme treasure.
The sheer functionality of the Cloud Palace went far beyond Lu Changsheng's imagination.
This Cloud Palace was actually larger than the Heaven Realm itself.
One could cultivate normally within it.
Furthermore, it could withstand attacks at the level of a chaos lifeform.
If the You clan had possessed the Cloud Palace back then, they would never have needed to wander through the void.
The You clan ancestor would have needed only to carry the Cloud Palace with him, and the entire clan could have lived and multiplied within.
Similarly, if the Heaven Realm could not be preserved one day, Lu Changsheng could accommodate the entire immortal race inside the Cloud Palace, allowing them to thrive until a suitable chaos world was found to resettle them.
Lu Changsheng was engrossed in studying the Cloud Palace.
He did not even track the news of Liu Qing's demise.
Still, not knowing was only natural; Lu Changsheng could have anticipated her demise regardless. It had merely been a matter of time.
No one knew how much time had passed.
One day, a group of uninvited guests arrived outside Lu Changsheng's cave dwelling.
"The Liu family requests an audience with Supreme Lu!"
"We implore Supreme Lu to return our Liu family's chaos supreme treasure, the Cloud Palace!"
"Surely the dignified Supreme Lu of the Heavenly Light Holy Sect would not forcibly seize our Liu family's chaos supreme treasure, would he?"
The group shouted and clamored, quickly drawing many passing cultivators to a halt.
After all, this matter involved Supreme Lu, as well as a chaos supreme treasure.
It even involved Liu Qing, a cultivator at Tier Nine to Godhood who had fallen after failing to advance to a chaos lifeform.
This was a major affair!
In no time, more and more cultivators stopped to watch.
This seemed to embolden the members of the Liu family.
One after another, they clamored outside the cave dwelling, their voices growing louder and increasingly insolent.
"Hmm?"
"People from the Liu family?"
Inside his cave dwelling, Lu Changsheng finally sensed what was happening outside.
He did not need to step outside; a sweep of his consciousness was enough to grasp the general situation.
The Liu family had come to make trouble over the chaos supreme treasure, the Cloud Palace?
In truth, this was normal.
After all, there were internal conflicts of interest within the Liu family.
It was only natural that some faction among them coveted the Cloud Palace.
However, the Cloud Palace was not the property of the Liu family; it belonged to Liu Qing.
It was a chaos supreme treasure Liu Qing had obtained by chance, an opportunity belonging solely to her.
Now that Liu Qing was dead, these members of the Liu family dared come forward to fight over the Cloud Palace?
Lu Changsheng had no intention of indulging them.
Nor would he stoop to arguing with these people.
It was beneath him!
"Get lost!"
Lu Changsheng's single word detonated in the ears of the Liu family like muffled thunder.
Given Lu Changsheng's cultivation and strength, the sheer might behind a single spoken word was horrifying.
Instantly, the members of the Liu family shuddered from head to toe.
A tremendous sense of dread welled up within them.
"Lu Changsheng, are you abusing your power to bully us?" someone from the Liu family cried out, their voice trembling, yet still gritting their teeth.
"I give you ten breaths. If you do not leave now, then don't bother leaving at all!"
Lu Changsheng's tone was laced with bone-chilling murderous intent.
He was a Supreme Prodigy.
His authority was equivalent to that of a chaos lifeform in the Heavenly Light Holy Sect.
If Lu Changsheng truly exercised that authority, even if he slaughtered every single member of this Liu family group, no one would dare utter a word of protest.
Such was the stature of a Supreme Prodigy!
"You..."
The people from the Liu family trembled all over.
No matter how furious they were, what could they do?
Lu Changsheng was a Supreme Prodigy!
It was only through connections that they had even gained entry into the Heavenly Light Holy Sect.
To oppose a Supreme Prodigy here?
Even if they were killed, their deaths would be in vain.
"We're leaving."
Ultimately, they did not dare continue causing a scene and slunk away in disgrace.
Seeing this, the surrounding disciples of the Heavenly Light Holy Sect gradually dispersed as well.
Yet there were still some disciples who cast deep, lingering glances at Lu Changsheng's cave dwelling, their thoughts unknown.
After today, word spread throughout almost the entire Heavenly Light Holy Sect:
The chaos supreme treasure once held by Liu Qing had fallen into Lu Changsheng's hands.
Yet so what?
Lu Changsheng was a Supreme Prodigy; even if he possessed a chaos supreme treasure, no one could do anything to him.
The Liu family's disturbance was merely a trivial matter; Lu Changsheng did not take it to heart.
He still wanted to continue increasing his flesh particles.
That was equivalent to continuing to raise his cultivation.
A cultivation at Tier Five to Godhood was far from enough.
For Lu Changsheng to advance his cultivation was very simple: he only needed to increase his flesh particles.
And to increase flesh particles, he required vast amounts of natural treasures, which in turn cost contribution points.
Lu Changsheng still needed to find a way to earn contribution points.
"Contribution points, huh..." Lu Changsheng sighed softly.
He had once obtained over a million contribution points.
At one point, he had thought he would never lack contribution points again.
Yet now it seemed he was still short on them.
Of course, Lu Changsheng did not strictly have to rely on massive amounts of natural treasures.
Without natural treasures, however, he would have to accumulate them bit by bit through time.
Consuming vast quantities of natural treasures was essentially a way to save immense amounts of time.
Only Lu Changsheng, having condensed a true spirit and possessing terrifying analytical abilities, dared claim that he could use natural treasures to save time.
Otherwise, no one else would dare make such a claim.
After all, even if most cultivators possessed natural treasures, they could not effectively enhance their physical bodies with them.
"Let's see what missions are available."
Through his identity token, Lu Changsheng began browsing for missions suited to him.
He was a Supreme Prodigy.
His authority was exceedingly high.
Whatever mission he wanted to search for, he could look it up with pinpoint precision.
He even had top priority when accepting missions.
Lu Changsheng's strength was already at the pinnacle of Tier Nine to Godhood.
He even had the chaos supreme treasure, the Cloud Palace.
Therefore, Lu Changsheng was unconcerned with the difficulty of any mission.
He cared only about the rewards.
As long as a mission was below the level of a chaos lifeform, Lu Changsheng was willing to try it.
He filtered through the listings continuously.
Unfortunately, finding a mission that offered over a million contribution points in one go, like last time, was far too difficult.
Besides, last time hadn't been a mission at all, but an unexpected Dark Domain lifeform incident.
Such opportunities would not always present themselves.
After giving it some thought, Lu Changsheng decided that mining was still best suited for him.
Last time in the Luojin Realm, he had gained immense harvests.
Of course, he didn't need to return to the Luojin Realm; he could go to a different place for a different type of ore.
"Illusory Spirit ore: one contribution point per hundred jin."
Lu Changsheng's eyes lit up.
This was a long-term mission.
As long as one obtained Illusory Spirit ore, it didn't matter how—even purchasing it was acceptable.
The reality, however, was that there was no Illusory Spirit ore available in the outside world.
This ore was virtually an essential resource for major factions and exceptionally precious.
Its largest producing site was the Illusory Spirit Abyss.
It was not a chaos world, but rather located within a chaos spectacle.
The Illusory Spirit Abyss was exceedingly perilous.
Once a cultivator stepped into the abyss, their mind would constantly be buffeted and pulled by various forces within.
The slightest lapse in vigilance would lead to mental erosion, with dire consequences.
Therefore, only cultivators with utmost confidence in their minds dared mine for Illusory Spirit ore.
"I have already attained an immortal mind; forces capable of eroding my mind are likely few and far between..." Lu Changsheng thought.
In that light, the Illusory Spirit Abyss seemed quite suited to him.
With that in mind, Lu Changsheng directly accepted the mission for Illusory Spirit ore.
Lu Changsheng rose and left his cave dwelling. Activating the teleportation array, he teleported toward the chaos world nearest to the Illusory Spirit Abyss.
Soon, Lu Changsheng arrived at an unfamiliar chaos world.
He took out a map and inspected it.
The Illusory Spirit Abyss was still a fair distance from this chaos world.
Lu Changsheng retrieved his flying boat and set off toward the abyss.
Before long, Lu Changsheng arrived at the Illusory Spirit Abyss.
He looked upon what appeared to be a massive black hole before him.
Indeed, viewed from afar, it resembled a black hole.
Yet upon closer inspection, it seemed bottomless.
Its location was rather remote, lying right at the edge of the Hundred Flowers Domain, on the verge of leaving it entirely.
"A chaos spectacle..."
This was the first time Lu Changsheng had seen a chaos spectacle, and he was quite intrigued.
A chaos spectacle differed from a chaos world.
Once a chaos world formed, it was generally quite stable.
A chaos spectacle, on the other hand, was prone to any manner of phenomena.
Sometimes, a chaos spectacle might annihilate and vanish overnight, reducing everything within it to dust.
Chaos spectacles were extremely unstable.
Consequently, few people ever cultivated or lived within them.
The Illusory Spirit Abyss was a chaos spectacle, yet strangely, it had remained stable for countless years, showing not the slightest hint of collapse or annihilation.
Moreover, because it produced Illusory Spirit ore, cultivators frequently ventured there to mine it.
However, not just anyone could enter the abyss.
Those whose minds were not steadfast would find progress nearly impossible, unable to even draw close to the abyss.
Lu Changsheng slowly approached.
He sensed a slight anomaly.
It was as though the Illusory Spirit Abyss felt strangely familiar and inviting.
A force inside seemed to be calling out to him, beckoning him to enter as quickly as possible.
Yet Lu Changsheng had long achieved an immortal mind.
Such petty temptation could not shake his mind in the slightest.
Even so, Lu Changsheng did not let his guard down.
He knew full well that this was the mental erosion of the Illusory Spirit Abyss at work.
And this was merely outside the abyss.
Once he stepped inside, the strength of that erosion would be more than tenfold greater.
Nevertheless, Lu Changsheng did not hesitate.
Stepping forward, he transformed into a streak of flowing light and flew straight into the Illusory Spirit Abyss.
Chapter 448