Chapter 436 - 434: Anger
At the same time, at the Mountain Gate of the Corpse Refining Sect,
Beneath a gloomy, gray sky, a sinister, cold wind swept through the mountains, carrying a chill that seeped into one’s very soul.
The grass and trees in the mountain forests had all taken on a grayish-white hue, weathered by the constant, biting wind.
If one were to stay in such a place for too long, their Divine Soul would likely be blown away or frozen solid.
However, for the Disciples of the Corpse Refining Sect, their Cultivation Techniques were well-suited to this environment. The sinister winds were even beneficial for refining and strengthening their corpses, so it mattered little to them.
On the mountain paths, figures wrapped tightly in cloaks could occasionally be seen walking.
The Mountain Gate was shrouded in gray clouds and mist, and within it, dim palaces and pavilions loomed indistinctly, like colossal coffins standing between heaven and earth.
Suddenly, the winds and clouds above surged. Heavy, black storm clouds had gathered, blanketing the land for dozens of miles in every direction.
At the same time, a mountain-like pressure descended upon the mortal world!
This sudden change did not alarm the Soul Emergence Realm Elders guarding the Corpse Refining Sect’s Mountain Gate. Instead, their faces filled with delight.
Several of them leaped into the air, landing on the roof of a coffin-shaped grand hall, and gazed joyfully toward the sect’s Back Mountain.
"Is the Ancestor finally taking the last step?!"
"It looks like he’s about to succeed!"
"Excellent! From this day forward, our Corpse Refining Sect will return to the pinnacle of the Nanyue Kingdom!"
...
As they spoke,
RUMBLE!!!
A terrifying, world-shaking aura, like a volcano erupting after being suppressed for millennia, shot into the sky from the depths of the Back Mountain!
A crushing pressure with the force of an overturning mountain and a surging sea swept out in all directions.
All the Disciples of the Corpse Refining Sect, whether they were Soul Emergence Realm Elders or regular disciples, fell to their knees and kowtowed in the direction of the Back Mountain!
"Congratulations to the Ancestor on achieving Great Success in the Immortal Dao!"
In an instant, excited cries of congratulations rose and fell throughout the Corpse Refining Sect’s Mountain Gate, the sound waves shaking the very heavens!
"A hundred years of bitter Cultivation, a single morning’s success shatters the primeval chaos!"
"Today I ride the winds and clouds; who within the four seas dares call themselves my equal! HAHAHA!!!"
A deafening, hearty laugh echoed through the heavens and the earth, reverberating across the world.
From the Corpse Refining Sect’s Back Mountain, a youthful figure with a face as fair as jade, snow-white hair flowing behind him, and clad in a long black robe shot into the sky as a streak of light, hovering high above.
A vast and mighty pressure swept across the world!
This man was none other than the Supreme Ancestor of the Corpse Refining Sect, Wan Zunli!
Judging by the aura emanating from him, he had clearly stepped into the Divine Travel Realm!
"All of you..."
Ancestor Wan Zunli was in high spirits. Having broken through his shackles, he felt as if the sky was high and the earth was vast. He was just about to speak.
But at that very moment, he suddenly sensed something, and his face contorted in rage.
SWISH!
The figure high in the sky vanished.
The next instant, he reappeared inside the sect’s Life Token Ancestral Hall on the Back Mountain.
At this moment, a large portion of the Life Tokens enshrined within the hall had shattered in succession!
With just a single glance, Wan Zunli knew that the shattered Life Tokens belonged to the Sect Leader and the other Soul Emergence Realm Elders he had sent out to search for the sect’s long-lost treasure!
"Good, good, very good!"
"No matter who did this, this is a blood feud that will not end until one of us is dead!"
The wonderful mood from his breakthrough was utterly ruined.
Wan Zunli’s gaze was ice-cold. He had already decided in his heart: ’No matter who it was that killed the core pillars of my Corpse Refining Sect, no matter which power they belong to, I will repay them a hundredfold in the future! I must flay their skin, tear out their tendons, and use their fat to light sky lanterns to appease my hatred!’
Just then, a figure flew in swiftly from outside.
He knelt outside the ancestral hall.
"Reporting to the Ancestor, a message has arrived from the Seven Extremes Ancestor!"
Hearing the person outside, Wan Zunli managed to suppress his furious Heart Spirit slightly.
’A message from the Seven Extremes Old Demon... Is something about to happen?’
’Or perhaps, the alliance is planning something that requires my presence?’
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, his figure flickered and vanished from the ancestral hall.
....
「One day later.」
After parting ways with Wu Tianhao, Wei Yuting, and the others, Shen Changchuan did not stay nearby to recuperate, nor did he accompany them back to Barbaric City.
Instead, he continued his journey, heading for Broken Soul Mountain.
One reason was that although his Cultivation had risen to the Soul Emergence Seventh Layer, he still faced some problems in his Cultivation and he needed his master, Master Wandering Dragon, to give him some pointers.
Furthermore, Shen Changchuan felt that with such rapid progress, there were bound to be many aspects he had overlooked.
’These overlooked details might not be a big deal for now, but later on, they could become a major obstacle preventing me from advancing further.’
’With guidance from my master, who is at the Divine Travel Peak Realm, I can hopefully correct these unknown flaws and avoid taking the wrong path, which I would surely regret later.’
The second reason was the Void Escape Gu.
"The Void Escape Gu... to be able to traverse space is truly incredible!"
"According to legend, when Shadow was at the Soul Emergence Fourth Layer, he used it to successfully escape the pursuit of a Soul Emergence Ninth Layer Demon Cultivator."
"If he hadn’t been overconfident, relying on his higher Realm and the Void Escape Gu, he wouldn’t have been so careless. If I hadn’t seized that momentary lapse to suppress him, I probably wouldn’t have even been able to touch his shadow!"
Recalling the Void Escape Gu’s impressive performance in Shadow’s hands, Shen Changchuan’s eyes burned with desire.
In fact, ever since he killed Shadow and obtained the fragmented page of the Minghuan Gu Scripture that described the Void Escape Gu, he had coveted the Gu Insect’s ability.
The ability to traverse space.
Such a method was shocking even to experts in the Divine Travel Realm.
This was because, on the Immortal Cultivation Dao, only a Profound Pill Realm Zhenren could master that kind of Space Ability!
The Divine Travel Realm only allowed one to achieve Divine Soul Separation and fight outside their Flesh Body.
Wielding the Power of Space was a privilege exclusive to Profound Pill Realm Zhenren!
To be able to use a certain degree of Space Ability while still in the Soul Emergence Realm... even if it didn’t offer a significant boost to his combat power for the time being, Shen Changchuan desperately wanted to master it.
Unfortunately, at that time, he hadn’t even succeeded in refining the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu. Just gathering the materials for it had consumed a vast amount of his manpower and resources.
Back then, Shen Changchuan didn’t think he could easily gather the materials for the Void Escape Gu.
Therefore, despite his eagerness, Shen Changchuan could only suppress his desire to refine the Void Escape Gu and temporarily put it out of his mind.
After he later succeeded in refining the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu, he spent most of his time cultivating to improve his own Cultivation. With the help of the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu, he managed to raise his Cultivation from the Soul Emergence Fourth Layer to the Sixth Layer Peak within three years.
Naturally, he had no time to search for the materials to refine the Void Escape Gu.
He just never expected that this recent incident would unexpectedly lead him to obtain the most precious of the Void Escape Gu’s main ingredients—the Void Stone!
It was the rarest and most difficult to obtain of all the Void Escape Gu’s materials.
It was even more so than the Gold-Devouring Spirit Butterfly needed to refine the Golden Wind Jade Dew Gu!