Chapter 1150: A Grand Celebration! (II)
Chapter 1150: A Grand Celebration! (II)
Just as Luo Chen had expected, as the grand competition drew ever closer, investigations into the other participants grew increasingly intense. This was especially true for information regarding the Dao Protectors of the Dao Sect's participating disciples!
Among them, Luo Chen was something of an unusual case. On the surface, there was little about him to investigate. He had risen too quickly for the major families to build a complete picture of his past, and even less was known about his true abilities. Yet precisely because of that lack of information, he was rather conspicuous.
Every other Dao Protector had a background that could be traced. Some were trusted servants raised from childhood by powerful families, while others were renowned experts recruited from established forces. Luo Chen alone had emerged as a rogue cultivator with no prominent lineage or faction behind him. Logically speaking, that should have made him easy to dismiss. But the Fu family had rejected someone as formidable as Qi Xiongcheng in favor of Luo Chen. Whatever else could be said, that decision made one thing clear: Fu Chaosheng had considerable confidence in his strength.
Most people could do little more than speculate, but there were always some who had channels of their own.
Somewhere in Peach Garden, Shi Ju listened as Qi Xiongcheng recounted his brief encounter with Luo Chen. By the time the elder finished, his interest in Luo Chen had noticeably deepened. Illusions capable of making a Sage misjudge his target? That’s quite something....
That alone was enough to make Luo Chen worth watching carefully. And because Shi Ju had sent Qi Xiongcheng to test Luo Chen personally, he now had information that most of the other participants did not.
Elsewhere in the Woodrot Mountains, Longwind handed over a jade scroll to Dragon Abyss. The moment the latter sent his divine consciousness into it, a torrent of information flooded his mind. He remained silent for a long time, and only after carefully reading through everything did he slowly lower the scroll. His face expressed nothing but doubt.
"Is all of this really true?"
Longwind quickly nodded. "It should be. Elder Shen had the information sent over from Divine Origin City. Some of it has already been confirmed, and the rest is based on what they could piece together. I also had the Shen family investigate here in the Central Continent, and everything they found matched what we discovered."
Dragon Abyss lowered his gaze to the jade scroll again. The information recorded within traced Wilderness Hermit's activities from the moment he first appeared in the Northern Sea. He had overwhelmed the Heaven Splitter in a clash of Domains, drawn the attention of Netherfire, and later revealed a remarkably strong divine consciousness when Shen Wandou personally tested him. He had also placed himself alongside the Northern Sea's Three Great Hermits by taking a similar title.
Yet even after Longwind’s confirmation, Dragon Abyss still found it difficult to believe. "Could Devil Lord Azure Yang really have become this strong in barely a hundred years?"
From what he had seen of Wilderness Hermit, Dragon Abyss had merely assumed that the man was quite powerful. But that was still within the realm of the acceptable. What truly shocked him was the likelihood that Wilderness Hermit was none other than Devil Lord Azure Yang, the cultivator who had once risen to prominence within the Society. When Azure Yang first joined the Society, he had only been a middle-stage Adept. For him to have reached this point in so little time seemed almost absurd.
And yet, judging from Wilderness Hermit's proficiency in fire arts, as well as the black flood dragon that had charged into the Coral Sea and helped rescue the Zhou family, this hypothesis seemed quite likely. Most tellingly, the Zhou family's grand elder had taken the initiative to befriend him, and he had also taken in a certain Zhang Jingqing! This young woman had no ties to the Zhou family whatsoever, but she was from the Zhang family of Lotus Picking Island in Surging Lake, which indeed had deep ties with Devil Lord Azure Yang. Longwind's investigation had further confirmed that Zhang Jingqing and another maid were now staying at the Fu family's stronghold in the Central Continent.
All of these clues put together suggested an extremely high possibility that Wilderness Hermit was none other than Devil Lord Azure Yang, and Luo Chen was Luo Hai—whichever the real name was.
Longwind hesitated. "Maybe his trip to the Land of Fallen Devils has something to do with how much he's changed?"
Dragon Abyss frowned and nodded. "Possibly. Anyone who makes it out of that place alive is bound to have obtained something."
Longwind sighed. "If there really was such a huge opportunity there, then maybe you should've gone back then, Family Head..."
Since returning to the Central Continent, Dragon Abyss had taken full control of the Liu family and assumed the position of family head.
Hearing Longwind's remark, Dragon Abyss immediately shot him a sharp glare. "What do you know? Anyone can enter that place except disciples of the Dao Sect!"
Longwind froze.
Dragon Abyss did not explain any further, however. He had never coveted that inheritance in the first place, since the Mirage Dragon Pocket World already held opportunities better suited to him. More importantly, the master-disciple lineage he had dealings with had revealed certain secrets to him before he left the Central Continent, and those secrets made one thing absolutely clear: Under no circumstances could any Dao Sect disciples set foot in the Land of Fallen Devils.
Whatever lay behind that prohibition, it was not something Longwind needed to know. Instead, Dragon Abyss returned the jade scroll to him. "If Wilderness Hermit really is Devil Lord Azure Yang, then the three of you still owe him for what happened in the Sunken Sea. You should find a chance to thank him."
Longwind instinctively nodded.
Years ago, he had traveled to the Northern Sea with Guan Xiaoping and Wu Tao to temper themselves. They had hoped to follow Dragon Abyss's footsteps and use the Northern Sea's abundant resources and life-and-death trials to seek an opportunity to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm. But later, the demons broke free from the Heaven of Northern Yama, and the situation became far too dangerous.
The three of them were merely Adepts, and faced with calamities of that scale, they could hardly accomplish anything. In the end, they had no choice but to make their way back to the Central Continent. Of all the dangers they encountered during that journey, Longwind remembered the Sunken Sea most clearly. Devil Lord Azure Yang had saved him there, and that favor had never been forgotten. But...
"He's your enemy now. How am I supposed to thank him?" said Longwind. "If there's still a chance after the grand competition, I'll thank him then."
Dragon Abyss shook his head. "You are being narrow-minded."
"Then let me be!" Longwind remained stubborn. "What I want to know is, if you really end up facing him, are you confident you can win?"
Dragon Abyss thought for a moment, then smiled. "He and I both formed our Nascent Souls in the Northern Sea, but I advanced long before he did. Why should I be scared of him? Besides, I won't be alone. Tea Mist and I will be watching each other's backs. Once we're inside, we don't need to fear anyone."
At the mention of Tea Mist, Longwind's expression turned serious. The master-disciple lineage might have declined over the years, but it still stood alongside the family lineages as one of the foundations of the Dao Sect. Tea Mist was the foremost genius of its current generation. With someone of her caliber fighting beside Dragon Abyss, his chances inside the pocket world would undoubtedly improve.
Dragon Abyss could tell that Longwind was still worried and gave him an encouraging look. "Don't worry about me. Just focus on getting yourself ready. When the pocket world opens, make a name for yourself and show everyone what our family can do."
Longwind nodded with renewed confidence. The Liu family might only be a Lesser House, but he had always aspired to be like his uncle. More importantly, unlike many descendants of the Noble and Great Houses, he had already gone to the Northern Sea to temper himself and had seen real bloodshed. When the time came, he might not be any weaker than them.
***
The Central Continent grew livelier by the day. With Saint Alchemist Chu Yan's Ascension Ceremony approaching and the grand competition close behind, major families and powerful forces from every side continued to pour toward the Woodrot Mountains. The nearby immortal cities had long since become overcrowded, and news of every kind spread constantly through the region.
Yet at the center of all these developments, Heaven-Earth Peak only grew quieter. They were no longer allowing outsiders in, and even minor disturbances such as Lin Bufan being driven away soon faded from most people's notice. After all, everyone knew why access had become so restricted. Chu Yan's ascension was drawing near, and she rarely appeared in person anymore. Even when she did show herself, it was usually through an avatar, while her main body remained in seclusion in pursuit of that final step!
For Luo Chen, this isolation was ideal, as it spared him from plenty of potential trouble. Thus, his days settled into the rhythm of refining pills, consuming one Great Soul Pill each month, practicing Soul Split, and watching his subsidiary soul grow stronger. Whenever he had time, he would turn to reading. His collection ranged from texts related to his core cultivation technique to puppet arts and alchemical classics, and on occasion, he even flipped through some of the Go manuals Fu Qinglan had given him.
Before Heaven-Earth Peak closed, she had also delivered the enchanted-artifact replica of the Woodrot Spirit Treasure. Luo Chen had spent an entire day studying it. The replica was, of course, extremely weak, but its construction and effects were indeed the same as the Woodrot Go Stone he had obtained years ago from the Valley of Ghosts and Divinities. This made him even more certain that the Valley of Ghosts and Divinities had some kind of connection with the Dao Sect. And as for what kind of connection it was? He was inclined to believe it was similar to the relationship between the Penglai Immortal Sect and the Dao Sect.
Even while the Primordial Devil Sect was still there, the Northern Sea had been fairly fragmented, making it relatively easy for an outside force to establish itself there. The Eastern Wilderness was different. Its dozens of cultivation domains appeared independent at first glance, but the Nether Origin Sect ultimately held authority over the entire region, and they never failed to exert it when needed. This could be seen from how an Ascendant of the Nether Origin Sect had once been able to mobilize the supreme elders of three upper sects. Under such circumstances, the Dao Sect could hardly establish an upper sect there without immediately attracting the Nether Origin Sect's attention.
Therefore, a small force like the Valley of Ghosts and Divinities would have been far more suitable. It could serve as a hidden foothold, allowing the Dao Sect to build influence quietly, without openly challenging the Nether Origin Sect. Honestly, it was even possible that the Nether Origin Sect had discovered the arrangement long ago. If so, the sect's gradual marginalization might not have been accidental. Even its eventual deployment to the Frontier War, where it ended up completely destroyed, could have been part of an effort to eliminate the Dao Sect's foothold in the Eastern Wilderness.
The possibility left Luo Chen feeling uneasy. If his speculation was right, then the scale of the Dao Sect's ambitions was incredible. And after seeing the way Heaven-Earth Peak gathered Sages from the other four territories, such a possibility no longer seemed far-fetched.
"Whatever. This has nothing to do with me in the first place. I am merely a passerby."
Luo Chen dismissed the matter and turned his attention to the primordial true fire within his Purple Mansion. A full year had passed since he left the Fu family's Kinghouse Mountains, and throughout that time, the Withering-Flourishing True Fire had continued to weaken after absorbing the Withering Origin Fire Essence.
At first, the decline had been almost undetectable, but after Luo Chen arrived at Heaven-Earth Peak, the process began to accelerate. By now, the once-flourishing fire tree had almost completely disappeared, leaving only a thread of azure fire tinged faintly with gold.
Luo Chen watched it quietly. "Once something reaches its peak, it starts to decline. Then, once it reaches the bottom, shouldn't what comes next be rebirth?"
That was what he expected. Before he could witness the flame flourish anew, however, a bell rang across Heaven-Earth Peak. Its single note seemed to fill the world.
Then came the drums. Nineteen drumbeats rolled across the mountain, announcing the reopening of Heaven-Earth Peak.
As the final echo faded, an aged voice spread across tens of thousands of li. "Heaven-Earth Peak is open! Fellow cultivators, you may all gather here. Today, we shall see the Saint Alchemist off!"
The moment he heard the proclamation, Luo Chen knew he had to put aside everything else for the moment. He cast Cleanse over himself, gathered his loose hair and secured it with a wooden hairpin, then rose and smoothed the already flawless hem of his robe before leaving the cave residence.
Outside, the whole mountain seemed to come to life. Spirit energy surged through the air, and countless streaks of light converged toward the mountain from every direction.