Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Yin Capital. The Yuanguang Family.
“This is Senior Hong Fangbai from the Prime Devil Sect of the Nine Bright Province’s Autumn Moon City.”
In the Loyalty Gathering Hall, Yuanguang Yuan faced the various elders and council members of the family as she introduced this beautiful lady who had just arrived in haste.
A dozen high-ranking members of the area’s branch family gathered in the hall. Among them, Yuanguang Zheng sat near her to the side. Two middle-aged men with unusual bearing followed close behind. At this moment, one of the men glanced at Hong Fangbai. A cold glint flickered in his eyes.
The branch’s moderator, Yuanguang Qinshan, sat on the main seat. Her expression was calm as she sized up Hong Fangbai.
“Since Yuan’er brought you here, please, have a seat.” She was already 508 years old. She had seen her fair share of disputes and power struggles in the family.
She knew about the competition between her juniors, Yuanguang Yuan and Yuanguang Zheng. She knew about it, and gladly supported them. The family needed positive rivalry such as this.
As for the reinforcements the two recruited, she did not think that it was a problem. The support given by outsiders to the family’s disciples was also a manifestation of the family’s strength.
Yuanguang Yuan calmed down. Since she had confirmed Senior Hong Fangbai’s identity before the high-ranking members, she could act with proper justification after this.
She lifted her gaze and shifted it toward Yuanguang Zheng. His phoenix eyes exuded apathetic calmness and confidence. The two middle-aged men behind him were from the Green Water Sect. The one on the right, who was sizing up Senior Hong Fangbai, was the one who killed Elder Jin.
“This time, we are here to discuss the nine tempered steel mines and twelve mithril mines in the northwest…”
The branch’s mediator, Yuanguang Qinshan, officiated the family meeting.
Yuanguang Yuan listened silently. Behind her, Hong Fangbai was sizing up the elites from the Green Water Sect.
She had received a request from Lu Sheng to settle the matter here. Besides, she did intend to spar with the heroes under the heavens with her sword skills.
Currently, with Ying Ying’s outer appearance, she had not given up the hope of defeating Lu Sheng. Although she understood that the chances were extremely slim, she believed that the day would come as long as she did not give up.
Before she came, she had heard of the formidable strength of the Green Water Sect. However, she’d never expected them to be bold enough to kill the Earth Prime elite sent out by the Prime Devil Sect.
“So?” Yuanguang Yuan projected her voice silently.
Hong Fangbai nodded slightly. “I can do it. Their cultivation bases are powerful, but it’s not enough to be a threat for me.”
Yuanguang Yuan immediately relaxed. She felt at ease as long as she had sufficiently powerful strength on her side.
She thought about it, and said, “Can you cripple them without killing them?”
“I can try.” Hong Fangbai lowered her eyes to prevent the man opposite from seeing the killing intent in them.
At first, the Prime Devil Sect had no intention of completely falling out with them, but they were currently riding the tiger, and found it difficult to get off.
Maybe Yuanguang Zheng had considered the fact that Yuanguang Yuan was the only person in the entire branch family who could stand against him. The other disciples did not have the support of forces that transcended worldliness and attained holiness. That was why he had made a move against Yuanguang Yuan first.
After a series of eliminations, only a handful of those qualified to participate in the final selection was left.
She did not expect that the Green Water Sect would make the first move and be so thorough with it. They showed no mercy. “Since they’re merciless, you may do as you wish with them.”
***
Autumn Moon City. The Prime Devil Sect.
“Poof.”
A puff of green smoke slowly erupted beside Lu Sheng. He stood on the formation with an exhausted expression. However, the joy of success disappeared as quickly as it appeared in his eyes.
He reached out and pulled on a bell at the side. The ring of the bell spread to the outside quickly.
In no time, a dozen individuals came into the Research Temple and started to clean up the temple.
After they finished cleaning, Lu Sheng returned to the formation and started troubleshooting carefully. Platinum-colored Yang Essence pulsed in his hands.
This time, he had sent Hong Fangbai. No matter how powerful the elites of the Green Water Sect were, they would not be a problem as long as Hong Fangbai was there. After all, Ying Ying’s body was peculiar. She was a being that could not be killed.
If she encountered something more troublesome, she would still have an opportunity to come back and inform him.
After he handed the family’s matters to Elder Stone, Lu Sheng devoted all his energy to the research on his Returning to One Formation.
A year passed in the blink of an eye.
Currently, Lu Sheng had complete confidence that he could control his landing area in the world that he would be crossing over to.
Although the approximate area was very wide, it was better than accidentally landing in an area where he would surely die.
After preparing for a whole year, Lu Sheng gave the notice that he would be entering into secluded cultivation at any moment.
Because of the Divine Weapon he’d placed in the Lu Manor which suppressed the radiation there, his family members’ lifespan was greatly lengthened. They were no longer ordinary people.
It was not a problem for them to live up to two hundred years. If they had slight achievements in their cultivations, they would be able to live longer. Hence, there would not be much of an effect even if he cultivated in seclusion for a few years.
‘When I went to the Spiritual Power World the other time, I spent a whole year in it. One year in Great Yin is equivalent to a few years there. As I thought, the flow of time is different. If I’m going for my second crossover, I should keep that in mind.’
He made some detailed adjustments on the flow of time. Although he could not quite pick the world that he would be crossing over into, he would still be able to pick a world with a slower flow of time than Great Yin.
This way, he could spend a few years in the Other World while only a short time would pass here.
‘I should give it a try. I think the debugging of the formation is almost done. The settings of the return trip isn’t perfect, but that can’t be helped. I can only adjust it according to the Laws of the Other World after my arrival.’ Lu Sheng had completed the fifth correction of the formation. He stood up and finally prepared to test his formation out.
His family’s situation was currently steady, and the Prime Devil Sect was around to suppress the external factors. Although the realms of humans and devils were still at war, he heard that other than the Great Yin, the Devil World’s Devil Emperors were starting another war with another great country because of the losses suffered by the Weapon Grandmasters and Devil Emperors.
Well, actually, that great country had made the first move, invading the Devil World. The remaining Devil Emperors were forced to return to guard the headquarters. The situation in the Great Yin was currently at an impasse.
The Devil World fought a war on several fronts, battling a few great countries at the same time. They had intended to gain the upper hand on all fronts, but were completely unsuccessful. If it were not for the Gate of Flesh and Blood’s limited capacity of a single Devil Emperor at any single time, the entire Human World would have been conquered by the Devil Emperors already.
Currently, the situation was stable. Lu Sheng was also considering if he should continue improving his own strength. It was useless for him to merely cultivate. It was also impractical to improve his spirit with the Deep Blue Modifier. This was because the process of becoming a Weapon Grandmaster was a process of assimilating all his other selves. Although the Deep Blue had several marvelous abilities, there was no actual secret formula to this entire process. No matter how powerful his Mental Energy was, he could not possibly convert it into countless Lu Shengs and have them aid him in his own improvement.
Deep Blue relied more on the available information and his own knowledge to deduce the most powerful results with his own strength as the basis.
Mental Energy was but another form of extremely high-grade energy. Perhaps it could substitute his spirit’s energy, but it could not deduce the memories, marks, and bodies of the Lu Shengs from the Other Worlds.
The Heavenly Devil Path needed precisely these things.
On a few occasions, Lu Sheng had attempted to deduce the Infinity Technique, but he ended up with discrepant paths. He could even easily tell that if he forcibly followed the path deduced by the Deep Blue, he would quickly reach his own ceiling limit. It would be impossible for him to attain the level of a Weapon Grandmaster in the future.
In other words, his current tier, level, experience, and knowledge volume were largely insufficient for him to deduce a powerful skill formula that was on par with the Weapon Grandmaster Path.
Hence, if he wanted to reach the heights of a Weapon Grandmaster, he could only take it one step at a time on the path of assimilating all his other selves.
After he decided on doing a second crossover, Lu Sheng prepared various objects that he planned to bring over. Then, he informed the Prime Devil Sect, Lu Manor, Chen Yunxi, his son, his parents, and the others who were close to him.
After spending two days to settle things here, he went into secluded cultivation. He went into the Research Temple and never saw anyone.
After a dozen days, the guards outside the Prime Devil Sect’s Research Temple suddenly felt a slight tremor. Faint reddish light leaked out of the crack between the door and the frame. Then, no other sounds were heard.
***
Azure seas and blue skies. White lines rose and fell on the water’s surface. Huge amounts of froth were left on the grayish-yellow beach.
Rolling savage-looking black precipices could be seen near the beach. Amid the black precipices, there was an abode opening that was only a dozen meters long and wide. A handsome Taoist clad in white robes and a jeweled hood stood there.
However, at this current moment, the Taoist’s fair and flawless face was wearing a fierce expression.
“Why?! Why must I, Mu Yun, surrender my Natal Orb which I’ve cultivated my whole life to a so-called Fated Child out of the blue?!” He flailed his sleeves, and thunder erupted in the air. A huge patch of grass and flowers outside the abode was blasted away. They were reduced to fine dark greenish powder and scattered.
“Boom!”
He smacked his palm onto the abode’s wall beside him. With a great tremor, the mark of a palm was struck onto the abode’s wall; its depth was immeasurable.
The jewel atop the Taoist’s head flickered rapidly with a varying white light. It was clearly changing according to his emotions.
He was Taoist Mu Yun. He was also the master of Wood Martial Abode, the largest abode in the vicinity of a few thousand miles on this island. He was also one of the more popular Wicked Cultivators of the South Sea.
He was injured by the Vital Energy Sect’s True Lord in the central plains many years ago, and had to flee overseas. Fortunately, as the might of his Abstruse Bead Seven Enlightened True Skill was formidable, he managed to have some accomplishments overseas.
In the blink of an eye, it had been thirty years. He had thought that he would die of old age overseas. He had long given up on mastering Qi and transcending worldliness into the heavens. However, he still had high hopes of spending his final years in peace.
However, things did not go as he wished. He did not expect the Vital Energy Sect’s True Lord, the one who’d injured him many years ago, had sent someone to his abode. He was told that he had to hand over the Nether Orb which he had cultivated for three lifetimes to the Fated Child in whose hands was the fate of a thousand years of the Vital Energy Sect.
The Fated Child would be arriving by the ship, which was pushed forward by the storm.
All this was destined to be, and everything had been arranged from the beginning. Even Old Man Bei Tong of the North Pole had suddenly and mysteriously disappeared just because he refused to cooperate with these men. Up to the present day, not even his bones or body could be found.
Old Man Bei Tong’s cultivation base was much more powerful than his. Even such a formidable individual of the Wicked Path was met with such a terrible fate and turned into ashes. It was imaginable that the Vital Energy Sect was like the sun in high noon at the moment. Anybody who wanted to go against them would be like a praying mantis that wanted to stop a cart. It was equivalent to seeking one’s death.
Mu Yun knew this, but he was still unwilling to submit.
The Nether Orb was the basis of his cultivation base. If he handed it over to someone else rashly, he would lose the fruits of cultivation over three lifetimes if the orb was destroyed or refined.
However, the example of Old Man Bei Tong was laid before him. He knew that this was the Vital Energy Sect’s—so-called most powerful sect’s in the Taoist world—way of beating the dog before the lion.
Hence, although he was furious, he could only bear with the coming of the Fated Child.
