The summit of Mount Sumeru.
A single orange cat and a young girl gazed into each other’s eyes.
A cold breeze blew past.
The young girl: “…”
The big tabby cat: “…”
Sensing the confused look in the eyes of big tabby cat’s, the young girl maintained a poker face—–
——-she suddenly realized that she had recently been using her great willpower tempered through countless trials of life and death a lot to maintain her poker face.
After a bit of thought, the young girl praised: “Hm, a very decent Thaumaturgy indeed, I can sense infinite power from the void constantly surging into your body; furthermore, the sense of imbalance from absorbing the duo dragon power is also slowly disappearing”
The big tabby cat uttered a single ‘meow’ in his confusion.
The little girl almost lost her cool, barely able to maintain her serious expression———
Although the serious expression of the little girl only made her appear cuter, at least her tone was solemn.
“Transforming into the Evil Suppressor beast can also be considered a special form of cultivation, Qing Shan, you must continue doing your best!”
The big tabby cat’s confused expression slowly faded away.
He glanced at the War God UI.
Only to find lines of glowing text being displayed there one after another.
[You’ve entered the ‘Mountain of Orange’ state]
[The Embodiment of Evil Suppressor had been unlocked]
[In this state, all forms of energy absorbed by you will no longer be able to cause issues and will ultimately be converted into your power]
[You are currently converting the duo dragon power into your own, please maintain this state until the entire process is complete]
[Attention: If you cancel the transformation during this process, you will cut-off the conversion, after which it will need to be restarted from the beginning]
[In the ‘Mountain of Orange’ state, you will constantly absorb Soul Points from the outside world]
[Soul Points +1]
[Soul Points +2]
[Soul Points +1]
[Soul Points +1]
[Soul Points +3]
…
Gu Qing Shan did some quick calculations.
My Soul Points would increase once every 3 seconds.
The amount received each time isn’t much, but it seems consistent, and a gradual accumulation without any expenditure is always going to be beneficial.
With that in mind, it’s fine even if I remain a cat for a while.
—–Shifu has thousands of incarnations, one of them was a white goose that remained the Eldest Disciple of Bai Hua sect, compared to that, me being a cat isn’t that surprising, right?
The big tabby cat nodded in his contemplation, finally accepting this new Thaumaturgy.
Seeing that he had thought it through, the young girl lightly put the orange cat on the ground.
———in truth, for a very brief moment, the young girl wanted to stroke his fur but managed to restrain herself.
“Keep in mind, from this point onwards, you may take on your own Dependents, from them you are able to borrow a single ability each, just like I was able to borrow your Thaumaturgy [Dreamjolt]” the young girl solemnly explained to him.
The big tabby cat uttered a few doubtful ‘meows’.
The young girl solemnly listened to him.
——as a person who could take numerous forms, both human and beast, she was naturally fluent in Cat.
The little girl replied: “Me? Naturally not—– only cultivators that are at the same realm or a realm lower can be taken on as your Dependent”
The big tabby cat sighed dejectedly.
Seeing how disappointed he was, the young girl thought a bit and continued: “The Spirit Tortoise should still be at the foot of the mountain and had already finished his {Mahesvara King} realm Tribulation, you can probably form a mutual Dependent relationship with him, if I remember correctly, he should have quite a decent defensive Thaumaturgy”
The big tabby cat shook his head right away.
He insisted on not using the Spirit Tortoise’s [Untraceable Head & Tail] Thaumaturgy.
Transforming into a cat was already the limit of his tolerance, if he also put on a tortoise shell as well, his reputation would probably fall to rock-bottom.
——seems like I’ll have to find other people who are cultivators to use a Mahesvara Dependent Thaumaturgy.
The young girl continued to tell him: “There is one last thing, and also the most important thing that you should remember”
The big tabby cat looked at her.
The young girl turned serious as she explained: “You can absorb all kinds of powers, but remember to absolutely, absolutely, absolutely never eat so much that you become fat”
The big tabby cat was surprised.
The young girl continued to explain: “Qing Shan, you’ve now obtained the ability to transform into a dragon, but the kind you can turn into is a black dragon. This dragon is generally regarded as outcasts within the dragon race, so you might face a bit of danger in the future”
“Furthermore, although you are able to refine any kind of power as your own by turning into a cat, you should definitely not be greedy, and avoid becoming fat”
“I emphasize this, do not eat so much that you become fat. Once you’re fat, even if you turn into a dragon you won’t be able to fly or fight at full power”
“The dragons with huge bellies of fat are too ashamed to meet anyone. They have no choice but to find some backwater Magic-type worlds and seclude themselves in some random cave, watching over an insignificant trove of personal treasures”
“They can’t even fly anymore, having no choice but to manifest a pair of wings to barely lift their big bellies off the ground”
“They are definitely unable to fight in close combat however they liked as you did earlier, having no choice but to spit on their opponents during battle” [1]
The big tabby cat listened and nodded while committing those words to heart.
Colorful clouds started to descend upon them bit by bit, drifting around the two of them.
Both their {Mahesvara King} realm and Sumeru Lord realm Tribulations had finished.
The pair of master and disciple could now return.
“Qing Shan, everything here should be over, and there’s still quite a bit of time before noon, you should be able to make it back in time without any issues” the young girl said.
The big tabby cat asked: “Meow meow meow?”
The young girl replied: “Me? I will also return to Shen Wu world, reporting the information we learnt this time to all Cultivation worlds”
The big tabby cat clasped his paws: “Meow! Meow meow!”
The young girl then acted like a proper master and nodded: “Hm, you should take care of yourself, always place safety above all else, and do not ruin the reputation of our Bai Hua sect”
The big tabby cat let out a short ‘meow’ before leaving Mount Sumeru in the colorful light.
The only person left on top of the mountain was the young girl.
“Very well, I’ve learnt a lot this time. It would be best to quickly return and gather everyone to spread this information”
The young girl muttered to herself.
For some reason, she recalled the matter that Gu Qing Shan explained earlier.
The Path to Heaven.
Why did the woman called Reneedol want to destroy the Path to Heaven?
Is she so afraid of heavenly beings from the Heaven realm?
Fortunately, she never managed to find the Path to Heaven on this Mount Sumeru.
As she thought of that, the young girl’s expression suddenly turned blank.
“The Path to Heaven…”
She muttered, then immersed herself in recollection.
Countless mixed images manifested one after another, quickly flashing through her mind.
“The Divine Mountain of Sumeru… the hidden path…”
Xie Dao Ling appeared distressed, unable to help herself from muttering.
All of a sudden.
She returned to her original form, crouched down, and started to pant heavily.
“That was too dangerous, there are some secrets that my current self cannot ponder right now, or else it can turn out to be a huge problem”
Xie Dao Ling rested for a bit before standing up.
“However, I’ve remembered what happened here…”
She walked to the back of the mountain, in front of a single rock at the edge of the mountain.
A few moments of silence.
Xie Dao Ling took a step forward.
She stepped onto the void of space, but her feet remained in mid-air as if being supported by something.
“This is the place… the hidden Path to Heaven…”
Xie Dao Ling took another step forward.
At this point, she was already outside Mount Sumeru, standing on top of the bottomless unseen void.
She continued heading upwards and soon disappeared from the summit of Mount Sumeru.
…
At another location.
The Wraith realm.
A jet-black temple that was surrounded in silence.
Countless wraiths stood in formation, protecting this temple.
This was the center of the Wraith realm.
The orders to invade the infinite worlds, fight against the Abyss, collect the fragments of the Samsara, all of them were made in this place.
At this point.
A man wearing a yaksha mask stood at the gate of the temple, silently waiting.
A few moments later.
A crimson red dispatch badge suddenly appeared in front of him.
Followed by an announcing voice:
“Sir, the meeting of the three Wraith Lords will soon be over, please make your way to the western Heaven Hall and wait”
The man received the badge with both hands, then replied: “Thank you very much, I shall be on my way”
This was Cang Wu Zhang’s voice.
He received the badge, walked through the gate of the temple, and headed straight towards the western Heaven hall.
Every wraith who walked by him respectfully bowed, only a few who didn’t even bother to give him a single glance, boastfully passed him by.
“Ahaha, look at him, unable to guard even a prison”
“Not only that, but I also heard…”
Although they had suppressed their gossiping voices, how could any cultivator not hear when they were spoken at such volume?
Cang Wu Zhang angrily snorted, but didn’t say anything and instead walked faster.
“Sir”
The two wraiths who stood guard at the western Heaven Hall bowed to greet him.
Cang Wu Zhang didn’t bother to glance at them and walked in.
The inside of the Heaven Hall was gloomy, with only two female servants standing guard in front of a wraith statue.
Seeing him approaching, the two female servants curtsied to greet him.
Cang Wu Zhang hurriedly responded in kind, his rage from before also gone without a trace.
One servant walked up and presented a stick of incense to Cang Wu Zhang.
Cang Wu Zhang respectfully received it, put it into the incense pot in front of the wraith statue, then stood waiting respectfully.
The two female servants also waited on the left and right of the statue.
Neither side spoke a single word.
After waiting for a few moments.
The incense stick started to burn and gave off faint drifting smoke.
Cang Wu Zhang immediately bowed down in front of the wraith statue and spoke: “Greeting, Wraith Lord”
[Hm]
A curt voice sounded from the wraith statue, one that didn’t contain any emotions.
[There is too much to do. I originally did not want to summon you back, but this place is still our center, and if you do not make your way here once in a while, you’ll eventually be pushed out completely without knowing it]
Cang Wu Zhang remained silent.
The voice continued: [The Huang Quan fragment was originally our prison, under your management to contain convicts, but it seems some chaos had occurred recently]
Cang Wu Zhang replied: “I have sent my men to suppress them”
The voice continued: [There is something else, I heard that the Yama Heavenly realm had disappeared from our surveillance]
Cang Wu Zhang replied: “That is the truth”
[There was also another report I just received, the Mount Sumeru that we had been managing for a very long time suddenly sprouted a layer of a heavenly barrier to block off the path we used——- in other words, the huge amount of resources and men we’ve committed to this mountain might have already been for naught]
Cang Wu Zhang went silent.
The voice also didn’t continue.
After a long while, Cang Wu Zhang struggled to give his answer: “That is also the truth, Wraith Lord”
The voice seemed regretful: [I originally placed quite a bit of hope on you, considering how well you fight against the Samsara fragments, and even managed to recruit an Azure Dragon that greatly contributed to our campaigns against the enemies of the Abyss, how unfortunate…]
A black blade abruptly descended from the hand of the wraith statue, hanging right above Cang Wu Zhang’s neck.
Cang Wu Zhang knelt on the ground, remained with his back straight and unmoving.
The blade also didn’t move.
A few moments later.
The voice sighed and continued:
[I know that you’ve always performed excellently, so be it. I ask you one final thing]
It was only now that Cang Wu Zhang clasped his fist, bowed, and replied: “Thank you, Wraith Lord”
The voice questioned: [Was it due to your own negligence, or was that Huang Quan Devil King really that tough to deal with?]
Cang Wu Zhang took out a jade badge and crushed it.
Countless images appeared from the jade badge to form a complete moving scene in the air.
Xie Dao Ling quickly formed a hand seal.
Her Divine Skill was completed.
The world became gloomy, the great river hung in the air.
A single small dingy and a lone feminine figure.
This was such a moving scene that the two female servants also had to look up.
A long sigh emerged from the wraith statue.
[So it was her, I will have to tell the others later—— now, tell me, how did you deal with it at the time?]
Cang Wu Zhang replied: “At the time, I used the vitality of 18 wraiths to perform the Immortal Craft [Thousand Ruler Mirror], temporarily halting this Huang Quan Divine Skill”
The voice from the wraith statue suddenly laughed:
[Your choice was indeed correct. However, did you really believe that the vitality of a mere 18 wraiths was able to stop her?]
Cang Wu Zhang was silently surprised.
The voice seemed to have gained some emotions as it continued: [Using the power of wraiths to perform an Immortal Craft was originally something doomed to fail, let alone against an entity of her level]
[It was merely because she felt that you were not worth her effort that she stopped]
[If the woman who summoned her paid an appropriately great price, she would have moved a single finger and killed you all, because this was the rule that she herself established]
[On the other hand, if she really wanted the life of someone, she would have even moved on her own accord without any demand for payments and take their everything away]
Cang Wu Zhang’s yaksha mask suddenly cracked.
Following that, the entire mask broke in half and crumbled, revealing a gloomy dark expression and the pair of cold eyes below.
A new mask manifested from the void of space.
Compared to the previous one, this mask was painted with more red streaks, which appeared much more terrifying.
The voice continued: [This matter cannot be attributed to your fault——- after all, the only people in the entire Wraith realm that can fight against her are us old fogeys]
[However, the fact was that you, the mastermind behind this entire affair, failed. I shall now strip you of your Wraith Might mask and demote you to a Wraith General, do you have any objections?]
Cang Wu Zhang’s heart finally relaxed.
I’m.
Not dead.
He clasped his fist: “Wraith Lord sir, this subordinate has no objections”
The voice was pleased: [That is good, after all, this is an age of war where good generals are always hard to find. Following this, you will head into the space vortex and participate in the campaign against the Eternal Abyss]
“Understood”
[According to our newest intelligence, the Huang Quan Devil King seemed to have allied himself with the Eternal Abyss. As he is male, he cannot summon the Forgetting River]
[I shall grant you 300 wraiths and 100,000 ghost soldiers. Find a chance to kill him and take his head back to me, I shall reward you with the Wraith Might name once again]
Cang Wu Zhang silently listened to everything and bowed: “I understand, thank you, Lord”
[1] in case you still haven’t noticed, yes, she’s referring to western dragons
