Scarlet Bitter Sea

Beneath the World Tree, Chaos Mist cascaded down. Clouds and rosy vapors billowed and shifted, as though the World Tree itself were breathing.

The sound of chanting arose, mingled with what seemed like ancient sacrificial hymns, echoing within Lu Zhou's body.

His organs glowed as though two great suns hung within them, illuminating heaven and earth.

Within those great suns sat two deities identical to Lu Zhou, comprehending and deriving boundless wondrous laws.

Dao Rhyme circulated around Lu Zhou's body.

His flesh was crystalline and translucent, flawless and pure, untouched by dust.

Behind him, a vast ocean of blood energy shot into the sky, like scarlet dragons roaring through the heavens.

Had he not been inside the Qiankun Pearl, such a commotion would surely have alerted nearby cultivators and drawn them over to see which fellow cultivator possessed such vast, vigorous blood energy.

Suddenly, Lu Zhou opened his eyes, and divine light burst from them like twin bolts of lightning.

He rose to his feet. With every gesture, Divine Power surged and boiled within him.

At this moment, he felt stronger than he had ever been before.

He looked inward at his sea of consciousness. The small golden lake there had expanded several times over.

His Divine Sense continued downward. Within his Heart Divine Treasury and Spleen Divine Treasury, a deity like a great sun sat in each Dao Palace, chanting scriptures for him.

The heart belonged to fire, and the spleen belonged to earth. Fire generated earth. Lu Zhou was cultivating his Dao Palace secret realm according to the cycle of the Five Elements.

A full five azure lotus seeds capable of enhancing his Divine Power had only allowed him to break through from the first level of the Dao Palace realm to the second. Yet Lu Zhou was quite satisfied with this result.

He knew full well that it was because his physique had undergone a transformation.

Just like those with kingly physiques, divine physiques, and saintly physiques, the stronger one's constitution, the more resources cultivation required.

And their combat strength would also be greater. At every realm, their foundation would be far more solid than that of other cultivators.

Most of the medicinal power from those five azure lotus seeds had been used by Lu Zhou to recultivate the Wheel Sea that had transformed along with his physique.

His Divine Sense continued downward, passing through the Dao Palace of the five viscera, and soon reached his Bitter Sea.

His Bitter Sea had originally been dark green and only the size of a palm.

But now, his Bitter Sea was a sea of crimson. Its waves seemed capable of crashing into the heavens, while endless scarlet vital essence steamed upward like a blood sea.

The spring at the center of that blood sea had also expanded greatly along with his Bitter Sea. It constantly sprayed forth rosy light, autonomously tempering Lu Zhou's body, washing over his Wheel of Life, supplying it with divine energy, and nourishing him.

In just two and a half months, Lu Zhou had grown taller again. Though his face still looked somewhat youthful, as if he were only twelve or thirteen, his height and physique were unmistakably those of a grown man.

Standing beneath the World Tree, even through the hazy Chaos Mist, one could see his tall, slender body and dragon-proud bearing.

Seven complete transformations, akin to shedding mortal flesh and exchanging bones, had utterly separated Lu Zhou from ordinary people in terms of physique, Divine Power, and Divine Sense.

Since he had never fought them, Lu Zhou did not know whether he could now contend against cultivators of the same realm who possessed special physiques or bloodline powers.

But with his naturally competitive nature, Lu Zhou had begun looking forward to finding out.

He remained in the Qiankun Pearl for another day, both to keep Little Nannan company and to relax after cultivation.

A day later, he left the Qiankun Pearl and flew on a rainbow back to Origin City.

It was only a few dozen li away. Lu Zhou arrived almost instantly.

After entering Origin City, he did not wander around.

He asked several cultivators in Origin City for the location of Pingyan City.

Lu Zhou remembered that Pingyan City was only around six hundred li from Stone Village, where Fifth Master Zhang lived.

The Northern Region was enormous. Small sects like the Qingxia Sect and the Lihuo Cult were merely bottom-tier forces in the Northern Region, no more than drops in the ocean.

Lu Zhou felt that asking about Pingyan City, which had a history of over a thousand years and a permanent population of roughly three hundred thousand, would be more reliable.

After all, since Pingyan City could support several gambling stone workshops, there should be quite a few Northern Region cultivators who knew where it was.

Sure enough, it did not take much effort for him to learn Pingyan City's location.

After figuring out the route, Lu Zhou did not linger in Origin City. The moment he left the city, he flew on a rainbow straight toward Pingyan City.

When he arrived at Pingyan City, he found that he could check in there as well.

Without hesitation, Lu Zhou immediately silently checked in.

Ding! Host has successfully checked in at Pingyan City in the Northern Region. Host has obtained one cubic meter of source, which has been stored in the host's Qiankun Pearl!

One cubic meter of source was equivalent to roughly three thousand three hundred jin of source.

Lu Zhou piled the source beside the World Tree and the Holy Spring Pool.

Then, with a casual inquiry, he learned the location of the Qingxia Sect.

Afterward, he planned to go to the Qingxia Sect and wait for his prey.

But halfway there, he encountered a band of brigands robbing a village.

When faced with such a thing, Lu Zhou charged directly at the bandits.

The strongest among them was only a Divine Bridge cultivator, so naturally, they were no match for Lu Zhou.

In a single exchange, they were suppressed by Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou returned the source they had robbed from the village and also seized over half a jin of source as his own spoils.

Then, amid the villagers' endless gratitude, he led the suppressed brigands away from the village.

After traveling several dozen li from the village, Lu Zhou could not be bothered to interrogate them. His vast Divine Sense instantly forced its way into the brigands' minds and searched through their memories.

Before long, Lu Zhou found the information he wanted.

Chen the Bearded was rather famous in this area. Many of these brigands had heard of him, and some had even seen him in person.

From this, Lu Zhou learned Chen the Bearded's appearance, as well as several of his hideouts.

After obtaining this information, Lu Zhou directly killed the band of brigands. They worked for the Lihuo Cult and had committed countless atrocities. They thoroughly deserved to die.

After killing them, Lu Zhou no longer went to the Qingxia Sect. He fixed his direction and headed straight for one of Chen the Bearded's hideouts.

But when Lu Zhou arrived, the hideout was completely empty.

Lu Zhou decisively left and headed for the next hideout.

Along the way, he encountered another group of brigands.

The process was exactly the same.

One slap to suppress them, seize whatever spoils were worth taking, forcibly search their memories for information he wanted, then send them back to dust and earth!

This time, Lu Zhou's luck was good. Just one day earlier, these brigands had crossed paths with Chen the Bearded and his group.

Lu Zhou pursued them based on those memories.

Finally, half a day later, Lu Zhou caught up with Chen the Bearded's group at a Stone Village, where they sat astride Dragon Scale Horses.

The Dragon Scale Horses' azure scales gleamed. They were savage and ferocious, and every member of Chen the Bearded's group exuded a brutal aura tinged with the scent of blood.

When Lu Zhou arrived, he saw an old man from the Stone Village open a bag of source and present it before Chen the Bearded.

Judging by its size, the bag appeared to contain several jin of source.

Lu Zhou also saw Chen the Bearded pat the old man on the shoulder as he spoke.

"Old Man Zhang, this source is of decent quality. Consider yourselves lucky. We won't trouble you this time. Remember, prepare at least another five jin of source for me within a month, or else—"

"Or else what?"

Lu Zhou suddenly appeared and interrupted him!

Thanks to big boss 20171026200849065 for the monthly ticket!

Thanks to big boss Kong|Shen for the 100 coins!