Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell, Shifting the Blame East

The Western Teachings and their damned lingering presence! Xuanwei's immortal qi body was practically steaming with rage as he heard the voice, laced with a fake smile, coming through the spatial barrier. He had just found something good, hadn't even enjoyed the body tempering process enough, and these guys were already swarming like flies drawn to a scent! "Share the opportunity"? Share your backside! This was outright robbery!

"Master! Have people from the Western Teachings found us?" Mo Yuan's anxious mental transmission echoed in Xuanwei's consciousness. The divine sense imprint he had left on his disciple allowed for simple communication within a certain range.

"Mm, they've found a way to stabilize the entrance." Xuanwei responded quickly, his mind racing. "How are things on your end?"

"This disciple is fine, the Medicine Garden is being rebuilt. Master, please be extremely careful!" Mo Yuan's tone was filled with worry.

Xuanwei didn't have time to comfort his disciple further; he could barely protect himself. The owner of the voice outside had the aura of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, and there was more than one! Coupled with Maitreya possibly lurking in the shadows… a direct confrontation would be suicide!

He had to find a way to escape immediately!

His gaze swept rapidly over the altar and the pool of precious Guixu Origin Black Water, a strong sense of reluctance surging in his heart. This stuff was incredibly useful for cultivating the Black Emperor Water Sovereign Fist and the Black Tortoise Prison Suppressing Pattern! But clearly, he didn't have time to collect it slowly and take it with him.

"Damn it, I won't let those bald donkeys benefit!" Xuanwei's resolve hardened, and he made a decision.

He fully activated the Black Emperor Water Sovereign Fist, placing his hands on the edge of the altar to stir the pool of Guixu Black Water! But he wasn't absorbing it; instead, he was… agitating it! Using himself as a conduit, he madly injected the trace of Guixu Origin aura he had just refined into the pool, simultaneously mixing it with an extremely faint but fundamentally high-level "Chaos Spirit Treasure" fluctuation simulated by the Chaos Bead!

RUMBLE—!

The previously calm black water pool, as if a boulder had been dropped into it, instantly boiled and churned! The more violent, more unstable Guixu Annihilation aura spread outwards like a runaway beast! The entire altar began to shake violently, the ancient runes on its surface flickering erratically, seemingly on the verge of collapse!

"Not enough! I have to leave them a 'surprise'!" Xuanwei's eyes sharpened as he thought of the two guardian puppets that had just retreated! He suddenly mixed the "Summon" and "Battle Intent" imprints of the Black Tortoise Dao Pattern Armor with the disturbed, violent Guixu aura of the place, broadcasting it like an amplified signal towards the shadows on both sides of the canyon!

"ROAR!!!" "HISS—!"

Almost instantly, the two peak Mysterious Immortal guardian puppets that had just hidden themselves, like cats with their tails stepped on, lunged out from the shadows with even more violent and furious auras than before! They clearly blamed the energy disturbance in this place on the intruders (the soon-to-arrive Western Teachings), their cold pupils instantly locking onto the direction of the spatial entrance!

Having done all this, Xuanwei dared not linger for a moment! He took a deep look at the surging black water pool and the guardian puppets rushing towards the entrance, a look of pain and satisfaction on his face.

"Want an opportunity? This young master is sending you a grand gift! I hope you can handle it!"

Without hesitation, he turned and accelerated to his maximum speed, fleeing towards the depths of the secret realm, opposite to the entrance! At the same time, he fully suppressed all his aura, pushed his Deep Immortal Seclusion to the limit, and invoked the power of the Chaos Bead to cover his entire body, distorting the surrounding subtle laws to erase any trace of his existence to the greatest extent possible.

He had only one thought now: run! Get away from this place of trouble! While the guardian puppets and the surging Guixu black water held back the Western Teachings, he had to find another way out, or… hide!

Not long after Xuanwei's figure disappeared into the depths of the secret realm, amidst the rugged black crystal mountains—

BUZZ!

The space at the canyon entrance distorted, and several figures radiating serene golden light forcefully broke through. Leading them was the peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal cultivator from the Western Teachings, his face gaunt, but his eyes sharp as a hawk's – Venerable Sunlight, who had been behind Maitreya earlier.

However, the moment they stepped in, they were met not with the expected treasures of the secret realm, but with the head-on assault of two peak Mysterious Immortal guardian puppets in a state of frenzy! And a surging, tsunami-like wave of violent Guixu energy filled with the aura of annihilation!

"Not good! Something's wrong here! Form a defensive array!" Venerable Sunlight's expression changed drastically, and he shouted sternly!

The few Western Teachings disciples behind him hastily conjured their magic treasures, forming a glittering Buddhist defensive formation. However, the power of the violent Guixu black water far exceeded their imagination, eroding the Buddha Light like a persistent ulcer, while the two guardian puppets attacked the formation's light shield with reckless abandon!

BOOM! BOOM! BANG!

The sound of intense energy collisions echoed through the canyon! Golden light intertwined with black light, Buddhist chants mixed with beast roars! The Western Teachings disciples were held back, unable to advance even half a step. Under the dual assault of the guardian puppets and the Guixu energy, they appeared quite disheveled, their formation's light shield wavering precariously.

"Damn it! That brat must have done something!" Venerable Sunlight's face turned ashen with rage. He could sense that there should have been a significant opportunity here (referring to the Guixu black water pool), but it had now become a deadly trap! "Attack with full force, suppress these two beasts and this chaotic energy first!"

He had no choice but to focus his attention on dealing with the immediate crisis, temporarily unable to search for Xuanwei's trace.

Meanwhile, Xuanwei had already fled dozens of miles away. He hid behind a natural barrier formed by giant beast bones, cautiously extending his divine sense to sense the intense energy fluctuations coming from the distant canyon, a schadenfreude smile curling on his lips.

"Fight, fight! The more chaotic the better!"

He breathed a slight sigh of relief and began to survey his surroundings. The depths of this secret realm were even more desolate and silent, with more fragmented spatial debris. Occasionally, he could see distorted spatial rifts, as if torn apart by immense force, emitting a heart-palpitating suction.

"I must find a way to leave as soon as possible. This secret realm is unstable. Since the Western Teachings could enter, there must be other exits, or… a way to return the way I came?" Xuanwei moved cautiously, pondering.

He tried to communicate with the Black Tortoise Dao Pattern Armor again, but apart from a faint sense of the altar's black water pool, he received no other clear guidance. Clearly, the main function of the Dao Pattern Armor was to guide him in receiving the inheritance (body tempering), not to lead the way.

"It seems I can only explore on my own."

He chose a direction where the space felt relatively stable and continued forward. Along the way, he became even more cautious, avoiding several obvious spatial traps and energy turbulence. At the same time, he also discovered some scattered crystals containing pure Water and Earth elemental energy, as well as residual patterns containing strange Dao Rhyme on some unknown beast bones. He carefully collected them all. Even a mosquito's leg is meat; he couldn't come here for nothing.

As he passed through a "stone forest" composed of countless giant black crystal clusters, the Black Tortoise Dao Pattern Armor in his embrace unexpectedly transmitted a faint resonance, different from before!

This resonance was not directed from a fixed energy source, but from… the pervasive, pure, and ancient Chaos Qi filling the air!

It seemed that in the depths of this "stone forest," the concentration and quality of Chaos Qi had reached a higher level!

Xuanwei's heart stirred. Chaos Qi was a universal tonic for him. It could be used to cultivate the Chaos Heaven-Opening Art, feed the Light Cocoon and the Black Tortoise Egg, and activate the Chaos Bead. If he could find a place with particularly dense Chaos Qi, it might be beneficial for his recovery and concealment.

Following the guidance of the Dao Pattern Armor, he carefully navigated through the maze-like black crystal forest. The deeper he went, the more concentrated the surrounding Chaos Qi became, even forming a faint gray mist. The Guixu death qi in the air seemed to be repelled by this pure Chaos Qi, becoming much thinner.

Finally, after passing through a narrow gap between crystal stones, the view suddenly opened up!

It was a relatively hidden small valley surrounded by giant crystal clusters. In the center of the valley was not an altar, but a natural Chaos Qi vent, only about ten feet in area! Extremely pure gray Chaos Qi gushed out from underground like a spring, converging here to form a small vortex of Chaos Spirit Energy!

"What a great place!" Xuanwei was overjoyed! The quality of Chaos Qi here was more than a notch higher than what he had converted before! It was almost comparable to the interior of the Chaos Bead! Cultivating here would definitely yield twice the results with half the effort!

He immediately decided to hide and recover here for the time being. He quickly set up a few simple concealment and warning formations around the Qi vent, then impatiently sat cross-legged beside the vent, fully activating the Chaos Heaven-Opening Art and the Azure Emperor Longevity Art, madly absorbing the pure Chaos Qi!

Like a parched land receiving rain, his previously depleted immortal qi and Chaos Bead reserves began to recover rapidly. Even the Chaos Bead in his sea of consciousness transmitted a joyful and excited intent, actively absorbing the external Chaos Qi. Its 5.1% repair progress actually began to move upwards, albeit extremely slowly but steadily!

[Absorbing high-quality Chaos Qi, Chaos Heaven-Opening Art proficiency increased! Chaos Bead repair progress: 5.11%…5.12%…]

[Remnant Seed of Jianmu activity increased, feedback vitality accelerates host's recovery.]

[Hint: This Chaos Qi vent appears to have a source. Host may attempt to investigate further.]

There's a source? Xuanwei's heart stirred. Could it be that the depths of this secret realm hid even greater Chaos treasures?

But he suppressed the urge to investigate immediately. The top priority was to recover his strength and hide himself. There were still pursuers from the Western Teachings outside, and he couldn't afford to be greedy.

However, just as he was immersed in his cultivation, feeling better and better, almost touching the bottleneck of the early Heavenly Immortal stage—

Hum!

A warning restriction he had set up on the outermost perimeter had been triggered!

It wasn't the Buddhist aura of the Western Teachings, but a... more bizarre, colder aura, emanating a sinister energy filled with dense blood fiends and resentment!

Xuanwei's "eyes" snapped open, and his divine sense instantly swept towards the direction of the warning.

He saw that in the shadows at the edge of the Chaos Qi eye, several blurry, blood-colored shadow-like figures had silently appeared at some point! They had no fixed form, like flowing blood, emitting a nauseating stench and soaring resentment. A pair of hollow, blood-red eyes were staring intently at the cultivating Xuanwei!

"These are... Blood Sea Asuras?!" Xuanwei gasped, his scalp tingling!

The race created by Old Ancestor Minghe? How did they appear in this secret realm related to Guixu and the Black Tortoise?!

The aura of each of these Asuras was no weaker than a True Immortal, and the one leading them had even reached the Mysterious Immortal level! They seemed to have been attracted by the pure Chaos Qi here, but clearly, they were more interested in the scent of living beings!

Watching the blood-colored figures slowly approaching, exuding greed and killing intent, Xuanwei's recently relaxed nerves tensed up again.

He had just escaped one den and fallen into another! How many more monsters and demons were hidden in this damned place?!