Level 5 Cultivation Country, Giant Devil Race.
The Giant Devil Race's ancestor, their only Yingbian Realm Progenitor, instantly appeared in the grand hall where he had been cultivating in seclusion and violently spat out a mouthful of scarlet blood.
Clutching his chest, the Giant Devil Race Progenitor glared red-eyed and said, "Damn it. I actually used up so much immortal power this time. There's nowhere near enough left in my body to sustain my cultivation."
"Luo Chuan, you brat. I swear that one day I'll rip out your tendons and bones, suppress your soul in an oil lamp, and burn it for ten thousand years!"
Just then, a Giant Devil Race elder in the Spirit Severing Realm walked in. Seeing the Progenitor spit blood, he hurried over, his face full of concern.
"Progenitor, what happened to you?"
The Giant Devil Race Progenitor looked at the elder before him and thrust his right hand straight through the man's chest. With a savage expression, he said, "My bloodline has been damaged. I'll borrow yours today!"
The elder stared at him with eyes as round as copper bells, unable to believe what he was seeing. He had never imagined that one day he would die such a horrible death at the hands of the Progenitor.
Without a moment's hesitation, the Giant Devil Race Progenitor extracted all the energy from the elder's body and absorbed it into his own. Only then did he feel a slight relief, stabilizing his cultivation so it wouldn't fall.
"I'm a dignified early-stage Yingbian cultivator, yet I ended up in such a sorry state in front of a mere Spirit Severing brat. What a disgrace!"
The Giant Devil Race Progenitor clenched his fists in fury, shattering the corpse of the tribesman before him. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Luo Chuan, once I've completely stabilized my early-stage Yingbian Realm, I'll personally grind your bones to dust!"
"Your body is as good as mine!"
At dawn the next day, roosters crowed to greet the morning.
In the quiet bamboo grove behind Hengyue Sect, Luo Chuan sat in a chair, calmly swirling the teacup in his hand as he looked at True Person Huanglong.
"Huang Long, how many years have you been with Hengyue Sect?"
"Reporting to Progenitor, I've been with Hengyue Sect for a hundred years." True Person Huanglong cupped his hands toward Luo Chuan with the utmost respect, showing none of the bearing of a Heavenly Human Realm expert.
Luo Chuan shrugged and smiled faintly. "To take the position of Hengyue Sect's leader in just a hundred years, you must be exceptionally talented."
"Your cultivation has only just reached the early stage of the Golden Core Realm, and you haven't broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm. You can't become an ancestor of the sect yet."
True Person Huanglong smiled bitterly and rubbed his nose. "This disciple is dull-witted. Whether I can break through to the Nascent Soul Realm in this life is uncertain. I haven't even advanced beyond the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm in nearly ten years."
The current True Person Huanglong didn't want to draw too much attention. Cultivation was nothing more than a means for him to mislead others.
If it weren't for the Immortal Remnant Clan, True Person Huanglong would probably have left this barren place, Vermilion Bird Planet, long ago.
Luo Chuan slowly rose to his feet, one hand behind his back as he gazed at the azure sky stretching like an ocean. "It's fine. One day, you'll break through."
"Before long, I'll need to head to the Outer Realm Battlefield passage in Huofen Kingdom to meet Liu Mei and A-Dai. I'll leave the sect's affairs to you and Liu Wenju."
Hearing this, True Person Huanglong looked up and asked in confusion, "Progenitor, has something happened to the passage out of Zhao Kingdom? Why are you going to the entrance in Huofen Kingdom?"
"Yesterday, Lin Yi, an envoy from the Heaven-Reaching Tower, sent word that the passage in Zhao Kingdom collapsed after a Giant Devil Race Spirit Severing expert entered it. It's being repaired now, and will take at least three hundred years."
"Something has happened in the Outer Realm Battlefield, so the cultivators there can no longer continue clearing it out. They can only leave through the nearest passage. Otherwise, once the passage closes, anyone who hasn't made it out will be trapped there forever."
Hearing this, True Person Huanglong nodded slightly. If that was the case, then it made sense for the Progenitor to go to Huofen Kingdom.
Luo Chuan glanced at True Person Huanglong and said calmly, "I've already left a protective formation around Hengyue Sect. Not even a Spirit Severing expert can break it. It'll be enough to keep the sect's disciples safe."
"This disciple understands."
True Person Huanglong immediately cupped his hands toward Luo Chuan and bowed deeply.
Luo Chuan came to True Person Huanglong's side and patted him on the shoulder. Then, like a ghost, he vanished into thin air.
After watching Luo Chuan leave Hengyue Sect, True Person Huanglong dropped his earlier show of respect and stood with his hands behind his back. His entire bearing suddenly changed, radiating an unprecedented sense of oppression.
True Person Huanglong spoke calmly. "A thirty-year-old Spirit Severing expert—something even my Vermilion Bird Holy Sect has never seen. If he can become Vermilion Bird Planet's Vermilion Bird Child, I'll recommend him to the Cultivation Alliance."
"Whether he can survive will depend on whether he has what it takes."
True Person Huanglong turned around with easy grace, glanced at Hengyue Sect, then flew straight toward the Immortal Remnant Clan.
Huofen Kingdom lay very far from Zhao Kingdom. Even Spirit Severing cultivators needed a great deal of time to cross between the two countries.
Fortunately, every country had teleportation arrays nearby. As long as you paid spirit stones, you could travel wherever you wanted.
Luo Chuan had now arrived at the teleportation array. Sitting atop the Blood Qilin, he saw that it was surrounded by cultivators and couldn't help feeling confused.
"Is something wrong with the teleportation array?"
Luo Chuan put away his Blood Qilin mount, landed steadily on the ground, and walked straight toward the array.
Before he reached it, he heard a commotion coming from that direction.
"Fifteen high-grade spirit stones? Why don't you just rob us!"
"That's right! This teleportation array is for cultivators to use, yet you've taken it over. That's outrageous!"
A middle-aged man in the crowd kicked the Foundation Establishment cultivator in front of him to death and barked, "All of you, shut up! You Foundation Establishment brats dare to act insolently in front of me?"
"Fifteen high-grade spirit stones is just the starting price. If you want to use it tomorrow, it'll cost eighteen!"
Hearing this, all the Foundation Establishment cultivators present exchanged glances, unable to believe that these men would use the teleportation array in broad daylight to extort spirit stones from passing cultivators.
Every one of them was a Golden Core cultivator. The middle-aged man leading them was even at the peak of the late Golden Core Realm, just half a step away from breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm.
Luo Chuan pushed through the crowd and walked over. He glanced at the corpses on the ground, which had been dead for some time. Among them were several helpless ordinary people.
"You're slaughtering unarmed commoners at will. Aren't you afraid the Cultivation Alliance will hold you responsible?"
The middle-aged man in the lead turned around and looked toward Luo Chuan. His brow furrowed slightly, and he said with displeasure, "Where did you come from, brat? How dare you act insolently in front of me!"