First Encounter with the Shadow Clan

Chapter 39: First Encounter with the Shadow Clan

The light of the Heavenly Dao enveloped the entire Ancient Wild World. Nine-colored radiance swirled through the air, making everything hazy and dreamlike. Yet Xuanji, as the main Primordial Spirit, saw it all clearly. Under the Heavenly Dao's radiance, the two Giant Beasts' corpses began to break down and dissolve, merging into the land of the Ancient Wild World.

Rumble!

A tremendous boom rang out as the world began to evolve. The earth stretched and expanded, and the sky rose higher and higher. At the same time, the Heart of the World within the main Primordial Spirit rapidly strengthened, and his Primordial Spirit cultivation surged at an unimaginable speed.

Mid Primordial Spirit Stage—late Primordial Spirit Stage—peak Primordial Spirit Stage!

The Ancient Wild World's evolution continued, but the main Primordial Spirit had already reached its peak. He was now strong enough to break through to the Hexu Realm. However, the Hexu Realm required one to grasp the mysteries of nature and unite Heaven and man. Reaching that state was quite simple within the Ancient Wild World, but it was nowhere near comparable to the Primordial World. Besides, the cultivation method in the Hexu Chapter of the Eight Meridians Mystic Pole had not yet been fully perfected.

As the Heart of the World strengthened, the main Primordial Spirit reached its peak. Xuanji could feel the magical power stored within his Primordial Spirit steadily increasing. An idea struck him: one main Primordial Spirit alone could not fully harness the power of the world's evolution, but he still had twenty-four Inner Mansion Primordial Spirits!

At that moment, the twenty-four Inner Mansion Primordial Spirits were inside the Ancient Wild World. With a thought from Xuanji, all twenty-four appeared before him in an instant. Waves of Primordial Spirit power poured into them, and with the main Primordial Spirit's help, all twenty-four began to advance in cultivation.

Three inches—four inches—five inches—six inches...

Early Primordial Spirit Stage—mid Primordial Spirit Stage...

As their cultivation soared, time passed without notice. When the two Giant Beasts' corpses had fully merged into the earth and vanished, heaven and earth cleared. The light of the Heavenly Dao withdrew into the Ancient Wild Heavenly Dao, and the nine-colored radiance gathered around it, wrapping it up.

The world's evolution was complete!

Xuanji was thrilled. Thanks to the world's evolution, all twenty-five Primordial Spirits had reached the peak of the Primordial Spirit Stage. His cultivation had soared, and magical power surged through his body like a vast ocean. With a casual gesture, he could cut off rivers and streams, split mountains, and shatter peaks—his powers were nothing short of divine.

Although he was only at the peak of the Primordial Spirit Stage, Xuanji was confident he could fight and defeat an opponent in the early Hexu Realm.

"Huh?" Once he had calmed his excitement over his sudden increase in cultivation, Xuanji began examining the evolved Ancient Wild World and immediately froze. The world, which had originally been more than six thousand meters across, had now expanded to over twenty thousand li. It was utterly incomparable to what it had been before.

He surveyed the world and saw that the earth was more than twice as thick as before. Its only spiritual vein had also grown considerably and split into two smaller branches, greatly increasing its ability to release spiritual energy. There were also many more minerals: iron, bronze, brass, silver, and more. After a moment's thought, he realized that they might have formed from the Giant Beasts' iron armor, fangs, and claws. Under the Heavenly Dao's workings, the souls and consciousnesses of the two Giant Beasts had also divided into several hundred strands of life essence, which had begun to gestate. The Ancient Wild World's evolution had greatly strengthened the Heavenly Dao, nearly doubling its speed at deriving cultivation methods and divine abilities. This delighted Xuanji.

"Who would've thought two early Earth Immortal Giant Beast corpses would be this useful? If I could get my hands on a few early Heavenly Immortal Giant Beast corpses, just how far could the Ancient Wild World evolve?" Xuanji mused. This was practically a shortcut to cultivation! As long as he broke through the bottlenecks between realms, using the Ancient Wild World to increase his magical power would be incredibly effective.

The benefits of this time around had made Xuanji set his sights on Giant Beast corpses. Although he couldn't kill one by himself right now, Giant Beasts fought one another all the time, leaving plenty of corpses behind. If he could find them, he could both evolve the Ancient Wild World and increase his own magical power—a perfect two-for-one.

The twenty-four Primordial Spirits returned to his Inner Mansion, and Xuanji's consciousness returned to his body.

He opened his eyes to a desolate scene. Nothing grew; sand and stone stretched as far as the eye could see. The battle between the two Giant Beasts had destroyed every plant and animal within a radius of ten thousand li.

"The power of an early Earth Immortal is truly formidable!" After a sigh, Xuanji set off toward the distant forest of giant trees, the Xuanji Sword in hand. A faint aura emanated from his body: the aura of a Giant Beast. The two Giant Beasts' corpses had not only evolved the Ancient Wild World and improved his cultivation; they had also greatly advanced his Profound Art of Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend. Xuanji could now transform into either of the two Giant Beasts, and mimicking their aura was effortless.

With the aura of a Giant Beast, the Demon Trees, Demon Flowers, and Demon Grass didn't dare attack him. Xuanji could walk through the forest of giant trees with ease.

He casually cut down several Demon Flowers and sent them into the Ancient Wild World. They were immediately absorbed by the earth, but did nothing to help its evolution. A few flowers grew in their place, while all the demonic energy settled deep beneath the ground. The result disappointed Xuanji a little, and he lost interest in collecting demonic plants. He only picked one or two of each kind of flower and grass he came across, along with one or two giant trees.

Moo!

Deep in the forest of giant trees, after walking for who knew how long, Xuanji suddenly heard an exceptionally anguished cry. His heart jolted.

"Giant Beast?" Xuanji was secretly delighted. The cry suggested it had run into danger; perhaps he could get his hands on its corpse. He immediately concealed his aura, quickened his pace, and headed toward the source of the cries.

Moo! Moo! Moo!

The bellowing of oxen shook the heavens. Before him stood a herd of Ox Giant Beasts, about thirty in all, each roughly eighty zhang tall. They wore armor over a foot thick, and a pair of enormous horns jutted from their heads. Their strange, three-headed forms were covered in dense black fur. Their blood-red eyes held none of an ox's gentleness, only cruelty, savagery, and a craving for slaughter and bloodshed. Yet now the Ox Giant Beasts were in a panic. Their eyes held only fear and terror—and despair!

Whoosh!

The shadow of an Ox Giant Beast strangely took shape. Its early Earth Immortal aura was no different from that of its owner. It was the same size and shape as the Ox Giant Beast; were it not entirely black, it would have looked just like its reflection in a mirror.

Moo! Whoosh, whoosh!

Horrified, the Ox Giant Beast stared at the Shadow Ox before it. It lowered its head and charged, its massive horns ramming forward. Space split open, and a strange shriek rang out; the blow carried tremendous force.

"Hmph! The strength of a mere ant. You overestimate yourself." The Shadow Ox's voice rang out, calm and disdainful. It neither dodged nor blocked the Ox Giant Beast's attack.

Whoosh! The massive horns passed straight through the Shadow Ox, which was as insubstantial as a real shadow, as if the blow had struck cotton.

Pfft!

Dark, foul-smelling blood slowly streamed down from the Ox Giant Beast's forehead. A black hoof had pierced through it—one of the Shadow Ox's hooves. It had been incorporeal a moment ago, but now it was solid. The sight was bizarre.

Crash! As the Ox Giant Beast's corpse hit the ground with a heavy thud, the Shadow Ox wavered and gradually became a human-shaped shadow with wings on its back and three horns on its head.

Moo!

Thud, thud, thud...

The thirty-odd Ox Giant Beasts fled in panic, as if they knew all too well how strange the shadow was. Even though all thirty of them were at the early Earth Immortal Stage, not one had the courage to fight.

"Do you think you can escape?" The strange humanoid shadow sneered. Its figure flickered and vanished. An Ox Giant Beast that was fleeing then appeared, its shadow taking shape. A hoof slowly and effortlessly pierced through its skull, killing it. The Shadow Ox crumpled and collapsed, once again becoming the ox's shadow. At the same time, the shadow of another Ox Giant Beast began to take shape.

Hidden nearby, Xuanji stared in stunned disbelief. This was completely beyond his understanding. The Ox Giant Beasts were no weaker than the Wolf Giant Beast and the Leopard Giant Beast he had encountered before, and their defenses were clearly terrifying. Yet they were utterly helpless before the strange shadow. Xuanji now understood what made it so frightening: it could take form through another being's shadow, possessing exactly the same cultivation. It could also switch between being tangible and intangible. No matter how powerful its opponent was, attacks had no effect on its intangible form. And no matter how fast the owner of the shadow was, the strange figure could follow like a shadow. When it attacked, the full strength of the shadow's owner was at its disposal.

"Terrifying! Does a being like that even have any enemies?" Xuanji's eyes widened in shock. His heart pounded with terror. He had never imagined that such a terrifying existence could be found in the Primordial World.

As Xuanji was lost in thought, all thirty-odd Ox Giant Beasts were killed by the hooves of their own shadow-forms. The strange figure appeared again. It stretched out both hands, and a drop of blood suddenly appeared between them, suspended in midair and glowing faintly. It seemed to contain an unimaginable amount of blood energy.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The instant the bead of blood appeared, all the flesh and blood of the Ox Giant Beasts turned into streams of blood energy and flowed into it. A few breaths later, only the massive horns, armor, and bones remained scattered across the ground.

The figure put away the bead of blood and muttered, "The three thousand Giant Beast blood offerings our clan chief needs are nearly complete. This mission will be over soon." As he spoke, he glanced at the armor, horns, and bones scattered across the ground, then gave a disdainful sneer.

"Such lowly Giant Beasts are no more than ants to my Shadow Clan." The strange figure flickered away, darting from shadow to shadow between the giant trees. Within a few breaths, it had vanished completely.

"The Shadow Clan? Three thousand Giant Beast blood offerings?" Xuanji pondered, his thoughts in turmoil. The Giant Beasts were already formidable, yet they had been completely helpless before this so-called Shadow Clan. What surprised him most was that this strange figure belonged to a whole clan, which meant there were likely quite a few of them. One was already this terrifying—if there were many, just how dreadful would they be?

"It looks like the Shadow Clan's chief is collecting Giant Beast blood. I need to find out why." Xuanji knew that a powerful clan like the Shadow Clan wouldn't collect Giant Beast blood for no reason. There had to be some major purpose behind it.

Whoosh!

In a flash, he reached the pile of armor, horns, and bones. These could also be of some use to the Ancient Wild World; at the very least, they could become mineral deposits in the earth. Xuanji naturally wouldn't waste them. He waved his hand, enveloping them in the power of his world, and sent them all into the Ancient Wild World for the Heavenly Dao to deal with.

Watching the direction in which the Shadow Clan practitioner had vanished, Xuanji gave a cold laugh and activated the Profound Art of Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend. Three-colored light flashed, and he transformed into a tiny mosquito, following after the figure. By now, his Profound Art of Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend was nearly complete, allowing him to transform into a thousand forms. Yet he could only reproduce their shapes, not their essence. Only the Wolf Giant Beast, the Leopard Giant Beast, and many of the Ancient Wild World's natural treasures and plants had both form and essence.

In later ages, the Heavenly Gang Transformation would not appear until after the Primordial Heavenly Dao was perfected. Xuanji's version of the Profound Art of Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend drew upon the Ancient Wild World's Heavenly Dao and his memories from his previous life. His mastery of form was already complete, but he still had a long way to go in mastering essence. Still, in the Primordial World of this age, Xuanji was the only one who knew the Heavenly Gang Transformation.