Jiang Chen brought his sword down.
The old general split in two, shock and confusion still on his face.
The strike cleaved not only his body, but his Golden Core as well.
Nearby, the black-clad man at Foundation Establishment Early Stage realized he had met a monster. Terrified, he turned and fled.
Jiang Chen snatched Chen's Storage Ring and heavy sword, then turned to pursue him.
A Qi Refining cultivator chasing a Foundation Establishment cultivator... If he hadn't been the one doing the chasing, Jiang Chen would never have believed it.
At first, Jiang Chen flew slowly on his sword.
But his blade carried the power of resonance.
It resonated with the howling sand!
With the biting wind!
With the thin spiritual energy!
Each resonance sent an almost imperceptible crack from the sword tip, driving the blade forward.
Meanwhile, as the disciple's sword sped through the air, the tiny pellet hole in it gave off an eerie whistle.
Layer upon layer of resonant cracks and that strange whistling propelled his sword faster with every passing moment.
To other cultivators, the cold wind, sand, and even spiritual energy hindered sword flight.
To Jiang Chen, they helped him accelerate.
He soon reached astonishing speed—surpassing not only the limit of the Qi Refining Realm, but also the sword-flight speed of an ordinary cultivator at Foundation Establishment Early Stage. The distance between him and the black-clad man kept shrinking.
The black-clad man had never heard a sword make such noises. Frightened, he plunged headfirst into the sand and burrowed deep to escape.
Jiang Chen suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
Though both were at Foundation Establishment Early Stage, the black-clad man was bound to be stronger in battle than the merchants. Chasing and fighting him on the surface would take considerable time and might expose Jiang Chen's true strength, drawing more black-clad men.
But once they entered the sand, Jiang Chen had the home-ground advantage.
Beneath the desert, he could conceal his presence to the fullest and wrap himself in a Sandworm shell for the fastest possible pursuit.
He soon caught up with the black-clad man.
If the man had stood ready with his emotions steady, there might still have been a fight.
But he had just seen Jiang Chen split a Golden Core Realm general with one stroke, then heard those bizarre explosive cracks and whistles. When Jiang Chen caught him, the man dropped to his knees and begged for mercy.
Jiang Chen lopped off his head and took his Storage Ring and steel saber, but left his dantian intact.
"That's your reward for begging. Whether you live is up to fate."
With that, Jiang Chen returned to Flame Mountain and entered the Sword-Qi Domain that had broken the restriction.
By rights, his trial had ended when Li Lingzhou's Sword Qi saved his life.
But Li Lingzhou still hadn't come.
So he drove his sword into the center of the Sword-Qi Domain.
The woman still didn't appear.
Don't tell me she forgot...
Jiang Chen glanced around. Li Lingzhou's Sword-Qi Domain remained, offering at least some protection.
He seized the chance to cultivate with the Demi-Immortal's Book and raise his urgently inadequate cultivation first.
First, he took stock of his spoils.
There were the two Merfolk Women, whimpering for help.
Jiang Chen patted the wooden bars and borrowed a few lines from Korean dramas to settle them down for the moment.
As for spirit stones, the two merchants carried over three hundred between them. The old general and the black-clad man, by contrast, had barely a hundred combined.
He couldn't tell whether the old general had been exceptionally incorruptible or had spent all his spirit stones on cultivation.
Most of the pills and spiritual materials were standard supplies: Rapid Spirit-Healing Pills, pills for nourishing qi, fortifying one's foundation, and nurturing spiritual energy, along with rare medicinal herbs, beast cores and meat, spiritual water, spiritual grain, and seeds.
More important were the Merfolk Pearls: twenty-eight in all.
The equipment included three swords, a steel saber, and assorted armor and talismans.
Without another word, Jiang Chen put on the merchant's double-layered Spirit-Guarding Armor. Whether it fit or not, another layer of protection came first.
The merchant's Soul-Transfer Device wasn't completely broken, either. Perhaps he could have it repaired at a spirit-artifact shop someday.
Beyond that, old General Chen's Storage Ring held a mysterious jade slip.
A secret manual!
Jiang Chen opened it: Golden Spear Never-Falls.
A closer look revealed that it was a bedroom technique for cultivators.
Perhaps the general had used it himself, or perhaps he had prepared it to curry favor with the old emperor.
Either way, Jiang Chen had no need for such vulgar stuff.
[Items]: Golden Spear Never-Falls jade slip ×1;
Jiang Chen glanced at the water tank. The Merfolk Women weren't spirit beasts, so he couldn't put them in his Storage Ring or inventory. He had to carry them with him.
He grabbed the tank and sank underground to hide.
The two Merfolk Women were so frightened they thought he meant to try out his newly acquired manual.
Jiang Chen sat cross-legged in the sand and began cultivating while concealing his presence.
He took out the Demon Shrine and absorbed every trace of Heavenly Demon qi inside.
As that single type of demonic qi entered his qi sea, the Abyss churned and his soul began to sink.
Under the demonic qi's assault, the dark yet alluring figure of Tian Mingye instinctively appeared in Jiang Chen's sea of consciousness... He used her as an anchor for his soul.
Only then did he realize that cultivating Myriad Phenomena Resonance had greatly strengthened his soul. The ordeal felt much easier.
Next, he swallowed all twenty-eight Merfolk Pearls, pouring demonic-beast qi into his qi sea.
As it turned out, the pearls could indeed be absorbed.
Which meant half-demons counted as demons too.
But the energy in the Merfolk Pearls surged fiercely, and his blood began to boil along with it.
It felt rather like taking the Dragonblood Qi-Refining Pill.
"Are merfolk related to dragons and snakes too?"
Once the demonic-beast qi and demonic qi balanced out, the two forces tangled in the Qi Sea Abyss, twisting together like braided dough.
Jiang Chen gritted his teeth against the way their entanglement eroded his soul and began swallowing spirit stones without pause.
Only after more than three hundred spirit stones had gone down did his spiritual energy, demonic-beast qi, and demonic qi form a dynamic, three-tomoe spiral, each chasing the next in a delicate balance.
Then the spiral spun faster and faster. At the center of the vortex, a visible shape gradually formed...
An Abyss deeper and darker than before!
Boom—
This time, Jiang Chen didn't dare endure it head-on. He anchored his attention to the system panel.
Even the panel seemed to shake inside his skull as his consciousness sank...
His soul's tendrils clung tight to the system panel, carrying him through two agonizing hours.
Dawn broke.
Jiang Chen was drenched in sweat. His spiritual meridians ran clear, his qi sea surged, and his muscles showed a rosy flush beneath pale skin. Both his spiritual pressure and physique had improved considerably.
He hurriedly checked the system panel.
[Cultivation]: Qi Refining Ninth Layer!
Jiang Chen understood now. His cultivation advanced in leaps, like a triple jump.
It seemed he would have to rely on Empress Dowager baby to reach Foundation Establishment.
Li Lingzhou still hadn't come... That woman really was unreliable!
With no other choice, he would have to leave on his own.
Jiang Chen searched his spoils, found several high-grade presence-concealing talismans, and stuck one to the wooden bars of the water tank.
Then he brought the tank aboveground and left Flame Mountain, where he had cultivated for more than a month.
In Xiyang City, he bought a carriage for two spirit stones.
He hid the tank inside, drove to the north gate of Peaceful Palace himself, and had a palace maid announce: "Jiang Chen, an old friend, has come to visit the Empress Dowager."
He entered Spirit-Calming Garden.
Jiang Chen parked the carriage in the garden and walked into Peaceful Palace.
History repeated itself.
"Guards! Drag this lecher outside the palace and beat him to death!"
"What are you doing?"
"Mm..."
This time, Jiang Chen lasted from dawn until sunset.
The setting sun was red as blood, and the evening clouds were especially beautiful.
A day of cultivation came to an end.
Though Jiang Chen had not reached Foundation Establishment, he had absorbed a great deal of demonic-beast qi and stored it deep in his Qi Sea Abyss for later use. He had also nursed the Empress Dowager back to health until she was fair and plump as a spring silkworm.
The churning demonic-beast qi repeatedly tormented his nerves; he had to force himself to resonate with it to bring it under control.
"Where under heaven is there another lecher as brazen as you, doing such things in broad daylight!"
The Empress Dowager pummeled Jiang Chen with her little fists and nearly killed him by accident. That would have made for a divine ending.
Jiang Chen coughed, spat blood, and still said those words.
"I missed my chance with Senior Sister Liu. I don't want to miss my chance with you too, Your Majesty. Even if this is only a dream, I'll make that dream come true."
Saying it for the second time, Jiang Chen resolved to choose this ending.
After a string of sweet words, Jiang Chen asked again:
"Don't change the subject. Why did you get involved in the palace struggle?"
"I'm waiting for an opportunity. I can't see its details, but I'm certain it has to do with one thing."
"What thing?"
"Dragon Bone."
"You ruled from behind the curtain back then and held all the power. Why didn't you find any clues to the Dragon Bone?"
"An opportunity like this can only be awaited. Trying to force it would change the future I divined."
"What exactly did you divine?"
Mu Rong's gaze grew still. She glanced at Jiang Chen and spoke slowly:
"I saw that the Dragon Bone was connected to the Twin Mermaids.
"Yet all these years, I've cultivated by taking herbal medicines. I never deliberately sought out Merfolk Women or consumed Merfolk Pearls to cultivate.
"My imperial son, on the other hand, secretly gathered Merfolk Women for his cultivation.
"I didn't stop him. Nor did I expect him to form a Golden Core and cultivate all the way to Peak Golden Core, then go so far as to form a Pseudo-Nascent Soul to seize power from me. That weakened his constitution and caused him to age rapidly.
"Now only the Dragon Bone can save his life."
He went so far as to form a Pseudo-Nascent Soul to seize power?
Forming a Pseudo-Nascent Soul meant forcing a breakthrough through sheer exertion, using Golden Core cultivation to imitate the spiritual pressure of a Nascent Soul. It drastically shortened one's life.
For someone old, forming one was tantamount to killing oneself on the spot.
For someone young, it meant destroying their future.
"That's strange... Why would Yu Wenshu risk forming a Pseudo-Nascent Soul just to take back imperial power?"
The Empress Dowager sighed:
"I want to know too. Unfortunately, my true cultivation has long been below my imperial son's, so I couldn't search his soul. Secret surveillance turned up no clues either.
"I've cultivated with rare herbs for years, and some were inevitably toxic. The toxins accumulated deep in my dantian and womb. All I can do now is wait.
"Until you brought me a pair of Twin Mermaids...
"Ordinarily, half-demons don't produce offspring at all, much less twin Merfolk Women.
"That's why there has long been a legend in the cultivation world that merfolk carry Dragon Clan blood."
Hearing this, Jiang Chen thought of the similar sensation of boiling blood he'd felt after swallowing Merfolk Pearls and the Dragonblood Qi-Refining Pill.
Perhaps the merfolk and the snake clan whose blood was used to make the Dragonblood Qi-Refining Pill were both descended from branches of the Dragon Clan.
"So you divined the Merfolk Women and inferred from that that Fireburn Kingdom has the Dragon Bone?"
The Empress Dowager nodded.
"What's interesting is that the opportunity I divined is tied specifically to the Twin Mermaids. Could you be a reincarnated dragon, and your bones the legendary Dragon Bone?"
No, no. I was joking. Don't let your imagination run wild.
"Want it? I happen to have one. You can have it."
Jiang Chen offered generously and started again.
The Empress Dowager furrowed her brow.
"You're wicked..."
After nightfall, the two finally emerged from the bed curtains. In their nightclothes, they entered the inner palace's secret passage and reached the Empress Dowager's underground cultivation chamber.
It had a mat set within a formation, an alchemy furnace, and a hot spring in the corner. Its layout resembled Liu Ruyan's cave residence, only far more luxurious.
The Empress Dowager had already sent someone to unlock the two Merfolk Women Jiang Chen had brought and place them in the hot spring to rest and recover.
Now the two slept against the edge of the pool, their complexions rosy and their sleep peaceful.
"Come to think of it, merfolk are practically a specialty of Fireburn Kingdom. They're nearly extinct, and the old emperor has probably imprisoned every Merfolk Woman left to harvest her tears. Where else would you find twin girls as lovely as these?"
Jiang Chen spoke with curiosity.
"Why don't we ask the two Merfolk Women?"
Draped in a thin, translucent white gauze nightgown, Mu Rong bent beside the pool. She extended her pale arms and placed a palm on the crown of each Merfolk Woman's head.
Soul search!
A half-demon's soul was difficult to discern.
After a long while, Mu Rong slowly opened her eyes.
"They were bred and raised to adulthood by a young beast tamer. When his temperament changed drastically, they ran away, only to be caught by merchants..."
A beast tamer?
Jiang Chen's heart skipped a beat.
In the original version of this story, after the black-clad man at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage gave the two Merfolk Women to the old general, he had rambled on at the underground stronghold.
He had said the princess was betrothed to a prodigy of the Beast Taming Sect, and that he had no chance with her.
The princess was involved in this too?
Things were growing more and more complicated.
Before you continue