In an ancient cave abode in the Great Wilderness, the Purple Mansion Holy Son obtained a decaying Heavenly Demon Lamp and two ten-thousand-year-old spirit medicines. He was then gravely wounded in the fierce battle and escaped, using a forbidden artifact to preserve his life.
Lu Chen did not pursue him. He searched the entire ancient cave abode once more. A pool of heavenly yin absolute water, three ten-thousand-year-old spirit medicines, and the unopened Jade Coffin were all it contained.
When he opened the Jade Coffin, he found only the decayed corpse of a Demon King inside, nothing else.
"Although I don't know which Ancient Emperor or Heavenly Venerable you belonged to as an Extreme Dao Weapon, legend says you once slew an Immortal. Then I'll call you the Immortal-Slaying Gourd!"
Looking at the meter-tall black gourd, Lu Chen used it to collect the pool of heavenly yin absolute water.
This sinister black water could dissolve Magic Treasures, divine weapons, and even the bodies of Great Powers. It was a rare and precious weapon against his enemies.
As for the Treasure-Seeking Mouse the Purple Mansion Holy Son had pursued, he really had led them to a treasure trove. Unfortunately, while they were fighting, the mouse had already seized his chance to slip away.
There was nothing of value left in this cave abode from ancient times, so Lu Chen left as well.
Two months later, after refining the source he had and consuming the three ten-thousand-year-old spirit medicines, he had advanced from the dao palace second heaven to the dao palace fourth heaven.
Before reaching the third great secret realm, Four Extremes, anyone with sufficient resources could rapidly cultivate to the pinnacle of the Dao Palace. For people of supreme talent like Lu Chen and Ye Fan, that speed was even more terrifying.
"With my current cultivation, I no longer have anything to fear from the younger generation. Even if I encounter a Holy Lord or a Great Power, I can use the Immortal-Slaying Gourd to save my life, or even kill them."
Over this period, Lu Chen had roughly figured out how to use the Immortal-Slaying Gourd. A full-force strike was powerful enough to threaten someone in the immortal two realm.
However, the Immortal-Slaying Gourd needed a long time to recover before it could unleash another strike. This had nothing to do with how much dharma power he had, and he could not determine the exact reason.
It had been the same when Ye Fan used it. Even the overwhelming dharma power of a Sacred Body in the Immortal Platform Realm could not activate it. He could only wait for it to recover on its own before unleashing another Dao Sword.
In a vast city in the Southern Region, Lu Chen sat by the window of a tavern, sipping his wine. As he watched the ordinary people bustling through the city, boundless emotion welled up within him.
He had once been one of those ordinary people. Though the world had been different, his place in it had been the same, busy every day making a living.
Now that he had become a cultivator, he was no longer troubled by the necessities of life. He had loftier ambitions: to pursue the Dao and chase immortality.
"Have you heard? The Bronze Immortal Palace, which supposedly holds an opportunity to become an Immortal, has appeared in the Southern Region."
"What cultivator hasn't heard of something that big? They say even Nangong Zheng, the Human Race Great Power rumored to have passed away in meditation five hundred years ago, has appeared. He intends to enter that ancient immortal palace and stake his lifetime on becoming an Immortal."
Cultivators were discussing the matter in low voices in the tavern. Hearing the news, Lu Chen paused briefly, then murmured, "Ye Fan has started stirring things up!"
He knew that, barring anything unexpected, Ye Fan must have spread the news about the Bronze Immortal Palace.
"Not just Nangong Zheng. I heard even the Peacock King, the Demon Race Great Power who swept across the Southern Region eight hundred years ago, has reappeared."
"I heard they fought not long ago, reducing an enormous mountain range to scorched earth and leaving it utterly barren," someone remarked.
But no one outside knew which was stronger-the Human Race Great Power or the Demon Race Great Power-or whether their battle had ended with a victor. By the time anyone reached the battlefield, both Great Powers had long since vanished.
Then word came that the Ji Family Holy Lord and the Yaoguang Holy Lord had appeared together, searching the vast Southern Region for the Peacock King. Their declaration that they would kill him stirred a thousand towering waves in the cultivation world, becoming a major event that drew every cultivator's attention.
As for the younger generation, it was said that shortly after the Ji Family Divine Body, Ji Haoyue, emerged into the world, he had become embroiled in a major conflict with the Demon Race and nearly been slain. His whereabouts were now unknown, and forces from all sides were secretly searching for him. The waves were surging indeed.
Furthermore, the Mad Old Man, the sole surviving member of the Tianxuan Holy Land that had been destroyed six thousand years ago, had actually formed a cocoon and fallen into slumber in the Taixuan Sect, a Super Sect.
Although the Taixuan Sect had tried to suppress the news, the Various Holy Lands had somehow discovered it. Many important figures from the Holy Lands gathered at the Taixuan Sect, hoping to pay him a visit. Yet the Mad Old Man had mysteriously disappeared at some unknown point, leaving the Great Powers aghast.
Throughout the Southern Region, all the major forces were sending their experts out. Some sought the Bronze Immortal Palace, some the Ji Family Divine Body, and others the Mad Old Man who had survived for six thousand years. Amid all these pursuits, hidden currents surged.
"The golden age is about to arrive. The cultivation world won't remain peaceful." Listening to all these major events, Lu Chen knew that great changes were coming to the Big Dipper.
Suddenly, a loud shout rang out above the ancient, sprawling city: "If you dare come any closer, I'll spread the Great Void Technique from the Void Ancient Scripture throughout this city and let everyone learn the Ji Family's Secret Technique!"
"Is that... Ye Fan being hunted by the Ji Family?" The moment Lu Chen heard those words, he had a good idea who was responsible.
He flew into the sky and, sure enough, saw three old men leading a group of young people in the distance, surrounding a boy of thirteen or fourteen. The person shouting to the entire city was that very boy-Ye Fan.
By now, almost every cultivator in the city had been alerted. They flew above the ancient city one after another, gazing at the two opposing sides from afar.
On one side was the Ji Family, a Desolate Ancient Family. On the other was merely a boy in the Sea of Bitterness Realm. No matter how one looked at it, the two sides were utterly unequal, yet they had truly reached a stalemate.
"The Ji Family really has driven Ye Fan into a corner here." Seeing the situation, Lu Chen understood what was happening.
Ye Fan had learned the Great Void Technique, and the Ji Family wanted to kill him to keep it secret. But now he was in a vast city.
Unless the Ji Family could kill Ye Fan instantly, he could use a cultivator's divine sense to transmit it to thousands or even tens of thousands of people in a few breaths. Could the Ji Family really slaughter them all?
That would bring a tremendous disaster upon the Ji Family. The Various Holy Lands valued their Ancient Scripture Secret Arts more than their lives, declaring that even if another Holy Land's Holy Lord learned their Secret Technique, they would find a way to reclaim them.
"Just pass the Great Void Technique to me, and I'll get you out of here." With a faint smile on his face, Lu Chen sent his voice to Ye Fan in the distance.
The strongest Ji Family members present were three Eminent Elders, all in the Four Extremes Realm. With Lu Chen's strength at the dao palace fourth heaven, the outcome of a fight against the three was uncertain, but escaping with Ye Fan would be no problem.
As for the Ji Family Disciples below the Four Extremes Realm, he did not take them seriously at all. Only if Ji Haoyue, Ji Ziyue, Ji Biyue, or Ji Haiyue were among them would they warrant his attention.
"You're... Lu Chen!"
Ye Fan was confronting the Ji Family when that voice transmission reached him, startling him. He focused his gaze and looked over. It was actually Lu Chen, whom he had not seen for years after his disappearance in the Desolate Forbidden Zone.
Some time earlier, he and Ji Ziyue had gone to Clumsy Peak in the Taixuan Sect, where he had met his old classmate Zhang Wenchang and learned a little about Lu Chen. He had never expected to see him again today, in such a desperate situation, let alone hear him offer help through a voice transmission.
Before you continue