Return to Purple Mountain

"In that case, all of you can die!" Jiang Zhu's voice was utterly cold.

A lamp floated out, pure white as ice and snow, with the appearance of glazed glass. A golden flame danced within it.

Jiang Zhu drew upon the power of the dragon vein and channeled it into the Glazed Glass Lamp.

The tiny golden flame instantly surged upward.

Boom!

In an instant, wind and clouds shifted, heaven and earth lost their color, and boundless saintly might enveloped the void.

A terrifying aura radiated from the crystalline white lamp, chilling to the bone. Every wisp weighed more than ten thousand tons, bearing down like a range of primordial demon mountains.

The twelve Dragon Transformation cultivators were immediately immobilized in the void.

"This is saintly might! Impossible! A mere Dao Palace cultivator like you actually carries an Inherited Saint Weapon?" the Wanchu Holy Land elder cried, terror in his eyes.

"I don't believe it! How could you possibly activate a Saint Weapon to this extent?"

"Young friend, you cannot kill me! I am an elder of the Yaoguang Holy Land. If you kill me, you will become its mortal enemy! Release me, and we can consider today's events a misunderstanding!"

"So what if it's the Yaoguang Holy Land? Even with an Extreme Dao Emperor Weapon, it would still have to find me." Jiang Zhu's tone was mocking.

At those words, the Dragon Transformation cultivators shuddered.

Indeed, the Source Heavenly Master Lineage possessed a "Great Art of Changing Heaven and Earth" that could easily alter one's appearance. In the end, their sects would not even know who had killed them.

"Young friend, spare me! I was possessed by a moment of madness. I should never have attacked you. Let me go, and I will give you compensation that satisfies you!"

"Yes..."

"If I kill you, won't everything be mine anyway?" Jiang Zhu said mildly. "Time to send you on your way!"

With that, he activated the Great Saint Weapon. A blazing stream of golden divine flame erupted and surged forward, warping space wherever it passed.

"Aah!"

The Dragon Transformation cultivators pinned in the void screamed so terribly that everyone's ears rang.

In a flash, the divine flames swallowed them. Their cries ceased completely, and they fell as charred husks.

In the distance, chills ran down the spines of every cultivator who witnessed the scene.

Something enormous has happened!

With so many elders of holy lands and great sects killed, the Northern Region will be turned upside down!

Before long, Jiang Zhu finished sweeping the battlefield and departed as a divine rainbow.

In the Sacred City, news brought back by the watching cultivators immediately stirred towering waves.

For so many years, the holy lands, ancient clans, and great sects had stood high above the Northern Region, looking down on the endless struggles of lowly cultivators. No one had dared stroke their tiger whiskers.

Now, a single man had actually killed twelve of their elders. This was no longer a matter involving an ordinary cultivator; they had to strike with an iron fist.

The holy lands jointly issued a wanted notice for Jiang Zhu, bearing a lifelike depiction of his dragon form.

Although the reward was generous, it was of little use.

Virtually everyone believed Jiang Zhu was a successor to a Source Heavenly Master. If he was such a successor, why would he use his true appearance?

It would be a miracle if anyone could find him using that portrait!

In a small city in Kunzhou.

"Candied hawthorn! Sweet and sour candied hawthorn!"

"Steamed buns! Thin skins and plenty of filling!"

Having restored his original appearance, Jiang Zhu bit into a candied hawthorn and gazed at the sky.

Clouds churned in the distance, light streaming in every direction as an enormous warship refined from divine jade flew past. The emblem of the Yaoguang Holy Land was carved onto its hull, and divine ships from other holy lands followed behind.

"These holy lands and great sects certainly react quickly!" Jiang Zhu remarked. He quickly finished his candied hawthorn, then left the city and headed for Purple Mountain.

Purple Mountain was rich in earth-vein energy and the essence of mountains and rivers, making it ideal for cultivating the spleen divine treasury. Now that he had obtained the Qilin Divine Medicine seeds, it was time to advance another step.

Along the way, Jiang Zhu casually killed a few bandits foolish enough to cross him and arrived before Purple Mountain.

Following the familiar route as though returning home, he reached the cave dwelling he had carved out inside Purple Mountain.

The surroundings were excellent, and earth-vein energy abounded. It was a fine place to cultivate.

The moment he clasped the Qilin Immortal Seeds in his hand, the essence of the sun and moon surged toward him like a tide. Gentle radiance descended around him, leaving his entire body relaxed, as though he had been bathed in immortal qi.

Jiang Zhu sat cross-legged on the Profound Jade Platform. The surrounding earth veins rumbled, and dense, earthen-yellow essence steamed from the fissures, its glow mingling with that of a fist-sized piece of divine source floating before him.

The divine source was rounded like an egg, profound patterns flowing across its surface. Sealed within was a pool of liquid black-and-yellow energy, in which phantom mountains and rivers seemed to rise and sink.

This was the wu earth source he had cut out in the Wanchu Holy Land's stone shop, perfectly suited to his current cultivation.

Humm-

He lightly tapped the divine source with a fingertip. In an instant, it shattered, and vast essence poured into his body through his seven orifices and pores like a heavenly river cascading down.

Jiang Zhu's spleen abruptly lit up like a piece of amber buried deep in the earth's core, with mystical notes lingering around it.

Crack, crack...

His bones rumbled like muffled thunder. Earth-aspected essence washed through every inch of his flesh, making it crystalline as jade. At the site of his spleen divine treasury, an illusory "divine land dao palace" gradually formed, illuminating all his internal organs.

"The spleen presides over the center; great virtue bears all things... it's done!" Jiang Zhu opened his eyes, a glimmer of black-and-yellow light flashing through them. Phantom mountains seemed to accompany his every movement, weighty as peaks and steady as bedrock.

His spleen divine treasury had reached its peak and attained perfection!

The spleen divine treasury continued rising through the void within his body until it finally settled beneath his heart divine treasury, at the very center of his body.

"Next, I'll break through to the next divine treasury!"

A Qilin Deity, even more illusory than the deity of his heart, appeared and walked ahead through the mist-shrouded world within his body, guiding the way.

Soon, following that guidance, Jiang Zhu sensed an incomparably sharp aura. He had found the lung divine treasury, which belonged to metal among the five elements!

The lungs occupied the chest and covered the other organs, shaped like the "canopy" of an ancient emperor's carriage. The lungs were the foundation of qi, and their divine treasury connected the meridians throughout the body, drawing in the divine source of heaven and earth and distributing it to every limb and bone like surging rivers.

Jiang Zhu continually refined source, drawing its pure energy into his body and channeling it into the lung divine treasury.

All qi belonged to the lungs!

This was a fundamental principle recorded in every ancient scripture. Once he successfully entered this realm, he experienced it for himself.

Jiang Zhu felt as though every pore in his body had opened, connecting him to heaven and earth. The speed at which he could mobilize the essence of heaven and earth increased many times over.

A month later, essence surged throughout Jiang Zhu's body. Dense dragon qi spilled out and coiled around him.

"Screee!"

A piercing screech rang out. At the same time, a vicious wind surged, and a strange bird charged toward him, attacking while he cultivated.

A foul wind laden with sinister energy rushed at his face. The strange bird spread its wings, blotting out half the sky. It resembled a vulture but had six eyes, a beak like an ancient bronze sword gleaming with eerie light, and sharp talons wreathed in black mist. It was unmistakably a primordial remnant species sealed on Purple Mountain's outskirts.

The dragon qi around Jiang Zhu had yet to dissipate. His eyes snapped open, his pupils turning to vertical slits that blazed with golden light.

"A mere mangy bird dares disturb my cultivation?" He held two fingers together like a sword, and the phantom of an azure dragon raised its head and roared. As its tail swept across, the earth veins shook, and dozens of earthen-yellow divine chains of Dao laws burst from the rocks, twisting toward the bird's feet like earth dragons rolling over.

Clang!

The bird's beak struck the dragon-qi chains with the ring of metal, while its black mist corroded them with a sizzling hiss.

Jiang Zhu remained seated without moving. His Liver Deity manifested, its leaves bearing keen sword intent, and unleashed a brilliant beam of sword light.

Emerald sword light burst forth and arrived in an instant. Terror filled the bird's six eyes. It beat its wings to flee, only to find itself held fast by the earth-vein chains.

Squelch!

Blood poured down like rain as one wing was severed at the root.

Amid its anguished cries, the vicious bird flew into a savage frenzy. Its three remaining eyes shot out blood-red beams that traced primordial runes in the void, forming a crimson cage that descended toward Jiang Zhu.