Chapter 63

Besides the wutong tree where Wu Fengling stood, on another wutong tree tens of thousands of li away, a figure resembling a sixteen‑year‑old girl, fiery red and full of allure, sensed Wu Fengling's aura surging and the Vermilion Bird bloodline's sublimation; her expression shifted slightly, filled with envy and jealousy.

"Damn it, could it be that Sister Fengling secretly made a Mingfu Curse with a peerless heaven‑pride?"

"Are we not good sisters anymore, you're actually eating alone?"

……

Inside the Cuivei Immortal Mansion.

Chen Daoxuan pondered for a while; although he could not sense where the source was, he knew that this line gave him a special connection with his junior sister Wu Fengling, beneficial to him and harmless.

Moreover, he faintly realized that, back when the Kunlun Mirror lay dormant and under the influence of the Chang Sheng Tian Gui, he could break through to Nascent Soul Late Stage within ten thousand years—not only through his own diligent cultivation but also thanks to this line linking him to Wu Fengling.

As for these circumstances, Chen Daoxuan also formed some conjectures.

"Damn it, could it be that Sister Fengling secretly made a Mingfu Curse with a peerless heaven‑pride?"

"But when did Junior Sister Wu Fengling make this curse with me? I don't recall."

His thoughts flowed, and in an instant Chen Daoxuan recalled the scene when he first saw Wu Fengling while undertaking a sect mission years ago.

Clad in fiery red, she had fallen into a coma and was on the brink of death.

"Could it be that she bound the Vermilion Bird Mingfu Curse to me when I rescued her that time?"

"I've wondered why my cultivation progress has subtly accelerated since then, always attributing it to experience."

His thoughts wandered, and Chen Daoxuan's mood grew complex.

Although it brought him only benefits, the fact that someone had secretly placed a curse on him still kept him from feeling happy.

After a while, he let out a faint sigh, gathered his thoughts, and returned to his cultivation state.

……

Deep within Shanhai Star.

Inside a dimensional spacetime.

Wande Zhen sat cross‑legged in his own cave dwelling, holding a battered iron shuttle, as vast magical power surged into him.

Suddenly, his face paled and his aura waned, yet the battered iron shuttle he held abruptly absorbed some primordial essence.

In that instant, the battered iron shuttle emitted a faint, incomplete immortal aura.

Wande Zhen beheld the shuttle's flowing incomplete immortal aura, sensed the subtle mysterious link forming between it and the Duntian Shuttle in his hand, and was filled with joy.

Through this thread of connection, he could sense and even command the earth‑shaking power hidden within the Duntian Shuttle.

"Haha, I have barely finished the sacrificial refinement before the time arrives."

Yet, amidst his joy, he felt a hint of reluctance.

"Too bad that in Shanhai Jietian, outsider Fenshen cultivators are forbidden entry."

"Even if my family intervenes after this move, the best outcome I fear is permanent exile."

"Otherwise, I could have let the several Fenshen‑stage scattered cultivators nurtured by my clan take action."

As thoughts rose and fell, Wande Zhen composed his expression and gave a slight shake of his head.

"I only hope that, when the clan heir takes charge of the Shanhai Immortal Diagram, the Hehe Opportunity spoken of by the clan head will not prove false."

After stowing the Duntian Shuttle, now re‑gathering its faint immortal aura, into his sleeve, he carefully re‑evaluated his plan, felt assured, nodded slightly, swung his arms back, and left the dimensional spacetime with his hands behind his back.

With the authority of a Fenshen elder, he departed Shanhai Star silently and without a trace.

Sensing the star positions on the star chart, he linked the Great Dao across the endless void, performing repeated great shifts through the starry heavens.

He arrived directly at a prosperous trade hub, a Second‑Class Cultivation Star equivalent to a transit nexus, inside a cave heaven located at the star's core.

Within the cavern heaven of tens of thousands of li in diameter, countless glittering spirit‑light disks were scattered throughout heaven and earth, forming a mysterious array.

A middle‑aged man clad in a scarlet robe, bearing the Tianshan Wan clan insignia and emanating an aura of soul egress, stood at the array's center, intently observing.

Upon Wande Zhen's arrival, the middle‑aged man's expression shifted slightly, and he hastily offered a salute.

"Wan Wuyuan pays his respects, Elder."

"No need for formalities, how is the situation?" Wande Zhen waved his hand, stepped to the array's center, and began to assess its condition.

"Elder, according to the family's gathered intelligence on Chen Daoxuan,"

"it has been definitively established that, about 1,200 years ago, Chen Daoxuan received his master's order and went to the forbidden ground of the Xuanwu Mie Xian Zhen, which is overseen by the Guiyuan Lineage, to carry out a mission."

"Through a clan brother working in the Mission Hall, we learned that Chen Daoxuan has not yet submitted completion of the task."

"Moreover, to prevent Chen Daoxuan from slipping away secretly under the guise of a Reserve Dao Child,"

"we have, centered on the Xuanwu Mie Xian Zhen forbidden zone, arranged personnel to stake out every star‑shift array within a radius of ten million light‑years, covering the six directions, with over ninety‑nine percent of such zones equipped with sensing devices imbued with Chen Daoxuan's aura, forming a heavenly net and earthly trap."

"If Chen Daoxuan appears within thirty million li of any sensing device, he will be detected immediately and caught by this Tianxun Array."

Saying this, Wan Wuyuan paused slightly, as if recalling something, pointed at the Tianxun Array, and spoke with a confident smile:

"Unless Chen Daoxuan reaches the Fenshen stage and can perform star‑shifts on his own, under this net he will have no escape, even with wings."

"The moment he shows up, in the shortest time a sect's mortal enemy's covert agent will make contact with him."

"Then, even if he is a sect's Reserve Dao Child, under the charge of colluding with the sect's mortal enemy, the elder may openly act against him."

"Good!"

……

Three years later.

Inside the Cuivei Immortal Mansion, Chen Daoxuan opened his eyes.

Including the Space‑Time Dao he had unified and sublimated over the past sixty‑plus years, the nine Daos he had comprehended in cultivation now all returned to their origin, shedding falsehood to retain truth, and he had refined at least three hundred Great Dao True Talismans.

Among them, the Yin‑Yang Dao True Talismans were the most numerous, reaching five hundred.

Next came the Five Elements Dao True Talismans, numbering four hundred.

The Four Symbols, Thunder, and Slaughter Daos followed, each with about three hundred fifty.

As for the remaining four Daos—Space‑Time, Cause and Effect, Reincarnation, and Creation—each amounted to exactly three hundred.

The cultivation of the Nine Daos had all reached the point where they could most perfectly break through the Separation Spirit Stage.

This tremendous improvement, after over sixty years of various shortcuts stacking up, allowed him to comprehend and condense a strand of Law Imprint in as little as a few days or as much as ten days and a half month, thereby achieving such cultivation progress.

Compared to when he was at the Nascent Soul Stage, the difficulty of comprehending the Great Dao and condensing a Law Imprint has become worlds apart, faster by countless times.

However, faced with this enormous difference, Chen Daoxuan's heart did not stir the slightest ripple.

Because in his previous life, he had already grown accustomed to it. In his previous life, a wealthy tycoon might earn hundreds of billions per year; even the income from less than an hour would be a fortune he could never earn in a lifetime.

The gap there is in no way smaller than the gap in his current cultivation.

Thus, Chen Daoxuan ended his cultivation.

Only then did he begin to carefully calculate that nameless great crisis.