Chapter 438: Timeline Branch and the Main Timeline

"Wouldn't that be a bit excessive?"

After a brief silence.

Sword Sovereign: "Sure, sure"

Master Jianzu: "We can give it a try"

Hegemon Sovereign: "Count me in / thumbs up"

Alchemy Ancestor: "What a sin…"

Alchemy Ancestor: "I'll go too"

Artifact Sovereign: "+1"

Hong Sovereign: "…"

One after another, honestly…

Hong Sovereign: "Count me in as well, I suppose"

Yuanjun: "I'll go too"

Master Mei Zu: "Alright, alright, then we'll all go"

Nearly everyone had begun to entertain the thought.

Elder Lingzu: "Sure, I'll go too"

Master Mei Zu: "Huh?! / shocked"

Master Mei Zu: "You're going too?"

This was rather unexpected to her, or rather, none of the others in the group had anticipated she would get involved in something like this.

After all, Ning Ruo was a true shut-in; normally, when there was nothing going on, she wouldn't even chat in the group.

Elder Lingzu: "Is there a problem?"

Master Mei Zu: "No… / meek and submissive"

Master Jianzu: "Since we're changing the rules set in advance, we still need to inform the Sect Masters first"

Master Jianzu: "I'll handle that part"

The Sect Masters had been running around busily for this Xian Sect Grand Tournament; they couldn't just toss incarnations in without saying a word.

And so, two minutes later.

Inside the venue of the Xian Sect Grand Tournament, seven Xian Sect Masters were gazing at the quietly suspended Mysterious Image Realm before them, observing the situation of every participant within.

Du Ruoheng, Cheng Junming, and Qin Wei, the three of them, made a bet as usual.

They bet on which sect's disciple would take first place in the Soul Transformation bracket; the two who lost had to call the winner 'Dad' once.

So childish it hardly seemed like Xian Sect Masters…

Actually, at first they were only betting some resources, but Qin Wei, that low-class brute, had too foul a mouth, and in the end it turned into this.

Still, this 'father-son showdown' carried quite some deterrent force; all three were very tense.

Especially Du Ruoheng and Cheng Junming.

Neither of them dared imagine the mockery they'd suffer if they lost to Qin Wei.

As for Qin Wei, he was relatively calm by comparison—having grown up and risen to the position of Sect Master within the great environment of Longxiang Qingtianzong, this sort of thing for him was…

Suddenly, the expression of every Sect Master shifted slightly, as they heard Xu Xing's transmitted message.

The content wasn't too much; after hearing it, each of them wore a strange look.

The Ancestral Masters… were preparing to project incarnations into the realm to temper this batch of participants?

Hiss~!

The youngsters this time are truly in for it.

……

……

Mysterious Image Realm, the second timeline branch.

Though it was a timeline branch and not real, it could only be considered another possibility of the main timeline—a grand dream.

But under the interference of the Realm-Derivation Method, the countless living beings here also possessed their own set of logic for acting.

At present, the participants of the Xian Sect Grand Tournament were still unaware that the Ancestral Masters were going to project incarnations in to find amusement…

Ahem!

To temper the junior disciples, that's right.

In any case, although the Xian Sect Masters had all received the notice, the Tai Xuan Immortal Net side had yet to show any movement.

Cultivation Realm, near the Sea of No Return.

Boom!

Amid thunderous roaring, a pale sword-light tore through the dawn-dark sky, raising gust after gust of bone-piercing northern wind.

The entire 【Sea of No Return】 seemed at that moment to usher in a deep winter; the terrifying chill instantly froze the churning sea surface, and a thick layer of solid ice spread without cease.

Soon, one after another, figures with stiffened bodies and a layer of white frost clinging to them plummeted from the sky like raindrops.

On closer look, one could see each of them clad in blood-red kasaya, with red Furious-Eye Vajra patterns tattooed on their heads.

Looking up, one saw a slender figure in the night sky holding a long sword whose blade was like an ice crystal, standing against the moon.

The cold wind whistled mournfully, making the long sword in her hand appear all the more fearfully sharp.

It was Zhang Yunlu.

Unlike Chi Jiuyu, whose starting spawn point was in the mortal world, she had appeared near the sect headquarters of the Blood Vajra Monastery.

Unable to stomach the Blood Vajra Monastery's slaughter of common folk to gather 'living blood' for body-tempering, she had raised her sword and struck, cutting those people down to the last.

That's right, the Cultivation Realm also had no small number of ordinary people.

But as long as one has not stepped onto the Dao path, they are essentially no different from 'consumables'—you never know when they might die.

After that, Zhang Yunlu directly wiped out three Blood Vajra Temple strongholds that were gathering 'living blood,' as well as one branch that was nurturing infant 'primordial fetuses.'

Although her accumulation in all aspects, as well as her realm advancement, still couldn't compare to Chi Jiuyu's, she especially liked taking risks, and her killing intent far surpassed Chi Jiuyu's.

Then she was hunted down by Blood Vajra Temple.

Seven 'Nascent Soul' cultivators leading the team, along with over thirty 'Jin Dan' and more than seventy 'Foundation Establishment.'

Facing this lineup, Zhang Yunlu, who was only at late-stage Jin Dan, decisively chose to flee.

However...

After being hunted for half a day, she discovered that her 'Principle of Risk' showed not the slightest sign of being triggered.

Moreover, these people's escape speeds were absurdly slow...

At first, she thought they were deliberately slacking off, or perhaps, like the senior sister had said about the Grand Supreme Dao Sect, they were a bunch of schemers.

But as she kept running, she grew more and more convinced something was wrong.

So, in the end, she simply turned around and delivered a sword strike!

A whole bunch of 'Nascent Soul' and 'Jin Dan' cultivators couldn't even withstand a single casual sword strike from her.

"..."

Her gaze turned toward the frozen sea surface, and Zhang Yunlu felt utterly speechless.

These are Nascent Soul cultivators?

They're practically the same as ordinary Foundation Establishment.

Those so-called 'Jin Dan' were only equivalent to Qi Refining Layer Seven, and the 'Foundation Establishment' ones need not even be mentioned—Qi Refining Layer Three at best!

By this calculation, wouldn't 'Soul Transformation' only be equivalent to Jin Dan? Then what about 'Return to Void'...

Moreover, the power she could unleash in this world far surpassed what she could when still on the Central Continent, even exceeding Starry Sky by quite a bit!

The plain-colored sword light gradually dissipated...

"Oh? A fine piece of material, actually?"

The voice shook the heavens, and a blood-colored aura drifted out from the void, instantly covering the entire sky completely.

Boom!

Black, ferocious Lei She writhed within, like severed limbs and broken arms floating and sinking in a sea of blood.

A thick stench of blood spread out, carrying a soul-shaking strange power.

Nascent Soul?

No!

Still a line higher, yet not reaching the level of Soul Transformation!

A faint golden light flowed in Zhang Yunlu's eyes, and her grip on the long sword tightened a few degrees more.

In any case, this was absolutely not an opponent she could handle right now.

To reflect the enormous gap between Soul Transformation and Return to Void, the 'Return to Void' on the timeline branch naturally had to be a bit stronger.

Otherwise, what if it was easily counter-killed!

As blood clouds capped the heavens, shrouding the entire sky.

In the distance, a tall, burly figure quietly gazed at Zhang Yunlu beneath the blood-red curtain.

"You want to step in and save her?"

On the burly man's shoulder sat a mechanical spider the size of a fingernail, from which emanated a specially processed electronic voice.

"Let's watch first. What if she doesn't need my help?"

"..." After a moment of silence, the mechanical spider's eyes flickered with a faint light. "You two are competitors."

As fellow contestants, even if they were from the same sect, they were still competitors.

"You don't care about your ranking in the Grand Competition anymore?"

"Getting a good ranking would of course be best." The burly man rubbed his shiny bald head. "But I still goddamn have more important things to do."

If someone familiar were present, they would recognize this burly man as the body cultivator who had snuck into Dingnan Wang Fu three nights ago during the Three Heavens trial and abducted the Dingnan King.

He was also one of the trial-takers who had created the embryonic form of Qi-Blood Martial Dao, wanting to change the state of the mortal world in the Three Heavens.

For some unknown reason, he, who once had a thick head of black hair, was now bald.

And clearly, after figuring out the basic information of this world, he wanted to do something in this world again.

"She wiped out three Blood Vajra Temple strongholds gathering 'living blood,' and one branch nurturing 'primordial fetuses.'" The body cultivator muttered, then suddenly turned his head to look at the mechanical spider on his shoulder. "Do you know how 'nurturing primordial fetuses' is done?"

"..." The mechanical spider said nothing.

As a practitioner of the lurking Dao from the Grand Supreme Dao Sect, with extremely strong intelligence-gathering abilities, he naturally knew exactly how cruel the so-called nurturing of 'primordial fetuses' truly was.

"Hehe! You old schemer couldn't stand it either, right? I'm the same as you—I can't stand seeing this kind of thing the most!"

He was an abandoned orphan. If not for the era of change brought by the Holy Emperor Abyss, and the overall social welfare improving significantly, he would probably have died long ago.

Let alone joining Longxiang Qingtianzong.

Holy Emperor Abyss... ever since he learned of the related deeds from his textbooks, he had resolved to follow him.

"Someone like her, at a glance, is a lone wolf. She probably won't cooperate with you."

This time, the voice did not come from the spider on his shoulder, but from behind him.

Turning around, he saw a youth in a gray Daoist robe, with a purple vertical mark between his brows, who had appeared behind him at some unknown time.

"Original body?" The body cultivator raised an eyebrow.

"..." The law cultivator clearly did not want to answer this question. "Grand Supreme Dao Sect, Liu Ming."

Concise and to the point.

"Your true name?"

Liu Ming: "…"

He was beginning to doubt whether choosing to reveal his true form had been the right decision.

"Sheng Wu of the Longxiang Qingtianzong, greetings, Brother Liu," said the body cultivator solemnly.

So I'm his junior now…

Liu Ming ignored him, stepped forward, and summoned his mechanical spider, then gazed toward Zhang Yunlu, who was wielding her sword against the blood cloud in the distance.

"You haven't answered my question."

Sheng Wu also looked toward the distance: "Whether we cooperate doesn't matter—she wiped out four halls of that idiot Golden Vajra Temple; I'm helping her!"

If her opponent had been any other contestant, he wouldn't have cared at all—even secretly ambushed to reap the benefits of their conflict.

But she was being hunted precisely because she drew her sword to defend others; Sheng Wu's very nature would never allow him to stand idly by.

This is a person who always knows what they must do—and carries it out without wavering…

Liu Ming silently evaluated her in his heart.

Though many aspects of her behavior were standard for a Longxiang Qingtianzong body cultivator, it was undeniable that she was someone worth befriending.

At least, for Liu Ming, she was.

Daaang~

Accompanied by a long, ancient sound as if rising from the depths of the world, a phantom balance appeared.

Soon, a voice from Buguicheng, filled with shock and fury, caused the overwhelming blood cloud to retract and condense.

After trading a blow with the blood-colored hand, Zhang Yunlu's sword light curled around her, transforming into a long streak of rainbow light that vanished instantly.

"Looks like you don't need to help," said Liu Ming.

Sheng Wu shrugged, unconcerned.

"Let's go."

Immediately, the two turned and walked away, gradually fading into the distance.

…

…

Meanwhile, the main timeline.

Far from Buguicheng, in the mountains beyond the village of Miaocheng, under Tianling Sect's jurisdiction, dense forests cast shadows.

Places without spiritual matter were always disregarded by the Tianling Sect.

Tianling Sect, Tianling Sect—only things with "spirit" held value in their eyes.

Ancestor Ancestor Xuan Qi said: "Spirit is the root of all things; tend the spirit to nourish oneself; harmonize the celestial order, and perhaps one may become the lord of spirits."

As the birthplace of the "Tending Spirits" lineage, they had elevated this doctrine to its extreme.

The present Xuanxiang Realm was in a special phase: though spirit was supreme and all things treated as cattle and horses, living beings still had paths to survive.

But they had not yet encountered—or even acknowledged—the "industrialization" of the mortal world.

If the two were combined, mutually "complementing strengths and compensating weaknesses," a terrifying and brutal system, unimaginable even to the Xuan Capital, might emerge.

In the mountains and woods, inside a newly carved cave.

Dirt-streaked Chi Jiuyu was breathing and meditating; around her, a concealment array was set up, its crystal-like array core emitting a faint glow.

This was a one-piece array.

The third-generation comprehensive aura concealment array from the Sword Sect's "Shadow Blade" series.

Through the latest spiritual energy circuit recycling technology, the array lines could be stored and activated with just a trace of magic power when needed.

It eliminated the need to set up ancient array nodes, avoiding their vulnerability to destruction.

Of course, this was only the low-end model.

The high-end versions even employed the "microcosm within a mustard seed" technique—spatial technology.

It was said the new generation of integrated arrays could now store an entire Void-Return-level defensive array within a three-foot array core.

Designed for stellar defense.

As for the city-protection arrays across the Central Continent, which involved functions like spiritual energy modulation, earth vein manipulation, and weather adjustment, they were not yet considered for replacement.

As for why Chi Jiuyu only brought the low-end version…

Obviously!

Her life-sword cost seventy thousand; she had only thirty thousand in startup funds—of course she had to save!

The array's spiritual energy circuits mirrored the surroundings, concealing the flow of spiritual energy.

As Chi Jiuyu breathed and meditated, her weakened aura gradually recovered.

Until sunset, the crescent moon rose in the distant sky, and specks of starlight appeared in the darkening, bluish-gray night.

"Huh~"

She exhaled a slow, blood-tinged breath, slowly opening her eyes; golden flames flickered within them.

"Damn it! I'll kill you someday!"

She muttered under her breath, then twisted her neck.

She was in such a state because of the Void-Return cultivators from the Blood Vajra Temple and the Tianling Sect.

She had always cultivated an excellent soul-hiding technique; combined with her one-piece array, though she couldn't defeat a Void-Return, evading them was still possible.

But…

Seeing ordinary people treated as expendable materials, she simply couldn't bear it!

Jiuyu Laozu's sense of justice burned fiercely—how could she not draw her sword to help?

The result was, not only did the Return-to-Void cultivator from Blood Vajra Temple catch up, but a Return-to-Void from Celestial Spirit Sect struck her from tens of thousands of miles away.

A sneak attack, and not even one of those early-stage Return-to-Void cultivators from before.

If not for the special principle she had comprehended, which let her react in time and hit the two of them with another 'Scales of Time,' she would probably have been slapped into a dead fish on the spot!

She will sooner or later beat this world to a pulp! (End of Chapter)