Chapter 667: Her Background Really Runs Deep

Ye Lan truly lived up to being a legitimate heir of the Sanxian Sect; not only was her understanding of the arts profound, her way of expounding them was also concise and easy to grasp.

Paired with the panel's deductions, Shen Yi quickly mastered these two arts inside and out.

But he did not begin cultivating right away.

First, a demon's lifespan was limited; after all, the Sanxian Sect's arts differed from the Practitioner Path — one could not simply rely on bitter cultivation to grow one's cultivation, but had to weave in much of one's own understanding and insight.

On top of that, when Shen Yi had reached the Taiyi Zhenxian realm, he had used an unorthodox method from the Jade Dragon Sect; to return to the proper path would be doubly difficult.

Second, with Ye Lan's cultivation, she could easily perceive any change in his realm — for instance, earlier at the Earth Deity Temple, she had not only seen through it but personally used mortal-world imperial qi to help harmonize him once.

Even though the two of them were now closer than before, the existence of the panel still could not be exposed.

"You seem to be in a decent mood?" Ye Lan closed the art; after everything that had happened, she honestly could not quite fathom Shen Yi's thinking.

The Grand Void Dao Fruit was certainly precious, but it was not irreplaceable.

Given his ability and talent, it would hardly be difficult to seek entry into some immortal gate that possessed a top-ten Dao Fruit.

Moreover, a proper immortal lineage at that — not a broken-down household like her own.

"Not bad."

Shen Yi stood up and stretched his arms slightly.

One could say that Dan Peak was the only faction with an intact lineage he had ever joined since beginning his cultivation; not only did it lead straight to the fifth-rank Taiyi Immortal realm, even the path to the fourth-rank had traces to follow.

How much brainpower and demon-lifespan that would save.

If he had really gone somewhere else, he would first have to formally apprentice under a lineage, then climb step by step from the ground up.

On the surface, outstanding talent would certainly earn key cultivation, but what came with it was the ceaseless gaze and restraint of countless seniors and masters.

With so many pairs of eyes fixed on him, keeping a secret hidden would be no easy matter.

By comparison, Dan Peak — with only Ye Lan left — could well be called a treasure ground tailor-made for him.

Of course, beyond all this, there was another matter worth rejoicing over.

Immortal Hongze... was finally alive.

Shen Yi gazed into the distance beyond the hut.

Killing an immortal was an extremely grave matter — but it depended on who had done it.

If Immortal Hongze were a loose cultivator, he would undoubtedly be a rebel.

But if he were the peak lord of the Divine Void Mountain, backed by a third-rank Great Luo Immortal Venerable, while he might not be able to brazenly slay a seventh-rank immortal official, with that connection in place, when the higher-ups came investigating, there would be far more room to maneuver.

"Time to head back."

Ye Lan stepped out as well; this trip had already taken longer than she had anticipated.

One had to remember that after the Seven Treasures Bodhisattva's sermon, more than half of Da Nanzhou had been swept up in it, and trouble was bound to break out sooner or later — don't forget, they still held positions in the Zhan Yao Si.

In the past, with Meng Xiuwen alone, keeping watch over Jianyang Prefecture would have been no problem; the worry was something unexpected happening.

Just then, Ye Lan glanced sideways and noticed that Shen Yi, who had only just seemed to relax a little, had at some unknown point returned to an expression as calm as a still ancient well.

Exactly the same as back then outside Crane Mountain, when he had slain those two immortal mounts.

"What happened?" she asked, frowning.

Shen Yi's gaze fell upon the Venerable Bihai beyond the Divine Void Mountain; the next instant, his whole body transformed into a streak of light and shot away!

……

In the vast, boundless Venerable Bihai, a group of immortal soldiers stood where they were, expressions complicated.

The exquisite immortal armor on their bodies was already shattered beyond recognition — clearly they had just come through a fierce battle.

"Move faster!"

Youyun Mountain's hair was in disarray, his whole person a sorry sight; with fury on his face, he growled low at the person beside him.

Sure enough, the Bai Hong Three Demons had occupied this place for years and long since run it up and down as tightly as an iron barrel.

On top of that, General Qianqing's move had been too hasty — in just a few short days, there had been no time at all to notify comrades for reinforcement.

Something had still gone wrong!

"Who are you taking your temper out on?" Shi Yong swept him a glance and said coldly, "Was it my order?"

As a superior, once an order was given, one naturally had to bear the corresponding consequences.

"You—"

Youyun Mountain choked, then gritted his teeth: "He's just arrived, and he's a merit-immortal to boot — only ever served as the Bimawen for a stretch, never led troops before. It's perfectly normal to lack experience. Back then when I told you to speak up and dissuade him, that's not what you said!"

"Besides, in the end General Qianqing still drew the great demon off alone and let us withdraw — if not for that, where would you be lounging around so leisurely right now?"

"……"

At his words, worry crept onto the faces of the surrounding celestial soldiers.

This new superior was greedy for merit and reckless, that was true, but he was genuinely good to his subordinates — an immortal general who, seeing the situation turn bad, ordered his men to flee first was a rare sight across the entire Immortal Court.

Shi Yong slowly withdrew his gaze and turned his thoughts to the object in his hands: "This grand formation is already complicated enough; if anything goes wrong, our immortal general here is the one truly done for."

Hearing that, Youyun Mountain fell silent at once — however worried he was, he could only wait in silence.

After all, he was different from Shi Yong; both were seventh-rank immortal generals, and both carried sixth-rank Heavenly Immortal cultivation, but his lineage was only a small, obscure school, whereas the other's was a junior of the same branch as General Qingluan.

Only a lineage of that caliber could produce a formation capable of rescuing General Qianqing from a great demon's clutches.

Even though he had once seen Shi Yong set up this formation, and it had clearly been much faster than now — making him increasingly suspect deliberate dawdling — since he did not actually understand the art, he truly could not find fault.

"Sigh!"

Thinking of this, Youyun Mountain let out a heavy sigh.

He had thought that with the three of them here, slaying a single Heavenly Immortal-realm snake demon — as long as they moved cleanly — should not have been a major problem.

Who would have thought that the "hard evidence" General Qingluan had failed to obtain all these years would so coincidentally have been stumbled upon by them.

That was a much bigger problem.

Right now, the one who had struck was only Bai Yu, one of the Bai Hong Three Immortals; if this dragged on any longer, the other two Taiyi Immortals were sure to come at the news, and by then, even this grand formation might not save the immortal general.

"……"

Shi Yong unhurriedly set up the teleportation array, silently counting the time in his heart.

If he wanted to see what backing this General Ganqing had in the mortal world, the best situation would be to drive him into a desperate corner.

Only between life and death can one see the true stuff.

Besides, would a greedy, rash person like this kindly let his subordinates withdraw first?

Don't be ridiculous.

Most likely he's guilty at heart, unwilling to let others glimpse that he still has other tricks.

Having thought this through, Shi Yong slightly raised his eyes, casting his gaze toward the empty sky in the distance, a hint of delight surfacing in his eyes.

The task Senior Qingluan assigned is about to be completed so soon.

When the time comes, there will surely be no shortage of benefits for himself.

At the same time.

Just on the other side of the Venerable Bihai that Shi Yong was looking at, a hundred-zhang water wave suddenly splashed up.

Amid the roar, a tattered Golden Body dharma image tumbled several times through the waves, the great seal clutched tightly in its hand dim and lusterless, causing the pure Qi around its body to gradually disperse.

"Dao Merging realm?"

Above the sea region, over ten ferocious, terrifying figures stared fixedly at the Golden Body below, a hint of surprise in their eyes.

The auras on these great demons were vigorous and powerful, every one of them no good sort; even though they were committing the deed of slaying an immortal, with their qi and blood surging restlessly, not a single one retreated.

In front of those terrifying figures, a woman draped in a single layer of thin white gauze stood with her hands behind her back, the faintly visible gauze dress accentuating her figure even more graceful.

She hovered in the air, impatience filling her brows and eyes, yet still wore a smile: "It seems this immortal official's background is quite impressive."

To be able to wield a sixth-rank immortal seal at Dao Merging cultivation—what a price must have been paid.

Before her words faded, the woman had already descended before the Golden Body dharma image: "But didn't your elders ever remind you that when out and about, one should keep a low profile?"

"After all, someone as precious as you dying just like that—what a pity."

"Our lives are rather cheap, by comparison."

At this point, the woman's voice was gentle, but violence suddenly flared in her eyes; her sharp five fingers violently pierced into the chin of the Golden Body dharma image, and with her delicate, graceful frame, she forcibly dragged this ten-zhang-tall Golden Body out of the sea.

"Cheap lives! So we don't fear losing them!"

"The things you take pride in cannot frighten us." She split her lips, her face brimming with savagery.

Listening to Bai Yu's shrill words, the surrounding great demons' eyes gradually turned blood-red, as if pumped full of adrenaline, and they swarmed forward in unison.

Rather than solving the problem, it was more like venting their fury.

The Three Immortals Bai Hong had once stolen a precious tree that a great immortal had planted in the mortal world; they cleaned up their tracks extremely thoroughly, then fled far away to hide in the Venerable Bihai, relying on the fruits borne by this precious tree, all three ascended together to the fifth-rank Taiyi Immortal realm.

The precious tree withered and died; the few tender sprouts left behind were distributed to several trusted subordinates to be planted by various means.

And the snake demon that this immortal general had slain some days ago was precisely one of them, and by sheer coincidence had caught sight of that tender sprout.

If it were allowed to return to the Immortal Court with the thing in hand, then in the vast Shenzhou, there would likely be no place left for the three of them to stand.

Years of painstaking efforts would be destroyed in an instant.

All because this damned thing, thinking its background was deep, could act without scruple.

Since that is so, today they would let it see—in this mortal world, how laughable those empty reputations it relied on truly were, in the eyes of demon-kind that had clawed its way up through life and death.

"……"

Lady Qinghua felt the last trace of aura within the great seal being drained away.

A sixth-rank immortal seal could provide her with no more than mid Heavenly Immortal immortal power; when facing a true Taiyi immortal, it was truly far too weak.

After losing this great seal, her remaining Dao Merging cultivation had actually been forcibly stuffed up with immortal pills back when she was imprisoned by Lingyun Shiren.

She tried hard to open her eyes, but her consciousness was gradually growing fuzzy.

She could only feel Bai Yu exert force once more, hurling her entire body outward, with only the other's indifferent words remaining by her ear.

"Divide her up and devour her."

Although their origins were demonic, the beings now swarming around—which of them was not a renowned existence in the Venerable Bihai?

Their status had long since differed from ordinary demons; they rarely showed that brutal, savage manner again.

But facing the temptation of personally devouring an immortal general, their breathing inevitably grew heavy.

Compared to the gains from eating the other party, that thrill was what could excite them most.

Since they were already outlaws anyway, why not add another bold, dramatic stroke to their fame.

"Hmph!"

Lady Qinghua had already caught whiffs of foul stench; her blurred vision was filled with numerous black shadows.

She had thought that a demon soul like herself, who had already died once, should not fear death, but the very instant she was pounced on by the swarm of demons, she still couldn't help curling up that slender frame within the dharma image.

The immortal seal and status bestowed by her master—she hadn't had the chance to play a greater role; if it had been some other demon soul, they probably could have done better……

Just at this moment, Qinghua discovered that the black shadows before her eyes had all frozen in place.

She seemed to have crashed into a thick, hard place.

Between the boundless Venerable Bihai, the sound of the waves all stilled, and all things fell into silence.

A golden figure, majestic as a Gaoshan, stepped upon the Wang Yang, held the blue sky above his head, and quietly cradled the Golden Body dharma image in his palm.

He calmly swept his gaze over the tiny figure in his palm; after confirming the other party had no major problems, his five fingers slowly closed together, and he raised his eyes to look toward the many figures ahead.

This existence that had suddenly appeared did not announce his identity.

But the swarm of demons hovering in the air all had their features contort; the evil fire that had flared in their hearts under the earlier stimulation, upon facing this majestic, sturdy Golden Body, seemed to have been doused in an instant by a basin of cold water.

"A Puti Sect Luo Han!"

Damn it all, the Puti Sect and the Sanxian Sect had always kept strictly to their own sides, minding their own business.

Yet right on Shenxu Laozu's dojo, an Luo Han had abruptly appeared!

"Run!"

No one knew which great demon let out a bellow, and a host of figures scattered in all directions like startled birds.

Yet that Luo Han did not give chase, nor did so much as a ripple stir in his gaze.

The next instant, from within his burly frame, the phantom shapes of dragon and tiger suddenly burst forth. These phantoms seemed to carry an endless weight of grievance and killing intent, breaking free of the Luo Han's bodily shackles, and in a heartbeat plunged the surrounding Venerable Bihai into an icy stillness.

The dragon's cry and tiger's roar rumbled low like thunder.

Roar!

A sky-blotting shadow swiftly spread across the heavens, opening a maw dripping with blood, and in but a single instant left the blue sky utterly empty.

Those figures that had just scattered in flight were as if they had never existed at all.

"……"

Watching Jin Guang fall like rain, scattering in droplets, like the afterglow cast upon Venerable Bihai.

Bai Yu swallowed hard.

She knew this immortal general must have a formidable background, but she had never imagined he would have an Luo Han at his side for protection.

That was… a privilege reserved for Bodhisattvas.

Beyond the clouds and mist.

Ye Jing stared wide-eyed in a daze. She did know that Brother Shen had some connection with the Puti Sect, but this connection was perhaps a touch too deep…

If the other party were merely a Wandering Monk, that would be one thing.

But an Luo Han, joining Zhan Yao Si?

"Sister?"

"Don't ask what you shouldn't."

Ye Lan stood with her hands at her sides; in truth, she too had no idea how to explain this matter.

Moreover, the last time she had seen Shen Yi slay those two mounts, she had taken it as given that he bore a grudge against the Immortal Court — but now what was this situation?

Ye Lan lowered her gaze toward the right palm the Luo Han's Golden Body held loosely cupped.

If she wasn't mistaken, the one Shen Yi had rushed all this way to save should be an immortal general, yes?

Thinking further, the celestial soldiers and generals stationed at Venerable Bihai were most likely subordinates of that Qingluan Immortal General… Shen Yi had personally slaughtered the other's mounts last time, and now he had rushed over to rescue the soldiers under that very commander's hand?

Ye Lan drew in a deep breath. She had thought that, as she grew more familiar with this young man, she would eventually see through all the secrets he carried.

But why did things only grow more confusing the more she looked?

(End of this chapter)