Chapter 699: The Road Ahead Unclear, the Pride of Heaven Enters the World

It was midsummer again.

Ever since the incident of Seeing Shen Yi being rescued back, within the territory of the Nine Prefectures, colleagues under the other two General Who Pacifies the South had rarely come by to "visit."

It wasn't because any rift had formed last time.

Just as a certain titled general had said, the division of households was a decision from above; those below merely carried out orders, and in private they were still good brothers.

The main situation was just as Shen Yi had predicted earlier: across all twenty-seven prefectures of Dananzhou, whether the imperial court or Zhan Yao Si, everything had suddenly become extremely busy.

The demon hordes that had appeared out of nowhere, although they had not yet formed a full-scale invading force, their frequent and cost-is-no-object probing faintly revealed the determination of the great demons behind them.

The Southern Emperor, a demon who retreated to a desolate island overseas out of wariness toward the Divine Dynasty and the Immortal Court, was not an isolated case.

There were far, far too many similar beings.

Now that they had returned to the lands of Shenzhou, the very first thing they did was to find out just how much strength this vast, somewhat unfamiliar territory still possessed.

Once the demons had spied out the truth, the consequences could almost be foreseen.

Under these circumstances, General Wushan was burning with anxiety, sending messages every day to the demon-slayers of the three prefectures under his jurisdiction, hoping that if anything went wrong, he would receive word at the first possible moment.

Thinking of this, he tightened his grip on the jade slip and looked once more toward the tightly shut door of the room.

To be fair, if Shen Yi weren't his life-saving benefactor, let alone a peak Fourth-Rank cultivator, even if it were Old Man Yan himself, General Wushan couldn't help but want to jump up and demand an explanation.

Mainly because it was just too absurd!

The other titled generals were all at this moment wishing they could plant themselves on the border of the Divine Dynasty, terrified that a great demon might suddenly break in and cause another catastrophe like the previous Elder Yu Chi ape demon incident.

But since that last time, Shen Yi had not set foot outside his gate, not even crossed the second threshold; when he did occasionally go out, at most he would take a casual stroll along the street.

He had even handed over all contact with the demon-slaying officials under his command to Ye Lan to handle, looking for all the world like a hands-off Shopkeeper.

That alone would have been forgivable.

After all, each had his own way of doing things, and General Wushan couldn't say much about it—but the problem was, the man wouldn't even let him leave.

The vast Nine Prefectures were now being watched over by Ye Lan alone.

General Wushan had done something similar for a period before and knew exactly how much pressure that was, all the more so since even wounded, he was still a genuine Fourth-Rank Taiyi Zhenxian; Ye Lan was only Fifth-Rank.

At this rate, it would be a miracle if nothing went wrong!

"No good! I have to go find him!"

General Wushan steeled his courage, strode to the door of the room, hesitated for a long while, then raised his hand intending to knock.

His curled fingers had not yet fallen upon the door when this big, burly fatty was so startled by a sound behind him that his whole body gave a shudder.

Clearly, the invincible image Shen Yi had left him last time of single-handedly taking on two opponents had still made too deep an impression.

General Wushan wiped at the cold sweat that wasn't there, turned back helplessly, and saw Ye Lan with a complicated expression on her face.

Seeing this, his heart gave a sudden lurch: "What? Has something already happened?"

This time Ye Lan had gone near Jianyang Prefecture, where a full three titled generals were stationed—if trouble could still break out there, that would truly be a laughingstock for all of Da Nanzhou.

"Sort of… and sort of not." Ye Lan rubbed her brow.

"What on earth is going on, out with it." Even General Wushan hadn't noticed that he, who had originally only planned to coast through the days, had now somehow become the most concerned of the three.

"Demon-slayers reported demon disasters, all involving Sixth-Rank or above, and they even detected the aura of Fifth-Rank demons."

Before Ye Lan had finished speaking, General Wushan's expression had already changed.

In the old order of the world, any demon that could reach Fifth-Rank had, in itself, stepped into the ranks of true immortals; knowing how hard cultivation was, it would treasure its life dearly, and unless driven to the absolute last resort, would never dare lightly set foot in the Divine Dynasty.

An intrusion by great demons of this caliber—any single case would already count as a major incident within Zhan Yao Si.

Yet here in Ye Lan's account, within just the neighboring few prefectures, it sounded as if there was more than one such case.

"But the problem is, every time I just arrived on the scene, all the auras were gone."

Ye Lan pressed her lips together, visibly puzzled: "This is already the sixth time. This time I refused to be fooled; the demon-slayers had no reason to file false reports, so I followed the trail deeper—and ended up finding outside a pile of demon corpses below Sixth-Rank. Judging by the auras left in the bloodstains, a Fifth-Rank great demon was also involved."

Hearing this, General Wushan was also completely baffled. After a moment's hesitation he said, "Could it be that cultivators from the Three Teachings have already begun to move?"

"…" Ye Lan looked over speechlessly. As a former sect master of the Divine Void Mountain Peak, even though she had long since had little to do with the cultivation world, she still had some understanding of those people's temperament.

"How could they be? They came for fame—why would they do something like slaying demons and vanquishing evil, yet doing it in complete silence?"

As these words fell, the two seemed to think of something at the same moment and, as if by unspoken agreement, turned to look toward that wooden door.

If memory served, their very own General of Nanyang had once said offhandedly that everything else could be left to him.

Yet the man had clearly been staying inside his residence the whole time!

"Now that you put it that way, I do recall something."

General Wushan slapped his own forehead: "These past few days, heavenly soldiers have occasionally come by, but always alone, and they rarely linger—almost arriving and leaving in the same breath."

It wasn't anything unusual for cultivators to have connections with the Immortal Court; even people within Zhan Yao Si, in order to resolve troubles for those under them, who didn't know a few immortal officials? It was just that they all cultivated those connections under their open, public identities.

Let alone mere ordinary heavenly soldiers and generals.

But linking this with the strange matters Ye Lan had described earlier, the two fell into silence.

Could it be… that their very own titled general had actually managed to call in a batch of heavenly soldiers and generals to help guard the Nine Prefectures?!

This was not something that could be accomplished merely by being powerful in cultivation.

Just try letting Generals Who Pacifies the South like Yang Mingli and the others have a go—see if, with their face, they could muster a single soldier or officer of the Immortal Court.

Just at this moment.

The door of the room was suddenly pushed open from within.

Shen Yi stepped slowly out, glanced at the two of them, and said coolly: "Next time you want to gossip about someone, please don't do it at the door—otherwise you might as well just push the door open and chat."

"Uh." General Wushan scratched his scalp, and Ye Lan hurriedly waved her hands.

"I'm going out for a walk."

Shen Yi stretched out both arms, did not step into the Grand Void, and instead unhurriedly walked out of the residence.

When his cultivation was low, learning those lightness and shifting techniques, he had always hoped to be faster; but now, he suddenly felt that going a little slower somehow felt more real.

He wasn't the sort of person who got melancholy for no reason at all.

The reason for this realization was mainly that a problem had arisen in his cultivation.

During this period, Shen Yi had finally accumulated enough demon-lifespan, converting every demon corpse sent by the Qinghua Sect into garrison stones.

A total of twenty-seven fifth-rank ones; spread evenly, each prefecture could get three guardians comparable to titled generals, plus that wolf demon who had attained the Xinmu Four Symbols great-rank fruit position.

It could be said that, excluding General Zhennan, the current garrison strength of the nine prefectures had already surpassed the entire Zhan Yao Si of Dananzhou.

Moreover, this number was still gradually increasing as demons invaded.

In the past, one titled general oversaw three prefectures; now three oversee one. If problems still arose under these conditions, that would truly be a ghost story.

The only thing to watch out for was the powerful great demons above fifth-rank.

This was also why Shen Yi insisted on keeping General Wushan here to recover from his injuries.

Fourth-rank was truly too scarce.

Apart from the Xinmu wolf demon, Shen Yi had yet to obtain a second fourth-rank garrison stone. On the Qinghua side, under the command of a righteous god, two or three had indeed been slain, but great demons of that caliber were all wanted by the Immortal Court, so even their corpses had to be sent back to the heavens — not something a single great immortal like Lady Qinghua could interfere with.

Fortunately, the current demon horde was only probing; with this batch of garrison stones in place, it was certainly sufficient for now.

The safety concerns of the nine prefectures were temporarily resolved.

Shen Yi then began to consider himself.

He wasn't exactly disgusted at being supported by others — after all, the Golden Body Lady Qinghua used was formed from a Yin God, which counted as half a "himself." Working a job to support oneself wasn't shameful.

It's just that the demon-lifespan sent from Baji Valley came in like a trickling stream — barely enough to use, with hardly any surplus.

After such a long time, aside from the expenditure of shaping garrison stones, he had only saved up several hundred kalpas.

Shen Yi wasn't particularly worried about this point.

Now that the nine prefectures' garrison was abundant, it also counted as opening a new channel for demon-lifespan.

Besides, he wasn't a lazy coward; whenever an opportunity arose, he could always go out and grab another haul.

When the family split, Yang Mingli was unwilling to interfere with the nine prefectures' affairs again, but he never said Shen Yi himself couldn't go to the other eighteen prefectures. As long as his own household remained stable, that counted as freeing himself up.

The demon-lifespan problem could be figured out later.

The trouble Shen Yi now faced was that, when he continued to invest the several hundred kalpas he had saved into his cultivation, he suddenly noticed something off.

The Dragon-Subduing, Tiger-Taming fruit position had already reached perfection. Before glimpsing the true Bodhisattva fruit position, relying solely on demon-lifespan would make further progress difficult.

He could only find a way through the Taixu Dan Dao.

But when Shen Yi poured in his lifespan, he found the entire process was... too smooth!

Without a ripple, without needing comprehension, his cultivation just rose like that.

After consuming these six hundred kalpas, Shen Yi's Taixu Jin Dan Dao fruit had already reached over three thousand five hundred kalpas.

Back then, a three-thousand-kalpa Dragon-Subduing, Tiger-Taming fruit position had been enough to move the Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva. Just how terrifying would a three-thousand-five-hundred-kalpa Taixu Jin Dan be?

Yet Shen Yi couldn't smile at all.

Although he had successfully reached fourth-rank through this deduced path, he had never intended to truly refine himself into a golden core.

The fact that the Taixu Dan Dao could continue to grow had given Shen Yi great hope — to see whether, without relying on an Immortal Venerable's Dao fruit, he could brute-force a third-rank path using only demon-lifespan.

Therefore, cultivation advancing without any comprehension was not a good thing.

Forget three thousand five hundred kalpas — even five or eight thousand, what use were they? Without reaching third-rank, in the end it was merely making a wedding dress for Shenxu Laozu.

Could it be that one should rejoice at becoming more fragrant and delicious?

As for forcefully pouring in demon-lifespan to round it off to a whole number, say ten thousand kalpas, to see if any change would occur —

Shen Yi felt that probably, at the moment of his final push, what would greet him first would not be a breakthrough, but Shenxu Laozu salivating and preparing to swallow a great pill.

"Change... change..."

He walked onto the long street, utterly without thoughts, able only to silently watch the passing pedestrians hurrying by.

Although the nine prefectures had not suffered disaster, news of martial law in other areas had long since spread; public unrest was inevitable.

Shen Yi recalled that peaceful, prosperous age he had seen when he first left Hongze. He had sighed with emotion back then, mocking himself for what kind of bitter life he had lived — if only he had been born in the Divine Dynasty, he would have possessed from birth all those things he had spent his life pursuing.

Who could have imagined that in just a few short years, this prosperous age would already show faint signs of collapse.

The Divine Dynasty, formed by the condensed imperial aura of mortals, when facing true gods, buddhas, and immortal venerables, seemed little different from how the living beings of Hongze had once faced Lingyun Shiren.

Shen Yi could barely protect himself now; taking care of the nine prefectures was already his limit.

As for anything else, he couldn't attend to too much.

The young man in the ink-black robe stood with hands at his sides in the middle of the long street, closed his eyes, and carefully examined the Dao fruit and fruit position within his body, as well as the immortal seal inside the thumb ring.

It seemed only these things could give him a slight sense of security.

When his divine sense swept over the Dragon-Subduing, Tiger-Taming fruit position once more, Shen Yi suddenly froze. Back then, the Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva had dropped a wisp of brilliant light that, after merging into this amber-colored round bead, had vanished — manifesting as four extra arms on the Arhat Golden Body.

But at this moment, he had caught a trace of a faint mark.

Within the amber round bead, Shen Yi found a wisp of incongruous aura — clearly something that had been forcibly merged in back then.

His divine sense quickly pursued it.

Finally, inside the bead, he found a golden thread as fine as an ox hair.

"This is it!"

Shen Yi suddenly opened his eyes.

Its aura matched that of kalpa-force, yet it wasn't the same thing — most likely the difference between fourth-rank and third-rank.

If he could figure out what this thing was, his own little life might just be saved.

……

Dananzhou, somewhere among clear mountains and beautiful valleys.

Before a clear water pool, a woman in a blue shirt and white skirt squatted down, cupped the cool clear spring water in her hands, and casually washed her face.

Logically speaking, anyone daring to appear in such a wild and remote place would likely be a reclusive cultivator, but this unceremonious act seemed to have nothing to do with a cultivator.

After all, anyone with even a bit of realm to their name wouldn't need to use mortal pool water to wash their face.

She smoothed her slightly damp hair, revealing a face too exquisite for words, her dewy eyes glancing about with a hint of novelty; curious yet she did not move on, as if waiting for something.

Soon, a streak of Jin Guang suddenly descended from the heavens — such dense immortal power was unmistakably the aura of the Heavenly Court.

The newcomer wore a suit of fine armor, his status far from ordinary, already beyond the rank of common heavenly soldiers and generals — clearly a general of the immortals.

Yet the moment he landed, he sheathed his weapons and respectfully bowed to the young Miss, his bearing more like that of one treating a half-elder.

"Jiang Shijie Tiandong, you've come out of seclusion and descended the mountain."

"Oh! It's Little Hongjing."

Tian Dong Xianzi broke into a smile, as if an ancient evergreen had suddenly burst into bloom.

She reached out and patted the back of the immortal general's head: "I've been in closed-door cultivation for years — have you grown taller?"

"This—"

Hongjing gave an awkward chuckle: "The last time Jiang Shijie saw me, I was already a Heavenly Immortal."

They were all old creatures whose lifespans were measured in kalpas, yet the other still regarded him with the attitude one would a child.

"Then how come you're still only a Taiyi Immortal now?" Tian Dong Xianzi blinked, clearly without malice, simply genuinely puzzled.

"I…" Hongjing felt his tongue turn bitter — what did she mean, only a Taiyi Immortal? Was fifth rank that low? How many people spent their entire lives unable to reach this realm.

But facing this Jiang Shijie, he did not dare show the slightest displeasure: "Being on duty at the Immortal Court keeps me busy, so I've neglected my cultivation."

Hongjing's original intent was to draw her attention to his fifth-rank immortal register.

But he never expected Tian Dong Xianzi to merely nod thoughtfully, then advise: "To forge iron, one must be hard oneself — you ought to be a bit more diligent… ah, forget it, we just met, I won't nag."

"Master said a calamity is about to arise in the world and ordered me down the mountain to save it — where lies the calamity?"

"……"

Listening to Jiang Shijie Tiandong's words, Hongjing quietly sighed — this was why he had previously preferred to cling to that outsider Qingluan rather than consider his own Jiang Shijie.

The other party, even now, still actually believed that Elder Yu Chi's Immortal Sect had truly sent her down the mountain to save the world.

With a disposition like this, she was no better than that blockhead Qingluan.

But since even Master had not spoken plainly, Hongjing could not say much either, and casually pointed toward the Divine Dynasty: "Jiang Shijie, come with me."

The sect had long since contacted all sides, setting the stage for her.

Now that the lead had taken the stage, the show could begin.

(End of this chapter)