Chapter 700: The Immense Harvest of the Ying Mo Shen, Sword Aiming for First Place! (Two)

Ten thousand demonic shadows interwove, like clouds, like a waterfall, forming a massive cocoon that enveloped the light of thunder and fire within.

"He really swallowed them!"

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi, half-hidden underground in the distance, felt his heart tremble with fear.

Those were two high-grade eerie lands, especially that Mysterious Yin Lei Chi—even broken, it still possessed the essence of the Fifth Realm; ordinary Fourth Realm cultivators wouldn't dare set their sights on it.

Though that Great Sun Divine Ape Mountain was not of the Fifth Realm, it was not greatly damaged and possessed the power to shake-kill Fourth Realm.

And that demonic cultivator actually dared to swallow two at once!

"Isn't he afraid of bursting?"

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi cursed inwardly, quietly burrowing through the earth. Within a few breaths, he had already burrowed into the Cloud Demon Eerie Land.

Compared to two years ago, the changes in this Cloud Demon Eerie Land could only be called terrifying.

When he was first captured and brought here, this eerie land only had Black Cloud Dao Soldiers and those ten thousand demonic shadows. Now, with a single glance, he spotted thirteen types of Dao Soldiers, including the Black Cloud Dao Soldiers.

All of them were Third Realm Dao Soldiers!

Let alone a Fifth Layer Divine Palace cultivator like him—even a Seventh or Eighth Layer Divine Palace cultivator who dared to break into this place would surely die without a burial ground.

"This demonic cultivator's progress is too terrifying…"

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi wiped his cold sweat, pretended to be calm, and ascended the Nine-Layer Xia Lou. In a corner, Wang Shan Xuan had already healed his injuries, but still dared not move rashly.

No choice—this Nine-Layer Xia Lou gathered the elites of the Cloud Demon Eerie Land. Though there were only twenty-three Dao Soldiers, they were all of the Fourth Realm!

In addition, there were demonic shadows, one after another, seeming both illusory and real, their auras nearly identical to that demonic cultivator's, yet even more bizarre and ferocious…

"You?"

The instant he saw Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi, Wang Shan Xuan already knew his thoughts. His expression tightened involuntarily, and then the former grabbed his shoulder:

"Run!"

Without any hesitation, Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi urgently activated his Dun Fa, intending to seize this chance to escape this demonic lair, but suddenly felt a sharp pain at the back of his head.

"You stupid pig!"

Wang Shan Xuan couldn't help but slap him: "You didn't even recognize the 'Fixed Void Dao Soldiers'?"

"What?"

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi was startled. Immediately after, he felt his Dun Fa had no effect. By the time he reacted, his body had already frozen in place.

Those twenty-three Fourth Realm Dao Soldiers all looked over at once. Their cold, emotionless gazes made both men's hair stand on end.

"Run!"

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi roared. Divine light burst forth from his body as he shoved Wang Shan Xuan out of the Nine-Layer Xia Lou: "Go!"

"Fatty!"

Wang Shan Xuan gritted his teeth, his magic power surging.

His realm was similar to Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi's, but he had already refined two strands of Golden Nature, and used them all for the Lesser Thousand Worlds Dun Fa. After breaking free from the Fixed Void Dao Soldiers' range of influence, he instantly burrowed out of the eerie land.

"Boom—!"

Within a few moments, thunderous roars echoed in the distance.

The cloud tide formed by ten thousand demonic shadows rolled forward, dragging that giant cocoon of thunder and fire colors behind it. Before long, it had already descended upon the Nine-Layer Xia Lou.

"Roar!"

The giant cocoon trembled, and faintly, thunder and roars could be heard.

"Transcending realms to devour is indeed troublesome."

With one hand pressing down on the giant cocoon to suppress the agitation within, relying on the Ying Mo Shen's complete control over demonic shadows, Li Yuan could clearly sense the two eerie lands within.

The broken Fifth Realm eerie land, Mysterious Yin Lei Chi, and the relatively intact Fourth Realm eerie land, Divine Ape Mountain.

It had taken nearly two years in total. After provoking these two to clash countless times, he finally seized the opportunity and swallowed these two eerie lands.

"Swallowing isn't easy, and digesting isn't easy either."

Li Yuan could feel that the ten thousand demonic shadows he had used to devour these two great eerie lands were constantly dissipating.

Of course, before each demonic shadow dissipated, it had at least swallowed a mouthful.

"What comes next is a war of attrition."

Li Yuan's heart was undisturbed. The Ying Mo Shen Gong feared least a war of attrition.

Over this past year or more, he had not only been scheming against that Mysterious Yin Lei Chi, but had also swept through a large number of Second and Third Realm eerie lands, refining countless demonic shadows.

His mind stirred slightly as he sensed the demonic domain within the Ying Mo Shen body.

Compared to when it was first refined, this demonic domain had expanded more than tenfold. Within, demonic shadows interwove like clouds and mist, each at least a demonic shadow refined with one strand of Ying Mo magic power.

Beneath the demonic mist lay a deep pool spanning several hundred li, storing the Ying Mo water transformed from the impurities of the myriad eerie beasts he had devoured.

This was a spell refined after the Ying Mo Shen advanced to the Third Realm. Its might was tremendous. Previously, he had used this water to extinguish an entire Third Realm eerie land—no eerie beast or eerie weapon could withstand it; they dissolved upon contact, brutally fierce.

Hum~

Li Yuan sat cross-legged, one hand pressing on the giant cocoon. Whenever a demonic shadow was shaken to death, he would immediately replenish one.

Repeating this, in less than half a day's time, the Fourth Realm eerie land Divine Ape Mountain had already been torn off a piece. The scattered, fragmented divine patterns had barely assembled into a spell.

"Great Sun Divine Ape Transformation!"

Within his mind sea, the divine patterns converged as Li Yuan focused his perception.

This was a rare body-tempering spell. When activated, it could transform into the extrastellar exotic beast 'Great Sun Divine Ape', capable of inhaling and exhaling the supreme yang spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Aided by spirit pills, it could strengthen the physique.

The degree of strengthening was equivalent to the level of the spell's law prohibitions.

If one could refine it to one hundred and eight law prohibitions, a cultivator could gain the strength of an additional Fifth Realm Great Sun Divine Ape!

"The master of your eerie land likely hadn't cultivated it to full prohibitions in life, but at least eighty-one, otherwise it couldn't have rivaled that Mysterious Yin Lei Chi."

Li Yuan's eyes shone brightly.

Body-tempering spells are among the hardest spells to cultivate. Once activated, magic power drains extremely fast. An ordinary Third Realm cultivator absolutely couldn't maintain a Great Sun Divine Ape body comparable to the Fourth Realm for long.

But he was different!

Just over a year earlier, his Ying Mo Shen had already accumulated a full eight hundred and ten strands of Ying Mo Fa magic power, its quality no less than that of a Kun Peng.

After another year of frenzied devouring, though limited by his main body's realm, it was still eight hundred and ten strands of magic power, but the quality had already reached the level of six-tenths upper-grade magic power.

Moreover, the myriad demonic shadows he had refined each contained at least one or two strands of Ying Mo Fa magic power; accumulated together, they were Yun Yun Qianbei times that of his main body!

"Once I swallow this Divine Ape Mountain, my Ying Mo Shen will be practically equivalent to a fourth-realm body-refining cultivator!"

"By then, even if I cannot refine the Shan Xuan Yin Lei Chi, I'll still have the qualifications to enter the core battlefield!"

"If that Shan Xuan Yin Lei Chi can also be refined…"

Li Yuan's thoughts flew about as he planned the path for his Ying Mo Shen, while also taking stock of his gains.

The belly of the Blood Phoenix was a supreme treasure-land for the Ying Mo Shen.

Over the past year or so, Li Yuan himself had advanced by leaps and bounds, his speed comparable to a Mu Mu Xiantian Dao Body, but the gains of the Ying Mo Shen were still far greater than those of the main body!

"Hum~"

At a thought from Li Yuan, the heart-sea of the Ying Mo Shen suddenly blazed with light; divine patterns forming divine prohibitions flowed and intertwined, like tides, like seas.

These divine prohibitions — some gathered in clusters of three or five, some in groups of eleven or twelve like little streams, and the most complex ones, as many as thirty-six divine prohibitions, flowing like great rivers.

Over the course of several years, Ying Mo Shen had astonishingly gathered a full eighty-one spells, and the lowest of their spell-prohibitions exceeded forty layers!

These were carefully selected from the various strange lands he had devoured, covering offense, body-protection, Dun Fa, body-binding, spirit-binding, transformation, and body-refining.

As for those spells with low prohibitions, incomplete divine patterns, and lesser might, they had all been stuffed into the bodies of the myriad demonic shadows within the Ying Mo Domain — their number several hundred to a thousand times greater than these!

"Even without a spirit-phase to draw on, in terms of pure combat power, I'm afraid the Ying Mo Shen has already surpassed the main body…"

Sensing the numerous spells within his heart-sea, Li Yuan gave an objective assessment.

Magic power nearly a thousand times that of a cultivator who had perfected the ninth heaven of the Divine Palace, eighty-one spells with very high prohibitions, plus the myriad demonic shadows at his disposal.

He felt that among all the opponents he had crossed hands with, only Huang Yuan could be considered a worthy match.

"Once I swallow Divine Ape Mountain, even Senior Brother Huang Yuan won't be a match for the Ying Mo Shen!"

Li Yuan opened his eyes, thoroughly satisfied.

His gains did not end there; apart from spells, this Cloud Demon strange land had also been nurtured by him to a level no less than an ordinary fourth-realm strange land.

The fourth-realm Dao Soldiers above the Cloud Tower were only part of them; within the Cloud Tower, there were still several dozen more hidden away.

"D-Daoist friend…"

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi had long since collapsed onto the ground; he had endured the torment and anxiety for nearly half a day and truly could take no more.

"What is it?"

Li Yuan shot him a glance.

That Wang Shan Xuan had been able to escape was naturally because the latter's shadow hid two third-realm demonic shadows.

"Old Wang got away!"

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi could not help but remind him.

"And then?"

Li Yuan paid it no heed.

Two years of exploration, though he had not entered the core battlefield, he had long since learned through his demonic shadows that on the other side of the battlefield a number of outside cultivators were hiding.

Letting this Wang Shan Xuan go out was naturally to prepare to scout out the true situation.

"What do you mean, and then?"

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi was utterly stunned; this demon's attitude was simply unfathomable, but the more so it was, the more it made his heart pound with dread.

"By the way, are there many Herdsmen in Tian Shi Yuan?"

Li Yuan inquired.

"Wh-what?"

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi could not quite keep up with this demon's train of thought, but he did not dare not answer: "N-not many, I suppose."

"I see."

Li Yuan was no exception, asking the fat Daoist Priest for some intelligence and information about the Herdsmen.

Herdsmen were an ancient profession; every realm's holy lands and sects had a few such cultivators, but the outside world had hardly any.

The reason was simple: to be a Herdsman, one needed at the very least a planet to tend.

Mount Mount Dongxuan naturally had Herdsmen, but those were all senior brothers who wished to walk the path of Herdsman into true-succession; Li Yuan did not feel he could command them.

'Could this demon actually possess a life-star?'

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi answered while simultaneously unable to stop his wild imaginings.

"He is one who carries a Herdsman inheritance."

After a round of questions and answers, Li Yuan already had a clear picture in his mind.

Though he did not believe that this fellow's ancestors truly were among the Nine Ministers of the Origin Divine Dynasty, as a Herdsman, he should be qualified enough.

"Daoist friend, you…"

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi still could not contain his curiosity: "You ask about Herdsmen — could it be that you have a life-star?"

Li Yuan did not answer him.

"Daoist friend, I can help you herd!"

Taking his silence for acquiescence, Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi's heart leaped with joy and he hurriedly said: "You only need to give me a life-star — even if it has only a million people — within at most a hundred years, I will surely raise three hundred billion…"

"It's coming!"

Li Yuan suddenly spoke.

What was coming?

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi gave a start, then heard a familiar and terrifying shriek:

"Kee!"

The Blood Phoenix shrieked!

As Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi shuddered inwardly, ten thousand demonic shadows rose into the air from within the Cloud Demon Strange Land, weaving together like fog, dragging the entire strange land into shadow.

"Boom!"

The next instant, the void trembled.

That blood-red sky suddenly split open with a great hole, and terrifying shockwaves came rolling in, blowing the strange lands about like scattered straw flying through the air.

"That wretched bird is devouring strange lands again!"

Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi cursed inwardly, gripping the deck of the tower ship tightly, feeling the entire strange land shudder violently, as if it would fall apart the next instant.

"Roar!"

Suddenly, a dragon's cry rang out.

Li Yuan looked up and saw, amid the raging gale, a dark-yellow earth dragon soaring into the air, wrapped in layers of divine light, flying toward the great hole in the sky.

"Some cultivator means to seize the chance to break free!"

Seeing this, Duan Yang Jian Tian Yi nearly forgot his fear, but then—crack! —the earth dragon and the cultivator within it exploded in the void.

"This is…"

Li Yuan's gaze sharpened. The instant the earth dragon shattered, he caught a fleeting trace of divine patterns vanishing in the void—seemingly an extremely well-hidden "formation ban"!

"A divine art of the Blood Phoenix from its lifetime? Or has someone laid a divine ban within its body?"

Li Yuan's thoughts raced, and the Cloud Demon Strange Land sank deeper.

"Whoosh!"

He did not know how long passed before the raging gale subsided.

Li Yuan gazed into the distance and faintly sensed ripples in the void, as though someone had stepped out of the void, only to vanish without a trace.

"Mm?"

Though they were far apart and it lasted only the briefest instant, Li Yuan did not believe he had seen wrong.

"It seems someone deliberately laid this formation ban…"

Li Yuan was now certain in his heart, only curious what the one who set the array was plotting.

Whoever could lay such a grand array within the Blood Phoenix's body clearly did not do so because of the Blood Phoenix itself…

"A sacrificial rite? Or…"

Li Yuan kept his guard up. The great harvest from Ying Mo Shen's trip had yet to be sent back—he could not afford any mishap.

"Let's keep watching a while longer. If anything seems off, withdraw at once!"

…

"Woo…"

Divine light flickered in the void.

Monk Master Lingji walked slowly through the void, looking down upon the various strange lands. Before long, he had passed through the temporarily calmed core battlefield left by the Blood Phoenix's cry.

"So far, all is well—only the Offering is lacking…"

At a certain moment, Monk Master Lingji paused. He looked toward a blood-red volcanic cluster not far away.

It was a small volcanic cluster spanning less than a hundred li, but unlike ordinary volcanic clusters, this one was a burning volcano.

Blood-red flames flickered from time to time, with seemingly endless divine patterns flowing within. Faintly, at the very center where the divine patterns intertwined, a great blood-red cocoon could be seen.

"The Indestructible Divine Phoenix…"

Monk Master Lingji's heart stirred.

The Ten Evils of the Primeval Age were all peerless great demons that had gestated Dao Fruits; each possessed immeasurable power, and even stealing a single wisp of it would be an unimaginable fortune.

What a pity…

Suppressing the greed in his heart, Monk Master Lingji calculated on his fingers and could not help frowning:

"Strange beast flesh and blood are no substitute for living beings, it seems. That beast will have to swallow another batch of strange lands, otherwise once living flesh and blood follows, the breath of life and death will be lacking…"

A thought moved in his heart, and his figure shattered like a reflection of light.

Before long, the Blood Phoenix let out another piercing cry. The blood-red sky split open, and from the black hole shockwaves rolled down like a heavenly river in cascade, as strange lands one after another plunged into the battlefield.

"Boom!"

Li Yuan, who had been watching the sky intently, did not sense any ripple in the void—it seemed what he had seen before was an illusion. Accompanied by a thunderous explosion, a Third-Realm strange land crashed down a hundred li away.

"Using a Blood God as an array to devour ten thousand strange lands—if this is a sacrifice, it is a grand sacrifice. If it is not a sacrificial rite, then the core battlefield must hold something beyond imagination…"

Li Yuan looked toward the core battlefield, and after a long while withdrew his gaze, turning instead to scan the strange lands around him:

"Whosever scheme it is, I'll take as much as I can swallow."

"As for what's inside that core battlefield…"

…

"Whoosh!"

"Inhale!"

On the Qi-Gathering Platform, Li Yuan slowly concluded his cultivation; all his magic power had grown.

"Kun Peng magic power exchanges for Hei Di magic power at a ratio of three to one. If I convert it all, it should be roughly enough for eighty-one Yi Dao Shang Pin."

Li Yuan calculated in his heart.

The Chaos Body greatly aided his Xing Gong and refinement of arts. In just three short months, he had barely gathered enough for eighty-one Yi Dao Shang Pin.

Of course, this meant expending all his Zhong Pin Fa at once.

"I can try to awaken the Chaos Body now. As for retrieving the Metal-Nature, I'll wait until after the Battle Ranking closes!"

Li Yuan's plan was very clear.

After entering the inner hall, the various fortunes bestowed by his Master were all top-grade among their kind, but to refine and temper them required an enormous expenditure.

The Chaos Body's amplification of all manner of spells, and even of magic power, did not come from thin air without cost; the spiritual pills he now consumed were nearly double what they had been before.

The Combat Ranking was something he absolutely could not give up.

"Hum~"

At the thought, within Li Yuan's mind-sea, a golden light like the sun slowly rose, radiating a dazzling brilliance, as if it could illuminate the soul itself.

"Enlighten, Chaos Body!"

"Boom!"

The golden great sun plunged into the mind-sea, its piercing divine light striking straight toward the cultivator's origin.

Li Yuan focused intently, and faintly, it seemed as if he saw once more that dark abyss from which the Chaos Body constitution had been born; the metal-nature falling into this place was but a single wisp of golden light.

But in that instant, an indescribable sense of fulfillment suddenly welled up within him.

As if limbs missing for countless years had grown back anew.

"Boom!"

The next instant, the golden light fell silent.

"That's it?"

Li Yuan focused his perception.

After a wisp of metal-nature plunged into his origin, he did not perceive any change in himself; he tried circulating Gong Fa and refining methods, urging forth spells, and felt the enhancement was utterly negligible.

Compared to enlightening spells or spirit treasures, this was a tremendous loss!

"This... if not for the Master's guidance, even if I had thought to enlighten the Chaos Body, after one wisp of metal-nature yielded no result, I fear I would not have invested a second."

Li Yuan did not feel it was a loss; rather, he felt fortunate.

Such a matter, without anyone's guidance, relying solely on himself, he likely would never have thought of at all.

"No matter; it's only just over seven hundred strands of upper-grade magic power — even if it only buys a single chance to reverse Mu Mu Xiantian, it is worth it!"

Letting out a long breath, Li Yuan took out his Tongshi Orb.

As usual, he first entered the Weitian Martial Arena to seek out Huang Yuan to verify his combat methods.

Over the past year or more, apart from the few most crucial days of nurturing the Chaos Body, whenever he made any progress, he would seek out Huang Yuan to hone his combat methods.

But he had lost a hundred battles out of a hundred, never once even managing a draw.

……

"Huff~"

One day later, Li Yuan, who had fought Huang Yuan nineteen times, exited the Weitian Martial Arena; even with his current cultivation, he felt quite weary.

"Senior Brother Huang Yuan is truly a formidable foe!"

Though weary, Li Yuan's spirit was quite exhilarated.

The Chaos Body's augmentation and suppression of all techniques, together with the perfection of the Kun Peng True Form, gave him for the first time a sense of evenly matched combat against Huang Yuan.

"Eighteen losses and one draw!"

Reviewing the nineteen fierce battles just fought, Li Yuan truly perceived the might of the Chaos Body.

The spells he commonly used were still those few; the fifty or sixty spells he had learned later were far from sufficient in tier to participate in battles of such intensity.

But once the Chaos Body bore all manner of spells, it exerted tremendous suppression against spells of the same type.

Though it was far from reaching the legendary Chaos Sacred Body's realm of "invulnerability to all laws," the power of the various Wu Xing Fa spells Huang Yuan employed had been diminished by a great margin.

"Wu Xing-type spells acting upon me are equivalent to having six or seven layers of spell-taboo stripped away for nothing!"

After nine fierce battles, Li Yuan now had a clear understanding of his current combat strength; as long as that Lin Yue had not condensed nine wisps of metal-nature, he had a chance to fight and win!

"To be safe, I should still prepare the Zhangbing Register."

Li Yuan swallowed spiritual pills, recovering his spirit while adjusting his wielded weapons.

Out of wariness toward the Grand Void Divine Mirror, the wielded items he chose were all things like Shan Xuan Teng She Slough and the Green-Gloom Little Thunder Dragon — either augmenting Gong Fa Jing Fa Jie, or stacking innate talents.

The wielding effects were hard to perceive, but they likewise provided no small boost to his combat strength; he had employed them when fighting Huang Yuan as well.

"Huff!"

Half a day later, before nightfall descended, Li Yuan opened his eyes, feeling his essence, qi, and spirit had recovered to their peak; only then did he take out his Tongshi Orb and enter the Combat Hall.

Before battle, he first replied to the messages of many senior brothers, then sent a message to Feng Feng Xiuqi.

Only then did he open Lin Yue's challenge.

Over the past year or more, Lin Yue had challenged him no fewer than nine times.

"Accept!"

At the thought, starlight beneath Li Yuan had already wrapped him up and swept him away, plunging him into the Combat Platform.

……

……

Demon Qianshan Qilin City, situated southeast of Tian Shi Yuan, was one of the five great main cities.

This city covered an enormous area, encompassing not only mountain ranges but also vast stretches of sea and the myriad islands within.

The Demon Qianshan Qilin Court was situated upon one of those seas, upon a massive immortal island, where giant trees formed forests, spiritual grasses spread like shade, and all manner of spirit beasts frolicked and played within.

"Huff!"

At the seaside of the island, a youth clad in a black robe sat fishing.

He was very tall, nearly three zhang, his build balanced and powerfully compact; upon his black robe was embroidered a Qianshan Qilin with crimson eyes.

"Hum~"

At a certain moment, the Tongshi Orb trembled; Lin Yue casually tapped it, and at the base of his eyes light and shadow interwove, reflecting a cultivator clad in a black spell-robe, his complexion handsome.

"Lin Xuanjing Daozi."

Lin Yue cupped his hands in salute.

"The Battle Ranking closes in only one or two months. If he intends to accept the challenge, he should have shown himself by now."

Lin Xinglong's voice was low.

"He has not yet accepted."

Lin Yue glanced at the Hall of Battle, shook his head: "That one does have some tricks, but his victory over Chao Ying Shan Xuan Long was partly luck. I'm afraid he simply doesn't dare accept."

"Not necessarily."

"Hm?"

Seeing Lin Xinglong speak with such certainty, Lin Yue frowned slightly: "Daoist Lin, forgive my bluntness — even if that Ba Ba Wanli comes from the Outer Domains, why must you care so much?"

"It's more than the Outer Domains…"

Lin Xinglong used some unknown Mi Fa; his voice did not come from the Tongshi Sphere, but rose directly in Lin Yue's mind:

"There is a very great chance this person comes from those Dao Sects…"

"Hm?"

Lin Yue's expression shifted slightly, a hint of displeasure already in his eyes: "Then you had me invite him to battle?"

"Precisely because of this, I had you invite him to battle."

Lin Xinglong's voice sounded in his heart: "In this matter, your Court Head also knows."

"This…"

Lin Yue suddenly regretted having agreed to invite Ba Ba Wanli to battle.

The struggle between the Weitian Dao Sect and the Holy Lands of the various domains was not something he could meddle in…

But at that moment, his Tongshi Sphere suddenly trembled, and his face changed along with it:

"Ba Ba Wanli has accepted the challenge!"

(End of chapter)