Chapter 737: Demonic Cultivators of the Li Realm, The Lord of the Great Underworld Offers Sacrifice (Combined Chapter)

……

Whooo—

On a great vessel shaped like a gourd, Wu Wu Yunlong leaned against the railing and gazed outward; in the gloom, he could faintly make out streaks of light flashing past.

"Ever since this realm spawned the Ten Li, the number of cultivators passing through has grown."

Daoist Yong'an had sharper eyes than he; through the deep darkness, he could faintly discern the origins of those luminous auras:

"Xuantai Heaven, Longbian Heaven, Chiming Heaven… eh, Jiuyan Luo…"

"Jiuyan Luo? Could it be Mount Mount Dongxuan?"

Wu Wu Yunlong came back to himself.

"All twelve Great Luo mountains have Jiuyan Luo; it isn't necessarily Mount Mount Dongxuan. This Shi Li Fa Jie is a top-grade ground for refining demons—ideal for cultivating the Great Luo Banner, the Demon-Refining Sword, the Demon-Slaying Saber, the Demon-Nurturing Seal…"

Daoist Yong'an said with some regret, "That Daoist friend Li is wholly set on the mysteries of the Dao; I fear he won't come here anytime soon."

"This isn't exactly a friendly place…"

Wu Wu Yunlong muttered inwardly.

The Ten Li were a top-grade material for refining dharma and refining treasures.

But what dharma and treasures required these Ten Li to cultivate?

Mount Mount Dongxuan's Demon-Refining Sword, Yuanhuang Mountain's Demon-Slaying Saber, Mount Yujing's Demon-Nurturing Seal, their own Shizun Mountain's Immortal-Slaying Gourd—each and every one was a treasure of fierce slaughter, a dharma of fierce slaughter.

Hence, while quite a few Daoist cultivators came here, the greater number were demonic cultivators!

As he knew, over the past several hundred years, no small number of Daoist cultivators had perished in this Shi Li Fa Jie…

"Junior brother, this wisp of sword qi is for you."

Daoist Yong'an, aware of his thoughts, unhooked the gourd at his waist and drew out a wisp of sword qi:

"Don't lightly stir this wisp of Immortal-Slaying sword qi. If you do stir it, immediately activate your Void-Fleeing talisman, and I'll guide you out from beyond."

"Many thanks, senior brother."

Carefully shifting this wisp of sword qi into his dantian, Wu Wu Yunlong felt a measure of ease.

Shi Li Fa Jie did not admit Rong Wu Jing cultivators or divine treasures; this wisp of Jin Ba Jing sword qi could not, perhaps, let him run rampant here, but at the critical moment it would at least let him withdraw with composure.

"Remember, junior brother—seize that toad and withdraw at once. Mind no idle business; if you meet a demonic cultivator, avoid them if you can!"

Daoist Yong'an urged.

Wu Wu Yunlong nodded in assent, then vanished into the darkness.

"Whoosh—"

Daoist Yong'an caught sight of no few dim demonic lights; killing intent flashed through his eyes, but he forcibly restrained himself.

……

"Quite a few people."

The instant he entered Shi Li Fa Jie, Li Yuan looked back and gazed into the distance; in the darkness, divine lights of every color flickered, some entering, some departing.

"Pop—"

The next instant, Li Yuan felt only that he had passed through a thin membrane.

Then a chill shot through his heart; aided by the perception of the Records of Armaments, he faintly sensed an incomparably terrifying aura sweep across him.

"Doesn't seem like a cultivator…"

The thought flashed through Li Yuan's mind, and the next moment light and shadow appeared before his eyes once more.

"Boom!"

Almost at the same instant, Li Yuan heard a piercing roar; he abruptly concealed himself within the rosy clouds and gazed into the distance, only to see a long rainbow pierce upward through the heavens.

Then, at an extreme height, divine light exploded and shattered, and a figure fled into the void.

"That long rainbow was at the Wu Jing level!"

Li Yuan was startled but did not lose his composure.

Shi Li Fa Jie held not only fierce beasts but also cultivators; when an outsider cultivator intruded upon this realm, it was possible to alarm the realm's strong ones, and quite a few unlucky ones were slain the moment they entered.

Still, that outsider cultivator clearly had a spiritual treasure protecting him and had escaped this tribulation.

"I must be more careful."

Li Yuan settled within a stretch of rosy clouds, observing Shi Li Fa Jie.

The clouds were high, the sky a clear blue; apart from a great sun red as blood, at first glance it was no different from an ordinary great star—gazing outward, one could see mountains, rivers, and peaks.

Shi Li Fa Jie: a round heaven and a square earth.

Beneath the canopy of a single star-domain lay only one continent, but clearly it was not comparable to the Dayun Star; according to intelligence, its size was no less than Tian Shi Yuan.

In fact, this was only because the realm was on the verge of perishing; before the Daoist sect had opened it up, it had been ten times larger still.

At this realm's peak, there had once been several half-step Dao Sovereign-level powerhouses.

"Intelligence says the qi of heaven's perishing has seeped into this realm, making it nearly impossible for cultivators above the Liu Jing to be born—but that doesn't mean there aren't no old monsters lurking in the dark…"

Li Yuan thought warily, feeling he still had to be more cautious.

Ying Mo Shen's life was a life too.

"Hoo—"

As Li Yuan was thinking, a streak of flowing light tore through the rosy clouds and plunged into the Gang Wind Heaven.

"Nothing?"

It was a great man over a zhang tall, clad in black armor, holding a great bow as tall as a man; he looked all around and muttered:

"The High Priest clearly said two would descend here. One escaped—where is the other?"

He looked all around, his gaze cold and fierce, as if activating some sort of spiritual-eye art; only after a moment did he turn and leave.

"High Priest?"

Amid the rosy clouds, Li Yuan, who had already learned the language of Shi Li Fa Jie on the road, naturally heard it clearly, but very soon, his attention was drawn to the treasure-light emanating from that big fellow.

【Cultivated Bow (Twelfth-Tier)】

【……A bow transformed from a cultivator who practiced the 'Dragon Bow Grand Method' and failed to Tu Po Wu Jing, containing the lifetime cultivation of a Yi Zun Si Jing peak cultivator……】

【……A supreme-grade spirit treasure containing various divine prohibitions within, brimming with spirituality……】

【Control Requirement:???】

【Control Effect:???】

That was a bow transformed from a cultivator. If it were only this, Li Yuan would not have been surprised; even the present world's Heavenly Craft was not lacking in refining cultivators into spirit treasures.

But the armor worn by that big fellow was strikingly named 【Cultivated Armor (Twelfth-Tier)】.

"Not refined into a spirit treasure, but cultivated into one?"

Li Yuan recalled the intelligence he had gathered, which contained no such records.

"Hoo~"

At this moment, that big fellow went and returned. With a single exhale of his qi, he shattered the gale sweeping across ten thousand li of rosy clouds, then gave a cold snort and vanished once more.

"……Very cautious, aren't they."

Li Yuan reacted swiftly. The instant that big fellow went and returned, he had already plunged into the distant rosy clouds, yet was also blown out several thousand li by the gale.

"Let me first gather intelligence."

Li Yuan reined in his qi. Since entering this world, he had already activated the Cang Xing Fa, but out of caution, he did not even expend his magic power, relying solely on the traits of Ying Mo Shen to shuttle through the shadows.

Very soon, he followed the shadows to a small city.

"Worm City."

Within the shadow of a tall building, Li Yuan overlooked this small city.

This was a city utterly unlike those of the present world. Rather than calling it a city, it would be better to say it was a giant 'worm' with two huge horns, resembling a longhorn beetle.

This worm was as large as a small hill, covered densely with buildings, inhabited by no less than several tens of thousands of people.

This worm was still alive!

"Second-Tier 'Horned Worm'."

Li Yuan's gathered intelligence contained similar records.

Shi Li Fa Jie was on the verge of perishing; from time to time, winds of perishing would sweep across various places. Therefore, many years ago, the cultivators of this world had already learned to dwell upon worms.

The size of their cities depended entirely upon the grade of the horned worm.

Intelligence records showed that the thirty-two largest cities in Shi Li Fa Jie were all fifth-tier peak horned worms, each capable of bearing several million to tens of millions of residents.

Relying on his eleventh-tier Zhang Bing Lu, Li Yuan could see patch after patch of treasure-light. Apart from differences in grade, there was almost no great distinction.

Cultivated blades, cultivated swords, cultivated armor, cultivated bows……

"They're all transformed from cultivators!"

Li Yuan drifted like a ghost through the shadows of this city. Every weapon-spirit treasure in the entire city, regardless of outward form, was essentially a cultivator!

"The intelligence was still too shallow……"

Within the shadows, Li Yuan held the corpse of a beggar who had died by the roadside.

Within this beggar's body, a dead worm clearly dwelled!

"Is this beggar an isolated case, or do nearly all living beings in this city have a worm within them?"

Li Yuan focused his gaze upon the pedestrians beyond the shadows, but even with the augmentation of Zhang Bing Lu, he could not perceive any anomaly.

"Or is it that one can only see it after death?"

Li Yuan flicked his finger. As the corpse trembled violently, a tiny ferocious worm the size of a speck of dust floated out from its pores, and as it did, it transformed into wisps of qi that vanished into the world.

"Heavenly spiritual energy? No, this spiritual energy is poisonous!"

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly. During the process of that little worm merging into the world, he seemed to see an endless, boundless tide of worms……

Though it lasted only a fleeting moment of daze, Li Yuan did not believe he had seen wrong.

"This world's spiritual energy……"

Li Yuan raised his hand and grasped a wisp of the world's spiritual energy, yet detected no anomaly, which made his heart somewhat creep with dread.

"A single proof does not suffice; let me look further……"

Li Yuan suppressed the throbbing in his heart and drifted among the shadows. Very soon, he had reached a conclusion.

The spiritual energy of Shi Li Fa Jie was poisonous!

And those tiny worms could only be perceived when the beings of this world died, and only with the highest concentration of spirit.

Li Yuan guessed this was related to the impending destruction of this world. With this thought, he slipped into the study of the residence of the only third-tier cultivator in this city, preparing to find the reason.

"Senior Jade and Daoist Yong'an's intelligence was not wrong, merely outdated!"

"This change should have originated after the Heavenly Transformation. With the augmentation of Zhang Bing Lu, my perception is no less than that of a fifth-tier cultivator, and since the Heavenly Transformation, no fifth-tier cultivator has entered Shi Li Fa Jie……"

"Still, does this change come from the cultivators, or from this very world?"

Li Yuan flipped through these books, detecting nothing out of place. The records within were identical to the intelligence he had gathered.

"Who's there?"

At this moment, a sudden great shout exploded within the residence.

Li Yuan instantly plunged into the shadows, focusing his gaze. He saw a big fellow in armor leap into the air within the residence, and then, a streak of blood-colored flowing light descended from the heavens.

"Demonic cultivator!"

Li Yuan cursed inwardly and fled this city.

Almost simultaneously, that blood-light plunged into the city. A piercing cry of a worm exploded, and then, that worm city was drowned by the blood-light.

After several breaths, a Daoist clad in a blood robe stepped through the air and arrived. With a beckoning gesture, that streak of blood-light, together with the worm city collapsed countless times over, fell into his palm.

"That is……"

Li Yuan's gaze sharpened.

The worm city writhed violently within the blood light, transforming into a dense swarm of ferocious little worms, as if about to return to heaven and earth, yet bound fast by that blood light.

"This demonic cultivator seems to know something, or rather, the upheaval of this realm is connected to these demonic cultivators?"

Li Yuan narrowed his eyes.

If his true body were here, he would naturally have retreated without looking back, but with the Shadow Demon Body, he wanted to probe the depths of Shi Li Fa Jie.

"Not enough substance."

The blood-robed Daoist pinched his five fingers together, and that streak of blood light condensed into a crimson crystal stone: "Tens of thousands of worms can't even condense a single Fourth Realm blood crystal stone…"

"Who?"

As he spoke, the Daoist's gaze suddenly turned red, his form retreating violently a hundred li, warily looking toward the distant shadow.

Upon sensing that pure demonic cultivator's aura, his brow eased slightly:

"How may I address you, Daoist friend?"

"Mm?"

Li Yuan had been ready to make a move, but sensing the demonic cultivator's change in attitude, he held back his thoughts:

"Han."

"Daoist friend Han."

The blood-robed Daoist cupped his fists in greeting: "I am Xue Xue Yuming, a disciple of the Holy Blood Sect."

"So it is Daoist friend Xue."

Li Yuan's gaze faintly sharpened, then he cupped his fists and returned the courtesy.

The Holy Blood Sect, one of the great demonic sects, its sect master the Holy Blood Dao Monarch, who achieved the Dao before the various epochs, suspected to have participated in the war that annihilated the Origin Divine Dynasty.

"Are you a rogue cultivator?"

Seeing that he had not reported his own affiliation, Xue Xue Yuming was somewhat surprised.