Chapter 303

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Protagonist:

Jiang Xuan

The Heavenly Desolation Halberd prostrated itself, begging Willow Deity to act.

In days past it had braved dangers shoulder to shoulder with Kunpeng; its long halberd tore through the void, entrusting life and death to each other — those memories had long since transcended life and death.

The Heavenly Desolation Halberd recounted everything to the Ancestral Sacrificial Spirit; it had no need to deliberately embellish.

In the cultivation world, divine weapons and cultivators were never master and servant in the first place; even if one called Kunpeng master, a sentient immortal artifact that had accompanied its wielder for ten thousand years had long since become the other half of each other's being.

Cultivators regard their magic weapons as flesh-and-blood kin; magic weapons in turn revere their masters as the source of their sentience. From the moment a cultivator is insignificant, he coexists with his life-bound weapon; by the time the weapon takes shape, its artifact spirit has already developed intelligence, harboring toward its creator a childlike devotion and the bond of kindred spirits.

"Karma must be repaid." Willow Deity's voice was like a cold spring, each word condensing frost. "All who laid hands on this matter shall be executed."

"Ao Ling, Ao Cheng — not a single one of them shall escape the settling of accounts!"

The tip of the Heavenly Desolation Halberd trembled slightly, eager to drink the enemy's fresh blood.

Ao Ling harbored ulterior motives, inciting several True Immortals to drive Kunpeng to a dead end, where it fell under their joint siege.

And Immortal King Ao Cheng, when Willow Deity returned to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, actually joined forces with two other Immortal Kings to launch a sudden attack.

They assumed Willow Deity was using healing as a pretext, but in truth they wanted to bring Willow Deity back to the Immortal Domain; if Willow Deity refused, they would strike with lethal force — their methods so ruthless they made one's hair stand on end.

"I hope Ao Ling and the Sword Immortal are still alive! The sins they committed are intolerable to heaven and earth; if they just die that easily, I absolutely will not be resigned!"

The Heavenly Desolation Halberd's artifact spirit went mad; before its eyes the scene of Kunpeng's miserable death would constantly emerge — a pain it could never erase in its entire life.

Blood splattered on the spot, life extinguished; grief, indignation, and hatred interwove, already carving an unhealable wound deep in its soul.

Willow Deity stood in the Void; a bone-chilling aura emanated from among its branches and leaves, and the surrounding space was frozen by this hatred.

Beneath the seemingly calm exterior lay hidden a fury that could destroy heaven and earth, awaiting only the moment of revenge.

"The day of revenge will come at last."

Jiang Xuan broke the silence. "The Ao Ling you speak of should be that Residual Immortal in the Immortal Palace; he still hasn't died."

"Immortal Palace?" The Heavenly Desolation Halberd trembled slightly, its hatred deepening. "Ao Ling does have a Bronze Immortal Palace — it's a magic weapon he brought from the Immortal Domain, his trump card."

"That's him." Jiang Xuan nodded. "Although the Residual Immortal hasn't shown his face in many years, he indeed still lingers on in the world."

Back then, the Immortal Palace's Residual Immortal descended, yet was cowardly and fearful, hiding behind the battlefield the whole time.

This thoroughly enraged the Immortal Domain's upper echelons, who forbade his return to the Immortal Domain.

Later, the matter of besieging and killing Kunpeng involved complex power struggles behind the scenes, with various interests entangled.

When Kunpeng was heavily wounded, Ao Ling suddenly struck; perhaps he was instigated by someone, perhaps out of private enmity, or perhaps he wanted to monopolize the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths for himself.

After all, what a temptation it is to reign supreme in a world with no other powerhouses.

In a few words, Jiang Xuan informed the Heavenly Desolation Halberd.

As the Heavenly Desolation Halberd listened, its halberd body hummed, a dense hatred verging on materialization spreading outward.

The hero was buried in obscurity, silently and unnoticed; the traitor sat high atop the peak of glory, basking in adulation.

At this moment Willow Deity introduced Jiang Xuan to it; upon hearing this, the Heavenly Desolation Halberd felt reverence well up spontaneously, its gaze toward Jiang Xuan filled with veneration.

But the hatred in its heart did not diminish; it merely suppressed it temporarily.

Having calmed its emotions, the Heavenly Desolation Halberd made a request to Willow Deity, hoping to follow at Willow Deity's side.

Willow Deity refused, explaining patiently: "When I returned from the Foreign Domain back then, I was besieged by Ao Cheng and the others, and drifted to the Eight Domains; only a few years ago did I just awaken. Now I have settled in a village in the Huang Yu, where there are also a few like-minded friends; you can go there."

Hearing that Willow Deity had also been persecuted by Ao Cheng, the Heavenly Desolation Halberd's hatred surged again, its halberd tip flashing with cold light.

"This grudge unavenged, I swear I will not rest."

"After you leave the Kunpeng Chao, you must remember: you absolutely cannot mention Ao Cheng's true name."

Willow Deity's expression was solemn as it admonished the Heavenly Desolation Halberd. "Ancestral Sacrificial Spirit, rest assured, I understand." The Heavenly Desolation Halberd hurriedly replied.

An Immortal King's power is beyond imagination, intimately connected with the rules of heaven and earth; once someone rashly speaks their true name, the Immortal King can instantly sense it, and may even directly manifest a Dharma Form.

The Kunpeng Chao is special, able to block sensing; therefore inside the nest, mentioning Ao Cheng's true name poses no problem.

But once you walk out of the nest, you are full of the risk of being perceived by the Immortal King.

Of course, this sensing has a range limit; it only takes effect in the Immortal Domain and the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

If you can escape to the Boundary Sea, far, far away, no matter how you curse and revile, the Immortal King won't perceive a single bit.

Only, in the dark perhaps there exists a karmic connection; who knows, it might ultimately still cause you and that Immortal King to meet, to settle the karmic entanglement.

In the world of cultivators, some words once spoken are absolutely not without influence, vanishing in an instant; whatever is said will inevitably be known by certain existences.

……

In the Kunpeng Chao, Boy ascended to the Invincible Realm.

At the Blood Moving Realm, he exerted over 120,000 jin with a single arm, using the sole furnace to refine all things, laying the strongest foundation for himself.

Now at Spirit Transformation Realm perfection, upon emerging he consecutively slew three Venerable spiritual bodies, his might shaking all directions.

Countless Heaven's Prides and kings were horrified.

Who can suppress the Beast Milk Baby in this nest? Once the Blood Moving Realm's Number One Under Heaven — could it be he will now dominate the Spirit Transformation Realm as well?

Some enfeoffed lords sensed a threat from him; even without realm suppression, facing Boy at the Spirit Transformation Realm with an Inscription Realm cultivation, they felt they had no chance of victory whatsoever.

Previously, Boy had rampaged across the Void Battlefield at the Blood Moving Realm; although people looked favorably on him, they also felt the Blood Moving Realm was merely an initial realm, and he might be surpassed by other Heaven's Prides in the future.

But now, he is invincible at both the Cave Heaven and Spirit Transformation Realms, already having half a foot stepped into the peak of the Eight Domains.

As long as he does not cease cultivation, solely revering the Huang Yu and looking down on the Eight Domains is imminent.

As for the Double Pupil wielder and the Divine Mountain's disciple, even though they have not yet exchanged blows, everyone knows that if they face Boy, the outcome is already predetermined.

Of course, there are always those who overestimate themselves, still scheming in their hearts to eliminate Boy in advance.

Now the beast-milk child's strength has skyrocketed, already able to stand shoulder to shoulder with marquises, which makes those with ulterior motives anxious like ants on a hot pan, yet they have no plan to deal with it.

If a king or marquis acts against the Boy, never mind whether he would be beaten back by him in turn, just letting the little fellow escape would be enough to make them lose all face.

But if a Venerable personally steps in, everyone knows in their hearts that the forces behind the Boy will not sit idly by.

A reckless king, relying on his extraordinary strength, launched a sneak attack when the Boy was unprepared; as a result the Boy remained calm in danger, broke free of the restraints in a few moves, and even gave the other party a show of force in return, making that king retreat with a gray head and dirtied face, becoming a laughingstock from then on.

Once such an example spread, others dared even less to act rashly.

Inside the Kunpeng Chao, the Boy displayed his domineering air to the full.

He pointed at a Kunpeng spirit crystal lamp stand and declared loudly: "This spirit crystal lamp stand, I'm taking it. Who objects, who agrees?"

The others burned with anger inside, but thinking of the fates of those challengers before, their fury was doused like a basin of cold water, extinguished in an instant; they could only seethe without daring to speak, and ultimately gave up helplessly.

This lamp stand was what the Kunpeng used in the past to warm-nurture spiritual power; it requires top-grade spirit crystals as a guide to exert its maximum effect.

Those intimidated by the Boy could only console themselves: even if they got this lamp stand, without top-grade spirit crystals they couldn't bring out its full power, so giving it to this brat was fine, not worth fighting the Boy over it.

After the Boy got the spirit crystal lamp stand, he was overjoyed; then he spotted a spirit gathering jade plate, stretched out his small hand, and directly grabbed the jade plate into his hand, a move that made onlookers' veins bulge.

"This spirit gathering jade plate is also a treasure, I'm taking it too. You have no objections, right?"

The Boy's words stifled the crowd of experts, but in the end no one dared to step forward and oppose.

During this time, the Boy's prestige spread far; whether it was Heaven's Prides besieging him, kings and marquises attacking together, or Venerables' spiritual bodies, all were defeated by him one by one.

He grew more courageous with each battle, no one could stop him; his current domineering confidence was forged through one bloody battle after another.

Moreover there are many treasures here; what the Boy forcibly took was only one of the top treasures, others still have other treasures to contend for, there's really no need to fight him to the death.

However, when the Soldier Refining Pool appeared, and the crowd saw the peerless magic weapon embryos inside, they could no longer stay calm.

Dozens of people exchanged a glance, and the same thought surged in all their hearts: dozens of people besieging one, and still can't hold him down? There are so many magic weapon embryos, could it be they'll really all be taken by this brat? Take him out of the picture first, then the rest of us divide the remainder!

So the crowd swarmed forward, launching a siege against the Boy.

The Boy was knocked out of the Soldier Refining Pool several times, yet roared and charged back in each time.

His physical body is powerful, all aspects of his strength extremely outstanding; even under siege his injuries were not severe, he was like a war god descended, moving freely on the battlefield, and finally successfully snatched a magic treasure embryo stone forged from Nine Heavens Breath Soil.

The most powerful defensive magic treasure he had ever seen was the Small Pagoda, so he had kept his eye on the Breath Soil embryo stone to snatch it, and he actually succeeded, thinking this embryo stone could surely forge an extraordinary defensive magic treasure.

After the Boy obtained the Breath Soil embryo stone, the magic weapon embryos in the Soldier Refining Pool were startled, and using the pool's power they fled; the others could only watch anxiously, completely powerless to stop them.

The power of the Kunpeng Chao, they could not contend against.

In this struggle, the Boy became the sole Winner.

"What are you looking at?" The Boy glared with wide eyes at the surrounding people, "Want to snatch my treasure? Why don't you go get your own? Hmph, bullying the soft and fearing the hard!" Having said that, he put away the Breath Soil embryo stone and rushed forward alone.

In his view, these people were still dazed, simply not qualified to compare with him.

Next, the Boy saw that altar, and on the altar a dazzling array of treasures. There were Kunpeng Divine Feathers, the Kunpeng's lifetime Void-Soaring Cape, the magic weapon embryos that had just fled and reappeared, an altar full of spirit medicines, and even a seven-leaf-sprouting-eight quasi-saint medicine — the Lingxiao Mushroom.

The Lingxiao Mushroom is extremely special, with a clear advancement path: four leaves for spirit medicine, eight leaves for saint medicine; compared to other precious medicines, advancement is relatively easy, showing its extraordinariness.

Currently no one in the Eight Domains knows the Lingxiao Mushroom's transformation limit, nor whether it can continue advancing after becoming a saint medicine.

But this doesn't hinder the Boy from salivating over it; gazing at the huge altar, his eyes shone.

"All mine!"

After a round of "plundering," the Boy returned fully loaded.

On his back, the bundle stuffed with treasures bulged.

And in his mind, the complete Kunpeng Precious Technique shone brilliantly, a supreme peerless treasure.

At this moment the Boy stood with chest thrust high, heart full of pride: he, the Boy, has the bearing of a clan chief.

For the past year and a half, the Boy seemed to have vanished from the Stone Villagers' sight, yet left behind one astonishing legend after another.

He displayed divine might in the Kunpeng Chao, suppressing a crowd of experts; now he returns, instantly igniting the whole village's enthusiasm.

Stone Village boiled over; men, women, old and young poured out of their homes, unable to contain their joy.

Everyone talked over each other, laughter and shouts interweaving.

The elders' eyes glistened with tears, while children excitedly ran and jumped around the Boy, shouting: "Brother Boy is back!"

The villagers, three layers inside and three layers out, tightly surrounded the Boy in the middle.

Simply stars holding the moon.

"Shizu Ye, I'm back!" The Boy was very happy, excitedly pulling the clan chief's hand.

"Aunt Qinglin Eagle, congratulations on advancing to the Inscription Realm! Now you can be enfeoffed as a marquis, you'll definitely be awe-inspiring from now on!"

The Boy bounced over to Aunt Qing, his face written full of surprise and admiration.

The Boy shouted and cheered, heart full of joy.

While he himself grew rapidly, the Stone Village folks also never stopped their steps forward.

Everyone is cultivating hard, constantly breaking through themselves; this feeling of growing together makes the Boy incomparably happy.

"These are spirit medicines I found outside, and there's even a quasi-saint medicine!"

The Boy impatiently opened his spatial artifact.

In an instant, dense nearly tangible spiritual energy surged out, rushing straight into the clouds, brilliant light dazzling, illuminating the whole Stone Village.

The Boy threw these spirit medicines wholesale into Stone Village's medicine fields.

The moment these spirit medicines touched ground, as if guided by some force, each found a suitable spot and took root firmly.

Before long, the medicine fields became a riot of color, a vast expanse.

If outsiders saw this, they'd surely find it hard to believe this is a medicine field worth a city, and would think it a mysterious garden instead.

Then the Boy brought out many more treasures, placing them one by one before everyone, like a child presenting treasures.

It turned out that the altar piled with treasures in the Kunpeng Chao had been unceremoniously "swept clean" by the Boy; even the magic treasure embryos inside were all taken into his bag and brought back to Stone Village.

The Heaven Desolation Halberd was also brought back by the Boy.

With Jiang Xuan's agreement, these weapons "set up camp" in Stone Village.

Shi Cun seemed to be shrouded in a radiance of Happiness.

Boy's return not only brought back precious treasures and powerful techniques, everyone sat gathered together, sharing each other's stories and growth, laughter and joy echoing in every corner of Shi Cun.

Boy knew that no matter where he went, Shi Cun would forever be his Home, and every person here was his closest kin.

"Wonderful! Truly wonderful! Continue striving forward, the future will surely be boundless!" Jiang Xuan's admiration was undisguised.

He emitted heartfelt praise toward Boy, full of Xian Rong and Satisfied.

"That goes without saying!" Upon hearing this, Boy thrust his chest high and held his head high.

He, Boy, was Shi Cun's Heaven's Pride.

"You, don't get too Proud now."

Jiang Xuan pinched Boy's cheek, immediately after, his expression turned serious, words affirmative: "Truly remarkable! The Sole Furnace advanced another step, smelting all things, its Nan Tu difficulty beyond imagination, yet you actually achieved complete success in just a Half Year, truly astonishing!"

(Chapter End)