Chapter 390 – Corrupted Spirit Attaches to Great Dao, Universe Held in Palm

“This sword is… this sword is?!”

Wing Venerable stared at the descending Immortal Sword, a sudden realization flashing through his mind as he couldn’t help but exclaim in shock.

Yet distraction at such a moment was undoubtedly fatal.

After all, Lu Chen’s Fiend-Slaying Sword wouldn’t care about his current state.

Where the Fiend-Slaying Sword emerges, all fiends retreat.

As Lu Chen’s Sword Path cultivation grew increasingly profound, the Sword Intent contained within his Sword Formation became ever more terrifying.

He even had a feeling that, should certain conditions be met, his long-stagnant Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation at the Transformation Dao Realm would soon break through this realm.

Reaching the level of fifth-realm immortal techniques.

Boom!

The Fiend-Slaying Sword, wreathed in Samadhi True Fire, struck directly at Wing Venerable’s arms.

The sharp Sword Qi cleanly severed the arms of Wing Venerable’s Law of Heaven and Earth manifestation, then viciously chopped into his shoulders.

“Roar!”

Feeling the immense pain radiating from his shoulders, Wing Venerable’s face contorted violently as he let out a miserable scream.

The Sword Intent seemed inherently designed to counter ancient fiend cultivators like him.

No matter how much spiritual power Wing Venerable channeled into his wounds, the Sword Intent not only failed to diminish but continued to grow stronger.

It appeared capable of absorbing the ancient fiend spiritual power from his body to fuel its own growth.

Such bizarre Sword Intent was something Wing Venerable had never heard of, let alone witnessed.

Moreover, the Sword Intent of the Immortal Slaughtering Sword wasn’t the only threat this strike carried.

The accompanying Samadhi True Fire was simultaneously inflicting tremendous damage upon Wing Venerable.

In fact, the harm caused by this Samadhi True Fire was even greater and more lethal than that from the Sword Intent itself.

Because the Samadhi True Fire could not only burn through the Law of Heaven and Earth manifestation he had condensed using spiritual power.

It could even bypass the protection of his dharma form to directly damage his True Spirit.

This was undoubtedly fatal.

After all, whether it was his Physical Body or the dharma form condensed through the Law of Heaven and Earth.

These were merely external manifestations, means to an end.

While having his dharma form broken would affect Wing Venerable, it wouldn’t reach the level of causing fundamental damage.

But the Samadhi True Fire was different.

Its damage to the True Spirit was equivalent to directly harming Wing Venerable’s original form.

And throughout this process, Wing Venerable had no effective countermeasures.

Because at this moment he was not only wounded by Lu Chen’s Immortal Slaughtering Sword.

But was simultaneously being burned by the Samadhi True Fire.

Caught between internal and external crises, he had no extra means to restrain the Samadhi True Fire that continued to grow stronger within his True Spirit.

“ROAR!!!”

As the Samadhi True Fire burned, Wing Venerable’s screams grew increasingly intense.

Along with them, his Great Divine Power, the Winged Space, completely collapsed at this moment.

Subsequently, Wing Venerable’s Law of Heaven and Earth manifestation slowly dissipated, revealing his true form.

The current Wing Venerable was undoubtedly far more disheveled than at the beginning.

An Immortal Sword had cleaved through nearly half his body, ultimately embedding itself in his chest.

Had his Physical Body not been reasonably well-tempered.

This single sword strike might have diagonally sliced him in two.

But surviving for now didn’t guarantee Wing Venerable would continue to live.

The Immortal Sword piercing through his body was not only using its domineering Sword Intent to prevent him from regenerating his Physical Body.

The terrifying Samadhi True Fire was simultaneously continuously burning his True Spirit.The dual agony of both Physical Body and Soul.

Left Wing Venerable incapable of thought, reduced to instinctive wails and screams as he writhed on the ground.

Gradually, his cries grew fainter, his Qi weakening until it was nearly imperceptible.

Before long, a charred, desiccated corpse lay silently before Lu Chen.

Observing Wing Venerable’s remains, Lu Chen’s expression remained largely impassive.

With a wave of his hand, the Immortal Slaughtering Sword embedded in Wing Venerable’s body split into four streams of light, returning simultaneously to Lu Chen’s glabella.

He then approached the corpse and gestured once more.

Instantly, the previously still body stirred again.

A crystalline Soul Pearl slowly emerged from Wing Venerable’s remains, hovering before Lu Chen.

This pearl contained the essence of Wing Venerable’s cultivation and True Spirit.

Refined through Lu Chen’s Creation Pill Art.

His technique could even refine the heavenly Dao itself.

Let alone a mere Cultivator like Gu Xian.

Lu Chen’s primary purpose in refining this Soul Pearl wasn’t to enhance his own cultivation.

Rather, he sought to uncover secrets unknown to ordinary people through Wing Venerable’s memories.

Such as how he immediately recognized Lu Chen’s Samadhi True Fire.

Or why he showed terror upon seeing the Immortal Slaughtering Sword.

Recognizing the Samadhi True Fire might be coincidence.

But knowing both the True Fire and the Immortal Slaughtering Sword? That defied coincidence.

Wing Venerable must have learned about ancient events through some unknown channel.

These were the truths Lu Chen truly sought.

In his view, their value surpassed even legendary celestial treasures.

“Let me see what secrets your memories hold…”

As he spoke, the Soul Pearl shattered. Countless light points, drawn by some invisible force, streamed into Lu Chen’s glabella.

Immediately, Lu Chen began viewing Wing Venerable’s memories from a god-like perspective.

“Defilement clings to the Great Dao, grasp Qiankun in your palm, Houtian bears shackles, Xiantian breaks free from cages. Qiu’an, have you memorized this mantra, my disciple?”

“I have, Master.”

“Good. Now go practice diligently. With your talent and proper cultivation, you may someday shed your Houtian constraints and achieve Xiantian transcendence.”

In the Great Thousand Mountains, the young Wing Venerable Zuoqiu An knelt before an elder, paying solemn respects.

The elder’s face gave Lu Chen a sense of strange familiarity.

Familiar because Lu Chen was certain he’d seen this elder somewhere before.

Strange because he was equally certain he’d never actually met him.

Thanks to his exceptional memory,

Lu Chen immediately began searching his memories for information about this elder.

Anyone revered as Master by Wing Venerable must hold an extraordinary position in the Great Thousand Mountains.

Most likely, this elder was a mighty figure there—perhaps even the Sect Leader.

After searching, Lu Chen indeed found clues about the elder.Lu Chen looked at the portraits of the Great Wilderness Pagoda prisoners he had obtained from the Pagoda Master, quickly connecting the existence known as the Thousand-Year Elder with Wing Venerable Zuoqiu An’s Master.

At this point, Lu Chen fully understood the purpose behind the Great Thousand Mountains’ current large-scale mobilization to the Great Wilderness Pagoda.

“Who would have thought that the Sect Leader of the Great Thousand Mountains was captured by the Immortal Alliance long ago… truly, fate plays cruel tricks.”

Indeed, the Thousand-Year Elder currently imprisoned in the Great Wilderness Pagoda was none other than the Sect Leader of the Great Thousand Mountains.

This information remained unknown even to the Immortal Alliance that had captured him.

After all, not only had the Great Thousand Mountains changed its name to the Thousand Feather Sect, but its sect headquarters was also located deep within the Ten Thousand Mountains where the Immortal Alliance couldn’t set foot.

It wasn’t surprising that the Immortal Alliance remained unaware of the Thousand-Year Elder’s true identity.

However, this raised more questions for Lu Chen.

If the Thousand-Year Elder was indeed the Sect Leader of the Great Thousand Mountains, how had he been captured by the Immortal Alliance?

Setting aside other factors, the Thousand-Year Elder himself was a genuine Deity Transformation Stage cultivator.

While the Immortal Alliance might find it relatively easy to defeat someone of his level, capturing or killing him was an entirely different matter.

Moreover, the Thousand-Year Elder had the entire Great Thousand Mountains backing him.

Logically, he shouldn’t have been captured so easily, let alone imprisoned in the Great Wilderness Pagoda for centuries.

There must have been circumstances unknown to Lu Chen.

And these secrets were likely hidden within Wing Venerable Zuoqiu An’s memories.

Soon, Zuoqiu An’s memories began flashing before Lu Chen’s eyes like slides.

These memory fragments contained only the moments deeply etched in Zuoqiu An’s mind, with few other scenes preserved.

After all, Deity Transformation Stage cultivators could live for thousands of years.

Although Zuoqiu An was relatively young, having lived only slightly over a thousand years, his memories remained vast.

Remembering every detail would have been burdensome even for a Deity Transformation Stage cultivator.

Gradually, Lu Chen extracted valuable information from Zuoqiu An’s memories.

First was Zuoqiu An’s location: Five Crane Mountain.

Five Crane Mountain represented the core region of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

Yet even demons living around Five Crane Mountain rarely witnessed its full appearance, as only Crane Feather Mountain remained visible.

The other four peaks remained shrouded in mist.

This explained why the Great Thousand Mountains operated under the alias Thousand Feather Sect.

As the Wing Venerable, Zuoqiu An had been taught the Way of Wings by the Thousand-Year Elder.

In its early stages, the Way of Wings manifested as an exceptional escape technique—appearing and vanishing without trace.

Only upon reaching the Deity Transformation Stage would its true nature emerge, revealing its core Dao: Imprisonment.

As the saying goes, prolonged illness makes a fine physician.

Precisely because the Way of Wings specialized in escape techniques, its practitioners understood how to counter them.

In Zuoqiu An’s memory, after he achieved the Nascent Soul Stage, the Thousand-Year Elder—then still the Sect Leader of Great Thousand Mountains—immediately assigned him a mission.

The task was straightforward: venture into the Grave of Ten Thousand Fiends within the Ten Thousand Mountains to retrieve an ancient artifact.

It was here that events forever etched in Zuoqiu An’s memory unfolded.It was at this moment that Zuoqiu An finally understood why the Ten Thousand Mountains were called the Ten Thousand Mountains.

And what the true secret of this region was.

Just before Zuoqiu An’s departure, the Thousand-Year Elder had taken out a freshly peeled human skin and demanded that Zuoqiu An wear it.

Lu Chen frowned instantly upon seeing the wounds on the Thousand-Year Elder’s body.

Because the skin in his hands was unmistakably the Thousand-Year Elder’s own.

Peeling off his own skin to gift it to his disciple.

Indeed, everyone in the Great Thousand Mountains, from top to bottom, was a bunch of madmen.

Their Dao was not misguided.

Rather, their Dao had been twisted from the very beginning.

Although Lu Chen held little regard for the methods of the Great Thousand Mountains,

he had to admit that their techniques did possess some unique aspects.

Relying on that layer of ‘Fiend Skin,’ Zuoqiu An effortlessly entered the Tomb of Ten Thousand Immortals, which was the deeper part of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

By this point, it had truly become a forbidden zone for living beings.

Whether Zuoqiu An dared not look too closely, or the secrets within the Tomb of Ten Thousand Immortals had reached a level capable of affecting his own memories,

from here onward, the memory fragments Lu Chen saw became blurred, as if pixelated, making it impossible to discern what was happening.

This phase lasted for a long time, until Zuoqiu An arrived at a ‘small hill.’

Upon closer inspection, it was no small hill at all—Zuoqiu An was standing on a massive skull.

And this place seemed to be Zuoqiu An’s intended destination.

Zuoqiu An followed the wound at the brow of the skull, delving deep into its interior.

During this process, Zuoqiu An’s memories once again turned into a blur.

By the time he emerged, he was holding a damaged lotus root.

This lotus root was peculiar, its stems writhing incessantly like flesh and blood.

Nestled within its core were numerous eyeballs.

Yet, bizarrely, despite being two-thirds severed, this lotus root exuded a sacred aura.

Although he had successfully retrieved the ‘item,’ Zuoqiu An seemed to have reached his limit.

The ‘Fiend Skin’ on his body was riddled with cracks, like a candle flickering in the wind, on the verge of shattering at any moment.

Left with no choice, Zuoqiu An hesitated for a moment before retrieving an eyeball-like lotus seed from the lotus root and swallowing it.

In the next instant, the Fiend Skin on his body restored itself to its original state.

And his aura visibly recovered as well.

On the journey back,

whenever his Fiend Skin was about to lose its effect,

Zuoqiu An would take out a ‘lotus seed.’

Relying on these lotus seeds, Zuoqiu An eventually managed to exit the Tomb of Ten Thousand Immortals and return to the Great Thousand Mountains, bringing back a small portion of the flesh lotus root.

This achievement greatly pleased the Sect Leader of the Great Thousand Mountains, who bestowed many treasures upon Zuoqiu An.

He was also granted permission to study some of the School’s secret texts.

It was at this time that Lu Chen finally understood why Zuoqiu An had recognized his Samadhi True Fire.

And how he had been able to identify his Immortal Slaughtering Sword.

It turned out that in a painting housed within the Great Thousand Mountains, there were depictions of his Samadhi True Fire and the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation.

In this painting, his Samadhi True Fire was shown incinerating countless Gu Xian,

and the Immortal Slaughtering Sword had slain innumerable Gu Xian.

The reason Lu Chen was certain the figure in the painting was himself…Because the background in the painting was none other than… the Azure Cloud Sect.

The familiar mountain gate of the Azure Cloud Sect, the five great peaks of Azure Clouds.

Lu Chen could never possibly forget them.

For a moment, Lu Chen’s expression became somewhat dazed.

However, he quickly snapped back to attention and once again delved into Zuoqiu An’s memories.

He wanted to figure out what the current objectives of the Great Thousand Mountains were.

And why the so-called Thousand-Year Elder had left the Great Thousand Mountains, as well as why he had been captured by the Immortal Alliance…

(End of Chapter)