"The upper echelons of the Righteous and Evil Dao fought a battle. The Righteous Dao gave ground, which means they took a loss in a clash with the Demon Dao..."

When he heard Senior Brother Jin Yun's words, Lin Chang'sheng felt a chill in his heart.

If they hadn't taken a loss, why would they back down?

Think about it, Demon Cultivators are now roaming ten thousand miles deep into the Southern Domain Cultivation Realm. That means, just a year ago, the attack on Liuyun Immortal Sect—no one's going to pursue it anymore? Just like that, it's swept under the rug!

If he hadn't been lucky enough to survive, if he'd died back then, wouldn't that mean he'd died for nothing?

At that moment—

Lin Chang'sheng felt a sense of urgency!

The Demon Dao flourishing while the Righteous Dao declines—none of that is good news for him!

You have to know, people of the Demon Sect do whatever the hell they want, without any scruples—they'll kill and steal at the drop of a hat!

Originally, the Demon Dao stayed put in the Demon Evil Sea and wouldn't even set foot in the Southern Domain Cultivation Realm. But now, they've already pushed in tens of thousands of miles. He could run into Demon Cultivators at any time!

"I really have to improve my own strength!"

Lin Chang'sheng thought to himself.

Only with real strength can you feel truly safe.

"Senior Brother Lin, since you're heading back to the Sect, we might as well travel together!"

Jin Yun looked at Lin Chang'sheng, expectation in his eyes.

Traveling together with a powerhouse like Senior Brother Lin is way safer.

"Alright!"

Lin Chang'sheng nodded, "You guys go ahead. I need to tie up some loose ends, I'll catch up!"

Honestly, he did have some questions about the Cultivation Realm he wanted to ask them about—these four were basically walking maps.

"Okay!"

Jin Yun nodded his understanding, and dashed off with Tang Xing, Su Ying, and Jiang Haixue.

Once Lin Chang'sheng watched them leave, he turned around and looted the five Demon Cultivators' corpses. Then, a few Fireballs turned them into ash, and he burned up all five Demon Cultivators' souls for good measure. He checked all five Storage Bags with his Divine Sense several times, making sure not a single thing was missed, and finally snatched up the Myriad Souls Banner and gathered the scattered souls inside.

Only then did he turn and catch up after Jin Yun and the others.

The group, worried there might be more Demon Cultivators, sped up, dashing southward as fast as they could.

"I killed five Demon Cultivators this time and got five Storage Bags. Wonder what kind of haul I'll get."

As Lin Chang'sheng hurried along, anticipation filled him.

With these four around, it's really not the best time to go rummaging through Storage Bags.

After some conversation—

Lin Chang'sheng learned that the Five Great Sects all had their own areas of expertise. Liuyun Immortal Sect's inheritance was a mix: elixirs, array formations, talismans, magic, you name it.

The Celestial Sword Immortal Sect specialised in the sword—nothing else.

Yanyue Immortal Sect focused on magic.

Golden Talisman Immortal Sect was all about talismans.

Yin Yang Dao Sect specialized in Daoist techniques and magic.

"Senior Brother Lin, with your battle strength and terrifying talent, in our Golden Talisman Immortal Sect, only Senior Brother Shi Hao back in the day could maybe compare!"

On the road, Tang Xing looked at Lin Chang'sheng, admiration shining in his eyes.

Senior Brother Shi Hao was number one in the Golden Talisman Immortal Sect during the Qi Refining Stage. Back at the Fifth Layer, he'd also defeated opponents above his rank!

"Oh? This Senior Brother Shi Hao you're talking about—what realm is he at now?"

Hearing Tang Xing's words, Lin Chang'sheng was curious.

"Senior Brother Shi Hao has Anomalous Thunder Dual Spirit Roots, and he's already at Qi Refining Ninth Layer Perfection. Actually, he could break through to Foundation Establishment this year, but he's still building up his Dao Foundation. He says he wants to use the strongest Dao Foundation for his Foundation Establishment!"

Tang Xing said this with pride on his face—like Senior Brother Shi Hao was his own brother or something.

"I see."

Lin Chang'sheng nodded. This Shi Hao had Dual Spirit Roots—and Thunder Attribute at that—not bad at all.

"By the way, Junior Sister Su, how's your Senior Sister Yu Lingfei of the Yanyue Immortal Sect these days?"

Tang Xing turned to Su Ying and asked.

"Our Senior Sister Yu broke through to the Foundation Establishment Stage three months ago. Right now, she's out traveling and training with Senior Sister Zhang Aoxue from the Yin Yang Dao Sect and Senior Brother Zhuo Yijian from the Celestial Sword Immortal Sect."

Su Ying's words held a faint sense of pride.

"So jealous! Dual Spirit Roots means such fast cultivation! We all joined around the same time, but I'm still stuck at Qi Refining Fifth Layer and all these geniuses are already Foundation Establishment Martial Uncles!"

Tang Xing's eyes were full of envy.

"Senior Brother Tang, don't think too much. We may have slower aptitude, but as long as we persevere, we might reach Foundation Establishment one day too!"

Jiang Haixue chimed in.

"Yeah, you're right."

Tang Xing nodded.

"Stone Hao from the Golden Talisman Immortal Sect, Zhang Aoxue from Yin Yang Dao Sect, Zhuo Yijian of Celestial Sword Immortal Sect, and Yu Lingfei of Yanyue Immortal Sect—they're all the top geniuses of our generation at the same rank. Except for Shi Hao, they've all already advanced to the Foundation Establishment Stage..."

"Ironically, it's Liuyun Immortal Sect that's lagging behind. No real standout geniuses among their peers at all."

Lin Chang'sheng listened to Tang Xing and fell into thought.

But—

He couldn't help but be puzzled.

He remembered, a year ago, Liuyun Immortal Sect had some massive gains in Great Yu—they'd recruited Gao Ziyue, Ling Caiyin, Zhuge Buping, all Dual Spirit Roots. There was even a Zhao Fuhu with Anomalous Thunder Dual Spirit Roots—so why hasn't any word come out about them?

.......

Day and night, the group rushed on. Ten days later—

Celestial Extreme City.

Lin Chang'sheng, Jin Yun, Tang Xing, Su Ying, and Jiang Haixue stood outside the city, twenty miles from the gates.

"Senior Brother Lin, that up ahead is Celestial Extreme City. Once you're past the city, head southeast for another three or four months and you'll be near Liuyun Immortal Sect."

"We need to return to our Sect too, so I guess this is farewell."

Jin Yun looked at Lin Chang'sheng, his voice warm and friendly.

Golden Talisman Immortal Sect and Liuyun Immortal Sect are in different directions.

"Senior Brother Lin, thank you for saving our lives. This is goodbye!"

Su Ying, Jiang Haixue, and Tang Xing also stepped forward to bid him farewell.

"Alright, then. Farewell!"

Lin Chang'sheng cupped his hands to the four, said his goodbyes, and turned toward Celestial Extreme City.

"Junior Brother Tang, Junior Sister Su, Junior Sister Jiang—if it weren't for Senior Brother Lin, we'd be dead at the hands of Demon Cultivators right now! We owe him so much!"

Jin Yun gazed at Lin Chang'sheng's departing figure, gratitude in his eyes.

"Yeah!"

Jiang Haixue still had lingering fear—if a Demon Cultivator had caught them, the result would have been unimaginable!

"The Demon Cultivators have gone from threatening the coast to pushing ten thousand miles inland! This is major news. We'd better get back and report to the Sect so they can prepare!"

Jin Yun took a deep breath and spoke.

"Yeah! Let's part ways here then!"

Su Ying cupped her fists to Jin Yun, and the four each went their own way.

......

Celestial Extreme City.

Fifty miles away—

In a cave beneath a cliff.

Lin Chang'sheng sat on a rock, five Storage Bags in front of him. He'd already checked these on the road at least ten times with his Divine Sense to make sure there were no marks left. With a thought, he opened the bags one by one.

Crash!

Crash!

Instantly, Spirit Stones, Cultivation Secret Manuals, clothes, elixirs, medicinal herbs, Spirit Grass, Magical Artifacts—they all tumbled out into a giant pile.

Lin Chang'sheng started sorting and collecting everything, grouping them by category.

"Hell yeah! I struck it rich with this haul!"

"With all this, I can at least cultivate up to Qi Refining Seventh Layer!"

Half a quarter hour later, Lin Chang'sheng looked at the loot in front of him and felt truly satisfied.

No wonder they say you get a golden belt from killing people and torching houses!

Two hundred thirty-eight Spirit Stones—one hundred eight from that Qi Refining Sixth Layer Demon Cultivator, with the rest split between the other four.

One Middle Grade Magical Artifact: Black Sword. One Middle Grade Magical Artifact: Myriad Souls Banner. One Lower Grade spear Magical Artifact. Three Lower Grade Spiritual Swords.

Six Energy Storage Pills, fifty-seven Qi Condensing Pills, four Dragon and Tiger Pills.

Three Hundred-year-old Reishi, three Centennial Spirit Grass, over a hundred Spirit Medicine herbs grown for ten years, a big pile of Low Tier Demon Beast Essence Blood and bones.

One Pill Formula for Energy Storage Pill, Demon Essence Technique, Yin Soul Slash, Nine Demons Whip Technique, the method to refine Myriad Souls Banner, and, believe it or not, five volumes of Hehuan Palace Illustrations, plus a bunch of weird gadgets and trinkets.

There was also a jade scroll the size of a palm, but Lin Chang'sheng couldn't probe it with his Divine Sense at all.

"Two Middle Grade Magical Artifacts and a Pill Formula for Energy Storage Pill—damn, not bad!"

Lin Chang'sheng was pretty pleased.

Middle Grade Magical Artifacts are just right for Cultivators at Qi Refining Fourth to Sixth Layer. They use up a lot of magical power, but the strength is a notch up from Lower Grade. Lin Chang'sheng hadn't seen any for sale even at the Jinyong City Trade Market.

Out of those five Demon Cultivators, only the one at the Sixth Layer had Middle Grade Myriad Souls Banner and Black Sword, which just showed how valuable they really were.

As for the Energy Storage Pill Formula—that's a higher-class one than the Qi Condensing Pill.

Energy Storage Pill—

Best suited for Cultivators above Qi Refining Sixth Layer to use for cultivation and magical power recovery. Of course, for those at Lower Layers, the effect is even better, just much pricier—most Low Tier Cultivators can't afford them.

So, most Low Tier Cultivators make do with Qi Condensing Pills.

"I'm now at the peak of Qi Refining Fifth Layer. Each Qi Condensing Pill gives me just about three hundred Experience Points. That's less than half as much as I got at Fourth Layer!"

"Once I progress to Sixth Layer, I bet the EXP from Qi Condensing Pills drops even more!"

"I'll have to go for higher-grade elixirs. This Energy Storage Pill Formula is just what I needed!"

Lin Chang'sheng's eyes lit up as he held the pill formula.

He was about to break through soon. Once he hit Qi Refining Sixth Layer, the EXP boost from Qi Condensing Pills would halve again, so the Energy Storage Pill would be his best choice!

"First, I'll absorb all the magical artifacts, elixirs, pill formulas, and magic I've gotten from these Demon Cultivators and level up—then head out again!"

Lin Chang'sheng separated and stored everything, making up his mind.

He was still three or four months away from the Liuyun Immortal Sect.

With this much loot, if he could hit Qi Refining Sixth Layer, that would make the journey even safer.

"Energy Storage Pill..."

Lin Chang'sheng pulled out the Energy Storage Pill Formula and began reading it carefully.

[Energy Storage Pill Formula detected. Spend 10 Spirit Stones to Simplify?]

After reading it through for the fifteenth time, a red prompt popped up on his screen.

"Simplify!"

Lin Chang'sheng clicked confirm right away.

[Great Dao is Simple: Energy Storage Pill simplified... Simplifying... Energy Storage Pill successfully simplified == Inhale!]

Not long after confirming, another notification popped up on his panel.

"Huh? Energy Storage Pill got simplified to 'Inhale'? That's too easy!"

Seeing the notification, Lin Chang'sheng's eyes sparkled, and he immediately took a few deep breaths.

Energy Storage Pill Experience Points +1!

Energy Storage Pill Experience Points +1!

........

Liuyun Immortal Sect.

Area where Outer Sect disciples live.

"After more than a year, I... I've finally hit Qi Refining Second Layer!"

A young man dressed in white, handsome, with thin lips, sat cross-legged on his bed and stared at his hands with delight, muttering to himself.

"Just give it another year or two, and what could that old bastard in the Imperial Palace possibly do about me? When the time comes—let's see how he likes being the one looked down on!"

"And as for that bitch, standing in the way of my imperial path—she deserves to die too!"

"It's a shame that Lin, that lousy short-lived bastard, died already. Otherwise, I'd never let him off!"

Yu Xiaochang looked toward the direction of Great Yu outside his window. His gaze turned more and more venomous.

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