Chapter 1445: The Great Heavenly Peng Saint

After leaving Chaotic Devil Island, Tan Hao flew for a while before meeting Qin Sang, who had come out to receive him. He let out a breath at last and followed him to a submerged reef.

They parted the water and went in, and Tan Hao looked around with the sense that something had changed.

"I've laid a grand array here. It isn't finished. I'm short of a few spiritual materials to refine the array artifacts." Qin Sang briefly explained, took the Mustard Seed Pouch Tan Hao handed over, and opened it to find it packed full of spiritual objects.

The great majority were for the Spirit Elevation Rite. Three of each had been bought, which had all but drained his savings. He had not yet decided whether to elevate the fat silkworm's spirit, but there was no harm in preparing in advance.

Unfortunately, of the three spiritual objects the rite most needed, Tan Hao had secured none, nor had he turned up word of them anywhere in Myriad Devil City, which showed just how rare they were.

That left tomorrow's trade fair. If he could not buy them there, Qin Sang would have to go to Hundred Flowers Valley and trade Myriad Spirit Fruit for them.

He put the pouch away. "I'll take you to Ebb Tide Island first. It's under the merchant guilds' control and quite safe. Wait for me there. If I'm not back within three days, return to the cave dwelling."

Tan Hao's heart lurched. He glanced at the array Qin Sang had laid and his expression shifted. "Is it that dangerous?"

Qin Sang smiled. "Just a precaution. Nothing serious will come of it."

Tan Hao followed him in silence for who knew how far until they reached Ebb Tide Island.

Having seen him off, Qin Sang returned to the reef, took out the spiritual materials Tan Hao had bought, and shaped array artifact after array artifact in his palm until the grand array was complete. The array served a single purpose, and its name was ordinary enough: a Maze Array.

It was nothing like the common low-tier versions. This one had been created by a senior of Yuanshen Sect deeply versed in the Dao of arrays, worked out from the study of a fragmentary ancient array.

It could trap a Spiritual Infant cultivator but had no killing power, it took a considerable stretch of time to lay in advance, and its array artifacts self-destructed after a single use.

Qin Sang had not laid it to kill. If things turned against him, the Maze Array would slow his pursuers long enough for him to get clear. This was the Chaotic Devil Elder's own lair, no place for a drawn-out fight.

Of course, if a chance to kill presented itself, he would not let it pass.

Since deciding to bring the mysterious ice box to the assembly and test Mystic Heaven Palace, he had set up two further preparations, the Maze Array and Pill Cauldron Mountain, on top of his own improved strength. It should be airtight.

With the last array artifact refined and set into the array, a faint ripple surfaced soundlessly over the reef. Qin Sang rose into the air and looked down to see the reef flicker once and then return to normal.

He drew his gaze back, glanced toward Chaotic Devil Island, then settled onto the rocks to wait for the trade fair.

The next morning, before the east had lightened, Qin Sang's eyes snapped open. He took out his mask and put it on, added a layer of shielding with his spiritual consciousness, and rode his evasion light toward Chaotic Devil Island.

He met cultivators along the way, and the low-tier ones, sensing the aura he let off, scrambled aside.

Before long the island's outline appeared above the horizon. It was indeed a big place, and it teemed with mortals and cultivators alike.

Does this count as the greatest hermit hiding in the city?[1]

The thought crossed his mind as he glanced at the Chaotic Devil Elder's dojo and drew in his aura. Then something stirred in him. He checked mid-flight and turned to look west.

Shortly, a streak of black light came racing along the edge of the sky.

Only then did its rider notice Qin Sang. The streak of light halted, revealing a figure in a loose black robe and a white bone mask, an early-stage Spiritual Infant cultivator. Feeling Qin Sang's gaze, he grew quietly wary.

Qin Sang nodded to signal he meant no harm, privately marveling at the advantages of a powerful spiritual consciousness.

Their eyes met briefly, and both made to enter the island.

At that moment Qin Sang seemed to sense something else. His expression changed sharply, and he jerked his head up to gaze north over the island. Without a word he flashed down into a stretch of jungle.

Startled by this, the man in the bone mask instinctively followed his line of sight to the north, and the corner of his eye twitched hard.

At some point a mass of black clouds had drifted in from that direction.

The sky was clear to the horizon, the moon bright and the stars sparse, which made the cloud deeply abnormal. It looked slow and was in fact fast, and its destination was plainly Chaotic Devil Island as well.

As it drew near, the immortal peaks in the island's north erupted with a strange light that shot skyward and lit half the heavens, and a spectral figure slowly took shape in mid-air.

It was the Chaotic Devil Elder.

The instant he appeared, a shrill, drawn-out laugh came out of the cloud. The vapor drew swiftly together, sketching out the phantom of a Peng bird whose wings of clouds blotted out the sky. Several powerful figures stood upon those wings, watching the Chaotic Devil Elder atop the peaks with varied expressions, some apprehensive, some on their guard.

Demonic qi surged to the heavens!

Whoosh!

The laughter cut off and the phantom bird shattered, and before the assembled demon kings appeared a man in golden robes wearing an imperial crown. His eyes were sharp as arrows and the tip of his nose hooked, and he stood in mid-air with his hands behind his back, commanding without need of anger.

His presence was a match for the Chaotic Devil Elder's. "Old Devil, what do you mean by blocking my path? Am I not welcome at the Myriad Devil Assembly?"

"The Great Heavenly Peng Saint comes in person and Chaotic Devil Island is honored by the light. How could you not be welcome? I only feared my subordinates might in their ignorance offend you, so I came to attend to you myself." The Chaotic Devil Elder's voice was level, though his tone carried real weight.

The Great Heavenly Peng Saint gave a low laugh. "It was agreed for seven years later, and then it was suddenly moved up. Luckily I completed the supernatural ability in good time. I nearly missed it."

The Chaotic Devil Elder did not ask which ability, and escorted them into Myriad Devil City himself.

In the woods, Qin Sang kept his aura tucked away and watched from a distance, thoughtful. So that's the Great Heavenly Peng Saint, at the late stage of the Transformation Realm. A king of the demon race indeed, and no exaggeration in the reputation. A troublesome piece. I hadn't expected the assembly to draw even him. Still, having the Chaotic Devil Elder's attention tied up by him is a good thing. The messier the situation, the better.

As he turned it over, he saw the two of them enter the city. His expression unchanged, Qin Sang walked out of the jungle and flew unhurriedly toward Myriad Devil City.

Inside, he could clearly feel that the mood was off.

A man's reputation travels further than him.

The Great Heavenly Peng Saint's appearance had left the cultivators inexplicably oppressed, despite the fact that human Spiritual Infant cultivators outnumbered the demons in the city and that this was the Chaotic Devil Elder's own dojo.

At the city's center lay a lake, and the trade fair was to be held on the island at its heart. A thin white mist drifted across the water, blocking the view, and guards stood watch in numbers along the shore.

Qin Sang flickered forward and made straight for the lakeside. Gazes shot toward him at once, and the moment they sensed the Spiritual Infant aura coming off him, the guards said nothing, stepped aside to open a path, and knelt in unison.

The mist then parted to reveal a bridge of light running straight to the island at the heart of the lake, with a beautiful woman standing respectfully at its head.

1. Explained previously. This is a Chinese saying that means the environment should not affect one's inner peace. ☜

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