## Chapter 332: Space Node
Above the Nine-Gang Heaven, Lu Changan, at the peak of the early Nascent Soul stage, scanned his surroundings with his divine sense. He didn’t detect any third parties within his sensory range.
This place was at least several hundred miles away from the deep mountain valley he had been in before.
The two followers of the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter, for some reason, had not pursued him together.
Squeal!
The Di Yan Shu (Earth Rock Rat) cleaned the battlefield and collected the spoils of war, bringing over the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter’s storage bracelet.
In the world of cultivation, most cultivators’ storage pouches were not real spatial items, but were instead forged using special low-grade pseudo-spatial materials and intricate restrictions.
Their principle was similar to compressing the capacity of several water tanks or a house into a small cloth bag.
At the same time, they also had to be paired with weight-reducing restrictions, otherwise, people would walk on the ground, leaving a pit with every step.
The True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter’s storage bracelet, and the storage ring obtained from the Fire Immortal, were both genuine spatial items, crafted from spatial materials and high-level restrictions.
Lu Changan inspected the spatial bracelet, discovering that its outer shell was incredibly hard and equipped with strong defensive restrictions.
However, after their previous battle, the restrictions on the surface of the storage bracelet were relatively weak. Lu Changan, together with his quasi-fourth-order puppet, easily broke them.
“This Nascent Soul from the Listening Sea Pavilion is so poor?”
Lu Changan casually swept his divine sense over the bracelet and found that the highest-grade treasure inside was merely a top-grade artifact.
The spiritual stones stored inside only amounted to tens of thousands. The other materials and pills, he did not have the time to check.
His wealth was actually inferior to the Fire Immortal.
This was clearly inconsistent with the wealth of a Nascent Soul True Monarch who had arrived from the Great Abyss.
Lu Changan felt unexpected, and only later did he learn the reason.
There were still things to take care of in this area, and Lu Changan did not have time to carefully examine his gains, including the specific changes of the ninth-seal monument in its fifth life.
He put away his puppet and pet, concealed his spiritual energy, and descended from the Nine-Gang Heaven, returning to the ground of the Black Mist Mountain Range.
…
Flying several hundred miles.
Lu Changan quietly approached the deep mountain valley where the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter had previously been.
At the mouth of the valley’s cave, two cultivators in the mid-stage of the Core Formation stage, one with a feathered skirt and a graceful figure, and another a black-skinned middle-aged man, both bearing injuries, sat cross-legged in meditation.
Not long ago, they had cleaned the battlefield and confirmed that the five Core Formation assassins from the Wu Jian Men (Intermission Gate) were all dead, including the Wu Jian Men’s Ash Helmmaster.
As for the Shadow Helmmaster who had escaped with serious injuries, they had been unable to capture him and dared not give chase.
They had to leave someone behind to guard the prisoner, Xing Peng.
Without the True Monarch’s instructions, they dared not act rashly and stayed in place, waiting for orders.
“Once the Grand Elder returns, the late-stage Core Formation assassin who escaped with serious injuries will be unable to escape his grasp.”
“Hmm? The True Monarch has finished the battle? He is quite fast.”
At that moment, they both looked up towards the Nine-Gang Heaven, hundreds of miles away. The Nascent Soul-level battle aura that they had vaguely sensed earlier had disappeared.
The two relaxed their expressions, confident in the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter.
Back in the Great Abyss’s Central Region Ancient Battlefield, the Grand Elder had once been pursued by a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator but escaped.
Although his cultivation had since fallen to the Core Formation stage, it was just right for him to traverse the spatial nodes of the Central Region’s forbidden zone, allowing him to reach Great Qing.
Just then.
A Nascent Soul-level spiritual pressure approached.
The blue-robed, large-eared youth, who had left earlier, returned to the valley.
“Grand Elder!”
“Congratulations, True Monarch, on your victory.”
The feathered-skirted woman and the black-skinned middle-aged man respectfully greeted him.
“Hmm, is Xing Peng still here?”
The blue-robed, large-eared youth, standing high above them, came before the two.
“Rest assured, True Monarch. That boy’s cultivation has been ruined. With such injuries, he cannot escape.”
The black-skinned middle-aged man reported with a flattering smile.
Suddenly, he felt a cold glint in the eyes of the “True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter,” and all that remained in place was a illusion.
Crack!
The black-skinned middle-aged man’s neck twisted as he was grabbed by a large hand on his skull.
“Grand Elder, what are you…?”
The feathered-skirted woman beside him, her face pale, trembled.
Could it be that the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter, after achieving his goal, was going to kill them both to eliminate any loose ends?
Pfft!
A claw light flashed, and the feathered-skirted woman froze.
A yellowish-brown glow appeared, and a rat demon materialized on the ground. With a single claw, it ripped open the feathered-skirted woman’s abdomen, piercing her slender, graceful body.
“True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter… you’re ruthless… killing your own people…”
The feathered-skirted woman, her hand stained with blood, collapsed to the ground, her face pale.
In an instant, the two Core Formation cultivators from the Listening Sea Pavilion perished.
They had never imagined that the “True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter” before them was not the original. Faced with a late-stage, third-order, body refinement cultivator and a demon beast, they were completely powerless.
After a short moment, Lu Changan retracted his hand from the black-skinned middle-aged man’s skull, his expression thoughtful.
Through soul-searching the black-skinned man, Lu Changan learned about the identities and origins of the three from the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter, including the reason for their crossing from the Great Abyss to Great Qing.
As Lu Changan had previously speculated, the Listening Sea Pavilion had already declined, and even found itself unable to survive in the Great Abyss, being pursued and suppressed.
Driven to desperation, the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter and his companions escaped to Great Qing using the spatial node left behind by their ancestor.
The True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter was the current heir of the Listening Sea Pavilion.
Among the “remnants” of the Listening Sea Pavilion, over the past few thousand years, only he had successfully advanced to the Nascent Soul stage and become a fourth-order formation master.
In order to gather materials to repair the spatial node’s formation passage, the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter had sold everything he had, hence his poverty.
Even so, the spatial node passage to Great Qing had not been fully repaired and remained unstable, only allowing cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage to traverse it.
This was also why the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter that Lu Changan encountered was not at his full Nascent Soul strength, his spiritual energy only reaching 70% of its peak potential.
“An ancient sect that once produced a Divine Transformation Longevity Immortal, has fallen to such a state…”
Lu Changan secretly sighed, while a warning bell rang in his heart.
The demise of the Listening Sea Pavilion was undoubtedly related to the “Mystic Wood Gourd Vine.”
Of course, their era of destruction was not during the peak of the Listening Sea Pavilion, when a Divine Transformation Longevity Immortal existed, but in a later era.
At that time, the Listening Sea Pavilion still had Nascent Soul Grand Cultivators to rely on, but they could not protect the Mystic Wood Gourd Vine. They ultimately chose to escape, and the shelter they established in Great Qing was just one aspect of their survival strategy.
The Listening Sea Pavilion’s former spiritual vein and sect were located near the coastal region of the Abyss Continent, and they were the dominant force in the nearby coastal area.
After their demise, the affiliated Nascent Soul sects in the coastal area divided the Listening Sea Pavilion’s remaining legacy and territory, which became today’s Sixteen Coastal Sects of the Abyss Continent, also known as the “镇海十六宗” (Sixteen Sects That Guard the Sea).
As the name suggests, they intimidate and suppress the coastal region, facing off against forces from overseas.
This alliance’s strength was even greater than the combined forces of Great Qing’s Six Demonic Sects and Ten Xuan Sects.
This powerful alliance, guarding the coastal region, enjoyed abundant resources and had a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator to command. They were ranked among the three most powerful cultivators in the Great Abyss.
Their fame extended beyond the Great Abyss, reaching the other continents of the Celestial Firmament.
…
Lu Changan ordered the Earth Rock Rat to clean the battlefield and keep watch near the valley.
He restored his original appearance and entered the valley’s cave alone.
“Thank you for saving me, sir. I have no regrets in dying…”
Xing Peng lay inside a cage, covered in wounds, his limbs twisted. His voice was weak, barely a whisper, indicating the inhumane torture he had endured.
Due to the existence of the Gu God’s prohibition, the Listening Sea Pavilion cultivators could not forcefully soul-search, but it didn’t stop them from applying torture.
Lu Changan’s divine sense scanned and found that Xing Peng’s cultivation had been ruined, leaving only a remnant of his dan force. Even if he clung to life, he wouldn’t last more than a few years.
A touch of pity arose in Lu Changan’s eyes as he lifted the Gu God’s prohibition and performed soul-searching on Xing Peng, gaining access to his past memories.
Under extreme torture, Xing Peng could not keep his mouth shut and revealed some information related to Lu Changan.
Xing Peng considered the secrets he divulged to be very important, such as the Azure Dragon Society, Lu Changan’s true abilities, his private network of connections, etc., but he did not betray them.
Even his relationship with his cousin, he did not reveal, seeking a chance at survival.
However, Xing Peng’s secret regarding Lu Changan helping him form his core was extracted by the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter. This was his only mistake, revealing information close to Lu Changan’s secrets.
Fortunately, when Lu Changan tested him back then, he had helped Xing Peng form his core through indirect means, using a “spiritual pill” and not exposing the secret of Chang Qing.
“Do you have any last wishes?”
Lu Changan’s face was calm, without blaming Xing Peng for his unintentional leak.
Not every cultivator possesses unwavering willpower.
Under extreme torture, few could truly resist.
Strictly speaking, Xing Peng and Zhou Qingxuan were both implicated by Lu Changan.
When he visited the Zhou Family in secret that year, Lu Changan’s powerful divine sense had naturally investigated beforehand.
However, the Listening Sea Pavilion’s secret techniques proved to be more skillful.
To protect the Zhou Family, Lu Changan coldly refused Zhou Qingxuan’s pleas and refused to appear openly.
Luckily, he hadn’t sent his puppet avatar then, or he might have exposed even more secrets, including the Azure Dragon Society and others.
“Returning to Master Lu. I am now a cripple, with nothing left to live for. I hope you can save my cousin, Shadow Helmmaster. Please don’t implicate him in today’s events.”
Xing Peng’s voice was hoarse and weak as he pleaded.
Lu Changan was surprised. He didn’t expect that Xing Peng, on the verge of death, still had a conscience.
His cousin, to save him, nearly lost his own life.
Lu Changan calculated with his fingers and confirmed that the Shadow Helmmaster had fled for his life at the time and did not see the confrontation between him and the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter.
The divine sense range of a Core Formation cultivator was not that far.
“This Master promises you. I will grant your request.”
Lu Changan nodded, acknowledging his responsibility to Xing Peng.
For over a hundred years, this man had provided him with intelligence, handling shady matters diligently and with great effort.
“Thank you, Master Lu.”
Xing Peng smiled in relief and knelt down, bowing.
He then placed his palm on his skull, and with a “bang,” he died on the spot.
Lu Changan didn’t stop him. A cultivator whose spiritual energy had been destroyed lived a more painful existence than death.
Instead of clinging to life and being pursued by the Wu Jian Men’s high-ranking members, implicating Lu Changan, Xing Peng chose to end his own life, preserving his final secret.
In this way, he exchanged a promise from Lu Changan.
Lu Changan cleaned up the scene, including any traces of Xing Peng’s soul, preventing any possible means of backtracking.
Meanwhile, the Earth Rock Rat delivered the spoils of war from the valley, having destroyed any suspicious items within.
Lu Changan glanced over them casually. The two Core Formation cultivators from the Listening Sea Pavilion were also poor, possessing only basic artifacts and not many pills or spiritual stones.
After all, they were fleeing cultivators in a state of decline, and they also had to “fund” the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter in repairing the spatial node passage.
As for the few Core Formation cultivators from the Wu Jian Men, being assassins, they naturally wouldn’t carry their entire fortunes with them.
However, with a large number, their collective gains were quite impressive.
Just those artifacts alone were extremely valuable.
As a refiner, he could recycle them into high-quality materials for building puppets and refining artifacts.
…
After half an hour.
Lu Changan tracked the Shadow Helmmaster’s trail outside the Black Mist Mountain Range.
In a dry sand cave, a cloaked man in a black robe was buried. He wore a special mask that obscured his features.
Lu Changan scanned his divine sense and found that the Shadow Helmmaster was unconscious and severely injured.
Several second-order demon beasts circled around, seemingly wary of his aura, cautiously testing their approach.
A gust of wind swept through.
A merchant Taoist, wearing a straw hat, appeared beside the Shadow Helmmaster.
Roar!
The nearby demon beasts that had been approaching fled in fear, but only after a few miles, their souls collapsed and they perished.
“Severe injuries, aftereffects of the secret technique. If not treated promptly, it could damage his foundation.”
Lu Changan took a third-order, top-grade healing herb from the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter’s spoils and gave it to the Shadow Helmmaster.
During this time, Lu Changan looked at the man several times.
“Hmm! This fellow seems to have some fortune.”
Lu Changan couldn’t help but analyze, finding that the Shadow Helmmaster’s fate was extraordinary. He was already a Nascent Soul seed that the Wu Jian Men’s highest levels were paying attention to.
Saving this man could create a major threat to the Righteous Path Alliance in the future.
For a moment, Lu Changan entertained the thought of eliminating this new demon star, preventing the emergence of a future demonic overlord.
However, those with fortune rarely die an easy death.
Lu Changan then calculated that if this man died, it would certainly attract the utmost attention and investigation from the Wu Jian Men’s high-ranking members.
It was even possible that it would alert the unpredictable Wu Jian Men master!
That kind of situation would bring unnecessary risks to Lu Changan, with no benefits.
Moreover, it would violate his promise to Xing Peng before his death.
“Forget it! In the world of cultivation, there are no eternal alliances.”
Lu Changan secretly sighed in his heart. A slight change in his mind made him let the Shadow Helmmaster go.
Before the man woke up, Lu Changan tried to soul-search him, but found that the core memories in his sea of consciousness were sealed by restrictions.
His recent memories were accessible and contained no breaches.
Just as Lu Changan finished soul-searching.
The Shadow Helmmaster struggled to open his eyes, revealing eyes as black as night.
In his field of vision, a merchant Taoist, with a backpack and a weary appearance, came into view.
The Taoist’s aura was deep and unfathomable, revealing nothing of his depth.
“I am eternally grateful for your kindness, Senior….”
The Shadow Helmmaster sensed the healing herb that had begun to work within him, and his injuries were rapidly recovering.
“It was not I who saved you…”
The merchant Taoist paused, shouldered his backpack, and left a mysterious figure behind, walking away towards the distance.
“What is your name, Senior?”
“This Daoist is called the Heavenly Mechanism Daoist. May we meet again when fate allows.”
An old voice echoed, and the Taoist’s figure vanished into the light mist of the Black Mist Mountain Range.
“Heavenly Mechanism Daoist!”
The Shadow Helmmaster was awestruck. This name, upon hearing it, clearly belonged to a great master.
Even years later, even when he became a demon sect leader, the Shadow Helmmaster remembered that mysterious Daoist’s name. If not for his intervention, he would have perished in the Black Mist Mountain Range.
…
Lu Changan lingered no longer, flying away from the Black Mist Mountain Range.
He had originally intended to impersonate the Heavenly Pivot Daoist to mislead others.
But then he recalled that the Heavenly Pivot Daoist seemed to possess the ability to calculate, and worried that he might be sensed. Therefore, he changed his name.
Leaving a name had its advantages too.
In the future, if Lu Changan needed to enlist the help of a demonic expert, he could potentially be of use.
After a hundred years, if the Righteous Path Alliance was entirely occupied by demonic forces, it was a distinct possibility.
Lu Changan did this, leaving himself a path to retreat.
Leaving the Black Mist Mountain Range, passing by the Zhou Family of Beast Taming, Lu Changan still didn’t stop.
Recently, the Zhou Family’s situation was attracting attention from all the forces in Liang Kingdom, even drawing investigators from the Righteous Path Alliance.
Lu Changan planned to compensate the Zhou Family of Beast Taming in the future, as a debt of gratitude.
…
Two days later.
Lu Changan quietly returned to the Golden Cloud Valley. The cultivators in the sect were unaware of his absence.
Great Sun Peak, inside his cave residence.
Lu Changan sat cross-legged with closed eyes, sensing the ninth-seal monument within his consciousness.
Within the fifth frame of the ninth-seal monument, the top tenth of the area was filled with shimmering white light.
Unlike the last time he devoured the Fire Immortal’s Nascent Soul, the fifth frame did not display the illusion image of the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter.
Lu Changan’s expression changed as he pondered, “Could it be that it’s because the fifth life has not been fully illuminated?”
In the fourth life of the ninth-seal monument, devouring a Nascent Soul had fully illuminated it.
Furthermore, it could independently activate three reincarnation methods.
However, transforming it into a previous life experience required fulfilling a crucial wish of the devoured individual.
The fifth life, however, demanded even more. It required devouring a Divine Transformation cultivator or ten Nascent Soul to fully illuminate it.
Only then could it independently activate a new reincarnation method.
With a touch of doubt, Lu Changan sensed the ninth-seal monument, seeking an answer.
The ninth-seal monument trembled slightly, transmitting vague and abstract information concepts.
From this, Lu Changan analyzed and deduced the answer:
“It turns out that only by devouring a complete soul source, enough to illuminate a particular life, can it engrave a reincarnation shadow in the frame of the ninth-seal monument.”
“A single Nascent Soul soul body, for the fifth life of the ninth-seal monument, is not enough to illuminate a life. It is only a fragment, incomplete.”
“These ‘Nascent Soul fragments,’ if collected together, would illuminate the fifth life and unlock two other reincarnation methods.”
Lu Changan was somewhat disappointed. The reincarnation method from last time was unlikely to be replicated.
Unless!
He devoured the soul source of a Divine Transformation Longevity Immortal, as a complete entity. This would illuminate the fifth life, and then he could use the previous reincarnation method.
The other two reincarnation methods:
One was to customize a new reincarnation life. This was like starting over, but one could choose the location, talent, birth, and fortune, among other things.
The other was to obtain a dream-like, alternate cultivation life, transforming the “other me” in the dream into a reincarnation experience.
“The ninth-seal monument’s appetite is growing larger. The fifth life requires devouring a Divine Transformation Longevity Immortal, and the sixth life, perhaps, a Void Refinement Venerable? The seventh life, a Dao Realization Great One… the entire human world wouldn’t be enough to satisfy it.”
Lu Changan shook his head, discarding those thoughts.
He used his consciousness to explore the illuminated tenth of the fifth life.
Fortunately, it contained the massive, disorganized sea of memories belonging to the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter.
Although he couldn’t transform it into a reincarnation life, it didn’t stop Lu Changan from organizing and retrieving useful information.
Lu Changan had now fused with a Nascent Soul-level soul, his consciousness incredibly powerful, allowing him to organize memory fragments far faster than before.
In just a month, he had acquired a lot of useful information.
“Fourth-order formation master, unfortunately! I can’t transform that…”
Lu Changan could only read and acquire knowledge from these memories.
It was like a library opened to him, allowing him to access knowledge and experience.
Even if he spent the time organizing some divine abilities and skills, it would require a massive amount of energy and time to learn and comprehend them.
At the Nascent Soul stage, a particular divine ability or skill, to be cultivated to mastery, could easily take decades or even centuries.
Lu Changan already possessed enough skills, and he didn’t have the spare energy to learn everything from the beginning to the end.
Even if he had experience and insights from these memories, it would still take him down many fewer detours.
But it wasn’t his own experience, and he couldn’t directly transform it into instinctive skills.
The True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter followed a specialization path, cultivating formations to the fourth order, while his other cultivation skills were far inferior to the Fire Immortal.
It wasn’t that the Fire Immortal didn’t want to specialize.
Cultivation skills were also a matter of talent. The Fire Immortal didn’t possess any talent to the peak level.
“Water Escape Great Technique, Immortal Water God, Devouring Sky Tidal Wave…”
The True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter possessed quite a few divine abilities and secret techniques.
However, most of them were based on the water-elemental cultivation techniques of the Listening Sea Pavilion.
Lu Changan’s wood-elemental cultivation technique could not cultivate water-elemental divine abilities, even if he transformed into that life, it would be the same.
“The ‘Listening Sea Divine Ear’ is not strict on the attribute of the cultivation technique. Even if it’s not a Listening Sea Pavilion technique, one can still cultivate it, but it will only achieve half its effects. However, this divine ability requires legendary beast parts or sea monster components, combined with a secret medicinal formula, and it requires a long period of time to refine before it can be cultivated.”
Lu Changan finally found a useful divine ability and secret technique. At least, there was a possibility for him to cultivate it.
…
Two years later, Lu Changan reached the age of 315.
Due to certain considerations, he delayed his trip to the Proud Moon Palace in Feng Kingdom.
The main reason was that he had consumed the strongest trump card of his fourth life descent in order to deal with the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter.
While he still had quite a bit of soul energy left from the fourth life, he had consumed some of it later while reviewing the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter’s memories.
Without a full trump card, obtaining the Taiyin Jade Liquid in Feng Kingdom would already attract resentment. If he were targeted by a Nascent Soul True Monarch, Lu Changan would lack confidence.
After all, he had needed to put in his all to defeat a Nascent Soul True Monarch who was not at his full strength.
Without the ninth-seal monument, he could only defeat, not kill.
Over the past two years, from the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter’s memories, Lu Changan had learned some crucial information, which made it all worthwhile.
First, the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter, as the heir of the Listening Sea Pavilion, was too far removed in time and had limited knowledge about the true situation within the ancient ruins.
He was even unaware of the existence of the Mystic Wood Gourd Vine.
Lu Changan sighed in relief, finally feeling a sense of peace.
One of his three goals upon returning to the Righteous Path Alliance had been resolved here.
Second, regarding the spatial node passage.
The Great Abyss’s Central Region was once an ancient battlefield, containing numerous forbidden zones and spatial cracks.
The ancestors of the Listening Sea Pavilion discovered a hidden spatial node within one of these forbidden zones. After opening a spatial formation passage, it was possible to traverse to a spatial node on the other side in Qingzhou.
Later, due to lack of maintenance, the secret spatial formation passage was damaged.
The True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter, as a fourth-order formation master, sold everything he had to repair it somewhat, enabling cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage to traverse it.
In the True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter’s memories, besides the three who had traversed it, no one else was aware of the existence of this spatial node.
The spatial node in Great Qing was not located in the Righteous Path Alliance, but in another hidden location in the Eastern Region of Great Qing.
Knowing the location of this spatial node, Lu Changan now had an additional path for retreat.
If he couldn’t survive in Great Qing, he could move to the Great Abyss.
The cultivation civilization over there was more advanced, with more opportunities to form a core.
The final piece of important information.
Regarding the Second Life Kunzhou!
The True Monarch of the Sea of Slaughter’s memories knew about Kunzhou, including its exact location.
Daku, it turned out, was a cultivation realm bordering the Great Abyss!
Although the two weren’t directly adjacent, Daku was not located along the coast.
Lu Changan, through the memories of two Nascent Soul True Monarchs, finally illuminated the location of his previous life’s Daku on the vast map of the Celestial Firmament.
In this life, he had the opportunity to return to the realm of his previous life’s Core Formation family. For Lu Changan, who had experienced three lives of cultivation and reincarnation, this was a brand new breakthrough!
(End of chapter)
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