A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Lü Zhong was right.

Not long after the Allied Army retreated, the Fire Vein erupted again.

Accompanied by a world-shaking, violent earthquake, over a dozen pillars of magma shot out from underground due to immense pressure. Streams of golden lava pierced the swirling demon clouds in the sky. Their momentum unabated, the pillars continued to surge tens of thousands of feet into the air before plunging into the Void Channel.

”Excellent!” Lü Zhong smiled.

’This will temporarily cut off reinforcements for the Celestial Demons.’

When the Allied Army cultivators saw this, their morale soared, and they all found a new well of determination. With their Replenishing Qi Pills depleted, some cultivators began drawing on Spirit Stones to restore their Magical Power, ignoring the potential harm the impurities could cause their cultivation. While recovering, they continued to control their Magical Artifacts or cast Magic Skills, launching a new wave of counterattacks.

Meanwhile, Lü Zhong was locked in combat with the Blood Demon.

With a flick of his hands, Lü Zhong sent a torrent of sword-shadows streaking toward the Blood Demon. The Star Mirror also flared with a brilliant radiance, continuously unleashing a sky-full of Mirror Light. This not only shattered the demon’s techniques but also wore down its Protective Demon Qi, creating an opportunity for a finishing blow.

Suddenly, a chill ran down Lü Zhong’s spine.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he vanished.

An instant later, a demonic shadow appeared where he had just stood.

It was followed by a flaming sword-shadow that slashed down, carving a chasm into the ground.

Lü Zhong remained expressionless, his heart completely unstirred. ’After all,’ he thought, ’even if I hadn’t dodged, the Flood Dragon Spirit Banner would have blocked it. The Blood Demon’s attack would have been useless regardless.’

Seeing this, the Blood Demon muttered an incantation. Flames flared across its body, accompanied by a series of unknown Runes. Its form then blurred, and five identical figures suddenly appeared side by side, each radiating an aura just as powerful as the original.

The moment they appeared, these ”Blood Demons” raised their giant blades and transformed into Blood Shadows, charging in for the kill.

’Looks like some kind of... Phantom Skill?’ Lü Zhong mused as he watched the figures attack. He wasn’t the least bit flustered; on the contrary, a faint smile appeared on his face.

He channeled Magical Power into his eyes, fully activating his Celestial Net Secret Eye.

Lü Zhong then looked toward the attacking Blood Shadows.

He saw that the five blood-forms were quite illusory, made entirely of Demonic Qi. This confirmed his earlier suspicion: it was indeed a type of Phantom Skill.

Only one Blood Shadow was exceptionally solid, pulsing with a demonic glow.

Lü Zhong thought to himself, ’How fortunate.’

’This demon’s phantom technique is impressive—good enough to fool anyone. Without my Celestial Net Secret Eye Technique, I wouldn’t have been able to distinguish the real one from the fakes with my Divine Sense alone. I would have certainly been deceived.’

In the blink of an eye, the six Blood Shadows were within a thousand feet of Lü Zhong. They shifted direction slightly to surround him, and all six Blood Demons materialized at once. The massive blades in their hands glowed with a blood-red light as they slashed at Lü Zhong with lightning speed.

Yet, as the Blood Demons struck, Lü Zhong didn’t dodge or evade.

He raised his hand, and in an instant, three Thunder Spears shot out.

Their target was none other than the Blood Demon’s true body!

At such close range, even realizing it had been tricked, the demon had no way to dodge.

RUMBLE! The spheres of lightning exploded one after another.

The five Blood Demon phantoms were instantly obliterated.

The attack then slammed, unimpeded, into the Blood Demon. Its Protective Demon Qi was already nearly depleted and didn’t last long against the lightning’s explosion. The astonishing power landed squarely on its body.

A pained, blood-curdling shriek rang out.

The Blood Demon, charred black, fell from the sky.

Before it hit the ground, it dissolved into a puff of black smoke.

From the start of their engagement to the moment Lü Zhong slew the Blood Demon, it seemed as if they had exchanged over a hundred blows. But in the eyes of a Nascent Soul Cultivator, the entire affair had lasted but an instant.

Seeing Lü Zhong slay two demons in a row, the morale of the Allied Army Cultivators surged.

The Iron Wall Array, previously halted by the Demon Army, began to advance toward the Void Channel again. The Celestial Demons, who had been fighting to the death without retreating, now seemed to have lost their nerve. They scrambled over one another as they turned and fled toward the distant Void Channel.

Victory was assured!

Lü Zhong let out a small sigh of relief.

’Next, it’s time to clean up the leftovers.’

’With no Great Demons to tie me down, I can finally act without restraint.’

Although a Nascent Soul Cultivator was a far cry from the Divinity Transformation Stage, unable to channel the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi to command the power of the world itself, one who could act without restraint was still a catastrophe for Low-tier Celestial Demons.

Take now, for instance: a single beam of Mirror Light shot from the Star Mirror.

It could shoot for several miles at a minimum, piercing an untold number of Celestial Demon bodies along its path. To say nothing of his Wood Thunder Skill—a single Thunder Swamp exploding in the midst of the Demon Army could eliminate thousands of Celestial Demons.

...

「At dusk.」

The great battle finally came to a close.

Nearly three thousand Flying Ships had arrived; now, only a little over two thousand remained.

In addition, the number of fallen cultivators was impossible to count. The losses among those with Foundation Establishment and Core Formation Cultivation were a given, but even the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators who had joined the battle were not spared. Mu Guan Ancestor of the Yan Zhen Sect, for example, had encountered a bone demon he could not defeat. Forced to simply endure the battle, he had suffered a devastating loss of his Primordial Qi.

Add to that the enormous quantity of Spirit Stones and essential supplies consumed during the campaign...

It was safe to say the price of this battle had been immense.

Fortunately, the battle’s primary objective—that mysteriously opened Void Channel—had been closed by Hee Yun with the Small Thunder Punishment Banner, thus resolving the Demon Chaos.

However, a new problem immediately arose.

The awakened ”darkness” had taken a large portion of the hall’s landmass with it when it left, so that the hall now resembled a floating island with a huge chunk missing. And just after the Void Channel was closed—perhaps due to the scouring of saturated Spiritual Qi from the void—the Spirit Vein hidden within the island revealed itself.

The reason the Spirit Vein was a problem was because its grade was simply too high.