The First Immortal of Destiny

If it’s the latter... Materials for setting up the Formation are plentiful. However, unless it’s confirmed that the breakthrough is in the Heaven Patrolling Zone, only then can Daoists from the Dunjia Sect be invited to help in constructing the Formation! If we return to the Red Flame Zone, even the Lifeless Sect, their Formation will probably not be able to stop Lin Zhaozai. I’ll have to do it myself. At present, my proficiency in the Array Path is still somewhat lacking. I must improve it by one level before that day arrives.

Shen Mo had been introduced to the Array Path most recently. Although he has successfully entered Grade IV, the strongest defensive Formation he can set up can at most block a late-stage Golden Core Realm cultivator, which is far from the new Mountain Protection Array built by the Ancient Vine Sect! Fortunately, he is still a considerable distance from breaking through to the Divine Bridge Realm, which leaves him with enough time to enhance his Array Path foundation. And setting up a big array for resisting Lin Zhaozai feels rather passive and is not his priority choice!

As the ancient battlefield is concealed, the Golden Core Realm cultivators gathered here won’t stay much longer. There’s little use in my continuing to stay within the territory of Caiyi Country. It’s about time to return to Wangxian Mountain and also to get in touch with Danchen Zi in advance.

Thinking this way, Shen Mo turned into a golden rainbow of light and descended towards the Hidden Phoenix Mountain Range.

...

Liu Siyun, the Direct Disciple of Elder Ge Qing from the Ancient Vine Sect, had been serving Shen Mo wholeheartedly in the temporary mansion for these years.

Before leaving, Shen Mo rewarded her with several bottles of High-Grade Spirit Pills and a top-grade profound artifact he had personally forged.

The former could help advance her cultivation. If the latter was carefully nurtured, it had a high probability of giving birth to an Artifact Spirit and transforming into a low-grade spiritual artifact. This could be used for protection and offense, making her journey of seeking immortality smoother!

After sending the somewhat reluctant Liu Siyun back to the Ancient Vine Sect, Shen Mo bid farewell to Qin Wenzhen, Ge Qing, and others one by one.

Then, he called Yuan Jing, summoned the Evil-eating Centipede to carry them, and flew towards Wangxian Mountain!

As for the newly picked Enlightenment Tea leaves each year, Shen Mo had already arranged with Qin Wenzhen that he would send someone to collect them periodically.

Halfway through their journey, Shen Mo suddenly felt something.

Immediately, he took out a Sound Transmission Talisman and probed it with his sense.

BUZZ! BUZZ!

Yuan Jing glanced at his waist, somewhat surprised, only to see the Sound Transmission Talisman in his hand trembling ceaselessly, giving off a faint brilliance.

”The communication method has returned to normal!” A trace of excitement emerged on Yuan Jing’s face. ”In that case, the Teleportation Array should have also been restored. We can set up an ancient array and teleport directly back to Ancient Altar Island in the Immortal Burial Sea!”

”Whether the Teleportation Array can function smoothly needs to be confirmed first to avoid being sent to an unknown area!” Shen Mo said with a smile.

”Indeed. If we had been aware of the changes here beforehand, Yan’er wouldn’t have had his Fire Spirit Body destroyed.”

Thinking back to the time when he and Yu Yan were transported to the River of the Dead, Yuan Jing’s face darkened again, turning somewhat gloomy. Yu Yan was his promising disciple. In this unexpected incident, his one-in-a-million Spiritual Dao Body was destroyed. Although he had changed his cultivation method to preserve his soul, his path to Dao was completely cut off. This matter had always gnawed at Yuan Jing’s heart!

...

Returning to Wangxian Mountain only took about ten days. After all, the Evil-eating Centipede was a peak Class IV demonic beast, its escape speed far surpassing Lady Scarlet’s Fleeting Boat.

Shen Mo’s return immediately set off a commotion!

Originally, he had revealed himself to be merely a Grade IV Alchemist, so the many rogue cultivators residing on Wangxian Mountain knew nothing about his actual strength. However, as various strange tales and anecdotes about the ancient battlefield of immortals and demons spread, the reputation of ”Shen Qingyun of Wangxian Mountain” gradually spread throughout the entire Heaven Patrolling Zone.

It wasn’t until this moment that the rogue cultivators of Wangxian Mountain realized what kind of person this master of the Alchemy Path truly was!

For a time, a large number of cultivators, some known to Shen Mo and some not, came to visit him under the guise of seeking Elixirs and asking for guidance on cultivation.

Shen Mo felt rather annoyed, so he simply set up a Formation on the mountain where his cave mansion was located, only allowing those in the Golden Core Realm to enter. As for others who genuinely wanted to purchase Elixirs, Shen Mo sent a large number of Elixirs to Lady Scarlet’s shop, where they could directly purchase them with Spirit Stones or high-class spiritual items!

At the same time, having confirmed that the Teleportation Array was already back to normal, Shen Mo also began to construct the ancient Formation altar.

Ordinary Teleportation Arrays were simply incapable of teleporting cultivators millions of miles away. Only the ancient big array on Ancient Altar Island could allow one to traverse the Immortal Burial Sea.

With Shen Mo’s current proficiency in the Array Path, he no longer needed to exactly reproduce the Formation within the Taiyi Sword Alliance’s Sword Tomb. He had already understood the profound secrets of this Formation and could even reduce the size of the ancient array to half a room, thus reducing the amount of Formation materials needed.

This big array, as well as the indestructible sword Qi on Tianshan Mountain, were most likely left by Gu Song, the founder of the Taiyi Sword Alliance!

Shen Mo pondered secretly while building the Teleportation Altar in his cave mansion.

From the Taiyi Sword Spirit, Shen Mo learned that its previous master was Gu Song, the founder of the Sword Alliance. After Gu Song attained the rank of Heavenly Monarch, he traveled in the mortal world. However, at that time, the Taiyi Sword had just developed its gnosis and wasn’t very clear, making it unable to confirm whether it had followed Gu Song to the Red Flame Zone! Given Senior Gu Song’s strength, even if the barriers of the four extremities of the Red Flame Zone had not been eliminated thousands of years ago, he could still have forced his way through the barriers, crossing the River of the Dead and the Immortal Burial Sea, and thus reaching the Red Flame Zone. However, such comings and goings would not only have been a significant drain on him but also extremely troublesome... Therefore, he set up a big array in the Sword Tomb’s secret place and on Ancient Altar Island, thus allowing him to move freely between the two major realms!

Besides this, when Shen Mo was comprehending the Sword Path legacy from the Taiyi Sword and the Ancestral Master Scroll, he also found that the sword Qi on Tianshan Mountain was very similar to them. The slight differences must have been caused by his increasingly profound understanding of the Sword Path. Therefore, he was more than ninety percent sure that the ancient array and Tianshan Sword Qi were left by Gu Song. The remaining less than ten percent possibility was that Gu Song left his mantle and heritage, his origin power was obtained by later generations, and this person coincidentally also cultivated to become a Heavenly Monarch unbeknownst to the Taiyi Sword Alliance... This possibility was minuscule and didn’t need much consideration. Thus, Shen Mo first benefited from the Tianshan Sword Qi, and then from the Sword Path implications on the Taiyi Sword and Ancestral Master Scroll; saying that he was Gu Song’s half-Direct Disciple was not an exaggeration. Compared to the many generations of disciples such as Zhu Zhao of the Taiyi Sword Alliance, Shen Mo was more like the inheritor of the Taiyi Doctrine!

Back when I was in the ancient battlefield of immortals and demons, after stealing the Samadhi True Fire, if I had been ruthless and let Mi urge the Mother Tree’s green leaves, I could have killed Zhu Zhao... But at the time, I had many concerns and didn’t make Mi use up that valuable Purgatory Forest Spell. Afterwards, this Spell hit Lin Zhaozai and helped me resolve a crisis of Life and Death. Looking at it now, perhaps it was the workings of Luck and Destiny [Starry] silently influencing events! If I had used the attacking Spell from the Mother Tree’s green leaves to kill Zhu Zhao, the remaining defense Spell and healing Spell in the Mother Tree’s green leaves would hardly have played a decisive role in the battle. I would surely have been seriously injured by Lin Zhaozai, and would also have forged an irreconcilable feud with the Taiyi Sword Alliance! Destiny and Luck... They truly are mysterious and intricate.