Stealthily cultivating in the chaotic world of demons and martial artists
Chapter 397 - 395: Return (Seeking Subscription)_1

Chapter 397: Chapter 395: Return (Seeking Subscription)_1

"Dharmakaya Phantasm?!"

Surprise flickered in Lord Black Sand’s eyes, then he loudly declared, "Second move!"

As he shouted, pitch-black patterns suddenly emerged on his body, seemingly aiding him in manipulating the ’Black Marsh Mysterious Sand,’ moving it as if it were his own limb, gracefully and effortlessly—it was the ’Black Sand God Body’!

"Roar Roar!"

The very Black Marsh Mysterious Sand that had been continuously exploding upon striking the Dharmakaya Phantasm now coalesced in an instant, transforming into a pitch-black lion-like alien beast that let out a heaven-shaking roar. Its presence surged even more vividly to life.

One hundred zhang, two hundred zhang...

In just an instant, the sand-formed lion-like alien beast grew to over three hundred zhang in length, far surpassing the size of Yama behind Fang Xi.

"Human Realm Path!"

Seeing this, Fang Xi immediately formed a hand gesture, deploying the Human Realm Path Divine Skill from the Six Paths Reincarnation Skills.

Pfft!

A thick beam of demon light struck the immense lion formed from Black Sand in an instant, causing the alien beast to stumble in its movements as if unable to function smoothly.

The Human Realm Path is known to disrupt the magical abilities of opponents’ artifacts and is especially effective in seizing Core Formation cultivators’ treasures, but against the spirit treasures and magic of Nascent Soul old monsters, its effect is greatly diminished.

Lord Black Sand looked mildly surprised, the pitch-black lines on his body flickering as he once again easily controlled the spreading ’Black Marsh Mysterious Sand.’

But in that brief moment of opportunity, Fang Xi had already made his move!

"Asura Path!"

Crackle!

Streaks of blood-colored lightning descended, caught by the six arms of the Dharmakaya Phantasm of Yama, transforming into blood-colored spears.

One after another, the six blood-colored spears were hurled, rapidly growing to tens of zhang in length and accurately striking the pitch-black lion-like alien beast.

Crack crack!

Streams of blood-colored thunder erupted, turning the world blood-red as if a prison of blood-colored lightning had taken shape, entrapping the gigantic lion-like alien beast within it.

Once the blood-colored lightning had passed, tiny granules of black sand began to roll down from the body of the lion...

And finally... Boom!

The entire alien-beast-turned-lion, much like a castle made of sand dunes, collapsed thunderously...

"Sir, are you a magic cultivator?!"

Seeing this scene, Lord Black Sand couldn’t help but exclaim in astonishment, the pitch-black patterns on his body not only didn’t fade but grew even more prominent. In the end, they converged on his forehead, transforming into a complex and intricate symbol: "Third move!"

Buzz buzz!

Countless ’Black Marsh Mysterious Sand’ particles came together in an instant, forming much faster than the previous giant lion alien beast.

In the blink of an eye, countless black sands had shaped into a small pitch-black mountain, appearing above Fang Xi’s head and poised to smash down upon him!

Not only that, but at the base of the pitch-black mountain, streaks of dark mysterious light appeared, transforming into a pitch-black circle of light that wrapped around Fang Xi. The void itself felt like it was becoming stagnant, making it difficult for him to break free, let alone use Escape Light to dodge.

Watching the small mountain fall, Fang Xi immediately summoned his ’Flash Spirit Pearl.’

Whoosh whoosh!

His figure flickered repeatedly and he managed to leave the shadow of the encroaching pitch-black mountain.

"Impressive Void Divine Power to have avoided the confinement of the ’Black Marsh God Mountain’... but if Sir believes that’s all there is to my move, that would be a grave mistake."

Lord Black Sand sent a message via Divine Consciousness Transmission, then pinched out a hand gesture with both hands.

In an instant, the entire black mountain flashed and once again teleported right above Fang Xi’s head, bearing down on him!

"Six Paths Reincarnation - Heavenly Path!"

Realizing his own energy had been locked on and this move was inevitable, Fang Xi took a deep breath.

Each arm of the Yama Dharmakaya Phantasm behind him formed different hand seals.

Beast Realm Path, Hungry Ghost Path, Hell Path, Human Realm Path, Asura Path...

As the final ’Heavenly Path’ hand seal took shape, the third eye at the brow of Yama suddenly burst open!

Pfft!

A stream of pitch-black flame emerged from the vertical eye, soaring like a sky-bound arrow to precisely hit the base of the pitch-black mountain!

Crackle!

The pitch-black flame instantly spread, engulfing the entire mountain, and then...

Boom!

Black and red intertwined madly, eventually exploding violently and spreading outwards in all directions.

Lady Snake, who was some distance away, immediately controlled her life-bound magical artifact, turning it into a ring of verdant light.

Bang bang!

Despite the distance, the terrifying aftermath of the battle struck, causing her Body Shielding Light Cover to tremble incessantly as if it would shatter at any moment.

Even farther away, the members of the mortal convoy halted in their tracks, their eyes wide with shock upon seeing the massive black sandstorm rising from behind them: "A sandstorm... no, a black sandstorm is coming! Brace yourselves..."

...

While Lady Snake’s family convoy strained to deal with an even larger onslaught of ’black sandstorms,’

Fang Xi looked up to find the sky was clear, the sunlight warm.

The clouds of ’Black Marsh Mysterious Sand’ had somehow vanished without a trace.

"Sir is truly adept beyond measure, far surpassing me!"

He said earnestly to Lord Black Sand.

"Sir, your divine skills and spells are also quite ingenious..."

Lord Black Sand’s pitch-black patterns on his body faded, apparently not intending to continue the fight.

Through this bout, he had roughly gauged the strength of ’Master Mu’ opposite of him, indeed at the early stages of Nascent Soul.

Defeating the opponent was easy, but killing him was almost an impossible task.

As long as Master Mu’s Nascent Soul left his body, there was a ninety-nine percent chance he could escape, and then the Yellow Sand Sect would have a relentless powerful enemy, so of course, he would not do such a foolish thing.

He didn’t know that Fang Xi would never allow a Heterodox Nascent Soul to flee for its life; staying behind to cover the retreat was more like it.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Fang Xi realized that this mid-Nascent Soul stage cultivator had indeed shown some mercy.

At least, he hadn’t even used his life-bound magical artifact and had only showcased a few divine skills with ’Black Marsh Mysterious Sand’.

’If we were to really fight, even if I took out the ’Star Luo Chessboard’, I could only make the situation look a bit better... After all, he is a true mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, while a Heterodox Nascent Soul is slightly inferior to an early stage Nascent Soul...’

’His divine power... perhaps only after I truly form my Nascent Soul and digest all the benefits from the secret realm, I might be able to surpass him...’

’No, as soon as I form my Nascent Soul, wanting him to die would be a matter of a mere thought...’

This battle had given Fang Xi a more profound understanding of his own strength.

’Lord Black Sand is indeed sociable, what he called a "three-strikes pact" was actually just giving a way out... Any early Nascent Soul cultivator could handle his three strikes with no big problem, but this gives a reason to spare Lady Snake’s family... This way, it can be explained to the sect, and if anyone wants to follow suit in the future, they can find another early Nascent Soul cultivator to take three strikes first!’

’Cultivation isn’t just about fighting and killing; there’s also human sentiments and worldly affairs.’

Watching the silhouette of Lord Black Sand as he rode the black sands away, Fang Xi sighed quietly to himself.

Then, he turned around and found Lady Snake.

"Senior... you have truly kept me in the dark."

Lady Snake’s expression even carried a hint of resentfulness.

Fang Xi remained expressionless, "Now that Lord Black Sand has spared you, does that count as me completing my task... Where is the promised Spiritual Pill?"

If this woman dared to deceive him on this point, then no matter how good their relationship was, it would be useless, and he would destroy her entire family.

The look of resentment on Lady Snake’s face grew stronger, but she did not say much more, instead answering directly, "Of course, it counts. Thank you, senior, for the rescue... The Spiritual Pill has been placed on a junior member of my family. The bottle itself has a unique prohibition on it which will self-destruct if not handled with the correct technique..."

Collaborating with a late Core Formation cultivator, how could she not have some precautions and fallback plans?

Hearing this, Fang Xi’s expression remained unchanged, "Give you an incense stick’s time, bring it to me."

"Yes!"

Lady Snake turned into a streak of light and caught up with her family’s caravan. It didn’t take long for her to return, holding a jade bottle in her hands: "Senior... I have already removed the prohibition on the pill bottle..."

Fang Xi beckoned with his hand, and an invisible force emerged, taking the jade bottle into his hand.

He uncorked the bottle and poured out a green-colored pill.

A rich and peculiar fragrance wafted through the air, which, from just a brief sniff, made one feel refreshed and clear-headed, with numerous inspirations emerging in the mind.

Snap!

Fang Xi closed the pill bottle and nodded, "Indeed, it is the Bodhi Enlightenment Pill..."

As someone who had personally used the Nine-Eyed Bodhi Seed, he was quite confident about this.

"Are you leaving, senior? I wonder if I am fortunate enough to become your named disciple or even a maidservant?"

Lady Snake mustered up the courage to ask.

"Named disciple? Maidservant? You’re quite beautiful, and your thoughts are just as beautiful."

Fang Xi laughed heartily, turned into a streak of blue light, and vanished...

...

A year later.

In the Southern Wilderness Cultivation Realm, Yu County of Yue Country.

Underground Dongfu.

With a flash of silver light, Fang Xi’s figure appeared within, looking at the intact ’Soul Lamp’ and couldn’t help letting out a long sigh of relief.

This Soul Lamp contained part of his Divine Soul and was extremely important.

If anything went wrong, the consequences would be unimaginable. That’s why Fang Xi didn’t leave another one in the Western Desert as a coordinate.

After all, as his major realm continued to promote, the chances were that progress in refining the ’Treasures of All Heavens’ could become deeper, and then he might be able to open transmission at will!

"Finally... I’m back."

Fang Xi stored the Soul Lamp away, transformed into a streak of blue light, burrowed out from the earth’s layer, and ascended above the nine heavens.

Looking at the familiar scenery of Yu County, a smile couldn’t help but spread across his face.

"This journey to explore the secret realm, then getting stranded in the Western Desert... it has indeed been quite long."

"Fortunately, many things have been resolved and now it is time to enter seclusion, enter seclusion! To strive for complete assimilation of all the gains!"

Recalling his journey to the Western Desert Cultivation World, Fang Xi couldn’t help but smile.

Having come out of the secret realm, and being sent to the Quicksand Region, he had indeed made a considerable profit.

Even after obtaining the ’Bodhi Enlightenment Pill’, he didn’t stop there, but also visited the ’Black Stone Region’ where the ’Eight Desolate Sect’ was located, scouring a large batch of local specialty spirit materials and inheritances.

In the end, keeping in mind that ’Lord Black Sand’ was an honorable man, he returned to the Quicksand Region and made some transactions with the Yellow Sand Sect.

It must be said that at the Nascent Soul level, transactions between cultivators were mostly in the form of bartering.

Even so, Fang Xi managed to exchange some unique spirit materials from the Southern Wilderness Cultivation Realm for a good amount of Western Desert’s high-grade materials, all of the finest quality!

After doing all this, he found a deserted wilderness, traveled to the Red Sun World to check on the progress of his disciples’ teaching, and then returned to the Southern Wilderness!