Stealthily cultivating in the chaotic world of demons and martial artists
Chapter 525 - 523: Return to South Wilderness (Making Up for 50 Missed Updates)_1

Chapter 525: Chapter 523: Return to South Wilderness (Making Up for 50 Missed Updates)_1

East Eight Domains.

Fang Xi’s Escape Light streaked across the sky, and from time to time, one could spot monster beasts rampaging...

’A Transcendent God elder of the Five Elements Qilin Tribe battled with Ancestor Huo of the Sacred Fire Sect. The aftermath caused the array of Tianwei City to reveal flaws... Even though repairs have been attempted to the best of their abilities, a large number of monster beasts have escaped, leading to a beast tide...’

Thinking of the intel he had just gathered, Fang Xi’s eyes couldn’t help but deepen.

He considered the ’Five Elements Qilin Tribe’ to be somewhat predestined with him.

At this moment, he naturally had some thoughts about that fifth-order Heavenly Phoenix, but he was even more interested in the Purple Thunder Kirin.

He was self-aware enough to know that even if he were to use all his methods now, it would be good enough if he could save his life from a Transcendent God.

In the previous battle for the door, Fang Xi had deployed the ’Heavenly Phoenix Qilin Armor’ in combination with the ’Five Elements Ring,’ managing to withstand the attacks of two late-stage Nascent Soul members of the Demon Clan without a scratch, thereby feeling quite satisfied with this ’Thousands Demon Armor’ secret skill.

However, the current ’Heavenly Phoenix Qilin Armor’ was still a work-in-progress. The fourth-order top-quality Heavenly Phoenix and the medium-quality Jade Kirin were not a perfect match.

If he could acquire the Essence Blood of that fourth-order top-quality Purple Thunder Kirin, Fang Xi’s Body Refining skill could advance further.

"Even if... achieving the real ’Four Holy Beasts Armor’ is out of reach, I could try refining the ’Small Four Spirits Armor’ with fourth-order Essence Blood... It should have some use against the Transcendent God’s Heaven Tribulation."

Unfortunately, he had heard that the Flood Dragon tribe was in the Eastern Sea.

And the Profound Turtle Clan?

This ruler clan of the Monster World is quite home-bound and barely participates in Higher Realm activities...

’Could it be... I have to go back and draw blood from the Land Mountain Turtle? That’s virtually useless... But well, it’s fourth order too, perhaps it can be a temporary substitute...’

With some contemplation, Fang Xi hurried towards the ruins where the ancient teleportation array was located.

That area had no Spiritual Vein, nor was it inhabited by the human race, making it highly unlikely to be destroyed by the Monster Clan.

Whoosh!

An Escape Light zipped over the sand dunes at an inconceivable speed, the intense magic power fluctuations causing both monster beasts and the human race to avoid it like the plague.

Upon reaching the vicinity of the abandoned oasis, Fang Xi retracted his Escape Light and became a nearly imperceptible thread of green, concealing his aura to the utmost level.

With his current Skill of Concealing Breath, probably no one except a Transcendent God could detect him.

A short while later, he safely arrived at the abandoned oasis and made his way underground to the ancient teleportation array.

The teleportation array still stood there, but one of the array patterns had been cut, rendering the whole structure ineffective.

This was done intentionally by Fang Xi, who now took out numerous materials from his Storage Ring and began the process of repair...

After a day, the ancient teleportation array was restored.

"I wonder how the Southern Wilderness Cultivation Realm is now..."

"The Heavenly Phoenix Clan certainly has a Transcendent God level monster, and if I recklessly go there, the situation might not be very good..."

Originally, Fang Xi had come to the Western Desert Cultivation World to avoid the limelight.

Now, he had no idea if the turmoil had passed.

Although he didn’t want to see his subordinates die, he wasn’t prepared to risk his life to rescue them either.

"Before this, I would have definitely sent a Heterodox Nascent Soul to scout ahead..."

Fang Xi gave a slight smile and withdrew a gu insect, shaped like a spider with silver patterns on its surface, which was the ’Fortune Worm’!

"Let’s divine once, how dangerous will this return trip be?"

He murmured to himself and activated the ’Fortune Worm.’

The gu insect levitated, seemingly generating a mysterious wave.

Succeeding that, a five-colored light of black, red, white, gold, and blue emerged and started to rotate continuously.

Finally, it purified into a singular white color.

"White, moderately neutral? Does it mean past dangers but manageable..."

If it were the black of Deadly Tribulation or the red of imminent bloody disaster, Fang Xi might have destroyed the teleportation array directly and left.

After a moment of contemplation, he eventually released numerous Spirit Stones, activating the teleportation array!

Boom!

The ancient teleportation array hummed, and a silvery-white light engulfed Fang Xi, then he vanished with a brilliant flash...

...

Southern Wilderness Cultivation Realm.

Thousand Island Lake, Jade Island.

Jade Island had undergone a radical transformation compared to its past.

In the sky outside the island floated a massive building boat, unmistakably the Seven Treasure Building Boat of the Departure Demon Palace!

At the forward deck of the boat, Demon Lord Tian Du still looked like a youth, with a red mole between his eyebrows, standing with his hands behind his back, silently gazing northward.

An Escape Light appeared, containing ’Tian Xingzi.’

However, he looked much younger than before, probably because the ’vessel’ he had taken over was quite young.

"That fifth-order Heavenly Phoenix is headed northwards. Jiang Country has already fallen, Yuan Country is no longer safe... Even though this is such a remote and desolate place, I fear the beast tide will surge over in a blink of an eye..."

Tian Xingzi stood shoulder to shoulder with Demon Lord Tian Du, both gazing northward, "It is indeed unexpected that there exists a fourth-order Spiritual Vein Land here; that Dragon Fish Island’s Lord Master is no ordinary figure, having actually tamed a transforming Turtle Demon..."

"I would advise Sir to have his sect’s disciples restrain themselves somewhat; if my estimates are not wrong, that Dragon Fish Island’s Lord Master is none other than Yun Jiezi..."

Demon Lord Tian Du said indifferently, "After all, as good as this land of Spiritual Veins may be, for us it holds little value. Once the Monster Clan forces arrive, we will have to seek refuge in the Great Dream Marsh; thus, these Spiritual Veins are of little use..."

The highest Cultivators of both the righteous and demonic paths had advanced only as far as the late Nascent Soul stage, and naturally suffered a crushing defeat in the face of Monster Clan armies led by Transcendent God Monster cultivators.

Even Demon Lord Tian Du and Tian Xingzi had not engaged the Transcendent God Heavenly Phoenix in battle; instead, they hastily retreated upon hearing rumors of its approach and, without waiting for it to strike, abandoned their base and fled to the Cultivation Realms of the three kingdoms.

Moreover, they dispatched a large number of disciples to scout out the Great Dream Marsh, with the intention of fleeing into it and playing a game of hide and seek with the invading Monster Clan forces.

The Great Dream Marsh, situated north of Thousand Island Lake, was formed from the cataclysm of an ancient war. Its fog is not only incredibly vast, but it is also said that even Core Formation Cultivators could lose their way within it.

"The mist of the Great Dream Marsh has a suppressive effect on our Divine Consciousness. As long as we shelter within, evading the cutting edge of the Monster Clan, once the Higher Realm passes, all will naturally settle down in peace... after all, we have already destroyed the Transformation Array during our last encounter, and even if that fifth-order Heavenly Phoenix is formidable, the rare materials and ’Sky Demon Qi’ needed are not things that can be easily produced on a whim..."

Tian Xingzi said with a smile, "As for Jade Island, though its location is favorable and it is close to the Great Dream Marsh to the north, I, as a cultivator of the righteous path, would never entertain such crooked thoughts. Besides, isn’t Jade Island also under the protection of Ruyi Gate’s Island Master? It is Unfettered Duke who seems quite interested in it."

Upon mentioning this person, Demon Lord Tian Du’s expression darkened slightly.

Previously, when he was in seclusion healing his wounds, Bai Yunsou couldn’t resist taking some friends to trouble Unfettered Duke, but now, Bai Yunsou and Elder Diao Ao had vanished without a trace, while Unfettered Duke was still living well.

After leaving seclusion, Demon Lord Tian Du wanted to punish Unfettered Duke for avoiding battle, but had yet to grasp anything substantial to blame him for.

Then... a Transcendent God Monster cultivator appeared, sweeping through Jiang Country.

Only then did Unfettered Duke dare not act arrogantly anymore. His Cloud Escaping Skill, although impressive, was a joke compared to a fifth-order Heavenly Phoenix!

Therefore, he too fled to the Cultivation Realms of the three kingdoms, now seemingly quite interested in Jade Island...

Though deterred by Yun Jiezi’s previous fierce reputation, he hadn’t dared to act directly, but various probes were unavoidable. He likely thought the Dragon Fish Island’s Lord Master had simply fled...

The numerous ancient teleportation arrays behind the Evergreen Hall that were unusable were clear proof!

When the Nascent Soul Cultivators first discovered these ancient teleportation arrays, they were ecstatic, but then they were pounding their chests in frustration.

Those Nascent Soul old monsters who cursed the Dragon Fish Island’s Lord Master for acting like a shrinking turtle, abandoning everyone to flee on his own, were not few in number.

Demon Lord Tian Du actually harbored a similar suspicion—if he were in that position, he most likely would ride the ancient teleportation array to escape and then destroy it.

"I heard there’s some bad blood between Sir and Unfettered Duke. Given the present grave threats, he could serve as a potential ally. Why not let me, an old man, mediate between you and resolve the animosity?"

Suddenly, Tian Xingzi’s eyes flickered, shifting the subject to another matter.

"Humph... Let’s not talk about that."

Demon Lord Tian Du snorted coldly, knowing that Tian Xingzi’s righteous forces were recently quite active with Unfettered Duke, and it was clear he wanted to woo Unfettered Duke into the righteous camp.

However, he did not explode in anger as Tian Xingzi had stopped short of pressing the issue.

"Fine then, let’s discuss the arrangement of the great array... With the resources of both our righteous and demonic paths, we should be able to set up the ’Positive and Negative Two Yi Sumeru Nine Palaces Array’ near Jade Island... Even a Transcendent Enlightened being would be trapped for a moment by this array, and when the time comes, we could even detonate the array... giving the Monster Clan a severe lesson,"

With a flash in his eyes, Tian Xingzi said, "Afterward, we could calmly retreat into the Great Dream Marsh..."

"This matter..."

Regarding such critical issues of defense, rearguard actions, and retreat, Demon Lord Tian Du immediately put Unfettered Duke out of his mind, as the two great Cultivators began to haggle back and forth...

...

Evergreen Back Palace.

A few Array Masters were sighing in front of a few of the most shattered ancient teleportation arrays.

"Alas... none of these intact ancient teleportation arrays can be used, why not simply destroy them?"

One Array Master sighed.

"The righteous and demonic paths have tasked us with studying these ancient teleportation arrays, attempting to repair the few that remain..."

An elderly man with a head full of white hair stroked his beard, "Even if we disassemble the good ones, the materials have been refined and inscribed with different Prohibition Laws, they’re ruined... Outsiders may not know, but shouldn’t we be aware of that? Such ancient teleportation arrays cannot simply be repaired by taking an array disk from one and placing it in another. It’s better to keep them for study; there might be a breakthrough by analogy..."

Although he said this, his heart was not very confident.

After all, that Dragon Fish Island’s Lord Master is likely a fourth-order Array Master, and if he had given up on repairing those ancient teleportation arrays, it was highly improbable for these Array Masters to succeed.

Just then, one of the intact ancient teleportation arrays suddenly flashed with silver light, and a figure materialized.

"What?"

The elder’s eyes widened, "That ancient teleportation array was clearly inoperative, no, someone has repaired the array on the other side... You, are you the Dragon Fish Island’s Lord Master?"

Upon seeing Fang Xi, he seemed incredulous.

"What’s going on?"

Seeing so many strangers in his own home, Fang Xi’s brows furrowed, and as he looked at these Core Formation-level Array Masters, his expression gradually became unfriendly.

"We are Array Masters serving under the righteous and demonic paths, and you must be the Dragon Fish Island’s Lord Master, right?"

A middle-aged Array Master stepped forward with a face full of joy, "The teleportation array behind the Lord Master, can it be used? This is truly fabulous news... Ah!"

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw Fang Xi swiftly slice off a corner of the ancient teleportation array.

Immediately after, a palm laid on his head, causing all his Magic Power to stagnate, his complexion turning extremely painful and twisted...

"Soul Searching Skill?!"

The elderly Array Master exclaimed, retreating several steps as if faced with a venomous snake.