Chapter 556: Born a Beauty, Yet Stoops to Thievery

Across the Thousand Li of Yellow Sands, a lone figure walked slowly and wearily. An iron sword was strapped across his back, and his face bore the deep lines of age. Anyone familiar with him would surely recognize him as Zuo Song, the sect leader of Iron Sword Hall in Tianlan Immortal City.

Only the Twin Fiends of the Netherworld and the Four Elders of Liancang knew that Zuo Song had perished within the Divine Transformation pocket world, which meant that this person could only be an imposter.

Meanwhile, the imposter was unaware that after his departure, the Falling Cloud Sect had already begun preparations to seal off the pocket world. At this moment, he was still thinking back to that rapid and intense battle, gaining an even clearer understanding of his strength. His speed now far surpassed not just all Initiates, but also early-stage Adepts. His physique was strong enough to withstand ordinary attacks from enchanted treasures, and his blood qi was dense and powerful.

With all three combined, he was capable of unleashing terrifying bursts of power in close-range combat. Even a Pseudo-Adept like Blood Devil, said to be practically invincible among Initiates, had been slain with ease. As for going up against an actual Adept, Luo Chen still had no absolute confidence; perhaps he might be able to hold one on his own.

With such a powerful physique, it would be a shame if he didn't make good use of it. But in terms of lethal Physique Refinement techniques, he didn't know many; all he had was the low-tier Mountain-Cleaving Monument-Breaking Palm, and the Sky Roc Divine Claw that came with the Sky Roc Transformation.

"When I get back, I should sit down with Wang Yuan. He'll definitely have plenty of advice to offer."

During the recent fight, Luo Chen had already tested the Sky Roc Divine Claw. It had performed remarkably well—a high burst of power, powerful enough to tear down defensive enchanted treasures. But the drawback was also clear: Its range was too short. Unless Luo Chen transformed his body into a beast-like form, expanding his frame to widen his attack radius... but that would also make him a larger target. A trade-off of reach for vulnerability.

What should I do... Tough decision.

As if triggered by that thought, he recalled his recent clash with Blood Devil. "Ah, Han Zheng should still be alive. The Han family has those death-substitute puppets!"

Back at the Debate Platform in Dahe Market, during a brutal clash between two rival forces, Gao Tingyuan of the Dajiang Gang had used one of those death-substitute puppets, though it had been wasted on that very stage. Those things were truly invaluable. As far as Luo Chen knew, throughout the entire Jade Cauldron Domain, only the Han family of the Falling Cloud Sect possessed the skill to craft them.

At the thought of Dahe Market, Luo Chen also recalled Xu Ji and that humanoid puppet in his storage pouch.

He couldn't help but let a hint of satisfaction curl across his lips.

If Tian Xingzi hadn't let slip the truth about what happened back then, I really might have been deceived by Xu Ji.

Back in those days, Tian Xingzi hadn't broken his promise. He had truly gathered three Foundation Establishment Pills for Luo Chen. But Xu Ji, who had gone to Dahe Market on Tian Xingzi's behalf, had only handed over two and secretly kept one for himself. If Luo Chen hadn't refined three doses of Imperial Nectar, he might have failed Foundation Establishment entirely.

That was the worst kind of offense among cultivators—an action that directly obstructed his Dao. Such a grievance was not easily forgiven. Had the opportunity come earlier, he would have repaid it in full. As for whether Han Zheng would report it, he wasn't worried. When he struck, he had concealed his appearance and avoided using his signature fire arts. He hadn't left behind even the slightest trace.

The only possible clue was the Crimson Cloud Wings. Still, that was merely an illusory projection born from an enchanted artifact, and he had activated it using blood qi. Han Zheng, who had his eyes shut while faking death, wouldn't have noticed anything. As for Blood Devil, he had known who Luo Chen was, but he was already dead.

But speaking of identities, Blood Devil's true identity had deeply shocked Luo Chen.

After killing him, his Spirit Eyes had seen through the disguise. To his surprise, it was Xuan Yu of Peach Mountain! That had been completely unexpected. Though Xuan Yu wasn't of particularly high status, he was backed by Grand Elder Peach Blossom, and he was a Pseudo-Adept in his own right. He even ran the Peach Mountain brothel, which brought in no small amount of wealth. There hadn't been any sign that Xuan Yu was mentally unstable, so why would he resort to these devil acts?

None of that is my concern. Now, I should return to Tianlan Immortal City, recover my spirit power, and plan from there.

Luo Chen made his decision quickly. However, when he reached within a thousand li of Golden Sand Floating Island, he suddenly paused.

He drew out several jade tokens from his storage pouch, and his brows arched slightly. All of them were voice transmissions. Some were from Duan Feng, some from Xu Haizhen, and others from Chu Kui. That wasn't surprising. When he had entered the Divine Transformation pocket world, the three of them had still been on the battlefield. It was only natural that they'd send messages out of concern.

What caught him off guard were the voice transmissions from Wang Yuan and Min Longyu. Weren't the two of them supposed to be in Tianlan Immortal City?

He activated the jade tokens, letting each voice message flow into his ears one after another. By the time they finished, a gentle warmth had risen in his chest. Quiet, yet unstoppable, emotions flowed through him.

They actually traveled thousands of li just to come rescue me. Alright then, let's arrange to meet up first.

Without hesitation, he sent voice transmissions back to Wang Yuan, Chu Kui, and Min Longyu.

***

Beyond the Thousand Li of Yellow Sands, deep within a lush and verdant forest, three figures streaked through the skies as swift as lightning bolts. As soon as they landed, all three immediately activated their spirit consciousness. But before they could even begin their search, a white figure calmly stepped out from within a great tree.

"It's been a long time, everyone," Luo Chen said with a faint smile. The usual cold sharpness on his lean face had softened slightly.

"President, you really are still alive!" Min Longyu cried out and rushed forward, unable to hide his excitement.

Seeing that the man looked ready to throw his arms around him, Luo Chen quickly raised a hand to stop him. "Hold it right there. Unless you happen to be Caiyi in disguise, I'm good."

Min Longyu halted at once and scratched his head with an awkward grin. Luo Chen patted his shoulder and said, "That formation of yours was impressive."

Min Longyu's eyes lit up, and he blurted, "President, I've got even better ones now! Want to see them?"

Luo Chen chuckled and shook his head. "Let's put up a concealment formation first. No need to attract random people."

"I'm on it!" Min Longyu immediately took out a formation disc and began setting it up around their location. That enchanted formation disc was undoubtedly the very same treasure Yang Wei had once used to lay down the Lightning Prison Grand Formation in an attempt to kill Wang Yuan.

Luo Chen had let Wang Yuan take it back to society. It had barely been a year, yet Min Longyu seemed to have already grasped its workings. Otherwise, he wouldn't have boasted so confidently just now.

"I knew it! There was no way you'd die!" Chu Kui laughed heartily as he approached.

Luo Chen cupped his fists toward him. "Brother Chu, you held the rear for me back then and faced down an Adept with just Foundation Establishment strength. I'll never forget that favor."

Chu Kui waved his hand dismissively. "Why bring that up? You know the kind of person I am. When people pay up, I deliver. Well, you haven't paid me, but since I gave you my word, then I had to see it through."

Luo Chen smiled and said nothing more. Some things were better etched in the heart than spoken aloud.

At last, Wang Yuan stepped in front of Luo Chen and gave him a solid punch to the chest. "That fight, you fought it in my place!"

A simple sentence, yet it said everything that needed saying. Indeed, had it not been for rescuing Wang Yuan, Luo Chen wouldn't have slain Yan Leizi and consequently offended Di Wanyun. Every twist of fate comes with its own cause and effect. Though Luo Chen had suffered considerable losses, he had also reaped gains within the Divine Transformation pocket world. It hadn't been a fruitless venture.

Huh?

Suddenly, Wang Yuan stared at Luo Chen in astonishment. Instinctively, he reached out, as if trying to touch Luo Chen's chest.

"Whoa!" Luo Chen batted his hand away. "Brother, don't be like that. That look in your eye and that gesture... Kinda creepy, you know?"

Wang Yuan shook his head and stared at Luo Chen with a bewildered gaze. "Your body..."

"We'll talk when we get back," Luo Chen interrupted before he could finish. Then, while the concealment formation was still active, he began pulling out unclaimed enchanted artifacts from his storage pouch, shaking them out onto the ground. The act might have seemed strange, but Chu Kui immediately understood.

"There's actually no need to register those anymore," Chu Kui said. "The Four-Sect Alliance already knows you killed Di Wanyun. The merit board shows you've been credited with ten thousand points. That's enough to exchange for the Upper Path Core Formation secret art."

Only ten thousand for slaying an Adept? That's hella cheap,

Luo Chen thought. Then he said, "Ten thousand isn't enough. I also want to get the Lower Path secret arts from Ailao Mountain and Green Pill Valley."

"That's still more than enough!" Chu Kui frowned. "Back when we teamed up, we earned eight thousand points or so. Those two arts only cost four thousand total."

Luo Chen nodded, then added, "But the Lower Path often relies on external items. For example, the Dragon-Phoenix Tribulation requires the Dragon Transformation pill and the Ice Phoenix Pellet. The other two are probably similar. If we can't get the auxiliaries, then we'll exchange the rest for Foundation Establishment Pills and cultivation resources for Initiates."

He let out a hearty laugh. "No reason to let free merit points go to waste, right? This war is probably about to end, now that the Divine Transformation pocket world has opened. Let's make one last haul. That way, this whole trip won't have been for nothing."

Chu Kui had completely forgotten about that. To him, redeeming Foundation Establishment Pills seemed completely unnecessary. But Luo Chen, as the leader of Luo Tian Society, wouldn't overlook such a practical advantage.

Chu Kui's merit had already been recorded. With the merit Luo Chen had accumulated on his way out of the pocket world, they would have a total of nine thousand points. He couldn't help but sigh when he saw that number. "If Di Wanyun hadn't stuck his nose, the two of us would've scraped together enough merit points back then and we wouldn't have gone through all this."

"Don't dwell on it. Go quickly and come back soon. We'll wait here for you," Luo Chen said.

"I'm off then!" Chu Kui replied.

"Keep it low-profile. Don't draw attention," Luo Chen reminded him with a hint of concern.

"I know, I know. Three Core Formation secret arts... that's more than enough to draw greedy eyes!"

With a faint smile, Chu Kui stowed away the bundle of proof needed to claim merit and leaped into the air, vanishing into the sky. Once he was gone, Luo Chen turned and asked briefly about the state of the Luo Tian Society. Upon hearing that everything was still in order, he finally relaxed. At the same time, the news that Fairy Ruthless had personally entered the Divine Transformation pocket world to search for him genuinely caught Luo Chen by surprise.

That woman... Fickle as she is, she does seem to value me. When I return, I'll probably have to meet her.

Luo Chen still remembered how, when he activated the Thunderwave Tempest, she had rushed to the scene from a thousand li away. He no longer felt any fear when it came to dealing with Adepts. In the past, he had relied on the reputation earned from alchemy to carry weight in such circles, but that confidence had always felt hollow. Now that his strength had surged, he finally had some real confidence, allowing him to face such matters with ease.

Eventually, as the discussion progressed, Luo Chen brought up the topic of Blood Devil.

"Xuan Yu of Peach Mountain?" Wang Yuan was a little stunned.

Luo Chen nodded. "It really was him. I don't know why he would do such things."

Wang Yuan frowned. "Maybe he was practicing some kind of devil art. That'd explain why he was collecting so much blood essence."

Luo Chen let out a thoughtful hum. He'd had the same suspicion. It was the same logic behind what Wang Yuan did back in the Golden Core ruins in the Ancient Plains, where he secretly gathered large quantities of blood essence from Qi Refinement cultivators. It had never been for pleasure. In the case of Xuan Yu as well, there had to be a purpose behind it. Cultivating devil arts or refining forbidden pills was the most reasonable explanation.

"A shame, though. I got a great defensive enchanted treasure from him, but I can't exactly use it in front of others."

Defensive enchanted treasures were rare and precious. Unless one was an artifact creator and crafted it personally, a typical Initiate would never get their hands on one. Even someone like Chu Kui had barely managed to acquire a damaged one in the past, and even that had been destroyed by Di Wanyun. The red silk treasure Xuan Yu had carried had definitely been bestowed by Grand Elder Peach Blossom. And judging by how easily Luo Chen had exploited a weakness during their battle, it was unlikely that Xuan Yu had possessed it for long. That could only be explained by insufficient refinement.

Wang Yuan consoled him. "It's just one enchanted treasure. From this battle, you and Chu Kui harvested dozens! Plenty of them are top-notch. No need to fuss over a single one."

Thus was the plain truth. In the war across the Jilei Nine Mountains, Luo Chen had taken a serious hit because of Di Wanyun. But when looking at the bigger picture, the gains far outweighed the losses. Many Initiates had died, and among them were late-stage ones with vast wealth. Now, all of it had landed in his lap. Whether for his own use or to distribute to the Luo Tian Society, it was more than enough. In fact, most first-rate forces probably couldn't gather as many enchanted treasures as the Luo Tian Society..

"Once Chu Kui returns with the Core Formation secret arts and a stockpile of Foundation Establishment Pills, we'll be on our way. With these, the rise of Luo Tian Society is just a matter of time."

For once, Wang Yuan took a moment to envision the Luo Tian Society's future.

The rise or fall of a force depended on many factors. But in the end, it boiled down to two core aspects: internal foundation and external environment. Internally, the Luo Tian Society had a solid foundation; they had plenty of competent people and resources. Externally, after the purging war, the Jade Cauldron Domain was left with a massive power vacuum in its middle ranks. That was precisely the opening they needed.

As they were discussing this, Min Longyu, who was overseeing the formation, suddenly spoke up. "Elder Chu is back!"

Already? Did the Four-Sect Alliance anticipate that the Luo Tian Society would come to redeem merit points?

Luo Chen lifted his head and, from several hundred li away, spotted Chu Kui's figure. Suddenly, his brow twitched. High in the sky, Chu Kui was making a distinct gesture—opening and closing his fist, as if to grab a pesky insect.

Luo Chen recognized it immediately. That gesture was a signal, one he had not forgotten. Back when Luo Chen and Chu Kui had first fought side by side, they had agreed on a series of prearranged signals. This particular gesture meant someone was tailing him, and he was preparing to counterattack.

"Looks like someone is after him," Luo Chen murmured with a faint smile. As Wang Yuan looked on curiously, Luo Chen sent him a spirit consciousness voice transmission.

Moments later, Chu Kui crossed the distance of several hundred li and soared into the air above the treetops. But instead of landing within the concealment formation, he flew straight past it without pause.

Roughly ten li behind him, a faint ripple of spirit energy flickered in the air.

Just as the ripple was about to pass over the dense forest canopy, it suddenly jerked, as if struck by some invisible force. Three figures were forcibly revealed.

"Careful!" a sharp female voice cried out.

Yet her warning was answered by a cold voice, "Too late."

In the next instant, four massive earthen walls burst from the ground with a deafening roar, sealing every path of escape. Two figures shot into the sky. One blazed with crackling white light, swift and fierce like lightning. The other surged with raging blood qi, like a furious dragon ready to rend the heavens apart.

The three ambushers paled and immediately flew upward in panic. But before they could escape, Chu Kui had already circled back. From above, a colossal staff-shadow loomed over them like a falling mountain and came crashing down with terrifying force.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

With a single exchange, the tides had completely turned.

A middle-aged man dropped lifelessly from the air, his eyes wide open in death. Luo Chen stood still; his pale hand had formed a claw and was now holding the man's heart. An elder staggered backward with two gaping holes torn through his torso, one of them just barely missing his heart. A stunningly beautiful woman got up from the ground, clearly in no good shape. Her hair was disheveled and her lips stained with blood. But... she had taken a direct hit from Chu Kui! The fact that she was still alive spoke to her strength.

In the blink of an eye, one was dead and two gravely wounded. The survivors were in utter shock; there had been three late-stage Initiates working together! Not even during the great battles on the frontlines had they suffered such a devastating blow! No one had anticipated that blinding flash of white light that was as swift as lightning, instantly slaying the strongest among them.

In that moment, all eyes turned to Luo Chen.

Hiss!

A flicker of fire ignited in his palm, reducing the heart he held to nothing but ash.

Putting on a polite smile, Luo Chen looked toward the remaining two. "Fellow Daoist Ling, it's been a while. You were born a beauty, so why stoop to thievery?"