Chapter 1124 - Anticipating a Lord’s Return

Shang Tianqi fell briefly silent, then said, “There’s no way anything has happened to our founder!”

Here, he stared intently at Qing Tang. “Never mind the rest. When Su Xuanjun returns to the Grotto of Abstruse Force, will he let you off?”

Qing Tang ignored him, then turned to gaze at the sea of clouds outside the pavilion.

“Don’t forget that you too are from the stars beyond the Wilds, and you infiltrated the Grotto of Abstruse Force a long time ago. That alone is enough to make Su Xuanjun view you as a spy with ill intentions!” Shang Tianqi said gravely. “Do you think you can deceive Su Xuanjun and request his understanding even now? That’s nothing but the ravings of a madman!”

Qing Tang faced away from Shang Tianqi and laughed dryly. “What do you know? And when did I say I was going to deceive my master?”

Shang Tianqi’s gaze abruptly frosted over. “What exactly do you plan to do? Why must you hide it even now?”

Qing Tang said flatly, “I can tell that you can no longer sit still, but then, that makes sense. Pi Mo is dead, and the young mistress of the Studio of the Heart has been forced to retreat. Furthermore, the Fisherman’s Dao Clone most likely will never return. You’ve already realized that your situation doesn’t bode well.”

Her words cut into Shang Tianqi’s heart like daggers, and his expression was instantly ashen.

But Qing Tang didn’t even seem to notice. She sighed, “Not long ago, you were full of ambition. You were even excited to learn that Master had returned to the Wilds, and you practically rubbed your hands together with anticipation, wanting nothing more than to seize him and steal the secrets of reincarnation as soon as possible...

“How long has it been since then? But you’re already flighty, fearful, and anxious about your potential losses. Were the Fisherman here to see this, I’m afraid he’d fly into a thunderous rage.”

Shang Tianqi’s expression shifted erratically. He was obviously enraged.

But before long, he cooled back down. “Forget it. Since you don’t wish to cooperate with the Church of the River of Stars, we’ll just go our separate ways!”

Then, with a swoosh of his leaves, he left.

But before he’d gotten far, Qing Tang’s calm voice emanated from behind him.

“Don’t be in such a rush. There are still three months left. You really don’t want to see my master and me lay our cards out on the table?”

Shang Tianqi whipped around. “All I want is a clear answer: how do you plan to handle this?”

Qing Tang said casually, “Wait, and you’ll find out.”

That complete disregard and composure actually calmed Shang Tianqi’s temper. “Fine. When the time comes, I’ll be interested to see how you face Su Xuanjun’s wrath!”

Then, he turned to leave once more.

Qing Tang stood alone in the pavilion, her profound, clear gaze staring blankly into the distance. She whispered, “The storm has finally reached its peak intensity. I’m afraid the ‘dark currents’ flowing beneath the Little Western Paradise are already raring to go. Master, your disciple is increasingly eager to see you again...”

......

Two months later.

The Demons’ Elysium.

Su Yi sat atop the Platform of Self-Severing. A jade axe about a foot long crumbled into powder and dissipated.

He’d already refined all of the Dark and Gold Essence it had once contained.

A month prior, Su Yi finished refining the Dark and Gold Essence within another treasure, a Daoist seal.

He silently opened his eyes.

Countless minute cracks appeared all over his skin, which sloughed off and burned into ash.

A brand-new layer grew in its place, as radiant as divine jade. Wisps of wondrous, inscrutable, chaotic energy hovered around it.

Like a spirit snake shedding its skin!

Actually, it wasn’t just Su Yi’s skin that sloughed off and transformed. His blood, blesh, organs, meridians... Every inch of him, inside and out, underwent an unbelievable metamorphosis, like a phoenix reborn in nirvanic flame.

But this was just one of the benefits of refining Dark and Gold Essence!

His cultivation base and soul had undergone a similar baptism of chaotic origin power, and they’d both received inestimable benefits.

His cultivation base had realized a “reversion” of sorts, a return to its roots!

“It really is the most fundamental, chaotic power of the Dark and Gold Star Realm. It’s only been two short months, but it hasn’t just raised my cultivation to the mid-stage Profound Serenity Realm. Even my soul, cultivation base, and physique have undergone a thorough metamorphosis!”

When Su Yi sensed his transformation, he couldn’t help but be impressed. The benefits of refining Dark and Gold Essence were far too great, like seizing fortune from the heavens. The perfect breakthroughs it brought were far beyond what he could have achieved through painstaking cultivation alone.

“With my current power, I could even duke it out with my past self at the pinnacle of my power...” Su Yi’s heart swelled with emotion, and he struggled to remain calm.

Even he would never have guessed that simply advancing a level within the Profound Serenity Realm would lead to such a shocking transformation. It was completely beyond his expectations!

Based on his earlier estimates, he’d have to reach the peak of the late-stage Profound Serenity Realm before he could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his past self at his peak!

Yet now, at just the mid-stage Profound Serenity Realm, he wasn’t inferior to his former self!

And Dark and Gold Essence deserved the lion’s share of the credit for this!

“No wonder the former Dark and Gold Star Realm gave rise to such all-powerful, legendary experts. No wonder prominent factions of the stars like the Nine Heavens Pavilion, Studio of the Heart, and Church of the River of Stars have sent their experts to the Wilds. Dark and Gold Essence really is a supreme divine object, the kind that can only be happened upon by chance.”

Su Yi was now fully aware of just how valuable Dark and Gold Essence was.

“Now I have to advance my grasp of the Laws of the Apex of Genesis. When I reach the Imperial Apex Realm, I can use that power to resonate with the Sword of the Nine Hells once more. Perhaps then, I’ll be able to glean more enlightenment from it.”

Su Yi’s power of the Laws had already reached the Profound Serenity Level, but the strongest Laws at his disposal were those that comprised the secrets of reincarnation: the Far Shore, Oblivion, Withering and Flourishing, Rebirth, and the End.

The Laws of the Apex of Genesis were a bit inferior.

But Su Yi was keenly aware that this was only because they’d yet to display their full power!

At the pinnacle of his past life, he’d spent days and nights continuously investigating the Sword of the Nine Hells’ secrets. He’d poured immeasurable time and effort into it. Only then did he grasp a few of the profundities of the Mysterious Truths of the Apex of Genesis.

Thinking about it now, the Sword of the Nine Hells originally suppressed nine divine chains. Each divine chain represented one of his lives.

And the Apex of Genesis originated from the Sword of the Nine Hells.

How could its power possibly be ordinary?

His Mysterious Truths of the Apex of Genesis had yet to truly transform. When he stepped into the Imperial Apex Realm, they’d surely change once more.

When the time came, this power of the Grand Dao would act as a key, unlocking another portion of the Sword of the Nine Hells’ secrets! That was what Su Yi wanted to see most.

He cast aside his scattered thoughts, calmed his heart, and resumed meditation.

When cultivating atop the Platform of Self-Severing, the heart was clear and ethereal, without the slightest contaminants. It was extraordinarily easy to enter a state of deep contemplation.

This was why Su Yi had chosen to cultivate here.

He’d broken through to reach the mid-stage Profound Serenity Realm in just two months. Although most of the credit went to the Dark and Gold Essence, the Platform of Self-Severing had also assisted him greatly.

......

Time slipped by.

The middle of autumn in the five hundred and third year of the Wilds’ new era. The air was crisp and austere.

A storm swept through the Wilds. Every great faction beneath the heavens dispatched its forces to the Grotto of Abstruse Force. Furthermore, countless old fossils took action personally, coming from all four corners of the world.

All of them were well aware that Su Yi’s success or failure in reclaiming the Grotto of Abstruse Force would change the trajectory of the Wilds’ history!

Last time, when Su Yi went to Martial Heaven Peak, countless old fossils watched from afar instead of making an appearance in person.

But this time was different. Practically every peak expert of any renown rushed over.

The Wilds’ greatest orthodoxy of the yao path, Cloud Tower Immortal Pavilion, and the greatest faction of ghost cultivators, the Dark Sacred Mountain of the South, and the Wilds’ top Confucianist orthodoxy, the Nine Provinces Academy...

Each of these enormous, powerful factions was home to numerous old-timers who’d been in seclusion for a long, long time. Now, all of them emerged.

A long time ago, their names had shaken the Wilds. The passage of countless years meant that they’d gradually faded from view, but...

But their legends circulated throughout the world to this day.

Now, when these old-timers appeared in rapid succession, they drew countless exclamations and created widespread uproar.

A restless atmosphere enveloped the entire Wilds, the type that preceded a brewing storm.

“A single person created a disturbance so large. Throughout all of history, none but Su Xuanjun have ever had such prestige and influence,” Ancestor Peng of the Nine Extremes Profound Capital said wistfully. He too had emerged from seclusion.

He was a living fossil of the world’s Daoist Sects, a Pure One. He too was one of the greatest of Imperial Apex cultivators.

No one knew how long he’d lived.

But his seniority was such that even experts like the Heavensdeath Demon Empress and the Skythorn Poison Emperor, each prominent in their own right, were only Ancestor Peng’s juniors!

Even Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart of the Little Western Paradise was nowhere near as old.

Now, he’d emerged from seclusion with the leader of the Nine Extremes Profound Capital, Elder Yan Suni, and Legacy Disciple Yue Shichan.

Similar scenes unfolded with experts of the Wilds’ other major orthodoxies.

As a result, of late, those cultivators who’d long since gathered around the Grotto of Abstruse Force practically went insane.

Far too many legendary, long-secluded older-generation experts had appeared in rapid succession, scaring many of them out of their wits.

Finally, the last day of the allotted three months arrived.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The Spirit Province.

Before the Grotto of Abstruse Force, the Wilds’ most blessed ground for cultivation.

The first light of dawn broke through the darkness, illuminating heaven and earth. A brisk autumn wind permeated the air, and the trees were barren. Colorful fallen leaves blanketed the ground.

As far as the eye could see, countless, densely packed figures filled the landscape, like an endless sea.

The spot nearest the gates of the Grotto of Abstruse Force had already been occupied by old-timers who’d lived too many years to count. They laughed and chatted amongst themselves, but all were rueful.

These old-timers had long gone into seclusion, and they paid no heed to worldly affairs. If not for Su Xuanjun’s return, they could never have reunited like this.

Some of them had old enmities between them, but despite getting along like fire and water, all of them chose to endure. No conflict arose.

Waves of uproar swept repeatedly throughout heaven and earth.

Suddenly, an excited cry rang out.

“His... His Excellency Su is here!!”

The waves of uproar came to an abrupt halt. The chilly, autumnal landscape was instantly still and silent.

Even the wind seemed to freeze in place, the layers of cloud overhead stilled.

All gazes converged on the same spot.

After five hundred years, the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force had returned to the Grotto of Abstruse Force before countless gazes!