by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Xia Chen immediately began working with Guo Ran. He spent half his time rebuilding the Dao Sect, while the other half was spent refining the Dragonblood Legion’s battle formation. He was also working with Guo Ran to invent new armor and weapons that were connected to the formation, allowing the Dragonblood Legion to unleash even greater power.
Although the two of them had come up with the basic principles, going from theoretical to practical required constant testing. It was a long and arduous process.
Fortunately, both of them were shockingly talented in this regard, and both worked hard. The formation gradually took shape, and the Dragonblood warriors were drilling with them. They gradually began to feel just how powerful this formation was, exciting them. They were filled with anticipation for their future accomplishments.
While the two of them were busily working, the news that the Xuantian Dao Sect had obtained a fifteen billion spirit crystal reward spread throughout the Eastern Xuan Region.
The fact that Long Chen had split that reward into three equal portions also spread. The entire region was shocked that he had given one portion to the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect and one to the families of the dead as compensation.
It had to be known that many sects only had a few hundred spirit crystals in total. Possessing a few million spirit crystals would make them a first-rate sect.
As for the Xuantian Dao Sect, it had instantly obtained fifteen billion spirit crystals. Countless sects were jealous, as well as regretful.
They had listened to other people’s enticement and decided not to participate in the battle of the Devil Abyss, allowing the Xuantian Dao Sect to devour the entire reward itself.
How could they not be jealous? The Heaven Splitting Battle Sect had only sent three thousand people. None of them had died, but they had been given five billion spirit crystals.
As a result, some people began to criticize Long Chen for his favoritism. The Xuantian Dao Sect had lost tens of thousands of disciples, while the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect hadn’t even lost one, yet both sides were getting the same five billion spirit crystals. Wasn’t he saying that the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect’s disciples were more valuable than the others?
Some experts even began to instigate trouble with the families of the dead, telling them to come out and criticize the Xuantian Dao Sect.
Regretfully for them, those families ignored them. It wasn’t as if they were fools. The current Xuantian Dao Sect was an enormous existence that they couldn’t do anything about. Furthermore, their compensation for the deceased disciples was already too generous.
Although some people might be affected by some rumors and feel a bit of dissatisfaction, they were well aware of Long Chen’s temper. Whoever dared to cause trouble for the Xuantian Dao Sect would be wiped out without hesitation. He wouldn’t mind reuniting them with their dead family members.
Long Chen couldn’t be bothered to explain those rumors. Li Tianxuan also sent word that the Xuantian Dao Sect was allied with the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect, and the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect would fight to the death for them. According to reason, the reward should have been split in two ways.
The only reason it was split in three was because of their generosity to the families of the deceased. The compensation that the Xuantian Dao Sect had paid out was definitely over ten times what the other regions had given. If people didn’t believe that, they could go check and confirm for themselves.
With just that, those voices instigating trouble fell silent. Li Tianxuan’s words were absolutely correct. Any dissatisfaction was only because they hadn’t compared themselves with the other regions. As soon as they did, they realized how generous the Xuantian Dao Sect had been.
However, just as the first wave of rumors were placated, another piece of news caused new waves.
Chapter 1723 The Skyscraping World
Heavenly Fate Island had made a public announcement to the Martial Heaven Continent. This announcement was sharply pointed at Long Chen.
It criticized Long Chen for starting slanderous rumors toward Heavenly Fate Island, groundlessly accusing them of crimes that they hadn’t done in order to ruin their reputation.
In order to defend their reputation and dignity, Heavenly Fate Island demanded Long Chen to admit to his mistakes and retract what he had said. Otherwise, to protect their reputation, they would be forced to impose sanctions on him.
It was an announcement that lacked any substance. This was just the natural move done by any party who knew the other side had no proof. All they had to do was refuse to admit to their own actions, and without proof, no one could do anything to them.
The reason they made this announcement was because Long Chen had broadcast that Heavenly Fate Island had intentionally sabotaged him in the Devil Abyss. That news had caused large waves in the Martial Heaven Continent. Long Chen’s message on the Devil Slaughter Rankings had been a challenge to Heavenly Fate Island.
Considering that Long Chen was the one who had first accused Heavenly Fate Island and made their feud public, the majority of people believed that his challenge wasn’t based on nothing. After all, if it weren’t for a deep enmity, who would be willing to be enemies with Heavenly Fate Island? Heavenly Fate Island was an existence countless sects were afraid of.
Now, Heavenly Fate Island had made their own voice heard, but the majority of people didn’t believe it. This was just a standard response to such an accusation. Everyone had seen this kind of sequence countless times.
In the face of Heavenly Fate Island’s announcement, Long Chen’s only reply was: Just wait!
He couldn't be bothered to play this game with them. Right now, he still didn’t have the power to destroy them. However, he wouldn’t just bottle his anger up inside. He had already expressed his anger, and when the time was ripe, they would have to face his rage. It just wasn’t that time yet.
Other than Xia Chen’s arrival, another pleasant surprise to the Dragonblood Legion was that Meng Qi, Chu Yao, Tang Wan-er, Gu Yang, Song Mingyuan, and Li Qi had already felt a change in their Heavenly Dao manifestations.
Long Chen just stared blankly when he heard this news, but Li Tianxuan went wild with joy. He told Long Chen that this was a sign that their manifestations had started to awaken. They should immediately go into seclusion!
After experiencing this life and death battle, Meng Qi and the others’ mental realms had risen greatly. They had never been as close to death as they had been this time, particularly when the Corrupt experts had launched their suicidal attacks. Under that immense pressure of death and after the baptism of the blood soul stones, they had actually broken through a Heavenly Dao bottleneck.
Long Chen was also delighted when he realized what this meant and immediately told them to go into seclusion. Once their manifestations awoke, their combat power would rise to a new level. This was practically their biggest gain from the Devil Abyss.
“Brother Long, I’m hungry. I want to go out.” Just as Guo Ran and Xia Chen were busy working while the others went into seclusion, Wilde suddenly came to find Long Chen.
Long Chen jumped in fright when he saw Wilde’s current state. After just a few days, Wilde had gotten even skinnier. He looked like he was skin and bones. That arm and leg from the Xuan Beast expert he had eaten had been used up just like that.
“Okay, I’ll accompany you and get you food. But before eating, come with me to a certain place.”
The Xuantian Dao Sect was calm now. The formation was being completed perfectly thanks to Xia Chen. Meanwhile, the Dragonblood warriors were hard at work drilling their new battle formation, and Meng Qi and the others were in seclusion. Right now, there was nothing he needed to do here, so Long Chen wanted to take a trip to the Eastern Xuan City.
After telling Li Tianxuan, Long Chen and Wilde got on a transportation formation that brought them to the Eastern Xuan City. Wilde stayed in a flying boat, while Long Chen had changed his appearance.
They stealthily found th
e stronghold of the original devil race. This was a place that Long Chen and Yue Xiaoqian had agreed to meet. In the Devil Abyss, Yue Xiaoqian had helped him before immediately vanishing. He had to go see her.
“The sacred daughter has returned to the clan. She implored me to bring you to the Skyscraping World as soon as you came.” Within the secret stronghold was a Life Star Elder of the original devil race.
“Did something happen in the original devil race?” asked Long Chen solemnly.
Last time, the Seventh Elder had been forced to leave hastily due to something happening. This time, Yue Xiaoqian hadn’t even had time to stay a few days. It sounded like something serious had happened.
“Yes, it’s an issue with the Skyscraping World. Do you want to start going now and talk on the way?”
Long Chen nodded, and with that Elder, they began flying toward the Martial Heaven Sea-Ring on a flying boat.
On the way, the Elder explained that the Skyscraping World was a minor world, and now that the great era was descending, the Martial Heaven Continent’s world energy was squeezing it, causing cracks to appear in many parts of it. Those spatial cracks opened the path for demonic beasts to invade.
The demonic beasts had started coming a year ago. The original devil race had sent blockades to the spatial cracks to kill the demonic beasts that came out.
However, it wasn’t that they were too strong, but that they came in an unending tide. As time passed, the spatial cracks grew larger, and stronger demonic beasts started to appear.
There were now over ten major spatial cracks in the Skyscraping World. The largest one was over a thousand miles long. Powerful demonic beasts were constantly pouring into the Skyscraping World, forcing the original devil race to defend day and night.
The majority of the original devil race’s energy was being taken up by the demonic beasts. Even some of their experts that had been out on missions had been called back.
“Are the demonic beasts very powerful?” asked Long Chen.
“Their actual killing power isn’t very great, but their numbers are too high, and there’s no break to it. It has been over a year already, and it’s exhausting. However, there’s no easy solution,” sighed the Elder.
Long Chen’s eyes brightened. He looked behind him at the sleeping Wilde. He smiled. “Perhaps my brother can resolve this problem of yours.”
The flying boat continued onward. Wilde was still sleeping in the back. As there was nothing to eat, Wilde stayed in this state to conserve energy.
Other than being active and awake on the first day, Wilde had been listless after waking up. Long Chen had examined his body and found that it was entering a similar state to when Long Chen had first met him. The majority of his cells were once more starting to fall into slumber, with only a small portion being active.
In other words, putting it like how a human cultivated, Wilde had advanced a whole level and was at the early stage of a new level.
After advancing, Wilde required even more meat than ever before. That Xuan Beast expert had been at the Netherpassage realm, but even an arm and a leg from him had only been enough to fuel Wilde for a short while. The current Wilde was a real monster.
The flying boat quickly flew to the northeastern part of the Sea-Ring. After a few days, the Elder had Long Chen stop at a certain coordinate within the sea.
It was a very unremarkable location. The Elder took out an ancient bone talisman and made a stroke with it through the air. A resplendent light enveloped the flying boat.
Long Chen felt the flying boat enter a current of space. The Elder made another stroke through the air with the bone talisman, bringing the flying boat into a different current.
Long Chen knew that this was an extremely complicated method of transportation. Even if others found the location, without knowing the spatial nodes, they would never find the real entrance. This was one hundred percent safe.
After nine times, a transportation formation appeared ahead in the air.
This transportation formation was actually in the sky, completely out of Long Chen’s expectations. He had thought that the final transportation formation would be at the bottom of the Sea-Ring.
Once they were there, Long Chen saw four more Elders sitting cross-legged in the air like four statues.
They only opened their eyes when the flying boat approached. The Devil character appeared in their eyes. These four Elders might only be at the Life Star realm, but the pressure they exuded was startling.
Long Chen’s flying boat had its own defenses, but their eyes seemed to be able to see through anything. After looking at the flying boat, the four of them formed hand seals, causing the transportation formation’s runes to light up. It formed a channel, and Long Chen’s flying boat was drawn out of his control.
The flying boat shuddered. The world in front of Long Chen’s eyes changed. He felt an aura that was completely different from the Martial Heaven Continent.
This was a barren land with unending mountains and no tall trees, only some short vegetation. Most places were covered in bare rock. Those rocks looked like they had experienced many years. The aura of powerful experts still lingered on them. There were even some faint red marks. It seemed that the blood of experts had seeped into these rocks.
“The Skyscraping World was originally a sacred and holy land, but after experiencing countless battles, it’s gained its current appearance,” said the Elder sadly.
“Why has our original devil race become the target of all the Martial Heaven Continent’s experts?” Long Chen had wanted to ask this many times on the way here, but he had endured. Seeing the scene in front of him, he could no longer hold back his curiosity.
He knew that this was most likely the original devil race’s greatest secret. There had never been a good time for him to ask, but when Yue Xiaoqian had helped him annihilate those Empyrean Winged Blood Devils, he had thought of a certain possibility.
“You should personally ask the sacred daughter this question. The story’s too long, and having an old man like me tell it would make it sound tedious.” The Elder smiled faintly. His eyes contained a different kind of meaning.
The flying boat continued onward. The remnant pressure lingering on the ground grew stronger, and countless gorges appeared in the ground. Along the dark red rocks, it was like everything was shouting that this had once been a battlefield.
After half a day, they finally arrived at a giant gate. This gate was so tall that it reached the clouds. A giant Devil character was carved into the top of it.
That Devil character shone with divine light. It was like it was the mark of a god.
In front of the giant gate was a beautiful woman, waiting with a smile.
Long Chen also smiled. He finally got to see Yue Xiaoqian again.
Chapter 1724 Yue Xihan
Today, Yue Xiaoqian wasn’t wearing a veil. Standing there, she was surpassingly beautiful as she watched Long Chen’s flying boat approaching her.
When Long Chen walked out, the Elder had wisely left. Only Long Chen and Yue Xiaoqian remained standing in front of the gate.
Their eyes locked, calmly looking at one another. After parting in the Eastern Wasteland, they hadn’t seen each other for several years. Although Yue Xiaoqian had appeared for a moment in the last battle, she had only been there for a moment.
“I… missed you.” Long Chen opened his mouth several times, in the end only capable of forcing out a few words.
Yue Xiaoqian’s smile deepened. Her eyes turned into crescent moons, and those crescent moons had beautiful dewdrops inside them.
“Let’s go. I’ll bring you to my mom.”
Yue Xiaoqian blushed slightly, but she still brazenly held Long Chen’s hand, unable to conceal her delight.
“Ah, can you get someone to look after the flying boat? Wilde is still sleeping inside.” Long Chen pointed to the flying boat with a smile. He didn’t want to wake Wilde up for nothing. Once he woke up, he would be using up even more e
nergy and feeling incredibly hungry. To Wilde, hunger was a kind of torment.
“Don’t worry, within the Skyscraping World, everything is safe,” said Yue Xiaoqian.
Holding hands, Long Chen and Yue Xiaoqian slowly walked through the gates. Once he was through, Long Chen saw seven-colored clouds and mist flowing through the air.
“Long Chen, you really are the original devil race’s lucky star. Look, even the Skyscraping World’s clouds are welcoming you.” Yue Xiaoqian smiled brightly.
“I feel like you’re my lucky star. As long as you’re by my side, I feel at peace.”
Long Chen greatly admired how erudite Yue Xiaoqian was. It was like she knew about everything. With her present, there would be no unsolvable puzzles.
Yue Xiaoqian reddened even more. Her grip on his hand tightened.
“Was my daughter tricked out of her heart just like this at the start?”
Just at this moment, the clouds and mist parted, and a teasing voice rang out.
A beautiful woman in her thirties appeared. Her hair was wrapped into a high bun, and there was a violet-gold Devil character on her forehead. She held a wooden staff in her hands.
Long Chen jumped in shock upon seeing her. He hadn’t sensed any aura. However, looking at her, he felt an innate nobility, as if anyone would have to be ashamed of their own inferiority to stand by her, as if just looking at her was blasphemy.
He felt a god-like air around her, as if the world’s laws were prostrating themselves toward her. This was a feeling that Long Chen had never felt before.
Without her aura or any pressure, she made people feel an urge to prostrate themselves toward her in worship. She was definitely an extremely powerful existence. He had only felt something similar from the High Priest, but this woman’s aura was even more special, with an immortal air to it.
