Chapter 193: Inheriting the Legacy

Chapter 193: Inheriting the Legacy

The stranger’s presence was inexplicable; even through the barrier array, both Chen Luo and Lady Bai Gu felt an overwhelming pressure. Thankfully, the figure remained motionless, as if searching for something.

“He can’t see us. Let’s leave.”

Chen Luo swiftly rose and departed. Their invisibility might not last long against such a formidable entity. The mummified ancient land’s defenses might fail against this level of monster.

Lady Bai Gu also quickly regained her composure and followed Chen Luo, flying away from that perilous place.

Within the ancient land:

A shadowy figure reached out to touch the barrier array. Unlike Chen Luo and Lady Bai Gu who had passed easily, this figure clearly triggered its defenses. As soon as their hand extended, the surrounding stone talismans lit up, forming a golden web. Simultaneously, it influenced the weather outside, gathering faint thunderclouds.

The shadowy figure lifted their hand, aligning it with the array’s orientation, and pushed inside. The golden threads converged at a single point, entwining around their forearm and desperately resisting their advance. Under the array’s power, the entire arm scorched black, the outer skin peeling off to reveal the underlying flesh and bone beneath.

Yet his hand still pierced through.

Boom!

The moment the white bone hand emerged, a bolt of heavenly lightning struck with fierce intensity. The yang thunder instantly shattered the arm to pieces. Chen Luo retracted the remnants and examined the severed end.

“Eight Gates Corpse Lock Array combined with Three Profound Yang Thunder Array… Those damned old immortals.”

He settled back into the sedan chair as the figures on either side swiftly rose, lifting it once more. As they carried him away, suonas blared, and they vanished at the edge of perception, leaving silence in their wake.

Half a day later.

Chen Luo and Lady Bai Gu had finally escaped that perilous region. Only when sunlight once again warmed their bodies did they allow themselves to breathe a sigh of relief.

They had survived.

The pair found an isolated hillside where they sat down cross-legged to rest and recover.

Chen Luo reached into his Pouch of Holding for the cultivation manual he’d acquired from Lady Bai Gu and the Blood Qi Old Ghost. This ‘Evil Bone Secret Manual’ finally revealed its true potential—the path to Core Formation was within reach. With this technique as his guide, he could now use the dry corpse brain to fill in the gaps of other techniques at this stage, deducing a personalized route to Core Formation.

“Ah, there’s also this fruit.”

Chen Luo shifted his focus to the nearby fruit of eternal life. The fact that even a desiccated corpse had taken notice of it was clear evidence of its quality. A hundred years of cultivation could be saved—such an item must be maximized for value.

Chen Luo glanced at the Lady Bai Gu beside him but refrained from taking the fruit.

The two rested for several days, fully replenishing their depleted spiritual energy. Though they hadn’t yet reached their peak, they were no longer as vulnerable as before. The demeanor of Foundation Establishment cultivators had been restored.

“Friend, do you have any plans?” asked Lady Bai Gu.

Their escape owed almost entirely to Chen Luo’s assistance. In her eyes, a master of arrays and an insect cultivator was certainly worth befriending. Moreover, having endured hardships together, a bond had formed between them.

“Not decided yet,” Chen Luo shook his head. He indeed hadn’t thought about where to go next. This time he’d gained much; he needed proper seclusion to digest these new insights thoroughly. However, suitable places for Foundation Establishment cultivators to practice were few and far between. Especially considering his upcoming breakthrough attempt, insufficient spirit veins might significantly hinder his progress.

Five Creek Mountain was a decent enough place to stay, but unfortunately its spiritual veins were terrible; only scraps of first-order spiritual energy could be found there. The original ‘Five Creek Immortal’ hadn’t chosen that location for cultivation purposes either. Chen Luo’s goal was to find a second-order spiritual vein. In this land of evil cultivators, such veins weren’t uncommon—there were seven in total. However, all seven had been claimed by ancient demons at the peak of Foundation Establishment realm. Even Lady Bai Gu’s White Bone Mountain, where she practiced cultivation, boasted merely a mid-grade first-order spiritual vein.

“I do happen to know of an excellent location,” Lady Bai Gu suddenly spoke up. “Perhaps Fellow Daoist might be interested?”

Chen Luo’s thoughts stirred, instantly grasping her meaning.

Anyone capable of claiming a second-order spiritual vein must be an ancient demon, much like Khan Jiu the Gu Demon.

“The Gu Demon Senior has met with misfortune,” he thought. “His once-held Gu Demon Mountain is now vacant. If we act swiftly before anyone else discovers it, we could seize the opportunity to claim it for ourselves. With Fellow Daoist’s mastery of array techniques and my own Bai Gu divine ability, we’d be more than capable of guarding the spiritual vein. Imagine having an entire second-order vein dedicated solely to our cultivation—a far easier prospect than constantly seeking favors from others! We wouldn’t need to change locations until reaching the peak of Foundation Establishment.”

True to her status as an evil cultivator, she was already eyeing others’ ‘inheritances’ even as her teammate lay dead.

But Chen Luo found this quite appealing.

He shared the same thought—two Foundation Establishment experts working together, with a formation for protection, certainly gave them the confidence to pull off such a move.

“Upon first meeting, Old Brother Han and I hit it off; we truly can’t bear to see his Dao Field fall into another’s hands,” Chen Luo said, rising promptly. His idea resonated perfectly with Lady Bai Gu.

Two streaks of light pierced the sky.

With Lady Bai Gu leading the way, they swiftly arrived at Khan Jiu’s Dao Field. The spiritual energy here was remarkably potent, nearly rivaling that of Sacred Lake Immortal Sect. Within the sect, the majority of the second-order spirit vein’s energy was monopolized by the Core Formation sect leader, leaving only scraps for the various peak lords to divide among themselves—a meager share for each individual.

But this place was different: Gu Demon Khan Jiu alone controlled an entire second-order spirit vein, enjoying a life of utter comfort.

Upon landing, they charged straight in.

With Chen Luo’s expertise in formations, Khan Jiu’s outer defenses posed no challenge. They were quickly breached without a hitch.

Inside, a small courtyard greeted them. Standing within its bounds, both felt their spirits lift, their inner spiritual energies stirring with renewed vigor.

“The front courtyard is mine, the rear courtyard is yours. If enemies come, we’ll face them together, how about that?”

Lady Bai Gu took the initiative to yield.

On this spiritual meridian, the area with the best spiritual energy was in the rear courtyard. By giving him the better spot, Lady Bai Gu showed her willingness to be friendly.

“Then I thank you, Madam.”

Chen Luo didn’t hesitate either. He was preparing to break through his cultivation barrier next, and the quality of the spiritual meridian would greatly aid him.

After this simple division, the two searched Khan Jiu’s lair once more. Like other old demons, Khan Jiu carried all his valuable items on him at all times; there wasn’t much worth taking from his nest. Apart from some scattered spirit stones, only a pile of random materials for refining gu remained. Lady Bai Gu wasn’t a gu-refining cultivator, so she had no interest in these materials. Chen Luo replenished his supply of spirit stones and took all the materials for himself.

With the loot divided, it was time to set up defenses.

Using the array knowledge stored in his mind, Chen Luo reconfigured the arrays outside Gu Demon Mountain. Although they were still first-order arrays, he set up seven or eight of them in one go, even incorporating the combined array technique he’d recently learned.

One formation after another—when the time came for someone to recklessly charge in, these formations would surely give them quite a surprise.

Inside the room,

Chen Luo held the ‘Evil Bone Secret Manual’ floating in his palm. He had already asked Lady Bai Gu to help him unlock the restrictions on the bone scroll. Even in death, the Blood Qi Old Ghost never imagined that the one helping Chen Luo release the restrictions would be his most trusted confidant.

While waiting, Chen Luo took this opportunity to consult Lady Bai Gu about various restriction-related questions. Curious, she also asked him many questions regarding arrays. The two exchanged knowledge, each benefiting from the exchange.

“Having studied these restriction techniques and now using the Blood Qi Old Ghost’s brain, I’ve finally grasped the basics of restrictions.”

Setting down the restriction bone scroll, Chen Luo felt a surge of enlightenment within him.

He once again pulled out the ‘Blackstone Secret Technique’ bone scroll—the very same technique that had driven rogue cultivators like Lin Feng to near madness trying to obtain it. It had ultimately fallen into Chen Luo’s hands, but due to its complex restrictions, he hadn’t been able to access it until now. With the Blood Qi Old Ghost’s brain at his disposal, everything changed. One by one, he began unraveling the dense web of restrictive threads.

Nine layers of restrictions?

Chen Luo had deciphered seven layers when he discovered there were actually two more beyond them. These final layers employed techniques far exceeding the Blood Qi Old Ghost’s lifetime capabilities. Despite having Lady Bai Gu’s foundational knowledge of restrictions, even he couldn’t unlock them—not even the resurrected Blood Qi Old Ghost could have done so.

Reassemble the restrictions; merge them with your divine soul to unlock.

The feedback came from the external brain—the Core Formation Brain.

With a thought, Chen Luo followed this method and swiftly unlocked the remaining two layers of restriction.

The bone slip flashed, transforming into a streak of light that merged into his palm. A vast array of ‘Divine Consciousness Secret Techniques’ flooded into his mind, instantly illuminating the essence of these techniques. Among them were not only methods for refining divine sense but also an exceedingly rare technique for condensing Golden Cores.

The sole flaw was that this secret art began at Foundation Establishment, lacking its initial stages.

“Hmm, why does it seem somewhat familiar?”

As Chen Luo delved deeper into the Black Stone Secret Art, he couldn’t help but recall the Demonic Heart Art passed down by Daoist Wuwei. Despite their completely different names, these two cultivation arts now appeared inexplicably compatible.

After analyzing both arts, the mummy brain reached a conclusion.

Demonic Heart Art and Black Stone Secret Art are originally one?

Wouldn’t that imply that Ancestor Blackstone and Ancestor Demonic Heart were once fellow disciples within the same sect?!

Having integrated both arts, Chen Luo realized he had now mastered two distinct Core Formation divine abilities.

With the Blackstone Secret Technique, the issue of slow cultivation progress in the Demonic Heart Art had been resolved. The Evil Bone Secret Manual and Demonic Heart Art—two distinct Core Formation techniques. It was truly a case of all roads leading to Rome!

Having addressed the cultivation technique problem, Chen Luo shifted his focus to the most crucial item: the Neverliving Fruit.

The greatest gain from this adventure was indeed the Neverliving Fruit.

He retrieved the fruit from his Pouch of Holding and placed it on the table. Its jet-black skin pulsated as if alive, resembling a human heart. An intense aroma instantly filled the entire cultivation room. Chen Luo utilized the dry corpse’s brain for perception but detected nothing extraordinary about the fruit.

The only feedback he received was a single word: ‘Eat’!

“I wonder if this thing can be used in pill concocting.”

Chen Luo picked up the fruit and gently squeezed it with his hand.

It felt soft and yielding.

Pill concocting would have to wait; he lacked both the formula and the skill. His knowledge of medicinal properties and pharmacology was entirely insufficient, so attempting to concoct medicine would only result in wasting such a precious treasure.

He brought the fruit to his lips and took a small bite.

The flesh seemed almost homogeneous, flowing towards the point where he had bitten into it, then melting into juice that flowed into his mouth.

In an instant, Chen Luo felt a warmth spread through his body, accompanied by a strange sensation rising from his heart.

His vision blurred and swirled, and in the hazy aftermath, he seemed to catch another glimpse of that black temple once more.