Chapter 207: Departure

“Make your choice!”

A bolt of lightning slashed across the heavens. The one-eyed man in black, leader of the opposing group, glared at the man holding the blade, his expression utterly vicious.

They were mortal enemies; no one would hold back.

The man with the blade gripped it tightly. Rainwater slid down his arm, flowed along the blade, and dripped from the tip onto the ground. He stood still as stone, unmoving.

“If you don’t choose, I’ll choose for you!”

The black-robed figure gazed at the man before him, feeling a sense of unprecedented satisfaction. There was a time when he had faced a similar situation, but the man before him now hadn’t given him a chance to choose. After sixteen years of hardship, he had finally achieved divine prowess, established the Black-clothed Society, and used this organization to force his former enemy into a desperate situation.

Today was the day of his revenge.

“Kill the older one,” the man in black waved his hand grandly.

Rain fell, and at that moment, lightning split the sky. The eyes of the man with the blade suddenly turned blood red. His figure moved as fast as lightning, the long blade like a streak of lightning, and in the blink of an eye, he had already cut through the crowd.

Blood mixed with rainwater splashing to the ground, heads flew off, one person after another falling.

“Xiao Cheng.”

With immense effort, the aged face pried open its eyes. She beheld her son and strained to raise her hand.

But all she met was a glint of cold light.

Thwack!

The old woman’s head rolled away, her life snuffed out in an instant. The young woman beside her met an even more gruesome fate—her throat slit so swiftly she never even awoke.

The wielder of the blade stood amid the sheets of rain, the tip of the knife pointing earthward, its edge untouched by blood. The sharp blade reflected the face of the last figure to fall. Even in death, the woman’s eyes captured the emotion of disbelieving terror.

The one-eyed man in black couldn’t fathom it. Just how callous did one have to be to slay even one’s mother and wife?

Could a person who did such things still be considered… human?

“I didn’t want to kill them, I didn’t,” the man muttered to himself. The crimson faded from his eyes as he gazed upon the corpse-littered ground. Tears of remorse streaked down his face. He dropped the long blade from his hand, stumbled forward, and embraced the dead woman. With his other hand, he cradled the severed head of the old woman.

“Aghhhhhh!” He bellowed to the heavens, raindrops piercing his soul.

“So this is it… this is the world’s foremost blade, the Demonic Heart Blade?” The man’s tears gave way to laughter. Then, in a heartbeat, his mind shattered like glass.

A gray shadow leaped from the figure wielding the blade and began to dissipate. At this critical moment, Chen Luo, who had been resting in the room, suddenly sprang into action. He released the restraint on his power, pushing the Demonic Heart Art to its absolute limit.

A hand abruptly appeared around the gray shadow’s neck, completely gripping it.

Bang!

Before he could react, the gray shadow he was holding suddenly disintegrated. The energy exploded outwards, scattering into fragments like snowflakes and vanishing into nothingness.

“Evaded again?” Chen Luo retracted his hand, his brow furrowing slightly.

The Demonic Heart was intangible, making it impervious to conventional grasping techniques. However, this attempt wasn’t entirely futile; he managed to intercept half of the energy the Demonic Shadow had extracted.

Lifting his hand, he noticed a peculiar mark had materialized on his palm—a black, tear-like symbol.

A faint stream of energy flowed from the mark into his body, causing the number of spiritual energy dragons to increase by one, now totaling fifty-three.

As this latest spiritual energy dragon took shape, Chen Luo began to discern the differences between the late Foundation Establishment stage and the previous two realms. The formed spiritual energy dragons were no longer dormant like before. Instead, they moved with a life of their own, swirling around his spiritual space as if in a vortex.

This was the most significant difference between the late Foundation Establishment stage and previous stages. Beyond the increase in spiritual energy accumulation, the cultivator’s body would gradually transform towards that of a Core Formation cultivator under the flushing effect of spiritual energy. The most obvious manifestation of this transformation was the activation of spiritual energy.

Internally, this activation granted cultivators more potent divine abilities and enhanced their survival capabilities. During his initial confrontation with Old Demon Fang, Chen Luo had to self-destruct his Soul Banner dozens of times before finally defeating him. This was precisely because Old Demon Fang was a late Foundation Establishment powerhouse; had he been only at the Middle Foundation Establishment stage, a single Banesoul explosion would likely have sufficed.

At the center of the vortex lay a glowing point—a point that represented the Core Formation seed simulated earlier by Chen Luo using his Foundation Establishment brain.

The most challenging step for cultivators attempting to transition from Foundation Establishment to Core Formation was creating this so-called ‘seed.’

In truth, this ‘seed’ wasn’t a physical object but rather a direction for Core Formation. For instance, a body cultivator’s seed corresponded to the path of cultivating their physique, while a magical cultivator’s seed aligned with their magical practices. It signified a higher-level leap in cultivation and was also a process akin to ‘becoming immortal.’

The coveted ‘false core seed’ that wandering cultivators yearned for—Chen Luo had grasped it just upon entering the late Foundation Establishment stage. Moreover, he utilized the power of this false core seed to overcome his adversary, indirectly helping him achieve his lifelong dream.

“Mountain Lord, there’s an [information sword] outside,” Ding Zhao called out.

An information sword? Chen Luo gestured to open the window, and a cold wind rushed in from outside. He extended his divine sense and quickly found the information sword floating just beyond the protective barrier.

With a wave of his hand, the messenger magic sword swiftly flew into the room, landing hidden within his sleeve.

The information sword dissipated, releasing a communication talisman. Chen Luo often used this method; it was the most common way for Foundation Establishment cultivators to communicate. Even his exchanges with Su Linlin were frequently conducted in this manner.

In the higher Core Formation realm, cultivators could harness the essence of heaven and earth to animate spiritual objects for communication—a technique far more efficient than the Foundation Establishment cultivators’ messenger magic swords.

Ten years? Shangren Yinwind of Pingshan Creek.

Chen Luo recalled his encounter with the mountain spirit at Pingshan Creek and wondered if there was any connection between them. The ten-year period mentioned here was clearly for the former Gu Demon, Khan Jiu. This communication must have come from one of his old friends.

As the inheritor of Eldest Brother Khan’s Gu Demon Mountain, it’s only right that I should inherit these matters as well.

Yesterday’s attempt at refining the Guiyuan Pill had ended in failure once again.

This was par for the course for alchemists developing new medicinal pills. Generally, hundreds of failures were required to refine a pill of a given tier. Each failure provided valuable lessons, guiding the alchemist towards the correct method through trial and error.

The Guiyuan Pill was even more challenging than the Pure Origin Primordial Qi Pill, involving the essence and blood of monsters. This surpassed the ‘lifelong experience’ stored in the three second-tier alchemists’ brains that Chen Luo had acquired. Even combined, they could only progress step by step, using failed attempts to inch closer to success.

This slow accumulation of knowledge didn’t sit well with Chen Luo, who had grown accustomed to his own genius.

It’s excruciatingly slow!

He’d been contemplating whether to venture out in search of more advanced alchemists’ brains—preferably from those who had already reached the Core Formation stage. Their insights could potentially resolve many of the issues he was grappling with.

The discovery of the magic sword had presented him with a new avenue. It was possible that through Khan Jiu’s networks, he might obtain some superior intellects.

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Chen Luo set aside the magic sword and rose to his feet, heading for the rear courtyard.

This was the place where Gu Demon Khan Jiu had cultivated his demonic sorcery, now commandeered by Chen Luo for testing his divine abilities. With over seventy Foundation Establishment brains grafted onto his body, he generated new insights into divine abilities daily. Already, he had mastered several techniques to near perfection.

With a wave of his hand, nine magic swords materialized in his palm.

Formations and soul banners remain my most powerful tools, Chen Luo mused, reviewing his capabilities. This outing was crucial for gauging his exact strength and determining how to handle enemies of various tiers.

There was no need to test the soul banner; since his return, he had stored it away. Apart from nourishing it with the Fiendish Qi Bead, he kept it concealed within his body.

His most reliable combat methods were still his primary divine abilities and sword formations.

The sword formation began to spin, slowly emerging from his palm. Under Chen Luo’s control, a translucent formation diagram appeared, enveloping the nine tier-2 magic swords. As the formation activated, the swords rapidly increased in size, transforming into full-sized magic artifacts before they descended.

Hwoom!

The sword rain fell, instantly vanishing into the ground.

A faint white sword aura rippled outward, followed swiftly by the second, third, and subsequent swords.

As the ninth magic sword landed, the air suddenly froze, holding its breath.

Chen Luo extended his hand and rotated it. The formation above the magic swords swiftly changed. The nine swords, which had been stationary, began to spin rapidly. The stone at the center of the formation was instantly pulverized by the sword glares into powder. The shattered rock fragments were then swept up by the sword glares, forming a completely enclosed area.

Next, Chen Luo altered the formation again. The nine magic swords continued to transform ceaselessly, forming various arrays: an attack array, a trapping array, an illusion array… Each one emerged in turn. Despite using only a simple set of nine magic swords, they released a momentum akin to countless falling swords.

After cycling through more than ten formations, Chen Luo paused with a single hand gesture.

The nine magic swords rapidly dispersed, unleashing nine streams of charged jade-green energy. These energies circulated and coalesced into a massive whirlwind. Within it, the forces of creation and destruction appeared simultaneously.

This was the killing move of the Yinmu Sword Formation, the Yinmu Array. It represented the most powerful formation Chen Luo had currently mastered.

“Retrieve!”

Sensing his diminishing spiritual energy, Chen Luo waved his right hand, and the magic swords were instantly stowed back into his sleeve.

Equivalent to a full-power strike of mine, Old Demon Fang’s feedback echoed in Chen Luo’s external brain.

As a cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment stage, who also wielded Shape-Shifting Magic, Old Demon Fang’s strength was undoubtedly formidable. His full-power attack surpassed that of the majority of other cultivators at his level. This indicated that Chen Luo could now suppress a late Foundation Establishment cultivator with ease, using only conventional means.

Putting away his magic sword, Chen Luo rested briefly, waiting until his spiritual energy had recovered before returning to his cultivation chamber.

Inside, he tidied up some spirit talismans and pills. Only after confirming he hadn’t missed anything did he push open the door.

“Mountain Lord.”

Hearing the door open, Sun Yanyan sprang to her feet. Ding Zhao had gone down the mountain to purchase spiritual materials, so she was in charge of matters today.

“Where are the others?” Chen Luo glanced around.

Of the five named disciples, he could only remember two names. It wasn’t that he didn’t care; rather, the remaining three rarely appeared on the mountain at all. Their tasks were mostly down below, such as collecting spirit stones and managing the market, among other things.

“Ma-shixiong is at the market. There was some trouble there today. Qi-shixiong is in the spirit medicine garden. A while ago, some spirit plant merchants arrived.”

“Never mind, no need to tell me all that. Just give me the results later,” Chen Luo interrupted Sun Yanyan after just a couple of words.

These were all minor affairs. He’d taken these named disciples precisely to avoid such trifles. If he had to personally oversee each one, what use were they?

With a flourish, a magic sword flew from his sleeve. Its blade gleamed as it circled around him. In a leap, Chen Luo transformed into a streak of light, vanishing into the horizon.