Chapter 2002 - Eighth-Level Profound Immortal Realm

By the time Liu Wuxie made it back to the Chai Clan, it was already noon.

For two days, Chai Qian had no respite due to anxiety. Tomorrow's harvest had driven him to mobilize the entire clan, keeping watch over the spiritual fields day and night to prevent sabotage. Ever since the mysterious figure had attempted to enter the fields, he had strengthened the patrols.

No one had approached the spiritual fields again during the past two peaceful nights. That quiet only deepened Chai Qian's unease. Liu Wuxie's return offered him a lifeline.

"You've finally returned, Young Master Liu!" Chai Qian hurried forward and clasped Liu Wuxie's hands, greeting him as if he were a relative who had been absent for decades. He immediately ushered him into the main hall and sent everyone else away, leaving the two of them alone.

"I suspect the three clans will move against you tonight, Patriarch Chai. You need to be ready," Liu Wuxie said.

Yan Wuji's memories had laid their plans bare to Liu Wuxie. A year without an immortal rice harvest would bring down the Chai Clan, fulfilling the three clans' wishes. They would never let the Chai Clan successfully harvest their rice without interference.

The Chai Clan's collapse would place the city's southern region immortal rice market entirely in their hands. With the Heavenly Alliance backing them, their rise to second-tier clan status would be only a matter of time.

"I've called back all our experts already," Chai Qian replied. He had anticipated this possibility and left a small contingent to protect the spiritual fields while summoning others to the clan.

Liu Wuxie nodded in approval. Chai Qian was intelligent enough to recognize what the situation demanded. Even so, a hard battle awaited them, and intelligence alone couldn't bring them victory.

Nothing would deter the Yan, Liang, and Wen Clans from destroying the Chai Clan's spiritual fields. Their continued affiliation with the Azure Jade Palace prevented an open attack, however. They would surely turn to the Heavenly Alliance to eliminate the Chai Clan. Their success or failure rested on tonight.

Liu Wuxie gave Chai Qian a few further instructions, then returned to the courtyard arranged for him. Inside the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron, he accelerated the refinement of the two Great Golden Immortals. He was determined to finish his breakthrough before darkness fell.

Unease and tension spread throughout the southern region. With evening drawing near, Long Ying and Long Yuanxiong departed their inn and headed outside the city.

......

In the Yan Clan's main hall, Wen Gongda and Liang Chengzhou faced a grim Yan Jingfu. They had already received the news about the deaths of all three experts they had sent to the Cloud Mist Manor.

"Damn Liu Wuxie! He killed my younger brother with a spiritual array!" Yan Jingfu roared. His palm slammed onto the table, throwing the cups into the air.

Both Liang Chengzhou and Wen Gongda understood that Yan Wuji was Yan Jingfu's own younger brother. Neither was foolish enough to speak at a time like this.

"Tomorrow is the immortal rice harvest, and we cannot let the Chai Clan succeed. The Heavenly Alliance has warned us that if we fail to stop the harvest, they'll abandon us," Wen Gongda said, rising with a deep frown.

Rage would achieve nothing, and no one could bring the dead back. Their priority was to prevent the Chai Clan from harvesting its rice.

The Heavenly Alliance's scheme was vicious. It would pit the clans against one another, tear Mulberry Sea City apart from within, and then turn those clans against the Azure Jade Palace. Like a virus, its infiltration would spread unseen, gradually reaching every corner.

By the time the Azure Jade Palace understood what was happening, Mulberry Sea City would already be in disarray. The sect would lose its chance to make the city an impregnable stronghold against the Heavenly Alliance's invasion.

Hundreds of third-tier clans occupied Mulberry Sea City. Elsewhere in the city, conflicts resembling the struggle between the Chai Clan and the other three clans were already unfolding. The Heavenly Alliance had stirred strife among them with nothing more than its name.

"The Azure Jade Palace will hold us responsible if we act on our own and they discover it. We can't place all our trust in the Heavenly Alliance," Liang Chengzhou replied. Caution governed his judgment. If the three of them made a move, he knew the Azure Jade Palace would certainly intervene.

"Then what do you suggest? Are we supposed to stand by while the Chai Clan harvests its immortal rice?" Yan Jingfu asked, drawing a deep breath to quell his anger.

"There's no need to worry. We'll stick to the plan and have someone pour in the medicine on harvest day," Liang Chengzhou replied, getting to his feet. It was getting late, and he needed to return.

"But with the changes the Chai Clan has made to its defensive barrier, we can't get anyone inside," Wen Gongda countered, rising as well.

"I'll handle that. The arrangements are already in place," Liang Chengzhou replied. He emerged from the hidden chamber and left the Yan Clan.

......

As Liu Wuxie quickened the circulation of the Desolate Devouring Art, countless laws of the Great Golden Immortal Realm swept through him in a tide. Crackling filled his body as those laws tempered every inch of it and carved themselves into his bones.

Given sufficient resources, he could now rise all the way to the Great Golden Immortal Realm without meeting a bottleneck. For now, that prospect remained wishful thinking. Even Liu Wuxie could not calculate the resources required for his ascent.

The gate to the eighth-level Profound Immortal Realm slowly emerged. Liu Wuxie called forth the mysterious axe imprint this time. Its form was more solid than before, reinforced by creation energy.

The axe imprint descended and smashed the gate apart. At the same instant, turbulence swept through the air above the Chai Clan, drawing everyone's attention. Immortal energy gathered in vast streams over Liu Wuxie's head.

From the sky came a rain of more than ten thousand Primal Chaos Crystals. Blackie snatched a thousand while it had the chance, before Liu Wuxie stored the remainder.

Liu Wuxie poured seven million immortal stones and a thousand crystals into the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron. They dissolved rapidly, forming a golden river of energy that surged into the Desolate World.

Rumbling shook the whole Desolate World as that river entered, and its boundaries began to expand. Its world force strengthened without pause.

Throughout Liu Wuxie's body, sharp cracks and pops sounded like muffled thunder. Transformation reached every inch of his bones, meridians, and flesh.

No words could capture the sensation. It felt as though he had passed into an entirely new state. Within the ancient soul sea, a mysterious aura stirred again as wisps of primal chaos energy burrowed into it. A strange stone then rolled out.

"It's a Soul Stone!" Liu Wuxie nearly cried out in astonishment. Finding such a treasure within the ancient soul sea had never occurred to him. Could that place actually be a sealed world, with a passage that only he could open?

The possibility brought a flash of disbelief to his eyes. If it was true, another reincarnation might have preceded his life as an Immortal Emperor, making his identity even more mysterious.

He still knew nothing of the origins of either the mysterious man in the Heavenly Deity Monument or the Heavenly Deity Army. In the Celestial Weave Domain, he had never even heard of that army.

What had made the mysterious man in the Heavenly Deity Monument call him his master? Questions such as this had troubled him for a long time.

Few treasures in the Celestial Realm were as precious as the Soul Stones. One alone could readily fetch more than several hundred million immortal stones, a price only Immortal Venerables could afford.

Terrifying soul energy radiated from the Soul Stone despite its being only the size of an adult's fist. Even a single stone could enlarge a person's soul sea severalfold.

His soul sea differed greatly from that of an ordinary person, making his soul energy exceptionally difficult to strengthen. He had spent years searching for a suitable soul technique.

His former life as an Immortal Emperor had given him knowledge of soul techniques, but none suited the soul sea he now possessed. A stronger physique made breakthroughs more difficult. Similarly, a larger soul sea slowed cultivation. Greater potential was the benefit it offered.

Liu Wuxie cleared his mind of distracting thoughts. "I'll refine it now!" Provided the ancient soul sea posed no danger, he could leave its mysteries unresolved for now. Increasing his cultivation took priority.

Liu Wuxie was confident the Soul Stone could dramatically transform his soul energy. A larger soul sea would also bring an immediate benefit, allowing him to comprehend more immortal arts.

Among his trump cards were the Five Elemental Divine Palm, Divine Eternal Fist, Great Spatial Art, Great Curse Art, Great Poison Art, Great Conversion Art, and many others. The Great Samsara Mythical Art belonged among them as well, though a long time had passed since he last used it.

Back in the mortal realm, his understanding had reached no further than its most superficial aspects, and he had barely grasped the Gate of Samsara. In its true power, the Great Samsara Art could let its user travel through both the past and the future.

Evening arrived while Liu Wuxie remained in seclusion. Refining a Soul Stone was no simple task. The slightest mistake could cause its immense soul energy to destroy his soul sea, so he proceeded with extreme caution, dissolving it little by little.

At last, the Desolate World's expansion ceased. The turbulent immortal energy began fading away.

To anyone who found it lying on the ground outside, the pitch-black Soul Stone would look like an ordinary, unremarkable stone. Within it lay immeasurable soul energy. Soul runes concealed deep inside required Liu Wuxie to draw them out carefully, one at a time.

An ordinary person's soul energy could almost never produce soul runes of its own accord. Creating such runes required inscription.

A sudden stirring passed through Liu Wuxie's soul sea as the first soul rune took shape.

Soul runes embodied the laws of heaven and earth and could not ordinarily exist within a human soul sea. Disbelief spread across Liu Wuxie’s face as he studied the rune before him.

Not even the knowledge he carried from his life as an Immortal Emperor could explain this.

A second soul rune emerged, followed by a third and countless more. Gradually, they interwove into a vast net that secured his soul sea firmly in place. Reinforced by the Heavenly Dao Book, that net made its defenses even more impregnable.

His soul sea expanded until it met the edge of the ancient soul sea. Soul energy rose with it, and his divine sense spread rapidly, like flowing mercury.

A few kilometers normally marked the reach of a Profound Immortal's divine sense. Liu Wuxie's, however, could easily pass beyond ten kilometers.

His upper dantian began to throb as the Divine Tribulation Pupil and Ghost Pupil absorbed the Soul Stone’s energy and began to evolve. Since his soul sea was connected to his upper dantian, strengthening one would also strengthen the other.