Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Chapter 1128: Chapter 92 Merit Poison

Faced with Chi Song Immortal’s attack, Long Eyebrow Immortal did not grow angry but laughed instead.

Good! I’ve long desired a bout with Chi Song, but as sect guardians in the past, we couldn’t easily make a move… now, it’s a timely opportunity!

He swiftly executed sword techniques with his hands, and within an instant, the Dual Polarity Dust Sword thrusted thrice, intercepting the Azure Spirit Divine Arrow from different directions, dissipating its formidable force entirely.

Seeing Long Eyebrow Immortal filled with battle spirit, Chi Song Immortal could only suppress his anger, transmitting a secret message:

“A competition between us isn’t out of the question, but let’s not let others profit. Aside from the watching Wan Xiang, those two Dragon Clan cultivators have already withdrawn, waiting to reap the rewards without effort!”

“It’s fine!” Long Eyebrow Immortal, becoming obstinate, laughed wildly and said, “Defeating you comes first. If they dare to come over, I’ll deal with them too!”

Chi Song Immortal secretly thought this was bad, recalling that before ascending to immortality, Long Eyebrow was a well-known “battle-loving Sword Immortal” within the Clarify Cult, delighted by the prospect of battle, even actively seeking formidable cultivators of the same realm to challenge.

If he becomes engrossed in battle, disregarding the Changgeng Qingheng, and ends up entangling me, allowing Penglai or the Demon Race to seize him, that would be disastrous!

Chi Song Immortal immediately retreated towards the Kunlun Main Formation, simultaneously releasing his grip on Chen Guanshui to signal a temporary retreat.

Wan Xiang Immortal smiled faintly and promptly executed Sleeve Universe, pulling the yet-to-fall Chen Guanshui towards Penglai.

Long Eyebrow, however, ignored this, continuing to deploy the Dual Polarity Dust Sword Formation, using Sword Qi to seal off Chi Song Immortal’s possible escape routes.

Inwardly enraged, Chi Song Immortal wondered if he was being underestimated.

He secretly transmitted a message to Xu Yinglian, urging her to quickly pursue Chen Guanshui, while he engaged in fierce battle with Long Eyebrow Immortal.

Seeing Long Eyebrow Immortal already in action, the Shushan Peak Masters could no longer stand idle, attacking the Kunlun Main Formation in unison, almost infuriating the Xu Family elders to the point of spitting blood—Changgeng had already been seized by Penglai, why are you targeting us in a magical competition?

However, Shushan had already lost their minds, and couldn’t just stop at Kunlun’s behest, so the Xu Family elders had to forcefully engage, all the while secretly keeping an eye on Chen Guanshui’s movements.

An Zhisu saw this and was equally helpless. She understood the Shushan Peak Masters’ mindset, “As long as we defeat all opponents on the field, Qingheng naturally belongs to us,” but what if they couldn’t defeat everyone?

Though the Shushan Peak Masters could gamble, as Qingheng’s Daoist Companion, she couldn’t afford even the slightest risk.

“Zhenmei, assist me!” An Zhisu could only silently pray for help in her heart.

“Why assist again?” the Sun True Obscure Sword asked irritably, “We agreed I would only help you refine the Heaven-Mending Stone, and now after that, you want help to combat Heavenly Dao, and after that, you want help against immortals too—is there no end to this? You’re not even the Sun Sword Master!”

“Sun True Obscure Sword!” Seeing Chen Guanshui being dragged further away, An Zhisu urgently said, “You don’t want the Tai Yin Sword Master to be taken to another sect, and perhaps even have the Tai Yin Suming Sword turned against us, do you?”

Sun True Obscure Sword: ???

Historically, the Sun Sword Master and the Tai Yin Sword Master almost always came from the same sect and were close comrades in battle. But strictly speaking, there’s no rule that the Sun Sword Master and the Tai Yin Sword Master must remain in the same camp.

If the Tai Yin Sword Master were to join another sect, and even compete with the Sun Sword Master in magical competitions and sword duels, it wouldn’t be impossible—it even sounds quite interesting. The problem is, An Zhisu is not yet the Sun Sword Master!

Without being the Sun Sword Master, the Sun True Obscure Sword had no reason to fully assist her. How could she be a match for the Tai Yin Sword Master? She would certainly lose every fight, and then be ruthlessly mocked and beaten by the Tai Yin Suming Sword.

But if the Sun True Obscure Sword were to fully assist her… then it’s better to help her reclaim the Tai Yin Sword Master now!

“Fine, fine, fine! In consideration of the Suming Sword, I’ll lend you a hand once more!”

With the Sun True Obscure Sword’s compromise, its solar energy transformed into scorching True Yuan, once again soaring An Zhisu’s cultivation realm.

She looked up at Wan Xiang Immortal in the distance, eyes filled with undisguised battle intent, when she suddenly heard Xu Yinglian transmit a secret message asking:

“Join forces against Penglai?”

“Yes.”

“Deal with Dong You first.”

“No.”

Xu Yinglian was quite troubled, thinking that if they worked together to attack Dong You, compelling Wan Xiang Immortal to intervene, the crisis would be silently resolved, right? Surely, it’s not that you think Dong You is too weak to stir your battle spirit?

But at this moment, she was mistaken. An Zhisu was ultimately a Shushan Cultivator, and her thinking was very Shushan-like: the idea of “capture the king first,” as long as they could defeat Wan Xiang Immortal, naturally, they could intercept the junior brother!

Man-Sword Unity!

The scorching light tore through the Heavenly Dome like a meteor, carrying immense might towards Wan Xiang Immortal. The Sword Light’s diameter even reached nearly a thousand zhang, which was why it could even slice through the Taiji Thunder before.

In days of yore, when the Tai Yin Suming Sword struck down, even the Long Eyebrow Immortal dared not block it directly, cleaving the Emei Golden Summit into four pieces—this is already well-known throughout the Cultivation Realm. Now, the Sun True Obscure Sword of the same level attacks with full force; how could the Wan Xiang Immortal dare to face it? He hastily ceased the Sleeve Universe, performing Daoist Magic to evade.

Thus, Chen Guanshui fell once more, his body helplessly plummeting downward.

In the seawater directly below him, a massive shadow had quietly emerged—it was the Ying Long’s True Body lying quietly in wait with Long Hu in tow. As soon as Chen Guanshui fell into the water, it would seize him and make a run for it.

Of course, given the urgency, accidentally snapping an arm or a leg was inevitable; besides, cultivators can easily regenerate their bodies!

Just as Chen Guanshui was about to hit the water, suddenly, numerous lines of Sword Qi surfaced from the surrounding seawater, silently cutting towards Ying Long.

“Be careful of the surroundings! Father!” Long Hu suddenly warned.

The two quickly transformed from their True Bodies to human-like Dharma Bodies, their size shrinking a thousandfold, then swiftly escaping through the Sword Qi net.

“That Long Eyebrow cur, truly as cunning as ever!” Emperor Ying Long cursed angrily, “Pretending to engage in a Magical Competition with others, secretly setting traps to ambush us!”

“Father,” Long Hu quickly said, “It seems no matter how fiercely those humans fight, they can’t take their eyes off Long Long.”

“If we try to seize Long Long, they will inevitably pursue and intercept us together. It’s better to wait until they kill each other to mutual destruction before taking action.”

“Hmm.” How could Emperor Ying Long not see that his beloved daughter was worried about him getting hurt? So he simply nodded incessantly.

In fact, the three human factions might not necessarily kill each other to mutual destruction. It’s highly possible that one side suddenly gains the upper hand, taking Long Long and fleeing a thousand miles in an instant, while the other forces quickly chase after… As a result, the Demon Race wouldn’t even have a chance.

But Ying Long hoped that Long Long would be captured so that his daughter would give up the thought; thus, he was happy to watch coldly from the sidelines.

It was said that although the Heavenly Dao’s will had already given up struggling and left Chen Guanshui’s body, it hadn’t taken the power of the Heavenly Dao with it. As a result, now his body, although it had become a Chaotic Great Luo Golden Immortal, was still clogged with the residual power of the Heavenly Dao in all its major meridians.

To put it metaphorically, it’s like the enemy army has evacuated the city, but the main streets are still blocked by rubble, needing timely cleaning to restore smooth passage.

“That’s really strange,” Jiang Lian remarked in surprise, “It feels like the will of the Heavenly Dao just suddenly gave up. Surely your physical body wasn’t defeated outside, was it?”

“Perhaps,” Chen Guanshui said anxiously, “Darling, quickly think of a solution!”

It’s not a big deal not ascending to the Sky King’s Throne, but if his body were taken to some Sect and kept in the basement under heavy seals… that was absolutely unacceptable to him.

No matter what, he must regain control of his body quickly!

“The plan now is to unblock the meridians first,” Jiang Lian responded, “Without the control of the Heavenly Dao’s will, these remaining powers can be dealt with easily, just refine and absorb them.”

“I don’t have time to digest and absorb…” Chen Guanshui was at a loss but couldn’t think of any other solution. After all, his Nascent Soul could only control the Dantian, and the other parts of the body were completely lost, rendering him unable to perform Daoist Magic or Divine Skills. Therefore, he could only spread his Divine Sense True Essence, envelop the white glow in the nearby meridians, then drag it back to refine quickly.

This white glow was mostly ownerless True Essence, essentially highly condensed Spiritual Energy, refining a little could save years of painstaking cultivation effort.

Chen Guanshui had already become a Chaotic Great Luo Golden Immortal, with no further realm to ascend. However, refining them could increase his True Essence capacity, so it was not without merit.

Moreover, these True Essence also contained a small amount of Merit energy.

What is called Merit, to put it bluntly, is favor. Like when you lend money to the poor in an emergency, providing help in the snow, they owe you a favor.

And Merit must be of the level where millions of living beings are saved, so it contains the favor of millions. Once refined, no matter who becomes your enemy, the damage caused by their spells, Flying Swords, etc., will be weakened, which means “Merit protects the body, all harms ward off.”

Refining these True Essence and Merit would be of great benefit to Chen Guanshui, but he was apprehensive now, unable to calmly cultivate, eager to expel these things to avoid wasting time.

“Should I help you eat a bit, hubby?” Jiang the Witch suggested beside him.

As a Heavenly Demon, besides the essence, energy, and spirit of the Human Race itself, their flesh and True Essence were also within its predation range.

Chen Guanshui quickly nodded because all this True Essence and Merit were good stuff; forcibly expelling them would truly be a waste. Better to let his wife have them.

Jiang the Witch then turned into a black mist of Heavenly Demon, lunging at the white glow and devouring it ravenously.

After eating for a long while, she suddenly fled back to Chen Guanshui in panic, spitting, “This Merit content is too high! Just eating a few bites feels like I’m getting converted, inexplicably filled with notions of being kind and living in harmony!”

Chen Guanshui chuckled, “Being kind and living in harmony? Why don’t I feel it?”

“You’re the rightful owner of the Merit; they’re naturally friendly to you and won’t try to infect your Divine Soul!” Jiang Lian seemed like she’d tasted something foul and thereafter refused to touch any of those Merits.