Chapter 1054: Variables (Part 2)

Chapter 1054: Chapter 1054: Variables (Part 2)

Although Shen Mo had been left here, the Celestial Feather Sect guarded him with extreme rigor: two Divine Bridge Immortal Masters stood to his left and right, their sense never leaving him for even a moment.

For a demon head who sought to destroy the sect’s millennial plan, the Celestial Feather Sect naturally showed no mercy. If not for Spirit Feather Master still needing to perform a Soul Search on him after "Becoming True Immortal," he would likely have long since been blasted into soul-scattered oblivion. In addition to the Magical Restraint Spirit Feather Master had placed on his soul body, Spirit Banned Chains pierced through his limbs and bones, and even at his brow a nail-like magic artifact suppressing the soul was driven in.

Fortunately, his five senses had not been Sealed, allowing him to witness the various anomalies of the Creation Immortal Coffin.

Shen Mo was not overly concerned about his situation; this was merely an Incarnation, and one that existed within the Demonic Realm at that. He could burn it to ashes at any time—right now he was merely waiting for the final result.

The fact that the Celestial Feather Sect had already refined the True Immortal body four hundred years ago was indeed somewhat beyond his expectations, but without soul and True Spirit, this "Immortal" was still incomplete. Spirit Feather Master flying into the Creation Immortal Coffin was to use his own soul to fill in that "defect."

"Though we didn’t destroy the Immortal body in the coffin, forcing Spirit Feather Master to take this crucial step ahead of time is not necessarily a bad thing for Ming Cang and the others." Shen Mo gazed at the increasingly miraculous Creation Immortal Coffin hanging in the air, pondering silently.

Whether Spirit Feather Master succeeded or failed, this patch of Demonic Feather Realm would inevitably undergo an entirely new transformation, and the vitality of the Red Flame Gate disciples lay hidden within that change.

...

The Immortal light grew ever more brilliant, the Dao sounds ever more profound, and the myriad phenomena encircling the Creation Immortal Coffin became even grander and more wondrous.

The mysterious Dao runes carved upon the coffin’s surface pulsed with a rhythm increasingly rapid and bizarre, making one’s heart palpitate without end. The whole coffin seemed to come alive, and in the end even all things between heaven and earth resounded and pulsed along with it...

Until at a certain moment, the entire world began to warp and distort, as though struck by some irresistible terrifying force, collapsing from the dimensional level inward toward the coffin!

By this time, all the information Shen Mo’s five senses received from the Outer Realm had already been completely twisted; the sights he saw, the sounds he heard, the scents he smelled had all lost their original forms. If his real body were here, he could anchor his heart and keep his true mind unmoved, discerning the essence of things amid the confusion of yin and yang—but this Incarnation did not have such great ability.

Before he completely lost control of this body, a thought flashed through his mind: within his Golden Core a wisp of flame instantly rose, and in the blink of an eye it ignited the True Yuan Mana that permeated his entire body, burning his flesh, soul, and all Essence and Qi utterly clean!

Outside the Demonic Feather Realm Evil Spirit.

Shen Mo’s eyes shone with ripples of strange light as he continuously used [Method Eye Candle Wisp] to scrutinize the changes in the Evil Spirit before him.

The portion of the sect’s mountain gate shrouded by Evil Spirits was like ice melting and mist dispersing—the Evil Spirit aura receded and it gradually returned to its normal appearance;

The more than ten thousand Red Flame Gate disciples who had vanished were like a forbidden land descending upon a certain spot—their presence grew stronger and stronger until they fully manifested. Including Ming Cang and the other Divine Bridge cultivators, everyone’s expression was filled with shock and doubt, until they realized they had returned to the familiar world and saw Shen Mo standing not far away, whereupon they all began cheering in delight!

Because his Incarnation in the Demonic Realm had burned away at the final juncture, Shen Mo did not know what transpired afterward, but what was certain was that the Demonic Feather Realm Evil Spirit had descended elsewhere, and the Red Flame Gate disciples who had fallen into the Evil Spirit had completely escaped this Evil Spirit without being assimilated by it.

He swept his sense across Ming Cang and the others, discovering that aside from the disciples who had previously died under the Celestial Feather Sect’s assault, all remaining Red Flame Sect cultivators had emerged unscathed.

Ming Cang, Jiang Lingfeng, Lu Ming, Thunder Corpse Master, Feng Wushuang—none of the five Divine Bridge Realm cultivators had fallen. Of one hundred and thirty-two Golden Core cultivators, twenty-nine had died; of over seven hundred Spirit Sea cultivators, more than one hundred had died; of more than twelve thousand Qi Gathering cultivators, over one thousand five hundred had died. On the contrary, of the more than one hundred Body Tempering Realm disciples who had not participated in battle, three died due to various accidents...

Yet soon, Shen Mo noticed something amiss.

"Senior Sister Jiang, did Nephew Fan Ying die under the Celestial Feather Sect’s assault?"

When Shen Mo’s Incarnation left Forbidden Area 905, Fan Ying had not yet fallen. However, after he returned to the Celestial Feather Sect mountain gate he lost contact with the Red Flame Gate disciples, so he was unclear whether Fan Ying had met with mishap in the later great battle.

Jiang Lingfeng had still been immersed in the joy of escaping to heaven. Hearing Shen Mo’s question, she first froze slightly, then hurriedly sent her sense to sweep over the freed disciples. After counting several times and still finding no trace of Fan Ying, her expression changed abruptly: "She did not die in the battle; half a stick of incense ago I was still seeing her in the Evil Punishing Hall! How could this be..."

Shen Mo’s face grew slightly dark, and he immediately activated the Earth Yuan Array, expanding its coverage to the utmost on the premise of not damaging the earth veins.

After offering a few words of comfort to Jiang Lingfeng, he used Spells, Skills, Destiny and other methods to carefully probe the more than ten thousand freed disciples, discovering no abnormalities. Only then did he permit them to enter Green Cloud Cave.

Not long after, like a mosquito struggling violently after falling into a spiderweb and being sensed, Shen Mo—through the great net of the Earth Yuan Array—perceived an anomalous fluctuation millions of li away from Five Dragon Mountain!

"Found you!"

Shen Mo gathered the Formation’s suppressive power at that point, countless strands of force wrapping around like spider silk around its prey, determined to trap it in a single corner.

Feeling the fluctuation grow more intense, he did not delay further; he raised the Demon Slaying Sword and cleaved toward the source of the fluctuation!

Only after his figure manifested out of the Sword Light did he discover a mass of Immortal radiance darting left and right within the Earth Yuan Array, continuously ramming against the grand visions revealed by the Formation’s suppressive power.

Shen Mo donned [Danger Perception] and [Indestructible Body], then executed the True Immortal Magic to take on a Three-headed Six-armed form, raising one powerful magic treasure after another. Having made full preparations, he finally spoke in a clear voice: "Since fellow daoist has fallen into the Formation, you are already a turtle in the urn. Unless you break this iron urn, abandon all thought of escaping. Why not reveal yourself? If you are not an enemy, Shen Mou will naturally let you go!"

Hearing Shen Mo’s words, that mass of Immortal radiance finally settled down, its light slowly withdrawing to reveal a pretty face quite familiar to Shen Mo, pitiful as she said, "Martial uncle Law Master, it’s me."

"Nephew Fan Ying..."

"So, you are actually the greatest variable within the Demonic Feather Realm Evil Spirit!"

Though Shen Mo had long suspected, seeing Fan Ying’s figure still stirred waves in his heart.

Immediately, he successively used "Insight into All Beings," [Method Eye Candle Wisp] and other Special Destinies to thoroughly probe the details of this "Fan Ying" before him!

The spiritual aura and rhythm upon her body fluctuated unpredictably: at its weakest, it was still at the level of a Golden Core cultivator; at its strongest, it surpassed Ghost Immortal and Human Immortal, reaching the third True Immortal realm—Earth Immortal—such that even Shen Mo felt a faint hint of shock.

However, what could be confirmed was that Fan Ying was a living creature of this world, not an existence of the Evil Spirit ilk, and in the Destiny Panel’s judgment, the person before him was still Fan Ying, not some other being!