Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

  "What did you say? Demon world?"

  After hearing Zhou Mumu's great plan, Wang Lu's first reaction was to confirm that he was listening to her correctly. Since his Jindan breakthrough, because of the integration of the three forces, ever so often, there were times when he couldn't control his own senses. Thus, although it sounded like demon world, but it could also be that she wanted to be caressed on the shoulder 1 —a kind of intimacy between man and woman.

  But soon, Zhou Mumu replied, "Of course it's demon world…"

  After confirming that his hearing was correct, Wang Lu now doubted the intelligence of Zhou Mumu.

  "Senior Sister Zhou, let me ask you. Suppose that we have to draw the map of countries in Nine Regions, but we have to draw it in such a way that there are only four kinds of color and that countries with common border will be colored differently, can we draw it?"

  "What?" Zhou Mumu revealed a blank look.

  When Wang Lu repeated this question, the several other lead disciples reacted differently. Xiang Liang completely ignored it, obviously he was very much not interested in it. Zhou Mumu thought about it, shrugged and then said 'of course we can'. Qiong Hua looked deeply at Wang Lu, seemingly already guessed the difficulty in the question so she didn't want to delve into this issue.

  Only Zhan Ziye who fell into deep meditation. His facial expression was sometimes easy, but sometimes heavy. Finally, he simply squatted on the ground and began to draw using the lightning from the hollow of his palm. The drawing contained several thousands of sheet, and each sheet could be regarded as a talisman, which could instantly carry out numerous mathematical operation. However, regardless of that, Zhan Ziye still couldn't find the solution. In the end, he ended up sweating and turning pale.

  Were it not for Qiong Hua who promptly used the mind purifying incantation with her Immortal Dew sword, perhaps Zhan Ziye might still continue to calculate until he has a heart failure.

  "What a terrifying confusion method. Wang Lu, where did you learn that?" Zhan Ziye's expression looked both scared and amazed.

  "Scholar Gu Deli from Gu Family Village of Lucky Hero Country taught me." Wang Lu wrinkled his brows. "In short, it seems that all of you are genuine."

  "… We will not joke about this kind of thing." Zhou Mumu said, "You don't think about it because you haven't been touched by the demon world, but we have already suffered a lot from it."

  With that, she stuck out her right hand in front of Wang Lu. On her pale wrist, there was a faint trace of blood thread. And Wang Lu could feel the power contained within this surging blood vessel.

  "It's like living. I often hear it whispering in my ear… Although it hasn't caused any real impact, I can't help but feel uneasy and nervous."

  Wang Lu nodded. "This is the original sin that a mistress must bear."

  "You're the mistress here!" Zhou Mumu swung her diamond ring to hit him.

  Wang Lu laughed as he dodged the attack sideways, and then asked the other people, "Do you guys also have the same situation?"

  "Yes, it's the same." Xiang Liang coldly replied, "My jade mansion has a bunch of flames in it. Although there is no side effect, it's not clean."

  Qiong Hua said, "The several of us have a similar situation. Since that battle, we have sometimes heard the call from the demon world. Although there's no immediate impact, I don't think it will always be so gentle."

  Wang Lu sneered and said, "You have killed hundreds of millions of people, do you still expect other people to be gentle?" After a pause, he asked again, "Whether it's the blood-colored spear or the flame, they have all come from the immortal dream land. Haven't you guys considered in looking for the answer in the immortal dream land?"

  "We have, but we didn't have any harvest." Qiong Hua said, "In this year, Shengjing Sect team has sent a total of thirteen exploration team into the group of immortal dream lands. I once had joined them, but I absolutely didn't obtain any clue. The ring that we experienced is perhaps relatively independent, and there's no connection with the other immortal dream lands."

  Wang Lu said, "Even if it's relatively independent, but as it is part of the thirty-six chains, there should be clues at least in the last ring. Didn't your Shengjing Sect team explore this last ring in this past year?"

  "Yes, we did, but the difficulty is so great and the progress is very slow… Aren't your Spirit Sword Sect the same?"

  Wang Lu said, "I've been busy tidying up my golden core recently. I didn't even have time to check the more than ten love letters from Senior Sister Zhou, so how could I care about the group of immortal tombs? In short, I've got a basic understanding of the current situation. Since this is a matter regarding demon world, we must be discreet. You don't want to do things publicly so you convened everyone in a private meeting to discuss the countermeasures… Things are plausible up until this point. But don't you think that it's too hasty to go to the demon world?"

  Zhou Mumu said, "Of course we're not going to go now. Moreover, even if we want to go, after the great war of immortals and demons, the entrance to the demon world was completely destroyed by Great Ancestor Desheng. And now, the two worlds are only connected by a few secret roads, which are very much inconvenient. And with just us few Jindans, marching into the demon world is basically following the path to our own doom. I just point out our direction, but on the specific, we must carefully discuss it before we can decide."

  Wang Lu said with a smile, "So you guys brought me out? You want me to help you plan our quest in the demon world? Why are you so persistent in looking for answers in the demon world? If you want to break through the current dilemma, the most logical course of action should be to look for clues in that thirty-six chains. Right now, we don't even know what is the purpose of the inheritance of that one last ring and what role it has. If we don't know anything but just rashly go to the demon world, we're just going to do twice the effort for half the result."

  "No cultivator below that of Yuanying Stage could enter the last ring of that thirty-six chains," Qiong Hua explained, "at least it's like that for the thirty-six chains of immortal dream lands that our four sects explore. This last ring is our long-term strategy. Even in the next ten years, it's still very difficult for us to intervene directly. So we can only seek breakthrough in the other direction…"

  "That's still wrong." Wang Lu said, "When did you attach so much importance to the requirement of cultivation base from the immortal dream land? On the last ring that we entered, it is required that we have to be below Jindan, but didn't each of you suppressed your Jindan so that you can enter with Peak Xudan Stage as cultivation base? Since you all have the secret method to disguise your golden core, then naturally you have a way to fake a Yuanying. With our strength as the lead disciple of the Five Uniques, regular Yuanying Stage cultivators are not necessarily our match."

  "The difficulty of the last ring is really amazing." Qiong Hua emphasized, "Moreover, different from the immortal dream lands that we experienced earlier, this ring is very cruel. The death of a cultivator is real and irreversible. So far, Shengjing Sect team has lost three Yuanying Stage Elders in this ring, and none of them are ordinary low-level Yuanying Stage either."

  Upon hearing this, Wang Lu's eyebrows slightly trembled. Those deaths could be regarded as a heavy loss. In the past, for the five spirit power struggle, Shengjing Sect seemed to have suffered heavy losses, but then he discovered that even if the participants were to die in the immortal dream land, they would be reborn in that galaxy of stars without any actual loss. In fact, before the last ring in that thirty-six chains, the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals have been exploring the group of immortal tombs for more than a year, and there was no substantial casualty.

  Zhou Mumu sighed. "The progress of Kunlun Sect is not smooth. We lost one person, but it's a high-level Yuanying. He died fighting in the immortal dream land to cover for his two Junior Brothers."

  Although Xiang Liang and Zhan Ziye didn't say anything, from their expressions, their situation was also similar.

  "… No wonder in the past month, I never heard any of the Heavenly Sword Hall Elders went exploring the immortal dream land. Perhaps since it's so dangerous, they simply shelved it."

  Thinking about his own sect, Wang Lu quickly made a judgment. Unlike those super sects who have more Yuanying Stage cultivators than dogs, although Spirit Sword Sect has risen in popularity and prestige in the last two years, they simply can't reverse the trend of scarce manpower. In the whole sect, there were only a few Elders of Yuanying Stage. Therefore, in the face of an immortal dream land in which even the Daoist Masters of Yuanying Stage could die in it, Spirit Sword Sect simply could not afford to lose any of their Yuanying Stage Elders like the other sects. After realizing that the exploration of this ring was likely to be time-consuming, they decided to just wait for Shengjing and the others to have their result first before playing their advantage later…


  "Well, although I still think that those thirty-six chains are the first choice to look for clues, since you all think that's a road to nowhere, then exploring from the direction of the demon world is also not a bad idea. Talking about the understanding of demon world, in addition to Shengjing Sect, there's also Kunlun Sect. So, is the reason for Senior Sister Zhou convening us here is to facilitate with the local materials?"

  "Yes. The place of origin of Kunlun Sect possesses the most ancient library. Perhaps it's not as wide as that of Ten Thousand Arts Sect in terms of expansiveness, but when it comes to the secret of the demon race, even Shengjing Sect won't know more than we do. It's just that… there are too many of the records in the library of Kunlun Sect, so just one or two people are not enough. Not to mention that each of us has different situations, so it's best if we look for it separately…"

  Before she could continue, Wang Lu couldn't help but interrupt, "Wait a minute. Senior Sister Zhou, do you mean that you want us these few outsiders to go deep into the place of origin of Kunlun Sect and even to read its internal library materials? When did your sect's rules become so loose? Is your Kunlun Sect going to reform and open to the outside world?"

  Zhou Mumu said, "The sect rules never said anything about allowing outsiders to enter… but similarly, according to the rules, if the lead disciple believes it is necessary, some regulations can be ignored."

  Wang Lu couldn't help but sigh. "The lead disciple of your Kunlun Sect has such a privilege? That's really not bad."

  Zhou Mumu curiously asked back, "Isn't this the norm? The lead disciple is the heir of the sect, so of course, it should have that privilege… why, is your Spirit Sword Sect not like this?"

  "… I think I have been harmed by a certain person."

  "In short, I will take you guys to the place of origin. But, before that, I need you guys to take an oath that you will never read confidential information that is unrelated to this matter and not divulge what you experience today to other people."

  Zhou Mumu's request was very reasonable. After several of them each took their oath, Zhou Mumu continued to look at Aya who stood by Wang Lu's side. Several times she tried to open her mouth but was unable to say anything.

  Aya smiled. "I understand. You guys don't mind me, I'll just wait for you guys here… Wang Lu, how many days do you need?"

  Wang Lu said, "Five days."

  "Okay, if I don't see you after five days, I'll look for you."

  With that, Aya looked up. Her green eyes penetrated the clouds that were scattered throughout Kunlun Mountain. Even facing the oldest sect in Nine Regions, Aya still had no fear.

  Wang Lu laughed in spite trying not to. "Thank you for your concern… to have pride is a good thing, but for real, if you don't see me at that time, do you really want to kill your way to Kunlun Mountain?"

  Aya lightly said, "Of course not. At that time, I will visit Kunlun Sect in the name of cooking exchange, peaceful measures before using force."

  "… Cooking exchange? You are clearly trying to provoke them first!"

  …