Chapter Forty-Five: Unhindered Passage

Qingxu successfully retrieved the Mysterious Yellow Bowl from the subterranean realm beneath the Crimson Rock Hills. Moreover, he advanced his external incarnation’s cultivation to the early stage of True Immortal of Taiyi, and his mastery of the Five Energies Returning to Origin had also shown progress. He thought to himself that although the Great Wilderness was vast, with caution he might dare to venture forth. He had originally intended to seek out Celestial Immortals or Profound Immortals along the journey to the Eastern Sea as sparring partners, since in practical combat he still lacked experience, and his self-created Qingxu Sword Way was only in its embryonic form. With his current perspective, he could easily discern its myriad flaws.

Yet, along the tens of thousands of miles he traveled, not to mention Profound or Celestial Immortals, he barely encountered a handful of Earth Immortals. The majority were muddle-minded beasts, minor demons, and mountain spirits, none of which stirred his interest, and thus he lost any opportunity for real combat. His plan to refine his sword way was aborted before it could even begin.

“It seems something significant is happening in the Great Wilderness, for the hundred tribes to withdraw and consolidate their clans. The gravity of such an event must be extraordinary. Still, this saves me much trouble,” he mused.

It was impossible not to be curious about what was taking place in the Great Wilderness, but Qingxu knew himself well. Despite possessing several innate treasures and his incarnation being at the early stage of Taiyi True Immortal, he lacked the weight to participate in such matters. For the hundred tribes to restrain and gather their strength, even Golden Immortals of the Great Luo would hesitate to provoke such a situation.

“I should hurry and deal with the Four Ferocious Beasts. Originally, I only intended to help the Human Tribe drive them off, but now that my strength has greatly increased, it would be remiss not to annihilate them.” Thinking of his task, Qingxu brimmed with confidence. Since his external incarnation reached the early Taiyi True Immortal stage, the difficulty rating of the quest in the Investiture System dropped instantly from eighty to zero, with a one hundred percent success rate.

“But it’s strange—the previous Jade Purity Immortal Talisman, and now the Supreme Purity Immortal Talisman, have no effect on the quest difficulty. One must know that the avatars summoned by these talismans are hundreds or thousands of times stronger than my current incarnation! This system is truly peculiar; clearly, it requires further exploration.” The system remained rigid, after all. The external incarnation was part of his own strength, but weren’t the Jade and Supreme Purity Immortal Talismans similar? Yet after the battle with the Fire Witch Guards, the Supreme Purity Immortal Talisman was greatly depleted, its power reduced to three layers at most. Each use diminished it further, so Qingxu was reluctant to employ it except in critical moments. Unlike the Jade Purity Talisman, whether the Supreme Sage would bestow another one in the future remained uncertain. He hoped to seize the opportunity to comprehend the mysteries of “One Qi Divides into Three Purities,” which would benefit his cultivation of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Summit.

With the population of sentient beings diminished in the Great Wilderness, Qingxu’s journey was unimpeded, like a leisurely stroll through mountains and rivers, heading toward the Eastern Sea.

The shore of the Eastern Sea was one of the ancestral spiritual lands of Eastern Divine Continent. Its regions, such as Wanqiu, Qingqiu, and Tang Valley, were among the premier immortal realms of the Great Wilderness, blessed with thriving life. Yet all these famous mountains and spiritual places had their masters; the sole exception was Wanqiu. The Human Tribe was numerous there, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, but weak in strength; not only witches or demons, but even fierce beasts could harm them. If witches or demons coveted this spiritual land, they could seize it with ease, but the awe inspired by the goddess Nuwa kept others from acting rashly. Still, the Human Tribe’s foundation was fragile, beset by disaster and hardship, coveted by many. This was primarily due to the nature of the humans themselves.

Humans were created by Nuwa using the clay of Nine Heavens and the divine waters of the Three Lights, aided by her own blood essence. Thus, both their flesh and bloodline were supreme treasures—demons and witches who consumed them could advance their own cultivation. With so many competing for so little, the Human Tribe suffered miserably, living in constant fear, never knowing when they might be snatched away and devoured by demons or witches.

“It’s hard to imagine—the future protagonists of the Great Wilderness are now in such wretched circumstances! To maintain a population of hundreds of thousands is partly due to Nuwa’s creation, and partly to the witches and demons cultivating them as livestock, so they might endlessly feast upon humans,” Qingxu reflected, anger rising in his heart. He had been human in his previous life, and though he had come to terms with his transmigration, he could not easily sever this emotional bond.

Alas! He would see how things stood when he met the Human Tribe. If his strength allowed, he would lend a hand.

Lost in thought, Qingxu drew ever closer to Wanqiu. Along the way, he occasionally gathered spiritual herbs and immortal grasses, dug up ores and refining materials, and used the system’s alchemy and artifact-forging arts to turn them into spirit pills and divine weapons. In his spare time, he familiarized himself with the three secret techniques of the Grand Karma Art, testing them on weak, low-karma herbivores.

It was worth noting that through this journey, Qingxu gradually unravelled the mystery that had puzzled him. He learned that Di Jun and Taiyi, the brothers, had begun to move; soon, the dominance of witches and demons over the world would end, a development consistent with the mythic annals of his previous life.

“I must hurry—according to my memory, before the witches and demons divided the world, they fought a great and tragic battle. I must not be caught up in it.”

However, for now, the great war between witches and demons had not yet erupted. At this moment, Di Jun and Taiyi were confronting the Northern Abyss Kunpeng. Their factions clashed incessantly, neither gaining the upper hand, each holding their own advantages. Di Jun’s Solar Army was formidable in cultivation, but its numbers were but a tenth of the prehistoric beasts, deep-sea monsters, wild ocean creatures, and ancient aquatic demons of the Northern Abyss. The fighting barely maintained a stalemate, with Di Jun’s side continually suppressed. Yet when it came to top-tier combatants, the situation reversed. The great demon Bai Ze was manageable, but Di Jun and Taiyi’s strength was no less than Kunpeng’s, and with treasures in hand, two against one, and aided by advantageous terrain, Kunpeng could resist for now, but as time passed, his endurance waned.

The commotion of the Northern Abyss, pivotal to the development of the Demon Tribe, prompted every clan in the Great Wilderness to plot their own strategies. With the outcome uncertain, all held their forces in reserve. The most affected was the Witch Tribe, behaving oddly: the Twelve Ancestor Witches convened in the Pangu Hall for deliberation, while the great and lesser witches stood ready at any moment, the atmosphere tense.

None of this concerned Qingxu. After nearly half a month, using his Taiyi True Immortal incarnation to employ the Earth-Gold Light Movement Art, he finally arrived at the coast of the Eastern Sea, not far from Wanqiu. Here, he discovered that the situation in the Great Wilderness had indeed affected the area—anyone with cultivation or spiritual attainments had vanished without a trace.

“Hiding? In the face of great calamity, where can one truly hide? If witches and demons are determined to fight, all sentient beings of the Great Wilderness will be dragged into it, unless one possesses immense magical power or a formidable backing. Otherwise, their fate is uncertain.” With this sigh, he used the Shrinking Earth into Inches technique toward Wanqiu. The Jade Void Taoist methods of the Explanation Sect were orthodox descendants of Pangu’s tradition, their flying arts profound and inscrutable. Without Taiyi True Immortal cultivation, one could not practice them. Yet the Earth-Gold Light Movement and Shrinking Earth into Inches were both exceptional walking arts—one for long journeys, one for short, complementing each other exquisitely.

Roar!

A savage and ferocious roar suddenly echoed from deep within Wanqiu, clearly reaching Qingxu’s ears and unsettling his heart with a strange sensation.

“One of the Four Ferocious Beasts?” Though he had not seen it, just by hearing the sound, Qingxu knew it was one of his targets.

“To think they chose this moment to attack the Human Tribe—the Four Ferocious Beasts truly know how to seize the best opportunity!” With this thought, Qingxu sped swiftly toward the source of the sound.