Volume 1, Chapter 311 – Revisiting Familiar Ground

“Your Excellency.”

Tianbai trotted over and rubbed against the hem of Shi Lan’s skirt, his face full of fawning devotion.

Shi Lan lightly stroked Tianbai’s head, feeling a little conflicted for a moment. He might look somewhat dull, but there was no denying his loyalty to her.

His earlier willingness to risk his life to protect her had moved Shi Lan deeply. She was not made of stone.

“Tianbai, I’m preparing to leave the demon domain in the next few days. Is there anything you want? As long as it’s within my power, I can give it to you.”

Tianbai raised his head, looking hesitant. Because he was still absorbing the essence blood of a Demon King, his pupils were like gorgeous red gems, giving him a somewhat eerie appearance.

“I… can I follow you?”

After hesitating again and again, Tianbai finally asked in a small, careful voice.

“Follow me?”

Shi Lan frowned. At the moment, it was not safe to stay by her side.

Seeing Shi Lan frown, Tianbai grew a little flustered.

Noticing his reaction, Shi Lan gave his forehead a reassuring pat and said patiently,

“If you follow me, there will be danger. I may not be able to protect you completely.”

Tianbai’s eyes lit up slightly, and he rubbed against Shi Lan’s palm.

“Your Excellency doesn’t need to worry about me. I will absolutely never drag you down!”

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Shi Lan did not try to persuade him further. She nodded slightly, told Tianbai to leave for the moment, and summoned Cangyue.

The Lan Clan had only reached its current state because of Cangyue’s wholehearted efforts. Naturally, Shi Lan would not forget him. She intended to refine his bloodline for him.

A few days later, Cangyue emerged from Shi Lan’s cave abode, his bloodline fused into a single whole, auspicious radiance glimmering through his fur. Clearly, he had gained a great deal.

After taking some time to recover herself, Shi Lan called Tianbai over and prepared to leave.

After glancing at the Ancestral Blood Pool at the center of the Lan Clan, Shi Lan suddenly had a thought. She took out a green lotus from her Qiankun Bracelet and planted it in the middle of the blood pool.

This was the one she had brought back from that small world. After its transformation, it was equivalent to a ten-thousand-year spiritual herb and could rival a Demon King.

Shi Lan wanted to see whether this green lotus could survive in the blood pool. If it could, then perhaps in the future she might obtain an immortal herb.

After finishing all that, and sending Cangyue a voice transmission, Shi Lan patted Tianbai.

“Let’s go.”

“Your Excellency, where are we going?”

“Shenzhou.”

“Oh.”

Tianbai did not ask why. He simply followed at Shi Lan’s side as they headed toward Chengtian Domain.

…

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…

Since they were not in a rush, Shi Lan did not step into Chengtian Domain until half a month later. Crossing between domains brought a bit of trouble, and she only managed to get free after showing her Demon-Suppressing Token.

The border had recently been placed under strict control. Anyone entering or leaving had to submit to inspection by the Demon-Suppressing Army. At all major passes and checkpoints, demon-revealing mirrors were hung high to prevent shape-shifted Demon Kings from slipping through in disguise.

After being reborn through the Divine Phoenix blood, the demonic aura on Shi Lan had grown somewhat heavier. If not for the brocade pouch Yue Xiuwen had previously given her to suppress the fluctuations of that aura, she would have run into even more trouble along the way.

Tianbai had also already learned that Shi Lan was a Demon-Suppressing General. To Shi Lan’s surprise, he did not react strongly at all. He was simply quite curious about Shenzhou.

He had spent his entire life deep within the demon domain and had barely seen any living humans at all, so naturally he did not harbor any particular malice toward them.

The connections among the demon race were nowhere near as close-knit as among the human race. And even within the human race, there were still all kinds of conflicts. They were never a single solid block.

After entering Chengtian Domain, Shi Lan wasted no time and led Tianbai straight toward Ancient Phoenix City.

This trip back to Shenzhou had one primary purpose for Shi Lan: she wanted to collect that pool of phoenix blood.

Back then, Shi Lan had originally planned to take a look at Tenglong City and then head directly to Ancient Phoenix City, but plans had failed to keep up with events, and she was ambushed instead.

The Gu family had already left Chengtian Domain, and Ancient Phoenix City had most likely also been destroyed during the demon calamity. Whether that pool of phoenix blood was still there or not was impossible to say.

This time, Shi Lan had only come with the mindset of trying her luck.

To her surprise, Ancient Phoenix City had already begun to be rebuilt. Quite a few ordinary people and martial artists had been relocated there, and everything was waiting to be rebuilt from the ground up.

Entering the city quietly, Shi Lan made her way to the gate of the Gu family residence. But at this moment, the Gu family’s estate had already been occupied by someone else.

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Shi Lan swept it with her divine sense in a rough pass and found quite a few experts. There was more than one Myriad Phenomena Realm cultivator there, which was clearly abnormal.

The spiritual veins around Ancient Phoenix City were few. It should not have attracted experts of this level.

To avoid alerting the enemy, Shi Lan did not probe too deeply. After leaving, she casually found an inn and settled in.

Her current appearance was that of an utterly ordinary female cultivator, and she had also suppressed her aura to the Innate Realm. Tianbai had shrunk his body down to less than a chi in length, little different from a pet, and neither of them drew any attention.

Inns were gathering places for people from all walks of life, and information there was varied and chaotic. Even without making any special effort to inquire, Shi Lan still heard quite a bit of news.

Recently, the Bai family had nearly gone mad searching for Bai Weiyang. Anything even slightly out of the ordinary would draw investigation.

Even though they were only a former Human Emperor clan, no one could afford to underestimate the Bai family’s foundations.

In the northern lands of Chengtian Domain, a cave abode suspected to have been left behind by an ancient mighty expert had appeared. Unfortunately, it was wrapped in a formation, and even though a Human Emperor had come in person, it still could not be opened.

The various pieces of news were all over the place and utterly jumbled. It was only after a long while that Shi Lan finally heard what she actually wanted to know.

The people occupying the Gu family residence in Ancient Phoenix City were not from Chengtian Domain at all, but from some other domain.

According to rumor, they seemed to belong to a second-rank force. After arriving, they had directly and forcibly taken over the City Lord’s Manor.

Even though they had seized the City Lord’s Manor, they ignored everything else in Ancient Phoenix City, which many people found rather strange.

…

After night fell, Shi Lan left the inn, slipped past the guards, and infiltrated the Gu family residence.

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Suppressing all fluctuations of her aura, Shi Lan moved like a nimble cat toward one corner of the Gu estate.

That phoenix blood pool was hidden beneath a small room there.

Along the way, many places showed signs of excavation, some of them dozens of zhang deep. Clearly, the people here were searching for something.

As she passed a side hall, Shi Lan stopped, her attention caught by the conversation inside.

“Strange. The map clearly marked the item as being here.”

“Could there have been a mistake?”

“There shouldn’t have been.”

“If it really doesn’t work, we might as well just level this place and dig a hundred zhang down.”

“That would be too big a move. It might attract the attention of other forces. The waters in Chengtian Domain are far too murky right now. Better to be cautious.”

Shi Lan silently retreated, and before long she arrived at a completely unremarkable little room. Revisiting this old place, she quickly made a new discovery.

This little room was quite unusual. The stone itself could block divine sense, and when Shi Lan left before, she had also inscribed many formations here to seal off auras. That was how the blood pool had escaped the demon calamity, as well as those people’s searches, and remained intact until now.

After feeling around the room for a while, Shi Lan opened the hidden compartment, went down the stone steps, and entered a stone chamber.

Looking at the pool before her, brimming full with phoenix blood, Shi Lan could not help drawing in a light breath. She told Tianbai to stand guard at the hidden door, stripped off all her clothes, and leaped straight into the blood pool.