Volume 1, Chapter 479 – Dao Union

Cangyue carefully concealed his presence, avoiding the hidden sentries laid out all around as he headed westward.

A distance of thirteen million li was not especially far for a great demon in the Nascent Soul Realm, but time was pressing.

Traveling through the night at top speed while gathering information along the way, Cangyue had already returned by dusk the next day. His lips were cracked, and his face was somewhat pale.

To make it back as quickly as possible, he had consumed quite a bit of his vital energy.

“There are terrifying experts stationed at the border. I did not dare draw near, so I was unable to make contact with anyone from the Great Meng Sacred Court.”

After steadying his somewhat hurried breathing, Cangyue slowly continued,

“But I did hear some rumors. The Great Meng Sacred Court has already put out bounties. From the Tianyun King down to ninth-rank officials, all have prices on their heads. With an official seal and a head, one can claim the reward.”

The bounties were extremely generous. At present, many top assassins and killers had already set their sights on the court officials of the Tianyun Dynasty.

“The head of a fourth-rank City Defense Commandant can be exchanged for one hundred thousand yuanstones.”

Yuanstones were the hard currency of the Shenwu Great World, pure crystals of heaven and earth origin qi. Because the number of cultivators was simply too vast, yuanstones had always held extremely high value and were in constant short supply as a consumable resource.

One hundred thousand yuanstones was enough to buy a small city with a population of more than two hundred thousand.

Most importantly, from the information Cangyue had brought back, many dynasties maintained a neutral attitude toward wandering clans like theirs, or even leaned toward goodwill.

Because the cultivation systems within the great world were far too numerous and chaotic, and the names of each realm were all rather vague, they had all been divided into a simple and clear scale from first to tenth rank.

Once one stepped into the ninth rank, one was already a longevity giant capable of overlooking the starry sky, enough to found a great cultivation sect or an immortal dynasty.

With the Lan Clan’s current strength, even if they left the Tianyun Dynasty, their future lives would not be too difficult.

…

…

Night fell in the blink of an eye, and nine silver moons hung high in the heavens.

More than twenty thousand li from the Lan Clan’s encampment, a magnificent city stood upon the land.

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Inside the city, in the residence of the City Defense Commandant.

Qiu Huai sat in the main hall, his gaze drifting from time to time toward the sky, his fingertips tapping impatiently against the table.

The person he had expected still had not come, and time was steadily wearing away what patience he had left.

The moon rose high overhead, and midnight passed.

The little patience Qiu Huai still possessed was completely exhausted. Rising to his feet, he barked sharply,

“Yan Pan!”

“This subordinate is here.”

A figure stepped out of the darkness and bowed.

“Take my command tally and mobilize five thousand Silver Sky Guards. Tomorrow, follow this official out of the city…”

Qiu Huai’s expression was icy as he spoke each word with deliberate weight:

“to suppress the bandit vagrants.”

Once those demonfolk became prisoners of war, they would regret missing the chance he had given them today.

“Commandant, mobilizing troops without authorization… if this…”

Yan Pan suddenly raised his head, wanting to speak yet stopping midway.

“If the sky falls, this official will hold it up. What are you afraid of?”

Pinned by Qiu Huai’s gaze, Yan Pan lowered his head almost instinctively. After hesitating for a moment, he spoke again:

“Commandant, there are some trivial matters at home tomorrow. I would like to take a day of leave.”

Qiu Huai stared fixedly at Yan Pan, his expression growing ever colder.

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“Once the troops are assembled, I will permit your leave.”

After a long while, he spoke slowly:

“When your leave ends, there will be no need for you to continue following this official. Go report to the main camp yourself.”

“This subordinate… obeys.”

…

…

Early the next morning.

Tribulation clouds covered thousands of li, and blazing white lightning flickered within the clouds.

Qinglan, dressed in a black gown, sat cross-legged in the void. Above her head floated a glazed treasure mirror, while strands of the laws circled around her body, seeping thread by thread into the depths of her spirit.

In the immortal path, after Spirit Infant and Deity Transformation came the Dao Union Realm.

According to the records in the immortal scriptures, the Dao Union Realm was the stage of drawing myriad laws into the body, tempering the Nascent Soul, and nourishing the flesh in preparation for the Heavenly Tribulation Realm.

Looking up at the tribulation clouds overhead, Qinglan could not help curling her lips into a faint smile. After leaving Lingyang Realm, this heavenly tribulation was truly weak to a laughable degree.

As her cultivation deepened, the information revealed within the Tiancang Xuanling Scripture extended far beyond cultivation methods alone. It all but encompassed every lesser art, from talismans and artifacts to pills and formations.

To prepare for the tribulation, she had already begun refining immortal-path artifacts while still in the Boundless Demon Domain, nourishing them with her Nascent Soul. The treasure mirror above her head was merely one of them.

Rumble!

Before the tribulation lightning even fell, explosions were already sounding through the void. The synchronized thunder of iron hooves shattered the heavens.

Cavalry clad in silver battle armor poured from a spatial passage like a tide, forming a military array and standing high in the sky.

These horsemen carried a heavy killing aura. It was obvious they had passed through bloody battles on the battlefield and were extremely elite.

Qiu Huai wore no armor. Seated atop a magnificent heavenly horse, he could not help flashing a trace of caution in his eyes when he saw the lightning tribulation above Qinglan’s head.

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The greater a cultivator’s talent, the stronger the lightning tribulation they had to cross.

A tribulation of this level was exceedingly rare for breaking from the sixth rank into the seventh. It was enough to prove that the woman before him possessed extraordinary cultivation talent.

If she succeeded in crossing the tribulation, then with such talent, she would be more than qualified to enter some powerful sect, become a true inheritance disciple, and receive a longevity secret art.

Unfortunately, that opportunity clearly no longer existed.

Qiu Huai slowly raised a hand. Five thousand bows and crossbows locked onto Qinglan’s figure, while arrows engraved with profound spirit patterns glimmered with a dazzling cold light.

As if she had not even seen the sudden appearance of the elite cavalry, Qinglan paid them no heed at all and directly drew down the heavenly lightning.

Boom!

A blazing white bolt of lightning came crashing down. The glazed treasure mirror above Qinglan’s head turned slightly, and the lightning was dissolved into nothingness.

That sight made Qiu Huai’s pupils contract instantly, and an uncontrollable greed surged up in his heart.

A treasure capable of resisting heavenly lightning could increase the chances of surviving a tribulation. It was priceless. He had been trapped at the sixth rank for several hundred years. If he could obtain this rare treasure, he might have hope of stepping into the seventh rank.

Before he could think further, a beam of spiritual light shot into the sky.

After testing the power of the lightning tribulation, Qinglan put away the treasure mirror and parted her lips. Beneath her tongue, there was astonishingly a miniature sword. A sword light sharp to the utmost burst from her mouth and shot straight into the heavens.

The tribulation clouds blanketing thousands of li were torn apart in an instant, and the dense web of lightning was crushed along with them. The great sun that had been obscured reappeared, its divine radiance pouring over the earth.

“Loose arrows!”

The sight turned Qiu Huai’s heart cold in an instant, and he immediately raised his hand to give the order.

For the woman before him, crossing such a terrifying lightning tribulation had been as effortless as eating and drinking.

It was far too horrifying. It showed that he had gravely underestimated Qinglan’s strength.

A rain of arrows blotted out the sky, turning the entire void into a sieve, yet Qinglan’s figure had already vanished without a trace.

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“Form up!”

Cold sweat broke out across Qiu Huai’s back as his divine sense swept through the void, frantically searching for Qinglan’s location.

Before the five thousand cavalry could nock a second arrow, a sword light descended like a silver river from the heavens, crashing into the military array and bursting into a blinding spray of blood.

Qinglan held nothing back, unleashing the seventh transformation of the Nine Transformations of the Heaven Demon. In an instant, her battle strength erupted to seven times its normal level, and faint red demonic markings crawled across her face.

Now that she had stepped into the Dao Union Realm, combined with such a terrifying increase in battle strength, the five thousand cavalry were like flimsy paper, instantly torn into a rain of blood.

“I am an official of the Tianyun Dynasty. You cannot kill me!”

A layer of golden light of fortune suddenly rose around Qiu Huai’s body, wrapping him within it.

This was the dynasty’s fortune. Only officials personally invested by the Tianyun Royal Court could receive such protection.

Yet the golden light of fortune blocked the sword light for only the briefest instant before it shattered.

Pfft!

His head flew into the air, blood gushing out and staining the sky red.

The headless corpse fell from the void and disappeared into the rolling beast horde below, vanishing from sight.

“Count the clan and head for the border.”

Killing an official within the territory of a dynasty was no small matter.

At present, Qinglan had no strength to contend against the entire Tianyun Dynasty. She could only leave as quickly as possible.

A spatial passage quickly opened, and the Lan Clan once again began to migrate.

At the moment she stepped into the spatial passage, Qinglan turned back and cast one glance at the blood-red earth below. In silence, she murmured to herself:

One day, she would establish an immortal dynasty of her own upon this land.