Volume 1, Chapter 487 – Backup Plan

The Shenwu Great World, the border of the Great Meng Sacred Court.

“Kill!!”

A world-shaking bloody battle erupted across a million-li plain, its killing intent surging into the heavens. The war between the Tianyun Dynasty and the Great Meng Sacred Court had already gone on for several years, and the fighting was becoming ever more white-hot.

More and more powerful experts had joined the conflict. Peak powerhouses second only to the giants of the longevity domain entered the battlefield one after another, and the number of living beings who had died as a result was no less than in the hundreds of millions.

A year ago, under the Great Meng Sacred Court’s extravagant bounties, the Tianyun Dynasty’s princes, marquises, generals, and ministers all became targets of assassination.

Countless high officials fell. The Tianyun Dynasty was thrown into turmoil as a result, unable to gather military strength to block the Great Meng Sacred Court’s invasion. In just a few short months, it lost three provinces and a hundred commanderies in succession. The dynasty’s dragon vein was dug up, and its fortune suffered immense damage.

Just as the Great Meng Sacred Court’s army was driving straight toward the Tianyun Dynasty’s imperial capital, the Tianyun King, who had vanished without a trace for nearly a hundred thousand years, suddenly reappeared. Using a forbidden slaughter art, he annihilated nearly ten million of the Great Meng Sacred Court’s vanguard troops.

After removing the immediate threat before him, the Tianyun King struck straight at the heart of the enemy, stepping into the Great Meng Sacred City and forcing out that true god who had long been sustained by endless incense offerings. Their fierce battle nearly sank the entire sacred city.

Both of them were giants within the longevity domain, their cultivation reaching the heavens. The aftershocks of their battle were beyond what ordinary living beings could endure. To avoid the battlefield engulfing the Great Meng Sacred Court, or rather, because it did not wish its incense and faith power to be damaged, that true god dragged the Tianyun King into the Void Chaos Realm, and neither has returned to this day.

The Void Chaos Realm was a place of utter nothingness, existing within another layer of space, boundlessly dangerous. So long as one had not stepped into the longevity domain, any living being risked perishing there.

…

A blood-colored figure moved through the army formations, sword light spraying in all directions from around her body. More than a hundred figures followed tightly behind her, every one of them drenched in blood.

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Qinglan’s internal organs burned as if on fire, and her face was already covered in vivid crimson demon markings stained by blood. The two divine abilities, the Nine Transformations of the Heaven Demon and Soul-Devouring, had been driven to their utmost limit.

The body Shi Lan had forged for her with Emperor blood had given her a foundation of overwhelming strength beyond what ordinary living beings could imagine. Her flawless immortal foundation had given her mana far denser than that of others, enough to support her remaining at peak condition for long periods of slaughter.

Her primordial spirit controlled six flying swords circling at her side, tearing apart every living thing within sight. The scattered soul fragments did not even have time to dissipate before she thoroughly absorbed them through the Soul-Devouring divine ability.

The chaotic flood of information carried by those soul fragments continuously battered her mind. Even in the midst of slaughter, she still had to devote most of her attention to sorting through it all.

Qinglan’s rate of growth was now astonishing. She was like an immortal blade, tempered and forged in blood and fire, gradually taking on an edge and releasing a dazzling, world-shocking immortal radiance.

This state had already lasted for more than a full year. With the world shackles gone, and with the vast resources exchanged through enormous battle merit, both she and the Lan clan had entered a period of explosive growth, with Demon Kings taking human form appearing one after another.

Pfft—

After an unknown amount of time, the space before Qinglan suddenly cleared. She had already pierced straight through the Tianyun Dynasty’s army formation, and a few of the Demon Kings following behind her were now missing.

Before her thoughts could settle, an icy killing intent abruptly locked onto her.

Turning back, she saw a middle-aged man standing behind the Tianyun Dynasty’s army formation, clad in golden battle armor, his gaze cold and severe. In his hands, a silver longbow was drawn to a full moon, and his aura roiled like molten lava.

Bang!

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The instant their gazes met, an arrow engraved with mysterious runic patterns flew from the string!

The arrow streaked through the sky like a meteor, faster than light and shadow. In the very next instant after it appeared in Qinglan’s eyes, her chest had already been pierced through.

Qinglan’s body was hurled backward, and for an instant her thoughts went blank.

…

…

The Lingyang Realm, the Vast Land of Shenzhou, Haotian Domain.

Shi Lan, moving through a spatial passage, suddenly came to a halt. She withdrew from the passage and raised a hand to clutch at her faintly aching chest. There was no wound on her body, yet she felt an indescribable pain, as if ten thousand arrows had pierced her heart.

“Your Excellency, are you all right?”

At the side, Tianbai thought Shi Lan had not yet fully recovered and that her old injuries had flared up again, so she hurried forward to support her.

After calming the somewhat disordered aura within her body, Shi Lan shook her head slightly. Her consciousness sank into her sea of consciousness, and her divine sense spread outward in search of the source of this strange sensation.

A result came quickly. Qinglan had already lost contact, and the final image she had sent back was imprinted into Shi Lan’s mind.

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Shi Lan’s brows drew tightly together. The only thing she could be certain of at this moment was that Qinglan was not dead. That faint mysterious connection was still there, but she could no longer sense Qinglan’s exact condition.

When the Lan clan had first left the Lingyang Realm, the order she had given Qinglan had been to find a remote, uninhabited place and develop slowly, with no need to rush.

For the past year, she had remained in seclusion and had paid no attention to Qinglan’s side. Now, however, it was obvious that Qinglan had not acted according to her wishes. Instead, she had been risking everything while moving through the war between the two dynasties, frantically trying to increase her strength.

What was Qinglan in such a hurry for?

Shi Lan suddenly realized that she could no longer fully understand this incarnation of hers. This feeling of something slipping beyond her control filled her with an inexplicable unease.

She had always lacked a sense of security. Qinglan was equivalent to another version of herself, fully aware of everything about her. If such an existence lost control, then for Shi Lan, it would undoubtedly become a ticking time bomb.

The spatial passage leading to the Shenwu Great World had already been buried by her in the void turbulence. Opening another one was clearly not appropriate. The price would be far too great.

What the system consumed as energy was one Supreme corpse after another. It was simply too costly in Supremes.

Shi Lan remained suspended in midair for a long while, but in the end she abandoned the thought of immediately going to the Shenwu Great World.

Once she stepped into the Emperor level and broke through the shackles of heaven and earth to head beyond the outer heavens, the cost of setting out for the Shenwu Great World might be much lower.

Thinking this, Shi Lan shook her head slightly and cast aside the worry in her mind that she had no way to resolve for the moment. Letting it trouble her would accomplish nothing.

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She would not disrupt her plans because of it, nor would she hasten her pace toward the Emperor level. Faced with the world-ending great tribulation, she could not afford the slightest rashness. If anything, she had to be even more cautious.

Qinglan’s unexpected change had all but caused her to lose one of her hidden cards. If this body were burned to ashes beneath the lightning tribulation, she did not know whether she would be able to be reborn within Qinglan’s body.

At that thought, a sudden flash of inspiration streaked through Shi Lan’s mind.

When she had extracted the Scarlet Crow War Halberd, she had once left behind a strand of divine sense in the Xiongming King Realm, and it still existed to this day. That might serve as another path of retreat.

…

The Xiongming King Realm, Cangyan Continent.

Within a valley, a tribe of nearly a thousand Azure Ghost Rakshasa lived there.

A dragon vein lay hidden underground, drawing in and exhaling vast quantities of spiritual qi essence. An invisible grand array covered dozens of li around the area, gathering and locking the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in place.

At the center of the tribal land stood a newly built stone house. This was the clan’s sacred place, the residence of the High Priest.

Inside the house, a delicate-featured girl in black sat cross-legged on a stone bed, immersed in cultivation. Suddenly, the jade-green pendant hanging at her chest gave off a soft glow.