Volume 1, Chapter 509 – Clouds Stir

Tong Yuan and Zhao Yun, who had originally been standing off to one side, had already vanished, leaving the place completely empty.

A vague gray shadow drifted out of the vortex and floated toward Xiang Yu’s body.

Shi Lan instinctively reached out, but the gray shadow passed straight through her palm without the slightest obstruction and sank directly into the crown of Xiang Yu’s head.

A moment later, the gray shadow emerged again. Within the dim, hazy light, it was wrapped in a layer of spiritual radiance invisible to mortal eyes. This was not a nascent soul, but the soul that was the very source of a living being, something one was born with rather than cultivated later.

As Shi Lan watched the gray shadow, a faint guess took shape in her heart. This vortex clearly led to the Yellow Springs, and that indistinct gray shadow was most likely a being that guided the dead within the Yellow Springs, perhaps a different kind of life-form altogether.

Whether because her strength was insufficient or for some other reason, Shi Lan could not touch the gate to the Yellow Springs hanging in midair at all. It was as though it did not exist in this world. Even relying on the power of her double pupils, she could only stand by and watch.

After the gray shadow wrapped up Xiang Yu’s soul and entered the vortex, the vortex quickly vanished once more, and the faint trace of yin death baleful qi it had revealed also dissipated completely.

Xiang Yu’s body remained standing where it was. With his soul gone, the deathly pressure around him suddenly surged and flooded the entire hall. Even with Shi Lan’s current cultivation, she still felt a crushing pressure that left her unable to breathe.

Anyone below the Earth Fiend Realm would have had no chance of surviving under that pressure. Clearly, Xiang Yu had been deliberately restraining his aura all along.

[Discovered a nine-star unit…]

The instant she came into contact with Xiang Yu’s corpse, Shi Lan blocked out the system’s notification.

After searching through the Qiongluo Realm for a moment, she took out a piece of ten-thousand-year cold jade and fashioned a simple coffin, wanting to collect Xiang Yu’s remains.

Yet the cold jade was utterly incapable of bearing the body of a peak Supreme and crumbled straight into a handful of powder.

Left with no other choice, Shi Lan could only store him in the Qiongluo Realm for the time being, placing him atop a spirit peak for now. After speaking with Tong Yuan, she would choose a proper place for burial.

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…

…

As soon as she stepped out of the hall, Shi Lan saw Tong Yuan. He stood quietly at the mountain path, a silver great spear planted beside him, his snow-white hair neatly combed down his back, his spine straight.

“Senior.”

Shi Lan stepped forward and bowed. But when her gaze swept down the mountain, she paused.

At the foot of Penglai Mountain lay thousands of corpses. Nearly half of them did not look human. They were covered in scales and armor, massive in build, with ghastly pale skin, as though they had not seen sunlight for years.

Without exception, every corpse had been decapitated. The marks of their wounds were obvious. Every one of them had been pierced through the throat by a single spear thrust, and the blood had dyed vast stretches of the mountainside red.

“Senior Xiang has passed away.”

Tong Yuan did not turn around. His gaze remained fixed on the vast expanse of sea as he spoke calmly.

“Yes.” Shi Lan nodded.

“Two months have passed since that day. Word that the one at the absolute peak was slain has already leaked out.”

Shi Lan was somewhat surprised. She had not expected so much time to have passed.

Now that the news had spread, the corpses below the mountain made sense.

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Penglai was the foremost blessed immortal mountain overseas, and countless people coveted it in secret. If Tong Yuan had not been guarding it before, innumerable factions would already have descended to seize it.

The rumor alone that Penglai held an elixir of immortality, and that whoever consumed it could ascend as an immortal, was enough to draw innumerable powerful beings like moths to a flame.

Among the countless living beings in the mortal world, who did not wish to ascend?

Now that the one at the absolute peak had been slain, the former Spear God of Penglai had fallen from the clouds. Anyone with a bit of ambition wanted to test the waters.

“Where did Zilong go?”

After looking around and seeing no sign of Zhao Yun, Shi Lan felt puzzled. With Zhao Yun’s temperament, there was no way he would leave Tong Yuan here alone to face so many invading enemies.

“Zilong has been sleeping the whole time.”

Tong Yuan turned his head slightly and looked into Shi Lan’s eyes.

“Now that you’ve awakened, young lady, there is something I would like to ask of you.”

“There is no need for such formality. As long as it is within this junior’s power, I have no reason to refuse.” Shi Lan shook her head slightly. If there was any way she could help Tong Yuan, she would not hesitate in the slightest.

“Help me hold back these petty intruders for three days.”

Without asking why, Shi Lan nodded and agreed at once. Then she asked:

“Where are you going, Senior?”

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“My lifespan is nearly exhausted, and I have no wish to cling to life. It would be a pity to take what little cultivation I have left with me into the grave. I may as well leave it to Zilong. That will also spare him some bitter effort.”

Shi Lan’s heart trembled when she heard that. In Tong Yuan’s current state, once he no longer had cultivation to nourish his fleshly body, he would likely head for the Yellow Springs in the very next instant.

After a long silence, Shi Lan did not try to dissuade him. She only said in a low voice:

“No one will be allowed to disturb Penglai’s peace.”

How firm was a Supreme’s Dao heart? It would never be shaken by a few words from her. The only thing she could do was act as he asked.

Having received her answer, Tong Yuan turned and left directly, leaving behind only a silver great spear standing atop Penglai.

Shi Lan sat down cross-legged. Terrifying energy fluctuations slowly spread through the void, opening a gate before Penglai Mountain.

She directly connected the entrance to the Qiongluo Realm to the heaven and earth of this world, with four eighth-rank beings standing by within at all times.

Anyone who dared to come for Penglai would be no weakling. There would surely be no shortage of top experts from this world among them. By herself, she could not hold up a collapsing building with a single beam.

…

…

The Yuz…

The Yuzhou battlefield.

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Quite some time had passed since the Great Han’s dragon of fortune had been slain. The Han court had repeatedly mobilized its armies and stationed defenses at every pass and major stronghold. Yet this move only stirred the ambitions of the various feudal lords even more.

Because the Great Han still possessed ample military strength and fierce generals in abundance, none of the lords dared act rashly for the time being. They remained in Yuzhou instead, neither withdrawing their troops and returning to their fiefs in accordance with the court’s decree nor committing any other overstep. Thus, things remained deadlocked.

Within a stretch of barren valleys, rows of military camps spread without end. Countless military banners bearing the character “Cao” cracked loudly in the howling wind.

Inside the command tent, Cao Cao sat behind the commander’s desk, while civil and military officers stood below in clearly distinct ranks.

“My lord, the Great Han’s fate is nearing its end. This is the perfect chance to carve out a kingly hegemony. All the great lords are watching from Yuzhou right now, so why not use this chance to capture and kill a few of them and seize their fiefs?” one military general stepped forward and advised.

“Exactly. With the sacks of wine and rice those lords have under their command, I alone could slaughter my way through and back!”

“My lord, give me three thousand elite troops, and I can break one route of lords myself, cut off their heads, and present them to you!”

Listening to the swaggering boasts of those battle-eager generals, the man standing at the head of the civil officials frowned almost imperceptibly and instinctively turned his gaze toward Cao Cao, trying to read his expression.

Cao Cao remained silent and looked to one side.

Beside the commander’s desk was a chair. Seated upon it was a young man in a long robe, just over twenty years old, holding a pale cyan book in his hands.

“Fengxiao, what is so wondrous about this heavenly book? I’ve watched you stare at it for days now. Have you managed to figure anything out?”

“A heaven-born treasure. It can borrow the power of the stars and constellations of the heavens. Used properly, it can stand against the top heroes of the age.”