30: The studio's menu, the sleeping beast

The Battle of Blackwind Mountain.

The allied forces of the three great Sects, including “Thunderbolt Sword” Song Daoyi, a half-step Nascent Soul Cultivator, along with over thirty Golden Core Elders and hundreds of Core Disciples, were completely annihilated.

Blackwind Stronghold was massacred, with no one left alive.

Both sides suffered heavy losses, a mutual destruction.

When the news spread, the entire Cultivation World of Zhao Country was shaken.

The only thing known by the Righteous Path higher-ups was a Jade Slip transmitted by Song Daoyi before his death.

The image on the Jade Slip was blurry, only recording the back of a Demonic Path youth holding a Soul Suppressing Demon Banner, leading them into a death trap.

And the underground fire demon vein, capable of incinerating a Nascent Soul.

A codename began to circulate among the higher-ups of Zhao Country.

Heavenly Demon… In an underground space that could not be locked onto by Divine Sense.

Ghost Hand looked at the final battle report of the Blackwind Mountain incident, sent back by the Shadow Tower intelligence network, and for the first time, a genuine emotion showed on her face beneath the terrifying ghost mask.

It wasn't fear, but a burning heat mixed with excitement and trepidation.

She had envisioned countless ways for “A Yu” to complete the mission.

Stealthily assassinating Li Feiyang.

Seizing the demon banner amidst the chaos.

Even using some secret technique to contend with the Righteous Path allied forces.

But she had never imagined it would be like this.

He didn't treat Li Feiyang as a target at all.

He also didn't treat Song Daoyi and his allied forces as enemies.

In his eyes, these two forces, from the very beginning, were dishes placed on the dining table.

One was the main course, the other a side dish.

He simply used the simplest method to cook them together, and then he himself took the most essential part.

This method of treating all living beings as chess pieces and heaven and earth as a chessboard had already exceeded the scope of an “assassin.”

This was the Domain of a chess player.

“Tower Master, this child's actions are too rampant and reckless; he has become a grave hidden danger!”

“What does he take our Shadow Tower for? His intelligence peddler?”

“I suggest immediately raising ‘A Yu's’ rating to an S-rank hunting target, and eliminating him at all costs!”

At the conference table formed by light and shadows, the phantoms of several Shadow Tower Elders were agitated.

The demise of Song Daoyi had driven the Qingcheng Sword Sect completely mad, prompting them to relentlessly search for clues about the “Heavenly Demon” at all costs, and the Shadow Tower was therefore under immense pressure.

Ghost Hand said nothing.

She merely raised her hand.

A jet-black shadow shot out from her fingertip, instantly piercing through the phantom of one of the most vociferous Elders.

That Elder's phantom flickered violently, let out a scream, and then completely dissipated.

In the real world, this Shadow Tower Elder, a Golden Core Late Stage Cultivator, had been killed instantly in his secret chamber.

Inside the conference room, there was a deathly silence.

“A Yu is Shadow Tower's highest-level collaborator.”

Ghost Hand's voice, cold and clear, echoed in everyone's ears.

“He has shown us a brand new Dao, a Dao that is a hundred times more efficient than our current primitive ‘assassination’ methods.”

“From today onwards, the Shadow S-rank database is unconditionally open to him.”

“To question him is to be my enemy.”

After speaking, Ghost Hand's figure directly dissipated.

Not a single Elder dared to refute her.

On the other side.

Jiang Chen sat cross-legged on the mountaintop, the Shadow Tower token in his hand vibrating slightly.

Ghost Hand's message was directly transmitted.

【Your authority has been elevated to the highest level.】

【I need to know how you utilized that ‘backlash force.’ Shadow Tower's research has hit a Bottleneck.】

【In exchange, a bargaining chip you cannot refuse.】

The next moment, a piece of heavily encrypted intelligence appeared in Jiang Chen's mind.

Target: Huang Bing'er.

Identity: Ninth Princess of the Great Qian Dynasty.

Talent: Innate Divine Beast “Undying Phoenix” Bloodline (Unawakened).

Status: Due to conflict between Bloodline and mortal body, born with severed meridians, prophesied not to live past sixteen, currently being sent to the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cave in the far north to prolong her life.

Fate Anchor Point: Will find a Phoenix Egg deep within the ice cave, sacrifice herself, and undergo Nirvana Rebirth. Once successful, she will transform into a true Phoenix Divine Maiden, possessing the power to burn the heavens and boil the seas.

Escorts: Prince Zhenbei of the Great Qian Dynasty, Han Li. Cultivation: Nascent Soul Middle Stage.

Jiang Chen's eyes slowly opened.

Nascent Soul Stage.

Divine Beast Bloodline.

Nirvana Rebirth.

This was no longer a menu.

This was a full Manchu-Han Imperial Feast.

After a brief thought, a theory, carefully modified and disguised by him, was transmitted back to Ghost Hand.

He had subtly replaced the concept of “Formless Life Essence” with a special Mind-Cultivation Technique called “Annihilation and Return to the Void,” claiming it could guide and neutralize the violent energy during a backlash of fate, but the process was perilous, and the success rate extremely low.

This theory was ninety percent true and ten percent false.

It was enough to make the Shadow Tower researchers feel as if they had found a treasure, spending decades to study it, yet forever unable to touch the true core— “deprivation” and “transformation.”

Having completed all this, Jiang Chen put away the token and stood up.

He looked towards the far north, his cultivation within his body, at the peak of Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, stirring restlessly.

It was time to meet that true Nascent Soul Cultivator.

And also, to add the most important “puzzle piece” to his Myriad Laws Dao Body.