25: Chapter 25 Dongshan Fei and the Snake

"Damn, I can't hold it back!"

Upon realizing he couldn't disperse the phenomenon from his Breakthrough, Shen Moyan hurriedly put the items in the cave into his storage ring.

Then, with a wave of his hand, the heavenly demon sword hidden in his sleeve shot out like a streak of light. Its pitch-black blade reflected a cold, sharp glint in the morning light as it circled him three times, emitting a crisp sword cry.

Shen Moyan lightly tapped the bluestone with his toes, leaping up like a wild swan and landing steadily on the sword's blade.

Employing the Turtle Breathing Great Technique while operating the Biyang Concealment Art, he decisively fled.

Driven by his magic power, the heavenly demon sword suddenly rose several feet, the resulting airflow blowing the surrounding Spiritual Qi into a sky full of light specks.

Standing on the sword with hands behind his back, his robes fluttering loudly in the wind, Shen Moyan leaned slightly, and the Flying Sword shot out like an arrow from a bow.

He skimmed past the tips of hundred-foot-tall camphor trees in the forest, startling the morning dew on his robes, which instantly evaporated into fine mist.

The wind whistled past his ears. Shen Moyan, who had been in a rush to escape, gradually relaxed his brow, feeling incredibly refreshed.

Just like that Small Bird named A Fan, leaving the mugwort of the low cliff for the first time to spread its wings toward the blue clouds.

Passing through a mountain stream, Shen Moyan flicked his finger, and the Flying Sword glided right against the surface of the creek. His speeding figure was reflected in the ripples, emitting waves of refreshing coolness.

During the flight, his surrounding Spiritual Qi completely merged with the forest's atmosphere. Wherever the Flying Sword passed, the Spiritual Plants along the path bent down as if bowing.

Startled morning birds flapped their wings, watching his receding figure from afar.

In the air, Shen Moyan occasionally rose higher, passing through layers of clouds and letting the sunlight bathe his entire body.

At other times, he would dive down, skimming over the forest floor covered in decaying leaves. The startled pale green Spiritual Qi specks followed the Flying Sword like fireflies.

"Phew—hahaha! This is freedom! This is cultivation!"

Facing the vast world before him, Shen Moyan opened his arms as if to embrace the world.

The scenery he had dreamed of for three lifetimes was finally in full view at this moment... Shortly after Shen Moyan left his place of secluded cultivation.

"He's gone. Quite cautious."

a mythical serpent used its thirty-mile-long snake body to tightly coil around the mountain where Shen Moyan had just been secluded. The forest trees were crushed by its massive scales, and the entire mountain crumbled into earth and sand.

It had been attracted by Shen Moyan's Breakthrough phenomenon and intended to have a snack, but upon arrival, it found the person long gone.

"There's no record of this person in the city gate's entry logs; he's not a remnant of the Dongshan Nursery. Just a rural Loose Cultivator." The mythical serpent flicked its tongue, carefully sensing the nearest Human Race city.

"A rural Loose Cultivator? Can a rural Loose Cultivator carry the aura of the Biyang Sword Sect?"

Beside the mythical serpent, a ten-thousand-foot-tall mountain suddenly began to walk.

The 'mountain' shook off the sand and rocks on its body, and the forest on its back suffered a catastrophe.

Once the forest and animals on its body were all shaken off, a massive eye opened on its mountain-sized bull head.

Wherever its gaze reached, all life—birds, beasts, and even Mortal villages of ten thousand people in the mountain forest—suddenly contracted terminal illnesses and returned to the heavens.

It was a giant Fei, one-eyed with a snake tail. Where it walked, water dried up and forests died. Plagues broke out wherever it passed.

"That person was in seclusion right under my nose. The aura of the Cultivation Technique he practiced is the orthodox Biyang First Rising Art," the Fei's voice echoed through the mountains, its tone grave.

"..." The mythical serpent fell silent.

Naturally, it also didn't dare to provoke that Immortal Lineage full of lunatics.

Moreover, the current situation was tense, and an unprecedented change was brewing.

"By the way, how is that matter going?"

"It's being planned. That one from the Qiongqi Clan will lead the charge."

"Cangwu Prefecture has already begun. As for Langya Prefecture, the flames of war will be fully ignited in as little as a hundred years, or as many as a thousand."

"In Mountain and Sea, it's time for the Human Race's rule to end."

Currently, the high-level struggle between the Immortal Lineages and the Holy Court was becoming increasingly fierce. The Immortal Lineages were sealing themselves off and would not expand, while the central Holy Court no longer had the power to govern remote places like Langya Prefecture.

Now was the perfect Opportunity for the Yao Race to rise.

The various Yao had come from the banished Eight Desolations and Four Seas to step back onto the territory of the Three Thousand Prefectures.

The mythical serpent flicked its tongue, coiling around a Mortal village at the edge of the mountain range and swallowing all those humans into its belly. It seemed to be venting its frustration.

The Fei remained expressionless, waiting for the other to finish passing the time.

"Did you notice a gaze spying on us?" Suddenly, the Fei's giant eye rolled, staring at a very small corner.

In the shadows of the forest, within a shallow puddle, a small thing hidden on the water's surface trembled... "Holy crap, luckily I slipped away fast."

Shen Moyan hurriedly cut off the connection with the Six Senses Fireflies.

Over the years, he had allowed the Six Senses Fireflies to reproduce on their own, occasionally coming out of seclusion to perform artificial crossbreeding and select Six Senses Fireflies with longer lifespans.

"This Shanhai Realm is indeed full of perils and teeming with Yao Beasts."

Thinking about how the mountain right across from him during his seclusion was a Great Yao in disguise, and how a giant snake capable of swallowing a county town or village in one gulp would have come looking for him after his seclusion, Shen Moyan felt his skin crawl.

"A Three-Tribulation Great Yao, at least three tribulations, an existence comparable to a Purple Mansion True Man."

Shen Moyan carefully compared his current strength; going up against them would just be throwing his life away.

"Also, what's going on with the Holy Court? Is there going to be a war?"

Thanks to the Nine Songs Immortal Lord, Shen Moyan overheard their conversation and successfully understood the meaning of the Yao language.

Langya Prefecture was at the edge of the Three Thousand Prefectures, separated from the Holy Court headquarters by thousands of prefectures, far away at the ends of the earth.

"Forget it, I'll go check out the Langya Academy first."

cultivation level and a backer—this was the experience Shen Moyan had gained from his first life.

The Great Qi Martial World was full of hidden dangers, and the Cultivation World was the same logic on a larger scale.

Before the flames of war ignited, it would be best for Shen Moyan to follow Jiang Zhiqiu's advice, get some benefits at the academy, and then promptly slip out of Langya Prefecture.

[Current Skills: "Biyang First Rising Art" (Mortal Transformation Realm), "Heavenly Demon Transformation Art" (Not yet entered), "Azure Wood Longevity Art" (old immortal dao, Not yet entered), "Startling Swan Sword Art" (Self-created), "Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill" (Thirteenth Layer)...]

"As for Cultivation Techniques, most of those collected from the Loose Cultivators in Dongshan City are inferior to the 'Biyang First Rising Art' and 'Heavenly Demon Transformation Art'." While traveling, Shen Moyan summoned "As I Have Written" and took out a Bookmark.

[Skill: "Heavenly Demon Transformation Art"]

[Description: This technique is a derivative technique of the Six Hells Demonic Sect, one of the Immortal Lineages of this realm, transcribed from a Supreme Demonic Scripture (Unspeakable).]

[This technique, once attained, is eternally attained and indestructible through ten thousand tribulations. It cannot be abolished and will achieve an extremely Yin, extremely evil, supremely demonic, and supremely monstrous Divine Thought. Only those with great perseverance, great Opportunity, and great wickedness can glimpse its threshold.]

[This technique Cultivates one of the four demons, the Heavenly Demon. This is an external demon that can obstruct one's cultivation and sever the path to immortality.]

[To practice this technique, one must use a Demonic Seed as a catalyst, set up a Heavenly Demon Ritual, and communicate with the Heavenly Demon Great Dao before the detailed next steps of cultivation can be understood.]

This was a Demonic Path Cultivation Technique, not the path of immortals, nor the Twisted Immortal Path.

Shen Moyan couldn't practice the Heavenly Demon Transformation Art right now because he couldn't find a suitable Demonic Seed, nor did he have the time to set up the so-called ritual.

Skipping the prerequisite cultivation conditions, even with the empowerment of the Nine Songs Immortal Lord's great power, he only half-understood the subsequent detailed annotations of the Heavenly Demon Transformation Art. It was like a three-dimensional being unable to comprehend a four-dimensional one.

Clearly, this so-called "Heavenly Demon Great Dao" was superior to the Path of Literature of the "Nine Songs Wenchang Immortal Lord."

Therefore, Shen Moyan made up his mind that he must practice this technique.

"The 'Heavenly Demon Transformation Art' suits me quite well, but it's a bit difficult to manage. It requires both a Demonic Seed and a ritual. Where am I going to get these Demonic Path Materials for the ritual?"

Shen Moyan thought to himself, looking into the distance.

He could only pin his hopes on that so-called academy.