399: Chapter 399 Supreme Divine Power, Myriad Manifestations Sect

Chu Sheng squatted at the edge of the Formation, his finger tracing a circle along the bottom of the gray light barrier.

The direction of the Formation patterns looked more and more familiar—the style of compressing Spiritual Qi into fine threads and weaving them into a net.

It was the signature technique of the Wanxiang Sect.

He withdrew his hand, stood up, dusted off the ash on his hands, and gained a clear understanding in his heart.

Wanxiang Sect.

No wonder the Lord of the Soul-Severing River had been trapped for so many years without being able to break free on his own.

With his cultivation, he should have found a way to escape an ordinary trapping Formation long ago, but Formations of the Wanxiang Sect were best at stacking simple things into complex ones.

Beneath the surface layer were several more connected layers; dismantle this layer and another would be waiting for you.

Like an extremely densely woven spiderweb, every time you plucked a single thread, it could cause the structure at the other end to change as well.

The Lord of the Soul-Severing River did not dare to move rashly precisely because he could not clearly see the distribution of those hidden lines underneath.

Chu Sheng looked at the light barrier and was silent for a moment.

Sorting through the nodes and slowly untying it was too slow; he did not have time to waste on this now.

He reached out his hand, and the four swords of zhuxian rose simultaneously from his Dantian.

They briefly circled around him, then each fell to four different positions, hovering at the weak points on the surface of the light barrier.

The sword bodies vibrated slightly, emitting a low buzzing sound.

He gripped the sword hilts, confirmed the landing point of each sword, and then simultaneously injected Spiritual Qi.

The four swords sank simultaneously, piercing into the four nodes on the surface of the light barrier.

The patterns on the surface of the light barrier began to expand and twist as if being propped open from the inside by something, and then broke one after another.

The entire Formation rapidly collapsed before him, and those broken Formation patterns flickered briefly in the air,

as if making a final struggle, and then completely dimmed like a candle blown out by the wind.

The gray light barrier completely dissipated, turning into tiny specks of light floating in the river water, carried in different directions by the undercurrents.

The Lord of the Soul-Severing River stood a few steps away, watching the light barrier that had trapped him for long years completely disintegrate, a trace of light finally appearing in his muddy eyes,

and his body straightened up slightly, like a bamboo pole that had been bent down for a long time finally standing straight again.

He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but was interrupted by his own movement. He paused for a moment before speaking again: "Fellow Daoist..."

Chu Sheng did not look at him, having already retrieved the four swords of zhuxian back into his Dantian: "Wanxiang Sect's Formations are not hard to break, but they are grueling."

He paused, his gaze falling on the Lord of the River: "However, your location is too critical. The Duanhun River spans between the human and Demon Races of the Northern Region; I cannot let trouble break out here again."

The Lord of the Soul-Severing River was silent for a moment, as if having figured something out, or as if confirming his own situation.

He slowly nodded: "This old man understands."

Chu Sheng said again: "How about this, I have arranged a position for your daughter. Wanmo Hall lacks someone familiar with Demon Realm affairs; let her go there to be a secretary for the new hall master. It is not a dangerous job, just following along to learn some things."

The Lord of the River's eyelids twitched; he knew that calling it an arrangement of a position was actually keeping a hostage.

Chu Sheng placing his daughter in Wanmo Hall was nominally to help, but in reality, it was to make him have misgivings.

But he had no room to refute.

He was silent for a while, and then spoke a sentence: "Good. This old man understands."

Chu Sheng patted his shoulder, as if everything had been negotiated: "Rest assured, she will not be wronged."

Then he turned around and retraced his steps, plotting how to speak to Yu Rumeng later.

He had already gone through the phrasing in his mind.

She should like this arrangement; after all, having someone share the affairs was always good.

He quickened his pace, thinking of settling this matter early while the sky was still early.

When Chu Sheng returned to the mountains of Wanmo Hall, the sky was not yet completely dark.

He settled the Lord of the Soul-Severing River in the side courtyard and had the steward lead his daughter to report to Yu Rumeng's side.

Waiting until the two people had walked far away, Chu Sheng sat down on the stone steps on one side of the main hall, his gaze falling on the half-withered old tree in the courtyard, and another matter came to mind.

When he came back just now, he had used Fuyao Ninety Thousand Miles to travel, and he could feel that his movement speed was indeed much faster than before.

But it was far from reaching the degree of "ninety thousand miles in a single breath" described by that Divine Ability.

It felt more like gliding on the water's surface rather than truly flying.

He carefully recalled his state when casting Fuyao Ninety Thousand Miles, feeling that he had indeed condensed a prototype, but that prototype always seemed separated by a layer of thin gauze,

unable to clearly see the full picture behind it. Every time he wanted to truly break through that boundary, he would be bounced back at the final step, as if wind was propping against the crack of a door, preventing him from pushing it open.

He remembered that this Divine Ability was a Legacy left behind by a certain mighty figure of the Kunpeng race. After mastering it, one could move ninety thousand miles within a single breath, and theoretically even travel across the Five Regions within a single day.

If this thing were truly mastered, escaping, providing backup, and hunting down enemies—it could be used in any occasion.

Chu Sheng opened the simulator's Divine Ability panel and flipped to the page of Divine Ability quality classification.

He had understood that this matter existed before, but had not looked closely at this part of the content.

Sitting down at this moment and scanning it from beginning to end, he finally roughly figured out the logic within it.

Divine Abilities are divided into four grades: Low Grade, Medium Grade, High Grade, and Peerless Grade.

Among this small handful of Cultivators in the Divine Ability Realm in the Five Regions,

Low Grade Divine Abilities were the most common.

Most Cultivators in the Tongxuan Realm mastered at least one Low Grade Divine Ability, and a small number could master one Medium Grade.

Mastering more than three Divine Abilities, with at least one being Medium Grade, allowed one to touch the threshold of breaking through to Yufa.

And to break through to Guiyi, one needed to master more than nine Divine Abilities, with at least one being High Grade.

Heavenly Demon Ancestor had practiced eighteen Divine Abilities back then.

Most of them were High Grade, and a few even exceeded the scope of conventional classification.

Feng Xian was also rumored to have more than three Peerless Grade Divine Abilities, each of which was enough to make Cultivators of the same generation and same rank look out of reach.

The higher the quality and the greater the quantity of Divine Abilities, the stronger the combat power within the same Realm.

Like the Evil Half-Immortal who only mastered one Low Grade Divine Ability, he was indeed considered relatively weak in the Tongxuan Realm.

Chu Sheng glanced at his own two Divine Abilities again.

Endless Vitality was Medium Grade, and Hell of Obsession was Low Grade approaching Medium Grade.

If he could master a third Divine Ability, regardless of which grade it was, he would meet the conditions to impact the Yufa Realm.

Fuyao Ninety Thousand Miles itself was a Medium Grade Divine Ability; if he could master it, he would not just be touching the threshold of Yufa, but standing firmly on the threshold.

But he was stuck.

For Fuyao Ninety Thousand Miles, he had only condensed a prototype and could never cross that final step.

He had two choices.

First, go look for Opportunities related to Fuyao Ninety Thousand Miles, such as ruins or Legacy fragments of the Kunpeng race, to complete this Divine Ability through external objects.

Second, temporarily abandon Fuyao Ninety Thousand Miles and utilize his existing resources.

The Heavenly Venerable Duobao trait was of red quality.

Perhaps he could find a Divine Ability compatible with Heavenly Venerable Duobao in the simulator mall, but it was estimated to be very expensive, skipping the step of searching for Opportunities directly.

However, the price was heart-touching.

He went through the two options in his mind and then closed the panel.

He had not yet decided which to choose, but he was not in a hurry to make a decision now; he would handle the matters at hand first.

He stood up, patted the non-existent ash on his robe, and walked towards the direction of the side hall.

Yu Rumeng was there reading the newly delivered case files.

He walked over and sat down beside her, intending to tell her this news first and then think about what to do next.

But Yu Rumeng told Chu Sheng a piece of news.

A Devil King responsible for perimeter patrols discovered an aura that should not have appeared in that area during a routine inspection.

He followed that aura and sneaked over, to the original location of the Reverse Demon Tower.

Now there was only a sunken foundation and scattered gravel left.

A few sneaky figures were caught.

That person's attire and dressing style were common to Loose Cultivators of the Northern Region, but several items carried on his person exposed his origins.

A token engraved with the Wanxiang Sect's logo, several rubbing maps recording the terrain and the direction of Restrictions, and an unmailed messaging Jade Slip.

His hand holding the cup did not stop, but his mind had already turned several corners.

The Reverse Demon Tower had already been taken away by him; even if that foundation were turned over three more times, nothing valuable could be found.

For people of the Wanxiang Sect to specially send someone to investigate, this in itself was not very normal.

Chu Sheng placed that Jade Slip on the table and looked at Yu Rumeng: "Where is the person now?"

Yu Rumeng said: "Already brought to the dungeon. It's a live captive, no torture applied. I judge that he should just be an ordinary spy, with other people directing him behind the scenes..."

Chu Sheng nodded. He turned his gaze to the gray sky outside the window, and that sense of relaxation that had lasted for a period of time in his heart was slowly receding.

After he cleared Wanmo Hall, he had always thought that the clues about that tower would gradually fade, but the Wanxiang Sect spy appeared there.

This indicated that they had always been paying attention to this area and had never completely given up tracking the Reverse Demon Tower.

The name Wanxiang Sect was a relatively unfamiliar one among the Twelve Giants to him.

He had crossed paths with Wendao Palace and the Heavenly Sword Pavilion countless times; inside Wendao Palace, he had even hung his name in simulations.

Heavenly Sword Pavilion over there was also an old adversary; he had fought what should be fought and fled what should be fled.

But the Wanxiang Sect was different; his understanding of the Wanxiang Sect was limited to a few indirect pieces of information.

Their ranking among the Twelve Giants was firmly higher than Wendao Palace and Heavenly Sword Pavilion, and they excelled in forming Formations and some bizarre Cultivation Techniques.

The number of Disciples under their Sect was not many, but each one taken out could stand on their own.

Precisely because he knew so little, he instead felt it even more necessary to understand them.

Chu Sheng made up his mind to sneak in under the identity of a human Loose Cultivator.

Not revealing his demon Cultivator trump cards, and not leaking his Divine Ability cultivation.

His current understanding of the Wanxiang Sect was pitifully little; if he could contact Cultivators of the Wanxiang Sect in Luochuan Kingdom,

regardless of the method, he could at least figure out what they were paying attention to and how deep their attitude towards the Demon Realm and the Reverse Demon Tower was.

He could at least seize the initiative in the next simulation.

He changed into a clean cyan-gray Daoist robe and tied his hair up casually.

He looked just like an ordinary Loose Cultivator with cultivation at the Palace Building level.

He checked whether there was any aura of the Demon Realm left on his body, confirming there was no problem.

Then he left Wanmo Hall and walked toward the direction of the Duanhun River.

When he crossed the Duanhun River, undercurrents were still surging on the river surface, and he restrained the vast majority of his aura.

Only retaining the Spiritual Qi fluctuations that a Palace Building Cultivator should have, walking neither fast nor slow, just like those ordinary human Loose Cultivators crossing the river as usual.

Compared to the nine counties of Beiyuan Kingdom and the six counties of Tianfeng Kingdom, Luochuan Kingdom's territory was slightly smaller than both.

With only six counties, the southeast bordered the Boundless Sea, but the concentration of Spiritual Qi was obviously much higher than Tianfeng Kingdom.

The closer it was to the direction of the imperial capital, the more obvious the density of Spiritual Qi in the air, like walking from a shallow well into a wetland.

Even breathing was smoother than elsewhere.

The imperial capital was situated at the edge of the Luochuan Waterfall, and the entire city was built following the trend of the waterfall.

Looking down from a high place, the imperial capital was distributed in layers on both sides of the waterfall, shrouded in water vapor.

Parked outside the city gate were quite a few flying boats, some large and some small. Some had already landed, while others were slowly adjusting their height preparing to land.

Flags of different colors hung on the flying boats; some were logos of caravan groups, and some were logos of Sects, like coming and going passersby.

The imperial capital itself was not particularly small, but compared to that waterfall pouring down from above the cliff in the distance, it was a bit miniature.

Chu Sheng stood outside the city gate, raised his head, and glanced at it.

Water flowed straight down from the cliff hundreds of zhang high, a vast expanse of white, with roaring water sounds and flying straight down three thousand zhang.

making the ground beneath his feet tremble slightly.

The outline of the city appeared soft and blurry under the shroud of the waterfall mist.

The guards at the city gate did not inspect strictly.

Chu Sheng reported the identity of a Loose Cultivator, saying he wanted to enter the city to find some work.

At this time, exuding the cultivation of the Linghai Realm, the guards took an extra look at him and waved their hands to let him in.

The city inside was much quieter than outside, and most of the shops on both sides of the street were open.

But the pace at which pedestrians walked was obviously slower than the imperial capital of Tianfeng Kingdom, as if soaked leisurely by the water vapor.

He walked a section along the main street and noticed that Disciples of the Wanxiang Sect wearing uniform standard robes could occasionally be seen on the street.

The number was not large, but they were scattered in twos and threes.

He slowed his pace, mentally going through the positions and distances of those people, then withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward.

He planned to find an inn to stay at first, and then see if there was a way to contact the Wanxiang Sect's office here.

After all, he still had twenty thousand simulation points on hand, which could cope with some unexpected situations.

He turned into a slightly quieter alley and walked into an inn with a small storefront but looking quite clean.

The inn's signboard had a few neat and proper large characters written on it.

Mortal World Inn.

Sitting behind the counter was a shopkeeper who was dozing off. Hearing the footsteps, he raised his head, his voice still carrying a half-awake, muddled feeling.

"Staying at the inn?"

Chu Sheng nodded, took out a bag of Spirit Stones, and placed it on the counter: "Staying for a few days. Are there any quieter rooms?"

The shopkeeper lowered his head and glanced at that bag of Spirit Stones; his somewhat hazy sleep-filled gaze paused for a moment.

The sleepiness also seemed to decrease by half.

Then he put the Spirit Stones into the drawer and pointed upstairs: "Distinguished guest, the one on the top floor is not too noisy."

Chu Sheng thanked him and went upstairs along the stairs.