A terrifying, thunderous roar exploded through the air. Inside Wuling City, almost everyone was jolted awake from their sleep. Their faces turned pale, and their clothes were instantly soaked with cold sweat. The first thing nearly everyone did after waking was clutch the clothing over their chest tightly with both hands. A violent palpitation surged from their hearts, making it feel as though they could not breathe. They opened their mouths wide, gasping frantically for air.

Hiss... Am I about to suddenly drop dead?

Countless people had this very thought flash through their minds.

This time, the place where the space-time node opened was very close to Wuling City. It was so close that almost all the citizens of Wuling City could sense the terrifying pressure, along with the inexplicable heart-pounding dread that spread through the air when the space-time node was torn open. Unlike ordinary people, martial artists possessed far sharper perception. At the very instant the disturbance occurred, nearly every martial artist sensed a vast pressure like heavenly might descending from the horizon, crushing down on them until they could barely breathe.

"Not good. That's the area Little Yu[1] is responsible for!"

Inside Azure Tide Pavilion, Elder Yang abruptly opened his eyes and leapt up onto the rooftop.

Sensing the direction from which the terrifying pressure came, a formidable momentum qi surged from Elder Yang's body. With a single leap, his figure vanished into the night sky. There were quite a few martial artists like Elder Yang, though most of them were merely going to see what was happening.

Unlike the martial artists inside Wuling City, however, those stationed in the area under Lin Zheyu's responsibility experienced a level of fear they had never felt before.

Li Yin, who had been patrolling the forest and hunting demon puppets, reacted the instant the disturbance occurred. She quickly retreated and rushed toward the defensive line. Yet before she could make it far, the demon god pressure pouring down from the sky slammed her to the ground, leaving her completely unable to move.

Fortunately, not long after, another vast pressure like heavenly might surged from the direction of Wuling City and neutralized the demon god pressure, giving her a chance to breathe again. Li Yin sprang up from the ground, and her first thought was to run.

Roar! Roar!

She had not gone far before the demon puppets lying in ambush within the forest discovered her and rushed forward with furious roars, surrounding Li Yin.

This time, I might really die here!

There was not the slightest trace of fear in her eyes. Anyone who could cultivate martial cultivation to this stage possessed a powerful and unwavering martial will. Li Yin's gaze turned ice-cold. Her right hand gripped the longsword tightly as blood qi surged through her body. With her left hand, she quickly reached into her robes, took out several medicinal pills, and swallowed them all at once.

Whoosh!

Li Yin shot toward Wuling City. Her longsword thrust forward, instantly splitting into more than a dozen streaks of sword light that stabbed toward the demon puppets blocking her path. The same scene played out again and again throughout the forest. The martial artists stationed there all carried the resolve to die. To survive, they fought their way through forests filled with demon puppets, carving a bloody path.

***

"It's finally begun!"

Wu Yi suddenly raised his head and looked toward the distant horizon, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. His hands quickly formed a seal, and a mysterious, profound sense immediately appeared in his consciousness.

Whoosh!

Sensing the direction where Lin Zheyu was, Wu Yi's figure vanished from the spot in an instant. After rushing several hundred meters forward, his expression suddenly froze.

"Gone? What happened?" Wu Yi was extremely astonished.

Lin Zheyu was very strong. Judging by martial cultivation standards, he was at least a Grandmaster realm powerhouse. The space-time node had only just opened, so yao and demons should not have appeared so quickly. With Lin Zheyu's cautious nature, once he sensed danger, he should have retreated immediately and distanced himself from the threat rather than risking himself.

Could it be that he entered the demon god barrier? Or was he just that unlucky and got discovered by those people from the evil cult?

Many thoughts flashed through Wu Yi's mind.

He knew the evil cult was also searching for Lin Zheyu. In fact, Wu Yi had learned about Lin Zheyu from them. The cult had asked Wu Yi to use his identity to help them capture Lin Zheyu and prevent him from escaping into Wuling City. Out of curiosity, Wu Yi investigated Lin Zheyu's identity, which led him to discover that the man carried a secret.

"No, that shouldn't be possible so quickly! Even someone with a special fate shouldn't be worth that much attention from those cultists," Wu Yi murmured softly.

His expression shifted. Gritting his teeth, he lightly patted the light gray pouch at his waist, made of special cotton cloth. A streak of fluorescence flew out from the pouch and rapidly expanded, turning into a palm-sized black Ink Jade Disk.

"I can only use this now! Kid, you'd better really have some incredible secret on you. Otherwise, I'll make sure you can neither live nor die!" Wu Yi said in a low voice through gritted teeth.

This special Ink Jade Disk did not exist within the Directorate of Celestial Observation. He had obtained it from the evil cult. Although the Ink Jade Disk was a single-use item, its effect was extremely powerful. It could track and locate someone using their aura. However, the cost was enormous as well. The miraculous aspect of the Ink Jade Disk did not rely on the formation inscribed upon it. The disk itself was merely a medium for communicating with a demon god. To use it as a conduit and borrow the power of a demon god required paying a considerable price.

Those demon gods worshipped by the cult were all dangerous beings. Anyone who wished to borrow their power had to make a sacrifice. Depending on the target's strength, the cost of the sacrifice varied. For someone at the Grandmaster realm, Wu Yi estimated that at least ten years of lifespan would need to be offered.

If the Ink Jade Disk were used by a cult member, however, the cost would be much lower. They did not even need to sacrifice lifespan. They only needed to inject energy, silently recite a prayer, and offer their faith.

However, with repeated use, the user would gradually be corrupted by the demon god's power and eventually become a fanatic believer. Wu Yi was merely cooperating with the cult and had no intention of worshipping those demon gods, so he could only borrow their power by sacrificing his lifespan.

"Ten years of lifespan... If I gain nothing from this, it'll be a huge loss," Wu Yi muttered.

Wu Yi had always acted cautiously and methodically, so he had already prepared a personal item carrying Lin Zheyu's aura. He placed the item on the Ink Jade Disk, cut a small wound on his index finger with a knife, and let the blood drip onto the disk. As he murmured a low formation chant, he suddenly pressed his right hand onto the Ink Jade Disk, releasing the spirit power within his body.

Wu Yi felt his lifespan draining away along with the spirit power. His face gradually turned pale, and a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes. After several breaths, the outflow of spirit power finally stopped. He let out a long breath.

"Damn, that kid is that strong? It actually consumed about thirteen years of my lifespan," Wu Yi cursed under his breath.

"Damn it. For a moment, I thought I'd run into some hidden powerhouse. Luckily, even if he's stronger than expected, he's only around the Grandmaster realm in martial cultivation." Wu Yi let out a long sigh of relief.

Although he had paid roughly three extra years of lifespan, at least it confirmed Lin Zheyu's strength and proved that the man was still alive. Fortunately, Wu Yi had used the Ink Jade Disk early. If he had waited just a few minutes longer, the lifespan consumed would have been far more than thirteen years.

There! That kid really did enter the demon god barrier. With his caution and strength, he should definitely be able to break through the demon puppet encirclement and escape immediately. What exactly is this guy trying to do? Wu Yi stared at the light point on the Ink Jade Disk, a trace of doubt flashing through his mind.

However, he did not dwell on it. Whatever the man wanted to do, he could simply capture him and ask. Over the past few days, he had gathered much more detailed information about Lin Zheyu and was almost 90% certain that the man was hiding something. Even if it was not the inheritance of a Shamanic cultivator, it would still be an extraordinary secret.

Wu Yi did not delay any longer. His body lifted into the air, and with a whoosh, he vanished from the spot, charging toward the direction indicated by the Ink Jade Disk. This time, he was determined to succeed.

***

Within the mountain forest, booming explosions, beastly roars, and the sounds of slaughter mixed together. A dense Baleful Yin force spread out from the depths of the forest, and all living creatures felt the shadow of death descending upon them.

Lin Zheyu had no time to care about the changes outside. Hidden within the bushes, he was frantically increasing his strength. His spirit had entered the consciousness space and was almost completely unaware of the changes outside. He did not notice at all that a strange and powerful energy barrier was spreading outward from the deep mountains at an astonishing speed, rapidly enveloping him within it.

The demon god seeds scattered throughout the forest released the demon god energy they contained. The energy shot skyward and merged with the energy barrier, accelerating its expansion. Only when it reached a point about a kilometer outside the City Guard defensive line did the energy barrier finally stop expanding.

The vast pressure, like heavenly might, emanating from Wuling City not only neutralized the demon god's powerful pressure and blocked the spreading Baleful Yin force outside, but also halted the mad expansion of this demon god's barrier.

Several powerful auras streaked across the sky and rushed into the demon god barrier, heading toward the direction where the explosion had occurred. The terrifying explosion just now was caused by the space-time node being forcibly torn open. However, Lin Zheyu knew nothing of all this. At this moment, he was immersed in endless cultivation.

Lin Zheyu's brows were tightly furrowed. Attempting to fuse forty-two powerful true intents together and integrate them into true strength was terrifyingly difficult. Other martial artists needed to spend enormous time and energy just to fuse four or five true intents to condense true strength. Some could not even condense true strength at all.

Lin Zheyu, however, possessed forty-two powerful true intents. The difficulty of condensing true strength under such circumstances was unprecedented and likely would never be seen again. Vast energy from spirit liquid and spirit stones surged into his body under the sweeping influence of mysterious energy. Threads of powerful true strength gradually condensed and flowed into his meridians.

Once enough true strength accumulated within the meridians, these strands fused together and formed a crystal-clear droplet of powerful energy, resembling a drop of water. The energy droplet was neither the light blue unique to Azure Tide Pavilion nor golden. Instead, it appeared as a hazy gray. After the first energy droplet formed, the second and third soon followed. When around ten droplets had condensed, the true strength energy finally began to flow through the meridians.

The meridians within the human body were not naturally unobstructed, at least not in the martial cultivation sense. Blood qi energy could circulate through the meridians without resistance and even flow through the entire body along the blood vessels. True strength energy, however, was different. The energy density of true strength far surpassed that of blood qi, and the powerful true intents contained within it gave true strength various special effects.

1. Referring to Lin Zheyu. ☜