Chen Yan hadn't given it much thought initially.

He had always believed that the faint demonic aura permeating this mountain forest was due to the Three-Eyed White Tiger with Upturned Eyes entrenched here.

But as the ancient stone door before him slowly opened, Chen Yan discovered that was not the case.

Thick demonic aura spilled from the doorway, spreading in all directions.

In just a few breaths, the range of Chen Yan's spiritual sense was completely enveloped by the demonic aura.

And Li Haowen, standing before the stone door, bore the brunt of it, fully exposed to the demonic aura gushing from the door's cracks.

Li Haowen knew very well what he was facing.

And what consequences he would face if he didn't resist.

"Ugh... AAAAAAAAH!"

Chen Yan could hear Li Haowen's furious roar. He raised the two long swords in his hands, one black and one white, and slashed with all his might toward the ancient stone door. The spiraling blend of frost and fire first tore through the oppressive aura before him, but was soon submerged again in the increasingly turbulent and terrifying demonic aura.

Visibly, Li Haowen's body standing before the ancient stone door began to sway, then his hands dropped, and he fell backward, face up.

Thud.

The sound of him hitting the ground echoed.

The front of Li Haowen's body was devoid of any flesh and blood; his stark white skeleton was completely exposed to the demonic aura.

Then, the true qi overflowing from within the ancient stone door continued to surge toward Chen Yan. He exerted every ounce of his strength to activate the Clear Light within his Martial Spring and his innate true energy to resist the invasion of the demonic aura.

Everything happened too fast.

Resisting the corrosion of demonic aura at such close range caused the true qi flowing through Chen Yan's entire meridian system to begin boiling, and a bloody taste started rising in his throat.

However, compared to the Immortal Ascension-level pressure emitted by the Great Demon's Egg, formed from the corrupted Dao Basis of Su Hongzhen back in the Fallen Sword Mountain Range, the demonic aura behind the door fell far short.

This was definitely not the corrupted Dao Basis of True Person Minghua.

Rather—

A massive spike pierced through the ancient stone door, penetrating Chen Yan's chest and suspending him in mid-air.

Excruciating pain shot from Chen Yan's chest, yet he merely frowned slightly.

So-called pain was something Chen Yan had long grown accustomed to.

Blood slowly trickled from the corner of Chen Yan's mouth. The token at his waist swayed slightly as his body dangled in the air.

In Chen Yan's mind flashed the face of a lean cultivator, a youth who always wore an expressionless face.

Lu Li.

Or rather, Kong Yang.

Ten thousand years ago, Kong Yang came to this Shengyuan Mountain. He did not slay the eighth-realm demonic beast that once plagued the region at that time; instead, he sealed it behind this ancient stone door.

And then...

"Heh..."

A smile curled at his blood-stained lips.

Instructor Lu, oh, Instructor Lu.

The true qi within his body was still continuously draining away.

Chen Yan exerted his utmost effort, using the Great Derivation Art to activate his only remaining strand of innate true energy and the Clear Rainbow derived from the Hidden Immortal Art.

The Clear Rainbow began to turn chaotic, darting wildly through Chen Yan's meridians, and his sole wisp of innate true energy also began to be deconstructed by the Great Derivation Art.

Then, the scant true qi remaining in his Martial Spring, while being absorbed by the demonic beast, was vaporized by that trace of mysterious Clear Light.

Mysterious Clear Light.

That was an existence completely separate from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, beyond the comprehension of cultivators below the Immortal Ascension Realm...

Namely, immortal qi.

Chen Yan could clearly sense that the moment the immortal qi manifested, the eighth-realm great demon sealed within the stone door began to feel a certain emotion of fear.

Meridians ruptured.

Although Chen Yan's current cultivation realm had reached the Myriad Transformations Realm.

When he attempted to use the Great Derivation Art to catalyze the generation of immortal qi, the devastation the immortal qi wrought upon his meridians was no less severe.

It's over.

This reincarnation ends here.

A speck of immortal light surged from Chen Yan's fingertip, vaporizing the spike that had pierced his body, then continued to extend toward the stone door.

Through the cracks in the stone door, Chen Yan glimpsed the scene deep behind this ancient gate.

A mass of light where black and white complemented each other floated behind the stone door—

Chen Yan's mind flashed back to the scene at the Heavenly River Platform ferry of the Star Heaven Sect in the Southern Region of Chenping Continent, to the intertwined golden and silvery-white mass of light in Gu Jing's hand.

It was a Dao Basis.

Kong Yang hadn't completely deceived him.

Xie Shouzhuo's Dao Basis was indeed behind this stone door.

Chen Yan crashed heavily onto the ground. With his meridians completely shattered, he had entered the final countdown of his life.

Lying on the ground, gazing up at the sky, he calmly welcomed his own death.

...No.

That's not right.

Chen Yan remembered what Mr. You had once told him.

The karmic backlash from over sixty thousand years had fallen upon him alone.

And to trigger this karmic backlash spanning such a vast stretch of time, there were only two possibilities.

One, someone had interfered with the history of these sixty-thousand-plus years.

The other, was his own death.

Which means—

In the sky, a massive rift tens of thousands of zhang long was slowly torn open, followed by a distant, melodious ringing of a bell echoing from the far horizon.

This was a scene Chen Yan had once witnessed firsthand within the illusion of the Heavenly Summit Mirror.

A colossal statue of a goddess, thousands of zhang tall, adorned with seven-colored flowing gold, with lightly closed eyes, slowly emerged from the fissure.

Just as expected.

Chen Yan's consciousness began to gradually dissipate, his vision growing increasingly blurred.

In the final moments of his life, he saw that seven-colored flowing gold goddess statue slowly open her eyes.

What utterly indifferent eyes they were.

And the moment the gaze of that seven-colored flowing gold goddess statue fell upon Chen Yan—

The corner of Her mouth actually curled into a trace of a bizarre smile.

[Reincarnation Ended.]

[This Reincarnation Rating: B (Care to guess what will happen after you die?)]

[Accumulated Cultivation: Myriad Transformations Realm (one wisp)]

[Reincarnation Reward: Three thousand wisps of innate true energy]

[Reincarnation settlement complete. Host will return to the previous reincarnation save point, inherit the accumulated cultivation from this cycle, and restart life.]

...

"Please, Manager Li and this Senior, grant this junior some time..."

Wei Kun's voice reached Chen Yan's ears.

He slowly opened his eyes, surveying the surrounding town.

"How long do you need?"

Li Haowen asked.

"Half a day..."

"Forget half a day."

Chen Yan stood up from beside the tea stall and said calmly.

"...Senior?"

Wei Kun wore a slightly puzzled expression, looking somewhat timidly toward Chen Yan.

"Three days."

Chen Yan said:

"I'll give you three days to gather manpower."

Hearing this, Wei Kun first checked Li Haowen's expression to confirm Li Haowen had nothing to say, then he bowed toward Chen Yan and said:

"Yes, Senior."

After Wei Kun walked away, Li Haowen also looked at Chen Yan with considerable confusion and asked:

"Chen Shidi, what does this mean? Aren't we pressed for time?"

"Time is pressing."

Chen Yan said calmly:

"That's why I need to make a trip to Wind Ravine Valley first."