Chapter 00314: A Chilling Realization
# A Chilling Realization
Chapter 314
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 314: A Chilling Realization
May 6, 2022
The Great Yi Immortal cultivator was momentarily stunned but quickly realized that Lan Xiaobu must have just arrived.
He hurriedly replied, "Yes, the beast tide has been going on for nearly two years now."
Hearing this, Lan Xiaobu understood what had happened.
It seemed that his earlier scheme to mess with the person chasing his prize had inadvertently triggered this massive beast tide.
As Lan Xiaobu pondered how the beast tide had started, a sharp roar from a demon beast echoed through the air.
The countless demon beasts retreated like a receding tide, vanishing into the vast expanse of the Black Pottery Forest Range.
The human cultivators who had been battling the beasts didn’t retreat immediately.
A group of cultivator soldiers stayed behind, ready for the beasts’ return, while others quickly collected the corpses of the fallen demon beasts.
It seemed that the human cultivators had gained some advantage; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to act so decisively.
"How did this beast tide start?" Lan Xiaobu continued to ask.
The Great Yi Immortal cultivator quickly answered, "You must have heard about the alchemy competition in the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain two years ago, right?"
"Alchemy competition? I haven’t heard of it. Can you tell me about it? I’ve been in seclusion for a thousand years and just came out, so I’m not up to date on many things," Lan Xiaobu replied.
Admitting that he knew about the alchemy competition but not the beast tide would have been unrealistic, so Lan Xiaobu simply claimed ignorance of both.
The Great Yi Immortal cultivator explained, "Two years ago, a genius alchemist appeared in the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain. He won first place in the alchemy competition and even created the Rootless Snow Mist Pill, which can remove pill toxins, bringing great benefits to many cultivators. However, the reward for first place was so generous that many coveted it. Later, when Lan Xiaobu stayed at the Immortal Rest Pavilion, a powerful demon beast took him away from the Mysterious Path Immortal City and into the Black Pottery Forest Range. A semi-divine expert from the Qingfang Immortal Domain entered the forest alone, demanding that the demon beasts deep within hand over Lan Xiaobu."
Lan Xiaobu knew that this was because the divine sense imprint he had left on the divine wood had collapsed, leading people to believe that his belongings had been taken by the demon beasts in the Black Pottery Forest Range.
The divine wood with the divine sense imprint was meant to make people think he had entered the depths of the forest.
Once the aura was detected, it would collapse on its own, ensuring it wouldn’t fall into anyone else’s hands.
What he hadn’t expected was that the one chasing him was an alchemy expert from the Qingfang Immortal Domain.
Weren’t they supposed to be searching for top alchemy talents across the immortal domains to nurture and send into the Chaos Secret Realm to cultivate beyond the ninth level? Why was a Qingfang expert chasing his prize?
"The Black Pottery Forest Range has a tenth-level demon beast—a leopard demon. When the leopard demon heard the semi-divine expert’s demand, it was furious, and a great battle ensued. In the end, both sides were severely injured. The semi-divine expert from Qingfang fled back with heavy injuries and is said to be recovering in the Moon Mirror Immortal Court. After the leopard demon was injured, the demon beasts in the Black Pottery Forest Range went berserk, and the first wave of the beast tide began," the Great Yi Immortal explained in one breath, as if this was common knowledge.
"Why didn’t Lan Xiaobu just escape into the Black Pottery Forest Range himself?" Lan Xiaobu asked, puzzled.
The Great Yi Immortal chuckled awkwardly, "It’s said that Alchemist Lan was only at the early Great Perfected Immortal stage. How could he have escaped into the Black Pottery Forest Range on his own? People speculate that either a powerful demon beast took him away, or a human expert from the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain helped him escape into the forest."
"Alright, thank you," Lan Xiaobu said.
He planned to visit the Star Ascension Immortal Court first, then focus on his cultivation.
His goal was to break through to the Immortal King Realm as soon as possible.
Once he reached that level, he would leave the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain and return to his own immortal court.
The rules of the Lingwei Immortal Court restricted advancement to the Immortal King Realm, so after breaking through here, his first task upon returning would be to inspect the void teleportation gate.
"Senior, if you have time, you can go to the Mysterious Path Immortal City’s Contribution Hall and get a blank identity jade token. Wearing this token, you can accumulate Mysterious Profound Contribution Points by slaying demon beasts during the next beast tide. With these points, you can exchange for anything at the Contribution Hall," the Great Yi Immortal cultivator said gratefully, as Lan Xiaobu had saved his life.
After offering this advice, he bid farewell and left.
Lan Xiaobu entered the Mysterious Path Immortal City.
From the city’s dilapidated state, it was clear that the beast tide had once breached the city but had been repelled.
It seemed that during the earlier battles, the demon beasts had the upper hand.
However, as cultivator armies from the other four immortal domains gradually gathered, they managed to suppress the tide, forcing the demon beasts to retreat after each wave, leaving only their heads behind.
Wait, Lan Xiaobu paused.
Were the demon beasts idiots? They clearly knew they couldn’t win, yet they kept coming, essentially delivering their heads and providing humans with materials.
Why would they do that?
If he were in their position, there would only be one reason: to divert attention and create an opportunity to achieve their true goal.
Just like what he had done at the Xiaoqian Immortal Rest Pavilion, engaging in alchemy discussions to create a distraction and facilitate his escape.
The demon beasts couldn’t have any other purpose.
Their sole aim was to occupy the Mysterious Path Immortal City and advance into the immortal domains.
If they couldn’t win, why would they keep doing something so pointless?
Lan Xiaobu suddenly realized that during the previous beast tides, although there were many demon beasts, there were hardly any high-level immortal demon beasts.
Even eighth-level immortal demon beasts were rare.
Because there were so few high-level immortal demon beasts, he hadn’t seen many Immortal Venerables or Immortal Emperors taking action.
What if the next beast tide brought a swarm of eighth and ninth-level immortal demon beasts? Would the humans be caught off guard? That seemed unlikely.
The Mysterious Path Immortal City had stood for so long; they wouldn’t be unprepared.
Even if a large number of eighth and ninth-level immortal demon beasts came, the city could handle it.
But what if a tenth-level immortal demon beast suddenly appeared?
Lan Xiaobu thought of the leopard demon.
It had fought the semi-divine expert from Qingfang to a standstill, with both sides severely injured.
It was certain that even if the Qingfang expert recovered, they wouldn’t return to fight for the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain.
Or perhaps, the Qingfang expert was no longer in the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain.
If that were the case, wouldn’t the tenth-level immortal demon beast easily crush all the Immortal Emperors and Venerables? Once the Immortal Emperors and Venerables of the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain were wiped out, could the domain even survive?
Thinking this, Lan Xiaobu felt a chill run down his spine.
He was almost certain this was the case.
The constant beast tides were just a ploy to keep the cultivator armies from retreating.
When the leopard demon finally emerged, it could wipe them all out in one fell swoop.
Once the cultivator armies of the various immortal courts were destroyed, the demon beasts could invade the immortal domains, turning them into a living hell.
The Black Pottery Forest Range spanned hundreds of millions of miles, filled with countless treasures.
The leopard demon’s injuries must have healed by now, and it was likely biding its time.
Realizing this, Lan Xiaobu no longer had the desire to enter the Mysterious Path Immortal City.
He turned around and left the city, secretly setting up defensive and killing arrays in the distance.
He was now a peak eighth-level Immortal Array Master.
After spending over a decade breaking the restrictions of the True Spirit World, his array skills were on the verge of reaching the ninth-level Immortal Array Emperor stage.
However, because he needed to focus on his cultivation, he hadn’t pushed further in array studies.
Now, it seemed that his cultivation was too weak, and he needed to rely on his array skills to help.
The beast tide in the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain was something he could ignore.
Although he had inadvertently triggered it, given the demon beasts’ meticulous planning, Lan Xiaobu could guess that even without his involvement, the beast tide would have happened.
The root cause was the tenth-level leopard demon.
The reason for the beast tide was easy to understand.
The demon beast population was growing, and the Black Pottery Forest Range, vast as it was, couldn’t sustain the increasing number of demon beasts.
The only solution was to seize human territory and continue their expansion.
His appearance had merely been the spark.
Just like how, even without the Double Seven Incident, the invaders would have still attacked Huaxia.
At this point, Lan Xiaobu even began to suspect that the semi-divine expert from Qingfang wasn’t as foolish as he seemed.
Could someone who had cultivated beyond the Immortal Emperor level really be so clueless? Couldn’t they see that their aggressive attitude would only provoke the demon beasts? It was possible that the expert had deliberately incited the beast tide.
After all, they weren’t from the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain and could simply leave after causing chaos.
The semi-divine expert likely hadn’t expected that their actions would lead to the leopard demon severely injuring them.
Regardless, this situation had arisen because of him, and he couldn’t just leave the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain without a second thought.
He still had friends here.
The mountain of materials Lan Xiaobu had accumulated now came in handy.
Ten days later, he had constructed an eighth-level defensive array around the outskirts of the Mysterious Path Immortal City.
Twenty days later, he set up an eighth-level killing array.
When another wave of the beast tide arrived, Lan Xiaobu didn’t join the fight.
Instead, he continued to set up an eighth-level trapping and killing array.
With the help of the Cosmic Dimension Matrix, his array skills were on the verge of a breakthrough.
For some, breaking through from an eighth-level Immortal Array Master to a ninth-level Immortal Array Emperor could take tens of thousands of years or even longer.
Although Lan Xiaobu’s cultivation of the Longevity Art was impressive, it wasn’t powerful enough to achieve such a feat.
His only reliance was the Cosmic Dimension Matrix.
Every time he encountered a problem in advancing from an eighth-level Immortal Array Master to a ninth-level Immortal Array Emperor, the Cosmic Dimension Matrix would construct a new dimensional model for him.
Each time a solution was found, Lan Xiaobu’s array skills would improve by a level.
...
Outside the Mysterious Path Immortal City, in the temporary hall of the Star Ascension Immortal Court, the Star Ascension Immortal King, Teng Jilou, looked gravely at Teng Mo and an Immortal Venerable standing beside him.
"Starting tomorrow, Teng Mo, you will lead a portion of the immortal court’s cultivator army back to the Star Ascension Immortal Court. The Prime Minister will accompany you for protection. I’ve already invited Wu Jiong, an eighth-level Immortal Array Master from the Mysterious Profound Immortal Domain, to help us set up an eighth-level defensive array."
Teng Mo asked in confusion, "Father, our cultivator army hasn’t suffered any losses here. With each beast tide, we gain significant resources, and the army’s combat strength improves. Moreover, the beast tide is weakening, and we’re on the verge of completely suppressing it. If we leave now, won’t it give others an excuse to criticize us?"
(That’s all for today’s update.
Goodnight, friends!)
(End of Chapter)