Chapter 584 - 321: Star Sun Old Demon

For the moment, Bulan couldn’t pull his hand away.

Bulan was startled, then immediately understood his opponent’s intention.

’Trading injury for injury? Is he not afraid—’

His thought was cut short. Bulan quickly saw lightning flash across Lü Zhong’s body, heralding an imminent, terrifying burst of Tribulation Thunder.

The move was too ruthless for Bulan to react in time.

Helpless, he could only tap his left arm and abandon that part of himself. If he had taken the full force of the Tribulation Thunder, his soul would have been scattered to the winds.

CRACKLE!

Blinding lightning filled the area.

Amidst the flashes of light, a dark figure dodged away with a SWOOSH.

Bulan looked down at his body, which had suddenly grown several shades fainter. His gaze toward Lü Zhong was once again filled with fear and hatred, now laced with a new, vicious malice.

He had been severely wounded in that last exchange, a bitter price to pay.

Seeing that his method worked, Lü Zhong’s smile widened. He nonchalantly cast a Technique Mantra to seal his bleeding wound. Now that he had found a way to counter his opponent, the initiative was once again his. He then unleashed a volley of Palm Thunders, launching an assault on Bulan.

They clashed for dozens of rounds.

Bulan was forced to reaffirm one thing.

In a direct confrontation, his Shadow Demon Body was at a complete disadvantage against a Thunder Skill imbued with the aura of Tribulation Thunder. In fact, he was utterly suppressed. If this continued, his demise was only a matter of time.

Realizing this, Bulan, who was now in an impossible situation, had no choice but to use Instant Shadow Step again. Replicating his previous tactic, he appeared not far from Lü Zhong and lunged with his claw once more.

However, this time, Lü Zhong’s reaction again defied his expectations.

When there was still a distance of thirty feet between them, Lü Zhong glanced over coldly. His expression made it perfectly clear that he had not only spotted Bulan’s attack but was also completely certain of its trajectory.

’H-how is this possible!’ Bulan was horrified.

Lü Zhong gave a faint smile, not even waiting for Bulan’s attack to land.

"Thunder Descends!"

BOOM! Lightning once again filled the area.

This time, Bulan failed to dodge. The Tribulation Thunder slammed into his Shadow Demon Body, causing countless wisps of black smoke to erupt from him. Amidst screams that grew increasingly shrill, his figure rapidly faded.

When the lightning subsided, he was kneeling on the ground, charred black from head to toe.

’He’s still not dead after all that?’ Lü Zhong was inwardly shocked.

Still, he had achieved his goal.

The current Bulan had virtually no strength left to fight back. As long as Lü Zhong didn’t give him time, he wouldn’t be able to use the Heart-Loss Curse to recover his power.

There was no time to waste. Lü Zhong pointed forward with a Sword Gesture, and a golden light shot from his sleeve.

It was the Thunder-Attracting Needle.

Wreathed in roiling lightning, it transformed into Golden Threads that darted about, quickly shredding Bulan to pieces. With a final, sorrowful cry, he vanished without a trace.

Having slain such a formidable foe, Lü Zhong felt some of the tension leave him.

’It’s just a shame I couldn’t obtain the ancient secrets of Ascension, or... that Heart-Loss Curse.’

He glanced behind him. Wanmu and the other two, sensing the Heart-Loss Curse had vanished, shot off like arrows loosed from a bow, making a break for the nearest small door.

Evidently, they didn’t trust Lü Zhong.

The Cultivation Realm was a place where the strong preyed on the weak, a principle that Nascent Soul True Monarchs—who had risen from the ranks of countless cultivators—understood all too well. No one dared to gamble their life on another’s kindness when they were in a weakened state.

Lü Zhong could only feel helpless about this.

’The others can leave, but Wanmu... must stay!’

Right now, thanks to the Heart-Loss Curse, Wanmu had lost seventy to eighty percent of his strength. It was the perfect opportunity to eliminate him. If he missed it, he would be kicking himself for a long time.

Lü Zhong sneered. Ignoring his injured arm, he mobilized the over half of his Magical Power that he had consumed. His figure immediately began to flicker like a star. He crossed the distance of hundreds of yards in the blink of an eye.

He reached the small door just before Wanmu.

Seeing this, Wanmu could only let out a long sigh. His expression grew more forlorn as he said dejectedly, "Fellow Daoist Lü, we are both Southern Barbarian Cultivators. Must you be so ruthless? Considering that the path of cultivation is not easy, why don’t we make a deal? If you let me leave today, I, Wanmu, swear an oath right here that after we get out, I will merge Changchun Valley into the Bihai Sect!"

"Now that’s a novel proposal!" Lü Zhong glanced at him.

To say he wasn’t tempted would be impossible.

Doing so would allow him to absorb the entire heritage of Changchun Valley.

And that heritage was the most valuable part of any Sect.

However, the future trouble was also quite obvious. Without a trial by fire and steel, it is difficult to win true allegiance. In the million-year history of the Cultivation Realm, while extremely rare, there were still recorded instances of a Sect’s Daoist Lineage being absorbed by a powerful foe, only for the survivors to bide their time and eventually succeed in restoring their former glory.

’It’s merely a choice between an immediate gain and a long-term plan...’

Lü Zhong had already made his decision. He was decisive enough to abandon even the ancient secrets of Ascension, so making this choice was, by comparison, remarkably simple.

Seeing Lü Zhong’s expression grow cold, Wanmu knew what his decision was.

He considered self-destructing, but unfortunately, the Heart-Loss Curse had drained nearly all of his Magical Power. At this moment, Wanmu was completely spent; otherwise, he never would have proposed a deal.

A few breaths later, another Nascent Soul Cultivator fell.

Staring at the dissipating Spiritual Light in his palm, Lü Zhong felt a brief sense of disbelief.

In just a few days, he had managed to slay all of Changchun Valley’s Nascent Soul cultivators. This meant the landscape of the Southern Barbarian lands was about to shift dramatically. The once-invincible Changchun Valley would be replaced by the Bihai Sect.

At that moment, a streak of light shot over.

Shuini arrived, her face wreathed in smiles. She cupped her hands and said, "Congratulations!"

Her words were sincere.

Nothing more needed to be said.

Lü Zhong was looking at the Storage Ring he had taken from Wanmu. He pulled out a Changchun Valley Supreme Elder’s token and gazed at the forceful, elegant characters inscribed upon it. "I still can’t believe it," he said with a wry smile. "To think the goal of replacing Changchun Valley was achieved so quickly."

In his original estimations, it should have taken at least several hundred years of plotting.

But now, all it took was one trip to the Ten Thousand Witches Hall.

"Truly... life is unpredictable!"

He couldn’t help but marvel.

...

Seeing that Bulan was dead and there were no other cultivators around,

Lü Zhong simply sat down cross-legged. After letting Shuini know, he closed his eyes and began to heal his injured arm. But after only a moment, his eyelids twitched, and he opened them with a sigh.

"That claw attack from Bulan was truly something else!"

With his current strength, he was completely unable to expel the residual power lingering in his arm. He could only seal it for the time being and slowly wear it away. That would take at least a hundred years. Only after exhausting that incredibly tenacious power, which clung to him like maggots to a bone, could he take a Panacea to heal the injury.

’Oh well. I’ll just consider it a necessary price to pay on the road to success!’

With this thought, Lü Zhong stood up.

His right arm was the one injured, and he had always favored his left. This meant he could no longer use both hands for Casting. For a Magic Cultivator, his combat strength would undoubtedly be significantly impaired.

’Looks like I’ll have to keep a low profile from now on.’

Then again, Lü Zhong reflected, he had just killed two Nascent Soul cultivators back-to-back. He feared that from this day on, keeping a low profile in the Southern Barbarian lands would be impossible, even if he wanted to.

He might even earn the moniker "Old Demon."

While this torrent of thoughts rushed through his mind, only a brief moment had passed in the outside world.

Just then, the passageway began to tremble violently. Then, figures appeared one after another—not only Nan Cang of the Daoist Sect and Elder Yun Yan’s group, but also Zhuyuan’s bedraggled party. Furthermore, the Nascent Soul cultivators whose origins had previously been unknown were all teleported out as well.

"What’s going on?" someone asked.

But no one had a clue.

They all just looked at one another, none of them able to explain what was happening.

"Look!" someone shouted.

Lü Zhong followed their pointing finger and was stunned to discover that the entire passageway was collapsing. The small doors that had lined both sides were now all plunging into darkness.

At the same time, a terrifying, heart-stopping aura emerged from within the darkness.