Chapter Eighty-Nine: Nothing More Than Starting Over Again

The Valley of Buried Immortals was one of the seven great forbidden lands of the Four Continents.

The Valley of Heaven’s Chosen also held one of those seven places, but its danger could be avoided. So long as one did not appear in Celestial River City on the Night of the Spirits, nothing untoward would happen.

For that reason, the Valley of Heaven’s Chosen was also the least perilous of the forbidden lands.

The other six, however, whether the Valley of Buried Immortals or the Land of Thunder Marsh, were places that made countless people pale at the mere mention of them.

The Valley of Buried Immortals, in particular, had once swallowed even cultivators above the Integration Realm, never to return. The few who had merely wandered along its outer edge and somehow escaped not only gained nothing, but had their bodies grievously damaged.

From then on, innumerable cultivators kept their distance from the Valley of Buried Immortals, and for many years no one had dared to explore it again.

It lay in the southwest of Western Kun Continent, vast beyond measure, taking up nearly one-sixth of the continent’s land.

All year round, the valley was shrouded in layer upon layer of thick golden mist. Even standing outside the valley, one could feel the dense metal-attribute spiritual energy within it.

Yet no one dared come here to absorb that spiritual energy. Every person who tried would find their flesh rotting away, in a state much like those cultivators who entered the valley itself—only less severe.

Thus, the golden mist came to be known as poisonous mist.

But Xu Zhe knew very well that this mist was called Primordial Yang Golden Mist, a priceless treasure for tempering the body, long since extinct in the Skyheaven Domain.

Originally, he had planned to wait until he reached the Golden Core stage, then break through to the Overlord Body Realm in his best condition and come here to seclude himself for body tempering. He had never expected he would have to enter ahead of schedule.

The Mo family’s experts were already in pursuit from behind.

Several elder clansmen above the Integration Realm radiated killing intent.

And Mo family head Mo Shanhai, in particular, was surging with a ferocious aura, roaring all the way as he came.

“Xu Zhe, you beast! You killed my daughter and slaughtered tens of thousands of my Mo family’s people. I will have you pay in blood.”

His roar shook heaven and earth.

Xu Zhe stopped before the valley entrance and glanced back, then said calmly, “Mo Shanhai, your daughter got what she deserved. Your Mo family aided tyranny and evil; you too deserved death. When you killed Zhu Chongli and exterminated the Taiyi Sect, did you ever imagine your own clan would one day be wiped out as well?”

“So what if we did? Zhu Chongli was nothing but a pawn on the board of your so-called prodigies. My daughter was merely misled by others. Even if she was in the wrong, it is not for you to kill her. As for the tens of thousands of my Mo family’s people, how could they possibly be compared with the few dozen antlike lives of the Taiyi Sect?”

Mo Shanhai was consumed by rage, his heart bleeding.

His only beloved daughter of many years had died at Xu Zhe’s hands, and the Mo family, with its hundreds of thousands of years of inheritance, had been brought to the brink of ruin by him.

“A board between prodigies? Who is playing whom, exactly?” Xu Zhe asked.

“Once I have flayed you alive and drawn out your tendons, I will tell you,” Mo Shanhai said, quickening his pace as his killing aura surged like a flood, carrying him into the barren region outside the Valley of Buried Immortals.

“When will this cycle of vengeance ever end?”

Looking at Mo Shanhai’s frenzied state, Xu Zhe let out a faint sigh.

How much this resembled his former self.

Mo Xiaolian had killed Zhu Chongli and destroyed the Taiyi Sect; then he had killed Mo Xiaolian. Now Mo Shanhai had come to hunt him down. If he truly were killed, then next it would probably be Chu Xiaotong’s turn to kill Mo Shanhai.

One revenge for another—when would it ever be finished?

“Forget it. When I return from the Valley of Buried Immortals, I’ll simply wipe out your entire Mo family and end this feud. That will spare you all from having to survive in humiliation and resentment.”

After saying this, Xu Zhe leapt forward and swept toward the valley entrance, vanishing into the vast golden mist.

“Xu Zhe, get out here!”

Within moments, Mo Shanhai and the others arrived as well, landing before the entrance with faces full of unwilling fury.

Their roars rang out in all directions, echoing ceaselessly through the mountains.

Xu Zhe heard them after rushing into the Valley of Buried Immortals, but paid no heed.

He did not venture too deep, stopping instead in the outer region where the Primordial Yang Golden Mist was somewhat thinner.

At this level, the mist was still barely bearable for him in his half-step Overlord Body state.

However, after his Golden Core shattered, his realm and cultivation had been utterly ruined. He could now only rely on absorbing spiritual energy to temporarily remain at the Foundation Establishment stage.

Yet that was of no use. He would still need to disperse the spiritual energy within him and begin anew.

“Then so be it. Though my Golden Core is shattered, the consummated Five-Element Heavenly Spirit Root remains entirely unharmed. That is my greatest foundation. And with such boundless Primordial Yang Golden Mist here, perhaps this time, when I reshape my Golden Core, I will have a great chance to condense a Heavenly Core.”

At this thought, Xu Zhe’s face lit with a smile.

In the Skyheaven Domain, Golden Cores were divided into six grades: fifth-grade, fourth-grade, third-grade, second-grade, first-grade, and beyond them, the supreme Heavenly-grade Golden Core known as the Heavenly Core.

Fifth-grade Golden Cores were the most common; with enough pills, one could forcibly condense one.

Fourth-grade and third-grade Golden Cores required the support of superior natural treasures.

A second-grade Golden Core could only be condensed by those with exceptionally fine spiritual-root talent.

As for first-grade Golden Cores, they were already as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns throughout the entire Skyheaven Domain.

Xu Zhe had previously relied on an ultimate Five-Element Heavenly Spirit Root, together with the methods of the Righteousness Seals Demons Scripture, to fuse five cores into one and finally condense a first-grade Golden Core.

But according to the records of the Skyheaven Domain, above the first-grade Golden Core there was a Heavenly-grade Golden Core, revered as the Heavenly Core.

It was a grade that transcended ordinary Golden Cores. One needed not only a talent more outstanding than that of a first-grade Golden Core wielder, but also a fusion with the body tempering realm, and the aid of heaven and earth’s primordial yang, before there could even be a chance of condensing a Heavenly Core.

Back when the Primordial Yang Golden Mist had not yet gone extinct, countless generations of geniuses in the Skyheaven Domain had tried, only to fail in the end. Worse still, the erosion of the Primordial Yang Golden Mist caused their efforts to result in no more than a second-grade Golden Core.

Xu Zhe had formerly walked the path of five cores into one, and had already condensed both an earth core and a wood core.

So when he learned that the Valley of Buried Immortals contained Primordial Yang Golden Mist, he had not even thought of trying to condense a Heavenly Core.

After all, five cores fused into one would definitely produce a first-grade Golden Core.

If he were to condense a Heavenly Core, he would need to change his cultivation method, shatter the earth and wood cores he had already formed, and if the attempt failed in the end, he would instead be backlashed and corroded by the Primordial Yang Golden Mist, left with only a second-grade Golden Core.

For the Xu Zhe of that time, it would have been a losing bargain, and unnecessary besides.

But now his Golden Core had shattered, and he possessed a complete ultimate Five-Element Heavenly Spirit Root. He wanted, then, to test just how difficult the legendary Heavenly Core truly was.

If he succeeded, he would also learn how much stronger it was than a first-grade Golden Core.

Yet this round would still depend, to a great extent, on luck.

Either he would become a Heavenly Core cultivator, unmatched through the ages.

Or he would become a second-grade Golden Core, common enough to be found in heaps throughout history.

Xu Zhe opened his spiritual sense and swept it across the surroundings. He was still in the outer region of the Valley of Buried Immortals.

The Primordial Yang Golden Mist was relatively thin here, and could not corrode him at this level.

After confirming this, he sat down cross-legged on the spot and began dispersing the spiritual energy within his body.

His cultivation swiftly declined, falling from Foundation Establishment back to Qi Refinement, then from Qi Refinement to a mortal.

“Starting over, that’s all.”

After letting out a soft breath, Xu Zhe began circulating the Qi Refinement chapter of the Righteousness Seals Demons Scripture.

Every pore in his body opened wide, drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth around him, while also absorbing the thin veil of Primordial Yang Golden Mist into himself.

Sizzle.

Once the Primordial Yang Golden Mist entered his body, it traveled through his veins and meridians of every size, constantly corroding the inner walls.

But Xu Zhe’s flesh and meridians had long since been tempered.

At half-step Overlord Body Realm, he had no fear of it at all. On the contrary, he began to devour the Primordial Yang Golden Mist, and from meridians to acupoints, little by little, he transformed without pause.

A day later, the meridians within Xu Zhe’s body were already draped in a thin film of gold, and spiritual energy filled his dantian palace as well, instantly bringing him to the peak of Qi Refinement.

“Quite smooth.”

He smiled faintly, rose to his feet, and began walking forward, from the outermost region toward the center.

Only when he felt the surrounding Primordial Yang Golden Mist grow denser did Xu Zhe stop at once.

Then he sat down cross-legged once more and began circulating the Foundation Establishment chapter of the Righteousness Seals Demons Scripture.

In the same manner, he started absorbing the spiritual energy saturated with Primordial Yang Golden Mist.

...

Meanwhile, the world outside the Valley of Buried Immortals was already in an uproar.

Almost every cultivator across the Four Continents knew that Xu Zhe had leveled the Mo family and slaughtered tens of thousands of its clansmen.

The Mo family had once been one of the overlords of Western Kun Continent, with more than a hundred thousand years of inheritance and a foundation as deep as any.

Yet after Xu Zhe dropped one magical seal upon them, nearly all of it was gone.

Only Mo family head Mo Shanhai and a few generations of elder clansmen remained in miserable survival, and this made countless people sigh in lament.

Though there was a large part of it that came down to the Mo family underestimating their foe.

After all, no one had imagined that Xu Zhe would possess such a terrifying magical seal, much less that he could activate it—and by detonating his Golden Core to do so, at that.

In truth, this could hardly be blamed on the Mo family being too weak. They had simply been too unlucky.

But precisely because of this example, all the powers of the Four Continents began to grow wary. Overnight, they activated their defensive formations, lest one day they follow in the Mo family’s footsteps.

Among the cultivators of the Four Continents, whether gathering with friends to discuss matters or speaking on the spiritual network, nearly every topic revolved around Xu Zhe.

The top three spiritual-network searches were: “Why is Xu the Heaven’s Chosen so strong?” “Where did the two magical treasures on his person come from?” and “What kind of being stands behind Xu the Heaven’s Chosen?”

The fourth was also somewhat related to Xu Zhe, but the focus was Chu Xiaotong.

“War God Chu leads ten million Vermilion Bird troops to the border of Western Kun Continent; the Western Kun feather-army urgently withdraws from the frontier battlefield and rushes to the border between the two continents.”

Previously, when Chu Xiaotong had gone to the Stone Flame Secret Realm in Eastern Qian Continent to bring Xu Zhe away, she had also caused quite a commotion.

But that time she had only brought a small Vermilion Bird squad.

This time, however, she had gone all out, directly leading ten million Vermilion Bird troops, even abandoning the frontier battlefield of Southern Heaven Continent and pressing her army straight to the border of Western Kun Continent.

That startled everyone, and all believed that war was about to break out among the four continents.

Within the Four-Continent Council, tempers flared from top to bottom.

After several days of meetings, and with the secret maneuvering of Chu Xiaotong’s master, they finally passed a decision extremely unfavorable to the Mo family.

On the day after the decision was announced, a large number of experts above the Integration Realm entered Western Kun Continent.

Mo Shanhai and the others, who had originally planned to hold fast at the exit of the Valley of Buried Immortals, were suddenly and forcibly taken away.

The condition for Chu Xiaotong’s withdrawal was that Mo Shanhai’s group leave Western Kun Continent. She would also personally lead one hundred thousand troops to guard the valley entrance, and only after receiving Xu Zhe would she leave.

By rights, the Four-Continent Council could never have approved such a condition.

But this time the Mo family was badly weakened and had lost much of its power, while Northern Land Continent had also switched sides midway, apparently because some bald elder had caught them by the handle and threatened them, causing them to cast an abstention vote.

As a result, Mo Shanhai and the others were directly driven out of Western Kun Continent, and at the very least, before Xu Zhe left, they could not return.

Mo Shanhai was so enraged that he spat blood on the spot, suffering severe internal injuries.

In the end, under the supervision of the Four-Continent Council, several Mo family elder clansmen returned to the ruins of the Mo family residence, took away the ancestral tablets of their forebears through the generations, and then departed Western Kun Continent.

Of course, Chu Xiaotong’s demand to personally lead one hundred thousand Vermilion Bird troops to guard the exit of the Valley of Buried Immortals was still rejected.

Even though her master was the council chairman, he still could not truly rule the Four-Continent Council with an iron hand.

If such a precedent were set, then in the future the Four Continents would no longer be able to restrain one another. It might well transform from covert sabotage and mutual checks into open war and mass slaughter.

In the end, Chu Xiaotong still withdrew her forces, while Luo Yangyun once again hired a batch of assassin experts to guard the valley entrance.

After some calculation, Luo Yangyun even signed membership cards with both the “Godstartle” organization and the Blood-Robed Tower.

...

Several days later, within the Valley of Buried Immortals.

Xu Zhe still sat motionless in place. His originally pale, bloodless face had become somewhat ruddy.

All the meridians and acupoints within his body, after several days of tempering by the Primordial Yang Golden Mist, had become resplendent with golden light.

His dantian palace was likewise brimming with spiritual energy, having condensed into a vast, thick cloud of spiritual force tinted with a faint gold, and faint arcs of lightning occasionally flashed through it.

“Strange.”

Xu Zhe opened his eyes, a trace of puzzlement in them.

He had long since noticed that thread of lightning. It had begun to appear after he entered the Foundation Establishment stage, and as he neared perfection in that realm, the lightning arcs grew ever denser.

This seemed to be an effect brought about by the Righteousness Seals Demons Scripture, yet when he had previously advanced through Foundation Establishment, such a phenomenon had not appeared at all.

“Could it be that absorbing Primordial Yang Golden Mist to build the foundation, and then condensing a Heavenly Core, is the true path for cultivating the Righteousness Seals Demons Scripture?”

Xu Zhe was slightly taken aback.

He could clearly feel that within the spiritual energy in his dantian palace, there was now, far beyond what had existed during his previous Foundation Establishment, a powerful explosive force. And under the augmentation of those lightning arcs, the upright and righteous energy transformed from that spiritual force became even more awe-inspiringly righteous.

Most importantly, he himself now looked even more proper and aboveboard.

...