Chapter 310: What Did He Say?

The Demonic Heart Painting hung on the wall.

Void Sage and Bai Su sat in the main hall, cultivating in a peculiar, cyclical manner. This was Void Sage’s unique Demonic Heart Art. With Bai Su as his Dao Companion, his technique was destined to diverge from Chen Luo’s.

Huang Ying and three Elders were also present, cultivating within the hall.

Since the Ghost Temple’s rampage, all remaining Immortal Cultivators—except those who had abandoned the sect—now cultivated together. This arrangement prevented the Ghost Temple from targeting them individually, allowing Void Sage to swiftly rescue anyone in danger.

This wasn’t limited to the God Lake Immortal Sect.

The Corpse-Raising Sect and Nine Poisons Valley followed similar practices, with Elders and Sect Leaders cultivating together to support each other in emergencies. If not for the fundamental differences in the Three Sects’ cultivation techniques, which created interference during practice, they would have merged long ago.

Suddenly, Void Sage, seated on the main platform, frowned.

He had just sensed an unfamiliar presence on Pharmaceutical King Peak, just beside them.

“Check if Xiao Luo has emerged from his seclusion.”

“Yes, Master.”

Huang Ying immediately rose and hurried toward Chen Luo’s secluded Cultivation Chamber. Though unaware of the specifics, she trusted the Sect Leader’s judgment. Without his guidance during the Ghost Temple’s relentless assaults, none of them would have survived.

“Senior Brother.”

“I know.”

The door to the Cultivation Chamber opened, and Chen Luo stepped out.

He looked exactly as before, unchanged. Dressed in a flowing azure robe with his hair neatly tied back, he resembled an immortal from a painting. Huang Ying paused momentarily, then quickly suppressed her emotions.

The two walked to the main hall, one behind the other.

“Something’s wrong on Pharmaceutical King Peak,” Void Sage announced as Chen Luo entered.

“I know.”

Unlike Void Sage, Chen Luo possessed an exceptionally powerful Divine Sense. While the Ghost Temple’s methods were subtle, they could only deceive ordinary Core Formation cultivators in the Seven Kingdoms Region. Their so-called “Veil of Heaven” wasn’t flawless; several of Chen Luo’s External Brains had already detected anomalies. The Demonic Heart Ancestor and the Mummified Brain had even devised dozens of countermeasures. However, Chen Luo had been preoccupied with absorbing the power of the Heavenly Tribulation and hadn’t had the bandwidth to address them. Now that he had fully assimilated the power, he was ready to properly settle accounts with his old acquaintance from the Ghost Temple.

Gu Demon Khan Jiu’s corpse must be retrieved.

The Spring-Autumn Gu was irrelevant; what mattered most was preventing his Old Brother from being left to rot in the wilderness.

“Have you ever encountered Xue Ning, the Ghost Cultivator from the Demonic Cultivation Realm?” Void Sage asked, noticing Chen Luo’s response.

“We met briefly once,” Chen Luo replied.

He remembered her vividly.

During their earlier plot with Lady Bai Gu to acquire the Rakshasa Bone, they had invited several Foundation Establishment cultivators. Among them, Gu Demon Khan Jiu stood out most prominently. This “Old Brother” had essentially invested heavily in Chen Luo’s cultivation journey. The explosive “Spring-Autumn Gu” he unleashed before his death remained a vivid memory, and Chen Luo still pondered it.

Next came Old Demon Fang, skilled in Transformation Techniques. Expelled from an ancient sect for his wicked heart, he had later been slain by Chen Luo, his severed head still in Chen Luo’s possession.

But Xue Ning was the most enigmatic.

She had appeared already as a formidable Late Foundation Establishment expert, causing even the arrogantly powerful Old Demon Fang to feel wary. Later, she had led them to the Ghost Temple in Roshana. When they fled, Xue Ning had already joined the Ghost Temple and unleashed a colossal entity, awakening the Yin Soul of the Coffin-Bearing Old Man.

That experience had revealed a flaw in Chen Luo’s methods of burying corpses. From then on, soul collection became a mandatory step in his burial rituals.

“Junior Brother, your words grow increasingly bold,” Bai Su said with a smile. “I wonder what your current cultivation level is?”

She and Void Sage owed their current positions to Chen Luo’s help. Regardless of his cultivation level, she would always see him as the junior brother she had collaborated with.

Hearing Bai Su’s question, all eyes in the hall turned to Chen Luo.

Huang Ying looked anxious. The enemy they faced this time was formidable, and if Senior Brother still relied solely on the Silver Carapace Corpse King, he might struggle. Ding Xiaoxia and several other disciples also watched with curiosity.

Before Chen Luo could answer, three figures came hurtling through the air. The first, Mo Wenjian, crashed violently into the door, tumbling into the hall with the woman he was carrying rolling onto the floor beside him. His aura still surged with exertion from his desperate flight from Pharmaceutical King Peak.

Thud!

The two Elders following close behind also landed heavily. The last one hit the ground with a livid expression, shuddered twice, and then lay still.

“Reverend Void Sage!” Mo Wenjian gasped, “Ghost Temple heretics have invaded Pharmaceutical King Peak, and the Valley Master is already engaged in battle! Please send reinforcements immediately!”

A single step made all the difference, separating life from death.

“So fast?” Void Sage rose abruptly, a surge of spiritual energy flowing from his palm to dispel the lingering shockwave from the newcomers’ arrival. He helped the woman who had fallen to the ground to her feet.

Clang!

Before Void Sage could react, a sudden crash echoed from outside. The flagpole atop Wu Dao Peak snapped in half, sending the incense cauldron, filled with bamboo-scented ash, crashing to the ground and scattering a cloud of dust. A moment later, a severed head thudded against the door.

An eerie, malevolent aura seeped in from outside. The head’s eye sockets were hollow, its eyes glowing with spectral flames, and its jaw clicked open and shut, emitting a grotesque, mocking laugh.

Heh heh heh…

“The Zombie Cult Leader?!”

Recognition flashed across their faces. This was a renowned Core Formation Ancestor who had shaken the Seven Kingdoms, one of the most powerful cultivators in the region. Yet here he was, murdered and his head transformed into this macabre artifact.

Chen Luo stepped forward, his Core Formation cultivator’s aura radiating outward, instantly dispelling the sinister energy surrounding the head. With pinpoint accuracy, he pressed his right hand against the Zombie Cult Leader’s skull.

A head delivered right to his doorstep? It would be rude not to refuse.

After the familiar interface disappeared, Chen Luo collected the Zombie Cult Leader’s head, adding another Core Formation cultivator’s brain to his collection. Unlike the mummified brains he had previously acquired, this head contained numerous fragments of the Corpse-Raising Sect’s legacy, further refining Chen Luo’s already exceptional corpse cultivation techniques. The Black Carapace Daoist and the Coffin-Bearing Old Man, once hailed as geniuses in this field, were now relegated to Chen Luo’s second and third most skilled subordinates in corpse cultivation.

“Hmm?”

A voice drifted in from outside, followed by the tinkling of bells.

An even stronger surge of malevolent energy swept into the hall. This time, Chen Luo suppressed it with a single hand, distorting the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi the intruder had borrowed and forcing it back upon them.

Boom!

A muffled explosion echoed from outside, instantly silencing all other noises.

Only then did the others in the hall realize what had happened.

A Core Formation cultivator!

No further explanation was needed. Chen Luo’s single move had demonstrated his strength beyond doubt. Yet, despite knowing it intellectually, witnessing it firsthand still felt unbelievable.

This was the first major bottleneck on the Immortal Path.

The Core Formation Realm, attainable only by enduring a Heavenly Tribulation, boasted a mere three cultivators across the vast Seven Kingdoms Region. This alone underscored the esteemed status of Core Formation cultivators. Chen Luo, who had joined the sect a mere four or five decades ago, had ascended from the Qi Refining to the Foundation Establishment Realm in such a short time—a feat that defied explanation by mere genius. Clearly, he possessed extraordinary fortune.

“Senior Chen?!”

Mo Wenjian finally snapped out of his daze, staring at Chen Luo, who stood in the arena, blocking the encroaching miasma of the Ghost Temple with a single hand. When he clearly recognized Chen Luo’s features, Mo Wenjian froze completely.

Memories of their Foundation Establishment duel, when he had rashly made a ‘promise,’ flooded back, filling him with acute embarrassment.

Instead of closing the gap between their cultivation levels, the passage of time had only widened the chasm.

Bang!

A force swept in from outside, shattering the already precarious wooden door and sending it crashing inward. A wave of thick gray mist billowed into the chamber.

“Joining the Ghost Temple… wouldn’t that be wise?”

A faint, ethereal voice echoed through the grand hall, causing everyone to rise to their feet, their faces hardening with vigilance. Strangely, no one had entered.

“Xue Ning!” Mo Wenjian roared furiously. “Where’s our Sect Master? What have you done to him?”

But no one answered.

Chen Luo turned to face an empty space.

Left.

The Demonic Heart Ancestor’s External Brain promptly supplied the word.

Chen Luo strode toward the indicated spot. Void Sage sensed the shift in energy as well, though unlike Chen Luo, he couldn’t see the intruders clearly, only vaguely perceiving their movements.

“All of you must join the Ghost Temple. This is the Founding Ancestor’s reward for you.”

The eerie voice reverberated through the hall. Noticing Chen Luo’s gaze, the two shadows froze, their curiosity piqued. Could this person see them? But who was he? The Ghost Temple’s records contained no mention of such an individual.

“You dare show up here with only two people?” Chen Luo suddenly asked.

The two Ghost Temple heretics were stunned. After years of terrorizing the Seven Kingdoms Region, they had never encountered such a question.

“You are…”

Buzz!

In an instant, the two bewildered Ghost Cultivators felt their vision darken. The air around them solidified, and the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi within the grand hall seemed to come alive, compressing into a colossal palm that gripped them tightly. A deafening sonic boom shattered the air.

A fist, radiating with strange Bone Patterns and crackling with black-purple lightning, slammed brutally into the left cultivator’s head.

“Your divine abilities are useless against us Ghost Cultivators—”

Boom!

The cultivator on the right hadn’t even finished speaking when a dull thud echoed through the hall. The incoming fist, now covered in strange Bone Patterns interwoven with crackling black-purple lightning, smashed into the left cultivator’s empty eye socket. The two bizarre forces collided head-on, unleashing a deafening explosion.

A circular shockwave erupted, and everyone in the hall heard the unmistakable sound of tearing fabric.

The speaking cultivator’s head detonated instantly, splattering grayish-white fragments across the floor. His headless body, propelled by the shockwave, hurtled sideways. The cultivator on the left finally reacted, a flicker of terror in his eyes as he instinctively tried to speak.

“What did he just say?”

A searing palm, crackling with lightning, clamped down on his throat.