Demon Cultivator with Celestial Book

Chapter 351: Chapter 249: Whose World-Shaking Fortune, This Venerable One Grants All Requests

"You’ve always been wary of this old slave, desperate to summon a divine being from beyond the heavens, even willing to offer yourself as a sacrifice."

"Your claims that the Zhixuan Treasure Map was well-hidden were just a stopgap measure to placate me."

Yao Yun staggered back, nearly falling. Looking terrified, she said in a pitiful voice:

"Eunuch Chen, you misunderstand. It’s just that whenever I think of my father the Emperor and my mother the Empress dying, the imperial clan of the Great Enterprise annihilated, and the throne changing hands, I am filled with a deep hatred for Liyang... As long as I can avenge this blood feud, I would not hesitate to give up this wretched life of mine!"

A cold glint shone in Chen Jin’s eyes, but he didn’t move closer.

"The Princess is still feigning innocence. You carry a hidden weapon, the Pear Blossom Storm Needles, capable of killing a Meridian Unblocking expert!

Aren’t you curious, Princess, how this old slave came to know all this?

For years, I’ve hidden my identity, even castrating myself to become a eunuch, all for the Zhixuan Treasure Map. The four great divine techniques of the world all originate from the legendary Zhixuan Temple!

With this map, I’ll have the chance to become a Spirit Refinement Grandmaster, invincible in all the world..."

The more Yao Yun listened, the colder her heart grew. How could this old dog Chen Jin know such secrets so clearly?

"Your precious little brother, Princess, the young prince who escaped the capital with you—he couldn’t withstand this old slave’s Ten Absolutes Essence-Locking Needles. He confessed everything."

A savage light erupted in Chen Jin’s eyes as he stared intently at Yao Yun.

Upon learning that her thirteen-year-old brother hadn’t been killed by soldiers Wu Changgui sent in pursuit, but had been captured instead, her expression went blank for a moment.

Seizing the opportunity, Chen Jin abruptly circulated his energy. His great sleeves spread open like a night owl swooping down on its prey.

Two withered, chicken-like hands shot out, grabbing for Yao Yun in a flash.

"Villain! Give me back my brother’s life!"

Enraged, Yao Yun unleashed the Pear Blossom Storm Needles. A cloud of dark light, ethereal as mist, descended upon him.

"Haha!"

Chen Jin laughed maniacally, as if his cunning plan had succeeded. He abruptly twisted his body in mid-air, shedding his wide black robe like a cicada sheds its shell.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

The Pear Blossom Storm Needles all struck the robe, which was infused with his inner breath. Only a few pierced through, but they posed no threat to Chen Jin.

"I knew you had this trick up your sleeve. Did you think I wouldn’t be prepared?"

Chen Jin retreated, his figure like a specter, dodging the storm of needles, each one as fine as an ox’s hair.

This weapon was imbued with stellar magnetic force. Upon contact with flesh, it would burrow into the pores, deep into the marrow, and release a potent poison.

Unless one reached the Divine Transformation Realm, where the body is flawless and one has minute control over their entire skeleton and organs, they could not remain unaffected.

"Without the Pear Blossom Storm Needles to protect you, does the Princess still wish to fight like a cornered beast?"

Chen Jin closed in step by step, his words like knives:

"This old slave is at least showing you some mercy out of our past connection. Otherwise, I could sell you to a brothel, or offer you to King Wu to be imprisoned as his plaything... Such a miserable end would be a fate worse than death!

Princess, hand over the Zhixuan Treasure Map, and this old slave guarantees you a way out. You can live out your days in peace and anonymity."

Yao Yun bit her lip, despair in her eyes. She had finally escaped her hellish prison, only to fall into the hands of this scoundrel, Chen Jin.

For days on end, she had been chanting and praying, offering her blood Essence to summon the divine being from beyond the heavens. She was already physically and mentally exhausted, on the verge of collapse.

Furthermore, this beast Chen Jin was clearly at the "Inner Fortification" stage, one of the twelve Mortal Transformations. His organs were as tough as iron plates, and his stamina was vast, allowing him to move as fast as a galloping horse.

Yao Yun was merely at the Inner Breath stage, the fourth Mortal Transformation. How could she possibly escape the grasp of Chen Jin, an expert at the seventh transformation?

’Could it be that the heavens truly wish to see my Great Enterprise perish...’

Yao Yun’s resolve hardened. Rather than live a wretched life under Chen Jin’s control, she would rather seek death and be reunited with her imperial father and mother!

Without hesitation, she bit off her tongue, spitting the severed piece along with a mouthful of foul blood onto Chen Jin’s face!

"You slut! How dare you!"

Chen Jin was livid. He had paid such a heavy price, willingly debasing himself as a servant, a eunuch, all for the Zhixuan Treasure Map.

If he could obtain a divine technique from it, he might have a chance to reach the twelfth transformation, Spirit Refinement. At that point, restoring his manhood wouldn’t be difficult.

He even had a hidden motive: to take Yao Yun’s body afterward and have the nineteenth princess of the Great Enterprise bear him an heir.

Chen Jin moved like a flash of lightning, raising a hand to seize Yao Yun by the neck, holding her like a baby chick.

He didn’t loosen his grip until she was on the verge of suffocating, then tossed her aside.

"Trying to bite off your tongue and kill yourself? I have ways to keep you alive... If you dare to die, I’ll strip you naked and hang your body from the city walls!"

Two streams of tears slid down Yao Yun’s face. With half her tongue gone, blood gushed out, filling her mouth.

Chen Jin saw her lips parting and closing slightly, as if she were trying to say something. Even with half her tongue, she could still mumble a few words.

So, Chen Jin leaned in to listen closely and heard a few phrases repeated over and over:

"Pity the people of this world, for their suffering is great... I beseech the Calamity Child to descend!"

Chen Jin sneered.

"The divine beings from beyond the heavens haven’t appeared in centuries. What makes you think you can summon one..."

BOOM!

Before he could finish his sentence, a sudden clap of thunder exploded!

A serpent of lightning as thick as a mountain peak tore through the night sky, startling crows into frantic flight.

Chen Jin was startled for a moment, then sneered.

"We cultivators are not afraid of mere thunder!"

He strode toward Yao Yun, who he had thrown aside. Even a man of iron would have to submit to the Ten Absolutes Essence-Locking Needles.

A look of shock suddenly appeared on Yao Yun’s numb little face, then transformed into ecstatic joy, like a devout believer seeing a living god or Buddha.

Chen Jin scoffed.

"Still trying to trick me? This is a mass grave in the middle of nowhere. Who else could possibly be here!"

"Not necessarily."

The two words drifted on the cold wind to Chen Jin’s ears.

His expression stiffened. He froze in place, not daring to turn around.

At the seventh transformation, Inner Fortification, his seven apertures were open and his five senses were astonishingly sharp. He could sense the autumn wind before the cicada. It should have been absolutely impossible for someone to sneak up behind him!

"So this is the mortal realm?"

Jiang Yi’s entire body emanated an endless radiance, as if bathed in brilliant lightning. His form was diffuse and his face blurry, making him look like a divine being.

According to True Master Xuanmiao, [Jukuzhou] was a greater world where the ancient Demon Dao had survived, flourished, and spread for tens of thousands of years.

Apart from the absence of the supreme Daoist Lineage’s Golden Positions, its circumstances were not much different from the Yanfu Vast Land.

Jiang Yi had been carried here by that brilliant gold Talisman Decree, which had broken through the world’s membrane. Following the threads of "karma" in the unseen world, he had eventually arrived at this place.

His gaze passed over Chen Jin, whose heart was turning to ice, and rested for a moment on Yao Yun’s utterly wretched face.

’The karmic link this time is tied to her.’

Jiang Yi’s eyes flashed. The Talisman Decree he had obtained from the Hongshui Dharma Assembly had been forged by a True Monarch Level being using Great Magical Power, specifically to open a path to [Jukuzhou].

Each Talisman Decree formed a karmic bond with a living being in [Jukuzhou]. This was the source of the various prayers and pleas he had heard earlier.

’Cultivators from the Yanfu Vast Land are known as "Extramundane Calamity Seeds," so we are naturally unwelcome in other greater worlds.’

’So is that why we must use this method, to avoid suppression from the "Heavenly Will"?’

Jiang Yi focused his senses. He felt his entire body being firmly suppressed by some immense Qi Mechanism, preventing him from fully extending his True Qi and Magical Power.

An ordinary Qi Cultivation practitioner might not feel it deeply, but with the gaze of [Shao Yang] upon him, two words appeared clearly in his mind.

Heavenly Will!

’A greater world has a spirit? And its name is "Heaven"? In the Yanfu Vast Land, I’ve often heard True Masters and True Monarchs mention the "Celestial Lord." I wonder what the difference is between the two?’

Jiang Yi dismissed his stray thoughts and spoke again:

"What is it that you seek?"

’If I want to walk in the mortal realm, I must take this little girl with me to shield myself from the Heavenly Will.’

’Just like how I used to hold True Master Xuanmiao to block the prying senses of Upper Cultivators.’

"Wuuu... wuuu..."

Yao Yun was overcome with emotion, but with half her tongue bitten off, she couldn’t form clear words.

’A divine being! The nineteenth princess actually managed to summon a divine being from beyond the heavens!’

Chen Jin’s Heart Spirit trembled. This was an opportunity even rarer than the Zhixuan Treasure Map!

According to legend, the Zhixuan Temple—which had produced the four great grandmasters of the current era—was merely a place where a divine being from beyond the heavens had once built a hut for secluded cultivation.

The so-called Zhixuan Treasure Map was simply a rare secret record detailing the location of the Zhixuan Temple.

Aside from those four Spirit Refinement Grandmasters who had lived for a century, no one else in the world knew where the Zhixuan Temple was.

Chen Jin immediately fell to his knees, slowly shifted his body around, and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Divine One, please see the truth! The nineteenth princess has lost her kingdom and her family. She is filled with great hatred, with only thoughts of restoring her nation and avenging her kin!

This old slave is willing to be your vanguard, to be ground to dust for the Great Enterprise, to serve the Princess with the loyalty of a dog or a horse!"

He was clearly trying to take advantage of the fact that Yao Yun’s tongue was severed and she couldn’t speak clearly, so he could snatch this world-shaking opportunity for himself.

"Oh."

Jiang Yi’s Divine Sense swept out. His Ding Fire, like a candle flame, illuminated their hidden thoughts.

What Yao Yun and Chen Jin were thinking became as clear to him as the lines on his own palm.

"Then I shall grant your wish."

Jiang Yi raised a hand and pointed. With a clap of thunder, Chen Jin’s mortal body exploded, instantly turning to dust.

Immediately after, he protected the man’s Primordial Spirit and stuffed it into a wild dog that was scavenging in the mass grave.

"This seat always grants what is asked. You wanted to be ’ground to dust’ and perform ’the service of a dog or a horse.’ Granted."