Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Southern State.

The endless mountains stretch out, and everywhere is covered with lush green. Tall banyan trees hang down countless roots, forming a forest of single trees that block out the light from the sky.

With a loud bang, thunder rolled in, dark clouds gathered, and heavy rain poured down, covering several mountains within a radius of several miles, as if a river from the sky was falling.

But outside these mountains, the sun is shining brightly and there are no clouds in the sky.

It was as if there was an invisible barrier surrounding the rainstorm.

A long chant pierced the sky, drowning out the thunder.

In just a moment, a black dragon flew up from the forest and went straight into the clouds.

Heavy rain washed the mountains and forests, gathering into trickles that flowed into the rivers, causing the water level to rise sharply.

Occasionally a few scales appeared from the dark clouds, mixed with a few low growls, revealing a feeling of laziness.

Half an hour later, the rainstorm gradually stopped and the dark clouds slowly dissipated.

The black dragon's several-meter-long body reappeared, moving unsteadily, with excitement reflected in its eyes, which were as big as sea bowls.

Suddenly, the black dragon's body stiffened, and it raised its head and looked upwards.

Thousands of feet above the sky, surrounded by strong winds, a beam of light flew over from afar.

The escaping light came closer, wrapped in a black-robed monk with a gold-thread hollow mask on his face.

On the ring finger of his left hand, he wore a black and white ring, and his whole body exuded a strong demonic aura, comparable to that of a ninth-level demon king.

The strong wind was as sharp as a knife, enough to smash a Jindan cultivator into pieces, but when it passed by the black-robed monk, it turned into a spring breeze blowing against willows and quietly dissipated.

He lowered his head slightly and glanced at Mo Jiao casually with indifferent eyes.

The black dragon was struck by lightning, its eyes filled with fear, and it quickly lowered its head, letting out a slight whimpering sound, showing its submission.

The black-robed monk ignored him, withdrew his gaze, and walked away, his figure quickly disappearing into the horizon.

The black dragon then let out a low roar, trembling its body, and quickly flew into the forest.

Thousands of feet in the sky, the black-robed monk flew hundreds of miles and then his speed gradually slowed down. He took off the black and white ring on the ring finger of his left hand.

An incredible scene appeared. The strong demonic aura on the black-robed monk actually turned into pure spiritual energy.

He actually transformed himself from a ninth-level demon king into a successful cultivator in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul.

Then he flipped his hand and took out a pitch-black bowl, pointed a point, and a condensed soul flew out of the bowl.

The black-robed monk looked at the spirit quietly with his eyes hidden under the golden mask, and said, "Fellow Daoist Tian, ​​please look, how many days' journey is it from here to Xuanwu Lake?"

This person was none other than Chen Yuan who came from Lizhou. He had been waiting quietly for a month in the spiritual mine formation in the Miaoling Mountains.

He did not leave until the spirit stone in the formation plate was replaced again, and he quietly escaped without alerting the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Jiuli Sect stationed in the spirit mine.

Chen Yuan left the Miaoling Mountains and headed for the Yunyin Mountains where the Jiuli Sect's mountain gate was located. He stayed in the market town at the foot of the mountains for a full eight months.

Half a month ago, Chen Yuan finally set off, heading south, crossing the border between Lizhou and Nanzhou, and heading straight for Xuanwu Lake.

Tian You has already submitted his surrender, and it can be basically confirmed that he is truly surrendering.

The secret realm of the Yuling Sect should be on the shore of Xuanwu Lake.

Chen Yuan was extremely interested in the monsters in the secret realm of the Yuling Sect, but the situation was unclear, so he naturally had to investigate first before making any plans.

If what Tian You said is true, this trip is not very risky.

The Jiuli sect sneaked into Nanzhou quietly and did not dare to make a big fuss. The security could not have been too strict, so it would not be difficult to approach them.

Chen Yuan also has the Demon-Transforming Ring in his hand, which is enough to transform his spiritual energy into demonic energy, so that he can hide the truth from the world and not arouse the suspicion of the demon clan.

But Chen Yuan was cautious by nature, and even though he had the Demon-Transforming Ring to conceal his identity, he still wore a gold mask to hide his features to prevent his identity from being exposed in case of an accident.

After he captured Tian You, an elder from the Jiuli faction went to Wanling Pavilion to inquire about Tian You's whereabouts.

Chen Yuan was very puzzled at the time, but now thinking about it, he was probably worried that the secrets of the Yuling Sect would be leaked.

He and Tian You had a conflict over refining a magic weapon, but because he had just entered the Nascent Soul stage, he did not arouse the suspicion of the elders of the Jiuli Sect.

But Qi-refining cultivators have a photographic memory, and as the Yuanying elder is missing, the Jiuli sect must have remembered his face.

If his whereabouts were accidentally discovered by the Jiuli Sect, it would definitely alert the enemy.

That's why Chen Yuan had to be fully prepared and not allow any mistakes.

……

Tian You's pupils couldn't help but shrink as he looked at the whistling strong winds all around him.

There was only a thin layer of true energy shield around him, which looked extremely fragile and seemed like it would be pierced by the strong wind at any time.

But Tian You quickly calmed down. He knew that Chen Yuan was strong enough to treat the strong wind as nothing.

Tian You said: "I only have my soul left, my consciousness is severely damaged, and I can't penetrate the strong wind. Please drop your light and let me take a look."

Chen Yuan nodded slightly, his body shook, and he flew downwards.

After escaping from the strong wind, Tian You spread out his spiritual sense and scanned the surroundings. His expression was slightly solemn, and he replied: "This place is only more than 2,300 miles away from Xuanwu Lake."

"Fellow Daoist, you also know that within the 600 miles around Xuanwu Lake, our sect has secretly deployed spirit beasts to guard the surroundings."

"But there are no spiritual veins around Xuanwu Lake, and the monsters living here are generally not of high rank."

"In order to avoid attracting attention, our sect can only send out some low-level monsters below level seven."

"With your strength, as long as you take some precautions, you will be able to avoid the detection of these spirit beasts and sneak into the shore of Xuanwu Lake smoothly."

Chen Yuan nodded: "Thank you for your guidance, fellow Taoist."

Tian You quickly clasped his fists and bowed: "This is my responsibility, Taoist friend, just give me your instructions."

Chen Yuan smiled, pointed, and took Tian You's soul back into the soul-hiding bowl and put it into the mustard seed ring.

His body flashed, and he rushed up to a height of thousands feet. He took out the demon-transforming ring, put it on his hand, and transformed into a ninth-level demon king again, flying towards the south.

Before entering Nanzhou, Tian You had already carefully told Chen Yuan the route to Xuanwu Lake.

Nanzhou is the world of demons. Ordinary cultivators only know that there is Xuanwu Lake in Nanzhou, but they don’t know where it is exactly.

The monks of Jiuli Sect have sneaked into Nanzhou many times to hunt monsters and are very familiar with the terrain of Nanzhou.

Tian You has been to Xuanwu Lake more than once and is more familiar with the route.

However, he didn't have a map with him, and his oral description was not accurate enough.

After entering Nanzhou, Chen Yuan would often call him out from the Soul Hiding Bowl to ask for the specific route.

Under Tian You's guidance, Chen Yuan avoided the demon king's cave and took several detours along the way, and only encountered a few level 7 demon beasts like the black dragon. After wearing the demon-transforming ring, Chen Yuan was full of demonic energy, and these low-level demon beasts did not dare to offend him.

He would never suspect that the ninth-level demon king in front of him, who was as powerful as a mountain and full of murderous aura, was actually a human Yuanying cultivator in disguise.

After Chen Yuan put on the demon-transforming ring, he set out to escape to the south. It took him two full hours to fly nearly two thousand miles.

Although he is now no different from a ninth-level demon king, he has never dealt with the demon clan of Nanzhou. If he encounters a demon king, there will definitely be mistakes, so he has to be careful and vigilant.

After arriving within a thousand miles of Xuanwu Lake, Chen Yuan's escape speed slowed down even more. He concealed his aura and hid in the clouds so as not to attract the attention of the spirit beasts of the Jiuli Sect's elders.

Another hour passed before he arrived near Xuanwu Lake.

Chen Yuan looked at the boundless, vast lake with rippling blue waves in front of him, and his expression finally became solemn.

He descended from the light of escape and came to the top of a mountain several hundred feet high. He took out the soul-hiding bowl, summoned Tian You's spirit, and asked in a low voice, "Where exactly is the place where your sect has set up its formation?"

He had already used his spiritual sense to investigate in advance, and found that there were no demonic beasts above level four within a radius of three hundred miles, and there would be no spiritual beasts of the Jiuli Sect elders mingling among them.

Tian You glanced around and murmured, "This is the east bank of Xuanwu Lake. The Yuling Sect's secret realm is on the south bank of Xuanwu Lake, on Xuangui Island, more than 400 miles deep in the lake."

"Fellow Daoist, just keep flying southwest. When you see an island about 30 miles in size and shaped like a black tortoise, that is where our sect will set up its formation."

"But fellow Daoist, you also know that our sect has placed many water-based spiritual beasts in this Xuanwu Lake for defense. There are more than thirty level seven spiritual beasts alone."

"There are more than a hundred level five and six spirit beasts. If they are dispersed, they are enough to cover the entire Xuanwu Lake. Fellow Daoist, please be careful."

Chen Yuan nodded: "Thank you for your reminder, I will be careful."

Tian You clasped his fists, bowed, and fell into the bowl.

Chen Yuan put away the soul-hiding bowl, pondered for a moment, and did not rush to leave. Instead, he sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and waited silently.

Two hours later, the sun set in the west and the sky gradually darkened.

Another three hours passed, the night had deepened, the moon was hanging in the sky, the Milky Way was across the sky, and the water of Xuanwu Lake was sparkling and as quiet as a mirror under the shining stars and moon.

Chen Yuan slowly opened his eyes, looked up at the night sky, and nodded.

He stood up, took out a large dark green cloak from the mustard seed ring, put it on, and activated his true energy.

The cloak slowly turned black and blended into the night.

Soon, Chen Yuan disappeared into the air.

He smiled slightly, his figure flashed, he left the top of the peak, and slowly flew towards Xuanwu Lake.

During the eight months in the Yunyin Mountains, Chen Yuan was not practicing meditation in the rented cave.

He learned from Tian You that the Jiuli Sect was guarding the surroundings with spirit beasts, so they were certainly not unprepared.

Under Tian You's guidance, Chen Yuan participated in the trade fair in Yunyin Market, seeking to buy a magic weapon that could make his body invisible.

Since Tian You had been away from the clan for nearly a hundred years, two of the six trade fairs that were known in the past had been discontinued, wasting a lot of Chen Yuan's time.

Of the remaining four trade fairs, one is open only to Nascent Soul cultivators and is held every few years. Chen Yuan cannot wait that long.

The last three trade fairs will be open to Jindan cultivators and will be held every three or four months.

In other markets, even if they were built by the ten major sects, trade fairs for Jindan cultivators would not be so frequent.

However, Lizhou borders Nanzhou. In addition to the Jindan cultivators in Lizhou, there are also a large number of Jindan cultivators from other states who sneak into Nanzhou to hunt monsters.

These Jindan cultivators were of low strength and could only enter Nanzhou for a few thousand miles at most and did not dare to go any further.

But Nanzhou has been the world of demons for tens of thousands of years, so it is easy to encounter demon beasts. As long as your luck is not too bad, you will not return empty-handed.

Most of the demon pills and demon beast materials they obtained would be sold in Yunyin Market.

Therefore, a large number of Jindan cultivators gather here all year round, and there is no shortage of spirit stone materials, so trade fairs are held extremely frequently.

Chen Yuan traveled around and attended six trade fairs, and finally bought this shaggy-coat cloak a month ago.

This item is a low-level magic weapon, made from the demon elixir and skin of the demon beast "Bi Yi" as the main materials, mixed with the top-grade spiritual material Shape-shifting Stone.

The Baiyi is an extremely peculiar monster. It is extremely rare and has mediocre strength, but it has mastered a natural magical power that allows it to hide its body and avoid detection by other monsters.

When a level seven Chameleon displays this kind of magical power, it would take at least an eighth-level demon king to detect it.

The Chameleon Cloak is made from the core and skin of a sixth-level Chameleon, with the addition of an illusion stone. It is enough to hide from the detection of a seventh-level monster, but it is powerless in front of an eighth-level demon king and a Nascent Soul cultivator.

However, being able to hide from the detection of monsters below level eight reduces the risk by at least 90% for Jindan cultivators entering Nanzhou to hunt monsters.

All the Jindan cultivators who participated in the auction went crazy.

But no one could compare with the worth of Chen Yuan, a Nascent Soul cultivator. After rounds of bidding, the cloak of avoidance of labor finally fell into his hands, making the other Jindan cultivators beat their chests and stamp their feet.

If he did not want to reveal his identity as a Nascent Soul cultivator and did not directly call out a high price, the other Jindan cultivators would have been even more desperate.

After purchasing the evasion cloak, Chen Yuan spent another half a month nurturing it and finally gained complete control over it.

He did not waste any more time, leaving the Yunyin Mountains and entering Nanzhou.

The Jiuli Sect had not many spiritual beasts left on the shore, and their grades were not high, so there was no need to take out the evasion cloak.

But there were many spiritual beasts in Xuanwu Lake, so Chen Yuan had to use this treasure and hide his body.

The reason why he chose to set off late at night was not because the Jiuli Sect's spiritual beasts hid at night and came out during the day, but because most other monsters hid during the day and came out at night, which could avoid accidents to the greatest extent.

For the mountain Jiuren, it fell short.

The secret realm of the Yuling Sect is within reach, so it is never too late to be cautious.

After putting on the evasion cloak, the escape speed cannot be too fast, otherwise the figure will be revealed.

For the next seven days, Chen Yuan hid during the day and came out at night, sneaking all the way under the cover of the evasion cloak. Finally, the island in the middle of the lake that looked like a black turtle appeared within the range of his spiritual sense.

He stopped and scanned the island with his spiritual sense, but found nothing.

Xuangui Island was peaceful and quiet, with only a few first-level monsters, no human figures, and no forbidden-breaking formations set up by the Jiuli Sect monks.

Chen Yuan was not surprised at all. Tian You said that in order to conceal his tracks, Qi Hanzhou, the Jiuli sect's formation master, had set up an illusion formation on the island.

This formation is enough to conceal the true situation on the Black Turtle Island and hide it from the spiritual detection of the tenth-level demon king or great monk.

The core of the formation is a ninth-level demon pill from the Demon King of Escape.

However, since there are no spiritual veins in Xuanwu Lake, it is also to avoid making too much noise and alerting the demon clan in Nanzhou.

There was no protective formation on Xuangui Island, so a Nascent Soul cultivator could easily break in.

Moreover, in order to avoid attracting attention, the leader of the Jiuli Sect, Ye Guihong, had been sitting in the mountain gate and had never been to Xuangui Island. Only then did Chen Yuan dare to scan it with his spiritual sense.

He pondered for a moment, dived to the bottom of the lake, looked at the peaceful Black Turtle Island from afar, and waited quietly. (End of this chapter)