Enduring humiliation for three years, seizing the elixir, the treasure, and the holy maiden.

Su Chen looked at the red fish in the pond.

"There's one more thing, but don't be surprised when you hear it."

"In his early years, Master Hongfu was suppressed in the Sword Abyss of the Tai Xuan Sect in Qingzhou."

"The one who made the move was my master."

Lin Wanwan's eyes widened immediately.

"So this trip back to Qingzhou might bring an even greater opportunity."

Su Chen lowered his eyelids.

"But this time, I can't take you with me."

"Return to Qingzhou."

Lin Wanwan frowned.

"But you're about to have your dual cultivation ceremony with Bai Luwei."

"Three months."

Su Chen waved his hand.

"I can make it back before the ceremony."

"But this time I'm going to take Yu Yan back with me."

Lin Wanwan glanced at him.

"Are you going back this time to seek an opportunity from your master?"

Su Chen shook his head.

"I'll go back and catch up with him."

"There are some things I didn't understand last time."

"Actually, the more important thing is..."

Su Chen coughed.

"I don't have many spirit stones left after this trip."

"I need to go back to Misty Rain Pavilion and get some spirit stones."

Lin Wanwan looked at him for a couple of moments, then suddenly smiled.

"A cultivator at the Void Refinement stage."

"Going back to my parents' home to retrieve the spirit stones."

"Who would believe that if I told them?"

"Stop talking nonsense."

Su Chen pushed her forehead.

"A spirit stone is just a spirit stone."

Even cultivators at the Void Refinement stage need to eat.

As they were talking.

A thunderclap sounded outside the city.

It wasn't thunder from the sky.

The bolt of lightning shot upwards from the ground, its purple hue blinding, illuminating the southwestern half of the sky above Luoyan City for a fleeting moment.

Then came three more.

The two people in the corridor looked up at the same time.

The condensation on the stone railing was briefly illuminated by the lightning.

"A battle of divine transformations."

Lin Wanwan glanced at it twice, then looked away.

"Whose people are looking for a place to fight outside the city this time?"

Su Chen didn't take it seriously.

Outside Luoyan City, there are hundreds of such fights throughout the year.

Fighting is forbidden in the city, but if you fight to the death thirty miles outside the city walls, no one will care.

To Su Chen now, the commotion caused by a Nascent Soul cultivator was about as insignificant as two dogs fighting in the street.

"I'm gone."

Su Chen turned to enter the hall.

A figure emerged from the side hall.

Wang Yuyan wore an outer robe, her long hair loosely tied up with only a jade hairpin, and she was still tying the belt on her robe as she walked over.

She looked up and saw the sky.

The fifth bolt of lightning struck just then.

Wang Yuyan's hand stopped on the ribbon.

"This lightning magic."

She stared at the sky, her brows furrowing slightly.

"Why does it resemble Wang Mang?"

Su Chen stopped.

Yes.

The rise and fall of that thunderous breath, the force of drawing inward and then exploding outward.

They're somewhat familiar.

Su Chen released his divine sense outside the city.

He swept across the three hundred miles of empty space, layer by layer.

When Su Chen scanned the seventh floor, his brows furrowed.

A wisp of lightning-attribute spiritual energy had become as weak as a thread in the wind.

Surrounding that spiritual energy were three Nascent Soul cultivators.

wrong.

Three Nascent Soul stage cultivators: one holding an umbrella, one cracking a whip, and one smashing array flags on the ground.

Su Chen recognized the patterns on the flags.

The Ultimate Sect of the Starry Sky Path.

"I'll go take a look."

Su Chen flicked his sleeve.

The person is gone.

The small patch of moisture on the stone railing was swept away by the wind and dried.

The wind swept in from the other side of the sand dunes, hitting the protective aura with a soft, thumping sound.

This place is so hot during the day it can melt a person, and at night it's so cold it can crack even stones.

There is not a single spiritual vein within a radius of two thousand miles.

Three hundred li southwest of Luoyan City lies this desolate sandy plain.

Wang Mang knelt on the sand, supporting himself with his hands, and swallowed back a mouthful of blood.

After swallowing it, I felt I shouldn't have swallowed it, so I simply spat it out.

The blood fell onto the sand, but was absorbed by the sand without leaving a trace.

A formation enveloped him.

The twelve battle flags were arranged in a circle, with the star patterns on the flags flashing on and off, completely sealing off the thirty-zhang boundary in the middle.

Wang Mang slashed at it seven times with his sword.

The first time it split open half a foot, the second time half an inch, and the seventh time not even a spark flew out.

My spiritual energy is almost depleted.

Wang Mang stuck the bronze-blue sword into the sand and sat down, leaning against the hilt.

I only realized my left leg was broken when I sat down.

I can't remember when it broke down at all.

"Kid."

The old man holding the umbrella outside the formation put away his ink-bone umbrella.

The umbrella was rolled inwards until only a black stick remained, which was then tucked into the waistband.

"I advise you to save your energy."

"This is our sect's Star Locking Formation."

"With three Nascent Soul cultivators setting up their traps, even a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator would be trapped for seven days, let alone you."

"Come back to our clan with us."

"The clan doesn't want your life."

"You're just a bargaining chip."

"Cheers"

Wang Mang pondered those two words.

Oh.

That's so damn frustrating.

When Wang Mang first broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, he set up three tables at a restaurant in Tian Shu Star City and invited all the rogue cultivators who used to work with him in the black market.

He built a cave dwelling in Tian Shu Star City, and the small spiritual spring outside the cave was filled with spiritual stones one by one.

Originally, he was supposed to stay in seclusion for ten years.

It was closed for two months.

The door to the cave was smashed open from the outside with a single palm strike.

The three people announced their names as the Starry Sky Dao Sect.

Wang Mang's mind went blank at that moment.

The Ultimate Sect of the Starry Sky Path.

What grudge do I have against this group?

There wasn't a single spirit stone exchanged.

Later, during a break in the contest of wits, Wang Mang pieced together the gist of what those people had said.

The Starry Sky Dao Sect wants to go to war with Su Chen.

The reason given was that Su Chen had seized their affiliated sect, thus violating the rules of the Xuanhuang Continent.

Back then, when Su Chen led Wang Mang down the drainage channel of that Daoist temple, they encountered many cultivators along the way.

Everyone saw that the two were traveling together.

Therefore, the Starry Sky Dao Sect insisted that Wang Mang was an old friend of Su Chen.

If we capture him, we can use him to negotiate a price with Su Chen.

"Su Chen..."

Wang Mang slammed his head on the hilt of his sword.

This guy is his natural nemesis.

From beginning to end, anything that had even the slightest connection to this guy always ended up with Wang Mang being the one who suffered the most.

Back in the black market, Su Chen turned the place upside down with a single sentence, and it was Wang Mang who ended up being cornered in an alley and chased for three blocks.

During that trip to the Daoist temple, Su Chen took the benefits and left, while Wang Mang was chased and beaten by the puppets guarding the formation for two hours.

It's better now.

Su Chen has reached the Void Refinement stage.

It is said that the entire city would kneel down the moment he stepped out.

Wang Mang was being beaten by three Nascent Soul cultivators in this godforsaken place.

"Third brother."

The tall, thin cultivator outside the formation only had one arm left; the sleeve was empty and swaying in the wind.

"Let's get started."

"His spiritual energy has dried up."

"If we wait another moment, even the primordial spirit will collapse."

The female cultivator who was cracking the whip came around from behind the sand dune.

The crimson whip was broken into three pieces, and now he was only holding the handle in his hand.

She walked to the edge of the formation and tapped the whip handle against the battle flag.

"Kid."

"That lightning strike just now nearly killed me."

The female cultivator's lips curled up slightly.

"Once we get to the sect, I'll have to settle things with you slowly."

Wang Mang raised his head.

Put two fingers together and press them down on your forehead.

"You lot want to trade me for someone else?"

"I'm not going to give you that chance."

The faces of all three people changed simultaneously.

"He's going to self-destruct his primordial spirit!"

...