Chapter 759: Chapter 182: Wanling Race

Zhou Yan felt as if a bucket of cold water had suddenly been poured over him, chilling him completely. Beside him, not far away, the corpulent Liu Jin and the tall and lanky Fang Hong, had their legs trembling, unable to take a single step.

“Let’s go!”

Zhou Yan’s blood vessels exploded with force, unleashing a formidable Emperor Qi Dragon Swallowing Heaven Technique, suddenly draining all the energy around him. At the same time, he fully activated the Void Sword Body, striking at Black Chess, turning into a black light and sweeping up Fang Hong and Liu Jin as he fled.

“Pfft—”

A black wave ripple rolled in, instantly annihilating the area where Zhou Yan stood and immediately shattered it.

“Hiss—”

Seeing this scene, Zhou Yan, Fang Hong, and Liu Jin, who had appeared in the Void, could not help but turn incredibly pale.

“How… how can this be so ferocious? We haven’t even crossed Wuji Black Mountain to enter the range of the Ice Palace…”

Liu Jin, the plump one, said with a heart trembling in fear, and his body already covered in a sticky sweat caused by fright.

“That was the Ghost Fox Killing Soul, the same kind of thing as the Demon Heart Sword Body, transcending realms indefinitely and becoming even stronger when several are combined. The attack on us was only a small area; if they grouped together, that would truly be unstoppable.”

“Otherwise, the Tai Chu era wouldn’t have ended in annihilation.”

Fang Hong was somewhat uncertain, but now, the three of them were temporarily safe under the faint black light of the Immortal glow of the Black Chess.

Zhou Yan used only one-thousandth of his Soul Power, quite easily activating the ‘Qiankun Guardian Righteous Qi’ of the Black Chess. However, it was only capable of protection and could only maintain it for a while. If he were to activate other functions, even possessing the Twelve Beast Sword Soul would leave Zhou Yan quite helpless.

Zhou Yan knew that his soul had refined all the Emperor Blood and had undergone a considerable transformation; even then the activation momentarily consumed one-thousandth of his Soul Power, showing how absurdly powerful the damaged Immortal Weapon of Black Chess was.

“This place, I somehow feel a sense of familiarity, I don’t know why…”

Zhou Yan wondered inwardly, much like the first time he sensed Ancient Tomb Mountain, thousands of solitary tombs.

Zhou Yan didn’t know why he suddenly thought of Ancient Tomb Mountain, but seeing this Black Mountain, he felt as if Ancient Tomb Mountain was an imprint cast here.

“Ancient Tomb Mountain, similar to the Wuji Black Mountain here near the Endless Ice Palace. And the Ancient Ice Glacier resembles the Ice Feather Cold Ice Cavern…”

Zhou Yan muttered to himself.

The more he delved into the comparison, the more convinced Zhou Yan became that he had indeed been to this place before!

But when he had been here, he could not recall.

Zhou Yan searched through all the memories stored within the Memory Crystals in his Soul Sea, skimmed through them, but could not find relevant memories. Everything was like a puzzle.

“Now, there is no other way but to cross Wuji Black Mountain and see what the situation is inside the Endless Ice Palace. Such desperate desolate places often hold rare treasures. If Brother Zhou Yan can maintain control of the Black Chess, we might just have a glimmer of hope. So now, finding Divine Medicines to restore Soul Power here would also be of help to us.”

Fang Hong said after some contemplation.

“Yes, that’s good. The medicinal herbs from the Tai Chu era and the Extreme Cold Ice Soul Stone all contain Immortal Soul Power. Zhou Yan brother can absorb it using the Devouring Sword Body, transforming it into Soul Power as a replenishing resource, or simply choose to kill. Better them than us.”

Liu Jin added toward the end, outlining a plan for survival.

However, all of this depended on Zhou Yan being able to control the Black Chess for an extended period.

Zhou Yan did not mention that he had only used one-thousandth of his Soul Power, which could last for about fifteen minutes.

Combining the Devouring Sword Body with the Emperor Qi Dragon Swallowing Heaven Technique to convert surrounding energy, Zhou Yan had calculated that the one-thousandth of his Soul Power could sustain the Immortal light’s protection of the Black Chess for about three hours.

This was an extraordinarily long time.

But Zhou Yan didn’t clarify this, since he couldn’t afford to exhaust all his Soul Power here, nor reveal all his trump cards.

He nodded, saying, “This plan is feasible. Currently, my Soul Power can be used more than ten times, and with the progress in my Devouring Sword Body, it can last for about two hours including consumption and conversion time. So, you needn’t worry for now. It’s just a pity for Qing Lan and Qing Feng, I wasn’t able to protect those siblings.”

In Zhou Yan’s words, there was a hint of melancholy and sighs.

“Oh, don’t worry about Brother Zhou Yan, the Qingmu Clan is also one of the Wanling Clan. Although not as powerful as the Returning to Truth Clan or the Heavenly Wing Clan, they are still of the Void Spirit type.

That means they have many lives; losing one is merely losing the strength of more than a decade of hard cultivation, and does not cause actual disappearance. In this regard, they are similar to the Demon Charm Clan who are adept at the Soul Control Profound Meaning; their livelihood mainly relies on soul power.”

Fang Hong explained.

“Indeed, Fang Hong is right; every plane is both mysterious and vast. It seems like many outstanding individuals have come this time, but in reality, it is only a handful from a few planes sending some relatively outstanding individuals. There are not many genuinely outstanding ones. A plane… let me put it this way, a plane possesses millions of universes. The Wanling Race, being of a noble bloodline, belongs to the top echelon of soul and bloodline levels across countless planes because they are born with the Three Souls and Seven Spirits and the foundation of the Destruction Sword Body—it features a Heavenly Eye within the center of the forehead.

However, whether they can activate it depends on their potential.”

Liu Jin added.

Fang Hong and Liu Jin, on matters unknown to Zhou Yan, meticulously explained every detail to resolve his doubts.

They genuinely understood Zhou Yan and strove to foster a better relationship with him, at least to ensure that they wouldn’t be disliked by Yanyan in the future, so they indeed made a great effort.

Zhou Yan nodded slightly; he knew some things about the Wanling Clan, so he wasn’t completely in the dark, but he indeed didn’t know much about the planes, which was certainly a shortcoming.

Thus, Zhou Yan, rather than speaking much himself, patiently listened to Fang Hong and Liu Jin’s explanations.

Only after learning that the siblings from the Qingmu Clan didn’t actually die did Zhou Yan feel much more at ease.

After all, these siblings were decent people who matched Zhou Yan’s temperament. He had just obtained the Black Chess, and they had just conceived a glimmer of hope, only to die tragically immediately after, which left Zhou Yan feeling somewhat guilty.

Zhou Yan also understood, although they didn’t truly die, the death of a Void Soul was more painful than the torment of Soul Slash. If their mental fortitude was not strong enough to affect their original body, they might even believe they were really dead and have their divine thought dissipate, leading to real death.

“So it is, people of the Wanling Clan are born noble. And the people of the Returning True Clan are the elite among the Wanling Race, right?”

Zhou Yan suddenly realized and then asked.

“Yes, but the Returning True Clan can’t be considered the most powerful; they are just among the top thousand Heavenly Spirit Races. There are more formidable ones like the Chaos Clan, Pangu Clan, Jade Fox Clan, Mechanical Clan, and the Sky Cat Clan.”

“For instance, the Chaos Clan possess the Innate Chaotic Sword Body. The Chaotic Sword Body embodies the eight powerful bodies of Tai Chu, with innate Yin Yang Qi that splits into three soul fragments—every one of those fragments is incredibly powerful, almost indistinguishable from the original.”

“Take the Pangu Clan, for example, they are particularly formidable, wouldn’t you agree after witnessing the Pan Emperor’s Tai Chu Calamity? The people of this clan have the Pan Emperor Bloodline within them—innate strong physical bodies and gigantic bodies, which is simply stunning. The Jiang family is formidable because the Jiang Family Ancestor possesses a strand of the Pan Emperor Bloodline, enabling the inheritance of the Giant Spirit Divine Ability—commanding the Sky Vaulting Giant Finger through the bloodline.

The Jiang family’s Sky Vaulting Giant Finger can kill gods as if squashing ants.”

Liu Jin chuckled as he explained.

He thought for a moment, then continued: “For instance, we are all ants, but what if one ant mutates and grows as large as an elephant? With the same strength, but an elephant crushing thousands of ants underfoot is nothing remarkable, right? That’s the power of the Pangu Bloodline. Yanyan is powerful because her bloodline has returned to the ancestor, possessing the pure Pan Emperor Bloodline, and thus the Jiang family is willing to spare no expense in capturing her to study her bloodline structure and use her as a progenitor to extensively foster offspring—but don’t get angry. Although Yanyan has disappeared, I’m sure she hasn’t been caught.”

Liu Jin reduced his volume as he spoke here.

“Don’t worry, I’m more aware of Yanyan’s situation than you are; she’s doing very well and will become powerful soon.”

Zhou Yan confidently stated.

“That’s great, hehe. Then I’m relieved.”

Liu Jin patted his chest, which could make some female cultivators of not so great stature quite ashamed.

“Another impressive Wanling Race is the Jade Fox Clan. This race, by nature, possesses charming powers that can even charm the Heavenly Dao; it’s not just a simple divine ability.”

“The Mechanical Clan… well, they can only be described as anomalies! You haven’t seen them; you don’t know. They can replicate all members of the Wanling Race, extracting their souls and using their formidable steel bodies to transform into various Wanling, their prowess is simply the nemesis of the Wanling Race.”

“However, they were exterminated by the Jade Fox Clan in the Tai Chu Great War because the charming power of the Jade Fox Clan could cause their ‘Intelligent Brains’ to lose control and forget their true nature.”

“This is the mutual constraints and benefits among the Wanling Races, but those races have perished. The one truly still existing today shares the same origin as the Nine-tailed Jade Fox— the Nine-tailed Heavenly Cat Clan. This race is very mysterious. Although not particularly strong in combat or gifted, this race naturally possesses nine lives. These nine lives are not Void Souls or avatars but really can’t be killed even if their form and godhood are both annihilated once—they are like nine ordinary humans.

If they are annihilated in form and deity, they will resurrect at the birth point of their race, and their realm and strength will not suffer any loss; only their lifespan will decrease once.”

“This race, think about how fearsome that is? Each individual of this race is utterly reckless; constantly risking their lives in fights—who would dare to challenge them?”

Liu Jin wiped the sweat from his forehead when he spoke about this race, clearly displaying his envy.