CHAPTER 427: NO PLACE TO HIDE

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Jiang Chen turned his focus inward.

A good amount of pure cultivation energy was still stored in his Death Calamity Dark Star Moon Dao Embryo—left over from his recent breakthrough.

He weighed his options, eyes quietly reflecting his thoughts. It’s not a huge amount, but not small either. It won’t give me much of a boost if I use it myself. Better to help Nangong Wan and Shangguan Ning recover instead. That way, my overall strength goes up anyway.

With that in mind, he checked the Nether Soul Crystals stored inside his Immortal Martial Mustard Seed.

Back on the Immortal Martial Continent, after killing Bo Luncang, he’d used that guy’s Nether Soul Crystal to help both Shangguan Ning and Nangong Wan break through to the Early-stage Nirvana Peering realm.

Later, after defeating the demon army, Jiang Chen had collected over a hundred thousand Nether Soul Crystals from the Nether Soul Demon Clan. They weren’t great in quality, but there were so many that it more than made up for it.

Altogether, this stash would be more than enough to help Shangguan Ning and Nangong Wan recover properly.

"Wan’er, Ning’er. I’m going to use the leftover cultivation energy to help you both recover," Jiang Chen said, speaking through soul transmission.

"Really?!" Nangong Wan’s voice rippled with excitement.

"Well, well. Jiang Chen’s actually sharing cultivation energy with us? That’s a rare sight," Shangguan Ning teased.

"You two make it sound like I’m stingy or something." Jiang Chen shook his head with a laugh. "If I’ve got extra, of course I’ll share it. Enough talking—let’s get started with the absorption."

With a wave of his hand, he pulled out a large pile of Nether Soul Crystals from his Immortal Martial Mustard Seed.

"The quality’s nothing special, but there’s so many of them it doesn’t matter," Nangong Wan said, clearly pleased with the haul of Nether Soul Crystals.

Jiang Chen carefully purified each one, then placed them between his brows, letting Nangong Wan and Shangguan Ning begin absorbing them.

Time passed. One by one, the Nether Soul Crystals disappeared—over a hundred thousand in total—quietly drawn into the two as they refined the energy.

While they focused on recovery, Jiang Chen made use of the time. He sent out waves of cultivators under his control, each carrying a soul magatama, to gather all kinds of information as quickly as possible.

It wasn’t long before news came in—Nirvana Cleansing realm powerhouses from both the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace and the Purple Crest Immortal Sect were locked in a standoff along their border, neither side making a move.

Jiang Chen didn’t need to think too hard to figure out what was going on. The stalemate between the top figures of those two major sects had all the signs of Heavenly Fate at play.

Situations like this were perfect for someone like Lu Yi to stand out and rise fast.

With the big shots from both the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace and the Purple Crest Immortal Sect stuck at the border, this works out well—not just for Lu Yi, but for me too, Jiang Chen thought, a faint smile tugging at his lips. At my current level, unless someone’s actually in the Nirvana Cleansing realm, there’s barely anyone who can match me.

His focus shifted instantly to Lu Yi, whom he was keeping track of through his divine sense.

Jiang Chen had kept an eye on Lu Yi from the very beginning.

Now that he’d broken through to the Nirvana Cleansing realm, his soul power had taken a huge leap forward.

His divine sense could now cover a massive area—over 130 million kilometers across. With that kind of range, tracking Lu Yi from afar was effortless.

Lu Yi, on the other hand, was only at the Middle-stage Transcendence realm. His actual combat strength was around the Early-stage Nirvana Peering level, and his divine sense barely reached a tenth of Jiang Chen’s.

Right now, Lu Yi had already put some serious distance between himself and Burning Sun City—completely unaware that Jiang Chen was quietly watching his every move.

Along the way, he kept trying to cover his tracks, hoping to avoid being hunted down. But the aura from his Saint Demon Heart bloodline was just too strong and unique—there was no real way to hide it, at least for now.

As he flew through the clouds, Lu Yi’s mind was racing. Damn it. I can’t lay low like this. I’ve already used up today’s fusion chances, and my combat skills and weapons were probably exposed during that fight in Burning Sun City.

The Purple Crest Immortal Sect and the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace will definitely be after me now. With an aura this obvious, it won’t be hard for them to find me. I wouldn’t be surprised if experts are already on their way—and once they’ve figured out what I can do, they’ll wait for the right moment to strike. Whether I make it out of this alive is anyone’s guess.

I’ve got to move fast and gather a thousand low-grade spirit jades. If I can do that, I can upgrade the system and unlock a fifth fusion chance. If I can just stay alive until tomorrow... then I’ll finally have a shot.

But gathering 111 low-grade spirit jades was easier said than done.

Stealing them quietly? Out of the question. His aura was way too obvious for anything stealthy.

Trading or selling? Not a chance. With his demonic human bloodline, he was basically a walking curse—nobody wanted to deal with him, not even those blinded by greed. And with how flashy his aura was, slipping into a market for a quiet deal wasn’t happening either.

That left only one real option: robbery.

Guess it’s time for some good old robbing the rich to feed the—well, to save myself, Lu Yi thought, shaking his head as he started scanning the area for an easy target.

...

Meanwhile, inside the Purple Crest Immortal Sect, members of the Sun Clan, Lu Clan, and other Nirvana Peering realm cultivators from various factions had gathered. Their expressions were grim.

"Orders just came down from the Sect Master and the Supreme Elders—we’re to hunt down and eliminate Lu Yi immediately," one of them said, urgency in every word.

"Before the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace gets to him, we need to strike first. And let’s prepare a fake Lu Yi in advance while we’re at it."

A young man stood up. It was Sun Tianhan, a Nirvana Peering realm expert from the Sun Clan—same generation as Sun Tianlin and Sun Tianxin.

"Following Supreme Elder Sun Xiangyuan’s instructions," he said, calm but firm, "we should rely on Nirvana Peering realm cultivators who stay under the radar and are skilled in disguise. That’ll give us the best shot at framing the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace and flipping the situation in our favor."

Yuan Liangjun, direct disciple of Sect Master You Shaojun, stepped in. "I’ve already mobilized agents from the Northern Dipper Immortal Sect, Southern Dipper Immortal Sect, and Spiritual Happiness School. Four of them are Nirvana Peering realm experts who either keep a low profile or are masters of disguise. They’ll make sure the blame falls squarely on the Compassionate Sword Immortal Palace."

"They’re already moving?" Sun Tianhan nodded with approval. "Do we have Lu Yi’s location?"

"Everything’s in place. His aura is too unique—and it looks like he can’t hide it. One of the Southern Dipper Immortal Sect experts used a secret tracking art and already locked onto him. And since Lu Yi’s still moving within our Purple Crest Immortal Sect’s territory, our people won’t have any trouble closing in."

A faint grin played on Yuan Liangjun’s lips.

"Good," Sun Tianhan said, nodding slightly. "We can’t let him slip away this time."

"According to reports from the battlefield, Lu Yi briefly showed combat strength at the Nirvana Peering level," another Nirvana Peering realm cultivator added, frowning. "What’s strange is the long sword he used—it looked like an upper-grade Nirvana Peering-level weapon, but no one recognized it."