The moment Ji Dan's head was severed by his own blade, a wisp of divine soul transformed into a streak of light, swiftly fleeing to the side, vanishing into the clouds in the blink of an eye!
"You dare destroy my physical form, you little brat? Just you wait!"
"Hmm?" The sudden turn of events nearly caught Ye Chuan off guard.
Why was this divine soul so fast?
Ye Chuan wasn't aware that once one reached the Nascent Soul realm, soul cultivation began. Even if the physical body was destroyed, one could still be reborn by reshaping or seizing another body.
But he wasn't entirely unprepared for dealing with divine souls. With a flick of his wrist, the Soul Banner materialized in his grasp.
"Senior, come inside for a chat," Ye Chuan said with a smile.
The Soul Banner erupted with a brilliant glow, its surface swirling with countless ghostly green runes, as if countless tormented spirits were wailing within. In the next instant, the fleeing divine soul seemed to freeze mid-air, helplessly being dragged toward Ye Chuan!
The divine soul's face twisted in terror as it shrieked, "The Ten Thousand Souls Banner? You're actually a demonic cultivator! The Qingyun Sect actually harbors a demonic cultivator like you?!"
"What, you got a problem with that?"
The Soul Banner pulsed rhythmically, emitting deafening booms as countless chains shot out from its surface, tightly coiling around Ji Dan's divine soul. Unable to resist, Ji Dan could only watch helplessly as his soul was relentlessly pulled into Ye Chuan's banner.
"Demonic cultivator? Ten Thousand Souls Banner? You old fool, do you even know what you're talking about? I'm a righteous cultivator, guiding lost souls toward redemption."
"No, please! Fellow Daoist, whatever you want, I can give it to you!"
"No need to be so polite. Just come inside first."
"No! No! You—you'll die a horrible death! No—!" Finally, amidst a blood-curdling scream, Ji Dan's soul was completely absorbed into the banner.
[Nascent Soul realm soul absorbed. Artifact enhances host attributes by +36%.]
[Artifact upgrade successful.]
[Item: Soul Banner
Mid-grade artifact
Can absorb soul energy. The more souls absorbed and the higher their quality, the stronger the artifact becomes.
Primary Soul: Ji Dan (Permanently increases host's wind-attribute spiritual power by 17%).]
Not bad at all!
"Pretty good. Killing a Nascent Soul cultivator was easier than I expected." Ye Chuan was quite satisfied with effortlessly slaying a Nascent Soul expert despite being two major realms below.
Under normal circumstances, he could only rely on magic immunity to slowly whittle down a Nascent Soul opponent. But after mastering a slew of techniques, Ye Chuan could now stack various buffs to temporarily boost his stats for combat.
This wasn't cheating.
After all, stacking buffs was exhausting—wasn't it all just hard work and sweat?
"Good thing I have the Holy Grail to restore my mana."
Still, Ye Chuan was curious how long his buffs would last if he unequipped the Holy Grail.
Opening his inventory, he glanced at the item glowing with crimson text.
[Item: Noel's Holy Grail (Peerless)
Eternal Mana Core. When equipped, mana consumption is reduced by 99%, and mana regeneration is increased by 99%.
Equippable.]
Ye Chuan clicked "Unequip." A crisp chime rang out, and the next moment, he felt as if all strength had been drained from his body. He couldn't even maintain his sword-flight technique, wobbling precariously before plummeting downward!
Just before hitting the ground, he hastily re-equipped the Holy Grail, stabilizing himself mid-air.
"Hmm." Ye Chuan sat cross-legged on his flying sword, arms folded.
After some thought, he realized that stacking buffs and transformations required an enormous amount of mana. Without the Holy Grail, maintaining such a massive expenditure would instantly deplete his mana pool.
After all, he was only at the Crystal Core Great Perfection stage.
"Whatever. Let's head back to the sect first."
Ye Chuan soared toward the Qingyun Sect on his sword, but his sharp eyes caught traces of battle along the way. Through his spiritual sense, he detected fluctuations of spiritual energy.
"Oh? Could it be—?" He urged his flying sword forward at full speed, racing toward the source of the disturbance.
...
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in the sky, Zi Ning'er and her companions found themselves in dire straits.
Their flying artifact had been immobilized by an invisible force, and the surrounding area was shrouded in an eerie gray mist that blocked all spiritual senses and even obscured their presence.
A formation!
"To go this far for a single drop of Black Tortoise essence blood..." Zi Ning'er was stunned.
Setting up such a formation required an astronomical amount of spirit stones. Was it really worth it?
"No, they're not here for the essence blood." The elder accompanying them seemed to realize something, his expression grim.
"Who are you people?!" Zi Ning'er glared at the hundred or so black-robed figures floating ahead, their faces concealed, making it impossible to identify them.
The leader of the black-robed figures spoke coldly, enunciating each word:
"Jade Void Sect's Holy Maiden, Bai Qianshuang."
The Jade Void Sect?!
Bai Qianshuang?!
Hearing the name, Zi Ning'er finally understood. Her voice turned grave. "Remnants of the Jade Void Sect... To think you still have enough strength to set up an ambush for us."
"So it's the Jade Void Sect?" The elder suddenly let out a cold laugh. "Good, very good. It seems you haven't learned your lesson, daring to ambush us on Qingyun Sect's territory!"
"The audacity!"
Without hesitation, the elder summoned his artifact, unleashing his full power.
His Nascent Soul cultivation erupted, and with the artifact's amplification, he conjured a hundred-zhang-long azure sword of light.
"Everyone, lend me your strength!" the elder shouted. Zi Ning'er and the others immediately channeled all their spiritual energy into the colossal sword.
"Qingyun Sword Art, Seventh Realm—Severing the Seas!"
The massive sword, now brimming with overwhelming power, came crashing down upon the black-robed figures!
"Hmph." 'Bai Qianshuang' merely snorted disdainfully before flicking a finger. A beam of light shot forth, instantly shattering the giant sword!
The elder coughed up a mouthful of blood from the backlash, his face filled with disbelief. "Spirit Transformation... She's at the Spirit Transformation realm?!"
Spirit Transformation?!
The revelation felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over Zi Ning'er and the others, chilling them to the bone.
Impossible!
How could the Jade Void Sect's Holy Maiden have reached the Spirit Transformation realm?!
Just as the Qingyun Sect members were reeling from shock, "Bai Qianshuang" spoke indifferently, "Leave none alive. Use their heads to honor the Jade Void Sect's fallen."
The other black-robed figures were no weaklings either, and with their numerical advantage, the Qingyun Sect group was quickly overwhelmed, unable to fight back.
At that moment, "Bai Qianshuang" suddenly turned her head, as if sensing something. She frowned. "Someone's there?"
With a slash of her sword, a blade of sword qi instantly obliterated a nearby mountain peak—
Revealing a figure standing in the ruins.
It was Ye Chuan, clad in black and disguised once more.
"Hmph, just a little rat."
Ye Chuan hadn't expected to be discovered. It seemed high-realm experts really were something else.
But he was also curious.
You're Bai Qianshuang?
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
