CHAPTER 177: CHAPTER 176 TINGFENG TOWER

At this moment, the young man finally realized that the rare opportunity before him was a premeditated trap!

The original master of this Transcendence heart must have practiced a True Technique related to Flesh Rebirth.

Although he did not grasp the True Intent of the Great Dao, he had unique insights into the Blood and Flesh Technique.

The original master’s physical body exploded because it couldn’t withstand the Dao resonance from the Nether Abyss Ancestor, but once the heart fully completed Transcendence, it allowed his soul to be preserved.

If the young martial artist attempted to devour this heart to achieve Transcendence, the heart would seize his body, using it as a means of rebirth.

The reason for targeting the young martial artist was simple: in the carriage appeared to be only one True Martial Artist, and his cultivation was the lowest among them.

A heart that had completed Transcendence, combined with the advanced True Technique of Flesh Rebirth, could easily seize a cultivator at the Early Stage of Transcendence practicing a Pseudo Technique.

However, the heart’s original master never expected that there was the unfathomable Lu Yan inside the carriage.

With a light flick of his finger, a trace of the Power of the Divine Soul quietly re-emerged, erasing the remnant soul within the Transcendence heart.

Only then did Lu Yan look at the young martial artist and speak:

"The soul inside this heart has been erased by me, and it can now be used to assist in Transcendence."

The young martial artist immediately understood that it was Lu Yan who had saved his life. Without hesitation, he knelt, his forehead striking the carriage floor with loud bangs.

"Many thanks to the lord for your assistance!"

If not for this Scale Beast Carriage being reinforced for long-distance travel by the demon version caravans, Bi Jie’s kowtowing would have shattered it.

Lu Yan did not reject Bi Jie’s kneeling gratitude but calmly said:

"You saved yourself."

If Bi Jie hadn’t wanted a share of the heart, Lu Yan wouldn’t have bothered with these trivial matters.

However, besides Bi Jie’s proactive gesture, Lu Yan had other thoughts in mind.

Due to the Underworld Envoy events, Lu Yan was unsure whether the Li Family could be trusted; he couldn’t rely on just one source. He had to think of alternatives.

At least, through one True Martial Artist, he needed to confirm some information about the demon version.

Bi Jie, who almost got killed by the heart, was a perfect candidate.

Bi Jie was weak and easy to control, possessed rare integrity in the demon version, and hadn’t experienced a true demon Transcendence, still falling within normal human limits.

He could easily speak of the Li Family’s Underworld Envoy, the ’Meat Mountain Technique,’ and other such information, making him quite informed among low-tier True Martial Artists, holding some value to Lu Yan.

Bi Jie grasped the implications of Lu Yan’s words, feeling a wave of relief over his decision.

"Store the heart from the ground; the caravan members are approaching,"

hearing Lu Yan’s words, Bi Jie quickly hid the heart in his clothing as the sound of footsteps grew nearer.

A True Martial Artist lifted the carriage curtain and saw that most people inside had fallen into a deep slumber, leaving only Bi Jie awake. He instructed:

"Someone failed at Transcendence while observing the Dao resonance of the ancestor, causing considerable damage to the caravan and even transforming into a demon, injuring others.

The caravan orders that observation of Dao resonance is prohibited until the ancestor’s magical carriage departs."

After instructing, the caravan martial artist did not inspect further but lowered the curtain and moved onto the next carriage.

Seeing this, Bi Jie sighed in relief, gratitude written on his face.

If not for Lu Yan’s reminder, the caravan martial artist would have seized the heart in the name of the caravan.

The Transcendence organs sold in the market are mostly non-essential ones like appendixes, kidneys, and placentae, with poor efficacy and worthless for organ replacement.

A heart, a precious organ that cannot regenerate in the Transcendence Realm, signifies the death of a Transcended True Martial Artist, far exceeding the value of other organs, enough to tempt even the caravan.

With this thought, Bi Jie again spoke:

"Thank you, lord!"

Lu Yan ignored Bi Jie’s cautious thoughts, feeling the receding tremors of the earth, and asked:

"Does this kind of thing happen often?"

Bi Jie was initially confused, then realized Lu Yan referred to the ancestor’s travels and quickly said:

"The Nether Abyss Ancestor has a complete Dao Body. If he appears publicly within the human realm without concealment, it will trigger large-scale Transcendence and turmoil.

Therefore, the Nether Abyss Ancestor always travels with a magical carriage that conceals his presence until he leaves the human realm, which makes his outings rare.

Since the Underworld’s emergence half a year ago, the Nether Abyss Ancestor’s outings have become frequent, and there’s a rumor of a Misguided Realm powerhouse above the Nether Abyss visiting Hezhou. However, nobody knows if it’s true."

"What truly prompted these frequent outings is the recent anomaly in the Heaven and Earth True Technique List, with seventeen True Techniques making the list, only one person monopolizing the Great Dao, prompting the world’s powerhouses to rush about.

Some say that the person who monopolized the Great Dao appeared in the Demon Monster Wilderness Mountain outside the Hezhou border, attracting numerous powerful individuals to search for traces, which instead led to a battle between the strong of humans and demons. To this day, no one has heard of any gains."

Upon hearing Bi Jie’s account, Lu Yan nodded in satisfaction.

The use of saving Bi Jie quickly showed itself.

Lu Yan then continued to ask, "Do you know the secrets about the Li Family’s Underworld Envoy?"

Upon hearing this question, Bi Jie’s mind instantly went blank, and then he forced a sheepish smile:

"Sir, you overestimate me. The news I know is merely from hearing others bragging in the marketplace, nothing considered secret.

How could I know about the matters between the Li Family and the Underworld Envoy?"

This answer was normal. After all, Bi Jie was only at the Early Stage of Transcendence, and it would be strange for him to know such secrets.

"However, if you are willing to pay a high enough price, I do know where to get relevant information about the Li Family."

Lu Yan raised an eyebrow: "Where?"

"Tingfeng Tower."

...

After the departure of the Nether Abyss Ancestor, the caravan traveled smoothly, encountering no further unexpected events.

Two days later, the caravan successfully arrived at Luo City.

Although the demon version’s social environment stayed in ancient times, Luo City was even more prosperous than the city version.

A city wall as high as fifty meters stood on the land, with cracks and black bloodstains remaining on it, evidently having undergone countless battles.

Around the city wall, Lu Yan could even see some parents holding children, letting them touch the monsters’ bloodstains on the wall, attempting to infuse their bodies with demonic Qi, quickly slipping away as soon as patrol soldiers approached.

Under the massive gate of the city, people of various appearances came and went, and most were not True Martial Artists but all bore some demon features, making someone normal like Lu Yan a minority.

"As a significant city in Hezhou, Luo City is home to countless strong individuals, and anyone living here, even if their family doesn’t have a True Martial Artist, must have had one in their ancestry.

After advancing to the Soul Burial Realm and comprehending the True Intent of the Great Dao, there is a chance of passing down one’s Dao Body through bloodline, and those with Dao Body bloodlines receive some enhancement when cultivating the same True Technique.

However, due to the different cultivation characteristics of the Great Dao, these powerful individuals do not lightly pass their own True Techniques to their descendants until their path of the Dao is exhausted and their lifespan is near its end, only then do they hand over the path to train descendants.

This has led many to have Dao Body bloodlines but lack the qualifications to cultivate family True Techniques.

And often, those individuals are somewhat well-born and unwilling to cultivate Pseudo Techniques with no hope of the Great Dao or those last-class True Techniques shared by many practitioners, maintaining only an ordinary person’s status."

Bi Jie slowly explained the issues to Lu Yan.

During these two days, whenever Lu Yan had the chance, he would casually throw a Sleep Spell on people in other carriages, then inquire Bi Jie about the demonic version’s issues.

This included the most important family forces in the demon version.

Confined to different cultivation of True Techniques, nearly all forces are maintained by families, with no trace of sects.

Lu Yan even indirectly asked Bi Jie about the names of the top ten sects, but Bi Jie appeared bewildered and completely unaware of the existence of the top ten sects.

This made Lu Yan realize that even if the extraordinary exists, the rule changes between different versions still cause enormous differences.

After entering Luo City, Lu Yan and Bi Jie left the caravan.

It seemed that the time for the Li Family to host guests from all sides was nearing, and Luo City was bustling with prosperity, with forces from all over gathering to celebrate together.

Lu Yan and Bi Jie specifically made a trip to the Li Family residence, merely observing from one street away, Lu Yan sensed four powerful auras of the Mara Realm within the Li Family.

In the xianxia version, the Li Family merely had a few individuals at the Foundation Establishment, and it was only through Li Hao’s means of alliances with various forces that they built the Wushan Marketplace.

However, in this demon version, the Li Family had as many as four Mara Realm experts equivalent to Golden Core Realms, with whom even Lu Yan’s current strength could not compete.

Of course, the Li Family having more strong individuals in the demon version does not mean the energy level of the demon version is higher than the xianxia version.

The key to this lies in the outward manifestation of the Great Dao in the demon version, where True Martial Artists do not cultivate themselves, and advancing to the Mara Realm is several times easier than reaching the Golden Core Realm.

Exchanging the potential hazard of being harvested by the Great Dao at any time for great power, no one can say which is better or worse.

After a distant observation, Lu Yan was certain that the Li Family’s power in the demon version was remarkable, and if he could use it, it could resolve many threats.

Of course, the prerequisite for this is to figure out exactly what happened to the Li Family.

Having made up his mind, Lu Yan took Bi Jie to a building in Luo City.

A nine-story tall building stood in the most prosperous district of Luo City, with exquisite copper bells hanging from the eaves of each floor, lightly chiming with the wind as if whispering softly beside the ear.

On the plaque in front of the building, three large characters were written.

Tingfeng Tower!