<h4>Chapter 1234 - Shang Jianlou</h4>


    The cultivators of Skyblue City were all wide-eyed, tongue-tied, and dazed.


    Four out of five World Kings had fallen!


    For the Dark Nightmare Realm, this was unquestionably an unprecedented massacre. If word got out, it would cause an uproar even out amongst the stars!


    The experts of Flying Cloud Tower, the ck Lotus Sect, and the other local factions looked ashen, and they felt as if they’d been plunged into an icy abyss.


    They were keenly aware that they were finished! Even if their opponents disdained to act against small fries like them, a storm was sure to follow. There’d be no ce for them to establish themselves in Skyblue City going forward.


    It was even highly likely that others would seize the opportunity to kick them while they were down!


    When a whale died, countless other animals feasted on its corpse.


    Simrly, when a powerful faction toppled, ravening wolves were sure to rush in and tear it apart.


    “After this bloody lesson, who will dare to target the cultivators of the Dark and Gold Star Realm?” some of the experienced older-generation cultivators sighed.


    <i>Dammit! Fortunately, I fled quickly. Otherwise, I’m afraid my ashes would have scattered to the wind by now!</i>


    The tall, stalwart man in beast skins had hidden himself in a remote corner. He wiped the cold sweat from his brow.


    He was terrified too.


    Just a few snaps of the finger, and Su Yi exterminated four World Kings with ease. How terrifying was that?


    <i>Since when did such a tough customer appear in the Dark Nightmare Realm?</i> The man in beast skins furrowed his brow.


    His name was Tao Meng, and he was from the ckwater Yao Sect. It was a first-rate orthodoxy even out amongst the stars.


    But when he thought back to the bloody spectacle he’d just witnessed, his heart quivered with irrepressible terror.


    <i>Too terrifying! If I run into that guy again, I’ll run as fast and far as I can!</i>


    <i>Right, ording to our subordinates at As-You-Wish Tower, this incident started because Flying Cloud Tower targeted cultivators from the Dark and Gold Star Realm. Is that young man in blue from the Dark and Gold Star Realm too?</i>


    Tao Meng’s heart suddenly thudded in his chest as he recalled the rumors that had taken the stars by storm just one year prior: the Temple Master had returned through reincarnated, reborn into the Dark and Gold Star Realm!!


    <i>Don’t tell me... don’t tell me... that boy was really the Temple Master??</i>


    Tao Meng’s mind buzzed. He felt as if he’d been struck by lightning.


    The Temple Master had disappeared for a long, long time. Even so, tales of his legendary exploits still circted throughout the stars to this day!


    As a World King, how could Tao Meng not know how terrifying of an existence the Temple Master was?


    Even to the World Kings of the starry skies, he was practically a god!


    Tao Meng vividly recalled that a year ago, when word of the Temple Master’s return spread throughout the various star realms, even the ckwater Yao Sect’s longest-lived old-timers jumped with fright,pletely losing theirposure!


    <i>If that was really the reincarnation of the Temple Master, what was he doing here in the Dark Nightmare Realm? Don’t tell me... he ns to return to the stars and continue his legend?</i>


    Tao Meng immediately realized that if his deduction was on the mark, an enormous storm was soon to sweep across the various star realms!


    <i>I just came so close to death I can practically smell the funeral incense.... I’ll have to be much more careful going forward!</i>


    Tao Meng pounded his chest, feeling that nothing could have been more worthy of celebration than this!


    ......


    The Nightmare Winds Belt was like the curtain of heaven obscuring the boundless void of the starry skies.


    In its dormant periods, it was as still and silent as the night, its darknesspletely imprable. Walking through it felt like walking through murky, deathly silence.


    Countless meteorite fragments hovered in the Nightmare Winds Belt.


    Su Yi took all of this in from afar, his eyes shining with remembrance.


    He’de here in his past life, and he’d seen all of this before.


    “Young lord, these are the spoils of war.” Before long, Meng Changyun shot over from afar and proferred the trophies.


    “You look after them for now,” said Su Yi. With that, he took a step forward and shot into the Nightmare Winds Belt. Meng Changyun hurried after him.


    Along the way, heaven and earth were overcast, boundless, and deathly silent. From time to time, they saw fully one-hundred-thousand-foot spatial rifts hovering in the boundless void, flickering in and out of view and shing with dangerous luster.


    The Nightmare Winds Belt was far too enormous, bigger than several full star realms put together.


    Even in its dormant state, it contained numerous danger zones. Without an experienced, powerful guide, survival was still unlikely.


    But Su Yi and Meng Changyun naturally weren’t afraid of its perils.


    Two dayster.


    Su Yi abruptly stopped in his tracks and gazed at a distant area swathed in ck mists.


    It was indistinct, but a dpidated continent hung there in space, so vast that there was no end in sight.


    Meng Changyun recognized it at a nce. They called it the Poisonous Wastes, and it was considered one of the most dangerous ces in the Nightmare Winds Belt. Countless strange, vicious, poisonous creatures made their homes there.


    Even World Kings who entered this ce were unlikely to survive.


    “I wonder if that spring has dried up yet? Come on, let’s go have a look,” Su Yi said after a moment’s pondering, proceeding directly into the Poisonous Wastes.


    For a moment, Meng Changyun considered warning him, only tough self-deprecatingly and shake his head. <i>What am I thinking? With His Excellency the Temple Master leading the way, what is there to fear?</i>


    <i>Boom!</i>


    They’d only just entered thesends covered in ck mist when countless streaks of bright red light surged toward them, as if startled into action.


    Upon closer inspection, they were a swarm of palm-sized blood-red hos with faces like fanged ghosts. Their wings were covered in strange ck markings, and their eyes were as red as blood.


    Bloodthirsty Poison Hos!


    An extremely troublesome predator that wandered outer space in swarms. They could devour the flesh and blood of even Imperial Apex Emperors all but instantaneously.


    Meng Changyun was just about to attack when Su Yi shook his head. “Pay them no need. Killing them all would take all day.”


    With that, he circted a secret art called the Torch Dragon’s Shadow.


    A terrifying, monstrous, imposing aura instantly emanated from Su Yi. It was indistinct, but an illusory, one-hundred-thousand-foot Torch Dragon coiled in the space above Su Yi’s head.


    Its icy, majestic aura spread onto that floatingndmass like a shadow.


    The distant Bloodthirsty Poison Hos instantly fled in panic and terror. Some even thudded to the ground, quite literally terrified to death!


    Meng Changyun could feel his horizons expanding.


    “Come on. It’s unlikely that any more poisonous creatures will make trouble for us,” said Su Yi, leading the way ahead.


    It was just as he predicted. On the road ahead, Meng Changyun discovered several poisonous creatures with utterly strange and insidious auras, but none revealed themselves. It seemed they sensed the threat, and all of them receded like waters at low tide.


    This meant that along the way, they never once ran into any danger.


    Meng Changyun asked a bit sheepishly, “Your Excellency, might this humble old man be so bold as to ask you a question? There’s something I’ve been curious about.”


    “Ask,” said Su Yi.


    “Just how many varieties of the Grand Dao have you mastered?”


    Su Yi was stunned. He thought for a moment, then said, “I’ve never really counted, so let’s say this. I’ve mastered at least a few tidbits of all the peak schools of thought and inheritances of the stars—Buddhism, Demonism, Confucianism, the Yao Path, soul cultivation, and so on.”


    Meng Changyun was bbergasted. <i>And...so on?! It’s like he’s grasped all Daos and achieved mastery of all skills. How could he call that... a few tidbits?</i>


    <i>It’s obviously hundreds of millions of tidbits!</i>


    “Even an ordinary mortal could master all manner of skills from the mundane world if he lived long enough. That’s even more true for cultivators,” Su Yi said casually. “They say that when you cultivate the Grand Dao, you must be broad-minded to ept the influence of all schools of thought, just as the ocean epts water from countless rivers. You must then refine them for your own use. It’s only by studying widely and branching out that you can walk further down the path of cultivation.”


    Meng Changyun agreedpletely.


    s, the rules were different for everyone.


    How could just anyone peruse the texts of the stars’ great schools of thought? How could just anyone ess their greatest legacies whenever they pleased?


    The more ancient an orthodoxy, the more strictly they guarded their legacies.


    Never mind ordinary cultivators; even World Kings had no opportunity to learn their secrets!


    But the Temple Master... was obviously an exception to this rule.


    Meng Changyun was convinced that if he walked up to even a peak faction and said he wanted to peruse their ancient tomes, none would have the courage to refuse!


    That was the difference between him and other people.


    It didn’t matter if you weren’t convinced.


    “We’re here.” Before long, Su Yi stopped in ce.


    There, off in the distance, they saw a valley swathed in mist.


    It was indistinct, but divine radiance flickered in the valley’s depths, making it seem utterly mysterious.


    When he arrived, Su Yi’s eyes shone with an irrepressible hint of mncholy.


    “There’s a spring here. Once every thousand years, it will surge with an abundance of Serene Profound Ambrosia. It’s inestimably beneficial to cultivators with Nine-Yin Profound Meridians,” Su Yi said softly. “A long time ago, I led someone called Shang Jianlou to this very spring to drink Serene Profound Ambrosia. He smoothly proved his Dao and became a World King, forging foundations in the Grand Dao that would have been rare in any era.


    “Butter...”


    Here, Su Yi sighed softly, and his tale trailed off.


    These were the Temple Master’s memories.


    Shang Jianlou’s fate was one of the Temple Master’s few regrets.


    Meng Changyun suddenly seemed to recall something. He eximed, “Shang Jianlou... Don’t tell me you’re talking about the Nine-Yin Sword Demon, the one who single-handedly explored the Divine Yin Star Realm’s Thirteen Demon Caves and cut down neen World Kings?”


    Su Yi subtly inclined his head.


    Meng Changyun’s scalp instantly went numb. <i>So, he really was talking about that terrifying master of the Dao of the Sword!</i>


    A long, long time ago, the inhabitants of the stars made a list of the ten greatest World King swordmasters.


    Shang Jianlou, the Nine-Yin Sword Demon, was one of them!


    Furthermore, he was an unparalleled sovereign of the demonic path, an astonishing expert of his era. Even some of the stars’ peak factions feared him.


    It’s worth mentioning that the list of the ten greatest World King experts of the Dao of the Sword did not include the Temple Master.


    Because his strength was beyond anyone’s ability to estimate. Even if they put him in first ce, it would be insufficient to describe his power.


    Meng Changyun would never have guessed that Shang Jianlou proved his Dao and became a World King with the Temple Master’s support.


    But a momentter, Meng Changyun realized why Su Yi hadn’t continued his story.


    The Nine-Yin Sword Demon, Shang Jianlou, had passed away a long time ago. They said a mysterious faction surrounded and killed him!


    “Let’s go.” Su Yi continued toward that distant valley.


    Meng Changyun cast aside his scattered thoughts and stuck close to him.


    Suddenly, an aged voice emanated from the valley’s entrance.


    “Fellow Daoists, please stop there!”


    <i>Someone’s here already? </i>Su Yi’s brow furrowed slightly.


    Over the years, aside from him and Shang Jianlou, practically no one had ever discovered the ce.


    Yet now, someone else had appeared here. Su Yi couldn’t help but find this surprising.


    They then watched as an old man in long navy blue robes emerged from the mists.


    His hair and beard were ck as ink, and his features were aged. He had an unsmiling face, and his gaze was indifferent yet imposing.


    His body emanated the characteristic energy fluctuations of the Imperial Apex Realm.


    “Fellow Daoists, might you do me a favor and stop right there?” The old man in long robes inclined his head in greeting, his tone and attitude both polite.


    However, it was obvious that he was kicking them out.