ILDV Chapter 75

The moment Chao Liang left Supreme City and reached three li outside, he immediately ordered his subordinates to continue according to the original plan, while he concealed his form and set off alone in a random direction.

If even Yin Lang could guess who Yan Yan would target, how could Chao Liang not know? Even if Yan Yan were willing to listen to him, he had no way to clearly explain the matter of the ‘treasure map.’ Compared to the Second Venerable who had been severely injured and fled far away, his own likelihood was far greater than Yin Lang’s!

Yan Yan wanted the Primordial Jade for himself, so he viewed everyone as his competitor.

What a joke—did he really think everyone wanted to seize that broken jade to ascend?! After going up there, you’d still have to struggle and strive from the beginning. After you three leave, wouldn’t this Venerable be happy being a local tyrant down here?

Without another word, Chao Liang changed his appearance and quickly fled. In any case, the real treasure map wasn’t on him—he just needed to hide until the Tianxuan Secret Treasury was opened by someone with the real key, and then he’d be safe.

Unfortunately, Chao Liang still underestimated Yan Yan’s determination to obtain the Primordial Jade. The other party didn’t bother trying to determine which direction he’d gone—he surrounded the area five li outside Supreme City so tightly that not even water could leak through, setting up checkpoints everywhere. Whether Demon Venerable or ordinary demonic cultivator, everyone had to verify their identity before being allowed to leave.

Though people were dissatisfied, with the soon-to-appear Tianxuan Secret Treasury dangling before them, aside from Wu Mantuo throwing a fit, even the most rebellious Yan Guihe lazily allowed himself to be inspected.

The sight of the inspectors kneeling on the ground in trepidation while conducting the inspection was quite amusing, though.

“Venerable Yin, our Venerable has given orders. Please cooperate…” The leader’s sweat dripped in beads, maintaining a strained smile without daring to even wipe it away, terrified that Venerable Yin, who had just displayed his divine might in Supreme City, might chop off his head at the slightest displeasure.

Right Envoy Li Sun stepped forward and said coolly, “The Venerable commanded us to return first. He still has important matters to attend to and is not in the carriage.”

The leader visibly relaxed, perfunctorily inspected them, and after confirming the target wasn’t hidden there, readily let the Eighteenth Hell’s convoy pass.

Damn it!

Chao Liang cursed silently.

For the sake of that so-called treasure map, that bastard Yan Yan was being far too ruthless!

Even Demon Venerables couldn’t escape inspection. With no choice, he quickly moved away from this checkpoint to search for another.

After spending half a shichen circling completely around Supreme City’s perimeter, Chao Liang lay under a tree with a splitting headache, forced to admit that Yan Yan was playing for real this time. Such a massive operation meant he was truly determined to catch him no matter what…

His closed eyes suddenly snapped open—fine, scattered footsteps mixed with the ‘rustling’ of wind blowing through leaves were rapidly approaching.

‘Tsk, they came too quickly.’

With that thought, Chao Liang nimbly flipped up. A layer of mottled light and shadow appeared on his body’s surface, then he shattered like a bubble in sunlight, disappearing without a trace.

The leader who had tracked to the area looked at the empty space beneath the tree with a slight frown. After waving his hand, the demonic cultivators who had come with him began manipulating some kind of device.

“Be careful not to affect the Demon Venerables who haven’t left yet.”

Perched on the tree trunk, Chao Liang had an ominous premonition and carefully moved backward. He wanted to flee, but that Tribulation stage leader seemed certain he was nearby, standing motionless like a nail. Any large movement would surely alert him.

A range of five li was just two or three steps for a Tribulation stage Demon Venerable. He didn’t have Yin Lang’s abilities—if he summoned Yan Yan, today he’d have no escape even with wings.

As he hesitated whether to take the gamble, the demonic cultivators below had already activated their artifact.

Chao Liang couldn’t even tell what happened—it was as if a wave that made his brain foggy and dizzy swept through his mind, and something extremely light brushed against his bottom. In his daze, Chao Liang sensed it seemed to be… the tip of a shoe.

The next moment, the gazes of those demonic cultivators below uniformly focused on him. Chao Liang looked down—sure enough, the layer of floating light and shadow on his body had completely vanished.

He dared not delay even a moment. With a Tribulation stage cultivator’s vision, he hadn’t even clearly seen the face of that leading subordinate. Light and shadow flashed in the void as he forcibly tore open space to pull open a rift, and Chao Liang lifted his foot to dive in.

Another swift black light slashed across. The space rift Chao Liang had just opened was severed in two. Shocked, he retreated repeatedly, flashing three chi away before stopping with lingering fear.

Chao Liang looked up toward the rift’s direction, his face instantly turning white.

Yan Yan had appeared at the intersection of the two perpendicular rifts at some unknown time, with the narrow rifts slowly healing behind him. A pair of emotionless eyes fell on Chao Liang, making his hair stand on end.

“Yan—”

“The treasure map. Hand it over.”

Yan Yan extended his hand toward him. The Tribulation stage demonic cultivator subordinates slowly approached from behind—the meaning of coercion and robbery couldn’t be clearer.

Chao Liang gritted his teeth. “That thing really isn’t on me!”

Yan Yan looked at him again.

Boundless panic suddenly surged in Chao Liang’s heart. His mind went blank as he instinctively retreated rapidly based on pure intuition.

But it was still too slow. Time around that hand infinitely slowed, and in what seemed like one-thousandth of a finger snap, those pale, bony fingers had already reached before his eyeballs.

Metal and stone clashed and shattered. The piercing friction was infinitely amplified, nearly deafening Chao Liang’s ears directly. He instinctively covered his ears and forcefully blinked.

A gleaming spear tip and sword body simultaneously landed on the finger Yan Yan had extended. Ice-cold flames leaped up, and without warning, they whooshed up along the spear shaft onto the slender snow-white sword body, happily wrapping around it three tight times before becoming still.

Yan Yan had already swiftly withdrawn his hand and retreated when that black flame burned over. The person now gripping the long sword looked down at the black flame intimately contacting his sword body, then looked up at the red-robed Demon Venerable an arm’s length away, his face full of astonishment, and suddenly laughed heartily.

He extended his hand and affectionately flicked the sword body. Wherever his knuckles touched, the black flame automatically moved aside, shaking ingratiatingly. “Venerable Yin, it’s been so long—is this how you receive an old friend?”

Snow-white robes, ink-black hair, a golden sword at his waist, and a crimson gem adorning his brow. Add to that this familiar tone and bearing—who else could it be but that Tianji Daojun of Taihua Immortal Sect who loved to travel mountains and waters while meddling in others’ affairs?

Before Yin Lang could speak, Shen Muxuan seemed to remember something and reached into his robes, pulling something out. Without even looking, he directly tossed it into the Demon Venerable’s embrace. “On the way here, I heard Venerable Yin’s cultivation has greatly advanced. Too close to prepare anything good—this little trinket can barely catch the eye. Consider it a congratulatory gift for the Venerable.”

This person’s actions were too familiar. When the item was caught in Yin Lang’s hand, including Yin Lang himself, no one thought it at all unreasonable for an immortal sect’s Daojun to sincerely give a congratulatory gift to a demonic path’s Demon Venerable.

Yin Lang seemed to finally react. He paused slightly, lowered his eyes to tuck the ‘congratulatory gift’ into his robes, then extended his hand to recall the black flame before calmly asking, “What are you doing here?”

From his expression, it was clear he still didn’t intend to speak properly. Yin Lang said coolly, “This place is the heart of Northern Demon Territory, under Supreme City’s jurisdiction. Before you speak, you’d best think carefully about what exactly you want to say.” 

Shen Muxuan curved his eyes, appearing helpless. “This really is… After knowing each other so many years, can’t the Venerable at least leave Shen a bit of face? Ai! Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. I’ll speak honestly then—Shen came for Venerable Chao.”

Yin Lang: “…You’re also here to snatch the treasure map?”

He frowned slightly and declared, “You absolutely aren’t someone who would be interested in this thing. Who told you the item was on Chao Liang, and who sent you here—Yuan Daozhu, Feng Jiangcheng, or Tu Feng?”

Shen Muxuan said, “Isn’t Venerable Yin making things difficult for me? Which of these questions can Shen possibly answer?”

He sighed, his index finger curled and lightly tapping on the faintly glowing sword hilt. Though he appeared relaxed and completely unguarded while conversing with Yin Lang, in reality, his full attention was on Chao Liang not far away. Whether Chao Liang or anyone else made the slightest move, he could draw his sword to respond at the first instant.

On the surface, the two exchanged questions and answers smoothly and naturally, treating everyone else present as air.

Finally, when Yin Lang said, ‘This thing absolutely cannot fall into your immortal sects’ hands. For the sake of the congratulatory gift, this Venerable won’t hold it against you this time—leave!’ Yan Yan could no longer sit still. He raised his hand and sealed this space—those whose power didn’t exceed his absolutely couldn’t tear open spatial rifts.

“Coming and going as you please—Shen Muxuan, what do you take Northern Demon Territory for? What do you take this Venerable’s Supreme City for?!” 

The snow-robed Immortal Lord wasn’t nervous in the slightest. Even the frequency of his tapping on the sword hilt didn’t deviate by the slightest fraction. As if he couldn’t sense Yan Yan’s terrifying demonic qi at all, he remained seated in place, smiling as he replied, “Naturally, the same sort of place as Eighteenth Hell.”

!

He could come and go freely in Eighteenth Hell—this meant that even Supreme City was, in his eyes, no different from that riddled, dilapidated place called Eighteenth Hell!

Shen Muxuan maintained his smile while meeting Yan Yan’s gaze. Seeming to sense the other’s surging fury and imminent violent move, he reached into his sleeve again and pulled out an exquisite diamond-shaped transparent crystal, steadily holding it in his hand.

Yan Yan’s explosive rage suddenly halted.

Shen Muxuan was still smiling, the crystal flipping up and down between his five fingers as if it were the most ordinary wooden toy in the mortal world. Yet it made Yan Yan stare fixedly at the crystal, not daring to move even a fraction.

He was both shocked and grinding his teeth in hatred. “That old thing Yuan Daozhu actually gave you even this?!”

“As you can see.”

Shen Muxuan found tossing this thing back and forth rather fun, completely unaware that the several people watching his hand were nearly suffocating from fear.

Once this thing lost control, the instantly erupting power would be enough to level half of Supreme City. Even Yan Yan didn’t dare bet on whether Shen Muxuan, if truly provoked, would decisively use it.

Anyone else definitely wouldn’t easily use such a precious life-saving measure, but with Shen Muxuan’s carefree temperament that cared about nothing—it really wasn’t certain.

Chao Liang inhaled sharply and cast an admiring look at Yin Lang.

No wonder when Tianji was still in the Mahayana stage, he dared to single-handedly storm Eighteenth Hell. Over these years, who knew how heart-stoppingly terrified poor young Yin had been each time he accompanied the other in combat, fearing he and the Eighteenth Hell would be wiped out together.

Yin Lang decisively said, “Take him.”

The speed, smoothness, and decisiveness of his reaction—if everyone hadn’t seen that deadly little crystal, the wildly circulating Across the Sea of Emotions really would have had something of a live performance flavor.

Yan Yan was about to speak when Shen Muxuan said leisurely, “Don’t be so tense, Venerable Yan. Shen is bringing Venerable Chao to Tianxuan Secret Treasury in the end anyway. Everyone’s goals are aligned—why must you make things difficult for this junior here?”

Yan Yan took two rapid breaths and raised his hand to remove the spatial seal.

Shen Muxuan laughed pleasantly, flashed behind Chao Liang, raised his sword to slash open a rift in midair, and quickly dragged him through it. “See you later, everyone!”

Chao Liang only felt his vision go black. When he opened his eyes again, he was in a different place.

The person before him was still holding that deadly thing. Chao Liang tried hard to distance himself from it, urgently prompting, “We’re already far away—why haven’t you put that thing away yet?!”

“Alright.” Shen Muxuan shrugged and, right before his eyes, raised his hand and directly tossed the little crystal into his mouth.

Chao Liang: “!!!”

Shocked into losing all expression.

“Hahahahahaha…” Shen Muxuan laughed until his shoulders shook. It took quite a while before he returned to normal. When Chao Liang’s face turned green and he viciously asked what was so funny, Shen Muxuan casually pulled out another identical crystal and stuffed it into his mouth.

Sweet and sugary.

“Li Capital’s Tianshi Pavilion’s new crystal cake—tastes pretty good, doesn’t it?”