Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Chapter 836: Startled Snake
Daoist Cangsong frowned: "What do you mean by that, Fellow Daoist Chen?"

Chen Yuan said, "As previously agreed, I will only take the thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, the demon general's demon core, and a spiritual treasure weapon. All other treasures will belong to the three of you."

"But the Howling Moon Silver Wolf clan only has one demon core at the early stage of the Demon General level, and only thirteen three-thousand-year-old spirit herbs, which is far too few."

Daoist Cangsong shook his head: "Fellow Daoist Chen is mistaken. Although our clan has few spiritual herbs and demon cores, there are seven other royal clans in the Myriad Demon Continent."

"If we win this battle, all the spiritual herbs and demon cores of their clan will belong to you, fellow Daoist. They can all be refined into pills, enough for you to break through to the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm."

Chen Yuan sighed softly: "The three of you heard what Yin Hui just said."

"The Howling Moon Silver Wolf clan has a fairly deep foundation. Compared with the other major royal clans, they are only on par. Only the Kun Fish and Jiao Dragon clans are slightly better."

"Those three royal families without a demon general in charge should be much weaker."

"As for Chen, he is a body cultivator, cultivation is already difficult, and after refining the blood of the true spirit, his cultivation progress is even slower."

"Even if you refine all the spiritual herbs and demon cores of the eight royal clans into pills, it will be difficult to improve your cultivation level by much."

Qin Wuyai said in a deep voice, "Fellow Daoist, do you perhaps intend to take the cultivation pills as well?"

Chen Yuan nodded slightly: "That's right. Fellow Daoist Qin is already in the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, and Fellow Daoist Lu and Fellow Daoist Cangsong have also reached the bottleneck of the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm. They don't need this bottle of pills to improve their cultivation."

"Chen's cultivation is the shallowest. If he could improve his cultivation, his strength would also increase."

"After we ascend to the demon realm, we will have a better chance of returning to the spirit realm."

Daoist Cangsong's face darkened: "The Howling Moon Silver Wolf clan doesn't have many treasures to begin with. Apart from the Guanghan Bow, the most valuable items are the Demon General's Demon Core, the Three Thousand Year Spirit Herb, and this bottle of early-stage Nascent Soul pills."

"Fellow Daoist Chen wants to take everything as soon as he opens his mouth. Aren't we going to leave empty-handed?"

Chen Yuan shook his head: "Fellow Daoist Cangsong, you are mistaken. I will not take those two five-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs."

"There are also other top-grade spiritual materials, top-tier divine weapons and magic treasures, more than three hundred top-grade spirit stones, etc., all of which belong to the three fellow Daoists. How can you say that you returned empty-handed?"

Daoist Cangsong's face grew even more gloomy. From the treasure vault of the Howling Moon Silver Wolf clan, as well as from the mustard seed rings of Yin Qianjie and the group of demon generals, he found a total of 349 top-grade spirit stones, a number that was not negligible even for a Nascent Soul cultivator.

But no matter how precious top-grade spirit stones are, they can still be produced from spirit stone mines.

However, three-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, early-stage Nascent Soul pills, and early-stage Demon General demon cores are rare and hard to come by.

Daoist Cangsong looked at Lu Wangquan: "What is Fellow Daoist Lu's opinion?"

Lu Wangquan pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "I agree with Fellow Daoist Chen's suggestion."

Daoist Cangsong was taken aback. Lu Wangquan continued, "This time, we lured and killed Yin Qianjie and wiped out the Howling Moon Silver Wolf clan. Fellow Daoist Chen deserves much credit for this."

"If he hadn't used the Zhu Yan True Fire to remove the Blood Silk Gu from Shen Jibai's body and control his life and death, he wouldn't have been able to successfully lure Yin Lu to Tie Yu Peak."

"It was also thanks to Fellow Daoist Chen's teleportation technique that he infiltrated the Silver Moon Mountain Range's grand formation, saving us the trouble of a direct assault."

"And we stopped Yin Zhu and the other two demon generals in time, preventing them from escaping through the secret passage; otherwise, our gains would have been greatly reduced."

"The news of Yin Qianjie's death and the destruction of the Howling Moon Silver Wolf clan will also spread, making the other four demon generals wary, which will be detrimental to our future plans."

"We will also need Fellow Daoist Chen's help in dealing with those four demon generals."

"Whether we can ascend to the Demon Realm depends on Fellow Daoist Chen. Taking away the cultivation pills is not unreasonable at all."

Daoist Cangsong frowned deeply: "Fellow Daoist Chen has made a great contribution, which I will naturally not deny."

"But if the eight royal families are indeed as Yin Hui said, their foundation is not deep."

"Fellow Daoist Chen took away the spiritual herbs, pills, and demon cores, while we can only take away some somewhat useless spiritual materials and spirit stones. Wouldn't that be a waste of our efforts?"

Qin Wuyai suddenly spoke up: "Fellow Daoist Cangsong, have you forgotten that if we win this battle, the spiritual treasures and divine weapons in the hands of the eight royal families will be the greatest gain?"

"These spiritual treasures and divine weapons are all imbued with bloodline restrictions, which can only be removed by Fellow Daoist Chen's Zhu Yan True Fire."

"If Fellow Daoist Chen refuses to remove the bloodline restriction, we will truly leave empty-handed."

Daoist Cangsong's expression changed slightly. After a long silence, he said in a low voice, "Fellow Daoist Qin is right. It was my oversight. This bottle of cultivation pills should belong to Fellow Daoist Chen."

The demon general of this realm is different from Sun Yuan of the human realm. Sun Yuan is all alone, and the magical staff in his hand is enchanted with restrictions, so that their fates are intertwined.

The magical treasures and divine weapons wielded by these demon generals are the heirlooms of their clans, not their personal property, and will not be destroyed upon their death.

If this battle can truly wipe out the eight royal clans, these spiritual treasures and divine weapons will be the greatest gain. We will still have to rely on Chen Yuan to erase the bloodline restriction. Daoist Cangsong had no choice but to change his tune.

Chen Yuan clasped his hands in a fist and bowed to the three men, and said with a smile, "Then I, Chen, will respectfully accept your offer."

With a flick of his sleeve, he took away the bottle of early-stage Nascent Soul pills, the wooden box containing the early-stage Demon General's demon core, and all the thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, leaving only two five-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs.

The Taoist Cangsong slightly shifted his gaze, gently exhaled, and a hint of reluctance flashed in his eyes.

Chen Yuan ignored it. He joined forces with the three to ascend to the upper realm, but not to help them take risks.

He had put in a great deal of effort in dealing with Yin Qianjie and had even destroyed a top-tier divine weapon, so naturally he wouldn't give up the treasure for nothing.

The remaining items were then divided among the three of them, but they did not show any dissatisfaction because Chen Yuan took the pills.

As previously stated, the top-grade spirit stones were divided into four equal parts, and Chen Yuan received eighty-seven pieces, which can be considered a small gain.

After receiving the inheritance of the Spirit Control Sect, he was not short of top-grade spirit stones. Now he has as many as 439, which is nearly 100 more than the Howling Moon Silver Wolf Clan before its destruction.

However, the Howling Moon Silver Wolf clan has one demon general and more than a dozen demon generals, including five high-ranking demon generals, and also has Nascent Soul cultivators from the Wolf God Sect under their command.

Only after the top-grade spirit stones are continuously consumed will there be only a little over three hundred left.

Within its territory lie numerous spirit stone veins, consistently producing dozens of top-grade spirit stones annually—a level far beyond what Chen Yuan could match.
Chen Yuan also took out two of the twenty-two kinds of top-grade spiritual materials he had and exchanged them for a Thunder Stone and a Azure Nether Stone, both of which were top-grade spiritual materials of the lightning attribute and top-grade spiritual materials of the space attribute that he needed.

The four individuals freely copied all the jade slips belonging to the Howling Moon Silver Wolf clan, choosing whichever interested them most.

Chen Yuan possessed the entire inheritance of the Yu Ling Sect, but he could never have too many cultivation techniques and supernatural abilities. He copied all of them: two Nascent Soul stage supernatural abilities, three cultivation techniques that led directly to the Nascent Soul stage, and two secret techniques for breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.

Among these three cultivation methods, there is one that allows one to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, but one must practice this particular method to be effective.

However, the secret techniques for breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage can be used by all cultivators, but the risks are much greater. Chen Yuan's "Nine Revolutions of True Spirit" directly targets the tribulation and can be considered a celestial technique. However, perhaps because he has refined the blood of the True Spirit, the difficulty of breaking through bottlenecks has been greatly reduced. Therefore, there are no records of secret techniques for breaking through different realms.

It's also possible that the great master who created this technique never imagined that cultivators practicing it would need to worry about how to break through bottlenecks.

However, Chen Yuan's aptitude was too poor. His Five Elements Spiritual Roots could only barely allow him to embark on the path of cultivation. Even after refining the True Spirit Blood, he still needed secret techniques to help him break through to the next realm.

……

After the four divided up all the treasures, they each chose a cave to meditate and restore their true energy.

Lu Wangquan will temporarily take the Guanghan Bow and the black iron arrow.

He had a close personal relationship with Chen Yuan, and also had good relations with Cangsong Daoren and Qin Wuyai. Since he was unable to break the bloodline restriction within this divine bow, it was most appropriate for him to keep it safe.

The distribution will be made after this battle is over.

With the help of the giant spiritual vein, the four of them recovered their true essence in just three days and reunited in the Wolf Soul Palace.

Qin Wuyai said, "The news of the destruction of the Howling Moon Silver Wolf clan has not yet spread, and the demon race does not know that the four of us have crossed over to this realm."

"But the anomaly of the disappearance of a royal family is hard to conceal for long."

"At the latest, it will probably become known to other royal families within a month."

"Before that, we must act quickly so that we can strike when we are unprepared."

Lu Wangquan said, "Our original plan was to feign an attack on a royal family to lure the other three demon generals to come to our aid, and then finish them off in one battle."

"But now that Yin Hui has pledged allegiance to us, as the Grand Elder of the Howling Moon Silver Wolf Clan, he should have some connections with the demon generals of other royal families."

"Why not use him as bait, repeat the same trick, lure out one of the demon generals and kill him, then deal with the remaining three demon generals? That should greatly increase our chances of winning."

The Taoist Cangsong's eyes lit up: "This plan is brilliant."

Qin Wuyai frowned: "Yin Hui has been imprisoned by Yin Qianjie for four thousand years, living in seclusion. His sudden appearance in the Myriad Demon Continent might arouse suspicion and backfire."

Lu Wangquan looked at Chen Yuan: "What does Fellow Daoist Chen think?"

Chen Yuan's heart stirred as he recalled the scene when the four of them fought against Yin Qianjie.

Before he could even condense the Kui Niu Dharma Form, his Heavenly Thunder Technique severely injured Yin Qianjie.

Ao Cang and Kun Chenglie may have some trump cards, but She Zhelin and Xiong Tunhai's strength should be comparable to Yin Qianjie's...

He said, "Fellow Daoist Qin is right. Our greatest advantage is that we are in the shadows, and the demon race is unaware of our existence."

"If we send Yin Hui to lure those high-ranking demon generals, it might alert them and hinder our plans."

"In my opinion, it is best to proceed according to the original plan."

Cangsong Daoist's eyes flashed: "Then we will have to rely on Fellow Daoist Chen to quickly kill a demon general, only then will we have a chance of victory."

Chen Yuan said calmly, "Fellow Daoist Cangsong, rest assured, I never do anything without being certain of success."

Lu Wangquan was silent for a moment, then nodded: "Then we will do as Fellow Daoist Chen says. But which demon race should we attack next?"

Qin Wuyai said, "I have been thinking about this matter for the past few days. The Jiaolong clan is powerful and has many demon generals. Their ascension passage is also in the East Sea. We must avoid Fulong Island."

"The Kunyu clan lives far away in the North Sea. If we lead human cultivators there, it will be too much of a commotion. The same applies to the Frost Bear clan."

"Only the Blood-Eyed Spirit Serpent Clan and the Howling Moon Silver Wolf Clan share a border. Their clan's territory, the Crimson Ridge Mountains, is located in the south-central part of the Myriad Demon Continent, only a few hundred thousand miles from here. It is also far from the ascension passage, making it the best choice for a feint attack."

Daoist Cangsong said, "Fellow Daoist Qin has thought things through carefully. Then let's make our move against She Zhelin. But how exactly should we feign an attack?"

Chen Yuan's heart stirred, and he said, "Just now, Fellow Daoist Qin said that Yin Hui's appearance might alert the enemy. Why don't we take advantage of this..."

An hour later, the four summoned the human cultivators, with Chen Yuan, who held the highest prestige, issuing the orders.

He left behind several Nascent Soul cultivators to guard Yin Zhu and the seven Howling Moon Silver Wolves that had not yet taken human form.

The others left the Silver Moon Mountains with the four of them, and before the news of the destruction of the Howling Moon Silver Wolf clan spread, they headed to the Crimson Ridge Mountains in the south-central part of the Ten Thousand Demon Continent, which was the ancestral home of the Blood-Eyed Spirit Serpent clan. The white-robed youth also went along.

……

In the south-central part of Wanyao Continent, the Crimson Ridge Mountains stretch for hundreds of miles, resembling a giant python winding across the land, shrouded in a thin layer of miasma.

But deep in the mountains, pavilions and towers are built against the mountainside, with flying eaves and brackets, all carved from the finest spirit wood.

The mountain waterfalls and springs cascade down, their steam rising and condensing into a rainbow, creating a scene of celestial beauty.

However, occasionally a giant, jet-black snake, several meters long, would slowly emerge from the mountains and forests, its blood-red pupils menacing and ferocious, disrupting the ethereal atmosphere.

Even more striking was a giant black serpent, several dozen feet long, coiled atop the mountain peak, bathed in sunlight, its mouth agape as it swallowed a tiger several feet in size.

In a short while, its swollen snake body calmed down, and the blood in its pupils became even more intense.

Looking around, you can see these blood-eyed black snakes everywhere, adding a sinister atmosphere to this blessed land.

Every now and then, streaks of light would flash across the sky, carrying handsome men and beautiful women, but their expressions were all somewhat blank. It was clear at a glance that they were human slaves whose souls had been sealed for a long time.

Suddenly, a streak of light flew in from outside the mountains, heading straight for a deep valley nestled between two mountains.

But just as the escape light approached the deep valley, it was stopped by a beautiful woman who flew up from the mountainside.

The light faded, revealing the figure of a young scholar, dressed in purple robes, handsome and refined, but with bloodshot eyes that made him appear less refined and more ferocious.

The young scholar was stopped by the slave, but he was not annoyed. Instead, his expression became slightly solemn. He said in a deep voice, "Quickly inform the clan leader that Elder Yin Hui of the Howling Moon Silver Wolf Clan has come to visit with an extremely urgent matter. He wishes to pay his respects to the clan leader!"

The beautiful woman's slightly dazed eyes were full of obedience as she gave a graceful bow: "Seventh Elder, please wait a moment, this servant will report to the master immediately."

With that, she turned and descended in a burst of light, her graceful figure swallowed by the deep valley.

The young scholar waited for a quarter of an hour, his face already showing impatience. Only then did the beautiful woman fly out of the deep valley and come to the young scholar, saying respectfully, "The master summons you. Seventh Elder, please."

(End of this chapter)