Longzang

Chapter 1021: Concealing evil intentions
In this realm, the night sky remains high in the desolate realm for three days.

Wei Yuan, his brow furrowed with deep weariness, stumbled towards Jiu Mu. Jiu Mu had closed eight eyes, leaving only the smallest one, and sized Wei Yuan up and down, saying, "So many tricks to bask in the sun, huh! Ugly witch, always causing trouble, you humans are just too dramatic!"

Wei Yuan sighed and said, "If we don't talk about this, what else do you want me to see?"

"Come with me, let's go take a look at the Molten Dragon."

Wei Yuan's heart sank. He reached out and grabbed Nine Eyes' tentacles, instantly arriving at the mountain range beside the Heavenly Pillar. Nine Eyes withdrew its true form, transforming into an ordinary, ugly great shaman, and climbed the steps, slowly leading Wei Yuan to the summit. Judging from the mountain's shape, they had landed at the neck of the Molten Dragon and then ascended to its top.

On the main peak, a burly figure sat cross-legged, imposing and unmoving, exuding an aura of power. Although his back was to Wei Yuan, Wei Yuan could sense at a glance that it was the Molten Dragon.

The Molten Dragon isn't dead? Wei Yuan was both surprised and delighted. He took two steps closer and realized that the figure had no spirituality, not even a lingering remnant of its spirit. It could only be described as a residual image left from that day after the aura was activated.

Before the Molten Dragon was an indescribable mass, like a gray liquid, constantly writhing and extending in all directions, seemingly trying to break through some invisible barrier, but each attempt failed.

Looking at this dark gray, Wei Yuan suddenly felt that it seemed somewhat similar to the shadow on the full moon of the Fifth Grotto-Heaven. Both were clearly not products of this world, and were clearly superior to this world, only to be perceived indirectly, neither visible nor tangible.

Nine Eyes looked at the gray mass and said, "Guess what this is?"

"An extraterrestrial evil?"

Nine Eyes said, "That's not accurate. Actually, you've seen it before; it's the broken Flame Demon Heavenly Pillar."

"The Heavenly Pillar?!" The object in front of them didn't look very big, but its appearance and aura were so different from the Heavenly Pillar of that day that it was like heaven and earth.

"What you see is a remnant of life in the Heavenly Pillar. The Molten Dragon has annihilated and assimilated most of the Heavenly Pillar's life force, but the last remaining bit is beyond the Molten Dragon's capabilities and is difficult to destroy. If it cannot be controlled, it will be completely resurrected before long, and then the Molten Dragon's death will have been in vain."

"What do you need me to do?"

Nine Eyes was in humanoid form at this moment, with one eye open between its brows, looking at Wei Yuan. In that instant, Wei Yuan felt as if he could see right through him, both inside and out.

However, this time the result was different. Wei Yuan suddenly shot out a shocking sword aura from his left eye, while his right eye spewed out a wisp of black and white intertwined aura, together shattering the Nine-Eyed Eyes!
With a muffled groan, Jiu Mu's central Heavenly Eye closed, and hot tears streamed from the corners of his eyes. He vaguely sensed that the black and white energies were somewhat extraordinary, but their auras were completely concealed by that earth-shattering sword energy. Now, recalling the past, all that remained in his mind was the endless sword light; he had no memory whatsoever of the black and white energies.

Wei Yuan hurriedly apologized: "I'm sorry, there are two spirit artifacts of the previous palace masters residing in my body now, and sometimes I can't control them."

Wei Yuan's words were absolutely true.

Nine Eyes snorted heavily and said irritably, "I'm just an ordinary Heavenly Witch who wants a stable job, to receive my salary on time, to avoid any trouble or accidents! Is this really necessary? In terms of age and cultivation, you're at least seniors, aren't you? What good will it do you to beat me? Will it add to your glory or your reputation?"

This series of soul-searching questions immediately silenced Xihe.

Back when she roamed the world, even a Celestial Witch like Nine Eyes probably wouldn't have bothered to intervene. Of course, they rarely encountered her either; whenever she appeared, the Witch Clan would have to send one of their top Celestial Witches to deal with her, and sometimes even one wouldn't be enough.

However, before she could emulate her master's feat of venturing deep into the Witch Realm to challenge the First Witch, she was poisoned by her best friend and confidante with the deadly poison "Immortal-Slaying Powder," and then ambushed and attacked by a group of immortals, ultimately perishing.

Given her personality in life, and considering how Jiu Mu spoke, Xi He probably wouldn't be able to cut her down with a single sword strike; she could only watch him walk away.

Wei Yuan apologized repeatedly, his attitude sincere and earnest.

It is said that ever since he participated in the Immortal Sect's unified examination at the age of six, Wei Yuan had to apologize from time to time, but most of his apologies were not accepted by the other party. For example, "You almost hurt me", or "I really didn't mean to win against you"; "I slowed down this shot as much as possible, how come you still couldn't dodge it? Any slower and it would be too fake".

Fortunately, Wei Yuan's apology was relatively normal this time, and Jiu Mu reluctantly accepted it, which relieved Wei Yuan.

After all, the body tempering effects of all the cultivators from the Taichu Palace during this trip to the Desolate Realm were excellent. After Cui Yu's Dharma Aspect advanced to the Twelfth Six Ren Night Walker Heavenly Soldier, his rank rose another level. He is now at the peak of the Heavenly Aspect, and the gate to the Imperial View has finally opened.

Even the weakest Xu Yi Dharma Image shows signs of advancement; it just needs to be displayed a few more times.

The physical body and the Dharma form complement each other. Wei Yuan first possessed an unparalleled physical body, and then he acquired an unparalleled Dharma form. A significant improvement in the physical body will naturally lead to an improvement in the Dharma form, albeit to a smaller extent.

Therefore, for the sake of the cultivation paths of all cultivators in the Primordial Palace, Wei Yuan must lower his stance and absolutely cannot offend the Nine Eyes, lest he miss out on a sacred place for body tempering like the Desolate Realm.

Jiu Mu didn't know if she had truly forgiven Wei Yuan in her heart, but at least it wasn't showing on her face for the time being. Besides, the most important thing right now was to get down to business.

Nine Eyes pointed at the indescribable object and said, "You have studied the initial exploration of the Desolate Realm, so you can be considered to have inherited the mantle of the Molten Dragon. Protecting the Desolate Realm has always been his wish. I wonder if you are willing to fulfill it for him?"

"What should I do?" Wei Yuan became serious. "I just looked at... oh, I only glanced at your mental world, and it is indeed different from others. It already has five grotto-heavens, but I couldn't see exactly which five grotto-heavens they are."

Wei Yuan thought to himself, "You don't need to add that last sentence, boss."

Nine Eyes continued, "After reading it, I understood why Molten Dragon wrote down the initial exploration of the Desolate Realm for you, and why he separated an independent position of Heavenly Witch from the Desolate Realm. This Heavenly Pillar has extremely hot and poisonous life force. With it as the core, it can absorb the surrounding world energy and eventually transform into a blazing sun."

Once you leave the desolate realm, its vitality will be greatly reduced, but it's still not something you can destroy in your current state. Only after you ascend to immortality might you find a way to completely eliminate it. For now, you can only temporarily trap it and do your utmost to wear down its life force. If you fail to suppress it, it will destroy you.

Nine Eyes paused for a moment, then said solemnly, "This is a tremendous responsibility that will accompany you for a very long time. Only when you gain the approval of the Desolate Realm and wield authority can you suppress the Heavenly Pillar. But it is also normal if you do not wish to accept it. Your ancient human emperor did not accept this responsibility back then."

Wei Yuan smiled wryly and said, "This is such an important matter, let me think about it."

Nine Eyes said, "Of course. I didn't ask you to make a decision now. You can go back and discuss it with your elders in the sect, and then come and tell me when you have a decision."

Wei Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "Since the Flame Demon is so terrifying, why not simply abandon the Desolate Realm?"

Nine Eyes asked, "Has Molten Dragon shown you the true face of the Desolate Realm?"

"No."

"Then I'll show you." Nine Eyes pointed, and a scene appeared before Wei Yuan's eyes.

The image shows an enormous sphere of light, only a corner of which is visible. The surface of the sphere has an irregular bump, resembling an inverted bowl or a welt from a mosquito bite.

Three ferocious giant insects lurked on the lump, each with a sharp barb extending from its tail, deeply embedded in the mass. For some reason, Wei Yuan felt an inexplicable disgust and discomfort upon seeing those insects, and then various parts of his body began to itch. Some tiny parts of his body even mutated and began to grow erratically.

Wei Yuan immediately drew upon the power of human fire to forcefully suppress the abnormality in his physical body. Then, he opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of gray-black, foul-smelling blood, thus completely clearing the true meaning of the evil spirit from beyond the heavens from his body.

Wei Yuan was also shocked. He had only glanced at the image released by Nine Eyes, yet he was so obviously affected.
At this moment, endless sword light suddenly surged from Wei Yuan's body, cleansing his entire being, and instantly causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood. This blood was pale pink, and many extremely tiny white nematodes were crawling within it.

This was Xihe's doing, clearing away the hidden dangers within Wei Yuan's body. Wei Yuan thought he had already eliminated the influence of the evil spirits, but he didn't expect there to be so many remnants left.

Nine Eyes' face flashed with surprise as he said, "This senior is indeed powerful. I seem to have heard of this sword energy before. The Desolate Realm is actually a product of these extraterrestrial demons invading this world. It can be regarded as a defense mechanism of this world. By creating such an extreme environment as the Desolate Realm, the strength of the extraterrestrial demons is suppressed."

You just asked why we don't just abandon the Desolate Realm. Actually, a million years ago, the Witch Clan abandoned it once, and the result was the Netherworld you see now. The Netherworld's physical form has been destroyed; what remains is nothingness, and it's no longer defended against extraterrestrial demons. But the Netherworld Witches can abandon it; we, the Power Witches, cannot!

"If we abandon the Desolate Realm, the extraterrestrial demons will continue their attack. Once they invade our own realm, where can we retreat to? Therefore, in the hearts of us powerful shamans, although the rear is vast, we cannot retreat even a single step!"

At this point, Wei Yuan understood everything, and he also understood why the power of the Desolate Realm was constantly shifting towards him. This was the Desolate Realm preparing for him to take over the remnants of the Heavenly Pillar.

In that instant, Wei Yuan thought of countless things. A myriad of ideas, countless calculations and weighings, all ultimately settled on the silhouette of the Molten Dragon—a silhouette lonely, weathered, yet possessing an indomitable strength. Wei Yuan seemed to see again the ancient Molten Dragon struggling to entangle the pillar of heaven, forcefully snapping it in two. At that time, the Molten Dragon had just ascended to the Heavenly Witch realm; in terms of a Heavenly Witch's life dimension, the Molten Dragon was only equivalent to an eighteen-year-old mortal.

Wei Yuan took a deep breath and said, "I'll take it!"

Jiu Mu was surprised and deeply moved that Wei Yuan made a decision on the spot.

At this point, any further words would be superfluous. All he could do was pat Wei Yuan on the shoulder and say, "Molten Dragon was right, you are a born power sorceress! It's just a pity you were born into the wrong race, the human race. Alas, humans are ugly and weak, yet they have so many tricks up their sleeves. It must have been tough for you."

Wei Yuan inwardly cried out in alarm, "This Heavenly Witch, couldn't you just swallow your last words?"

Sure enough, a sword aura suddenly shot out from Wei Yuan's shoulder, piercing through the Nine-Eyed Palm!
Then, a celestial sword appeared in Wei Yuan's left eye, emitting a clear and melodious sword cry from between his brows: "You, a nine-eyed, eight-clawed cub, dare to speak so arrogantly? Who are you calling ugly and weak?!"

Wei Yuan was helpless. To use the word "ugly and weak" in front of the fourth palace master was nothing short of courting death. Even if the fourth palace master only had a wisp of remnant will left, he could still wield his old sword to unleash a heaven-defying attack, the price of which would only be to drain Wei Yuan dry.

Nine Eyes' reaction surprised Wei Yuan. He was greatly alarmed and exclaimed, "How do you know my background?"

Xihe sneered: "I not only know that you are just a cub now, but I also know that once you evolve to have ten eyes and ten claws, you can challenge for the position of the Ancestral Witch!"

Wei Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and he became secretly on guard. Sure enough, these seemingly innocent and harmless guys all harbored ambitions to sideline the boss!

(End of this chapter)