Shangyuque

Chapter 311 Bowing down is useless; neither side has any way to retreat!

Mang Xiang was mourning at his good disciple's grave, but Jade Palace Immortal Venerable had already directly stormed into the Nine Nether Valley.

As a cultivator, Jade Palace Immortal Venerable's understanding of cultivation deepened gradually. Now, he stands on the dangerous edge of having to rely on his own strength to solve the problem of the missing black dragon.

If you lack the strength, you can borrow it.

If a similar event were to occur in the greater world, the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable would certainly be able to find a foothold, but the unique environment and structure of the Crimson Sand Realm forced him to directly confront this dangerous choice.

From a seemingly rational perspective, the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable should have taken a more measured approach and dealt with the situation rationally and steadily, rather than going directly to their door.

But in reality, just as Rakshasa said, Jade Palace Immortal Venerable was already a Golden Core cultivator. Even when he was a Purple Mansion cultivator, he faced a difficult choice in his final sprint toward the Dao Fruit: he had to risk his life and draw his sword against an even stronger opponent.

A single rational strategy cannot lead to the other shore. In the latter half of the ascent, practitioners must plan for more victories at every step. The pain of this game is not affected by the subjective emotions of the participants.

When you can't win more, you lose relatively—that's how the conflict between the reformists and conservatives in the Immortal Alliance came about. In their relative defeat, the Golden Core cultivators of the reformists in the Immortal Alliance hated the elders to death.

Of course, the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable's visit after years of lying low and purchasing information from the most professional intelligence agency can still be defined as 'unreliable', 'reckless', and 'adventurous'.

But such accusations are meaningless, because there is no better or more perfect solution. Things have developed to this point, and dealing with the problem and moving forward is what Jade Palace Immortal Venerable should do.

At the level of the Golden Elixir, there are very few things that can satisfy one's inner moral sense, are easy to achieve, yield great rewards, bring good luck, and perfectly align with one's subjective desires.

This is inevitable, absolute, and objective.

Because when you are a Golden Core cultivator or an Immortal Venerable, what you desire will inevitably involve the interests of your opponents, or even potential, unrealized, or unresolved threats to the interests of your opponents and allies—you advance while they retreat, so you will inevitably be hindered.

Criticisms can be leveled at Jade Palace Immortal Venerable for easily using the Black Dragon in his sleeve during the battle, and then being somewhat disheveled by a series of unexpected events. Criticisms can also be leveled at Jade Palace Immortal Venerable for being disheveled, and even accusations can be leveled at unforeseen circumstances. The dimensions of evaluation can be infinitely diverse.

But in fact, if the logic implied by the 'game-playing level of the Immortal Venerable' is that one can win perfectly no matter what one does, then each world can only give birth to one Golden Core cultivator, and later generations will never have the chance to get on board. You can't just say that the Golden Core Immortal Venerable is really awesome when the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable wins. Individuals in the cultivation world each have their own extraordinary and inadequate aspects, and this is the norm.

Furthermore, the occurrence of accidents is the possibility of things getting out of control. And the subsequent loss of control is actually an inevitable part of the long journey of self-cultivation, something that will always happen at some point.

The power of Jade Palace Immortal Venerable lies in this: he has a highly abstract reflection and understanding of the setbacks he has recently encountered in the Crimson Sand Realm.

This unique transformation of cultivation experience allowed Jade Palace Immortal Venerable to see his own shortcomings.

There was no 'carelessness,' 'stupidity,' 'arrogance,' or 'strategic underestimation of the enemy.' None of it.

Even the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable believed that he was not wrong at all.

Yes, even after losing so badly that his face turned green, after being forced to hide in the sand for ten years, after his little lover Xue Loulan was possessed by the old Deng Mangxiang, the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable still did not think he was wrong.

It seems that he transformed from the fastest Golden Core cultivator in the Great Heaven and Earth into the most stubborn Golden Core cultivator, but the cruelty of the cultivation world and the pain of the Golden Core Immortal Venerable's struggle forced the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable to reach a certain realm of 'being far removed from the mortal world' in his cultivation understanding.

From those uncontrollable accidents and failures, the Immortal Venerable saw his own shortcomings, but shortcomings are not mistakes.

To give a common yet extreme example, you can't just stop living because you're not perfect—that's the kind of problem that Jade Palace Immortal Venerable faced.

When he achieved the fastest Golden Core in the Great Heaven and Earth with his extraordinary talent, when he could show consistency with the top Golden Core cultivators at the Bo Luo Society level in his specific practices and choices in cultivation, and when he was recognized by Rakshasa and sent to explore the Red Sand Realm, Jade Palace Immortal Venerable was powerful, had unlimited potential, and a promising future.

However, a person, through their own talent, performance, and strong enough ability, achieved a leap from low-level energy to high-level energy, which is why Jade Palace Immortal Venerable became the fastest Golden Core cultivator in the Great World, becoming a legend in a certain sense.

However, this leap to higher energy levels does not mean that Jade Palace Immortal Venerable can instantly master all the rules and abilities required within higher energy levels.

Even if you master it, you may not be able to immediately surpass your competitors, whether they are obvious, potential, present, or distant.

Even though Jade Palace Immortal Venerable exhibited similar traits to top-tier Golden Core cultivators like Rakshasa, Cangshan, and Qingrui in some of his cultivation practices and choices, it was still far from enough, because the conflicts among cultivators are complex and intense.

The path to supreme power inevitably involves extremely complex power struggles. In such struggles, no participant dares or can afford to harbor the illusion that a simple, mechanical, and unchanging solution can solve everything.

It must be said that this was a painful process of regeneration.

One's grasp of the Great Dao needs constant deepening; breakthroughs, refinements, and even iterations of one's own cultivation methods require continuous effort; one's level of power management requires constantly keeping pace with the strongest echelons; one's understanding of cultivation and strategic maneuvering needs to maintain at least the same rate of progress as one's opponents; and one's mindset and goal setting in challenging strategic environments require constant adjustment.
It's complicated, but it's precisely this complicated process that's the right path.

Failure and accidents are disgusting, but those powerful opponents, those geniuses and masters of holding their breath and turtle kings from different eras, will constantly bring endless surprises and frights to their opponents and even allies.

Returning to the predicament faced by Jade Palace Immortal Venerable, the predicament has three different dimensions. He needs to retain his identity as the Lord of the Earthly Fiends, seek to fight against the Immortal Pendant, and test the identity of the Immortal Pendant. This is the first dimension.

The second objective is to find Xiao Hei and fulfill the first objective of protecting him.

Breaking through existing habits of personal behavior patterns and cultivating powerful strength belonging to the Eastern Jade Palace Venerable in the special low-intensity game environment of the Crimson Sand Realm is the third level.

From these three perspectives, the disappearance of the Black Dragon actually seems less stressful.

As the biggest surprise stemming from a series of unexpected events, Jade Palace Immortal Venerable wasn't actually that concerned about whether the Black Dragon could be found.

Outside the gate of Nine Nether Valley, the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable, who had been lying in seclusion there, slowly rode a magical artifact and gradually rose into the air.

The 'Senbei Water Sound' golden token that Xiaoyu gave him was quietly taken into his hand.

Using this trump card might seem a bit foolish, but the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable was thinking that the sound of the dripping water from the immortal shell could help him conceal all traces.

Of course, it will also be targeted by potential jewelers.

Therefore, the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable plans to switch to another power and repeat the path of the Earthly Fiend Commander, which will only take another thirty to fifty years.

Jade Palace Immortal Venerable has no shortage of time, and it's impossible for Huanpei to have completely emptied the Crimson Sand Realm in thirty or fifty years.

On the contrary, the fact that the Black Dragon is missing and the situation remains stagnant will keep Jade Palace Immortal Venerable in a passive position for a long time.

Then let's drop a 'nuclear bomb'.

No matter what kind of creature the Nine Nether Valley Elder is, he will be reduced to dust under the Immortal Shell Water Sound Golden Decree.

The Immortal Venerable can afford to pay the price for a temporary setback.

As for the future, he doesn't believe that having learned from this lesson, he will make similar outrageous mistakes.

Ordinary people may not learn a lesson from a mistake, but those with insight can learn two lessons from a mistake, and that makes them exceptional.

Jade Palace Immortal Venerable hasn't suffered any loss so far (in fact, Jade Palace Immortal Venerable won the battle), but he not only recognized his defeat, but also saw his shortcomings, and even made the decisive decision to cut off the tail and start over—that's the level of an Immortal Venerable.

Moreover, if Jade Palace Immortal Venerable's re-establishment of his tail goes smoothly, he can also avoid that old bastard, Lao Mang.

This is the essence of 'winning with losses, and losing with winning.' That's how it is in the world of cultivation. It's complex, but sometimes it's also lucky. After all, no child cries every day. The Jade Palace Immortal Venerable isn't a complete idiot, so how could he possibly lose every time?
The scorching wind, carrying coarse sand, whipped at the hem of the Immortal Venerable's robes. He raised his hand, about to activate the Immortal Shell Water Sound Golden Token.

The power of the Golden Decree is equivalent to 70% of the power of a single strike from the Water Immortal's natal magic weapon, the Water Immortal Shell, which is a half-step Golden Immortal.

Referring to Gua Zhenren's Great Extinction Immortal Sound, under the Golden Decree, the area within a radius of several hundred miles centered on Jade Palace Immortal Venerable would be indiscriminately cleared, and that's an understatement.

Cultivating immortality is about seeking the carefree path to enlightenment, but on their journey, every prodigy inevitably experiences extraordinary increases in strength for various reasons. Even a half-step Golden Immortal unleashing seventy percent of their power is incredibly formidable.

Of course, many people will be killed, and there will be a vast number of other living beings, but really, don't use worldly morality to criticize Jade Palace Immortal Venerable. It's really unnecessary.

Jade Palace Immortal Venerable has already attained enlightenment; it's really, really, really unnecessary to judge him using mortal morality.

In fact, Jade Palace Immortal Venerable himself was also looking forward to the effect of the Immortal Shell Water Sound. This was a great divine power at the half-step Golden Immortal level, far more powerful than the shout of Melon Immortal back then.

Even if the effect cannot be exactly the same as when the drop of water is used by the Dao itself due to the lack of support, it should be possible to awe the people for hundreds or thousands of miles, right?

However, just as Jade Palace Immortal Venerable was about to make his move, that absurd voice, which never appeared until the very last moment, actually appeared.

"Fellow Daoist, it's a misunderstanding!"

A mysterious great cultivator initiated a telepathic communication with the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable. Its voice sounded exactly like the divine light in Qingxi Fang back then—neither male nor female, neither yin nor yang, neither happy nor angry—the standard behavior of a great cultivator who hides his true self.

The Jade Palace Immortal said nothing, but simply reversed the Milky Way and retreated three hundred miles.

Misunderstanding, misunderstanding! I was about to make a move and you're saying it's a misunderstanding?
So, my guess was correct: the Black Dragon was captured by the Old Man of the Nine Nether Valley.
A misunderstanding leads to endless possibilities. Jade Palace Immortal Venerable spoke in a low voice with a furrowed brow.

"Old Man of the Nine Netherworlds?"

An old man, exuding an aura of decay, suddenly appeared from some unknown corner, casually bowed to the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable from afar, and said...

It's me, it's me.

Fellow Daoist, in the world of cultivation, meeting is fate.

May I ask your esteemed name, my friend?

Jade Palace Immortal Venerable looked at Jiu You suspiciously, then stepped back a considerable distance before speaking.

"Jing Shui, you took my little pet, Fellow Daoist Jiu You, isn't that a bit much?"

Upon hearing the name "Pure Water," the old man from the Nine Netherworlds was visibly surprised; this feigned surprise was itself an attitude.

"No, no, come, let's go back, let's go back to Fellow Daoist Jing Shui."

As he spoke, the old man from the Nine Netherworlds took out a coiled black thread from his robes.

The tightly tangled ball of thread was none other than the missing black dragon. No one knew what method the Old Man of the Nine Netherworlds had used to bind it by entanglement.

Upon seeing that the Immortal had finally found him, two thin streams of tears appeared in the black dragon's enormous eyes.

He almost died. However, it's hard to say whether he almost died at the hands of Jade Palace Immortal Venerable or at the hands of Nine Nether Old Man.

Even as the black dragon flew weakly toward him, Jade Palace Immortal Venerable remained vigilant. He never expected the situation to develop in such a way.

The Old Man of Nine Netherworlds voluntarily returned the Black Dragon; who could have imagined this?

First, he fed the black dragon a blood essence pill to restore its obviously weak state. Then, the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable spoke in confusion.

"Fellow Daoist Jiuyou, what is your purpose?"

As the leader of a faction, the Nine Nether Elder had never seen the Earthly Fiend Commander in person, nor remembered any information about him. Therefore, he naturally could not see through the disguise of the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable.

Therefore, he seemed to genuinely regard the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable as pure water, and spoke in a very respectful manner.

"I love being kind to others, and it is my good fortune to know fellow Daoists of Pure Water."

As for this little beast, well, naturally we won't let it live.

He was kind to people, but he used the Nine Nether Valley to raise a bunch of demonic beasts, making his vassal families constantly find food for them.

As a great cultivator, the Old Man of the Nine Netherworlds' definition of "human" in his benevolence is clearly narrower than the common definition.

Moreover, this old man from the Nine Netherworlds is quite a character. He even managed to weaken the Black Dragon's aura, clearly having put a lot of effort into studying it, yet he referred to it as a small beast.

Jade Palace Immortal Venerable probably understood the thoughts of the Nine Netherworld Old Man: he was afraid of death, afraid of karma, unwilling to blindly charge for his faction, and distrustful of his own backer, Dao Ancestor Murong.

However, he still couldn't let his guard down, because he and the Old Man of Nine Netherworlds were mortal enemies in their struggle.
It's a very simple logic: the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable cannot be controlled by anyone.

"I see, fellow Daoist. I came here to find this lost mount. Now that I have found it," Jade Palace Immortal Venerable planned to lull the Nine Netherworld Old Man into a false sense of security.

However, the old man's reaction did not reveal whether he was no longer paralyzed.

"Haha, please, fellow Daoist, please do as you please." The old man from the Nine Netherworlds laughed generously, seemingly intending to see the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable off.

Unfortunately, the Immortal Venerable did not leave, nor did the Nine Netherworlds move.

Bowing down is useless; the fight continues. This demonstrates the brutality of confrontations between great cultivators, where neither side has any way to retreat.

With a slight movement, the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable's robes changed into those of the Immortal Alliance's Six Provinces Alliance—well, now they should be called the Seven Provinces Alliance.

The water elemental energy flowed freely, spreading around the Jade Palace Immortal Venerable, and a torrential rain appeared on the Red Sand Desert.

Rain began to fall in the desert, but the Old Man of the Nine Netherworlds was not excited by it.

Unfortunately, a fight was inevitable.

However, it's not necessarily all bad.

Those who can cultivate water magic in the Crimson Sand Realm are no ordinary people, and this Pure Water, who was a True Person who died long ago, is now not only alive but also has a dragon pet.

Since there are no dragons in the Red Sand Realm, it is highly likely that the Pure Water Realm obtained some ancient relic.

If he were to seize the opportunity he had gained...
Thinking of this, the old man from the Nine Netherworlds stopped pretending to be stunned and said coldly.

"Whether you are pure water or not, I have done everything I could. Since that's the case, then accept your fate!"

I simply enjoy being kind to others. If you don't want to be kind, don't blame my sword for being too sharp.

Amidst the torrential rain, the voice of the Immortal Venerable came from all directions, seemingly both distant and close at hand.

"Ha, my sword is just as effective!"

(End of this chapter)