The Dao of Reincarnation (226-227) (Patreon)

Chapter 226: The Undying Nether Emperor (Part 7)

Su Chen had spent a full twenty years raising his cultivation from the first layer of Spirit Sea to the ninth layer, while also accumulating enough energy for his second nirvana. Once the second nirvana was complete, his bloodline would undergo another transformation. The second transformation would require a long period of time.

Su Chen found another hidden corner and concealed himself completely.

...

Fifty years had passed since his second nirvana.

Since parting ways at Sunset Cloud Mountain, Chen Tianyi had never seen that crow again. No… it should be called a divine crow.

Chen Tianyi had married the daughter of the Sunset Cloud Sect Master and eventually became the sect master of the Green Mist Sect. In those fifty years, he had experienced countless major and minor events, yet he still could not forget that black figure in his mind.

"Just what was the origin of that crow?" Chen Tianyi wondered.

He knew very well that his rise from an idle disciple guarding spiritual rice fields to sect master was not due to the hard work and accumulated effort the sect praised. It was all thanks to the crow he had chased in his youth. The image of that crow in his mind had granted him an extraordinary cultivation speed. Yet he could never tell anyone about that figure.

"Recently… demon tides have been erupting more and more frequently across the Great Wu Dynasty. Many human forces have been affected."

Chen Tianyi sighed softly. Ever since returning from the Sunset Cloud Sect, beast tides had grown increasingly common everywhere. Many human powers had already been wiped out because of them.

The Green Mist Sect had remained relatively peaceful. Although beast tides had appeared, they were far less terrifying than elsewhere. No demon beasts above the Spirit Sea realm had emerged—only some minor demons that posed no real threat to the sect. Even so, beast tides were not a problem a single sect could ignore.

This concerned the survival of the entire Great Wu Dynasty. Many disciples and elders of the Green Mist Sect had gone to support other forces and died in battle. Even the previous sect master had perished. Before his death, he had passed the position to Chen Tianyi, hoping the Green Mist Sect would prosper under his leadership.

Chen Tianyi had always considered himself an ordinary man.

"Not good! Sect Master, a great demon has appeared near the Sunset Cloud Mountain Range!"

An urgent voice shattered Chen Tianyi's thoughts and jolted him awake.

"What? Could it be that Demon King from Sunset Cloud Mountain returning for revenge?"

Chen Tianyi's face paled. With demon tides breaking out across the Great Wu Dynasty, powerful reinforcements were stretched thin. If a Demon King caused trouble now, the consequences would be disastrous. His wife and daughter were still at the Sunset Cloud Sect!

"No… it is not that Demon King. Sect Master, a new great demon comparable to a Demon King has appeared in the Sunset Cloud Mountain Range!"

...

In the Sunset Cloud Mountain Range.

Su Chen had completed his second nirvana. He could feel that his bloodline had grown far stronger, now equivalent to a sixth-grade demon bloodline. A sixth-grade bloodline corresponded to the Profound Connection realm.

In a small place like this, a Profound Connection realm expert was qualified to become a local Demon King. The commotion caused by Su Chen's breakthrough into the Spirit Soul realm during his second nirvana had not been small.

"A demon beast with king-grade bloodline has been born, just like this king!"

Deep within the Sunset Cloud Mountain Range, beneath an endless body of water. A powerful figure slowly awakened. A massive body rose from the water. It was an enormous snake on the verge of transforming into a flood dragon. Its powerful aura caused all surrounding demon beasts to submit.

This giant snake was none other than the Demon King that had once swept through the Sunset Cloud Mountain Range. It had fought a Profound Connection realm human king to a mutual injury and had fled deep into the mountain to hide and recover.

Fifty years had passed, and its injuries had mostly healed. It was planned to return in full force. This time, it had the backing of a Demon Emperor. It had submitted to a Demon Emperor and intended to wash the entire Great Wu Dynasty in blood to erase its previous humiliation.

The Black Snake King looked coldly in the direction of the powerful aura.

"A sixth-grade bloodline demon beast… If it submits to me, it could become a capable subordinate. If it refuses… then it shall become my food."

It would never allow a rebel to appear in its territory.

"What? You want me to join that Black Snake King's forces?"

Su Chen felt rather strange.

"Fine. Lead the way. I'll go meet this Black Snake King."

Joyful tears almost flowed from the corners of Su Chen's mouth. He had just finished his nirvana and consumed every last bit of energy in his body. He desperately needed a massive amount of qi and blood to replenish himself. And now, a Demon King had delivered itself right to his doorstep. The more he thought about it, the hungrier he felt.

The demon beast leading the way suddenly felt a chill run down its spine. When it turned back, it saw the black bird staring at it with glowing green eyes, as if ready to devour it alive. It looked like an unparalleled ferocious beast.

"As expected of the demon that Lord Black Snake King values," the guide thought with admiration.

Less than an hour later, Su Chen followed the guide to the Black Snake King.

Suddenly, before any of the demons could react, the guide in front was sliced in two. Su Chen swallowed its demon core in one gulp. His gaze swept over the surrounding demon beasts.

In that single crow, they saw a starving wolf.

The Black Snake King was furious when it saw a mere fifth-grade demon beast openly challenging its authority. "You audacious bird! This king saw that your bloodline was extraordinary and wanted to spare your life. Since you are so eager to die, this king shall grant your wish!"

Su Chen stared at the enraged Black Snake King, his eyes shining with green light.

A giant snake on the verge of transforming into a flood dragon. What a great tonic!

That look made the Black Snake King feel as though it had been marked as prey.

What a joke! A mere fifth-grade bird dared to treat it as prey?

Soon, the Black Snake King realized how wrong it was—terribly wrong. It had actually been wounded by a bird!

The Sunset Cloud Mountain Range trembled as the two powerhouses clashed. Their terrifying auras shocked countless demon beasts and alerted all the nearby human forces.

"That's… the aura of that Demon King. Someone is fighting it!"

"Could it be that heaven itself is making that damn Black Snake King pay for its sins?"

"No… the one fighting the Demon King of Sunset Cloud Mountain… is also a demon!"

"..."

Two king-level demons were battling for supremacy.

"The outcome is decided."

"Who won?"

"The snake demon's aura has vanished. It was killed by the new Demon King of Sunset Cloud Mountain."

"Bad news! A far more terrifying Demon King has appeared in the Sunset Cloud Mountain Range!"

"..."

By the time Chen Tianyi rushed to the Sunset Cloud Sect, he saw a towering divine bird standing atop an enormous snake as massive as a mountain.

Under the sunlight, the divine bird looked sacred and majestic.

Chapter 227: The Undying Nether Emperor (Part 8)

Su Chen had not expected to meet an old acquaintance again right after leaving seclusion.

Chen Tianyi had changed greatly. He had broken through to the Spirit Sea realm. With a lifespan of three hundred years at this level, he was now over a hundred years old. Though he still appeared as a middle-aged man, his temples had turned white. Dressed in luxurious robes, he carried the noble air of someone accustomed to high status.

Chen Tianyi also noticed Su Chen. After so many years, he recognized the massive black divine bird at once. It was the same crow he had encountered in his youth. And now, it had slain a Demon King.

Upon reuniting with this old acquaintance, Chen Tianyi cautiously shielded his wife and daughter behind him and stood in confrontation with the divine bird.

In Chen Tianyi's eyes, Su Chen saw wariness and… fear.

Fear was the instinct of all living creatures. Courage was humanity's hymn of praise.

Su Chen spread his wings. The resulting gusts of wind were like countless blades scattering in all directions.

Chen Tianyi struggled to resist the violent storm. By the time he regained his senses, the divine bird had already vanished without a trace. In his ignorant youth, he had not understood.

Only now did Chen Tianyi realize just how sacred the crow he had met back then truly was. Even so, what he knew was only a tiny corner of the whole picture.

After devouring the Black Snake King and feasting on the other powerful demons in the Sunset Cloud Mountain Range, Su Chen felt satisfied.

"Some demon mentioned that the Earth Scale Emperor won't let me off."

Su Chen pondered for a moment. He had thought it was some ancient emperor. It turned out to be nothing more than a Void Refining realm creature.

Small fry.

He was only at the Spirit Soul realm for now. For humans, thirty years east of the river, thirty years west. For demons, with their longer lifespans, it was three hundred years east, three hundred years west.

Perfectly fair.

Su Chen flew out of the Sunset Cloud Sect's territory and headed beyond the Great Wu Dynasty. There lay a demon beast kingdom.

News soon spread through the demon beast kingdom: a black divine bird had slain a Demon King, seized its territory, and established itself as a new overlord.

A hundred years passed in the blink of an eye. It had been a century since Su Chen left the Great Wu Dynasty and claimed his own mountain as king. Along the way, he had slain Demon Kings, seized spiritual treasures, and taken territories, forging his own domain. His fierce reputation spread far and wide. Both surrounding human dynasties and demon clans feared him.

"Was it really necessary to chase me so relentlessly just because I took that mudfish's fruit from the East Sea?"

Su Chen felt rather speechless.

In the East Sea, a Void Refining peak flood dragon glared covetously at his territory, looking as if it wanted to devour him alive. However, that East Sea Demon Emperor did not dare leave its oceanic domain. If it did, it would get beaten.

Su Chen's gaze also occasionally drifted toward the flood dragon emperor that carried a trace of ancient dragon bloodline. He did not step into the East Sea either. If he did, he would get beaten, too.

Although that flood dragon was not a true ancient dragon, it controlled a portion of the heavens and earth. Within the East Sea, its strength was immense, comparable to an ordinary Nirvana realm expert.

Su Chen was not a true phoenix yet. He had not even gained a single feather of one.

"I'll eat you sooner or later, you mudfish."

Su Chen decided to spare the little East Sea mudfish for now. In his talons, he held a section of a branch bearing a colorful fruit that resembled a drop of blood.

This was a Divine Spirit Fruit. Such fruits only had a chance to form after the fall of at least a quasi-Saint level being. It contained a trace of Saint Dao power and was also known as a Saint Spirit Fruit.

None of that mattered. What mattered was that it was an eighth-grade spiritual fruit.

Su Chen had only been acting on a whim, flying around, when he caught the scent of an eighth-grade spiritual herb emerging. He and the flood dragon emperor had been neighbors for nearly a hundred years, minding their own business.

But the old flood dragon had secretly hidden an eighth-grade Divine Spirit Fruit. Since they were practically old brothers, Su Chen felt it was immoral for the old flood dragon to try crossing tribulation alone. So he had slipped into the East Sea.

Good brothers should share blessings together.

Su Chen had snatched the Divine Spirit Fruit right under the old flood dragon emperor's nose. With this fruit, the remaining energy needed for his third nirvana was secured.

Some might call him cruel and immoral for bullying even his pitiful old neighbor and destroying its last hope of breaking through.

Su Chen believed that if the old flood dragon emperor succeeded in its breakthrough, the first thing it would do was eat him. This was the world of demons. He had always found it strange that the old flood dragon had never attacked him. It turned out the creature had been biding its time, planning to turn him into its first meal after breaking through.

Su Chen returned to his territory and made all the necessary arrangements. Over the past century, he had nurtured four loyal and powerful demon kings who managed his domain on his behalf.

With everything settled, Su Chen entered seclusion once more. It was time for his third nirvana. Each nirvana granted by the Nirvana Scripture brought him a great fortune.

Su Chen had a strong premonition: once he succeeded in his third nirvana, he would undergo a qualitative transformation.

He began the process.

...

This nirvana lasted five hundred years. To be precise, five hundred years minus a few days.

Su Chen awakened. He had succeeded. A thick stench of blood filled the air.

"Something's wrong."

Su Chen rushed out of his seclusion grounds and saw a field of corpses. Several powerful human auras were wantonly slaughtering everything in sight. Among them was a young figure directing the massacre.

Only when Su Chen appeared in the sky did the killing stop. Every demon beast in his territory had already been slaughtered. Even the four demon kings he had raised were dead.

The young man, upon seeing the divine bird wreathed in black flames descend like a black sun, showed no fear. Instead, his face lit up with excitement.

"It's him! It must be the divine bird that Ancestor encountered in his youth!"

The young man was named Chen Bufan, the fourth-generation grandson of Chen Tianyi.

Chen Bufan was indeed extraordinary. At a young age, he had defeated all rivals in the Great Wu Dynasty. A senior elder from the Abyssal Sea Sacred Land had taken a liking to him and brought him back to cultivate. In a short time, relying on the ancestral Crow Visualization Technique and his own talent, he became a true disciple of the Sacred Land with limitless prospects.

It was precisely because of this that he understood how terrifying the crow in his mind truly was. According to his ancestor's description, the visualization he had drawn was less than one-thousandth of the crow's true wonder. Even so, that fragment had allowed his ancestor Chen Tianyi to elevate the once-insignificant Green Mist Sect into the greatest power in the Great Wu Dynasty.

If a mere one-thousandth fragment was already at least a Nirvana realm visualization technique—or possibly even stronger—and unmatched in profundity by most techniques in the Abyssal Sea Sacred Land, then what kind of existence would the complete visualization method belong to?

Chen Bufan had used the Sacred Land's intelligence network to search for the mysterious crow for several years. His persistence had finally paid off. He had found it.