"This Great Heng you speak of... what is it?" Chu Mu asked.

"You don’t know?"

The girl was surprised, and seeming a little excited, she muttered to herself, ’Did I run that far...’

Then, the girl looked at Chu Mu, her curiosity clearly piqued. "So where are you from, Cultivator?"

Chu Mu frowned, but finally stated slowly, "The Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World."

"The Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World..."

The girl wrinkled her nose. With a flick of her hand, a translucent, light-blue object materialized in her palm.

Chu Mu’s pupils shrank, his gaze instantly locking onto the girl’s slender, jade-like fingers.

That translucent, light-blue gleam...

It was clearly a Jade Scroll made primarily from Celestial Trace Crystal Stone!

Under his Divine Sense Perception, the girl’s Cultivation... was also only at Qi Cultivation Perfection...

’Clearly, this girl is another one born with a golden spoon in her mouth.’

’However... Great Heng?’

A nation he had never heard of, and not one bordering Great Chu. It must be extremely far from the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World.

’Her Qi Cultivation Realm Cultivation... and her reaction...’

Chu Mu was lost in thought. Just as he was about to ask the girl for more information, a sudden pulling force emerged from the void.

"Hey..."

The girl had just put down her Jade Scroll and started to speak, but in Chu Mu’s eyes, everything around him twisted. The next second, the light-blue, crystalline object in front of him was already in sharp focus.

Chu Mu subconsciously looked around, but the area was empty, with no trace of anyone else.

Evidently, the girl had not entered that Illusory World through the Celestial Trace Crystal Stone in front of him.

Chu Mu probed the Celestial Trace Crystal Stone before him again. The mysterious pull was gone, leaving not a single trace.

Although he had already anticipated this outcome, Chu Mu couldn’t help but feel a little melancholic.

One Magic, one Skill.

The entire legacy and heritage of an Ancient Sect.

It was truly far too tantalizing.

Not to mention that wondrous Illusory World, whose simulations were almost infinitely real, just like reality...

At least, from what he had gathered, the Longevity Sect didn’t seem to possess such a magical Illusory World.

Of course, it might have to do with his Cultivation level. It would be natural not to have access to it.

After a moment of silent contemplation, Chu Mu looked again at the Celestial Trace Crystal Stone. The graceful image of the girl from just now appeared in his mind.

’This girl is very special.’

’She’s like a young lady from a great clan, naive to the ways of the world.’

’Innocent and unguarded.’

’A personality like that is undoubtedly extremely rare in this Cultivation Immortal Realm.’

’A runaway young lady?’

The thought occurred to Chu Mu, and he secretly shook his head with a smile.

But at that very moment, the pulling force reappeared with extreme abruptness, this time in the real world.

Having experienced it before, Chu Mu was quite relaxed this time. He allowed the force to gather, and then the world spun around him once more...

...

「Half an hour ago, Sword Washing Lake, in the underwater mountain range.」

"ROAR..."

The water trembled. The soul-shaking roar spread through the lake. Amidst the sprawling mountains, specks of blood tainted the water, dyeing a whole section red.

A Demon Fish, about ten feet long with an elliptical body and a faint red glow, was as fragile as tofu under sharp claws that glinted with a cold light.

With a single tear of its claws, flesh and blood flew everywhere. Amidst the roars, Wangcai opened its cavernous mouth, the muscles in its four limbs suddenly swelling!

It took a bite, and nearly half of the Demon Fish’s body was ripped right off. The lake water churned, and blood visibly spread!

Immediately after, Wangcai thrust out both claws and slammed them down on the Demon Fish’s head.

BOOM!

Under the terrifying force, the water exploded. The mangled Demon Fish was sent flying hundreds of meters across the lakebed, finally crashing violently into a reef.

Already torn apart, the Demon Fish’s body almost disintegrated completely from the blow. It lay limply on the lakebed, barely twitching.

Wangcai swallowed the chunk of flesh in its mouth, let out a roar, and shot forward like an arrow loosed from its bow, even underwater.

In just a few more bites, all that was left of the Demon Fish’s ruined body was a thick cloud of blood in the water.

Drawn by the scent of blood, the faint auras of other Demon Beasts began to emerge from the depths of the lake.

"ROAR!"

Wangcai rose, its massive body like a small underwater mountain. It let out a fierce roar, and the tyrannical aura of Tier One Perfection—achieved at some unknown point—spread wantonly in all directions.

The various Demon Beasts that had been attracted instantly scattered and fled as if they had encountered their natural enemy.

"That Demon Beast shouldn’t be living in the water, right?"

In the gloomy depths of the lake, two Cultivators watched the blood-soaked and utterly savage Wangcai. A slightly surprised voice echoed through the water via Telepathy.

The other man spoke, also somewhat surprised, "It looks like it has the bloodline of a Black Mountain Wolf..."

"I just asked a few treasure-hunting Cultivators nearby. This part of the lakebed was originally occupied by an extremely terrifying Tier Two Demon Beast. Then, something happened, and that Tier Two Demon Beast disappeared..."

"So this Black Mountain Wolf just moved in and took its place..."

"That doesn’t make sense..."

"Sense it. The aura of that Tier Two Demon Beast is still here. No other Demon Beasts dare to come close. How does this Black Mountain Wolf dare to stay here?"

The two fell silent. After a long while, one of them pointed to the mountain range behind Wangcai.

"Could it have something to do with that place?"

"Forget it, forget it. First, let’s notify the Clan. There should be an Immortal Dao Sect ruin here. We need to hurry. I heard the Longevity Sect has already found eight Immortal Dao Sect ruins..."

"Alright, you notify them quickly..."

...

「Immortal Dao Pavilion, after Chu Mu was forced to leave.」

The girl who should have been in the Illusory World had suddenly appeared in the real Immortal Dao Pavilion.

If Chu Mu were still there, he would have been extremely surprised.

After all, when he was in the Immortal Dao Pavilion, he hadn’t seen any trace of anyone else. The girl had clearly entered the Illusory World from another location.

Yet now, she was able to appear in the real Immortal Dao Pavilion...

Gazing at the massive Celestial Trace Spirit Stone, the girl was visibly excited. She circled the Celestial Trace Crystal Stone once, then with a flick of her hand, a Token made from a Celestial Trace Spirit Stone appeared in her palm.

The girl muttered something under her breath. After a moment, a pale blue light slowly emerged from her fingertips.

"Go!"

The girl shouted softly, and the pale blue light shot straight into the Celestial Trace Crystal Stone, the very one Chu Mu had confirmed was protected by numerous complex Array Prohibitions.

At that moment, it was as if some kind of switch had been flipped. The originally dormant Celestial Trace Crystal Stone began to flicker with a faint blue light. As time passed, the light grew brighter, until the entire grand hall was bathed in its glow.

This scene lasted for nearly a quarter of an hour before it finally stopped.

And now...

The massive Celestial Trace Crystal Stone was gone without a trace.

Only the girl stood alone on the high platform, looking quite thrilled, as if she had just accomplished something major.

...

"This wolf is seriously weird!"

On the lakebed, after Wangcai finished its hunt, another battle had already begun!

And the star of this battle was still Wangcai, who had reached Tier One Perfection.

Its opponents this time were... two Cultivators!

The lakebed rumbled continuously. The churning water and explosive shockwaves kicked up sand and silt, completely muddying the area that was still thick with the scent of blood!

Two Cultivators at Qi Cultivation Perfection fighting an ordinary Tier One Perfection Demon Beast should have been an easy, one-sided slaughter.

But now, at the bottom of Sword Washing Lake, it had devolved into a stalemate, or even a disadvantage for them.

"Damn it, this wolf is too damn weird!"

The man was clearly frustrated and furious as he struggled to fend off Wangcai’s biting Attacks.

Underwater, a Cultivator’s abilities were greatly restricted.

But no matter the restriction, the two of them should have been more than enough to handle a Tier One Perfection Demon Beast that acted purely on instinct.

But the Demon Beast before them was completely different from any they had ever encountered in the outside world.

It was as if... it was extremely familiar with the methods of Cultivators.

Unlike the foolish Demon Beasts of the outside world, this one would dodge threatening Attacks and charge in to interrupt them when they tried to cast a Skill...

It was completely unlike the suicidal foolishness of other Demon Beasts that would just try to block Magical Artifacts head-on.

Under these circumstances, their already limited abilities were being thwarted at every turn!

Two Cultivators at Qi Cultivation Perfection were actually being suppressed by a single Tier One Perfection Demon Beast...

If word got out, they would probably become a laughingstock!

"ROAR!"

Just as they were struggling to hold on, the utterly savage Demon Beast suddenly let out a roar.

The man subconsciously channeled more Magical Power into his Defense Shield, preparing to block the beast’s coming barrage of Attacks.

BOOM!

The next moment, the man felt an unimaginably terrifying force slam into the Shield. The horrifying power directly shattered the Divine Sense he was using to control it!

The next second, the Shield flew away, and he... was also sent flying backward helplessly, as if struck by a giant beast.

In the corner of his eye, he saw the flash of a blade, and then...

’Huh?’

’That headless corpse seems... a little familiar?’

Before the man’s consciousness faded, this was the only absurd thought that surfaced.

As for the head...

CRUNCH...

Wangcai chomped down, crushing the head and the Divine Soul within it to pieces.

"Who are you!"

The other man, horrified, yelled out sharply.

But what answered him was the seamless coordination of one man and one beast.

Under the relentless assault, in just a few short breaths, the man became food for Wangcai.

*WHIMPER...*

Wangcai’s mouth was covered in blood, but it was visibly excited. It shot in front of Chu Mu, its massive body shrinking before his eyes, and began to dart around him excitedly, just as it used to in the mortal world.

Chu Mu was slightly surprised, but when he sensed Wangcai’s aura, which had clearly become much more savage, he understood.

During the twenty-odd days he was gone, Wangcai must have spent its time hunting and fighting at the bottom of this lake.

Breaking through was only natural.

"Someone’s coming. Let’s go."

Chu Mu suddenly looked toward the dark waters in the distance. He patted Wangcai’s head, glanced at the stone wall that showed no sign of anything unusual, and then led Wangcai into the gloomy depths of the lake...

...