The Cheng family would temporarily serve as the ruler of the Flying Swallow Archipelago and hold the formation tokens controlling entry to Moon-Inviting Island!

The moment these words were spoken, a buzzing wave of discussion erupted throughout the grand hall. Amid the clamor, all the voices boiled down to a single question: Why them?

The Cheng family had indeed done much for the Devil Lord, but the other families had also contributed greatly. Could they claim the position simply because they stood closer to him? The ruler of a region required true strength. Internally, they had to keep control over the various factions; externally, they had to resist powerful enemies. Without such strength, the title would become nothing more than a joke.

Some of the older and more cautious figures revealed nothing and spoke not a single word. Instead, they quietly studied Luo Chen's expression. He remained silent and allowed the crowd below to argue freely, as if he had no interest in the matter at all. But did he truly not care? Did he really believe his words were iron laws that everyone would obey even after he left?

As they pondered the deeper meaning behind Luo Chen's words, some gradually began to understand. The key lay in the final line of the first decree—until the first native Adept appears.

The Devil Lord had not ordered that the Cheng family rule the archipelago forever. They would merely act as caretakers. If an Adept emerged from among the other families of the archipelago, that person would naturally become the true ruler, and the Cheng family would hand over control of the Moon-Inviting Island formation as well.

Once they understood this point, the strongest families exchanged a few glances. The smaller families aligned with them quickly fell silent. Yet doubts still lingered. If the Cheng family controlled Moon-Inviting Island and barred outsiders, then Initiates who reached Perfected Mastery would have no access to a third-tier spirit vein. Under such conditions, breaking through to the Golden Core Realm would become exceedingly difficult. Had the Devil Lord considered this?

When the discussion gradually died down, Luo Chen sneered inwardly. Sure enough, the smaller families had secretly banded together. Fortunately, he had struck first. Otherwise, the Cheng family might have been wiped out once he left.

Luo Chen curled his lips slightly and said calmly, "The second matter is related to the first. No matter which of you advances the Golden Core Realm, none of you is to bully the Cheng family without cause. And if any Cheng family's Initiates reach Perfected Mastery and wish to use the spirit land for breakthrough, they will have priority. No conditions, and no schemes behind their backs. Of course, if any of you wish to borrow the spirit land themselves, apply with Cheng Haixin and she will arrange it. I believe quite a few of you here have already acquired my Core Formation secret art... and have been practicing it for some time."

Under Luo Chen's sweeping gaze, several late-stage Initiates lowered their heads. Cheng Haixin stood at the very front with her lips trembling, and her eyes were filled with tenderness. She had never imagined that before Luo Chen left, he would arrange everything for her family so thoroughly. He had even placed immense authority in her hands. From now on, the late-stage Initiates of the Flying Swallow Archipelago would have to curry favor with her, and this improved her precarious situation earlier.

Cheng Haixin quietly swept her gaze over the late-stage Initiates she feared most. None of them looked particularly pleased. And yet a single move from Azure Yang had rendered all of their schemes useless. Thinking of it, Cheng Haixin felt even more moved.

Luo Chen didn't wait for questions and comments and went straight on to the third matter. "From now on, you don't need to gather ingredients for me anymore. Since you're already running that caravan, you should keep it going and use it to trade with the outside world. It should bring quite some profit to your families."

If the first two orders had left many people dissatisfied, the last brought relief to everyone. Luo Chen's appetite for medicinal ingredients had been practically insatiable. In less than twenty years, the strength of the families had shrunk drastically. Some Initiates had even been forced to halt their cultivation altogether. Now that Luo Chen would no longer demand resources, the shackles were suddenly gone. Even the resentment toward the first two matters eased considerably.

Of course, it was only suppressed for the moment. Who could predict the future? Once the man was gone, the so-called decrees and vows would become nothing more than empty words. Who would truly honor them?

"Do you all agree?" Luo Chen's deep voice spread through the grand hall.

The cultivators immediately shouted in unison, "We agree!"

Luo Chen grinned. "Good. Since you agree, let's seal it with a pact!"

Everyone was stunned. A pact?!

A scroll flew from Luo Chen's hand and hovered in the hall. The material looked neither like gold leaf nor cloth. On it were clearly written the very three decrees he had just announced.

"Each of you, give me a drop of your blood essence. I'll set up... let's call it the Flying Swallow Blood Pact. If anyone breaks it, they'll suffer the backlash of everyone's combined power as long as the others who signed the pact still live."

Everyone's expressions changed drastically. Someone instinctively tried to object. However, Luo Chen's spirit pressure burst forth and enveloped the entire hall, pressing down until they could barely breathe. Under his gaze, each of the cultivators ultimately forced out a drop of their precious blood essence.

Drop after drop of blood seeped into the scroll. When Cheng Haixin's blood essence entered it, Luo Chen waved his hand and summoned the scroll back. Before everyone's eyes, he uttered a brief incantation. The scroll, which had reeked strongly of blood before, immediately became plain and unremarkable. In fact, it looked a little too unremarkable; at a glance, one might even ignore its existence altogether.

After finishing all this, Luo Chen waved his sleeve impatiently. "Alright, that concludes matters for today. You may leave."

In an instant, the people in the hall dispersed like a receding tide, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. Only Cheng Haixin remained. She looked back at Luo Chen again and again before finally stepping out and closing the doors of the hall herself.

After everyone had left, Han Zhan's voice echoed through the hall. "The blood pact I set up ties everyone's divine souls together, so it's restrictive enough. But it has one big flaw—distance. If you take the pact scroll with you, then even if they break it, the backlash probably won't be that bad. And if you leave it here and someone finds it, they can simply destroy it. So, Luo Chen... what do you plan to do?"

"That's easy." Luo Chen smiled casually. "Just hide it somewhere no one can find it."

He took out a jade box from his storage ring and placed the scroll inside. Then Luo Chen pointed at the floor of the grand hall.

Crack! Crack!

The ground split open at once, revealing a narrow fissure. With a casual wave of his hand, the jade box fell into the crack. As the ground closed again, the crack vanished without a trace.

"What, are you just burying it under the floor tiles... Oh, I see. You hid it inside the third-tier spirit vein! Unless someone destroys the spirit vein itself, they'll never be able to get that thing out. That's quite smart!" Han Zhan suddenly understood and let out a chuckle. "To be honest, I thought you'd take the raw top-grade spirit stone from this spirit vein before leaving. Turns out you're quite generous."

A flash passed through Luo Chen's eyes as he caught a piece of information revealed in those words. Raw top-grade spirit stone!

Luo Chen had already learned plenty about spirit veins back when he was in the Qi Refinement Realm. Later, when he acquired the mountain-moving method from Meng Changshou, he learned even more hidden details.

In the Mountain and Sea Realm, spirit veins were generally divided into five tiers. Each tier corresponded to a realm from Qi Refinement to Divine Transformation. Cultivators ideally cultivated within spirit veins matching their realm to achieve the best results. If one's realm was too high and the spirit vein tier too low, cultivation speed would drop. Conversely, if one's realm was too low while the spirit vein tier was too high, it would instead suppress the cultivator. Their cultivation would not speed up; rather, the overwhelming spirit energy of heaven and earth could even cause their body to rupture from the inside and explode!

The reasons behind this phenomenon were complicated, and they involved deep principles that were difficult to explain clearly. But as for the classification of spirit veins, the primary factor lay in the raw spirit stone at the core of the vein!

In first-tier spirit veins, the raw spirit stone was mostly low grade. In second-tier veins, it was middle grade. In third-tier veins, it was top grade. Fourth-tier veins, of course, had a supreme-grade core. Such blessed lands were the preferred location of upper sects.

Luo Chen had obtained a piece of raw spirit stone what felt like a century ago. He dug it out from the tiny first-tier spirit vein beneath Crescent Moon Valley and it still rested in his storage ring to this day. However, aside from absorbing the pure spirit energy within it, he had never managed to do anything with it. Refining it into a standard low-grade spirit stone was simply beyond his capabilities.

When Han Zhan brought it up, a thought surfaced in Luo Chen's mind. But what he said aloud was, "It's not that I'm generous. I did consider digging out the raw spirit stone here. But I don't know the method for refining spirit stones. Even if I took it, I wouldn't be able to produce top-grade spirit stones. And if I dug it out, it'd be like draining the pool and stealing the plug. I will only get a set amount of water, not an endless spring. It'd hardly make any difference to my cultivation. I wouldn't ruin these people's livelihood over it."

After saying this, he probed tentatively. "But speaking of that, I've heard upper sects of the Eastern Wilderness all possess standardized methods for producing spirit stones. Senior Han, perhaps..."

"Don't even think about it!" Han Zhan let out a scoff. "The Frontier War hasn't been settled yet, and the sect's status hasn't truly been secured. The Holy Land would never grant us the method for producing spirit stones while things are like this. And besides... Even if we did have it, I wouldn't dare give it to you. It's a core secret of a Holy Land. How could something like that be casually taught to outsiders?"

Luo Chen fell silent. So much for that idea...

The thought had barely formed before it was crushed. He had imagined obtaining the method, then relying on his strength and concealment techniques to search for second-tier spirit veins on remote islands overseas. He would mine everything there and refine vast quantities of mid-grade spirit stones to purchase resources.

What would that count as? Counterfeiting currency?

"Forget it. It was just a passing thought. I'm not short of ways to make money, and I'm not a miner anyway."

Luo Chen curled his lips and quietly left the hall. He flew far beyond the island and headed out over the desolate sea. To ensure he had enough strength before he left, there were still a few things he needed to do. His cultivation could not rise overnight. But it was not the only way he could be stronger.

After he had reached Perfected Mastery in the Myriad Path Convergence and advanced to the late stage of the third tier, many remarkable changes had appeared. His battle with Golden Pincer had been exhilarating, yet it also revealed a problem. He had not pushed his physical power to its limits, and he was still not familiar enough with it. For the next three months, he would need to make the most of his time and thoroughly explore the mysteries of his physique.

***

Three months passed in the blink of an eye. On the night before his departure, Cheng Haixin came alone to Moon-Inviting Island, carrying a tray into the hall. Three Daoist robes of different colors lay upon it. Luo Chen looked at them with slight surprise.

Cheng Haixin lowered her head and spoke softly, "Devil Lord, since you'll soon be departing, I have little of worth to offer as a gift. But I've noticed you like red, black, and white, so I prepared three robes in those colors."

She truly was attentive. After years of serving him, she had discerned certain patterns in Luo Chen's daily habits. During ordinary life, alchemy, and rest, he usually wore loose white clothing that was simple and natural. When going out to practice techniques or travel, he preferred clean and spirited black robes. As for red...

When Luo Chen touched the red-feathered robe, his expression turned distant. The last time he had worn a red robe had been on the battlefield of the Thundernet Mountains. In the battle at Trapping Hollow Valley, that supreme-grade Crimson Cloud Daoist Robe had been destroyed by Di Wanyun in a single strike.

In truth, red was the color he had worn most often during battles in the Foundation Establishment Realm. There was no special meaning to it; he simply excelled in fire arts, and when he cast spells, flames spread across the battlefield and red clouds surged into the sky. Thus, wearing red allowed him to better conceal his movements.

After arriving in the Northern Sea, he had mostly worn black and white robes. He had not expected Cheng Haixin to notice such a detail.

Seeing Luo Chen remain silent, Cheng Haixin lightly bit her lip. "They're only top-grade enchanted artifacts, but they were made from the down of our clan's mutated Black Swans. They're quite good at repelling dust, calming the mind, and traveling with the wind over the sea. They probably won't help you much in battle, but you could at least use them as spare robes. I hope you won't find them unworthy."

Under her hopeful gaze, Luo Chen gave a slight nod. "Then I'll take them. As it happens, I was in need of a few suitable robes anyway."

He was not lying. Whenever he activated the Sky Roc Transformation, the thing that ended up invariably destroyed was his clothing. The supreme-grade robes he had bought in the Jade Cauldron Domain had all been destroyed in battles of Trapping Hollow Valley, the Heavenly Drum Plains battlefield, and Profound Rock Island. Only the one given to him by Caiyi remained. What he wore now were merely ordinary mid-grade robes.

Seeing him accept them, the woman's face lit up. She lifted her head and gathered her courage. "I have not made proper measurements and I don't know whether they fit or not. Please allow me to help you change."

Did enchanted robes really need to be tried on? Luo Chen felt somewhat puzzled, yet he did not refuse. He spread his arms and allowed her to remove his robe, well worn and imbued with such pill fragrance that even ordinary people could sense it. Cheng Haixin folded the robe neatly and set it aside. Then she picked up the white feather robe and slowly dressed him in it.

Seeing how open and at ease Luo Chen appeared, the woman thought to herself, Devil Lord Azure Yang must once have been a powerful figure with attendants serving him. Most cultivators pursue simplicity and aren't used to being waited on like this.

As the thought crossed her mind, she bit her rosy lips. Her hands quietly slipped around the man's waist. The delicate fragrance of the woman mingled with the man's fiery aura. In the quiet room, a subtle and intimate atmosphere slowly spread.

Feeling the soft fullness pressed against his back, Luo Chen frowned slightly. "Are you sure about this?"

"I had already made up my mind before coming," she replied.

"Once I leave, I may never return. You could still find a good Dao companion and pursue the Great Dao together. But if you give yourself to me... Uhh, I'm a bit particular about such things."

The woman pressed against his broad and sturdy back, her cheeks flushed. There was a hazy softness in her expression, but also a trace of determination. "Devil Lord, you don't need to worry. I do this willingly, and I won't regret it."

"No regrets?"

A soft chuckle sounded beside her ear. The woman looked at the man's face, blinked her long-lashed eyes, then slowly closed them.

That night, spring rain fell upon the lake, and the sound of the sea rolled on without end.