...

Two days later.

Wen Jiu returned to the Market in the Little Demon Realm.

As for the mission to hunt down the Honored Guest Elder, Wen Jiu used the Corpse Fate Technique for divination and, passing by the hidden Independent Practitioner Market, casually took off his head and handed in the mission as soon as he returned to the Little Demon Realm.

Gui Yanqiu looked at the Tribulation Cultivator at the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment, infamous in the Divine Fall Mountain Range, whose eyes couldn't close in death, and couldn't help but be secretly surprised, "Truly worthy of Fellow Daoist Li, previously there were two Evil Cultivators at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment in the Little Demon Realm who took on this mission and couldn't find him for a year, yet you managed it in just a few months."

"It was quite a bit of trouble, but fortunately, I didn't disgrace the mission." Wen Jiu responded politely, and after submitting the mission, he took Wen Ya and Mu Chang'an, whom he picked up along the way, towards the Enchanting Forest, noticing quite a few unfamiliar faces along the way.

Whether it was intentional by the Three Life Gates or the Wind and Cloud Immortal City, the scale of the Market outside the Little Demon Realm had increased several times, with a clear trend towards developing into an Immortal City. There was a noticeable increase in cultivators from the Celestial Demon Sea and the Three Life Gates.

To Wen Jiu's surprise, the Treasure Pavilion, East Splendor Treasure Tower, and Illusory Sound Treasure Tower had all set up outside the Market. However, the stewards were merely at the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment, and the scale was relatively small, but it was only a matter of time before they would grow.

"The hand of Illusion Sound Trading House has reached here, does that mean it's possible to buy Blood Corpse Mushrooms through them?"

The cultivation of East Spring Undying Bone had reached a stage, but the Three Thousand Blood Inks and Blood Demon Undying Bone still required nurturing. When East Spring Undying Bone goes to the Hundred Floating Domains to condense a Golden Core, it could be relied upon to earn Spirit Stones to nurture the two corpses.

This is what Wen Jiu wanted: the stronger precedes the stronger.

...

Back at the Enchanting Forest, just after clearing the messy toxic weeds outside the cave, Feng Jue came knocking.

Seeing Wen Jiu, he inexplicably felt at ease.

Feng Jue cupped his fist in respect, "Brother Han, you have no idea how much I missed you during the more than half a year you were away."

"Speak properly." Wen Jiu said, scanning Feng Jue with Divine Sense, and couldn't help but be stunned. He found that Feng Jue's aura had reached the Peak of Mid-stage Foundation Establishment, and was not far from breaking through to the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment.

This Dark Evil God's Cave Heaven is truly remarkable, allowing Feng Jue to advance so greatly in such a short time.

Even with an "old grandpa" secretly guiding him, to advance from the initial Middle Stage to the peak level would take an ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator, no matter how talented, at least ten to twenty years, or even longer, yet how long has this kid taken?

Alright, alright, alright.

All having cheats, huh!

"Missing you was indeed true." Feng Jue said, with a sly smile, handing the Spirit Fruit Basket in his hand to Wen Ya beside him, "These are Tier Two Spirit Fruits, from the Celestial Demon Sea, try them… by the way, you're back just in time; the current situation in the Little Demon Realm is not like before, with thirty percent of the area occupied by Three Life Gates' cultivators. If you want to continue occupying a cultivation land as big as the Enchanting Forest as an Honored Guest Elder, you'll have to compete.

Fortunately, there's no need to compete with outside cultivators; you only need to compete with the Honored Guest Elders. Why not return to Lengxi Mountain? I know your strength isn't afraid of challenges from the Honored Guest Elders, but what if a Late Stage Foundation Establishment comes to challenge you?"

Wen Jiu understood Feng Jue's meaning, if a Late Stage Foundation Establishment challenged him, to keep the Enchanting Forest he would have to reveal his strength again.

This was something Wen Jiu least wanted to see.

Clearly.

Feng Jue also knew this.

"You don't mean to make me move back, do you?" Wen Jiu looked at Feng Jue with an expression of having seen through him.

Feng Jue nodded, "You guessed right, and I can give you more places, even the entire Lengxi Mountain's Yin Evil Qi if you want, you just need to help me assassinate in secret. I only need to occupy a cave and hang my name. Though my reputation isn't much, it's at least a Golden Core True Inheritor, stronger than an ordinary Late Stage Foundation Establishment. As long as those Honored Guest Elders aren't foolish, they won't challenge me."

"Allow me a few days to consider." Wen Jiu didn't refuse directly, because what Feng Jue said indeed made sense.

Better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Feng Jue would indeed make a good "shield" against trouble.

Feng Jue was delighted, "Alright, take your time to consider, I'm not in a hurry. I'll go back to Lengxi Mountain to reorganize the cultivation land, and I'll just take a corner cave, the rest will all be yours."

Hearing this, Wen Jiu couldn't help but chuckle softly.

I haven't even agreed yet!

However, three days later, Wen Jiu still moved over, because in just these three days, the Honored Guest Elder living next door at the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment received a challenge letter from a Loose Cultivator at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment from the Celestial Demon Sea.

The Celestial Demon Sea is barren, and its environment rather harsh, the Loose Cultivators joining the Wind and Cloud Immortal City or Little Demon Realm are likely to increase. Though no one challenges him now, in all likelihood, it won't be long before they do.

However, what Wen Jiu hadn't expected was that after moving back to Lengxi Mountain and leaving the Enchanting Forest unoccupied, many cultivators felt particularly poignant.

Li Ya died too miserably.

For the Enchanting Forest, he died under Li Mu's fist.

Now, Li Mu moved back to Lengxi Mountain, leaving the Enchanting Forest aside, becoming an unowned place.

For a Middle Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, to die in such a ridiculous manner, perhaps only Li Ya could achieve that.

But Wen Jiu didn't know these things, after returning to Lengxi Mountain, Wen Jiu stayed as he was, not stepping out the door, but he controlled the East Spring Undying Bone to leave the Little Demon Realm and return to the Traceless Mountain Range.

...

Ten days later.

The East Spring Undying Bone had already ventured 30,000 miles into the Traceless Mountain Range, but Wen Jiu didn't plan to let the East Spring Undying Bone traverse the entire Traceless Mountain Range. Because in the memory of the Demon Soul, traversing the Traceless Mountain Range is akin to seeking death.

It's simply impossible to traverse the Traceless Mountain Range without a Golden Core Cultivator, even for a Golden Core Cultivator, caution is necessary. After all, the Traceless Mountain Range is far larger than the Divine Fall Mountain Range, and it's filled with monsters and demons.

There are likely many Golden Core Great Demons.

If not for those Golden Core Great Demons not taking interest in the Divine Fall Mountain Range, the Divine Fall Mountain Range wouldn't have been left to the Three Life Gates to contend over.

The only relatively safe way to pass through the Traceless Mountain Range is to go 50,000 miles deep. Within these 50,000 miles, the likelihood of encountering a Golden Core Great Demon is high, but after 50,000 miles, there lies an underground river.

Its name: Heaven-Reaching River.

The reason it's called Heaven-Reaching is that this river flows beneath the Hundred Floating Domains and above the Silent Abyss, emerging from the ground beneath the Traceless Mountain Range, running for millions of miles, and ultimately passing through the First Domain of the Hundred Floating Domains to reach Cloud Heaven.

However, this part of the Demon Soul's memory is vague, with only an oral transmission, the First Domain of the Hundred Floating Domains is so distant that even a Golden Core Cultivator flying at full speed day and night, with no accidents, would take a year to reach. But that's only in theory; in reality, a Golden Core Cultivator cannot traverse all the way through the Hundred Floating Domains to reach the First Domain, much less see the so-called Cloud Heaven.

So whether Cloud Heaven truly exists or not is a mystery, most likely just a tale spread around carelessly.

But these things are not important to Wen Jiu, what matters is that through the Heaven-Reaching River, one can reach the Hundred Floating Domains. Because in the Heaven-Reaching River, there are many capturing boats of the Golden Core Influence from the Hundred Floating Domains.

The Heaven-Reaching River holds Spirit Pearls and Spirit Stones, which are even more precious than Low-grade and Middle-grade Spirit Stones. One Spirit Pearl equals several hundred Middle-grade Spirit Stones, with an exchange rate of tens of thousands compared to Low-grade Spirit Stones.

Though Spirit Stones are somewhat less valuable, they are still Top-grade Spirit Stones, one is equivalent to a hundred Middle-grade Spirit Stones, equaling ten thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones. There are therefore many capturing boats of Golden Core Influence sailing the Heaven-Reaching River.

The Demon Soul once accessed the Hundred Floating Domains using this method.

Of course.

It all depends on luck.

Because the Heaven-Reaching River is expansive, unlike the narrow world on the land, while the Divine Sense won't be compressed here, it's still within the area of the Traceless Mountain Range, and Spirit Pearls and Top-grade Spirit Stones in the Heaven-Reaching River are quite scarce, with few capturing boats appearing there.

But this didn't matter to Wen Jiu, even if there's no encounter, it's fine as the corpse body of East Spring Undying can withstand the water of the Heaven-Reaching River.

A boat would only save some corpse energy, better handling unforeseen events, but for East Spring Undying Bone, corpse energy is not in short supply.

However.

When Wen Jiu controlled East Spring Undying Bone to head towards the entry to the Heaven-Reaching River as recorded in the memory of the Demon Soul, his Divine Sense suddenly sensed some familiar aura along the way.

When he was just a thousand miles from the entry to the Heaven-Reaching River, East Spring Undying finally identified what that familiar aura was.

Three Karmic Demon!

"He's also intending to go to the Hundred Floating Domains?"

At Lengxi Mountain, Wen Jiu was taken aback.

[Two updates completed.

Setting out for the Hundred Floating Domains, to coalesce the Golden Core.]