NOVEL NEXT chapter 188 - Give Me a Bit More Time
"Time to settle the scores!"
As soon as this news spread, the Second Heaven, which had already been somewhat turbulent, was once again thrown into a stormy upheaval.
"Just now, the entire Profound Mystery Sect has perished! Not a single survivor! Everything inside was completely swept clean!"
"He’s really going through with the reckoning... I thought it was all over by now..."
"How could it be over? Back then, they were so determined to hunt him down. Now that he’s won, the victor takes all and the losers pay the price. Of course there’s going to be a reckoning."
"But with this purge, the number of powerhouses in Second Heaven is going to drop sharply. Will the demons beyond the void invade directly?"
"I heard that Lu Ye has a grudge against the demons too. Wonder if after he finishes cleaning up these sects, he’ll take a trip out into the void. That’s where the fiercest demons are—it’d be perfect for his Myriad Soul Banner."
"Let's hope so... Thank goodness our sect didn’t get involved. Otherwise, I’d be the one trembling in fear today."
The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion immediately sprang into action.
They found Lu Ye’s whereabouts.
Lu Ye looked up.
"Fellow Daoist, Fellow Daoist, Fellow Daoist Lu Ye, don't strike! I'm from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion—I have something to deliver to you!"
From far away, an old man shouted loudly and hastily.
Lu Ye wasn’t some indiscriminate slaughterer who killed anyone he met.
The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion was just an intelligence organization. They made their living by selling all kinds of information. The Heavenly Secrets Mirror was a Chaos-level treasure, on par with the Myriad Ancient Prodigy Ranking. The countless minor Heavenly Secrets Mirrors they had branched out ensured the Pavilion could thrive across the heavens.
"What thing?" Lu Ye asked.
"Spirit stones!"
"Fellow Daoist must already be aware—when you traveled eighty thousand miles, we Heavenly Secrets Pavilion presumptuously used a Heavenly Secrets Mirror to capture your image. This was only to prevent the weak from marching to their deaths. All the profits we gained because of you, we have brought here in full—and the Pavilion has added another equal amount as compensation to Fellow Daoist. We hope Fellow Daoist will judge this fairly!"
Lu Ye hadn’t expected the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion to be this tactful.
Not bad, not bad at all.
"Alright. I’ll accept it. The karma between me and the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion is settled," Lu Ye said.
"Oh, many thanks, Fellow Daoist, many thanks!"
Lu Ye nodded and didn't bother speaking any further with the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion cultivator.
He was busy.
Busy killing people.
Sect after sect was annihilated, sect after sect fled.
As for those who fled, Lu Ye said nothing. He didn’t have the time or energy to hunt them down. If he encountered them again someday, he would kill them then.
Even so, he wiped out fifteen sects in one sweep and seized an ocean of resources.
This haul, Lu Ye estimated, would be enough to push his cultivation steadily into the mid-stage Heavenly God Realm.
The opportunity to condense his fifth life would come when he broke through to the Fate Realm.
Thus, there was no rush yet to seek the heaven-and-earth treasures needed for the fifth life condensation.
Lu Ye found a blessed land, set up various formations, and began cultivating.
Artifact refining, pill refining, talisman crafting, cultivation—
All happening in parallel.
There were so many resources. Way too many.
They piled into mountains. Even the storage rings within the Void Shuttle were stacked into small hills, because storage rings couldn’t be placed inside other storage rings—it could easily cause space collisions.
But the Void Shuttle had no such restriction.
After all, it could even accommodate living beings.
However, with such a chaotic mess, it would take Lu Ye forever to find anything he needed quickly.
It would be better to sort and organize everything, put it all behind glass panels for clear visibility.
Under Zhuque’s True Flame refining, the Void Shuttle quickly changed form.
All its contents had been cleared out by Lu Ye.
Storage rings of various colors, inlaid with different gemstones, sparkled dazzlingly under the sunlight. If other cultivators saw the mountain of storage rings piled here, they would surely be green with envy.
And once they recognized the original owners of those rings, their faces would turn pitch black.
Everything was ready.
"Begin cultivation!"
"Beep—cultivation initiated!"
Earth Immortal Fifth Layer!
Earth Immortal Sixth Layer!
Earth Immortal Seventh Layer!
...
Third Heaven.
Under the heavy infusion of resources from the Jiang Clan, Jiang Die finally reconstructed her physical body, and the mother Gu returned to her once more.
The pain seemed to have passed.
After two and a half months of recovery, Jiang Die’s cultivation stabilized at the First Layer of Fate Realm.
But Jiang Die felt no joy at all.
In the cultivation chamber.
"Heavenly Venerable Fist!"
With a loud shout, Jiang Die punched forward, her fist tearing through the air.
But the invincible momentum, the aura of everything returning to one, did not manifest.
"Heavenly Venerable Fist!"
Another punch!
At this moment, the Heavenly Venerable Fist was merely a vague outline. The true aura had completely failed to materialize.
As for power—there was even less to say.
After hundreds, even thousands of repeated tests, Jiang Die finally confirmed:
Her Heavenly Venerable Fist was no more.
The Heavenly Venerable Fist was extremely difficult to cultivate. As for other techniques, maybe she could—
Tongtian Fist!
She performed a full set of Tongtian Fist movements, each one fierce and vigorous.
The strength was there. The form was there.
But the feeling of piercing through the heavens was absent.
The power could easily be imagined: pitiful.
One divine ability after another, Jiang Die kept testing them.
The more she tested, the heavier her heart grew.
This one was unusable!
That one was unusable!
This one too!
She had gone from an unstoppable monster in Second Heaven, overflowing with endless terrifying skills, to an empty frame of fancy, useless techniques.
How could Jiang Die accept this?
Thud thud thud…
The array shielding the cultivation chamber was knocked upon.
Drenched in sweat, Jiang Die ceased cultivating—not from physical exhaustion, but from inner exhaustion.
She took a deep breath.
The sweat all over her body evaporated.
She walked out of the cultivation chamber.
Waiting for her was an elder of the Jiang Clan, wearing a warm smile on his face.
"Jiang Die, how is your recovery coming along? Hope I didn’t disturb you," Jiang Yuan asked warmly.
Even his voice was gentle.
"I’ve recovered. No disturbance. May I ask why Elder Yuan has come to find me?" Jiang Die asked.
Jiang Yuan’s smile grew even more genial.
"It’s nothing urgent. Many in the clan have heard of your illustrious name. They know you are proficient in a hundred techniques and have stunning talent. They would like to meet you in person, if you would oblige?" Jiang Yuan asked.
Jiang Die frowned slightly.
"Elder, it’s not that I’m unwilling. It’s just that I’m currently at a critical stage of cultivating a secret technique. After my battle with Lu Ye—he may have won, but it wasn't absolute. Once I complete this secret technique, it remains to be seen who would emerge victorious!" Jiang Die said seriously.
"I will eventually meet the seniors of Third Heaven. There’s no need to rush. Right now is the time for me to swallow my shame and advance with renewed determination. I truly cannot afford to waste any time," Jiang Die said.
Jiang Yuan smiled even more warmly, hastily waving his hand.
"It’s alright, it’s alright. I was only asking for your opinion. Of course cultivation is more important. That you can swallow your shame and strive forward—that’s the spirit of a fine descendant of the Jiang Clan. I’ll inform them that you’ll meet later."
"Thank you, Elder Yuan. Please just give me a bit more time. After I finish cultivating this secret technique, it won’t be too late to meet."
"Good, good, good..."