World Version Updates

Night falls, Beimang Forbidden Land Ruins.

Lu Yan declined Li Hao's offer to stay at the Li Family residence and returned to this desolate mountain ruin. The exquisite and elegant courtyard newly constructed by Li Hao's men seemed completely out of place amidst the surrounding desolation and silence.

Lu Yan stepped slowly into the courtyard, and several Restriction Talismans from his storage bag transformed into streaks of light, falling into every corner of the courtyard, forming an invisible restriction that enveloped the entire area.

Then Lu Yan waved the Soul Banner in his hand, and dark ghostly mist swept through every corner of the courtyard. After confirming that there were no traces of spying, ghosts and yin soldiers marched out from the Soul Banner, forming an array to block all information from the courtyard.

Even after doing all this, Lu Yan still felt uneasy.

Many True Intents of the Great Dao existed in the demon version of the world, and in the face of rule-level abilities from the True Intents of the Great Dao, the array formed by the yin soldiers might not be able to withstand external spying.

His right hand slowly raised, and the Profound Vagina Door manifested in his palm, its aura that suppressed all Laws and Dao enveloped the entire courtyard, ensuring that any True Intent of the Great Dao attempting to spy would certainly be suppressed by the Profound Vagina Door.

Only after taking this step did Lu Yan finally feel at ease and began to sort through today's gains.

After the banquet during the day, the hidden dangers brought by the correction of the demon Celestial Dao were eliminated, and Lu Yan even used the so-called Immortal Technique of "Chang Chun Skill" to bind the interests of the millennium-old families, thereby eliminating the biggest external threat.

In addition, Lu Yan also established his identity as an Underworld Envoy, temporarily concealing his True Technique crisis.

Entering the cultivation room within the courtyard, Lu Yan sat cross-legged.

Several tomes from his storage bag fell around him; these tomes were from the Li Family's collection.

After resolving the troubles of the millennium-old families, Lu Yan merely mentioned his interest in the True Technique system, and Li Hao had all the Li Family's tomes packed and sent over.

Among them were not only various basic information on True Techniques but also many historical legends that have been passed down to this day, and even a large number of original texts of True Techniques, including three that ranked within the top 5,000 on the Heaven and Earth True Technique List, practiced by fewer than a hundred people.

Such a level of True Technique could directly cultivate to the Mara Realm, enough to make countless Soul Burial Realm martial artists risk their lives for it.

Of course, True Techniques were merely a supplement, and Lu Yan's greatest gain from this trip was something else.

Thinking of this, Lu Yan opened his Soul Banner, and two souls slowly drifted out from it.

Lu Yan's greatest gain was precisely the souls of the Mara Realm, voluntarily offered by Li Hao.

It must be known that all of the ghost soldiers and spirits within Lu Yan's Soul Banner were at most at the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment; the Mara Realm souls, comparable to the Golden Core Stage, were undoubtedly of immense value to Lu Yan.

To prevent any unexpected situations, right when the two souls entered the Soul Banner, Lu Yan had arranged for the Giant Spirit God to erase the memories of the two Mara Realm souls, leaving only their hollow soul bodies.

Watching the two souls, akin to ghostly blue flames, Lu Yan cautiously contemplated how to maximize their use.

"The best choice, of course, is to refine them into the main soul. Once the main soul at the Golden Core Stage is refined, the Soul Banner would instantly achieve the foundation to contend against the Golden Core Stage, without having to forcefully liberate the Soul Continent in situations like today.

But... this option isn't foolproof."

Lu Yan scrutinized the two souls, but hesitation filled his heart.

The first reason was that although the Soul Banner had already accommodated the Soul Continent, it still hadn't advanced to the Thousand Souls Banner, having already reached the limit of the Soul Banner. Refining the Mara Realm souls prematurely posed a great risk.

The second, and most important reason, was that the Mara Realm souls of the demon variant belonged to the Path of Heaven and Earth!

If Lu Yan chose to refine the souls as the main soul, it meant competing with the Path of Heaven and Earth for sustenance; if not careful, the Great Dao might assimilate the souls, potentially leaving Lu Yan with nothing.

"Although theoretically, holding on until the next version update completes the version replacement, there's no longer a need to worry about the main soul being assimilated by the Dao.

However, with Li Kuang and Li Que's flesh already destroyed, only their memory-erased souls remain; whether they can endure this period is still unknown."

After careful consideration, Lu Yan ultimately chose the most stable approach, using the two Mara Realm souls as nourishment for the ghost soldiers and spirits.

A moment later, anguished wails of the souls echoed throughout the courtyard.

...

After settling down, four months passed in the blink of an eye.

During these four months, Lu Yan did not step out from the courtyard in the Beimang Forbidden Land even once.

During this period, all the great millennium families, Li Hao, and even Bi Jie visited but were all turned away by Lu Yan.

The millennium families' research on "Chang Chun Skill" was in full swing. Given that the demon world wasn't low in level to begin with, with numerous strong figures within the great families, researching a Qi Cultivation Method posed little challenge.

The true difficulty lay in obtaining a pure Spiritual Qi environment and deriving the subsequent content of the Qi Cultivation Method.

For this, each millennium family spared no effort, coming up with numerous innovative ideas.

For example, creating a technique related to the Spiritual Qi Path, then allowing someone to practice it, mastering the True Intent of Spiritual Energy, to become a human-shaped Spiritual Vein Technique for the family.

Or creating an absolutely sealed space where the demon martial artists devour all demon qi, leaving only the purest Spiritual Qi, dubbed the Demon Filtering Technique.

With the millennium families sparing no expense to advance, in just four months, some have already advanced to the Late Stage of Qi Cultivation, a speed that could be described as cheating.

At this rate, they might encounter the Foundation Establishment bottleneck before the version update.

Lu Yan was bluffing the millennium families with the "Chang Chun Skill" after all, and naturally, did not intend to impart any knowledge regarding Foundation Establishment. Bluffing them until the version update was sufficient.

As for the Li Family, although they lost three Mara Realm experts, leveraging Lu Yan's power, they successfully steadied their position.

Lu Yan instructed Li Hao not to expand the Li family's influence recklessly before achieving a breakthrough in his cultivation, as a means of providing some security for future versions.

As for Bi Jie, who came to Luo City with Lu Yan, he joined the Li family and was taught a True Technique by Li Hao.

This True Technique has the potential to advance to the Mara Realm, but whether Bi Jie can reach that level depends on his own talent.

Of course, these matters are merely trivial to Lu Yan.

In these four months, the one who gained the most was naturally Lu Yan himself.

With the Spiritual Qi and Demon Qi mixed in this Demon version, Lu Yan abandoned his daily cultivation to focus entirely on the Soul Banner and True Technique.

As the foundation of Ghosts and Spirits was still shallow, the two Mara Realm souls were not enough to directly elevate a Ghost and Spirit from the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment to the Golden Core Stage.

Therefore, Lu Yan could only distribute the two souls to the Giant Spirit God and the Blood God.

The reason for choosing them was simple: the Giant Spirit God's Path of Omniscience and the Blood God's innate Soul Fusion Technique could better unleash the Soul Banner's capabilities.

The Dharma Protector's ability was more akin to protection, which was not very helpful for Lu Yan, who urgently needed to enhance his power.

The powerful souls and the True Intent of the Great Dao contained within them pushed the two Ghosts and Spirits straight to the Peak of Foundation Establishment.

However, it was extremely difficult for the Ghosts and Spirits to advance to the Golden Core Stage. Even with another Mara Realm soul, it's hard to break through this major boundary. Lu Yan must improve the quality of the Soul Banner to the level of a Thousand Souls Banner comparable to a magical artifact.

Besides making great strides with the Soul Banner, Lu Yan gained even more in the seventeen True Techniques.

With the cover of the Beimang Forbidden Land ruins and various means of Lu Yan, Lu Yan spent most of the four months comprehending the Dao and capturing the True Intent of the Great Dao.

With the aid of the Li family's library, Lu Yan could now perfectly conceal the True Intent of the Great Dao using the Profound Unity True Intent.

Profound Vagina, Great Evil, Return to Ruins, Nameless, Three Kills... Lu Yan monopolized seventeen of the most supreme Daos, brazenly capturing the True Intent of the Great Dao with the Heavenly Dao Position.

As a rule-level capability, the effects of the seventeen True Intents of the Dao were far beyond Lu Yan's original expectations.

In particular, the Profound Vagina True Intent, the Source of All Heaven and Earth Techniques, once the Profound Vagina Door opened, all methods were forbidden, which was beyond mere True Intent of the Great Dao, and the nature of the Profound Vagina Door was more akin to high-level administrative rights.

The True Intent of the Great Dao inherently belongs to a kind of rule-granting ability, but once the Profound Vagina Door opens, it directly seals your rights, leaving you nowhere to deploy them.

However, there are also differences in magnitude among True Intents of the Great Dao. No matter how high the position of the Profound Vagina Door is, with the magnitude Lu Yan currently masters, it is impossible to seal the True Intent mastered by a Nether Abyss Ancestor.

These ancestors of the human race in the Nether Abyss have already grasped a part of the Celestial Dao, embodying the Path of Body Transformation similar to the embodiment of the Path of Heaven and Earth.

Facing an absolute power gap, Lu Yan naturally had no opportunity to attempt anything.

But when facing a strong Mara Realm expert, coupled with Yin Soldiers and Ghosts in the Soul Banner, Lu Yan had some confidence to resist strong Mara Realm experts.

...

This cultivation continued until the fifth month when a figure arrived, shattering Lu Yan's previously peaceful cultivation.

Li Hao, who had reestablished his family, stood outside the elegant courtyard and loudly said to the courtyard shrouded in endless ghostly mist:

"Reporting to the Envoy, He Dongsheng, whom you instructed us to find, has been found."

During the past few months, Li Hao had come several times to visit Lu Yan, but Lu Yan mostly communicated through the restriction and never appeared in person.

He thought today's report would be the same as before, but to Li Hao's surprise, a few seconds after he spoke, the ghostly mist that enveloped the whole courtyard for several months suddenly dissipated.

Lu Yan strode out of the courtyard holding the Soul Banner, his expression moved as he asked:

"He Dongsheng has been found? Where is he?"

Lu Yan's question sent a chill through Li Hao's heart as he could clearly sense the terrifying True Intent of the Great Dao fleetingly emanating from Lu Yan, which was so formidable that it made this Peak Mara Realm expert feel somewhat apprehensive.

"Reporting to the Envoy, we found out that He Dongsheng appeared in Luo City ten months ago and rented a courtyard in the city, but soon after, he mysteriously disappeared.

We searched He Dongsheng's residence and found only this."

As he spoke, Li Hao took out a letter.

Lu Yan accepted the letter, and his pupils immediately contracted as he saw the words "To Brother Lu" prominently written on the envelope.

He hurriedly opened the envelope, finding a message left by He Dongsheng.

"Brother Lu, I have found the relic of Zhao Huowang that you asked me to find, fulfilling your request at last.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to contact you lately, and my master has urgent matters, so I could only leave with him earlier and can't hand it to you personally..."

The message on the paper abruptly ended here.

Lu Yan quickly turned over the bottom of the envelope, finding the relic of Zhao Huowang that He Dongsheng mentioned— a fragment of a broken bamboo slip.

The script on it was crooked and seemed like scribbled ghost symbols, exuding strangeness and madness.

[The immortal took everyone away... He came!]