The Stele Takes Flight; The Dragon Soul Scatters

A colossal golden mountain range surged into the depths of the vast sea. Blinding golden light rent the ocean, rolling up monstrous waves—and in the blink of an eye, it was almost gone.

Heaven and earth shook. Thousands of thunderbolts cracked the sky. The blue waves gave birth to a world-shaking tsunami, water spires leaping straight into the heavens, scattering the clouds. Everywhere was water and light.

The Ancestral Dragon's soul had plunged into the boundless sea, its momentum terrifying beyond imagination.

Countless cultivators and overseas rogue cultivators rode the torrent, racing each other toward the heart of the turquoise sea, crossing one sky-shattering wave after another. Every one of them threw caution to the wind, each hoping to claim a share of this grand feast.

Xiao Chen and Qingqing alone did not stir. They remained near the Heavenly Stele, unwilling to join the fray. Whether cultivators or overseas rogues, all belonged to powerful organizations; at any moment a great war could erupt. For two isolated individuals like them, without a sect, their solitary strength seemed meager.

Near the stele, the wind and waves were calm. But in the distance, the great breakers that climbed the blue dome raged across the heavens and earth. Paired with the terrible lightning bolts that pierced the sky, the contrast was stark: here was a quiet haven, while beyond, the vast sea seemed to shatter and the ocean to riot.

Xiao Chen sensed acutely that the inscription on the front of the stele—"Eternally Settle the Yellow River"—was slowly fading. At last the characters "Yellow River" were completely ground away, leaving only a blurry "Eternally Settle".

"The Yellow River is no longer suppressed," he murmured. "But why do the words 'Eternally Settle' not disappear? Is the Heavenly Stele still holding something down?" His expression shifted with curiosity.

Qingqing smiled lightly, two lovely dimples gracing her cheeks. "I've often heard people speak of the Nine Provinces Seal. Could it be that this Heavenly Stele is also suppressing this land?"

Her words struck Xiao Chen like a bolt of lightning. He suddenly thought of the layered stele shadows he had seen in the City of the Dead on Dragon Island.

That day, the stele that had read "Eternally Settle the Yellow River" had manifested a phantom in the City of the Dead. Its patterns had been unusual: above, dark clouds crowded; rain poured in torrents; colossal lightning tore the void; on the ground, mountains collapsed, the earth split open, magma surged, and the whole land trembled violently; at sea, tsunami after tsunami pounded the shore, monstrous waves towering to the heavens, as if they would swallow the sky itself.

Now the vast sea seemed to have shattered. The rolling Yellow River that spanned the Nine Provinces also seemed to come alive, straining to surge into the nine heavens. Though the dragon soul had already charged into the ocean, the Ancestral Dragon's body had not quieted; it seemed intent on tearing heaven and earth asunder and breaking into another world.

All of the Nine Provinces trembled faintly. The people were panicked, feeling as if doomsday had come.

But at that moment, from various places across the Nine Provinces, gigantic beams of light suddenly shot up, enveloping the Yellow River that had tried to soar into the skies. Each beam was as thick as a mountain, their colors different, rising from all corners of the Nine Provinces. With a combined effort, they instantly pinned down the rolling Yellow River that had longed to leap into the upper heavens.

Then the light grew gentle. The Yellow River, which had been raging across the horizon, seemed to calm gradually, and at last slowly descended toward the earth. Amid a rumbling of heaven and earth, the Yellow River returned to its earthly course.

The variegated lights faded. The Nine Provinces slowly returned to peace, as if nothing had happened. The fear that had gripped the hearts of the mortal people receded, and they felt as though they had awakened from a dream.

But the vast Eastern Sea grew ever more violent, as if it would pour into the nine heavens. Already, many cultivators had perished in the surging tempest, their bodies buried beneath the waves.

At that moment, the Heavenly Stele suddenly shook violently, then shot up into the sky, hurtling toward the infinite void.

The vast sea gave rise to angry waves. The ancient stele had stood between heaven and earth, thrust into the boundless Eastern Sea, more magnificent than a giant mountain. Now it flew away with a momentum stunning beyond words.

It tore across the sky, emitting billions of bolts of thunder. Blood-red lightning illuminated the Eastern Sea.

Xiao Chen watched the stele fly away, feeling a sense of loss. He abruptly turned to Qingqing and said, "Wait for me here." And with that, he activated the Eight-Aspect Worlds' extreme speed, chased up into the clouds, and followed the stele, wanting to see where it would settle once more.

Piercing clouds and tearing mist, the Heavenly Stele flew toward the skies of the Nine Provinces, its energy fluctuations vast as an ocean. But just at that moment, the Heavenly Stele suddenly vanished—without a sound, it disappeared over the Nine Provinces.

This puzzled Xiao Chen profoundly. He searched across the boundless sky for a full half-hour but found nothing.

"Strange—a fluctuation! The stele's fluctuation!" Suddenly he sensed it again. The familiar power seemed to ripple through all of heaven and earth—the same power that was his own source.

"Could the stele have turned into nothingness, become one with all things? Is it connected to the Seal of the Nine Provinces?"

Xiao Chen refused to let go. He calmed his mind, focused his spirit, and began to circulate the Profound Art. Slowly, he merged into this heaven and earth, became one with the void, one with all things. His figure gradually faded, as if he had disappeared from the world.

And then, at last, he saw the Heavenly Stele again—standing above the Nine Provinces. At the same time, he saw countless broken walls and ruins, many shattered mountain ranges…

Why were so many things floating above the Nine Provinces? It seemed as if a shattered world had emerged. Startled, Xiao Chen's mind wavered, and in that instant, all those visions vanished. Only one huge Heavenly Stele could he still barely capture with his perception.

Was there really a vast, boundless ruin field above the Nine Provinces? But no matter how hard he tried afterward, he could not see that broken world again.

He stopped forcing it. He relaxed his mind and body, letting his inner power harmonize with the fluctuations of the Heavenly Stele, quietly feeling it all—uniting with the void, uniting with heaven and earth. This was Xiao Chen's current state.

Suddenly, he sensed a faint ripple within himself. The broken Stone Man that had been sitting silently inside his body stirred. Its intact left arm rose, its hand pointed forward—directly at the huge stele. A streak of blinding light shot from the stele, surging toward him in the next instant. In that moment, Xiao Chen perceived the anomaly: an image of the stele was branded onto the Stone Man's body.

It was as if a stele had been engraved on the Stone Man, and moreover, it moved. The pattern of the stele slowly rotated across the Stone Man's form.

Looking at the huge Heavenly Stele before him, then looking inward at the Stone Man within, Xiao Chen felt he could not understand it—could not fathom why this had happened.

With doubts unresolved, Xiao Chen returned to the Eastern Sea.

The sea was still roiling with sky-scraping waves. Countless cultivators had rushed into the depths, contending for the Ancestral Dragon's soul.

On his way back, Xiao Chen spotted Pure Lady Qingyun and her group. Chen Fang was with them and safe. These people did not want to take risks, staying at the rear and advancing slowly.

Xiao Chen did not join them. He went directly to reunite with Qingqing, and then the two of them charged deeper into the ocean. Both were intensely curious and did not want to miss a grand spectacle. They wanted to see what kind of storm the Ancestral Dragon's soul would provoke.

Qingqing was surprised by the speed of Xiao Chen's Eight-Aspect Worlds. Her own cultivation was far above his, yet in speed she fell short.

As they flew, they talked. When leaving the World of Immortality, Xiao Chen had had many questions; now he finally learned part of the answers.

When the Ancestral God Shennong fought the Otherworld Half-Ancestors, the first wave of Half-Ancestors who went to his aid had all died in battle. Shennong, with his vast divine power, had ultimately managed to save only Chiyou, Sun Wu, Laozi, the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, the Buddha, and Zhuangzi. The other Half-Ancestors had vanished completely.

As for Primordial, Zhunti, the White Tiger Saint Emperor, Tongtian, the Sun Holy God, and the Old Dragon of the Southern Wastes—these second-wave Half-Ancestors had not directly clashed with Ancestral Gods and had all escaped calamity, none perishing.

How Qingqing knew all this surprised Xiao Chen greatly: the Pure Land actually harbored a Half-Ancestor—the ancestor of Old Man Turtle, who had once taught him the Longevity Method.

"Big brother, look…" Qingqing pointed ahead in astonishment.

They were moving extremely fast and had already reached the forefront. Dimly, they saw billions of golden rays erupting from the deep sea—as if the Ancestral Dragon's soul had shattered!

"How can this be?" Everyone cried out in alarm.

Countless golden beams shot in all directions. The great golden mountain range disintegrated; the dragon soul scattered.

In that moment, everyone went mad. They each chased after different golden beams. The enormous Ancestral Dragon soul had been so vast that they had been wary and dared not act rashly. But now that the soul had broken apart, it was different.

Above the towering, churning sea, cultivators and overseas rogue cultivators soared through the air, fierce battles erupting every time someone tried to seize a golden beam. Countless magic treasures flew through the sky, dazzling and brilliant. From time to time, a cultivator would fall dead into the sea.

Blood flowed. The melee in the sky was fierce beyond compare. In just a brief moment, casualties were already incalculable.

The most intense struggle was in the south, because a brilliant golden sphere was floating and sinking among the waves, jointly bound by many cultivators and rogue cultivators.

It was a dragon pearl—a golden dragon pearl as large as a lake!

This was undoubtedly a peerless treasure that cultivators dreamt of. If it could be refined into a magic weapon, its power would be unimaginable. The overseas rogues and the cultivators immediately confronted each other, neither side willing to yield, both wanting to claim it for themselves.

"We don't need to wade in that muddy water."

Xiao Chen and Qingqing skirted the dragon pearl zone and chased after the scattered golden beams.

"Strange—there are so many golden beams, but none of them seem to have been caught by anyone."

This puzzled Qingqing. She thought for a moment, then pointed at a beam they were about to intercept. "Look, it's sinking into the sea again."

They dove down, plunging under the waves, and discovered that the golden light had vanished into the seafloor, merging into the deep strata.

Xiao Chen and Qingqing could only rise back up. After careful observation, they realized that no one had actually obtained a single golden beam. The scattered, vast soul-force of the dragon had all disappeared without a trace.

"Big brother, did you notice? All those golden beams seem to have converged around these overseas divine veins and immortal islands."

Indeed. By now, they had traveled far from the Nine Provinces, entering the domain of the overseas rogue cultivators. Here, divine veins and immortal islands were scattered like stars, seemingly blessed by heaven, gathering infinite spiritual essence. Even the shattered dragon soul had converged upon this stretch of ocean.

Qingqing analyzed, "I think these dragon souls will gather again sooner or later. For them to scatter here now—this overseas region must be extraordinary."

Xiao Chen felt she was right.

This sea region, even more vast than the Nine Provinces, was dotted with countless immortal islands and divine peaks. Its spiritual energy surpassed even that of the World of Immortality. It could not be an ordinary place.

In the distance, the roar of battle shook the heavens. The great war had finally erupted. Many were fighting for that dragon pearl—the only trapped treasure of the Ancestral Dragon.

"While they're fighting over the Ancestral Dragon pearl, why don't we go loot their caves?" Qingqing chuckled. Though her bearing was ethereal and her beauty otherworldly, there was something of a little demon in her smile.

Xiao Chen found it amusing. The idea actually suited him well. Since the cultivators had set up their main base here in the Mortal World, why not take advantage of the chaos to have a look around?

With the Ancestral Dragon's soul dissolving, the raging sea gradually calmed.

Just then, a sound of tearing air came from afar. Someone was riding a flying sword straight toward them.

"Little fairy, we meet again…" A young man with an extremely handsome face, dressed in purple robes, could be described as having a divine elegance, with a hint of nobility amid his ethereal bearing. He was definitely the kind of exceptional figure who would stand out even in a sea of people.

A man of outstanding talents—this was the type one recognized at a glance as no ordinary pond fish, destined one day to transform and soar to the heavens.

Xiao Chen acutely sensed that this was a very dangerous contemporary. It was the first time since his return to the Mortal World that he had felt such a threat.

"So it's the foremost young disciple of the Shu Mountain lineage," Qingqing said with a sweet smile. "Brother Deng Yu, why aren't you helping your sect contend for the treasure, instead of idly staying out of it?"

"I wouldn't be much help, so I might as well watch and learn," Deng Yu replied with a bright smile. Casually he asked, "And this brother is…?"

"He is my friend, Chen Zhan," Qingqing introduced with a smile.

"Brother Chen has profound cultivation," Deng Yu said. Then, without warning, he gently tapped his finger. A violet sword-qi condensed into a sword shape, directly tearing the void and shooting toward Xiao Chen.

Qingqing stepped in front of Xiao Chen. Her slender fingers flicked lightly, and a pristine white lotus took form—crystal clear, glistening with brilliant light—and flew out.

With a soft puff, the white lotus collided with the violet sword-qi and shattered. The petals, crystal bright, danced in the sky, sparkling, completely blocking the residual force of the sword beam.

"Brother Deng Yu, what is the meaning of this?" Qingqing spoke with a smile, but there was a note of reproach in her tone.

"You know, my fellow disciples call me the Sword Fanatic. Whenever I meet an expert, I always want to test my skills. My apologies—I was out of line." Deng Yu apologized earnestly, his manner quite sincere.

"Senior Brother Deng, come over here…" A young woman called out from afar. Deng Yu frowned slightly, then took his leave of Xiao Chen and Qingqing with a bow.

Not until Deng Yu had disappeared into the distant crowd did Xiao Chen speak. "That man is formidable."

"Yes, his cultivation is terrifying—one of the strongest among our generation I've ever seen." Qingqing said seriously, "Big brother, you absolutely must not fight him. You are in a period of rapid progress now, with plenty of room to grow…"

Though her words were tactful, she made it clear that Deng Yu was exceptionally strong and that Xiao Chen was not yet his match.

"I know. I won't act recklessly," Xiao Chen nodded.

"As far as I know, the cultivation world is divided into several major sects. He is the strongest successor of the current Shu Mountain lineage." Here Qingqing grinned. "That makes our next target clear: let's go explore the immortal island that the Shu Mountain lineage is currently occupying. After all, their people provoked me before, and now that fellow just provoked my big brother."

From afar, the Shu Mountain island gleamed with shimmering, many-colored light, like a jewel embedded in the blue sea.

On it, peaks were green, valleys emerald; the air was fragrant with flowers and filled with birdsong. Divine mists coiled around—a true immortal isle.

When Xiao Chen and Qingqing arrived, they heard shouts of battle from a distance—someone seemed to be attacking the island. Finally, a few young men fled in disarray.

A cold voice came from the island: "We do not wish to break relations with the overseas rogue cultivators. You juniors of the Lunar Sect, mind yourselves. Do not let your actions harm the goodwill between our two sides."

"Hehe…" From hiding, Qingqing laughed. "This works out perfectly. Someone will take the blame for us. That Lunar Sect bunch are no good anyway. Last time I went to their Lunar Immortal Island to 'collect' some spiritual herbs, I almost got trapped by them. Now we have a ready scapegoat."

Seeing another side of Qingqing, Xiao Chen smiled wryly. By "collect" she surely meant "steal."

"I've been to this island before. It really is covered in spiritual treasures. They've gathered many precious things here in no time. Today we will surely reap a great harvest."

Qingqing's smile was brilliant.

Just then, Xiao Chen felt something stirring inside him—the broken Stone Man had actually quivered.