Chapter 557: Fragments

The ancient, formidable demons who usually dominated the land were now trembling with fear, hardly daring to breathe. Nascent Soul stage cultivators, rarely seen even over several years, were now appearing, and not just one, but two at once.

"This token is yours, right?" Lu Yang asked casually, swinging it in circles by its string.

"It is... no, no, no, it's yours, Milord!"

"I heard this token can open a treasure vault. Is that true? What have you hidden there?" Meng Jingzhou asked, curious. With such a grand setup, he figured there must be something valuable.

"It's true. The vault contains my cultivation insights and materials I'll need for my next attempt to reach the Nascent Soul stage."

Ever since the token was lost, Old Ancestor Baitan had secretly spread information, luring others with promises of benefits to help him find it.

"That's it?"

The Dao Sect's Scripture Pavilion had several bookshelves filled with cultivation insights for the Half-Nascent Soul stage, available for anyone to read. Old Ancestor Baitan's amateurish insights weren't even worthy of being placed there. As for the materials needed for breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, they were even less significant. The Dao Sect didn't even have a tradition of using specific materials for cultivating a Nascent Soul from a Golden Core.

"M-Milords, I truly did not know your identity! If I had, I wouldn't have dared to act this way, even with ten thousand times my courage!" Old Ancestor Baitan felt like dying. He frantically kowtowed, hitting his head against the ground so hard he wished he could knock it off.

The other old demons followed suit, kowtowing to show their loyalty.

To be honest, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had never encountered such a situation since they started their cultivation journey.

It felt quite satisfying.

The Undying Immortal Fairy popped up, seizing the opportunity to broaden Lu Yang's horizons: "Oh, this is nothing. Back when I used to travel incognito, I often encountered situations like this. Generally, if someone found I wasn't easy to bully, they'd bring out their powerful backer, boasting about how strong they were. If I defeated that backer, they'd bring out their backer's backer, and so on. Eventually, the ultimate backer would appear, and passersby would often introduce them, saying they were a subordinate of a subordinate of one of the Ying Tian Immortals, possessing immense power and direct access to true immortals. Then, when the ultimate backer saw me, they'd stammer, 'It's, it's you!' 'This humble one was blind, please forgive me, Immortal!' 'Please spare me this one time!' They'd slap themselves hard and kowtow furiously, as if they wanted to shatter the very planet with their head. Sometimes, they'd even uphold justice by killing the person who caused the trouble. When the ultimate backer kowtowed, everyone else would follow suit. It was a vast multitude, a sea of people, truly a spectacular sight. Finally, I would mete out punishments according to their crimes. Sometimes it was immediate execution, sometimes it was severing their cultivation foundation, or other forms of punishment. What a pity, your cultivation isn't high enough yet, so you can't witness such scenes," the Undying Immortal Fairy said with a click of her tongue, feeling regretful for Lu Yang, as this was a privilege only immortals could enjoy.

Lu Yang looked at his mental space, which had transformed into a tropical rainforest, feeling quite helpless. After arriving in the Demon Realm, the Undying Immortal Fairy had appropriately transformed the soft pink mental space. Giant, lush trees now sprouted from the ground, their branches thick with verdant leaves. She often slept among the branches without falling. Now, she had even set up a swing and was playfully swinging on it in her stirrup socks, her tiny, translucent feet dangling back and forth.

"Then, Immortal Fairy, what about when you weren't an immortal and encountered troublemakers?"

"Well, generally, it would develop in two ways."

"What two ways?"

"One: if the opponent's cultivation was higher than mine and I couldn't defeat them for the moment, I would just run. The other was that even if the opponent's cultivation was inferior to mine, I would always, by some strange coincidence, end up being pursued. Sometimes, when too many people were chasing me, they'd even start fighting among themselves. I've encountered this two or three times: they'd surround me, blocking all directions, and I couldn't escape. But then they'd get into a dispute over who would get to kill me, and start fighting amongst themselves. I would then use the chaos to escape."

Lu Yang was speechless.

"Immortal Fairy, your experiences are quite bizarre."

"How should we deal with these old demons?" Meng Jingzhou asked quietly.

These old demons were ruthless and surely had blood on their hands; under the laws of Great Xia, they would all be sentenced to death. However, this was the Demon Realm, and such was its custom. They couldn't simply cross into another jurisdiction and forcibly apply Great Xia's laws to them; the Immortal Sect's enforcement power wasn't meant to be used that way. Furthermore, if they killed all the demons, their territories would descend into chaos and war, leading to the deaths of many innocent demon beasts.

Suddenly, a magnificent snake tattoo on Old Ancestor Baitan's forehead flashed, projecting an image of spiritual consciousness. The image vibrated, knocking out all the demons except Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou. An elaborately adorned white snake appeared, looking much younger and possessing a far more vigorous life force than Old Ancestor Baitan.

"Who are you?"

"I am Baigu of the White Snake tribe, greetings, fellow Daoists. This Baitan is one of my clones. I had intended to reclaim him after he broke through to the Nascent Soul stage to help me ascend to the Soul Transformation stage. It seems Baitan encountered a life threat, which activated the mark I left. I ask that both of you fellow Daoists spare Baitan's life. As repayment, I will gift this fragment to you!"

Lu Yang had heard of this cultivation method: creating a clone whose cultivation achievements would be fed back to the main body. Female cultivators practicing dual cultivation methods would even use this to impersonate twins, which could both add to the pleasure and increase cultivation speed.

"What is this item?"

"Legend has it that there are three such fragments, and when combined, they form a key to a secret realm. Unfortunately, I have never found the other two pieces. I observe that both of you fellow Daoists have profound blessings and are destined for great things. You will surely be able to find the other two fragments."

Before Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou could respond, a mark flashed on the Azure-faced Fierce Tiger's forehead, projecting an image of spiritual consciousness. A striped fierce tiger with two wings appeared. Seeing the Azure-faced Fierce Tiger unconscious, its face contorted in a grimace, clearly startled. It looked around, saw Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, as well as Baigu, and clasped its paws, saying, "I am an elder of the Qiongqi tribe, and this is my unfilial son. I don't know what he did to offend you two, but I beg you to show mercy and spare his life. As repayment, I will gift this fragment to both of you. Legend has it that this fragment is a key to a Soul Transformation stage secret realm. Unfortunately, for all these years, I have not found the remaining fragments. Would you accept this fragment in exchange for my son's life?"

A flame mark on the Fiery Lion King's forehead flickered. An old lion, whose eyelids were almost too heavy to open, saw his tribe's most outstanding descendant unconscious, and knew immediately that Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were responsible. He was the Old Ancestor of the Mad Lion tribe, and the Fiery Lion King was his most favored junior, which was why he had supported him to become the clan leader. He couldn't just stand by and watch the Fiery Lion King be killed. The old lion pulled out a fragment.

"This is a fragment I obtained by chance. Collecting three fragments forms a key to a Soul Transformation stage secret realm. I wonder if it can be exchanged for his life?"

Lu Yang was speechless.

Meng Jingzhou was speechless.

"Why don't the three of you check if the fragments you have can be put together?"