Chapter 57

Long Yuyun has a blue-winged seabird, but it is still a chick, only capable of delivering messages and reconnaissance. Now, this golden-winged great roc is a different breed, a prehistoric anomaly, even more powerful than the blue-winged seabird. More importantly, it is already an adult and can carry people in flight.

Especially if a master in taming were to train it, giving it daily doses of elixirs and magical medicines, the bird could undergo a transformation, learn cultivation, and turn into a demon, becoming even more formidable than human martial experts.

On this vast continent, besides evil spirits, there are also rampant demon races. Most areas outside human settlements are wild mountains and vast forests, where countless animals cultivate and become demons.

Compared to human cultivation, demons find it difficult to enter the path of cultivation, but once they do, their progress is rapid.

This is because demons are naturally less intelligent, making it hard for them to enter the path. However, demons have simple minds, without the many desires and thoughts of humans, and have not experienced the complexities of human emotions. Once they enter the path, they focus solely on cultivation, maintaining their essence and unity, thus advancing much faster than humans.

However, animals cannot comprehend cultivation on their own. To become demons, they must be enlightened by human cultivators or have a fortuitous encounter with ancient relics.

Historical records show that many cultivators seek powerful beasts, raise them with affection, and then enlighten them to cultivation, turning them into powerful allies.

The golden-winged great roc before them has clearly already become a demon, with extraordinary power, capable of subtly absorbing spiritual energy and possessing immense strength.

When animals become spirits, they understand cultivation. If they enter the Dao realm and can absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, they become demons. When demons cultivate to a certain level, they can transform into dragons!

Dragons are not a specific race but a realm.

Becoming a spirit, a demon, a small dragon, a chi dragon, a great dragon, a king dragon, a divine dragon, and a true dragon.

"Auntie, you actually came in person?" Chen Jianfeng saw the woman on the golden-winged great roc and was overjoyed. "I've had the worst luck this time. Auntie, please help me retrieve the Law-Breaking Immortal Sword."

The woman jumped down and stood steadily. The bird stood on the cliff, overlooking the mountains, exuding an aura of a small dragon.

The woman took out a pill and fed it to the bird, then turned around. She had elegant eyebrows, a cloud of hair, and a green silk robe, her face like a painting, not of this world, exuding a transcendent aura.

"Tell me what happened," the woman said, her voice ethereal, as if coming from the heavens. "With the Law-Breaking Immortal Sword in your hands, you are already invincible at the Second Transformation of the Dao realm. Even the Third Transformation cannot harm you. If you encounter danger, you can fly away with the sword. How could it be taken from you?"

"I don't know. Gu Chensha must have used some technique to take the sword and suppress it," Chen Jianfeng explained in detail.

"Nonsense. Even if he has reached the Sixth Transformation, cultivating innate qi, he could not take the sword from you and suppress it," the woman said angrily. "The Law-Breaking Immortal Sword is no ordinary weapon. It was given to you because you were illuminated by spiritual light and broke through to the Dao realm. You were to contact powerful figures in Xianzhou and plot the restoration of the kingdom. Now, before the great cause is accomplished, you have lost such an immortal sword. The family law cannot tolerate this. The Grand Tutor is about to emerge from seclusion. After he does, he will reclaim the Law-Breaking Immortal Sword. When the six swords are united, and the power of the Giant Spirit is harnessed, the Great Way of Unity will be formed, and the restoration of the kingdom will be within reach."

"But, I heard that Emperor Tianfu has reached the realm of transformation and freedom. If that's true, do we still have a chance? Even the Giant Spirit might not have reached that realm," Chen Jianfeng said, sounding discouraged.

"Silence!" the woman shouted. "Emperor Tianfu is an enemy of all the gods and demons. No matter how high his realm, he will fall. Losing confidence like this, your cultivation may regress, wasting the spiritual light. Do you know how much effort the Grand Tutor put into obtaining that spiritual light?"

"Auntie, but Gu Chensha..." Chen Jianfeng thought for a moment. "The most pressing matter is to get you to retrieve the sword for me. Otherwise, I won't be able to explain to the Crown Prince."

"Of course. To be honest, I also want to meet my sister's son," the woman said, taking a light step. "Rumors say he is a fool, but in less than a year, he suddenly rose to power, killing four great demons. I wonder what kind of fortuitous encounter he had? Or has he been hiding his true strength? Or is there a supreme expert guiding him from behind? Or is it true that he has awakened the Giant Spirit's bloodline, receiving its blessing? But the Giant Spirit lost its connection over a decade ago."

"He is currently in a town a few hundred miles away. Auntie can go there and capture him. I want to take him to the Crown Prince, draw his blood, and obtain the activated Giant Spirit bloodline, giving our royal family a chance to activate our bloodlines," Chen Jianfeng explained, indicating that he still had some merit.

"Fool!" the woman scolded. "If you approach him with arrogance, you will only make enemies. You should win him over with benefits and emotions. I should not have sent you. I know your thoughts; you want to gain the benefits first."

"What should we do now?" Chen Jianfeng did not dare to argue.

"Now he has already become our enemy. It's impossible to win him over. And he won't give up the Law-Breaking Immortal Sword. In that case, we can only use the Untrustworthy Heart-Seizing Talisman," the woman frowned.

"What? The Untrustworthy Heart-Seizing Talisman? This talisman is an ancient relic. Our royal family only has one. Only those who have reached the Eighth Transformation of the Three Pure Fires can neutralize its power. Otherwise, they will be controlled by the one who casts the talisman, loyal and unable to betray." Chen Jianfeng was shocked. "Using the only talisman to control Gu Chensha seems wasteful. We came here to control Prince Gu. If successful, we can infiltrate the Great Wei Dynasty and gain endless resources. Only the Great Wei can rival the Great Yong."

"Do you think I don't want to control Prince Gu? He is a powerful martial artist, already at the Fifth Transformation of the Dao realm, with a hundred meridians gathering spirit. He is about to break through to the stage of cultivating innate qi. Controlling him would be extremely difficult. And Gu Chensha is not without value. At the very least, we can learn the secrets of the Giant Spirit from him," the woman observed the surroundings, examining the terrain.

"But, if Gu Chensha obeys us, and Emperor Tianfu finds out, it won't be of much value. I also want to take revenge on him. If he becomes one of us, won't I have to help him?" Chen Jianfeng rubbed his hands.

"Think of the bigger picture. You are still thinking of personal grudges. Enough talk. I need to set up here to make the Untrustworthy Heart-Seizing Talisman resonate with the heavens, activating its power. Bring Gu Chensha here. If you can't do this, you are truly useless," the woman waved her hand. "This talisman is too old, and much of its power has been lost. Ordinary spiritual energy is of little use and can even damage its structure. If I could use heavenly dew, I wouldn't need to go through so much trouble. I could just drip blood on the talisman and hit Gu Chensha. Even Prince Gu would be under my control."

"Yes, yes, yes..." Seeing the woman's anger and impatience, Chen Jianfeng quickly left.

"Truly useless," the woman shook her head and took out a jade talisman.

The jade talisman was sky blue, like flowing autumn water, emitting a faint light. Ancient bird script was inscribed on it, exuding a desolate aura, clearly an ancient relic.

She placed the jade talisman on a stone on the cliff, then spoke in bird language, instructing the golden-winged great roc to fly far away and gather many large trees from the forest to build a structure similar to an altar.

She observed the terrain, took out a long sword, and flattened the surrounding rocks, carving patterns and talismans on large rocks, setting up a strict feng shui array, attempting to invoke some mysterious power.

As her array gradually improved, the jade talisman seemed to absorb something, becoming brighter.

At that moment, a person suddenly darted out from the distant forest, moving as fast as lightning, wearing light blue armor, and directly leaped to the central stone, grabbing the jade talisman and making it disappear.

Then he turned and fled without looking back.

"Damn!"

The woman never expected such a thing to happen.

She exerted her full strength, moving like a streak of light, leaving a series of afterimages as she ran. In just ten breaths, she was close to the person who had stolen the talisman. Without even looking, she pushed out three palms.

The Giant Spirit Palm, moving mountains, overturning rivers, and reversing the sea.

Whoosh!

A violent wind suddenly arose, forming tornadoes and wind columns that collided with each other, making a creaking sound. Within twenty steps, the air currents pulled and exploded, sending stones flying into the air, colliding and sparking.

This was not the power of a human, but something like the demonic wind in strange tales, causing sand and stones to fly.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Gu Chensha also used the Giant Spirit Palm, but upon contact, he felt the opponent's power was overwhelming, impossible to resist. He barely used the techniques of the Sun and Moon Transformation, but still could not deflect all the force. He was directly thrown back, slamming into a rock. If not for the protection of the chi dragon armor, this single blow would have broken all his meridians and bones.

He had secretly followed Chen Jianfeng and, seeing him and the woman discussing, seized the opportunity to steal the Untrustworthy Heart-Seizing Talisman.

This talisman was meant to control him, and he could not allow such a dangerous thing to be activated, as it would put his mind at risk.

With his cultivation, he could not have stolen the talisman, but the Sun and Moon Altar space allowed him to hide and move freely, making it difficult for even a Fifth or Sixth Transformation Daoist to detect him.

"This woman's martial arts are extremely high. Even with the chi dragon armor, I am no match for her," Gu Chensha got up, the rock behind him shattered, but his body was unharmed. Even hidden power could be resisted by the chi dragon armor.

The opponent's power penetrated layer by layer, but the chi dragon armor, upon encountering hidden power, wriggled and deflected most of it, something a steel armor could not do.

A steel armor would be easily shattered by a master, and hidden power could cause internal injuries without leaving external marks.

This woman's martial arts were even more terrifying than the tribal general, possibly at the Fourth Transformation, swallowing gold and transforming stone.

The tribal general was at the Third Transformation, with copper skin and iron bones. Gu Chensha could have a chance without the chi dragon armor. But against this woman, even with the chi dragon armor, he could not match her, which was truly terrifying.

Of course, this woman had not reached the Sixth Transformation, cultivating innate qi. Otherwise, the chi dragon armor would not have been able to resist. Her three palms, though powerful, causing sand and stones to fly, were still postnatal qi.