My Master Disconnected Yet Again Chapter 471-480

Chapter 471: Collective Training

Panther Monarch even roared intentionally after finishing his sentence and broke the Northern Forest array formation with a claw. All at once, a slicing, raging wind came right at them, Rabbit's entire body froze, facing the formidable pressure, she couldn't even move.

Thanks to Lonemoon casually tugging Rabbit aside, she then managed to dodge those winds.

"Terrible bad breath!" Shen Ying subconsciously covered her nose, do all the little animals like to breathe into people's faces? It's not like they were paper planes!

Having missed Rabbit, Panther Monarch's face sunk, before turning to the few others beside her, following that his eyes lit up again, filled with greed. "Human cultivators?" He'd long heard that several human cultivators had appeared in the Southern Land and killed the Wolf Monarch and several tens of thousands of demon troops. Only he had not believed it,  it might be true that they killed Wolf Monarch, but how was it possible that they killed tens of thousands of demon troops! It was definitely fake information that the rabbit demon had let out for self preservation, wanting to deter the other demon monarchs.

The other demon races might not know the standards of human cultivators outside of the Southern Land, but he did, as a demon monarch. Those who were able to make it into the Southern Land definitely had a certain level of cultivation, it was highly possible that they were at the Soul Formation or Traveling Immortal level. If he was to fight them one on one, he might still have some reservations, but now they had so many high level demon races here, the other party would only become food in his mouth.

Panther Monarch became more cocky the more he thought, the way he was looking at Lonemoon and Yi Qing was as if he was looking at some sumptuous feast. After eating these two people, he would definitely ascend to the thirteenth level. At the thought of this, he was instantly in no mood to continue chatting, paying no heed to Rabbit, he pounced right on Lonemoon while Lion Monarch wasn't paying attention. "This human cultivator is mine!"

Just as his sharp claw was about to pierce through Lonemoon's chest, a blinding white light flashed before his eyes, Panther Monarch only felt a cooling sensation near his arm and the claw that was outstretched earlier, suddenly fell to the ground with a thud, instantly turning back to a paw, even rolling further before coming to a stop.

Huh?

Panther Monarch faltered, completely stunned, until a massive wave of pain hit him did he shriek out loud. He dropped to the ground turning back into a huge panther, howling again and again.

The demons:"..."

What had just happened? They hadn't gotten a clear look and their monarch had kicked the bucket?

(⊙_⊙)

A second later, Lion Monarch who was the closest was the first to reach, surrounding the entire area with his demonic aura, he waved his hand at the demonfolk. "Kill those two human cultivators!" All the demons charged forward.

Lonemoon frowned, his heart full of frustration, it  was already fretting enough to have a fool of a disciple and these little animals still came to create trouble. His expression darkened at once as he turned and hollered, seething with anger, "Chef!"

In the next moment, Yi Qing's figure flashed and he was flying out, with a swing of the sword in his hand, he drew an immense surge of Sword Qi and slashed harshly towards the ground. Following a loud rumble, the entire ground split open, like an earthquake, a crack of four to five meters wide appeared, as if he had split the entire forest open.

The demons who were roaring and charging over earlier froze together, instantly dazed!

A strange silence fell all at once in the entire forest, there was only the sound of Panther Monarch howling in pain and the thumping sounds of demons who could not stop in time falling into the crack. That stroke of the sword earlier, if it had hit them… the demons did not dare to think further, large drops of perspiration slid down their foreheads.

We're dead we're dead we're dead we're dead…

"Run!" A shout from one of the demons snapped the group of demons back to their senses and they took off immediately. As the high level demons had been standing in the front, followed by the fifth and sixth-level demons who naturally couldn't run as fast as the high level demons, a stampede occurred, a sea of demons fell and in seconds, layers had been formed.

"Chef, stop them. I still have some use for them!" Lonemoon instructed.

"Mm." Yi Qing nodded obediently lifting himself into the air.

Master said that Father Niu was going through menopause recently, for the sake of their meal expenses they ought to give in to him more. He conjured a hand seal and summoned a sky full of sword spirits, falling down like rain, they formed a sword array, trapping every single one of the thousands of demons in it at once.

With a malefic being before them and nowhere to run to, the demons were bewildered.

Yet Lonemoon turned towards Fatty, revealing a smile like that of a headmaster. "Fatty, you can begin your daily training now."

"Huh? Oh!" Fatty who had been happily watching the whole time immediately shivered after suddenly being called up. "What? What training."

"Let's begin with this old, weak, sickly and crippled one!" Lonemoon ignored him and walked right to Panther Monarch who was rolling around in pain. Conjuring a spell, he stanched the blood flowing from his broken paw and said, "Panther demon, if you can beat him, I'll let you off!" With that he threw the sword in his hand to Fatty standing behind him.

Huh?

Beat who?

Fatty who had caught the sword on reflex was utterly confused. But he looked up to see a huge, three-legged panther roar loudly, baring his fangs and brandishing his… no claws, as he bounded forward.

"M… mmmaster…" He's for real!

He was wrong, grain liberation was paradise, but practicing the sword arrays wasn't hell, this was hell!

Shen Ying: "…" Rabbit: "…"

Mm, I somehow feel that I should pretend I'm non-existent right now.

Fatty who finally made it past the first level of sword arrays after eight months and four days in the Southern Land began his combat career, currently the number of people training with him: eight thousand! Progress… very slow.

————

Perhaps actual combat could really train a person's crisis consciousness, Fatty whose sword techniques were in rags was slowly improving. Though Lonemoon was still showing great scorn but at least he was able to dodge the strikes coming at him.

To reach this level, he spent a good five years training. And the demonfolk of the western forest had been his training companions for five years. At the start, they'd still thought of escaping, especially Lion Monarch who had the highest level of cultivation, but after Chef's sword array made a few holes in him, he started to behave.

They'd even built houses nearby and settled down. The entire sword array was showing the tendency of developing into a little demon town. At first, Lonemoon would pull several little demons slightly weaker than Fatty to train with him, Fatty always lost but slowly… he became sturdier.

╮(╯▽╰)╭

All the demons that trained with him rose through the levels too, towards the end, those fifth and sixth-level demons were no longer needed. For the sake of their good behavior all these years, Lonemoon let the little demons out of the sword arrays.

However, the odd thing was that those little demons had jumped for joy when they first left, but months later, they came running back, claiming that they'd gotten used to living inside the array and couldn't bear to leave, there were even some who righteously explained that their wife and kids were still inside, it was too "indemone"[1] to leave alone. And hence begged Chef to open the sword array to let them back in. More and more of such situations occurred, Lonemoon then instructed Chef to remove the sword array and let them do as they liked. Yet only a handful of demons escaped, the rest even habitually queued up in the morning for Lonemoon to call upon them to go beat up Fatty and those not called would disperse and get on with what they had too.

Seeming like they'd gotten used to this way of life. Even the demons' way of greeting changed from "have you practiced cultivation today" to "have you beat up Fatty today?"

Lonemoon: "…"

Feels as if that the demon clans who'd charged their way here to snatch their territory back then was an illusion, this bunch of demons had just collectively migrated.

[1] word play: inhumane

Chapter 472: Invincible Bragger

The 180 degree change in the thinking  of  these  demons actually had a little do with Rabbit,  the  new  Demon  Monarch. And the reason was her being timid! After the demons from the western forests were trapped, Rabbit was rather happy at first, but she slowly became aware of the subsequent problem it brought. Although she had Great Immortal backing her up now and she need not be afraid that those big demons would escape the array formation and get even with her…

But the future remains uncertain, if Great Immortal were to leave in the future and they put all the blame onto her, what would she do? Even if her cultivation level had risen by then, she still wouldn't be able to beat them as a lone rabbit.

All of them were high level demons, let's not mention the dozens of tenth level ones, the key was that there were demon monarchs at the eleventh and twelfth level. As a rabbit at the bottom of the demon realm, she could not sleep for nights, even distracted from cultivation practice. In addition, her comrades had been brought to experience real combat, after living in fear and having nightmares for an entire month, Rabbit finally could not hold back and moved with her little stool to the borders of the western forest and sat beside the sword array, beginning to brainwash… no, admonish those demons with sincere words. "Let me tell all of you, the level of Great  Immortal's cultivation is something that you cannot even imagine, give up! Wolf Monarch is an example for you."

"Let me tell all of you, Great Immortal has been merciful to you all this time, do you know what happened to the previous bunch of demons that offended him? Gone! Not just  killed, there weren't even any remains left." Everything was served on the table.

"Let me tell all of you, Great Immortal hates demons eating humans the most, that's why I become the demon monarch. If you all were to switch to a vegetarian diet now, he might let you keep your life."

"Let me tell all of you, as demons, we mustn't be too so hot- tempered, if there's a problem, eat a carrot and calm down. Think about it, as long as you're alive, everything else is not a big deal!"

"Let me tell all of you, you've been trapped in for long, I know all of you are hungry. As a demon myself, my heart aches for all of you too. I can't do anything else but I can definitely provide enough carrots! If you prefer grass I can pull out some for all of you."

"Let me tell all of you, how wonderful is it to be a follower of Great Immortal? Do you see all these demon cores? They're Great Immortal's rewards to me, one a day, yes! You did not hear wrongly, it is one a day, as long as you're obedient!"

"Let me tell all of you, though I am almost reaching the tenth- level now, two years ago, I was only a seventh-level rabbit! It's all thanks to Great Immortal that I could rise through the levels so quickly."

"Let me tell all of you, Great Immortal said that if demons ate humans, we become filled with bloody grievous energy, even if we are able to improve our cultivation in the short run, but after immortal ascension, we will end up being struck to death by divine lightning. Think of why there hasn't been any demons successfully ascending? It's all because of eating humans!"

"Let me tell all of you…"

The demonfolk ignored her at first, but slowly, the more she shared, somehow there were a few demons who believed her, together with Lonemoon's intentional cooperation, more demons believed her words, Besides, as Rabbit would send them carrots, vegetables and grass occasionally, more demons were increasingly bought over and began to accept Rabbit as a demon monarch, even the twelfth level Panther Monarch and Lion Monarch began to be courteous towards Rabbit.

Such recognition remained even after the sword array was removed, Rabbit, the demon monarch who wasn't even a tenth level, surprisingly earned the acknowledgment of all the demons and became a demon monarch of an area, true to her name, and she even managed to do so through bragging.

Five years later, Fatty who was used to being beaten up, could already hold his own against the offense from an eleventh level demon monarch, his sword techniques had also seen a solid improvement. Though at the most, he could only be considered a body… ah bleh! blend of a Five Element cultivator and a sword cultivator, but at least he could last in a battle. Mm, he's definitely not a body cultivator.

Lonemoon then canceled the daily activity of the demons beating up Fatty, then brought him back to the Demon Palace and threw him back in the sword array. He kept guard outside, allowing him to get knocked around inside.

Yet, with the chattering demons that would always surround them suddenly gone, and also missing Rabbit's brain-washing words, it somehow felt like something was missing.

Hence… he locked Rabbit in too.

Rabbit: "…" Damn it!

(ಥ_ಥ)

Perhaps due to the having the foundation to bear beatings, Fatty made it past the second level very quickly and successful entered the third level, then… he was stuck again!

However, this time, Lonemoon did not shower Fatty with his icy cold stares, but changed his training companions from the demons, to himself, personally beat… no, it's spoon-feeding him with strikes. Fatty's face that was as fat as a pig head never recovered. With a pig face, he continued to practice his sword for more than years, Fatty used action to prove that, constitutions that could not master sword techniques did exist.

Even after Rabbit successfully ascended to the eleventh level and made it past eight levels in the sword array, he was still at the fifth level.

Hence when Fatty finally broke through the fifth level in the sword array, Lonemoon did not force him to continue with the sixth level, instead he removed the sword array. Then formally began with imparting him the skills involving pills, talismans, arrays, weapons and spirit beasts. Though level five in a sword array could be nothing to a sword cultivator, but for Fatty, it ought to be enough for him to hold off a sword cultivator's attack.

Lonemoon carved some five elements reversal formation, arrays spells and talismans spells onto jade slips and handed them to Fatty. Whereas for expensive,  time-consuming technical skills like core cultivation that cannot be used in actual battle, they could learn at the end. As for beast control, all the demons in Southern Land knew that he was a best bud of the Rabbit Monarch, seems like there was no need to master that too. That left them with weapon refinement, Chef was more familiar with that.

He'd intended to get Chef to carve a legacy about weapon refinement, but he did not manage to find him in the kitchen. He then remembered that it seemed like he hadn't seen the two rascals in a long time. Instinctively using his divine perception, he swept across the entire demon palace but did not sense any familiar aura.

Where were they?!

He searched the back palace, still no one, he could only go to Rabbit.

"Great Immortal Shen?" Rabbit faltered for a moment before realizing that he was referring to the other two Great Immortals. "They… aren't they having their meal at the back palace?"

"I've just searched there, there's no one." Lonemoon's face darkened, accurately speaking, they weren't in the entire demon palace. "Did they secretly sneak out to find trouble again?"

"That, I don't know…" Rabbit shook her head. "But about four hours ago, I saw the two Great Immortals having tea in the pavilion beside the front palace, perhaps they…"

Before he could finish, Lonemoon had already turned around and walking towards the front palace. Sure enough, from far he could already see two familiar figures sitting inside, one chewing on pastries, the other pouring tea, only thing was they weren't speaking, their expressions were slightly tense, which made them seem a little unnatural.

Lonemoon paused in his steps, his face instantly turning as dark as the bottom of a pot.

"Ah, aren't the two great immortals here?" Rabbit who followed behind him said instinctively. "I've told you Great Immortal, you don't…"

He had yet to finish his sentence when Lonemoon waved his hand, a stream of Spirit Qi swept over. Flashing out a white light, the two people in the pavilion instantly became two pieces of white paper shaped like human figures, swaying and falling through the air, the teapot that was held in Chef's hand earlier dropped to table, water splashed in all directions.

The next moment…

A furious roar sounded throughout the entire Demon Palace.

"I'm going to break the legs of those two wastrels!"

Rabbit: "…"

Um, is it too late to sneak away now?

Chapter 473: Master and Disciple In Trouble

Lonemoon had flown out of the Southern Land in a rage. If murderous vibes could kill, the few hundred miles all around the Southern Land would have been wiped out.

He was really angry, here he was working himself to death in guiding his disciple and those two rascals actually sneaked out to play behind his back and even left two fake people to fool him! Hey whose plane was this? They also probably spent all their money on this trip, the main point was that they did not ask him along!

(╯°Д°)╯(┻━┻

Damn it, his 1001st time wanting to sever father and daughter ties! Whoever wants such a daughter can have her, buy one get one free!

Lonemoon charged right to the nearest immortal city, he'd thought it would some time to find those two wastrels but not too long after flying out of the Southern Land, he saw a trail left behind. Two anxious figures were approaching him at an extremely high speed, dust swirling behind them. Shen Ying ran in front, a pastry held in her mouth, one of her hands was holding Chef while the other was grabbing something as they raced forward madly.

Lonemoon had yet to react and Shen Ying had already spotted him, her eyes instantly lit up as she dashed towards him.

"Fa… ther….Niu!" Three short syllables, but she managed to make it sound like an entirely different thing, giving one the visual of all flowers blooming in Spring, as if she had seen her savior. Instantly arriving before him, she halted suddenly, unlike her usual languidness, she smiled brightly. "Father Niu, we miss you so much."

"A day apart from you feels like three years!" Chef also added on.

"You're indeed the best Father Niu under the sun."

"You are the one and only, the best." "Father Niu, first in the world for generations to come!"

"Father Niu's name will resound through the ages!"

"That's enough, did you two think were dancing a carefully choreographed dance!" Lonemoon's mouth twitched as glanced coldly at the duo, instantly having an ominous feeling. "Tell the truth, what have the both of you gotten into now?"

"Nothing!"

Both master and disciple shook their heads together.

Lonemoon gave them another cold look and threw out two words. "Heh heh!" Like I would believe you!

"Really Father Niu, you must believe me!" Shen Ying blinked. "We just bought some food!" Her thumb and index finger pinched together, gesturing a small gap as she spoke, she even stuffed a paper bag in her hand over. Lonemoon took it instinctively but before he could check it, indignant voices sounded from in front.

"They're here, catch that liar!"

"Quick everyone stop him, we must not let them get away!"

"Another one has joined them, they must belong together, we'll beat them all up."

With that, dozens of fierce, bulky men came flying through the air, some held swords, some held artifacts, there were even some who held choppers, spatulas and aprons. With even landing, their blows came pelting in the direction of the trio.

Followed by several thuds, they were pushed back by the array around the few.

Lonemoon was startled by them, losing his grip on the paper bag in his hand, it fell open. All at once, thick stacks of strips of paper scattered on the ground, he could vaguely see debt slips written in black and white in between the few recipes. His heart sank as he turned towards the two exact same "innocent faces" beside him.

"You two wastrels, what have you done now?!"

ლ(゚Д゚ლ)

Both master and disciple looked up to the sky, feigning ignorance.

Yet those people had already landed and had formed a solid circle around them. They picked up their weapons on the ground while panting, each of them looking like they couldn't wait to come chop them out!

"I'll see where you… can run too!" One of the in the center was panting real hard and he was the cultivator with the highest cultivation level amongst them, he panted as he pointed a finger in their direction. "You all… you all… you all just  wait  till  I catch my breath!" Lonemoon: "…"

Yi Qing: "…"

Shen Ying: "…"

Lonemoon was speechless, after sweeping past everyone on the site, he realized their cultivation levels weren't high, the highest was a late stage Golden Core, while the others were all at the Foundation Establishment level, including some at the Qi Refinement stage.

His expression darkened at once as he turned to glare at the duo again, Chef and Shen Ying, one was a manager, another assistant, both were Cheats, one big and one small, just how did they manage to get themselves into the situation of being chased everywhere by low level cultivators in the lower realm who weren't even at the nascent soul level?

Master and disciple continued to stare at the sky, hmm, the weather's not too bad today… it's a day suited to… eat(cook)! What else could it be, losing on the side of reason!

"Fellow Daoists." Lonemoon inhaled deeply, suppressed his urge to give the two a good beating and said to everyone with cupped fists, "May I know how my two friends here have offended you that everyone took the trouble to come chasing? If it's a misunderstanding, why don't we sit down and talk it through?"

"Cut the nonsense!" The Golden Core core cultivator who finally caught his breath glared at him and said, "You're the one with them huh? Everyone don't listen to him, let's capture them before anything else!"

As soon as he finished, the others raised the weapons in their hands once again, some conjured spells, others struck out, coming right at the three of them.

Seems like speaking reasonably won't  work,  Lonemoon frowned and released the suppression of the Soul  Formation stage, a huge slab of pressure swept towards everyone at once. The people who were calling to fight and kill earlier froze, their bodies so tense that they couldn't move, the cultivators with the lowest level of cultivation even fell to their knees. Silence fell instantly, everyone felt perspiration form at the top of their heads, the Golden Core cultivator who led them had even gone pale, wearing an expression of disbelief.

"Soul… Soul Formation… Supremacy!" How was this possible?

They'd only thought of giving chase and nothing else and did not expect those two liars to know a Soul Formation Supremacy.

"Now can we talk about what happened?"

Everyone: "…"

Lonemoon's suppression was retracted just after a moment of releasing it, without making clear the facts, it was naturally not right to start fighting directly. The furious expressions on the men's faces were then put away, after staring at each other for a moment, the Golden Core cultivator gritted his teeth and stepped forward. "Supremacy, it's not that we meant to offend you, it's… your two friends, ruined the treasures that we have painstakingly collected for years and even destroyed our space for the alchemy room, those were our life-time of hard work."

He seemed to recall something as some fury surfaced in his eyes, he forcefully suppressed them after glancing at Lonemoon, then tried asking, "As a Soul Formation Supremacy, you must be a fair person, even if they are your friends, I believe you will allow us to seek justice right?"

Lonemoon's expression darkened, turning back to the two behind him, he bit out, "What have you two done?"

"Nothing." Shen Ying replied. "I just accidentally burned some carrots."

"You shut up!" Lonemoon glared at her and turned directly to Yi Qing. "Chef you tell me." Yi Qing peeped at his master before saying, "Well… master and I just went to buy some snacks, then while at it, learn some new recipes. In the end… we accidentally set the kitchen on fire."

"…" What kind of kitchen? A kitchen used to store elixirs?

"Don't worry Father Niu, we paid with spirit stones!" Shen Ying raised her hand and added.

Chapter 474: Professional At Finding Fault

"You're spouting nonsense!" The moment he finished his sentence, the Golden Core cultivator immediately retorted fumingly. "What they'd burned wasn't the kitchen, they clearly burned our entire alchemy room using Deviant Fire. There were also many completed elixirs and rare spirit herb, they'd all been destroyed by this liar… person!"

The others had also joined in the condemnation.

"That's right, the neonate formation pill that I'd spent substantially and went to great efforts to buy was also inside, everything was totally burned."

"Yes, and my thousand year old spirit mythic plant and five hundred year-old jade spirit bark."

"And mine, my benevolent fruit!"

"There's also mine…" "Supremacy." The Golden Core cultivator took a step forward, as if having his courage to question. "These people ruined our spirit herbs and fungi and even burned down the alchemy room that we worked together to build on the pretense of wanting to learn to cook. Their intentions were truly malicious, even if you are a Soul Formation Supremacy, you should not be biased to such evil people, otherwise, we would definitely take this to the Great Court to seek justice."

The others echoed his words in succession and resumed their aggressive manner from earlier.

Lonemoon's expression dimmed, sweeping a glance across everyone, he peered at the recipes on the ground before making an estimated guess. "All of you are saying that, these two friends of mine was originally consulting all of you on cooking?"

"That's right!" A cultivator wearing an apron stepped forth and said, "My Fragrant Restaurant is the most famous restaurant in Bian Immortal City, the first restaurant they'd stepped in was mine and they'd ordered a dozen of the signature dishes. I'd originally thought they were sincerely seeking guidance, hence I handed my recipes over out of goodwill. Who knew that wasn't what they truly intended!" With that, he even sneered coldly at Yi Qing, seeming to be rather irate. "It's the same for our Drunken Immortal Restaurant."

"And our…"

The rest had also begun an uproar, looking at Chef as if they were looking at their foe.

"According to what all of you said…" Lonemoon began to say in a low voice, "They did not manage to cheat you of your recipes and even set the alchemy room that all of you have built together and ruined all the spirit herbs and elixirs."

"That's right!" The men nodded firmly, everyone boldly and courageously displaying their anger.

Lonemoon's expression became increasingly dark as he listened, suddenly lifting the corner of his lips, he revealed a forceful smile. "Then, do all of you cultivators think that I'm kind and good-tempered that you can fool with me as you like?!" With that said, he released his suppression once more, not holding back at all this time. At once, all the cultivators around collapsed, dropping to their knees like they had been subjected to immense pressure, it was the same even for the Golden Core cultivator right at the front. His face paled instantly. "Supremacy… what do you mean by this?"

"What do I mean?" Lonemoon laughed coldly. "Did you think I couldn't tell? I don't know what kind of people you all are, but this friend of mine is a chef, in cooking, even ten of you won't be a match for him. Any dish that he has eaten, without any help, he is able to make the exact same one. You actually dared to say that you were passing on recipes to him out of good will, hmph, what a joke!"

"…" The men's expression saw a slight change, their eyes slightly unfocused.

"Talk about passing on recipes?" Lonemoon glanced at the huge pile of debt slips on the ground and continued. "It must be that the bunch of him realized that he was able to tell the method of cooking and ingredients used in every dish! Unwilling to take it lying down, all of you took advantage of having more people on your side and bluffed them into buying your recipes in order to swindle all the spirit stones they had, am I right?" "…" The men began to turn pale, not daring to say a word.

"Let me guess! What will happen next?" Lonemoon's smile grew colder. "You realized that since he could taste the difference in the dishes, he might be able to do the same for elixirs. Deciding to go all in, you brought them to the alchemy room, intending to let him taste the elixirs, then tell you the formula, to earn some confidential formulas of other sects?"

"…" The men were starting to break out in a cold sweat.

"Not only that, you even had the strange idea that since he had such gifts, why not let him try refining elixirs. Only you didn't think that he did not know how to refine pills at all, not only did the refining failed, he even accidentally burned everything to the point where the entire alchemy room was destroyed." His eyes dimmed as he glanced at the men. "Tell me, did I guess correctly?"

All the cultivators were deathly pale, looking with guilty after being exposed, their heads forced to bow by suppression. "All of you cheated my friend, then fooled him into refining pills. And you dare to seek justice from me, how shameless!" Once Lonemoon's words fell, his suppression went up by another level, several low level cultivators directly fell flat onto the ground.

"Supre… Supremacy calm down, calm down Supremacy!" The men who were still arrogant earlier hurriedly begged with terrified expressions. "We lost our heads at the moment, such that we committed such an immoral crime, please have mercy on us on the account that this is our first time! We won't dare to do it again."

The rest also began to beg, their confidence and boldness earlier all gone. They'd never expected that he would be able to see through their plans after asking a few questions.

"Have mercy?" Lonemoon sneered coldly. "Earlier on, weren't all of you pushing to slaughter my two friends. Why are you asking to be let off lightly when it comes to you now?" Hmph, my defense won't be in vain!

Dread rose amongst the men, that was a Soul Formation cultivator, he could turn them into ashes with a snap of his fingers. They trembled terribly and begged even louder. Something flashed in the eyes of the Golden Core cultivator in the middle and he said loudly. "We ask that Supremacy let us off for the sake… for the sake of the Qi Clan, we are  merely disciples that distribute elixirs."

"What distribute…" Lonemoon wanted to reply instinctively but felt his sleeve being tugged. His eyes dimmed before he said with slight hesitation. "Since that's the case… I can restrain myself, but what should you do about all of you lying to my friends and cheating them of their spirit stones?"

"We'll return them, we'll return them."

"Yes yes yes, these belonged to them in the first place, we were foolish."

"Give it back, give everything back to him!"

The men visibly relaxed and immediately pulled out their storage bags and dug all the spirit stones out, their eyes secretly peeping at the few people in the middle from time to time. As a qualified cunning businessman, Lonemoon naturally understood their look of "selling less". Hence he added, "Oh, I forgot to let you know. The spirit stones that this  friend brought out with him were borrowed from me, do count correctly." Let's see if you dare to give me one piece less?

The men felt their hearts sank and quickened their actions of digging, not daring to miss out any piece and even added more, simply afraid that if they didn't match the amount correctly, they would have more to face.

Lonemoon only retracted his suppression then.

The men trembled as they finished digging out all the spirit stones. "Supremacy I promise that we will never do such an immoral thing again."

"Mm." Lonemoon answered.

"Then we shall not disturb Supremacy any longer, we'll take our leave." Everyone bowed and turned to leave. "Hold on." He suddenly called out.

"!!!"

Chapter 475: Soul-Preserving Pill

All of them paused and could not help but turn around. They were smiling, but they looked worse than if they were crying. "Supremacy… What instructions do you have for us?"

Lonemoon smiled his brightest smile, causing each of the other cultivators to lower their heads in fear. Then, Lonemoon gestured and the pieces of paper that had fallen to the ground earlier all returned neatly in a stack back to his hands.

"Since these recipes mean nothing to my friend anymore, there's no point in leaving them behind." He lowered his gaze and put on his business-like smile. "Didn't you say these were your signature recipes? Redeem them back!"

"Re-Re-Redeem them?" They hesitated.

"That's right. Don't you sell recipes? We don't need them anymore - we should be able to refund them, shouldn't we?"

They all looked at him in fear. He had a point, but they had already returned Lonemoon all of his money earlier! Yet, he was looking at them so seriously that they knew no way to retort. Therefore, they gritted their teeth and nodded. "Of… course."

"Good, I'm not going to cheat you. Let me refund them at full price. These invoices reflect what these recipes are worth!" Lonemoon picked one up and read, "This secret recipe for barbecue spirit meat from Fragrant Restaurant was sold at 1500 top-grade spirit stones. Chef, please collect the stones from the boss."

"Yes, Father Niu!" Yi Qing immediately pulled out his storage bag and walked toward the man who was still putting on his apron.

"Oh, that's right. You haven't bought any spirit stones with you. That's alright - we can write I.O.Us."

Everyone: "…"

They were in so much pain that they wanted to badly to cry.

What kind of evil landlord criminal syndicate was this? Lonemoon spent an entire hour writing I.O.Us for each of the invoices he had in his hand, before returning those invoices back to their respective owners. Of course, this was what they owed him. The I.O.Us that cultivators used were very different from those that mortals used. These I.O.Us had spiritual powers. They could not be undone by anything other than repayment and death. That meant that the bosses would have no choice but to return the stones to Lonemoon, otherwise their cultivations will suffer.

He calculated for a moment and found what Shen Ying and the others used as living expenses for two months amounted to about 20,000 top-grade spirit stones. He had more than a million spirit stones in his hands now, so he could afford more than 50 times of their living expenses per month. That was not even counting the amount stated on those I.O.Us.

"Father Niu, you're amazing!" Shen Ying stood up and clapped.

Chef paused, then followed suit.

"Father Niu, nobody is your match!" "Get lost!" Lonemoon shot a glare at them. "Don't think that I'm going to let you off now that I have my money back." Even if ordinary people splurged on food, they would not lose more than two mid-grade spirit stones. How did they manage to spend tens of thousands of top-grade spirit stones in just one day? They even landed themselves in such a huge debt!

"Aiya, Father Niu, stop worrying about those details!"

"Details my ass!" How the hell were tens of thousands of spirit stones considered details? " Do you  think  we  mine  spirit stones?"

"Yes, Fatty has a meridian-"

"Shut up!" If he had been a step slower, they would have been bankrupt even if they really did mine spirit stones. These two wastrels!

"Oh." Lonemoon kept his newly earned spirit  stones  and  made  up his mind. They were not getting  any  allowance  from  him  the next month! He sucked in a deep  breath,  then  spoke  calmly again. "Talk - what exactly did the two of you find out? You angered this bunch of fools on purpose and even made me play along with your act." If Lonemoon had  not  been  standing between the two of them and the group, their smug expressions would have been exposed a long time ago.

Although the two of them were unreliable cheats, they were not stupid. Shen Ying's intelligence, for one, hit her at the most unpredictable of times. How could she possibly fall for such a see-through trap like this one? What's more, she had Chef with her. In other words, they "fell for it" on purpose.

"Aiya, don't put it that way. Weren't you happy when you counted your spirit stones!"

"What's wrong with me collecting spirit stones! Was he supposed to act for free?" Every time he stepped up to put on a show, he would charge ten million dollars at least. Now, he was only collecting a couple million spirit stones. He was already giving them a discount. "Yes, yes, yes, Father Niu, you're a veteran actor! You're always right!" They were only poor worms who had to rely on him for food and lodging.

"What exactly is going on?"

"It's those elixirs," Yi Qing explained, stepping forward. "Master and I wanted to go to Immortal City Bian to buy some snacks. Along the way, we met an injured cultivator. He asked us to go to a medicinal shop at the end of the street and buy a bottle of top-grade Qi Preserving Pills for him. So we went there to get a bottle."

"There's a problem with those pills?"

"They worked well - they did indeed help to preserve one's Qi and core. They were regular Qi Preserving Pills that we normally see. The only thing was that we found one additional ingredient in those pills."

"What was it?" "Soul-Preserving Herb!"

"What?" Lonemoon paused. "Isn't the Soul-Preserving Herb a seventh-grade spirit herb? The Qi Preserving Pill is a first-grade pill. Why would they use a seventh-grade herb in a first-grade pill? Was the alchemist so rich that he had to find a way to burn off his money? Or did he put them in by accident? Or were the Qi Preserving Pills mixed together with the Soul-Preserving Herbs so a bit of the latter's aura stuck onto the former?"

"I thought so too, at first." Yi Qing frowned and continued, "But I used my True Phoenix Fire to find out what was mixed into the pills. The entire pill turned into dust.

"How could that be?" Lonemoon stared at him in shock. "Shouldn't your True Phoenix Fire only burn to ashes things that are poisonous…" Wait! Lonemoon stopped himself mid- sentence as his eyes widened. "Are you saying that it was not the Soul-Preserving Herb that was found in the pill, but… Soul Extracting Pill!"

"That's right." Yi Qing nodded. "Shit!" Lonemoon cursed under his breath. The Soul Extracting Pill also made use of a part of the Soul-Preserving Herb. Spirit Herbs like the Soul-Preserving Herb were extremely special. They only grew in places where the yin Qi was especially thick. Although their roots were in so-called yin soil, their branches were the main ingredients in Soul- Preserving Pills. Soul-Preserving Pills could fill up one's soul, and were normally used to improve one's divine perception. It could also be used to restore one's primordial spirit. That's why people say that it's an eighth-grade herb. But the roots of the Soul-Preserving Herb is the opposite. The yin Qi from the soil gathers in the roots of the herb, so that anyone who consumes it would injure their own divine perception. In serious cases, their primordial spirit might even be injured. The Soul Extracting Pill was made from the powder of these roots.

"The amount of Soul Extracting Pill in those pills was extremely small. Nobody would have realized," Yi Qing continued. He only realized because Master said that the pills were smelly, and he thought he should analyze what they contained. "No cultivator would be injured by that little bit of Yin Qi. The most that would happen is it would leave a mark in his or her divine perception."

"So…" Lonemoon looked to the two of them and narrowed his eyes. "You created such a huge problem out of the recipes just to enter their kitchen and see if there were any Soul Extracting Pills?"

"That's right!" Yi Qing answered firmly.

"Father Niu, we were so hardworking, weren't we!" Shen Ying said seriously.

"Hardworking my ass!" Lonemoon immediately exposed her. "Chef was alright - do you think I wouldn't be able to tell that you wanted to get in there for more food?!"

"Stop worrying about the details."

"What details? If you have the guts, open all of your storage bags and let me take a look!"

Shen Ying immediately pushed the storage bag behind her over to Chef and shook her head. "What snacks?" She did not have any guts to begin with. "…" Do you think I'm blind? You've said it yourself - you took snacks!

Chapter 476: Abnormal Samsara

"Father Niu, we heard that most of the elixirs sold in that shop was made by themselves, that's why we thought about going to take a look at the pill repository." continued Yi Qing. "Both Master and I examined that pill repository, and there was no Soul Extracting Pill. Those elixirs with problems were all finished pills as well. The shopkeeper said they were specially made by others and in the whole immortal city only they had them, but he wouldn't tell us where those pills came from."

"So… you guys directly burned those elixirs to draw those people out?"

"Yes."

"Even if this is the case, this matter has nothing to do with us, right? Why are  you  interfering  with  such  matters?"  Although the behavior of adding Soul Extracting Pills to elixirs to destroy consciousness was far  too  villainous,  with  so  many  cultivators in the world, there were sure to be some evil ones, and it was impossible for them to deal with  every  matter.  The  Heavenly Dao would naturally set things to order when the time came. "In any case, didn't you say that Soul Extracting  Pills  are  used  in very small amounts and won't affect cultivation? You may just find an opportunity to point out!"

"Indeed, but what was strange was that the seriously injured cultivator actually specifically requested us to buy from that shop." Yi Qing frowned. "I suggested that he buy Spirit Molding Pills instead, as the price was similar but elixirs for fixing meridians was more effective under his condition. But he refused."

"You're saying…" Lonemoon stopped for a second. "that the cultivator might have known that there was Soul Extracting Pill in those elixirs?"

Yi Qing nodded.

"That's impossible. Why did he deliberately eat such elixirs that are harmful to consciousness for? Was he mad? Was he too impatient to die?"

Wait a moment! "Where's that cultivator?"

"He left after eating the elixirs." Yi Qing's face darkened. "However, his injuries were very serious at the time, and his foundation was already destroyed. Even with a whole bottle of Qi Preserving Pills it'd be difficult to preserve his life. Even if he was okay, he wouldn't be able to cultivate afterwards. I found it very strange, so I left a tracing spell on him. Yet after two hours…" He directly took out a talisman paper. On it, the spell talisman which was originally golden had turned black, with a faint bit of death Qi floating upon it.

"He's dead?!" Lonemoon was stunned. He looked more carefully at that talisman paper, and realized that though there was death Qi, there was no baleful Qi, which meant that… "He committed suicide! How poor was his mental capacity? Dying well was worse than living badly. Just because he couldn't cultivate any more, he killed himself? What use was buying elixirs then.

"No, Father Niu. Look at it more carefully." Yi Qing directly handed over the talisman paper.

Lonemoon took it over. Subconsciously, he followed the trace of that death Qi, but realized that among the death Qi, there was also a little bit of live Qi which was hard to notice. Newly-born life Qi. "Holy shit! He was reincarnated? So fast!" Wait, no, with such speed… "His soul was directly reincarnated without entering the Underworld!"

"Yup." Yi Qing nodded. "His being reincarnated so fast must have something to do with that Soul Extracting Pill. There may be some hidden matters here."

Lonemoon frowned deeper and deeper. If this was really the case, they'd have no choice but to intervene. All living beings of the world have to pass through the River of Forgetfulness into Underworld before entering Samsara because of nothing else but the fact that souls are exhausted regardless of the length of time it spent in the world. This could be noticed by nobody else except the three of them and Shortie. Souls go in and out of the River of Forgetfulness for no other reason but that such time was required to replenish the soul to its complete state.

In the immortal realm, immortals of higher cultivation indeed all had the ability to send people into Samsara. For example, when Chen Ge sent his mental demon into the world, it also went like this without going back to the Underworld. However, the soul was incomplete this way. There was no problem for Shortie because she was Meng Po! With others, the problem may not be obvious when they interfered with Samsara for two or three times, but with more times, the soul body would get weaker and weaker, until it disappeared completely in the end.

This was definitely abnormal. Besides, the merits and demerits of a person were clearly recorded. Which small world the person was reincarnated into, what quality he or she was born with, they were all decided accordingly. Casually interfering with Samsara was equivalent to indirectly interfering with the laws of Heavenly Dao.

Heavenly Dao was like a most sophisticated calculation apparatus. Though it could self-correct by reflecting karma on those who occasionally interfered with Samsara, if such bugs were too many, even the most sophisticated machine would go wrong. If the Heavenly Dao cannot calculate properly, it would create chaos!

It seemed that the reason of chaos of nomological force in this small world was also related to something else, besides Fatty.

"A pity we didn't find out the source of those elixirs." Yi Qing sighed. Lonemoon thought about, turned and called out his spirit sword. "Let's go!"

"Huh? Where to?" Wasn't the Southern Land in the other direction?

"To collect bills!" Lonemoon waved the bills in his hand, turned back and spat out these words.

Yi Qing: "…"

Shen Ying, "…"

Investigating and making money at the same time, he was Father Niu indeed!

—————

Lonemoon felt that Chef deliberately concealed his cultivation and burned the pill repository and some finished pills, but didn't draw out the people behind it because those people looked down on the two or because these losses were nothing for the people who made these elixirs.

If it was the former, the appearance of him, the 'Soul Formation' supremacy might be able to make the case. He was just afraid it was the latter which would make matters difficult, as it would prove that the problem of this world was amazingly severe.

The three didn't fly very fast. After all, when those people signed the bills just now, Lonemoon said he'd give them some time to come up with spirit stones. Therefore, it took the three one full hour before they finally reached the immortal city Bian.

Lonemoon flipped through the stack of bills in his hand, took out the one with the largest number, asked around casually for the way, and headed towards the biggest wine house in the street. Before he was inside the shop, he saw the Golden Core cultivator who was leading the rest just now.

"Su-Supremacy!" That person's face changed suddenly in shock. "How are you so fast…" "Bill collection has to be fast, of course." Lonemoon shook the bills in his hand. "Why? Do you mean to repudiate the debt?"

The person's eyes flickered, but soon he returned to normal. "No, no, I don't dare to." He didn't show any signs of regret or intension to repudiate. "Please come in!" Very respectfully, he invited the three upstairs, and prepared tea for them.

"Supremacy." The cultivator smiled, anxious to please. "I've sent people out to gather spirit stones once I got back to the city. But several hundreds of thousands is not a small number. I hope Supremacy will please wait here for a while. The person collecting the spirit stones should be back soon."

With that said, he hurriedly gave the person beside him a look. The other person waved towards the door, and the waiter came in holding more than a dozen plates of spiritual food. He placed everything on the table in the middle of the room. "You all must be tired from traveling. These are the signature dishes of my humble shop, fried from top-tier spiritual fruits and vegetables and full of spirit qi. I hope Supremacy would not dislike it."

Chapter 477: Drawing Snakes Out of the Hole

Lonemoon glanced over the dishes on the table, his eyes darkened, but he showed no intention of eating. "It's not necessary. We are not here to eat."

"Yes, yes." The person's smile was even more careful. "Spirit stones will be ready soon, very soon!" He looked carefully at Lonemoon's expression, and something flashed in his eyes. Carefully he proposed, "Senior is a Soul Formation Supremacy, and your time is precious. You must not be able to waste too much time on us insignificant people. There were many who owed Supremacy spirit stones, how about… I go on behalf of Supremacy and tell all of them to send the spirit stones here?"

Lonemoon gave him an inexplicable look, but didn't reply. Only when that person's complexion turned paler and paler, and cold sweat started forming on his forehead, did he finally let out a laugh, nodded and said, "Okay!"

The person looked relieved. "I will go and notify them right away. With that said, he hurried to exit from the room, kindly closing the door behind him. Soon, hurried footsteps heading downstairs were heard. "The restriction on the door is activated." Yi Qing gave the door a look and said.

"Yeah, I felt it too." Lonemoon said uncaringly. "He didn't intend to return the spirit stones in the first place, and now that he's back at his own place, he's even less likely to. Right now, he's probably gone seeking help to deal with us." Whoever that was going to come later must have something to do with the elixir. This was why he came to look for this leader first. "At any rate, this is what we came for. We'll give him some time.

Lonemoon glanced over the dishes on the table and realized to his surprise that Shen Ying also didn't eat. "Foodie Ying, you can actually keep from eating?"

"Huh?" Shen Ying who was just leaning on the table like a splash of mud glanced at the spirit qi feast on the table, and said in all righteousness, "I don't want to eat vegetables!"

"…" As a foodie, you can really be picky!

Yet Yi Qing stood up directly, waved a hand to put away the whole table of vegetarian dishes, and replaced them with fragrant meat dishes. "Master will probably fight later, and the consumption will be too great. You may eat these to fill the belly for the moment."

Mud Shen was clear-headed all at once, as she took up the chopsticks and started eating energetically.

The corner of Lonemoon's mouth twitched, and he rolled his eyes at her. "Even if it comes to fighting, we won't need her to do it alright? What consumption would she have!"

Chef who was just taking out dishes stopped short. He stiffened for a while before saying in a matter-of-fact way, "Spectating requires strength as well."

"You are just f*cking finding a reason for her to idle!" What strength! You brainless fan. "And… where did you get these dishes from?"

"I casually cooked them on the way while being chased by them just now!" Lonemoon: "…"

Your running for life actually involved stopping to cook dishes. How casually you ran just now!

Huh?

Wait a moment!

With those people's cultivation, there was no way they could chase the two of them, not to mention Shen Ying being a cheat. Then their bumping into him just now was…

Flips table!

(╯°Д°)╯(┻━┻

They purposefully pushed the responsibility to him, and made him take charge of the matter, right? Absolutely! These two hateful wastrels!

"Hmm? Father Niu!" Shen Ying who was eating suddenly stopped short and looked directly at his direction. "You're on the wall!"

"What wall?" Lonemoon gave her a stare.

"The wall opposite the street." She pointed to something behind him with chopsticks.

Lonemoon was stunned. He turned and looked over. They sat on the second floor. Behind him, there happened to be a half- open window showing the opposite side of the street, at which a notice board was placed. On the board two imaging talismans were pasted. The left showed the picture of a man in white robes, who had black hair and a fan Dharma artifact in his hand, exactly the same as himself. Above the picture was a row of red words: Soul Formation heretical cultivator wanted, alive or dead!

"Holy shit!" Lonemoon stood up directly. What was going on? "Fatty is right next to you." Shen Ying pointed towards the other imaging talisman, and the image on it was indeed Fatty, only that it wasn't a red wanted order of immortal sects, but a notice of finding Divine Imperial Sect's sect master. Words about being captured by heretical cultivator and unsure whether alive or dead could also vaguely be seen. Also, both imaging talismans looked somewhat dated, and they seemed to have been pasted there for years.

"Together even when being pasted on a wall, you two are so fated." Fatty was a special one indeed!

"To hell with fated!" Keep your looks, he was wanted by all immortal sects, okay?

Wait a moment!

He looked again at that notice board.

"Why are there only Fatty and me? Where are you two!" Apparently the three of them went together to Divine Imperial Sect to save Fatty, why was he the only one wanted?" Never mind about Shen Ying, since others couldn't see her anyway. Why wasn't there even Chef?"

"Hmm…" Chef considered it carefully. "This is probably the moral quality[1] that Master often talks about?"

"Get lost." What the hell!

According to the current condition, those people must have long noticed his identity, that was why they gave over spirit stones so readily just now. He was anxious to find two troublesome bitches who ran away, so he didn't conceal his looks. He almost forgot that when Divine Imperial Sect fetched Fatty back to the sect, more than a dozen Soul Formation cultivators and traveling immortals had fought with him. Therefore, with Fatty missing, it was normal that their first suspect was him, the Soul Formation cultivator of unknown origin.

This was actually a bit troublesome. At first, he planned on investigating about Soul Extracting Pills, but now it seems that the shopkeeper was not going to bring the maker of the pills, but the people of Divine Imperial Sect. Indeed, before they finished eating, more than ten auras of Soul Formation cultivators started flying towards them hurriedly. At the same time, several lights of arrays flashed across the room. Golden spells shone around them, and a high- level trapping array was formed instantly.

"Chef, hurry and keep the dishes, don't waste them. I'll eat later!" Shen Ying hurried to order Chef.

"Okay, Master!" Chef waved a hand, directly putting all the dishes into the storage bag.

Lonemoon, "…" The first reaction of you two is actually to keep food? Can you be serious? At least pretend to be back- stabbed.

In the next instant, bright light shone from the array, and very thick spirit qi emerged from the array and rose up, directly lifting the whole roof. In the sky, there were already more than a dozen Soul Formation cultivators and three traveling immortals. All of them held Dharma artifacts in their hands and looked down at Father Niu vigilantly. "Spirit Locking Array." Lonemoon recognized the array under his feet. They put in quite some effort. It was an array that could lock the spirit qi of cultivators, but it cost a great many spirit stones. The more spirit stones used, the stronger the array. Looking at the spirit qi in this array, the cost was probably high.

Lonemoon didn't move, but looked up at the people in the sky and made a soft laugh. He recognized most of them as cultivators who came to fetch Fatty in the past. "We meet again."

"Bold human cultivator!" A traveling immortal in the air yelled loudly. "You actually dare to kidnap our own sect master multiple times! Quickly hand him over, or don't think about leaving this place today!"

[1] A Chinese superstition, often used for joking, is that people with poor moral quality tends to be unlucky.

Chapter 478: Source of Elixirs

"Hand him to you?" Lonemoon sneered. "And then let you all use him for another blood sacrifice? Which of you is going to ascend in cultivation this time?"

The people's faces changed instantly, and a bit of fear flashed across their eyes. Immediately they replied even more angrily, "What nonsense are you talking about!" Such matters can't be admitted to, of course. The murdering aura on that traveling immortal thickened even more. "Don't you heretical cultivator confuse the crowd with your evil words here!"

"Whether or not I'm confusing the crowd, you know best yourselves." According to their reaction, he knew that all of them knew about the blood sacrifice of Fatty. Thinking about that, his expression went even colder. "You use another's flesh and blood to increase cultivation and actually dare to call yourselves a decent sect. Ridiculous!"

"Don't you distort facts over here. Hurry up and give us Hui Ze!" That person was so angry that his face flushed red, and his look became fiercer. "Why, not calling 'sect master' now?" Lonemoon's eyes darkened. "Who's the one distorting facts will be clear if you go back and ask that cultivator who got condemned by heaven right after reaching Soul Formation last time!"

The people were stunned, and as though some secret was revealed, their faces turned pale immediately. They probably thought about the appearance of dragon and lightning punishment from last time.

"I advise you all, that with enough unethical things done, there will always be a day when you meet… a cheat!"

Their looks worsened even more. That traveling immortal's eyes drifted for a second, before he said again loudly, "You don't need to try to scare us here. Your spirit qi is already sealed. However capable you are, there's no way you can move a step. Hurry up and give us the person!"

"Is that so?" Lonemoon smiled at that person, not the slightest bit of panic on his face. "No need to talk nonsense with them anymore!" Others looked like they finally couldn't wait anymore. "Take them first, and we will naturally get the location of Hui Ze from them!" With that said, he directly activated his spirit qi and came attacking. At once, the whole sky was filled with light from spells.

Yet Lonemoon looked right at Yi Qing and said, "There have been enough trouble today, I don't want to fight anymore. Chef, you handle it!"

"Okay." Chef nodded. He thought about it and added, "Is there food subsidy?"

"No. Get lost!"

"Oh." Master, I tried.

The evil capitalist! Thought Shen Ying.

In the next instant, a horrible suppression as no one had ever seen suddenly covered the whole immortal city. Before the Soul Formation cultivators and traveling immortals in the air could react, they felt the spirit qi in their bodies stagnate. All the spirit qi which usually ran through their body properly all dissipated. They fell right from the sky like meatballs dropped into a pot of soup.

With heavy bangs, they crashed onto the ground. They even sank deep into the ground. Several opened their mouth and spat blood. Even the edge of the sky darkened instantly. For a time, wind rose, clouds moved, and thunderclouds filled the whole sky, as if thunder would crash down in the next moment.

"What… what is this?" Everyone looked horrified and confused. They had never felt such a horrifying pressure. It didn't belong to Soul Formation cultivators, nor traveling immortals, nor even immortals, they subconsciously thought.

Chef rolled his eyes at Chef. What the hell, hearing that there was no food subsidy, this guy didn't even treat a fight seriously. He actually let out divine suppression directly. This was slacking at work!

He gave the master and disciple a stare, before standing up. The Soul Locking Array was still bright underneath his feet, but it had not the slightest bit of an effect on him. He glanced around, and his eyes fixed on a certain figure who was hiding in a small alley. A wave of spirit qi was thrown out, drawing the person to him directly. It was the Golden Core cultivator who owed him spirit stones just now.

That person couldn't yet react, before he was pressed down on the ground by suppression from the Soul Locking Array that he himself set. Immediately, his face was filled with horror. "Senior… senior, please spare my life!"

Lonemoon walked a few steps towards him, squatted down and asked in a deep voice, "Let me ask you, where did you buy the finished elixirs in that elixir repository?"

"Wh-what?" That person was stunned, and didn't get it for a moment.

"Reply me honesty, and I will forgive what you've done in the past. If you tell half a lie to me…" He didn't continue, but only smiled amiably. "No… I don't dare to!" He thought about the terrible state of those Soul Formation cultivators and traveling immortals just now, and his look was even more horrified. He thought through his question carefully, before saying, "Elixirs… Elixirs. Oh, we are just a small elixir shop under Qi Clan, without much profit, so we mostly produce our own products, and we suffer losses throughout the year. For finished elixirs, we get them all from elixir refiners around the country, with many different sources. We buy from whoever has them." Because it didn't earn money, they opened other shops.

"What about Qi Preserving Pills?"

"Qi Preserving Pills?" That person was stunned briefly. "Qi Preserving Pills are low-level elixirs, but usually more well- known elixir refiners don't want to make this on purpose, so only low-level disciples of the bigger sects use this for practice. We get them directly from the sects, but there was no fixed sect."

That was strange then. Where did those Soul Extracting Pills come from after all? And how could that cultivator who was reincarnated quickly be certain that this shop had this kind of special Qi Preserving Pills? Lonemoon frowned. He didn't expect that they came for naught this time. It seemed that this matter would take time to be investigated slowly.

He got up and looked at those Soul Formation and traveling immortal cultivators and was too lazy to bother with them any more. He looked back and said, "We're going back home!"

"Oh." A certain splash of mud who leaned on the table finally got up slowly.

Just as the three was about to call out swords, Lonemoon seemed to suddenly remember something. He turned and looked again at that Golden Core cultivator. "Oh yeah, didn't you talk about going to get spirit stones to pay your bills just now? Do you have them ready now?" Pay the money, quick!

Shen Ying: "…"

Yi Qing: "…" The cultivator, "…"

Are you a demon?!

(⊙_⊙)

—————

After Lonemoon got back to the Southern Land, he plunged himself back into the daily educating of Fatty. As compared to his extreme lack of talent with sword skills, Fatty showed extraordinary, cheat-like abilities with elixirs, talismans, arrays and Dharma artifacts.

With any complicated array or difficult spirit talisman, Fatty could finish learning it in an extremely short time, and he could combine and integrate his knowledge in different areas. Besides, with all kinds of mental cultivation techniques and spells, Lonemoon had only to teach once, and he would reach a presentable level in the same day. With spells that others take years, decades or centuries to familiarize, he could find the key points immediately and then use them smoothly. Ordinary cultivators have limited energy, so they often focused on a single specialization. Even with mental cultivation, they chose one for focused practice. But Fatty was different. He learned the whole set of elixir, talisman, array and dharma artifact cultivation, and he practiced through all the different kinds of mental cultivation methods. Furthermore, benefited by his original Five Elements spirit root, no condition of repelling or incompatibility would happen with any mental cultivation method. With every specialization, he reached an outstanding level by the standards of lower realm. He really achieved all- rounded development. Except for not being a demon cultivator, he was pretty much a cheat version of Boss Lan.

Chapter 479: Southern Land Attacked

Rabbit who kept suffering and cultivating together with a certain person felt a little awed. Apparently, when they tackled sword arrays at the start, Fatty was a weakling who couldn't even pass through the first level and whose loud screams from being chased by the sword qi in the array could be heard over all ten arrays. Just a few years ago, he had secretly pitied this Brother Fatty, because when his own cultivation was increasing very quickly under Great Immortal Lonemoon's forced trainings while he stayed at the same level the whole time. Rabbit thought it was too pitiful.

When Rabbit rose to ninth grade, Fatty was in a low-level sword array; when it was at tenth grade, he was in a low-level sword array; when it reached the eleventh grade, he was… was still in a low-level sword array. At first, he thought that this Brother Fatty really had no talent for cultivation and would probably spend his whole life fighting for his life in sword arrays. Yet when he came out of the sword arrays, events suddenly took a huge turn.

When Fatty studied mental cultivation, Rabbit was  at eleventh grade; when he studied talisman cultivation, Rabbit was still at eleventh grade; when he studied elixir cultivation, Rabbit was still… still at eleventh grade. Finally, there came one day when he woke up in the morning and realized that Fatty actually became a Soul Formation cultivation somehow. The aura on him was so strong that he even felt a bit hard to breathe.

Rabbit even doubted that he was under some spell, such that he slept through such a big matter. Otherwise, why did Brother Fatty go through a great leap over the night, when he not only didn't notice it at all but didn't even hear the sounds of tribulation lightning?

In a mere several years, Brother Fatty had mastered all four skills of elixirs, talismans, arrays and Dharma artifacts, and all five mental cultivation of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth. Besides, in every one of them he was top notch in the entire cultivators' world.

As a lower realm cultivator, Fatty had pretty much nothing left to learn besides sword dharma. Above his level, there was only immortal cultivation. Rabbit felt that he was shocked.

Fortunately, however great he was, he still lived under the shadow of Great Immortal Lonemoon. Thinking about this, he suddenly felt alright! ╮(╯▽╰)╭

Therefore, when Fatty could finally graduate, Father Niu arranged for the first graduation exam: to make a hundred spirit swords, to repay his debt!

He simply had to make up for those flying swords that he wasted early on! Oh yeah, all the materials for practicing when Fatty was learning about elixirs, talismans, arrays and dharma artifacts were all billed, so that they could be paid later on as a study loan of sorts.

It was under such conditions of negative assets that Fatty managed to turn, with only several years of cultivation, from a fat man of more than 100 kilos, to… a big fat man of more than 150 kilos!

Lonemoon: "…"

Yi Qing: "…" Shen Ying: "…"

That's right, he got even fatter! At the beginning, he already looked like a ball. Ever since he ascended to Soul Formation, he directly upgraded into a hot-air balloon, except it could not be blown away by wind. Even Lonemoon couldn't understand, that with him being under grain liberation for all these years, only eating several carrots from rabbit in the early stage, but not even drinking much water in the later stage, how did he manage to inflate himself?

Perhaps because Lonemoon gave too much homework, even Fatty's speed of weapon refinement achieved a substantial leap. Besides, flying swords, unlike dharma artifacts, were easy to make even if one's cultivation level was high. Therefore, his progress was fast.

It was a pity that before Fatty had finished his homework, someone came to his door first.

A loud bang was suddenly heard, breaking the silence in the Southern Land. Immediately, many light rays of spells shone from the direction of the spirit river, bringing with it a series of thundering sounds. Vaguely, a few familiar auras came with it. Fatty was working hard on weapon refinement. His hand shook, and his face darkened. He turned to look out of  the room, and the flying sword which was about to form in his hand suddenly broke, becoming a wasted piece of steel. "Master, just now that was…"

"Yup." Lonemoon frowned. He looked down at the broken sword on the ground, and then silently, he took up his calligraphy to add a line on his small notebook. "Ten spirit stones for the material of this sword.

"…" Even this is counted!

Σ(°△°|||)

"Great Immortal! Great Immortal!" Rabbit ran over in a rush and said anxiously, "It's no good. Many high-level cultivators suddenly came to the entrance of the Southern Land. They've already surrounded the outside. They… they are destroying the spirit river!"

"Hmm." Lonemoon  nodded.  "It's  about  time."  When  Shen Ying secretly took Yi Qing out to buy food at immortal city Bian, they were already discovered by Divine Imperial Sect. It was only a matter of time before they came looking for them in the Southern Land. The reason that there had been no movement over these years was probably that they kept thinking about a way to enter the Southern Land.

"Master…" Master turned towards Lonemoon with a heavy expression and some pleading look.

"Go! Settle it yourself." Lonemoon didn't stop him. This little cheat Fatty had long reached the late stage of Soul Formation over these years, showed no signs of Immortal Ascension for a long time. Those experiences in the past became a knot in his heart after all. Now, it was the time that the knot can be untied.

Fatty's eyes brightened, and his expression became even firmer. He put down the broken sword in his hand, took a step backwards, before cupping his fist and bowing down at Lonemoon very respectfully. He said very sincerely, "Thank you very much, Master!"

He kowtowed three times, and the aura over him was immediately different. In just an instant, it seemed that he had kept all his gentleness and humbleness on ordinary days, and his sharp edges gleamed like a sword being pulled out of its sheath. This was what a Soul Formation Supremacy should really be like.

"Huh? Brother Fatty, are you going to deal with those people alone?" Rabbit who didn't know the truth said with some concern. "Those cultivators are too many. The little demons had reported that there were several dozens of Soul Formation cultivators alone!" With Fatty on his own, aren't  Great Immortal and his friends… gonna help?

"Brother Rabbit, I've bothered you to take care of me these days." Fatty smiled at him, and without further explanation, he turned to walk out of the door.

Rabbit looked at his figure going away, and then  at Lonemoon. His eyes turned with some confusion. After a long while, he gritted his teeth, pulled Fatty and said loudly, "Wait! Brother Fatty, I'm going with you!"

Fatty was stunned. "Brother Rabbit, this matter has nothing to do with you, you don't have to…" "We are brothers who get beaten… uh, eat carrots together. How can I see you go risk yourself and do nothing!" Rabbit patted his chest and said in all righteousness, "Besides that, how do those people dare to invade my Southern Land? Did they think me, a twelfth-level demon king, is to be bullied?!" Over these years, it's not like he did nothing but cultivation. At least he united the whole Southern Land, and became a real Myriad Demon King… With his talking skills, of course!

"Brother Rabbit…" Fatty looked very touched. He hesitated for a second, before nodding. "Okay, we brothers will go together!"

"Yup! I will gather the demon army right now!"

Only then did the two walk out together, their looks firm and their hearts brave. The scene had a tragic beauty of heroes leaving for war, until Lonemoon suddenly spoke,

"After you come back from fighting, you still have to submit your homework. Same for Rabbit."

Clang! The man and the rabbit both stumbled and almost fell.

In the next instant, they stood up straight once again, sped up their footsteps and ran away rapidly, pretending not to hear.

Oh! Friendship…

Chapter 480: Knot Untied

Entrance of Southern Land.

A gigantic array floated on the spirit river like a golden ribbon. Countless spells rose up and shone from its top. There was a very bright golden light. With every increase in brightness, the white mist on top of the spirit river thinned a little.

Near the spirit river, array-setting cultivators stood one or two meters apart. At first, there seemed to be a bit more than twenty of them, and their cultivation were all high. The lowest was an early stage Soul Formation cultivator. They  were pooling their strengths to destroy the spirit river in front of them.

Behind these cultivators, there were countless more. They looked to be several thousands upon a rough estimate, and they took up the whole wide patch of barren land in front of the river. Some even stopped right in the air standing on their swords. They were divided into several groups of several dozen and several hundreds of people. Judging from their dressing, they all belonged to different sects. It looked as though all the high-level cultivators of Sacred Arrival Realm had come. And the one with the greatest number was Divine Imperial Sect, who took the foremost position. They came with the most number of high-level cultivators: more than a dozen Soul Formation cultivators and five traveling immortals. All of them looked at the spirit river in front of them, their thick brows knitted tightly.

The crowd of cultivators spent more than an hour, before their joint force caused chaos in the whole spirit river. The white mist in front of them thinned more and more, and the scenery of Southern Land became clear. Finally, all the white mists dissipated, and they were prepared to rush in.

Ho ho ho ho~~~~

Suddenly, several dozen beast roars sounded at the same time. It was like many thunders coming all at once, and it caused even the ground to shake for a while. A wild wind mixed with violent auras swept towards the crowd of cultivators instantly. The leading high-level cultivators hurried to make protection arrays, keeping the disciples of their sect inside.

Only then could the people see clearly, that a large herd of demon beasts were standing at the opposite side of the river. Most of them were above eighth grade. Some were even at tenth grade. Some were as strong as a mountain, and some were actually in human shape. A rough estimate put them at several hundreds. Those beast eyes were looking at the cultivators on the opposite site, full of anger. They seemed to have waited for a long time.

Probably seeing so many high-level demon beasts for the first time, the hearts of the cultivators couldn't help but sank. These demon beasts were obviously here to stop them.

The leading traveling immortal of Divine Imperial Sect was Sun Yu. He frowned, and a slight bit of irritation flashed across his eyes. He wasn't actually concerned with their ability to deal with hundreds of high-level demon beasts. Instead, it was because the fighting would definitely waste a lot of time, and hinder the task of searching for the person.

Just when he was thinking, those demon beasts roared together once more. They parted towards the two sides, making a way. Two man, one in gray and one in white, walked out. The one in white had an immensely strong demonic aura about it, that even the Soul Formation cultivators changed their faces. This was the twelfth-level Demon Monarch!

And the one beside him, was actually a ball… no, a man who was so fat that he looked like a ball. His figures were a little familiar. The eyes of those from Divine Imperial  Sect brightened and fixed tightly on that person.

"Hui Ze!" Sun Yu called out subconsciously.

"You group of human cultivators, actually dare to invade our Southern Land and even destroy our spirit river, are you so impatient to die that you want I, the monarch, to help you go to the Underworld?" Rabbit snorted coldly, and the demonic aura of the surroundings became even stronger rushing right towards the crowd.

The eyes of Sun Yu darkened. He looked at Fatty who stood beside the demon monarch, before going forward and saying, "Demon Monarch! We all didn't have the intention to provoke conflict between the two races, but you all planned with the heretical cultivator and kidnapped the sect master of our sect, hiding him here for many years. As a disciple of Divine Imperial Sect, how can we leave this matter unresolved?" After that, his look drifted towards Fatty again. A bit of greed flashed across her eyes. "Today, we cultivators have all gathered here. You had better release our sect master immediately, or don't blame us for wiping out the Southern Land!"

"I am no sect master of yours!" Fatty's face sank. He felt the two words, 'sect master' was very disgusting. He directly started to speak, "Brother Rabbit didn't kidnap me, nor did Master! Over all those years, it was because of my special physique that you used me for blood sacrifice so many times, used my flesh and blood to increase your cultivation. Last time, if not for Master arriving in time… I would have died already in the blood array."

After he said these words, the crowd was shocked, and all of them looked towards the ones from Divine Imperial Sect in the middle. Using flesh and blood of live people to increase cultivation. They had never heard of such a  horrific  affair. Could Divine Imperial Sect, the leader of immortal sects really do something like this?

"Sect master, you are inexperienced with this world, don't be deceived by those heretical cultivators.

Sun Yu showed no panic and there was no regret on his face. Instead, he wore a very concerned look. "That heretical cultivator kidnapped you for selfish reasons, that's why he used such words to deceive you. Your ancestors did a great kindness to our sect, why would we do such an evil deed? Besides… using flesh and blood for sacrifice to increase cultivation, this is simply absurd. How is there anything so bizarre like this in the world?"

Indeed, however great a cultivator in this world, he only had a mortal body, and it was the same for everyone. If flesh and blood could really be used to increase cultivation, those Fiendish Cultivator who dealt with corpses and yin qi would all have had immensely high cultivation, not to mention ordinary cultivators. The crowd nodded, believing that Fatty must have talked about such absurd things because he was deceived.

"Besides, your health has been delicate since young. We were anxious to save your life such that we had to use some special methods, with which some pains would be inevitable during the treatment." Sun Yu continued to explain, and his expression was even more concerned. "All these were for your good!"

"Pains of treatment…" Fatty laughed out loud. "What terrible disease did I have, that I had to have my arms broken, my belly pierced, my flesh cut and my blood let out once every seven days?!" He suddenly felt bored. Apparently, when Master saved him back then, he should have realized what a group of devils these were. Why did he expect even now, that they would have perhaps just a little bit of regret in their hearts?

Master was right. Some people did too many evil deeds that they no longer felt those deeds were evil. All reasoning in the world was never as hard as the fist!

"Never mind! Whatever the reason, it is not important anymore." Fatty let out a sigh. His whole body felt relieved for no reason. It was as though something that had pressed on his shoulders for years was suddenly taken off. "On this day, I want only justice for myself. Come and fight!"

His eyes darkened. The Soul Formation auras all over his body was released instantly, showing a vague tendency to surpass that of all other cultivators at the place.

"You! You have cultivation. Then the restri-" Sun Yu's eyes widened, and he gasped. Halfway through the sentence, he stopped anxiously, his face full of disbelief. The demonic aura was so strong just now that he didn't realize that he was actually already a Soul Formation cultivator. How long had he been in Southern Land? However genius a cultivator had, it was impossible to reach Soul Formation so fast unless some miracle happened to him.

"The restriction you placed in my sea of consciousness is not unsolvable to everyone." Fatty said it out for him directly. His hand turned calling out a spirit sword.

Sun Yu's face darkened. He still kept the facade of moral high ground from just now, wearing a pretended look of heartache. "Right now, sect master is deceived by evil people, and doesn't seem to be able to take in our persuasion. Alright! We'll have to save you out of the Southern Land before finding an opportunity to talk with you in detail."