My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

North of the Nameless Forest, beside an ordinary mountain stream, two figures sped through the decaying woods. They silently slipped into the nearby creek and dove as fast as they could into the unfathomably deep underground river at its bottom.

They navigated the complex tunnels of the underground river and emerged from a tributary of the Five Divine Rivers on the outskirts of Changwen Prefecture.

The two were none other than Guanmao and the Artifact Cultivator. The moment they climbed out of the river, they changed into the round-collared, narrow-sleeved clothes of a wealthy father and son on an excursion.

"I’m surprised. You and your master are closer than I thought."

Guanmao’s words carried a hint of mockery.

The Artifact Cultivator exhaled, glancing back toward the forest. "If we were that close, I would’ve stayed. I wouldn’t have run away by myself."

"Fellow Daoist Dongcan, there’s no one else here. Why the pretense?"

"..."

The Artifact Cultivator, Dongcan, didn’t pursue the topic. The two walked on in silence until they reached a three-way fork in the road. To their south lay a small, populated town.

"My master helped me avenge my blood feud and brought me into the Nine Tripods Sect. Later, we defected from the Nine Tripods Sect together. Without him, I wouldn’t be who I am today..." Perhaps thinking he might never see his master again, Dongcan subconsciously began to speak, only to stop abruptly. All that followed was a stream of complaints.

"Everything in this world is full of prejudice! The Five Profound Sects are high and mighty, and they only care about their own disciples. To them, other Cultivators are completely disposable."

"The Daoist Scripture Hall... haha! They’ve probably forgotten the very reason the Daoist Scripture Hall even exists."

"Look at yourself, and your master! Why were you driven to the Southern Islands? Wasn’t it because your origins are considered unorthodox, because you’re not from the main lineage of the Taiyan Sect? Then look at Changqing! A junior who has cultivated for less than two hundred years, and now he’s the leader of the Righteous Dao in the south, solely because he’s a disciple of the Yuxiao Taoist."

"Damn it all! We should have wiped out the lineage of Qianmu Temple back then!"

Dongcan struggled to control his expression as he watched streaks of light fly toward the forest beneath the clouds. "Back at the Nine Tripods Sect, it was because of my background that they refused to invest their resources in me. Instead, they chose to train that useless Lu Shan!"

Guanmao listened with a smile as Dongcan vented his frustrations. Then, in an alluring tone, he said, "There’s an opportunity to get rid of them right now. Care to give it a try?"

"Get rid of who?"

"Changqing and Zi Luan!"

Dongcan glanced back at him. "I told you, that’s your affair. If I want revenge, I’ll get it myself."

Guanmao, however, acted as if he hadn’t heard the refusal. "We have the perfect inside man," he continued, "right there beside Changqing and Zi Luan."

Dongcan was silent for two breaths, but finally couldn’t resist asking, "Who?"

"Xiu Yu!"

"Haha..."

"Xiu Yu may be in the same courtyard with them now, but that’s only because of the Xiao Shan Lord’s orders. Once the Xiao Shan Lord either succeeds or fails in his ascension..."

"Believe me, Zi Luan and Changqing have already had a conversation just like this one. They’ll definitely make their move before that idiot Xiu Yu gets the chance!"

"Then it becomes a contest of methods. With Elder Nanhai’s power, surely he has a few plans for Shangjing City?"

BOOM!

A deafening roar interrupted their conversation. The ground began to tremble, and in the nearby town, people rushed out of their houses, staring around in confusion.

"Don’t panic! It’s an Earth Dragon! Everyone gather in the square!" an experienced member of the town’s Militia shouted.

"Don’t do anything rash!"

Guanmao grabbed Dongcan’s arm.

In the Nameless Forest.

No, the forest was gone. Even the very land it grew on had vanished. It was as if a giant had scooped out a deep pit with a spoon, dozens of miles in radius.

The scooped-out earth now floated in the sky—the Mountain Moving Technique, used by a Third Realm Cultivator from the Earth Cave Sect!

The shocking sight was visible for hundreds of miles. Upon seeing it, some commoners fell to their knees in prayer, some scattered and fled for their lives, and others were simply frozen in terror.

The vast expanse of earth hanging in the sky blotted out the sun, casting the scene into twilight. Several skirmishes had broken out below, but they involved nothing more than a few Second Realm Cultivators.

After a dozen or so breaths, the sounds of fighting died down.

All who resisted had been slain. Three streaks of light flashed through the air, and Liu Huai’en, Wu Fu, and Ganxing appeared above the massive crater.

"What are you staring at? Get a move on! This is incredibly taxing!" From a distance, Wu Quan, who was maintaining the Mountain Moving Technique, angrily urged the other three to act.

SWISH!

Before the trio could make a move, a crimson longsword, wreathed in scorching flames, shot out from a palace hidden in the dust below. It struck at the three, forcing them apart. Then, a surge of Nether Qi erupted, bringing with it hundreds of Golden Armored Corpse Soldiers that enveloped the three Cultivators in a tight, deadly formation.

CLANG!

Instead of retreating, Ganxing advanced. Six longswords burst from his body, carving a hole through the wave of Corpse Soldiers. His swords then plunged toward the palace below, but as they neared it, a flash of golden light tore through space itself, warping his descending blades.

’The Nine Heavens Array? Someone from the Nine Tripods Sect?’

Ganxing immediately recalled his longswords, which formed a massive Array around him. Within the Array, the souls of at least six members of the Demon Race shrieked, while his own soul was positioned at its very center. At that moment, two golden longswords shot toward him.

CLANG!

The clang of metal on metal rang out. The two golden longswords were parried by the Horse-Cutting Saber in Ganxing’s hand. The blade of this Warhorse Saber was covered in fine, blood-red patterns, around which the souls of two Snake Demons were entwined.

Just then, hundreds more Golden Armored Corpse Soldiers charged. The thick stench of blood made Ganxing frown, but before they could even get close, they were incinerated by a green Evil Fire that appeared out of thin air.

"All those below the Third Realm, retreat a hundred li!"

As Liu Huai’en shouted, a brilliant white light descended upon the roof of the palace below. Where the light touched, the roof vanished into thin air, as if it had been melted away or erased by some mysterious force.

When the white light reached the palace’s interior, it was neutralized by the roiling Nether Qi. A figure shot out from within the Nether Qi, landing steadily a hundred zhang before the trio.

The man wore a simple, blue, narrow-sleeved Daoist Robe, his only adornment a jade flute tucked into his sash. His hair was snow-white and his back was hunched. His face was clean-shaven but a crosshatch of deep wrinkles, and his eyes were murky and weak, as if he were at death’s door.

"Lu Zhengping?"

Liu Huai’en spoke the name, but his tone was filled more with disbelief than recognition.

Ganxing raised an eyebrow. "He does bear some resemblance to Elder Lu. An Artifact Cultivator who has formed a Primordial Spirit, using the Nine Heavens Array... could it truly be Elder Lu?"

"I didn’t expect anyone to still remember this old man."

The old man extended his left hand, in which he held a black crystal. A True Spirit could be seen roaring within it. His right hand was poised to form an incantation seal as his vacant eyes stared at Liu Huai’en and the others.

"Four Third Realm Cultivators... you certainly pay a lot of attention to a dying man. Though you are a bit rude."

He looked toward Wu Fu, who was the first to charge, and fully unfurled his Array. He embedded the black crystal into the Array’s core and, with his Primordial Spirit, unleashed the Soul Devouring Technique to consume the True Spirit within the crystal!

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