Chapter 57 Part 1

Xie Linlang and Pei Ji’s Shizun was named Shenyou True Person.

Shenyou True Person had extraordinary talent. In an extremely short time after joining the sect, he displayed exceptional aptitude and was taken as the founding disciple by the previous Sect Leader of Jiuxia Mountain. It seemed that the position of the next Sect Leader belonged to no one but him.

However, the ways of the world were unpredictable. Because his words were as sharp as knives, Shenyou True Person ultimately fell victim to a scheme and had no choice but to become a Portable Grandpa and restart his cultivation.

Shenyou True Person’s reconstruction was not as fortunate as Xie Linlang’s.

Shen He had the main ingredients for refining the body-reconstruction pills on hand, and Xie Linlang himself was a super-tier alchemist at the Pill King level. They could reconstruct his true body in just two or three short months.

It had taken Shenyou True Person nearly two hundred years.

When he once again stood before the gates of Jiuxia Mountain, everything had changed.

The junior brother who had once stood timidly behind him, too afraid to speak, had grown into an excellent and qualified heir to the Sect Leader position.

After much hesitation, the previous Sect Leader ultimately chose Shenyou True Person’s junior brother—the current Sect Leader—as his successor.

The reasons were complex, but the most direct factor was that Shenyou True Person, in order to repay the karma of his host, had taken her as his disciple.

And that host was the eldest senior sister of Pei Ji and Xie Linlang.

Their eldest senior sister had average aptitude and was a taciturn person who rarely spoke. Apart from silently cultivating, she never diverted her attention to other matters.

The previous Sect Leader felt that the eldest senior sister of Pei Ji and Xie Linlang had poor aptitude. Yet, the disciple taken by their martial uncle was a genius.

In such a comparison, the previous Sect Leader ultimately passed the position to their martial uncle.

Shenyou True Person harbored resentment and jealousy over this. He specifically chose the extraordinarily talented Pei Ji and the heaven-defying genius Xie Linlang as disciples, all to win that one breath of pride.

The last time Shenyou True Person went to the northern deserts in search of opportunities, the thing he couldn’t let go of before departing was grabbing Pei Ji’s hand and urging him to seize back the Sect Leader position, because their Boxia Lineage was the true orthodox lineage of Jiuxia Mountain!

At the time, neither Pei Ji nor Xie Linlang paid it much mind.

Due to Shenyou True Person’s obsession, Pei Ji and Xie Linlang’s eldest senior sister rarely returned to the sect gates. Most of the time, she cultivated in seclusion outside, traveling and seeking opportunities.

But now that both Pei Ji and Xie Linlang had fallen, there was no one left in the entire Boxia Lineage to compete. This was clearly abnormal.

One must know that when Pei Ji disappeared, he was already at the Nascent Soul Stage. He had taken two disciples with good talent, and Xie Linlang had looked after them a great deal afterward. By now, those two had both reached the Golden Core Stage.

In another century, those two disciples might advance to the Nascent Soul Stage and have a real shot at contending.

The Sect Leader position was not determined by raw strength, but by ability and aptitude.

Yet the current Sect Leader of Jiuxia Mountain was about to pass on the position early. Was he planning to hand it off to his own disciple before those two Golden Core disciples could form their Nascent Souls?

Having pieced all this together, Pei Jiye flew into a towering rage.

He could give it up himself, but others could not steal it—especially not now, when he had been schemed against. This act of forcible seizure ignited the baleful aura and fury in his heart.

In an instant, an extremely terrifying emotion surged within him.

Gao Chunqiu’s heart filled with great alarm.

Due to their close proximity, he was struck by this emotion, leaving him dizzy and seeing stars.

If this emotion transformed into overwhelming power, it would surely be enough to overturn and destroy everything before them.

For a Demonic Cultivator, turbulent emotions might lead to rash stupidity, but they could also greatly amplify strength, allowing one to unleash 150% of their power.

Gao Chunqiu involuntarily retreated several steps. He even began scanning left and right, wondering if he should break through the Treasure Ship’s Protective Formation and flee first.

But the next second, Gao Chunqiu froze.

The young bird before him began to elongate its body, transforming into a streak of pitch-black shadow. Dark flames burned silently, then spread out like a net, becoming an elegant and beautiful Avian Demon.

It had a slender neck, a lithe and graceful body, and broad, magnificent black Plume Feathers. The ridiculous Kill Matt Bird crest on its head elongated into triangular plumes that fluttered in the wind.

Its broad, sharp claws were covered in keratinous scales, entwined with terrifying black-purple energy. Its long, waterfall-like tail feathers were dotted with ink-green highlights that looked as beautiful as fireflies—but in reality, they were nearly solidified deadly toxins.

Even a Soul Transformation Stage cultivator would melt into a puddle of blood upon the slightest contact.

The Avian Demon did not appear large, merely covering the empty space at the ship’s stern. It crouched slightly, gripping the railing with one claw and slightly lifting its wings, yet it cast a pressure like a vast black cloud blotting out half the sky.

Faced with this Kill Matt Giant Black Bird, Gao Chunqiu felt a thick sense of crisis well up in his heart.

He wanted to turn and retreat, but at some point, pitch-black binding Runes had appeared on the Treasure Ship’s deck beneath his feet, rendering free movement impossible!

Gao Chunqiu harbored no more illusions. He let out a crisp cry.

A burst of vigorous life force erupted from Gao Chunqiu’s body, and his form began to elongate and shift.

Azure-blue wings unfurled, and in the blink of an eye, he became a similarly petite yet terrifyingly vital azure-blue Avian Demon with white patterns—a Bifang Bird.

Just as Gao Chunqiu finished transforming, Pei Jiye struck with thunderous speed and ferocity.