Since she had stepped into the Mountain Gazing.
Jiang Yuechu had no intention of staying in Changsha Commandery for long.
After inquiring about the location of the Demons that had previously run rampant, she rode her light of escape and streaked toward the horizon once more.
Just as hurried as her arrival, her departure was also swift and decisive.
She left behind a city full of commoners still carrying bricks and stones to repair the damage, as well as two people standing on the city wall, unable to snap out of it for a long time.
The only variable.
Was that the Demons who should have plunged Changsha Commandery into fire and water were swept clean by a Great Halberd.
Gongsun Lan gazed at the golden rainbow on the horizon, her eyes somewhat dazed.
"Fucking hell..."
Both were Prodigies.
This kid You Wujiang was already considered a top-tier figure among the younger generation she had seen.
Not only was he the Personal Disciple of the Demon Suppression Division's Commander-in-Chief, but he had also stepped into Lotus Seed Perfection at such a young age.
But compared to Her Highness.
It was like a firefly to a bright moon, or a wild pheasant to a Phoenix.
They were... simply not on the same level.
Until the golden light completely dissipated into the horizon.
The female general said no more and strode down from the city tower.
Only a sigh of emotion was left to scatter in the wind.
"For Great Tang to have such a Grand Princess..."
"How fortunate it is."
...By the banks of the Xiang River.
Slender fingers crushed the last fleeing Demon.
[Killed an Ink Dot Realm creature, obtained 1,800 years of Dao Cultivation]
Jiang Yuechu's expression was indifferent, and not a single ripple rose in her heart.
"Sigh..."
She sighed softly.
Although she had wiped out this Demon den, with all the Demons large and small added together, they only provided a total of over ten thousand years of Dao Cultivation.
But now... with her Realm's advancement, for her current self, it was merely a drop in the bucket.
Just for that [Spirit Gathering Image Manifestation], the Dao Cultivation required to condense the second Yin Mountain Inner Scenery was an astronomical figure.
Not to mention she still needed to upgrade those Demons one by one to the Heavenly Accomplishment.
The Dao Cultivation required would likely not be less than several tens of thousands.
Jiang Yuechu shook her head.
She stopped thinking about it.
The more she thought, the more she felt like a pauper.
She lowered her head.
Looking at the ground full of Demon corpses, she reached out her palm.
"Swallow."
Boom—
The Cultivation Technique circulated.
The essence of many Demons surged into her body through her palm.
Deep within the Qi Sea.
The towering crimson-black mountain remained motionless.
Even that tiny bit of growth was negligible.
Jiang Yuechu shook her head.
After all, the Realm was different now.
To take another step forward on the path of martial arts, relying on these small fry would likely take forever.
Opening her red lips, she took the many Demon corpses into her belly.
Her gaze turned toward the horizon.
According to what Iron Bull Cheng said, there were four Mountain-Viewing Great Demons in Luling now. If calculated by Silver Bone Demon Venerable's worth... that would be a full 200,000 years of Dao Cultivation.
Thinking of this.
She no longer hesitated, transforming into a golden light and streaking rapidly toward Luling... Luling.
Deep in the secluded valley.
"Cough... cough cough..."
A flash of panic crossed the face of the white-clothed woman standing to the side.
She took half a step forward, her voice filled with concern.
"Master..."
White Jade Tower did not look back.
He just waved his hand, his expression still calm, as if that moment of weakness just now was merely an illusion.
"I am fine..."
"It's an old ailment, it doesn't matter."
Just as he finished speaking.
A sinister voice drifted eerily from the bottom of that pitch-black well.
"Heh heh..."
"White Jade Tower, your old bones are probably even more useless than this King expected."
"Even if you force yourself to hold this breath."
"But this fate... you can deceive others, but can you deceive this King? Can you deceive this heaven and earth?"
"..."
White Jade Tower lowered his eyelids and did not respond.
The voice at the bottom of the well did not intend to let him off.
"Only one last chance to light the lamp remains... in your heart... it must feel terrible, right?"
As soon as these words were spoken.
The white-clothed woman's expression changed drastically, and she subconsciously clenched her fists.
The voice seemed to enjoy this oppressive atmosphere, saying to itself, "Do you know... why this King clearly sensed the Seal loosening, and could have forcibly broken through your suppression, yet instead..."
"Preferred to deal with you here, wasting time, rather than breaking out of the Seal?"
Black Qi surged.
Floating above the mouth of the well.
"Because..."
"For a half-dead person like you."
"How could you be worth this King wasting a single chance?"
Facing such naked humiliation.
White Jade Tower slowly raised his head, a flash of complexity in his cloudy old eyes.
After a long time.
He let out a long sigh.
"Indeed..."
"You vile creature, you see things quite clearly."
His withered fingers lightly stroked the hem of his clothes on his knees.
His tone was eerie, as if speaking to that voice, and also as if teaching the white-clothed woman beside him.
"The world knows that the Lamp Lighting Realm consists of martial arts saints, possessing the power to move mountains, fill seas, pluck stars, and take the moon."
"But they do not know..."
"The reason why this Lamp Lighting can be called saintly, and can stand above all living beings."
"All lies in its heart lamp."
"Every time the lamp is lit, it is snatching life from heaven and reversing the universe."
"No matter how heavy the injury, even if limbs are missing, even if the Qi Sea is shattered, even if only one last breath remains."
"As long as the heart lamp is lit."
"In an instant."
"All injuries are fully recovered, returning to the Peak, and combat power even explodes several times over, as if aided by the gods."
At this point.
White Jade Tower paused, a flash of loneliness in his eyes.
"This is the most unreasonable part of the Lamp Lighting Realm."
"But..."
White Jade Tower shook his head.
With such Heaven-Defying means of changing fate, how could there truly be no price?
All things in this world have their set numbers; if there is gain, there must be loss.
After reaching Lamp Lighting, there are only six chances in total to light the heart lamp.
For stepping into the legendary Ascending the Tower... every time the lamp is lit, one chance is lost.
If all six lamps are extinguished.
One is completely abandoned by this heaven and earth.
Not only is Lifespan greatly reduced, but one's heaven-reaching strength will also dissipate into the world along with the extinguished fire.
From then on.
One becomes a mortal.
Therefore, the great powers of the Lamp Lighting Realm in this world, unless it is a blood feud of exterminating one's clan or an irreconcilable hatred.
Otherwise.
No one is willing to easily waste such an opportunity.
Only... White Jade Tower's gaze crossed this deep canyon and looked toward the sliver of light overhead.
He was not his own Master.
The Great Tang was currently riddled with crises, both internal and external.
Demons from the four borders were eyeing it greedily. As the Demon Suppression Division's Commander-in-Chief... how could he be like those Lamp Lighting experts of the great families?
Find a blessed land, enter seclusion, ignore world affairs, and watch the clouds roll by just for his own path?
"So... your last chance is extremely precious. Even with only one chance to light the lamp, it is still possible to glimpse the Great Dao of Ascending the Tower. Why waste it on this King for this certain-death situation, for the Great Tang?"
White Jade Tower chuckled.
In his laughter, there was a bit of relief.
"The scenery above Ascending the Tower..."
"In this life of mine..."
"I'm afraid... I will never have the chance to see it."