Calamity of Tomorrow

Wang Yan turned around and saw a figure shrouded in white fog from head to toe.

He said to the other party, "Don't worry, I've cleared the area for ten miles around, no one will see you. You don't have to keep concealing yourself with Daoist magic, needlessly draining your Primordial Spirit."

The person in front of Wang Yan was still enveloped in white fog, and with the night wind blowing, the white mist undulated like flames, exuding an endless sense of mystery.

The White Shadow Man responded to Wang Yan's words with an icy tone, "Cut the chatter, I've brought 'him' here, let's just get started."

While speaking, the White Shadow Man, wrapped in fog, turned and left, vanishing with just a flash.

Wang Yan smiled, his curiosity intensifying. He was genuinely curious about the other's identity, but since the person was clearly unwilling to reveal it, he could only move swiftly to follow.

The two appeared together in a secret chamber, where they saw walls covered with various complex runes.

The room also contained an assortment of tools, magic artifacts, and treasures, including scissors, surgical knives, hammers, saws, and other objects like dolls, awls, bells, mirrors, and wheels, all brimming with a sinister aura.

In the center of the room, a man floated mid-air, with runes flickering around him from time to time.

His face appeared tall, thin, and handsome, with a rosy complexion, and even his lips seemed glossy as if he were in deep slumber.

But Wang Yan knew that the man before him had been dead for at least six years.

In front of the man, Wei Cang stood there, his Primordial Spirit's power undulating invisibly, continuously scanning the man's body, seemingly checking the condition inside his body.

Since the Mystical Lady left South Mountain City to attend the Daluo Heaven discourse in Central City and then embarked on a series of adventures with Zhou Bai...

Wei Cang had stayed in South Mountain City, waiting for the Mystical Lady to return.

"Mystical Lady said that this trip to Central City was to get revenge on Zhou Bai, to completely sever ties with him."

"Alas, it wasn't successful. Zhou Bai was even acknowledged by the Emperor's Sword. The Mystical Lady must be very unhappy."

"Why hasn't the Mystical Lady returned? If the revenge failed, she should have come back."

"Didn't she say she would return to research the Power of Deformation with me?"

"Ran off with Zhou Bai? That must be nonsense, how could it be?"

"Zhou Bai deceived her so badly... she clearly said she would never trust Zhou Bai again."

"Alas, Zhou Bai must've sweet-talked the Mystical Lady again; that guy's ability to swindle is just too strong."

After waiting in vain for the Mystical Lady's return, Wei Cang intended to go find her and rescue her.

But having heard that Zhou Bai had joined forces with the Heavenly Demon, Wei Cang, despite being a powerful Nine Realms fighter and the former Sect Master of the Evil Sect, was not confident about diving into the Heavenly Demon's lair to save someone.

So, he eventually joined Wang Yan's side. In the days that followed, he and Wang Yan conducted some research together, hoping to restore his son from his deformed state as soon as possible.

Now, inspecting the man's body before him, Wei Cang's face showed an expression of surprise: "His heart, his blood... even his internal organs are all still functioning? But this is someone using profound Daoist magic to forcibly keep this corpse's vital activity going. Once the power of the Daoist magic is exhausted, he will return to being a dead body."

The White Shadow Man said, "Indeed, I used Daoist magic to maintain the vitality of his flesh, to ensure that the flowing water does not rot and the hinges do not worm."

Wei Cang glanced curiously at the White Shadow Man, extremely curious about his identity.

This White Shadow Man, who had competed against Zhou Bai for the Mystical Lady last time, had shown a depth of martial arts skill.

In the end, he even displayed a move that opened voids and countered Zhou Bai's abilities.

After some thought, Wei Cang spoke up, "Who exactly is this corpse? If we know his identity, his family or sect background, it would make analysis much easier."

Wang Yan did not speak, instead looking toward the White Shadow Man, as if seeking his opinion.

The White Shadow Man said nonchalantly, "There's no harm in saying it; he is Zhao Xuan, the son of Zhao Shouyi from East Flower City and the father of Little Pei. He is the heir of the Zhao family from the Three Pure Dao Sect."

Wei Cang was taken aback, never expecting this answer. Despite his surprise, he was even more puzzled.

Zhao Xuan's identity, while sounding somewhat special, did not seem particularly formidable. What secret could there be in the blood of such a person?

As if to clear the doubts in Wei Cang's mind, Wang Yan explained, "Brother Wei, do you know about the founder of the Three Pure Dao Sect, Qing Yunzi?"

Wei Cang replied, "I'm only aware that Qing Yunzi founded the Qingtian Dao Sect, which merged several schools and was renamed to the current Three Pure Dao Sect."

The next moment, Wang Yan revealed a shocking secret to Wei Cang, "Qing Yunzi is a demon hybrid created by our White Bone Sect."

"What!" exclaimed Wei Cang, "Is there really such a thing? Are you sure about this, Brother Wang?"

Wang Yan: "This secret that has been passed down through generations in the White Bone Sect, within the White Bone Relics, is absolutely true beyond doubt."

Wang Yan spoke with a touch of emotion, "Brother Wei, as you know, the White Bone Sect is most adept at the art of refining humans, and the highest mystery transmitted within the sect is to create a six-path zombie with the power of immortality, flying through the skies and burrowing into the earth, a force transcending the world itself."

"There was a time when our ancestors in the White Bone Sect felt that human effort sometimes reaches its limits, so they thought of combining the bloodline of demons to enhance the physical potential. At that time, they created a large number of mixed human-demon bloodlines, and Qing Yun was one of them."

"After Qing Yun was created, he displayed wisdom far exceeding that of ordinary men."

"Then, when he embarked on the path of cultivation, he was so supremely gifted that he overshadowed all directions, becoming the first in history to connect with the void. He used the power of the void to slaughter widely and shook the entire world with his might."

"One thing that set Qing Yun apart from ordinary people was his demon bloodline, which definitely contained something special, allowing him so easily to connect with the void."

"Because theoretically, a demon bloodline should only enhance the potential of the physical body, but it is an obstacle to cultivation. The stronger the demon bloodline, the weaker the innate talent for cultivation, yet Qing Yun reversed this norm."

"In fact, after Qing Yun's rise, the greatest wish of the successive Sect Hierarchs of our White Bone Sect has been to replicate the success on Qing Yun's body, to create another powerful mixed human-demon blood, and then refine a six-path zombie in hopes of wielding the earth-shattering might of the five Divine Skills."

Having been a former Sect Master of the Evil Sect, Wei Cang was familiar with Wang Yan's background from the White Bone Sect, but he never imagined that this sect would have such a connection with the Three Pure Dao Sect.

Wang Yan sighed, "Unfortunately, all attempts have failed, and they have never been able to replicate Qing Yun's brilliance, nor create any mixed human-demon bloodline that can compare with Qing Yun.

"So later on, some turned their attention to the bloodline of Qing Yun's descendants, but Qing Yun himself had disappeared without a trace for many years, and the whereabouts of his descendants have always been unknown."

Wei Cang frowned and said, "Could it be that the Zhao Family in Donghua City now..."

"Exactly." Wang Yan said, "I only found out recently that the Zhao Family in Donghua City is indeed one branch of the many bloodlines left secretly by Qing Yun."

Wang Yan expressed his feelings, "The bloodline of Qing Yun indeed has special characteristics, as the successive Sect Hierarchs of my sect have conjectured, increasing the probability for his descendants to possess high sensitivity to the void.

"The prodigies among this lineage have a far greater advantage in cultivating the five Divine Skills than others."

"Even an individual like little Pei, who retained her wits after becoming deformed, is probably related to that bloodline."

As he spoke, a fanatical look gradually emerged in Wang Yan's eyes. The greatest wish of the successive Sect Hierarchs of the White Bone Sect after the Qing Yun incident had always been to unravel the mysteries of Qing Yun's body.

Sadly, generation after generation had spent countless resources and efforts, yet always failed, which had become a lingering ailment for the Sect Hierarchs of the White Bone Sect.

Until his generation, he actually obtained the corpse of one of Qing Yun's descendants.

As he said this, he looked toward the White Shadow Man beside him. If it weren't for the other party telling him this, he wouldn't have known that the Zhao Family in Donghua City could be descendants of Qing Yun.

"The void contains countless pieces of information from ancient times to the present, from the Heavenly Dao to the Material World," said the White Shadow Man slowly. "And the bloodline of Qing Yun is a key, able to connect to 'a certain piece of information' deep within the void, from which the cultivation method of the five Divine Skills flowed."

At this point, the White Shadow Man paused for a moment, a hint of confusion in his eyes as if recalling something, and then he continued slowly, "Across the entire world, only those with the bloodline of Qing Yun can connect to that information."

The White Shadow Man looked at Zhao Xuan's corpse with a complex gaze and slowly said, "I want you to use his corpse to achieve this, I want to know what that information is."

Wang Yan was well aware of how his demonic methods would handle a corpse and was worried the other party might turn on him afterward. He reminded him at this moment, "The bloodline of Qing Yun is not trivial, and ordinary methods might not unravel any mysteries. In case of obstacles, we might need to resort to some extreme measures."

The White Shadow Man fell silent for a while before speaking in an incredibly cold tone, "Dead is dead. After a person dies, there is nothing left. This body is just an empty shell now, having no relation to Zhao Xuan while alive, you can dispose of it as you please without any scruples."

...

Meanwhile, Zhou Bai's progression in cultivation could be described as strangely smooth.

First, after Christina mastered the correct use of her transformation, her cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds.

Since she succeeded in cultivating the Ice Soul Freeze Light on the first day, on the second day at the same time, she transformed and in an instant, also mastered the Supreme Mysterious Divine Thunder Breath and in one fell swoop, opened five orifices.

On the third day, she mastered the Great Black Flame Fire Dragon Formation, condensing three Black Yan Dragons.

Then on the fourth day, she mastered the Tianhe Star Explosion technique and brought the Genesis Star River Collapse to minor accomplishment.

On the fifth day, she mastered the Time Rebirth Technique.

Just like that, one per day, she successfully cultivated all five Divine Skills.

During these five days, Zhou Bai initially tried to practice the amalgamation of the five Divine Skills with Christina, but as the combined practice progressed too slowly and seeing how quickly Christina was cultivating on her own, he simply gave up.

Zhou Bai watched Christina master the five Divine Skills at the pace of one per day, while he himself was practicing the Supreme Mysterious Divine Thunder Breath daily, having opened his third orifice, granting him a power reserve thrice that of his Primordial Spirit's strength.

Now, if he simultaneously unleashed the power of three orifices to propel the Tianhe Star Explosion Sword, he could match the strength of three past versions of himself.

Today was the sixth day of cultivation for the pair, Zhou Bai and the cat. He eyed Christina, who was lying on the ground, her fur puffed up like a ball, even covering her face and almost obscuring her eyes.

Ever since the third day of her cultivation, she refused to stay in Zhou Bai's sea of consciousness, claiming that her strength was too formidable and that staying within Zhou Bai's sea of consciousness for too long could harm his Primordial Spirit.

Today, Christina was just waiting to transform again, attempting to cultivate the union of the five major Divine Skills.

Then she saw Christina, who was like a ball, look at Zhou Bai, who was still bitterly cultivating the Supreme Mysterious Divine Thunder Breath and striving to open his fourth acupoint, and said, "Sigh, I actually quite envy you ordinary geniuses. As a peerless genius like me, just a few seconds of bitter cultivation each day is equivalent to ordinary people practicing hard for decades. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed that sense of fulfillment from bitter cultivation."

Zhou Bai frowned without speaking, continuing to work on opening his fourth acupoint.

Christina sighed, "Ah, this is the happiness of mortals. I can no longer experience that grounded joy."

Zhou Bai couldn't help saying, "You've only been cultivating in your transformed form for a few days, okay?"

Christina replied, "You don't understand. For a world-shattering genius like us, cultivation is just so tedious."

Zhou Bai snorted coldly, too lazy to deal with this cat's bragging.

But Christina said, "Zhou Bai, in a few days, my strength will probably surpass yours. Wouldn't it be safer to keep the gemstone with me..."

Just as Christina finished speaking, a black shadow suddenly appeared before her. A palm fiercely pressed against her head, followed by a slap that came down, flattening the previously inflated Christina into a mat, which Zhou Bai then sat upon.

Zhou Bai said, "The gemstone is for saving lives. You can brag all you want, but don't even think about touching the gemstone, got it?" He thought to himself: 'This silly cat is getting more and more arrogant. If I don't suppress her a bit, she'll really dare to do anything and brag about anything.'

Obviously, although Christina had now cultivated the five major Divine Skills, in terms of her Primordial Spirit and the various abilities of her body, she still didn't compare to Zhou Bai, who had the nine calamities of Heavenly Dao upon him, and her strength was still far inferior to Zhou Bai's.

Christina, feeling the weight on her, said with dissatisfaction, "Zhou Bai, I didn't expect that after living together for so long, you'd actually be jealous of my talent. Can I decide whether I'm a genius? I was born this way... wuwuwu."

Zhou Bai stuffed Christina's mouth and then glanced at Elsa, who was happily running around in the valley, shaking his head, "Not a single one is worry-free."

At that moment, Zhou Bai's eyes lit up slightly, "The Twisted Shadow has regenerated."

Recently, while cultivating every day, Zhou Bai would also send the Twisted Shadow out for a stroll every day, waiting for its regeneration after 24 hours if it died.

"Go."

Now, after the Twisted Shadow had regenerated again, it sprang from his shadow and flew to the north.

...

In West Mountain City, within the training chamber.

Xiang Tiandi was seated cross-legged in midair, surrounded by various secret characters and a faint murmur of voices from time to time.

As these twisted characters and voices emitted sporadically, the walls of the chamber also underwent various changes.

Sometimes the walls would suddenly start bleeding, other times a door would appear out of nowhere, with knocking sounds coming from it.

Even more alarming, there would occasionally be various sounds of footsteps and crawling moving back and forth behind Xiang Tiandi.

But no matter what happened, Xiang Tiandi in front of them was unmoved, as stable as Mount Tai, focusing only on studying the subtle minutiae of the Taiwei Nine Heavens Calculations.

At this moment, one could see his eyelids twitching incessantly, streaks of lightning occasionally flashing across his forehead, and lightning spreading out from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

Clearly, Xiang Tiandi's cultivation had reached a critical juncture.

But in the next moment, his eyes snapped open, all of the lightning dissipating, and his cheeks flushed a rush of red before flashing a purple glow, and then turning pale, taking a long while to return to normal.

Then an infinite killing intent erupted in Xiang Tiandi's eyes.

"So close... just a little bit more..."

"Zhou Bai!!"

Then, his figure turned into a bolt of lightning and vanished within the chamber.

Then above West Mountain City, lightning flashed, and a lightning bolt seemed to split the clouds, shooting towards the north.

The story actually began six days ago.

To prevent Zhou Bai from obtaining the next part of the Primordial Dao Scriptures, Xiang Tiandi set up an Array and a separate incarnation at the sensed location of the next part of the scriptures. As soon as Zhou Bai arrived, he would immediately receive a message, then he could rush over with his Lightning Escape Technique and stop the other from summoning the Primordial Dao Scripture 07 out from the void.

But who would have known that starting from six days ago, Zhou Bai would send the Twisted Shadow over every day.

On the first day, the Twisted Shadow had just arrived at the target location when suddenly, with a flash of lightning, Xiang Tiandi was already there. He didn't speak to Zhou Bai and just fully launched the Nine Heavens Demon Clearing Thunder Technique, killing the Twisted Shadow in a few moves.

But on the second day, while Xiang Tiandi was at a critical point of enlightenment with the Taiwei Nine Heavens Calculations, the Twisted Shadow came again.

"Xiang Tiandi! Daddy's here to take care of you again!"

Xiang Tiandi suppressed the suffocation in his heart, a flame of anger within him, and charged again to extinguish the Twisted Shadow.

Then came the third day.

"Xiang Tiandi! My good grandchild! Grandpa is here to find you!"

Boom!

The fourth day.

"Xiang Tiandi, how dare you! Killing your own grandpa, your dad! Utterly forgetting your ancestors! You've got guts; now try killing me, your great-grandpa too!"

The fifth day.

"Little Xiang! Time's up; come out and shit already!"

Until today's sixth day...

That plain had been turned into scorched earth by Xiang Tiandi over these days, the ground covered in layer upon layer of black and sticky stains, emitting waves of stench.

At the same time, there were countless crisscrossing ravines on the ground, shallow ones several meters deep and deeper ones nearly ten meters deep, resembling small canyons.

Zhou Bai was seen flying above the scorched earth, yelling, "Xiang Tiandi! The Thunder Department is about to explode! We're losing control of the scene! Everyone's calling you to hurry back!"

After shouting a few times, Zhou Bai suddenly turned his head and saw streaks of lightning exploding continuously to the south, getting closer and closer.

In the blink of an eye, the lightning reached nearby and transformed into the figure of Xiang Tiandi.

Zhou Bai looked at Xiang Tiandi's face, concerned, "Little Xiang, why does your face look so pissed?"

Xiang Tiandi said coldly, "Zhou Bai, you're supposed to be a supreme master whose strength surpasses mortals. Don't you feel you are demeaning our statuses with this senseless pestering?"

Zhou Bai's expression turned serious, "Xiang Tiandi, you're also the Thunder Department Marshal. Staying here day after day like a dog, don't you find it particularly fitting for yourself?"

Xiang Tiandi laughed, "Zhou Bai, you're also a person who has achieved much in cultivation. Do you really think you can enrage me with just a few words?"

Zhou Bai swiftly retreated, also laughing, "Put away your damn 'Thunder Blade,' and then tell me you're not angry, okay?"

Boom! Xiang Tiandi brandished the Thunder Blade in his hand, cutting across the sky and leaving a several thousand kilometers long gash on the ground.

While slashing with the Thunder Blade in his hand, unleashing a sky full of blade light and thunder, he slowly said, "I'm not angry."

Zhou Bai felt the pressure on him increasing. Knowing he couldn't surpass his opponent with just his Twisted Shadow, he decisively activated the Declining Domain when he was close enough.

"What about this?"

Then, a heaven-enveloping Guihai Black Evil sprouted from under Xiang Tiandi's feet, only to be instantly turned into ashes by the blade light and thunder, scattering over the earth.

But a streak of green fortune had already disappeared from Xiang Tiandi, causing the Twisted Shadow to smile faintly.

With a slash that dispersed the Guihai Black Evil, Xiang Tiandi said coldly, "I've been cultivating for so many years, already no longer disturbed by mundane matters. Zhou Bai, don't measure gods by your mortal narrow-mindedness."

Boom! A thousand-li radius was covered by rolling thunder clouds, as Xiang Tiandi ended the battle with the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder.

Looking at Zhou Bai, who had turned into ashes, Xiang Tiandi let out a deep breath, then transformed into a bolt of lightning, shooting toward West Mountain City.

Returning to West Mountain City and before resuming his seclusion, he habitually glanced at the documents sent up by the Thunder Department cultivators. Afterward, a flash of lightning in his eyes turned the document in his hand to ash. He then summoned the Thunder Department cultivators stationed in West Mountain City.

Looking at the two cultivators before him, Xiang Tiandi demanded, "The Thunder Department has been hunting the Sky Flipping Sect for so long without killing a single Enlightened One, not even finding a shadow of Li Xiuzhu. What are you all doing?"

Upon hearing this, the two cultivators immediately knelt down, "Marshal, please calm your anger. The Sky Flipping Sect is exceedingly cunning..."

Xiang Tiandi said with an even tone, "I...am...not...angry..."

The two cultivators exchanged glances, feeling the electric tension in the air rising sharply, hurriedly prostrated with trembling fear, not daring to speak.

After a long while, they heard Xiang Tiandi say, "Tell Gao Yang, I will dispatch another three thousand cultivators from Central City, and assign both Zhao Yue and Xiang Haocu to him."

Gao Yang was the mortal commander among the Thunder Department's army this time, specifically leading mortal cultivators.

Then, he pointed out of thin air, drawing streaks of lightning in the air. The lightning formed lines of text that eventually landed on a piece of white paper on a table.

"Hand this letter to the Ghost Slaying God; he will assign an Immortal to personally support you."

Upon hearing this, the subordinates promptly responded vigorously, carefully took the letter, and then slowly withdrew as Xiang Tiandi waved them away.