I Have a Compass for Opportunity

The battle among the three Foundation Establishment cultivators in the heavens above was unlikely to spill over to Qiwen Mountain, at least for now.

Liou Yuan muttered under his breath. Only after the whistling winds and flurries sweeping across Qiwen Mountain subsided slightly did he dare move on without a moment’s delay.

This time, he didn’t care whether sword flight would draw unwanted attention.

He directly cast the Artifact Manipulation Celestial Calculation Spell, treading on the Canglan Sword, flying toward the summit of Qiwen Mountain.

He reasoned that with three Foundation Establishment cultivators fighting so thunderously overhead, his own sword flight would hardly attract notice.

Sword control vastly accelerated his ascent—within mere heartbeats, Liou Yuan transformed into a streak of light that landed atop the summit of Qiwen Mountain.

Qiwen Mountain was precipitous, its body like a sharp blade thrusting into the clouds, other parts of the mountainside lined with grotesque and jagged rocks, with no trace of vegetation in sight.

Strangely, however, the peak of Qiwen Mountain was covered in verdant pines.

Snow blanketed the clusters of green pine canopies, and at intervals, waves of True Essence sent down from the heavens above scattered the snow everywhere, shrouding the summit in swirling mist.

Liou Yuan leaped down from the Canglan Sword and landed on the broad, flat summit, scarcely having a chance to observe his surroundings.

Above Yufengcheng, the fluctuations from the three contending Foundation Establishments suddenly intensified again.

Rumble—

Violent waves of True Essence mixed with snowflakes thundered down from the sky, making Liou Yuan’s body sway atop the summit.

Many pines on the mountaintop were uprooted in this storm, swept by the snowy gusts down into the blackness below.

This spot on Qiwen Mountain was clearly closer to the trio clashing in the heavens than the foothills below.

And so, naturally, the impact he felt was the greatest here.

Liou Yuan cursed his luck inwardly, hurriedly shielding his body with blood energy as he looked up at the night sky overhead.

From here, he could already make out three indistinct figures.

Judging by their forms, he identified one of the women as Yin Yufu.

A Sword Cultivator in Foundation Establishment was working with Yin Yufu, jointly attacking a black-robed, effeminate man.

"Just as expected, that must be Tang Hua’s Soul!" Liou Yuan let his gaze linger a moment longer on the effeminate man, silently deducing his identity.

Behind Yin Yufu, golden True Essence coalesced into the shape of a phoenix whose hoofbeats resounded piercingly. Countless golden feathers shot down like a storm upon Tang Hua’s Soul.

That Sword Cultivator was clearly no common Foundation Establishment either—his sword light roared with fervor, heavier than mountains, slashing through the void. The shockwave annihilated all nearby snowflakes, forcibly carving out a vacuum in the battlefield.

Yet Liou Yuan failed to detect any Sword Qi from his blade. Whether he had yet to comprehend Sword Qi, or was deliberately concealing his strength, he could not say.

Beset by two Foundation Establishments, Tang Hua’s Soul wielded his calligraphy brush frantically, conjuring phantasmal beasts and demonic shades to shield him, using means beyond ordinary cultivators to withstand Yin Yufu and the Sword Cultivator’s combined assault.

Though the clash seemed overwhelming, not a hair on Tang Hua’s Soul was harmed; he moved among them as if with effortless ease, even managing to launch counterattacks now and then.

"The Daoist Huixie’s reputation is truly well earned. Such demonic techniques I have never even heard of," Liou Yuan thought, his fear of Demon Cultivators deepening further at the sight.

Thankfully, the battle in the sky was still somewhat distant from Qiwen Mountain and, for now, did not affect Liou Yuan directly.

Glancing at the fight, Liou Yuan saw no sign of a clear outcome any time soon, so he hastily turned his attention once more to Qiwen Mountain, trying to glean any clues about hidden opportunity.

Suddenly, in the midst of the battle, Tang Hua’s Soul gave a flick of his brush, instantly conjuring a giant black python under his feet. Coiling its massive body around him for protection, Tang Hua’s Soul let out a sharp, manic laugh: "So the Foundation Establishments of the Jin Dynasty amount to no more than this? Two against one and you still can’t best me!"

"News of this will be the laughingstock of all Daoists in the Cyan Feather Realm!"

With that, Tang Hua’s Soul pointed his calligraphy brush toward the mountain range outside Yufengcheng, about fifty li from Qiwen Mountain.

"Roar!"—an earth-shattering, harrowing bellow erupted from deep beneath those mountains.

With the howl rumbling forth, an entire peak in the mountain range collapsed in cataclysmic fashion.

From beneath the earth, a monster suffused with an aura of heart-palpitating dread clawed its way up.

The aura it exuded spilled all the way to Qiwen Mountain, so alarming that Liou Yuan reflexively looked in that direction.

Its body was composed of countless twisted sinews and massive bones, muscles writhing beneath the skin like giant serpents, bulging and contorting as if they would burst forth at any moment.

Where bone was laid bare, it shone with a cold, bluish-black metallic luster.

When it roared, its jaws gaped wide like an unfathomable abyss, bristling with densely packed fangs, each the height of a grown man, razor-sharp and gleaming coldly. Wisps of black smoky vapor still clung to the tips of those fangs.

"A Calamity-level Star Evil!" Liou Yuan’s heart lurched. If not for the three Foundation Establishments above, he would have fled straight down Qiwen Mountain without hesitation.

Two years ago, during the months-long Evil Star Shift, many Star Evils dormant in corners of the world were awakened.

Near Yufengcheng, a Calamity-level Star Evil had once appeared. That time, a Foundation Establishment of the Jin Dynasty fought it for days, only to suffer defeat and retreat.

Later, under the blessing of an Auspicious Star, the Calamity-level Star Evil went into hiding near Qiwen Mountain, never to resurface.

Clearly, this Calamity-level Star Evil now emerging from the earth was the very one that had lain dormant outside Yufengcheng two years ago.

Two years had passed with this Star Evil in hiding, only for Tang Hua’s Soul to awaken it now by some unknown means.