Chapter 1622: Chapter 1618: Using Stillness to Overcome Motion

“Originally, I also thought it was just a coincidence, but following the direction of the witchcraft fluctuations, I actually found the trial of this sea of flames and Lava River; and crossing the Lava River, it just so happens that I arrived near the teleportation light door of the Third Layer. Fire Daoist friend, do you still think it was a coincidence?” Shen Luo recounted his experiences and then asked in return.

“Are you saying that the witchcraft fluctuations were deliberately released by someone to lead you to the exit of this Third Layer? All of this is just your speculation, right? You have no evidence,” Fire Spirit Child was taken aback for a moment and shook his head as he spoke.

“I also felt it might all be coincidences, which is why just now, when I arrived, I left behind a small surveillance trick on the spot,” Shen Luo said indifferently, a flash of black Qi crossing his brow, revealing a vertical black eye – the Heavenly Demon Eye God’s Power.

Inside the Heavenly Demon Eye, a blurry image emerged, precisely the sand dune where Shen Luo and Nie Caizhu were conversing after just crossing the sea of flames.

Near the sand dune, a bizarre darkness appeared, within which three silhouettes could vaguely be seen standing.

“Eh! You really guessed it right; there are indeed people causing mischief. However, weren’t just a few of you who entered Tianyan Palace? Wait, among these three people, the one in the middle looks like Wu Luo, but the other two are neither Che Qingtian nor Yan Lie. Could it be that there are others here?” Fire Spirit Child said with a light exclamation.

“That person is indeed Wu Luo. I can sense the Demonic Qi on him through the Heavenly Demon Eye. As for the other two silhouettes, they are quite unfamiliar; I wonder if Wu Luo has a Spatial Treasure like the Free and Easy Mirror, bringing these two into Tianyan Palace, or if these two were already inside Tianyan Palace. In any case, their target is Cai Zhu and me. I do not know what exactly they want to do, it seems they want Cai Zhu and me to enter the next layer as soon as possible. Since that’s the case, I might as well stop for a moment to see how they react,” Shen Luo spoke confidently.

“That makes sense. In the face of an unclear battle situation, it is quite appropriate to control motion with stillness. Young Master Shen, I’ve found that your thoughts have grown increasingly meticulous, something that even many old and experienced beings might not match up to,” Fire Spirit Child nodded and then his tone shifted as he spoke.

“Fire Daoist friend flatters me. I’ve finished explaining the reasons for stopping. Can you now help me refine those three Golden Crow Souls?” Shen Luo asked with a faint smile.

“Of course,” Fire Spirit Child said with a commitment, waving his sleeve and conjuring the Gu Xuan star disk.

Hundreds of golden Light Marks rose from the star disk, landing in various corners of the Secret Chamber, forming a complex Array – the Xuan Star Array.

The Soul Refining Array Stele also emerged, emitting a massive burst of black light, forming a Black Vortex that melded into one with the Xuan Star Array.

Shen Luo, sensing this development, commanded a suspended Pure Yang Sword to fly into the two Arrays.

Fire Spirit Child waved his hand and summoned the Netherworld Furnace, from which a stream of Purple Flame — the Purple Heart Earthfire — burst forth, enveloping and forging the Pure Yang Sword.

…

Near the reddish-brown sand dune, Wu Luo and the other two silhouettes stood in silence, looking towards the direction of Shen Luo’s location.

The dark shadows around the three dissipated to reveal their true forms–the reddish figure was a Horse-faced Man with a flattened nose, small ears, and skin that was fiery red, looking extraordinarily ugly.

As for the other dark silhouette, it was a Black-robed Youth with a rather delicate facial features but his face was filled with strange black lines, his eyes cold and chilling like two bottomless abysses.

“The exit is clearly right ahead, so why has Shen Luo suddenly stopped?” the Horse-faced Man said impatiently.

The Black-robed Youth opened his mouth to spit out a clump of black light, which materialized in front of him into a mirror about the size of a ruler.

The dark silhouette made a hand gesture and tapped the black mirror, which then rippled and soon showed a blurry image – it was Shen Luo and Nie Caizhu on the other side, and despite the fuzziness of the image, it was still possible to roughly make out that Shen Luo was manipulating the four sword spirits, devouring the Jin Yan in the Lava River.

“Is this a Sword Spirit? And it can devour the Golden Flame essence! Could it be a Divine Beast level Sword Spirit!” exclaimed the Horse-faced Man upon witnessing the scene.

Wu Luo looked at the four sword spirits in the mirror with her eyes slightly widened in surprise.

The horse-faced man could not recognize the origin of these sword spirits, but she recognized them at a glance. Not to mention the Vermilion Bird Sword Spirit, those three Golden Crow Sword Spirits looked very much like the Golden Crow Souls from Houyi Shoot Sun Divine Arrows.

However, transforming a monster soul into a tool spirit is extremely difficult, with a surprisingly high failure rate. Shen Luo only obtained those three golden arrows in Houyi’s Tomb, yet he managed to successfully transform them into tool spirits!

“Could it be that Shen Luo has actually mastered the technique of transforming monster souls into sword spirits?” Wu Luo couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.

She also had three Golden Crow Souls in her possession. If she could transform them into tool spirits, it would greatly enhance the power of three magical treasures.

“Why the stop instead of continuing the journey? Why start cultivating magical treasures now?” The horse-faced man regained his composure quickly after his initial surprise and asked in a deep voice.

Wu Luo’s expression also returned to calm, her brows furrowed.

Their group of three had tried every possible way to speed up the progress of Shen Luo and Nie Caizhu, not only by guiding them in the right direction but also by delaying Che Qingtian and Yan Lie’s progress as much as possible. This was to let Shen Luo and Nie Caizhu reach the fourth level as soon as possible to help them obtain a long-desired treasure.

But now that Shen Luo had suddenly stopped, it really caught the trio off guard.

“Could it be that the Jin Yan Primal Flame here can happen to enhance the power of his magical treasures, which is why Shen Luo stopped? After all, this flame is extremely rare,” said the black-robed youth.

“That’s possible,” the horse-faced man nodded in agreement.

Wu Luo remained silent. If Shen Luo had just stumbled upon the Jin Yan Primal Flame, and had taken a fancy to it and stopped to cultivate, that would be fine. What concerned her more was the possibility that Shen Luo had noticed their tracks and was intentionally delaying the progress.

“Our previous actions to guide the way were somewhat reckless; I hope he hasn’t noticed,” Wu Luo thought to herself, casting a dissatisfied look at the horse-faced man.

This man was strong but not very bright, and he acted impulsively. He was the one who had used Witchcraft Fluctuation to guide Shen Luo and Nie Caizhu.

It was an overly hasty move and it was too late for her to stop it.

“If only we knew it would come to this, we should have joined forces to directly abduct that woman when Shen Luo went to investigate the Sea of Flames earlier,” the horse-faced man said resentfully.

“What’s the use of talking about that now? Let’s discuss what to do next,” the black-robed youth glared at the horse-faced man and snorted.

“Wu Luo, what do you think?” The horse-faced man turned to Wu Luo.

“I’m worried that Shen Luo has already noticed our presence,” Wu Luo said hesitantly after a moment.

“That can’t be. We’ve been very careful to control our distance from them, and we’ve used Old Black’s Shadow Escaping to conceal our tracks without leaving any residual aura,” the horse-faced man said, full of disbelief.

“Are you saying that our actions when we used Witchcraft Fluctuation to guide them have led to our exposure?” The black-robed youth’s eyes sharpened as he spoke.

Hearing this, the horse-faced man became furious, his eyes suddenly ablaze with red light, and with a “puff,” he transformed into two balls of flame, glaring at the black-robed youth and Wu Luo.