Chapter 893: The Mystery of the Womb, Qu Changge Meets Lu Changsheng

“One man reversed the Liang-Yue War, captured six Nascent Soul cultivators and pacified Liang Kingdom?”

The woman stared at the report in her hand, her face frozen, bright eyes full of doubt, sure she had misread.

The news was simply too shocking.

Among cultivators winning a fight is easy,

but completely crushing an opponent and killing them is far harder.

After reaching Nascent Soul a cultivator can let the soul leave the body and grasp the power of the void.

That makes them almost impossible to kill; even if their body is destroyed they can seize another with the Nascent Soul spirit.

Capturing one alive is even harder.

Yet in such a short time one person ended the war and took six Nascent Soul True Lords alive―what realm has he reached?

Staring at the jade slip, Xu Ruoyin’s thoughts rolled wildly.

Shock turned to confusion then to dread; her heart pounded as tangled emotions surged.

In a haze she pictured a youthful man in azure robes, handsome as carved jade.

His looks were flawless and his bearing gentle as warm jade, like a quiet orchid that made onlookers submit,

yet she sensed a ruthless dominance and devilish aura beneath that refined exterior.

Reading the report she felt that image overlap with the dark-robed, awe-inspiring Lord of Dameng City she’d seen during the beast tide.

“Just who is he?”

Years ago Xu Ruoyin had served as a slave in the Sumeru Cave Heaven, borne Lu Chensha, and later cultivated in Dameng Immortal City under Hong Lian’s care,

so she knew many of Lu Changsheng’s secrets—he was the city’s master.

Like Hong Lian, she believed Lu Changsheng was the reincarnation of a great power.

Otherwise his rise defied explanation.

Even so, she still found it unbelievable.

His growth was far too quick.

In just over a century he had risen from Foundation stage to a man who could capture six Nascent Soul True Lords.

Even a reincarnated giant would need a vast legacy to do that.

Unlike herself…

Indeed, during this Core breakthrough Xu Ruoyin faintly shattered the veil over her prenatal memories and awakened fragments of a past life.

The memories were blurry and incomplete.

Only by raising her cultivation or borrowing external help could she awaken more.

“Sigh…”

She placed the jade slip aside and forced herself to calm down.

Though she knew her past life was extraordinary, she understood this life mattered more.

She would not cling to former glory or act arrogant over a reincarnated identity.

She only wished to turn past accumulation into present foundation.

After digesting the intel on Jiang’s recent events, she left Qingluan Immortal City and hurried toward Dameng Immortal City.

From the vague memories she now understood the true origin and purpose of the Beast Taming Ancient Rune.

It was one of her past-life contingencies and vitally important to her.

To grow quickly and reach Nascent Soul she had to retrieve the rune from Hong Lian.

In fact, Hong Lian was also one of those contingencies,

meant to work with the rune to speed her early growth.

Lu Changsheng’s appearance, however, had turned both Hong Lian and the rune into his opportunities.

Otherwise, under Hong Lian’s tutelage she would long since have formed her core, awakened more memories, learned the rune’s true use and advanced rapidly.

Dameng Immortal City.

Ling Zixiao received the news from Yue Kingdom, her beautiful eyes widening in shock.

She could hardly believe the war had ended so quickly once her husband acted.

When she read that he captured six Nascent Soul experts alone she felt almost unreal.

After all, when Lu Changsheng was breaking through she and Hong Lian had rushed to the Myriad Beasts Range to lay formations.

Counting the days, only four years had passed since he reached Nascent Soul.

In four years he had gone from a new Nascent Soul to a name that shook Liang and Yue. Terrifying.

His feats would soon thunder through Southern Desolation and the Northern Region.

She immediately sent the news to Hong Lian.

Though Hong Lian had seen Lu Changsheng decapitate True Lord Pinghai,

and knew he had routed several Starry Sea invaders just after reaching Nascent Soul,

reading that he alone had taken six Nascent Souls still left her in awe.

At that moment she felt even more pressure about making her own Nascent breakthrough.

She feared that even achieving a Heavenly Dao Nascent Soul might not keep up with him.

Jin Kingdom.

The Heaven Corpse Sect and Five Poisons Sect had tracked the war closely.

They already knew of Lu Changsheng’s feat in Red Peak Immortal City capturing four Nascent Souls,

yet the report that Beast God Mountain had fallen and the war was over still stunned them.

They had dealt with Beast God Mountain many times,

and knew True Lord Nine Spirits was on par with True Lord Xuanjian,

far above Tiancang, Incinerating Wither, Huangquan, Youyue and themselves.

Yet even Nine Spirits was handled easily by their lord.

They had also heard that an envoy of the Seven Demonic Sects had secretly fanned the flames of war.

They did not know the envoy’s exact strength,

but anyone who could manipulate events from the shadows had to be at least mid-Nascent Soul.

Otherwise True Lord Mingsha would never have served him.

Now that the war was over, what had become of that envoy?

Had he shown himself and fought their lord?

If so, had he escaped or been killed?

Both were alarmed, though their moods differed.

The Heaven Corpse Sect Master felt lingering fear and was thankful he had yielded instead of fighting True Lord Yangming.

Otherwise his fate would have been bleak.

He immediately informed Yin Yuge, telling her to serve True Lord Yangming with utmost care.

Remembering that Yangming and Nangong Mili had once produced Nangong Yaoyao and a son named Qu Changtian, he kept gathering treasures that could help conceive offspring,

hoping Yin Yuge would soon bear the True Lord a child.

When that happened he would raise the child himself, tying his fate completely to that great ship.

Besides her shock Ah Youduo felt nothing but pride and joy.

She knew True Lord Yangming was the reincarnated Holy Emperor of Central State, blessed with the Dragon Emperor Dao Body.

Such power and growth truly befitted a monarch who re-entered the cycle.

Yet looking at her child-like body and flat belly she could only sigh.

Years ago she had stunted her physique to reach Nascent Soul and could no longer bear children.

Had she been able to give the lord a child their bond would deepen.

Though she had already taken Lu Jiangtang as a disciple,

cultivators valued blood ties highly.

Given her relationship with Yangming, a child would draw them much closer.

“I wonder if the lord has a solution…”

Caressing her flat stomach, Ah Youduo pondered.

She decided that next time Lu Changsheng visited she would voice this wish.

With his means he would surely find a way if he wished.

After thinking it over she forwarded the intel to Nangong Mili of the Yin Ghost Sect.

Though the sect was now run by Lu Quanzhen and Nangong Mili with Yin Yuge’s help,

after the purge its strength and information network were still weaker than in Mingsha’s day.

Their intel could lag behind.

Thanks to sharing from the other sects, Nangong Mili, Yin Yuge and Lu Quanzhen got the latest report immediately.

All were shaken, their hearts trembling.

Even though Lu Quanzhen had always known his father’s unfathomable power,

and had seen him spear True Lord Mingsha to death two and a half years ago,

hearing his father alone had reversed the entire war still filled him with awe.

With the conflict over peace was likely for a time; Lu Quanzhen stepped onto a pavilion and gazed into the distance.

Long ago he had planned to travel once he reached late Core Formation.

Now that he had, the urge only grew.

With his Kunpeng Body and sect resources he could reach Core Ninth Layer without bottlenecks,

but his realm had risen too fast.

What he lacked now was tempering.

Only through trials could he go further and condense a Heavenly Dao Nascent Soul.

He already understood Human, Earth and Heavenly Dao Nascent Souls.

His goal was the Heavenly Dao alone.

He also remembered the century-long promise with his uncle.

Ninety-seven years had passed since Qu Changge last returned.

Now that he was Core Seven-Layer he might be able to help him.

Yet he could not fathom how that uncle, then only Foundation stage, had produced Dragon Scale Fruit, Five Elements Spirit Fruit, Heaven Mending Pills, Soul-Nurturing Jade and Nine-Eyed Bodhi Seeds,

not to mention the Kunpeng Swallowing Heaven Demon Art. It was inconceivable.

Could his uncle, like his father, also be a reincarnated powerhouse?

Otherwise there was no explanation.

But after ninety-seven years he had no idea whether the man was still alive.

When they parted the man had seemed to be saying a final farewell…

“Sigh.”

Thinking of that brief encounter Lu Quanzhen sighed. He planned to ask his father about traveling once Lu Changsheng returned.

As for the Yin Ghost Sect,

his younger brother Lu Minghuang was there; he need not worry.

His brother’s administrative talent might be average,

but in cultivation management talent is never the main thing.

With strength and fair rewards able subordinates gather.

Besides, their mother Nangong Mili understood this well.

In two years she had arranged three wives and four concubines for Lu Minghuang.

The three main wives came from the Five Poisons Sect, Heaven Corpse Sect and Yin Ghost Sect, all gifted women.

The four concubines were likewise elites from Core Formation clans.

With such a setup Lu Quanzhen needn’t worry about household affairs.

Even the inner courtyard was balanced by mutual checks; no chaos would break out.

And Nangong Mili herself sat in town at the sect.

Under these circumstances no one could shake Lu Minghuang’s standing.

The only person who could was Lu Quanzhen himself, publicly known son of True Lord Yangming.

Yet he had no interest in power struggles and ceded authority to his brother.

That day, outside Bihu Mountain, the void rippled and two hazy figures appeared.

One wore an ink-black robe with cloud patterns, white hair cascading—Qu Changge. He murmured, “So this is Bihu Mountain.”

Confusion clouded his eyes.

Last time it was a mere Foundation clan.

Now, judging by formation, spiritual density and main peak, it had reached third-rank.

Though only lower third-rank, the gap between second and third rank is vast.

The black-robed elder beside him was likewise surprised.

From the land and array he could tell it was lower third-rank,

yet even without Qi-Gazing he saw its fortune far exceeded that level, almost equal to top Core powers.

Moreover, the clan’s fate was rising steadily.

Normally fortune waxes and wanes or remains flat.

Such steady rise meant something extraordinary.

It implied a child of great fortune, perhaps with Nascent Soul destiny.

Thus, although the land was lower third-rank, its luck peaked at third-rank top tier.

The elder said nothing, simply standing beside Qu Changge.

With calamity looming and fortune surging, heaven’s heirs were bound to appear.

For a backwater to produce even one like their young lord was rare enough;

how could another monstrous talent arise? At most a shallow-water dragon.

So he paid little heed to Bihu Mountain.

Even when the gate monument read “Talisman Lu Family.”

To be sure he had the right place, Qu Changge used a secret art to sense blood of the same source within.

Since forming the Demonic Body he was no longer quite human.

Under Demon Lord’s Blood his own blood had turned demonic,

yet because the body wasn’t perfected a trace of his old nature remained.

In a flash he sensed a familiar bloodline aura.

“Zhenzhen…”

Though nearly a century had passed since he last met her through Lu Quanzhen, his body trembled as longing and love flooded in.

This was his little sister,

once the apple of his eye and now his only family.

His care for Lu Quanzhen was compensation for her, loving the crow for the house.

Yet aside from her aura he felt none other close to his bloodline and hesitated over how to meet her.

Years ago, foreseeing his fate after forging the Demonic Body, he had come back to see her, fearing he might not survive the trials.

Arriving at Qingzhu Mountain he hadn’t found her but first met his nephew.

Loving the crow for the house, he gave most treasures to the boy, hoping he’d grow strong enough to care for his mother.

Returning to Tianmo Sect he continued the trials, accepting the Demon Lord’s legacy.

Not long ago the sect master told him the Blood Sea Sect intended to ignite a calamity, also his chance to perfect the body.

Knowing his destiny, he was calm, determined to fight.

Yet on leaving the trial ground he received news:

Twenty-five years ago someone in the Starry Sea claimed to be a Tianmo disciple and practiced the Kunpeng Art.

For nearly a thousand years no one had mastered that art,

and those who tried only had fragments; none possessed the full text.

He alone had taken the complete art on the sect master’s recommendation.

Hearing the man was called Zhao Wuzhen and not native to the Starry Sea, he felt a bad premonition.

He ordered an investigation and, using his own blood, asked a sect diviner to calculate his nephew’s fate.

The diviner replied that Lu Quanzhen’s destiny was completely blocked; it could not be read.

That meant either supreme powers hid him or he was dead.

Killing intent erupted. He led a fourth-rank diviner through teleport arrays to the Starry Sea, destroyed Wu Demon Island and slew True Lord Shi Hai.

Yet what was vengeance worth

if the boy had died because of the art he’d given? How could he face his sister?

He had seen several of her children before,

and only Lu Quanzhen was promising.

If she learned her son had died abroad she would be drowned in tears.

“Sigh.”

Qu Changge exhaled softly. Now that he was here he had to meet her.

Besides, he still nursed a trace of hope.

The sect was far from the Starry Sea,

and his blood had become demonized and separated by a generation.

Perhaps the divination was wrong.

Now that he was in Jiang he could use her blood to divine again.

After thinking it through he told the elder, “Elder Xun, wait in the Great Void. Unless I summon you, don’t disturb me.”

“Yes, young lord.” The elder bowed and vanished.

Black mist swirled around Qu Changge as he passed through the third-rank array like it was nothing.

The moment he entered he sensed something unusual.

Not only had the clan risen from Foundation to Core in a century,

but several third-rank demon kings lurked at the main peak and deep within the lake.

Though such beasts were nothing to him, it proved the place was extraordinary.

“Talisman Lu Family,” he murmured, face calm.

He only wished to see his sister.

Guided by blood resonance he reached Biyun Peak. As he crossed its array Lu Ping’an, cultivating inside, received a warning from the Sumeru Tree King.

“What!?”

His face tightened. He burst from his cave, spread divine sense yet could not find the intruder.

He asked the Tree King where and what level the man was.

“Unable to see clearly; most likely Nascent Soul,” the ancient tree replied.

“Nascent Soul?!”

Lu Ping’an’s face changed.

Though his body-cultivation was peak third-rank,

and one step from quasi-fourth,

he had seen Nascent Soul power before,

and knew the gulf was unbridgeable.

Even a quasi-fourth-rank body wouldn’t match.

“Senior Sumeru…”

Recalling his father’s warning about Qisha Sect, he asked the tree to activate the Sumeru Illusory Array.

Leaves rustled. The grand array rumbled; hazy mist rose and a beam of divine light shot toward Qu Changge.

“Who goes there? Why trespass on my Bihu Mountain?” Lu Ping’an shouted, triggering his emergency talisman.

“Hmm?” Qu Changge was surprised the array detected him.

He saw the tall youth with Qi roaring like a dragon and realized the Lu Clan was indeed unusual.

It hid a peak third-rank demon king and produced a Core third-layer cultivator whose body was peak third-rank.

Body training seldom paid off unless resources were extravagant.

Most trained the body only after hitting bottlenecks in energy cultivation.

Yet this youth’s body had already surpassed his Qi realm—rare indeed.

Even his own body and Qi advanced evenly; he’d never seen a case like this.

“Who are you?” Qu Changge asked, interest rising.

Lu Ping’an froze―the man had broken in yet asked who he was?

Still, sensing the terrifying aura he answered steadily, “Lu Ping’an of Bihu Mountain.”

“What is your relation to Lu Changsheng?”

Frowning at the man’s casual tone, he still replied, “He is my father.”

“Lu Changsheng’s son?” Qu Changge was surprised.

He had heard his brother-in-law had many children, but he’d actually produced such a qilin son.

To reach this level in a century marked him a genius even in Tianmo Sect.

“Do you know Lu Quanzhen?”

Shrouded in black mist, Qu Changge ignored the array entirely.

With his strength a third-rank array could not harm him.

“Quanzhen is my brother. Who exactly are you!?”

“What do you know of his situation?” Qu Changge’s voice sank.

Lu Ping’an scowled. “Shouldn’t you answer me first?”

“I bear no malice toward your clan,” Qu Changge said, unwilling to reveal his identity.

Just then he looked toward the peak.

Lu Ping’an also looked up.

Space rippled,

and a youth in azure robes holding a multicolored banner appeared beside Lu Ping’an.

He frowned at the mist-shrouded man. “You are… Qu Changge?”

It was Lu Changsheng, who had rushed back with the Misty Dust Banner.

The devilish figure did resemble the almost forgotten Qu Changge.

But only the facial outline matched; the aura was entirely different.

Had he not known this brother-in-law had once given his son great opportunities he might not have recognized him.

Even face to face he might not have made the connection.

“Father!” Lu Ping’an breathed a sigh of relief.

If this Nascent Soul started a fight the mountain would be ruined.

“Lu Changsheng?”

Both men were stunned at each other’s changes.

Nascent Soul!

The man he remembered as Foundation stage was now Nascent Soul?

And if the young man hadn’t called him father he wouldn’t have recognized him—

the current Lu Changsheng bore only faint resemblance to the past one.

Anyone seeing both would doubt they were the same person.

“Qu Changge, why have you come to my Bihu Mountain?” Lu Changsheng asked coldly.

After all, the Lu Ancestor had hundreds of brothers- and sisters-in-law.

Although Qu Changge had met him only once,

he disliked the man’s harem-like lifestyle and said crisply, “I came to see Zhenzhen and learn Quanzhen’s situation.”

“Then follow me.”

Lu Changsheng sensed he meant no harm;

otherwise his son could never have stopped him.

Still, he felt puzzled.

How had this brother-in-law reached Nascent Soul in a century,

and judging by the faint aura his Taiyi Spirit noticed, his power far exceeded Tiancang or Mingsha.

“Go calm the clan,” he told his son.

Without warning the array’s activation meant danger.

Any clan would be on guard.

“Yes, father.” Lu Ping’an left to reassure everyone.

Lu Changsheng watched Qu Changge meld slightly into the void and frowned. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t want Zhenzhen to see me,” Qu Changge said softly.

“?”

“She misses you dearly,” Lu said. “She’s asked me many times to find you. When you vanished on the devil path I kept silent.”

“If I see her only to leave again it will bring needless sorrow,” Qu Changge replied.

After speaking his face darkened. “Do you know what happened to Quanzhen?”

Earlier he had wondered why the boy was in the Starry Sea—now he suspected Lu Changsheng’s involvement.

The child had been harmed by Wu Gu Old Demon and Shi Hai, and his father had done nothing!

A demonic light flickered between his brows.

“What about Quanzhen?” Lu Changsheng asked, puzzled.

“He was tricked in the Starry Sea and dragged into the Kunpeng Nest. His life or death unknown. As his father you knew nothing!”

Fury erupted; a blood-red lotus-petal mark glimmered at his brow. His fist swung like a dragon-bodied fiend roaring.

Lu Changsheng raised a palm, catching the blow strong enough to smash mountains.

At the same time he channeled power into the Misty Dust Banner, dumping the shockwaves into the Great Void.

“Qu Changge, this is my Bihu Mountain. One more reckless move and I won’t be polite,” he said coldly.

Had he not redirected the force, Biyun Peak would already be rubble.

“Besides, Quanzhen has long been rescued. The ones who harmed him just haven’t been dealt with yet.”

For the sake of his concern for the boy, Lu Changsheng let the punch slide.

But if the man kept being overbearing, the Lu Ancestor would not stay his hand.

Qu Changge was amazed that Lu Changsheng had caught the blow so easily.

Though he hadn’t used full power,

that punch still equaled a fourth-rank body cultivator’s strike.

Dual cultivation of body and Qi!

He realized Lu Changsheng practiced both paths like himself,

and that his physical body had already stepped into fourth rank.

Hearing Lu Quanzhen was safe he ignored strength and blurted, “What? Quanzhen is safe?”

All along he had feared the boy might die because of the Kunpeng Art.

Learning the child was fine lifted a weight from his heart.

“Of course. If my son’s in danger, do you think I’d sit idle?” Lu Changsheng said flatly.

Lu Changsheng always returned courtesy in kind; faced with this devil-path brother-in-law he kept his face cold.