…

　　Shi Mu stood at the entrance of the bamboo forest outside the home of brother Ling Feng and let out a sigh. Like a red streak, he shot off into the distance.

　　After a short time, his figure fell again but this time, at the courtyard of his residence.

　　“Welcome back, young master!”

　　A few attendants who happened to pass by the courtyard saw Shi Mu and quickly bowed down respectfully as they greeted his arrival.

　　Shi Mu’s heart was still wondering about what brother Ling Feng had told him. He walked passed them without taking a glance or two as he walked toward the depths of his residence.

　　Just as he had taken two steps away, he suddenly remembered something and immediately turned back to look at the attendants.

　　“Has anyone of you seen Cai?”

　　“Master Cai brought some people to the spirit fountain,” one of the attendants quickly replied.

　　“Alright then,” Shi Mu nodded and turned back to walk toward the residence.

　　Through the hall of the main house, Shi Mu trailed straight to the secret chamber.

　　However, just as he pushed through the door of the secret chamber, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

　　The secret chamber did not seem to be empty. On one of the stone chairs sat a woman with her back facing Shi Mu.

　　Shi Mu was shocked and he could not help but wonder as he put his guard up.

　　According to the intensity of his spirit sense, he should have discovered that there was more than one person in the secret chamber. However, his spirit sense was unable to catch on to this woman’s presence.

　　Even when the woman was clearly sitting in front of Shi Mu, he still could not feel any of her qi. He could not even feel the spiritual fluctuations around her. In other words, if this woman were to sneak behind for an attack, he would not be able to escape at all.

　　Just the thought of this broke Shi Mu into a cold sweat and got his heart beating intensely. The alert expression on his face did not fade.

　　The woman wore a white palace dress with a wide-sleeved cloak and a belt that was only slightly tightened, which appropriately outlined her body and exquisite figure. Her wide skirt was like a snowy moonlight. Her long hair was like a black waterfall, spreading down from her shoulders.

　　She sat quietly in the chair and her body was covered in a pale white aura, which made her look like a fairy with unspeakable hidden beauty.

　　Shi Mu’s heart suddenly moved and he approached the woman with some inconsistency.

　　“Yan Luo… Is that you?”

　　The woman’s shoulders shook slightly and slowly turned over.

　　It could be seen that her face was slightly sturdy with a high nose bridge. Her lips puckered slightly in a natural way. There could not be a slight trace of imperfection.

　　On top of her eyebrows was a lotus-like black spiritual mark, which was commensurate with her crystal-clear skin. Instead of destroying her temperamental look, it added a hint of flirtatiousness.

　　Such beauty could never be compared to any other. If this was not Yan Luo, who else could it be?

　　Having removed her silver armor, the thought that she could slaughter numerous soldiers within minutes only added to her intimidating aura.

　　Shi Mu looked at Yan Luo and could not contain himself. All he could think of at the moment was the word “stunning”.

　　“Are you done yet?” Yan Luo shut her lips tight and her voice was cold as ever.

　　“Oh, I’m sorry, I was just a little surprised to see you. Why are you here?” Shi Mu snapped back from his daze and asked.

　　In fact, since Shi Mu agreed to the contract of not bothering Yan Luo for three years, he had been in the dark even when he did try to summon her. For her to appear in front of him right now was a huge question to him.

　　The contract between him and Yan Luo had yet to be severed. The connection was still there, even if it was ineffective for Yan Luo.

　　Yan Luo glared at Shi Mu but did not answer his questions.

　　“Something came up.”

　　“What about it?”

　　“Come with me.”

　　As soon as her words fell, and before Shi Mu could even respond, Yan Luo took out a Fallen Angel Desk and began chanting.

　　Boom!

　　A faint golden light shone brightly on the surface of the Fallen Angel Desk as a black vortex emerged in the air. The smog was swallowed up and gradually disappeared.

　　Shi Mu could only feel a whirlwind. Before he could react, he once again found himself in the Dead Spirit World.

　　He glanced around and found that he was now at the altar on the Darkwater Lake. It was exactly the same one Yan Luo had built for him more than a decade ago.

　　To Shi Mu’s surprise, the area of ​​the Darkwater lake in front of his eyes was several times larger than he remembered. It looked wide and innocent, like a small sea area.

　　On the banks of the Darkwater Lake were dozens of black stone-built palaces, which were not only simple but rough.

　　Around the black stone palace, numerous white skeleton soldiers were gathered. By Shi Mu’s estimation, there were almost 100,000 of them.

　　Yan Luo had obviously not been idle for the past few years. It was clear that her strength had expanded more than tenfold.

　　“Yan Luo, why did you bring me here? What is the meaning of this?”

　　“Do you want the Pills Of Infinite Strength?” Yan Luo suddenly asked.

　　“How did you…”

　　Just as Shi Mu was about to ask, he suddenly understood what was going on.

　　Most of the time, in the midst of the contract between Yan Luo and himself, the dominance of the contractual relationship between the two of them were always shifting. This led to Yan Luo knowing of the Blood Seal.

　　“I’m not going to lie about what I know for now.” Shi Mu said.

　　“Tell me what you know then.”

　　“Well, it went like this…”

　　Shi Mu thought about it and found that there was no need for him to conceal anything from Yan Luo. Moreover, he was also in the dark and wanted some answers as well. From what he was seeing now, she seemed to know something he did not.

　　Shi Mu told Yan Luo everything, starting from the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, the Sky-shaking staff, the white-azure ape ancestors, and the blood seal.

　　“So this is the current situation for the time being and I still have trouble fully grasping everything to this day,” Shi Mu shook his head and said.

　　“With your current strength, it’s simply delusional of you. Any immortal could kill you with one finger,” Yan Luo replied.

　　After listening to this, Shi Mu suddenly felt a huge shock in his heart.

　　He could not help but recall when he was entirely powerless against the giant golden palm beast.

　　“Anyhow, what is this Heaven Lineage? Does such an immortal really exist?” Shi Mu asked.

　　When he first asked, he could sense a sudden coldness on Yan Luo’s face. A sense of smothering that was almost realized as a substance suddenly emanating from within her, sweeping out in all directions.

　　The tens of thousands of skeleton soldiers gathered on the shores of the Darkwater Lake felt the murderous sense from Yan Luo and began to shudder as sounds of bones slammed in all directions.

　　Yan Luo’s murderous sense continued for a period of time before it slowly dissipated.

　　After a long while, Yan Luo was able to recover her mind and said “Where is the Heaven Lineage? I know nothing of it. However, I know both of us share the same purpose with the same enemy. For the time being, you’re too weak. If you were to go now, you’d only die in vain.”

　　“You mean…”

　　He was barely qualified for the Enchanted Road to the second floor of Qinglan, let alone taking down the Heaven Lineage and the Pill of Infinite Strength.

　　None of the top three disciples on the Qinglan list was a good deal. Not only had they been training much longer than him, but they had also already reached their Heaven-rank cultivation and were far more experienced.

　　“You just need to remember your promise! I’ll help you arrange the rest,” Yan Luo said.

　　…

　　Two months later…

　　In a desolate valley, Shi Mu wore a green robe and carried a staff. Like a javelin, the staff stood upright on a reddish-brown rock. He held it tightly in his hand.

　　“Spirit Snake Trench!”

　　His eyes flashed and he strode forward. The longstaff in his hands danced rapidly, like a white tornado snaking out as it slammed forward.

　　“Art Of The Hawking Fowl!”

　　Immediately afterward, Shi Mu once again stepped forward, throwing a Wishful Steel Staff in his hand as it danced in midair, pulling back the white tornado that had just been hit.

　　“Hidden Dragon Tornado!”

　　“Azure Climbing Technique!”

　　“Azure Falcon Technique!”

　　…

　　“Art Of The Tiger Paw!”

　　Shi Mu’s body moved away as the black longstaff in his hand fluttered up and down. The Heavenly Staff Technique was performed in one shot.

　　In the valley, sands and stones flew everywhere and the clouds covered the sky as if the end of the world had arrived upon them.

　　Shi Mu’s body was surrounded by a large white air stream mixed with brown sandstone, as if he was surrounded by a solid wall, blocking him from the outside world.

　　“Ou…”

　　The wall of sandstone flew audibly. The sounds of all kinds of fierce beasts constantly echoed around him. Suddenly, the head of a beast emerged from the wall, seemingly trying to break through.

　　Shi Mu’s face was stern as the black longstaff in his hand started to rotate in front of him while he approached the beast.

　　He leaped with the longstaff held tightly in both hands.

　　Roar!

　　The behemoth screamed like a tiger deep in the mountains, full of endless majesty.

　　The white air mixed with sand and gravel exploded as the huge beast was suppressed for a long time. Finally, it was able to break out from the bounds of the wall.

　　Dom dom dom…

　　The heavy footsteps sounded as the beasts in the valley rushed in and out. Countless tigers and giant dragons emerged as they rushed toward the mouth of the valley. The momentum directly shocked the rocks on both sides of the valley as the whole area filled with smoke.

　　The thundering sound continued for about two or three minutes. After the beasts finally rushed out of the valley to a distance of nearly a hundred feet, the momentum began to reduce.

　　Shi Mu was still in the valley and looked at the hundreds of deep gullies that had been hit by the beasts when they ran off.

　　Compared to when he was in the championship, the use of several moves of the Heavenly Staff Technique had already given him some inspiration. Now, with the enlightenment of the immortal style, he was able to understand the depth of such martial arts.

　　Although he had yet to grasp it in its entirety, his understanding of the staff method had now increased.

　　This time, he had devoted himself to training and finally combined all the first eight sets of the Heavenly Staff system together. He realized that such a technique shocked the beasts as he had created his own nineteenth form of the Heavenly Staff Technique.