Song Shuhang remembered that even the life-bound godly weapon of the lustrous scholar had crumbled to pieces back then. He had died thoroughly, and there was no chance for him to come back to life.

　　Such being the case, who was this other lustrous scholar in the sky that had taken care of those ten demonic hives in just a few seconds?

　　Is it possible that someone obtained the inheritance of the lustrous scholar, and practiced until reaching the Tribulation Transcender Realm, deciding to make their move after seeing that the White Cloud Academy was in dire straits?

　　No, that shouldn’t be the case. Even if that person had obtained the inheritance of the lustrous scholar, what was the deal with their face? The face of this person was identical to that of the lustrous scholar that borrowed his ghost spirit back then!

　　As such, what was the matter with this lustrous scholar?

　　❄️❄️❄️

　　After instantly killing those ten demonic hives of the Eighth Stage, the lustrous scholar put his sword back in the sheath.

　　Soon after, he glanced toward the filtering nets with a pensive look on his face.

　　At the same time, the old scholar finally returned to his senses after the initial shock. This scholar emitting a lustrous shine from all over the body looked very similar to one of the thirteen Tribulation Transcenders under the command of the Sage! Although their outward appearance was different, their demeanor and build were exactly the same.

　　Was it possible that the thirteen Tribulation Transcenders under the command of the Sage survived the calamity back then, and had been secretly protecting their scholarly faction since then?

　　The tears of the old scholar flowed copiously. He stood up and bowed in the direction of the lustrous scholar, preparing to respectfully welcome home this founding member of theirs.

　　But right at this time, the lustrous scholar stretched out his hand and slashed in front of him, opening a space gate… from the looks of it, he was already planning to leave?

　　The old scholar stretched out his hand, and called out, “Founder! Please, wait a moment!”

　　At the same time, below, Song Shuhang also stretched out his hand, and called out, “Senior, wait a moment!”

　　It was a pity that the lustrous scholar ignored both of them, and directly barged into the space gate, disappearing without a trace.

　　“Shuhang, do you know him?” Venerable White asked of curiosity.

　　Song Shuhang furrowed his brows, and said, “Actually, I’m not sure… but judging from his outward appearance, he should be that mysterious expert that forcefully borrowed my ghost spirit. The only problem is that the mysterious expert should have thoroughly died already.”

　　When that lustrous scholar glanced toward the filtering nets just now, was he looking at him?

　　“Oh, so it’s that person, the one that forcefully borrowed your ghost spirit and then lost it, right?” Venerable White said with a nod. “Well, from the looks of it, that guy seems still alive… in that case, you can ask him to compensate you the next time you meet.”

　　Venerable White’s words were indeed reasonable, and Song Shuhang had no way of refuting them!

　　❄️❄️❄️

　　After the death of the ten demonic hives of the Eighth Stage, the Netherworld Realm lost the ability to call for reinforcements while fighting against the White Cloud Academy.

　　The morale within the camp of the White Cloud Academy increased sharply.

　　At this time in the filtering nets, some of the demons of the Seventh Stage rank felt that the situation was turning for the worst. As such, they carried their elite subordinates along and tried to open up a bloody path to pass through the filtering nets of the scholarly faction and retreat.

　　Now that the demons of the Seventh Stage had decided to retreat, the situation of the other demons in the filtering nets wasn’t any better. Suddenly, the army of the Netherworld was forced to retreat in defeat again and again, continuously losing its members as it was fleeing.

　　That old scholar was still absent-mindedly looking in the direction the lustrous scholar had disappeared into. At last, he faintly sighed and used a space-type magical treasure to retrieve the corpses of the ten demonic hives of the Eighth Stage.

　　The corpses of these ten demonic hives of the Eighth Stage, as well as those of the demons still in the filtering nets, would be enough for the Virtuous Golden Lotus to fully mature.

　　After retrieving the corpses of the demons, the old scholar didn’t waste time, and quickly returned to the depths of the White Cloud Academy.

　　He wanted to deliver the corpses of the ten demonic hives of the Eighth Stage to the Virtuous Golden Lotus as soon as possible so as to avoid further problems.

　　❄️❄️❄️

　　One hour after the demonic hives of the Eighth Stage had been killed…

　　The remaining demons of the Netherworld inside the enormous filtering nets were unable to run away, and got surrounded by the scholars.

　　Knowing that they could no longer escape, the demons went berserk. Even if they had been weakened by the filtering nets, the demons attacked like crazy after going berserk, making up for the combat strength they had lost due to the nets.

　　The casualties on the side of the White Cloud Academy increased all of a sudden. The battle puppets of the Jet-Black Sect were also getting destroyed one after another. The sound of the self-destructing puppets echoed continually.

　　After seeing this scene, a lot of the cultivators that had stayed behind to lend a hand evacuated from the filtering nets. They had stayed behind just to give a hand, and weren’t willing to put their life on the line.

　　In addition, after fighting for so long, most of them had already obtained a good harvest.

　　The members of the Nine Provinces Number One Group likewise retreated from the frontline.

　　The demons of the Netherworld couldn’t be underestimated now that they had gone crazy after being forced into a corner… however, the outcome was a foregone conclusion. The remaining demons would be sooner or later annihilated by the scholars.

　　The members of the Nine Provinces Number One Group had also consumed a lot of energy. Therefore, they followed True Monarch Yellow Mountain’s instructions and brought their spoils of war to the White Cloud Academy to carry out the exchange.

　　Song Shuhang’s team of three also left the level of the demons of the Fourth Stage. Their loot this time was a lot lower than the last time. The trio was only able to kill 900 demons after going all out.

　　Song Shuhang was dead tired.

　　The trio was already familiar with the procedure, and went to look for True Monarch Eternal Fire’s puppet clone again, exchanging their loot for three seeds of the Virtuous Golden Lotus.

　　This time, each person got one seed.

　　Song Shuhang pondered for a moment, and gave his seed to Lady Onion. “Although we lack one seed compared to the original estimate… I’ll still give this seed to you!”

　　“Hmph. Even if you give me a lotus seed to curry favor with me, I won’t be happy. If you really want to curry favor with me, set me free!” Lady Onion said as she took the seeds of the golden lotus, gobbling it up all at once.

　　Actually, she was really excited, and was looking forward to seeing what kind of extraordinary skill she would awaken! How wonderful would it be if she could awaken an extraordinary skill that could allow her to get away from the enlightenment stone?

　　Around five breaths later.

　　Lady Onion opened her eyes, and exhaled a long mouthful of air.

　　She felt that her vitality and life energy were getting stronger. A cultivator would get this very same feeling after advancing in realm, when their lifespan was increasing. It was such a wonderful feeling!

　　“How was it? Lady Onion, what skill did you awaken?” Song Shuhang asked out of curiosity.

　　Lady Onion examined her body, and the corner of her mouth rose immediately after.

　　From the looks of it, she had obtained a pretty good skill!

　　“Don’t act all mysterious. Show us your skill,” Song Shuhang said.

　　“The extraordinary skill I awakened… should be a pretty good one.” Lady Onion took a deep breath, and activated her extraordinary skill.

　　Soon after, two whizzing sounds were heard.

　　Suddenly, two new green onion sprouts grew out from Lady Onion’s existing sprout. At the same time, an additional pair of tiny arms popped out beneath each sprout.

　　“What kind of extraordinary skill is this? Does it allow you to grow new green onion sprouts so that one can pinch more when they need?” Song Shuhang said thoughtlessly.

　　“Nonsense! That isn’t the use of my extraordinary skill!” Lady Onion’s three green onion sprouts angrily shouted in unison. “This is the ‘Three Heads and Six Arms’ extraordinary skill! Can’t you tell by looking?”

　　“Three Heads and Six Arms? Oh, not bad. So that’s what it is. This skill seems pretty good!” Song Shuhang said, surprised. It was the legendary technique of the Third Prince Nezha mentioned in legends!

　　But when it was Lady Onion using it… the name of the technique turned into ‘Three Sprouts and Six Arms’.

　　Yu Jiaojiao reminded, “Lady Onion, isn’t it better if you assume your human form before using this extraordinary skill?”

　　“I refuse. I’m not in the right mood to assume my human form. I vowed earlier that I wouldn’t assume my human form before regaining my freedom.” Lady Onion faintly sighed.

　　After saying this much, she deactivated her ‘Three Heads and Six Arms’ extraordinary skill.

　　But right at that time… something interesting happened.

　　Whenever the Third Prince Nezha in legends deactivated his ‘Three Heads and Six Arms’ technique, the extra parts would disappear without a trace. But when Lady Onion deactivated her ‘Three Heads and Six Arms’ technique, the two newly grown green onion sprouts detached from her body and quietly fell to the ground.

　　“…” Lady Onion.

　　“…” Song Shuhang.

　　“…” Su Clan’s Sixteen.

　　“…” Yu Jiaojiao.

　　Song Shuhang squatted down, and picked up the two fresh green onion sprouts. “As expected, this extraordinary skill can allow us to harvest green onion sprouts even more conveniently. Not bad!”

　　“That’s not the case! This is only the aftermath of deactivating the ‘Three Heads and Six Arms’ skill!” Lady Onion said angrily.

　　At this time, Su Clan’s Sixteen also thought of something, and said, “Right. If Lady Onion were to deactivate her ‘Three Heads and Six Arms’ extraordinary skill while in her human form… would her two extra heads also fall to the ground?”

　　A scene where Lady Onion’s two extra heads suddenly fell to the ground? The thought alone was enough to frighten someone.

　　Yu Jiaojiao said, “There is a chance it might really happen. It sounds rather scary, it would be a scene befitting of a ghost story.”

　　“Lady Onion, why don’t you give it a try? What do you think will drop to the ground after you assume your human form to use this skill, your two extra green onion sprouts, or your two extra human heads?” Song Shuhang asked out of curiosity.

　　“I refuse! I refuse!” Lady Onion repeatedly shook her head. Just the thought of having her two heads drop to the ground was frightening her; she absolutely didn’t want to try it!

　　“That’s truly a shame…” Song Shuhang had a calm expression on his face as he stored the two fresh green onion sprouts in his size-reducing purse.

　　From a certain point of view, Lady Onion’s new extraordinary skill wasn’t bad at all.

　　❄️❄️❄️

　　Below the White Cloud Academy.

　　The cultivators continuously brought the corpses of the demons over to exchange them for the seeds of the Virtuous Golden Lotus. As such, the number of demons kept increasing, and the scholarly disciples kept carrying them on their shoulders and throwing them into the unholy pond underground.

　　At this time, parts of the bodies of those ten huge demonic hives were still floating amidst the waters of the unholy pond. The corpses of ordinary demons of the Fourth and Fifth Stage would melt as soon as they were thrown into the unholy pond, and become part of it.

　　The corpses of demons of the Sixth Stage or above would require a little less than half an hour to melt inside the unholy pond.

　　As for the corpses of these ten demonic hives, they had stayed there for more than one hour already, and only around four-fifths of the corpses had melted.

　　In the meantime, the Virtuous Golden Lotus had already produced several batches of seeds, which were all collected by the disciples of the White Cloud Academy.

　　“It’s still not enough?” the old man said in a soft voice.

　　His voice had yet to fade that the Virtuous Golden Lotus slightly bent down and used its own special method to communicate with the old scholar.

　　The eyes of the old scholar immediately lit up. “Fellow Daoist Golden Lotus, are you saying that we are almost there?”

　　The lotus flower of the ‘Virtuous Golden Lotus’ slightly nodded.

　　“That’s great.” The old scholar was very happy. This plan that the scholarly faction had been carrying out for thousands upon thousands of years was about to succeed.

　　“Temporarily stop throwing the corpses of the demons of the Netherworld into the pond. Let the disciples store away the remaining corpses for now!” the old scholar instructed.

　　The corpses of the demons of the Netherworld had another use as well. After the Virtuous Golden Lotus had fully matured and created an autonomous world, they could continue throwing the corpses of the demons into the unholy pond, converting them into nourishment and spiritual qi for the new world. Therefore, the larger the number of corpses at their disposal, the better it was.

　　Half an hour later…

　　The corpses of the ten demonic hives had thoroughly melted in the waters of the unholy pond, getting completely absorbed by the Virtuous Golden Lotus.

　　At this time, the demonic energy in the unholy pond suddenly rose, with the screams, howls, and roars of the millions of demons melted within becoming audible. The demonic energy condensed and took physical shape, charging toward the edge of the pond.

　　This time, not even the old scholar could stand still, and was forced to retreat several steps.

　　Nevertheless, the Virtuous Golden Lotus kept getting brighter and brighter, remaining undefiled in spite of the corrupt energy all around, like a true lotus flower.

　　It had taken root in the incredibly filthy unholy pond, but was able to bloom into the purest and holiest golden lotus.

　　The golden lotus kept getting brighter and brighter. Finally, its calyx closed.

　　The Virtuous Golden Lotus was undergoing its very final evolution. After its evolution was complete, it would be able to create the autonomous world where the scholarly faction could retreat!

　　The old scholar tightly clenched his fists. Even he who was impervious to desires and passion was no longer able to keep calm at this moment.

　　He had waited for this day for a long, long time… to the point that he had started to believe that he would not live long enough to see it.

　　❄️❄️❄️

　　Below the Netherworld Realm.

　　“It’s starting!” the ball of liquid metal muttered to itself in a soft voice. “That’s great. The golden lotus of the scholarly faction finally started to evolve.”

　　After the start of their evolution process, the black and golden lotus flowers would start to synchronize.

　　One was in the Netherworld, and the other in the scholarly faction; neither the black lotus nor the golden lotus were aware of the existence of the other one.

　　But thanks to a mysterious connection between the two, their evolution speed had started to synchronize.

　　The Sinful Black Lotus in the Netherworld will create a small world here in the ‘Netherworld Realm’. On the other hand, the Virtuous Golden Lotus in the scholarly faction will create a small world in the ‘main world’.

　　No one knows that the black and golden lotus flowers are nothing but two sides of the same coin. After the two small worlds take shape, a strange connection will form between them. The worlds produced from the two lotus flowers will have a nodal point that I can use to hop around.

　　At the appointed time, I’ll first cultivate the world of the Sinful Black Lotus, and use it as a springboard to enter into the world of the Virtuous Golden Lotus. Afterward, I’ll use the world of the Virtuous Golden Lotus as another springboard to jump into the main world! I’ll be able to leave the Netherworld Realm very soon… the ball of liquid metal thought to itself.

　　Just as it was in deep thought, the ball of liquid metal glanced toward a certain place in the Netherworld Realm—it was the place where ‘Senior White Two’ was.

　　At this time, the most important thing to do was to guard against that guy and prevent him from ruining its work. To deal with him, the ball of liquid metal had prepared several plans.

　　The ball of liquid metal gritted its teeth, and said, “White, if you dare to come, you won’t leave this place alive!”

　　At that time, only one ruler of the Netherworld Realm would remain. One among it or that ‘White’ guy would have to disappear.

　　The voice of the ball of liquid metal had not yet faded that the pale radiance of a rune shot out from the corpse of a scholarly disciple lying in the holy pond below the Sinful Black Lotus.

　　The radiance of the rune turned into a huge formation.

　　In the next moment, Senior White Two appeared below the Sinful Black Lotus, treading on the formation.

　　“Officer White, reporting for duty! May I ask if you were the one that summoned me here?” Senior White Two’s beautiful eyes were staring at the ball of liquid metal. Both his hands were leaning on his black flying sword, his expression a serious one.

　　“…” Ball of liquid metal.