As doubt began to cloud over Qingshan County, thousands of miles away, a silver streak raced across the sky above the desolate mountains and valleys, moving at an incredible speed.
Following that, the silver streak dove down, shooting across the canopy of a forest and blasting up a trail of snow waves with a rumbling boom.
A silver Gu Diao whistled past, akin to a supersonic fighter jet on patrol, and in a flash, its body shone brighter with Spirit Light, breathing deeply as it stepped through the void, transforming into a White Tiger and landing in the forest, thundering through the trees with a tiger’s roar.
After a while, the White Tiger reached a cliffside stream, letting out a roar before leaping straight into the waterfall, hundreds of feet tall, and transforming into a sizable fish shooting down the stream as if into a great river.
Suddenly, the fish burst out of the water with a splash and a loud dragon’s cry, like a carp leaping through a dragon’s gate, a mighty Azure Dragon, claws bared, soared into the sky.
Finally, the Azure Dragon burst apart, turning into a green mist that coalesced into a figure clad in green clothes.
Chen Yuan’s eyes shone with Divine Light as he stood firm in the void, looking down at his hands, which had returned to their original form.
His eyes flickered, and a series of personal information belonging to him appeared anew.
"Chen Yuan: Ninth Mountain’s Colonel
Realm: Martial Vault (Two Divine Treasures)
Cultivation Techniques: Dragon Subduing Stance (Perfect), Devil Suppressing Fist (Perfect), Taoist Inner Scripture Map (Perfect), Earthly Evil 72 Skills (7/72)
Divine Skills: Consume, Dharma Eye (can cultivate), swordsmanship, Mountain Carrying, Marriage Dream, Heavenly Cup, Array, Host Staff, Heavenly Mastery Five Thunders, Flowers Blossom in a Moment, Fetal Transformation"
"Fetal Transformation, the third Heavenly Mastery Skill perfected from Demon Transformation, allows one to freely change their form among men, women, the old, the young, gods, and Exotic Beasts. It is trainable and, as one’s Cultivation rises, can morph into a variety of things. Once mastered to a profound degree, it can transform into anything in the world."
Divine Treasures: Wood God’s Treasure, the Dragon Qi Mother Tree innately forms and is nurtured by True Dragon Qi, can grow, and accumulate over time to form an imperishable treasure body with a flawless Tao Foundation.
Fire God Storage, Parasol Divine Wood constructs the Divine Platform, nurtured by the Essence of Fire, can grow, possessing the properties of fire and Nirvana, accumulating over time to attain a Phoenix Nirvana, an undying rebirth."
Compared to before, besides the Fire God Storage achieved on the journey to Tianxiong Pass, Chen Yuan had unexpectedly gained a new Heavenly Mastery Divine Skill.
Fetal Transformation, simply put, is a supportive Divine Skill for combat, allowing for the transformation of things in a way that is difficult for common people to see through, and grants features of those transformed, creating unexpected effects when in special situations.
This Divine Skill originated from Chen Yuan’s neglected Demon Transformation, which was somewhat useful while he was a Mountain Patrol Military Officer of Qingshan County but increasingly became less useful later on, barely more than a trick to fool some demons.
Given that he couldn’t even finish learning the Seventy-two Earthly Fiend Technique, he had let this Divine Skill fall into disregard.
However, while revisiting the battle at Tianxiong Pass, when assessing his current power, Chen Yuan saw the incomplete state of this Divine Skill, with only five variations out of nine completed for the Demon Transformation, and found it jarring, so he decided to cultivate it to perfection in one go.
After all, he had plenty of Demon Blood Essence and Essence to spare.
Among them, there were even some from Great Martial Vault Demons.
Unexpectedly, this whimsical action triggered the reward mechanism of the Banshan Tiger Talisman, advancing to a Heavenly Mastery Skill, a pleasant surprise.
After all, one cannot have too much skill.
Just as he was about to change his shape and test this Divine Skill to hasten his journey back to Qingshan County, a voice rang out in his mind.
"Heaven and Earth Mysterious Sect, Demon Slayer bind evil, omnipotent deities grant me nature’s command."
With this call, Chen Yuan felt his consciousness being pulled.
He immediately realized who was summoning him, and the thin golden slit between his eyebrows opened, his third eye flickered, and shot out a golden beam of light, landing on the void a few feet in front of him.
The void rippled like water, and soon, a goat-bearded old man in Mystic Armor appeared in the vision.
It was Mr. Gongsun Yang, the storyteller Chen Yuan had left at the front line of Chuanzhong Pass.
This storyteller cultivated in an unusual way and had Divine Skills that were unexpected, providing Chen Yuan with several surprises and thus recruited under his command.
Since he became the main character in the storyteller’s book, he formed an incense avatar through Qi Fortune, and Chen Yuan had set up a "summoning password," which was that sixteen-character mantra. When Mr. Gongsun recited this mantra, he could summon Chen Yuan’s consciousness, and if Chen Yuan allowed it, he could directly appear in that incense avatar.
For this reason, Mr. Gongsun was stationed to stay at Chuanzhong Pass, to monitor the movements there and beyond the City Gates.
In case of sudden emergencies, Chen Yuan could appear there at any moment!
For day-to-day matters, Mr. Gongsun served as a messenger, reporting basic situations to Chen Yuan.
Since the last battle at Chuanzhong Pass, although there were Demon roamings beyond the border, they were only little demons and didn’t pose any significant threat. Additionally, with two Martial Vault masters from Shu Mountain and the Su Nu Sword Sect stationed at the City Gates, no chaos ensued.
"Mr. Gongsun, has something happened?"
Chen Yuan was always polite to Mr. Gongsun, who although did not hold a significant position in the Ninth Mountain, was situated in a rather casual role by Chen Yuan, but with deep intentions, as his usefulness was not in leading troops to battle.
"Reporting to my lord, the scouts dispatched to the overrun area beyond the border have returned with news; some Transmission Arrays have been repaired."
"The scouts report that a large number of demons are being transferred here, seemingly amassing Demon Soldiers."