Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Dark Magic Sect's Scheme Unfolds

The cultivation of the Divine Shift Secret Art was exceedingly arduous. It took Yi Tian over ten days just to grasp the basics, barely managing to control the art’s bursts in terms of direction and distance. Even so, his mastery only permitted him to move within a range of seven or eight zhang—still far inferior to the prowess displayed by the Ghost God. In the days that followed, Yi Tian devoted the majority of his time to perfecting this secret art. Only when he could move effortlessly, appearing at any spot he wished with a mere thought, would he have truly reached minor achievement in the technique.

At the same time, Yi Tian tried to use his Star Mud Doppelganger to simulate and refine the art to perfection. After all, the version he had acquired from the Ghost God was certainly not the original and likely contained flaws; although it could be practiced, the results might differ vastly. The uncanny Star Mud Doppelganger did not disappoint him. Through repeated deductions, the doppelganger uncovered no fewer than seven minor defects and gradually corrected them.

When Yi Tian wielded this newly improved Divine Shift, he was astonished to find that the consumption of true energy increased dramatically, but the distance he could travel surged from a mere few zhang to over twenty zhang—a truly remarkable effect. Without delay, Yi Tian poured his efforts into further refining the technique. After more than a month, he finally reached the pinnacle achievable by his current Star Mud Doppelganger and ceased his work.

When he executed the fully refined Divine Shift, the hundreds of acupoints in his body became like black holes, voraciously devouring vast quantities of true energy. A translucent rune appeared, and a mysterious spatial power enveloped him. In an instant, Yi Tian vanished, only to reappear three hundred zhang away, nearly at the outskirts of the Yi Tribe’s territory.

However, after shifting several hundred zhang, he nearly toppled over. Under the force of that inexplicable spatial power, he was utterly unable to maintain his balance; his nerves and consciousness could not respond in time, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

He realized with a gasp that using the Divine Shift at full force consumed a tenth of all the true energy in his dantian. “This technique’s consumption is truly terrifying,” he thought. His reserves were immense, but even so, performing the refined art left him feeling powerless—hardly suitable for actual combat. Otherwise, after two or three uses, all his energy would be depleted.

Through repeated experimentation, Yi Tian discovered the secret: the farther the distance, the more terrifying the energy required—almost doubling with each increment. Ultimately, he found that moving thirty zhang per shift was most suitable, consuming only one five-hundredth of his total true energy each time.

Nevertheless, to truly master this secret art—to the point where a single thought could place him anywhere within range, achieving true divine movement—would require a great investment of time and effort.

Yi Tian was generous, imparting the refined Divine Shift to the five members of the Reincarnation Squad and documenting all discovered flaws for the tribal elders. Even so, the chief and the elders found it difficult to grasp all the subtleties of the art. For the five in the Reincarnation Squad, Yi Tian did not simply teach and leave; instead, he personally explained its mysteries and demonstrated it before them, enabling them to master about sixty to seventy percent of the technique’s essence. This made the version they learned far more powerful than what they’d obtained from the Ghost God, allowing each to move twenty or thirty zhang at a time.

Yi Tian was unsurprised by this outcome.

Indeed, without the benefit of his own doppelganger’s deductions, none could perceive or master the art’s full profundity as he could. Their understanding differed, and their command of the Divine Shift, though strong, could not match his.

He also knew that even the Sunshot Art he had refined was practiced with slight variations by the chief and elders, who could not match his own strength and subtlety. He merely corrected their errors so that they could continue cultivating, but the depth of their mastery depended on their individual comprehension and was inferior to his own, as reflected in their cultivation speed and the power of their attacks. These imperfections could only be remedied through years of diligent study and enlightenment.

While Yi Tian and the others were engrossed in cultivating the Divine Shift, news of the Dark Skeleton Band’s annihilation finally spread about a month and a half later. The Dark Skeleton Band, notorious for their marauding, had kept everyone at bay from their headquarters, so no one had noticed their destruction for weeks. Only when their sudden disappearance aroused suspicion did someone investigate, discovering that every member of the band had been wiped out.

The culprit was none other than the now-renowned Yi Tribe. When various forces sent scouts to the Skeleton Band’s lair, they found thousands of corpses felled by arrows—a feat only the Yi Tribe, with its terrifying archery, could have accomplished, eradicating a band that had dominated for decades.

Particularly shocking was the sight atop Skeleton Mountain: even after more than ten days, the solid ice remained unmelted, chilling to the bone, the earth frozen hard. Senior members of the band lay encased within the ice, lifelike and horrifying.

When the spies returned with these reports, all the major factions were shaken. What sort of power could freeze the mountain so? Only a human-tier expert could unleash such might. Had the Yi Tribe produced such a figure?

The factions found it hard to believe. The Yi Tribe was famed for archery, not for ice-based techniques. What was happening?

None could fathom the truth. Their best guess was that the Skeleton Band could not have caused the devastation themselves; otherwise, they would not have been destroyed.

The Lord of Black Dragon City was especially alarmed. After verifying the facts in person, he reported the news to the governor of Jingmu Prefecture. The possible emergence of a human-tier expert in Black Dragon City was no small matter. The Celestial Wind Empire needed to track the movements of the strong to prevent turmoil.

A rumor soon spread: perhaps the Skeleton Band had provoked a human-tier expert, suffered a crushing defeat, and the Yi Tribe had merely capitalized on the aftermath. The rumor was detailed and persuasive, and many forces gave it credence—otherwise, how could they explain the traces of a human-tier expert’s intervention on Skeleton Mountain?

Yet, the ones most shaken by the news were the Dark Demon Sect, lurking in the shadows.

In a dark chamber, the black-robed master of the Dark Demon Sect was visibly uneasy. “Why would a human-tier expert appear in such a remote backwater as Black Dragon City? Unless… unless it’s for that object?” His expression changed as the thought struck him.

To experts of that level, Black Dragon City was nothing but a forgotten corner of wilderness, not worth their notice. Even during the beast tide, only the grand general of Jingmu Prefecture had passed by to resolve the crisis, leaving immediately afterward. It was not uncommon for centuries to pass here without a single human-tier expert setting foot.

Something so unusual could only mean trouble. The sect master immediately thought of that secret. Only if it had leaked would such a figure be drawn here.

“I will never let that human-tier expert succeed. Anyone who stands in my way of becoming a demon will die!” In that instant, a surge of savage demonic energy flickered around him.

“The Dark Demon Sect’s plan begins now!” His voice rang cold and resolute through the dark room.

“Yes!” came the crisp, chilling replies.

A moment later, more than sixty members of the Dark Demon Sect emerged, all shrouded in black robes, and vanished from the chamber in the blink of an eye.

Watching them depart, the sect master muttered, “The greatest threat to my ambitions in Black Dragon City is not the newly risen number one of the Yi Tribe, but the mysterious leader of the Black Dragon Society!”

“The Black Dragon Society?” He sneered. “I suspect the Black Dragon Society is a covert force of the Celestial Wind Empire.”

“All these years, the Black Dragon Society has failed to discover that secret. They would never guess that Lord Demon has already concealed it. Even a human-tier expert would be hard-pressed to detect it.”

Still, the appearance of a human-tier expert left the sect master uneasy. If the other party sensed anything amiss, he would be in grave danger, unable to fulfill his mission for the Demon Lord—with consequences too dire to imagine.

Thus, he resolved to accelerate his plan and to seize the object at any cost before the expert detected anything.

With the Dark Demon Sect mobilized, the various forces of Black Dragon City soon noticed that their guest warriors, clan disciples, and guards were disappearing one after another. The disappearances grew more frequent, the number of missing rising sharply.

Before long, Black Dragon City was gripped by fear, and all factions tightened their security.

An extra chapter!