Chapter 1619 (Raw 1601):
The Heavenly Yang Pill was refined by condensing one hundred strands of one-thousand-year-old Baleful Yang Energy and using some other natural treasures as supplements.
By consuming it, one would obtain Baleful Yang Energy comparable to a strand of ten-thousand-year-old Baleful Yang Energy. To Xiao Chen, this was something better than any natural treasure.
Xiao Chen had absorbed a strand of ten-thousand-year-old Baleful Yin Energy to advance to the Yin Essence Stage. Finding Baleful Yang Energy that matched it was very hard.
If he did not have this Heavenly Yang Pill, he would have to scatter his cultivation and force out some of the ten-thousand-year-old Baleful Yin Energy.
One could condense the Primal Core only when Yin and Yang were balanced. Otherwise, one would never be able to break through.
If one had time, one could wait and slowly seek fortuitous encounters.
However, Xiao Chen's time was very precious. How could he afford to waste it? He urgently needed to raise his cultivation and become stronger. Only then could he find his own place in this Great Thousand Realms.
Just those Major Primal Core experts of the Black Lotus Church were already horrifyingly strong and inspired fear.
In that case, how intense was the competition in Liu Ruyue's world? That was simply unimaginable.
Xiao Chen put away the Heavenly Yang Pill and sincerely looked at Senior Liu. "Senior Liu, Xiao Chen owes you a great favor."
Senior Liu guffawed, "Great, I'll accept this favor, then. Little fellow, if you are fortunate and manage to escape the calamity that is the Black Lotus Sect, your potential will definitely be unlimited. I definitely have to accept this favor."
Senior Liu was an optimistic person, not sweating the small stuff. He immediately accepted Xiao Chen's favor without standing on ceremony.
Right after Senior Liu said that, his expression slowly turned serious. "However, right now, I suggest you leave as early as you can. The Black Lotus Church's people will learn of your movements very soon. The earlier you leave, the safer you will be."
Xiao Chen nodded and said, "I know. I'm preparing to pack up. When Senior Gui finishes modifying the pirate ship, I will leave immediately."
Senior Liu felt somewhat reluctant to part. He sighed softly, "How unfortunate! This old man hit it off well with you right from the beginning. We only just got to know each other, and we have to part. I really feel reluctant to part."
Xiao Chen smiled and said, "There will be opportunities in the future. I definitely will have a good chat with Senior Liu and drink to our hearts' content then."
"Great, it is settled, then. However, have you thought about where to go?" Senior Liu asked a very practical question.
Xiao Chen frowned slightly, looking like he was put on the spot. "My eventual destination is Ancestor Dragon City. However, right now, that is rather difficult. Escaping the clutches of the Black Lotus Church is the main problem right now."
"Xiao Chen, how about you go to the Grave Sea first? I know that Master Pan Huang has a nominal disciple called Ye Zifeng, who is in a sect in the Grave Sea."
Xiao Chen thought, Pan Huang's disciple should definitely be strong. Perhaps he might be able to shield me from the pursuit of the Black Lotus Church and help me avoid this calamity.
However, will he help me?
The Jiao Snake seemed to sense Xiao Chen's concerns. So it explained, "It will be fine. You can be considered half a disciple to Pan Huang. That person is your senior brother in name. Besides, I know that person too. Once you reveal your connection to Pan Huang to him, he will definitely not sit by idly and watch you die."
"Let's put this matter aside first. Senior, please explain it to me in detail later. Right now, let's go to Senior Gui and see how the modifications to the pirate ship are going."
Xiao Chen thought about it and accepted this suggestion in his heart for now. If he could obtain the protection of Ye Zifeng, it would be a great boon to Xiao Chen, helping him resolve this headache.
Purple Sun City was no longer safe. Now, Xiao Chen had decided to leave.
The underground secret chamber where Senior Gui worked on pirate ships contained an expansive lake. Its source was the vast lake in the city's west side, which thronged with pirate ships.
This was Senior Gui's secret base. Outsiders could not enter it.
On the pirate ship, Xiao Suo currently led his subordinates and followed the instructions of Senior Gui, appearing very busy.
The modified pirate ship actually appeared smaller, contrary to Xiao Chen's expectations.
It was completely black. This color should be due to a special paint.
This would be very hard to see with the naked eye in the Starry Heavens, nearly merging into the darkness of space.
"Big Brother, quickly come up and take a look at this ship! Hahaha!" Xiao Suo, who was on the deck, invited excitedly when he saw Xiao Chen arrive.
Xiao Chen gently kicked off the ground, and faint flames flashed on his body. As if he teleported, he appeared on the deck, startling everyone.
"Greetings, Captain!"
The busy crew greeted Xiao Chen respectfully after being stunned for a while when they saw Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen nodded slightly and walked towards Xiao Suo. At this moment, Xiao Suo was fiddling with the Black Scimitar Pirate Group's war banner.
After fitting in the pirate banner emblazoned with a black scimitar, Xiao Suo turned his head and said, "Big Brother, Senior Gui is really sincere. This ship looks like a mediocre pirate ship, pitifully small, but in reality, it is a miniature 3-Star pirate ship. When it truly travels in the starry seas, there won't be any problems.
"It has a total of three layers of formations. One layer is the Dark Night Bewildering Formation, which is used for concealing the ship. One layer is the 3-Star defensive formations of the Pirate Alliance. As for the final layer, that is really incredible."
Xiao Chen asked curiously, "What do you mean?"
"Come with me."
Xiao Suo smiled mysteriously and led Xiao Chen into the hold. After passing through a barrier, they entered the lowest deck of the pirate ship.
This deck was completely covered with scarlet formation lines, which looked like blood. Light leaped about on the complex formation lines, dazzling anyone who saw it.
It looked like vast blood light dancing about, extremely shocking.
"This is…" Xiao Chen's sharp senses noticed that the scarlet light of the formation seemed to actually be the blood of ferocious beasts.
No matter how he looked at it, this formation felt very evil and sinister, inspiring fear.
It was like an ancient ferocious beast growling deeply, desiring fresh blood and souls.
Xiao Suo reached out and extracted the formation plate at the core of the formation. Then, he handed it to Xiao Chen.
The formation plate was a pure black with a protruding ferocious beast on the obverse. The ferocious beast looked alive, savage and glaring furiously. It held a small mysterious sword in its mouth.
Xiao Suo explained seriously, "This is the Yazi Beast, a famous ferocious beast of the Great Desolate Eon. It was extremely fierce and feisty. It possessed the head of a dragon and the body of a leopard. Senior Gui developed the formation based on the Desolate Flood Swallowing the Sky Formation—a famous formation of the Great Desolate Eon. Big Brother, you can call it the Immemorial Demon Soul Formation.
[TL Note: There is no English equivalent for the Yazi Beast. In Chinese, it is written with the characters read as "YaZi." I added "beast" to it to make it clearer. In Chinese folklore, this beast is very similar to how it is described by Xiao Suo, although I would say it is more of a cross between a dragon and a leopard, not just a simple head-and-body combination. It is also said to be a descendant of dragons. Here is a link to a picture: https://gss0.bdstatic.com/-4o3dSag_xI4khGkpoWK1HF6hhy/baike/c0%3Dbaike150%2C5%2C5%2C150%2C50/sign=c48927bec1fdfc03f175ebeab556ecf1/83025aafa40f4bfbf7984f14014f78f0f7361821.jpg.]
"As long as you keep adding the corpses of strong ferocious beasts—they have to be fresh—this Immemorial Demon Soul Formation will grow stronger. The Yazi Beast Demon Soul that is summoned out can even possess a tenth of the strength of a true Yazi Beast."
Xiao Chen was alarmed. He asked in a whisper, "Who exactly is this Senior Gui?"
Xiao Chen also dabbled in formations. This Immemorial Demon Soul Formation looked like it had impressive origins. It was shocking; furthermore, it was a formation of an evil Dao.
Xiao Suo replied, also in a low voice, "I do not know much, but I once heard him mention by chance that he was a formation master on a 9-Star pirate ship in the past. When that group advanced to Pirate King, he left.
"Previously, I thought that was just drunken nonsense. Now, given this Immemorial Demon Soul Formation, it might be true."
Clearly, Xiao Suo's shock from before was no less than Xiao Chen's.
Xiao Chen held on to the formation plate and thought for a while. Then, he looked at Xiao Suo and said, "Don't mention this to him and don't ask him anything about it. Just pretend that nothing happened."
"I understand." Xiao Suo nodded, indicating his understanding.
This Immemorial Demon Soul Formation might be a formation from the legendary ship of a certain Pirate King. If that Pirate King knew that his formation was on another pirate ship, the consequences would be dire. Such an opponent would be scarier than the Black Lotus Church.
However, it was fortunate that most of the current Pirate Kings were adventuring in the forbidden seas, trying to reach the highest glory of legendary Pirate Kings. They would not have the time to bother with a small character like Xiao Chen.
"Little Brother Xiao Chen, what do you think of this Immemorial Demon Soul Formation?" Senior Gui asked as he walked down to the lowest deck, his footsteps resounding.
Xiao Chen turned around and smiled as though nothing had happened. "It's pretty good. I can tell that Senior Gui put in a lot of effort."
When Senior Gui walked over, he took the formation plate from Xiao Chen's hand and pointed to a string of pearls on the ferocious beast's neck. He said, "Do you see the eighteen pearls there? When all eighteen are lit up, the Yazi Beast Demon Soul will be able to erupt with a tenth of its original strength.
"However, don't be happy too early. This fellow has a huge appetite. For you now, it would be extremely difficult to light up even one pearl. The further you go, the higher the requirement in the grade of ferocious beasts."
Xiao Chen's eyes brightened. He had not noticed this detail.
Senior Gui returned the formation plate to Xiao Chen and noticed Xiao Chen's expression. Then, he smiled and said, "There is no need to worry so much. The original owner of this formation plate gave it to me. It had been collecting dust in my hands for more than a hundred years. Now, it has passed on to its fated person. I hope that in the future, you will be able to light up all eighteen pearls.
"Right now, with not a single pearl lit up, the Yazi Beast Demon Soul's strength is at the peak of the Major Primal Core Realm. However, its ferocity is still there and cannot be underestimated."
After Xiao Chen received the formation plate, he asked, "When can the ship go? I intend to leave as soon as possible."
"Senior Gui nodded and said, "That's right. After offending the Black Lotus Church, you had better leave as soon as possible. If you want to go, you can go at any time. The ship's modifications are already finished."
"Many thanks."
Xiao Chen did not delay for long. When he checked with Luo Nan and Fei`er, they were both willing to follow him, so he allowed them to.
That evening, Xiao Chen's group boarded the pirate ship and quietly departed Purple Sun City.
It was also at this time that the Purple Cloud Pavilion released news that they would be auctioning off a Major Primal Core slave. At the same time, they also secretly leaked word that this was the black-clad arhat associated with Xiao Chen, an extremely strong person.
Anyone with eyes could tell that the Purple Cloud Pavilion was trying to force Xiao Chen to reveal himself, to make him send himself over on his own initiative.
However, Xiao Chen had already left and did not hear about this. If he had, he would definitely have laughed his head off.